Articles

In 1964 The Roman Catholic Church held the Second Vatican Council and adopted a new dogmatic constitution dealing with how the Church understood itself, in other words about its ecclesiology. I was only seven at the time and completely unaware of its implications, for other churches as well. The constitution was called Lumen Gentium, Light [...]

In this article, we will look at the grounds, if any, for distinguishing two groups of Christians, a laity and a clergy. First of all, it is important to recognise that the terms “laity” and “clergy” are not used in the Bible in a technical sense. When they are used at all, they are not [...]

The words “blessing” and “to bless” are used a lot in Church, and in a variety of meanings. But what is the essence of these concepts, and where do they come from? The English word “blessing” comes from the old Teutonic (Germanic) word ‘bletsian’, meaning “blood sacrifice”. But its meaning changed when it was used [...]

How two Greek words (for priest and elder) became confused and how this still affects us today. This subject is kind of controversial between Catholics and Protestants, but that is no reason to ignore it, on the contrary. The subject has often been looked at from one point of view only. This has led either [...]

One morning, the day after Easter 2017, I suddenly remembered an Archdeanery Synod report about “Mission Shaped Church”. It had called the bishop “the chief missioner” and that had kept me wondering for some time, at the back of my mind. Time to reflect. […]

Intrigued by the distinction between clergy and laity, I have started to investigate the backgrounds of the Christian priesthood / ordained ministry and other forms of ministry. The following is meant to become part of a book I intend to write on the subject. […]

“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil ….” Ephesians 6:12 Early October I was reminded of this text when several normally reliable news sources reported that the Russian Orthodox Church [...]

How often should we celebrate the Eucharist? Why do Roman Catholics, most Anglicans, many Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians have a weekly Eucharist (Holy Communion) and most other churches a monthly, quarterly or even annual Holy Supper? The Anglican way to approach such questions is to turn to the Bible, to tradition and to reason. [...]

Divine healing and other miracles         – part 1 Some time ago I was triggered by a text we read during a Wednesday evening Healing Service, from Mark, chapter 6. It made me think, study and pray about the nature of healing. I found 5 aspects of divine healing (and indeed of all miracles) in the [...]

The other day, in one of our Wednesday evening Healing Services, we read the following text from St. Mark, chapter 6. “He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did [...]