As I write this, the news is all about the coronavirus. Cases have been reported in the UK and Ireland and -- at the time of writing -- four deaths from the virus have been recorded in the UK. Fortunately there's plenty of advice available on how best to keep ourselves safe and we all … Continue reading Coronavirus (February 2020) →

I have written a little about the coronavirus in my letter for the church’s Annual Report which you should receive shortly. However, it seems appropriate to say more about the virus in this letter. It is astounding how the virus has spread so rapidly around the world and the number of cases is escalating. Fortunately … Continue reading Coronavirus (Spring 2020) →

My last pastoral letter was about our Sunday services of worship. This one is about family worship at home. While it's primarily directed to parents and their children, others who read this might want to pray for our families and encourage them as they seek to bring up their children in the faith. In his … Continue reading Family Worship (2013) →

If you were in church on Sunday 7 September, you will know that I have taken over responsibility for providing the children in church with Active 8+ materials. For those who don't know, once our children reach the age of eight, they leave Children's Church and join the rest of us for the Sunday morning … Continue reading Children in Church (2014) →

We've been studying 1 Peter together on Sunday mornings. One of the things we noticed was the way Peter referred to his readers as 'strangers in the world' (1:1). Later he describes them as 'aliens and strangers in the world' (2:11). The background to the use of this phrase is found in the Old Testament … Continue reading Callings from God (2016) →

At the end of one year, and the beginning of a new year, I thought it might be helpful to remind you of some of the things we thought about one Sunday evening when we were studying question and answer 103 of our church's Shorter Catechism. Question 103 is about the third request in the … Continue reading Revealed and Secret Will (2013) →

From time to time people ask me questions about our services of worship and why we worship the Lord the way we do in Immanuel. Back in 2013 I wrote about public worship, but I thought it would be helpful to write about this subject once again. There are five main principles which should control … Continue reading Public Worship (2018) →

Because 2017 was the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, my letters in 2017 have been about the five great ‘solas' of the Reformation. Sola is the Latin word for ‘alone' and theologians speak of sola scriptura (Scripture alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), solus Christus (Christ alone) and soli … Continue reading Solus Christus →

I began the last letter by saying that 2017 is the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation when Martin Luther and others set about reforming the church according to God's word. To mark the anniversary I said I might write on some of the great doctrines of the Reformation in my letters this … Continue reading Sola Scriptura →

This year (2017) is the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, when Martin Luther and others set about reforming the church according to God's word. To mark the anniversary, I decided to write about some of the great doctrines of the Reformation. In my first letter this year I wrote about how sinners … Continue reading Sola Gratia →