theology

The great Cretan makeover

The heart of the letter to Titus lies in that wonderful assurance that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people and training us to renounce ungodliness. We often think of grace as a lovely, soft word, perhaps something we say before a Sunday roast, but St Paul describes it as a tutor or a trainer that helps us grow. In our daily lives, from the kitchen to the marketplace, we are invited to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour by living with kindness and integrity, making the Gospel look beautiful to a world seeking hope.

By Shaun Turner, ago

Titus 1:2 and the pre-temporal decree

Before the first quark flickered into existence, God’s salvific plan was already a finished masterpiece. Exploring Titus 1:2 and the outside-of-time-ness of the Creator, we find that our redemption is no divine “Plan B,” but an eternal decree of a God who cannot lie and whose love predates the universe.

By Shaun Turner, ago

Holy sweat and the joyful agony of prayer.

Let us be honest with one another: prayer is often rather harder than the hymnbooks suggest. We have all been there – starting a prayer only to find our minds have wandered to the shopping list. If this sounds familiar, take heart. You are not a failure; you are simply human. In Colossians 4:12, we meet Epaphras, who was ‘always struggling’ in prayer. The Greek word is agonizomai – the root of our word ‘agony’. But this wasn’t mere suffering; it was an athletic contest, a wrestling match in the arena of intercession. Discover why there is profound joy to be found in the holy sweat of persistent prayer…

By Titus One Nine, ago

“Only say the word”

I write this to myself as much as to you dear reader, as a reminder of the perspective we must take through prayer and study. I write this in order that I may be reminded that Christ is sufficient and in Him all things needed are found, by Him all things existing are sustained and through Him all that I am is saved.

By Shaun Turner, ago

On the beginning of all things

The Christian faith declares that “in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17), and modern physics unwittingly testifies to this truth. Matter is far stranger than it appears, with atoms mostly empty space and subatomic particles held together by forces calibrated with breathtaking precision. Science can describe this fine-tuning but cannot explain why it holds. Scripture can: the universe coheres because Christ sustains it by the word of his power.

By Shaun Turner, ago

Come and see!

When Jesus invited people to “come and see,” He offered no programme, no strategy document, and no measurable outcomes beyond the transformation of human hearts. In three simple words, Christ extended an invitation that has echoed through twenty centuries of Christian witness. Perhaps the modern Church, with all its well-intentioned structures and initiatives, needs to recover something of this radical simplicity. What might it mean for our congregations to strip back the layers of institutional complexity and simply invite people to encounter the living Christ, just as Andrew and John did on that first extraordinary afternoon?

By Shaun Turner, ago
A man staring at the viewer

When God’s name goes global

When a post-exilic prophet spoke of God’s name being great “from the rising of the sun to its setting,” he uttered words that must have seemed impossible to his struggling community in Jerusalem. Yet today, young people in Britain, America and Europe are returning to churches their parents abandoned, whilst Iranian, Syrian and other Arab Muslims risk everything to worship Jesus in secret house churches across the Middle East. Malachi’s ancient prophecy is unfolding before our eyes in ways that challenge our assumptions about where faith flourishes and who the missionaries really are. This isn’t just history or theology – it’s the story of what God is doing right now, in the most unexpected places, through the most unlikely people.

By Titus One Nine, ago

Being Bere-AI-n.

It does seem that in the last year or so the landscape of AI-enabled Christian technology has shifted significantly from experimental early adoption to widespread integration into daily spiritual life and church operations. How should we as Christians approach this rising tide of technology, how do we manage the tension between studying to learn and simply prompting for answers?

By Shaun Turner, ago

S1E2: The Christmas One.

The story of God’s provision, it seems, is meticulously signposted, and our Anglican tradition, with its cherished three-fold cord of scripture, tradition, and reason, is wonderfully equipped to follow the breadcrumbs from prophecy to fulfilment and finally to our parish altar.

By Titus One Nine, ago

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