One of the most beautiful places on earth is the hills to the West of the Sea of Galilee, in Israel. I was there in June 2018, on a baking hot day, with a group of fellow-delegates to the Gafcon Conference in Jerusalem. We had driven from...
Read moreNotre Dame at Easter
Why did the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral this week evoke such horror and grief in those of us who are neither French nor Roman Catholics? The answer is, I think, simple: it was beautiful. Moreover, its beauty was something that we may have...
Read moreActs 2:1-13
Acts – The Neverending Story Acts 2:1-13 Sermon preached at Christ Church Duesseldorf 27th January 2019 Introduction What would you say was the greatest turning point in world history, for good or ill? That question was asked on the website...
Read moreA Tale of Two Levels: the Crisis in the Church of England
A Tale of Two Levels: the Crisis in the Church of England. Two news stories. The crisis in the Church of England has been brought into the light by two stories that hit the news in the last month. At first, they may not appear to have much to...
Read moreActs 1:1-11- Jesus prepares his church for growth
Acts- The Neverending Story Acts 1:1-11- Jesus prepares his church for growth Sermon preached at Christ Church Duesseldorf, 13th January 2013 Stephen Walton Introduction One of the first films that I remember seeing at the cinema when I was a...
Read more1 Peter 5:1-11 – Suffering Shepherds and Suffering Sheep
1 Peter – A Holy People in a Hostile World Sermon preached at Christ Church Dusseldorf 16th December 2018 1 Peter 5:1-11 – Introduction Persecution is normal, persecution is an honour, and persecution is not the worst thing that could...
Read more1 Peter 4:12-19 – Persecution
1 Peter – A Holy People in a Hostile World 1 Peter 4:12-19 – Persecution Sermon preached at Christ Church Dusseldorf 9th December 2018 1 Peter 4:12-19 CCD Introduction Between the 23rd and the 25th June this year, 218 Christians were...
Read moreWait for the Lord
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?...
Read moreShould we be a welcoming church?
Should we be a welcoming a church? A welcoming church. In his brilliant little book Disappearing Church, Mark Sayers tells of “The Sunday Assembly”[1]. The Sunday Gathering sounds like the church that many of us wish our church was: “The Sunday...
Read more1 Peter 4:1-11 – A Dedicated and Disciplined People
1 Peter- a Holy People in a Hostile World 1 Peter 4:1-11- A Dedicated and Disciplined People Sermon preached at Christ Church Dusseldorf 18th and 25th November 2018 Introduction Twenty five years ago now, I was a student at Oxford, studying...
Read more1 Peter 3:13-22
1 Peter- A Holy People in Hostile World 1 Peter 3:14-22 CCD Sermon preached at Christ Church Duesseldorf 11th November 2018 (Links to the news items mentioned at the end of the sermon) Introduction I wonder how you would feel if you were...
Read more1 Peter 3:1-12 Wives, husbands, and relationships that please the Lord
1 Peter 3:1-12 Sermon preached at Christ Church Duesseldorf, 4th November 2018 Introduction Last time in 1 Peter we talked about how we like to pack our lives into different boxes. We might have one box labelled “religion” or “church”, another...
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