As the US election approaches, I am reminded of a single week in November 2012 when 126 million Americans voted for their President, 1.3 billion Chinese were informed about their new politburo leaders and 60 million Coptic Orthodox believers had the identity of their new Pope revealed when a blindfolded boy picked his name from […]
Articles such as the ones from the monthly magazine.
Growing Numbers, Growing Disciples
We often hear statistics about declining numbers in the UK church, yet many local churches are bucking the trend. Why do some churches grow and others don’t? Is this a question of theology and God’s sovereign choice, or of geography and population changes, or are there tangible things a church can do to grow numerically? […]
Ever Changing Times!
“Don‘t long for the good old days. This is not wise.” Ecclesiastes 7:10, NLT “Do not say, ‘Why is it that the earlier days were better than these?‘ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” Ecclesiastes 7:10, Baker OT Commentary The way we see the past, the present and the future determines our […]
Angelology
Angels are everywhere! Or at least, everywhere in pop songs, children’s literature, films and Valentines cards. They’ve even been in a string of recent Cambray sermons. Yet they hardly seem to fit with our term’s theme, Grow Up, Grow Deep in Christ, despite the Bible’s 196 references across 34 books. Or do they? Angels, a […]
Fear God, question experience!
How do we know what we know? Through experience? Or through ‘fear of the LORD’? Such philosophical musings on the nature of knowledge (‘epistemology’) may seem out of place in a church magazine article, yet not in the Bible. As we use our morning series to investigate the fear of the LORD in […]
Who You Should Vote For – Revealed !
With the general election just days away, you may be feeling excited about the chance to engage in the democratic process. Alternatively, you may be feeling numbed by the wall-to-wall media coverage, as parties attempt to win your support. Perhaps you’re feeling both. The Evangelical Alliance recently polled more than 2000 evangelical Christians in the […]
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Bible
In the last week, have you done any of the following: eaten pork sausage, worn clothes made of two types of fabric, come before God wearing glasses or shaved? If so, you have surely violated the eternal and unchanging Law of the LORD. Or !maybe that’s not quite right. But how do we interpret and […]
Milk or Meat?
Are you a milky Christian or a meaty one? The infant formula kind or a steak-on-the-plate believer? Recently I felt more than a little chastised by the tone of the writer to the Hebrews, who gets frustrated with his readers in Hebrews 5:11 – 6:4 for still living on spiritual milk – the foundational […]
The World Cup – a matter of life and death?
By the time you read this, England’s World Cup dream in Brazil will be over. Finished. Done and dusted. After the obligatory period of national mourning, national moaning begins. If there is a silver lining, it is that we can now spend more time exercising rather than watching sport on TV. For others, we can’t […]
The End Is Just The Beginning !
This summer term we will spend time on Sundays looking at both the last book of the Bible as well as the beginning three chapters of the first. For anyone wanting to engage more with some of the key themes in the early part of Genesis, a couple of options spring to mind. One could […]
Speaking of heaven (and the other place) !
‘Heaven is a place, a place where nothing ever happens’. So sang the Talking Heads in 1979. But how would we know one way or the other? As believers we go to the Bible to understand how God has intervened in history and to know His will for today, but God’s written Word also illuminates […]
What does God want for Cambray?
‘What does God want for Cambray?’ This was the opening question posed at our recent Pastors & Deacons Away Day. Marcus Honeysett, our invited guest to help Cambray through a review process, was quick to assess our shared understanding as a Cambray leadership team. We soon established that we are very committed about: ‘Encouraging and […]
A Personal Pentecost
‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit‘ (Galatians 5:25) Given this has been Cambray’s Bible verse and motto for 2015, and it is now November, I wonder the extent to which we have each found ourselves living and walking life with the help and power of God the […]
All one in Christ Jesus?
‘Living above, with the saints we love, that will be glory; Living below, with the saints we know, that’s another story!’ You have probably heard this old ditty, which tends to make us smile because we all understand that getting along with others in the church can at times be challenging. We are all so […]
Venturing into ‘deeper waters’
‘I hear, and I forget I see, and I remember I do, and I understand’ Jesus called disciples to follow him, not just to believe in Him. His training school involved teaching followers with words (they heard), as well as showing the power of His words (they saw). But in Luke 10, for example, Jesus […]
Easter People at Cambray!
Easter People at Cambray Easter 2015, and once again we meet together to remember the pivotal events in the life of Jesus that first Easter weekend. Along with Christians around the world, we will commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The events that first Easter are rooted in […]
Receive ‘The Daily Remembrancer’ direct via email
James Smith wrote these daily meditations on God’s Word as an act of love and support for his people in the 19th century. As one of his successors at Cambray, I have set myself the task of re-typing them, slightly updating some of the language, with the hope that many of the Cambray church family […]