Plans for new counselling course

Oak Hill and the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF) in the USA are planning the introduction of a new counselling course specifically designed to deliver the benefits of CCEF’s training courses in the UK.

Steve Midgley, who ran the recent CCEF Changing Hearts conference in the UK, says: ‘Helping make biblical counselling more widely available in the UK is something I am hugely excited about and I am delighted that Oak Hill College share that passion. I am very pleased to be involved in delivering this new training opportunity.’

Mike Ovey, the Principal of Oak Hill College, says: ‘Equipping men and women for pastoral ministry is what Oak Hill is all about. Working with CCEF to bring this much-needed biblical approach to pastoral ministry in the UK is a fantastic...

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A rose by any other name

As the second reading of the Government’s Marriage (same sex couples) Bill draws tantalisingly close, it’s hard to remember a single issue since the Poll Tax that has caused so much political disquiet and been so polarising. On the side of those in favour of opening up the definition of marriage to include couples of the same sex, the opposition to this move is entirely incomprehensible. Comedian Marcus Brigstocke tweeted yesterday:

Is there a reason why those opposing equal marriage feel justified in objecting to being described as bigots?

Why wouldn’t he think that? After all David Cameron himself claims that he is in favour of same sex marriage precisely because he is a conservative. Marriage is a good thing, which brings many social benefits, how can excluding people from it...

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FIEC Hub conference draws 160 delegates

Is joining the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) like tethering yourself to a dead horse? Not any more!

A good number of us independent students from Oak Hill braved the snow to head up to the De Vere hotel in Newport Pagnell as part of the FIEC’s first Hub conference last weekend. The Hub is part of the FIEC’s vision to provide a clear route into Free Church ministry for those whom God has called to this work.

Some of the 160-plus delegates were just beginning to consider whether ministry might be for them; others were working as ministry apprentices and considering the next stage of training; while others, like us, were already at Bible college and will be seeking a position, either as an assistant or a pastor, over the months or years.

On the Friday evening,...

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Lanced

Last night, Lance Armstrong, as had been widely predicted, admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to his long term abuse of performance enhancing drugs.

A few months ago such an admission would have been unthinkable. As recently as October, Armstrong’s lawyer, Tim Herman, described the USADA report into his cheating as, a ‘one-sided hatchet job’ and a ‘government-funded witch hunt’. Such denials ceased to be an option after the sheer weight of evidence presented by USADA came into the public domain. Thus last night’s admission heard around the world.

Armstrong’s confession and apology are too little too late for most people and indeed for many just pour fuel on the fire. Former TDF rider Paul Kimmage, a long term Armstrong critic, expressed his surprise today that...

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A faithful gospel

Last November, I was asked to be involved in the first part of the Evangelical Alliance initiative, Confidence in the Gospel. The first consultation was called A Faithful Gospel and was an attempt to answer the the question: ‘What is the Gospel?’

The day involved a number of short plenary presentations. I was asked to give a 10 minute presentation on ‘The Athenian Gospel’. Click the video above to see my presentation, or read a summary here.

I’m really grateful for Justin Taylor at the Gospel Coalition for picking up my talk. However, looking at some of the comments that have gathered at the bottom of JT’s blog (including, gulp, Darrell Bock – or someone who calls himself Darrell Bock), I’m reminded that without some of the cultural context being painted in the...

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