SIMON PHIPPS

THEOLOGY | 3 MINUTE READ As Christians, our theology forms the compass of what we do in our daily lives. If we believe that God is good and full of love then this will be how we treat others. It is the same with regards to environmental concern. If we have a theology that tells us the whole world will be burned up and so there is no point caring for it, then this will be how we treat the earth. Eco-Theology I believe that scripture provides a blueprint for environmental concern that helps to act as a compass in our discipleship journey. The Beginning Right from the beginning in scripture, in the book of Genesis, we are called to be stewards of the earth. We are called to look after and care for the earth. Genesis 1:27-29 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the se...

If you have been looking for new resources to learn from – whether whole books or short articles or if you just fancy some bite-sized learning then this post is for you. Here are some things that I have learnt this month. I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) – Brene Brown - Book * I highly recommend this book * – if you haven’t read it, then buy it or borrow it. Brene Brown is a world-renowned researcher on shame. I was first exposed to her work through her amazing Ted Talks. In this book, Brene introduces us to her research on shame and defines what shame is. What is Shame She starts by differentiating between shame and similar emotions, such as guilt and embarrassment. One of the most powerful parts of this book for me was the difference between shame and guilt. Brene describes it like this: Imagine that you have just cheated on a test, you leave the exam feeling guilty. Your internal dialogue runs like this: “cheating is wrong, I should not have cheate...

As the intersection between faith and the environment continues to increase in importance, it becomes more and more important for the Church to take it's environmental responsibility seriously . Church is not a building, and church is much more than a weekly service but the fact remains that most churches are inexplicably linked to a building and utilise services. Much of what we experience and use when we gather as a community has a negative impact on our environment , including our money ; and we can do better . There is also much hope found within the church. This can include churches generating their own electricity , organising beach cleanups , or growing their own food . This infographic provides 11 practical ways that a church can begin to model environmental care to the whole community. I have created a short free e-book that goes into each of the principles in much more detail, with practical ways to implement them. Click here to get your copy . ...

At my church, we are finally about to change our bank account .  It has been a long journey. Changing your bank account is hard. Changing an organisation's bank account is very hard (so many forms!!!!!!!!). I bet you are wondering why any organisation would go through the hassle of making changing their bank a priority. The Kingdom of God Millions of good people give their hard earned money to the Church each week.  Billions of Pounds (or insert your nationalities currency here) are poured into the Church across the globe, and people have one express purpose for doing so – to build the kingdom of God . This looks different for different churches, whether it be to keep the lights on, run feeding programs, debt management programs, buy new equipment or teas and coffees – but they all have a similar theme: To reveal the transformative love of God to the world and to attempt to remake the world in the life-giving, loving way that we know God sees it. What Actua...

If you have ever tried to “ go ethical ” on anything, whether it is a new process, or product, or method, there is something that you probably realised very soon. It is either more expensive , worse qualit y, or takes longer . I want to talk about this in relation to the time, cost, quality triangle  (also called the Iron Triangle or the Project Management Triangle). For those of you that don’t know, the Time Cost Quality Triangle is a concept that is used in project methodology to understand how one change in variable will impact on other variables. It looks like the diagram below: Essentially it works like this: Let’s say you are planning a holiday, you have an idea of where you want to go, and what the holiday will be like, you have a budget, and you have the time that it takes to research and book the holiday.  Any change to one variable will effect all the others.  For example, if you realise that you don’t have enough money to afford the or...