SIMON PHIPPS

I am a specialist in adult learning, specifically workplace learning. I teach people how to do their job, or how to improve in their job. In the first century Jewish context, the role of educator was taken by the Rabbi , literally meaning master , but often translated as teacher . One of the major distinctions of a rabbi, as opposed to the modern day context, was the fact that the rabbi had a group of students, called disciples , that lived with him 24/7. This was because a rabbi’s message (or yolk) was not simply what he said, but everything that he said and did . Jesus himself was a Rabbi , He had disciples that lived with Him, indeed all Christians are disciples , ones who follow and dwell with Him. Seeking to live out His lifestyle and message. In this respect each of us is called to be a teacher, to be those whose lives speak a message, and indeed we already are. When we love someone, we teach a lesson. When we extend grace and forgiveness to those who hurt us...

My father was a shepherd, if there is one thing that that I learnt about shepherding from him it is this: if you don’t care about your sheep, don’t be a shepherd. I remember my father telling me stories of walking late at night into the fields to have to go dig the sheep out of snow drifts. A shepherd cares about their sheep because each one represents equity. Each sheep represents an investment and each one lost represents a financial loss. In the book of Ephesians there is a list of gifts (emphasis on the word ‘a’). Much ink has been spilled, and many words spent in pursuit of this list: apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, pastor. I've been around enough circuits to hear people say “ I’m an apostle ” or “ I’m an evangelist ”, but the one thing about this list is that all of them are embodied by Christ . If we call ourselves disciples (those who follow Christ and seek to emulate his life message), then to some degree, we are called to embody all of these gift...

It took me quite a long time to move from thinking about blogging , to actually blogging . This was due to lots of reservations that I had in my head about why I shouldn’t blog. I wanted to write these down in the hopes that it might help someone else who is thinking about blogging. The reservations went something like this: Anything that I say will have already been said by someone else, in a much better way than I could have said it. This was a major blocker for me. “What’s the point?” I had to come to an understanding that my voice is important . Yes, someone will have already said what I am saying. Yes, they will have probably said it in a much more eloquent way than I will. However, my life experiences, the things that make me who I am, the context in which I live, all give me a unique vantage point from which I speak . Some people will resonate with the way that other people will write, and some people will resonate with what I write, and that is okay. ...

We recently passed the 100 year mark since the beginning of World War 1. The media was filled with stories of lives lost and destroyed through this tragic event. In the book of revelation, the final book of the bible we see two riders riding white horses. Each of these riders are identified as conquerers. I believe that we are meant to see these riders as juxtapositions. To notice the similarities, but more so to notice the differences. The first rider is followed by three others, war, injustice, and death. I believe that this first rider stands for Rome (or any other empires / civilisations). It set about to conquer, to win, and usher in the pax romana (the peace of rome). But each of its conquests brought with it war, injustice, and death. The second rider on a white horse is given a distinctive description that marks him out as none other than Christ. He is not accompanied by other riders, he stands alone and victorious. Christ’s methodology for conquering comes in direct con...