Reasons for Writing

Thought processing

Things happen every day. Life is busy. Information is always coming in. How do you process it all?

Some of us process things in conversation with others: An event happens or we receive some new information, so we talk to someone about it, and the conversation we have helps us to make sense of things. Other people are internal processors: An event happens or we receive some new information, we go away and think about it, and our own internal thought process helps us to resolve things. Lots of us probably process things in multiple ways.

For me, writing is just one way of processing events and information, in order to make sense of it all. Ideas and reflections can be floating around in my mind for days, weeks and even years. But unless I get those ideas down on paper they just keep floating, and never really land. So in some ways, this blog is a selfish enterprise! If no one ever reads it, then it will still have achieved a purpose in helping me to organise my otherwise scattered and esoteric mental machinations.

Public theology

Christians are called to live out our faith in public. We don’t just believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, we confess it with our mouths as well. Not only that, but for Christians, faith is infused into every part of our lives. Nothing in our personal lives, families, neighbourhoods, workplaces, communities, schools, or indeed the public square, is outside of God’s gaze.

We cannot and we should not try and make sense of any sphere of our lives without reference to God. God has something to say about marriage, parenting, singleness, work, education, politics, religion, justice, and morality. The Christian worldview encompasses all domains of life, and so the Christian faith is inescapably public.

This blog therefore is just one way of seeking to live out my faith in public. I want to provide a Christian viewpoint on various issues; some of which will be deeply personal, others which will be more public in nature. In all of it, I hope to contend for Christ and the gospel, and show that the Christian worldview has meaningful and beautiful explanatory power for the personal and public issues of life.   

Reach and outreach

Finally, I hope this blog reaches people. One of the burning ambitions of my life as a Christian pastor is to help people grow in their faith – to see people trusting more deeply in Jesus, resting more wholly on the goodness and love of God, and living mature, fruitful Christian lives.

Beyond the regular means of preaching, prayer, and face-to-face word ministry, I hope this blog is another string in the bow. God has given me the ability to write stuff, and it would be remiss of me to not put that fledgling gift to work. If what I have to say/write can play just a small part in pointing people to the goodness and grace of Jesus Christ, then that’s a win!

I’ve been tremendously helped over the years by reading stuff from writers like Stephen McAlpine, Murray Campbell, and various contributors to TGCA to name a few. I don’t presume for a minute that this blog will ever achieve that kind of reach, but if I can simply reach people in my small sphere of influence, that’s OK too.

Thanks for reading!