margined index

The page links below are intended to provide access to an assortment of helpful resources for liberally-minded Christians to explore. Each carries a brief description to aid selection.

Christian Community Ashram now has a new website worth visiting.

Bonhoeffer’s challenge: ‘How do we speak in a secular fashion of God?’

This very readable short essay by Malcolm Lovibond contains much food for thought, including some that might be considered worth chewing over before any digestion! For example: "... God is not a man-made god and... atheism has therefore no place in any understanding of God seen as the ground of existence." Really?

The Joint Publications Project has developed from growing cooperation between Modern Church,
PCN Britain, St Marks CRC Sheffield and Free to Believe. After the success of their first publication, 'Together In Hope', and incorporating that phrase into the strap line 'Together in Hope - Resources for Christian Faith Today', the group has embarked on the task of producing further short, readable and helpful resource books for people who desire to be encouraged and fed in their spiritual growth and Christian faith. The first two of these, 'Walk the Jesus Walk' and 'Jesus Then and Now' are available via the PCN website at http://ww.pcnbritain.org.uk/index.php/shop/ Both are by the same author John Simmonds and focus on the historical Jesus. The books are priced at £2.95 (plus postage). To order by post, phone 0845 345 1909. Click on the link above for more details.

Visit McDonald's! Some wholesome, appetising food for thought contained in two sermons preached by Iain McDonald at Southernhay Church, Exeter in 2010.

'Sharing the Story' , preached on the first Sunday in Advent, anticipates the URC Vision 4Life Year of Evangelism for 2011 and how liberal Christians can best approach this challenge.

'Christmas - Myth'd Opportunities' [my title, not Iain's, which was 'Sermon'!] probes the myth-versus-history Christmas scenario (including the 2010 BBC Nativity production) to show that the power of a story can be more important than that of literal history.

Toward a New Understanding of Jesus, An Unfinished Journey The first of a series of three discussion booklets based on the sermons of two Methodist ministers, Ted Bishop and John Churcher, with questions for discussion by a third, Betty Saunders. Read a full description of this new and economic publication.

Thoughts and Prayers The URC's 'Vision 4 Life' programme has 'Prayer' planned as the 2010 study topic; this new FTB booklet contains contributions from members intended to broaden discussions on this difficult subject, beyond the boundaries of traditional church thinking.

The link above opens a pdf file for home printing as a booklet, using Adobe Reader (freely downloadable) as follows. Set the File Print menu to Page Scaling and select 'Booklet printing'. Under 'Booklet' select 'Front side only' and tick the 'Collate' box if printing more than one copy, so that each set is correctly ordered. After printing, reverse pages in printer as you normally do for double-sided printing, select 'Back side only' and print again. You should then have a complete set of correctly numbered pages ready for stapling and folding as an A5 booklet. If you have any difficulty with this, just email me here with your postal address and I'll send you a copy free of charge.

A Liberal Faith Martin Camroux describes the genesis of Free To Believe and its perceived role in revitalising the Christian faith.

What makes a Vital Liberal Congregation? Martin again, with four suggested characteristics of a liberal church.

The Bible A challenging sermon for Bible Sunday preached at Southernhay URC Exeter by the Revd Iain McDonald.

Bad Language? Possibly a more helpful paraphrase of some of the language used in the traditional URC Communion Service

Called to Praise A review of Donald Hilton's last worship anthology.

Reconnecting With God A series of five study sessions by Martin Camroux for groups or individuals originally published as an FTB booklet, now out of print but available as a download by double-clicking the title.

New items of interest are added constantly, so come back soon.

Listen to Ken Ken Forbes has been Minister at Lion Walk URC in Colchester since November 2003. The church records its services for those who are housebound or otherwise unable to attend; and a number of Ken's liberal sermon podcasts, preceded by relevant readings, are now available to download from the Lion Walk website