January 2012
3 posts
How to Change Your City - Part 2 of 6
Last week I began a series of blogs which draw on the life and example of William Booth to help us understand how to change the cities we live in. Wherever we live and whatever our circumstances, we all have plenty to learn from the founder of the Salvation Army who transformed late-nineteenth-century London through his radical lifestyle. I’ve been studying many of the best biographies to...
God Loves Kingston Too
When Queens Road Church ran a billboard campaign before Christmas claiming that “God Still Loves Southwest London”, we really meant it. But God meant it even more.
Even as we paid the price to proclaim the good news about Jesus to Wimbledon, God was busy behind the scenes to open up a door for us to proclaim it wider.
Several months ago, I spent an hour with the man who has...
How to Change Your City - Part 1 of 6
A few weeks ago I posted the first part of a six-part series of blogs entitled “How to Change Your City”. I then got distracted - fittingly enough! - with plans to plant a new church in London. We heard a few days ago that the hard work had paid off and the church plant is going to be live by the end of this year. I can now focus on giving you the full series of blogs outlining...
December 2011
4 posts
A Third of a Ton of Christmas!
I was Ebenezer Scrooge this morning, and it felt fantastic.
Everybody knows the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol”. Even my young children know it, because one of our family traditions is to watch the Muppets version of the story every year during the run-up to Christmas. It charts the conversion of Ebenezer Scrooge from an old miser to a repentant sinner during the short...
Christopher Hitchens Believes in God
Christopher Hitchens believes in God. He didn’t when he died last Friday.
One of the sharpest, wittiest, most intelligent modern British writers, Christopher Hitchens published his best-selling book “God Is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything” in 2007. He spent the last four years of his life promoting his book and its message before cancer of the oesophagus forced him...
Straight to the Heart Series Now Available as...
Great news. The first Kindle and eBook versions of the Straight To The Heart series of devotional commentaries are now out and available to download from Amazon and other good online retailers.
Just in time for Christmas. What could a husband or wife, son or daughter, mum or dad, and boyfriend or girlfriend possibly find a more romantic gift on Christmas morning?!
God Still Remembers What Happened in Colliers Wood
Colliers Wood is normally famous for the wrong reasons.
If you aren’t from the UK then you probably haven’t heard of Colliers Wood at all. If you are, then you probably know it as home to the office block which was voted “Britain’s ugliest building” or as the place where looters set fire to PC World and attacked police cars last summer. You may know it as one of...
September 2011
1 post
How to Change Your City - part one
The cities of our world are in desperate need of the power of God. If you haven’t worked that out yet, then you must be living in a monastery. Last month my own city, London, was on fire as rioters and looters roamed free. It’s time for Christians to get serious with God, and to find out how he tells us we can change our cities through his power.
At the start of this year, I began...
August 2011
1 post
A Christian Response to the Rioting and Looting in...
As I write this, riot police are gathering outside Queens Road Church in response to a tip off that the rioting and looting is going to spread to Wimbledon tonight. I’ve just been walking amongst the gathered policemen and felt the strange sense of fear which has gripped London over recent nights.
News reporters and politicians have been shocked and surprised by the sudden outbreak of...
July 2011
2 posts
When Should a Christian Join the Revolution?!
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” (Romans 13:1)
Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not, so is the Gospel a call to political revolution? The fact that this question is so surprising to most of us is simply proof of how far from Paul’s message we have strayed. We treat “Jesus is Lord” as a spiritual pleasantry,...
June 2011
2 posts
5 tags
God Wants to Be Seen Through His People
Yesterday I began to celebrate the launch of volumes 6 and 7 of the “Straight to the Heart” series of devotional commentaries on Friday 1st July. I posted the first chapter of “Straight to the Heart of Romans” to give you a sneak preview. Today I’m continuing by posting the opening chapter of “Straight to the Heart of Moses”. This is the volume which...
There's a New King in Town
Friday 1st July sees the launch of volumes 6 and 7 of the “Straight to the Heart” series. It’s all very exciting.
For loyal blog-followers, I’m posting an insider’s sneak preview of the opening chapter of “Straight to the Heart of Romans”. I hope you enjoy this first chapter. I think I enjoyed writing this book more than any other in the series, and am...
May 2011
4 posts
What to Do When Church Lets You Down
Churches aren’t perfect. If you haven’t worked that out yet, then stick around church long enough and you will. Churches are only as perfect as the repentant sinners that Jesus uses to build them. And let you down they certainly will.
Don’t get me wrong. As a church leader, I’m anything but complacent about this. God saves people with messy lives and then starts ironing...
Hand Over Your Loaves and Fish!
Last Sunday I...
Don't Give Up!
Last week I took a very special guest away on holiday with my family. I needed to be refreshed spiritually as well as physically, so I took the biography of one of Wimbledon’s most famous residents with me. Converted at his home on the south side of Wimbledon Common, walking distance from my own house, William Wilberforce took up the fight against slavery and persevered till it was...
You Look Beautiful
It’s been a fantastic weekend to live in London. Over a billion pairs of eyes all around the world have been fixed on the church a few miles from my house where Prince William married his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton. After an incredible day of pomp, pageantry and parties, they are now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The highlight of the whole royal wedding for me was the moment...
April 2011
1 post
Happy Easter?
Easter was bad news for Mary’s son James. It meant his big brother had been right all along and he had been wrong. Nobody ever likes to admit that.
I’m a younger brother, so I know what it’s like to grow up in the shadow of a big brother, but it was nothing compared to James’ childhood as the younger half-brother of Jesus of Nazareth. Ever felt like you could never...
March 2011
3 posts
Thank God for Brian Cox
It doesn’t matter whatever else you think about the BBC. You’ve got to admit they know how to make great documentaries. I thought that David Attenborough’s nature programmes were unbeatable until I watched Professor Brian Cox’s “Wonders of the Universe”.
If you don’t know who Professor Brian Cox is, then imagine that somebody took Patrick Moore’s...
Why Queens Road Church has Gone Local
Last night and the night before, Queens Road Church exploded and then caught fire. Sound pretty dangerous? I think it really is.
If you are part of the church I lead in Wimbledon, south-west London, then you will already know some of the background behind this week’s controlled explosion. If you are not, then you will enjoy this blog anyway, because I’m setting out why we have scattered across...
How Could God Have Allowed the Japanese...
On Friday 11th March, an earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale struck the east coast of Japan. The earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami, which in turn triggered the start of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant. So far, over 5000 people have died from the tsunami, but the long-term effects of the leaking radation could kill many, many more.
Whatever you do or don’t...
February 2011
3 posts
How to Achieve More in a Day than in a Year
In the mid-1990s, I spent a year working as an evangelist in Paris. I was passionate, determined and hard-working, but I wasn’t very fruitful. Looking back, I had far too much confidence in myself and placed far too little value on God’s commitment to the local church. By the time I limped back home to England, I had only seen two or three individuals give their lives to Jesus in the...
Making Jesus Known to People Who Don't Want to...
I’m in Paris this weekend, gathering people to an event which I’ve entitled “Making Jesus Known in a City Which Doesn’t Want to Know”. I used to live and work in Paris, so I’m under no illusions about the size of the task facing the church plant I’m serving in the city. Perhaps you feel a bit like they do - eager to share Jesus but discouraged that most...
How to Connect with God
Earlier this week, I sent the manuscripts for “Straight to the Heart of Romans” and “Straight to the Heart of Moses” to my publisher, ready to hit the bookshelves in the first week of July. To celebrate, I’m posting one of the chapters from Romans on this blog. I hope it helps you understand the promise of Romans 8 that God has provided all you need in order to...
January 2011
2 posts
God Loves Sex-Mad Cities - Part Two of Two
God loves gays. That’s what Andrew Wilson explained when he visited Queens Road Church last week. The author of the best-selling books “Incomparable” and “GodStories” was at his best as he contributed to our “Sex In the City” series. I found Andrew’s five tough questions on homosexuality so helpful that I’m blogging his questions and answers...
God Loves Sex-Mad Cities - Part One of Two
God loves sex-mad cities. That’s very good news if, like me, you live in one.
Half a century ago, CS Lewis asked in his book “Mere Christianity”, “Suppose you came to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate onto the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let everyone see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton...
December 2010
1 post
Bad News is Good News
Christmas is good news, but it begins with some bad news. Terrible news, in fact.
Think about it. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her that she is about to fall miraculously pregnant, despite the fact she is a virgin and has never slept with her fiance. That might not have sounded like good news straight away. She would be ostracised by her community. Unless her fiance were a man of...
November 2010
2 posts
Thank God that You Feel Sleepy
You’ve got to admit that it’s a pretty strange design. Think about it. Why would God create humans to need to spend a third of their lives asleep?
If this doesn’t strike you as a little bit odd, then remember that he made us to reflect what he is like (Genesis 1:27), and Psalm 121 tells us that “The Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth … will neither slumber nor sleep.” What could possibly have...
Victory Wounds
To celebrate the launch this week of “Straight to the Heart of Genesis” and “Straight to the Heart of 1&2 Corinthians”, I’m posting one final chapter here for you from 2 Corinthians. If you want more chapters after this, you’re going to have to buy the book! Back to the blog as usual from next week!
We all know what it is like to suffer. We have all cried...
October 2010
3 posts
God's Folly
It is only a week until “Straight to the Heart of Genesis” and “Straight to the Heart of 1&2 Corinthians” become available from book stores. I’m posting one of the chapters from “Genesis” here to whet your appetite ahead of next week. I hope you find it a real encouragement that God’s Folly is far wiser than our wisdom.
ABRAHAM: GOD’S...
Jesus, the Chilean Miners and You
$600,000. That’s how much per person the Chilean government is thought to have spent on rescuing each of the thirty-three miners. Sixty-nine days of rescue operation since the San Jose copper mine collapsed on 5th August. Three separate bore-holes drilling half a mile underground to reach the miners. A steel reinforcement of one of the holes. A custom-built rescue pod. Saving dying souls...
Preview of "Straight to the Heart of 1&2...
In three weeks’ time, the first copies of “Straight to the Heart of Genesis” and “Straight to the Heart of 1&2 Corinthians” will hit the bookshelves. I’m really excited about volumes 4 and 5 of the series and can’t wait to share them, so I’m blogging one of the chapters here to give you a preview. It is the chapter on 1 Corinthians 2:2, and it is...
September 2010
2 posts
Sneak Preview - Straight to the Heart of Genesis
In just four weeks time, copies of “Straight to the Heart of Genesis” and “Straight to the Heart of 1 & 2 Corinthians” will hit the bookshelves. I’m very excited.
The first three volumes in my series of devotional commentaries have received some great reviews. They have already sold twice as many copies as the average Christian publication, and I’ve...
Three things to do with the Koran today instead of...
A pastor in Florida has called off his plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11. I’m glad. God hasn’t called Christians to burn the writings of Muhammad. He has called us to do something far more dangerous with them.
1. He has called us to find out what the Koran says.
The plan to burn copies of the Koran was borne out of fear. Like the recent book published by a...
August 2010
3 posts
1 tag
Four Reasons Why I'm Going on an iFast from My...
I love my iPhone. Really, I do. But I’m writing this blog before hanging up my iPhone to start two weeks of self-imposed iFasting. I think it will do me a lot of good spiritually.
I’m not sharing this with you to impress you or even to tell you that you should go on an iFast as well. I just want to challenge you to re-think the way you manage technology in your own life as a...
What kind of Church Are You Giving Your Life to?
Life is short. Far too short to waste it on anything less than the breathtaking, grace-giving, love-abounding Church which Jesus Christ is building.
Sadly, many Christians do. A few fail to join a local church altogether, but perhaps a majority fall for a Church which is something far less than Jesus wants her to be. They give their lives to a church which has lost the dangerous, radical edge...
1 tag
Ask God #2 - Do Babies and Infants Who Die Go to...
Whoever first thought to call easy tasks “child’s play” clearly didn’t have any children themselves. Kids ask the toughest questions and they expect us to have answers.
At Queens Road Church, we’re spending the six summer Sundays trying to answer the toughest questions which our children have told us they would like to pose to God. I expected their questions to be...
July 2010
7 posts
Ordinary Radicals #5 - God Loves Paedophiles Too
In July 2000, the British newspaper “News of the World” ran a campaign to name and shame convicted paedophiles living free in the community. The Paulsgrove estate in Portsmouth exploded into violence when residents discovered that one such convicted sex offender was in their midst. Hundreds of rioters burned cars and ransacked the block of flats where he lived. “I think they...
Ask God #1 - Why Doesn't God Always Heal?
“If you give children child-sized answers to their spiritual questions, then when they grow out of your answers they will also grow out of their faith.” That’s the advice that apologist Michael Ramsden gave me when I chatted with him last year. It has prompted a six-week sermon series this summer at Queens Road Church in which we are trying to answer children’s questions...
Ordinary Radicals #4 - Basic Ingredients
I am not very good at cooking. I’m serious. If I ever invite you over to my house for dinner, then you’d better check my wife is cooking before you reply.
I can just about make something if I have a recipe book open and all the right ingredients are in front of me, but that’s only as far as my cooking skills can stretch. There’s no room for ad libbing or innovation when...
Annie Clague
Last night at midnight, just as I was about to go to bed, I received some very sad news.
Queens Road Church has served all year as the training base for forty gap-year ‘FP-Impact’ students who have volunteered a year of their lives to serve in a church in London or the Home Counties. We’ve hosted them as overnight guests in our homes, and got to know them as friends. They are...
Blessed Hurricane
I heard a lot of fantastic preaching this week at the “Together on a Mission” conference, but the most moving and challenging preach of all was delivered by someone who wasn’t even there.
PJ Smyth leads GodFirst Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, a church which he planted five years ago and which now gathers over two thousand worshippers in seven different venues. He was...
Now Available!
This morning, the “Straight to the Heart” series went on sale online and in bookshops. Six years after making the first steps towards the series, the first three books have at last arrived!
If you want to read sample chapters from Straight to the Heart of Matthew, Acts and Revelation, then visit www.philmoorebooks.com
You can also find links to buy both single and bulk-buy copies...
Ordinary Radicals #3 - Eastern Mystics
No one could accuse Matthew of understating his point. He is concerned that Mary and Rahab in chapter 1 were not enough to convince you. He knows the stubborn nature of the belief that God saves good people and not ordinary sinners. He is concerned that you may even assume that people of other faiths are not on his Gospel radar. So Matthew finds another example to convince you that God wants to...
June 2010
6 posts
Love All in the Tennis
The whole world has descended on my part of South-West London. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships are nearing their final weekend, which means that people have gathered from many different nations to watch the oldest and greatest tennis Grand Slam. My wife and I have tickets to join the crowds tomorrow, but last night I paid a more important visit to the All England Tennis Club. I went to tell...
Ordinary Radicals #2 - Rahab
When Matthew makes a point, he really makes a point. He finds an individual who completely fits the bill.
He does so in only the fifth verse of his gospel. It’s not enough for him to tell us that Jesus was born to a poor Galilean peasant-girl. He rightly suspects that we will airbrush Mary’s profile into something sanitised, saintly and safe, failing to be shocked by her...
In this half hour message, I try to explain that...
Ordinary Radicals #1 - Introduction
I just can’t get enough of Matthew’s gospel. When Monarch Books asked me to write a series of devotional commentaries on the whole of the Bible, I agreed with the proviso that Matthew’s gospel be one of the first three books in the series. When I began pastoring Queens Road Church in Wimbledon, I chose as my rallying cry a sermon series on Matthew’s gospel. I just...
5 tags
Redemption Is Harder than We Think
Unless you have been living in a hermetically sealed lunchbox for the past few weeks, you know that the Football World Cup is well underway in South Africa. At Queens Road Church, we showed England vs USA on the big screens as part of a massive barbecue-braai. Everything was brilliant except for the one thing we couldn’t organise ourselves: the England goalkeeper.
If you are not a...
1 tag
Only 15 days to go...
After five years of study and one year of writing, the first three books in the “Straight to the Heart” series of devotional commentaries hit the bookshelves in the UK in 15 days’ time. Having needed to cocoon myself away for some long periods of writing, I’m looking forward to people finally being able to see that I was not just playing chess against my computer (well,...