Reflections and Stories

The Advent of Adulting

16 Dec 2019

Technically this is my fourth Advent as an adult, but it’s my first since graduating, and therefore the first Advent where I genuinely feel like I'm part of the ‘real’ world. It’s odd. I’m just about used to buying my own Advent calendar, but am still not good enough at budgeting to plan for all...

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Rest: The Lost Art of Stopping

12 Dec 2019

Recently I went on holiday with my wife and the in-laws to Norfolk. Unfortunately, whilst I was there I got pretty sick, and ended up spending a good few days in bed. Not an ideal holiday! When you’re lying in bed with very little to do, and with very little access to the Internet, you tend to...

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Reflections from the WSCF European Regional Assembly

7 Nov 2019

There are lots of reasons why people have faith, but a key reason for me is about being part of something bigger. I think that’s why I’m also passionate about being involved in the global movement of SCMs – The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). It gives me the opportunity to connect...

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Bored by Outrage?

28 Oct 2019

Everyone is familiar with the outrage that follows any media controversy. Piers Morgan says something “untoward” about gender, suddenly thousands of online activists are campaigning for his removal from television. Chic-Fil-A attempt to open a branch in Reading and they are run out of town by...

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The Courage to Be: Against Guilt

16 Oct 2019

Well done, you’ve made it. This is the third and final piece in my series of articles about Paul Tillich’s “The Courage to Be”. We’ve looked at the anxieties of death and meaninglessness, and now we’ll look at the anxiety of guilt. I’d like to think the subject matter got cheerier as I went...

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Multiplying Kindness to Fight Division

11 Oct 2019

A few weeks ago, I went to the Coventry...

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Rach's Diary: Round Four of Freshers

26 Sep 2019

It’s freshers' season.

Welcome Week lasts four weeks for me and takes me to six different university campuses. It’s a great opportunity to work with chaplains (it’s amazing what conversations you get into while trying to make the perfect pancake!) meet with church leaders (including...

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Rach's Reflection: Evangelism is a Scary Word

1 Aug 2019

I was at a Christian festival around the age of 15 when I claimed my faith as my own. I was really excited, and volunteered to go to Torquay High Street with others from the festival to give out hot cross buns to strangers if they would talk with me about why there was a cross on the top of them...

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What is Ecumenism? What isn’t it?

24 Jul 2019

Let me first be clear by ruling out what ecumenism is not and should not be. Ecumenism is often wrongly caricatured as merely passively accepting everything other denominations say, think, do and believe without thought or question. However, to participate in the services or activities of...

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Discovering Ecumenical Services at University

24 Jul 2019

Growing up in an Anglican tradition, I got to know the service styles of a few local churches over the years, gaining some sense of what a wonderfully eclectic concoction the Church of England is. However, aside from a couple of visits to Methodist or Catholic churches, I had little practical...

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