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Internal Opportunity
Given that I will be moving on in January 2024, we now have a vacancy for People, Performance and Operations Manager. Although we plan to publish this job opening to external channels, we encourage any current employee who is interested in the role to apply. Closing date for applications is 15th October 2023. Feel free to contact me if you would like to apply or have any questions about the position or the process.
Abraham in Genesis 22: Model or Monster?
Abraham in Genesis 22 – Model or Monster?1 'God has told me to kill my son!' How would you respond if someone told you that? On a practical level you would probably seek immediate help for the speaker (and their son) to avoid a disaster. On a theological level you would almost certainly think that the speaker is wrong – God wouldn't ask such an immoral thing! How, then, do we read and use a passage in the Bible where it appears that God does just t
Serving God in a Foreign Land
Daniel's Faithful Improvisation in the Court of the Babylonian King In his famous list of the OT heroes of faith, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes the following claim: ‘All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been
The Mission of the Church in a Post-conflict Context: A Reflection on Reformed and Anabaptist Approaches among Christians in Northern Ireland
My Masters dissertation focused on the core purpose of the Church, as it applies to our post-conflict and still intractably divided community in Northern Ireland. Twenty-Two years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland public and their political representatives appear to have settled for ‘an end of violence’ and protracted division of the two main communities, each with its own separate culture. The Church in Northern Ireland has, in the main
Seeds. Season 2
Seeds. has returned for a second season, focusing on personal encounters with Jesus. Seeds. is a weekly series of stories about the interesting and diverse people who study, work for & visit the College. These stories of encounters with Jesus are created with the hope of sharing the work of God through personal testimonies of real people. Tommy Karla Underneath it all, whether we are Christian or not, we have all been there - when w
Theological Thoughts
Our Theological Thoughts series is posted on our social media (Facebook & Instagram) on a regular basis. This is where we ask readers to pause for a couple of minutes to consider a thought written by one of our lecturers that will make them think a little bit deeper about their faith. 10 Commandments of Theological Study by Dr. William Ford 1. I shall remember that my relatio
The Groaning of Creation (Romans 8:18) and Contemporary Christian Attitudes to Climate Change
‘Climate change’ is a modern problem which is not addressed specifically in the Bible. However, the doctrine of creation was central to the biblical authors’ understanding of the world and consequently Scripture is peppered with relevant references that can guide modern Christian attitudes to the environment. Some Christians hold that the Earth is only a temporary home which will ultimately be destroyed but such a stance can make believers ‘careless stewards’ (Orr,
Bias and Biblical Faithfulness: Becoming Self-Aware Readers of Scripture
Many of us spend a lot of time reading the Bible. It is a core tenet of living out our faith. The triune God has revealed Himself to us through His Word and, therefore, it demands our attention. Not only that, but it demands our best efforts to faithfully understand what it means. Because the text is revelatory and divinely inspired it has an authority (Goldingay, 1995, 3). More than that, a genuine engagement with it should transform us and provide us with a perspective for how to live as faith
Changing Context: An Interview with Karen Webb
ANGLICAN CHURCHES IN THE GREATER SHANKILL ROAD AREA AND THEIR CHANGING CONTEXT Peter McDowell: Karen, you’re very welcome to this conversation. Could you tell a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you are doing and then perhaps why did you apply to do this MA course? Karen Webb: I am a Church Army evangelist. Church Army are a group of evangelists across the UK and Ireland and I am the lead evangelist in the North Belfast area. I’m married to Tim. He’s a jou
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Spiritual Abuse: Making Churches a Safer Place
‘Abuse in any form is a serious problem…not least for the church’ (Ozanne, 2017, 1). This is the unfortunate reality. Abusive environments, both past and present exist. For the church, accepting that abuse can and does exist within these environments is a sobering, yet inevitable, reality. In recent years, the Church has worked hard implementing safeguarding policies and practises and this deserves to be celebrated. I would suggest, however, the Church has so much more to cont
Self-Awareness and Spiritual Development of Adolescents: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a Possible Tool for Youth Ministry
YOUTH MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT Young people are masterfully and uniquely designed by the Creator who calls them beloved. Those within Christian youth ministry have the privilege to highlight these unique designs and to guide and encourage each young person on their journey. The potential is great for young people to grow spiritually when they understand the intricacies of how God created them. Amy Jacober (2014, 107) writes: [Youth ministers] play a vital role in celebrating t
God Sent His Son - Devotional
The reflections focus on five texts where the phrase, ‘God sent his Son,’ is used as a way of summarising the event of the first Christmas. This year we are suggesting that this devotional would be good to use after Christmas and before the New Year, to dwell and reflect on the significance of the incarnation.
Seeds.
Seeds. is a weekly series of stories about the interesting and diverse people who study, work & visit the College. These stories of growth are created with the hope of sharing the work of God through personal testimonies of real people. Jordan "I'm preparing and I'm studying and I'm doing things to hopefully help people I haven't even met yet." Excitement about future possibilities can distract us from what God is doing now. Jordan, a se
Look Past the Headline
Dr. Cindy Brown urges us to listen to and love the world as God loves the world. As we interact with the news, let us look past the headlines to where the Spirit wants to bring the Gospel to meet the needs of the world and move past ‘hashtag’ trends to a deeper understanding as people of the Kingdom of God.
Context is Everything - lessons from Nepal
Peter McDowell is our new Lecturer in Missiology, so he took a moment out of his preparing for teaching for us to ask him a few questions. So how are you? I'm good, it’s good to be here. It feels like my wife and I have done a lot of different things in a lot of different places, but at each point we look at what’s coming next. For me, teaching has always been a vocation. I like sharing with groups, and helping people (and myself) learn, grow and develop. So this feels
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Sabbath-making as Soul-keeping
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Over the course of a busy semester at Belfast Bible College the pressure from assignments and exams, administration, teaching, homes, health, placements, and worries is felt not only in our souls and minds but also our bodies. Now and again we have phases in life when we just plain get tired, and we need a break from pressing labours. But sometimes, if we’re honest, we reach this place less because of this or that particular o
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Re-reading well known biblical stories
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There are some stories in the bible that we know very well, having heard them from Sunday school onwards. This familiarity can sometimes be a problem, as we can lose the ability to be challenged or inspired by them.[1] How do we read such stories well?[2] As an example, let us think about a very well-known story: David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17.
One key question to ask in reading the story is why David acted the way that he did. He is introdu
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Can I be a Christian & be a worrier?
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‘Every single person who ever lived is personally familiar with fear. It is an inescapable feature of earthly life….Fear is natural to us. We don’t have to learn it. We experience fear and anxiety even before there is any logical reason for them.’[1] Some level of stress is good. It’s what helps a student submit their assignment by the deadline. But too much stress can cause that same student to sink into a deb