All Premier Christianity articles in December 2013

View all stories from this issue.

  • The 'A Problem Shared' panel
    Archive content

    A Problem Shared: Struggles in Sunday School

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    A group of parents with special needs children have started to attend our church, which I am delighted about. However, the Sunday children’s groups have struggled to accommodate them. The children shout and talk throughout services, which is upsetting older worshippers in particular. How do we resolve the situation without offending or rejecting these new members?

  • Malcolm Gladwell
    Archive content

    Malcolm’s X-Factor

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Martin Saunders enters the enigmatic world of Malcolm Gladwell, and discovers a man returning unexpectedly not just to the Bible, but also to his Christian roots.

  • Give Like You Mean It
    Archive content

    Give like you mean it

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    As consumption goes up at Christmas, so too does our charitable giving. Is this spike a good thing? Christmas is the season of giving: time, money, brown paper packages tied up with string. It’s as if we supercharge our benevolence for one month of the year and it takes us the other 11 to recover (and plan) for the next.

  • Jeff Lucas
    Regular Columnists

    Jeff Lucas: Strange Fire

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The charismatic/pentecostal movement includes around 500 million people worldwide – about 25% of the total number of professing Christians. That’s a lot of people. And according to one man, John MacArthur, they are guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

  • Archive news

    A fresh face for Fresh Expressions

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Canon Phil Potter has been named as the next archbishops’ missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team.

  • Rob Parsons
    Archive content

    Rob Parsons: Some of us have spent our whole lives trying to sing somebody else’s song

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    I’m not sure what made me do it. One minute I was at a wedding reception sitting quietly at a table, the next I was on stage in front of a karaoke machine belting out ‘Suspicious Minds’.

  • This Month's Music Review
    Reviews

    Reviews: December Music

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Music by Bethel Music, Norma Jean

  • Living with Death
    Archive content

    Living with death

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    It’s the one thing we can guarantee will happen to all of us, but is it possible to prepare for it ? Long before she was bedridden, she was driving along a highway through a construction site. Carefully following the detours and the mile-by-mile cautionary signs, she came to the last one that said, “End of Construction. Thank you for your patience.” She arrived home, chuckling…“When I die,” she said, “I want that engraved on my stone.”

  • John MacArthur
    Archive news

    John MacArthur denounces charismatic movement

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    American pastor says charismatics aren’t true Christians The prominent Christian author and pastor John MacArthur has attacked the charismatic movement at his recent Strange Fire conference at the Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.

  • Christmas Carols - Copyright Geoffrey Robinson / REX
    Archive content

    Christmas starts with Christ (and carols)

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Just 12% of adults know the nativity story, and 51% of people say the birth of Jesus is irrelevant to their Christmas.

  • Ruth Dickinson
    Magazine Features

    First Words: Carols, cold weather, cold turkey, crackers, Noddy Holder...

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    A strange sense of displacement, perhaps, as you pack up and spend a few days elsewhere. A punctuation mark to signify the end of the year.

  • Archbishop Instagram
    Archive content

    News in Brief

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual forces...

  • Santa Claus
    Archive content

    Two Views: Should we give Santa the boot?

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Is teaching children about Santa bad for their faith? Ruth Mawhinney chairs the debate.

  • This Month's Book Reviews
    Reviews

    Reviews: December Books

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Books by James Carey, Simon Holley.

  • Samson
    Archive content

    Bible Stories Uncensored: Samson the Thug (and Pimp)

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Should we tell children about the murkier acts of Samson, such as using prostitutes and pimping out his wife? On a family holiday some years ago, we found ourselves driving through a very rough part of a town and I started to dread what my daughters might be seeing.

  • Jesus in The Bible series
    Archive content

    The making of The Bible

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    This December, Channel 5 will be screening 10 hours of biblical stories and expecting huge audiences. But will the series that drew millions of viewers in America have the same success here?

  • Archive news

    Resource launched for same-sex attracted Christians

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    A new website designed to help Christians who are same-sex attracted live out their faith was launched last month.

  • Archive news

    Christian schools work attacked by NSS

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Schools exploited by evangelical Christian groups, say secularists.

  • Katie Adie
    Interviews

    Q&A: Kate Adie

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Acclaimed journalist Kate Adie talks about her latest book and her experience of war and religion.

  • Ayo Adedoyin
    Archive content

    Why I Am A Christian: Ayo Adedoyin

    2014-03-05T00:00:00Z

    I became a Christian back in 1996. I grew up in a Christian family and went to church. When I went to school I drifted away. But from time to time I would feel a tug on my heart pulling me back. I guess at the right time I just really felt a desire to draw close to God.