Christian Converser

Christian Converser

  • Recap: Governance and Accountability [1]

    So in the last month there has been a lot of debate in the church worldwide about governance and accountability. This is an ongoing issue that has never not been controversial because these issues really cut to the heart of how churches are run and who they are run for. Jesus spoke very strongly about…

  • NZ Churches Seek Judicial Review of Government Covid Protection Framework (Traffic Lights) [2]

    In the first part of this series we briefly examined the circumstances of the establishment of lodging court cases against the Government’s vaccine mandate policies by two separate groups of Christians. These groups are FreeToBeChurch, and the much more widely known Family First. The purpose of this part is to dig into some of the…

  • NZ Churches Seek Judicial Review of Government Covid Protection Framework (Traffic Lights) [1]

    The New Zealand Government in October 2021 announced the Covid-19 Protection Framework, otherwise known as “traffic lights”, for managing the impacts of Covid-19 in the community. The system was brought into effect on 2 December 2021 with most of NZ at the Orange level at that time. Nationwide pro-family lobby group Family First organised a…

  • Christians Vs Conspiracy Theories [1]: Intro

    Everyone knows that there are lots of conspiracy theories circulating in the world. While those specifically relating to Covid-19 are prominent at present, conspiracy theory is an ongoing issue for Christians rather than just a current set of events. This post attempts to explain this blog’s views on why Christians should not engage with these…

  • Theological Controversies Influencing US and NZ Churches [2]

    An article in “The Atlantic” in October 2021 highlights huge division in US evangelical churches, which is a high price to pay for years of craven obeisance to conservative politics. The author lays the blame squarely at the feet of Donald Trump in the present term whilst also acknowledging that the issue has been steadily…

  • Theological Controversies Influencing US and NZ Churches [1]

    It’s very plain and has been for many years that churches in New Zealand are theologically influenced by viewpoints that originate from the USA. Whilst these ideas may be mainstream with the overall culture of society in America, they begin to look rather odd when imported into another country where cultural values are very different.…

  • Anti-vaxxers Polarise NZ Christian Community

    We all have heard the arguments against the Coronavirus response worldwide, including vaccines. Much of the opposition to this is coming from within churches, from particular groups of Christians, almost all of whom follow obscure and rather extreme theological viewpoints, generally ones which, like many of the anti-arguments, have been bulk-imported from the USA. Unfortunately…

  • Ecclesiastical Polity: Diversity In Structure & Governance [1] – Intro

    Today we want to write the introduction to a new series about church governance and structure. This is a controversial area of discussion within the wider Church as it essentially governs the relationships between leadership and laity, which has important parallels in wider society in what is generally known as the political realm. Church governance…

  • Conservativism vs Humanitarianism In Church Theology [3] : Compromise vs Courage

    Between 2016 and 2020, the US presidency of Donald Trump divided the Church like no president ever before. Trump proved to be more willing to step over an unconscionable line than any of his wiser Republican predecessors, all of whom (as well as all Democrats) professed at least a nominal level of adherence to the…