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"Are you really my brother?" Mohammed asked me one day.
It didn’t take long for me to answer. I was reflecting on my Christian tradition that freely uses the words brother and sister to describe one another, and I was very aware that believers from a Muslim background often lose their families when they choose to follow Jesus. They need family. “Of course,” I said to him. “Of course you are my brother.”....
Ascension Day!!?
This blog is being written in the context of Pentecost 2026. The last few months have seen a growing number of people from a Muslim background coming to Christ in the town on the outskirts of Manchester where I live. Easter saw four Kurdish Iranians who had a strong Muslim background baptised by full immersion in a pool placed at the front of a 11th Century church...
What's in a name?
Who gave you your name (and I am talking about your individual name, not your family name)? Do you know why they chose this name for you? Does it have a particular meaning? Were you named after someone, or as a reminder of a special place/time/belief, or based on an honoured tradition, or was it just a name they liked the sound of?...
Embracing BMBs: a risk worth taking
Consider the Acts 9 conversion narrative of Saul before he became Paul. Ananias and Barnabas are two key frontline disciples crucial in Paul's conversion journey. They are symbolic 'typologies' of the present realities of the church today in choosing to embrace BMBs or not in the different Christian-faith expressions...
Hidden wisdom
‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ is a well-known English idiom - meaning that we should not make assumptions about the value, worth or ability of something (or someone) by what is seen outwardly. There are similar idioms in cultures across the world...
A shared place of belonging
In her contribution to the Lent Talks on BBC Sounds in 2020, Bishop Guli Francis- Dehqani gave a stunning devotional and pastoral application in her reflections on identity and community within the context of a detail from the Passion of Jesus recorded in the gospels...
Access, encounter, witness and bless
At a Joining the Family core group planning meeting, we were led in devotions through a reading of Mark 7:24 -36...
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Thanks for contributing to the growing body of wisdom of how to be family to believers of Muslim heritage!