Courageous Grace

Grace demands courage.

Courage to trust it in the midst of our doubts and failures. Courage to defend it in the face of opposition. Courage to offer it to others when our impulse is so often the very opposite. The apostle Paul understood all this.

Late in his own life, he wrote to his young charge Timothy: 'You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus' (2 Tim 2:1).

At one level, it's an unlikely exhortation for strength and grace aren't natural bedfellows. Strength is typically connected with ideas of might and power. Grace, on the other hand, evokes something very different; perhaps notions of kindness, compassion or gentleness.

Yet - according to Paul - for the Christian leader, the two are inseparable. Yes, we are called to strength but it's a strength founded 'in grace'. A strength expressed in a life and ministry that trusts, embodies, proclaims and defends God's grace to us in Jesus.

This blog is all about doing this.

My desire is to ponder and reflect on Christian leadership and ministry that is courageously committed to grace.

That's not to say that every post will touch explicitly on the theme of grace, but as I reflect on ministry and leadership it will be Paul's call to be strong in it that undergirds what I write. My hope is that in turn this might serve to provoke and encourage you as you seek to live this call in your own life and ministry. Grace & peace Tim