Welcome to our web site. It has been written partly for our friends, and partly for the wider community.
We hope you find the pages on this site interesting and informative - do let us know what you think.
On the night of Friday 26 February 2010, I plan to sleep out in the churchyard of Pip 'n' Jay church in Bristol, along with folk from many other organisations in Bristol who work to help homeless people.
You can find out more about the event on the
Sleepout page
of the BCAN web site. If you would like to join us in doing
something practical to help some of the most needy and vulnerable
people in Bristol, please get in touch with me or with someone from
one of the other organisations taking part. But, if you can't,
please sponsor someone who is taking part.
You can
sponsor me through JustGiving,
or get in touch and I will send you a form. Thank you.
For our friends, both new and old, this web site will tell you something about us (in the 'Personal' section), our hobbies, interests, beliefs and activities; and also about the Christian and community work we do (in the 'Ministry' section).
You will also find a number of articles (in the 'Writings' section) which are offered as resources, mostly to the Christian community, although there are some of a more general nature. Please feel free to browse, and tell us what you think - especially if you disagree with or have questions about any of it!
Among the popular general articles are:
And among the popular Christian articles are:
For new friends to this site, we are sharing a house with Steve, an old friend from university days. The house is in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, in the South West of England. We have been living with Steve since 1999, when we sold our house in Guildford. You can read something of what we have been getting up to on our family news page.
My MTh dissertation is about the problem of suffering. As part of my research, I need to hear from a variety of people about their experience. If you are interested in this area, or may be willing to help me by sharing something of your own experience, please visit the Problem of Suffering page. Thank you.
Just to be absolutely clear:
we are not linked with the
Hazelden Foundation based in the USA. The fact that we share
the same name, and both they and we spend a large amount of time and
energy helping addicts is, as far as we can tell, a complete coincidence.
I know the chances are pretty remote, but please read what it says on the Warnings page before sending us an email that falls into one of the following categories. Thank you.
If you are new to this site, you may find it helpful to have a look at the Web Site page, which contains the following information.
If you would like to use any of the material on this web site, please read the Copyright and Conditions page before sending us a message. Thank you.
The complete set of noted changes are listed here:
1998-9 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | Latest
The most recent significant changes to this site are:
7 February 2010: updated two sections of 'What is the Fate of the Wicked?' - Eternal life and Burning in the New Testament.
28 January 2010: added some more entries to the Family News since 18 January.
25 January 2010: added an expanded version of the NHS proposal: Building a Healthy NHS.
22 January 2010: added the Q&A: Babies and Free Will page with my response to a recent email.
18 January 2010: added some more entries to the Family News since 4 January.
12 January 2010: added the short piece: You can't do deals with God.
10 January 2010: added the Questions About Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Bristol - Meeting 2 on 5 June 2009 notes.
4 January 2010: added the Questions About Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Bristol - Meeting 1 on 25 April 2009 revised notes.
4 January 2010: added the first few entries in the Family News in 2010.
31 December 2009: added a draft article on What is Missing from normal church life, made a few corrections to Honesty is the worst policy, and add some more entries to the Family News since 18 December.
18 December 2009: added Honesty is the worst policy to the articles by other people and made some more entries to the Family News since 6 December.
10 December 2009: added the reference article Evolution is not the problem. Also added three more items to the humour pages over the past few months: The Story of an Ant, A guy is sitting at the bar and Estimation.
6 December 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 3 December, including the death of Sue's father.
3 December 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 14 November.
30 November 2009: added some more entries to the New Scientist index page: Deadly rationality and Evolving gods.
27 November 2009: added some more entries to the New Scientist index page: Fearlessness may be linked to crime and The time machine in your head.
20 November 2009: added my notes on the lecture by Vincent Vitale on Suffering and a God of Love.
17 November 2009: added an article on The Ethics of Working with Vulnerable People.
14 November 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 17 October.
29 October 2009: added a quote to the Questions About Individual Budgets, added a couple of points to a section in Discipleship: Life and Ministry, and added a new section to Engaging the Voluntary Sector.
17 October 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 8 October.
11 October 2009: added a book review about Nudge.
8 October 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 24 September.
24 September 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 24 August.
24 August 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 12 August.
12 August 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 26 July.
11 August 2009: added the reference article Reality is What We Think It Is? by Benjamin Wiker.
26 July 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 23 July.
25 July 2009: updated the paper on Supported Employment and made a few more changes to Revising the Welfare System
23 July 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 29 June.
3 July 2009: updated the article on Targets, Strategies and Priorities.
29 June 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 21 June.
21 June 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 14 June.
19 June 2009: added a short article on Questions About CRB Checks.
18 June 2009: added a new article, Christian Ministry.
15 June 2009: added a new section, Questions, with a short article on Questions About Individual Budgets.
14 June 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 28 May.
28 May 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 25 May and updated some of the entries for the previous week.
25 May 2009: added a short review of Fermat's Last Theorem, added some more entries to the Family News since 14 May and updated the Supported Employment page.
14 May 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 8 May.
7 May 2009: added a draft article on Addiction and added some more entries to the Family News since 8 April.
7 April 2009: updated the article on Door to Door Evangelism.
Added some more entries to the Family News, 25 March - 8 April.
Added some more entries to the Family News, 2-19 March.
Added some more entries to the Family News, 10-28 February.
Added some more entries to the Family News, 5-7 February.
Added some more entries to the Family News, 1-3 February.
7 March 2009: added an article by The Economist on How to stop the drug wars and a piece by Melvyn Brag on Kierkegaard.
6 March 2009: updated the article on What doesn't happen when you become a Christian. Added some more entries to the Family News, 21-31 January.
22 February 2009: corrected a few mistakes and made a few minor updates to Engaging the Voluntary Sector.
20 February 2009: added two new entries to the Humour pages: Visitors from the Future and From a Fox News Segment, A.D. 31.
27 January 2009: updated the article on Discipleship: Life and Ministry again.
22 January 2009: updated the article on Discipleship: Life and Ministry.
20 January 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 15 January.
15 January 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 3 January.
13 January 2009: added a new article, Discipleship: Life and Ministry.
3 January 2009: added some more entries to the Family News since 31 December.