Ali Johnson

The 21st century is strange and wonderful place to be and a difficult place to envision a radical, grace give and whole hearted Christian faith. This series of the A-Z of discipleship will help us try and narrow down a few key concepts of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in the 21st century.

Authentic

Have you ever heard about the guy who walked a tight rope across Niagra Falls? Many people watched him do it. To them he asked, "Do you believe I can walk a tight ...

Today I am going to take a quote from. Dallas Willard. He is an American philosophy professor and author born in Buffalo, Missouri. His work in philosophy has been primarily in phenomenology, particularly the work of Edmund Husserl. His more popular work has been in the area of Christian spiritual formation, within the various expressions of historic Christian orthodoxy. I came across his work as he was my previous boss Bruce Hoplers' mentor. Check this out, its taken from a book called Hearing God. "The test of character posed by the gentleness of God's approach to us is especially dangerous for those formed by the ideas that ...

This book is a gem, 145 pages of pure love, trust, gratitude and faith in Jesus. I was struck by how much this book spoke into my life when I read it. It gives you a glimpse of Jesus’ heart and his pure, rentless love towards His people. This book defines self-hatred as the reason that so many Christian struggle with the constant unrelenting love of Abba. By clearly understanding and grappling with the life and teachings of Jesus we can understand and grapple with the real and true saviour. And then be truly changed and transformed. In the astonishing chapter entitled ‘Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred’ we see Manning grapple with ...

Max Lucado (born January 11, 1955) is a best-selling Christian author and minister of writing and preaching at Oak Hills Church (formerly the Oak Hills Church of Christ) inSan Antonio, Texas. Lucado has written more than 50 books with 28 million copies in print, including three recipients of the Charles "Kip" Jordon Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year (Just Like Jesus, In the Grip of Grace, and When God Whispers Your Name), and has appeared regularly on several bestseller lists. I was given this quote a while ago and have been mediating on it this weekend as I spent time with some really close friends. "When my daughter was a toddler, I used to take ...

My spiritual mentor has been telling me for years now to read the bible in a year. He tells me its a great discipline and a great way to read and grapple with parts of the bible that I may never have read before. Here is your 21 day update. 3 weeks in and I am thinking why haven't I done this before. I have been amazed at how much reading the bible everyday can help make you so much more aware of God. So much more aware of what God has been doing in this world. I wonder if we sometimes are too afraid of being disciplined  in our culture because it leads us back to the days of ...

One of the most remarkable features of the Christian story, in which I participate, is the inner renewal it brings. This is witnessed in scripture - ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and experienced by many believers over the centuries. The Apostle Paul knew first hand the transforming power of Jesus Christ, but there are others too: Nicky Cruz, William Wilberforce, John Wesley are the ones which spring quickly to mind. But God doesn’t do that, anymore, does he? God doesn’t take ordinary, broken and confused men and women and create in them wonderful ...