Better bandwidth for your faith!

by Stephan Joubert It’s a fact that the spiritual bandwidth of believers is narrow. The same old testimonies, sermons, books, conversations, outreaches, complaints and pains recycle throughout the church. Often when I’m speaking at a church and people ask me…

How to handle “weakest links”

by Stephan Joubert A while ago, someone told me that she’s working with a difficult person in a community project involving a group of youngsters. But her collaborator is the human version of one of those creatures who like to…

Maybe liberalism isn’t the biggest threat

by Stephan Joubert Not a week passes that the big “decay” in churches, and the deadness of religious people on the home front, don’t show up somewhere in emails or conversations. Of course we shouldn’t be blind to what is…

The language spider sometimes bites you in an unexpected way!

by Stephan Joubert Language really is something, right? Just as you’re thinking you said the right thing, in your very best language, you realize you are gravely mistaken. Different words simply have different meanings for different people. Not even to…

Consumerist myths and the fear of dancing

by Stephan Joubert Walking around in the Big Apple (New York) during Christmas time a few years ago, I wasn’t too surprised to see that the slogan of a well-known store was: “May you this Xmas get what you want,…

Contrarians… like Jesus!

by Stephan Joubert “The mighty oak was once a little nut that stood its ground.” Steven B. Sample applies the term contrarian to depict effective leaders in his book on contemporary leadership: ‘The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership’ (2002). Without giving…

To paint Jacob Zuma, or not to paint (or deface) him

by Stephan Joubert The guns are blazing about the controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma by Cape Town artist Brett Murray. This painting, which depicts the President with his genitals exposed, was vandalized on Tuesday, May 22. A man who…

What if reality was made up of God’s stories, not atoms?

by Stephan Joubert What if the Bible is God’s story book rather than a Question and Answer Book to solve all those inexplicable hardships and problems people have to face up to… What if God cares more about people participating…

Can you teach stones to talk?

by Stephan Joubert Stones aren’t dead. They have ears, as Joshua will tell you when he delivers his last sermon to the people of Israel (Joshua 24). Stones can even cry out, as Jesus will tell you when he enters…

The new language(s) of Jesus

by Stephan Joubert Jesus walked and talked differently. As a matter of fact, his first language preceded syntax. More than often Jesus spoke without grammatical speech. The deepest meanings that he shared about God and others were embedded in “somatic”…