The Whitehouse Church Podcast

In our modern Christianity it’s common for people to have the idea that everyone in church needs to be happy. So, when people are going through challenges they often disappear from community. They don't know how to be a Christian whilst going through a divorce. Or how to be Christian amid chronic illness. They don't know how to authentically live out their Christianity in the face of despa...

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. He took a deep breath and announced to the world that something new was about to happen. The holy space of heaven was going to take shape in the earth and transform it. Nothing would ever be the same.

The genealogy that introduces Jesus includes all sorts of unsavory, unpleasant, and 'unclean' people. This is the Messiah's family tree. Hallelujah! This is clearly a family that doesn’t exclude anyone! This is a family that can redeem anyone and change their story into something beautiful.

As God’s workers we are invited to partner with him to make all things new. And in this, we have an opportunity to support the poor so that their needs are met now, and we can comfort those who are mourning, and protect the earth for the meek. Right now, we can invest our talents in mercy and peacemaking. As we wait, we must not be idle, but rather we must exercise our power and privilege to sow a...

"The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Matthew 23:11-12.

As a pastor and friend I have a responsibility to help people put on the new garments of faith, but that more often looks like coffee and counsel than an emotive call to repentance. I have found that doing life closely with other people is the best way to spur on growth. I’m not saying that we should be complacent with sin, just patient. We should be aggressive with our own sin whilst patiently lo...

This landowner planted a vineyard, he built the wall, dug the winepress, and built the watchtower. These are the actions of a landowner who loves his vineyard. He got his hands in the soil and stones and seeds. The tenants were privileged to live and work in the vineyard but they did not build the vineyard and they did not own the vineyard.

For the kingdom of heaven is like… a place where people have their needs met regardless of when they arrived or how much they can contribute. Where all people are treated with dignity and value. Where we have the privilege of serving in God’s garden and joyfully labouring under the sun for the work of justice and kindness.

Is this relationship safe for me and for the community I am in? Or do I need to step back to protect myself and allow for this other person to live in the consequences of their actions?

Jesus never misled his disciples about the nature of his kingdom. They just couldn’t see past their cultural worldview. They couldn’t see past their religious nationalism and their desire for retributive justice to the kingdom of peace, love, mercy, and restorative justice that Jesus was building.

As is common, there is a lot more going on behind this text than we first imagine. When the woman is viewed as a representative person from an elite economic class that has habitually taken advantage of the peasants of Galilee the conversation takes on a different tone. Jesus’ comments could very well reflect the real-lived experience of bread being taken out of the mouths of Galilean children to...

The challenges of life: the grief, wars, famines, floods, fires, diseases, death, anxieties, worries, suffering, misery, and injustices of history are the groaning of God’s good world. We are in the groaning time. But it isn’t just meaninglessness. The groaning is like childbirth and at the end of all this pain there will be a beautiful reconciliation. Destruction, corruption, and death will not b...

Have you ever felt that a task was hopeless. World peace? Eradication of hunger? The restoration of the environment? Forgiving someone who has wronged you? The reconciliation of a broken friendship? Healing from a toxic or abusive relationship? Finding peace in the wake of tragedy or grief? Sometimes the best that we can offer is a meagre handful of loaves and fishes with the hope that Jesus can d...

The only reasonable response to finding a treasure is to pursue it, and so it is with the kingdom of heaven.

Awful things happen in the world. The weeds are apparent in every facet of our lives. Big weeds like war and famine, but also in the small things. Even in the church there are weeds among the wheat. But the good farmer, the Son of Man, is waiting. He is not powerless and one day he will command his angels to harvest and sort the crop. The kingdom of God is going to uproot the kingdom of the world,...

The story of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice to Yahweh presents Christians with a challenging portrait of God. If we are to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and contend that God is like Jesus, we do not have the liberty of dismissing or embracing the violent portraits of God. Rather, we must find a way to interpret them in light of what we know about God through Jesus, who...

Jesus calls unlikely people to partner in his mission: His mission to bring good news. His mission to bring the restoration of all things. This is the way of the kingdom. Jesus calls the unlikely to lead the unworthy to sometbeautiful.

Matthew is retelling the story of his midlife crisis and in the midst of that story Jesus heals a paralysed man and an unclean woman, and then he raises a girl from the dead. This is what following Jesus was like for Matthew. The day Jesus called him was a day of salvation and resurrection. A day of mercy and breaking cultural taboos to bring life.   

The narrative of Amos describes the people of Israel as devout in their adherence to cultic ritual but also as devoid of genuine concern for justice and righteousness (Amos 4:4-5; 5:21-24). As God’s covenant people they were meant to reflect his care for the most vulnerable but instead they oppressed the poor, withheld justice, and engaged in acts of sexual abuse, slavery, financial misconduct, an...

It is disappointing that the type of divisions Paul was addressing in the Corinthian church can still easily be seen in churches today. Celebrity pastors and culture in the church, gender-based hierarchies, reserved seating and car parking, barista coffee for the rich and instant coffee for the poor. The more trivial of these examples sadly belie the deeper issues of division in modern Christendom...

I have frequently talked about the simplicity of Jesus’ command to love but it is so important for us to remember. When I look at history and even when I look around today, it is apparent that many people in Christendom think that loving looks more like correction than washing feet, and more like judgement than cooking meals, and more like condemnation than compassion, and more like wrath than com...

The statement, “because you are with me” is in the exact middle of this Psalm and represents the central theological claim of the entire passage. It may be dark and bleak, but the shepherd is in the valley with you. The shepherd knew the way into this valley, and he knows the way out the other side, the way to grassy pastures and still waters. So don’t be afraid.

In this message Chevelle shares intimately and thoughtfully about her own experience of death and grief.

We had the pleasure of hearing from Wendell Mullet today who shared an encouraging message delving into Anabaptist history and our present calling to represent the beautiful kingdom of God.

Rather than perceiving this woman as prostitute, a harlot, or a sinner, there is a narrative here that can present this outspoken and theologically astute woman as an unfortunate victim of her circumstances that boldly steps into a place of faith and then chooses to go forth as an apostle to her people. If this story was about a man, it would likely have been interpreted differently for the last 1...