Resources by Roycroft, Andrew

In a world which invites us to constantly publicise ourselves, self-description heavily outweighs self-knowledge. Social media and celebrity culture invite us to write our own label and then live up to it, whether or not we have thought through how psychologically accurate or even morally appropriate that description might be. Twitter asks us to compose […]

From as early as I can remember, books, poetry, and literature have mattered to me a great deal. That interest intensified in my teens, and eventually led me to study English as a single honours subject at university — I had no career plans back in those care free, fee-free, days of undergrad education! Lurking […]

To read John Owen on the doctrine of the atonement is to encounter a unique exercise in biblical theology being channelled through rigorous reason. In The Death of Death Owen’s full rhetorical and logical prowess is on display. He handles the opposing viewpoints of his theological interlocutors with sincerity, but also with a rational severity […]

I’m neither a diehard physical book fan nor a committed Kindle devotee. I read a hybrid of traditionally published texts and ebooks, depending on their content, price, their purpose, and the timescale that I have to read them. Often I will have a physical copy of a book and its ebook counterpart in the interests […]

Every employment has its own particular perils and pitfalls, occupational hazards which are simply attendant on fulfilling the task in hand. In this post I want to share three healthy and holy fears which should characterise the mind and heart of a faithful minister. These are not the pathological fears which seize all of our […]

The August-September edition of Banner of Truth is always something of an occasion — a significant increase in the heft of the envelope flopping on to the doormat, extra features etc — but the current issue has been particularly engaging. In the opening editorial Jonathan Watson hands over the reigns of the magazine to Ian […]

John Owen understood the demands and privileges of ministry. In a sterling sermon preached at an ordination service on Friday 8th September, 1682, he laid out in challenging and practical terms what the task of the pastor truly is. In his mind was the pressing need for ministers to pray. In this piece, we shall […]

We have been charting the biblically wise advice of John Owen for pastors, given in an ordination sermon preached on Friday 8th September 1682. His counsel is profound, challenging, and utterly relevant to our contemporary task as preachers. Thus far we have observed the essentials he attaches to preaching the Word and his four great […]

Almost two years ago I shared 15 reasons why visitation is good for your Pastor (you can read it here). At the time it was so fulfilling to talk to people about what I’d written, both online and in the real world, and to feel a sense of conviction about my own pastoral practice in […]

There’s a well worn quotation – often wrongly attributed to Mark Twain – which goes along the lines of ‘by the age of seventeen I realised that my father knew nothing. By the age of twenty one I was amazed at how much he had learned’. Regardless of who coined this phrase, it carries a […]

My late Dad bought me a pair of Grenson shoes for my wedding, solid and sensible footwear. They can be buffed to guardsman standard, but are stiff and inflexible and uncomfortable. I wore them to his funeral after my wedding, and have only worn them when I’m conducting funerals in the fourteen years since. Along […]

Of all the societal and psychological changes brought on by the dominance of social media, one of its most interesting effects is on our language. Headlines have been replaced by hashtags as a means of capturing the essence of a story, and terms can be coined, duplicated and globally disseminated in a matter of minutes. […]

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. — Romans 9:1-3 (ESV) […]

It’s January 24th 1975, and pianist Keith Jarrett is scheduled to play a concert in the city of Köln. It will go down in history for two reasons: the fact that it is a hopeless failure, and that it will be a roaring success. Let me explain. Everything that could have gone wrong with regard to […]

Everywhere we turn it is evident and inescapable that something is definitely and desperately wrong with us as human beings. We need only to look at the papers, turn on the television, or browse internet news sites for a short while and we will see that day after day tragedy follows upon travesty, with sickening […]

The close of December can be a time when well-intentioned resolutions are made about reading the Scriptures in their entirety in the year to come. An honest desire to know God’s Word more can quickly flounder, however, when pushed back by the reality of busy days and divided attention. While this can be symptomatic of […]

2017 has witnessed some large sale commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Conference organizers and publishing houses have worked hard to ensure that the long lasting implications of Luther’s ‘breakthrough’ are not lost on our own generation of believers, and for this we are much in their debt. The story less told, […]

Regular exposition of the Scriptures in one church fellowship places certain unique demands on the preacher. Remaining fresh while remaining faithful, and preaching consistently without preaching predictably can be significant challenges. A perennial problem for any settled preaching ministry, however, is that of remaining Christ-centered and gospel focused in our ministry of the Word, while […]

There has been some online debate in recent days concerning pastoral visitation – chiefly in response to Thom Rainer’s blog post on church member visitation, where he provided 15 reasons why those in pastoral ministry ‘shouldn’t visit much’. While the risk of being viewed by one’s congregation as a sanctified social worker or life coach […]

I believe that the Bible is not a metal-tweezered promise box from which we can select our favourite passages and promises at random. I believe that the pulpit is not a stable in which I get to show off my favourite hobby horses to a weary congregation. I believe that the authority of the preacher is […]

I’m really enjoying the 1541 Institutes,1 and have now reached around page 160. I had been working through him at a fairly fast pace, but came down with a really bad dose of tonsillitis last week, and spent a few days in bed with a high temperature. It’s so frustrating to have time off and […]

The Inadequacy of Modern Man’s View of Sin Eddie, 39, wants compassion from the general public. He fears that the world judges him and his type, and it is high time that better understanding was directed towards him. He is concerned at the caricature that often surrounds people like him, and is pressing for greater […]

BOOK REVIEW: Christ our Life, by Michael Reeves [Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2014], 112 pages, paperback, £9.99, ISBN 978 1 84227 758 4. In Christ our Life Michael Reeves follows up his widely appreciated treatment of the doctrine of the Trinity, The Good God, with a volume which presents a brief yet wide-ranging portrait of Reformed […]

On 30th August 2013 the news broke that Seamus Heaney had died in a Dublin hospital, following a short illness. A measure of the legacy left by the poet’s life and work was given by the widespread sense of sadness across cultures and continents that a man of greatness and forceful intellect had passed away. […]

The Great Ejection 1662: Today’s Evangelicalism Rooted in Puritan Persecution By Gary Brady Darlington: Evangelical Press, September 2012 176 pages, paperback, £8.99 ISBN: 978 0 85234 802 4 2012 has been a year of achievement and celebration in the United Kingdom. Highlights of the year have undoubtedly been the centenary of the sinking of RMS […]