Church as we haven't known it for a society as we haven't known it
For some years I worked overseas as an engineer in a very different cultural environment to the one I was brought up in and trained in. There were a few of us expatriates but most of my colleagues were locals and as time went by, I started to notice an interesting difference between the two … Continue reading Releasing Technocrats to Missionaries Be!
It’s coming up that time of year again. But what time exactly? There are many ways people will answer this question (even if subconsciously) – ‘Holiday-mas, Party-mas, Goodtime-mas, Excess-mas, Family-mas, Spend-mas’ and of course the less preferred (but very real for some) ‘Stress-mas’. Which one (or ones) do we relate most to? These are increasingly … Continue reading It’s the (Insert preference here) Season
Too early for a new Year’s resolution? I suggest not! God is a God of ‘New Things’. A mining of scripture tells us so- For “behold . . . new things I now declare”, “behold I am doing a new thing”, “the new heavens and the new earth which I will make”, “I will make … Continue reading A Paralysis of the New
This post is substantially the same as an article I wrote several years ago but I think has even more relevance now. Especially so as we draw near to Christmas when there will be a lot of ‘lights’ festooning houses, buildings, streetscapes and Christmas trees. However, increasingly, rather than symbolizing the Light of Christ “which … Continue reading ‘The Forgetting of Light’
I have always admired the Missionaries of previous centuries, for example those who took Christianity to the native tribes of Africa in the 19th Century, particularly the Scottish missionary David Livingstone. A major aspect of the challenge faced by Livingstone and others was the need to penetrate a threatening landscape, often jungles full of threats … Continue reading Without More Missionaries We Will Lose
‘Unbounded Church’ is an idea-the idea that the Australian church, if it is to resurrect its mission, needs to be ‘unbound’. That is, it needs to be set free from its current rigid, cumbersome and change-averse ‘Christendom’ influenced forms, structures and mission strategies in order to be – ‘A church as we haven’t known … Continue reading Unbounded Church Gathering 2018
“Soldiers of Christ arise and put your armour on, . . . . From strength to strength go on: Wrestle and fight and pray; Tread all the powers of darkness down And win the well fought day” … Continue reading An Army With Amnesia
All of us are familiar with the motor car. It dominates our cities, for most westerners it is considered a normal part of life. Its history pretty well parallels the history of the 20th century, from its origins in the later decades of the 19th century through to the early years of the 21st. Over … Continue reading On Mars the Commodore Just Won’t Cut It!
One of the great promises of God is that he promises a life to come, a life of perfection, joy, peace, no pain, no death, no suffering or bereavement. (Revelation 21:1-4). This promise is one that Christians particularly at certain times need to hang on to, because our current life of course is not always … Continue reading Our Certainty and God’s Suffering Love Paradox
“The future depends on our capacity to manage change amid uncertainty” Paul Kelly ____________________________ I read this quote in an article by Paul Kelly in the “Weekend Australian” newspaper recently just after returning from a Sunday church service and I was struck by its relevance to the church. For I had observed once … Continue reading The Church In the Land That Time Forgot
