The election of Donald Trump continues to reverberate around the world leaving many non-Americans in shock and disbelief, and concerned for our global future. The end of last week held several shocks for our regular columnist based in Amsterdam.
Our political views becoming ever more polemic and extreme. People want to be seen and heard. Unless we learn to listen to alternative perspectives democratic societies will continue along a difficult and destructive trajectory.
Have you noticed that those with the most to complain about usually don’t, while those whose lot has fallen on pleasant paths often whinge endlessly? We do well to learn from Scripture when it is appropriate to complain. Even then, life is better lived with gratitude.
For the Christian community, every day is a good day to pray for orphaned and vulnerable children. Yet one day on the calendar uniquely reminds us of that invitation—Orphan Sunday, which is being observed on November 10 this year. Find out more here...
Halloween, Reformation Day, All Saints Day, and the Guy Fawkes commemorations all have roots back into European and English Church history. Here we are reminded of the Christian contexts within which these now highly commercialized occasions came about.
Any of you who regularly follow persecution news may find that it gets hard to read after a while. One can become either despondent or desensitized. This is how a persecution journalist handles it.
Rather than opportunities for evangelism, church growth, fundraising, or even as an individual's story, persecution is the missional activity of a faith community. The global Church needs a richer theology of persecution and suffering.
Much of the New Testament is written in the contexts of severe persecution. We too easily don't realize this when we read it. But when we do, we should quickly see that how remember and respond to the persecuted reveals our response to Jesus Christ.
As we mature we can expect to experience life-transforming "aha" moments that change everything for us. We suddenly see things more clearly and in a different way. This is common as we grow and it is best that we lean into Spirit-led changes. It is best we be prepared.
Churches' focus on the young and nuclear families has a danger of neglecting the elderly and other forms of family. Reflecting on her experience at Lausanne 4, an Asian doctor appeals to churches to take seriously the challenges of aging and isolation, not to forget, but to re-member them into the Body of Christ.
Churches today can become far too obsessed with numerical growth at the expense of other important factors. A Nigerian pastor recommends we do not forget the issues of sustainability.
One of the most successful indigenous gospel movements of colonial missions history was short lived, interrupted by the oppressive ethnocentric Christianity of colonial settlers whose witness failed to match biblical expectations. While outsiders are often powerfully catalytic for the gospel where the gospel is least known, missions is filled with accounts of the gospel spread being hindered by outsider Christians. We can improve gospel effectiveness with greater trust in indigenous/insider beli
