christian mind
My records show that this is my 800th post, going all the way back to 2nd February 2006—913 weeks ago. Yes, I do think about stopping often enough and I certainly think about deleting dozens of posts, but I keep going because of three loves: (a) I love chatting away to myself, shaping-ideas and smithing-words;…
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Barby picked up this board from a ‘thrift shop’ recently. Do you recognise it? Yes, it is a (very) old version of Snakes and Ladders. A game we played as kids. With the simple roll of the dice, the game moves forward by seeking to land on the ladders (which lift you upwards) and by…
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A curious thing happens in our society today. A person who asserts that death is the end and that there is no heaven can still be heard longing that a loved one be ‘looking down from above’. For those with ears to hear, this kind of thing happens quite a lot. What is going on?…
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Today is the day when New Zealanders give special attention to Te Tiriti O Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), the text on which our nation is founded—and signed 184 years ago. But how is it that old texts convey meaning in today’s world? This is a question that is never too far away for interpreters…
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They are remembered for everything they aren’t. That is a clumsy paraphrase of an observation JI Packer once made about the Puritans. What comes to mind today with a word like ‘puritanical’ is such a long way from what the Puritans actually believed and how they lived—more than 400 years ago. A long way? From…
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Like many of you, I am always ready to engage with new insights on leadership. This book draws on ‘the great wayfinding tradition of the Polynesian navigators’ (xiii). Most of you live far from Polynesia, so please stick with me through unfamiliar surroundings! It will be worth it… Drawing near to it There is a…
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With the focus of my work remaining overseas, I have needed to find ways to re-engage with life here in New Zealand. Thirty years ago, I developed a course at Laidlaw College, The Gospel in a Post-Christian Society—and so, when Greg Liston asked me to assist with a new course at Laidlaw covering similar terrain (Ngākau…
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There can be no doubt about what is on Vince Bantu’s mind with his book, A Multitude of All Peoples. It is sitting there, blunt and bald, in the opening two sentences of his Introduction: “Christianity is and always has been a global religion. For this reason, it is important never to think of…
READ MOREOver the years I have enjoyed taking two pilgrimages… One is to Rangihoua Bay, about 200km north of Auckland — and Marsden Cross, the site of the first preaching of the gospel here in Aotearoa New Zealand, in 1814. On one occasion, as a way to celebrate my 50th birthday, 30 friends joined me in…
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They don’t make them like they used to do. It is not just that gravel and mud have given way to rubber and chips. Nor is it just that Occupational Safety & Health seems intent on ridding the world of every hint of dangerous play. What catches my eye are these playground monstrosities. They…
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the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.