mission
I’ve been getting acquainted with the seventh edition of this “definitive prayer guide to every nation” which is now available as a book and a DVD. What a labour of love this is. And what a contribution to the task of global mission. It should be hanging out in the living rooms, burdening the coffee…
READ MOREA Jenkins-Junkie, that is what I am… [NB – This one took a bit longer because I left my first copy (almost finished) in the seat pocket when disembarking on a plane in Singapore last year. UGH!?]The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (Oxford University Press, 2006). This is a…
READ MOREThere is a lot to like about this new book from Chris Wright: The Mission of God’s People (Zondervan, 2010). The writing style and the format of the book makes it so accessible to home groups, for example. The ‘sermonic atmosphere’ hovering around the chapters is suggestive to preachers looking for ideas. It is the…
READ MOREThe Capetown Commitment is now available here. My initial impression is positive. I like the effort made to bring ‘unchanging gospel’ and ‘changing world’ together for this time in which we live. Neither text nor context seems compromised. The initial reading causes heart and mind to come alive to both word and world. I am…
READ MOREBefore I move on from my eleven week sojourn in India, here are some of the memories which will linger: As foreign missionary numbers have declined the growth in the number of Indians moving cross-culturally within India is staggering. We kept bumping into some of the 50,000 Indians who have heard this call of God…
READ MOREYears ago I remember my father-in-law expressing a reluctance to offer seminars on parenting. I think I am beginning to understand his reasons… There is just something about parenting. You never feel like an expert. There is no clear pattern of ’cause and effect’ because nothing seems to guarantee anything. Great parents can have such…
READ MOREWhile in Vanuatu last week I read Miriam Adeney’s, Kingdom Without Borders: the untold story of global Christianity (IVP, 2009). If you love potted and inspiring stories, then this book is for you. [I can actually lose interest with stories and wander off as they are told – but not these ones!] If you want…
READ MOREDuring a recent ‘tour of service’ with Langham Preaching in Vanuatu I was impacted by families – four families, to be precise. from england and germany to new zealand The Shudall family. I like to think of them as missionaries to New Zealand where Andy works as Head of Training for TSCF (the IFES-affiliate) –…
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I am a bit slow. The book was published fourteen years ago. I have heard so many people speak so enthusiastically about it. Finally, on a return trip to the UK (and with my first training visit to Cambodia with Langham Preaching later this month), I worked my way through Don Cormack’s Killing Fields, Living…
READ MORESometimes my heart is so cold and hard. For example, last month when the TV News gave the first ten minutes to the story about the stranded whales in Northland, it barely moved me. In fact I was aghast that the story hogged so much headline time. I could argue that my heart was more…
READ MOREAbout Me
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.