spirituality
In the week before we left New Zealand, an issue grabbed the headlines. Thousands of people occupied land in a place called Ihumātao, near the Auckland airport. It is land that is precious to our indigenous Māori people. Sadly, New Zealand has a history of stealing land and dishonouring treaties and so people gathered in…
READ MOREIt is not often that I have a Sunday in Auckland. But when I do, there is one thing I love to do: have a date with my mother. 7pm on Sundays. Songs of Praise, out of the UK. Together we delight in the mingling of story with song, as we both sit there with…
READ MOREIn the books I read sometimes I need to stop and ask Barby, “Can I read this aloud to you?” Like when Sanneh speaks of an African childhood: An African child hood such as mine was not littered with the kind of stimuli we associate with age-specific gadgets, including toys of every description and sophistication.…
READ MOREAs an oversized person crammed into an undersized window seat, it wasn’t one of the better flights. I didn’t choose to be tall and I certainly didn’t choose a window seat. But what a memorable flight it proved to be – from Dubai to Bishkek. With one eye tracking the Silk Road territory far below…
READ MOREIn training preachers across cultures, it is often a struggle to translate the word manner. And yet the manner of the preacher is too important to overlook. One way forward is to see the sermon to be like a song, with both lyrics (what we say) and music (how we say it). Listeners decide whether…
READ MOREI should have anticipated the resonance that would happen. An old church building. In the mountains. In India. A concrete floor. Curved wooden window frames. Little chrysanthemum flowers in pots near the pulpit. Those woven plastic strips on the chairs. An auditorium filled with young people. A balcony. It just goes on and on… It…
READ MOREI gasped. Yes, I did. On the morning of 20 August 2018, I unfolded The Times of India – and I gasped. Why? This is what extended across the full front page: The initial gasp was due to my instinctive response: ‘this would never happen in New Zealand’. The delayed gasp originated with the boldness of the…
READ MOREHe just wandered into my office to ask me how I was. Within minutes the names Chopin and Rachmaninoff filled our conversation and I was rediscovering Dvorak’s New World Symphony at his behest. This octogenarian Swiss New Testament scholar knows his music… A few nights later we were with Dieter and Elizabeth for dinner. They…
READ MOREAmos. First Peter. Two of my favourite biblical books through which to preach. Doing so, however, creates tension inside me. Amos is a sustained attack by God, through his prophet, on the presence of injustice among the nations of the world – and especially within His people, Israel. It is unrelenting. It is blistering. God…
READ MOREOver this past weekend my (working) life has flashed before my eyes. Barby and I arrived in Penang (Malaysia) on Saturday evening for a little holiday. The legacy of being a former British colony can be seen everywhere, like in the name of the main city – George Town. On arrival we went for a…
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.