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I’d love to see every devotee of the 40 Days of Purpose resource move on to a 40 Days of Pluralism resource (which does not yet exist, as far as I know!). This is the P-word where the biggest challenge lies for followers of Jesus today. Pluralism considers that there are multiple roads up the…
READ MOREThe Bible is a remarkable book. Written by dozens of authors. Utilising heaps of different genre(narrative, letters, proverbs…). And the writing takes place over hundreds of years. So diverse!BUT the story from Genesis to Revelation is just the one story. It is God’s story. It is God’s way of making sense of the world. It…
READ MOREThe most profound truths come to us in tension. From big theological issues like the transcendence and immanence of God to the everyday issues that come with living for him – like the blog I posted previously on the internally-focused church (alongside the externally focused church). I find people struggle with truths-in-tension. It feels like…
READ MOREI can tend to avoid speaking in youth and young adult settings. I am not loaded with funny material. I cannot dredge up dramatic stories from a sinful past that holds people spellbound. I do not think well on my feet and tend to need my notes (although I am working on that one!). I…
READ MOREThere’s plenty of chat about consumerism today, isn’t there? I have just finished Duncan MacLaren’s Mission Implausible (Paternoster, 2004) and towards the end he identifies various characteristics of a society driven by consumption: (a) The primacy of individual choice(the path to personal freedom – a long, long way from obligation, duty or loyalty)(b) The expectation…
READ MOREHaving read Bono on Bono – and to give you something on which to reflect as you wait for the delayed U2 concerts (in NZ anyway!) – here is my countdown of a ‘first eleven’ bytes from the book: #11 on hypocrisyAs you get older your idea of the good guys and the bad guys…
READ MOREI’ve just finished reading another book from within the Emerging Church movement (this time it is Doug Pagitt’s Preaching Re-imagined). I like opening myself up to what they write. I enjoy the challenge of reflecting on things from another angle. I find myself responding in much the same way as I have done in the…
READ MOREI notice that a seminar has passed through called ‘The Externally-Focused Church’?Really?! Externally-focused… I don’t mind the ‘external’ word as it reminds us that the Great Commission is critical and that mission is at the very core of God’s being and purpose in the world. But that word ‘focus’ makes me very nervous. Is the…
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.