This morning I am teaching a module on mission for Praxis training. Part of the session will include looking at 3 missionaries that kicked butt but for some reason never made it into the popular evangelical mission history books. Although some of them are making a comeback. I’m talking about Charles de Foucauld, Toyohiko Kagawa…
Read MoreTaking your time in a rushed world
The two brothers from The Holy Transfiguration Monastery just left us. Its been a great three days. This morning we had our final breakfast and chat with them and we all shared what we learned. As for me, I was impressed with their perspective on time, their patience to wait for God’s timing, their reluctance to…
Read MoreBaptist Monasteries. NOT an oxymoron.
Graeme and Oz just arrived from the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Victoria, Australia to hang with us here at Ngatiawa Contemporary Monastery. They are Baptists and they are monks. They even wear habits. We had a chat about Baptist monastic movements. Some of the noteworthy and historic Baptist monasteries that have made their radar include…
Read MoreBringing Abigail home: miles needed
Does anyone have spare miles? We could use some to get our daughter home from Europe. Abigail has been volunteering at a Christian based hostel in Prague and has completed an informal micro-apprenticeship on how to run hostels, something we think will become very valuable. Abi is fearless and competent, friendly and generous, all qualities needed…
Read MoreSt Luke’s Church, Waikanae
Tomorrow I am preaching at St Luke’s Church in Waikanae. The passage is Mark 6, the feeding of the 5000. Same story I am speaking on next year at Kirchentag in Germany. So if you are around, its at ten o’clock, come along.
Read MoreJim from OldTruth Passes
Blogger and Reformer Jim Bublitz passed away, after a long bout with illness – we prayed for him a while ago. Jim ran the OldTruth blog and launched many bloggers into their calling. Jim and I found ourselves on different sides of the argument concerning the Reformation and the emerging church but I found Jim very likable,…
Read MoreOn Muslims Destroying Religious Shrines and Pagan Artifacts
Are the Muslims REALLY planning to destroy the pyramids? I think NOT. The story this week from Egypt appears to be a hoax. Which is good news. Last year we had a fantastic tour of both the pyramids and the Cairo museum by Ibrahmim Morgan, an egyptologist and historian. We even took a camel tour of…
Read MoreWish I was in Poland
In Poland right now there are thousands of young people gathered for Slot Festival. Our family are normally there because Slot is on our teaching circuit but this year we are in NZ and have to sit it out. We hope to be there next year. We are, however, helping to sponsor a band…
Read MoreInsider movements, Wycliffe’s translation and missiological controversies
There is a kerfuffle on the internet that might be worthy of some exploration. The controversy around Wycliffe’s Bible translation, currently on the back burner and under the WEA spotlight, has created a lot of talk about insider movements, contextualization, dynamic equivalence, postmodernism, and the connection between the emergent church and insider movements among Muslims. …
Read MoreLiverpool: Fresh Expressions Over One Third
New emerging church research on the Diocese of Liverpool just released by Church Army: “The proportion of fresh expressions of Church compared to parishes is 38.6%. If compared to the number of churches, which might be a closer comparison, that proportion is 30.4%. Either way, about a third of the ecclesial bodies in the diocesan…
Read More3 Books from 2011 you should have read
Books come and go. I have a huge stack of books that I have read but have not had the time to review or mention on the blog. Most of them will disappear into oblivion and a few will stay kicking around in our consciousness. In my world, there were three books released last year…
Read MoreHow Christian can Islamic banking be?
Strange happenings in the world of Christian banking, especially for the Vatican Bank. Read on and tell me if I am not taking crazy pills. Today is the day that a men-in-black team called Moneyval gather to “discuss a report assessing the Holy See’s progress in preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, a crucial step toward…
Read MoreNomads, Itinerants, and Diaspora Missiology
Some conversation and action today regarding “people on the move”, global nomads [see my post], and “diaspora missiology”. Firstly, I am happy to announce my e-book is nearly finished, based on my travel adventures and extraordinary moments through 30+ countries in the past 3 years in our 4×4 truck named Maggie. The name of the…
Read MoreVideo: Bishop Justin Duckworth starts wearing purple
Here is my short video of Justin Duckworth getting installed as Bishop of Wellington last weekend. There’s some footage of the breakfast we all had with him in the morning, the ceremony at the Cathedral, some thoughts from Jenny Duckworth on the symbols, and some fun stuff. All in 5 minutes!! For the video of…
Read MoreThe Church’s New Dreadlocked Bishop
So yesterday was a huge day for all of us. Justin Duckworth from the Ngatiawa contemporary monastery where we live got installed as the Anglican Bishop of Wellington. Busy day. We had a big breakfast at St Cuthberts for the Urban Vision crowd. Then we all turned up at the Wellington Cathedral to see barefooted…
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