November 10, 2008
The realisation dawned on me as I stood with a group of young students outside the St Nicholas Church in Leipzig, East Germany: their generation, now coming into adulthood, has no living memory of the dramatic events of autumn 1989 leading to the fall of Communism. What still seems like yesterday to some of us […]
November 3, 2008
No-one had planned it this way, but last Friday we found ourselves driving into Martin Luther’s town of Wittenberg on Reformation Day itself, October 31st. This was the anniversary of the day Luther had nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, thus triggering the Reformation across Europe. Last weekend in […]
October 27, 2008
Bendy buses snaking through London’s streets carrying the message, ‘There’s probably no God’ will help promote discussion about God, some Christian leaders believe. The bus adverts, planned to start in January, urge the public to ‘stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ Already, months before the first posters are due to appear, the campaign has stimulated […]
October 20, 2008
Three recent events have prompted me to reflect back over the past century. One, the Russian invasion of Georgia and certain parallels with the outbreak of World War One. Two, the current global financial crisis and obvious comparisons with the Great Depression. And three, my father’s 90th birthday this month. He was born just one […]
September 29, 2008
The birth of a Caucasian girl last week in an Amsterdam suburb has made me reflect on our rapidly changing Europe. Her parents’ apartment overlooks a Muslim elementary school. Their Muslim neighbours are celebrating Ramadan. This little girl will grow up in a very different environment from that of her parents’ childhood. And she will […]
September 8, 2008
Since Christians began praying daily for the Muslim world during the thirty-day season of Ramadan in 1992, many stories of Muslims meeting ‘Isa’ (Jesus) through dreams or encounters with true ‘Isa’ followers have come to light from various corners of the globe. Perhaps as an answer to such prayers, a significant discussion has been initiated […]
September 1, 2008
I have been reading Political Visions and Illusions by David Koyzis (IVP 2003) in preparation for the YWAM consultation on government I wrote about last week. I promised to unpack some of the author’s insights about today’s political ideologies, as well as briefly to look at two Christian historical models for political engagement. Ideologies flow […]
August 25, 2008
It’s that time of the year again when YWAM leaders from around the globe gather for annual strategy meetings. As we are a decentralised mission, with no world headquarters, these events happen on various parts of this planet. Last year was South Korea; the year before in England; before that in Brazil, and so on. […]
August 18, 2008
The first reports of Russian tanks moving into Georgia came over my car radio as I drove through the killing fields of World War One in northeastern France. The day before, the world had watched the breathtaking Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing, with George Bush and Vladimir Putin both sitting in the audience. In […]
August 11, 2008
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s funeral last week deservedly received much media attention in Russia and around the world. Regrettably, events over the past days have pushed further reflection on the dissident’s life and writings out of mind. Even before the outbreak of hostilities around South Ossetia, scant notice was given to the role his Christian faith played […]
August 4, 2008
Churches and Christian volunteers play a crucial role in creating social cohesion and integration in Rotterdam, and save the city up to €130 million each year. That is the conclusion of research commissioned by the city council, conducted under the auspices of Radboud University in Nijmegen. Secularists on both sides of the Atlantic have clamoured […]
July 28, 2008
Millions worldwide watched on television as the pelaton swept into the Champs-Élysées last Sunday on the final sprint of the Tour de France. Many would have recognised the familiar orange-and-blue costumes of the Rabobank team, hot in pursuit of the podium honours, as representing one of Holland’s leading banks. Yet few would have known the bank’s origin […]
