September 3, 2022
We must pause to jog our memories about the legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev with his passing this week and his burial ceremony in Moscow today. For his was an essential role in the events that led to the fall of communism and the Soviet Union a generation ago – and consequently the reunification of Germany, […]
August 27, 2022
“(Russia) is in great measure composed of spoils which she has torn from surrounding nations. Her frontier provinces are filled with injured, discontented hostile populations … many of whom wait, with patience and desire, the blessed day of emancipation and revenge.” – The Economist This quote from the venerable British journal is dated 1854 – […]
August 20, 2022
Ever since Noah’s ark, ships and boats have always featured in God’s mission to rescue humanity. Ships carried Paul to Europe on his missionary trips, firstly to Greece, later to Malta and Rome. The completion of the Great Commission requires reaching all tribes and every people group, from the remotest reaches of the Amazon to […]
August 13, 2022
Half a century of reminiscences were stirred by a recent visit to our Amsterdam apartment from Captain Brian Sloan and his wife Anne. Brian runs the YWAM Maritime Academy, training crew for the twenty eight vessels of the YWAM Ships fleet operating all around the world. For me, that’s a story stretching back to […]
August 6, 2022
Today the Pride Parade will snake its way through Amsterdam’s canals climaxing a week of LGBTQ+ activities celebrating sexual diversity. ‘My gender, my pride’ and ‘Free to be myself’ are among the slogans displayed around the inner city. Government agencies and prominent businesses add the rainbow logo to products and decorations, projecting a sense of […]
July 30, 2022
Who is our Jesus? Here’s Mother Theresa’s answer in her own handwriting. I came across this last week in the Memorial House built to commemorate her in the heart of Skopje, Macedonia, with her letters, meditations (some written on old envelopes) and awards (including the Nobel Peace Prize) on display. The house was built where […]
July 23, 2022
After years of waiting, Albania and North Macedonia were given the green light this week to start accession talks concerning full EU membership. Television news showed officials in Brussels toasting the ‘breakthrough’. So why are the Macedonians not excited? This news was only days old as Romkje and I landed at Alexander the Great airport […]
July 16, 2022
Life in an ‘open-air museum’ like the city of Amsterdam is full of unexpected discoveries. This week I learnt about a Dutch Reformed preacher and theologian who died exactly 400 years ago after facilitating the remarkable era of world exploration and trade which launched the fledgling Dutch Republic into its so-called ‘Golden Age’. He […]
July 9, 2022
The long-anticipated fall of Boris Johnson this week confronts us all with the question: am I a truth-twister or a truth-seeker? Am I shaping truth to my own desires or my desires to truth? Truth matters at every level of life and society – in our bedrooms, homes, schools and offices as well as in […]
July 2, 2022
Two weeks ago in weekly word, I described a broad gathering of Dutch church leaders I attended united under the creed: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’. However, I suspect that if we had asked ‘Lord of what?’, our unity may have been stretched. Some no doubt would have answered, ‘Lord of my life’, or ‘Lord of […]
June 25, 2022
This weekend finishes Refugee Week, arousing awareness of the vast numbers of those displaced globally through war, climate change, famine, poverty, persecution, terrorism or religious strife. Activities of this growing world movement celebrate the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and asylum seekers. As we are witnessing in Ukraine, the causes of displacement are interrelated. […]
June 18, 2022
To my surprise, the name of a Russian Orthodox archpriest was on the speakers list of an annual retreat for Dutch national church leaders this week. In these days of anti-Russian sentiment, how he would be received? What had he come to say? Little did I expect that many participants would view the archpriest’s talk […]
