September 18, 2021
Driving home through eastern France from Switzerland last month, my wife and I just happened to travel through a town I had visited once or twice before. On hearing the name, Romkje suspected a set-up, being used to my diversions to ‘check out some significant historical site’. But in truth, we had chanced upon Luxeuil-les-Bains, […]
September 11, 2021
The Swiss, both Catholic and Protestant, esteem Nicholas von Flüe (1417–87) as the spiritual father of their country. Bruder Klaus, as he became affectionately known, was a farmer, soldier, councillor and judge who lived in Flüeli, the geographical centre of Switzerland in the alpine foothills south of Lucerne. Yet at the age of fifty, he […]
September 4, 2021
(If you expected to read about the Swiss and Irish heroes I referred to last week, hang in there – they’ll get their turn). ‘The most challenging frontier for mission is right here in Europe’. For Jim and Christine Memory, that realisation thirty years ago led to a life-time commitment of engagement in church planting […]
August 28, 2021
Almost everywhere in Europe, you can trace the footprints of faithful minorities who dedicated their lives to the spread of God’s kingdom. Driving to the heart of Switzerland this month for a coaching event for young, aspiring Christian politicians, my wife and I encountered inspiring stories en route of a Czech, a Swiss and an […]
July 26, 2021
Despite what the next line says, “Weekly Word” will resume next month after a summer break.
July 17, 2021
When rivers burst their ancient boundaries, devastation of life and property results. We watched in shock on our screens this week as turbulent, rushing, muddy waters tore at the foundations of houses, tossed cars aside like toys and overturned rescue vessels in Germany and Belgium. Lives have been lost. Livelihoods, homes, families and hopes have […]
July 10, 2021
Fifty-five years have passed since England won its first and last major international football championship. So understandably the English are getting wound-up about ‘bringing football home’ on Sunday evening’s EURO 2020 final with Italy. The big question is, will the home-game advantage in Wembley Stadium outnumbering Italian spectators four to one offset the Italians’ track […]
July 3, 2021
Germany and France have done it. So have Belgium and Britain. And even the United States. Amsterdam did it this week. But the Netherlands? Not yet. Saying sorry is something we all have to learn. Teaching children to say that word requires patience. Coaxing national governments to do the right thing can be like urging […]
June 26, 2021
Travel is opening up again across Europe at last as corona restrictions are easing. So come with us this summer on an exploratory trip through time and space. No, we are not organising a trip across the continent in mini-vans …yet. But we do invite you to travel to Amsterdam for the Summer School of […]
June 19, 2021
They’re back on the streets of Amsterdam! The rowdy football fans. And all over Europe again, for EURO2020: on the streets of Rome, Glasgow, St Petersburg, Copenhagen, Munich, Seville, London, Baku, Budapest and Bucharest. Thinking positively, they are signs of a returning normalcy. A sporting and friendly rivalry, encompassed by a sense of belonging to the […]
June 12, 2021
Many Christians wonder if God is still welcome in Brussels. After all, wasn’t he banned from the Lisbon Treaty? Doesn’t the EU promote so-called ‘European values’ counter to Christianity? Isn’t it true that the EU ‘doesn’t do God’? Shouldn’t Christians distance themselves from an ‘increasingly secular’ project? What does the gospel have to do with […]
June 7, 2021
The widespread condemnation of the recent forced landing of the Ryanair flight over Belarus led me to ponder the influence of a Dutchman considered to be the father of modern international law: Hugo Grotius. Just 250 metres from our apartment, his statue stands by the former Amsterdam exchange building looking out towards the harbour. Grotius, […]
