December 7, 2010
Last week I visited Holland for the first time in my life–Holland in Michigan, USA, that is. Just a 30 minute drive from Grand Rapids and close to the shores of Lake Michigan, Holland is a city of 60,000 today, pioneered by 19th century Dutch immigrants from close to where I live in The Netherlands. […]
November 22, 2010
Last week in Budapest, 28 folk from across Europe gathered at our annual Hope for Europe Round Table to prepare for the HOPE•II Congress in that city, May 9-13 next year. We hope to gather a thousand leaders from across Europe for four days of relationship-building, inspiration, strategising and mutual encouragement. At the Round Table, […]
November 15, 2010
Christians need to champion a culture of hope in the midst of uncertainty, fear and financial crisis. This belief is motivating a Swiss futurologist to conduct a European survey by internet to discover not only their worries, cares and fears, but also their hopes. Late last year, Dr Andreas Walker of Basel launched a national […]
November 8, 2010
Last Friday. in Britain and in many of her former colonies, Guy Fawkes night was celebrated with fireworks and bonfires, recalling the abortive effort by Catholic ‘terrorists’ to blow up the British Parliament over four hundred years ago. The Australians wisely abandoned this annual event over thirty years ago but it is still mindlessly […]
November 1, 2010
Yesterday Reformation Day came and went, but few outside of conservative church circles would have spared a thought for the influence of Martin Luther, John Calvin and other reformers on Europe’s cultural and spiritual development. So let’s take a moment to reflect on the role of leadership in shaping our culture and society. The leadership […]
October 25, 2010
Four thousand delegates to the Lausanne III Congress in Cape Town this past week are returning home as you read this Weekly Word, having experienced eight intense and unforgettable days of challenge and encouragement. Big events like this always raise questions about whether or not the effort and expense was worth it all. That depends […]
October 18, 2010
Everyone’s heard of the American Dream, but who’s heard of the European Dream? Did we even know there was one? Ironically, it’s an American who writes about this–and who believes it is quietly eclipsing the American dream. Jeremy Rifkin’s book, The European Dream, is now six years old and has been both praised and criticised […]
October 11, 2010
Yesterday, the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of the new millennium, was a global day to reflect on progress made towards commitments made by all 192 United Nations member states in 2000 to reduce extreme poverty and hunger and improve health standards. These commitments were expressed in the following eight […]
October 3, 2010
Recently my wife and I were invited to attend an evening in an Amsterdam cinema sponsored by a secular consultancy firm. The theme was ‘Religion connects! Religion connects?’ The company, which prides itself on being voted the best firm in Europe to work for, promotes the slogan, Together we build a brighter future! And they […]
A few days ago I found myself addressing a national political party gathering in Switzerland, speaking about the biblical roots of Europe and Switzerland. It was rather bizarre to be telling stories about Swiss history to the Swiss! One of the stories I told was about how Switzerland and Swiss people played a very key […]
September 22, 2010
20 sept 2010 Last week we wrote about how we needed our memories jogged about the roots of western society. Last Friday, it seems the President of the European Council, Dr Herman van Rompuy, set out to jog the memories of Holland’s political establishment at a breakfast in De Wittenburg Castle. The European continent, he […]
13 sept 2010 Now and then we need our memories jogged as to how our western society was formed. Where did our norms and values actually come from? Why we do things the way we do? Why do we have seven days in the week? Why do we keep one day as a day of […]
