June 30, 2003
It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world, or even that they occupy the same world. So wrote Robert Kagan in “Paradise and Power”, as the Second Gulf War was being launched in the face of European opposition. Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from […]
June 23, 2003
Recently I indulged in a spot of navel-gazing in Greece. I travelled to Delphi, one of antiquity’s most sacred locations, and there – ta-DAAAAH!!!! – I beheld the world’s belly button! I kid you not. The clear inscription on the beehive-shaped carved monument declared it to be “THE NAVEL-STONE OF THE EARTH”. Hardly a metre […]
June 16, 2003
If you’re old enough to remember those three disturbing words on the TIME cover in 1966, “IS GOD DEAD?”, this week’s European edition of the magazine brings the welcome news that maybe He’s not so dead after all. Granted, He may have been shut out of the new EU Constitution, and Christianity may well be […]
June 9, 2003
Somehow I had always suspected that Paul had rather stuffed it up in Athens. From his experience in that city of idolatry, Paul had gone straight to nearby Corinth, arriving in ‘fear and trembling’, spurning human philosophy in favour of the power of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2). Charismatics and pentecostals tend to conclude therefore […]
June 2, 2003
When Erion Veliaj returned to Albania from study in America, he saw his homeland through new eyes: the widespread corruption, the human trafficking, the poor level of services, the blood feuding, the poverty, and so on. His overseas experience, and his Christian faith, had taught Eri that ordinary people could make a difference. So he […]
May 26, 2003
As business droned on, my eye was drawn to the large flip-over sheets taped on the walls of the meeting room, the fruit of some earlier activity evidently involving a very special class of young people: Missionary Kids. MK’s. Perhaps it didn’t completely describe the YWAM kids I knew – maybe more the children of […]
May 19, 2003
It was one of those moments when a familiar passage of scripture bubbles forth with enough new revelation to inspire a month of meetings. Around the table sat a mixture of mainstream church representatives and leaders of immigrant churches in Holland. We were gathered to identify our common mission in darkest Europe. The chairman opened […]
May 12, 2003
As everybody knows, last Friday (May 9) was Europe Day, occasioning wild celebrations all across the European Union with bonfires, fireworks and all-night dancing. Well, hardly. I doubt if even a couple of civil servants in their Brussels offices lit sparklers during their lunch-hour. There hasn’t been a lot of celebrating in Brussels since Europe’s […]
May 5, 2003
The one time I saw and heard Pim Fortuyn – bald, flamboyant, outspoken and homosexual – he and four other well-known ‘non-church’ Dutch personalities delivered a powerful message to 300 spell-bound Christian leaders. Few present will forget that moment early in 2000. Exactly a year ago, this would-be Dutch “premier” was shot dead outside the […]
April 28, 2003
What’s the bet that, right at this moment, Saddam is alive and well, hiding out in a secret cave somewhere on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, playing cards with Osama, using the 55-‘Most-Wanted-Iraqis’ deck distributed to Coalition troops? (After all, he, you and I can now order a casino-quality set via the web for $5.95.) […]
April 21, 2003
“Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed!” All across Europe last weekend, this greeting could be heard in almost every European language as Christians gathered to celebrate the turning point of history. But what should this confession mean for the future of our continent? For some perhaps, Easter was simply a ‘good-feel’ celebration of warmer […]
April 14, 2003
What do tennis superstar Andre Agassi, chess master Gary Kasparov, film star Cher, Formula One driver Alain Prost and YWAM’s logo designer Joseph Avakian have in common? Answer: Armenian roots. Last week I visited Armenia for the second time in twelve months. A Holland-sized land south of the Caucasian mountains, Armenia is surrounded on three […]
