January 7, 2023
In 600 years, no pope had ever done what Benedict XVI did almost ten years ago. He resigned. The day after his abdication, I happened to be passing through Cologne among the crowds of visitors to the cathedral, once the world’s tallest structure. The retired pope was waving from a huge photo hanging on a […]
December 31, 2022
This nativity scene by Ukrainian-born painter Irenaeus Yurchuk, now based in New York, expresses the reason millions of his compatriots face the New Year with hope – despite everything a desperate dictator tries to break their morale. Ira Kapitonova, a YWAM colleague based in Kyiv who has been faithfully sending frontline updates almost daily for […]
December 24, 2022
This painting of the Adoration of the Magi, thought to be a Rembrandt copy, fell off the wall of a private home in Rome six years ago. While repairing the damaged frame, an art restorer realised the painting was an authentic Rembrandt. Most likely it was painted around 1632 in Rembrandt’s studio a short walk […]
December 17, 2022
This Advent season, the words of Mary’s Magnificat take on special significance against the background of Putin’s war in Ukraine: He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1: 52-3). As do the […]
December 10, 2022
How could you set up stadium events in the heart of the Muslim world, one border away from Mecca, where the leading actors get to witness to Jesus, watched by over half the world’s population? Answer: stage the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Despite all the controversies surrounding this location, coverage of this year’s World […]
December 3, 2022
‘Holodomor’ is a term that only invaded my consciousness following the Russian military assault on Ukraine early this year. Last Saturday, the word was foremost in the minds of all Ukrainians who on the fourth Saturday each November commemorate the victims of the 1932–33 artificial famine that starved millions to death in Ukraine under Soviet […]
November 26, 2022
Today is day 276 of Vladimir Putin’s blundering, barbaric belligerence in Ukraine. So far he has been successful in: Quite a list! Not quite the successes Putin had in mind on February 24 this year however. Daily updates For most of these 276 days, our YWAM colleagues in Ukraine and in Slavic Ministries have sent […]
November 19, 2022
Few these days recognise the name of Charles Malik. Fewer know how much his work helped shape the post-war international order based on respect for human rights. Fewer still are aware how much his devout Christian faith guided this global stateman’s career as politician and diplomat, philosopher and theologian. Yet the name Charles Habib Malik […]
November 12, 2022
He was a soldier whose name derived from the Roman god of war, Mars. Yet for over sixteen centuries, his name has stood for mercy and compassion. Last night across Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, processions of children carrying lanterns commemorated this man of compassion, singing songs and expecting rewards of sweets as they […]
November 5, 2022
Today is graduation day in Birmingham for the masters students completing our European studies programme, alongside other electives. Can you picture yourself in a gown and mortar board in the not-too-distant future? Most of those graduating today are already involved in some kind of ministry or professional work. Of course, the mortar board and the letters […]
October 29, 2022
Religion is toxic. Spirituality is cool. How often have we heard people say: ‘I’m not religious but I am spiritual’? Perhaps we even express it ourselves. Theologians like Karl Barth (‘religion is an inherently faithless endeavour’) and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (‘religionless Christianity’) also decried religion as a pale substitute for true spirituality. Abraham Kuyper therefore sounds […]
October 22, 2022
What makes a series of lectures – delivered by a Dutch clergyman late in the 19th century to an audience of a mere forty listeners in an American seminary – relevant to global readers in the 21st century? What did this man – with a ‘gift’ of alienating his most loyal supporters, branded as a […]
