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 […]
June 11, 2022
If in these grave days we believe that prayer for Ukraine is a responsibility and a necessity, then clearly so must we also pray for her aggressor, Russia. Parallels in the Bible and in history help us to know how we should pray. The story of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus remind us that rulers are […]
June 4, 2022
The happy sounds of care-free children ring around the playground in the heart of Amsterdam where granddad duty has brought me once more. While my two grandsons join friends playing football, digging in the sand pit or racing skelters, I catch up on the latest news updates from Ukraine sent faithfully for over eighty days […]
May 28, 2022
To the average European today, Ascension Day remains on our western calendars as a left-over from some obscure religious past, another welcome spring holiday along with Easter and Pentecost. Few care or even think about its origin. As believers, however, we can see its significance as the occasion when Christ commissioned his followers to ‘go […]
May 21, 2022
Daily reports sent from YWAM’s Slavic Ministries office over the past ten weeks have shown churches and mission organisations cooperating together across Europe to supply basic needs for hungry villagers and townspeople in the war-torn land. Photos and stories of YWAMers who chose to stay in Ukraine after the Russian invasion describe crowds waiting not […]
May 14, 2022
The triple-whammy of Brexit, Covid and Russian invasion has delivered the severest shock to the seven decades of peace in Europe since the post-war start of European integration. It has shattered the comfortable orthodoxy that democracy, liberalism and capitalism could guarantee peace, prosperity and freedom. We are forced to re-think the foundations of the contemporary […]
May 6, 2022
When your war is not quite going as you had planned, your annual military parade to show the might and power of your armed forces to the world has to be scaled down a little. That is President Putin’s dilemma this coming Monday, Victory Day, when Red Square is filled with dignitaries, public, military personnel, […]
April 30, 2022
Turbulent times are nothing new for the 400-year-old Temple du Marais, venue for next week’s State of Europe Forum in Paris . The storming of the Bastille Castle in 1789, triggering the French Revolution, took place just two hundred metres away. That led directly to the closure of the convent of which the domed circular […]
April 23, 2022
Even as we recoil in horror at Russia’s brutal destruction of Mariupol in the east, we watch with bated breath the contest for the French presidency in the west. Much hangs in the balance. The election outcome will shape France’s international relations. A President Le Pen would redefine Franco-German cooperation, challenge EU treaties and undermine […]
April 16, 2022
The evening Jesus was betrayed and arrested, leading directly to his trial and crucifixion, he gave a clear instruction to his disciples – and thus to disciples through the ages, including ourselves: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love […]
