March 18, 2013
This time last week no-one knew who the new pope would be. Suddenly on Tuesday evening, while the whole world was watching, the choice of the new pontiff’s name turned the global spotlight on a bare-footed young Italian who dared to live in radical obedience to the teachings of Jesus. What is it about Francis […]
March 11, 2013
What should the role of the church be in Europe’s future? This was the question Gerard and Chrissie Kelly of Bless Network asked me to address at their recent BlessTalks day in Hilversum, Holland. Following the popular TEDtalks formula, eight speakers had 13 minutes to present their topic, interspersed with Q&A sessions. Gerard introduced the […]
March 4, 2013
Visitors approaching Cologne Cathedral this past week saw the retired pope waving from a huge photo hanging on a building opposite what was once the world’s tallest structure. One word expressed appreciation on behalf of millions around the world : ‘Danke’. To which I added a hearty ‘amen’ when passing through that city the […]
February 25, 2013
As my train rumbles through the snowy countryside of Moravia in the Czech Republic, my thoughts go back over a problem vexing youth leaders from across Europe this past weekend in Bratislava. Research presented at the Pentecostal European Forum of Youth Ministries (PEFY) revealed that the youth ministries represented were losing four out of every […]
February 18, 2013
The days are getting longer here in the northern hemisphere. The birds are chirping again, mornings and evenings. Lent has arrived. For many, that means a 40-day season of voluntary sacrifice and self-discipline. But for millions, especially in southern Europe, there’s nothing voluntary about their season of austere living which began several carnivals ago and […]
February 11, 2013
The Brits may be having doubts about their membership of the European Union, but for the Balts there’s certainly no question about wanting to be part of this ‘community of peoples’. After attending a YWAM leaders’ gathering last week in Riga, Latvia, I flew north to Tallinn, Estonia, to be part of a political consultation […]
February 4, 2013
As Valentine’s Day approaches, and National Marriage Week begins in several European nations, storms swirl around marriage and divorce issues across the continent. Britain’s MP’s voted this week in favour of the Same Sex Couples Bill by 400 to 175. Despite almost half his MPs voting against gay marriage, Prime Minister David Cameron declared he […]
January 28, 2013
David Cameron’s speech last week threw a whopping big stone in the pond, sending ripples through all the European capitals. It triggered a fresh debate about Britain’s place in the EU, well as about the whole future of the EU. So, whaddawethink? Europe will now become a major discussion point for many Brits like never […]
January 21, 2013
The Algerian hostage drama has given David Cameron a few extra days to think about his speech on Britain’s relationship with the European Union. Sometime this week he is expected to send a strong signal that unless things changed in the way the EU was being run the UK ‘would drift towards the exit’. The […]
January 14, 2013
‘Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear’ was the ominous graffitti greeting sprayed on a wall in Athens and quoted by Jim Memory of Redcliffe College in Gloucester, at the European Missions Consultation I wrote about last week. Jim was presenting British mission leaders with a sober picture of four major challenges which Europe faced, […]
January 7, 2013
Best wishes, folks, for the new year. Seems like we’ll need them. Because frankly the prospects are not so good – for this year, and for the foreseeable future. And it’s time we faced some issues squarely. That's not an optimistic start. But we are not called to be optimists. We are called to be […]
December 24, 2012
Stars, in case you haven’t noticed, are really ‘in’ right now. Usually we talk of stars coming ‘out’ but at Christmas they are really ‘in’–as street decorations, atop Christmas trees, in shop windows and on Christmas cards. Especially those cards with the Wise Men following the star to Bethlehem, stopping over the stable where Jesus […]
