October 20, 2008
Three recent events have prompted me to reflect back over the past century. One, the Russian invasion of Georgia and certain parallels with the outbreak of World War One. Two, the current global financial crisis and obvious comparisons with the Great Depression. And three, my father’s 90th birthday this month. He was born just one […]
September 29, 2008
The birth of a Caucasian girl last week in an Amsterdam suburb has made me reflect on our rapidly changing Europe. Her parents’ apartment overlooks a Muslim elementary school. Their Muslim neighbours are celebrating Ramadan. This little girl will grow up in a very different environment from that of her parents’ childhood. And she will […]
September 8, 2008
Since Christians began praying daily for the Muslim world during the thirty-day season of Ramadan in 1992, many stories of Muslims meeting ‘Isa’ (Jesus) through dreams or encounters with true ‘Isa’ followers have come to light from various corners of the globe. Perhaps as an answer to such prayers, a significant discussion has been initiated […]
September 1, 2008
I have been reading Political Visions and Illusions by David Koyzis (IVP 2003) in preparation for the YWAM consultation on government I wrote about last week. I promised to unpack some of the author’s insights about today’s political ideologies, as well as briefly to look at two Christian historical models for political engagement. Ideologies flow […]
August 25, 2008
It’s that time of the year again when YWAM leaders from around the globe gather for annual strategy meetings. As we are a decentralised mission, with no world headquarters, these events happen on various parts of this planet. Last year was South Korea; the year before in England; before that in Brazil, and so on. […]
August 18, 2008
The first reports of Russian tanks moving into Georgia came over my car radio as I drove through the killing fields of World War One in northeastern France. The day before, the world had watched the breathtaking Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing, with George Bush and Vladimir Putin both sitting in the audience. In […]
August 11, 2008
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s funeral last week deservedly received much media attention in Russia and around the world. Regrettably, events over the past days have pushed further reflection on the dissident’s life and writings out of mind. Even before the outbreak of hostilities around South Ossetia, scant notice was given to the role his Christian faith played […]
August 4, 2008
Churches and Christian volunteers play a crucial role in creating social cohesion and integration in Rotterdam, and save the city up to €130 million each year. That is the conclusion of research commissioned by the city council, conducted under the auspices of Radboud University in Nijmegen. Secularists on both sides of the Atlantic have clamoured […]
July 28, 2008
Millions worldwide watched on television as the pelaton swept into the Champs-Élysées last Sunday on the final sprint of the Tour de France. Many would have recognised the familiar orange-and-blue costumes of the Rabobank team, hot in pursuit of the podium honours, as representing one of Holland’s leading banks. Yet few would have known the bank’s origin […]
July 21, 2008
Brazilian YWAMers battling for the basic human rights of indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin have just won a major victory that could save hundreds of young lives. At a hearing of the plenary session for the Human Rights Commission in Brasilia late last week, the proposed ‘Muwaji’s Law’ to outlaw infanticide was officially recognised […]
July 14, 2008
The literal highpoint of the Heritage Tour this year was arriving at Caux, one thousand metres above sea level. As we drove through Montreaux at the eastern end of Lake Geneva, it was too early in the day to be bothered by the traffic of the annual Jazz Festival . Most of the group took […]
July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, was the Festival of Jan Hus. For on that date in 1415, the Czech reformer was burnt at the stake as a heretic during the Papal Council, held in Constance on the Swiss-German border. Everyone knows Luther and Calvin, but the story of Europe’s first Reformation, a whole century ahead of the […]
