January 7, 2008
‘Hope’ seems to be bubbling up all over Europe this year as a theme for national strategies, city-wide evangelism and inspirational events. Young evangelical leaders in Poland, for example, are spearheading an initiative they pray will gain momentum across denominations under the banner, Realna Nadzieja (Real Hope). Their vision embraces the whole Christian community across […]
December 3, 2007
Sometimes I think the Pope must be reading my mail! Recently I suggested in an editorial for HOPE magazine that a good companion volume to Benedict’s book, Without Roots, would be Without Hope. The first book portrayed a Europe that had forgotten the source of her values. The second, I proposed, could describe a Europe […]
November 26, 2007
When Liviu Mocan went to renew his driver’s license sometime after 9/11, the city official behind the desk began to panic. For the sculptor’s swarthy complexion and grey-flecked bushy beard gave him a remarkable resemblance to the world’s most wanted man: Osama bin Laden! Yet this man is a revolutionary of sorts. Through his sculptures, […]
November 19, 2007
“As a climate scientist who has worked on this issue for several decades, first as head of the Met Office, and then as co-chair of scientific assessment for the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change, the impacts of global warming are such that I have no hesitation in describing it as a ‘weapon of mass […]
November 12, 2007
Can Tolerance and Christianity go together? Many outside the church view Christianity as the root cause of much intolerance in Europe, while many believers see tolerance as a mark of our relativistic society! How can those committed to Biblical absolutes condone tolerance? And yet this week, British Christians are being challenged to examine their tolerance […]
November 5, 2007
Last week I had my chance to find out why churches in England have taken seriously the challenge of our spiritual age in ways not yet obvious elsewhere in Europe. A few weeks ago I shared how puzzled I was that churches on the continent seemed to lag far behind their British counterparts when it […]
October 29, 2007
Question: If you and I had lived during the centuries of the African slave trade, would we have been among the minority of Christians who tried to do something to stop the inhumane and cruel trafficking of humans? Or would we have found some pious reason to maintain the status quo and ‘submit to God’s […]
October 21, 2007
A Thugz Church?! Not in their wildest dreams had Youth for Christ workers in Rotterdam thought of a fellowship for ex-criminals when they set out to create a safe place for urban youth a few years ago. But last week in Greece, Setkin Sies and Daniel de Wolf were presented a Hope Award on behalf […]
October 8, 2007
We’re coming up to our annual puzzle event. This will be the third year we hold an event to help equip the church for the spiritual age in which we live. It’s the Evangelism in a New Age consultation, in Basel, Switzerland, Oct 28-Nov 1. The puzzling bit is why the church in Britain has […]
October 1, 2007
Think for a moment of how many types of prayer initiatives there have been in recent years. Right now, for example, we are in the middle of the Ramadan prayer season for the Muslim world. Has there ever been a time in history where so many followers of Jesus have prayed for the world’s Muslims? […]
September 24, 2007
Posters pasted around Dutch cities this month invite non-Muslims to join muslim families for the Iftar (evening) meal during Ramadan, after the sun has set. Today that is at 19.39 in Holland. The daily fast is slowly broken with a simple snack of bread, cheese and fruit. With hunger from a day’s fasting temporarily at […]
September 17, 2007
My wife and I joined the crowds thronging towards the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam on Saturday evening to celebrate 100 years of the pentecostal movement in The Netherlands. We looked forward to an inspiring concert by Sydney-based Hillsong United and recognition of one of the most significant developments of the twentieth century. From high in […]
