December 5, 2005
TEN YEARS AGO, TWO YOUNG YWAM WOMEN, RENEE AND SUE, WERE RESCUED BY HELICOPTER as civil war engulfed the West African republic of Liberia. As they caught their last backward glances of their adopted country from the air, it seemed all their efforts to establish a work of YWAM had just evaporated in the smoke […]
November 28, 2005
I NEVER DID QUITE FIGURE OUT WHAT ‘TORONTO’ WAS ALL ABOUT A DECADE OR SO BACK. There was a lot of excitement about bizarre behaviour in church, people making animal noises, falling on the ground, and the like, a phenomenon that first broke out in Toronto, Canada. Across Europe, churches were divided over ‘Toronto’. For […]
November 21, 2005
WHY ARE WE CHRISTIANS BETTER KNOWN FOR WHAT WE DON’T WANT IN SOCIETY, THAN WHAT WE DO WANT? We’re known to be against abortion, euthanasia and homosexual marriage, ecetera. But what are we known to be for – apart from a return to Pleasantville? Do we have a clear idea of the kind of society […]
November 7, 2005
‘EUROPE IS FILLED WITH BELIEVING UNBELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVING BELIEVERS’. So said Daniel Hari, a soft-spoken former Salvation Army officer from Switzerland, at the recent Evangelism in a New Age consultation in Basel. Hari explained that the disciples came to believe that Jesus was the Son of God because of his power for healing and other […]
October 31, 2005
WE ARE LIVING THROUGH ONE OF THE MOST TRANSFORMING MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION WORLDWIDE. Yet western observers are blind to the most significant and revolutionary changes in today’s world. Consequently they misread the global future. Their myopic view of Christianity historically as a western faith distorts their perspective on what is yet to […]
October 24, 2005
HURRICANES, TIDAL WAVES, EARTHQUAKES AND PESTILENCES SEEM TO BE COMING WITH ALARMING FREQUENCY THESE DAYS. While scientists and politicians discuss the threat of global warming, televangelists speculate about end time signs. So to meet a group of Christians engaging with creation from a perspective of hope last week in Portugal was most refreshing. Prior to […]
October 17, 2005
ONE LAST TIME, BEFORE CHANGING THE SUBJECT! Andreas, a Hope for Europe colleague – and a sober German – wrote to me after a recent visit to the cinema: “While we were waiting for the main movie to start, the whole (and I mean the WHOLE) array of advertisements (from cars to cigarettes) and ALL […]
October 10, 2005
DID YOU GET RYANAIR’S OFFER THIS WEEK TO CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN IN SPAIN WITH “FIENDISH GHOULS, CHAINSAW WIELDING MONSTERS AND POSSESSED SOULS WHO WILL TERRIFY YOU TO YOUR VERY CORE”? “Located near Salou on the Costa Dorada, the PortAventura theme park becomes a haven for all things freaky between 1st October and 13th November, with scary […]
October 3, 2005
LAST WEEK’S WW ON ENGAGEMENT WITH NEW SPIRITUALITY produced encouraging signs that we may be awakening from deep slumber across the continent to the new realities. “Thank you for your provoking words,” wrote one fellow YWAMer. “I think you’ve ‘hit’ on something in regards to our YWAM training programs‚Ķare we truly aware of the trends […]
September 26, 2005
WW resumes after a six week break, mostly spent in Brazil, 60 hours of which on buses, 30 on planes and over 100 in meetings… WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO AWAKEN THE BODY OF CHRIST to the changing spiritual climate in Europe today? What will it take to arouse us as followers of Jesus to […]
August 15, 2005
BASEL, SWITZERLAND OCT 31 – NOV 3, 2005 A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION IS QUIETLY HAPPENING ACROSS EUROPE TODAY. It’s not the radical muslim fundamentalist agenda clogging today’s headlines and editorials. Quietly, under the radar, it is spreading and growing, shaping the minds and spirits of company exectutives, schoolchildren, educationalists an housewives, and shaping our continent’s future. […]
WEEKLY WORDS WILL RESUME SEPTEMBER 12. I WILL BE TRAVELLING IN SOUTH AMERICA UNTIL THEN. ONLY THE SMALL SIGN ‘MENNO’S FERMANJE’ DISTINGUISHED THE HOUSE FROM OTHERS IN THE STREET. Three simple windows and a door. Modest living quarters in the front, and a high roof over the rear section for the farm animals. A typical […]
