Categories
Observations

Sitting at the back

I’m sitting at the back of a strategic planning workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand, copying material onto CDs for the participants to take away and half listening to the session. It’s been interesting to travel with Eddie on this trip, seeing him ‘do his stuff’: explaining various planning processes and demonstrating the art of group […]

Categories
Reviews

Larry Norman (1947-2008)

Back in the 1970s when I became a Christian there was hardly any Christian music scene – but there was an American guy with long blond hair and a raunchy guitar playing style called Larry Norman. OK, the eschatology of I wish we’d all been ready (probably his most famous song) has never really reflected […]

Categories
Reviews

Cyclone Ivan

Nearly 145,000 people have been left homeless by a cyclone that tore through Madagascar, killing 44 people. The figures double previous estimates of the havoc wreaked by the category three cyclone and have raised fears of a humanitarian catastrophe. Cyclone Ivan struck the island’s east coast last Sunday, and was followed by torrential rains which […]

Categories
Observations

In Thailand

Sue and I are attending a workshop in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. The workshop is being held in a rather nice hotel which is also a stop on the tourist trail around the country. Each day the hotel fills up with crowds of sunburned Europeans; French one day, German another, all chattering about their […]

Categories
Language Vitality

The Death of a Language

The Guardian has an article on the death of the last Eyak speaker in Alaska. The headline says that the loss of this language is worse than bombing the Louvre. To my mind, it may be even worse than that. The loss of a language in analogous to the loss of a biological species. Languages […]

Categories
Bible Translation

John Stott on Christian Language

Having read this quote at Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, I’ve decided that I must buy The Living Church: The Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor by John Stott. Some Christian people seen to be in bondage to words and formulas, and so become prisoners of a gospel stereotype. They wrap up their message in […]

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Church: UK

More on Preaching

A couple of months ago I made reference to an article by David Allis which talked about some problems with the traditional model of preaching. David has been kind enough to post a follow up article as a comment on this blog. He has some more challenging things to say which preachers and listeners alike […]

Categories
Church: UK

Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness

Until recently, I was more or less ambivalent to the architecture and decoration of church buildings. If I had a preference it was for the utilitarian, box-like structures of my non-conformist heritage. However, as I grow older, I realise that the surroundings can help me to develop a sense of awe and wonder. What do […]

Categories
Observations Reviews

Surprised by Hope

For the last three or four years, I’ve been saying to anyone who cared to listen (and to some who didn’t) that the most important Christian book that I’ve read for ages is The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church by Frost and Hirsch. Shaping helped me rethink […]

Categories
Observations

I could have written this…

This morning I was woken at 3am by a text message from my cab company who I had booked to meet me off the plane tomorrow. The driver was at Heathrow and was wondering where I was. I had given them the wrong day! Aaaaagh. I went back to bed then convinced myself I must […]