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Church: World Observations

Friends Not Bosses

The Global Church does not need experts because they can’t do stuff. But they do need their brothers and sisters.

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Church: UK Church: World

Our Place in the World

Britain is no longer a major economic or political force in the world. In the same way, the British church needs to learn to find a new place in a rapidly growing world Christian movement.

Categories
Bible & Mission

Not by Missionaries Alone

I reckon that the Church in the West places too much emphasis on missionaries. Before I get dragged before the mission-leaders’ trades union, let me quickly point out that I have argued on numerous occasions that the Church in the west should still be sending missionaries out into the world; try this series for size. […]

Categories
Church: World

The Shifting Centre of Gravity

I’ve often written about the shifting centre of gravity of the world church, but I could probably have saved myself at least a thousand words by posting this map that I found on twitter. The picture was provided by Conrad Hackett and you can see the full thing either by clicking on the map itself or […]

Categories
Observations

Missionaries as Listeners?

Last night I was speaking at the Wycliffe Live event in Northern Ireland. My theme was the way in which the growth of the Church around the world coupled with a slow decline in the influence of Christianity in the West poses a particular challenge for mission agencies such as Wycliffe. This reminded me of […]

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Church: UK Church: World

Reasons To Be Changing (part 3)

To my mind, there are three reasons why the Western missionary movement needs to be transformed. Most obviously: because of the growth of the Church in what used to be called mission fields. Most importantly; because our theology and practice of mission have often been based on a few proof texts, rather than on a […]

Categories
Language In the Bible

Did Pentecost Reverse Babel?

When considering the significance of tongues throughout the pages of Scripture, one may begin to wonder why God desires to hear His praise in every language. Why not just teach everyone Korean, the language of Heaven? Instead, He seems to desire strongly both an array of languages and praising lips from each one. In Revelation […]

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Church: UK Church: World

Why People are Leaving Church: A Look at Context

Rachel Held Evens recently wrote a piece on the CNN blog entitled Why Millenials Are Leaving the Church which gained huge readership (I lost count of how many of my Facebook contacts mentioned it) and has sparked a fair bit of debate. There have been a number of responses to Rachel’s paper including this thoughtful […]

Categories
Mission Observations

Paradigms and Pounds

A few days ago, I wrote a piece which suggested some of the elements which need to be taken into account in developing a new paradigm for Western involvement in mission – but I didn’t mention money. However, it is often suggested that the way to renew mission work is to stop sending missionaries and […]

Categories
Church: World Mission Reviews

Books I have Read: The Meeting Of The Waters

 OK, let’s get the important stuff out of the way. Currently, The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global Currents That Will Propel the Future Church is available for Kindle for £1.99 (it was free until yesterday). At that price it is an absolute steal and if you are involved in Church or mission leadership you should buy […]