Monthly Archives: November 2008

Finding Jesus in the Arab world

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I’m back in town after a visit to the Middle East and England. Tired but happy.
In India and China church planting is numbered in the thousands. The Middle East is different. Although the principles of multiplication don’t vary, their application does.
In the region we visited there weren’t thousands of new churches but there were hundreds [...]

Give up

Here’s a quote that sums out the journey of the last few years, or maybe my whole life. Somehow running into a brick wall this time last year has set me free to discover it’s truth.
From CS Lewis. . . of course.
Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and [...]

Good writers

Good writers have two things in common: they prefer to be understood rather than admired; and they do not write for knowing and over-acurate readers.
Friedrich Nietzche

Wondering around the Middle East

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I’m on the road again. Somewhere in the Middle East. Learning what I can about church planting movements. Catching up with some co-workers. Dropping in on our team in London.
Back home and off on summer holidays in December. Finishing the year tired but happy.
In the last six months God has been at work in ways [...]

Reformed and dangerous

I think it’s a trend. A new generation of Reformed leaders in the Acts 29 mould, but here in Australia. They’re young, clear on the gospel, serious about evangelism and church planting, flexible in methodology and not afraid of the Holy Spirit.
Some of them have planted churches. Others are getting ready. No one is orchestrating [...]

Sweet thoughts on the emerging church

Are the glory days over? Leonard Sweet speaks out on the emerging church. . .
The emerging church has become another form of social gospel. And the problem with every social gospel is that it becomes all social and no gospel. All social justice and no social gospel. It is embarrassing that evangelicals have discovered and [...]

Then along came AJ

I stumbled upon a good case study of denominational turnaround while researching for a report on the Baptist Union of Australia.
Around the turn of the century the Baptist Union in the state of NSW was languishing. Almost seventy years of ministry had resulted in just 37 churches in the most populous Australian colony. Only Tasmania [...]

The future of the Australian Baptists

I’ve just finished an unofficial report on the future of my denomination, the Baptist Union of Australia.
The good news is the BUA has a future. The bad news is if that future is more of the same then the Baptist are headed for long term, gradual decline in relation to the Australian population.
Here’s a [...]