“One of the world’s top 100 major influencers” Time 2005

John Stott in 2006. He has been described as ‘a renaissance man with a reformation theology’. Photograph: Kieran Dodds Though the name of the Rev John Stott, who has died at the age of 90, rarely appeared in the UK national press, in April 2005 Time Magazine placed him among the world’s top 100 major influencers. [...]

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Rev Dr John R W Stott 27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011

I heard this morning that John Stott died yesterday. A few minutes ago I found his memorial website which is a great source of information about John Stott’s life and details of upcoming memorial services. John Stott’s successor as International Director of Langham Partnership International, Chris Wright, has written the following message on the website. [...]

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New Horizon #nh2010

Last week from 17-23 July, I was at New Horizon. New Horizon has been going at Coleraine University since summer 1989 – the year we left N. Ireland to teach at Vavoua International School in Ivory Coast as members of Wycliffe Bible Translators. In recent years Hope Street (the mission zone at New Horizon) has [...]

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God’s Plan for Your Life: is there one?

“Probably not!” says Don Miller fairly emphatically. Did you have / are you having those debates (much loved of youth leaders in my younger days) talking about guidance and the trap of bad guidance talks when young people struggle to find “The One” who is God’s choice for their life partner? Often when I’m talking [...]

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“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you”

I hope you’ve noticed that the title of this blog is also what my blog site is called – John 20:21. So what did Jesus mean? I’m fairly sure that Jesus, God the Son,  came to be a human man in first century Palestine because  God the Father wanted to translate himself from divine into [...]

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Wycliffe UK’s New Look at Kingdom Come

I spent most of last week at Kingdom Come, a conference for Irish church leaders north and south designed to Refresh, Restore, Revitalise. We were treated to a feast of challenge and encouragement from speakers Gordon MacDonald (keynote speaker) plus morning Bible readings from Church of Ireland Bishop Ken Clarke, Methodist minister and theological college [...]

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Intensive Care Week

Philip Yancey wrote a few days ago in Christianity Today: he subtitled the piece…  Thoughts while sitting beside my brother as his brain and body failed My brother’s life did not end this summer, but in one terrifying week of progressive strokes, his brain shut down much of his body. On a Friday, he began [...]

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The blind men, the elephant and the zoo

I’m sure you’ve heard the story of how six blind men meet an elephant. I came across it again recently – here it is… Six blind men encounter an elephant – although how they knew that it was an elephant the story does not recount. The first touches its trunk and says that an elephant [...]

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Japanese knotweed, blessing and consequences

There was a story on BBC Breakfast this morning about the Japanese knotweed that has run amok in the UK and the plan to import a Japanese insect to deal with it. Then I opened my SU Encounter with God Bible notes to read: In 1935, the Cane Toad was introduced into Australia to control [...]

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How do we assess the rightness of an action or a decision?

Jesus said: “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” John 12:27 In John chapter 11 Jesus brought Lazarus back to life and the Jewish leadership responded by plotting to kill [...]

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