Living in the power and presence of Immanuel (Matthew 1) ‘So God throws open the door of this world—and enters as a baby. As the most vulnerable imaginable. Because he wants unimaginable intimacy with you. What religion ever had a god that wanted such intimacy with us...
“I want Christians to recognize the grotesque nature of a social performance of Christianity that imagines Christian identity floating above land, landscape, animals, place, and space, leaving such realities to the machinations of capitalistic calculations and the...
Some Christian movements try to link physical healing with the atonement by appealing to Isaiah 53:4–6, Matthew 8:14–17, and 1 Peter 2:21–25. This theology has grown worldwide, and especially in the Majority World (sometimes called Third World) and among churches with...
Light in the darkness, and the renewal of all creation (Matthew 2) ‘In Christ, a new world is being born and the new creation is unfurling all around us. God is directing history toward the future restoration, repair, and renewal of all creation. And our job is to...
耶稣回答说：“你们错了，因为你们不明白经上的话，也不明白神的大能。”（马太福音22:29）。在我对耶稣基督进行的门徒训练中，圣灵的洗礼是一种决定性的体验。我记得有一天晚上，当时，我十六岁，我是一个很容易生气，受伤和没有安全感的人。我刚刚参加过五旬节礼拜仪式并回应了牧师接受圣灵洗礼的邀请。当牧师祷告时，什么事都没有发生在我身上。那天晚上，我独自一人在自己的房间里，我向上帝呼求他的存在。在午夜时分，我以强烈而压倒性的方式体验了灵性的力量和存在。不是“说方言” 给我留下了深刻的印象–...
如果你是西方的基督徒，那么你现在已经属于少数的部分了。虽然许多统计数据显示出在多代人中，西方教会正在经历衰落，但事实上，几乎在世界的任何地方都印证了这一点。非西方文化和教会不再是少数的一群人，他们已经成为了大多数。几十年来，主体世界地区（有时被称为发展中世界）的教会经历了不平凡和持续的增长。这包括了非洲，亚洲和拉丁美洲等地区。还有大洋洲和加勒比地区，中东和东欧，原居民和本土人士的社区。最后，由移民组成的基督教社区也正在经历一个成长和振兴的时期。在这些不同文化中，教会的见解可以帮助全世界的教会加入新的元素。当我们互相学习时，他们可以激励...
主体世界（英文是Majority World, 以下我会对主体世界的定义给一个详细的解释），原居民和侨民组成的教会正在为二十一世纪的基督教重新下一个定义。我们这些西方基督徒必须决定我们如何回应这种转变。主体世界，原居民和侨民组成的教会正在重新定义21世纪的基督教。Stephen Bevans写道，我们现在生活在一个“世界教会” 中，绝大多数基督徒都是[来自多数世界]。大卫巴雷特(David Barrett) 的统计研究证实了这一转变，菲利普詹金斯(Philip Jenkins)...
I love reading. And being a parent of three daughters has further convinced me of the value of reading. When my girls were little, my favorite time of the day was reading time with them, just before they went to bed. In the mid 1990s I discovered the art of "spiritual...
Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29). Spirit baptism has been a defining experience in my discipleship to Jesus Christ. I remember the night well. I was sixteen, angry, wounded, and insecure. I...
I chose to go to Bible and theological college in my late twenties. (In Australia, we tend to call seminaries theological colleges). I’d spent close to 10 years serving with a church planting team and felt that I needed further equipping for ministry. I also wanted to...
“We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn,’ and I accept it. I’ve got nothing that I hadn’t bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality,...
