Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God is a collection of short biographies of women who’ve been used by God. Noel Piper wanted to call them ‘ordinary women’ to emphasise that they weren’t necessarily very healthy, gifted, wealthy or glamorous. She tells the stories of Sarah Edwards, Lilias Trotter, Gladys Aylward, […]
Suppose a company of serious Christians, ministers and private persons, were to form themselves into a society… For all Protestant Christianity’s concern for right doctrine, it had a pretty rusty record in terms of mission during its first 200 years. But William Carey, ostensibly the father of Protestant missions, helped […]
I’ve posted recently about the failings of Thomas Cranmer and Jonathan Edwards, asking why we’re reluctant to speak about their shortcomings. I wonder whether we’re scared that this might discredit their ministry. My (anecdotal) argument is motivated by great ‘heroes’ of the Bible who were pretty suspect themselves. Their fallenness […]
Yesterday, Ridley launched its Jonathan Edwards Center. It was a great evening, paying tribute to a man who is regarded as “one of the greatest minds in North American history, and has had an enduring legacy in theology, philosophy, politics and social engagement” to quote the founder of the center […]
The trellis and the vine: the ministry mind-set that changes everything Colin Marshall and Tony Payne (Matthias Media, 2009) This new Australian book picks up on some of the things I explored in Going Parachurch, distinguishing between the organic church and the institutional church. Our true focus must always be […]
From current day reforming groups (complete with a Facebook page!) to my former pastor who had his picture on his study door, Thomas Cranmer is a bit of a favourite with Anglicans. After all, he was the architect of the beloved Anglican prayer book and has been credited with the […]
One of the reasons we chose Ridley was its size – big enough to have a diverse student cohort and small enough to have access to the lecturers. Tonight we had dinner with one of our lecturers and his family. The kind of hospitality they showed us was very instructive […]
Meet Jesus at uni 