Mission – Ministry – Life
Life is like sitting on a chair, you don’t get to choose the chair but you can decide how to sit on it. The last day of mission training had more of a focus on helping us to thrive rather than just survive whilst overseas. Again there was input: a session on Animism and a... Continue Reading →
“Mission is something we do with God, we can be the catalyst God uses” is my quote of the day from day 3 of mission training. However, the effectiveness of a catalyst in a reaction can depend on several factors and we want to create positive reactions and much of today revolved around how we... Continue Reading →
How fast can you stuff a tiger? Each session of the short term volunteer training comes up fast on the last. From 8:30 am to 8pm at night, with little time between the sessions, in the last 24 hours we’ve considered questions ranging from “what is the gospel” – which got people really animated –... Continue Reading →
Mission is an extreme sport. And to help me get in shape I'm spending this week at the BMS World Mission training centre in Birmingham (UK) doing the course they run to prepare people for going overseas as short / mid term volunteers. It's a strange experience being a student, these days I spend lots... Continue Reading →
I’ve just returned from my latest trip to Peru: teaching at the BMS supported training centre in Nauta. As usual it was a great time. The main aim of the first week was teaching at one of the regular training weeks. The idea is that the centre provides basic training for pastors and church leaders... Continue Reading →
Back in the UK I attended the annual BUGB/BMS Baptist Assembly on Saturday. This year it was a one day event, which worked better than I thought it might. Obviously reducing the events length means that there are lots of things there isn’t space for, such as opportunities for other Baptist Organisations, plenary sessions with... Continue Reading →
My post on Baptist Assembly suggested I’d blog something about discernment and how we might create space to do so. The problem is that Assembly is too big a gathering to use many of the techniques familiar in Church Meetings. In groups of 30-100 people can get to know each other, in groups of 1000... Continue Reading →
This weekend has been the Annual Assembly for the BUGB (Baptist Union of Great Britain). A slightly different format this year as it was reduced to a two day event but overall, even without seminars or an exhibition to promote baptistic organisations, it worked well. Saturday morning saw the opening address by Chris Ellis, this... Continue Reading →
It's the BUGB / BMS annual assembly this weekend. This time we are meeting in West Bromwich, which will make a change from the run down seaside venues often chosen. It will also mark the first anniversary of Lynn Green’s appointment as General Secretary. Sadly Lynn’s been receiving medical treatment over the last few weeks... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I went to Catalyst Live in Manchester, a new event put together by BMS world mission. The day aimed to help Christian leaders think about the ‘Mission of the Mind’, bringing together speakers with backgrounds in theology, apologetics, science and culture. I’d been a bit wary of an event with so many different speakers... Continue Reading →
Distinct Reflections 