As you know, pioneer training at Wycliffe College is still in its infancy, and the Fresh Expressions mantra—“we’re making this up as go along”—is as true here as anywhere.  This spring George Sumner is planning to bring a group together to discuss how we can improve the present program. Here are some of the models [...]

This week I was at a very unusual defence of a Doctor of Ministry thesis—on the pastoral care of inter-cultural marriages. The student, whose work I supervised, is a hero of mine: Pishoy Salama. Why was the defence unusual and why is he a hero?
Pishoy is a Coptic Orthodox priest who leads the multicultural congregation of [...]

How do you do Bible study? I suspect that for most of us it’s actually quite superficial. When did we last have an experience that might be described as “going deep into Scripture” or “being immersed in a book of the Bible”?
This spring, May 1-7, there is an opportunity to encounter Scripture—which is to say [...]

One of the formative experiences of my life was at the age of twenty, when I spent a summer for working for Operation Mobilisation, selling Bibles door to door in rural France. It was formative in many ways, most of them good, but in particular for the discovery that God can answer our prayers for [...]

Tomorrow (Tuesday November 29th), I trust you will take a moment to sing (perhaps silently—you wouldn’t want anyone to think you were weird, would you?) “Happy Birthday” to C.S.Lewis, who would have turned 113 on that day.
Does he have anything to say about pioneer ministries or fresh expressions of church? It would be nice to [...]

When I worked for IVCF, the question was often raised: Are IVCF chapters churches? The answer was always a resounding No: we do not practise sacraments, nor do we have ordained leadership. Both staff and students were expected to be members of a local church off campus.
But if we were not a church, what were [...]

My thought for the week this time is not a reflection but rather an invitation. As you will see from the attached, Alan Hirsch will be speaking at Tyndale next Monday afternoon and evening (Nov 21st).  He is the author (among other things) of The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church, which was for some [...]

As you may know, the sixth annual Vital Church Planting conference is coming up in February 2012—Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th.  I hope you will be able to make it for at least part of the time. The last few years, George has kindly agreed to cover half the cost for Wycliffe students. See the [...]