…let us be aware of the need to place our lives and activities continually under the judgment of the Word of God. We cannot simply assume that we have the truth and that everything else, including our evangelization and our ethics, will just fall in line with that truth. The purpose of theology is not merely to reaffirm what previous generations have said but to bring the whole life and mission of the church into line with God’s revelation. All our assumptions and methods must therefore be examined in the light of Scripture. The gospel itself, not success, is the criterion with which we must evaluate our work. The key phrase here is theological renewal.

C. René Padilla, “Evangelism and the World.”

When I tell people that I have joined SIM and gone into missions they are usually excited. But when I tell them about our move to Cambridge they are often puzzled. Why would we spend time doing more school when there is so much need all over the world right now?

My project at Cambridge prepares and propels us well for our aim to help the Majority World Church hear the voice of God in his Word, but there is another side to my studies. As René Padilla says, we cannot merely reaffirm what previous generations have said. We need to keep moving upstream for the purpose of biblical and theological renewal. This is the only way to safeguard our methods and message in each generation and for each culture.

The missions world needs to be in touch with the best that Biblical Studies has to offer. Our time in Cambridge has a number of goals. We want to help the church in the UK do cross-cultural ministry and give our new step-family a place to gel. We want to give thought to how we speak again in new cultures what God spoke in different times, languages, and places.

But the missions endaevour itself needs to be continually brought under the judgement of the Word of God. We are taking some years to dig deep so that we can be part of bringing the whole life and mission of the church into line with God’s revelation.

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