Most Canadians know about fresh-air-in-the-car day. It is that glorious day in the Spring when you can drive with the car windows open again. It is a relief from months where all the breathable oxygen comes through stale heat vents and your own foggy breath frosts up the windshield. Our vehicle has a sun roof. So …
The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism, Brian Stanley
The short version: an excellent and accessible overview of evangelicalism in the second half of the twentieth century. This is perhaps less 'Global Church' than you might expect as Stanley is following the direction of the series which this book completes. Evaluations of key moments and movements (like evangelistic crusades, the so-called battle for the …
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A Lament for Sermons Unpreached
I am finally reading Marilynne Robinson's novel, Gilead. I had heard that it is remarkable because she captures the inner experiences of ministry so well. My bookmark sits at page 22, holding my place while I gather these thoughts, because what I heard is true. The form of the book is a letter written by …
The Frontline of Mission is in…Glasgow?
Where are the frontlines of missions today? That might not be a fair question. I’m not exactly sure how we would go about giving a straightforward geographical answer to that. But I’m using the question to (hopefully) bait you into some surprise when I suggest that we spent a Sunday afternoon on the frontline of …
Academics Turn Up the Volume
Just a mile down the road from my home, housed inside the lovely red brick buildings of Westminster College, is the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide. The goal of the Centre is to "encourage people...to engage with, encounter, and enquire about the global nature of Christianity in its historical development and in the contemporary world." …
Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan, by Jesse A. Zink
The short version: this excellent book is both insightful and accessible. Jesse Zink is specifically focused on the surprising growth of Anglican Christianity amongst the Dinka people of (the southern) Sudan during the conflict of the 1980s and 90s. He connects this growth to three factors brought on by the Second Sudanese civil war: increased …
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The Mission of Apolo Kivebulaya, Emma Wild-Wood
The short version: this is an excellent book which situates Apolo Kivebulaya (c. 1864-1933) decisively within his East African context. You will get Kivebulaya’s story here, but this is more of a ‘study’ than a straightforward biography. The value of spending so much time on how we understand Kivebulaya, rather than just on the man …
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What if Covid Kills the Conference?
In a pandemic setting, a gathering of 4,200 people from just under 200 countries sounds like a terrifyingly bad idea. We have had a whole different set of opportunities through Zoom events during lockdowns, but what have we missed? What will we lose if we do not gather as we did before all this? It …
They Are Singing Paul’s Song in South Sudan
A few years back, Caleb and I took a trip to see Christiane while she was living in East Africa. There was a lot about this trip to hold onto, but our visit to the UN Refugee Camp in Kakuma stands out. This was a first step into a world that I knew only from Hollywood …
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He was Brown, Like Me
In May of 1930, Festo Kivengere is about 10 years old and has just passed his first set of school exams. The school gifts him a copy of the Gospel of Luke and he carries it everywhere, reading while he and his friends watched the cattle under their charge. There is so much to love …
Missionary of Reconciliation, by Alfred Olwa
The short version: a helpful study of the preaching of a fascinating and inspiring figure. Because this is the published version of Olwa's PhD thesis, most of it makes for fairly tough reading. The first three chapters have broader appeal but if you want a brief introduction to Kivengere, you are probably better off with …
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