Karl Barth died 41 years ago today.
Here are a few of my favourite quotes from him:
On his own theology:
My whole theology, you see, is fundamentally a theology for parsons. It grew out of my own situation when I had to teach and preach and counsel a little. (From a radio broadcast made shortly before [...]
Posts Tagged ‘mission’
Changing world – changing ministry
Posted in evangelism, islam, mission, tagged evangelism, islam, mission on 20 August, 2009 | 15 Comments »
A video briefly existed here charting an alarming rate of decline in birth rates in the west combined with incredible Muslim birth and immigration rates.
Apparently the statistics are absolutely unreliable. See here. Thanks to Daniel Blanche for pointing this out.
Sorry to spread the error.
Anyway – it’s still true to say that through immigration the unreached [...]
Look at the fields – they are ripe for harvest
Posted in evangelism, mission, tagged evangelism, mission on 19 August, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Gospel for Asia (UK site here) sends native missionaries into the Asian harvest field at a fraction of the cost of sending westerners. 100% of your money goes to the field. You can sponsor a missionary for £20 a month. Think about it.
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The context is key. The context is mission.
Posted in evangelism, mission, tagged evangelism, mission on 23 June, 2009 | 4 Comments »
In preaching through 1 Corinthians recently I listened to a lot of sermons on chapters 9 and 10. Two themes in particular were hammered home by preachers.
In chapter 9 there’s the olympic training regimes (v24-27). In chapter 10 there’s ‘glorifying God’ in all circumstances (v31). But so often the context of these verses is ignored.
So [...]
A theology of preaching – part 1
Posted in ministry, mission, preaching, revelation, tagged ministry, mission, preaching, revelation on 15 June, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Go to theology network for my paper on preaching in full. Here I’ll post it in chunks. Be good to talk about it if you want to comment…
Introduction
It is often said that the real issue in preaching is not ‘How to?’ but ‘How can?’ How can a preacher stand before a congregation and dare to [...]
Reflecting the Lord’s glory
Posted in mission, pastoral theology, sanctification, tagged mission, pastoral theology, sanctification on 5 June, 2009 | 3 Comments »
What’s this verse about?
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory… (2 Cor 3:18)
Is it about enjoying private devotional experiences with Jesus so that we become like Him? That’s a popular interpretation. And it’s half right. But it’s really not the full story.
The [...]
Ten thoughts on planning missions
Posted in apologetics, evangelism, mission, tagged apologetics, evangelism, mission on 31 March, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Like many churches across the country, we’re planning our involvement with the Passion for Life mission initiative taking place in Easter 2010. Here are ten thoughts on these kinds of missions in no particular order.
‘A mission’ should be part of a church’s ongoing life of mission. The one-off sports event with gospel talk at half [...]
Al Jazeera on Iraqi converts
Posted in evangelism, islam, mission, tagged evangelism, islam, mission on 12 March, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Thanksgiving and prayer called for. Wise as snakes, innocent as doves.
H/T Paul Blackham
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A theology of mission 5 – some talks
Posted in evangelism, mission, sermons, tagged evangelism, mission, sermons on 15 February, 2009 | 1 Comment »
We’ve been thinking about a theology of mission grounded in the doctrine of God.
Here are some relevant talks from me on the subject.:
Luke 14 - Mission the way Jesus did it
Mission in 1 Peter
1 Peter 2 – Doing mission together
Here is Paul Blackham on being salt and light
And here is hands down the best talk I’ve [...]
A theology of mission 4 – Evangelism only?
Posted in Doctrine of God, evangelism, gospel, mission, tagged Doctrine of God, evangelism, gospel, mission on 27 January, 2009 | 6 Comments »
We have been thinking about mission grounded in God’s own life. God is the Sending God, His Sent Son and the Reconciling Spirit – this is not simply something He does but who He is.
So it is with the Church. We have inherited our mission from the Sent One and we too find ourselves not simply [...]
A theology of mission 3
Posted in Doctrine of God, church, evangelism, mission, tagged church, Doctrine of God, evangelism, mission on 23 January, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In the last post, we saw the deepest continuity between God’s mission and ours.
But now we must highlight the discontinuity.
Continuity and Discontinuity
Perhaps the Matthean Great Commission will show both the continuity and discontinuity points:
‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them [...]
A theology of mission 1
Posted in church, evangelism, mission, tagged church, evangelism, mission on 21 January, 2009 | 1 Comment »
This began life as an essay I wrote for post-ordination training.
Typically ‘mission’ is understood as an activity that the church undertakes. On this understanding, the church, alongside its other duties, is also a sender and supporter of gospel workers.
In this paradigm a church may seek to enlarge their “sending arrow” greatly. They may tirelessly champion [...]
How to wait
Posted in eschatology, mission, tagged escatology, mission on 16 January, 2009 | 11 Comments »
The Christian is expectant. We wait for Christ our Bridegroom.
But how do we wait? Like this?
I recently read Sam Harris quoting this statistic: 44% of Americans believe Jesus will ‘certainly’ or ‘probably’ return in the next 50 years. That’s not 44% of American Christians. That’s 44% of Americans!
Now I think Jesus could return today. But [...]
How to win the world
Posted in gospel, grace, mission, tagged gospel, grace, mission on 16 January, 2009 | 2 Comments »
It’s a story about high school football. But really it’s about how to win the world. Go and read now!
h/t Letters from Kamp Krusty
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Stronger
Posted in evil, mission, pastoral theology, sermons, tagged evil, mission, pastoral theology, sermons on 11 November, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Mark 5:1-20
Jesus is stronger than the storms (Mark 4:35-41). He is stronger than death (Mark 5:21-43). In Mark 5:1-20 He takes on an army of demons to prove Himself stronger than the Strong Man (Mark 3:27).
Read the sermon here
Listen here
Sermon in brief…
The Before and After shots of this demonized man would be something to behold!
Before: living among tombs, [...]
Door to Door?
Posted in evangelism, mission, tagged evangelism, mission on 25 February, 2008 | 18 Comments »
A friend of mine recently posed this statement for discussion
“Five sessions of 5 pairs spending two hours door-knocking is better spent having 5 pairs having neighbours round five times in a season” Discuss.
Some responses:
Good thought! See especially here where Rory Shiner discusses Gospel intentionality as a good ‘third way’ between cold-contact and friendship evangelism. He (like [...]
What age are we in?
Posted in evangelism, mission, tagged evangelism, mission on 5 February, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Are we in the Post-Christian age?
Is this age characterized by total cultural memory-loss regarding our Christian heritage? Is this the age in which people are so far back in their Christian understanding that the mission stategies of previous centuries are virtually useless?
Are we in the Post-Modern age?
Is this age characterized by the total devaluation of [...]
What is godliness?
Posted in ethics, evangelism, mission, sermons, tagged ethics, evangelism, mission, sermons on 4 February, 2008 | 2 Comments »
From a sermon on Luke 14 I gave yesterday:
Godliness is radical other-centredness. Christ-likeness is opening your life out in invitation to the world.
The Priesthood of all believers and Trinity 2
Posted in church, mission, trinity, tagged church, mission, trinity on 27 January, 2008 | 3 Comments »
In previous posts I have discussed the priesthood of all believers and how this doctrine interacts with the doctrine of the trinity. In my last post on this I examined the connection from Trinity => church. In this post we’ll go in the other direction: church => trinity (a much more perilous route!!). My question is:
Can ‘different [...]
The Priesthood of all believers and Trinity 1
Posted in church, mission, trinity, tagged church, mission, trinity on 24 January, 2008 | 5 Comments »
When discussing the priesthood of all believers I tried to highlight the corporate nature of our priestliness. I only find my priestliness in union with Christ and in union with others. Both are essential.
The priesthood of all believers is not a priestliness that is the private possession of each believer. If we argue like this then the [...]
I believed, therefore I spoke.
Posted in evangelism, mission, tagged evangelism, mission on 16 January, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Our church is in a sermon series encouraging us to put mission at the heart of all we do and say. It’s got me thinking about one of my favourite verses: ”I believed therefore I have spoken.” (2 Cor 4:13) I’ve been trying to think, what do I need to believe in order to be the evangelist [...]
