This is part three in my Called?! series of blog posts. Click for parts one and two. Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow …
Latest update (8th Feb) All giving for Turkiye and Syria can be now be gift aided via https://catalystnetwork.org/donate/ Join many from around the world to pray on Friday 10th February 2023 at 7pm-8pm (UK time) online via zoom Add Prayer Meeting to Calendar Join Zoom Meeting Details https://zoom.us/j/95328361775?pwd=ZEFaa3YxekR2SEFobVZpM1F5Y1RBUT09 Meeting ID: 953 2836 1775 Passcode: Catalyst …
Earthquake Latest: Amended Details/ Pray and Give Read More »
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach …
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon …
The following is an extract from my book The Bethlehem Story: Mission and Justice in the Margins of the World There is another ancient oracle that seems to have been in Matthew’s thinking as he wrote of the wise men. There are definite resonances of Isaiah 60:1-7 in the Matthew 2 story. Arise, shine, for your …
Decolonisation must be by evolution, not revolution. An evolution, however, punctuated by moments of revolution, of revelation. This is a journey both systemic and deeply personal. I’m sitting in the airport on my way home from 10 days in a Middle Eastern context where the very things that have been discussed here are being wrestled …
Decolonising Apostolic Ministry 5: Evolution not Revolution Read More »
Part One Part Two Part Three Any review of apostolic mission must consider the way money is used. There are just so many ways in which the use of money can perpetuate structural power imbalances in the global Church. In this post, I seek to frame the conversation positively by proposing three questions which apostolic …
Part One Part Two In this series of blog posts I am asking the question, “what would it take to decolonise the doctrine and practice of apostolic ministry today? In today’s post, I look at two reasons why apostolic ministry as it is currently taught and practiced needs decolonising. Let’s remind ourselves of Merriam-Webster’s definition …
In this series of blog posts I am asking the question, “what would it take to decolonise the doctrine and practice of apostolic ministry today? Read Post 1 in the series. A key aspect of decolonisation is the bringing near of authority. Post-Soviet decolonisation in Central Asia has resulted in a flourishing resurgence of local …
Decolonising Apostolic Ministry 2: Centring the Local Read More »
I love Newfrontiers. I am a Newfrontiers boy through and through. And I’m arguing for a process of reflective decolonisation of apostolic ministry. One of our contributions to the global missions conversation is a robust theology and practice of apostleship. We believe that Biblical language (elder, shepherd, evangelist, apostle, etc.) is more meaningful in a …
Just re-reading Walter Brueggemann’s classic book, The Prophetic Imagination. Here is a wonderful passage on hope: The prophet has only the means of word, spoken word and acted word, to contradict the presumed reality of his or her community. The prophet is to provide the wherewithal whereby hope becomes possible again to a community of kings …
Part of Jeremiah’s calling was to reach out to those living in the province of Ephraim, north of the dividing line between the southern kingdom of Judah (with its capital Jerusalem), and the northern kingdom of Israel (with its capital Samaria). The dispute between Ephraim (Joseph’s son) and Judah was an ancient one, going back …
This presentation was given by CSGC Co-Director Dr. Gina A. Zurlo at the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Karlsruhe, Germany, on September 2, 2022. Check out this short video with many of the most up to date statistics and analysis of the global distribution of the Church.
Sitting in Athens thinking about history. Anthony Sattin’s book Nomads: The Wanderers who Shaped our World is therapeutic and persuasive in its argument that the modernist telling of history represents ‘an invisible line’ through to civilisation and progress as defined in the West, to ‘people like us.’ In this idea, settledness, dominion over nature, and …
We’ve just spent a week in a Central Asian city famously known as “the windy city” (let the reader understand!) – and it really has been very blustery. Shutter-bangingly, tree-bendingly, dust-raisingly properly windy. So we’ve spent a week thinking about wind, and thinking about mission. They key verse we’ve been reflecting on together is John …
Notes from a talk first given at the Greece is East event, June 2022. Greek poet, George Seferis, famously wrote: Your nostalgia has created a non-existent country. This is a danger for all cross-cultural church planters; the danger of seeking to contextualise the gospel into a romantic ideal that is a million miles from the …
Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, not a horse. The Cyprus donkey is a well-loved symbol of the island. What kind of king do Cypriots really need to meet?
Why buy from a stranger, when you can borrow from a relative? On planting churches cross-culturally, mission agencies, cross-cultural best practice and the Newfrontiers family. Andy McCullough. April 2022. Historically, when church planting internationally, Newfrontiers churches have generally preferred sending cross-cultural, long-term workers via a direct send model, rather than via mission agencies. The primary …
Why buy from a stranger when you can borrow from a relative? Read More »
The resurrection appearances in John’s brilliantly crafted narrative bring to poetic conclusion so many themes. There are multiple reiterated ideas from John’s gospel itself which find their climax in Chapter 20, as well as deeper underlying, intertextual, Biblical-theological ideas. Consider the significance of it being “the first day,” (20:1, 19), light and darkness (20:1), seeing …
The Man, The Woman and the Garden: Easter Reflections from John 20 Read More »
Reaching the unreached with the gospel should be, and is, a multi-polar endeavour, a conversation enriched by numerous perspectives, diverse voices, Christ-exalting stories and powerful examples of contextualisation, from brothers and sisters all over the world.
The #margins2mic project brings together voices from across the Newfrontiers family, and from around the world. Newfrontiers is on the way to becoming a truly global movement, and as such it is important – no, vital – to connect with and listen to a truly global set of voices and perspectives. Listening is an art. …
The Bethlehem Story is a series of daily videos following the story of the little town in Palestine from the death of Rachel to the birth of Christ. This Christmas, visit Bethlehem with us online. Join the shepherds and the wise men. Explore overlooked Old Testament characters and examine unexpected oracles. Join me in a …
Phipps, Alison. Decolonising Multilingualism: Struggles to Decreate. Multilingual Matters, 2019. A review by Andy McCullough. I’ve been asked to review the best book I’ve read in recent years on language. Hands down, it’s this book. This is a book by an academic, but it made me cry. This is not a Christian book, but it …
Decolonising Multilingualism by Alison Phipps. A review. Read More »
