Lessons learned from a wolf attack

This is so painfully familiar. Nor is it only an issue in missionary settings. Almost every part of this – though even now a majority of my own church would not know the full extent of the matter – happened to us.

A neglected discipleship tool

This is a helpful one.

Multilingual Church

As a multilingual church with a variety of languages spoken amongst us, this was a helpful review. I tend to agree with the book (not the reviewer) that churches meeting separately in the same space on the basis of language is sub-optimal. But the review was a helpful overview of some of the issues at play for multilingual churches.

Ligonier launch Bengali language site

On a similar note, Ligonier have just launched a Bengali language site. This is particularly good news for us, as our immediate community is almost exclusively Pakistani and Bangledeshi Muslim. It is helpful to have access to good material in Bengali.

10 things you should know about biblical typology

If you have never heard of typology, this is a good primer. If you do know about typology, this offers ten helpful things to think about concerning it.

God can work through anyone and anything – even you and your sin

‘If there’s one thing we learn from the book of Judges, it’s this: God can—and does—work through anyone and everything, including our sin and failures. Throughout the book, we see flawed man after flawed man leading the floundering nation of Israel. Each time, God uses even their sin to accomplish his own purposes. It’s not just that their sin can’t derail God’s plan; it’s that God uses their inevitable sin as part of his plan. Of course, using sinners and their sin makes sense since God only has sinners to work with!’

From the archive: Knowing why we want knowledge

‘Often in reformed circles, knowledge is godliness… If we have a culture that says knowledge is godliness and heart issues are relegated, we can’t be that surprised when those who are seeking to be respected acclimatise to the culture that we set for them. And if knowledge is primary, how else are they to gain respect unless they let you know that they know stuff? And if heart issues are secondary, it won’t really matter all that much that they come across as total jerks in the process because nobody is overly bothered about those things. If the rightness is what matters, and the showing their knowing is all important, we can expect an awful lot of people to be seeking whatever opportunities they can to show you that they know stuff.’