Following up on an earlier post on what it takes to respond in love to vocal atheist Christopher Hitchens’ cancer diagnosis, I came across an interesting excerpt from a debate at the Pew Forum on Religion between Christopher Hitchens andRead more…
The Shock of the Old – The Bible: How the Ancient and the Other Speaks in today’s culture
First given at an Evangelical Alliance/BibleFresh initiative in March 2010, this is a talk which seeks to embrace the culturally alien nature of the Bible rather than avoid or marginalise it (a temptation very common when seeking to communicate withRead more…
Preaching to Impress … or to save
It seems to me that the cultural context of ancient Corinth significantly resembles many aspects of the west – and in particular London, where I work. This is a talk, originally given in 2004, which discusses how the apostle PaulRead more…
The International Churches: Spiritual Homes of the Migrants
What is an international church? An international church is a “family”, “”home, and “place of refuge” primarily for expatriate Christians located (usually but not always) temporarily outside their country of citizenship (e.g. foreign workers, foreign students, diplomats, militaryRead more…
World Evangelization and Cape Town 2010–A Significant Concern
The following was originally posted this week at my blog: www.jdpayne.org. —— If you have been following me on Twitter, Facebook, or this blog, you know that I am a supporter of the Lausanne Movement, including Cape Town 2010. Yesterday,Read more…
Online Romance and the Diaspora connection
Thirty-six years ago when my wife and I were young and still dating, we were physically separated for two years because of our job assignments — we were both pursuing our own careers as engineer and nurse respectively. We did notRead more…
How Many Unreached People Groups Are There?
How many unreached people groups are there? Well, we don’t know. Because of advancing technology we think we should be much further ahead in unreached people research. Unfortunately technology won’t help us much. We still need field researchers among unreachedRead more…
Yadav and other Mega Unreached People Groups in India and Nepal.
In YWAM North India we adopted 6 UPG’s. The Brahmin, the Rajput, the Ansari Muslims, the Jat and the Tibetians. All of these are very unreached UPG’s. I’m appointed as SC for the Yadav by the Lord and asked byRead more…
Diasporas in the Battlefield
Traditionally, the soldiers and military personnel have their role in advancing civilization, culture, and religion. Much of world history has been shaped by wars. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, 20.5 million people — or one out ofRead more…
On Hope
A few thoughts from ’On Hope’, by Joseph Pieper. A book so excellent I am reluctant to write about it, as every sentence in the book contains profound truth and my English seems not good enough to give it words. Yet,Read more…