I feel very privileged- I often get the chance to spend time with Christians who are doing a fantastic job. I think of friends I visited last week- doing tremendous work in a tricky church situation at great personal cost. Other faces come to mind- those who persevere through painful temptations or suffering, those who […]
It’s time to complete this brief survey of the life of the 19th century pioneer missionary that I started before Christmas! Throughout these posts we have seen something of Hudson Taylor’s service- his passion for souls, willingness to embrace suffering and so on. In the last post I want to pose this question: how was […]
This evening was biography night at the church. I think it is good for us to remember the Lord’s work down through history and so each year I try to include a biography as part of an evening service. Tonight we looked at John Newton. You can hear the talk here. I tried to use […]
Apologies for the drawn out nature of this potted biography. In my last post on Hudson Taylor, I completed the story of his life. In the two remaining posts that I am planning I want to pick up some of the main emphases of his life. A Passion for Souls I think this is the […]
Last Sunday evening we held a Guest Event looking at the perennial question- “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” You can listen to my talk plus a helpful interview with Helen here. I was conscious that the talk didn’t include much Bible- and rather a lot of CS Lewis! In preparation I had worked […]
I had intended to write more about Hudson Taylor this week- I will try to return to him next week. But the main thing on everybody’s mind here is the formal opening of our new church building on Sunday- so, much as it would suit my historical brain, it would feel like an odd time […]
I am writing this on the eve of Good Friday. Tomorrow we will remember the death of our Lord Jesus. I always find John 12:24 one of the most moving descriptions of the purpose of the Lord’s death- “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. […]
We are eagerly anticipating the re-opening of our building on Sunday. Much work has been done and we are looking forward to meeting in a building that is more accessible and open to the community around us. There are various things I would love local people to be able to see. But one of the […]
It has been a particularly busy couple of months which somewhat explains my silence on here. I am aware that I’ve left Hudson Taylor in the middle of his life- and I plan to return to him soon. But I was conscious a couple of weeks ago at having been somewhat grumpy and grouchy in […]
It is easy when considering “Christian heroes” to have unrealistic people in our minds and forget that these were individuals who went through real pain and anguish. There is something very moving about the early years that Hudson Taylor faced in China. They were very trying and he found them immensely difficult. The trials that […]