Category Archives: Active Witnessing

[] Boldness was the key to the success of the first generation of witnesses Luke used the words boldness and boldly ten times in documenting the story of how the first Christians spread the message of the risen Christ fruitfully … Continue reading →

* A time for silence Without doubt, in today’s hurly-burly of noise and ‘hectivity’ it is desirable to schedule an occasional ‘spiritual retreat’ in the silence of a convent, monastery or retreat centre. However, Diarmaid MacCulloch’s opening thesis in his … Continue reading →

I wonder how many of us evangelicals, reciting one of our essential Bible verses, ever stops to realise that we hardly understand it. We quote Romans 3:23 as if it says: ‘Each and every member of the human race, whether … Continue reading →

Matthew’s is the only Gospel that discloses the financial details of Judas’s deal with the chief priests to deliver Jesus to them. When he asked, ‘What will you give me?’ they agreed on ‘thirty pieces of silver’ (Matthew 26:15). (Mark … Continue reading →

Noel Smith was king among dangerous rogues – ‘at the top of the prisoners’ hierarchy’, he said – while detained in a high security jail, serving eight life sentences for brutal crimes. Medical tests indicated that his compulsive criminal behaviour … Continue reading →

The writer of the longest psalm launched straight into a kind of ‘seeker’s charter’ on a note of high hope: ‘Blessed are those … who seek [the Lord] with their whole heart’ (Psalm 119:2), zealously claiming that he was one … Continue reading →

We know that God is on the look out for the lost (Luke 19:10), two spectacular examples being social pariahs: Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:0) and the woman of Sychar (John 4: 4-42). But, in doing so, he is … Continue reading →

As an infant I was forever asking ‘why‘?’ Some ‘whys’ were protests (‘Why can’t I have sweets instead of cabbage’?’) and others were quests for scientific understanding (‘ Why won’t my toy cars fly like my kite does?’). Nowadays I … Continue reading →