The Simple Pastor

Some invitations to mission in northern Europe over the next few days. First up The NEW: The NEW is taking place in Riga, Latvia on the 19th-22nd July this year and is hosted by my friend Matt Medd. This event is aimed at people who are considering a call to cross-cultural mission, and who are [...]

Today we’re off to Turkey – it’s a mix of global leaders conference and family holiday. I was describing the situation to a few friends a couple of days ago and I said, “We get to listen to Terry Virgo, Bob Roberts and others preach. We get to eat and pray together and spend time [...]

I recently wrote this article about Scandinavia for Newfrontiers website and thought I would repost the article here. ”All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing” (Col 1:6). Except, it seems, in Europe. Here the picture is much more mixed; there are some shoots of growth amongst the rubble of decline. Secularism [...]

Recently I read two different posts on the issue of denominations and I thought I’d repost them here. First I read Andrew Wilson’s what’s wrong with denominations? which articulates some of the conversations I’ve had with friends in the past. I’ve passionately argued that Newfrontiers is not a denomination and yet the differences haven’t been [...]

Today I’m heading back to England for just over a week. I’ll be preaching at Medway Family Church on the 4th and Christ Community Church in Attleborough on the 11th. In the middle of that will be four days of meetings with some wonderful leaders such as Terry Virgo, Lex Loizides, Nigel Ring, Edward Buria and [...]

There are a lot of blogs that I like to read and I use Google Reader to track currently 84 different blogs (that number goes up and down a bit as I opt in and out). Over the past year I’ve noticed that I’ve starred posts from one blog more than any other for further [...]

I wanted to highlight and bring to your attention a new website recently launched by Newfrontiers, Jubilee+. It brings back to the centre of our attention care and compassion for the needy and the vulnerable and I hope it will be a significant resource for our churches. Here’s the introduction from my friend and leader [...]

In the interests of full disclosure I should say that I count some of the staff and members of Kings as friends and am part of the same family of churches as the author of this book, Steve Tibbert. It’s always a slightly tricky thing when you review a book by someone you know. Being a [...]

In the past I’ve been a bit critical of our Together on a Mission conferences but there has been a consistent high point every year. Without fail the Thursday night of prayer and giving is extraordinary. It’s a genuine joy to watch people give exuberantly and generously as year after year close to a million [...]

Yesterday I wrote about the process we went through over about 6 or 7 months in coming to the conclusion that we are to move to Sweden to church plant again. I’d thought I’d unpack those elements a little bit so they can be viewed in a different way. Scripture (1) We are convinced from [...]

This is a lightly edited version of the statement I presented to our church members about the guidance we believe we have with regards to our decision to move to Sweden. I’ve posted it for a number of reasons. Openness. I think it’s important to see how decisions are reached, it helps build trust. Learning. [...]

I thought I’d end the year with a big announcement and this is it. We believe God is calling us to church plant into the capital of Sweden. There’s a lot to do, a lot to say and we probably won’t move into Stockholm until 2012 but we will hopefully be in Sweden from summer [...]