In the past two weeks I have been in Vienna twice to participate in two EBF conferences. The first of these was the EBF Younger Leaders’ Programme TRANSFORM held from 15-18 March. Present were six men and five women who had been identified by their Baptist Unions or Conventions as having gifts and potential to exercise leadership in a wider setting with an international dimension. The focus of this gathering was on discipleship and I contributed around themes of: less conventional biblical images of discipleship as leadership, the communal nature of discipleship, and the practices of discipleship. Perhaps a key theme which emerged through all of this was how we deal with…
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CEBTS Elstal
Between Wednesday 29th June and Saturday 2nd of July the bi-annual meeting of the Confederation of European Baptist Schools took place in Elstal Germany hosted by the Theologische Hochschule Elstal. The theme of this particular conference was: In which way is our Baptist Movement linked to or in tension with the Reformation in Europe in the 16th century? A number of shorter and longer papers were presented which allowed insight into the ways in which the events of the Reformation impacted various countries and contexts such as Spain and Italy and also the way in which various theological themes have been and can be interpreted. Some of these will be published…
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CMU Ministers Conference
Over the past week I have completed an introductory talk https://politurgy.wordpress.com/2015/02/ and a series of three bible studies at the ministers conference hosted by the Canadian Mennonite University. On the Tuesday night I attended a fascinating panel discussion on “Where did we lose you?” which involved a panel discussion on the declining participation of ‘millennials’ in Canadian churches. The panel participants were all of this age group born some time after 1980 and represented a number of church traditions and indeed none in that one panel member was an avowed atheist but with a concern for the life of the church! A question which this posed for me is when and…
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Canada
I am presently in Canada to participate in a ministers conference organised by the Canadian Mennonite University. It seems to me that there is a strong resonance in the reading of Baptist via McClendon/Stassen or just plain old anabaptist roots with Mennonites, although I am leaning what a varied group that they like we actually are. As part of my trip I attended the launch of this book which offers some fascinating insights and may well make a contribution to the thinking of those who wish to come at issues from an Anabaptist (dare we say baptistic) perspective and yet engage with wider society and its institutions. I have bought…
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Rector Update
On the 1st June 2014 I took over as the Rector of IBTS as it transitions to IBTS Centre Amsterdam. I come to this post after being a Scottish Baptist minister in two Churches over a fifteen year period and teaching at the Scottish Baptist College for the last nine. Since June I have managed to be in Prague for some important endings: the last graduation service, the last exam Board, the last shared prayers in the Chapel. I was grateful to be given the opportunity to offer the graduation address. Then as now I would suggest that worship, mission, and discipleship do not belong in one world whereas…
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Building new partnerships, working hard to get the paperwork right
As a result of the decision of the University of Wales to cease validating institutions and its present downsizing, at IBTS we have been working hard at building new partnerships to replace this defunct collaboration with a once-great federal University. Parush, Lina, Lydie and Tim have worked incredibly hard to “give flesh” to the relationship with the VU University in Amsterdam for our doctoral programme and with the University of Manchester for the MA in Baptistic Histories and Theologies. Last week I accompanied Lina to the Religions & Theology Academic Panel which is a meeting of academics from the Department of Religions & Theology and the theological college partners (Nazarene Theological…
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Lady Library Has a New Friend
Yet another impression from VU Amsterdam………this time about the library Part of my last month‘s mission in Amsterdam was to visit the VU University and Theology Library, a new home for the majority of our doctoral students, and to explore various possibilities for them in regard to how to use the library most effectively, how to get a WiFi, where to order the books, etc. For me, it was actually a refreshment to be in the library and not to keep in mind MARC 21, AACR2, authorities, Z39.50 and other highly specialized library tasks. Mind you, several things seemed very strange to a conservative part of my personality, such as…
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Chips and More Chips
Not the edible variety but electronic chips. In Amsterdam a chipkaart enables you to use the metro, trams buses and trains. You load lots of euros onto the card and it gets subtracted each journey you make. It feels like traveling for free and it’s only when you have to recharge your card that you’re reminded it isn’t. In the Student Hotel you are given a round blue key fob. You don’t need a real key as the chip inside it opens the doors from the public area and the door to your bedroom. To buy anything at the hotel’s restaurant (called The Kitchen!), you can only use a debit…