Practise Love and Follow Christ (Transformation journal)

My latest article has just been published in the Transformation journal (at Oxford Centre for Mission Studies), which can be accessed in SAGE Journals. It is a peer-reviewed article, and has an academic feel. The title of the article is:

"Practise Love and Follow Christ: The Profound Relevance of Romans to Holistic Mission"

Here is the Abstract:

"Recent research in biblical studies has provided us with a good understanding on the socioeconomic condition of Christians in ancient Rome. The comparable economic and social situations between the earliest church in Rome and the poor in the Global South today suggest that Paul’s letter to the Romans can be very relevant to holistic mission. Based on some key findings of the recent research, this paper looks at two passages in Romans, and proposes that practising love and following Christ are the outworking of the holistic gospel. The implication is that Romans can be a useful resource for holistic mission."

(Click here for the full article. You do need to subscribe to the Journal though, and it is not cheap, unfortunately.)

"Jesus walked among us in Cape Town" by Christopher Wright

I found a great article written by Christopher Wright about his reflections on the Third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, in October 2010.

Click here to read the whole article. Here are two excerpts.

The body of Christ was very real in its multi­cultural, multi-coloured human skin. But more than that, some of these sisters and brothers came from countries where Christians are a tiny, suffering minority, where they have to meet in small, hidden groups, or to keep a very low profile, with no public freedom to sing and proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus.

We sought to listen to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in his mercy, through his Holy Spirit, Christ spoke to his listening people. Through the many voices of Bible exposition, plenary addresses, and group discussion, two repeated themes were heard in a wide variety of formats:

* The need for radical obedient discipleship, leading to maturity, to growth in depth as well as growth in numbers,
* The need for radical cross-centred reconciliation, leading to unity, to growth in love as well as growth in faith and hope.

Both discipleship and reconciliation are indispensable to our mission. By contrast, we lament the scandal of the shallowness of so much Christian profession worldwide, and the scandal of our dividedness and lack of love. We acknowledge that both are seriously damaging to our witness to the gospel.