Julie: On being a Fig Tree (in a Mark Drama production)
For a couple of months in the lead up to Easter, I was part of a Mark Drama cast. It was led by our friend, Rick Creighton, who teaches at a local theological seminary. Most of the cast members were his students, with three of us coming from our organisation: Richard (who had played Jesus …
Luke 9: Who is the greatest?
While everyone was marvelling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did …
March Rowbory News: Luke before you leap
From our monthly newsletter. Do get in touch if you’d like to get this by email. Luke 8:22-52 Fear and FaithOne day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.”… One Tuesday we considered much of Luke chapter 8 from verse 22, noticing how Jesus showed his followers …
The blessing of visitors
Soon after we returned from the UK in October, we had Katie from Glasgow stay with us for a couple of weeks as she helped introduce the Mark Drama to our colleagues. She was obviously busy with the Mark Drama, but we loved having her stay with us, and she got to meet a huge …
Africans demand power and Westerners look for comfort
Paul, the apostle of Jesus, may have described himself as “as Jewish as you get” but he actually grew up in a Greek-speaking Jewish community outside his ethnic homeland and that gave him a very helpful cross-cultural perspective. What was better? Greek philosophy? Jewish traditions? A blend of the two? Like many young men in …
Nigerian Bible Translation History – inspiring & painful
‘…the “Sword of the Spirit” [the Bible], placed in the hands of the congregations, in their own tongue, will do more… than all our preaching, teaching and meetings of so many years put together’ – Samuel Ajayi Crowther “Dr Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first African bishop in the Anglican Church and the first African Bible …
What *does* the Bible teach us?
I have often enjoyed reading Kevin DeYoung’s writing, so I skimmed a recent email from Crossway advertising his new book and read this comment on 1 Peter 3: Feminine Beauty and Masculine Strength Peter enjoins women to be respectful, pure, and gentle. He exhorts men to show honor, be understanding, and exercise caring leadership. From …
Valuing God’s Images
Two weeks ago, shortly after protests began over the gratuitous public murder of George Floyd, the chapter of Bible to read with my daughters was Numbers 35. It couldn’t be more relevant for contemporary America… and actually the whole world. “ ‘If a man strikes someone with an iron object so that he dies, he …
Are we gospelly?
A rare guest appearance from Julie! (Perhaps I’ll persuade her to contribute more here.) Sometimes we may think we have thought of something for the first time and it turns out that someone else got in there before us. In Bible translation work nowadays we are committed to using local languages to express Biblical concepts, …
What progress in 8½ years in Nigeria?
It’s good to look back on what we hoped to do when we first went to Nigeria in 2011 and assess our progress. My hope had been that I’d go with my English, knowledge of Bible and theology and Biblical languages, and meet translators who spoke some English, as well as their language and rather …