The Parthians are coming... to Matthew’s Gospel
Ray Porter
Date posted: 24 Dec 2024
The visit of the Magi recounted in the second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is one of the more curious parts of the Christmas story.
First, that we find it in this Gospel which is written primarily for a Jewish audience, and secondly, that such pagan astrologers should be lauded as those who come from a distant land to worship the infant Jesus. And then we have the matter of the star, which has excited the imagination of astronomers down the centuries; and that is before we get the accretions of legends and the perversions of countless nativity plays. The symbolism that we attach to the gifts they brought and the echoes that we find of Old Testament prophecies take us away from a consideration of what we might be able to reconstruct from their contemporary historical setting and why their coming so alarmed not just Herod but the whole of Jerusalem.
Mission: no new crisis
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Jan 2013
Where is mission going? This is the question that Thorsten Prill asked in his three articles in the August to October 2012 issues of EN.
And it’s a vital question. The big trends in global mission are exciting and challenging. Global South churches are fast becoming key players in mission sending. Western Europe is once more being seen as a vital mission field. Numbers of churches in the UK are engaging directly in mission, sometimes by-passing the traditional mission agency route.
Dr. William Lees, 1924 - 2013
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Jun 2013
Bill Lees died on March 14 in Reading where he had lived since 1966.
His earlier ministry in Malaysia had continued to be a major part of his life so that it was appropriate that the main address at his Thanksgiving Service was by Dr. Philip Lyn from Skyline Church, Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia.
Andrew Butler, 1949-2013
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 May 2013
Andrew Butler, who died from cancer in Taiwan on March 2, had served for 40 years with OMF International.
Missionary funding
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Nov 2009
The most exciting thing about teaching at a theological college is seeing students go out into ministry.
Some have obtained a curacy and can look forward to a further three or four years of training on the job. Others have obtained similar posts as assistants in Free churches. All of them can now look forward to an assured salary and housing. Their future financing will be the responsibility of their church.
James Hudson Taylor III, 1929-2009
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 May 2009
James Hudson Taylor III died on March 20 at his home in Hong Kong. Like his great-grandfather he loved Christ and the Chinese and served them to the end. Some of his last words were, ‘God is good’. He was a great example of a godly man and a warm friend and colleague.
James was born in China to missionary parents who resolved to stay in the country to serve the Christian believers as the war with Japan developed. He was interned with other children and staff of the CIM Chefoo school. His grandfather, Herbert, was in the same camp and he got to know him well and thus had a direct personal link with Hudson Taylor himself!
Alice Compain, 1934-2008
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Oct 2008
Alice Compain, the veteran OMF missionary to Cambodia and Laos, died at a nursing home in Pembury, Kent on September 4 2008 at the age of 74.
Alice was prepared by God to be a missionary to Laos and Cambodia. Born into a multilingual Christian family in London. English, French and German were the languages of the home. At the age of six she began to play the violin and that would prove the key to much of her subsequent service.
Celebrating our common humanity
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 May 2002
Former American President Bill Clinton delivered the 2001 Dimbleby lecture with the title 'The struggle for the soul of the 21st century'. This topic should concern Christians and especially missionaries.
After an interesting review of the problems the world faces in the 21st century, Clinton poses the question as to what is more important in the world today: our differences or our common humanity?
The uniqueness of Christianity
Ray Porter
Date posted: 1 Jan 2002
'He's a Pakistani, but I think he's a Christian', was one of the more bizarre comments from Rochester Cathedral at the announcement that Michael Nazir-Ali was to be the new Bishop.
New syllabuses for Religious Education have shown that there is a continuing debate about which religion should be taught in state schools. The Prince of Wales has declared his desire to be a defender of 'faith' or 'the divine' rather than of any religious group. The Archbishop of Canterbury seems to favour a multi-faith Coronation Service for Charles III. There are some suggestions that the evangelisation of ethnic minorities in Britain should be banned as racial discrimination. It is in this climate that we are to speak about the call to cross cultures with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not just non-Christians who are confused about the link between race and religion.