letter from Latvia
Introducing the prophets in Latvia
John Woods
Date posted: 6 Jan 2025
I am writing this letter while in Latvia on one of my regular visits to teach at the Latvian Biblical Centre (LBC) in Riga.
Over three weekends I am contributing to four of LBC’s programmes. So far, I have been teaching on Identity for the School of Christianity, Work and Society, Introducing the Prophets for the foundation course: Theology and Ministry, and The Kingdom of God on the Missional Church Programme. This is an example of the range of things that LBC offers. My final weekend in Latvia will be with the School of Preachers Course that I started in 2018. This is a two-year programme consisting of eight weekend teaching sessions with regular cluster group meetings for application in between these weekends. There have been 44 graduates from the course so far. It is a joy to see some of our students coming back to preach at our weekend sessions and field questions on how they approached their preparation.
Post-election: A tale of two speeches
John Woods
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
Preachers, politicians and stand-up comedians still speak to crowds. President Zelensky of Ukraine has combined the last two of these in his colourful career. He has demonstrated the power of well-chosen words delivered in the right place to the right people.
Many speeches have been delivered during the UK election campaign that drew to a decisive conclusion on 4 July.
‘I thought, wow, that is three seismic events in one year...’
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
Andrew Wilson is based in Eastbourne and serves as the Teaching Pastor at King’s Church London.
Andrew will be familiar to many from his books, including The God of All Things and 1 Corinthians for Today, the Think Theology website, and his regular columns in US magazine, Christianity Today. Our Reviews Editor John Woods was pleased to have the opportunity to chat with Andrew about his latest book Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West, which is now hot off the press from Crossway.
From poles apart to magnetic points
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Jul 2023
en reviews editor John Woods interviews Dr Dan Strange, Director of the Crosslands Forum.
Before joining Crosslands full time, Dan was College Director for Oak Hill Theological College. A former UCCF worker with a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies, Dan lives in Gateshead with his wife Elly and most of their seven children, where they are part of Hope Community Church. He is a trustee of Tyndale House and author of several books including Making Faith Magnetic.
letter from Latvia
Ukrainian amputees with gospel hope
John Woods
Date posted: 1 May 2023
One of the questions I am asked whenever I return from Latvia is: ‘What is the mood in Latvia at the moment?’
The question relates to the fact that Latvia shares a land border with Russia and has many historical reasons to be anxious about the intentions of its larger neighbour.
Riga resumes in-person Bible training
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Oct 2021
It is great to be in Latvia in late summer when the daylight still holds until late evening and the temperature can still be hot. It was a particular delight for me to be there with Anthony Billington, associated with the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity, to teach a weekend course on Whole Life Preaching as part of the two-year School of Preachers programme at the Latvian Biblical Centre (LBC) in Riga.
It had been nine months since the group were able to meet in person. We have managed to maintain the teaching via Zoom involving three languages. It was lovely to have the buzz of personal interaction in those September sessions.
