A few brief notes on life over the past week:

• Easter always moves me tears. I love the hope that the resurrection brings.
• Culture night in Stockholm is a wonderful thing.
• Yesterday I lost a 5km race to my 16 year old son. The game is not over just yet but the writing is on the wall.
• Co-hosted a Zoom Theology evening on the growth of international Pentecostal churches in Sweden. Africa is driving the change.
• This coming week we host an exchange student from Spain.
• And I turn 50 and enter my sixth decade.

You Should Read These

1. All these things can be true at the same time. Gathering Pace, Could I become a Christian in a year? and Architects Reveal Plans To Turn an Old Dutch Church Into a Public Swimming Pool.
2. What Pope Francis Can Teach Us About Preaching (sort of).
3. Emigration from Africa will change the world. I’d like to point out I beat The Economist to this by a few years. See here
4. Why We Ask So Little of God
5. The death of Progress Technology couldn’t destroy God. Interesting.
6. Why Have Sentence Lengths Decreased?
7. There are good health reasons for leaving your shoes at the door. The Swedes know this to be true.

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You Should Look At This

Some astonishing images here: 2025 Sony World Photography Awards

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You Should Listen To This

This Johnny Cash cover of Hurt is just incredible. Powerful, haunting. One of the great all-time covers.

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You Should Watch This

If you don’t watch all of this, then make sure you watch the section on the Ethiopian Church. Wow. From this: World’s Most Unusual and Innovative Churches

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This Week’s Postings

Just the one again.

• The rolled away stone

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From The Archives

Sunday takes a lot of running and a lot of effort. Sometimes disproportionate to the benefit. I believe in the gathered church, I believe in corporate worship, I think it should be part of a church. But I’m not quite so sure that it must be there from the start. There are other ways of being devoted to the apostles teaching, the breaking of bread, to fellowship and to prayer. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that one of the last pieces of the puzzle that I’d want to lay in planting our next church is the public event.

The hard graft of church planting

Have a great week.