For many of us as Christians, we don’t have a knowledge problem; we have an impact problem. So when we get together, it should be less to learn and more to enable what we have learned to make a real difference. I can learn online; but I can’t worship online, so that is one thing…
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s enigmatic declaration in The Idiot that “Beauty will save the world” is the title of a book by Pastor Brian Zahnd in which he asks: “Where is the beauty that we know we cannot really live without?” Western society has technology, convenience, security, and a measure of prosperity; the Christian Church claims to know truth and goodness. …
Happiness depends on what happens to us; joy depends on what we choose to do. Of course the two are not unrelated, but the first has more to do with things that are largely beyond our control; the second is more in our hands. We can actively enjoy or rejoice, but we can’t enhappy or…
At the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore there is a permanent exhibition of the cargo recovered in 1998 from a Persian ship that was wrecked around AD830 in the Java sea on its way back from China. It gives a fascinating insight into how little has changed in 1100 years. The main cargo was 60,000…
Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive…
China is often (fairly) criticised for being rife with piracy and fakes. What is seldom discussed is why China is so ‘successful’ at faking it and why Chinese people have seemed less concerned about whether or not something is ‘genuine.’ Is there a virtue of which this vice is a corruption? The early use of…
EdTech polarises conversations between people who love the idea and people that hate it. The trouble is, a polarised conversation is no conversation at all. With the hope of de-polarising the conversation and opening up a productive dialogue again on a topic that won’t be going away any time soon, I suggest there are two…
Qu: How do we foster entrepreneurship and continue to innovate? Ans: By extending “Good to Great” thinking, viz: Jim Collins argues that to go from “Good to Great” a company needs a “Hedgehog Concept” which defines just 3 core values that drive the company’s ‘Economic Engine’ (or – more broadly – its ability to be great at…
Irrespective of our level of education or area of expertise, our understanding of the world is almost universally 40 years out of date about most things – such as the proportion of people living on each continent, or in extreme poverty; the percentage of 1 year olds who have been vaccinated, or of girls that…
I just received this in an email with batch of other Churchill quotes. I do enjoy a chunk of good thought-provoking quotes. But, as always with Churchill quotes, mixed in with the gold is a large dose of made-up stuff as Brits with a prejudice try to commandeer the “Greatest Ever Briton” to defend their…