To speak a blessing A vision and an invitation by Ken Rummer The walking path leads me along the edge of a wooded draw. Glancing down through the shadows of the trees, I notice a bright flash of light. With a turn-aside and a second look, I see that the creek has managed to pull… Read more »
November 6, 2020
Sightings
To speak a blessing A vision and an invitation by Ken Rummer The walking path leads me along the edge of a wooded draw. Glancing down through the shadows of the trees, I notice a bright flash of light. With a turn-aside and a second look, I see that the creek has managed to pull… Read more »
Evangelism and justice dance well together in Africa Mission co-workers and partner churches embrace evangelistic ministries and social justice by Debbie Braaksma The year was 2009, the place was Yei in what is now South Sudan, the newest country in the world. I was a mission co-worker serving as the first principal of RECONCILE… 
What’s getting me through these days Three tested tactics by Ken Rummer I’m a small child in a crib, struggling to breathe in the night, clogged up with what will turn out to be allergies and asthma. My crying rouses my parents who take turns responding. Being picked up and held vertically helps. I can… 
Picking Out A Frame Scripture, History and the Present Moment by Ken Rummer The canvas before us looks to be from a surrealist artist. In the center, a figure in a beaked plague mask rides a green horse. To one side, bed-sheet banners with the message “No Job, No Rent” hang from apartment windows. To… 
What did we expect? Expectations can sabotage ourselves and ministry by N. Graham Standish She was disappointed and deflated as she reflected on three years of pastoring her church: This isn’t what I thought ministry would be like. Trying to be as gentle as possible, I asked, “What did you expect?” “I don’t know,” she replied,… 
The pumpkin and the bee An observation by Ken Rummer The pumpkin is bigger than a softball now, in dark green with a few warty bumps. It’s something of an accident. Last fall, when our porch pumpkin sagged into mushy flatness, I carried it out back on a shovel, and deposited it, without eulogy or ceremony,… 
When words collide Bumping through the Lord’s Prayer by Ken Rummer In my pastoring days, I often invited the mourners at the graveside to join in praying the Lord’s Prayer. I suppose it was a vestige of Christendom culture, the assumption that most everyone there would know the prayer by heart, but in our rural… 
Bellowing cows and closed gates God is offering a new field of opportunities by Donna Frischknecht Jackson My neighbor’s cows were bellowing the other morning. Curious as to what was causing the ruckus, I went out to the porch and, looking over at the field bordering my pasture, I discovered the problem. There was… 
Becoming an intercultural congregation One church’s story by Aart van Beek About eight months ago, I left a congregation after a 23-year ministry. I believe it is significant to underline that the congregation in question was made up of a culturally non-dominant group and even as the church succeeded in becoming multicultural, the…