James Poole

This is very much worth reading.

Pointed out to my 13-year-old today that a Joseph, son of Jacob brings his family to Egypt for survival in the Old Testament, and a Joseph, son of Jacob brings his family to Egypt for survival in the New Testament. Her open-mouthed expression was a priceless parenting win.

How does God feel toward His children when they sin? 1. His posture toward them does not change. 2. He feels fatherly compassion, not disgust. 3. He is grieved because sin wounds His beloved, not because His patience is drained. 4. He moves toward sinners, not away. 5. He disciplines, but never to destroy, only to restore. 6. His love remains as full on your worst day as on your best.

@2D0XPS Upload a high resolution photo to Google's Gemini 3 and the AI will give you a transcription. I just tried with the low-res photo you posted and it gave a decent overview. Gemini 3 is good at this sort of thing

If anyone fancies reading secretary hand, can anyone tell us what this is for? It's the oldest in a box of family paperwork and dates to 1615.

@danitreweek British/Australian evangelicalism wasn't shaped by American fundamentalism, so we don't experience the same tensions

A (genuine) question for other non-US Christians. Do I really not get the whole ‘third way/anti-third way’ thing because I have failed to properly understand what it is… or because you need to be American to properly understand what it is (ie. it’s pretty much unique to the US context)?

In persecuted contexts, church leaders say their people need the Bible in the language they cry in

@ChrisHowles It has been an unprecedented year! And I'm grateful for the honorary doctorate you've awarded me 😂

Let's today delight in this...! "The past year there have been more completed translations of Bibles and NTs than in any previous year. There is [also] more translation work starting than at any point in history." Dr James Poole, Executive Director Wycliffe Bible Translators.

If you haven't seen this, it's worth reading. In the last year, Bibles have been translated for almost 200 million people – equivalent to the population of Western Europe! 👇

The biggest obstacle to world mission is being dismantled faster than ever: “the number of Christians and churches has grown hugely because people can understand the word of God”

It is with some personal surprise that, after 30 years as an atheist, I’ve come to say: I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. … I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son

Your reminder that Jesus was multilingual, and would have switched languages depending on the context 👇

"Now, splendidly, everything had become clear. The enemy at last was plain in view, huge and hateful, all disguise cast off. It was the Modern Age in arms." After this week I feel like Evelyn Waugh at the time of the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939. The politics of 'progress' has found its fulfilment in the union of two total malignancies: the campaigns to abort babies at full term and to kill old people before their time. Here is our enemy, all disguise cast off. 1/7

How should the church respond to today's vote? This quote helps: “I say in a hundred years, if Christians are known as a strange group of people who don’t kill their children and don’t kill the elderly, we will have done a great thing.” Stanley Hauerwas

The 9th Commandment (do not make false testimony) is widely misunderstood. Many people believe it forbids lying. I think that's clearly wrong. Not because I say lying is sometimes OK - Kant & others offer interesting arguments against ever lying. But that's not what the 9th is.

@ChrisHowles Yes, can't do both

This is so clear and helpful, thanks James. You've gone down the line of 'retain word missionary for a certain category/vocation of Christian but stop using that of God himself'. Others have replied to say that we should retain the word for God, but stop using it for a certain group of Christians alone, and apply it equally to all, such that all share in that attribute of God. Perosnally I can see arguments for either of those options. But I'm yet to be convinced that we can have our cake and eat it by reserving the word for God AND also for a subset of believers. Anyway, thanks so much. Appeciated.

Sorry for the long post—couldn’t fit this into 280 characters. A genuine question. Help me understand what I’m missing… Some argue strongly that the word missionary should be reserved for those formally sent out cross-culturally (usually geographically too) by churches - and not for all Christians engaged in witness. Fair enough. There's some rerasonable arguments for it. But I’ve also noticed many who hold that view still speak passionately of God as 'a Missionary God', and use that as a motivating, communicable attribute: “Because God is a Missionary God, we should all be involved in mission.” etc Here’s my question: how do those two ideas fit together? If missionary is a specific role, a subset within the body of Christ, then do ‘non-missionary’ Christians imitate the Missionary God less fully? Are they somehow less aligned with his nature? Less obedient? Of course, if all Christians are missionaries then calling God a Missionary God makes sense - we’re reflecting his character. But if only some are missionaries, perhaps it's more coherent to say God is a Sending God, and we all (missionary or not) participate in his sending purposes. So here's my Q: how can we coherently speak of God as a Missionary God whose missionary nature we imitate, while also limiting the term missionary to a select few? What am I missing?

@ChrisHowles IMHO it may be better to say God's attribute is that he loves to seek and save the lost. This should then be true of all believers. We're then free to apply different titles to those commissioned with different responsibilities (eg apostle/missionary). 3/3

@ChrisHowles I'm not sure this gives us the vocabulary we need, because 'missionary' is being used inconsistently. If 'missionary' is one who is sent, it isn't the best word for God: the Father is the one who *sends*. 2/3

✝️‘He is not here; he has risen!’ – Luke 24:6 This Easter, the Bakweri people in Cameroon are reading the New Testament in their own language for the first time. That’s resurrection hope — freshly unlocked.🔓 #HappyEaster #BibleTranslation