john

User biography

Submitted by john on 9 May, 2008 - 13:00.

Country: United Kingdom Originally a civil engineer, trained at Nottingham University, I balanced an early engineering career with a Pentecostal training course and a vocational call which focussed upon Christian mission, scripture study, prayer and writing. I later started a desktop publishing and printing business in order to better facilitate my vocational work. In 2000, I visited Kenya, to present a series of teaching to the church of a Kenyan pastor, a friend with whom I had shared missionary training a decade before. The teaching was so well received that I developed it into a ‘mobile academy of mission’, which I was then invited to teach to a group of missionary pastors within Burkina Faso, in 2003 and again in 2005, as well as in Texas, to a small mission group working with orphans within Mozambique. In 2003, I became aware of the emerging church / conversation and joined OST in it’s early days. Impressed by the open-source software driving the site, I downloaded a copy and began to develop my own ‘blogging’ website, eternalpurpose.org.uk, where I began to publish short articles, focussing upon Christian mission, prayer, faithfulness and the emerging church phenomena. During the same period, I undertook by distance learning a master of philosophy degreee in Intercultural Studies, which I recently completed. I am now in the process of updating my website to incorporate the essays and biblical studies which flowered during that intense period of study. I am married to Sarah and we have three boys and girl. In 2002, we moved away from our familial roots in the Midlands of England, to South Wales, to an economically depressed old "tin-town" on the coast, near the Gower Peninsula. Although ostensibly motivated by a hope of facilitating greater involvement in Christian mission work, we have found our new home to be a ‘nugget’ of a location: a land of golden, sandy beaches, gorgeous sea views and coastal walks, accessible country parks and gardens and as-yet unexplored mountains, to boot! General Interests (reflected in my nascent blog at johnclements.net) include: industrial heritage, bird-spotting, technology rugby union, F1 and test cricket. Theological interests (reflected in my writing at eternalpurpose.org.uk) biblical theology (allowing the bible to dicate its own priorities c.f. philosophical priorities and categorisations); missiology (esp. "emerging ecumenical missionary paradigm" - Bosch) worldview and culture hebraic roots of the Christian faith Favourite theological writers: David Bosch — for Transforming Mission; Leslie Newbiggin — for Proper Confidence; Walter Bruggeman — for The Bible Makes Sense; James Fowler — for Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian Alan Jamieson — for A Churchless Faith Richard Rohr — for Adam’s Return David Stern — for Jewish New Testament and Commentary Philip Jenkins — for The Next Christendom Don Richardson — for Eternity in Their Hearts Greg Boyd — for God at War Anyone actually reading this far may notice how this list can end up sounding like a series of Oscar nominations…therefore, I offer the following nominations in some less serious categories: Natan Sharansky — for The Case for Democracy Harper Lee — for To Kill a Mocking Bird Nia Vardolis — for My Big Fat Greek Wedding Judi Dench — for The Importance of Being Earnest Tom Hanks — for Forest Gump Julia Roberts — for Erin Brokevitch Topov — for Fiddler on the Roof Steve Martin, John Candy — for Planes,Train and Automobiles etc. etc.!

History

Member for

4 years 26 weeks