One of the highlights of my time with CMS was a one-month visit to India and Sri Lanka, in January 2006. One thing that I hope to have time to do soon is to make the photos and my journal accessible on the web.

I've been impressed by the work of artist He Qi.

He has produced a mural for the new offices of CMS in Oxford, and they used his picture of the Three Kings as a Christmas Card. At the time of writing, both of these are on the front page of his web site.

Mark Berry features another on his blog, with a moving poem for Christmas Eve also.

Went to see African Snow tonight in Bristol.

Very moving, so won't say enjoyable. This is Riding Light's drama of the abolition of slavery, featuring Olaudah Equiano and John Newton. It brought home to me the conditions of slavery (more than the film Amazing Grace did, which I enjoyed), and made me continue to think about the way that slavery continues today in various guises. Bristol and Liverpool were compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. The play was all the more effective because all the actors were black, playing English and African characters, except one.

Most of all it struck me that the very fact for Olaudah of learning English, and the Biblical words justice and righteousness, started a process of examining how well they were (not) applied in the society of his day. The Bible is a subversive document.

A Snow is a particular kind of ship which was used for carrying slaves. The play was partly sponsored by CMS.

Today, Friday, was my last day working for CMS.

This picture is of Partnership House, Waterloo Road.

Today I attended one of the regular meetings of the Partnership for World Mission Group for Oxford Diocese. CMS are looking to partner with this group particularly because of the move of offices from London to Oxford in June 2007.

This is looking promising for the future, because as members introduced themselves and spoke of what is important to them, there seemed to be a meeting of minds between the diocese and CMS, even to the extent of the use of quotes on their web site from former CMS General Secretary Max Warren: "It takes the whole world to know the whole gospel."

Oxford Diocese's plans for 2007 and beyond are summed up under the heading "At Home in the World Church" - see their website.

For the last 24 hours I have enjoyed the second gathering of southern churches that are travelling a "Global Local" journey with CMS. We first met last Summer.

It is exciting to see churches stimulated in local mission through engaging with mission practice in other countries, and through sharing stories with one another.

One of the things that I have missed in moving from being a vicar to working for CMS has been leading worship. So I was looking forward to, and enjoyed, leading worship as well as preaching this morning at Holy Cross Church, Ashton Keynes (near Swindon).

Peter Brierley and Heather Wraight of Christian Research are touring the country, to publicise the results of the 2005 English Church Census.   more »

Wise words about being and rest and fruit-bearing from Paul Tillich. Thanks, Mark.

Congrats to Irfana and Dave (colleague at CMS) on the birth of their first child!

Last week I spent three days at the PWM World Mission Conference in Derbyshire UK. This turned out to be a bigger event than I had expected: we were joined by about 200 people from all continents except Antarctica, including many bishops. The theme was hospitality. The talks encouraged us to think of the way hospitality is offered and received in different cultures, and I was impressed by a demonstration of a Ugandan greeting, showing how the host is there to serve the guest. The Bible studies in particular let us to see Jesus as our host. Very moving.

Have spent some time preparing a presentation for last night's CMS and USPG Association meeting in Bristol. This looks ahead to 25th March 2007, the 200th anniversary of the day when William Wilberforce's attempts to abolish the slave trade through Act of Parliament finally came to fruition.

I have found it moving to start to engage with this issue. The many plans which are being laid, not only to celebrate an event, but to look at the issues of slavery then and now make me wonder what we shall see God do through all of this. CMS' Free For All youth drama programme seems particularly to have caught people's imagination, and I finished the presentation with a video trailer of that.

One of the speakers was Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, who said that he wonders about what seems to be one of life's mysteries: that people on the one hand look for lots of security (safe homes, drive a Volvo) and then go hang-gliding.

I've never done hang-gliding, but I do enjoy downhill skiing. Many people describe life with Jesus as an adventure; but perhaps many of us like to choose which bits of life are adventurous, and so control where the risk happens. I don't think life's like that!