Jim preferred to communicate by talking rather than in writing. Although his writings have had a great influence, they are not extensive. When he did produce written material he did so very thoroughly and in great detail. As a result of that he was rather notorious for missing deadlines!
This page provides access to some of Jim's material. Some of it is articles he wrote, some published transcripts of talks he gave, some audio tapes.
Most of the written material below is in PDF format. Most of the PDF files here have been produced by scanning from original material which Bob Johnston has.
Jim's best known publication is "The Community of Shalom, God's Radical Alternative" which was first published in Frontier Youth Trust Review No6 in 1977. It is based on a paper Jim prepared for the FYT conference at Leicester in 1975.
Like most speakers Jim believed in re-purposing material and some of the "Community of Shalom" material appears in the book "The Messiah People" published by Hot Iron Press, which is based on talks given at Post Green Community. Also the Community of Shalom material makes up a large part of the talk Jim gave to the Cambridge University Christian Union on Sat 24th January 1976 which is available on their web-site along with two other talks by Jim.
Where published
in Frontier Youth Trust Review No6 p13-22 (believed to be 1977)
Republished in booklet series Frontier Focus by FYT about 1987
Republished in Gap, a Journal of Christian Youth and Community Work (Australia), Issue 1-84, p7-16
Description
This is probably the best known of Jim's writings. It explores the biblical concept of Shalom.
Where published - in Outreach - the magazine of Scripture Union (England & Wales) January/March 1976 p10
Description
The Bible is often forced into the mould of our preconceptions.
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Where published - in Outreach - the magazine of Scripture Union July/September 1976 p10
Description
This brief one page article is about the meanings of bible words and the inadequacy of the "codes" we use to translate them.
in FYT Review, Autumn 1972, pp17-20
a look at the theory of communication
In Advent magazine (Shaftesbury Project in Scotland) No4, Spring 1985, p1-7
This material is also in Appendix F of "Mission and Young People at Risk - a challenge to the Church" by Terry Dunnell
There is a typescript version also which says it is an edited transcript.
in Frontier Youth Trust News Winter 1972 p3-11 originally presented at the FYT conference in Nottinghan in 1971 NOTE: the editorial introduction to Frontier Youth Trust News Winter 1972 says that at the paper for the Nottingham conference had further sections.
Republished in booklet series Frontier Focus by FYT about 1987
typescript versions exist also
This major paper, using a large range of reference sources, includes sections on - The Nature of Mission, The Assignment of Mission, The Agent of Mission, The Goal of Mission etc.
Hot Iron Press, Birmingham 1993 97pp
transcipts of talks given by Jim at the PostGreen Community
We have scanned the first chapter of the book - The Messianic Vision
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(the tapes from which the book was compiled are available - see bottom of this page)
this book is sometimes available via Amazon - its ISBN is 0 9519492 2 5
in Frontier Youth Trust Review No2 p13-18
A detailed exploration of how the Bible views various forms of sexual behaviour
First published in Outreach, the quarterly magazine of the English Scripture Union movement. Jan/Mar 1975 with the title "Youthscene"
then republished in Frontier Youth Trust Review No5 p2-5
Jesus as - clown, black, revolutionary, liberator etc. Written not long after the height of the "Jesus Movement", and needs read in that context.
in Frontier Youth Trust News p6-7 Autumn 1971
Jim describes some of his experiences working in New York.
in Gap a Journal of Christian Youth and Community Work (Australia) Issue 4-81, p6-7
(a transcript of a talk Jim gave in October 1980 at The Master's Workshop in Melbourne - edited by Mal Rowe)
in TR magazine Spring 1981
(Lausanne Occasional Paper 22) Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization The report was drafted by members of the "MiniConsultation on Reaching the Urban Poor" held in Pattaya, Thailand from 16-27 June 1980 under the Chairmanship of Rev. Jim Punton. Final editing was by Dr. Colin Marchant.
The Lausanne Committee website says: "The Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPs) are historically important documents that have emerged from global consultations involving widely recognized evangelical leaders. The LOPs have been placed in the Lausanne Website to make more accessible and understandable the historical context and development of the various aspects of world evangelization."
The booklet is available on the Lausanne Committee web site
Go to the booklet (pdf) - external site
The appendix to the booklet, on Hebrew words for the poor, can be found at the Lausanne Committee web site
Go to the appendix - external site
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelizaation
Jim was International Co-ordinator of the pre-COWE study groups on Reaching the Urban Poor. He produced this document for the pre-COWE study groups.
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in Grassroots mgazine May/June 1982 p3-4 based on a transcript, edited by Wenche Hunt 2pp
in TR magazine, Winter 1979 p20
the relationship between the Church, the Kingdom and the World
Paper originally presented at the FYT Leicester Conference in 1975
FYT pamphlet 8pp duplicated
Republished by FYT 1987
the relationship between the Church, the Kingdom and the World
FYT
10pp duplicated undated, but believed to be late 1971
We hope to have this available soon.
On Being magazine, Australia April/May 1977 p42-43
An extensive interview with Jim, while he was on a five month visit to Australia early 1977
Inportant material here on Jim talking about what brought him to his radical understanding and stance"
[this is produced from is a very poor photocopy; anyone got a better version?]
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An article in "The Lion Handbook of Christian Belief"
small article entitled 'Shalom', Jim Punton, in The Lion Handbook of Christian Belief (Tring, UK: Lion Publishing, 1982, pp. 314-315)
6pp duplicated
An Introduction by Ian Milligan
(The introduction has a link to Jim's material)
List of Old and New Testament references to the Kingdom of God
A description of FYT by Jim
Published in the SU Scotland magazine Tell in Autumn 1972.
in Outreach, the magazine of Scripture Union, April/June 1976, p10
a 1 page article on the occurrences and meanings of the Hebrew word "Shalom" in the Bible.
By Jim Punton and Anthony Buzzard
Written for the Conditional Immortality Mission (now known as the Resurrection Fellowship).
Available at www.focusonthekingdom.org
GO to that article - external site
Concordance Study by Jim Punton
The Resurrection Fellowship, 1984
an Introduction by Ian Milligan
(The introduction has a link to Jim's material)
by Andrew F Walls and Jim Punton (1975) 11pp
Christian Aid
This booklet is mentioned in Google Books but the compiler of this page has not yet been able to trace a copy.
Many of Jim's talks at events were recorded. Examples include his talks at the Greenbelt Festival, his talks at university Christian Unions, his talks at the Postgreen Community, and at Shaftesbury Project conferences.
We have a small selection of that material available.
** Greenbelt Festival**
Greenbelt 1983 Jim on a panel responding to questions after a talk from another speaker.
play a 45 sec. clip.
** Shaftesbury Project - Scotland **
Scottish Conference, Crieff, 1983 - Jim speaking on "The Good News about the Kingdom of God"
play a 2 minute clip of this material.
** Cambridge University Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU) **
A talk Jim gave, titled "Vocation", to Cambridge University Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU) on Sat 24th January 1976 can be found here - http://media.ciccu.org.uk/download/185
play a 1 minute clip we've made from this talk
There are also two other talks by Jim at the CICCU media site.
The other two are titled "Who's lost?" (January 1977)
and "Prayer" - play a 1 minute clip we've made from this talk - in this clip Jim talks about "mission" being an attribute of God.
We are hoping to get some of these tapes fully converted to MP3 format and to make them available.
** Tapes from Jim's talks at the Post Green Community **
(mp3 format, high quality, big downloads)
The Messianic Vision 51MB 36 minutes download or listen
The Messianic Task 80MB 57 minutes download or listen
The Messianic Mind 101 MB 1hr 12 minutes download or listen
The Messianic Fellowship 105MB 1hr 14 minutes download or listen
This is the audio material from which the book The Messiah People (Hot Iron Press, 1993) was compiled. Our thanks to Bill Farra of the Community of Celebration for making these files available.
Please note that the audio material listed above is only what the compilers of this page have access to. We believe that there is lots of other material - for example other tapes from Greenbelt, tapes from Dundee Street Level, tapes from Post Green, etc.
Please get in touch if you know of other Jim Punton material. Both written and audio. You can get in touch via the comments page.