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1/30/2007 Pastor's wivesFirstly almost every part of the life of a pastor's wife is affected by where her husband goes to work as a pastor. That determines her friends, where she lives, their standard of living, even where their kids go to school. And if a pastor moves from one church to another, her whole life is uprooted and transplanted to another place - much moreso than if her husband was an accountant, and merely switched to another firm. As you can imagine, this can lead to a lot of uncertainty about how long they can stay in one place, about how long friendships can last.
Secondly pastors' wives often sacrifice a lot of their home life for church ministry. Their husband might be out almost every night of the week at church meetings. Their husband might be called away at a moment's notice to attend to some church crisis. Sometimes it can seem as though church comes before family - and this can be damaging not just for the wife, but for the pastor's kids. As you can imagine, this can easily lead to a lot of resentment about church, especially if the kids are crying and hubby has to go out yet again...
Thirdly pastors' wives can lose a lot of their privacy. People know who they are, and are always looking to see what she will do, how she will react. They and their family are put on a pedestal and scrutinized, maybe even criticised. Pastor's wives are all different - some don't mind the attention, while others are naturally more retiring and private.
Fourthly pastors' wives are exposed to church politics in a way that leaves them quite helpless to defend themselves and their family. Their husband may be attacked, criticised - and worse! Their family's future can lie in the hands of the congregation, and she can find herself in a position where she has very little say in what happens, and can do very little to protect her family.
And fifthly while church members may support and pray for their pastor, they rarely remember to thank the pastor's wife, and thank her for her ministry. A pastor's wife exercises the important informal ministry of encouraging him when he's down, and doing all the small background things that enable him to get on with his more visible and public ministry. This valuable ministry of pastor's wives is seldom recognised! And this especially the case when churches have a 'buy-one-get-one-free' approach to pastors and pastors' wives. Her contribution in the home is not seen as important enough - and so some churches have an expectation that the pastor's wife will organise the women's committee, the sunday school, the church fete!
But the hidden ministry and many sacrifices of pastor's wives, though often unrecognised, are supremely important. And so if you're a bloke in full time ministry, don't forget to thank your wife for her informal ministry to you!
If you're a bloke considering full time ministry and you're currently going out with someone, make sure your girlfriend / fiancee is aware of what the challenges (and joys) of being a pastor's wife will be.
And if you're a member of a church, don't treat your pastor's family as objects to use and discard. They are people with feelings and passions, and who have often sacrificed a lot for the sake of gospel ministry. Treat them with honour and love!
[ PS: any thoughts on how to encourage your pastor's wife? ] 1/28/2007 Exempt vs. exemplaryBecause the sad fact is that sometimes people who are in leadership positions in churches think that they are exempt from the standard of godliness demanded in the Scriptures. Perhaps this comes about from measuring oneself against the standard of other leaders, instead of the standard of the Scriptures. Maybe it comes slowly by thinking one has arrived at godliness, and then letting things slide one by one. Or perhaps by being made a youth leader, they can now take things lightly... But however it happens, you sometimes see Christian leaders thinking they are exempt!
Yes, there are those lists of requirements for deacons, elders and overseers in the Scriptures. But instead of being lists that are scrutinised and prayed over, they are given mere lip service. And so instead of being full of forgiveness, sometimes Christian leaders nurse grudges. Instead of loving that which is good, leaders can even hate the doing of good. Gossipping, lying, even greed is OK - sometimes they even become positive traits!
However, the New Testament demands that Christian leaders are first and foremost leaders by example. And as such they are to be exemplars of Christian character - not exempted from Christian character!
In Paul's letter to Timothy we see the heavy premium placed on Christian character for those selected for Christian leadership:
Even "able to teach" (v.2), the one thing that seems to be a skill, is actually not so much the skill of teaching, but rather the consistent character that would allow such a person to teach. Character is foremost in Paul's mind!
In the following passage from Titus Paul moves fluidly from 'elder' (v.6) to 'overseer' (v.7) - the titles are essentially unimportant. What is important is again the character of the leader:
Of course, Titus 1:9 does highlight the need for Christian leaders to have a firm grasp of Chrsitian doctrine. But yet again, we see the overwhelming importance of godly character for those in positions of Christian leadership. In fact in verse 7 Paul makes use the Greek word dei, which conveys absolute divine necessity. There is no way around this requirement!
Are you a Christian leader - and have you been letting things slide for yourself? Perhaps excusing the inexcusable? Here we are at the start of the ministry year. If you are a Christian leader, perhaps now's a good time to resolve to not exempt yourself from the New Testament's call to godly Christian living - and instead to exemplify it!
[ PS: one thing you can do for your fellow leaders is to draw up a code of conduct and hold one another accountable to it! ] 1/24/2007 Starting your group wellIf the group starts off badly, and the group's leader will be fighting an uphill battle for the year: constantly having to deal with lateness. dropping the ball on evangelism. letting prayer slide. But if your group starts off well, you will spend the rest of the year reaping the rewards from your efforts in this initial few weeks.
Here then are some thoughts about starting your group well:
Today I mentioned the 'norming' stage of a group's life - I'll have more to say about the other stages a group will go through in a short while!
[ PS: our small groups at ND will be starting up soon - stay tuned for details! ] 1/22/2007 Applying the Bible1. Apply the big idea
One trap is that people prepare a great Bible study, or a wonderful talk - but when it comes to the application, they pick out a verse from the passage which seems to contain some kind of command or action, and say: "now, we also got to do this."
This probably sounds like an OK thing to do. After all, it seems to come straight from the Bible! But what you actually want to be doing is first to work out the big idea of the passage for Christians. Second you want for your Bible study to get people to see that big idea. But third you want to apply the big idea to the people in the group.
Now, the big idea behind a passage for Christians might not actually match up with a verse containing a command or action. But it's the big idea that you want to apply. And to get the big idea, what you need to do is apply the tools of grammatico-historical exegesis (ie. understand the context, work through the content, come up with the big idea).
Seems obvious, but a lot of people fall down at this point and grasp at anything in the passage that seems like an action we might emulate.
2. Apply to the whole person
Now when you apply the big idea, what you want is to apply it to the whole person. Sometimes people think in terms of 'intellect applications', and 'action applications'. However, I encourage people to think of the three categories of head, heart and stomach...
In the ancient world the head was thought of as the seat of the intellect. It is from here that we know things. The heart was thought of as the seat of the will. It is here that we choose to do or not do certain things. And the stomach was thought of as the seat of the emotions. It is from here that we feel things - sounds weird, but you can imagine that when you feel pity, you feel it in your stomach!
When you draw out the implications of a passage, you want to apply the big idea to the head, the heart, the stomach of people in your groups. The following table will help you know how to fashion your big idea to 'hit' the different parts of the body.
We generally think a lot in terms of 'head' and 'heart' implications. But many evangelicals don't even think of aiming for the 'stomach', and it leads to people who have a intellectual and active Christianity - but one with little joy. But it's important for us to educate the feelings of people, and draw out the affective implications of the gospel.
Sometimes a Bible writer will apply the big idea to the heart of those in the Galatian church (say). And so yes, there may be a verse in the passage that does that. But we can also draw out the implications of that same big idea to their head, or their stomach!
[ PS: and because you know your group very well, you can target very tightly the 'stomach' or 'heart' issues of people in your group! ] 1/20/2007 Get to know you gamesI thought I'd share them with you here, since they may be useful in getting your groups started up. They can be useful in the "forming" stage of a group's life to facilitate the forming of relationships...
You may also be able to remember other get to know you activites from training courses you may have done at work. These can often be reused in a church setting. Last year Naomi and I went on an ante-natal course at the hospital. I picked up a number of useful presentation tips from that (and have already given them a go) - always be on the lookout for things you can reuse.
Some of those activities reveal more superficial things (eg. nickname, things they've done), and some reveal deeper things (eg. their personality, dreams and aspirations). In a relationship, people normally move from superficial issues, to deeper issues over time. It's unnatural to jump right into talking about deeper things - so match what you do with the existing level of relationships in the group. If you force a group to become too intimate too early, it can backfire on you...
Some of those activites are verbal (eg. sitting and talking), others are more kinesthetic (eg. moving around and interacting), others are more visual (eg. looking at pictures). Different people will tend to prefer different "modalities", and you will also have your own preference. What you want to do is not just choose activities that suit your favoured modality (you can imagine a talkative sort of person inflicting purely talking activites on their group). Instead, you want to choose a varitiety, to cater to people of different modalities.
[ PS: can you think of other get to know you ideas? ] 1/15/2007 Starting your ministry at a new churchHow do you get started well at your new church? I'm not an expert in this area, but I thought I'd share with you the kinds of things I did way back when I started at NDCCCS...
Of course, as with any relationship, it's a two-way thing. And there are things that the church members can do to help a new pastor settle in well...
[ PS: what other ideas can you think of? ] 1/11/2007 come.to/biblecollegeWhen I was at Bible colllege (or "seminary", for readers in North America) I began putting together some information to help others make good decisions about choosing a good Bible college, how to go about applying for college, and what the college application process is like.
This document was initially passed around to friends of mine. I had come from a church where quite a number of people were thinking through full time ministry issues, and by the grace of God a whole truckload are either in full time ministry in one form or another, or in various stages of training for ministry. Over time, that document also grew to include information about how to get through the many hurdles of college life, including all those exams and essays.
The document eventually became a website, with the catchy redirection URL http://come.to/biblecollege. Over the years new bits of information were added to it - info on how much to budget for textbooks. Graphs charting the college fees over the years. Stuff on how to write theological essays. Information about FEE-HELP...
Unfortunately I haven't had the time (or the inside knowledge) to update the website in recent years. But over the years, many people have found http://come.to/biblecollege to be a useful resource, both for people in Sydney as well as overseas.
If you're thinking of Bible college, it's worth checking out!
[ PS: I had organised someone to take over http://come.to/biblecollege once I left college, but it didn't work out. If you're in a position to do that, let me know! ] 1/9/2007 The parable of the pondsYou breathe in deeply, taking in the crisp, lightly scented air. Enjoying the playful shapes created by the dappled shadows.
Pretty soon however, you come across a pond of water. You pause to take in the beautiful scene - and notice that this pond is fed by a small stream. And yes, there does appear to be life in the pond, especially near the mouth of the stream. But the pond as a whole had become stagnant. As the pond grew larger and larger, the small stream had become unable to stir up the pond - rendering it lifeless.
You move on along the track, passing the bleached trunks of enormous Ghost Gums. Rounding a bend, you are surprised to come to a second pond. Although it's not much of a pond at all. A small but constant stream of water is flowing out from this pond - and is slowly draining the pond of all its water. Downstream, bushes and trees are flourishing - but the pond itself is slowly emptying.
Again, you move on. The track takes you over a hill, where you pause to take in panoramic views of the surrounding bush. Coming down from the hill, you discover a third pond of water. In contrast to the previous two ponds, this one has a stream feeding it, as well as a stream draining out from it. And in contrast with the previous two ponds, the water in this pond is fresh and aerated. It is teeming with pond life, both in and around the water.
The Christian life is like a pond. Some Christians spend all their time taking in great Bible teaching - but don't do anything with it. They aren't serving other people, they aren't being involved in evangelism - nothing. Such Christians don't grow very much, despite all their Bible intake. In fact, they can be quite lifeless Christians.
Other Christians are serving very heavily at their church. They're doing lots of ministry. However, not disciplining themselves to sit under God's word for their own sake, they end up dry and stale. Of course, sometimes Christians can get a lot out of the things they prepare for others - but that's a mindset that these Christians don't have.
In order for your Christian life to be healthy and full of life, you have to make sure that you are both taking in, as well as giving out. You need to make sure that you are both putting yourself in a place where you are exposed to God's word, and you also need to be serving and ministering and giving. This serving can of course take as many forms as the gifts that God has given his church. But however it's done, a healthy Christian life is one that takes in, as well as gives out.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that just doing one (or the other) is ideal, or even healthy - it's not!
[ PS: which of the two are you in danger of? ] 1/7/2007 Theological authorityAnd historically, you can identify different groups that major on one or another of these sources of authority. Evangelicals claim Scripture as their final authority, and Roman Catholics claim that the church and its traditions are an even higher authority than Scripture. Liberals claim that Reason is our highest authority - and if something in Scripture doesn't seem to make sense (such as miracles) it can be rejected. And Charismatics claim that present Experiences of the Holy Spirit are more important than the dead letter of the word of God.
This is a helpful diagram because it clearly outlines the four sources of authority, and aids us in our thinking about ongoing Christian discussions. Because while a group may claim to be evangelical, it's not necessarily so...
You see, sometimes Christians can claim to "believe the Bible" - and yet on closer examination it becomes clear that what's really driving their reading of the Bible is their church's tradition. In the end, it's comfortable and familiar church tradition that trumps Scripture. And while the Roman Catholic church is the outstanding example of a group governed by tradition, they aren't the only ones...
Christians can also claim to "believe the Bible" - and yet on closer examination it is obvious that they'll really only accept the things in Scripture that make sense to their reason. And so clear biblical injunctions are downplayed or negated, because "it clearly couldn't really mean that today." And this doesn't just happen in far-out liberal churches! And likewise Christians can claim to "believe the Bible" - and yet choose to go with what seems to work in their own experience, rather than the clear teaching of Scripture.
In all of this it's clear that everyone wants to be an evangelical and be seen to be on about the Bible - and you might even find it in their doctrinal statement! But the truth may be another matter entirely.
Does this mean that evangelicals don't use reason at all in their thinking? Or that we have no use for church tradition or present day experience? Alternatively, does the diagram mean that all four sources of authority have equal weight? None of those are true. The Quadrilateral is great at outlining the four different sources of authority, but it does a poor job of outlining the relationship between the four!
Here is what I call the Tetrahedron of Authority - and it's this diagram that explains the proper relationship between the four sources of theological authority.
In this case, Scripture truly is our final authority. However, Christians can also make use of tradition, reason and present day experience - but these are authorities that always remain subservient to Scripture's own authority.
Christians make use of church tradition when we use church creeds and refer to what earlier Christians have decided (eg. the Apostle's Creed, the 39 Articles, the Westminster Confession of Faith). It's not as though we treat them as completely authoritative - but they can serve as a helpful guide in our reading of Scripture.
Consider the doctrine of the Trinity. You probably haven't gone from first-principles through all of Scripture, and come up with your own formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity from scratch. More likely, you've looked at what earlier Christians have said, then compared that with Scripture and exclaimed, "oh yeah, that must be right." But notice it is always Scripture that tests tradition, and not the other way around! And sometimes, a Christian might decide, on reading Scripture, that "no, church tradition is seriously wrong here" - as the brave reformers such as Martin Luther did in the 16th Century.
Similarly, Christians may also make use of reason and experience to aid in our understanding of the Bible - but it is always Scripture that tests our reason and experience - and not the other way around!
[ PS: which of those second-tier sources of authority is your ministry most in danger of swapping in place of Scripture? ] 1/3/2007 Wise and foolish restingPeople nowadays lead very busy lives. Some are working very long hours at work, cramming ministry in on top of that, and staying up all night with their computer games. And they complain that they feel tired...
In Ecclesiastes 3 the teacher of wisdom has studied the world. He has thought carefully about it and he shares his wisdom with us. He says:
Christian wisdom is about observing the patterns in the world that God has made - looking at how God has created the world, and aligning our lives according to that pattern. Wisdom is living in line with God's plan.
But folly is ignoring God's plan. Folly is working outside of God's order. It is living our lives outside of the rhythm of God's creation!
And what we observe when we look at God's creation, and we see it everywhere we look in God's creation, is that there is a pattern of oscillation. There are periods of heavy activity, and periods of rest. We go through periods where (1) we are placed under stress, (2) our bodies respond to that stress by becoming fully engaged, (3) our bodies need to rest, (4) our bodies recover from the period of stress and engagement.
And this pattern of oscillation can be seen in all parts of life. Seasons are like this, tides are like this, animal popultions are like this, and our bodily functions are like this as well.
But in the modern world we expect to live our lives like a straight line heading ever upwards. We expect that we will be at peak performance at all times, being productive at every moment of our day. And not only that, we expect ourselves to be more and more productive year by year! But this linearity goes right against the patterns that are built in to God's creation. Periods of stress and enagement, are meant to be followed, not by more stress and more engagement, but by rest and recovery! That is God's pattern!
In all of this note that stress is not a bad thing. Stress is actually good - our bodies actually need stress to live. It causes us to stretch and grow and learn - it is in fact the stimulus for growth. An organism that lacks stress, will wither away and die. Stress is not the real killer - it's actually the lack of recovery that kills people! And this happens when we don't allow our bodies to properly recover after we place demands on ourselves.
This is what the army does in basic training. They take raw recruits, and put them through a lot of stress to strengthen them. But at the same time the army also make sure their recruits have their down time. They make sure the recruits sleep, and eat a good breakfast. Yes, there is a lot of (1) stress and (2) engagement, but they also makes sure that the recruits (3) rest in order to (4) recover. And we need to do this as well. After a period of stress and engagement, our bodies also need to rest, to disengage in order to properly recover.
But what some people tend to do when they relax is they choose activities that our bodies actually find stressful! Stress comes in different forms. There is stress we perceive negatively. But there is also stress that we perceive positively. But our bodies respond to both of these in the exact same way. Our bodies don't distinguish between good and bad stress — both are seen as placing a demand on our bodies, and your body responds by sending out the same chemicals into our bodies.
And so something that that you might find fun and enjoyable, is not necessarily what your body needs to recover. You might enjoy bungy jumping and crocodile wrestling — these might give you a real adrenaline rush — but that is not what your body needs. You may in fact be compounding the problem by pumping even more adrenaline through your system.
No, we need to alternate periods of activity, with periods of inactivity. Periods of busyness, with periods of stillness...
[ PS: do you relax in a wise way? ] 1/1/2007 Chinese in the Hornsby areaAt ND we don't have any spies. Not even a shoe-telephone or a tuxedo. But the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) does conduct an Australia-wide census every five years... And so today I've pulled together some stats from the 2001 ABS census with information about the number of Chinese people living in the Hornsby-Waitara-Wahroonga suburbs.
Note that this data is from the 2001 ABS census, so it's actually over 5 years old. The situation today could be quite different. You may remember that the ABS conducted a national census in August 2006. However the data from the 2006 census won't actually be released to the public until the middle of 2007.
Until that 2006 data comes out, this can still gives us a glimpse into the Chinese population up in the far north of Sydney, and how much Chinese ministry could be done up there...
Here are the stats for North Epping and Epping, for comparison (also from the 2001 ABS census data).
You'll notice that the figures for Hong Kong country-of-birth is roughly half that of the figures for Cantonese speakers (eg. 34:83 in Waitara, 270:448 in Wahroonga, 978:1848 in Epping). This is because Hong Kongers have generally be in Sydney for longer, and have had children born in Australia. Cantonese may still be spoken in their homes, but the kids are ABCs (the figures for language-spoken-at-home are persons, not households). By contrast, the figures for China country-of-birth is roughly the same (generally a touch more) than the figures of those for Mandarin speakers (eg. 885:734 in Hornsby, 66:60 in Waitara, 821:778 in Epping). This is because Mainland China migrants have generally not been in the country for as long.
In 2001 there were few Chinese in Waitara itself - which is a relatively small suburb (by ancestry, 145). But there were quite a lot in the surrounding suburbs of Hornsby and Wahroonga (2003 and 857 respectively). However the number of Chinese in the Hornsby-Waitara-Wahroonga area was similar to the number of Chinese in the Epping-North Epping area (by ancestry, 3005:3463). In fact, there are slightly more in the suburb of Epping itself, where they account for 17.3% of the population!
Here is a map (from Goolgle Earth) showing the Chinese churches in the Hornsby area...
There are two Chinese churches in Hornsby, and one in nearby Asquith. Further down Pennant Hills Road, there are two more in Thornleigh (to the South-West). And further down the Pacific Highway there is NSCCCS in Gordon (to the South-East). By contrast, there are five Chinese churches in the Epping area.
[ PS: what do you think - a good ministry opportunity? ] |
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