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2006/5/31 List of postings: Mar '06 to May '06During this period the blog recorded over 3800 page views. The most popular post was the one from the 19th April!
You may also have noticed a whole bunch of posts about church politics and church structure (25 March - 11 May). These have actually been written for a collection of training articles that SCCCA English is putting together - an exciting resource for those preparing for full time or lay ministry!
But you don't have to wait for that - here are some suggestions on things you can do with these postings:
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
[ PS: during this period, which ones were your favourites? which ones did you feel strongly about? ] 2006/5/29 The lineup of Scripture
The recent movie The Da Vinci Code will probably have raised questions about the canon of Scripture for its viewers (see previous post). The word 'canon' comes from the Latin word meaning 'rule', and essentially it describes the 'rule' (or 'standard', or 'guide') of which books have Scriptural authority.
In the discussion between Teabing and Langdon you might get the impression that the way the books of the Bible were put together was fundamentally dodgy. That by the very act of humans choosing which books should go in and which books should stay out, those individuals were exercising power - and who knows what suspicious motivations they may have had as they exercised that power? And it's Teabing's contention that the choosing of certain books (and omission of others) was part of a grand conspiracy to obliterate the divine feminine from Christianity.
The very mechanism of choice seems suspicious. In our age of innumerable options, having some unknown people make a choice on our behalf seems dodgy. Why shouldn't I read all the supposed gospels and make my own choice?
However choice is not the only way that selections are made...
Consider the police lineup. The witness does not choose a suspect out of the lineup! Instead the witness recognises a suspect and points him out to the policemen. Yes, a selection is made - but it's not up to the witness to make a choice. No, instead all the witness does is recognise the suspect. And that is how the canon was formed. The early church did not choose which books to put in and leave out. Instead early Christians recognised the divine inspiration of God in Scripture! Rather than the church being the authority (in the case of 'choice'), it is Scripture's own authority that is recognised by the church (in the case of 'recognition').
Here is New Testament scholar F.F Bruce on the canon of Scripture:
And while there was general consensus among Christians a long time, it wasn't until heresies arose (eg. Marcion) when the early church had to step forward and reiterate explicitly what Christians had already accepted for many years - that these books are Scripture.
[ PS: over the next few weeks at church we'll have some focal points on issues raised in The Da Vinci Code - stay tuned for them! ] 2006/5/27 Three levels of leadershipIn a recent article a Chinese church pastor wrote about visiting speakers who come from Asia. He made the observation that many of them call themselves "shen de pu-ren" - they are God's Servant ... but with a capital 'S'. While they may refer to themselves as a servant, they walk and talk and behave exactly like a lord! He wrote that "they deconstruct and redefine 'servant' as 'Lord.'" (CATW #198)
And so there are a lot of models of leadership out there that claim to be servant leadership - but that in reality are not!
Consider the three levels of leadership...
The first level is what I call Eager Leadership. This is when you get the phone call in the middle of the night, and you're asked to come talk to someone because they've got a crisis. And so you immediately say 'yes', and off you go.
Many of us start of in ministry at this level. At this stage, ministry is fresh and exciting, and we are full of energy and enthusiasm. And so we throw ourserlves eagerly into the work as it comes to us.
But there is another level of leadership beyond this. The second level of leadership is Rational Leadership. This is when you get that phone call in the middle of the night - but instead of immediately saying 'yes', you think to yourself: "now wait a minuite, if I say 'yes' to this, that'll mean I'll be too tired to do that other thing tomorrow, and it won't be so good on my health..." and so you might end up saying 'no' to that phone call.
This is what happens once you've been in ministry for a few years. You start to feel the costs of ministry, and can see much more clearly the challenges and difficulties that lie ahead of you. And so you begin to balance the pros and cons of a situation and make your decision after some thought.
For some people, this stage can also be called Selfish Leadership. For them, the rationality, the calculus behind their decision making process can actually be quite a selfish logic. Their calculus may be about raising their personal profile, or maximising their personal comfort - but ultimately it's about themselves.
But there is yet a third level of leadership beyond this. And this final one is called Servant Leadership. This is when you get that phone call in the middle of the night. And you realise exactly what the costs will be for you and your family. You know exactly how long the meeting will be, how late you will get home. But knowing these things, you still say 'yes'.
This is what you will see in people who have matured as a Christian leader. They know all too well the costs involved in ministry, and yet their priorities remain other-person centred. They understand that ministry involves sacrifice, and they are ready to sacrifice themselves.
In Acts 20 the Apostle Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. And as he makes his way there he finds himself nearby to Ephesus. He stops for a while, and sends for his friends, the elders from the church at Ephesus. He knows that he will likely be arrested and killed once he reaches Jerusalem. Yet he is determined to minister there, and in a moving speech he farewells his friends. Paul says:
There you see the apostle Paul, ready to give his own life so that others may hear the gospel. This is not Eager leadership, nor is it Rational leadership! This is Paul exercising Servant leadership. Many people who are doing ministry think of themselves as being a Servant leader - but in reality they are still at Eager leadership, or at Rational leadership. And as you respond to the challenges and demands of ministry, it becomes clear what kind of leadership you are exercising.
[ PS: here I'm using 'leadership' fairly loosely to refer to ministry in general - later on I'll distinguish between these two... ] 2006/5/25 The Da Vinci Movie1. Entertainment value
I read a couple of reviews before I saw the movie - and by and large they have been pouring scorn on the movie. Most notably, the movie received a fairly cynical reception at the Cannes film festival. But I'm not a movie critic - I'm just a regular guy who goes to the movies sometimes.
The movie is long - and that's because Ron Howard has tried to keep very close to the book, and as always that ends up being a long movie - just as in the Lord of the Rings triolgy.
Despite its length I did find it quite watchable and entertaining. However I think that is primarily because I had read the book beforehand. This means that readers have an advantage in understanding the twists and turns of the plot. I saw it with some people who hadn't read the novel beforehand, and they found it long and somewhat confusing. One of 'em even said he fell asleep a bit in the movie... So it seems that it's more a movie made for fans of the book.
2. About the conspiracy [spoiler]
Dan Brown's novel painted a vivid picture of a huge conspiracy throughout the ages to hide the 'truth' about Jesus - that he was merely a man, and that he had a child by Mary Magdalene, that there was always meant to be a female counterpart to the male deity, and that the books of the Bible were deliberately chosen so as to hide all of these things.
In the novel, a lot of this comes out in the dialogue between Teabing and Langdon in Château Villette. But it's here that the scriptwriters deviate a little from the novel. While in the novel Teabing and Langdon are in complete agreement about the conspiracy, in the movie there is an ongoing debate between the two characters about how to properly interpret the evidence. While Teabing is a complete believer in the conspiracy, Langdon injects skepticism about his interpretation.
The movie also takes a step back from claiming the conspiracy encompasses the whole of the Roman Catholic Church and/or Opus Dei, and instead explicitly highlights that it's only the work of a small shadowy group.
However it's the movie as a whole that shoots the conspiracy theory in the foot. While in the novel it's kind-of believable that a descendant of Jesus is still walking around, the movie makes that theory much more concrete by casting Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu. Here, we are meant to believe, is the physical descendant of Jesus. But then we realise: "hang on, Sophie Neveu isn't a real person - she's only a character, played by an actor. This person doesn't exist at all."
And I think that step of moving from semi-believable theory (in the novel) to an actual face on the screen (in the movie) means that audience will realise that this is partly fiction.
3. Ministry implications
Does that mean that we don't need to worry too much about the movie? That it's business as usual in terms of preaching and teaching?
No. What the movie will do is raise questions in the minds of both Christians and non-Christians about the formation of the canon. Here is an area where most Christians are unlikely to have read up on. They've just taken the Bible as it is - but all of a sudden the movie is making them ask questions such as:
And for non-Christians, we're going to have to begin fielding questions like:
These questions aren't too difficult to answer, but they can be quite technical. Get ready to help your non-Christian friends, your Bible study group etc. answer questions about the canon!
[ PS: more about the canon of Scripture in a short while... ] 2006/5/23 Prevenient graceGod has done the great work of salvation in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The way is now made open for sinful people to enter into a new, wonderful relationship with God. And in 2 Corinthians, God has charged his people with proclaiming his 'message of reconciliation'.
Pelagius was a British monk who lived in the fifth century AD. He taught that at this point humans understood the message and had faith in God. God then rewarded this person's faith with salvation (see diagram).
However the Bible seems to speak a different message about the capacity of unredeemed humanity. In our previous post we saw how the apostle Paul highlights the inability of sinful humans to even understand the gospel, let alone respond in faith (Rom 8:6-8, 1 Cor 2:14, 2 Cor 4:4)!
In light of all this, Pelagius is unjustifiably optimistic. His teaching that humanity's abiity to take the first few steps towards God in receiving salvation was condemned in his day as being nothing short of heretical (in 416 AD and again in 418 AD). The Bible is clear that salvation does not come about by any merit or effort on the part of humans!
How then are sinful humans ever going to receive the salvation that the cross of Christ has made available? It seems that they are totally unable to receive the gift that God holds out to them!
Living at the same time as Pelagius was a man named Augustine, born in Hippo in North Africa (354-430). Augustine was a very interesting and important figure in early Christianity, but of interest to us at this point is his response to Pelgaius' teachings.
Augustine studied the Scriptures, and spoke of God's prevenient grace - that is, God's gracious act to prepare and make the hostile and blinded sinner be initially inclined towards God (see diagram). If you imagine 'convenient' as meaning 'coming right on time', 'prevenient' can be thought of as meaning 'coming before the time'.
Here is how Augustine puts it, in a letter to Vitalis in 427 AD:
And this is what you see in the pages of the Bible. In John 6:44 Jesus teaches that "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him". And again in Acts 16:14, Luke records how Lydia became a Christian. Luke writes that "the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message." So who was it who opened her heart to respond to the message? It was God!
When Christians go about proclaiming the gospel to sinners (this is called God’s general call), sinful and blinded humanity is unable to understand or receive salvation. At this point, God works against this blindedness in a sinner’s life. God brings this person to a point where we, as onlookers, see this person understand and then put their trust in the gospel (this work of God is called his effectual call). And so, salvation is from start to end the work of God; never the work of man! It is undeserved, and flows from the initiative of God - hence, it is prevenient grace!
What exactly does this prevenient grace involve? What does God do in this effectual calling? So far it’s been rather vague. But it involves these three things at least:
...and these three things are the work of God's Holy Spirit!
This has a couple of implications for us. First of all, this is a humbling doctrine, that spurs us to praise our God even more. From it, we realise that there was nothing in ourselves that made God love us or choose us. It was not as though we were intelligent enough to understand the benefits of the gospel. Or that we were less corrupted by sin and so squeezed out enough faith to believe. No: it was solely through God’s grace that we even have the faith with which we received salvation!
But secondly it means that those friends of ours who have not yet understood or received God’s salvation are not outside of God’s control! If God wills it, he will work in the lives of even the most hardened criminal, the most cynical arts student, to bring about conviction of sin, an understanding of the gospel, and faith to believe.
So if you're feeling that it's hopeless to share the gospel with some of your non-Christan friends or family members, if you're feeling like giving up - don't give up! Here is a doctrine that gives us great comfort!
[ PS: this also tells you what you can pray about for your non-Christian friends - that God would convict them of sin in their lives, that God would give them an understanding of the gospel, and that he will give them faith to believe! ] 2006/5/21 Ageing un-gracefullyI've noticed that sometimes adults can be particularly childish in the way the relate to others... behaving in ways that you would think they would have grown out of by this stage!
For instance, you can sometimes see grown men and women sniping at each other with sarcastic comments. Or muttering things just under their breath. Being extremely petty about small little things. Not listening to others. Playing emotional games. Not forgiving one another...
You'd assume that older adults would have grown and developed some of these basic skills. But no, you'll be surprised at how childish adults can actually be!
When it comes to Chrisitan adults, you'd have expected that the situation here would be different. That as they've pressed on in the Christian life, they'd have been working hard in putting off the sinful nature, and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ in their attitudes and actions. You'd expect that older Christian adults are models of Christlikeness.
And sometimes of course, that is the case. You come across real saints who have grown and matured in faith and hope and love - really great people to meet! But unfortunately, more often than not you find the exact opposite: people who have instead spent their years honing their self-centredness, their pride, and their armory of verbal barbs. Sure, they've attended church all this time, but I've found that length of attendance is definitely not a reliable gauge of spiritual maturity!
Rather than growing steadily as a Christian over the years, something like this tends to happen to them:
It's no surprise that in the pages of the New Testament we find similar kinds of things going on. You get a sense of that when Paul writes to Titus about older men and older women:
From this, you can get a pretty good (or bad) picture of what happening in the church of Crete!
In our churches we tend to believe the myth that age in years equals spiritual maturity. Even when it's self-evidently false, it's a myth that we like to cling to. We protect the myth by turning a blind eye to bad behaviours in adults. And in Chinese churches this can be especially pernicious, due to our Confucian hangover of respect for elders. And as a result, no one wants to confront one of founding members of the church...
This is primarily something to watch out for in yourself. As you press on in the Christian life, always be suspicious of yourself. Even if you're still fairly young, your progress in years can fool you into thinking of yourself more highly than you ought. Even now you might be honing your self-centredness and your pride. Even now, sharpening your armory of verbal barbs...
No - as Paul says in 1 Timothy 4, "train yourself to be godly!"
[ PS: let me point out that I haven't got individuals in mind here - though of course if you do see yourself mirrored here, do something about it! ] 2006/5/20 Personality and characterBut what does that really mean? Does that mean that all Christians end up looking and behaving exactly the same, with no distinctives?
Here it's helpful to draw a distinction between the personality of a person on the one hand, and their character on the other.
Each of us has a unique and distinct personality. You might be outgoing or reserved. The kind of person that always likes trying new things, or the sort of person that sticks with what has always worked. A cautious person, or someone who is adventurous.
This is what diagnostic tools such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is measuring. Our personality develops as we grow up, and these generally remain with us throughout our life.
On the other hand, your character describes your morality, your values, your passions. Our character is like a lens through which our personality shines, and is then transformed into specific behaviours (see diagram below).
And so you might have a loud personality. With a selfish character, that loud personality will have full license to express itself in selfish ways - bragging about self, big noting self, and so on.
However, with a Christlike character, that loud personality will be seeking to love others. And so the loudness might be used to build up and encourage others. And on other occasions that loudness may even be suppressed so that others can share about how they're going.
Or on the other hand you might have a quiet personality. With a selfish character, that quiet personality might again express itself in selfish ways - but its expression will be very different. Such a person might never ask anything of others, never encourage others with a word. Instead such a person is caught up in their own world.
However, with a Christlike character, that quiet personality will be seeking to love others. This may mean using their quietness to be a good listener and a gentle encourager. And on other occasions that quietness might need to be put aside out of love, so as to rebuke others and point them to God's word.
So you see how this works? Our personality shines through our character, and produces behaviours.
The danger with personality tests is that we think it's the be-all and end-all of us. "I can't help it: I'm a loud kind of person. That's just how I am, so you gotta accept my loudness!" But this is just an excuse for us being sinful. Instead, as Christians we grow in Christlikeness in our character. And we must be careful that our personality shines through the lens of our character, into loving (and not selfish) behaviours.
But maybe you don't like your personality! You would much rather be a go-getting, aggressive sort of person. Or a more careful kind of person. Or a more person-focussed type. Something else to keep in mind is that God has made your personality the way it is for a reason. The kingdom of God needs all sorts, and God has made you the way you are because you have a particular role in the church. Yes you can grow in Christlikeness, but rejoice in your behaviour, and look for how you can use that to best serve God and love his people!
[ PS: you can find many online MBTI tests - search for 'Myers-Briggs'. Just don't let your personality be your excuse for sinfulness! ] 2006/5/17 Sharing the good news with babyBaby Rebecca is almost a month old now. And a couple of weeks ago I took the opportunity to share the gospel with her. Yes, one afternoon I sat Rebecca on my lap and explained to her the Two Ways to Live!
I told a few people afterwards that I had shared the gospel with Rebecca, and generally they responded with incredulity. "How can a baby even understand what you were saying?" they asked. "How can you expect a little baby to have faith?"
At the heart of all this is our theology. What do we really think is God's role in salvation? and what part do we play in our salvation? Here is how most people think it works: we hear the gospel, we understand it and we respond in faith. And in response to our faith, God grants us the gift of salvation.
Here it is, summarised for you in a table:
And according to this, since a baby can't yet understand the gospel nor respond in faith, then what's the point trying to explain the gospel to the baby?
But of course, there is actually a problem with the theology underlying this approach. The more things that we say are the responsibility of the human in salvation, the more we are actually adding to our part in salvation.
While it seems to make sense to our minds that a baby can't understand or have faith, this is in fact quite far removed from what the Bible itself says...
2. Understanding - a gift of God
In the Bible, it is actually God who grants us an understanding of the gospel. Without God's Holy Spirit illuminating our minds, we would still be left in darkness. Here is how the Bible itself puts it:
It's fairly clear, isn't it that humans are simply unable to understand the gospel by themselves! The Bible goes further, and in places like 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 and Ephesians 3:5 it is God's Holy Spirit that gives us an understanding of the gospel.
Without the illumination of God's Holy Spirit, even the Bible is a dead book to dead people. The very understanding of the gospel is the work of God, not the product of our own intellects!
3. Faith - also a gift of God
But not only that ... in the Bible, it is also God alone who grants an individual faith to believe in that gospel. Without God first granting the sinner the faith to respond, there would be no response of faith. Here is how the Bible puts it:
Yes, the Bible does demands the response of faith to the preached gospel. So in some passages it can seem as though it's our responsibility. But it's also true that what God demands of humans, God himself also provides!
4. Salvation - all of God!
And so, far from the table above, here is the true state of affairs according to the Bible:
Salvation is truly all of God. The understanding that we think we have, actually is given to us by God. The response of faith that we think we provide, that is also given to us by God.
It is actually pride to think that 'normal' human beings can understand the gospel and have faith, but that babies and those with intellectual difficulties are unable to do so.
The true state of affairs is that none of us has the ability to understand and have faith! 'Normal' humans are actually as helpless as babies or intellectually disabled people! In fact, the Bible says that when it comes to our own salvation, we are as helpless as a corpse (Eph 2:1-9).
The implications of this are that those people that we might think are unable to become Christians are actually well within the reach of God's salvation. God can grant babies the understanding of the gospel, as well as faith to believe. God can also do this for intellectually disabled people. Or people in hospital who are semi-conscious and a moment from death. And he can even do it for fit and active people like you and I.
But they need someone to explain the gospel to them first of all (Rom 10:14-15) - and that's why I shared the gospel with baby Rebecca a couple of weeks ago. It's becuase I trust that God can give even a baby an undrestanding of the gospel. I believe that it's God who can even give faith to a child!
5. Post script: Hospital chaplains
One of the most difficult ministries that you can be involved in is to be a hospital chaplain.
Unlike other ministers, you probably don't have your own stable congregation to minister to. Instead, people are always moving in and out of hospital. Unlike other ministries, you can't look at a congregation and see the effect of your ministry - many of the people you minister to might actually be dead in a short while. And it takes heaps of initiative and boldness to walk the halls of the hospital, visiting unwilling strangers and talking to them about the gospel!
And yet, hospital chaplancies are a vital ministry. They have a posting that enables them to tug at the coat sleeves of people about to enter the gates of hell forever. They can speak the words of the gospel to people who may never have heard it before. Hospital chaplains may not see a great deal of response as they talk about the gospel to unwilling patients. But they do the essential work of faithfully presenting the gospel.
Who knows how many people God has graciously granted understanding and faith in their final few moments of life? How many thousands are born again, even as they take their dying breath? One day, we will have the great joy of discovering those whom God has unexpectedly granted faith to believe in their dying moments. Paul says that through the coming ages, such people will stand as reminders of the incomparable riches of God's grace (Eph 2:7)!
[ PS: this is actually an issue fought out centuries ago between Augustine and Pelagius - more about that in a short while! ] 2006/5/15 The Da Vinci OpportunityNot only that, the novel has sparked a controversy that has generated a new genre of books and websites debunking claims made in The Da Vinci Code.
There are certainly a lot of false claims made in the book about Christianity, and quite a number are easily answered (eg. the formation of the canon, how the early church thought about the divinity of Christ). There are also a number of assertions that seem to cast Christianity in a negative light, but which aren't all that significant once you think about it (eg. who cares what Leonardo da Vinci's opinion on Christianity is?).
In response, some Christians are holding prayer rallies against the movie. Others are boycotting cinemas showing it altogether.
But amidst all this don't miss the fact that this is a rare moment of opportunity to talk to our non Christian friends and co-workers about the Bible and who Jesus Christ is.
Dan Brown and the entertainment industry has done us a favour by getting Jesus on the agenda again! And it does so in a way that actually gets people into a thinking, enquiring frame of mind. And for us, that's very good.
Sure, The Da Vinci Code presents totally false claims about Jesus as fact. The book presents it in a way that is quite compelling and convicing (a novel demands that we identify with the hero and his ideas in order for it to work). And the movie experience (that adds a moving soundtrack and gripping images) is bound to be an even more compelling affair!
But with a bit of preparation you can easily point out the holes in Dan Brown's claims. So be prepared to answer those claims (an excellent resource is the Anglican Media's website http://www.challengingdavinci.com/) ... and make use of this rare opportunity to talk about what Jesus is really on about!
As Peter says in 1 Peter 3,
[ PS: another excellent resource is Ernest Chiang's notes from his Da Vinci Code workshop for NDCCCS and SCCCA last year - but you'll need to ask him for it! ] 2006/5/13 St Barnabas, Broadway1. Church vs. Church building
I heard the news on the radio - and it was interesting to hear the different perspectives put forward by (on the one hand) congregation members, and (on the other) the news presenters.
For the congregation members, there was the understandable sadness in losing something with a long history, but a realisation that the church was still there - because the church is really the gathered people of God. They had only lost the building in which they gathered.
But this distinction was lost on the news presenters, who constantly referred to it as a church - and so, "the church burnt down". For them, what was important was the beautiful and historic old building, or the magnificent old organ - and not the people who gather around the Lord Jesus Christ!
2. Heritage listed buildings
Having a historic old church building is not as wonderful as you might think. Sure, people will admire it, and want to be married in your buidling. A beautiful old building can draw some people into church. But if it's heritage-listed (as many of them are), then it's actually a real pain for people who want to get on with real gospel ministry!
Because it's heritage-listed, churches are prevented from knocking the thing down and building something more useable for gospel minsitry (eg. a larger and more flexible hall, a better equipped office, or a creche).
Not only that, they are also required to maintain the old building. And this means re-roofing the thing with slate. Fixing ancient plumbing. Getting in specialists to check the integrity of the pillars ... and all this can cost the congregation a lot of money!
But all that money that a church is sticking up on their leaky old roof could instead be used for gospel ministry. Imagine how many more gospel workers smaller churches could put on if they didn't have to maintain heritage-listed church buildings!
The old church building at St Barnabas' Broadway has facilitated many years of faithful gospel ministry in the past. But you can be sure that their new building will be even more useful for gospel ministry for many years into the future...
[ PS: there are lots of heritage-listed churches ... just plug in 'church' in the search page of the NSW Heritage Office! ] 2006/5/11 Membership: Eastern, Western ... and Trinitarian![ Note: some heavy Trinitarian theology up ahead... ]
1. Eastern membership
The Eastern way of understanding membership is: when you become a member of our church, you come and commit yourself to our vision, our direcion, our culture. You become one of us.
And if you don't want to follow what we're on about, well, maybe it's better for you to not become a member of our church! And so some churches work hard to maintain the oneness of the group. They demand and reward loyalty to the group.
Unfortunately, this pursuit of oneness is sometimes to the detriment of faithfulness... It can mean that issues aren't discussed openly. Decisions are made for the group without consultation. Things are swept under the carpet in order to preserve the image of unity. And so it's a model that can actually leave a lot of hurting individuals in its wake.
2. Western membership
By contrast the Western understanding of membership focusses not on the group, but on individuals. And so the church is thought of primarily as a collection of individuals, each with their own motivations and desires, each of which has decided that this church meets their needs at this point in time.
It's a lot like your local RSL club. You join up as a member, and then you use the restaurant and facilities when it pleases you. But you're the one in control.
This approach leads to a very consumer attitude to church. We are only there because we can get something for ourselves (whether it be a good sermon, or a platform on which to perform, or friends to hang around with). And maybe we might complain if someone gets in the way of us getting our thing.
3. Trinitarian membership
But there is another way of understanding membership. One based on Bible's doctrine of the Trinity. You see, the Godhead is not a simple unity, nor is it a crowd of individuals. Yes, within the Trinity there is unity of being and purpose. But there is also diversity of persons and roles.
And so we can expect that true membership - Trinitarian membership - is not going to be membership that erases all distinctions (such as Eastern membership). Instead, there will be diversity of persons and roles! Nor will it be a membership that is full of self-focussed individuals (such as Western membership). Instead, at the same time there will also be a unity of being and purpose!
It is persons in relationship - in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are eternally in relationship. The focus will not be on the anonymous whole, nor on the individual - but on people in relationships.
What will this look like? While there will be real diversity in the church in how people express their love for the Lord Jesus Christ and go about proclaiming the gospel, there will also be a unity in their purpose. It'll be OK that different groups do their discipleship and evangelism and ministry training in dfferent ways. We will let people sing in ways that are most appropriate for them... unity in diveristy.
In the end, it's not a choice of either Eastern membership (with its abusive pursuit of uniformity) or Western membership (with its selfish individualism) - but about unity in diversity, and relating to one another in love.
[ PS: let me also direct your attention to a talk at our church earlier this year on membership (also the PowerPoint and Real Audio) ] 2006/5/9 Rising petrol prices - and gospel ministryThe Australian Institute of Petroleum, which monitors petrol prices, found that the average price of petrol has now hit a record $1.34 a litre. (SMH) And so it now costs up to $100 to fill the family car (see chart from The Age)!
This will likely go on impact other things. Duncan Shaw, of the Australian Retailers' Association, highlights the impact of high oil prices on discretionary spending. "As we see Australians faced with higher costs of filling the family car, that is having a direct effect on discretionary spending levels." (SMH)
Discretionary spending is the spending we do on things after we have taken care of necessary monthly bills. Things like mortgage, electricity and groceries go into the category of our necessary monthly spending. But discretionary spending is what we do after we have taken care of the basics. This include such things as magazines, music CDs, movies ... and for many of us, it also includes our giving at church.
As people tighten their belts due to rising petrol prices, they may consider lowering their giving at church - and this can end up having a big impact on gospel ministry! Because not only will there be less money to fund gospel ministry, the cost of gospel ministry will also rise - Churches and ministers also have to pay for petrol! This can potentially cause churches to put off ministers and shut down ministries.
In another SMH article Major Halse of the Salvation Army reported their concerns of lower giving for this year's annual Red Shield appeal."A lot of people who have budgeted and managed every dollar that they've got are suddenly finding that extra $20 or $30 a week they spend on the family car prevents them from giving as much as they would like to." (SMH)
So what can you do? What Christians need to do is to change their mindset - and move their church giving out of the category of 'discretionary spending' ... and into the category of 'necessary monthly spending'.
The best way to do this is to sign up to a direct debit kind of giving plan at your church (as we have at ND). That way, your giving is handled automatically, month by month, out of your bank account - just like your mortage payments, your electricity bill, and your water bill.
And that way, gospel ministry can keep chugging on...
[ PS: if you're interested in arranging direct debit giving at ND, talk to Ralph Lai for a form! ] 2006/5/7 The weakness of church structuresGood systems of church government will prevent damage to the whole church if one or two people in the heirarchy turn out to be bad. There will be other people around who will function as checks and balances against them, mitigating their effect.
But. If you slot in enough bad people into any system of church government, it'll no longer function to adequately protect gospel ministry. The people who ought to be functioning as checks and balances are actually in agreement with bad theology - and down we go.
Church government structures are fragile - they are like a house of cards. Push them too far, and the structure will break down! That's why you can see whole denominations here and there that are are theologically bankrupt, despite having good structures in place.
What's important is that before things get to that critical stage, for people to boldly act to protect the church. For the checks and balances to actually function as such. And yes, this might mean members voting out inappropriate deacons. Or asking hard questions in the AGM about where the money went. Or getting rid of ministers who are teaching unbiblical things. Or challenging a motion...
You would never want to act precipitously or gleefully, since you are talking about people's lives and reputations. You would be bold, but your boldness would be mixed with great care and sorrow. Even so, you can be sure that acting boldly will lose you some friends.
You can see why sometimes people find it easier to do absolutely nothing! But once a church structure has gone past that critical point, it's difficult to bring about significant change from within the sytem. But that's why reformations sometimes need to take place!
And throughout history God has at times graciously sent reformers to his church, bringing his people back to the Bible, and reminding them again of his gospel.
[ PS: don't assume that it'll never happen at your church or para-church ministry - history is not on your side! ] 2006/5/5 The old switcherooAnd so with great expectation we carried it into our lounge room. I went into the kitchen to for a pair of scissors so she could cut it open.
But then she discovered it wasn’t quite what she ordered ... It was a refill can for the dog’s barking collar, but it was smaller than she had expected! And so she was not a little disappointed.
I wonder if that has happened to you - something that you looked forward to, but then it ends up being switched for something else? something that wasn’t what you expected? something not quite as good?
Our church is committed to gospel ministry. And this year our theme is even Spread the Word - we’re focussing on evangelism. Our Bible study groups are all on about gospel growth. Everywhere you look, we're well and truly on about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!
But a tendency I’ve noticed - not just in our church but in other similarly gospel-focussed ministries - is that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ sometimes gets switched for ... well, another gospel.
Sometimes it gets switched with the gospel of full time ministry. The gospel of biblical theology. The gospel of developing Christian leadership. Or even the gospel of behaving like a respectable Chinese son or daughter... Whatever the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is switched with, it’s often something fairly worthwhile and respectable! But it’s not the gospel.
And because this other gospel is such a worthwhile thing, this switching of the gospel often happens without anyone noticing. And before you know it, here we are in a church, and in our ministry group - and for yet another year, nothing much has really happened by way of evangelism. For another year, the Evil One has pulled the old switcheroo!
In Colossians 1 Paul writes about what he’s on about. He says that,
In your church, in your ministries, and amidst all the busyness of the Christian life ... make sure you remain on about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[ PS: a good test is to ask yourself: when was the last time I shared the gospel with someone? when did I last pray for a non Christian? ] 2006/5/3 Is accountability biblical?Even though the terms are not there, you do find the concepts and the practice in the pages of the New Testament. And one place it does appear is in Paul's letters to the Corinthian church.
In 1 Corinthians 16, and then 2 Corinthians 8-9 Paul talks about taking up a collection of money for poor Christians in Jerusalem. And along the way, it's interesting to see how these Corinthian Christians are instructed to handle money...
A collection of money from a whole church, from an affluent trading port like Corinth, and collected over a period of several weeks, is probably no small amount. What a temptation that would be for the couriers of that gift! In fact earlier on in the letter Paul acknowledged that the Corinthian church was in part made up by former thieves (1 Cor 6:10-11)!
But observe the precautions he takes:
Paul makes sure that there are several approved people accompanying the gift, so that no one dips a little into the bag for himself.And this is not an unusual procedure - this is what Paul had also told the Galatian church to do (v.1)! But that's not all - here is Paul in 2 Corinthians.
The collection is now underway, and Paul is sending some people from Macedonia with some gifts through Corinth, and on to Jerusalem. Again we see:
But not only so, Paul explicitly outlines his concern that things are done rightly, and are seen to be done rightly by all (vv.20-21). There are no hidden dealings here: everything is transparent, care is taken to protect against the sinfulness of man.
Maybe those terms we've used about church politics aren't here. But you can certainly see the concepts at work, and applied to the transfer of money!
[ PS: this is also why we have two people counting the money after church each week, and two deacons are needed to sign checks for the church's bank account! ] 2006/5/1 The cloak of the leaderPeople who are in ministry often think of themselves as being a leader. And as a leader, they unconsciously think of themselves as being in a separate category from the rest of God's people. As a leader, there is something different about them - they are set apart from others.
Now, very few people in Christian leadership would ever say it like this - it sounds way too arrogant! But you see this attitude showing itself in the behaviours of many in Christian leadership.
In the diagram below you can see that the leader is blue, a different sort of person entirely from the non-leader. Their being is that of a leader - that defines how they act and how they think of themselves. And when they're with others, they think of themselves as more important - because they are a leader.
While the Bible does talk about the function of leadership, that's not it's primary focus. Instead, the Bible talks more about serving others - and leadership is one of many ways in which people can serve others. Servanthood is the correct context in which we're to think of leadership.
In the diagram below, all Christians have the being of a servant. That is who we are created to be! However as servants, each of us have been given different roles to play in the church. These roles are like cloaks that we throw over our shoulders on a cold night. There may be different cloaks that we might wear, but at our very being, each of us is a servant. Some serve by wearing the cloak of a leader, others serve by wearing the cloak of an encourager, a pray-er, and so on.
The cloak does not define us - rather, our being does. Christian leaders are first of all servants, just like the next guy. And that servant being informs us about how we are to use the cloak that we wear. That servant being defines how we act, and how we think of ourselves - not the cloak! not the role we play!
Consider the language we use when those in Christian leadership speak to others. What kind of language do people use?
You can see that the language of leadership is very prominent. Compare that to this next set of statements:
Notice that we haven't completely erased the language of leadership - that's becuause it's an important function in the church. But in these three statements the primary category of thought is not leadership, but service.
When your primary language centres around leadership, it makes people feel inferior if they aren't leading. It minimises their contribution to the church. And it implicitly holds up leadership as the most significant ministry in the body of Christ! But by using the language of service instead, we can encourage others in their various ministries. We allow others to say, "I serve at church by playing the piano."
All over the New Testament Christian leaders are thought of primarily as servants. Here is the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians:
When you begin to speak about your role in such terms, if you use the language of servanthood consistently in your casual conversations, you will find that your thinking about Christian leadership will change. You will start to instinctively think of your ministry as a service to others - and not as a display of ourselves.
[ PS: can you think of other examples of shifting our language from 'leading' to 'serving'? ] |
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