Multicultural Ministry Matters

One thing that bugs me about us Presbyterians. We seem able to split over the most trivial things - like whether we sing hymns & songs in church, or only metric psalms. It's the dark side of our doctrinal robustness & willingness to speak up. John Frame has written an excellent article on the divisions in the Presbyterian churches in the USA. He catalogues twenty-two - twenty-two ...! - sources of conflict from 1936 to 2003. He argues that many of them stem from different perspectives. The sad result is that instead of rejoicing in what they agree on, people end up end up acrimoniously arguing about what they disagree over - even if it's a relatively minor matter. Ironically, the matter of different "perspectives" on the truth is itself the twenty-second item of contention (*sigh*...). I'm all for loving the truth. But let's have some truth in love. " Machen's Warrior Children". http://www.frame-poythress.org/frame_articles/2003Machen.h...

I've been working on how what my last post re church & evangelism means in practice, but one of my Moore College buddies has beaten me to it. http://jeltzz.blogspot.com/2008/04/points-of-contact.html I wanted to say that...

Sometimes we get into debates about where we should do evangelism - in church, or outside. By "in church" we mean during the Sunday service. Should we have "seeker services", and reserve "teaching" to Bible studies? Or should we "teach" during the Sunday service, and do evangelism in Bible studies, men's group, women's group etc? I think the whole debate is misguided. Mission is intrinsic to the identity of the church. The church itself is essentially outward focused. Evangelism is not the church’s second nature; it is the church’s nature, full stop. Christianity is an experience of community. The New Testament terms it “fellowship” – koinonia . God, through Christ’s death and resurrection, brings us into fellowship with his triune self (Matt 11:27; John 17:3, 10-11). Those who have been redeemed by Christ also have fellowship with one another. Christ did not redeem solitary individuals; he redeemed the church, a community, a people for h...

Hey, check this out: http://www.frame-poythress.org/ Articles & even free downloadable books by John Frame & Vern Poythress, two excellent Reformed theologians.

Well, whaddya know. New threads = instant chick magnet. So, if anyone out there wants some hints on finding that special someone, feel free to contact da Bomb...

My Grand-Uncle George died yesterday. He was the last of that generation - my "grands". He had prostate cancer. Extended families tend to be much closer knit in Sri Lanka. So I used to see uncle George reasonably regularly. I used to call him Uncle Furry, 'coz he had a beard. He was relatively wealthy - built an expensive house in the outskirts of Colombo. I liked visiting there - lotsa fun places to play, in the house and gardens. It got burned down in the race riots of 1983. Uncle George attended church all his life. But on his deathbed, he had no confidence that he was going to see his saviour. Over the 'phone, he kept saying he was frightened of death. My Mum, and the rest of his extended family (he was never married - no wife, no kids), tried to comfort him. They spoke to him of Christ's sacrifice, of the confident hope we can have of glory, of seeing Christ face-to-face. Didn't seem to work. Uncle George was too much in love with this world. He loved mat...

This post is a response to a comment on my previous post, "The problem with Liberal Theology". John raises some perfectly reasonable challenges. I'm not going to respond to all of them - just one. John said: "you neglect that principally God loves the most rotten scoundrel and is Himself love." What is love, John? A powerful act that reaches out to identify, judge, and destroy, that which is truly, objectively, morally wrong – wrong because it insults the good character of the creator God, to whom we are all accountable? Or a polite permission that avoids any moral assessment, that is fundamentally powerless to discern good from evil? God’s love is revealed on the cross of Christ. No, more – God’s love is enacted upon the cross; it is established in the cross of Christ. And the Biblical testimony to that act is that is an act of judgment. The cross is the triune God taking into his triune self the consequences of our rebellion against him. My experience of tha...

I'm just back from the Presy College mission in the southern highlands of NSW - Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale. Had an interesting time. And my evangelistic talk last Sunday went very well - thanks for your prayers. Steve North, the minister for these churches (yep - one guy, three churches - busy man!) loves Jesus, loves the Bible, and is totally clear about calling all people to follow Christ. That’s why he invited a Presy college mission in the first place. But some parts of the southern highlands are still in the shadow of Liberal theology. As in so-called "Christian" theology that doesn't believe the Bible. Therefore, it doesn't believe the unique divinity of Christ, doesn't believe that humanity, by our wickedness, have alienated ourselves from God (“sin”), doesn't believe that God is personally affronted by that alienation (“God’s wrath”), doesn't believe that Jesus, by his death & resurrection, has achieved a unique, perfect reconciliation of...

Sunday's my biggest gig for the mission. I'm preaching at Moss Vale Presbyterian church. Eph 2:1-10. Trying to show people the dimensions of God's grace - how he takes us from being dead & damned (unresponsive to him, opposed to him, under his rightful judgment) to being raised & ruling (alive to God, and in a place of authority & privilege, alongside Christ). Crave your prayers.

Orright, might as well explain what happened last weekend. The photos are hitting facebook already. As I mentioned previously, last week I was at our SBM weekend away. I said I was gonna be a walking parable. Time to explain. The topic was "extreme makeover". You all know I'm a dag. So a one of the SBM girls took me shopping a couple of weeks ago and got me a whole new outfit. And on the weekend away we unveiled the new, extremely made-over Kamal. Or, to be precise - da K-BOMB (*Westminsta*)...! Want more? Look on facebook...

... and straight afer the SBM weekend away (see previous blog entry), I'm off on the Presbyterian College mission. The Presbyterian churches of Moss Vale, Mittagong and Bowral are combining to host us as we evangelise the area. We'll be there from 6-13 April. We're doing a lot of school ministry, visiting a couple of Bible study groups, and hosting a women's lunch and men's dinner. My biggest gig is to preach at Moss Vale Presy at their 9:30am service on the final Sunday. I value your prayers! Can't guarantee blogs of how it's going - depends on whether I can access the 'net - but shall tell all when I return to Sydney. See ya'll then.

This weekend (4-6 April) I'm at the SBM Weekend away. SBM (Subcontinental Bible Ministry) is the inter-church Bible study group I'm involved in. About 40 young Indians & Sri Lankans from various churches around Sydney gather on Thurs nights for Bible study, prayer & fellowship. And this weekend we're going on a weekend away, to look at the topic of "Extreme Makeover: The Difference Jesus Makes". I'm not doing all the talks - for a change :) We have three different speakers: Sonny Singh, Isaac Kuruvilla & myself. Sonny's training for ministry with the student Christian group at Macquarie Uni. He'll be looking at why we need an extreme makeover. Isaac's one of the SBM leadership team. He'll be showing us how Jesus gives us that extreme makeover. And I'll be talking about living an extremely made-over life. Incidentally - when I deliver my talk - living an extremely made-over life - I'm gonna be a walking parable. What do I mea...

Here's a couple more quotable quotes from P. T. Forsyth. On Church and Mission: [T]he minister’s effect upon missions will depend in the long run upon the kind of Gospel he preaches – not to his own people only, but, as the trustee and representative of his Church, to his age. After all it is not the missionaries, nor the ministers, nor the people that are to convert the world. It is the Gospel, and our certainty of it. Revelation Old and New :53. On Presbyterianism: It was Calvinism alone, or that side of the Reformation, that mostly made the Puritans. And the unalloyed outcome of such Puritanism was Presbyterianism. Faith, Freedom and the Future : 46-47

We’re used to thinking of the Great Commission as the beginning of the international Christian mission. And it is. But in context, there’s actually two missions. Each bent on contradicting the other, and winning people from the other mission to their own. Matt 28:11: While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. The women and the guards scurry away from the tomb at the same time. The soldiers meet with the chief priests. The women meet with the disciples. The chief priests then set about denying the resurrection. Matt 28:12-14: 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The disciples meet with Jesus, who commissions them to pr...