Multicultural Ministry Matters

All right, all right, I admit it - I'm hooked on blogging. I've found, to my pleasant surprise, that there's actually a lot of interesting info on the 'web. And I've quite enjoyed using this blog to digest it. But there's no way I can keep posting at this rate. October's gonna be a heavy month - have a bunch of PTC assessments to get through. So, I'm going back to my old schedule of about one post in three days. Maybe it'll improve quality...?

Check out the new website of the NSW Presbyterians! Actually, it's been up since July - I just haven't noticed... (*shame*) The site looks good - plenty of pictures, nice colours - and it's easy to navigate - simple, clear menus. But it seems more a portal into the Presbyterian denomination, rather than a mission resource. For example: at the home page, there's a button "for visitors" - that's good - but it takes you to a page with more info about the Presbyterian church. There's no overt evangelism. That's a pity. The Sydney Anglican website is much more of a mission resource. There's always something there that could feed into evangelism, preaching, prayer... whatever. Although there's no overt evangelism there, either - only a very small button at the top right, "Christianity". This isn't a big problem for the PCNSW site. All it needs is another button on the home page, with something like "What does it mean to follo...

One thing about Phillip Jensen: his ideas are often simply brilliant. As in brilliant in their simplicity. Phillip's excellent article on The Strategy of God , which appeared in the July edition of the Briefing , in now on-line (which, by the way, is very generous of the Briefing). He helpfully distinguishes between unchanging imperative to prayerfully tell people about Jesus, and the changeable, culture-bound ways we do that. His does this by distinguishing between "strategy" and "tactics". Strategy is the big thinking—the overall plan and the means for getting there [...] Tactics is more immediate thinking: it's manoeuvring the pieces on the chessboard to achieve the smaller milestones that go together to make up the strategy. [...] Tactics sit under strategy, and are circumscribed by strategy. [...] Phillip has no doubts that the Biblical gospel has an unchangeable, non-negotiable content. Early in his article, he uses "God's strategy" as sh...

Dave Clancey has posted an excellent summary of John Webster's take on God's aseity . Prof. John Wesbter is Chair of Systematic Theology at the King's College, Aberdeen, Scotland. God's aseity is his independence. He doesn't need us; we need him. Usually, this independence has been seen as a necessary implication of him as creator. Creation needs a creator outside of itself. But, if I understand Dave's summary correctly, Webster rightly sees this as being too impersonal. Webster reconceptualises God's aseity to be an outworking of his triune life. God is independent of us, not merely because he is the foundation of the cosmos, but becuase he, as Trinity, has life in himself. The Father, Son and Spirit give life to each other, and therefore stand in need of nothing outside of each other. Creation and redemption are the outflowing of this intra-Trinitarian life.

This is a response to Mark Barry's request for ideas for an AFES SALT issue on Resurrection. Some of it builds on my previous posts on Covenant Theology . One theme that goes through Mark's three categories - past/present/future - is the issue of life and death. What did Jesus mean when he said he is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)? Jesus lived the "full" life, which is life lived joyfully under God, seeking God's glory in all things (Matt 4:1-11 & parallels [temptation in the wilderness]; 26:39-42 & parallels [Garden of Gethsemane]; John 2:17 cf Ps 69:9; 4:34; 12:27-28). We try and live a "full" life by running away from God and stuffing ourselves with the best that this world has to offer (Deut 32:12-18; Rom 1:18-32). All of these created things are good in themselves (1 Tim 4:4), but not good enough to replace God, for we have been created to live in relationship with the triune God (Gen 1:26-28; John 17:3). Therefore, by running a...

Katoomba Youth Leadership Convention is a week-long conference that trains youth leaders in the basics of how to understand the Bible accurately, and write good Bible studies and Bible talks. It's operated by Katoomba Christian Convention . In 2009, it's broadening its base to include children's ministry, and changing its name to Next Generation . KYLC was a formative experience for my personal Christian life. In fact, I'd say it's the one thing that's had the biggest marginal impact on me - in terms of short time, for deep results. I attended three conferences, each of five days - fifteen days total. But I'm still benefiting from the skills I learned in those fifteen days. In the first year, I learned how to take a single passage of the Bible and listen to it on its own terms ("Grammatico-Historical Exegesis"). In the second year, I learned how to read the whole Bible as one book ("Biblical Theology"). In the third year, I learned how to...

Craig Brian Larson is editor of PreachingToday.com , and pastor of Lake Shore Church in Chicago. At the Christianity Today site, he's posted an excellent short article on the spiritual discipline of listening to sermons . Here's some gems: If preaching is so important, how can some Christians listen to it for decades and not be transformed? ... [I]n some inadequate preaching, the Bible plays little to no role or the pastor preaches without authority... But the explanation for un-transformative preaching may also be that people don't naturally know how to listen to a sermon. They listen for the wrong reasons: to be entertained (Mark 6:20), to justify their wrong actions (2 Tim. 4:3), or to earn God's favor (John 5:39). They seek knowledge rather than transformation (Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 8:1-2). They listen without paying careful attention (Mark 4:23-25). They listen without prayer (James 1:5). They listen without an awareness of the deceitfulness (James 1:22) and hardness...

Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad ("VHP"). The Indian National Commission for Minorities ("NCM") held Bajrang Dal responsible for the recent anti-Christian violence in Karnataka. The NCM also dismissed the idea that forced conversions led to clashes, and called for legal action against Bajrang Dal. This eventually led to the Karnataka Bajrang Dal convener being arrested , and to the Indian central government - the National Congress - considering whether to ban the organisation. The Catholic-Christian Secular Forum ("CSF") of India has created an online petition , trying to bring this anti-Christian persecution onto the world stage. You'll see that some of the protests have a distinctly Catholic flavour. eg: "The Blessed Sacrament has been vandalized, cloistered nun-sisters attacked, crucifix & statues of saints desecrated...". I disagree with transubstatiation, enforced celibacy for ministers,...

Anti-Christian violence continues in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, as reported by the Times of India , Hindustan Times , NDTV , and the BBC . It has also spread to the south-Indian province of Karnataka, report NDTV and the BBC . Even the top leadership of the pro-Hindu BJP are uncomfortable with the violence, which began when the murder of a Hindu leader (probably by Maoist insurgents) was blamed on Christians. This discomfort is interesting because the Bharatiya Janata Party ("BJP") have a policy of Hindu nationalism . They have no reason to protect Christians, and every reason to suppress conversion. The Hindustan Times has two excellent editorials on the politics of the area. Here's some gems from Biswamoy Pati [T]he activities of the [Hindu] VHP correspond to what they accuse the Christian missionaries of doing in western Orissa. Both work to attract and convert people to their respective faiths – something that is allowed under the Indian Constitution. Moreo...

The new issue of Themelios is available on-line! There's an excellent editorial by D. A. Carson on the place of social work in a church's activities. Carl Truman reminisces on J. Greschem Machen, and his book Christianity and Liberalism , which identifies the two - Christianity and Liberalism - as different religions. Adam Sparks discusses whether God operates salvifically outside of Christ, by focusing on whether it is appropriate to draw an analogy between Old Testament believers and non-Christian religions. Paul Hartog examines what Paul meant by "work out your salvation" in Philippians 2:12. Dane Ortlund does some historical work on how Adolf Schlatter related faith and obedience. Keith Ferdinando looks at the vexed question of ethnic identity. Bruce L. Fields examines the question of leadership, with special reference to Senator Barack Obama, Democratic candidate for the presidency of the USA. All this along with the usual excellent book reviews. Tolle, lege!

Y'know, the SPY mission to Henty is gonna be a cross-cultural experience for me. I'm a real city boy. I feel at home in a suit. I like crowds, noise, activity, energy: to me, they signify life, purpose, direction. I don't mind wide open spaces - for a little while. Then I need a bit of concrete again. Which end of a horse is the front? And whaddya mean, milk comes from cows - doesn't it come from a bottle? Henty's a sleepy little village. Everyone there probably hates crowds, noise and bustle. I hope I don't get bored & restless. And how are they going to cope with an immigrant? I know the church people will welcome me, but what about the other townspeople? Might they still be racist? On the other hand: the gospel doesn't change. And human nature is the same everywhere: people, made in the image of God, rebelling against him. It's just the form of that rebellion that differs. More long term: the Presbyterians in NSW are stronger in the country than...

The next AFES SALT Magazine's going to be on resurrection & eternal life. Mark Barry's asking for ideas . When you have a minute, give him some feedback.

One for the C. S. Lewis fans. Honoria Lau , one of my old friends from Moore College (not that she's old - the friendship is old - not in a bad way - oh, never mind...) has posted some thoughts on theology in Narnia and parallels between Narnia and the Bible . Puddleglum ain't an Anglican: he's a Presbyterian! There's a reason we're called the Frozen Chosen, y'know...

All right! I passed the Hebrew mid-semester exam that I had last week. But I'm kicking myself for losing 5 marks in a simple question where all I had to do was write down a paradigm (*embarrassed*). So, now I have one last hurdle: the final exam in November. If I get through that, I'll have finished my Hebrew language study at last!

GAFCON , the Global Anglican Futures Conference, was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June this year. It's final outcome was the Jerusalem Declaration , a courageous statement of Biblical orthodoxy, which refuses to compromise with those who preach a different gospel. Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, has posted his reflections on that conference here . There's a petition we can sign electronically, to show we agree with the Jerusalem Declaration (make sure you read it, first!). I encourage you to stand with our courageous Anglican brethren, even if you're not Anglican.

As you know, for the past five years, the global Anglican communion has been in crisis over sexuality. I said in a previous post that the crisis is really a clash between two churches, with two different missions: one driven by culture, determined to marginalise the Bible; the other driven by the Bible, determined to challenge culture. The battle between the two churches has reached Episcopalian proportions. Robert Duncan, the Bishop of Pittsburgh, has led the conservative Anglicans in the USA, who are opposed to the denomination's official policy of sexual permissiveness. On Thursday Sept. 18, he was officially deposed from his office in The Episcopal Church ("TEC"). He remains a Bishop with the Province of the Southern Cone , in fellowship with Archbishop Gregory Venables, who has also been an outspoken defender of a Biblically orthodox stand on sexuality. This deposition was carefully planned by the Presiding Bishop of the TEC, Katharine Jefferts Schori . The first...

Find more forehead-slapping moments at A Little Leaven , which catalogues both corny attempts at ministry and outright blasphemy.

SPY is Strathfield Presbyterian Youth. They're the - uh - youth group at Strathfield Presbyterian. Yeah - you wouldn't guess it from the name, would you (*sigh*). Anyway - next week, we're off on a mission. To the little town of Henty , in country NSW. We'll be helping Henty Presbyterian Church put on a kid's club. We'll be presenting skits and plays from the Amazing Rescue program, created by Quizworx . The talks cover creation, sin, Jesus' death & resurrection, and looking forward to glory. The skits are about a hero jungle lad saving a damsel in distress from an evil tribe trying to cook her. No, I don't get to play the hero jungle lad - one of the youth group guys gets to do that - I have to play the part of the chief villain (*sigh* again). The mission goes from Wednesday 1 - Sunday 5 Oct. We'd appreciate your prayers, that: lots of children would come to the kid's program; they'd clearly hear the message about Jesus, put their trust...

Holy cow - usually, I average one post every three days - but for Sept 08 so far, I've averaged more than a post a day! Better blog about it...

ARGH! Why didn't I discover this years ago? Library Thing allows you to catalogue your books on the 'net - and share them with other bibliophiles! Hours of procrastination coming up...

AskChristianWriters.com is a new site where you can send a query to a network of Christian writers - bloggers, reporters, pastors, publishers, professors - from all around the world. If you have a query you can submit it; if you're a Christian writer, you can sign up to contribute. It's been set up Andrew Jackson , who also runs the Christian Bloggers Network on Facebook.

Joe Coffey, lead pastor of Hudson Community Chapel , makes some very honest admissions in his Themelios article How a Mega-Church is Rediscovering the Gospel . Three things struck me (the first two are tangential to the article itself): (1) The senior minister really does have a big impact on the church. Yes I know that's obvious to most people - but can I tell you honestly that sometimes, from the perspective of us ministers, it looks like people completely ignore us, and we have no impact at all. I suspect many ministers would be surprised as to how big an impact they personally have on their church. Whether it's a pleasant or unpleasant surprise depends on their quality of that impact. Speaking of which: (2) The corollary of (1) is that when a minister takes time to look after his family and his own godliness - read the Bible himself, pray, take a day off, talk to his wife, play with the kids - he's serving his church. A useful pastor is a godly one, with a godly family....

Richard J. Krejcir has written some challenging articles on why churches fail ( part 1 and part 2 ) and succeed . I find these articles encouraging because Krejcir looks at statistics, but doesn't fall for business-driven marketing solutions. Quite the opposite: he roundly criticises the current trend of running a church like a business. Instead, he challenges church leaders to model Christ-likeness, apply the Bible to people's lives, and unequivocally challenge the congregation to be Christ-like and display the fruits of the Spirit. Our churches fail when we fail to know and grow in Christ, when we fail to follow Him and Him alone! It is His Church; we are the stewards of it. We must act like it. All we do is for His glory, not ours, or even for the people in our neighborhoods!

Josh Harris also has an insightful post about " feeding the flesh " - that is, giving in to the impulses of our sinful nature - including hilarious cartoons.

Josh Harris has accessed scanned copies of preaching notes from world-class preachers - with highlighting, scribbles & all! Have a look! So far he's got Mark Dever; Mike Bullmore; C.J. Mahaney; Ray Ortlund Jr; and Tim Keller. Also has links to the audio record of the sermon, so you can hear how it actually sounded. It's fascinating to see each person's different style. I find Mark Dever's easiest to follow. Can someone please decipher Tim Keller's notes for me...?

For the past three weeks, Christians in northern India have been the victims of violent assaults. It started on August 23 when the leader of the radical Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was assassinated. VHP supporters have blamed Christians for the assassination, and for the last three weeks have smashed Christian property, and intimidated, injured and killed Christians. Even the secular Indian media Hindustan Times and Times of India report that the violence is totally unjustified. It's the classic case of an established power base being threatened by successful Christian evangelism. Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters - and for their persecutors, who will have to answer to the risen Jesus for how they treated his children.

Fiona Lockett has posted some thoughts on Christian social conservatism . Note the ensuing discussion. I find this especially interesting in light of Mark Driscoll's criticism that Sydney Christians lack evangelistic fervour.

Oh great. Just when I was congratulating myself on being so technologically savvy as to have this blog, I discovered vlogging . Instead of typing your journal online ("blogging" = "web-log"), you videotape yourself, and post it on the web for public consumption. It's become possible because videotaping is now so cheap & easy - not only on traditional camcorders, but on mobiles, and computers (Macs come with an inbuilt camera). You can find vlogs on Youtube (search "vlog") or on specialist sites like VlogBlog . I like blogging, but can't see myself vlogging anytime soon. I'm too tied to a keyboard. It helps me think. Hmmm - first I start reminiscing , then I can't adjust to new technology - yep, I'm well and truly old. Orright, you young 'uns - up an' at 'em - get vlogging!

Sydney Anglican Cathedral has got two new podcasts/vodcasts. In The Chat Room , Phillip Jensen (Dean of the Cathedral) and Kel Richards (Christian author and broadcaster) talk about various social & cultural issues: pornography, abortion, fatherhood... and other stuff. Cathedral Bible Study is Phillip Jensen's weekly lunchtime talk. He's recently been going through Genesis and Ephesians.

As I updated some of my links, I thought I'd link to some places & organisations that have personal significance to me. I was born in Sri Lanka ; Lived for three years in Hawaii , while my mum studied a Masters degree; Then returned to Sri Lanka , and attended primary school at St Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia . When we immigrated to Aus, I went for one year to Homebush Boys Hish School ; And then got a scholarship to Newington College . I did my undergraduate studies in Commerce and Law at the University of New South Wales ; Worked for a couple of years as a tax accountant with KPMG ; ... and the rest can be worked out from my other links. Wait a minute - am I reminiscing? I must be getting old...

Here we go again. Got a Hebrew mid-session exam on Tuesday. Prayer appreciated. I am so un-motivated... That's the problem with doing so much cool ministry at the same time as studying. And doing interesting subjects, like church, ministry & sacraments. I procrastinate from Hebrew by working on ministry projects, or reading random theology. (*Groan*)

Thanks again to all of you who prayed for my mum. Here's her own reflections on her recent illness (published with her permission): * * * * * * I have recently learned that my brain is my barn (Luke 12:15-21). Let me explain. Most of you know that I was ill last week, and wound up in hospital – a suspected stroke, but actually a labyrinthinitis (balance mechanism problem). When I thought I was getting a stroke, I was terrified that I would be mentally incapacitated. I realized that material possessions mean very little to me – but intellect is what I value. In my illness, God taught me that I have built my ‘barns’ of personal significance on my brains and intellect. Now that I am faced with the possibility that by brains and my intellect may be affected in the future (the MRI scans show some narrowing of the blood vessels supplying the brain), I am learning to come to terms with a possible loss of my intellectual sharpness. Praise God for teaching me this.

More discussion of Driscoll's challenges: Sola Panel Sydney Anglicans

New College (which established CASE ) has an annual public lecture series. This year the theme was God and the Artist: Human Creativity in Theological Perspective. The lecturer was Professor Trevor Hart from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. You can get a summary of the lectures off the CASE Blog .

Well, that's enough from me on covenant theology. I've summarised it; talked about headship and reliability ; discussed John Murray's view of the Adamic Administriation ; briefly touched on covenant and politics ; discussed the covenant of redemption ; and union with Christ . It's time I moved on to other matters of multicultural ministry. Theology should always lead to doxology. As I've written these blogs on God's covenantal dealings with humanity, I have often felt praise to God welling up inside me. So let me conclude with with the words of a hymn praising God for his sovereign grace: Sovereign grace, o’er sin abounding! Ransomed souls, the tidings swell; ’Tis a deep that knows no sounding; Who its breadth or length can tell? On its glories, on its glories, Let my soul for ever dwell. Who from Christ that soul can sever, Bound by everlasting bands? Once in Him, in Him for ever; Thus the eternal covenant stands. None can take Thee, none can take thee From ...

If anyone wants more covenant theology, try these: Aussie Covenant Theology Covenant theology resources from Monergism Covenant theology lectures from J. Ligon Duncan of First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi. A compilation by R. Scott Clarke , of Westminster Seminary California, of significant historical statements concerning covenant theology.

There's a debate in theological circles about what it means to be "united with Christ", and it intersects with covenant theology. I'll try to summarise the debate - I hope I don't distort either position - sorry if I do. To be "united with Christ" is to have a share in his benefits - to be able to say with confidence, "I have received the benefits of Jesus' death and resurrection". So it's synonymous with "being saved". There's too many passages for me to list them all - do a concordance search some time - but some good ones are Rom 8:1; 1 Cor 1:30; Eph 1:13; Hebrews 3:14; 1 Peter 5:10, 14. Classic covenant theology states that being "in Christ" is a faith-union. When we put our trust in Jesus, he takes the punishment we deserve, and we receive the reward he deserves. This faith-union is grounded in God's electing purposes - he predestines those to whom he will give the gift of faith, whereby they will be uni...

In my first post on covenant theology, I said “Covenant theology therefore presents salvation as a unified act of the Triune God, centered on Christ's death and resurrection.” Some covenant theologians systematise this cross-centred unity in terms of a pre-creation, intra-Trinitarian "covenant of redemption". This covenant of redemption happens before creation, within the three persons of the Trinity. Logically, it therefore precedes the other two covenants - the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace. These two covenants are outworkings of this covenant of redemption. The content of the covenant of redemption is as follows: the Father appoints the Son a task: to redeem the elect, by dying and rising for them. The Father also promises the Son that as a reward for accomplishing this task, the Son will possess the church. The Father also gives the Son power to complete this task by equipping the Son with the Spirit. This covenant of redemption is then worked out in h...