Multicultural Ministry Matters

The Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE – that’s a great acronym…) is a research centre at the University of Newcastle , Australia. Their research, as their name suggests, aims to restore full employment – that is, everyone who's willing to work at the going labour market rate, gets a job. In light of the global financial crisis, they've published an employment vulnerability index . The map for Sydney shows, unsurprisingly, that western Sydney is most at risk. I minister in the Parramatta region, the unofficial capital of western Sydney. The churches of our region must think about the how to minister to people, if there's a sudden increase in unemployment. I'll post some thoughts on economics, employment and the gospel - AFTER I finish the paper on Calvin. 'Nuff procrastinating - back to Calvin & sex.

You probably know that Friday 10 July 2009 is the 500th birthday of the Swiss reformer John Calvin. Calvin’s known for his systematic theology, the Institutes of Christian Religion . It was published in the 1550s, and is probably still, across the world, the best known Protestant systematic theology. He’s also known for his work in reforming the city of Geneva, trying to make it a “Godly state”. These two things gave birth to the third thing he’s known for: Calvinism, the style of theology and churchmanship and general approach to the world that follows in his footsteps. Calvin heavily influenced Presbyterianism. John Knox, the main Scottish reformer [the Presbyterian church originates from Scotland], spent time in Geneva, learning from Calvin and observing how he went about reforming the church and the city. Hence, Presbyterianism has historically been heavily Calvinistic. From 7-9 April, the Presbyterian Theological Centre in Burwood is hosting a conference on Calvin . I’ll be deliv...

Here's my introduction to my third MEPC seminar on how to read the Bible. It deals with systematic theology, or doctrine. Again, feedback is appreciated. * * * * * The Art of Systematic Theology As we listen carefully to the Bible, in its own voice, and understand all of it in light of God’s redemptive plan, we see that the Bible has certain themes, or topics, or subjects, that it treats with particular importance. Systematic theology is the task of: 1. Discerning these topics, and 2. Assembling them in a orderly way that shows: a. Why they’re important, and b. How they’re related to each other. We can only properly do this through exhaustive Bible study. Any systematic theology must be dependent upon the Bible, and therefore open to being criticised and corrected by the Bible. That said, over the last 2000 years, there have been many thoroughly Biblical systematic theologies. They sum up the Bible better than an individual person, starting from first principles, could. Some of th...

Here's the introduction to my second seminar at MEPC on how to read the Bible for yourself. In it, I deal with how & why we read the Bible as one book - " biblical theology ". You'll see I basically take Graeme Goldsworthy's approach, with a bit of classic covenant theology thrown in for extra flavour. Advice & feedback appreciated. * * * * * As we listen carefully to the Bible, in its own voice, we see that the whole Bible is about God creating for himself a people, who live joyfully under his rule, in an environment of blessing. One way to sum up the whole story of the Bible is: God wants a people , in his place , living under his rule . At key points in the Bible’s unfolding story, God sums up his purposes in a covenant . These covenants build on God’s past actions, sum up God’s relationship with the world at that point in time, and look forward to another significant step in God’s plan. These covenants are made with individuals or groups who will pla...

As I mentioned previously, one of my rewsponsibilities at MEPC is leadng a training group on how to read the Bible foryourself. Here's the introduction to my first seminar. I'd appreciate some thoughts & feedback. * * * * * The Bible comes to us as a book, which is itself a collection of books. Each book has its own author, style, and historical situation. It uses a variety of literary techniques to communicate its message in its own unique way. So each book of the Bible – sometimes different parts of one book – has its own unique ‘voice’. So, on the one hand, correctly understanding the Bible is actually quite easy. All we need to do is listen to it, in its own voice. On the other hand, it takes effort to hear the Bible in its own voice. This is because: Some passages of the Bible are quite complicated. We need to read them slowly and carefully. The Bible’s a big book – there’s a lot to get through. We may not be used to the style of a particular book, or part of a book. ...

Some time ago I briefly blogged about the recent Calvinist revival . Looks like this movement has become big enough to get noticed by Time magazine .

Here's my current notes for my third and final talk at the SBM weekend away . I'm working towards a missional ecclesiology - another fashionable but fraught topic. I've had a read of Tim Chester & Steve Timm's book Total Church . Interesting. As ever, feedback highly appreciated. * * * * * Church is the family of people who have been redeemed from sin by Christ’s death and resurrection. Their defining characteristics are faith and repentance: they trust Jesus to be forgiven, and they have turned from sin, to follow Jesus. On the one hand, the church is a foretaste of the end. In heaven, we’re going to be gathered around Jesus, being ruled by him, worshiping and praising him—which is what we should be doing on earth. Heaven is an eternal church service. But we’re not in heaven yet. The church is still in the world—a world in rebellion against the God we serve. While we’re in this world, we must be characterised by two things: repentance, and evangelism. Although we’r...

Here's my current notes for my second talk at the upcoming SBM weekend away . I'm tackling the difficult issue of Christ and culture. Does this make me brave or foolhardy? Hmmm.... Again, I haven't read any books on this topic yet. I've just started reading Don Carson's "Christ and Culture Revisited". Shall post a review if able. Anyway - as usual, I seek feedback. Please gimme your thoughts. * * * * * Definition of culture “Culture” has two meanings: 1. The taken-for-granted rules, habits and customs that define acceptable relationships and communication. All communities have a culture, a way of doing things, which is different to other communities. Communities and their cultures can be ethnic (Chinese, Italian, Sub-continental); geographic (north-shore vs the “shire”); or based on interests & professions (computer geeks, surfies, train buffs, foodies). All these different communities will have subtle rules and customs that define acceptable relations...

Here's my preliminary thoughts for my first talk at the SBM weekend away . I try and lay the foundation of what the "gospel" is, and why it should motivate everything we do. By the way - I haven't read any books yet. This is purely the result of me reading the Bible & thinking hard. Feedback welcome! Tell me what you think! * * * * * To be evangelistic, we must know what the “evangel” is. “Evangel” is the Greek word for “Gospel”. We usually translate it as “good news”, but it really means “important news”, “significant news”. Something really important has happened, which we need to listen to and act upon. What is this weighty, important news? It is that in Jesus, God has restored his rule over the world. The basic Christian message is that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord, the king over the universe. How does Jesus become king over the world, and thus restore God’s rule? By dying as a sacrifice for us rebels, who reject God’s rule. So, when we become Jesus’ servants...

On April 3-5, I’m going to be speaking at the weekend away of Subcontinental Bible Ministry (“ SBM ”). I was involved with their Bible studies 'til last year. This year, they've become a new congregation of St Andrew's Anglican church in Strathfield. I'm going to be speaking on "what it means to be an evangelistic, cultural church", 'coz that's what SBM want to be: a church that reaches out to people from the sub-continent (India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh). I'm going to post my current thoughts for my three talks: 1. What it means to be evangelistic; 2. What it means to be cultural; 3. What it means to be church. I'd appreciate any thoughts & feedback you have, so I can improve them. First post tomorrow!

I’m just re-surfacing after a bad bout of ‘flu. As the weather cools down, my ministry’s hotting up. I have several significant ministry projects in progress. I'll start with what I'm doing at Merrylands East Presbyterian Church (“ MEPC ”). I’m running a training course on how to read the Bible. It deals with the basics of taking the Bible on its own terms – in context, paying attention to style, situating the passage within the big picture of God’s unfolding plan of salvation (“Biblical Theology”) – all that sort of thing. It’ll lead into a course on how to lead Bible studies, and then another course on preaching. I’ve had previous experience in running the first two types of training courses – reading the Bible, and leading Bible study – but I’ve never trained preachers before. I thought you had to be someone of the caliber of Spurgeon or Lloyd-Jones before you had a go at that. I'm also helping to start a new Bible study in the Liverpool-Fairfield area. There's three...