Multicultural Ministry Matters

Logos software are selling an electronic version of the the ESV study notes for USD 30 (approx AUD 35). Just the notes - for the ESV Bible, see here . The notes provide as good a commentary as any other (with all the normal caveats of a commentary - only the word of man, not a substitute for reading the Bible yourself, etc etc), and this seems a cheap way to get hold of it. Incidentally - just in case anyone's wondering - I have no personal or financial interest in either Logos software or the ESV.

CMS ( the Church Missionary Society) have launched an online magazine, Landscape . First edition includes a challenging article on idolatry . Also a sensitive article on missionary kids growing up between cultures . And a perceptive review of Eckhard Schnabel's book Paul the Missionary , including interesting comments on homogeneous units vs cross-cultural unity - ref my own ruminations in recent posts.

This the last post in my series on immigrant ministry. * * * * * Second-generation immigrants - the children of those who migrated, or they were very young when they migrated - present their own challenges and opportunities. The same can be said for children of mixed marriages. While they grow up in Western culture, they may be subjected to surprisingly traditional expectations from their family. Kathleen Garces-Foley records how mixed marriages were a constant pastoral problem even at Evergreen church, California, a church that is purposefully multiethnic, and whose pastor has a mixed marriage. “Many of the young adults at Evergreen were raised with this double message: Be American in all areas of your life except family.” [Kathleen Garces-Foley, Crossing the Ethnic Divide : The Multiethnic Church on a Mission , New York: Oxford University Press, 2007: 113-4]. These children feel like they belong to neither the dominant culture nor their home culture. This could lead either to a sense...

This continues my series on immigrant ministry. * * * * * Immigrants tend to work hard and be successful. This is for at least three reasons. In most parts of the world, mere survival requires hard work. So ‘normal’ work for immigrants is, by Australian standards, over-the-top workaholism. The purpose of immigrating is to seek a better life, so immigrants work hard to achieve this. Australian government policy has for some time favoured skilled migrants, who are more likely to have a strong work ethic. As a result, immigrants tend to be successful. They get high marks at school; they are appreciated at work; their business prospers. They become wealthy and comfortable, their children become doctors and lawyers, and they bask in the glory of the immigrant dream. The danger of this is that immigrants might develop a value system opposed to both the gospel of grace, and the call to sacrificial discipleship. They truly are honest, hard-working people – surely that gets them credit with God...

Orright, following on from my previous post , I'm gonna try and use the great turning points of redemptive history that Don Carson identified in his Christ and Culture Revisited , to do a cultural analysis of parenting. This from a childless single man. Brave? Or foolhardy? Oh well... The ability to have children is a blessing from God, part of us ruling over the earth (Gen 1:28). Even after the fall, the children of the violent polygamist Lamech have great skill and creativity in agriculture, technology and the arts (Gen 4:20). The people of Israel were supposed to teach their children about God, and how he had redeemed them from Egypt, and brought them to be his very own people in his special place, in order to live for him and worship him (Deut 4:9-10; 6:20-25; 11:19; Psalm 34:11; 78:5-8). This is a prototype of Christian parents teaching their children the gospel. The Proverbs of Solomon come packaged as parental advice to children (Prov 1:8, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1-4; 10, 20; 5:1; 6:1; ...

As most of you know, I've been a member of the AFES Board for some years. This Fri-Sat (25-26 Sept), we have our major meeting. Board members from all over Aust fly into Sydney, and we discuss major issues of strategy, policy and governance. It's a "business" meeting, but the decisions we make affect the ministry of the whole of AFES all over the country. Prayers appreciated.

My series on relationships continues on AFES WebSalt , with one article on cross-gender relationships and another on same-gender relationships .

A dust storm turned the sky red across Sydney today. The Sydney Morning Herald has cool photos here and here . News articles here and here .

In Christ and Culture Revisited , Don Carson says that a comprehensive view of the great turning points of Biblical redemptive history – creation and the fall; Israel and the law; Christ and the new covenant; and heaven and hell – permits a nuanced Christian response to culture. He says if we keep all four turning points in our mind at all times, we might be able to discern what to affirm in culture, and what to criticise. On pages 45-59, Carson draws implications from each of the four great turning points of redemptive history. From creation and the fall: Humans are all equal, in God’s image. As such, we are responsible to God, “we owe him” (p 46, italics in original). As God’s image-bearers we have the privilege and responsibility of governing the world. We are bodies, we must use our physical bodies to serve God, each other and the world. Sin is first of all God-focused – it is rejecting God as God, it is idolatry and pride. Secondly, sin is social – we break God’s law, and hurt ea...

CHEAP BOOK ALERT! James Taylor, Introducing Apologetics , Baker 2006. Good, clear intro to apologetics - which is exactly what it's title says. Takes a moderate presuppositional view. Mark Husbands & Dan Treier (eds), The Community of the Word , IVP 2005. Chapters by such luminaries as John Webster, Allan Verhey and Jonathan R. Wilson. Every single chapter stimulating, even if I didn't agree with it! Both highly recommended & both $8 at Koorong ! Bargain! Make the most of it! Incidentally - I have no personal interest in Koorong, I just love books, especially cheap ones... :)

In addition to the article that there's more to life than sex , I've started a series on Websalt about different kinds of relatiosnhips. The first one is about sex and friendship . First of a four-part series.

I've just had an article published on the AFES Websalt online mag. More to Life than Sex . It's about the difference between using sex "just for fun", and using it to enhance relationships. Co-authored with Dr. Pat ("mum"!).

I've got two important occasions this coming Sunday (13 Sept). In the morning, at MEPC , I'm speaking evangelistically from Isaiah 9:1-7. Please pray that people will bring friends, that I'll speak well, and that people will repent and follow Christ. Then at 6pm, I'll be leading the meeting & preaching at Ashfield Presbyterian . This will be my "trials for license". It's one of the final steps in the processes of me becoming a fully-fledged Presbyterian minister. I'll be speaking on 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, the Lord's Supper. There'll be experienced ministers in the congregation, who will analyse everything I do, and quiz me about it after the service. Please pray that I'll run the service & preach well. If I pass the trial, I'll be licensed to preach, and become a "licentiate". Yes, I've had plenty of experience of church leadership & preaching. But it's still kind of nerve-wracking to be under that level o...

Tomorrow (Fri 11 Sept), Dr. Pat (better known to me as "mum") will be doing a seminar for parents on Christian sex education - as in how to teach children about their sexuality. 7pm at Matthias Church , Oxford St, near Centennial Park. She and I wrote the presentation together, so I'm going along to see how it turns out and field any "theological" questions that mum feels out of her depth with. Should be interesting - mother & son talking about parents & children and - er - sex...!

It's 09/09/09! Hooray!

This continues my series on immigrant ministry. * * * * * Avoiding the problems of culture and capitalising on its benefits requires robust Biblical discernment and discipleship. The Bible is not a cultural artefact, but objectively authoritative over all cultures. It has universal authority over all people everywhere, for it is the written word of the one God who created all people in his image to worship him. An aspect of being made in God’s image is that we are God’s speech-partners, able to appropriately respond to his speech-acts in his written word. The basic practices of grammatico-historical exegesis are sufficiently universal that anyone who reads a translation of the Bible in their own language will discern the gospel clearly enough to put their trust in Christ, and conform their life to Christ. The Biblical narrative of salvation-history is vital to this hermeneutical task. It also provides the resources for Christian engagement with culture. Don Carson says that a compreh...

This continues my series on immigrant ministry. * * * * * Pragmatically, the homogenous unit principle would encourage ethnically-specific churches. In 1970, Donald McGavran stated that people “like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic, or class barriers”, [Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth , (Fully Revised) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980 [1970]): 223] and cited research that 60-90% of converts were brought to church by a friend or relative [McGavran: 225]. Not much has changed: in 2008, Edwards noted that the “homophily principle”, which “says that people like to hang out with others who are like them”, has often been used to explain the success of homogenous churches, because “people are recruited into voluntary organizations through social networks made up of people who are similar to them.” [Korie L. Edwards, The Elusive Dream: The Power of Race in Interracial Churches (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008): 118]. But this homophilia could lead...

This continues my series on immigrant ministry. * * * * * Planting ethnic churches presupposes that people of different ethnic backgrounds may legitimately worship separately. Theologically, the Knox-Robinson model of church asserts the integrity of the local assembly as a spontaneous, Spirit-guided expression of the heavenly assembly. But integrity does not entail independent self-sufficiency. Catholicity is an aspect of the heavenly assembly around the glorified Christ, not its earthly expressions. On the contrary: Both Christians and congregations need fellowship to grow in Christ-likeness [for] they are part of the larger heavenly church of Christ, and [they need] to experience that wider fellowship. This is the contribution that denominations make to the spiritual growth and joy of the Christian and the congregation. [ Collected Works of D. Broughton Knox, Vol. II: Church & Ministry : 95-96] This is because the Christian life is about fellowship. A fellowship […] must be absol...