Multicultural Ministry Matters

Angels from the realms of glory, Wing your flight o’er all the earth; You who sang creation’s story, Now proclaim Messiah’s birth. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Shepherds, in the field abiding, Watching o’er your flocks by night, God with us is now residing; See: there shines the infant light: Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Sages, leave your contemplations, Brighter visions beam afar; Seek the great Desire of nations; You have seen His natal star. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Sinners, wrung with true repentance, Doomed for guilt to endless pains, Justice now revokes the sentence, Mercy says: come, break your chains. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Though an Infant now we view Him, He shall fill His Father’s throne, Gather all the nations to Him; Every knee shall then bow down: Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Chris...

Christmas is a fun time for most of us, because everyone’s happy and nice to each other. We meet our family – sometimes people we haven’t seen for years. And we give each other gifts and reminisce about old times and share our hopes and dreams. And it’s all fun and lovely. But then we hear things like this: Each year police and support services prepare themselves for a spike in domestic assault cases over the Christmas to New Years’ eve period. A combination of financial strain, families spending more time together, and increased alcohol consumption contribute to the rise in figures. Nina Funnell, ‘For many women, ‘tis the season of fear, not joy’, National Times December 21, 2010 The prophet Isaiah spoke to people who were oppressed and afraid, because they were under threat from their enemies. Isaiah 9:1-2: 1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour G...

It’s the last week before Christmas. Many of us are probably stressing about last-minute Christmas gifts. But really - why worry so much? The best Christmas gift isn't stuff. Most of us have more things than we know what to do with anyway. The best Christmas gift is – yourself . Christmas is a time when we can meet family members and friends, and catch up and chat and joke and laugh and share our lives with them. And that makes sense because on that first Christmas day, God gave us a gift. Not a thing; not a toy. God gave us – himself . The Apostle John says, at the beginning of his gospel: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14a The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Jesus is God. And in giving us Jesus, God gives us – himself. On that first Christmas, he came to live with us. Not just visit - to live, to make his "dwelling", his "home" with us. It’s the difference between tourism and im...

News flash: the Free Church of Scotland , one of the most significant Presbyterian denominations which split in the 1800s from the Church of Scotland , has permitted hymns and musical instruments in its churches. To be precise, they have given "liberty to its congregations to sing hymns and use instruments, if individual Kirk Sessions [Church Elder's Committee] so choose". Yes I know that sounds really lame, but bear with me while I explain why it's important. The Free Church is theologically conservative, but has also been historically energetic. They set up New College at the University of Edinburgh , which now hosts the School of Divinity - that is, the university's theological faculty. They sent missionaries to Africa, India (Calcutta, Bombay, Poona and Madras), Canada, Australia (!) and the Middle East. Their theology was probably the closest to the Old Princeton Presbyterianism of Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield . A lot (most? all?) of this energy has c...

Patrick Schreiner , Tom Schreiner's son, has posted his dad's responses to N. T. Wright and Frank Thielman .

John Dickson , director of the Centre for Public Christianity , is at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature . He posted the following summary of an exciting paper by German NT scholar Jorg Frey, in which, John says, "with one simple insight, he resolved a major 'problem' concerning the differences between John and the three other Gospels." He kindly let me re-post it: * * * * * Scholars have long pointed out that the central theme of Jesus' preaching, according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, was 'the kingdom of God'. It is everywhere in those Gospels. John virtually ignores that theme, preferring to speak of a nebulous 'eternal life' instead. This was seen as one serious against John's reliability. It does look like a serious problem. Prof Frey, after outlining the problem, pointed out that in John 3 in the Nicodemus story we find the first and only references (two of them) to 'kingdom of God' AND the first references to...

N. T. (Tom) Wright is famous (or infamous) for his view on justification, which many (myself included) take to be closer to a Catholic, synergistic view than the classic Protestant view - which we insist is the Biblical view. To simplify the debate (without, hopefully, distorting it too much): Wright says "justification" refers to the church - God accepts those who identify with Christ as the mediator of the covenant. The "Lutheran" or "traditional" response is that such a view makes our act of identification with Christ meritorious - it waters down the idea that justification is an entirely gracious act of God, springing entirely from his willed generosity. The "Lutheran" view of justification is that it is a judicial declaration which sets the sinner in a perfectly right relationship with God. God is therefore the active agent in justification; humans are merely passive recipients. Wright replies that the Holy Spirit is active in empowering th...

In our previous post , we saw that Christ restores our sexuality in the present, by reaffirming heterosexual marriage, and modelling contentment and self-control. In the future, our sexuality will be transcended in God’s new creation. The restoration of our sexuality, while real, will always be incomplete in the present - as will be all aspects of our human restoration. The Bible looks forward to a new creation, a new universe, where everything that is corrupt and painful will pass away, and we will only ever enjoy life and peace and safety. Only in this new creation will the effects of sin – of our willed rejection of God – be finally dealt with, and our human wholeness completely restored. In this new creation, our sexuality will not just be restored, it will be transcended. The bible talks about God’s relationship with his people as a bride and bridegroom. In one of the final chapters of the bible, the Apostle John sees this vision - Revelation 21:2, 3: 2 I saw the Holy City, the ne...

In our last post , we saw that Christ restores our sexuality - but we yet await a final restoration. In the present, sexual restoration involves three things: (1) the normativity of heterosexual marriage; (2) contentment; and (3) self control. We have already seen Jesus validate marriage in Matt 19. Committed heterosexual marriage remains the context wherein to enjoy sex. If sexual partners are committed to each other for life, then sex is part of that shared life together. It is not just a one-night stand. We can encourage them to conduct their sexuality in such a way as to serve each other, and give each other the best possible sexual experience, over their whole life. The normativity of sex within marriage calls for sexual contentment , both within and outside marriage. Life with a regular sexual partner, married or not, still involves unmet sexual desires. Constant sexual satisfaction is a myth – it only happens in the movies. So, within marriage, we are called to contentment – to ...

In our last post , we saw how our rejection of God - sin - affects us all, including our sexuality. Because we’re all broken people, we need someone to fix us from the outside. Jesus forgives us for rejecting God. And, he restores us to human wholeness. This is what he achieved in his cross and resurrection. Think of Jesus’ death on the cross as the ultimate sickness – sickness to death. And think of his resurrection as the ultimate healing – so healthy that he can never die again. He takes the consequences we deserve, so we can enjoy the life God always planned for us. So, Christians are always hopeful. It doesn’t matter how bad a situation is, how much someone’s failed themselves, or failed anyone else – they can be restored by Jesus. We can always say to anyone: hang in there; don’t give up; there is hope. This restoration is real, but in this life, partial. We'll explore this more over the next few posts.

In our previous post , we noted God's pattern for healthy sexuality is heterosexual monogamy. We've already seen that sex is not the original sin. Sexuality is implicated within our sin - but it's a victim of sin, not the perpetrator of it. The Bible presents sin as damaging our sexuality, along with the rest of our humanity. In Genesis 3, sin is presented as a willed rejection of God’s rule over our lives. It’s an attitude: “I don’t want you, God, to be in charge of my life; I want to be in charge of my life.” This active rejection of God affects our whole being – including our sexuality. In Genesis 3:16, God lays out one of the consequences of rejecting him: To the woman he [God] said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” This turns the previous blessings of sexuality, in Genesis 1 and 2, upside down. In Genesis 1, man and woman were commanded to ...

In our previous post , we saw how sexuality is a good gift, from God, for our pleasure and for procreation of life. Sex is so good, that God gives us a pattern within which to enjoy it. It’s like driving a car. A car is a good machine, useful for getting from place to place. But if we don’t control the car – if we deliberately break the rules, or if we just let it go wild – it’s dangerous. It can kill people. Similarly, sex is good. But it needs to be managed and controlled, or else it can be dangerous. Both Gen 1 & 2 present sexuality between a man and a woman, in the context of a committed relationship. It's heterosexual. Genesis 1:27 says “male and female he created them”. In Genesis 1:28, the command to “be fruitful and increase in number” presupposes child-bearing sexual activity, which, until very recently, was heterosexual. In Genesis 2, God creates a woman, Eve, as a companion – to stand beside the man. And it's a committed, lifelong relationship, ie: marriage. Gen...

In our previous post , we thought about the implications if sex were intrisically sinful. In contrast, the Bible tells us sex existed before sin. The first two chapters of Genesis have the stories of how God made the world. Sin only comes in chapter 3. So chapters 1 & 2 are about pure humanity – humanity before sin. Genesis 1:27-28a: 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth…” To be in God’s image is to be like God, while not being God. One of the first aspects of being like God is having babies - which would, for us humans, involve sex. Having children images God because God gives life, and loves life. God is Father - and fathers have children. God is not sexual in himself; but our sexuality is an irreducible element in our imaging of God's life-giving nature. So, our sexual nature is tied to being in God’s image – ...

Back to everyone's favourite topic: sex! These posts are adapted from my presentation a couple of weeks ago at the 'sexuality and religion' panel at the annual conference of the Australian Soceity of Sex Educators, Researchers and Therpists ( ASSERT ). It represents my continuing efforts to arrive at a comprehensive, Biblical view of sexuality, with a view to helping all people - Christian or not - to live healthily with this very important aspect of human life. ***** Some people think Christians believe that sex is the original sin. That is, God considers all sexual activity to be intrinsically and irredeemably wicked and offensive. To have sex is to offend God. If this were true, it would have two effects. First, it would give us a warped view of God . God becomes the cosmic killjoy. Because the one activity that gives us greatest human pleasure is deemed to be the one activity that most offends God. Secondly, it gives us a warped view of ourselves . If we believe in God,...

Couple of excellent posts out in the blogosphere: Eternity news says the best way to keep kids Christian is not to preach at them in specific religious classes or chapel, but to give them an all-encompassing world-view. Mike Gilbart-Smith has posted some notes from Stuart Townend's seminar on Corporate Worship, delivered at Oak Hill College. The "A.R.T. of Corporate worship"

September is a flat month for me. And has been for the last coupla years. As in I find myself running on empty, not really motivated to do anything. The results are lagged - witness my lack of blog posts in October. I suspect it's just mid-year exhaustion. Especially with a hectic winter - MYC, SweatCon and Religion in the Public Square conferences. I'm not too worried coz I'm not alone. When commented on this to an older minister, he nodded and said "[school] term three is death term." Even Erik Raymond of Irish Calvinist says he's been suffering from blog coma ... although when I scroll down his blog he's been posting every day for the last coupla weeks... oh dear... (*intimidated*). Anyway... I'm back in the blogosphere now. More posts on the way.

Over at Irish Calvinist , Erik Raymond has an excellent post on pastors dealing with the resistance - "pushback" - that sin creates in congregations. Pastors need to take and land punches .

Lesslie Newbigin on government. Shades of Oliver O'Donovan . This'll be my last Newbigin post for now. Kingship in the human sense - the authority to rule over a people - is, according to Scripture, something authorized by God and also something constantly corrupted by human sin... Jesus did not set out to destroy the rule exercised by the Roman and Jewish establishment. By manifesting and exercising the true kingship of God, he exposed their corruption and thereby... disarmed them, robbed them of their pretensions to absolute authority. He exercised his kingship by bearing witness to the truth - to the one great reality against which all claims to reality have to be tested (John 18:37). All kingship from Calvary onward is tested and judged by the standard of the true kingship established there... [The church] has the duty to address the governing authority of the civil community with the word of God... the church reminds them of the fact that - whether they know him or not - ...

Lesslie Newbigin has a fascinating take on freedom & justice as mutual relatedness based on inner-Trinitarian relatedness. Is this from Barth? ... the Bible is informed by a vision of human nature for which neither freedom nor equality is fundamental; what is fundamental is relatedness. Man - male and female - is made for God in such a way that being in the image of God involves being bound together in this most profound of mutual relations. God binds himself in a covenant relationship with men and women to which he remains faithful at whatever cost and however unfaithful his covenant partner is. And people and nations are called to live in binding covenant relations of brotherhood. Human beings reach their true end in such relatedness, in bonds of mutual love and obedience that reflect the mutual relatedness in love that is the being of the Triune God himself... True freedom is not found by seeking to develop the powers of the self without limit, for the human person is not made f...

Some of Lesslie Newbigin's most caustic insights relate to Capitalist economics. Traditional Christian ethics had attacked covetousness as a deadly sin... [but] the eighteenth century, by a remarkable inversion, found in covetousness not only a law of nature but the engine of progress by which the purpose of nature and nature's God was to be carried out... In the economic realm the basic law is that the free operation of rational self-interest will alone secure general well-being... Each person must be free to better his condition as far as he can, and he alone is the judge of what is better. There can be no imposed or even generally accepted norm of what is good... The driving power of capitalism... is the desire of the individual to better his material condition... The name the New Testament gives to [this] force is covetousness. The capitalist system is powered by the unremitting stimulation of covetousness... The result is that increased production has become an end in itse...

The church father Augustine famously argued that love is [should be...?] the foundation of all human government - not just Christian. Here's Lesslie Newbigin's summary of Augustine's argument: [Augustine] insists that love is the basis of [all human] society; even in their wars men are in fact seeking peace. But peace is only possible where there is order, and order depends on proper government; but government in which one is subordinated to another is only right is the one who is called to govern does so for the sake of those he governs - as their servant. The motive power of order is therefore love... Love, not natural justice, is what holds even the earthly commonwealth together... love creates order first in the family and among neighbours and then, by extension, in the city and the nation... Faith working through love is the foundation of justice, and without justice there is no commonwealth. Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture ...

Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) is my nemesis. Okay, maybe not exactly that - but he is my opposite. I'm a Subcontinental who moved to a Western nation and moved from Anglicanism to Presbyterianism; he was an English Presbyterian who went to South India as a missionary and eventually became an Anglican Bishop. Newbigin was heavily involved in ecumenical movements. He was instrumental in creating the Church of South India - the Indian equivalent of Australia's Uniting Church . He was also significant in the World Council of Churches . His work on a missionary encounter between the Gospel and Western culture helped spawn the missional church movement. From my perspective, Newbigin isn't strong enough of the Bible itself as revelation, and (consequently...?) too optimistic of the Church as bearing God's revelation. But, his analysis of Western culture is, I think, spot on. I'm gonna post some quotes over the next few days.

Totally random - I came across this when searching for visual aids for a Bible talk & promptly fell off my chair laughing. From Discover Fun - http://discoverfun.com/

Interesting article from CNN on how some teenagers see Christianity as nothing more than therapeutic self-esteem-building. More teens becoming 'fake' Christians . It's based on research by Kenda Creasy Dean , a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. See also Ms. Dean's book, Almost Christian . I came across this with Tom Harrick's challenge about the danger of false gospels still ringing in my ears. This is the result of theological syncretism: it's what happens when we accommodate the gospel to the post-modern desire for self improvement. It's another gospel - which is really no gospel at all. David F. Wells of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has been warning of this for years. See especially his No Place for Truth (1993), God in the Wasteland (1995) and Above All Earthly Pow’rs (2004) (all Eerdmans).

I didn't have this song this at my ordination - but I should have. Lord of creation, to you be all praise! Most mighty your working, most wondrous your ways! You reign in a glory beyond us to tell; And yet in the heart of the humble you dwell. Lord of all power, I give you my will, in joyful obedience your tasks to fulfill. Your bondage is freedom, your service is song; and, held in your keeping, my weakness is strong. Lord of all wisdom, I give you my mind, rich truth that surpasses our knowledge to find. What eye has not seen, and what ear never heard, is taught by your Spirit, and shines from your Word. Lord of all bounty, I give you my heart; I praise and adore you for all you impart; your love to inflame me, your counsel to guide, Your presence to shield me whate'er may betide. Lord of all being, I give you my all; if ever I disown you, I stumble and fall; but sworn in glad service your word to obey, I walk in your freedom the rest of the way. Jack C. Winslow (1964)

At my ordination last Friday, Tom Harricks , one of my colleagues from Moore College , preached the sermon. He's on the pastoral team of St John's Anglican Church in Parramatta - which happens to be the church my parents attend. Tom spoke on Galatians 1:1-5 & ch 6. His main point was: all that's necessary for false gospels to triumph is for servants of the true gospel (ministers and others) to do nothing. His sub-points were: The true gospel is the Apostolic one, given by God through the Apostles, including Paul; We need wisdom to recognise and resist false gospels; Ministers of the true gospel have the kind of character Paul describes in Gal 6: caring for others; being wary of temptation; walking by the Spirit, not the flesh; etc. A very encouraging word, not only to me, but to the church congregation, and the dozen ministers & elders from Hawkesbury Presbytery who were there for the ordination.

At the end of my ordination last Friday, Keith Walker, the Moderator of Hawkesbury Presbytery, read me this charge: You, Kamal, have been called by Almighty God in his fatherly love to the ministry of the Word and Sacraments and ordained by the Church and have now been appointed to the Pastoral Charge of St Mary's, I charge you anew in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to walk worthy of the vocation to which you are called, with all humility, with long suffering, forbearance and peaceful behaviour, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the upbuilding of the body of Christ. Take heed to yourself and to the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseer. Love Christ and feed his flock, taking the oversight of it, not as one who lords it over the people committed to you but being an example to all in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. Give attention to reading, to exhortation and to teaching. Do the work of an evangelis...

Yesterday, Fri 27 August, I was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. This was the culmination of eight years formal preparation: 2002-03: ministry training at Multicultural Bible Ministry , Rooty Hill; 2004-07: full time study at Moore Theological College ; 2008-09: part-time study at the Presbyterian Theological Centre , while also being interim minister at Strathfield Presbyterian (2008), then part-time assistant minister at Merrylands East Presbyterian (2009). So I've finally arrived. I've worked hard for that "Rev" title. Now I can get the position & recognition I deserve. Right? Ummm... except... John 13:13-14: Jesus said: 13 You call me'Teacher' and'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 1 Peter 5:2-3 2 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, ...

Ajith Fernando is the national director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka. He's written a challenging article in the Lausanne Global Conversations about lifestyle expectations in ministry. To Serve Is to Suffer . The Global Conversations are 12 key issues that will be discussed at the Cape Town conference on world evangelisation in October this year.

Reformers Books has put together a CD of the presentations from the Religion In the Public Square conference. Includes papers on Reformed public theology, religious freedom, euthanasia, abortion, commerce, economics, business ethics, and sexuality. Includes my paper on The Best Sex For Life - the one that got reported in the Melbourne Age , and led to my follow-up article in the National Times . Also, you can download the conference papers for free. 25 presentations, 12.8 MB, nearly 300 pages. Enjoy!

As I mentioned in my previous post , Bryan Chapell's approach to ministry is going to have a major multiplier effect. Here's more: God's provision of saving, sustaining, and glorifying grace is the golden thread uniting all Christian Scripture and enabling all Christian faithfulness [...] all world honoring God [...] find proper motivation and enablement in love for Christ. The wonder and joy of these truths for those preparing for church leadership comes with the understanding that God is not calling them to ministries of guilt-manipulation, arm twisting and doctrinal haranguing. As Christ's ministers emphasize grace, they are not compromising holiness but rather are promoting the power of the gospel for all endeavour that is truly Christian. [...] We learn to see ourselves as he [God] sees us in Christ. We learn to treat others as he [God] has treated us through Christ. As a consequence, the joy that is our strength floods into our lives to drive us to greater levels ...

Bryan Chapell is president ("principal") of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Covenant is the official national training training college of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), which is one of the major Evangelical Reformed denominations in the USA. Best-selling author Tim Keller , of Redeemer Presbyterian Church New York , is probably the PCA's best-known minister. So, Bryan Chapell's the guy in charge of the training college of one of the major Evangelical Reformed denominations of the largest Christian nation in the world. That means his personal impact will be multiplied all over the world, for a significant period of time - just because of who he is & where he happens to be. Well, here's a sample of what he says about ministry. Alarm over the encroachments of secularism, while understandable, has led some too quickly to equate biblical spirituality with legalistic observance of Christian disciplines, cultural conservatism...