Multicultural Ministry Matters

The Simeon Network is a group of Christian academics and post- grad students at Australian universities who seek to make a stand for Christ. They're not necessarily doing Christian, theological research; they just want to unashamedly demonstrate they're Christian commitment while they teach, research & study. The network's name comes from Charles Simeon . He was a minister at Trinity Church, Cambridge, and a resident and fellow of Kings College Cambridge, in the late 1700s-early 1800s. He evangelized, discipled and trained students in the days before organised student ministry like AFES . He was one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society . The Simeon Network's National Launch will be on Saturday, 6 February 2010, at the Ryde Anglican Centre , 42 Church Street, Ryde. 6:30pm for 7:00pm dinner. Cost: $65 per person, $45 for students. Professor Michael Spence , the Vice-Chancellor of Sydney University, will be the speaker. RSVP by Monday, 1 February here .

This concludes my series on apostleship. My previous post noted that the new testament extends apostolic terminology and privileges to people who were not part of the twelve, or Paul. These apostles seem to have the same authority as Paul and twelve to proclaim the authoritative word of God, but they are not given the same status as being personal touchstones of doctrine. This is because, as noted above, the twelve plus Paul have a unique role in salvation history, of being God’s Spirit-empowered foundational witnesses to Christ. But this foundational testimony, once established, comes with the authority of its ultimate author – ie: God – not merely its human authors – the apostles – nor whoever speaks it – missionaries, evangelists etc. While the Holy Spirit performed a unique work in the twelve and Paul, consistent with their unique place in salvation history, that same Spirit operates in every believer, and can gift and lead them to truly and authoritatively proclaim that same gospe...

This continues my series on apostleship. Others beyond the twelve and Paul are also given the title Apostle, and are sent (“apostled”) by God an a manner similar to the twelve and Paul. Before God sent Paul anywhere, he sent (Greek apesteilen ) Ananias to Paul (Acts 9:17). God used Ananias to heal Paul’s blindness and give him the Holy Spirit by the laying on of Ananias’ hands. Ananias thus shared apostolic privileges, at least on this one occasion. Similarly, Philip – not an apostle but one of the table-waiters (deacons?) (Acts 6:1-6) – performed the apostolic function of proclaiming Christ, and performing miracles, in Samaria (Acts 8:5-7). Barnabas is differentiated from the apostles in Acts 4:36-37, but is called an apostle alongside Paul in Acts 14:4 and 14. Paul placed Barnabas alongside himself as having the same rights as the other apostles and the “Lord’s brothers” and Peter (1 Cor. 9:1-6). Paul does not here explicitly describe Barnabas as an apostle; but the extension of apos...

A summary of the posts on apostleship so far: Christ is the pre-eminent apostle; he chose the twelve apostles to be with him during his earthly ministry and be witnesses of his resurrection; these twelve, empowered by the Holy Spirit, carried out God’s initial evangelistic mission; Paul shares this divinely commissioned evangelistic ministry; the twelve plus Paul are therefore uniquely, divinely authorised and empowered to proclaim Christ to us, which proclamation is preserved in the new testament.

This continues my series on apostleship. Paul’s apostleship is both similar and different to the twelve. On the one hand, he was adamant that although he had not been with Christ during his earthly ministry, his apostleship was as authoritative as the twelve. Paul had seen, and been commissioned by, the risen Christ (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1; 9:1; 15:8; Gal. 1:1, 11-24). Acts repeats Paul’s conversion three times, each time linking it with a divine commission to preach Christ (Acts 9:1-25; 22:3-21; 26:12-23). Paul’s own report of his divine commission is that God in Christ apostello him (Acts 22:21; 26:17; 1 Cor 1:17). Luke, Peter and Paul himself are at pains to demonstrate that Paul and the other apostles share a common, authoritative testimony to Christ (Acts 9:26-27; 1 Cor. 15:8-11; Gal. 2:6-9; 2 Pet. 3:15-16). Paul insists that the Holy Spirit authorises his written words as being God’s commands (1 Cor 14:37). Therefore, we must accept Paul’s testimony to Christ as equally authoritati...

This continues my series on apostleship. The twelve apostles have a unique role in salvation history. Everything we’ve surveyed in previous posts – their personal knowledge of Jesus and his teaching, his commissioning of them, their post-resurrection encounter with him, his equipping of them with the Spirit, and the miracles they were enabled to perform in his name – all point to them being Christ’s unique, authorised representatives, through whom we can come to know him – incarnate, crucified, risen, and now seated above all heavenly and earthly powers. This normative teaching has been preserved in written form in the New Testament. This is consistent with the picture of the early church listening to the apostle’s teaching in Acts 2:42. It may be also what Eph. 2:20 means when it refers to God’s united household being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

This continues my series on apostleship. The mission of the twelve apostles expands after Pentecost. While there is continuity with their pre-Easter role and mission, two factors mark a decisive new beginning: the resurrection, and the bestowal of the Spirit. Hence, the disciples are re-commissioned for world mission (Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8) and re-empowered with a new dispensation of the Spirit (John 20:22; Acts 2:1-4; 4:8; 5:32). Their mission is just like Jesus’: as the Father sent ( apostello ) Christ, so Christ sends ( pempo ) them, and whoever receives them receives Christ, and in him, the Father (John 13:20; 17:18; 20:21 cf Matt. 10:40; Luke 9:48; 10:16). The apostles therefore play a vital role in the book of Acts. The risen Christ met with and taught them (1:2). Matthias took Judas’ position (1:26). They preached fearlessly at Pentecost (2:37) and afterwards (4:33), even in the face of persecution (5:18, 29, 40; 8:1, 14). The early church was found...

This continues my series on apostleship. After Jesus, the most obvious group of missionaries are the twelve apostles. They were chosen by Christ, were with him for the duration of his earthly ministry, and were witnesses of his resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). Mark and Luke note how Jesus appointed twelve of the disciples to be apostles (Mark 3:14, Luke 6:13). The Apostles would later become witnesses of all that Christ did and said, especially of his resurrection. It is entirely appropriate that they would need to spend time with Christ, learning from him, before being sent out as his representatives. John does not recount the appointment of the twelve, but does highlight how Christ had chosen them himself (John 6:70; 13:18; 15:16, 19). This inner ring of disciples are regularly referred to as ‘the twelve’ (Matt. 10:1, 2, 5; 11:1; 19:28; 20:17; 26:14, 20, 47; Mark 3:14, 16; 4:10; 6:7; 9:35; 10:32; 11:11; 14:10, 17, 20, 43; Luke 6:13; 8:1; 9:1, 12; 18:31; 22:3, 20, 47). Jesus sent these tw...

This continues my series on apostleship. Jesus is only explicitly termed an apostle once: Heb. 3:1. Nevertheless, the Gospels demonstrate that he was fully aware of having been sent, “apostled” (Greek apesteilen ) by God, and that people’s response to him is their response to God himself (Matt. 10:40; 15:24; Mark 9:37; Luke 4:18; 9:48; 10:16). In John’s Gospel, Jesus both states that he has been sent ( apesteilen ) by God the Father (John 3:17, 34; 5:36, 38; 6:29, 57; 7:29; 8:42; 10:36; 11:42; 17:3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21), and speaks of the Father as the one who sent me (Greek pempo ) (John 4:34; 5:30, 37; 6:38, 39, 44; 7:16, 28, 33; 8:16, 18, 26, 29; 9:4; 12:44, 45, 49; 13:20; 14:24; 15:26; 16:5; 20:21). Paul notes that God sent ( apesteilen ) his son to redeem and adopt (Gal. 4:4). In three key texts in his first epistle, John states that God sent ( apesteilen ) his son to be the saviour of the world and propitiation for our sins, so we could live through him (1 John 4:9, 10, 14)....

In the new testament, the word “send” translates the Greek verbs apostello and pempo . The title Apostle comes from the noun apostolos . At their most basic, pempo and apostello simply involve the movement of someone or something from one place to another. For example, apostello can be used of the movement of demons (Matt. 8:31; Mark 5:10); animals (Matt. 21:3; Mark 11:3); slaves (Matt. 21:34, 36); angels (Matt. 24:31); a sickle, with the purpose of harvest (Mark 4:29); a delegation (Luke 19:14) and spies (Luke 20:20). Pempo can also be used of sending demons (Mark 5:12); slaves (Luke 20:11, 12); an army (Matt. 22:7); Paul as prisoner (Acts 23:30; 25:25; 25:27); and the sickle to harvest in judgment (Rev 14:15, 18). So, these terms are not in themselves religious or ‘theological’. Their religious use comes from the person who sends these apostles, these ‘sent ones’ – God – and the nature of the message they’re sent with – God’s authoritative message, his gospel.

I’m off to Sri Lanka for two weeks, to attend a friend’s wedding. Meanwhile, through the power of post scheduling, I'll put up some thoughts on apostleship – from a project I did late last year as part of my Presbyterian ordination studies. Enjoy!

My previous post said I was leaving MEPC - now I have to 'fess up where I'm going! Here's the background: I've finished all the training to become a full Presbyterian minister. I'm in the process of being appointed to my own church. All going well, I'll start on 1 Feb 2010. I can't publicly say which church it is yet, because we're still finalising arrangements. Terribly sorry. In the meantime, I'm off to Sri Lanka to attend the wedding of a close friend. Hopefully, when I return, all the official arrangements will have been made & I'll be able to start my new ministry - and make it public, so you'll all know what I'm up to. Or, it might all fall in a heap & I might return to discover I'm unemployed. That's unlikely, but not impossible. Never mind. I know who really holds the future. :)

Today, I say goodbye to Merrylands East Presbyterian Church . I've only been there a year - which is long enough to get attached to people, but not long enough to get to know them deeply. Worst possible combination. I hate goodbyes. Because if I’m saying goodbye, that means I’m moving somewhere. I might be moving jobs, or moving house, or moving church – like I am now. Once, I moved continents – that’s when I migrated from Sri Lanka to Australia . Moving breaks relationships. When we move someplace new, we can’t keep up with people like we used to. We don’t seem them as much. We don’t talk to them as much. Little by little, we lose contact. We don’t know how they’re going. We don’t know what’s happening in their lives. Electronic networking methods – like Facebook – they’re good, but it’s not the same thing as meeting people personally. I remember seeing one of my Facebook friend’s update that he’d just had his fourth child, and I thought “what the – four kids? Last tim...

In the latest CASE Newsletter ( Issue 21 ), mum & I review Just Sex , a book by Guy Brandon. Brandon is a researcher with the Jubilee Centre , a Christian sociological think-tank at Cambridge. Brief summary: it's a good book, read it. Full review downloadable here . But don't just download it - become a CASE Associate and get the whole mag! This issue's on "otherness" - what it means to be different. Excellent articles on disability, deafness, theologian Miroslav Volf , and more!

At almost every church or ministry I've been at, I've earned myself a nickname. Multicultural Bible Ministry ("MBM") (1997-2003): "Special K" - coz I kept 'em looking good on the inside... Christians in the Media ("CIM") (2004-05): "K-man" - for no good reason whatsoever... Moore College ("Moore College") (2004-07): "Kamaz" - just to annoy Tim McIver; Subcontinental Bible Ministry ("SBM") (2006-08): "K-Bomb" - when I exploded onto the scene in a new outfit at the '07 weekend away; Merrylands East Presbyterian Church ("MEPC") (2009): "Big K" - courtesy of the mission team from Curtin Uni in Perth. Is it a comment on my girth...? And this year? Let's wait & see...

Follow my logic, here. Today is 01.01.10, right? In binary language, 010110 = 22. So today is 22. :D PS: Happy new year!