Multicultural Ministry Matters

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...

Christian theists seek transforming engagement with the active word of God. To this end we not only seek to listen to the biblical text with openness and expectancy, but we also seek to understand at ever deeper levels what it is to interpret Scripture, to reflect both upon Scripture and on our own processes of engaging with it, and to be transformed by the formative impact of Scripture in thought, life and identity. Anthony Thiselton , in Reading Luke: Interpretation, Reflection, Formation , Ed. Craig Bartholomew, Joel B. Green and Anthony C. Thiselton, Scripture and Hermeneutics Series, Volume 6, Zondervan 2007. Italics in original.

Prof. Oliver O'Donovan's book The Desire Of the Nations is a masterpiece of political exegesis. He goes through nearly the whole Bible, examining the implications of the various parts of the Bible for our understanding of society, community, and political authority. Alex Abecina summarises the book here . O'Donovan takes the time to explain his understanding of the Bible. I was particularly impacted by his understanding of the book of Job. Here's a summary. Job is the archetypal unjustly-suffering individual. The purpose of the book of Job is to probe the question: why does unjust suffering make the sufferer so angry? And how can someone who suffers unjustly be reconciled to the goodness of God, the world, society, and himself? Job's comforters don't accuse Job; Job accuses them of taunting him and bringing out the hostility he feels. Elihu shows that the three friends have failed to overcome Job's self-righteous pathos because they share his anthropocent...

Jesus summarised the human aspect of the law as “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27). Paul (Rom 13:9-10; Gal 5:14) and James (James 2:8) use it similarly – as a summary of the law. Its widespread use (Gospels, Paul, James) indicates it must have been broadly accepted in the early church as a summary of what it meant to act in a godly manner to all people. The question, of course, is: what does it mean? I’ve heard it said “well I don’t have to love people more than I love myself – only as myself”. So it becomes a statement of neat reciprocal justice. But that doesn’t fit with the cross. In the cross, Christ gave himself totally, for undeserving people. You can’t give yourself more completely for someone than dying for them. You can’t get less deserving than sinners who spurn the holy and loving God. The cross has nothing to do with reciprocal justice; it’s complete self-giving love. Perhaps we’re thinking too individualistically ...

Romans 5:6: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Jesus died for sinners. That is a deeply egalitarian statement. Because it makes all humanity equal before God: equally condemned by our rejection of him; equally loved in him offering Jesus to us all; equally able to be saved if we accept him. Jesus died for powerless people. Romans 1:18 – 3:20 show how we are all helplessly under the power of sin, and helplessly under God’s rightful judgment. We’re like prisoners in a police van, being taken to sentencing. The prisoner is helpless & trapped – but it’s just & rightful to be trapped like that, because they’ve done something to break the law. That’s why they’re a prisoner, not a hostage. But Jesus, as it were, swings open the door of the police van, and says “don’t worry. I’ve taken the penalty for what you’ve done against God. You’re free to go.” And Jesus died for ungodly people. This is even more amazing, becaus...