O'Donovan on resurrection

In proclaiming the resurrection of Christ, the apostles proclaimed also the resurrection of mankind in Christ; and in proclaiming the resurrection of mankind, the proclaimed the renewal of all creation with him. The resurrection of Christ in isolation from mankind would not be a gospel message. The resurrection of mankind apart from apart from creation would be a gospel of a sort, but of a purely Gnostic and world-denying sort which is far from the gospel that the apostles actually preached.[…] So the resurrection of Christ directs our attention back to the creation which it vindicates.

- Oliver O'Donovan. Quoted by Rob Forsyth, AnCon 1998 "Resurrection - the dawning of hope...".

lay ministry part 2

It's been a while since my last past on this subject. Since then I have had some time to think about what I wrote, talk to the 3 people who still read this blog, and try and come up with a way forward.

To recap, I think the very fact that churches can afford to pay several people to do either full or part time ministry is a great gift from God. In fact, given the way that we constitute the church today, many churches wouldn't be able to survive without them. 

However, employing a large staff team does present the church with some challenges - namely, it shoots down ministry by "lay" people (many of whom are committed to church longer than two years). When I was co-ordinating Public Meetings for the EU, I was excited by the second purpose of public meetings, which is to involve as many Christians in the uni as possible in the PM ministry by doing simple tasks such as welcoming or postering. My staff worker, Mike Kwan, would tell me that this would help Christians take ownership, not just of PMs, but of the EU too. My point here is that churches don't nurture and grow lay people and their gifts, it will adversely affect the ownership the feel towards their church, and hence the church's ministry at large.

So my first point here is don't smother lay ministry - work (in partnership) with them, but don't smother them. Their is one church I have in mind where the members have stopped welcoming new people, because early on in the church life it appeared that only the staff members were allowed to. They would push into conversations church members would have with new people, and act as though "only they had the gift of welcoming." Don't smother the laity. Another church is full of young, innovative ministry strategists who see the needs of the church, and would like to start new ministries where there is nothing. However, as all ministry decisions are made by the staff team only, very few of these ideas come to fruition. This has only lead to angst and dissatisfaction with the church. Don't smother the lay ministry.

My second point, which may now require another post, is that the key to lay ministry lies in developing lay pillars. This is a term Andrew Katay used at Grads Con 2005. Katay described lay pillars as the secret  behind every ministry, i.e. churches can't live without them (I write this line from memory. I'm at AnCon right now working for CMS, so don't have paper on me). I think that Katay has a point here. Churches need lay pillars. And in Sydney and other places around the globe, we need to nurture, grow and develop these people. So my question is, what would a lay pillar look like in a congregation where the average age is under 30. What would a lay pillar look like at 7pm St John's? Or in 7.15pm at Barney's? Or in retro-church Leichhardt? Or wherever? 

Let me know what you think.

PS As I  mentioned, I'm writing this from AnCon today. It's being an interesting experience in student ministry and in looking at how the EU has changed since I was a student (this time last year).

PS 2. 15 points for explaining the relevance of the picture to this post

A spot of Volf

'In situations of conflict Christians often find themselves accomplices in war, rather than agents of peace. We find it difficult o distance ourselves from our selves and our own culture and so we echo its reigning opinions and mimic its practices. As we keep the vision of God's future alive, we need to reach out across the firing lines and join hands with our brothers and sisters on the other side. We need to let them pull us out of the enclosure of our own culture and its own peculiar set of prejudices so that we can read afresh the "one Word of God." In this way we might become once again the salt of the world ridden by strife.'

Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, p 54.

I like Volf's concept of ecumenical catholicity. Reading it in book club with some MTC students, some of whom thought Volf was arguing for holding hands with Hindu's and Jedi's, it was great for me to clarify his thesis: that the church needs to keep listening to other parts of the body (the church in other cultures) to make sure it doesn't turn the proclamation of 'Jesus Christ is Lord' into the Australian dream, or American democracy, or the German nationalism that Volf used as an example (that Barmen Declaration is ace).

Coming from a church culture that doesn't always receive top marks for listening to Christians who are 'different', particularly in light of the mess that our international network is in (which you can about here), we need to make sure that we keep listening to and engaging with our brothers and sisters around the globe. A declaration of independence from each other - to whom we belong in and through Jesus has done to us and for us (Bonhoeffer) - would be disastrous.

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind." 1 Peter 3.8

1 in 10 Christians live with persecution

For as many as 200 million people, being a Christian can mean:

• You live in daily fear of violence, abuse, rape or even death
• Just talking to a non-Christian friend about Jesus could land you in jail
• You carry a social stigma affecting the jobs you can get, or how your children are treated in school

These people are our family. While they are the one in ten, we are the other nine. We live with freedoms they are often denied, such as to worship together in public, own a Bible or even repair the roof of the church building.

That’s why Barnabas Fund is launching this new campaign – to call on the other nine to care more for their persecuted brothers and sisters.

Because we are the ones with the power to make a difference.

Use the links below to discover how, through Barnabas Fund, you and your church can be there for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Order your The Other Nine resource pack which includes a DVD, Ideas Booklet, Leaflets and prayer cards together with a poster. All designed to help you get your church on board. Order your pack today.

Pray - Join thousands in lifting the persecuted Church before God. And enhance the prayer life of your church or home group.

Understand - Knowledge is essential if we are to love our neighbours as Jesus showed us. Barnabas Fund provides resources, training and information to help you and your church respond to Islam in an intelligent, compassionate, Christian way. Find out more…

Give - Through Barnabas Fund you and your church can do so much for Christians who suffer for their love of Jesus. Donate online now.

World maps of persecution

Africa (3.6 MB)
Central Asia (3.6 MB)
South Asia (3.8 MB)
The Middle East (3.6 MB)

Church leadership and the laity

Something that I and a few friends who have recently moved into Sydney have noticed is that churches in the city presently have a lack of lay leadership. Instead, they have an ever increasing staff team - mostly made up of mts type workers or catechists or something. I have noticed this in several churches I have visited recently, and a friend of mine has noticed it in the particular AFES group that he belongs too.

What this would appear to say about our churches is that we think all problems can be solved by the hiring of new staff. Sadly, this prevents the development of lay leadership within congregations. Actually, and potential leadership from the laity with churches fails to blossom becauser they are the people most likely hired as staff.

for my mind, the most obviosu (but not only) example of this is the fact that I have seen very few (ie none at all) lay people lay service or preach in the city. Coming from the mountains, I and a friend of mine have found it quite bizarre.

Of course, I am sure that churches in the city provide excellent training and experience for their staff. But it is a short term solution, because it fails not only to train all people in the church to exercise their gifts, but also stops people from taking responsibilty. My AFES friend mentioned that some faculties have felt the lack of pastoral care in their group, and have created a pastoral care team for the faculty. And whilst it has marginally increased the amount of pastoral care that is happening, it has also discouraged everyone else from doing pastoral care because they are not on the pastoral care team.

There is another church that springs to my mind way out west that has quite a respectable reputation in being able to train and equip their plethora of apprentices. The only problem was that the church had a string of these people come in for two years and then disappear as quickly as they arrived back to Sydney. And this left many people within the church with a lack of ownership.

I'm sure there is a solution out there, especially in Sydney of all places, the new home for the "priesthood of all believers." I'm just not sure what it is yet.

"The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Holy Ghost incomprehensible, the whole thing incomprehensible!"

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith. Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance.

For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.

The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one Eternal.

As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one Uncreated, and one Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three gods, but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet not three lords, but one Lord.

For as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge each Person by Himself to be both God and Lord, so we are also forbidden by the catholic religion to say that there are three gods or three lords.

The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

And in the Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another, but all three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

He therefore that will be saved is must think thus of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man; God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of the substance of his mother, born in the world; perfect God and perfect man, of a rational soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father, as touching His godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching His manhood; who, although He is God and man, yet he is not two, but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the godhead into flesh but by taking of the manhood into God; one altogether; not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ; who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He will come to judge the quick and the dead. At His coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Now say that another 12 times this year and you're set.

A slow day at the office

There is an interesting post over at Alistar that is worth checking out. Here is a snippett:

"We live in a youth-driven society. Whether in the media or on the web, older people are hardly visible. For instance, the very fact that most of our theological discussions occur online prevents most elderly people from having any active voice in the conversation. When older people appear in the media, they are often ridiculed. Their style, their tastes, their knowledge of the world, their ethics and their values are all out of date. The new and the young are to be celebrated and the old is to be sidelined and dismissed.

The Church should be one place where a radically different culture prevails. It should be a place where older generations are honoured and treated with respect, even when they are wrong. Biblical societies are generally ruled and led by elders, not by young turks. Many contemporary evangelicals have forgotten this and their churches are driven by the desires of their young people and the most influential leaders are under the age of 40 (ideally, it seems to me, churches should not be led by people under the age of 50)."

This is also worth checking out, especially for the Barthians out there.

Safer to pig a pin in King Herod's court...

I grabbed this on the SMH site:

An Israeli archaeologist has found the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land, at a hilltop compound south of the city, the Hebrew University has announced.

The tomb is at a site called Herodium, a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert, clearly visible from southern Jerusalem.

Herod built a palace compound in the hill, and researchers have discovered his burial site there, the university said late on Monday local time (Tuesday morning AEST).

The university hoped to keep the find a secret until Tuesday local time (Wednesday AEST), when it planned a news conference to disclose the find in detail, but the Haaretz daily found out about the discovery and published an article on its website.

Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 74 BC. The wall he built around the Old City of Jerusalem during the time of the Jewish Second Temple is the one that can be seen today.

He also undertook massive construction projects in Caesaria, Jericho, the hilltop fortress of Massada and other locations.

Haaretz said the discovery was made at Herodium, the hilltop compound, by archaeologist Ehud Netzer, a Hebrew University professor who has been working at the site since 1972.

It has long been assumed that Herod was buried at Herodium, but decades of excavations failed to turn up the site until now. The first century historian Josephus Flavius described the tomb and Herod's funeral procession.

Haaretz reported that the tomb was found in an area that had not been explored, between the two palaces Herod built on the site. Herod died in 4 BC. in Jericho.

Herodium was one of the last strong points held by Jewish rebels fighting against the Romans, and it was conquered and destroyed by Roman forces in AD 71, a year after they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Rowan Williams on the State

"The modern state needs a robust independent tradition of moral perception with which to engage. Left to itself, it cannot generate the self-critical energy that brings about change – change, that is, for the sake of some positive human ideal. As a guarantor of security, internal and external, and increasingly as a broker and provider of people’s ‘market’ requirements, it is not equipped to work as moral forum. The increasing assimilation of the state, in ways that would have startled Wilberforce’s contemporaries, to the provider of goods demanded by a population means that the primary question is likely to be about the means of provision rather than the ideology cal desirability of what is demanded. Quite understandably, the experience of command economies in the twentieth century and the appalling oppressiveness of systems that have had clear definitions of ideological desirability have strengthened the case for a severely neutral state apparatus and have reinforced the growth of the ‘market state’. But this leaves it with a set of questions about its moral legitimacy that cannot be left indefinitely ignored."

Rowan Williams

English Hymns and meta-narrative

England is a story. Is a story that has come define the sceptered island and to a large part, the English speaking western world. It is a story that is full of contradictions. Notably, this story is founded upon the principles of freedom, liberty and equity; however it is fed and sustained by the story of empire.
The English story is constituted and defined by its own meta-narrative - which is most commonly expressed in the national and anthems of England.
This story tells of England, the divinely appointed vicegerent who is allotted as the steward on this globe of freedom and right, of morals and justice. Not only is this the "White Man's burden", it is every decent Englishman's burden - to bring "civilisation to the uncivilised"; to resist the tyranny of European tyrants, whether it be 1940, 1805, 1588, or 60AD; to set men free and stave off the encroaches of popery; to challenge the ugly power off rule at home (1215, 1641, 1688), and give power to those who don't have it (begrudgingly in 1830 and 1833). This is the story of Magna Carta, the Glorious Revolution, the Armada, Waterloo, the Charist movement and so much more. This is a land of hope and glory, where the people shall never be slaves, and the King, crowned as Solomon to the splendour of Handel, shall be sent victorious and reign happy and glorious over his new Israel.
This is the English story, well, at least what we've been told for the past three centuries. This next series of posts will analyse how famous English Hymns and Anthems were written as an embodiment of this story. Until then, ponder these words:

When Britain first at Heav'n's command

Arose from out the azure main;

Arose, arose from out the azure main;

This was the charter, the charter of the land,

And guardian angels sang this strain:

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!

Britons never, never, never will be slaves!

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!

Britons never, never, never will be slaves!

10 points for the identity and location of the statue. Another 10 points for the irony in the symbolism of the statue.

This is my Father's World

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

Malt­bie D. Bab­cock, 1901.

H/T the OC Supertones.

Augustine on love and worship

What do I love when I love you? Not the beauty of any body or the rhythm of time in its movement; not the radiance of light, so dear to our eyes; not the sweet melodies in the world of manifold sounds; not the perfume of flowers, ointments and spices; not manna and not honey; not the limbs so delightful to the body’s embrace: it is none of these things that I love when I love my God. And yet when I love my God I do indeed love a light and a sound and a perfume and a food and an embrace – a light and sound and perfume and food and embrace in my inward self. There my soul is flooded with a radiance which no space can contain; there a music sounds which time never bears away; there I smell a perfume which no wind disperses; there I taste a food that no surfeit embitters; there is an embrace which no satiety severs. It is this that I love when I love my God
And yet, when I love him, I do indeed love a certain kind of ligh, a voice, a fragrance, a food, an embrace; but this love takes place in my inner person, where my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space; when it listens to sound that time never takes away; when it breathes in a fragrance which no breeze carries away; when it tastes food which no eating can diminish; when it clings to an embrace which is not broken when desire is fulfilled. This is what I love when
I love my God.

Confessions 10.6

H/T Byron. 10 points for the location of the picture

Going Beyond Evangelicalism (part 1 of 2)

This interview with John Stott was originally published in 'Working
Together', the magazine of the Australian Evangelical Alliance. The
second half will be included in the May 2007 issue of Oz-e-Con.



QUESTION (TIM STAFFORD): AS YOU SEE IT, WHAT IS EVANGELICALISM, AND
WHY DOES IT MATTER?



JOHN STOTT: An evangelical is a plain, ordinary Christian standing in
the mainstream of historic, orthodox, biblical Christianity. So we can
recite the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed without crossing our
fingers. We believe in God the Father and in Jesus Christ and in the
Holy Spirit. Having said that, there are two particular things we like
to emphasise: the concern for authority on the one hand and salvation
on the other.



For evangelical people, our authority is the God who has spoken
supremely in Jesus Christ. And that is equally true of redemption or
salvation. God has acted in and through Jesus Christ for the salvation
of sinners.



What God has SAID in Christ and in the biblical witness to Christ, and
what God has DONE in and through Christ, are both, to use the Greek
word, 'hapax', meaning once and for all. There is a finality about
God's word in Christ, and there is a finality about God's work in
Christ. To imagine that we could add a word to his word or add a work
to his work is extremely derogatory to the unique glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ.



YOU DIDN'T MENTION THE BIBLE, WHICH WOULD SURPRISE SOME PEOPLE.



STOTT: I did actually but you didn't notice it. I said Christ and the
biblical witness to Christ. But the really distinctive emphasis is on
Christ. I want to shift conviction from a book, if you like, to a
person. As Jesus himself said, the Scriptures bear witness to me.
Their main function is to witness to Christ.



PART OF YOUR IMPLICATION IS THAT EVANGELICALS ARE NOT TO BE A
NEGATIVELY INSPIRED PEOPLE. OUR REAL FOCUS OUGHT TO BE THE GLORY OF
CHRIST.



STOTT: I believe that very strongly. We believe in the authority of
the Bible because

Christ has endorsed its authority. He stands between the two
testaments. As we look back to the Old Testament, he has endorsed it.
As we look forward to the New Testament, we accept it because of the
apostolic witness to Christ. He deliberately chose and appointed and
prepared the apostles, in order that they might have their unique
apostolic witness to him. I like to see Christ in the middle,
endorsing the old, preparing for the new. Although the question of the
New Testament canon is complicated, in general we are able to say that
canonicity is apostolicity.



HOW HAS THE POSITION OF EVANGELICALS CHANGED DURING YOUR YEARS OF MINISTRY?



STOTT: I look back – it's been sixty-one years since I was ordained –
and when I was ordained in the Church of England, evangelicals in that
church were a despised and rejected minority. The bishops lost no
opportunity to ridicule us. Over the intervening sixty years, I've
seen the evangelical movement in England grow in size, in maturity,
and certainly in scholarship, and therefore I think in influence and
impact. We went from a ghetto to being on the ascendancy, which is a
very dangerous place to be.



CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE DANGERS?



STOTT: Pride is the ever-present danger that faces all of us. In many
ways it is good for us to be despised and rejected. I think of Jesus'
words, 'Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.' Going back to
the 'hapax', it's a very humbling concept. The essence of
evangelicalism is very humbling. You have William Temple saying, 'The
only thing of my very own which I contribute to redemption is the sin
from which I need to be redeemed.'



WE HAVE ALSO SEEN AN IMMENSE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH WORLDWIDE, LARGELY
AMONG EVANGELICAL LINES. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS ITS SIGNIFICANCE?



STOTT: This enormous growth is a fulfilment of God's promise to
Abraham in Genesis 12:1-4. God promised Abraham not only to bless him,
not only to bless his family or his posterity, but through his
posterity to bless all the families of the earth. Whenever we look at
a multi-ethnic congregation, we are seeing a fulfilment of that
amazing promise of God. A promise made by God to Abraham 4,000 years
ago is being fulfilled right before our very eyes today.



YOU KNOW THIS GROWING CHURCH PROBABLY AS WELL AS ANY WESTERNER DOES.
I WONDER HOW YOU EVALUATE IT.



STOTT: The answer is 'growth without depth'. None of us wants to
dispute the extraordinary growth of the church. But it has been
largely numerical and statistical growth. And there has not been
sufficient growth in discipleship that is comparable to the growth in
numbers.

Guest Rant by Michael Wells

Today, John Woodhouse said that acceptance of the bible as the only word of God IS Christianity. Not evangelical, not christian, but Christianity.

Hows about that Jesus fella huh?

Wilberforce

It has now been 200 years since the British stopped trading African slave around the Globe. 200 years since Wilberforce, one of the founders of my new employers, was victorious in the British Parliament. The Anglican church out at Wilberforce is celebrating, but I wonder how we modern evangelicals would react in similiar circumstance today. I heard several times during uni in conversation at from the pulpit that peolpe don't have a problem with slavery and so if they were placed in similiar circumstances, wouldn't attempt to end slavery..."because the bible doesn't say to".

Of course, the problem has seemed only to have become worse in these past 200 years. According to CMS UK, there is now some 27 million people ensalved. 27 million people in slavery! And as a christian in a western succesor state to the British Empire, I don't know how to approach this problem, because the story I've grown up with is that slavery stopped in the 19th Century. How can I bring the Lordship of Jesus and the achievment of his resurrection to bear on this question?

Let me mull over this for a few days. But you may like to cheek out this publication from CMS-UK.

10 points for telling me where the statue is and who lies next to Wilberforce.