The movie Real Men is at best a guilty pleasure. A womanizing super-agent teams up with a wimpy suburban family man to save the world, one long dad joke after another. For me, the scene which captures the style of the movie best is when the protagonists are attacked by a bunch of rogue CIA agents… all dressed in clown suits. It begins with the line “Who are those clowns?” and finishes as the last clown standing looks around and says (and if you couldn’t see this coming when the scene began, you should hang your head in shame) “I’m working with a bunch of clowns”, before running away.
Archives: everyday-ministry
Disproving God
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
I’ve been thinking about the problem of evil. Not so much the very pressing and existential problem of my own evil, but the classic three-part gotcha argument that every half-baked neo-atheist trots out these days with a smug smile. It usually goes like this:
An all-powerful God could eliminate all evil and suffering.
An all-good, all-loving God would want to eliminate all evil and suffering.
Given that evil and suffering are everywhere in our world, the all-powerful, all-good, all-loving God does not exist.
Deckchairs on the Titanic? Evangelism and social action
Everyday Ministry
… Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word… (Luke 24:19)
It’s common today to view a ministry of the Word as somehow separate from a ministry of deeds. This separation usually also splits people into two sides of an argument. One might say:
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Answering questions for yourself
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
For the first time I can recall, I recently received questions via our church comment cards about the non-sermon Bible reading. It was Galatians 3:15-25! Normally questions are from the sermon passage—things the preacher has not covered or were not clear on. But it’s good to be attentive to the other Bible reading too!
However, I want to encourage people to see if they can answer their questions for themselves, rather than just asking the pastoral staff. (I still answered the questions though as worked examples!)
Maximizing the kids’ spot at church
Everyday Ministry
Are the kids’ talks at your church varied and involving, or rushed and repetitive? Annabel Catto looks at the purpose of having a kids’ spot during a church service, and shares ideas for what it could include. (more…)
Good Friday and good-ianity
Everyday Ministry
This Easter you and I will come into contact with equinox Christians. That is, Christians who attend church twice a year: Chrissie and Easter.
It’s hard to communicate to these people the mind-blowing great exchange that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, isn’t it?
Devoted to the public reading of Scripture
Everyday Ministry
When Timothy was exercising responsibility over the Ephesian church, the apostle Paul instructed him as follows: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim 4:13). Although this was to be a temporary role for Timothy (“until I come”), it presumably outlived him in the life of the church; that is, when the apostle wrote “until I come”, he was not suggesting that the practice itself would be temporary, only that his own arrival would mark the end of Timothy’s personal responsibility to fight for and guarantee these practices. (more…)
Jars of clay: Unemployment
Everyday Ministry
Brian Wellington was caught unprepared when he was made redundant, but found new opportunities for personal growth and ministry while looking for work. (more…)
My ‘undercover Christian’ adventure
Everyday Ministry
On the weekend Natalie and I attended the baptism of a child whose parents do not regularly attend church. And it was something of an adventure! (more…)
Big M Ministry and little s service
Everyday Ministry, Sola Panel
The word ‘ministry’ just means ‘service’.1 It’s a fact I already knew, and perhaps one you know too; but earlier this year I came to see its implications.
I was walking along, praying about my Ministry. I was praying for the wisdom to know which Ministry to do, how much energy to put into certain Ministries, and when to stop one Ministry so I would have more energy for other Ministries. Suddenly, like a bolt to my brain from the rather grey sky (it was the fading end of a Melbourne winter), came the word ‘service’.
Talking with people from a Catholic background about Jesus
Everyday Ministry
When you finally receive the gospel, you can’t help talking with other people about it. The Christians in Thessalonica had this experience: “For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything” (1 Thess 1:8). (more…)
Two ways to change a culture
Everyday Ministry, Resource Talk, Sola Panel
How do you change the culture of a church?
We talked about this question quite a bit at the ‘Trellis and Vine Workshops’ that Col Marshall and I had the privilege of leading recently in the US. It was an issue that many of the pastors at the workshops felt keenly.
When ‘living the gospel’ isn’t enough
Everyday Ministry
St Francis of Assisi is often quoted as saying, “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary use, words.” Regardless of whether he actually said this or not, I understand the sentiment of some who quote him. Namely, the Christian faith needs to be lived out, not only talked about. (more…)
The hope of biblical peacemaking as a response to the challenge of conflict
Everyday Ministry, Life
The word ‘conflict‘ strikes us hard.
It evokes an involuntary ‘gut level‘ reaction deep within us, perhaps of pain, or danger or fear. It speaks to us of relationships that won’t heal, of people who won’t listen, of wounds never acknowledged, of conduct never discussed. It may be an extreme situation which is splitting a church, school or marriage, or it may be just that lower level of conflict which causes us to avoid someone’s company in the workplace, avert our eyes at morning tea after church, and be polite and civil when underneath we feel distant or angry.
Jars of clay: Page by page
Everyday Ministry
Like many good ideas, this one was pinched from someone else. It was 2003, and Ben (my husband) and I were enmeshed in our first year of ministry training with the Evangelical Christian Union (ECU) at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. At a recent area committee meeting, we heard Peter Hughes (who was then a staffworker at the University of Western Sydney) talk about his decision to do away with main campus meetings and, instead, focus on small groups. He had started giving his students a double-sided A4 broadsheet each week as a way of building relationships, maintaining community and injecting a bit of sound teaching into their lives. The front featured a short article he’d written about the Bible or Christianity; the back had Bible study questions and prayer points. (more…)