A Theology of Workflow is a top little article on Christians and productivity. It’s in Christianity Today, a magazine which has good stuff and not so good stuff, so read with care. The article itself is an excellent brief interview with Matt Perman, producer of the extremely useful What’s Best Next blog.
Are we devoted to the public reading of Scripture? Part 3: ‘Devotion’ in elders and preachers
Pastoral Ministry
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. (1 Tim 4:13)
In this third post, I would like to start exploring what ‘devotion’ looks like in general, but particularly for elders and preachers.
Are we devoted to the public reading of Scripture? Part 2: It’s not that difficult to change
Pastoral Ministry
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. (1 Tim 4:13)
In my first post, I asked whether there is a disparity between our esteem of Scripture, and our devotion to seeing it read publicly. In this second post, I’d like us to explore some easy ways to restore church life to be reflecting this imperative, if not encapsulating it just yet.
Equal and Complementary: a review
Pastoral Ministry, Sola Panel
I was once a feminist. In my early twenties, I became a complementarian, with the view that God made men and women equal but with different roles and responsibilities. It didn’t happen overnight; I studied the Bible, read books by complementarians and egalitarians, and joined in discussions, until I was convinced that the Bible teaches that God wants men to be servant leaders, and women to be helpers by their side as, together, we make Christ known.
Are we devoted to the public reading of Scripture? Part 1: A mirror held up before our eyes
Pastoral Ministry
In 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul instructs Timothy as follows: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching”.
In a series of posts, I’d like to explore what this verse might mean and look like in our lives. Similar to my post on whether we believe in the clarity of Scripture, I’d like to take a look at the difference between what we may think we believe, and what our practice actually testifies to. Like previous posts, I can only speak of my experience of church life: that of Sydney Anglicanism. I trust, however, that this will be of benefit to others.
Necessary heresies?
Life
It’s not really necessary to know your heretics, unless they’re doorknocking you.
Even then you can find ways to avoid them or annoy them. I keep a Greek New Testament on hand. When they deny that Jesus is God, I mention John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. I point out that in verse 14 of the same chapter, the Word becomes flesh—God becomes man, the man Jesus Christ.
Complementarianism and egalitarianism (part 5): The coming divide (v)
Pastoral Ministry
This is the fifth post in Mark Baddeley’s series on complementarianism and egalitarianism. (Read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9.)
Such separation between egalitarianism and complementarianism is unpleasant, and people are going to be genuinely hurt on all sides as it works itself out, but it is hardly ungodly by either side (apart from the ungodliness inherent in whichever position one thinks is in the wrong). (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.
Mercy? Me?
Thought
The game begins with the two combatants facing each other, holding hands, their fingers interlocked. When the word is given, they start twisting and writhing like contortionists, each trying to gain leverage over the other until their fingers are so agonised that one is forced to concede, “Mercy!” The winner graciously releases his grip, and the round is complete. In primary school, we called the game ‘Mercy’—but our grasp on the concept was as tortuous as the game itself. (more…)
The power of pastoral visitation
Pastoral Ministry
It’s not new. It’s not innovative. It’s not trendy. It doesn’t produce immediate results. But it is a key element to church planting and the long-term sustained growth of a church. It’s pastoral visitation. (more…)
Who made God? by Edgar Andrews
Review
Who made God? Searching for a theory of everything
Edgar Andrews
EP Books, Darlington, 2009, 304pp.
It is a common belief that science and religion are locked in an eternal conflict, from which science will eventually emerge victorious—if it hasn’t already. In Who made God? Edgar Andrews, Emeritus Professor of Materials at the University of London, seeks to equip Christians with arguments to use in answer to the scientific claims of the New Atheists, particularly Richard Dawkins and Victor Stenger. The title of the book refers to the common refrain of those who reject the idea of creation—“if God made everything, who made God?”—and the attempt of scientists to find a ‘theory of everything’, within which all physical phenomena may be accommodated. In response, Andrews puts forward the ‘God hypothesis’ as a true theory of everything that embraces both the material and non-material aspects of the universe. (more…)
Definitely enough
Resource Talk, Sola Panel
What do you think of the following piece of writing?
The first option is rather than mirroring, imaging, reflecting, showing God we turn the mirror round and we become absolutely enamoured with, infatuated with, ourselves. That is, you get concepts of self-esteem, self-love, and Maslow with his hierarchy of needs said that ultimately our greatest need is what? Self-actualization—to glorify ourselves, to get all we can get, to be all we can be, to do all we can do, to have all we can have. This comes from the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus. If you know the concept of narcissism, it is one who absolutely is enamoured with, addicted to, themselves.
As writing, it is not really very good, is it? The words and ideas are just piled up without any real structure or flow. There’s very little memorable imagery or language. It lacks power.
Truth is, it comes from one of the most popular and gifted Christian communicators on the planet, Mark Driscoll. But it was not written by Mr Driscoll. It’s a snippet transcribed at random from one of his online sermons. The reason it is such bad writing is that it is not writing at all, and was never intended to be.
Now it’s possible to do some editorial magic on this sort of writing. We could tidy it up like this:
The first option is that rather than mirroring or imaging God, we turn the mirror around and become infatuated with ourselves. We love ourselves rather than God. Maslow, with his hierarchy of needs, said that ultimately our greatest need is self-actualisation—to glorify ourselves, to be all we can be, to have all we can have. This is narcissism (which comes from the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus). A narcissist is someone who is enamoured with, and addicted to, themselves.
Does that improve things? Well, a bit. But it is still not very good, and a book full of this sort of prose would be tiresome and hard to read. There’s very little rhythm or life to it.
Such, in my experience, are most books that start out as sermons. They very rarely work, not only because spoken English is not the same as written English, but also because the rhythm, style, diction and method of a sermon is difficult to translate to the page. Even the most electrifying and edifying sermons seem to have the blood drained out of them when they become an article, or chapters in a book.
This is why I was a bit skeptical when Ray Galea sent me a proposal for a book last year, based on a series of sermons he had done in the psalms. “This isn’t going to work”, I mumbled to myself. But it was Ray, and he was both a friend and the author of the very successful Nothing in my hand I bring. So I said I’d read it, and get back to him.
I’m glad I made the effort. The resulting book, God is Enough, has been one of the success stories of 2010. It’s already gone to a second printing, and has done so largely through that most precious of publishing qualities: word of mouth. People who read God is Enough tell their friends. It’s a contagious book.
God is Enough is the exception in books-from-sermons for two reasons. The first is that Ray has succeeded in making the transition from spoken English to the page without losing his rhythm or his voice. It doesn’t take very long in God is Enough for you to forget that you’re reading a book, and to hear Ray’s warm, funny, insightful voice teaching and encouraging you from the Scriptures. It’s an easy and delightful book to read. (Ray would be the first to tell you that this is also due to the excellent editorial efforts of Emma Thornett in our office.)
The second reason the book works is the subject matter, and the way in which Ray approaches it. It’s about what happens when you’ve been a Christian for a while, and the world starts to close in. You find that your enthusiasm and love for God has been displaced by busyness, responsibilities, and a never-ending round of Christian activities and involvements. You suffer some disappointments—perhaps some profound ones. And you start to wonder why you’re doing all this.
God is Enough aims to re-focus our lives on God by looking at how a series of different psalms do just that—focus on God amidst the difficulties and pressures of life in this sinful world. The theme verse for the book is from Psalm 73: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Ps 73:25).
If you haven’t yet read God is Enough, you really should. It will be good for your soul, and will give you yet another useful resource to share with your friends.
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…)
WordWatch: Filthy lucre
Word Watch
There was a time when if you wanted to speak disparagingly of money you would call it ‘filthy lucre’. It was, for as long as I can remember, a whimsical expression. If a friend accepted a new job at higher pay you might, for example, make a flippant remark about his going for the ‘filthy lucre’. (more…)
Word and action
Thought, Sola Panel
How do you react when you notice that you or your church has a dull, dry, inactive faith, even though you are committed to God’s word? Elvis, in his song, A Little Less Conversation, gives us a model for one way that we could try to solve the problem:
(more…)