A Few Random Thoughts - Since I Haven't Posted For A While

• How do you get youth to realise Christianity is not just another extra-curriculum activity alongside: music lessons, sport teams, ballet, horse riding etc? Or perhaps the harder question is; how do you get their parents to realise that?
• Terminator: Salavation is a cool movie and Head of State quite good too.
• Doing a preaching series on the 'Sermon On The Mount' at the moment, not that I really preach as such at The Station, we generally more discuss. I have always, kind of struggled with the Beatittudes, I mean what do you do with those things? Have since learned, that these are actually displaying kingdom values that God's Spirit is building into us. That we might be people who are 'poor in spirit' that we might rely on the strength of the kingdom. That we might be people who 'mourn, hunger and thrist for righteousness, peacemakers, and humble'.
• Another, thing is role of the Holy Spirit in the Sermon On The Mount. The Spirit is never mentioned, yet present in every word. Some argue that the Sermon On The Mount is the last stand of the Old Testament law. I prefer to view as part of the new law - promised by Jeremiah and Ezekiel long ago. A law written on our hearts, by the Holy Spirit as He tranforms us from the 'inside out'.
• Did a sermon in Singleness the other day at Church. Even though I'm married. Found this cool quote, that I gather comes from a starbucks cup.

The Way I See It #44 If the current generation of young adults is delaying marriage for five to 10 years longer than their parents, the question becomes: What good are they doing with that time? – Ethan Watters

• Heard another cool quote on Radio Sport the other day......we need to get rid of those boring middle overs in T20 cricket. Cut it down to just the 1st and last over. 12 balls - 6 bowlers can bowl 2 each....T20 cricket just ain't real cricket I'm afraid.

Later,

Great Book - Making Poverty Personal

Every now again you read a book that makes a real impact - this book class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">certainty did that to me. The title is a play on "Making Poverty History", in this book Ash Barker takes you a trip through the different books of the Bible to see just much God cares about poverty and justice. Ash Barker is an Aussie who heads up a group called Urban Neighbours of Hope (UNOH) and for years worked in Melbourne before moving to slum in Thailand. Here are a few quotes from the book.

"There's much work to do. The church is still a mess. As Augustine is said to have stated, "The Church is a whore, but she's my mother." Or, as one of our pastors here in Philly said, "The Church is like Noah's ark - it stinks sometimes, but if you get out, you'll drown". (From the Preface by Shane Claiborne)

"It is not only our money that is needed; actual people are needed to. True, we don't need the colonial movements of missionaries in the past, but we do need the same sacrifices. What I have found is that if we share our money, we are considered generous. However, if we personally go and share our lives among the poor, we are considered as colonizers by the left, as communists by the right, and just plain crazy by the rest. Yet, I believe the redistribution of resources must include people. Real flesh-and-blood people who are known personally, can help form partnerships with indigenous Christian movements from anywhere."

"The last thing the Western Church needs is to consume more resources. Yet, a recent Christian book proclaimed just that in its title: You Need More Money! This is despite the findings of David Barrett from the World Evangelization Research Center that "the Church in World C (the western Church) spend 99% of its income on itself." Even if wealth did equal "blessing", the last group on earth in charge of redistributing it should be the Western Church!"

"Optimism is impossible, despair is a cop out; all that is left is Christian hope. When all around is creating a grinding despair, perhaps all we have to offer is this Christian hope - that things don't have to be this way"

"If we died tonight, would a poor person give us a letter of reference for heaven? What would the least of these brothers and sisters say about us? Jesus says that this is the litmus test of whether we have joined Jesus or not in this life. Do anything, but don;t miss out on eternal life by making a quick buck on the material treadmill in this life. We are made to change the world, not just change the products we consume."

"The bigger houses, cars and jobs for which people seem to sacrifice everything will not last. One of the saddest illustrations of this in Hamiltons book is a story of a merchant banker who finally agev into his wife's nagging and took a day off work to spend with his teenage son. They spent the day sailing in Sydney harbour and, while it would be the only time they did this, the son was overjoyed. Then the merchant bankers died suddenly of a heart attack a few weeks later. After the funeral, the son searched through his Dad's office diary and looked up the date of their outing. He found only these words, "Wasted Day". Jesus question comes to mind: "For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?" (Matt 16:26) The man lost all perspective of what mattered and what would live on after he died."

Christian Worldview

I'm in the process of reading this book. It's a result of 3 years of study by Barna research in the USA. The fact that it is from the States, which has a very different culture in regards to Christianity than us Kiwis, definitely needs to be taken into consideration when reading the book. My last post, was on my thinking in regards to evangelism and something I read in this book showed why more than ever we need to think about this topic. They list 8 beliefs that they believe show a person with a Christian Worldview:

1. Jesus lived a sinless life
2. God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator of the universe and He still rules today
3. Salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned
4. Satan is real
5. A Christian has a responsibility to share his or her faith with other people
6. The Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches
7. Unchanging moral truth exists
8. Such moral truth is defined by the Bible

I think in terms of Christianity these 8 points are pretty standard. They are even worded in such a way to dodge some more fundamentalists points; such as how creation occurred or how long it took and stressing principles of the Bible not inerrancy. Yet even through the book says of Americans that 65% of 16-29 year olds have made a commitment to Jesus at sometime in their life and that decision is still important to them; only 3% of them embrace the 8 elements above. Yep that's right - 3%. If you think it just a generational thing - then consider that the percentage only raises to 9 with older adults. We are producing shadow Christians. Is it because we settle too quickly for tick this box - say this prayer - you're in - discipleship??? Although this book is American, I wonder if NZ results on this would be any different. For more on the book, here is s link to Paul Windsors blog where he writes more on the book and has other links in regards to the book. I'm hoping to take Paul's advice and do a series on the topics risen by the book at our little evening service 'The Station'.

Til next time
D

Evangelism

I've been thinking about Evangelism a lot over the last few years, and still have a lot of thinking to still do. For a long time, evangelism has simply been based on these few things..

- We're all sinners
- Sinners go to hell
- Jesus can save you
- Say this prayer
- Well Done You're In.

While there is nothing wrong with this (I mean the Roman Road is called the Roman Road cos it's all from the Book of Romans), after a few years of youth pastoring and seeing youth and kids response to this message I wonder if we are selling them short. To often the life change or even on going commitment that comes from this message is 'zip' - 'nothing'. It's like God forgives me of my sin - I'm still going to heaven - so what's it got to do with me changing now? Recently, I've been reading a lot of NT Wright, (or Tom Wright they are the same person)and trying to get my head around the new perspective on Paul. That's another topic, but in reading one of his books "Surprised By Hope", he has a section on evangelism and makes three vaild points. Before I share his 3 points through - two things that help you know where he is coming from.

Firstly: Wright defines the gospel as "(it)is the proclamation that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead and thereby demonstrated to be both Israel's Messiah and world's true Lord. 'The gospel is not 'you can be saved, and here's how,; the gospel, for Paul, is 'Jesus Christ is Lord'. (Quoted From Paper "New Perspectives On Paul - 2003). Wright gets this from Rom 1:3&4.

Secondly: Throughout 'Surprised By Hope', Wright has emphasied (rightly I believe) that God's plan is not to destroy earth, while Christians float to a cloudy, harp like heaven. Rather, his plan was always to redeem creation and the hope of Christianity is life in a 'new heavens and new earth'(see Rev 11:15 & 21:1,2). So in short this side of the hedge matters - earth matters - what we do here matters.

So here are Wrights points on Evangelism, which are actually presented from the angle of 3 problems that are avoided. but I re-word slightly here - (Surprised By Hope - pg 240ff)

1/ Christianity should not be presented as a saying no to all the 'good' things of earth. In other words, it is not about waiting to die and go somewhere better. Sure there are things on earth we need to say 'no' to. But, we need to realise Christianity is not 'let's forget about earth and all it's problems (ie...poverty, enviromental crisis etc) and focus on heaven'.

2/ Christianity is not primarily about a personal relationship with God. Sure it is part of it, but it's not the be all and end all. To quote Wright: "Seeing evangelism and any resulting conversions in terms of new creation means that the new convert knows from the start that he or she is part of God's kingdom-project, which stretches out beyond 'me and my salvation' to embrace, or rather to be embraced by, God's worldwide purposes".

3/ Putting Christianity in this context - ie...the Jesus Christ is Lord - Makes it clear that behaviour in the here & now matters. To again quote Wright: "There have in the past been some kinds of evangelism which have implied that the main thing is to sign on, to pray a particular pray which results in the assurance that one is safely on the way to heaven - and which have failed to mention, to the frustration of pastors and teachers who try to look after such 'converts', the fact that following Jesus means just that, following Jesus, not ticking a box which says 'Jesus' and then sitting back as though it's all done."

Sure a lot of this shows the difference between a decision and a disciple. Maybe we settle to quickly for decisions and don't work hard enough towards disciples? Maybe, given that social justice and the environment are such trendy things at the moment - presenting Christinity as not only are your sins forgiven but you're signing up to work with God to make this world a better place, may actually be very appearing to todays 20+ especially? Maybe this post is way to long already and I should I simply stop writing - it did at least help me clear my head?

Til next time
D

Parachute 09

Here is my little review of Parachute 09 for what it is worth (which probably isn't much)....

Big Ups.....

- Weather: as a youth pastor who is always getting his BBQ washed out due to rain - Parachute sure is doing something right, they seem to awesome weather year after year.
- Dave Crowder Band: Expection means a lot in music and I went to the festival really looking forward to seeing Dave Crowder Band and I wasn't disappointed. (well I was a bit see below) Great 'short' set.
- Ruski: had our first youth group member (well ex-youth group member) play at Parachute. Well done Abby and Ruski, was a great set.
- Losing the "text to download this song" from the powerpoint song words during worship times. That was marketing a bit too much.

Ups

- All the other major acts - Kutless: were great, Family Force 5: not really my sort of music but the energy they all produce from the stage is amazing, Dave Dobbyn: what can one say, he is a Kiwi icon. Casting Crowns: clear that the main aim of their set is to get across a message, which is fine by me - but did make for a talky set. (note I didn't get to see them on Monday Morning).
- No big surprise acts this year. I did see Chris Cope and Season Pass that I haven't heard before and they were good. I enjoyed the Mumsdollar set on Mainstage more than I've ever enjoyed them in the past. Shooting Stars were great, if a bit awkward due to the funny programming that had them on just before Family Force 5. My wife's a big fan of Julia Grace, so we caught one of her acts.
- Speakers: due to being on the kitchen crew and helping serve lunches, I didn't get to hear many speakers apart from the main meetings. None were bad - persoanlly I really enjoyed Tim Costello and have a few of his CD's so i can listen to the seminars of his I missed.

Downers

- Some sets - in particular Dave Crowder Band - were too short. I have the DVD of Crowder's Remedy tour and it is quite a bit longer. He was only given one spot that was only a little over an hour long. Personally another 15-20mins or even just an encore would have been great. There were heaps of cool Crowder songs that we never got to hear.
- Manna Bookstore: Actually shouldn't be to hard on Manna here cos they are a businness trying to make money. But it is not often I can walk around a bookshop tent and not want to buy anything. The Manna Bookshop was full "Pop Christianity". A sad reflection on the state of Western Christianity that at a festival like Parachute, few books from the leading thinkers were present. The gap between Pop Christainity and the more academic thinkers is widing and I think its a serious concern for Western Christianity. I did buy a good looking book called 'Silent Legacy' put out by the Maxium Institute.

Overall, I enjoyed Parachute - I reckon I've only ever missed 3 ever since they started on a farm just out of Wellington, back when it was called 'Mainstage'. A great weekend.

Til next time
D

Tenth Avenue North

hi there just listen to a few of these guys songs. While the music is very mellow and acoustic - their lyrics have an honesty and depth that is not often I believe in Christian music. For you broadbanders have a listen.....

NLT Study Bible

Hey all, I just recently got a NLT Study Bible. I really like the NLT translation; it's just so readable. So I get my new Bible and I'm looking at some of the notes, and I get to the note on 1 Cor 11.3. The text of 1 Cor 11.3 is "But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God". Now this is a much debated verse; the debate centred on the meaning of the word "head". We see this debate in the textual notes which shows that the word 'head' could be replaced with the word 'source' or 'is responsible to'. The study notes however say: NLT gives the literal reading head of, which is a methephor for either source or authority. The immediate context and Paul's overall teaching both favour understanding head in the context of authority. Personally, I have to admit I think NLT Study Bible has got this wrong and a lot of Biblical Commentators agree with me (such as Gordon Fee, NT Wright, Walter Kaiser, Millard Erickson and more). There are people that argue that the concept of authority is present in this verse, I agree with the writers above that the word is better understood as 'source'. The point that I'm wanting to make in this blog is that translators acknowledged the debate surrounding this verse. Why didn't the study notes? I have no problem with someone viewing something different from me. In fact, I readily admit in gray areas, that I could well be wrong. But given the abuse (I use that word on purpose) that the Church has dished out to females over the years through the misreading of this verse and others, surely an acknowledgment that 'leading Biblical scholars' read this verse differently should have been added in this study note. Anyway, theres my wringe.

I do wish note though with that said. I do like my Study Bible.

I got the cloest thing I've had to a complete all clear from my Hodgkins Cancer today. Still need to have 6 monthly scans to make sure that it doesn't try a comeback, but for now, all is good.

Also been on a mission trip to East Timor. Biggest thing that hit me this time was the state of the High Schools over there. They are a mess - seriously. I'm not meaning the teachers or education set-up; I don't anything about them. I mean the buildings and grounds that kids try to learn in. The missionaries that we support and work with have set up a Pre-School which is far better equipped than any of the High Schools we saw over there. Will blog more on Timor soon - for now it's bed time

Til next time
D