Baptist Magazine v132 n5

Baptist Churches of New Zealand

v.132 † no.5

BAPTISTMAG.ORG.NZ

HURT IN CHURCH

I believe in the

Church

IT’S ALL ABOUT RESTORATION OUR TRIPURA STORY

FOR IN ONE SPIRIT WE WERE ALL BAPTISED INTO ONE BODY 1 Corinthians 12:13

October/November 2016 NZ $3.90 (incl GST)

A GLORIOUS MESS

The greatest journey

†

What is a Christian response to war? Part II

†

Life-changer

Subscribe for

$20

for six issues each year!

Save 15% on the retail price ($3.90 each) and get free delivery to your home.

PLUS GO IN THE DRAW TO WIN THE SERVANT QUEEN AND THE KING SHE SERVES

Visit baptistmag.org.nz/subscribe

Visit us online

SIGN UP TO OUR WEEKLY EMAILS TO KEEP YOU POSTED ABOUT WHAT IS NEW EACH WEEK ON OUR WEBSITE. SIMPLY VISIT BAPTISTMAG.ORG.NZ AND ENTER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. BE CHALLENGED, EQUIPPED AND INSPIRED ON YOUR FAITH JOURNEY.

4 24 CONTENTS

7 Editor Sarah Vaine Art Directors Andrés Carrió with Junie Jumig | WindsorCreative

Global Mission Greg Knowles Business Manager Daniel Palmer __ Contact

FE ATUR E

I believe in the church..................4 A glorious mess...........................7 RE SO U R CE

R E VIE WS

Equipping you...........................10 RE FLECT IONS F R OM C RA I G VE R NA L L

Hurt in church..........................11 D I SC I PL E SHIP

The greatest journey..................14

Editorial sarah@baptistmag.org.nz Churches in Action jill.hitchcock@baptist.org.nz

FA M I LY

NE WS

.................... 16

Advertising advertising@baptistmag.org.nz Website baptistmag.org.nz Facebook facebook.com/baptistmagazine Baptist Churches of New Zealand PO Box 12-149, Penrose, Auckland 1642, New Zealand Telephone 09 526 0333 __ Printing Image Print, Auckland

YO U TH

&

FA M I LY

Life-changer.............................24 C U LT U R E

What are we fighting for?

Part II........................................26 LE AD E R SHIP

It’s all about restoration............29

Photography shutterstock.com, lightstock.com and Junie Jumig __ The NZ Baptist Magazine is the magazine of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand.

GLO BA L

MISSION

God at work................................ 33 Our Tripura story..........................34 Thoughts from Steve Davis & Mission World ........................ .36 D I RE C T ORY

Distributed through local Baptist churches in NZ and dependent on their contributions. Registered with POHQ as a newspaper. ISSN 1176-8711. A member of the Australasian Religious Press Association.

GLO BA L

.......................38

MISSION

Mission Day 2016 & Opportunities to serve….................39

29 21 A word from the Editor: How do you react when you hear the word church? Has church for you been a place of great relationships and encouragement?

Or is the very word tainted by your bad experience? This issue of Baptist Magazine is themed around the church—as always, we only scratch the surface here. But a theme has emerged again: For all our differences and struggles, we are called to something higher, together. We are called to draw near to God as one and allow him to shape us—embodying Christ!

For those who have been hurt or struggled with conflict, I hope the articles addressing these areas might be a starting point towards healing—we do not seek to trivialise these struggles, only to encourage you to keep going. Some of the topics here are difficult issues—the beauty of being on this journey together is that we can take time to reflect on these with others. We need to! We need to be the church. ~Sarah Vaine

v.132 no.5 † 03

Baptist / F E A T U R E

Church I BELIEVE IN THE

Joining in with the life of the Trinity

04 †v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

I

It’s no secret that church attendance is falling.

Arguments rage about what we should do to regain the size and status we once had.

But in the midst of all these debates and challenges, hope has not failed us, as Greg Liston explains.

’ve just finished reading yet another article on what the church is doing wrong. There seems to be an awfully large number of articles on this subject! One author even ironically comments that the only thing actually growing in the western church is literature on its decline.1 And all these articles are startlingly, even depressingly, similar. Beginning with an outline of some of the many problems facing us—declining numbers, ageing congregations, divided attention, diminishing mission interest—they go on to provide pragmatic and sensible solutions. We need to be more organised, more attractive, more relevant, more innovative, more polished. We need to “do” better. The problem is us, these articles say, and we have to lift our game.

What’s wrong with what’s wrong with the church?

The articles I’ve been reading are not wrong. Well, not entirely. The stark and rather unpleasant reality is

THE CHURCH IS A HUMAN COMMUNITY T H AT T H R O U G H THE SPIRIT PA R T I C I PAT E S I N T H E T R I N I T Y. CHURCH IS THE GIFT OF JOINING THE INNER LIFE OF GOD!

that while the church in Asia, Africa, and South America is growing rapidly, its more established western counterpart is experiencing an everaccelerating loss of size, status, and significance. So those depressing articles certainly start with a valid point. A number of alternative voices are pressing back on their pragmatic conclusions, however. These commentators argue that before we even begin to think about what the church does, there is a much more fundamental question that needs to be answered—the question of identity. Because the biggest problem with the contemporary western church is that she has forgotten who she is. And this is where the church’s deepest challenge actually lies—not in working out what we can do better, but in remembering who we are.

Could it be that the western church’s loss of size, status, and significance is actually a huge opportunity? Perhaps through our growing weakness we can rediscover what we seem to have forgotten—that the church is not primarily an influencer in society, not even a moral improvement society for the struggling, but rather a profoundly and irreducibly supernatural institution. Perhaps we can begin (or begin again) to view the church not principally as a human organisation, but one that is fundamentally and foundationally constituted by God’s Spirit. In other words, the church can and should be much more about who we are (by God’s grace), and not so excessively focused on what we do (through our own effort).

Church is a gift These two different ways of thinking about the church mimic my experience. Over the past fifteen years I have pastored in two churches (separated by three years of Ph.D. study). Both were remarkably similar communities—

wonderful, vibrant, mission-focused, full of good people who love God and love each other. But the best word to describe my first pastoral stint would be “stress,” while the primary characteristic of the second is “joy.” It is not the communities that are different. It is me. Because while I was studying, an incredible truth sunk into my spirit—a truth that I probably should have realised many years ago—that the church is not primarily a responsibility, but a gift.

Here’s the way I see it now.

There is this God, this Trinity, these three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And together they form this extraordinary community. The relationships between the persons are like the closest friendship you’ve ever had, at its very best moment, on steroids. The Bible says that the three Trinitarian persons indwell each other, that they do everything together. They’re so tight, so close, so in tune with each other that instead of being three different minds, there is only one.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be part of a community like that? Imagine the love. Imagine the comradery. Imagine the acceptance.

Wouldn’t you love to be part of something like that? Well, you are.

You are! Or to put it more accurately, we all are. For that is precisely what church is. The church is a human community that through the Spirit participates in the Trinity. Church is the gift of joining the inner life of God!

Joining in Here’s another way of saying the same thing. The church is in Christ.

The church and Christ have been united together by the Spirit. That’s what the Spirit does. He makes us one with Christ. But Christ is in God. Christ is united with the Father by the Spirit. So if we are in the church, and the church is in Christ, and Christ is in God, then we are in God. What that means is that all church activity

v.132 no.5 † 5

Baptist / F E A T U R E

is about joining in with something that is already happening. Worship?

Through the Spirit, we join in with the ever and ongoing adoration and love that the Son pours out to the Father.

Mission? Through the Spirit, we join in with the Son’s ever and ongoing proclamation and demonstration of the Father’s love for the world.

And joining in is just so much more manageable than if it all depends on us. In fact, it almost sounds like fun.

And that’s not the end of it. There’s more. The beauty of what God has arranged is that as we enjoy our life in God, as we join who he is and what he is doing, our church communities here on earth begin to reflect his eternal community. As we participate by the Spirit in this intimate Trinitarian union between the Father and the Son, our churches shine with the love and life of God. Isn’t that exactly what Jesus prayed? “My prayer is that they may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:21-23).

Participation not position I believe in the church. Even with all of our flaws and our failings, and despite all of our current challenges, I genuinely think the church is something that is worth believing in.

And I’m not the only one. The early church fathers more than 1500 years ago explicitly included the phrase, “I believe in... [the] church,” in the Nicene Creed. This clause, in probably the most profound and significant statement of faith ever written, is all the more remarkable when you realise that the only other things the creed encourages us to believe in are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

But neither the early church fathers

06 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

nor I believe in the church because of our proud history, our inspiring leaders, our world-shaping impact, or our transforming potential. We believe in the church because it is God’s church.

God’s presence in us makes the church something that can be trusted.

The great Mennonite theologian Stanley Hauerwas says the primary task of the church in the world is simply to be the church.2 I think he’s exactly right, and I wonder whether we in the (increasingly and incredibly pragmatic) Kiwi church could do with being reminded of that. Perhaps our current challenges can help us to remember that our significance has never come from having an influential position in society, but rather from our humble participation in God’s inner life. Because if being church means that we get to join in with the life of the Trinity, then surely it is something worth learning to believe in and enjoy.

Story: Greg Liston Greg lectures in systematic theology at Laidlaw College and pastors at Mt. Albert Baptist Church. He has one beautiful wife, two incredible children, two hefty Ph.D.’s and cooks awesome roast potatoes.

Michael Jinkins. 1999. The Church Faces Death: Ecclesiology in a Post-Modern Context. (p. 12). New York. Oxford University Press.

2 Stanley Hauerwas. 1983. The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics. (p. 99).

Notre Dame. SCM Press.

1

TAKE OUTS 1. Do you believe in the church? What would need to change (in you or your church) for you to believe in it?

2. Does thinking about church involvement make you feel excited or weary? Do you think the church is primarily a gift or a responsibility?

3. What could you do to make your church involvement something that you deliberately and proactively enjoy?

4. If you think of worship and mission as joining in an already ongoing divine activity (rather than something that depends on us to initiate and deliver), is your attitude towards, and involvement in worship and mission altered?

5. What do you think Hauerwas means when he says the primary task of the church is simply to be the church? Do you agree? What could this look like? What would you be doing more… or less…or not at all?

A Glorious Mess Sharing in the eternal worship of the triune God

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.”

How do you respond to these six words? Alan Burnett reflects on our response to the beauty of God.

“H

oly, holy, holy is the Lord.”

In these six simple words, we have revealed to us the cornerstone of heavenly worship, of what worship at the feet of the

Lord looks and sounds like. These are words revealed to us in two instances. The first is in the prophetic writings of Isaiah as the prophet details a vision of the Lord, high and exalted, being worshipped by seraphim in the heavenly court.

The second is in the book of the Revelation of John, where a very similar scene is witnessed and reported. As with Isaiah, John is

called into the heavenly realm and sees before him the throne of the Lord with creatures surrounding him. Again, those same six words are declared, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.” Reading it, one could almost believe that John and Isaiah witnessed the same moment—beside each other yet unaware due to the glory that was before them—but we will come to that later. In the first

v.132 no.5 † 07

Baptist / F E A T U R E

instance I wish to identify what these texts, and the revelation they provide us, say about worship.

Drawn to the beauty of the Godhead If we are to take seriously the vision that both Isaiah and John share with us through Scripture, then we must also take seriously their clear description of worship.

They show us that before all other things, true worship is the recognition and adoration of the beauty of God, a reality that can only lead us to fall to our knees.

For many this will not come as a surprise. In one way or another, it is the beauty and glory of God that brings us to worship.

Through our experience of creation, of relationship, of love, but fundamentally through our experience of grace, we witness some measure of that glory and can do nothing other than praise God. But does this adoration always find its way into the worship of our community’s life? If we, in all that we do as the people of God, could see the throne of God before us in all moments of our gathering— would it change how we practice things, how we treat the moment, and how we treat one another?

In human life, when we encounter

True worship is the recognition and adoration of the beauty of God, a reality that can only lead us to fall to our knees.

08 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

beauty we honour it by recreating it.

In the world of art this is particularly true. When an artist encounters a glorious vista, they begin to copy it, trying to capture some essence of its beauty to share with others.

When that same artist finds a beautiful person they do much the same, feeling that they cannot see this alone and honour it—such a beauty must be shared by all.

Do we as the church really try to replicate, depict, and express the beauty of God in our life together?

Or do we primarily try to reach a demographic, cater to a niche, or hit the nerve of potential converts?

That is not to say that sensitivity to those things is not important, but it is to say that at the heart of our worship and our community resides the glorious throne of the Lord; not the angels, not the prophets, and not the people who worship him.

Our communities are called to be a beautiful expression that captures something of the glory of God, and our worship, like the moon to the sun, is called to reflect that glory to those in the darkness.

Worship that was, and is, and is to come I mentioned earlier that the similarity between the visions expressed by the Prophet Isaiah and John of Patmos could lead to the idea that they were in fact in the same moment at the same time.

The biblical scholar in me would likely argue that John deliberately alluded to Isaiah in his writings, and through the placement of the twenty-four elders, who could be martyred Christians, offers hope to his fellow Christians who may have been facing persecution. (This extends on work by Simon Woodman, who argues to identify the elders as the church, but also throughout his book notes the importance for John of recognising them as martyrs as he was writing to churches where some had died for their faith.)1

However, the reality still stands that this is an image God gave to John and so we must look beyond the convenience of authorial intent to a spiritual truth that may lie behind it. In this case I believe we are called to see the untiring reality of heavenly worship, but also that heavenly worship is forever only a moment— a moment we also join every time we worship.2 Let me explain.

Heavenly existence is something that is outside of time and space.

It exists in a dimension that is timeless and eternal, never starting and never-ending. For the human brain, this is incredibly hard to digest. Our linear brains trap us in time, but heaven dwells outside of it.

To accept this means that for heaven, our yesterday is not chronologically different from our tomorrow; our eighth century BC no different to our first century AD. This would suggest that our centuries of worship, our countless Sundays, our multiple moments of praise and thanksgiving, are to heaven only ever one moment!

The profound nature of this rests not so much in that information, but in what follows from it. It means that in every moment of worship our voices join with the voices of those seraphim loudly exclaiming, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.” It means our offering of praise and treasure is matched by the casting forward of the crowns from the twenty-four elders. And it means that our moments of revelation are matched by the overwhelming sight the prophets experienced standing before the throne.

That is all well and good, you may say, but what does it change?

In honesty, not a lot. However, it should deepen our experience of worship if for no other reason than that it brings our hearts rest to know that when a choir or a singer can’t quite hit a note, or a pastor

OUR COMMUNITIES ARE CALLED TO BE A BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSION T H AT C A P T U R E S SOMETHING OF THE GLORY OF GOD. can’t quite say a prayer, the angels in heaven sing just a little louder.

Broken things for broken people, holy things for holy people At the beginning of this article I noted that Isaiah’s response to the worship of the seraphim and the presence of God was to be made aware of his own lack of holiness.

To be given an audience by God is an overwhelming reality, but as the church it is one we often take lightly.

A reality and knowledge that should bring us to our knees, often does not impact us deeply.

We who are blessed to join in the worship of a God who is eternally worshipped by angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, often have the audacity to boast how our worship is better than another kind or that of another church. We who have met the beauty of the Lord in grace, arrogantly declare that we are the holders of all truth and have contained this God, whose robe

could fill the temple, to the exclusion of other brothers and sisters.

In six simple words from Isaiah and John of Patmos we have the reset button to our frustrations, our weariness, and our judgements.

As we share in the worship of the apostles and prophets, of the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, let the acclamation “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord” ring clearly in your spirit; let it transport you above the brokenness of our human fellowship to the place that God calls us—the throne room of heaven. For all its brokenness, its messiness, and its frustrations, the church shares in a glory that is unsurpassed in the world and that goes beyond any one fellowship, any one church, and even any one time; to that which is at the centre of all true existence—the eternal worship of the triune God. __ Story: Alan Burnett The Reverend Alan is the Priest in Charge of the Anglican Parish of Whangarei. He has twice co-hosted the joint youth celebrations at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, this year involving Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian and Wesleyan Methodist young people.

TAKE OUTS 1. What do the six words from the Prophet Isaiah and John of Patmos, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,” mean to you?

2. What is true worship?

3. What brings you to worship God? 4. Is worship an individual or corporate act?

5. What impact could the worship described here have on you and your church and in what ways could your church community explore this together?

6. What do you think about the comment in this article that heavenly worship is forever only a moment that we also join every time we worship? Does this change how you see worship?

7. What could you learn from the ways that

Simon Woodman. 2008. The Book of Revelation. (p. 95). London. SCM Press.

2 Adrian Langdon. 2012. God the Eternal Contemporary: Trinity, Eternity, and Time in Karl Barth. (pp. 107-108). Eugene. Wipf & Stock.

1

other churches and denominations worship?

Baptist / R E S O U R C E R E V I E W S

BOOKS

EQUIPPING

The Pastor – EUGENE H. PETERSON Reflecting on decades of pastoral ministry, Peterson challenges what success looks like for churches. He argues there is no blueprint for a successful church— that each church needs to make their own story, in their own context. He is a proponent for authenticity, a champion for the vital, central place of prayer, and reminds us of the privilege that it is to see the mystery of God’s work in lives. Highly recommended.

Lead Small GAME

– REGGIE JOINER AND TOM SHEFCHUNAS How do you lead a small group? This short book specifically supports leaders of small groups for children and youth. It reinforces the value of serving a few, encourages intentionality in seeing others built up, and importantly it looks at how leaders can partner with parents in discipleship. A great practical resource.

Exploring Ecclesiology The Aetherlight: Chronicles of the Resistance - SCARLET CITY This online adventure game is designed to engage pre-teens with the redemptive story of the Bible through a powerful allegorical story set in the fantastical steampunk world of Aethasia (think Narnia but for a digital generation). In a high quality, safe, and fun environment, players embark on quests with their friends to restore the land of Aethasia, solving puzzles and battling evil automatons, while picking up clues about the Bible stories they are participating in.

An additional Companion Engines app offers more in-depth Bible connections, and Tyndale Bible Publishers have just released The Aetherlight Companion Bible, to help young players understand the Scriptures underpinning the game. There is a YouVersion Bible reading plan, and parents get regular emails outlining what is happening in the game with ways to open conversation with their kids about the adventure God is calling us to. The game is free to download and begin, but players will need to buy each episode to follow the full story. Group packages are available. See theaetherlight.com for more information.

10 10 † v.132 † v.132 no.5 no.4 baptistmag.org.nz baptistmag.org.nz

– BRAD HARPER AND PAUL LOUIS METZGER Set out in succinct chapters, this book considers the identity of the church and its relationship to God, reflects on what God’s kingdom might look like, explores the relationship between church and culture, and provides balanced reflections on what it means to be missional, women in leadership, and church discipline. Engaging input for today’s church.

VIDEO

Basic – FRANCIS CHAN This seven-part series looks at some fundamentals of Christianity. What does it mean to fear God and follow Jesus? What might authentic church and discipleship look like? How could God work through Spirit and prayer-filled lives? Chan poses challenging questions that could alter our lives together. Would your church engage in this discussion?

PODCASTS

Did you know that heaps of churches have their sermons available online?

Here are five of our favourites. Thank you William Chong for helping with this.

Hastings Baptist Church: hastingsbaptist.org.nz/index.php/grow-serve/sermons Rangiora Baptist Church: rangiorabaptist.church/sermons Wellington Central Baptist Church: central.org.nz/multimedia Eastgate Christian Centre: eastgatecc.org.nz/podcast Bethlehem Baptist Church: bethlehem.org.nz/all-sermons

hurt

Baptist / R E F L E C T I O N S F R O M C R A I G V E R N A L L

in c h u r c h

Why do people get hurt in churches and what can we do about it?

This month we approached Craig Vernall, our Baptist National Leader, to reflect on hurt in church life. Craig sometimes has to get involved with the fallout when things go wrong in our churches. He shares some of his learnings and reflects on this sensitive subject here.

M

aybe it’s because church promises so much: A place where Jesus is preached, hopes and prayers are valued, relationships are deep and rich… all this seems like a little bit of heaven on earth and creates an environment where we become open and vulnerable. Then wham! The ideal is broken. Someone disagrees with you strongly and comments are taken personally, another jumps to your defence and takes on the offence. Then a bit of history raises its head of where someone has done something similar.

People take sides, lines are drawn, and a feud has begun. The summary

becomes... “The church has hurt people...again.”

Do you know anyone who has been hurt by someone or something in church? If you ask them about church attendance, a familiar story emerges of how the church has hurt them. Because of this, there is a lack of church participation. There might still be a belief in Jesus, but even as they share this, you can feel the strain in their voice and see the pain in their eyes. Yes, they have been hurt and it still hurts.

The following article attempts to address some of the issues surrounding the hurt that results from commonplace interpersonal conflict.

I’m not seeking to address the issues of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or spiritual abuse. These important subjects need their own forum.

Why do people get hurt in church?

Church, by definition, is a place where sinners go. We know this at a theological level. But not everyone accepts this at a personal or practical level: We all need to accept that we

can intentionally or unintentionally do wrong, with other people becoming our victims. Equally we can become the victim of someone else’s sin.

Maybe every church needs a hazard warning stating: “Beware—within these walls are sinners. See your Bible for details.”

The Bible makes this potential for hurt to occur very clear to us. Genesis 1-3 provides its own hazard warning to the human race concerning our sinfulness and our potential to cause hurtful harm to one another. Deceived and fallen, cast from the garden, the first family saw murder between siblings as a result of their sinfulness.

Let’s get this right: Cain didn’t become a sinner because he killed Abel. Cain killed Abel because he was a sinner.

We are born with the capacity for sin.

That’s the legacy of our first parents Adam and Eve. Even within a New Testament covenant where I’m “born again,” I still have the capacity for sin. Romans 7 tells us through Paul’s experience that even during the sanctifying process of becoming more like Jesus, we’re all going to wrestle

v.132 no.5 † 11

Baptist / R E F L E C T I O N S F R O M C R A I G V E R N A L L

with making righteous decisions. Paul says, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate” (Romans 7:15). Therefore, maybe I too should carry a warning label.

I mention the above not to depress us, but to remind us of the biblical worldview that Christians live within.

Without embracing this biblical worldview, we have little capacity to handle the hits that can come from living amidst a community of sinners.

This community is more commonly referred to as the church.

All this to say, it’s really important to have a very defined understanding of our shared sinful human condition— otherwise we remain wide open to being surprised by the hurt others can inflict upon us. When I attended Carey Baptist College, our principal Brian Smith insisted that we didn’t study pastoral care until we’d studied the doctrine of original sin. His rationale was that we had to understand and accept our human condition before we could ever consider how we might help in the healing or restoration process.

This was good advice.

Pastors get hurt too Pastors will quickly learn that ministry life is thwart with challenges that can pick away at the joy of the call.

This is a polite way of saying we get hurt too. After twenty-one years of ministry, there’s very little left in my life that has not either been challenged or had people take offence over—the clothes I wear, the company I keep, where I take holidays, my theology, my decisions, my spirituality, my wife, my children, my integrity… At some point, all of these things have been questioned or challenged.

In addition to this, the sanctity of the confessional means that pastors are at times unable to offer a defence: Pastors can be left looking guilty for something they cannot defend with only God to vindicate certain actions—at these times, God never seems to work as fast as we want him to!

Addressing hurt Churches are places where we learn about God and also learn about ourselves. We like to learn more and experience more of God, but we are often reluctant to learn more about ourselves—especially the tough stuff.

Yet church life is designed by God to create opportunities for personal and corporate growth.

The apostle Paul had no problem challenging the saints of Corinth about their behaviour. Of course some of their behaviour should make a grown man blush: They deserved Paul’s attention and God’s rebuke. But there are two key things that we need to take note of, in order for correction to have any effect.

Firstly, we need a humility that’s centred around a biblical worldview.

We each need to admit that we are sinners in need of ongoing saving.

Every time we sin, we need to remind

ourselves that we are sinners. Thank God for Jesus and the ongoing work of sanctification in our lives.

Secondly, we need to be mindful of the fact that correction of sinful behaviour is made much more difficult if we do not choose to remain in the fellowship we originally chose. Sadly, what is often the case is that someone will leave a church if they’ve been accused of hurting someone. Rather than facing up and working it through, they will find another church down the road. A perfect church maybe?

Those who have been hurt can also leave without allowing for a reconciliation process to be undertaken. Maybe the thought of having to work through conflict is not very appealing, but where do we expect to learn the hard lessons that produce the fruit of perseverance, patience and long-suffering? Certainly not by escaping a difficult situation in the hope of finding a spiritual utopia.

Life is less about what happens to you and more about how you respond to what happens. So changing your setting won’t resolve anything for the long-term.

How then do we respond?

Hurt people, hurt people. That little bit of wisdom has given me the ability to bite my tongue and have a few seconds more to respond when people are saying tough things to me or about me, especially if that person is emotional at the time. How I respond to criticism in that moment

My response is my responsibility.

With good biblical process and humility that acknowledges that we all get it wrong at times, hurt can be minimised and relationships restored.

12 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

is going to largely determine the outcome of that conversation. So each of us should have a strategy that minimises the risk of things being said that may be regretted afterwards.

Let’s look at two scenarios—firstly criticism about you.

When someone challenges you about something you’ve said or done, you need to have a strategic plan that allows your mind to follow a preconceived process. I’ve heard lots of clever ones, like reflecting back to the complainant, “Why me?”

“Why this subject?” “Why now?” But honestly, this takes quite a presence of mind to be so formal in response.

I don’t always have this state of mind, especially on a Sunday morning.

I always figure that time is my friend during a difficult conversation.

I respond by using time to get my thinking clear on the matter being raised. So when confronted I politely say, “Thanks for feeling free to raise this with me. I know it’s always difficult to do this. Could you let me have a few days to consider what you’ve said—I’ll get back to you later in the week and we can catch up and talk again.” I’ve never had anyone not allow me this grace of time.

This grace of time is something I truly need to get my head around problems. My first response may be anything but gracious as I’m sometimes really surprised by what’s being stated. So buying some time allows me to process before God the validity of someone’s complaint. The way my mind shifts over those few days is quite remarkable. If I’ve been hurt by the initial accusation, then I need time to process this and see if there is anything that I need to learn. If it turns out that the accusation is valid, then I need to change accordingly.

If I don’t agree then I have time to consider a gracious response and not an aggressive reaction. What I’m saying is that I know myself well enough to know when I’m vulnerable to saying something inflammatory. My response is my responsibility.

When we’re confronted, the key question I ask myself is whether the issue of concern is a matter of principle or preference. Principle is very important. If someone suggests that you’ve acted inappropriately or your theology is heretical, then this is a matter of principle that needs to be responded to with sincerity. An issue of preference however, is simply a concern about choice. A common issue of preference might be the choice of songs we sing. These choices aren’t issues of principle. Regardless of how strongly someone feels about their preference, it will never become an argument about principle. The difficulty in these sorts of scenarios is that the preference is seen as principle by the one who has strong preferences.

A question of gossip The second scenario to consider is criticism about someone else. The foundation stone for Christian conflict resolution must be Matthew 18:15-17: “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses....”

Sadly, the natural order of things seems to flow away from Matthew 18. If someone has a concern about another member, they will tell someone else their concerns rather than going to the person who has offended them.

This is called gossip. You can make gossip seem virtuous with spiritual language and concern... but it’s still gossip. Matthew 18 says you have to keep the offence between the parties concerned. This gives an opportunity for resolution without escalation.

Everyone wins when conflict is handled humbly and appropriately.

If someone comes to you and tells you of their concerns about another person then you need to suggest to them that we follow Matthew 18.

If they don’t want to do this, then suggest you go with them to talk with the other party. If they still don’t want to do this, then there is nothing you can do to help them except warn them that gossiping doesn’t create an opportunity for reconciliation.

Closing thoughts Church life is a melting pot of broken humanity being formed into Christlike character. It’s an amazing body where people of different strengths, experiences, personalities, and preference mix together around the life changing encounter that is the person of Jesus Christ. Being prepared for potential disagreement or conflict without defaulting into cynicism is a healthy way to build into the life of the church. Everyone belongs in church which means that everyone has the potential to be hurt. So we shouldn’t be surprised when broken people hurt one another in even the healthiest of environments. But with good biblical process and humility that acknowledges that we all get it wrong at times, hurt can be minimised and relationships restored. ___ Story: Craig Vernall Craig is the National Leader of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand.

TAKE OUTS 1. Who or what comes to mind in reading this article?

2. Is there anything you need to do about this?

3. What do you think about the description of gossip?

4. If you have left a church because of hurt, is there anything you can do to work towards reconciliation?

v.132 no.5 † 13

Baptist / D I S C I P L E S H I P

THE G R E AT E S T JOURNEY O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

Some mornings after I wake up, I switch on my radio to hear the news. On the hour the announcer begins, “Here is the news read by [whoever is on that morning].” On reflection it seems most of the news these days is bad or troublesome, however I am going to remind us in this article of some really good news which is worthy to embrace.

I

n Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, he writes: “ ... fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right.

Think about things that are pure and lovely and dwell on the fine good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about ... and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9). It would seem that surrounding ourselves with good news is very much the will of God.

14 14 † v.132 † v.132 no.5 no.4 baptistmag.org.nz baptistmag.org.nz

Now here is the good news. If you have made a definite act of commitment inviting Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Saviour and are attempting to walk in God’s ways, you are on God’s greatest journey and have everlasting life. That’s got to be good news!

Death on the journey Some think this great journey is cut short by death, but that’s not so for the believer.

Death is not opposite to life. Death is opposite to birth. When we have an understanding of death being opposite to birth, it helps us see God’s overall plan for our journey more clearly.

God created us and allowed us to be born, and in his time he allows us to die. If we know Christ as our Saviour, we go back to him—and again in his time, forward in his further

purpose. Jesus said: “I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish” (John 11:25-26). E. Stanley Jones has a beautiful description for death. He says death is “only an anesthetic which God gives while he changes bodies.”1

Leading us forward It’s been said that John 3:16 is probably the best known Scripture in the Bible: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” If we look into this verse, short as it may be, it gives an indication that there are stages in life that lead us forward in this great journey. Let’s look in more detail.

“For God so loved the world that he

D E A T H I S “ O N LY AN ANESTHETIC WHICH GOD GIVES WHILE HE CHANGES B O D I E S .” gave his only Son.” In one word— appreciation. We should have great thankfulness that through the gift and sacrifice of Jesus, who alone has removed our sin, we are now redeemed back to fellowship with our Creator by the salvation Jesus accomplished for us. We are no longer living just physically and intellectually but a spiritual dimension of truth, realisation, and revelation has opened before us.

“That whoever believes in him.” In one word—association. The word “whoever” shows me that I am not alone but there are others who I join with on this great journey. We’re called the church and we need to be all going forward with unity and passion endeavouring to embrace and demonstrate God’s goodness by word and deed.

“Should not perish but have eternal life.” In one word—anticipation.

I am looking forward with hope, expectancy, and dare I say— excitement—to what is guaranteed to all who have begun this journey of faith with Jesus.

Paul also covers these three points very clearly in his epistle to the Colossians: “For we have heard how much you trust the Lord [appreciation] and how much you love his people [association] and you are looking forward to the joys of heaven [anticipation] ever since the gospel was first preached to you” (Colossians 1:3-5).

Shadows and valleys In recent months, circumstances have caused me to look with a little more interest at this area of anticipating the joys of heaven and life everlasting, and I have not been disappointed as I have discovered scriptural

encouragement. Hebrews 13:4 and John 14:2-3 are two such examples, as is Psalm 23:4 which reads: “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and staff comfort me.”

Spurgeon has some noteworthy comments on this passage2 and I want to build on some of his points here: Note the word “shadow” in this verse. Shadow is different from substance. This is important. Say I’m fearful that a dog might bite me.

One day I see what looks like a big animal coming! On closer look, I see it’s only a shadow—I can say, “Hey, it can’t harm me.” Or if there’s a rifle leaning against a wall and I see a disturbed individual walking past, I might think, “What if he picks it up?”

But if it is a shadow, then it can’t harm me. A shadow of a dog can’t harm me and a shadow of a rifle can’t harm me. This Psalm talks about walking “through the valley of the shadow of death.” Jesus died on the cross to redeem us back to God and when he rose in the resurrection, he destroyed death’s substance once and for all. So if I say that “The Lord is my shepherd,” then in passing through the valley (not staying in the valley), that valley is shadow only, with no substance of death to harm me. Also if a shadow is present, then I’m reminded there is a bright light nearby. In John 8:12 Jesus says: “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

Closing thoughts Growing up we were taught that every story needs an interesting beginning, a meaningful middle, followed by a good ending. Well the story we follow has no ending, but three great components: Appreciation of Jesus Christ as Saviour, association with like-minded travellers, and anticipation of a glorious life eternal.

“When John Owen, the great Puritan, lay on his deathbed his secretary wrote (in his name) to a friend, ‘I am still in the land of the living.’ ‘Stop,’ said Owen. ‘Change that and say, I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living.’”3 True, how gloriously true.

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15: 55-58).

It’s good to leave your dying day to a living & loving God as he takes us on life’s greatest journey. Rejoice. __ Story: Jim Hurn 1935 – Forever Jim has been an itinerant pastor with Bethlehem Baptist Church since 2001.

Jim is married to Kaye and since the end of 2015, he has been battling terminal pancreatic cancer.

E. Stanley Jones. 1995. The Unshakeable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person. (p.210).

Bellingham. McNett Press.

2 Charles H. Spurgeon. 1869. The Treasury of David. Retrieved from spurgeon.org/treasury/ ps023.php.

3 John M. Drescher. 1985. Death. Pulpit Digest.

Summer 1985.

1

TAKE OUTS: 1. Does death scare you?

If so, are you able to identify what it is that scares you?

2. What encouragement does this article give you?

3. Is this hope that you can share?

v.132 no.5 † 15

Baptist / F A M I L Y N E W S

A NEW BAPTIST REPRESENTATIVE ON THE CHAPLAINCY DEFENCE ADVISORY COUNCIL

Paul Askin has been appointed to the Chaplaincy Defence Advisory Council as the Baptist representative. His role will be to serve our chaplains, to support and advocate for them, as well as serving our family of churches.

Baptist pastors who serve the kingdom as chaplains tend to fly under the radar as far as churches are concerned, but it is a challenging and sometimes demanding ministry, which God uses in many different ways. Chaplains walk the journey of life with people, and trust that just as happened for two despairing people walking the road to Emmaus, Jesus is revealed along the way.

The desire that this happens is not unique to chaplains of course— it’s ministry that’s normal in every believer’s story. Military chaplains are welcomed into the services environment, to be available to service personnel, representing the gospel.

This is a wonderful privilege and opportunity to serve God. Thank you Ross Horton for your service in this role since 2013.

TINDALL FUNDING SUPPORTS THE BICULTURAL JOURNEY IN MORRINSVILLE

Coming back from twenty years in the UK working with Anglican ministers considering mission in their communities, Phil Pawley found himself called to the community of Morrinsville. What he saw prompted him to do some research into the background of Māori-Pākehā relationships and what he learnt broke his heart. God birthed a new passion in Phil: To see the church develop a new expression of faith community living out the

16 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

FAMILY NEWS

Demand has outstripped capacity, and this year Tindall funding has supported the development of this innovative way of responding to community needs. The foundations being laid here have caused the church to consider how they can be more culturally responsive, but more importantly have brought together local Māori and the Christian community from various churches to work together for a better future for their tamariki (children).

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

Tu and Phil kingdom value of unity while enabling participants to fully express their own cultural identity. Shaneane Totorewa used the imagery of a bridge to describe the bicultural journey last year at the hui: If Māori are on one side of the bridge, and Pākehā are on the other, it would seem Māori have learnt to live on both sides of the bridge while Pākehā seldom leave their side, or at best make occasional forays onto that bridge. Phil’s journey led him to explore learning Te Reo for himself— only he discovered that the one training institution in his community was closing down. Language is key to understanding another culture, so Phil and Morrinsville Baptist Church committed themselves to enabling Te Reo classes to continue. The teacher, Tu, is a Christian and was keen to help. The first class of twenty people was 50% church members.

From this beginning, interest grew so that now, two years later, there are several levels of classes with 66% being attended by local Māori.

Classes cover more than language learning, with components looking at the history of the local area, tikanga Māori (Māori customs and protocols), and visits to important local sites.

Join with Christians around the world on 6th November this year as Open Doors, Barnabas Fund, and Voice of the Martyrs unite us for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).

IDOP brings together churches from many nations with an opportunity for us to put action to our sympathy. Here in New Zealand, Christians may not suffer as much as our fellow believers in other nations. What is our response to the cries of persecuted Christians?

We can stand in the freedom we have to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who suffer for their faith in Christ.

See idop.nz or facebook.com/ IDOPNZ for free resources and prayer materials to aid you in making this day a significant time of prayer.

If you are unable to participate in IDOP Sunday, set aside another time to pray!

THE VANUATU CONNECTION In August this year, Kerikeri Baptist Church sent a team of three to South Epi, Vanuatu, to rebuild a library.

Over the past six and a half years, the church has developed a strong connection with the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, particularly with the islands of Epi and Lamen.

In March 2010 an RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employee) brought himself along to church one Sunday. Following on from that small beginning, and at their invitation, a Bible study for him and his Ni-Vanuatu workmates began at their accommodation each week.

More came to church, and through that and the Bible studies, relationships were developed. In October 2010, a team of ten went from Kerikeri Baptist Church with a family from Motueka Baptist Church and constructed a women’s meeting house in Lamen.

One of the pastors from Kerikeri, and his wife, also visited the villages of many of those who had been in Kerikeri, strengthening relationships,

getting to know their wider family, and preaching in their Sunday services. In 2011 more workers were coming to Kerikeri and a second Bible study began. Since then the workers have increased further and there is a third meeting night for leadership training. We have also developed a good rapport with many of the local employers. There have been eight more trips to Epi, Lamen, Espiritu Santo and Malekula which have included folk from the community as well as those from other Baptist, Assembly of God and Catholic churches. These trips have been building and maintenance, medical, relational, and spiritual in nature.

Bible studies and leadership training have and will continue, and it is so good to have times of worship led by some of the Ni-Vanuatu folk.

There is a committed core of Kerikeri Baptist folk who come to help run the Bible studies, and then there are others who have helped provide transport, hosted meals, led sightseeing, and spent time together recreationally.

The potential for folk to visit Vanuatu with the express goal of helping these folk in their home islands is growing.

God is taking our church on a mission journey that gets more exciting each year and we hope to keep our trips going!

This radio miracle will inspire you, and the booklet is free!

What is a Muslim boy to do when he hears about Jesus on the radio?

“The STORY of KUTA” is the true account of how one boy and his family were forever changed through FEBC broadcasts. Call 0800 433 226 today to get your free copy, or email office@febc.nz

Baptist / F A M I L Y N E W S

IN MEMORIAM

REVEREND LIONEL STEWART was born in Kaikoura in 1937 to Noelene and Ronald Stewart, brother to Bev and Noel. He attended Nelson College as what he called a ‘day greaser,’ eventually taking responsibility as a prefect. Active in the Anglican youth movement, having been a choir boy in the Anglican church growing up, he also swam and played hockey competitively. His life was impacted eternally by his decision to follow Jesus at age seventeen.

Lionel studied anthropology at Victoria University and in his holidays he went to live with a whānau in Gisbourne to learn Te Reo Māori from native speakers.

Lionel met Adrienne at Christchurch Teachers College, and they married in 1965 in Christchurch. They moved to Manapouri Village after the birth of

REVEREND ROSS WILLIAM BEADLE was born 22nd November 1926 in Dunedin. He attended North East Valley Primary School and Otago Boys High School. The family were members of North East Valley Church of Christ, where Ross was fully involved. At age thirteen, he gave his life to Christ one Sunday evening and was baptised.

In 1948, he began a diploma in horticulture at Lincoln College, after which he returned to Dunedin to work at the Botanical Gardens. Soon after this he attended a camp at Gore Main School, where he felt called to enter the ministry.

In 1951 Ross sailed to Sydney to train at the Church of Christ College. He also ministered at two student churches and was involved with mission work and prayer. He undertook an extra year at college to study Greek, and studied

18 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

daughter Karen, where Lionel continued to teach. Their late daughter Anny was born in 1968. In the early 1970s, Lionel began lecturing at Christchurch Teachers College where he was eventually instrumental in beginning Māori Studies 101. He undertook his Master’s thesis at this time. Their daughter Chrissy was born in 1970, sealing Lionel’s fate to be outnumbered by women at home! Adrienne and Lionel started attending St Christopher’s Anglican Church in 1973. Lionel became the People’s Warden and they helped with the youth group there. The family shared trips all over New Zealand with eeling, fishing, swimming, and tramping.

In 1978 they moved to Spreydon Baptist Church. Lionel and Adrienne led a home group, and four years later Lionel joined the staff overseeing the growing ‘house church ministry,’ as it was called then. In 1986 he was called to be Tumuaki (Superintendent) of the Baptist

Māori ministry, based in Pukekohe.

This was a time of promoting biculturalism in churches and marae all over New Zealand. Lionel was also involved in the development of Te Whare Amorangi, a school to prepare Māori for ministry. A family friend said that truly only eternity will show the impact of his ministry. Lionel went on to pastor at Franklin Baptist Church in Pukekohe, and then at Manurewa Baptist Church where he retired.

In 2009 the family eventually all lived in Christchurch together for the first time in twenty-three years—precious times.

His daughters continue: Dad—a man of integrity, principles, wisdom and above all, love. Toward the end, Dad would tell a story about a man who would say, “I’ll see you in the morning” (which really meant until we meet again in heaven). He said this to visitors and to us. Ka ki a taua ki a koe, taua matua, ka kite a te ata.

Dad, we’ll see you in the morning.

tropical medicine and anthropology at Sydney University, while ministering at Epping Church. Between 1957-1965, Ross was at Beverly Hills Church. He also conducted a radio hymn session, lectured, was Secretary of the College Board, and continued with mission involvement. When his father died in 1965, Ross came to New Zealand and began ministering at Rutherford Church of Christ in Nelson. Work included ongoing mission and radio work, and work with young people.

Here Ross met Captain Jenny Renouf from the Salvation Army, who moved to Nelson to care for her sick co-worker.

Jenny and Ross married in 1970 and in 1972, Warwick James Beadle was born. The family moved to Gisborne, ministering there for four years, and then to Mosgiel Baptist Church. 1979-1987 saw ministry at Gore and the family were privileged to care for Ross’ mother before she went to be with the Lord. During 1987, Ross had three lots of major surgery requiring long recuperation, so it

was decided to retire to Temuka. Ross was Church Secretary and President of the Horticultural Society, until this proved too much, resulting in burnout. The Beadles moved to Timaru and joined Wilson Street Baptist Church.

Ross was a man of integrity and prayer—young, old, and many inbetween featured on his prayer list.

He had a passion for the Word of God, exegetical preaching, and intercessory prayer for the nations. He preached his first sermon at twenty, and in January 2016, preached his last at Temuka Baptist Church, aged eighty-nine.

The last few months were difficult as Ross battled aggressive tongue cancer, which claimed his body on the 14th June 2016. The family is so grateful for the wonderful care Ross received and the prayers and support of God’s people. His funeral was a tribute to a life well-lived for the Master. Ross is survived by wife Jenny, son Warwick, daughter-in-law Marike, and grandchildren Hunter and Anamieke.

KNOWING WHEN TO LET GO AND A LEGEND RETIRES How do we know if a ministry has become something that needs to be released? This is a journey that Palmerston North Central Baptist Church (PNCBC) and Te Aroha Noa (TAN) have been on.

PNCBC have partnered with their community since the late 1980s, serving the suburb of Highbury through the work of TAN. TAN today is a vibrant agency offering effective help to families with complex challenges, while also working with the community to empower change from within the community.

In 1989, Bruce Maden arrived at the church, and became team leader of TAN. He led the work for twenty-six years, exploring and researching what our faith looks like in our communities.

He developed a workshop, Creating Transformational Change, that has seen the learning of TAN dispersed throughout other communities in New Zealand.

PNCBC have since set TAN free from the oversight of the church: As services grew, tensions grew between the two

groups as the church was unable to provide appropriate oversight and expertise from within the church. The church became less involved and the cultures of the two groups became increasingly different. TAN needed its independence to continue to grow.

With this independence, TAN has continued to be a place of hope and expertise in transformational change, and the church has been enabled to come into relationship alongside TAN, as a partner. The church has also been set free to re-imagine what it means for them to be involved in their community in a new way, rather than resting on TAN as their expression of community engagement. There is strength and health for both partners.

Bruce will hand over the reins in coming months, but will still be involved.

He is a legend in his area of working with families, and has shown a wonderful model of leadership that allows for ongoing experimentation and change, bringing up new leadership which will now keep the culture and

Bruce and Josie. Josie is a trustee of TAN and is on the Manatū Iriiri Māori national strategic team. philosophy intact. It takes wisdom and discernment to walk journeys like this. May we be thankful for such vision and dedication to what is close to the heart of God. May we all have the grace to allow the Spirit to move in different ways, in different seasons and places.

You can read more about this story at baptistmag.org.nz.

v.132 no.5 † 19

Baptist / F A M I L Y N E W S

SIX GENERATIONS BAPTISED AT CAVERSHAM

Ella Scott In May 2016, Ella Scott was baptised at Caversham Baptist Church in Dunedin. She’s the sixth generation of the Wright family who’ve been baptised at Caversham since her great, great, great-grandfather began attending in 1879. We often talk about the law of the generations—it was good to see it working in a positive way. Here is her testimony.

Earlier this year I had a dream. My family and I were on holiday at a beach.

There were warnings that a tsunami was going to happen and that it was going to

James Wright - Ella's great, great, great-grandfather. be huge. In my dream my family tried to escape even though there was no hope of doing this whatsoever. It was too big.

I remember seeing the tsunami in the distance. At that point I wasn’t scared at all. But there was one thing I was scared of. I thought if this was the day I was going to die, I didn’t think I would go to heaven. As the tsunami got closer and closer I didn’t try to get away from it; I prayed instead. I asked God for forgiveness and apologised for living my way instead of his. At the end of the dream, when the tsunami was so close

that I could touch it, it stopped moving.

It was a test.

When I woke up, the impact of the dream was considerable but I didn’t know what it meant. After thinking it over for a while, I realised that this dream was so true. It was like a switch was suddenly turned on. If I really loved Jesus, I needed to live for him, not for myself.

Growing up in a Christian family, church has always been a big part of my life. Ever since I was old enough to understand baptism I thought I would get baptised some day when I’d learned all that I could about God and once I was ‘good enough.’ But I guess I didn’t really understand it.

I don’t have to read the whole Bible and know everything I can about God, I just have to love him and want to follow him for the rest of my life (which I do).

I would like to acknowledge my Sunday School teachers. These are the people who have put hours of effort into teaching me about God. You work diligently and quietly behind the scenes, but it hasn’t gone unnoticed by me and I want to thank you.

Today I’m getting baptised as a declaration of my faith, my love for God and his Son Jesus, and my desire to follow him for the rest of my days.

LORD, REVIVE US AGAIN!

Char-Le Wang had never thought about ministry in New Zealand, let alone ‘multiethnic ministry!’ He and his wife came back to New Zealand in 2013 from Shanghai where they had lived, worked and served the Lord for seven years.

What brought them back was a sickness and a vision: a vision of Ezekiel 47:1-12 —that the Lord would revive the church of Aotearoa through the living water that he promised and completed on the cross. The Wangs

20 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

sensed God revealing that this revival would be done through the different nations who have gathered into Aotearoa and that there would be connection from the church of Aotearoa, back to the mission field of Asia.

This is the vision of Living Waters, a new ministry launched jointly by the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle and Northern Baptist Association at the Balmoral Baptist Church building in central Auckland. The ministry was

launched in May, initially with eight families from a number of different ethnicities (Japanese, Korean, Brazilian, Chinese, Dutch, Indonesian and Kiwi).

They are currently gathering around thirty to forty adults with ten children and more than eight ethnicities. Praise the Lord!

What they need most is your prayer: “Ask the Lord of the harvest… to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10: 2).

Want to do something different this Christmas?

How about for a person in Eastern Europe?

How about $25 to help fill a Christmas Love box for someone needing hope?

A J O I N T C E L E B R AT I O N !

In 2015, Baptist and Anglican youth in Auckland came together for a combined Eucharist service at Holy Trinity Cathedral. This year, Presbyterian and Wesleyan Methodist young people also joined for an evening which saw around 1000 youth and leaders worshipping God. The evening began with confession acknowledging the times when we have not supported one another from our different denominations. The liturgical response was powerful and the worship, led by St Paul’s youth band and the Northern Presbytery youth choir, drew the congregation further into worship together. Chris Clarke, CEO at World Vision New Zealand, spoke on how God can break into even the hardest of places and situations to bring new hope. A time of intercession saw prayers for our churches, nation, and world written onto leaves which were displayed down one side of the cathedral on ‘trees,’ symbolising our hope in the risen Christ, who brings signs of new life where there has been barrenness. It was an amazing evening of unified worship.

Huge thanks to the team at Holy Trinity for the use of the cathedral, to those who worked to put the evening together, and to those who served on the night.

To donate mwb.org.nz/Christmas or Ph 0800 469 269 (or use the enclosed leaflet)

Thanks very much.

Baptist / F A M I L Y N E W S

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND? WITH CHRIS AND KARLENE LEE

A SEVENTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Reflecting on change

George and Brenda renewing their vows Photo kindly supplied by Southland Express Eastside Baptist Church has just joined with George and Brenda Hicks to celebrate their seventieth wedding anniversary! This wonderful occasion was celebrated with George’s original best men present! What is also remarkable about George and Brenda is that they have been in this same church for the whole of their ninety-seven years.

The celebrations of this month have provided us a chance to consider the changing face of church.

Come back with us and reflect on a time in the 1920s when an evangelistic work was started in a little horse racing and farming settlement called Hawthorndale, just outside Invercargill. It was called the East Road Interdenominational Mission. Brenda was one of the first Sunday School pupils and her mother was the Sunday School superintendent for twenty-five years. It was a time when most people went to church, there was no Sunday trading, and special Sunday best clothes were worn. Sunday roasts were often cooked for lunch after church, and children were expected to remain with the family for the day. Hymns were sung to the proficient playing of an

22 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

organist (or pianist in latter times).

Then in the 1950s, the city council and State Housing Corp planned a residential development in the Glengarry area. The little East Road Church thought ahead and moved from its middle class area into the centre of the new working class suburb, becoming Glengarry Baptist Church in 1962. Hymns were still sung, and there was a strict protocol of how things were done, including fancy chairs, communion tables, hymn books and the like.

Between the 1950s and 1990s, Glengarry Baptist Church amalgamated with another Baptist church, but they found that numbers declined in an ongoing way. In the early 1990s it was realised that the church in its current form could no longer reach the community.

Radical future planning took place and the congregation approached Reverend Brian Kenning at Invercargill Central Baptist Church to help create a new church on the site with a new missional flavour. Can you imagine the challenge it must have been to change the way that things had been done by the people in this congregation for the whole of its

forty years? This was a brave venture and from this Eastside Baptist Church was born. The old church courageously closed. Some of the people went to other churches but some, like George and Brenda, remained. Their new church did not sing hymns or 1970s choruses.

They no longer had an organ or piano.

They used electric guitars, drums and keyboards. It was no longer quiet or ordered as it became more communityoriented, with children running around, and with a change in focus to “belonging before believing.” The auditorium became a multi-purpose hall and not a ‘sanctuary,’ used for activities all through the week.

Yet despite these radical changes, Brenda, George, and many others, have remained faithful to worshipping God here. The songs we sing, the manner of church, the lack of solemnity, reverence, and decorum, the informal dress code… these are not what George and Brenda grew up to expect in church, yet they remain active in church life, even as they have reached ninety-seven years each.

It causes us to wonder whether we will be as accommodating as George and Brenda towards new expressions of church in order to see the kingdom of God advance.

Our country has changed significantly.

The media highlights that there is a drug epidemic, whole families sleep in their cars due to lack of housing, families are fractured, and people are moving into larger cities with less possibility of employment and higher costs of living.

Are we people who only want church to be as church has been for us in this age? Would we prefer this than looking for God’s new ways of meeting people’s needs? Or are we prepared to respond and look for new ways of doing church, to bring those that the Holy Spirit is working with into his community? __ Story: Chris and Karlene Lee Chris and Karlene are pastors at Eastside Baptist Church, in Invercargill.

1 0 0 Y E A R S A G O ­- M Y W A Y W I T H M Y C L A S S

Perhaps it would be as well to give, first, my Motto - "My Class for Jesus." With these thoughts constantly in my mind, I make it a practice to prepare my lesson as early in the week as possible, seldom giving less than two evenings to the preparation of it.

Praying, too, throughout the week that the lesson may be a fruitful one.

I can safely say I never take a lesson book before my Class, but generally have a few written notes to refer to if necessary. With the lesson fresh in my mind, I make a special effort to be always early at School, so that I may have a few moments of silent prayer, in my own Class-room, before the children appear. Praying for God to enable me to speak only the words that He would have me speak. I endeavour, then, to be out in the School-room, and in my seat, before the first bell rings - thus encouraging the children to do likewise, and to give them, also, a word of welcome as they come in. In acquiring the habit of being early, I find, too, that the children have an opportunity of a friendly chat ere School begins, which enables me to know them personally, to know better how to pray, and how to teach. Whilst mentioning punctuality, it is just as well to say that I give prizes, at the end of the School year, for the most number of marks gained. To obtain the full marks, they have to be early, and also learn a verse of Scripture at home during the week, taking a particular chapter, chosen by myself, until each verse is learnt.

Upon entering the Class-room, after the opening exercises of the School, I, first of all, hear the scholars repeat their verses—this, I find, prepares them to sit quietly whilst I pray, and by this time the other Classes, also, have settled down, and quietness reigns supreme. We then read

the lesson through, each taking a verse in turn, and, should there be a verse which seems beyond their comprehension, I explain it as we go along. When the reading is finished, I generally question them as to what we have been reading about, just to see how much they have taken in. Should they be rather doubtful about it, I try and urge them to always follow each verse as it is read, so that they can tell me as much as possible of the lesson before presenting it myself.

I briefly review, then, the previous Sunday's lesson, questioning them also on that, and, if possible, connecting it with the lesson about to be presented. I find, by this time, the scholars are usually interested and eager to listen to the lesson, because they have already taken some part in it. Should the scholars be in a talkative mood, instead of asking them not to talk, I simply stop talking myself. Immediately there is silence. Then I ask if they prefer to talk, or will they let me." Failing to have interested them, I begin by bringing in a few illustrations, or possibly a short story that may be appropriate, and once more gain their attention, and usually manage to maintain it to the end. Having come to the end of the lesson, I bring in the application, and, if time permits, have a heart to heart talk with them. If I feel the children have been impressed, and are in a serious frame of mind, I often close with a brief prayer, and an appeal in the prayer for them to accept Christ as their personal Saviour. Sometimes I find it necessary to take the lesson in a different way altogether, occasionally taking the lesson only as given in the Bible, and explaining verse by verse, and sometimes inviting the scholars to give their opinion as to the meaning of the

verse. On the last Sunday of the quarter, I always ask the scholars to come the next Sunday prepared to explain one lesson each, letting them choose the lesson that has appealed most to them. This being the way I take the review lessons; for the children, I find, often have a favourite lesson, and are usually willing to tell how much they remember of it. At the close of School, I always shake hands with each scholar as I bid them goodbye, with an enquiry as to whether they will be at School the following Sunday. If I may add another word in the way of getting to know the scholars personally, I occasionally invite them out to my home to tea, as I find it impossible to visit them in their own homes, living, myself, a considerable distance out of the town. Should any scholar be absent two consecutive Sundays, I bring the notice before the visiting Sister of our School, sometimes sending, also, a card or letter to the absent one myself. When getting a new Class, the first Sunday I have only a prayer, and, perhaps, read the lesson through, then a talk with the children, as I like them to understand that I not only want to be their teacher, but their friend, also. Thus inviting them to have a personal talk with me at the close of School any Sunday they may feel so inclined. Some, I am glad to say, have been pleased to accept the invitation, and often remained behind to have a confidential talk, which has proved inspiring to both.

This is my way of dealing with a class of girls from the ages of twelve to sixteen years. __ Story: Miss M. Read.

Baptist Magazine October 1916

v.132 no.5 †23

Baptist / Y O U T H & F A M I L Y

LifeChanger

Engaging young people with the Bible today

“I don’t understand what the Bible says… I don’t know if the Bible has anything to say to me today…I know the right answer, but that doesn’t help me in my current situation… If I took the Bible too seriously I’d have no friends!” Are these phrases that you’ve heard, or observed the reality of? Engaging young people authentically with the Bible today can be daunting, but it is an amazing opportunity to wrestle with big questions, go deeper, and walk closely through life with others.

Adrian Blenkinsop, from Bible Society Australia, gives us some ideas to help young people see the Bible as an essential resource for life.

E

ncouraging young people to honestly reflect on the Bible and express their struggles where needed can be a great starting point. Acknowledge the challenges of getting into it.

I often find preconceived ideas about the Bible are based on pop culture and negative media portrayals, which can lead to young

24 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

people approaching the Bible not as something good and life-giving, but as a book that tells them ‘what-notto-do.’

A youth worker who ministers to kids in an inner-city shelter commented that his young people “just find the Bible really threatening.

The language and style of vocabulary scares them. It’s intimidating for them.” Engaging these thirteen or fourteen-year-olds, who may not have the comprehension skills required to interpret and understand what they’re reading, needs leaders to read it with them, inviting questions, exploring the passage together.

Build a culture of questions Lots of research suggests that young Christians need people around them (peers and older) who they can talk openly and honestly with about their struggles and questions. In fact, this is one of the keys for young people not abandoning their faith in their late teens.

I like how Rob Bell reflects on asking questions of God and about faith: “Abraham does his best to bargain with God, most of the book of Job consists of arguments by Job and his friends about the deepest questions of human

suffering, God is practically on trial in the book of Lamentations, and Jesus responds to almost every question he’s asked with… a question.”1 Throughout Scripture we get the picture that asking hard questions of God and wrestling with the tension and challenges of following Christ is actually a part of what it means to follow him— it is in fact a ‘health indicator’ of our faith. If you’re like me and seem to have more questions than answers, then that’s quite a relief to know.

Let’s continue to encourage young people to ask honest, hard questions, and avoid giving easy answers for fear that they might come to the wrong answer. It’s not so much about having the answer as it is about encouraging the journey of discovery—trusting the work of the Holy Spirit.

Know who you are leading A good leader is someone who knows those they lead really well.

I don’t mean they simply know their names, where they live, their birthday, and what school they attend. I mean they know their life situation, their interests, and where they are at in their understanding of God. They know how to really connect with

THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE WE GET THE PICTURE T H AT A S K I N G HARD QUESTIONS OF GOD AND WRESTLING WITH THE TENSION AND CHALLENGES OF FOLLOWING CHRIST IS A C T U A L LY A P A R T O F W H AT I T M E A N S TO FOLLOW HIM. each person. A leader tuned into those they are leading can engage them with characters and stories in Scripture that are pertinent, to help them see how the Bible story engages with their own story.

A friend of mine is a youth pastor in a Salvation Army church. Many of his kids can’t read, or simply haven’t developed the comprehension skills required to understand what they’re reading. When we catch up for a coffee he tells me stories of when he has had to confiscates knives, call the police to break up gang fights, and how he often provides the only healthy meal many of his kids will eat that week. They’re not really interested in sitting through a Bible study.

I asked him what Bible engagement looks like for them. “Oh, that’s easy,” he replied. “I just tell Jesus stories to them. I stand up there and engage their imagination…I try and make these ancient stories of real people in real situations come alive for them in their minds.”

Understanding and tapping into the different learning styles of young people is really important in engaging them with the Bible. It is worth knowing how those in your group learn as this might alter the way you approach exploring the Bible. Here are three styles.

A typical visual learner uses visualisation techniques to remember things. They often have a good sense of direction because they visualise maps and directions in their mind.

Many prefer to read information in a textbook or on the whiteboard rather than listen to the teacher lecture. They also enjoy doodling and drawing.

Visual learners typically use sight words in their everyday terminology.

For example, they might say, “let’s take a look at this,”or, “let’s look at this from a different perspective.” They remember details including colours and spatial arrangements.

Auditory learners learn best by listening and talking aloud. They typically notice and remember sounds.

They are good at remembering things that they hear. They are also good with words and language. They often read to themselves as they study.

They are also often distracted by noise and sounds.

Kinaesthetic learners typically learn best by doing. They are naturally good at physical activities like sports and dance. They enjoy learning through hands-on methods. They typically like how-to guides and action-adventure stories. They might pace while on the phone or take breaks from studying to get up and move around. Some kinaesthetic learners seem fidgety, having a hard time sitting still in class.

Knowing those you lead will help you engage them with the Bible.

Mixing up the leadership I’m hearing from lots of youth leaders the power of investing in peer leaders. Fostering a love of God and Scripture in young leaders creates a ‘flow-on’ effect of positive influence among the rest of the young people.

So the role of the older leaders is to mentor and equip the peer leaders.

Remember also that it isn’t all down to you. There will be friends, parents, pastors, teachers, and others around you who could be a great resource to draw on. Mixing

the input up at times could bring a fresh perspective. In addition, you need to keep being inspired too.

Closing thoughts A good question to finish with might be, how is my approach enabling my young people to hear from God through Scripture? Is the approach encouraging transformation at an individual and community level?

Ultimately, there is no single way of engaging young people with the Bible, but it is worth stopping and thinking what would be helpful. I’d love to hear your ideas. __ Story: Adrian Blenkinsop Adrian is the National Youth Ministry Development Manager with Bible Society Australia. His role is focused around resourcing, training, and equipping youth influencers (youth leaders, chaplains, parents, and Christian teachers) to engage young people with the Bible in ways that lead to transformation.

You can contacted Adrian at adrian.blenkinsop@biblesociety.org.au.

This article is adapted from Adrian’s blogs available at blogs.biblesociety.org.au.

1

Rob Bell. 2011. Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. (p. ix). New York. Harper Collins.

TAKE OUTS

1. How could you foster a culture of questions with those you lead?

2. How could you encourage exploration of these questions together?

3. What is the balance of giving answers and exploring answers together?

4. How would those you lead best engage with the Bible?

5. What shaping questions have you found helpful as you’ve planned your Bible study sessions? We would love to hear your ideas.

v.132 no.5 † 25

Baptist / C U L T U R E

Part II

What Are We Fighting For?

Is there a correct Christian stance on war and conflict?

This is the second article in this series which considers our response to war and conflict.

Having reflected on some gutwrenching statistics, asked why war happens in the light of this knowledge, and looked briefly at what Scripture shows us, Mick Duncan turns to examine three stances towards war.

E

very year I get to lecture American University students and one of the topics I raise is war. As the USA is a nation prone to war, my students are alert, sensitive, and understandably a bit defensive.

After setting the scene, I ask them to position themselves on a spectrum from pacifism through just war, to pre-emption. I have been teaching

26 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

this course for around fifteen years and until recently the classes have been evenly split between pacifism and the just war position. However pre-emption (on the far right), is slowly gaining momentum.

Once students have made their stand, I ask them to divide into respective camps and prepare arguments for their view. Half an hour later the debate begins with the simple request that they fight fairly: It’s not uncommon for these classes to have students whose siblings are in the armed forces, including those who have lost their lives. These debates are about real people.

Where would you the reader position yourself? Are you a pacifist or do your sympathies lie with a just war? What should the Christian position be? Before we

proceed, we need to define our terms of engagement.

Pacifism Pacifism is a most misunderstood position. It is often interpreted as being passive, possibly because Jesus says we are “not [to] resist an evil person” (Matthew 5:39). But is this injunction really saying that in the face of an enemy, the Christian response should be one of non-resistance, letting an enemy walk all over us?

Walter Wink strongly urges us to look at the scriptural context to interpret this verse, specifically Jesus’ comments about turning the other cheek, giving your tunic to a creditor, and going the extra mile (Matthew 5:38-42).

Winks argues that in each of these three scenarios the initiative is being taken away from the aggressor

through an unexpected subversive act.

In the culture of the day, you could only use the back of the right hand when striking out and insulting someone.

Therefore, if you have already been struck on the right cheek, to turn the other cheek means the assailant can only hit you on the nose. In the case of the creditor, the poor person is being asked to give their outergarment and then their undergarment as well. As no undies were worn in the day, this would render the person naked causing the creditor to be shamed by the nakedness of the debtor. Finally, if a Roman soldier forced someone to carry their pack (usually weighing sixty-five to eightyfive pounds or twenty-nine to thirtyeight kg) one mile (1.6km), then going the extra mile would be in violation of military code placing the soldier at risk of military discipline.1

In all scenarios, the response is subversive. This interpretation of Matthew 5:38-42 may be different from how you have read the passage.

What this understanding suggests however, is rather than inaction (which risks a victim-like mentality) or violent reaction (which can escalate a situation), there is counteraction which disempowers the aggressor.

Wink reflects that: “Some readers may object to the idea of discomforting the soldier or embarrassing the creditor. But can people who are engaged in oppressive acts repent unless made uncomfortable with their actions?

There is, admittedly, the danger of using nonviolence as a tactic of revenge and humiliation. There is also, at the opposite extreme, an equal danger of sentimentality and softness that confuses the

uncompromising love of Jesus with being nice. Loving confrontation can free both the oppressed from docility and the oppressor from sin.”2 It would seem that Jesus is saying; by all means respond—even forcefully—but in a non-retaliatory, nonviolent manner.

Pacifism then, might be better understood as aggressive but nonviolent: Killing is never an acceptable option.

Can this work? Māori prophets Te Whiti and Tohu employed nonviolent tactics at Parihaka in Taranaki, when their village was surrounded by troops; Mahatma Gandhi toppled the British Empire; Martin Luther King demonstrated it in America over civil rights; and the Berlin Wall came down in Eastern Europe without armies going to war.

When we lived in the Philippines,

v.132 no.5 † 27

Baptist / C U L T U R E

IF THE CHALLENGE FOR THE PACIFIST IS TO STEP-UP AND DO SOMETHING E V E N AT G R E AT PERSONAL RISK, THEN THE CHALLENGE FOR THOSE SUPPORTING THE JUST WAR POSITION IS TO G E N U I N E LY T R Y EVERYTHING ELSE BEFORE REVERTING TO VIOLENCE. former President Ferdinand Marcos was defeated because Catholic nuns lay down on a main highway in front of oncoming tanks. The tanks stopped within an inch of their bodies and Marcos had to flee. They termed it the bloodless-revolution.

Just war The just war theory, our second position, has strong support from many Christians. Historically it was developed by Augustine and Aquinas.

In brief, it has seven planks.

First, there must be a formal declaration made by a legitimate party. It must be noted that New Zealand did not join the ‘coalition of the willing’ against Iraq because the US, UK and others did not constitute a legitimate body. If, however, the United Nations had come out in support of the invasion, it may have changed its mind. Second, war must be a genuine last resort: Everything

TAKE OUTS!

else must have been tried to resolve the conflict. Third, it must be a just cause with (fourthly) the right intention.

In other words, revenge or greed does not justify a war. Fifth, there must be proportionate means that can ensure (sixth) non-combatant immunity.

Finally, there must be a reasonable expectation of success.

To simplify, a just war must have righteous cause, the means must be controlled, and the outcome predictable. Many will argue that the Second World War was a just war.

If the challenge for the pacifist is to step-up and do something even at great personal risk, then the challenge for those supporting the just war position is to genuinely try everything else before reverting to violence.

Pre-emption Pre-emption, our third position, is a recent development largely because of huge developments in internet and computer technologies.

Increasingly, nation-states can ascertain what another individual, group, or state is about to do. In light of that advance knowledge, they can act before they are acted upon. Technologies enable nationstates to act pre-emptively, to do unto others before it is done unto them.

The Iraq War was supposedly a case in point with ‘the coalition’ claiming their intelligence pointed to weapons of mass destruction.

In July 2016 the Chilcot Report loudly condemned both the US and the UK for basing their invasion of Iraq on faulty, if not dishonest, intelligence. As noted in the first part of this series, the movie Eyes in the Sky clearly portrays the complexities

around intelligence gathering and drone warfare.

What about you?

Where then do you sit? Are you a pacifist? Trying pacifism but going for a just war if pacifism doesn’t work isn’t really an option. By definition, pacifism is always nonviolent and opposed to taking human life in all circumstances. Are you a just war advocate or a supporter of preemption? Admittedly, you can be both. On hearing what another is about to do, you can do everything possible to de-escalate the crisis.

With pre-emption, however, one party usually has the edge and there’s little time to put in place alternative options when it is believed the enemy is about to strike.

Returning to my students, each is asked to declare where they are up to on this issue. We all agree that making this decision in a comfortable classroom with no imminent threat is somewhat artificial and academic.

Who knows how we would act in an actual crisis. But sometimes we need to face pain in the study before we face it on the streets.

So it’s time to declare ourselves.

What about you? Pacifist or just war advocate? To the right of just war and a pre-emptionist if necessary? Where I sit will be revealed in my final article in this series. __ Story: Mick Duncan Mick lectures in Applied Theology at Carey Baptist College and describes himself as a shy, introverted minor kiwi prophet (!)

Walter Wink. 1998. The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium. New York. Doubleday.

2 Walter Wink. 1987. Violence and Nonviolence in South Africa: Jesus’ Third Way. (p.22).

Philadelphia. New Society Publishers.

1

1. How does Wink’s interpretation of Matthew 5: 38-42 cause you to respond? Do you agree with him?

2. What has your understanding of just war been?

3. Is pre-emption a valid option?

4. Take time to pray about these viewpoints. Talk them over with others.

28 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

v.132 no.4 † 28

Baptist / L E A D E R S H I P

IT’S ALL ABOUT

restoration Addressing conflict in church

The church is God’s amazing gift to a needy world. But it’s populated by a whole heap of sinners, who may be forgiven and given opportunities for multiple new beginnings, but are nevertheless fallible sinners— actually just like me and maybe even you. And so from its very beginning, followers of Jesus seemingly on a Spirit-led journey, have fought with each other. If you doubt me, have a good read of the New Testament and see how much of it is devoted to conflict resolution. Such is the miracle of God’s grace that we have been given some treasures to savour as a result of the writings which tell the story of those conflicts.

I

n attempting to share something which may be helpful, I want to cover four major areas. They are prevention of conflict, dealing with conflict, discipline, and restoration.

The story of God’s relationship with us is one of redemption and restoration so that has to be our endpoint.

Both as a Regional Leader in Wellington and National Leader, I worked with a number of churches experiencing conflict.

This makes me cautious in dealing with this important subject as I can appreciate that outcomes were sometimes difficult. There were many times where we were on

a learning curve together and I thank you for that.

Prevention My wife, Lorna, is a medical doctor and believes (like most medics) in preventative medicine so that a healthy body can ward off the attacks of disease. In the area of

v.132 no.5 † 29

Baptist / L E A D E R S H I P

conflict in the church the same principle must apply: A healthy church will be able to deal with conflict when it arises.

The key to this is good leadership at every level—leadership with the right balance of freedom and accountability. I make no apology for stressing the importance of this.

One of the saddest situations I was called in to help deal with had its genesis in a flawed pastor selection process. The pastor under consideration, when interviewed, stated that he’d had major marriage problems which he hadn’t handled well. The search group understandably but sadly, thought, “What a lovely transparent man,” and didn’t follow through rigorously checking his history with regard to relationships. One of his referees, who later admitted that he’d found him difficult, thought he would show some generosity and speak wholly positively about him.

In fact this wasn’t a good move, and within a short time a previously healthy church was divided and lost about half of its congregation, its witness to the local community shredded. Sadly this story has been replicated in a number of churches.

A healthy pastor call process is a must.

A second story concerns Lorna (and then no more to prevent her blushes as she’s a genuinely modest person—and wonderful wife!) In the early years of our marriage I was an associate pastor of a large church near London in the UK. I was working with a great senior pastor, the church was thriving, and so was I. Having observed me in my relationships with fellow leaders and church people generally, one day Lorna said to me: “Do you realize that when you’re talking with people, you don’t give them the opportunity to easily disagree with you?” I was dumbfounded at the time and most probably didn’t allow her to easily disagree with

30 † v.132 no.5 baptistmag.org.nz

me! However, as a potential leader it was one of the most courageous and profound things that has ever been said to me and I’ve passed that story on to many people. At the time, and on a regular basis since, I’ve reflected on that and tried to check how I’m doing. I’m passionate, outgoing, I’ve been physically strong with a strong voice, and when I believe in something, all of my natural strength will come into play. In other words I have a lot of power at my disposal.

Add to that the mana of a number of the leadership positions I’ve held and that’s potentially an intimidating mix. I need to be continually reminded that as a follower of Jesus I am called to be a person whose life displays the “fruits of the Spirit” and not rely on my natural talents and abilities.

Therefore I have learned that selection of leaders demands wise, healthy, honest, rigorous, and Spiritled processes at every level.

In addition, people in leadership need to take responsibility for their behaviour and have an appreciation of the power that resides with them, exercising it with discernment.

Importantly, using whatever helpful tools are available, teambuilding must be taken seriously.

Hybels’ mantra of “character… competence… chemistry”1 is a useful guide in this regard and I’m tempted to add “the greatest of these is chemistry.” They’re all important but you know what I mean. If you have a brilliant set of leaders who don’t gel and they’re not a good fit for the church, then you have problems!

Dealing with conflict Even when we may get a lot of things right in terms of leader

selection, team development, and the rest, there can still be conflict for good reason (Ephesians 6:1018). So how do we deal with it?

Firstly, if you see it coming, act quickly and if necessary seek the right sort of help. Don’t let it fester!

Like most pastors at different times I have been called in to help with marital problems. It’s often a pretty frustrating experience because pride prevents a couple from seeking help early enough.

It can be exactly the same in the church. Guys often have a real fondness for their cars or motorbikes and generally if there is a bad sound from the motor, help is sought quickly. It’s never assumed that given time it will sort itself out!

Act quickly.

This leads me onto Matthew 18:15-17, which is a Scripture I’m personally hugely grateful for.

Here Jesus gives us a process which not only deals with conflict but prevents it escalating. I may be the only person who reacts like this but if I feel I’ve been unfairly treated or have an unresolved issue with another person, I can brood, be kept awake going over and over it in my mind, and possibly be a real pain to live with. Jesus says talk to the other person. In this day and age, can I say don’t do it by email, or worse by text. Phoning is OK to make an appointment, but meet face-to-face.

Repeatedly I’ve found that the person I need to talk to had not intended what my imagination had conjured up and things are put right quickly. With serious conflict it’s an absolute must that parties are brought together, and in the spirit of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 18, there may need to be support people and a skilled person leading a mediation and reconciliation process.

A healthy church will be able to deal with conflict when it arises.

However, one word of caution!

Occasionally I’ve experienced powerful people wanting to use Matthew 18 as a cudgel to beat people around the head with, and to impress with the brilliance of their logic. One of our Baptist movement’s powerful debaters from a previous era was known to say to people who disagreed with him, “I can only assume you haven’t heard what I’ve said”—this is not helpful! Where there is a significant power imbalance, reconciliation between two parties in conflict will need to be set up, with prayer and wisdom.

Secondly, when dealing with conflict it’s essential to listen well to see the truth of a situation. Truth is multifaceted and according to our personalities, gifting, and sometimes theologies, we read situations differently. Some of us may look at a tree and marvel at its beauty in spring or give thanks for the fruit it produces. Another may see firewood for a wood-burner; another material to create furniture with or cladding for a house. Yet another may see it as part of the creative life-giving chain, a gift from our creator God. We need to be able to discern the truth appreciating that people may have truthful experiences of the same incident and remember them differently. If you have the task of trying to discern the truth, it’s sometimes difficult to do so if you are operating alone. I’ve often found it helpful to have someone with me who may see things that I’m not seeing well and help me to form a more accurate picture or diagnosis.

Thirdly, and related to the truth, it’s important to look for life-giving solutions. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Sometimes we can be so preoccupied with preserving our truth, that we lose sight of what is truly life-giving. Way, truth, and life must go together. If I can give an

example and risk the wrath of many who hold to a strongly reformed theology: Some of the great reformers of Wittenburg, Zurich and Geneva—Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin— had a major problem with the Anabaptists, in many ways our spiritual forefathers. They were complicit in terrible persecutions— legalised murder by another name.

Calvin for example, was a great upholder of the truth and lover of order. But with the treatment of the Anabaptists, he and others were acting out of fear and in this instance their truth was destructive rather than life-giving. Looking at the way Geneva operated under the rule of Calvin, with his incredibly tight control, you’re inevitably drawn to the conclusion it contained many of the elements of Pharisaic rule that Jesus came to free his people from.

I realise it’s very easy for me several hundred years on to make a judgement concerning John Calvin and the other mainstream reformers, but our God has got to be big enough to cope with some disorder.

Discipline and restoration At times, discipline will be needed.

Discipline can take a number of forms, but must be treated with care. By being very conscious of good process, discipline can ultimately be life-giving and lead to restoration.

Discipline badly handled can be destructive. I was involved in a situation where a church was beginning to be seriously divided due to the personality of the pastor, and the way his theology expressed itself. The pastor was gifted and there was a strong desire to put in place measures that would see him well supported but also accountable to the leaders of the church. I had been present at a church meeting where agreement had been sought and found over the way ahead.

Being a Baptist meeting,

IT’S I M P O R TA N T TO LOOK FOR LIFE-GIVING SOLUTIONS. a number of people spoke and some doubts had been expressed about the way ahead. I was chairing and although my patience was at times tested, I wasn’t unduly bothered as I was keen for people to have the freedom to healthily express themselves. I was horrified several days later to discover that one of those heading an important pastoral ministry, who had asked searching questions at the meeting, had been stood down without consultation with the leadership group. Looking back I see that as a key moment when the church began to fracture and ultimately lose about half of the congregation. It was tragic.

Discipline is easiest to administer when there has been moral failure as the issue is clear: There will normally be a stand-down period after which, if there is genuine repentance, there will be the opportunity for a fresh start. This is absolutely biblical as God is a God of new beginnings.

Discipline will sometimes be administered in a meeting, whether it is a church meeting or something much smaller. I’ve had to challenge people for bullying or being abusive, and occasionally twisting the truth in a church meeting—I’ve had to make it clear that the behaviour is unacceptable. I haven’t enjoyed it, but it has been necessary. If someone is seen to be acting sinfully in a public context and getting away with it, fellowship is harmed and the integrity of the congregation suffers.

Discipline will always involve making a judgement call, which is a serious responsibility and needs serious prayer backing. It also

v.132 no.5 † 31

Baptist / L E A D E R S H I P

DISCIPLINE W I L L A LW AY S I N V O LV E M A K I N G A JUDGEMENT CALL, WHICH IS A SERIOUS RESPONSIBILITY AND NEEDS S E R I O U S P R AY E R BACKING. needs those who are making the judgement to be very aware of their role and ensure there is proper pastoral care for the person who is being judged. On more than one occasion I’ve had to tell a pastor that I was not there to support him but rather to resolve a difficult situation.

Restoration However, if discipline has been fairly and biblically administered, there is always the possibility of restoration—that must be our ultimate aim. Some of the most uplifting experiences I’ve enjoyed have been standing with someone who is making a new beginning and is joyfully welcomed as they recommence ministry.

There is a great deal more that could be written on this very important area of church life but I finish with a reminder of the beautiful way that we see Peter not only restored, but also given the greatest new ministry that could be imagined in John 21. It’s an amazing Scripture and one that I never tire of preaching on. Peter, with all the evil of the events leading to the cross swirling around him, had denied three times that he was a follower of Jesus—he would have been heartbroken. The risen Jesus takes him aside and three times asks Peter if he loves him.

After each question as Peter responds, Jesus says, “take care of my sheep…feed my sheep.”

By my reading, here is the one we know as The Good Shepherd handing to Peter the responsibility for leading the greatest ministry there is, the one owned by Jesus himself. That is restoration! __ Story: Rodney Macann Rodney is a Baptist pastor and opera singer, married to Lorna.

1

Bill Hybels. 2008. Courageous Leadership: Field-Tested Strategy for the 360° Leader. (p.81). Grand Rapids. Zondervan.

TAKE OUTS 1. Are you struggling with conflict? What principles can you take from this article to help you move forward?

2. If you are a leader, how do you feel about discipline?

How could you develop yourself in this area?

3. How does having restoration as the end goal change your outlook on, and process of, dealing with conflict?

4. One of the challenges for conflict resolution and restorative discipline today, is that when something comes up that needs to be addressed, it is easy to leave one church and go to another one, rather than dealing with the situation.

Harper and Metzger’s Exploring Ecclesiology has a helpful chapter which considers how to address this across churches.

Residential interest rates for church lending.

Term Deposit interest rates benchmarked to bank rates.

Call us today to find out more 0508 (SAVINGS) 728 464 *Westgate Baptist Church

office@baptistsavings.co.nz www.baptistsavings.co.nz

Baptist / G L O B A L M I S S I O N

†PHOTO OF THE MONTH

These children are a part of St Paul’s School, a school in Tripura where, through child sponsorship, New Zealand Baptists help provide children with an education. NZBMS began work in the Indian region of Tripura in 1938 – read about this remarkable partnership in this month’s Global Mission pages.

A W O R D F R O M R A C H E L - G O D AT W O R K

The mandate of NZBMS is to “enable the Baptist Churches of New Zealand to fulfil the Great Commission anywhere in the world that God may direct.” In November 2010, at the Otumoetai Hui, and as a further and direct response to this mandate, we launched Mission World —the resourcing and mobilising arm of NZBMS. Mission World was established to assist New Zealand Baptist Churches and individuals to move forward in their own global mission journey, acting as something of a ‘broker and consultant’ for those seeking to obey their call of God in the best possible way. Through Mission World, we partner with a number of other mission organisations and have created strong and positive links with them. In the Global Mission pages of

this issue of the Baptist you will read something of how God is working through these organisations. It’s a privilege to work with them.

In every issue of the Baptist, we share stories from locations where New Zealand Baptists are currently serving. There is, perhaps, one area less well-known in recent times, yet it is a place where much heritage for us as New Zealand Baptists resides.

In 1938, NZBMS workers were granted permission to live and work in the Indian region of Tripura where we maintained a presence until December 1973 when all foreign personnel were required to leave. This departure of foreigners did not stall God at work, however; almost the opposite. God has continued to have His hand on Tripura and those knowing the Lord have grown in number.

Neither has our relationship with the Tripura Baptists diminished. We remain committed to working with these people in their vision and do so through training, finance, educational sponsorship and development. In these Global Mission pages you can read about our work in Tripura.

The mission heritage of New Zealand Baptists runs long and deep.

God has been faithful and we trust He will continue to be so for the sake of the Kingdom in the places we represent Him. Nga mihi nui. __ Story: Rachel Murray

T OG E T HE R

Rachel is the General Director of NZBMS.

WE

CA N

R E A CH

T HE

WOR L D

v.132 no.5 † 33

Baptist / G L O B A L M I S S I O N

THOUGHTS FROM STEVE DAVIS

MISSION IS SEAMLESS - A JOURNEY FROM EAST ASIA TO EAST AUCKLAND Lyn and I had the privilege of serving in East Asia as part of Tranzsend, seconded to the Hope Urban Ministry team (HUM Team). In a big country, we had the chance to acquire one business (Skyline Language School), and, with Frances our business partner, help begin another (Happy Day Kindergarten), as Rosemary and the Page family arrived to take those businesses to a new level. Those stories are now better told by others, but many people have been impacted with the Gospel since that time.

In Macau, we began a new private medical clinic (Hope Medical Centre), with the graduates of our family medicine residency programme. A joint venture company was formed for this alliance (Health Medical Management) with a local university hospital. Macau grew from seven to now forty-five Casinos during our tenure there, and these businesses responded to the physical and spiritual needs of this expansion. Lyn’s ladies Bible study also became the nucleus of what would become the Oasis International Church.

So what was next, after fifteen years in East Asia?

Upon our return to Auckland, God has called us to two roles – Ethnic and Multicultural National Team Leader (Steve), and together to become the copastors of the new Baptist Church plant in Flat Bush – Ormiston Community Baptist Church (OCBC).

Because the Ormiston community is one third Chinese, one third Indian, and one third everyone else, our Asian experience has been invaluable in building relationships with this culturally diverse community.

OCBC is now 20% Chinese, 30% Cambodian, 30% overseas born Pakeha, and the rest Kiwis. We will celebrate our third anniversary with eight-nine baptisms in September.

We have seen through our ministry journey that God’s mission is seamless – with all the migration and diasporas going on in our planet, mission is now everyone going everywhere. God does not waste our experiences and abilities. He transfers them from one location to another as He expands our circles of influence in other people’s lives. Plus having the cultural intelligence to enter other people’s worldviews has been a key to sharing the Gospel locally. __ Story: Steve Davis Steve is Ethnic and Multicultural National Team Leader for the Baptist Churches of New Zealand.

36 † v.132 no.5 no.2 nzbms.org.nz

Mission World Stories from our partner organisations Mission World was established to assist New Zealand Baptist Churches and individuals to move forward in their own global mission journey. Through Mission World, NZBMS partners with a number of other mission organisations who support members of Baptist churches in their ministries overseas. We asked eight of our partnering organisations to share a little of their organisation’s vision, and a short story from their work. If you’d like to know more about these organisations, a website address or email is supplied.

Interserve (NZ) Interserve’s mission is to see individuals and communities transformed through encounter with Jesus Christ. We serve through word and deed, making disciples amongst peoples of Asia and the Arab World who become co-workers in God’s transformation of all spheres of society.

One of our Kiwi partners serves in a war-torn and strongly conservative Muslim nation. Women are marginalized, and often receive little if any education.

As a nurse, K heads up a training programme in birthing skills and basic healthcare – both for the women themselves but also their menfolk. Recently an old man’s grandchild was born and seemed dead.

But with his new skills this old man was able to revive the child – a life saved by God’s love made practical.

Email talk2us@ interserve.org.nz.

Wycliffe Bible Translators Wycliffe aims to see the Scriptures made available through Bible translation to all peoples in the language they know best. We partner with various agencies so we can work with a community to transfer their language to writing; translate and publish helpful literature; teach literacy in their language; and help them to use the Scriptures in their private and church life – with the goal of transformed lives glorifying God. Becoming a disciple is very difficult for those without access to the words of Jesus in their own language.

Email admin@ wycliffenz.org.

NZ BMS

Mission Aviation Fellowship With a fleet of 135 aircraft in over thirty countries, MAF flies in some of the most challenging places in the world.

MAF partners with hundreds of aid and mission agencies to bring medical care, emergency supplies, teachers, aid and resources to people in isolated communities.

For millions of people living in remote places around the world, even a small accident or minor sickness can leave them cut off from the help they need. Recently, in a remote village in Madagascar, a small girl had a devastating infection. MAF flew mother and daughter to the Africa Mercy, a medical ship, for emergency surgery. Today her wounds have healed and her future is bright.

Find out more at maf.org.nz.

Pioneers New Zealand Pioneers mobilises teams to work among unreached people. At present, it has 3000 workers ministering to 137 language groups in 103 different countries around the globe.

A Pioneers’ couple had been working in Central Asia in a ministry that helped people improve the quality of fruit production in their area. They were devastated when they had to return to New Zealand in early 2016 to undertake chemotherapy for their daughter’s leukemia. Despite the resulting grief and trauma, and having to be away from the country for most of the year, they see God blessing their lives and ministry. Their daughter is recovering and they have received the funds they desperately needed to drill a well, irrigate the orchard and progress their outreach to local people.

Email charles@ pioneers.org.nz.

OMF New Zealand At OMF, we seek to share the good news of Jesus Christ in all its fullness with East Asia’s peoples to the glory of God. We have a heart for Asia and want to share the hope we have with the billions.

Two current candidates felt the call to Japan five years ago, but were side-tracked by study, health issues and a lack of financial support. After asking God “What now?” they realised they could be used to reach Japanese people from within Aotearoa. With the support of their church, they are committed to seeing how God can use them amongst the Japanese community in Hamilton as they connect with mums and university students. Ultimately, they hope to move towards ministry in Japan but are trusting in God, believing He will provide for them wherever they are.

Serving in Mission (SIM) This international mission has multiethnic, multi-skilled teams bringing Christ to places around the world where He is least known.

Julie (Otumoetai Baptist) is a doctor in Nepal, working with local churchbased organisations to bring the good news through holistic ministries. She tells of Nirmala, “forced into marriage, as a young teen, to a husband who beat her and forced her to take drugs with him. When he abandoned her, she was left alone with no home, no job, no hope – and a raging drug addiction.

Through our rehab programme, she became a believer and was set free from addiction.” Nirmala has remarried.

After discipleship training the couple are now serving together in full time ministry in Nepal!

Email nz.info@ sim.org.

Email nz.comms@ omfmail.com.

READ MORE

- G RL EO ABCA HL I N E NW O R L D M GI S TS HI O / Baptist

Tranzsend Tranzsend is the sending arm of NZBMS. We work in education, resourcing, development, church planting and business. within Asia.

Two of our workers, Peter and Lynley, disciple Fai, a teenage girl.

Fai’s father has persecuted Fai and her mother, beating her mother so she couldn’t walk to church, laughing as her mother burnt her hand retrieving the Bible he had thrown into the fire.

However, seeing Fai do well in school and remain faithful to God, his heart has softened. The New Testament was recently translated into the local language and, when he thinks no one is watching, Fai’s father reads his daughter’s copy. There are many like Fai’s father who need to hear God’s Word.

Email info@ tranzsend.org.nz.

WEC WEC (Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ), is a pioneering, faith based mission, seeking to spread the gospel where it’s thinnest and mobilise the local church to engage the unengaged.

“It’s our time to take our place in world mission!” This refrain is being heard by many of our teams in nations that were once the focus of mission work. In Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific, WEC teams are partnering with local churches to train the next wave of cross-cultural mission workers.

Recently, at one such training course, guests from another denomination said, “We can do this too! We have six provinces; we can send at least six missionaries!” All six will be fully supported by the local church of this economically developing nation. God’s mission today is a global church effort!

Email mobiliser@ wecnz.org.

about the work of MissionWorld at missionworld.org.nz. v.132 no.5 † 37

DIRECTORY

is a small 9-room hostel for independent students near to the Epsom Campus of the University of Auckland and is close to many city bus routes.

Rent from $225/week plus food.

APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN FOR THE 2017 ACADEMIC YEAR Phone/Text: 022 685 7144 Email: trinity.house.hostel@gmail.com The hostel is part of the Epsom Baptist Church community.

LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN Y O U R I C H LY, TEACHING AND ADMONISHING ONE ANOTHER

Seeking

Principal LET US HELP YOU THROUGH...

Our dedicated team are available to you 24 hours to help put in place funeral plans.

31 Ocean View Road, Northcote Phone. (09) 489 5737 Email. office@hmorris.co.nz

Gay & Christian?

Ponsonby Baptist Gay & Christian support & discussion group monthly meetings ––––– Tel/Text: 027 279 4461 ponsonbybaptist.org.nz/gay-andchristian-information

38 † v.132 no.5 no.2 nzbms.org.nz

Commencing Term 4 Tyndale Park Christian School is an independent school, from Y1-13 with a current roll of 110 pupils.

We are committed to Christian education throughout our entire curriculum.

The successful applicant should be someone who believes that it is the duty of Christian parents to train their children in a Christian environment. Applicants must be in full agreement with the school's constitution and policy statements, and stand behind them in their contact with staff and parents.

For further details, please visit: tyndalepark.school.nz

Applications accompanied by a CV, personal testimony and references should be sent to:

206 Murphys Rd, Flat Bush Manukau, Auckland 2019 Email: admin@tyndalepark.school.nz

IN ALL WISDOM, SINGING PSALMS AND HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, WITH THANKFULNESS I N YO U R H E A RT S TO GOD

Colossians 3:16

Baptist / G L O B A L M I S S I O N

OUR Wednesday 2 November 9.30 am - 3:30 pm

2016

Dunedin City Baptist Church 19 Main South Rd Concord Dunedin

Come and be inspired as you hear about the work of Tranzsend, Banzaid, Marketplacers, Manatu Iriiri Maori, Mission World and Stand Against Slavery. This also incorporates updates on BMF. Morning tea, afternoon tea and lunch provided at a cost of $14.

An offering will be taken to support the provision of educational opportunities for students at the five student hostels, GEMS, Chandpur School and Tamar, all in South Asia.

For more information and to register, email NZBMF Treasurer Gaileen Payton paytonsplace@slingshot.co.nz or phone 03 358 3257.

OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE

NZBMS through Mission World present the following opportunities to join with God’s mission in our world by joining with Tranzsend or one of our other strategic mission partners.

• URGENT - Medical doctor (Niger) – with SIM for Danja Hospital • Programme Manager (South Asia) – with Interserve to serve with a Community Development Trust and focused on publishing projects • Medical doctors (Papua New Guinea) – with Pioneers for a rural hospital and clinic • IT Specialist (Thailand) – with OMF for the field headquarters and OMF Publishers Thailand • Physical therapist (Burkina Faso) – with SIM • Maintenance Manager (South Asia) – with Tranzsend: a broad range of skills required for a freedom business to help manage building maintenance as well as day-to-day tasks

Making a Positive Difference Through Business

• Agricultural/Erosion projects (Gambia) – with WEC: general assistance and training local boys in welding and fabrication • Home School support teacher (Arnhem Land, Australia) – with MAF: responsible for partnering with parents to create and implement pre-school and school aged curriculum • Teachers (South Asia) – with Tranzsend to support families homeschooling and/or for established English-medium schools.

www.marketplacers.co.nz

For more information and to express an interest email info@missionworld.org.nz or phone 09 526 8446.

v.132 no.5 † 39

Discover how your faith intersects with your vocation.

Studying theology at Carey has allowed me to explore my faith, learn about God, about people and about myself. Theology is so crucial.

It gives you the God-awareness and self-awareness to invest your life in an area that is meaningful and satisfying for you. Otherwise you may find yourself climbing the wrong ladder.

—Santhosh George | CAREY STUDENT Santhosh finished his Bachelor of Commerce degree and was working in the business world, but felt like he had lost sight of the why. Discover yours, come study towards a . . .

Graduate Diploma in Applied Theology Come along to our

Open Day

Tuesday

11 October 2016 8.00am-3.00pm 473 Great South Rd, Penrose, Auckland

For more information contact registrar@carey.ac.nz 0800 773 776

www.carey.ac.nz