Eternity - April 2019 - Issue 101

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Number 101, April 2019 ISSN 1837-8447

Brought to you by the Bible Society

The future church is Asian Why John Smith got on a bike

The pollies who want your vote

Apostle Paul on George Pell

NEWS

HOW TO VOTE: Five parties give their plugs for your votes in this Eternity’s centrespread. they really wanted to be in Eternity. They want your votes. Read carefully.

GRAZIE MILLE: Obadiah was overwhelmed and bashful when lots of people sent good wishes to Eternity for our 100th edition last month.

But he’s grateful to all those who read the paper month by month. Obadiah can report the Eternity cupcakes on last month’s cover were especially yummy, but risked a dire result for your diabetic prophet.

ANNE LIM

2016

Church Attender Voting Pattern

Didn’t vote 12%

When Dinoo Kelleghan worked for a while at the NSW Teachers Federation, her eyes were opened to the powerful forces driving this union machine, and this reinforced her natural tendency to vote Liberal.

“That in terms of how I vote now is something that definitely fed into my thinking because it was my introduction to a world that is so fiercely atheist – and not just atheist but anti-Christian, actually,” she tells Eternity.

As an active member of an Anglican church, Kelleghan found this unrelenting opposition to Christianity hard to stomach.

“I look at Cory Bernardi and his party and I wish I could tip over the edge into voting for that party simply because of what they stand for and that he seems to the kind of person who will go to the wall for it. And you’re not seeing that kind of integrity and conviction anywhere else,” she says.

According to figures released to Eternity by NCLS Research, Kelleghan is typical of the trends in voting among church attenders in Australia.

While patterns differ somewhat by denomination and demographic factors, especially age, Australian church attenders are predominantly conservative in their voting preferences.

There has been a shift away from the Coalition towards minor parties/independents

Voted differently 12%

CATCHY TITLE: “The people with determination” is a new name used for the athletes at the Abu Dhabi Special Olympics, rather than people living with an intellectual disability or neuro-untypical.

Obadiah hopes it catches on.

APRIL 2019

Church voters lean right

Fam First / Christian Dems 7%

AWAY GAMES: Obadiah saw the Christchurch massacre from an odd angle. Your prophet was in Abu Dhabi for the Special Olympics as a supporter/parent.

In an Islamic country proclaiming 2019 to be “the year of tolerance” and an environment where miniskirted Westerners and abayawearing locals mixed in a friendly way, the Christchurch news turned Obadiah’s world upside down. I could not “other” those followers of Islam. They did not allow the events to diminish their welcome.

Liberal / National 41%

Obadiah Slope

Labor 24%

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Greens 2% Other / Independent 2%

over 20 years, but the proportion supporting Labor has held steady.

When as part of the 2016 National Church Life Survey, church attenders were asked for their voting pattern over the past 10 years in lower house federal elections, the breakdown was Labor 24 per cent, Liberal/ Nationals 41 per cent, Greens 2 per cent, Family First or Australian Christians or Christian Democratic Party 7 per cent, and other party or independents 2 per cent. Another 12 per cent frequently voted differently and 12 per cent did not vote at all.

Family First and Australian Christians have become part of The Australian Conservatives.

Catholic attenders were the largest group to vote Labor at 34 per cent, but even Catholics were more likely to vote Liberal/ Nationals with 38 per cent.

Mainstream Protestants (Anglican, Uniting Church, Presbyterian, Lutheran) were most likely to generally vote Liberal/National (50 per cent), and Pentecostals were the most likely to generally vote Family First/ Australian Christians/CDP (18 per cent).

Other Protestants were the least likely to generally vote Labor (13 per cent), and Catholics were the least likely to generally vote Family First/Australian Christians/CDP (3 per cent).

There was a strong correlation between age and the likelihood that attenders generally voted Liberal/National. Some 24 per cent of attenders in their 20s voted for the Coalition, increasing to 57 per cent of those aged 70-plus.

In comparison, the Labor vote was much more consistent across age groups.

The tendency to vote for minor parties and to change voting preferences decreased with age – a trend that is more apparent if the proportion of attenders who did not vote is taken into consideration.

Comparisons with 1996, 2006 and 2011 survey data indicate a decrease in voting for the Coalition, stability in the Labor vote, and an increase in voting for smaller parties/independents.

News 2 In Depth 3, 5 Bible Society 7 The Vote 8-9 Opinion 11-16

From the Editor In this Eternity we hear from five political parties, from Greens to Australian Conservatives – but Eternity endorses none of them. One thing we can say, though, is that at least some Christians will be voting for each of them.

There will be varying degrees of outrage or surprise at that and feisty dinner conversations to follow. Please try to think the best of those you see with the “wrong” how-to-votes on election day. And think of the attractive and most positive arguments for your side if you go on social media, especially Eternity. “Let your gentleness be known to all” (Philippians 4:5) applies at election time, even though Paul knew nothing about democracy sausages.

John Sandeman

Ring now to book your personal school tour (02) 8811 7800

AUSTRALIAN PRAYER GATHERING HEAR FRONTLINE STORIES FROM THE FIGHT AGAINST MODERN SLAVERY

Our keynote is a female staff member from South Asia who has helped officials lead hundreds of rescue operations.

O RD INAR Y PE OPLE EXTRAOR DIN A R Y

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BARNEYS CHURCH BROADWAY, SYDNEY

Main programme 6-9pm Tickets from $20

Register now: IJM.org.au/APG

I N TERN ATI ON AL JUSTI C E MI SSI ON

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IN DEPTH

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John Smith (1942-2019)

I asked God to raise up a minister to the bikers – and he told me to do it

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Five parties who want your vote page 8-9 Don Parham

John Smith on his motorbike in 1987.

JOHN SMITH Rev Dr John Smith went to be with God last month. He was an international speaker, author and founder of God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club International, Concern Australia and St Martin’s Community Church in Melbourne.

Early in 1972, my wife Glena, myself and a few others attended the Sunbury Rock Festival as an informal “mission” group. Some Christians were scandalised – that was no place for a minister!

There, among that druggedup, hedonistic crowd of around 35,000, we found people willing to chat with us. Many responded to the gospel and wanted to be baptised.

One was a biker, a harddrinking, hard-fighting member of an outlaw club, now transformed through his encounter with Jesus Christ. He stood knee deep in the muddy river that flowed slowly through the site to be baptised, while onlookers who had been skinny-dipping lounged around on the banks adding their colourful comments.

After his baptism, the biker, standing in midstream, explained exactly what the gospel of Jesus meant, using simple, non-religious words. The audience was silenced by his sincerity and passion.

Bikers, hippies and anti-war activists had first grabbed my attention a year or two earlier.

I was then an “orthodox” minister on the outside, although beginning to feel drawn towards people on the fringes of society.

While driving towards Bendigo, I passed a bunch of menacing looking outlaw bikers parked by the side of the road. Oddly, I felt a surge of compassion for these guys who no one really wanted to know.

I couldn’t see the local minister making much headway with people like that.

So I began to pray that God would raise up someone able to

get alongside such outsiders and show them something of the love of Christ.

I sensed a reply, “Why don’t you answer your own prayer?” but initially doubted the call. I was far too straight for the job.

Soon afterwards at a Christian family camp, I met Eddie Pye, a youth worker and first-rate stunt motorcyclist. He said, “If you really want to grab the attention of teenagers, you should get yourself a motorbike.” He persisted until, hesitantly, I took his advice.

I then began to chat with a few bikers, some of whom became believers. Despite their apparent toughness, I found they were often vulnerable and lost but searching for a better life.

Also the more I dug into Jesus’s life, the more I was challenged by the way he ministered to the outcasts of his day. I reckoned the bikers had to be the “lepers” of our society. I was becoming increasingly convinced of God’s call to be “the answer to my own prayer.”

Before long, with the support of Eddie Pye and five others committed to a ministry to bikers, I established a reshaped God’s Squad Christian Motor Cycle Club in Melbourne in 1972, adding to our emerging ministry to people who felt alienated from conventional church.

In the early days, it was important for us just to be seen around. We went to places where bikers and other non-conformists met and began to strike up friendships with individuals.

Eventually we began to blend into such scenes. We had good bikes and good riders and wore leathers emblazoned with our club insignia.

We varied our language so they could understand and, while we made no secret of the fact that our values and attitudes were different, we didn’t set ourselves

up to attack them for who they were or the way they behaved.

Nevertheless, as a ministry, we were still outsiders trying to get in.

At the 1975 Sunbury Rock Festival, where diverse subcultures gathered for alternative countercultural activities, that changed. The atmosphere there was tainted by uneasiness and threatened violence: skinheads and bikers were at loggerheads.

After a few early skirmishes between the two, the police tried to solve the problem by booting the bikers out – except for God’s Squad and, strangely, the Hell’s Angels, a tough, aggressive club who had set themselves up as warlords at the festival. We had only recently begun to make contact with them. Some of us had struck up a good relationship with one of their better-known members, who introduced me, as Squad president, to their president. Later they asked us to look after their camp while they went for a swim and we readily agreed.

Word came through that a large group of skinheads were massing for an attack on the bikers. They had baseball bats, metal bars and chains, and they were ready for action. There were two or three hundred skinheads and only 60 remaining bikers, including us.

One of the Angels approached me and asked, “You guys going to fight with us? They don’t give a stuff that you’re Christians. As bikers, you’re going to get it as well.”

We went away to talk and pray and decide what to do. Our reply to the Angels was this: “We’re not gutless wonders. We’ll stand with you. But our egos don’t depend on winning a fight. Our security rests in our belief that the God of the universe loves all of us. So when the skinheads turn up, we’re just going to confront them and ask them to lay down their weapons.”

The Angels were shaking their heads in disbelief at this madness.

They warned us we’d be ridiculed then beaten to a pulp. Moved by Scripture – “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov 16:7) – I said, “I don’t think it’s going to work out that way. We believe God’s with us and that somehow he’s going to sort this out.”

It was getting dark when we joined the well-armed Angels to await the arrival of the skinheads.

To save face, they had to turn up. We sat there for four hours and, to our amazement, nothing happened. I can’t prove it, but it is my belief that God heard our prayers and intervened in some miraculous way. This had the ring of Old Testament times when the Israelites asked God to deliver them from their enemies.

A lot of bloodshed was avoided that night. Also it was an excellent opportunity for God’s Squad to show we weren’t wimps, yet neither were we prepared to compromise our beliefs, even in the face of physical risk. So as “peacemakers” we were “blessed.”

I think our stand made a real

Tim Costello on the John Smith he knew Dean Troth reports from a biker’s funeral Page 14

difference to the way we were viewed in the biker scene generally and among Hell’s Angels in particular. They said, “Look, we don’t buy what you’re selling, but we respect you. You blokes are fair dinkum.”

Countless bikers have since “bought” our gospel message and many have joined us in our ministry. It was never our way to go around Bible-bashing people, handing out religious leaflets or asking them to come to church.

Fear of being beaten up wasn’t the reason; rather it would have prevented communication. We knew we had to earn the right to speak through relationship.

Nor did we deliver immediate directives about how people should behave when they became Christians.

The leaves on some trees don’t fall off in the autumn; they’re pushed off later by the budding of the new shoot. No point in running around pulling the old leaves off to speed up the process.

If the tree’s alive, it will happen.

We just accepted people where they were, nurtured them and saw that principle work out in many lives in due course.

The challenges we face as Christians in today’s increasingly secular society are similar to those we faced in God’s Squad.

Whatever our sphere of influence, we all need courage to identify ourselves as Christians and wisdom to share the good news of Jesus’ saving, transforming power in ways that are suited to that situation.

Adapted for John Smith by Coral Chamberlain from On the Side of the Angels by John Smith and Malcolm Doney, revised edition (K. John and Glena Smith, 2015).

John Smith’s most recent book, Beyond the Myth of Self-Esteem: Finding Fulfilment written with co-author Coral Chamberlain, is available at Koorong.

APRIL 2019

E RIDLEY COLLEGE SPONSORED PAGE 4

Two Christianities We often hear how “post-Christian” Australia is, and the evidence for that thesis is pretty good. But there are also some surprising signs of enduring Christian belief in this country, and some residual respect for the Faith, as well. It is almost as though Australians have two Christianities in their heads.

The story of Australian unbelief is old and well known, going back to the British foundations of the country. Approval for the first church building took quite a few years; the nascent government had other priorities. And when it was eventually constructed, it was soon burnt down in suspicious circumstances.

Some see this as a “parable” of Australian dislike of religion.

Yet, primary documents from the same period suggest that many folk, including convicts, admired and loved the colony’s Chaplain, Richard Johnson, described by one convict writing home as the “physician both of soul and body.”

We also know that people were becoming Christians in those early days. Some Aussies were cynical, and others were very open.

It’s the same today. We all know about the worrying decline in church attendance over the last 50 years. But that decline has slowed in the last decade, and may soon plateau, if not reverse! It is still the case that about 15 per cent of Australians attend church regularly (that means monthly nowadays), making church attendance about as popular as participation in team

John Dickson has been appointed Distinguished Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Public Christianity at Ridley College. sports. On any given Sunday about 1.6 million of us go to church, making public worship more popular than pretty much all of our nation’s best-rating TV shows, and almost three times as popular as ABC Television’s Q&A the following night.

Perception of the church is sadly at an all-time low. A worldwide

Ipsos Poll in July 2017 found that 63 per cent of Australians reckon “religion does more harm than good”. Only two other countries out of the 20 surveyed had a lower view of religion (Belgium and Germany). At the same time, “social capital” expert and atheist Dr Andrew Leigh reports evidence that Australians with

more churchgoing friends are also more likely to say that they could expect financial help from their friends if needed. It seems Australians reckon they can count on Christians for help.

This weird mix of evidence was on display in some remarkable findings published by McCrindle Research a few years ago. It

discovered that among the “Top 10 perceptions” Australians have of Christians are things like “hypocritical”, “opinionated’ and “judgemental”, but also – and these scored more highly – “caring”, “kind”, and “faithful”.

This probably does not mean that some Australians have wholly negative perceptions of Christians, and others have wholly positive perceptions. These are almost certainly the same people thinking two things at once – that Christians are sometimes horrible and sometimes saints. Fair enough!

It seems that Australians have two Christianities in their heads. And their interactions with Christians can easily activate one or other of these perceptions of the Faith. It only takes a hint of mean-spiritedness on our part to activate in the Australian mind the awful caricature of the “bully institution” that wants to “impose its views” on everyone. Equally, it only takes a small act of kindness from a church, or perhaps a gracious word about our Lord, to activate in our neighbours’ minds the wonderful ideal of the Christian who “goes the extra mile” for anyone. And, of course, only this second Christianity truly points to the one who went to the cross for his beloved.

John Dickson is the author of more than a dozen books, and continues to have a wide speaking ministry as a public advocate for the Christian faith. He will begin his role at Ridley College in July.

IN DEPTH

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The future of the church is Asian KALEY PAYNE In Glen Waverley, southeast of Melbourne’s CBD, Adam Ch’ng is starting something new.

His church plant, called Cross and Crown, was launched in January and has a particular focus on reaching the Asian-Australian population in Glen Waverley. “[The Asian-Australian focus] is born out of the fact that most of the people in our launch team are Asian-Australian. And also because we want to reach our friends with the gospel. Glen Waverley is really one of the AsianAustralian centres of Melbourne.”

According to the 2016 census, 34 per cent of Glen Waverley’s population has Chinese ancestry (defined as ethnic background going back three generations).

Compare that with the population of Victoria, where the number of people of Chinese ancestry is 6.3 per cent. Since 2011, the number of people with Chinese ancestry in Glen Waverley has grown by 7.3 per cent.

“Melbourne is growing rapidly,” Ch’ng says. “The harvest really is plentiful, particularly when you look at the different subcultures that are in Melbourne. We need new churches, not just to reach new people but new churches to reach new cultures and new tribes as well.”

Ch’ng and his church team are responding to the changing face of Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, half of Australia’s population were either born overseas or had at least one parent who was, passing the 50 per cent mark during 2018.

It shouldn’t be surprising, then, to find those figures reflected in our churches. The 2016 National Church Life Survey found that 51 per cent of church attenders were either born overseas or have a parent who was – slightly higher than the rest of the Australian population.

While the number of Christians in Australia is in decline (52.1 per cent according to the 2016 census compared with 61.1 per cent in 2011 and 88 per cent 50 years ago), preacher Mike Raiter told a crowd of ministry workers at the 2018 Oxygen Conference: “Asian immigration is saving the Australian church.”

Raiter told Eternity that he based his statement on anecdotal evidence and observations gleaned from many years of ministry including as principal of Melbourne School of Theology. It’s a sentiment echoed by the minister of Chatswood Presbyterian, Jeff Read, quoted in Burning or Bushed: The Presbyterian Church of Australia 40 Years On, as saying the Presbyterian Church in NSW had become heavily reliant on the “magnificent thing [God is doing] amongst Chinese people in Sydney” as well as Korean and Iranian people also in Sydney.

According to NCLS Research, “Census Christians” – the 52.1 per cent of Australians who tick “Christian” in the census – are more likely to be Australian-born than the rest of the population, but those who actually attend church are less likely to be Australianborn.

“This suggests those born overseas are more likely to be active in their faith, especially those born in non-English speaking countries,” posits an NCLS Research demographic profile report.

Cross and Crown church in Glen Waverley, Victoria, was launched in January.

Not only are those from an Asian background more likely to be active in their faith, they are also more likely to be young.

While NCLS Research statistics show two-thirds of the general Australian churchgoing population is over 50, the same research shows that the majority of churchgoers with a Chinese background are under 50 years old.

Adam Ch’ng, who is 29 and second-generation Asian Australian (his parents are from Malaysia), says he believes Christianity has a lot to offer people just like him.

“We inherit from our parents a culture that places a high emphasis on relationships, family, community – that collective sense of belonging,” Ch’ng says.

“But being second-generation, we have a foot in both cultures, the Asian and the Australian, which is much more individualistic. And both cultures assume you belong to the other and both cultures disown you.

“I think that’s where the notion of church as the family of God, and just the simple gospel message, can be quite powerful. Because the gospel says that we are adopted into God’s family, not because we’re good enough, but in spite of the fact that we’re not. Christianity gives you a combination of forgiveness and belonging.”

Steve Chong, the founder of the RICE Movement, agrees there is a cultural distinctiveness to Asian people that “lends itself to church work.”

The RICE Movement was formed to raise up a new generation of people sharing the good news of Jesus. The nondenominational movement has attracted thousands of Asian Australians to its energetic, evangelistic rallies, first in Sydney

and now in Melbourne and Perth, though Chong says he never set out to start an Asian-focused ministry.

“But Asians bring Asians,” he laughs. “That’s how it works – community is how we think.”

Chong is quick to say he truly believes that God is doing a “great work” in Australia’s Asian population.

“We’re going to start seeing more and more Asian people in positions of influence and leadership, so I’m not just interested in evangelistic rallies.

I’m interested in Jesus’ lordship penetrating every aspect of society, and a large cross section of those people [in leadership] are going to look Asian and sound Aussie.”

Grace Lung works with RICE and is also a research fellow with Brisbane School of Theology’s Centre for Asian Christianity. She says RICE has played an important role in offering young Asian Christians a place to call their own.

“They’re dealing with a Chinese context where they feel they’re ‘not Chinese enough’ and then on the Western side feeling they’re ‘not Western enough.’

“The RICE rallies are a place where Asian-Australian Christians can gather together and go, ‘Wow! It’s actually OK to just be me.’”

Lung says a generational clash is going on in many ethnic churches that can leave second-generation Asian Christians feeling confused about where they should go to church. “I think migrant churches have done quite well in helping other migrants and using the church as that place of community, helping migrants to settle into Australia and have a bridge between their home country and their new country,” says Lung, who attends Brisbane Chinese Alliance Church.

“It can be difficult for second-

generation Asians to stay at their parents’ ethnic church because of the sense that you need to conform to Asian values, which are hierarchical and place a lot of emphasis on respecting your elders and being obedient.

“Some people do find that going to a church that is primarily Caucasian can still make you feel like you don’t belong. I don’t think most churchgoers are deliberately racist or prejudiced, but we still get paper cuts.”

Simple questions like “Where are you from?” or statements like “Your English is so good!” are the “paper cuts” Lung is talking about.

“My answers are: I was born here! If you accumulate a lot of those paper cuts, it can hurt quite a bit and it’s tiring.”

Presenting Christianity in a way that allows people to experience the gospel without having to cross racial or linguistic barriers is known as the “homogenous unit principle,” a controversial church growth strategy. The trouble with homogenous evangelism, writes John Sweetman from Bracken Ridge Baptist Church in Western Australia in a blog post for NCLS Research, is “it creates a homogeneous church, and many would see such a church as a distortion of the gospel where there is no such thing as Jew or Greek, rich or poor, slave or free.”

In practice, however, Mike Raiter says that “like attracts like.” While he, too, warns of the potential to be exclusive, Raiter says that if you want to grow a church, targeting a particular ethnicity is “probably the way to go.”

The monocultural nature of RICE doesn’t bother Steve Chong.

“You just work with the hand God deals you. If he’s dealing you all these Asian people, then that’s

what you’re doing! For me, the picture of church at the end around Jesus’ throne is multiethnic – it’s all tribes and all nations worshipping Jesus. That’s where we should be heading for.

“So, I think if you’re doing a monoethnic church or ministry, we need to realise that that’s just a stop on the way towards something better.”

Faith Community Church (FCC) in Perth is one of the largest Asian churches in Australia, with weekly attendance at about 1800.

It has historically been an Asianimmigrant church (fewer than 10 per cent of church attenders are non-Asian), though senior pastor Benny Ho told Eternity that is starting to change.

Ho attributes the fact that half of his congregation are under 50 to the strong discipleship mentality of the church, which he believes might be better cultivated because of the “communal nature of Asian people” and their desire for authenticity and sharing everyday life.

However, Ho warns that not all Asian churches are growing.

There are already signs that fervour for Christianity among Asian Australians is beginning to wane. In an ABC Religion and Ethics article, Sean Lau said, “in 2011 an 18-year-old Chinese Australian had a one in three chance of describing him or herself as Christian. But in 2016, for 23-year-old Chinese Australians – that is, the same group, five years later – the odds were one in six.”

Ying Yee, a minister at Chinese Christian Church in Milsons Point in Sydney, says the need to raise up the Asian leaders for the Chinese churches is becoming urgent.

“A lot of the growth in our church at the moment is coming from Mandarin-speaking Chinese immigrants, and they are enthusiastic but young in the faith,” Yee says.

In many ways, Yee says it is strange to say that Asian immigration is saving the Australian church because a lot of the Mandarin-speaking people who arrive at his church are unbelievers looking for community.

“They’re not Christians yet. But there are a lot of opportunities.

“Finding Mandarin-speaking leaders who can help minister to these new arrivals is going to be really important.”

Even among the second generation, finding AsianAustralian Christian leaders can be difficult.

Mike Raiter says that, in his experience at the Melbourne School of Theology, the challenge is encouraging Asian people to go to Bible college when they’ve come from a context in which parents want their children to be doctors or engineers, not pastors.

“That’s a big challenge for the future: we might have a growing number of Asian people in our churches but a paucity of pastors.”

Adam Ch’ng, in Glen Waverley, knows that pressure all too well.

He worked as a lawyer in a top Melbourne firm and then politics in Canberra before making the decision to go into ministry.

But Ch’ng says that while his parents struggled with his decision to go into ministry, “God has been wonderful in showing our family together how to understand what success really is. In many ways, that threegeneration project can be a gospel investment.”

APRIL 2019

E ALPHA AUSTRALIA SPONSORED PAGE 6

Alpha Australia is pleased to announce that as of May 2019, we will celebrate the 500,000th Australian to have explored faith in Jesus through Alpha.

It’s estimated 24 million people have attended an Alpha course globally and despite the reports of Christianity in decline in Australia over recent decades, Alpha has seen the reverse with over 350,000 people attending over a 20-year period up to 2013. Shortly after this point, a 10-year goal to reach 1 million people was cast.

Melinda Dwight (National Director) says; “13 million Australians identify as Christian in the most recent census but many don’t know what that is. Together we can engage our communities in a faithstretching goal. Whatever people’s background or language, wherever they work, live or study, we can gather to eat and explore faith in Jesus Christ.”

While Alpha has significantly updated its resources in recent years with a new Alpha Film Series and Alpha Youth Series, Alpha’s model remains unchanged. It is an interactive series held over eight to 11 weeks where participants are invited to share a meal, watch a Christian presentation and openly ask questions that the topic raises.

“Alpha is an opportunity for a spiritual conversation; a place where you can laugh together, eat together, ask anything and explore life’s questions. It’s an invitation to gather around a table in community.” explains Melinda Dwight.

Alpha Australia reports that 1260 churches from across every denomination hosted an Alpha in

500,000 Australians explore faith in Jesus through Alpha

More than 1200 churches from every denomination across Australia ran Alpha in 2018.

2018. The number of churches running two or more Alphas per year has also increased, meaning many are doubling their reach with those enquiring of Jesus.

Phill, a recent Alpha participant in Queensland, shares: “The first thing I noticed was that they were very welcoming and very loving. I liked the topics; they opened my mind up. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is probably the best thing I’ve ever done. My world was collapsing around me. I had

lived relying on my own strength.

Now I can lean on Jesus’.”

Phill is representative of the 150,000 who have attended an Alpha in the last five years – bringing the total to 500,000.

People really matter at Alpha.

Each and every person who has come along has their own story of exploring and encountering the love of God. Many have made life-changing decisions during an Alpha series and others are still on the journey.

explore

life faith meaning

#runAlpha

alpha.org.au

The founder of Alpha, Nicky Gumbel, is also celebrating this milestone.

“Alpha Australia, what a story!! Five hundred thousand people have now done Alpha in Australia, thanks to God and the Holy Spirit who’s behind this.

There is something extraordinary happening in Australia which you’re all making possible. As you keep going, you will never know, this side of heaven, the impact that you are having. We love Australia,

we love what you’re doing and we are so excited hearing all the stories of lives being changed!”

Alpha Australia wants to humbly acknowledge and thank the many thousands of church and volunteer Alpha leaders across the country who have helped reach this significant moment. “It is due to the efforts of many people generously hosting, promoting, cooking, inviting and, importantly, praying that have enabled us to collectively host 500,000 people. We are all playing a part, be it sometimes small, in this big salvation story,” said John Lamerton (National Ministry Director).

Most importantly, Alpha Australia offers the highest thanks to God for what he is doing among his Church at this time and seeks his blessing to keep going, to help one million Australians explore faith in Jesus by 2023.

Over the coming months, Alpha Australia will be celebrating with churches, leaders and supporters and we welcome the opportunity to help every church in Australia to run Alpha.

Would you like to help more Australians ask the important questions of life, faith and meaning? Simply go online, check out the free Alpha resources and register your series: www.alpha. org.au For further details or for media interviews please contact: Sarah Clarke EA to Melinda Dwight sarah.clarke@alpha.org.au 0438 407 678 John Lamerton National Ministry Director john.lamerton@alpha.org.au 0400 537 966

APRIL 2019

BIBLE @ WORK

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Now you can be part of the Easter story

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You can receive texts from Jesus’ disciples on their journey with Jesus to the cross, via the #IWILLFOLLOW Easter campaign.

KALEY PAYNE Ever wonder what it was like to be part of Jesus’ inner circle?

“But I am!” I hear you exclaim!

Yes, but what would it be like to have actually been there at the time of Christ, in the days leading up to the moment that changed our human story forever?

Bible Society Australia’s HolyTXT campaign this Easter, #IWILLFOLLOW, will take you right into the action, with live texts from Jesus’ disciples on their journey to the crucifixion of Jesus.

It’s the third year for HolyTXT, which Bible Society CEO Greg Clarke says is a way to invite people

to “belong to the story and discover what it means to follow Jesus.” Last year, more than 4000 Australians signed up to take part.

“We’re really excited that users will have a direct link into Jesus’ inner circle, and remember that they are on the journey to the cross together,” said Clarke.

To be part of HolyTXT, you’ll need to sign up to receive texts on your mobile phone or through Facebook messenger. Head to biblesociety.org.au/holytext to sign up.

For those too young for social media privileges, or phones of their own, there are other ways to engage with the Easter story

this year. Tapping into a child’s love of mystery, Bible Society has developed a little book for children called ‘The Seriously Surprising Story’, designed for preschool and primary school ages.

The lyrical book, with words by spoken word poet Dai Wooldridge and illustrations by Emma Skerratt, tells of the story of two of Jesus’ followers who encounter the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus, as recorded in Luke’s Gospel (24:13-35).

“Children have a strong sense of mystery,” says Clarke. “Any parent can imagine the countless questions that the reading [of this story] would provoke. Why

It’s the biggest story that’s ever been told about Jesus who’s risen it never gets old!”

Greg Clarke didn’t these two unnamed figures recognise Jesus until they sat down to eat? Why didn’t Jesus introduce

Help kids discover the powerful Christ who wants to live in their hearts today.

Visit biblesociety.org.au/story and claim your three free copies* now! * Terms & Conditions Apply

himself? Why did he disappear?

Where did he go? Why did they run back to Jerusalem when they had only just arrived?”

“It’s the biggest story that’s ever been told about Jesus who’s risen - it never gets old!”

As the book describes, the two met with Jesus “in the most surprising way! They shared the story, and we will still share it today.” Bible Society Australia is offering three free copies of ‘The Seriously Surprising Story’ to Eternity readers, while stocks last.

The offer ends 12 April 2019, so to order your books and download the animated video, head to biblesociety.org.au/story

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THE VOTE

Promote love, oppose A fairer and more fear, value creation just society for all

HANNAH RUBENACH-QUINN Greens A nation that bases its highest decisions and policies on fear and retribution rather than on love is undoubtedly a godless nation.

It’s a nation that has slowly and methodically undermined the Christian values we had held so dearly not too many decades ago – the values of a fair-go, of welcoming refugees, of supporting the poor and vulnerable and of being good stewards of our earth.

Australia in 2019 is at a tipping point – the decisions we make as voters (and especially as Christian voters) will put Australia either on a pathway of love, or a pathway of fear.

As a child of the 80s, I grew up in a Christian household with a Vietnamese refugee family living next door. In those days, our nation had a focus on compassion rather than fear. As a young person, I could never reconcile how the “church” could on one hand promulgate love and peace and yet on the other hand persistently instil fear (of other religions/ denominations, of gays, and of our nation losing its “Christian values”).

This failure of the “church” to uphold its own values is now reflected in our government. There is cruel targeting of the poor, the sick, refugees, drug addicts, the unemployed just to name a few of the most vulnerable, alongside an obsession with exploiting our natural resources for quick financial gains, and a focus on money rather than people. The key Christian values of “love your neighbour” and “be good stewards of God’s creation” are being diminished.

Our nation has become a breeding ground for fear – we are afraid of losing our “Australianness,” afraid of illness, murderers, random violent acts; there is fear of food insecurity, of financial losses, of bushfires and floods, of terrorists, other cultures and other nations – we are afraid of each other and even afraid of our selves.

We are no longer a compassionate and welcoming nation. So what values should a Christian be voting on? For me it is simple – it is love.

Imagine if a government treated every person as if they are truly “made in the image of God” – respected, equal, loved and nurtured. Imagine if the government treated the environment as if it is truly God’s precious creation – to be enjoyed, used sustainably, and respectfully cared for by us, the stewards of his creation.

Greens policies promote love and respect of other people. They promote the sharing of our wealth with the less fortunate, giving a generous helping hand to the most vulnerable, a strong social security system, easier and better access to healthcare, education, aged and disability support, and so on. Voting Green, means a voice for the vulnerable and ultimately for everyone to be treated the way Jesus taught we should treat each other – with love.

Voting Green also means caring for our earth and valuing Gods’ amazing creation. Greens policies ensure resources are used sustainably for all generations to come, that technology development

We counterbalance the policies of fear is promoted that will reduce our reliance on limited and depleted resources, and that one of the first instructions given to humans in the beginning of the Bible is upheld – “to be good stewards of the earth,” and ultimately that we respect God’s desire for us to appreciate and not destroy the earth.

Most importantly, I believe Greens policies are the counterbalance to the fear policies that have dominated Australian elections in the past two decades.

The question I ask at each election is “will the person and party I am voting for promote love in my community, in our nation, in our parliament and for ourselves, or are they instead promoting fear?”

If we want our nation to prosper and reflect Christian values, we must vote on compassion, not fear.

The time has come where we as individuals and as Christians must choose – do we want our decisionmakers, our government, to govern out of fear or with love?

Hannah Rubenach-Quinn is a former Greens candidate.

SHAYNE NEUMANN Labor As Christians, we are called to defend the poor, the weak and the oppressed. To stand up for those who are less fortunate than ourselves – to fulfil the second greatest commandment, to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Micah 6:8 says “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Isaiah 1:17 teaches us “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” It’s our responsibility to ensure a fair go for all. This concept is at the heart of the Australian Labor Party.

People deserve dignity and respect – just as Jesus showed us with the woman at the well in John Chapter 4. The Bible makes clear it’s the responsibility of the wider community to help others.

Our community should be there not to just help people during challenging times – we should be compelled to work towards a fairer and more just society for everyone at all times. You see this in Acts Chapter 2, which says “they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

The idea of community is one of the many reasons my wife Carolyn and I attend our local Baptist church. I believe society needs a strong safety net which only Labor can deliver for all Australians.

This is why Labor has committed to reverse the Liberals’ cuts to hospitals by investing an extra $2.8 billion in hospitals.

We will deliver an extra $14 billion for public schools over the next decade, with $3.3 billion extra flowing in the first three school years alone. We can afford these commitments because we’ve made tough decisions to make multinationals pay their fair share.

More and more everyday Australians are experiencing rising inequality – regardless of who they

are or where they’ve come from.

You know the cost of everything is going up in Australia except your wages and a Shorten Labor government wants to fix this to address inequality – this injustice.

We have committed to reversing the Liberals’ cuts to penalty rates, boosting wages for workers and ensuring that the minimum wage is a living wage.

Labor believes in a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.

Christians know we have a responsibility to address inequality in our country and around the globe. As the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, I believe Australians understand our nation can be

Let’s ensure a fair go for all Australians strong on borders and still treat people humanely. This is why Labor supported the Medevac Bill – to ensure sick and vulnerable people currently on Manus and Nauru can get the medical help they need when doctors recommend it – and we’ll accept New Zealand’s offer to resettle eligible refugees who have languished in indefinite detention.

Finally, as Christians, we are called to have stewardship of, and care for, this planet. We must meet the challenges of climate change – something only Labor will deliver.

God is not a card-carrying member of any political party.

It is not my place to tell you who to vote for, but I am thankful for the opportunity to share why you might vote for Labor. I have met some Christians who dismiss the idea of voting for Labor. You may have always voted for another party, or some issues may be a sticking point.

You won’t find perfection in any human institution – you may not agree with all of our policies and we may fall short or disappoint you. But our intentions are true and our heart is with those who need our support, care, and love.

Much as faith, hope, and love are at the core of our being as Christians, Labor’s guiding principles are behind every decision I and my colleagues make as members of the Labor Party.

Social justice, equality of opportunity and a fair go for all.

Shayne Neumann is the federal member for Blair and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

A major part our religious

AMANDA STOKER Liberal-National We are at a crucial point in history when it comes to the place of religion in Australia. Never before have Christian values, and the right to express them freely, been under such attack. This is not political hyperbole. The Greens, Labor and many left-leaning independents have made it clear that they prioritise the human rights of some, such as the LGBTI+ community, over other human rights, such as rights to freedom of conscience, religion and speech.

In contrast, the Coalition understands that Christian values have in large part underpinned the success of our society, and we are determined to ensure that these competing rights are able to coexist. We know that our nation is stronger when people of faith are able to practise their beliefs, able to strengthen their families and contribute to their communities with the kind of warmth and generosity for which they are renowned. They should not be pushed out of the public square.

Standing for religious freedom A vote for the Coalition is a vote for a party and a PM that will stand up for religious freedom. I concede that there are some minor party/independent alternatives that can be trusted as voices for religious tolerance. But these voices won’t form government.

Take Labor’s Sex Discrimination Amendment (Removing Discrimination Against Students) Bill. If passed, this bill would force religious schools to censor those parts of their religious teaching that had the potential to offend someone with a sexual identity that conflicted with them. It would reach into the pulpit, the Sunday school, the youth group, and of course the classroom, and demand that centuries-old teachings be

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ty to protect s freedom modified to comply with modern mores.

Labor and the Greens’ bill would have the effect of making Christian schools little more than privately funded schools with the same culture and teachings as a public school. It would strip parents of their right to choose for their children an education that meaningfully aligns with their religious beliefs.

The Coalition firmly opposes Labor’s bill, and while we have the view that no child should be discriminated against on the basis of their sexuality, that right cannot trump all others. We have proposed a Religious Discrimination Act that would protect the right of individuals to freedom of religion.

That’s not the only reason to support the Coalition. Last year, we delivered an extra $247 million to the National Schools Chaplaincy programme, recognising the valued role chaplains play. Labor has said it would allow schools to allocate NSCP funding to either secular or religiously affiliated staff.

The Coalition’s increased NSCP funding has better equipped chaplains to stamp out bullying in our schools. Labor would prefer to reintroduce its controversial Safe Schools anti-bullying programme.

Rather than giving school workers the tools and skills they need to address bullying, Safe Schools instead introduces radical concepts in the classroom such as that gender is a construct and that heterosexuality isn’t the norm.

The Coalition rightly withdrew federal funding of the Safe Schools programme in 2017.

Protest votes to minor parties and independents almost always benefit Labor.

You may think your vote for a Christian-affiliated party or independent couldn’t end up with Labor, but a look at the 2016 election data shows otherwise.

More than half of the independent vote alone flowed to Labor.

Votes to Labor % to Labor Independent 215,578 56.62 Family First 81,027 40.27 CDP 48,563 27.28 Aust. Christians 11,964 27.73 When seats are won on as little as 37 votes, and when governments are formed on as little as a oneseat majority, giving your vote to a minor party or independent may sit well with your Christian beliefs on election day, but may well end up installing a party into government that seeks to stifle your beliefs.

Amanda Stoker is a Queensland, Senator for the LNP.

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Fight the good fight Judeo-Christian to change our nation ethic is the basis

SILVANA NERO-NILE Christian Democrats The Christian Democratic Party and my husband, the Rev Hon Fred Nile, have been vigorously fighting for the past 37 years to support the Australian people with a voice and to help sustain the way of life that made our nation so great. Our oath to uphold the CDP values has never altered and we will continue to fight the good fight until we see the change this nation so needs: • A free and democratic society with freedom of speech, the rule of law and stable constitutional government.

• To support and strengthen the family unit as the basis of society and responsible parenting with pro-family, pro-child policies. No to euthanasia.

• To stand for high morals and principles in all walks of life and in legislation based on Judeo -Christian ethics and integrity.

A voice for people who are not heard • To foster the principles of

government accountability and responsibility.

• To respect our Australian flag and the values in our heritage, culture and ideals of equality, democracy, merit and justice.

• To advance the cause of social justice for all: the underprivileged, the unemployed, the handicapped, the elderly and the displaced.

• To pursue a sound mind in a sound body by promoting a healthy lifestyle free from any abuse, drugs or harm.

• To expect a high standard of education, social and medical care for all Australians, urban or rural.

• To favour a totally integrated environment for sustainability – that is, social, economic and physical.

• To encourage Australian

ownership of enterprise, industry and capital, and create more sustainable jobs.

• To promote world peace and understanding so that we all can live in peace and harmony and make Australia the example.

• To promote Australia as a Christian Bible-based nation, to increase widespread respect for our constitutional monarchy, Westminster form of government as well as freedom of religion and “rule of law” – one law for all Australians, no Sharia law or Sharia courts.

We will continue to fight against that which we believe to be the destruction of our society and of our great nation. We aim to be the voice for the people who are not heard and are finding it harder to be heard.

We face major social decline: • Drunkenness, drug addiction and gambling are rampant and out of control.

• “Same-sex marriage” to replace traditional marriage.

• Australians are encouraged to practise promiscuity, adultery and homosexuality. LGBTIQ is being encouraged and deemed to be the “norm.”

• Domestic violence, pornography, youth suicide, marriage collapse, juvenile delinquency and crime in general are at historic and alarming high levels.

• Thousands of innocent and defenceless unborn Australian babies are being slaughtered by merciless abortions.

•Euthanasia pushing to become law in this nation.

• Left-wing ideology to undermine the family unit by manufacturing in the minds of children concerns for “gender fluidity.”

Many may not be aware of “The Late Term Birth Abortion Bill” presented by the Greens in 2017.

This abhorrent bill was defeated by 25 votes to 14 through the strenuous lobbying of the CDP. What is horrifying is we see the slaughter of innocent babies right up to birth for any reason now is law in New York. The right to life is the right of all rights, and that inalienable right includes the unborn.

Consequently, Australia instead of being a blessed or a “lucky” country is becoming a spiritually lost country.

Listen to our Lord Jesus Christ; Do what he commanded; “love one another” the way Jesus showed us.

Vote 1 The Christian Democratic Party!

Silvana Nero-Nile is the Christian Democratic Party’s lead Senate candidate for NSW.

LYLE SHELTON Australian Conservatives The 2017 marriage plebiscite was a hammer blow to freedom of speech, religion and the truth about gender.

It is now bigotry, punishable by law, to uphold Jesus Christ’s definition of marriage.

Assert that boys are boys and girls are girls and risk being labelled a “transphobe,” liable to prosecution in an antidiscrimination commission.

To argue that children should, wherever possible, have the love of their mother and father is “homophobic” and again risks legal action. This is unjust.

Just look at the Julian Porteous case in Tasmania, something the Turnbull/Morrison government’s Ruddock review into religious freedom did not even address.

If your wedding magazine only portrays man-woman marriage, you will be hounded from business, as happened to Luke and Carla Burrell of White Magazine.

If you are a photographer who believes in man-woman marriage and dare state this, you will be taken to court. Just ask West Australian Christian wedding photographer Jason Tey. Despite Malcolm Turnbull famously declaring he believed in religious freedom more than same-sex marriage, it has been a conservative government with a Pentecostal Prime Minister that has been unable to secure freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

I don’t blame Scott Morrison for this. He is fighting green-rainbowleft forces in his own party which, backed by the media, are even more powerful than the PM. Christian schools are now the canary in the coalmine with rainbow activists targeting their ability to employ staff who share their Christian view of marriage.

Amid much acrimony – witness Senator Penny Wong’s antiChristian-school outburst in the Senate last December – the Morrison government has kicked

the religious freedom can down the road until after the election.

Labor is now openly hostile to freedom of religion and at its December conference in Adelaide only grudgingly shelved a proposal to criminalise parents who dare to affirm their children’s biological gender.

This was thanks to a courageous campaign by Martyn Iles, my successor at the Australian Christian Lobby, who took on Labor’s so-called anti-gayconversion therapy plan which would have also criminalised prayer.

Many Christians will pin their hopes on Scott Morrison being returned to finish the job on protecting freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Fighting the libs rainbow left While Morrison is sincere in wanting to do this, the dynamics in his own partyroom are unlikely to allow him to put Humpty back together again.

Proof of this was more than half of his Liberal colleagues voting against the very sensible and reasonable freedom of speech and freedom of religion amendments.

Liberal politicians chose to vote on instructions from rainbow political activists who are intolerant of diverse views. To fight for the future of freedom of religion and speech is one of the key reasons I joined the Australian Conservatives under Senator Cory Bernardi.

While we are not a Christian party, we are a party that unashamedly believes the JudeoChristian ethic is the basis for our freedoms.

Despite the heroic efforts of some of their number, the Coalition as a group unit is now no longer able to guarantee freedom of speech and religion.

Too many of their parliamentarians, while agreeing with freedom, don’t have the courage to take the fight to the Greens.

This must change.

Our message is simple. If freedom of religion matters to you, vote Australian Conservatives in the Senate.

Lyle Shelton is Federal Communications Director for the Australian Conservatives and its Senate candidate for Queensland.

APRIL 2019

E CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP TOURS’ SPONSORED PAGE 10

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Easter, the most important event of the Christian calendar, is fast approaching, a time when we commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and celebrate his resurrection.

The story of the Passion of Christ is most movingly portrayed in Oberammergau, a small Bavarian village, where it is staged every 10 years as a testimony to the villagers’ faith and in deference to their vow made to God almost four centuries ago.

In 1633, as the Black Plague swept through Europe, the inhabitants of Oberammergau made a promise to God that if their village was spared, they would honour him by performing the Passion of the Christ every decade. God answered their prayers and the villagers fulfilled their oath with the first performance of their Passion Play staged in 1634.

This historic reason for the Passion Play’s performance serves to reinforce the truth of God’s great love for us. As Christians, we commit ourselves to the Lord and so build our lives upon his trustworthy promises, of which the greatest is his gift of eternal life.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”.

John 3:16 The villagers of Oberammergau continue to take their vow seriously and today the Passion Play is the world’s largest amateur dramatic

Christ’s resurrection is staged as part of this incredibly moving performance. performance; 2000 villagers work on the production, and crowd scenes on stage feature up to 300 people at a time (not to mention goats, donkeys, a camel and

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so on)! Yet despite being billed as an “amateur” production, the professionalism and power of the performances are incredible; you are swept up by the glorious music

and the singing of the large choir and transported back in time to grieve for Our Lord’s suffering and rejoice at his resurrection.

In 2020 the Oberammergau

Passion Play will be staged for the 42nd time.

This is a truly unique cultural event and, as such, is advertised by many travel companies. Yet the Passion Play is so much more spiritually and emotionally powerful when it is shared with fellow believers. Christian Fellowship Tours’ (CFT) motto is “travel the world with like-minded people” and this Australian, family-owned company offers group tours that are fully escorted from Australia by a Christian Tour Leader.

In 2020 CFT is offering seven different holidays that incorporate the incredible Oberammergau Passion Play into their itinerary.

Whether you wish to include it as part of a faith-based tour – Reformation, Land of the Bible or Steps or Paul – as part of a river cruise or a European cultural experience, CFT will make sure your holiday becomes a memorable, spiritual journey. www.christianfellowshiptours.com

MUSIC, PASSION AND REFORMATION 18 DAYS DEPARTS 2 JULY 2020 Oberammergau, Reformation and Classical Composers

PASSION PLAY & EASTERN EUROPE RIVER CRUISE 21 DAYS DEPARTS 7 JULY 2020 Oberammergau & Danube Cruise — Black Sea to Budapest

PASSION PLAY, FOOD & FAITH 26 DAYS DEPARTS 7 JULY 2020 Oberammergau and a Taste of Europe

PASSION PLAY & LAND OF THE BIBLE 23 DAYS DEPARTS 11 SEPTEMBER 2020 Oberammergau, Israel and Jordan

PASSION & GRANDEUR 12 DAYS DEPARTS 22 SEPTEMBER 2020 Oberammergau and Baroque Cities

STEPS OF PAUL HOLIDAY 21 DAYS DEPARTS 22 SEPTEMBER 2020 Oberammergau and the Apostle’s Journey

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APRIL 2019

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OPINION

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St Paul on George Pell Michael Jensen page 15

The 11th way to be a true evangelical is caring about creation and the environment.

Graham Hill on being an “evangelical” “Evangelical. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride, on Vizzini’s use of the word “evangelical.”

I’m an evangelical.

I love the things that evangelicals hold dear – the joyous transformation of personal conversion, the centrality and supremacy of Christ, the power of the gospel, the authority of the Bible and the call to evangelism and making a difference in society.

At its best, evangelicalism offers an extraordinary and compelling vision for life and faith. There are more than 600 million evangelicals worldwide –more if you add Pentecostal and charismatic movements that hold the same convictions as those who call themselves evangelical.

But “evangelical” has become a dirty word in many circles.

It’s become associated with a wide range of negative ideas and themes, especially, but not only, in the United States. There are many examples. Promoting partisan politics. Fearing cultural

change. Rejecting those who do not hold to a rigid form of Calvinism. Embracing nationalism and sanctioning militarism.

Encouraging racial and gender discrimination. Acting as moral police while avoiding real scrutiny.

Equating white middle-class values and lifestyles with the gospel. Avoiding scholarship and independent thought. Conflating capitalism with the Christian good life. Being afraid of science and literature and higher criticism.

Endorsing immoral politicians and forming questionable alliances for short-term social or political gain.

The list is long.

In many circles, evangelicals are seen as jerks, or worse.

The Bible is the highest authority in Christian life; people need the salvation offered only through the gospel and person of Jesus Christ; and God calls us to proclaim Christ and his salvation in every way possible. But none of that needs to be associated with the problems I’ve just mentioned.

So, what does a generous, loving, humble and holistic evangelicalism look like? Or, to put it more crassly, how can evangelicals avoid being fearful, moralistic, politicised jerks?

Here are 12 ways to be truly evangelical.

1. Grasp and respond to a fuller gospel

Evangelicals are passionate about the gospel. But, too often, the gospel is defined in a narrow or prescriptive way. We offer people a small five-point gospel, or something similar. But that’s an inadequate or truncated version.

Evangelicals must care about the whole biblical witness and the whole gospel. There is no gospel without the full biblical story.

God calls us to repentance and discipleship in response to a grand story. This is the story of creation, of biblical Israel and of the Jewish Jesus. It is the story of God, from creation to the final rule and reign of Jesus Christ.

So, what is the gospel? The gospel is the climax of this grand, stunning, defining story – a story that spans history, from creation to the eschaton.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 tells us that the gospel is “of first importance.”

What is the gospel? “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

How does this gospel shape our lives? “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

God calls us to respond to the entire biblical story. In one sense, this whole narrative is both the story of Jesus and the gospel. But, in another sense, the gospel is the climax of that story, as revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

2. Let the Bible lead to a deeper love for Jesus

The Bible is crucial for Christian life. The Bible plumbs, measures, illuminates, adjudicates, enlivens,

inspires, norms and more. The Scriptures are the authoritative word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. They have absolute and final authority in all aspects of corporate and individual faith, ethics, conduct, witness and theology.

Evangelicals must not shy away from biblical authority – we embrace it. Sadly, many Western Christians have a declining passion for memorising and contemplating and interpreting and applying Scripture. I find this deeply concerning. When I serve in Asia and Africa and Latin America, I see the opposite. People are passionate for Scripture. They devour and honour and memorise it. They interpret it contextually, while maintaining a conservative bias. And they apply it creatively and bravely. This is instructive for those of us in the West. We need a revival in our enthusiasm for Scripture.

3. Tear down false divides and really join God’s mission

The missional God has a missional church. The church does not have its own mission. God has a mission, and the church joins that mission.

But is that mission only about personal and individual conversion? Not at all. Since the mission of God includes the restoration of all things in fellowship with God, our mission must be integral and holistic.

It can’t just be about simple proclamation or individual conversion. It includes those things

but isn’t limited to them.

True evangelical life and mission integrates proclamation, justice, healing, creation care, political action, signs and wonders, reconciliation and human flourishing.

4. Welcome culture as a conversation partner

Sadly, evangelicals are often seen as fearing culture and cultural change. We treat culture as the enemy and act out of fear and defensiveness.

Let’s stop treating the culture as our enemy. Culture is our counterpoint, mirror, conversation partner, protagonist, foil, enricher and more. We must be socially and culturally engaged since we are always culturally located. Being culturally engaged and located does not mean being socially and culturally reduced. Instead, we explore where society, culture and theology have enriched, shaped and shackled each other.

Sometimes all these things are happening at once.

5. Seek discipleship in community Evangelicals care about personal conversion. But often our discipleship is too individualistic.

Discipleship happens in community. Community is essential for changed hearts and churches. Churches must seek orthodoxy (renewed beliefs), orthopraxis (transformed continued page 12

pixabay / vinsky2002

12 ways to be a true evangelical

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12 ways

passionate concern for his creation and a desire to heal the planet he gave us.

Creation care is missional. It’s essential to a missional church and theology. And it’s crucial to discipleship. Creation care is a gospel issue. The gospel calls the church to care for the world God has given us to steward well.

from page 11 practices) and orthokardia (renovated hearts). All three need to be dynamic, transforming, lifegiving and integrated. All three are about personal and corporate transformation.

Jesus calls us to discover discipleship in community. God calls us into fellowship with fellow Christians, the gospel, and his sufferings, consolations and hope.

We share this vital fellowship with the Trinity and with all God’s people. A common possession unites Christians. This possession is the divine life and grace offered us in the life, death, resurrection and hope of Jesus Christ. We become disciples together – not individually or alone.

12. Seek a generous, humble and loving evangelicalism

6. Listen and learn from many voices

7. Unite Spirit and word and justice Why are so many evangelicals nervous about the work of the Spirit and also about social justice? We need an evangelicalism that unites Spirit and word and justice.

In Matthew 22:23-33, Jesus is engaging the Sadducees in a debate about marriage at the resurrection. He hits these religious leaders hard with these words: “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” It’s clear that Jesus thinks that these religious leaders don’t even know what the Scriptures say about the resurrection, let alone the power of God to do supernatural,

unsplash /duy-pham

Lesslie Newbigin writes, “We need the witness of Christians of other cultures to correct our culturally conditioned understanding of Scripture.” It’s as true to say that we need the witness of Christians of other cultures, races, denominations and genders to correct our culturally conditioned understanding of the gospel, the Bible, mission, discipleship, community and much more.

Sometimes evangelicals are viewed as arrogant. It’s time to change that. We need to be open to the interpretations, lives, cultures, traditions and views of others. This is about discerning God’s divine presence in community and conversation and church and world. This involves humility, listening, relationship and prayer.

The ninth way is to pursue peace in a divided world. astonishing, world-transforming things.

Their errors of biblical interpretation and superficial, corrupted faith arise directly from the fact that they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. Yet, Jesus knew both. In verse 33, we see that the crowds were “astonished” (amazed) when they heard him (as in Luke 9:43 and Acts 3:10). Jesus had the ability to amaze with his words as easily as with his signs and wonders – both produced the same reaction. This is because Jesus walked in the power of the word and the Spirit.

We must seek to know both too.

Living in the power of the word and Spirit is about expressing the fruit of the Spirit, being generous and content, caring for the poor and broken, and loving our enemies.

8. Be the church and stop with the partisan politics

God calls God’s church to be a distinct people, with a distinct ethic, a distinct story, a distinct peace, a distinct community, a distinct diversity and a distinct witness. As Stanley Hauerwas says, “The first responsibility of the church is to be the church … The

church doesn’t have a social ethic – the church is a social ethic.” Put another way, “The church doesn’t have a social strategy; the church is a social strategy.”

As the new humanity in Jesus Christ, our life together is political.

We’re not talking here about Republicans or Democrats or some other form of party politics.

Evangelicals are often too closely aligned with specific political parties. But no secular political party represents Christ. A faithful church abandons the reach for politics, power, influence, wealth and prestige. Rather, it imitates the foolish weakness and scandal of the cross.

9. Pursue peace in a divided world We are living in a divided and conflicted age. Evangelicals could contribute to this, or we could choose to be people of peace.

God calls the church to be a people of peacemaking and reconciliation. The Messiah is our peace and he’s abolished the conflicts and enmities that divide people (Eph 2:11-14). Peace and reconciliation are at the very heart of the new humanity in Christ.

10. Restore justice

Too often, evangelicals are seen as not really caring about justice.

This can’t continue, without doing terrible damage to our tradition and our churches.

Restoring justice involves educating ourselves about injustices in our neighbourhood, society and world.

We must also educate ourselves about what it means to be a good and just neighbour for those exploited, on the margins, or suffering injustice.

Restoring justice involves talking openly and honestly about the issues. Talk about the injustices, deaths, discriminations and atrocities. Talk about the lives and humanity of black and white and other people. Talk with people from right across the spectrum – black and white, old and young, poor and rich, Indigenous and nonIndigenous, and women and men.

11. Care about creation and the environment

The church cannot join fully with God in his mission while it neglects its responsibility to God’s creation. And I see no way that we can be disciples of Jesus without a

DIRECTORY OF AUST ALLIANCE OF MESSIANIC CONGREGATIONS

Yeshua.ORG.AU ‫ישוע‬

RETURNING TO THE ORIGINAL WAY. MESSIANIC JUDAISM.

In this piece, I’m asking us to move away from a narrow, fear-based, exclusive, anxious, partisan, politicised and combative evangelicalism, to one that is generous, inclusive, humble and love-based. This is a true evangelicalism and a true witness to the euangelion.

This true evangelicalism honours what evangelicals have always said they hold dear: the power of personal conversion, the supremacy and Lordship of Christ, the glory of the gospel, the authority of the Bible and our call to go into all the world and make disciples.

And this true evangelicalism grasps and responds to a fuller gospel story, which calls us to a prophetic, alternative way in the world. What is this way in the world? We let the Bible move us into a passionate love for Jesus Christ.

We tear down false divides and join God in mission. We welcome culture as a conversation partner, and look for signs of God’s presence in the world. We seek discipleship in community, and live lives in contrast to the individualism and consumerism of our age. We’re humble enough to listen and learn from many voices. We unite Spirit and word and justice. We reject partisan politics and abandon the reach for politics, power, influence, wealth and prestige. Instead, we seek to imitate the foolish weakness and scandal of the cross.

In the process, we discover that this generous, humble and loving evangelicalism is also a prophetic, compelling and biblical faith.

Graham Hill teaches pastoral studies at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He is the Founding Director of The GlobalChurch Project – www. theglobalchurchproject.com.

Graham has written six books.

His latest two books are Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World (InterVarsity Press, 2018) and GlobalChurch: Reshaping Our Conversations, Renewing Our Mission, Revitalizing Our Churches.

(InterVarsity Press, 2016).

OPINION

APRIL 2019

13

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The gospel: The loveliest story ever told

Barney Zwartz loves beauty There is a story, probably apocryphal, that the young Queen Victoria, lying in bed with Albert after an act of connubial bliss, said to him: “Do you think the poor people enjoy this as much as we do?”

It has always struck me as a great mercy of God that poor people can enjoy beauty in its manifold forms as much as the rich. Perhaps not so much of it, perhaps not so readily or accessibly – they are not so likely to live in a mansion with vistas of rolling hills and trees or the ever-changing sea or, if they do, it will be in staff quarters in the attics without the wonderful view. Even so, nobody can be deprived of beauty because, as has been wisely observed, it is in the eye of the beholder and we take

it where we find it. It is all around us, often in the smallest details.

It’s a cliché, but only because it is true, to say we might find it in the delicate veins and tints of a fallen autumn leaf, in watching the clouds blaze with colours that change and subside as the sun sets, in a magically mysterious chord change in a favourite piece of music, or in a child’s delighted curiosity.

There are many forms of beauty, as Katisha in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado reminds us: “There is beauty in the bellow of the blast, There is grandeur in the growling of the gale, There is eloquent outpouring, When the lion is a-roaring, And the tiger is a-lashing of his tail!”

I have often pondered the link between beauty and emotional pain, or at least profoundly disturbing emotion. Why are we

moved to tears by beauty, rather than to laughter? We may have elevated thoughts, but they follow the experience; they are not part of it.

Of course, far greater thinkers have gone before me here. But why should the slow movement of a Mozart piano concerto – try No. 9, K271, or 20, K466, or the last, 27, K595, all plentifully available on YouTube – sometimes make me, a grown man, weep? Are they tears of joy? Perhaps, but there is certainly an element of emotional disturbance there as well. Bach’s cello suites, as rarefied and transcendent as music gets, strike me with awe, but it is a remoter reaction. These suites do not twist my bowels (as the King James Version might put it) in the same way. For my wife, it is the shifting modulations of Chopin’s Nocturnes.

And if this music means nothing to you, there is probably other music that does. I believe it is one of the most generous gifts of God to humanity that he should have created (most of) us to be moved by music. Others may have different sources. My former philosophy supervisor was far more sensitive than I am to the beauty of Shakespeare, and knew the Bard’s works far better. Mind you, I am more alert than the unnamed Bostonian who said to British Prime Minister William Gladstone: “Shakespeare? A great man! Why, I doubt if there are six his equal in the whole of Boston.”

But of all the forms of beauty in the world, none is more striking, more affecting, more penetrating to the depths of our souls, than moral beauty. By this I mean generosity, kindness, self-sacrifice, love – the sort of heroic acts performed by apparently unheroic people. When we see this sort of love, it captures us and I, for one, cannot help reflecting how far short I fall of this every day.

Unfortunately, the inspiration, if resolutely ignored, soon fades.

And I think the most beautiful thing I have ever heard is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he voluntarily laid down his life to rescue humanity from our rebellion, our self-will, our sin – or, given the decline of that concept in post-Christian Australia, what Francis Spufford calls the human propensity to #&*% things up.

It is beyond comprehension that

Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, emptied his will, that he accepted the humiliation of being an infant human being, then a poor Galilean, then the shame and agony of the cross. As Paul writes in Philippians, chapter 2: “rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!”

Familiarity can lead us to take this astonishing truth for granted, but we must avoid that. When I first read the New Testament in my 20s, having long scoffed at gullible religious believers, the beauty of this concept overwhelmed me. I thought that something so glorious must be true – who could invent such an improbable but wonderful account?

Nearly 40 years on I trust I can give a fuller and more nuanced account of, as St Peter puts it, the hope that is within me. By God’s grace I have never taken that sacrifice for granted, and my original shock at grasping the gospel is still fresh every time I consider it. But I am no more persuasive today, with a theology degree and decades of reflection behind me, than I was then to those disinclined to accept it.

It is the mercy of God that he draws us to him, and that we come.

Barney Zwartz is a Senior Fellow with the Centre for Public Christianity.

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OPINION

14

APRIL 2019

Lucy’s smiling

Bikers and Bono farewell John Smith

LUCY GICHUHI

History was made, as the gospel was proclaimed and salvation preached loud and clear but lovingly before hundreds of one-per-cent bikers from outlaw motorcycle clubs across Australia.

They had gathered together peacefully – for the first time ever – in a church in a small seaside village, to pay their respects to a great bloke and say goodbye to a mate, known affectionately to most simply as “Smithy.”

According to Mark Johnstone, Senior Pastor of The Wave Baptist Church in Ocean Grove, the church was “full to overflowing with more than 1000 people from all walks of life,” who gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of the Reverend Doctor John Smith, Founderin-Chief and International President of God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club, a pioneering counter-cultural mission to the marginalised and despised.

The gathering included patched members of rival outlaw clubs

Sight Magazine / Tony Kerrigan

Bikers rally at Ocean Grove, Victoria, to farewell ‘Smithy’. including the Hell’s Angels, the Bandidos, the Gypsy Jokers, the Coffin Cheaters, the Rebels and the Immortals.

One of the most moving tributes was given by Sean Stillman, President of God’s Squad UK chapter, who represented members of God’s Squad in 16 countries around the world. His beautifully crafted tribute listed the many names Smith was known by: “Kevin John Smith, Smithy, The Reverend Doctor, Bullfrog, John, The General, our commander-in-

chief, our founder, our president and for nearly five decades, our teacher.”

Before he began reading his own tribute, however, he wanted to read a note he’d received from an Irish singer named Bono. The U2 singer wrote a piece of prose called “John ‘the Baptist’ Smith,” recounting how when he shared that “some churchy people” thought of him as a heretic, Smith replied cheekily, “You mean like Jesus, matey?” He also described how Smith viewed the Bible as an “incendiary tract,

The John Smith I knew TIM COSTELLO

John Smith, who died recently, was one of the most extraordinary and unconventional Christian leaders of our time. This conservative preacher’s kid became founder of the world’s first Christian motorcycle club – God’s Squad.

He was also a prophetic voice, a passionate social justice campaigner and radical leatherclad preacher who showed real love for those on the fringes.

Dynamic and energetic, and with a heart as huge as his intellect, Smithy took his mission to all kinds of people, told them the truth and loved them. He became

one of Australia’s most influential communicators. A man of great compassion and conviction.

He taught me many lessons.

He was the first evangelist I heard – at the age of 17 – to use the prophets and include the importance of justice in his evangelical call to faith. He took a Bible study on Jeremiah and by the end of it had himself turned into the weeping prophet. Smithy understood that Jesus and Paul stood in the prophetic stream.

He demonstrated it by going to minister to the outlaw bikers.

With his distinctive Aussie accent, he would quote Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson along

with the gospel writers. He was so different to other church leaders preaching with Oxford vowels.

Smithy preached as a believer not in the old tree dead but young tree green. His passionate but rational gospel message addressed Australian hearts and hopes.

He understood the culture of Australian youth and read magazines such as Cosmo and Dolly to better reach school students. He was always armed with books he’d just read. Even on a visit I made to his home in 2016 he tried to send me away with an armful. I was privileged to participate in a few missions with him and I owe him much. He

not some handbook on religion or a sop for mankind’s fear of death, but an epic poem about life,” which spoke about culture, politics and justice.

He also wrote on some of the tough conversations he’d had with Smithy. “He thought I’d gone soft and become too comfortable round the powerful, thought I was living too well. He was probably right – I still think about it.”

spoke with passion on every topic: often went in several directions in the one sermon as inspiration took over but always came back to a cutting edge conclusion.

Like all prophets, he lacked a PC filter and just told it like he saw it.

Smithy didn’t pull punches.

He sometimes made his listeners – and other Christian leaders – uncomfortable. He spoke of authentic blood-and-guts Christianity rather than offering theological soundbites about a sanitised Jesus. He leaves behind a huge legacy as a powerful voice for authenticity within the church.

There was and will only ever be one John Smith. He is missed.

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Sight Magazine / Tony Kerrigan

Senator Gichuhi’s book Behind the Smile was launched at Parliament House. This is how she introduces her story.

“Barefoot Farmer’s daughter to Political Powerhouse.”

This was the headline on the front page of Adelaide’s newspaper, The Advertiser. I was compelled to write this book to recount part of my journey in the hope that it will inspire the hearts of those who have been crushed by life and almost given up on their dreams.

If a little girl who didn’t have a pair of shoes until she was 12 years old could become a senator, is anything impossible for you ?

I share my journey from right where it all began in the slopes of Mount Kenya, university life, falling in love and navigating the challenges of a marriage where infidelity is a challenge.

The process of writing has been painful as I have had to relive traumatic experiences I thought I had successfully buried. Facing them and putting them on paper has robbed them of their deadly power. As I wrote, a big question I asked is, “Who am I really?”

Am I still the barefoot farmer or an accountant, politician, wife, mother, lawyer, advocate, introvert or extrovert?

The answer is I am all of those things and they have all contributed to me being the person behind the smile. At the core, I am a dreamer, an adventurer, a student of life and people, and a child of God who has finally discovered true and lasting contentment.

DEAN TROTH

OPINION

APRIL 2019

Michael Jensen on the interview with an apostle

St Paul on George Pell

Pixabay / Hans Braxmeier

TIM ELLICOTT: Welcome back.

Now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard the news that the man who was once Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has been convicted on child-sex charges and now faces up to six years in jail. There’s an appeal in process of course but at the moment the fact is that, not only has the Church been guilty of a massive coverup of paedophile priests it now turns out that it went right to the top. Their top man is a convicted paedophile. But it’s not just the Catholics. The Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse heard appalling stories from around Australia of sex crimes against children being covered up in the churches.

Now, someone who should care about these things is Paul the Apostle. Right now, he’s on his second tour Down Under and ticket sales for his tour have been very strong. I’ve got the man himself on the line from Sydney.

Paul, welcome to the show.

PAUL: Thanks for having me, Tim. TIM ELLICOTT: Terrible news, Paul? What was your first reaction when you heard?

PAUL: It is terrible news, Tim. I’m shocked by the crimes, and grieved, but at one level I’m not surprised.

TIM ELLICOTT: Not surprised?

PAUL: No, not at all. Being a Christian isn’t about being better than everyone else. If I go back to the early days of founding churches, they always had to confront the reality that we are still prone to sin, even though we have God’s forgiveness. That should make Christians less naïve about themselves and about their tendency to give themselves a leave pass.

TIM ELLICOTT: So you expect to find paedophiles in the church?

PAUL: We find paedophiles wherever there are human beings.

I don’t think we even realise the

15

extent of it. The abuse of children is not confined to the church – it’s everywhere. But what got the churches into trouble was not so much the presence of paedophiles but that they believed that because the person was a minister or a priest or a leader in the church that they couldn’t be. Here’s the truth we’d better realise: we’ve got people in our communities who would like to sexually abuse children, and will if they are given the chance.

Some of these are psychopaths who use the beauty of a local community to gain trust in a calculating way. Some of these are people who are emotionally and spiritually broken people who’ve been abused themselves. But the issue isn’t the presence of people who will do great evil. The issue is not assuming that they will be among us.

TIM ELLICOTT: Can a paedophile be a Christian? Personally, I say the scum are sub-human.

PAUL: The gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t allow me to say that.

To dehumanise the paedophile allows them off the hook, to be

honest. Look, I’ve been guilty of the attempt to systematically exterminate Christians. I’ve arranged killings. Much as I don’t understand it. God’s forgiveness extends even to me. It’s possible even for paedophiles.

TIM ELLICOTT: Really? Isn’t this the problem though? You believe in forgiveness, and these guys have said sorry, and done it again and again and again.

PAUL: Yes, and I need to be clear: to be a Christian is not to accept or to continue in sin, in my own life or in the life of the church community. It’s to recognise our weakness and to seek to change. And I always expected my churches to take this very, very seriously. I said this in 1 Corinthians 5. There was a pretty awful case of sexual misconduct and people were scandalised, but also thinking “it’s none of my business.” So this man kept sleeping with his father’s wife, his stepmother. And my response was, “look, you can’t put up with this.

You have to discipline them, for the sake of the whole community.” No

cover-ups. Tricky though it was, I wanted them to be tough.

TIM ELLICOT: So, kick them out?

PAUL: Yep, don’t even eat with them, until there’s a genuine change. Look, here’s the thing.

People think that growth as a Christian means growing in independence from others. Not having your human weaknesses anymore. But the secret to living as a Christian is actually realising where you are weak and getting help. An alcoholic can get sober, but only in getting the deep truth that he can’t do it without admitting that he’s helpless to change. They got that whole thing from me! So Christian churches shouldn’t be about preening ourselves as morally better than everyone else. When I’m a Christian I say to others “I am weak: help me.” And the Christian church is strong and can do remarkable things for God when it is humble like this. Maybe what we are seeing is God’s humbling of the churches so that they can do great things for Jesus Christ in this era.

TIM ELLICOTT: Some critics will say the problem has come from power. The churches have been too obsessed with institutional power.

Would you agree?

PAUL: Yes, I would. And Jesus actually taught his apostles not to abuse their power and authority.

He said “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” And I wrote about this in Philippians 2. Christ is the great example.

We can’t do without power and authority. If you are going to insist on a community that is healthy and looks after the weakest and maintains a standard of character, you need to have people in authority. Jesus was no anarchist!

I wanted Titus and Timothy to set up leadership structures for their churches. But, and here’s the thing: the kind of leadership that we want to see is from a person who is aware of their own sins. And it’s money and sex that get powerhungry leaders into trouble. I’d add to that drinking and arguing.

TIM ELLICOTT: What about celibacy? People are saying that insisting on celibacy got the Catholic Church into trouble. What do you think?

PAUL: Look, I think celibacy is a good thing! I am single myself. But I’d never insist on it for ministers.

It doesn’t make them more or less pure. By insisting on a vow of celibacy, the church has made people liars, because they have

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clearly had sexual relationships in great numbers. Better for them to marry than burn, as I said in 1 Corinthians 7!

I do think there’s a problem in saying “oh, these guys were supposed to be celibate, they couldn’t control it, so they molested children.” That’s a terrible view of male sexuality. It says that men can’t possibly control themselves, and will abuse children if they don’t have an outlet. We’ve bought a very ancient lie that we will die if we don’t have sex. God has graciously given us marriage as the context for the mutual expression our sexual needs. Not everyone is going to be married all the time. So we need to manage our singleness.

That will take honesty about our weaknesses, but also a deep sense of gratitude to God for what we have in Jesus Christ. If people can die for the sake of Christ, then surely we Christians can practise sexual self-control for his sake, too, in and outside marriage?

TIM ELLICOTT: Are you worried that your forgiving attitude to the perpetrators will leave their victims in the cold?

PAUL: It could sound like that, and the cheap forgiveness that the churches have practised over the years has left the victims of abuse feeling doubly abused. Let me be totally clear: churches need to be serious about discipline, for the sake of those who have been abused. They need to communicate to everyone: God hates sexual abuse. And: God loves the victims of abuse. I am tearing my hair out as to why churches haven’t made this clearer.

TIM ELLICOTT: So what do you think churches should say to victims?

PAUL: Well it’s the time not just for words but for actions, isn’t it?

But the first thing is to say, in the deepest way possible, we are sorry.

Sorry that we did not protect you, and instead protected those who abused you. And then: show that we’ve learnt. Have we changed?

Are we doing all we can to protect those in our care? And are we humble now? Have we put aside our pride and stopped pretending we are better than everyone else?

I am praying that actually this will be a moment that churches realise they can only turn to Jesus.

He’s all they have. And perhaps by the grace of God this will be a moment for the Spirit of God to be at work as never before.

TIM ELLICOTT: We’ll leave it there, Paul, thanks for joining us.

Michael Jensen is the rector of St Mark’s Anglican Church in Darling Point, Sydney, and the author of several books.

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OPINION

16

APRIL 2019

Finding more hills to die on

I’ve noticed that a lot of Christian leaders of organisations are now taking stronger public stands on issues. They are finding hills to die on. For example, I’ve heard discussions among leaders of Catholic hospitals about beginning and end of life issues, where funding could become dependent on offering abortion or euthanasia services. “I guess we’ll just close our doors,” they’ve said. “We’re just not going to do it, because that’s not who we are.”

I’ve seen Christian leaders chaining themselves to gates, tractors and even government properties in protest against acts of environmental degradation. “I don’t mind being arrested for this,” they say. “I have to stand up for who I am and what I believe.”

The mood feels different. Sure,

all should agree that they are important. Environmental issues are important, even if you are among the group who doesn’t accept the prevailing science on climate change. Moral issues are important, even if you are among the group who believe that sexuality is a given not a choice.

Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

I was always taught that the hill for Christians to die on is Calvary.

It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that form the ‘point of difference’ for the Christian faith.

There are plenty of other features of Christianity that are shared by other religions or by non-religious people, but the meaning of Jesus’ death and the reality of his resurrection from the grave are our distinctives (at a push I might add the incarnation).

I still think this is true. If Jesus didn’t in fact rise from the grave, the apostle Paul says Christians are to be pitied. It would mean our hopes are pathetic: we are not going to share in Christ’s resurrection, because it didn’t happen. We’d have no hope that death can be conquered, because the great exemplar didn’t do it.

Resurrection belief is our great big hairy hope.

But that belief isn’t abstract; it has many, many daily consequences. Because we believe in the death and resurrection of

istock / Boonyachoat

Greg Clarke on new boldness

Christians have been speaking out on social issues since John the Baptist’s days, but in recent times we have usually been diplomatic.

We’ve set up committees, met politely with politicians, and followed procedure. It hasn’t worked that well. Our society keeps making choices that Christians feel are inhumane, reckless, Goddishonouring and even evil.

And so we are getting bolder. We are aware that is getting harder for us to be heard, above the hurricane of secularism. We are also aware that we are looking stranger by the day, and that Christian ethics don’t align very obviously with the way 21st Century Australian society is developing. We are also aware that we have lost a commission-load of moral authority due to our own failings and horrors. Even if people can hear us, why would they listen?

So we are finding hills to die on.

We want society to know that we do stand for something; we are not irrelevant, antiquated and selfish.

We do care, and we care about a lot of things. We’re starting to articulate those things with new energy.

What’s more, we don’t have to choose between left and right issues. Abortion, homelessness, poverty, refugees, sexual purity, paying taxes — they are all Christian issues. All Christians might not agree on them, but

Jesus’ death and resurrection is Christianity’s ‘point of difference’.

Christ, we also believe in a whole way of life. The way of Christ is our hill to die on; it begins with Easter, but it stretches all the way to the Second Coming. Our Jesus is both saviour of the world, and risen Lord of the world. We Christians are trying to walk in the way of the Lord in the here and now, in preparation for how things are going to be for eternity.

So we need to be outspoken on anything that we understand flows from the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are advocating for the way of Christ. We will have different politics, different passions, and different shapes to our ethical views. But wherever we think the passion of Christ makes a difference in the world, we need to speak out.

Let’s move on from viewing one issue as ‘righteousness’ and another issue as ‘justice’. They are

all issues of the gospel of Christ in action. Can we applaud each other for calling them out? Can we broaden, deepen and amplify the Christian voice by supporting each other? And since society is a bit deaf to us talking about the death and resurrection of Christ at the moment, we have to talk loudly about all of these other things, too.

These ‘Christian way’ discussions have their base in our Easter beliefs, and I always trust and hope that the basis for our views will rise to the surface given the right conditions.

The loud clarification of things Christians stand for, even when we disagree, is better than quietly fading away without standing for anything. Better to die on your left and/or right feet than quietly live on your knees.

Greg Clarke is CEO of Bible Society Australia.

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tell stories that have I’M HERE TO... a glimmer of hope Kaley

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Ben

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I was privileged to attend the dedication of the Kunwinjku New Testament in West Arnhem Land in September last year. It was a wonderful ceremony in the small Anglican church in Gunbalanya, the home of many of the volunteer translators who worked consecutively on the translation project for over 70 years, with the assistance of missionaries and external Bible translators.

As part of my visit, I spent some time with Reverend Lois Nadjamerrek, who leads the local church and was also a key translator in the later stages of the project. She was very emotional that week, saying ‘The Bible has come home to us’. Dedications for a Bible in a new language in Australia don’t happen very often, and I was honoured to get to witness it and speak with many of the people who will now get to read the Bible in the language that speaks to their heart. It made me so very grateful for my own Bible, which I too often take for granted.

share the joy, sorrow, hope I’M HERE TO... and reality of people who live for Jesus

Despite working for newspapers, magazines and websites for almost two decades, I’m not the biggest newshound around. So being able to work with Eternity offers me a great opportunity to get into more things going on around Australia and the world than I tend to dig up when I’m on my own.

The Eternity team is a mixed bag of interests and opinions, with every day offering all kinds of stories or topics to pursue. Don’t worry about us; we hardly struggle for content ideas. Our bigger challenge is deciding what we can cover and how we approach it, as we strive to share what God and Jesus are doing in our world.

I had never heard of a Pakistani mother called Asia Bibi before I started at Eternity. During the past few years, we have written several updates about her plight on death row, accused of blasphemy against the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Sadly, stories of persecution against Christians around the world are not uncommon. But there was something about Asia’s story that struck me in a way that, embarrassingly, other accounts of persecution have not. I think the difference with Asia was getting to dive deeper into her story.

Thanks to the great research of my colleagues Kylie and Alex, I was able to present an ‘Asia Bibi in 5 minutes’ video. It’s our attempt to explain the key facts and moments which took Asia from being an unknown working mum in Pakistan, to an international ‘celebrity’ for facing execution due to allegations she denies. Like so many people who hit the headlines, Asia Bibi only became a real person to me when I stopped to consider more than just a sound bite. Asia is an actual person. A wife and mother. A prisoner who, as Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld, was falsely accused of blasphemy – and has been eventually freed (after spending eight years on death row).

I started to pray for Asia, after we put that video together. As I hope Eternity continues to do for you, working here took me to a personal, palpable place of care for who we reported on. My heart actually started to beat a bit for Asia. I’m keen to bring more heart starters to you, through Eternity.

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shine a gospel light on e gifts th g in us ws ne e th I’M HERE TO... �od gave me Anne

Writer/Producer

There are so many people who have inspired and moved me over the years I’ve been working at Eternity. There was the desperately sick ice addict who was “snatched from hell” by God and set up an anti-ice campaign; the suicidal prostitute who first experienced love when a woman gave her an Easter egg, saying “Jesus loves you”; and the drug addict, bikie gang member and violent standover man who exchanged guns for God and hate for love. I was also moved by witnessing hundreds of young people giving their lives to the Lord at the Rice Rally in Sydney.

But the experience that affected me most profoundly was spending a day on the wards with Rev Stuart Adamson, a chaplain at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. I was quite apprehensive about it and wondered if we would encounter hostility and rejection. But I saw what an opportunity visiting sick people presents for the gospel as people in a health crisis are looking for comfort and meaning. As Stuart prayed with a woman from a remote country town who couldn’t sleep because of pain, fear and loneliness, or discussed the character of Herod in Mark’s Gospel with a frail new believer who has found a reason to hang on to see his granddaughter, I could see how pastoral and spiritual care contributes to the recovery and restitution of people who may be quite far gone.

I am truly inspired by the work that the “vollies” – hospital visitors – do and leave feeling it is something I would like to do in the future.

be a small part of I’M HERE TO...

Eternity’s mission Ching-I

Graphic Designer

I fell in love with design when I studied Fashion Design at University in Taipei. During that time, my dream was to study overseas in New York, London or Sydney. I wanted to have a different cultural experience. After many years preparing and praying, I decided to move to Sydney. That’s when my life started to change.

In 2010, I joined the Eternity team as the newspaper’s graphic designer. This role not only fulfils my interests in design, but also my curiosity about what happens around the world.

I was dramatically moved by Naomi Reed’s article “More powerful than the Voodoo” when I searched for images and designed how it would appear in the paper.

I grew up in a country where Christians are a minority. Most people worship many kinds of spirits and sometimes feel they live under spiritual threat. Some are deeply influenced by superstitious rules. For example, they can’t move house on a certain day, because it is a bad date on the lunar calendar.

However, Naomi’s article reminded me that God is majestic. A quote from her article is “They didn’t have any power over us anymore. We weren’t scared anymore.” God brings us from darkness to light. We are not living under the threat of death. And that’s the kind of good news I am happy to be involved with sharing at Eternity.

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I’M HERE FOR This message comes to you wrapped around the 101st edition of Eternity. This is our 10th year of providing news and commentary with a Christian world view. Both of which are somewhat shocking. Well, maybe not to you, but as Eternity editor from issue one, this newspaper has been quite a ride for me. We have not been sure just how many editions we’d get through. Did Australian Christians want to read about themselves? Were enough Christian organisations wanting to tell everyone about themselves in ads? Would a newspaper – and then a website – that worked across church networks be welcome? And frankly, were we good enough to do all that? Well, with the answer to the last question being a “No, we are not good enough, but God has helped us anyhow,” – over the years we have got a “Yes” to all the other ones. One thing we have proven is that God is doing so much in our country and overseas that we’ll never run out of news.

“What’s going on?” That is the simple question to which all of Eternity – the newspaper, daily online news service, and now podcasts and a video news wrap – are answering.

Of course, the question is just a bit different for a Christian, for lurking behind our “What’s going on?” is a “What is God doing?” For us, news is a God thing. It is a God thing for us at Eternity because we know that whatever we are writing about on the surface, once you get inside the story, all truth is God’s truth. For the reader, we earnestly trust the same applies. In Eternity, the kingdom of God is the new normal. It’s normal to evangelise, to plant churches, to travel overseas as a missionary (or to stay at home as a missionary), to be passionate about what the Bible says.

Non-Eternity style media normally rely on two tropes: “celebrity” and “conflict”. Most stories contain one or the other; the especially juicy ones contain both. For Eternity, neither are drivers. For us, there is enough drama, hope,

pathos and beauty in recounting stories of what God is doing.

Eternity wants to turn the media world upside down. The biggest Eternity story will always be people believing in Jesus, whether in a mass evangelistic rally, a beach mission or the individual person quietly convicted of sin at night in their home, or in a paddock, or talking to a friend. New life in Jesus is a good news story, literally.

In our “new normal” church planters are heroes, the Bible is authoritative, and preaching its message is an honourable profession.

Our home is in heaven - not the near-heaven of wealthy Australia. We believe history has a “direction of travel” towards a better place, and it is a new earth and new Jerusalem.

But in the meantime, we’ll press on reporting what our Heavenly Father is up to here in Australia, across the churches and across the country.

I fully expect to realise in heaven that Eternity has missed many, many great stories, but I trust my eyes will be on Jesus. We might not need newspapers or websites then, but right now like Arthur Stace who wrote the one word “Eternity” in chalk on the mean streets at dawn for 37 years, we want to keep at our task.

And we don’t do too badly for a news service that comes to you for free. Except it is not free. We need your help to keep doing “seriously good news”. God needs no PR. But news about him is worth spreading. You can help us do just that.

John Sandeman Editor-in-Chief, Eternity

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