Eternity - September 2019 - Issue 105

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Number 105, September 2019 ISSN 1837-8447

Brought to you by the Bible Society

A life transformed Fewer want to be pastors

You need

JOY

Michael Frost on Marty Sampson

Image Credit: Beata Mazur

What happens when a young actor unexpectedly meets God

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NEWS

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Obadiah Slope BEST CHURCH SIGN: “I don’t know why some people change churches.

What difference does it make which one you stay home from?” (Hat tip to David McKay.) ALREADY DIED: Graffiti seen on the signboard of Burwood Uniting Church (NSW version) “Jesus Christ wishes nymphomaniacs to sexually retire. It’s a THING. Kill the Lord.” At the risk of disappointing the graffitist who is deprived of easy sex, Obadiah thinks that a good suggestion is being made to the women involved (if there’s any basis of reality in this scribble). As for “killing the Lord” – It has already happened and he has risen again. Bearing the sins of all parties involved.

GIDDY: When Eternity Online ran a story of a “helter skelter” slide being installed in Norwich Cathedral in the UK, one regular outspoken commentator on our page said “Makes me want to vomit!” Which is of course a common reaction to fairground slides. (Obadiah prides himself on misreading comments.)

SEPTEMBER 2019

Kids’ book breaks mould ANNE LIM When author and publisher Susannah McFarlane was writing Who? What? Why? How? Christmas, a children’s picture book for Bible Society Australia, she also happened to be writing a group of fairy tales.

“I was struck by God’s sense of symmetry,” says Susannah, who is Bible Society’s Head of Publishing.

“On the one hand, I’m writing these fairy tales and on the other one I’m writing effectively a nonfiction that many people believe to be a fiction story or fairy tale.”

For Susannah, who describes herself as “a reluctant convert” to Christianity after failing to disprove the resurrection to a friend, it was important to emphasise the reality of the Christmas story.

“I only became a Christian 3½ years ago, so God’s got an amazing sense of humour ... I’ve still got a lot to learn and I am probably, spiritually, the target age of the picture book.

“For me what finally cracked through was the reality of it, so if you’re telling a story, you have to completely break the thing that this is a parable, this is a metaphor.”

The book’s biggest difference from a traditional Christmas book is that it starts with creation

and the fall, rather than with the annunciation. Susannah started there because she realised that a lot of children in our postChristian society are not aware of the back story of Christmas, noting that a family member’s child hadn’t even heard of God. “So it needed to be a different story. To me there was no point talking about the birth of a saviour if people don’t understand what we need to be saved from,” she says.

Another way she disrupts the usual format is by introducing four child characters – Josh, Tom, Grace and Abby – whose doubts, questions and misunderstandings intersperse the narrative. For Susannah, that introduces a bit of anarchy that may appeal to older children and provides a way of answering the reasonable objections of non-Christian adults.

What struck Susannah about traditional Christmas storybooks was how they gloss over the appearance of the Angel Gabriel to Mary.

“Everyone thinks they know it; everyone can tell it in their sleep – we just gloss over that an angel came to Mary’s

house. Hold on; if an angel came to your house, it would be the biggest thing that ever happened in your life, and we just gloss over it as a preamble to something else.”

Who? What? Why? How? Christmas presents Gabriel as an awesome warrior – not like a tinsel Christmas tree decoration.

In another break with convention, she has the wise men come to Jesus years after the shepherds.

“It completely upsets most people’s idea of the nativity scene but, again, it’s the reality of it. It really did happen, so facts matter.”

As in the past two years, Bible Society is offering free Christmas books to individuals and churches who register at biblesociety.org.au/ whychristmas

News 2,3 In Depth 5-6 Education 7-14 Bible Society 15 Opinion 17-20

Michael Jensen “ Envy or comparison will rob you of your joy. Looking over the back fence will make you miserable.”

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Prepare to be undeceived KALEY PAYNE

NO COMMENTS: Speaking of online comments, the most libelled person in Eternity comments is Brian Houston. We are pretty sure he is not the litigious kind, but being old fashioned we don’t like personal attacks on anyone. Especially ill-founded ones. We do our best to make sure they pass unseen at eternitynews.com.au

A new podcast wants to undeceive you about the things you think you know about Christianity.

It’s called Undeceptions and is hosted by author and Christian apologist John Dickson.

Dickson told Eternity that the roughly half-hour show will be “like a PhD in a pair of jeans.”

“It’s substantial and cheerful. It’s not combative but nor is it shy.

“Each week,

we’ll be exploring some aspect of life, faith, history, culture or ethics that is either much misunderstood or mostly forgotten.

With the help of people who know what they’re talking about, we’ll be trying to ‘undeceive ourselves’ and let the truth out,” said Dickson.

Guests of the podcast include mathematician and apologist John Lennox, Oxford theoretical

physicist Ard Louie, Federal Labor MP Andrew Leigh and several members of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers team.

The first episode of Undeceptions was published on 30 August, with 12 weekly episodes as part of its first season. To listen, search for “Undeceptions” in your podcast app and subscribe or head to www.undeceptions.com.

Undeceptions is part of the Eternity podcast network, an audio collection showcasing the seriously good news of faith today, which also includes With All Due Respect with Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen.

THANK YOU In the past 60 years, God has brought millions to Jesus through the prayers and gifts of African Enterprise supporters.

Today, regular gifts equip and mobilise local evangelists to bring an average of 100,000 people to Jesus every year. This is an average of 270 people coming to Christ every day across 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Your donations and prayers make a massive difference in building God’s kingdom through AE in Africa.

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Michael Frost “ I don’t mean there are easy answers … but there are plenty of resources out there for developing a robust faith.”

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NEWS

SEPTEMBER 2019

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The battle for the last abortion ban Think of

others at Christmas

ETERNITY REPORTERS Australia’s last battle against liberalised abortion laws led to strong displays of Christian passion for the pro-life movement on the streets of Sydney.

A bill to decriminalise abortion and make it available on request up to 22 weeks in NSW – the last of Australia’s states where abortion is still technically illegal – has been slowed down after a rebellion in the coalition government. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has delayed the vote in the upper house until after parliament resumes sitting (mid-September at the earliest).

The delay leant almost a celebratory tone to a ‘Stand for life’ protest in Sydney’s Martin Place on the day of the premier’s announcement in late August.

Armed with protest signs declaring “Love Mum, Love Bub” and “everyone deserves a birthday”, the 2500 to 3000-strong, markedly young crowd chanted “stand for life”, “no to abortion, yes to life”, “love them both” and “We are the pro-life generation”.

“Are there any pro-lifers in the crowd?!” a young MC asked loudly, and then “Are there any Maronites?

Coptic orthodox? Greek Orthodox Chaldeans? Antiochians? So I ask you again, are there any pro-lifers in the crowd?”

A range of speakers addressed those in the crowd, including

JOHN SANDEMAN

A display of Christian unity: Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans at the pro-life rally politicians, religious leaders and the Australian Christian Lobby’s managing director Martyn Iles.

Liberal backbencher and former Minister for Women Tanya Davies, who has been a vocal opponent of the bill, received a huge cheer.

Davies told protesters that they had been given “a stay of execution”

by Berejiklian announcing the vote delay.

Every single person in attendance would be needed, she said – as representatives of families, workplaces, churches,

mosques and synagogues – “to garner and galvanise all our voices in unison, calling for the bill to be ditched”. “Ditch the bill! Ditch the bill!” chanted the crowd.

A middle-aged woman speaking in the crowd to a young man volunteering in a high-vis vest said that she’d been protesting outside State Parliament all week after politicians had tried to “push through changes in three days without giving us the chance to have a say!”

“Well we’ve got a chance now!”

he replied “And you know what the best thing is? The Lord is on our side.” “And the best thing is that it’s bringing all the churches together!” she agreed. Her delight was echoed by Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies who told the crowd “I’m here with my fellow archbishops! The Catholics and Anglicans are one on this! And the Greek Orthodox!”

“We are one! We are one!” the crowd chanted. Archbishop Davies then led the crowd in a chant: “Kill this bill! Kill this bill!”.

When a pop star turns up at church KYLIE BEACH Hillsong New York City’s Carl Lentz is one of those “celebrity pastors” who regularly gets snapped in photos that end up on US celebrity gossip media.

“Yeah, we hang out with a lot of people,” he acknowledges. “New York is filled with celebrities, regular people, random people, famous people, homeless people.

And if our church is really reaching ‘the world,’ I think we should have a really good reflection of that in church. And we have that.”

Lentz might be keen to emphasise how normal it all is, but what does it actually look like when the celebrity in question is pop star Justin Bieber, NBA player Kevin Durant or model Hailey Baldwin?

Aren’t all these people used to

being treated in a certain way?

He says the famous people he knows “want to be regular people” and “are regular people.” But, he says, people can make a situation awkward with a famous person if they act like they’re not and “just overdo trying to treat them like a regular person.”

“I’m gonna figure out your world, your rhythm, try to figure out what has brought you to this place, and try to be the most normal me I can be – which normally produces the normal them as well.

“It’s just life. It’s loving people for who they are,” he says with a shrug.

He also says that spending time with celebrities is less glamorous than most people would think.

“When you hang out with an athlete, they normally have a calendar season that you know.

They’re either training, in a game, not in a game. But with Justin [Bieber], he’s doing music, or he’s on tour doing the music he just recorded. So, with him, it can look like sitting in the studio for hours, which I’ve done,” he says simply.

He says people imagine hanging out with a star like Bieber would be like being in a spaceship or riding around in fancy cars. “And it’s really not like that, because he’s a prisoner to the culture.”

Lentz becomes serious. “One time I was with him [Justin Bieber] recently and he said, ‘It’s weird to think that God gave me all these gifts but I can’t ever experience any of life.’

“Sometimes he can’t really go out. It’s not like we can go out to dinner, so dinner comes to us. We can’t really go to a movie, so we

have to have a movie come to us.

“It just ... it wears on the soul. So, it’s not as cool as people think.

“Justin is one of those guys who is a lot of fun but a lot of that part of his life – his adolescence – was stolen from him because he was famous. So, for him, I think he loves just to do normal stuff.”

Lentz says there can be a temptation to ask someone with a high profile, “Can I get a photo with you real quick and put that on my church Instagram feed so then everybody could know.”

But the temptation absolutely must be resisted, even if the person agrees to doing it and smiles in the moment, because, “in their heart they’re like, ‘Here we go again.

Someone’s using my surface and missing out on the depth of who I am.’”

“Deeply affecting, devastatingly raw, immensely authentic …

I cannot recall the last time I was so moved by a personal before-and-after narrative of radical transformation.”

- Melinda Tankard Reist

Metanoia is the cry of a body broken and resurrected, the song of a bird set free.

Special offer for Eternity readers: 15% off* Metanoia

by Anna McGahan. Present this barcode at any Koorong store, or use the code META15 as you checkout online at koorong.com *Discount offer valid during September 2019 only

Currently one in every 108 people on Earth is currently forcibly displaced – the largest number since records began. Over 70 million people. That UNHCR figure includes 41.3 million people “internally displaced,” 25.9 m refugees and 3.5 m asylum seekers.

Coincidently this year for the 70th time, the Christmas Bowl appeal is asking Christians to place an extra bowl on the table, and make a gift towards the needs of people living in disaster and conflict-affected communities around the world.

“Australian churches have been instrumental in providing care to people during the most urgent crises of our time. It’s unthinkable that 70 years after the catastrophic effects of WWII, millions of people around the world are being forced to flee their homeland in search of safety,” says Hannah Montgomery of Act for Peace, the aid agency of the of the National Council of Churches in Australia.

“We are calling on Christians of all traditions to respond to this injustice and come together to raise urgently needed funds to help our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering.”

Last year, over 1300 churches from 15 denominations across Australia took part and raised $2.3 million.

“At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the one sent to bring life to the world. The Christmas Bowl is a very practical way of bringing that life, God’s life, to the needy of the world,” says Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholics Bishops Conference. www.actforpeace.org.au/ Christmas-Bowl

SEPTEMBER 2019

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Freeing Christian brick-kiln families from bonded labour in Pakistan “You are like Moses, leading us out of slavery.” These are the words of Jamila, a Christian bonded brick-kiln worker set free when Barnabas Fund paid off her debt.She is a member of one of more than 700 Christian families freed from bonded labour in Pakistan’s brick-kilns thanks to the generous donations of Barnabas supporters.

Brick-kiln workers are low paid and families live just at survival level. If someone falls sick or another kind of family crisis occurs they have to take a loan from their employer, the brick-kiln owner. Interest on the loan is then deducted from their weekly wages and this can go on for years, even for generations, with no hope of being repaid.

They are forced to try to subsist on reduced wages and, as long as the debt remains, they are bonded to their brick-kiln, unable to leave and get another job. It is almost like slavery.

Devoted father released from “swamp” of poverty Like thousands of Pakistani Christian brick-kiln workers, James had borrowed money from his employer for essential needs at a time of family crisis. James’ wife died when their children were very young and he works hard making bricks to earn money to support them. “When my wife got sick I had to take a loan to look after her,

A young Christian girl labours in the hot sun alongside her family in a brick-kiln in Pakistan. for her check-ups, but eventually she died and I couldn’t pay back the amount in full,” said James.

Then, when he and his children had times of sickness, James’ debt mounted. Each week, interest on the loan would be deducted from his wages. His situation was hopeless.

When at last he had the benefit of his full wages each month

again, James was delighted that he could finally afford to send his ten-year old daughter, Naila, and son, Aftab, nine, to school for the first time in their lives.

Boy can now hope, not just dream Thirteen-year-old Rizwan dreams of becoming a Gospel singer. “I would like to spread Jesus’ Name through my singing,”

he said. Rizwan’s father is a brickkiln worker and that would have been Rizwan’s future too, because the family were bonded labourers, tied by a debt they owed the brick-kiln owner. There would have been no hope of any other job, let alone a music ministry. Rizwan’s parents would have had to hand the debt on to Rizwan, and the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, debt and

bondage would have continued for another generation.

But thanks to Barnabas supporters, the debt has been paid and the family are free. Even though his family are still poor, Rizwan can now hope, not just dream, of serving God with his musical skills. “Please pray that I will become a Gospel singer,” he asked us.

A fresh future without fear “My mouth just does not stop praising God for the blessings and freedom from debt He has given us,” says Irfan, another brickkiln worker who can pay for the schooling of his children now that his debt has been paid. “We are now hopeful for our future. Now we are working with respect and without fear.”

You can help Christian brickkiln workers Despised, despairing and trapped, bonded brick-kiln workers feel like slaves. But thanks to the generosity of Barnabas Fund supporters hundreds of families have been set free by paying off their debts.You can help us to free the next 100 bonded brick-kiln families! Their debts range from £230 to £1,350.

A gift of any amount will be used to help free a bonded brick-kiln family. We provide our supporters with a photo of the family their gift has helped to free, with their names and ages, if requested.

Breaking the chains of bonded labour for Christian brick-kiln workers in Pakistan Thousands of Pakistani Christian brick-kiln workers borrow money from their employer for essential needs at a time of family crisis. The debts keep each family bonded to their brick-kiln, with money deducted from their wages to pay the interest on the loan. It is impossible, out of their poverty, to pay off the debts, and these debts can be passed down from generation to generation.

Despised, despairing and trapped, the bonded brickkiln workers feel like slaves. But Barnabas Fund supporters have donated to set free hundreds of families by paying off their debts.

Will you help Barnabas Fund set free these impoverished Christian brick-kiln workers?

You can donate online at: barnabasfund.org/Brick-Kiln PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 | bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org Barnabas Fund Australia Limited is a charitable institution but gifts are not tax deductible ABN 70 005 572 485

James, with his daughter, Naila, and son, Aftab, is from one of more than 700 Christian families that Barnabas Fund supporters have set free from bonded labour at brick-kilns in Pakistan

SEPTEMBER 2019

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Eight pages on Education pages 7-14 Beata Mazur

The actress, the tram and grace (in the last line)

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The voice of God sings to actor Anna McGahan ANNA MCGAHAN I was earning well in television, at least by my previous standards of student poverty. But the money, which had seemed so necessary for my security before, now felt like it had been given to me for the sole purpose of handing it out to people on the street, like spontaneous open invitations to join the adventure I had suddenly realised I was on.

I couldn’t look at money in my wallet without wondering who God had in mind next. I would find myself on the St Kilda sidewalks at 5 am, the sky still dark, placing rolled up green-and-yellow cash notes (held together by a tiny handwritten proverb and a bobby pin) beside the hidden faces of people sleeping on the street.

I would have taxi drivers chase me onto the wardrobe trailers on set, attempting to give back “tips,” poor assistant directors looking at the both of us with confusion. I learned how addictive it was to give, and I learned how painful it could be, too. The glory of foolishness.

One weekday, I left the house with a fifty-dollar note in my pocket, and I was informed by that magnetic little voice that it was not mine to keep. On the Number 16 tram that morning, I was ready to ditch the burden. I kept my eyes open, listening for the yes. A scruff y-looking man came along

the tram, wild-eyed and lanky.

Two dollars for a can of coke, miss? Was this him? Should I just give it to him? He sat at the back, chatting away to himself.

Go sit with him.

I meandered down the tram, trying not to look suspicious.

We ended up talking for twenty minutes – about the hostel in which he lived and the people who come to visit him. He told me he was a very good runner and had won many ribbons.

Eventually, he got off the tram, asking me emphatically to drop by for a cup of tea one day. He gave me his address and smiled.

I had waited and waited for some indication, but apparently the money wasn’t his.

Later that night, on the other side of town, I was heading to the cinema on another old tram. The light was leaving, people in suits piled up against one another. I had almost forgotten the day’s mission.

I was thinking of art and crushes and clouds. About ten minutes in, a young woman stood up in the middle of the tram, distraught.

Has anyone picked up a wallet?

It has a fifty-dollar food voucher in it. I really need it.

She was almost crazed in her desperation, about to break down.

No-one spoke or moved on the packed tram. The voice hummed: There you go.

I played with the fifty dollars in my pocket. It took me a number of stops to gather the courage to edge down the back of the tram towards her. I was freaking out. She was thin and grubby. Her hair was

pulled back tight, and she wore an oversized jersey. There was such pathos about her posture.

Have you found the wallet?

She trembled.

No. I handed her the money from my pocket, not sure what to say.

It felt illegal. She looked at me strangely, then hugged me out of nowhere, heavy in relief. She told me that the wallet had fourhundred-and-fifty dollars in it, and she’d been about to go and find some accommodation before it had disappeared. Her breathing normalised and she nodded at me, teary.

I sat down nearby, shaky.

God bless you, the man beside me whispered as he stepped off the tram.

I realised as he said it that I was a fraud. I had parted with very little, relatively. That day, I’d been given an envelope of a week’s worth of per diems – an allowance for actors working away from home.

Worth a few hundred dollars, they were sitting in my pocket in a little plastic bag. I had the resources on me to meet the girl’s need completely, and out of selfpreservation, I didn’t.

The voice pushed me. Pulled me.

Battered my heavy pocket. As I got off the tram, I gave her everything.

I muttered something disposable – It’s going to be okay – and she looked me in the eyes.

Are you sure?

I waved her off, embarrassed but relieved, and immediately got off the tram. I had no idea where I was, but I found my

way to the cinema. Maybe I did need that money. I would miss it. And yet, right then, I felt so light. I imagined the girl in a bed somewhere, and I prayed that this was what the money would be used for, and I thanked the little voice for letting the money find her.

The very next morning, I got

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The voice of God sang me a song, laughing and crying for the heart of humankind.” on the Number 16 tram again. It was crowded, and I stared out the window, sort of detached from it all – I was still replaying the events of the previous night. I had enough credit on my tram card to at least get where I needed, and a soft contentment was sustaining me. I was listening to a song, lost in it.

We pulled to a stop, and to my amazement, the girl – the very same girl from five suburbs away – stepped onto the tram. I blinked.

It was definitely her. Same jersey, same forlorn stare. What was she doing so many kilometres away?

She could have climbed onto any tram at any time of day. But here we were again. Had she come to

find me? For a moment, I had in my mind that she might be some angel. Was this some test – and had I passed? The voice was giving nothing away.

She came towards me. I opened my mouth to greet her, smiling, but nothing came out. She was looking at me, straight in the eyes, without recognition. It was as though she had never seen me before.

Do you have any spare change?

I stared at her. What?

She searched my face, blankly waiting. I shook my head. I didn’t have any spare change. I had nothing left in my wallet at all, because I had specifically given everything to her.

She moved onto the next person.

In that moment, I started upon the slow road to understanding something of the nature of God. The voice of God sang me a song, laughing and crying for the heart of humankind. It had not been a trick or a test. Yes, I may have learned a thing or two about the broken drug and alcohol culture of Melbourne’s needy, humility in giving and the “correct” ways in which to offer help, but it wasn’t really that kind of lesson. It was a parable.

He had waited twenty-four years for me to recognise him, standing right in front of me. He had given me everything he had. And up until that day, all I’d ever done was beg strangers for more change.

An extract from Metanoia by Anna McGahan. $24.99 RRP. Published

by Acorn Press, an imprint of Bible Society Australia. Available at all leading booksellers.

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Anna McGahan: I follow my body’s journey objectified “thing” but actually going “Who are you and what do you want, what do you need?” – that healed me in many other ways.

It wasn’t just a physical healing.

It went very deep into my heart and soul. And it was paralleled with a spiritual experience of doing the same thing with God. What did you need to be healed from?

There was a lot I needed to be healed from internally and externally. I came home to myself, in many ways, and took my body back into a safe and sacred and secret place and went “Right, who are you? I know that you’re mine and I accept you.”

I had an eating disorder for ten years that was healed. A relationship to sexuality and sexual expression that clarified and resolved and became conviction. I was able to see clearly what drug use did to my body and what an act of worship it could be to share a meal with somebody else, rather than a burden or something to be anxious about.

That’s a very simplified way of describing what was a huge arc.

I felt like the work God did in my heart could almost be tracked through how he transformed my relationship to my body. To me, it [the body] is a beautiful lens to tell a very multifaceted story through because I feel like my body bears my testimony.

When you met Jesus, he was not at all like you expected, was he?

I expected to meet a Jesus that was on the side of Christians and of the people that I, at that time,

didn’t identify with. When I first read the Bible – it was a Gideon Bible that I knew would be in the drawer of the hotel room I was staying in – I read it to convince myself that it wasn’t true.

I was so rejected and broken and this person [of Jesus] just disarmed me, because it was so personal. As soon as I started to read it, I was like “Well, this is the story I know I believe.” This person sort of came out of the page and was on my side and was my friend. I felt this deep alliance from him and acceptance like, “Everything that you are – the entire mess that you are – exactly as you are right now, I am with you. I don’t care for religiosity, I do not care for hypocrites.” I felt like I had an ally in Jesus when I didn’t have anybody on my side.

What do you want people to take away from the book?

I’ve tried to tell this story using the tools that resonate most to me.

I always wanted this to have the fullness of what a true adventure feels like. Of big characters and a broken but searching protagonist trying to find what her truth is.

It’s not intended as a proselytising text. It’s not intended to persuade and convince the reader they should believe what I believe. But what I can promise is it’s honest and raw. I haven’t exaggerated – even though some things are extreme in the book – my behaviour or the spiritual world or the spiritual interactions, or the things that happened to me. I’ve tried to lay it as bare and honest as I can.

What would break my heart is

if somebody read this text and used it [to proscribe] a “normal” Christian experience. This isn’t a weapon, nor intended to be a political statement, though I understand I touch on some things that are controversial. It has theological resonance. It might have political ramifications.

All I wanted to do was express “This is a narrative that exists in our world” and take up that space – not be silent or invisible about it. But I don’t want to take up the space of the narrative of anybody else who has a different story.

This is not a criticism on anyone. It’s a heartfelt offering of one person’s experience.

My giving of it is not to state some sort of absolute exclusive truth, but rather to share something I hope can resonate,

particularly with people that have questions or similar experiences or disconnections – with their bodies or with God.

Beata Mazur

Anna McGahan is an Australian actress, best known for her work in Underbelly, Picnic at Hanging Rock and 100 Bloody Acres. She’s also the author of a newly released book, Metanoia.

Why is the book entitled Metanoia?

“Metanoia” is Greek for a transformational change of heart or a repentance. I thought it was an incredibly powerful, dynamic word to describe what I experienced when I had what was essentially a conversion experience and was reconciled to my body at the same time I was reconciled to God. Tell us about the journey you go on in the book regarding your body?

I follow my body’s journey from the idea of [being] a marketplace – that is bought and sold, is merchandise, is used, or dominated or enslaved or injured, for the sake of others’ gain – to transforming into a sanctuary or temple, and other incarnations like a hearth or tent or bride.

From having no worth, to being of extraordinary, priceless value.

How did feeling like your body had “no worth” affect your life?

Being in my own body and presenting it or injecting it or hating it … one word for it is “disembodied.” It’s a horrible feeling to be inside your body and trying to stretch out of it or diminish it. Or trying to throw it up against things to see if it’ll stick ... if it makes sense.

The very act of reconciling with and looking at it [my body] through a lens of forgiveness, care, love, and of rejoicing in what that relationship can be – not as an

Christians need to stop saying Folau quoted the Bible TOM RICHARDS Did Israel Folau quote the Bible?

The Instagram post that led to his sacking by Rugby Australia is a meme accompanied by a “caption.”

But it was the meme, not the caption, that caused offence. The problem, evidently, was the word “homosexuals,” and it doesn’t appear in the caption.

So, the question then is: did Folau quote the Bible in the meme?

No, he didn’t. The closest Bible passage is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, but it is not quoted. Check it out for yourself! Here it is in the closest translation to Folau’s post:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.

Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10 NKJV) So, the question then is: did Folau post a meme that is a reasonable paraphrase of the Bible?

Now we’re dabbling in shades of grey. The meme is true to the Bible only in the sense that most of what it says can be deduced from the passage. 1 Corinthians 6:9 says

that “wrongdoers” will not inherit the “kingdom of heaven.” But the meme does not reflect the verse’s natural sense. First, the meme is targeted at non-Christians, calling them to repent. But in these verses, the apostle Paul is writing to Christians, reminding them of what they once were (1 Cor 9:11).

Second, Paul is not threatening the Corinthians with hell; he is reminding them of who they already are and imploring them to act accordingly.

Third, the meme introduces the idea of salvation, which is not in the text, and does so in a way that is not true to the original letter.

The Corinthian church was not “being saved” (1 Cor 1:18) principally because they stopped committing these sins but because they called “on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” and held to the message of his death and resurrection (1 Cor 1:2; 15:2). The meme focuses on behaviour; Paul focuses on the gospel.

Fourth, the meme has manipulated the list of sins.

Coveting (or greed) has been left out and replaced with “atheists” – virtually unknown in Paul’s day.

Last, the word “homosexuals” is problematic. Today, most people think of homosexuality as an

innate orientation. However, the two Greek words that the meme combines as “homosexuals” focus more on the sexual act, rather than the orientation itself.

So Folau may not have quoted the Bible, but what he posted is broadly consistent with the church’s historic understanding of the Bible: God is angry with human sin and will punish it at final judgment unless we are “saved” from this destiny through Jesus. This happens – as one of Izzy’s texts indicates – when we receive forgiveness for our sins.

Tom Richards is a Presbyterian missionary based in Vanuatu.

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Theologs in drought

Flickr / SMBC

Fewer full-timers heading to ministry JOHN SANDEMAN There’s a growing drought of “theologs,” people studying fulltime degree courses with the aim of paid ministry. This is despite more people than ever before studying theology online, parttime, or simply out of interest.

“It’s a global pattern – the number of full-time theological students has been in decline for the last five to ten years,” says Mark Thompson, principal of conservative evangelical Moore Theological College, giving Eternity the benefit of a study tour he did in the first half of 2019.

“Part-time, distance and online

study are increasing. The decline is in undergrads. Postgraduate study and particularly doctoral study are also on the rise.”

From a Pentecostal perspective, Alphacrucis College’s Mariella Demetriou describes a declining pool of theologs across the board, particularly in the traditional churches. The category of what ‘theological education’ is has also shifted from a compliance requirement (a barrier into ministry) to a leisure pursuit (something done by older people in a search for meaning).”

Demetriou says: “While many of our students might well want to go into professional ministry, as the

available places are taken up by in-house megachurch training and the declining mainstream, most will need to find something else to do in addition to their voluntary work in churches and NGOs.” Many of Australia’s independent colleges, such as Sydney Missionary and Bible College and Melbourne School of Theology (MST), grant degrees from a consortium called the Australian College of Theology (ACT).

After rising by 10 per cent in the past decade, ACT’s official enrolment numbers have been steady over the past five years.

But because many more people have been studying part time, “if

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headcount (actual students) is used instead of EFTSL (Equivalent FullTime Student Load) then there has been a 10-year net increase of 24 per cent and five-year increase of 7 per cent,” says Paul Yeates, ACT’s Director of Risk and Compliance.

Despite this, ACT’s trend line has begun to dip.

“The decline in 2018 has been more significant and indications from semester 1 2019 are that we will also see a decline this year,” says Yeates.

There has also been a change in the types of courses studied by full-time students who want to be ministers. “If I take it to mean three-plus-year FTE awards

(for example, BTh, BMin, MDiv, MMin) then there has been a decline over 10 years (-2 per cent) and five years (-11 per cent),” Yeates comments. “In recent years we have observed a trend towards the shorter course offerings, such as diplomas but also grad certs and grad diplomas.”

Another key provider is Charles Sturt University School of Theology, which links five teaching partners (St Mark’s National Theological Centre, Canberra; United Theological College, Parramatta; St Barnabas College, Adelaide; St Francis Theological College, Brisbane; Ming Hua continued page 9

E MOORE COLLEGE SPONSORED PAGE 8

EDUCATION

SEPTEMBER 2019

The value of theological education BEN P GEORGE Yes, Moore College is all about preparing men and women to love the Lord Jesus more, teach the Word of God, and have confidence carrying the precious gospel to the ends of the earth. But studying theology is primarily about leading you to worship God. This was my experience in studying the Bachelor of Divinity.

My cohort had people from different backgrounds. We came together under a common goal, navigating life together as we sought to serve the Lord Jesus.

We made investments in our cohort. We waded through the mess of lives as broken people and celebrated the joys. And as we did this, we learned a biblical model of ministry centred around family, community and relationships. We learned how to apply the truths we were learning in the Scriptures, to the everyday realities of life. And that formation mattered in developing resilience and perseverance as Christians.

That formation mattered in providing a frame of reference from which we would love, serve and cherish God’s people.

Community of course, was also significant in helping us to read the Scriptures well. It was important, as we studied the Bible from the original languages, to keep being reminded of King Jesus who reigns supreme. And it was important that we kept looking at Scripture through a Jesus shaped

Moore College students chatting with the Principal, Dr. Mark Thompson second from right. lens, for we weren’t just engaging in an academic exercise. The Bible is at the centre of all the teaching at Moore College, and working hard in the detailed exegesis of Old and New Testament classes, led to worship as three times a week we met together for chapel, and heard the gospel afresh.

Learning together in community was also essential in thinking about how the Scriptures were applicable in our everyday lives.

I am thankful for the study of the original languages, and the classes in philosophy, doctrine

and ethics, where we discussed and debated what the Bible was saying, and how it both affirmed and challenged our world views. I remember fondly, the nights spent discussing the implications of what we had been learning for our lives and for our ministries. I remember disagreeing, being humbled and corrected, realising truths from other perspectives and wondering how I had never thought of them myself.

And this is significant. There are many theological topics that have not been written about. The world

we live in is changing. New issues are emerging. And in this hostile world for Christians, being able to put a debate into the context of the history of Christian thought, and understand it through a gospelshaped lens, is an invaluable tool.

And it mattered that we did it with a community of likeminded people.

Yes, we differed in opinions. Yes, we argued and learned much.

However, our faculty helpfully kept reminding us of the things of first importance. The Bible is the good news of salvation that comes through Christ alone, in grace

moore.edu.au/bachelor

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alone, by faith alone, and on the authority of Scripture alone. And all of this is for the glory of God alone!

And finally, it was this same gospel that our community were preparing to take around the world.

And speaking to others about what the Lord was imprinting on their hearts, and the opportunities they had to serve the Lord in gospel work, brought comfort and joy. My mission thinking was encouraged by the band of brothers and sisters all marching alongside me, wanting to proclaim King Jesus. Hearing of the varied locations and opportunities that were being considered by my cohort expanded my horizons to think beyond my own context.

There were ministries I had never considered, places I had never thought about going, people I had never had the mind to pray for.

College community changed this for me. It was obvious both from where my cohort came and where they were planning to go, that the gospel was huge, and it was unstoppable. And it helped me to see the magnitude of God’s global mission for salvation in a new and wonderful light. And how could that not lead me to worship God more?

Would you consider joining the Moore College community, to study theology and equip yourself to love the Lord Jesus, teach the Word of God, and carry the gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth? www.moore.edu.au/courses

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EDUCATION

Theological College, Hong Kong).

As with ACT, their overall picture is complex, with those training for ministry mixed with those studying theology for personal growth.

“In general, student numbers have remained fairly steady, though it is clear that the theological education market has not really grown,” Bernard Doherty, Course Director, School of Theology at CSU tells Eternity.

“There has been a longerterm decline in those offering themselves to train as full-time ministers and the last five-to-ten years appears little different here.

“My feeling is that there’s a tendency among churches to see greater decline than is sometimes the case and there is more of a shift to para-church ministries like chaplaincy and various lay ministries rather than the traditional congregational pastor.”

Looking through the federal government stats for the degreegranting institutions reveals a clear decline for the bachelor-level courses ministers do.

ACT’s enrolments in bachelorlevel courses have been declining since 2013, with a 17 per cent dip 2013 to 2017. (2017 is the latest result on the DET website.) The University of Divinity’s bachelor level courses showed a 22 per cent decline 2012-2017.

Moore College’s 2012 to 2017 bachelor figures on the DET site show a decline of 16 per cent.

Moore, while offering a range of options, maintains a focus

According to

EDUCATORS

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cost of theological education, accommodation and tuition along with the opportunity cost of studying.

5. “Pressures on theological education from government regulation.”

Eternity is tempted to add a couple more – which apply particularly to Thompson’s college.

1. The Phillip Jensen effect. While chaplain at UNSW and more recently as Dean of Sydney, Jensen was an ace recruiter for Moore. He definitely boosted the number of students seeking to be ministers.

2. Sydneysiders have a long path to Anglican ministry – an undergraduate degree, a couple of years in the apprenticeship system called the Ministry Training Strategy (which they need to fundraise for), three or four years at Moore. That’s eight

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1. “Massive cultural change: increasingly aggressive secularism has been compounded by scandals among church leaders and the abuse recorded by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, so that a Christian minister is no longer so respected.

2. “Some churches have become more inward looking. The natural reaction when under attack is to circle the wagons, try to stem the haemorrhage, and take our eyes off the mission outside our patch.

We fear ‘we can no longer afford to send people out.’

3. “Technological change: You can get entire degrees online from the US. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has graduated its first Aussie who has never set foot on their campus.

4. “Financial strictures: the

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How do High School students today compare to 10 years ago?

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from page 7

on students studying full-time and face-to-face to be full-time, face-to-face ministers. There has been a decline from 318 full-time equivalents in 2013 to 198 in 2019.

This may reflect a period in which the college was not promoting its part-time options. This situation contrasts with CSU, for example, where Doherty describes a different student body: “Theology students tend to be, on average, older and more established than those studying in other areas and more likely to have significant work and family commitments, so the flexibility of part-time study is actually a positive draw-card and arguably more realistic than the traditional seminary model of fulltime residential formation.”

There are some bright spots. The Baptists’ Morling College in Sydney has had a good year in 2019 for theologs, and the Presbyterians in Victoria have a bumper crop of exiting students – but it’s only six.

In the US, the decline in theologs has reshaped colleges.

Fuller Seminary is selling its Pasadena campus to downsize in Ponoma, 50km away. It has also slimmed down from eight to six campuses. Liberal seminaries have been hit; Episcopal Divinity School left its close relationship with Harvard to become part of Union Seminary in NYC; Andover Newton is now embedded into Yale. Locally, Pentecostal Harvest Bible College in Melbourne, and Tabor Tasmania have been taken over by Alphacrucis. Tabor Victoria became Eastern College and has moved onto the campus of Melbourne School of Theology.

So why are there fewer theologs?

Thompson gives five reasons.

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or nine years. The drought of theologs is established throughout the Anglosphere. The picture in majority world countries is different. But after consulting with leaders of the huge Southern Baptist Theological seminary, Oak Hill College in London and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Moore’s Thompson found all of their leaders to be optimistic about the mission of training ministers.

And for those considering studying to be a minister there’s good news. First, you will be welcomed with open arms at any college in Australia, assuming you meet its standards. Fee Help still works for most students. Fewer theologs means less competition for jobs. And the Australian community is not running out of yet-to-be-Christians who need to hear the gospel.

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A discovery on reading a colle JOHN SANDEMAN Sydney Missionary and Bible College’s Winter 2019 SMBC News features a pic of the hirsute (beards and moustachioed) class of 1919.

But it’s the story behind that pic that Eternity found interesting. If we’ve read their story right SMBC’s editor received a welcome nudge from African Inland Mission about one of their earliest grads.

Just like them, Eternity takes it as a reminder that ahead of Bible college students of today lie some careers that will extend the kingdom in wonderful ways.

100 years ago, SMBC grads Stuart and Elise Bryson set out for Kenya, SMBC News recalled.

“Through Africa Inland Mission we have become aware that … the Nandi people of Kenya are holding special celebrations to celebrate: • 100 years since Stuart and Elise Bryson arrived in Kenya to commence their missionary work.

• 80 years since the first Nandi Bible was published and arrived in Kapsabet Kenya.

• The dedication of a 4000-seat church building on the site where the Brysons established their mission station.”

The Nandi Bible was the first Bible in a local East African language. As Liz Moore of AIM puts it: “God wonderfully anointed Stuart Bryson and his Nandi brother, Samuel Grimnyige, to be set apart to complete both the

“

... she announced to Stuart ‘I am born again!’

Stuart’s reaction was a blind resentment.”

New Testament and Old Testament translations of the Bible into Nandi (without any translation training).

This can perhaps overshadow the regular aspects of the Bryson’s faith and service. The translation project, as a type of ‘cherry on the top,’ could not have been contemplated if the Brysons hadn’t already led many to faith, and were also dedicated to discipling the new Nandi believers.”

In 1915, a wandering evangelist visited the NSW farm where the young Stuart and Elise lived. The couple had met in London, tried Canada and settled in Australia.

AIM’s Alan Checkley (himself a former Kenya missionary) told the story this way: “Stuart was the rector’s warden in the local Anglican church and next in line for the grand master of the local masonic lodge … But Elise felt restless and unsettled … As

(Left) The Brysons in 1919 before leaving for Africa. (Right) Stuart and Elise Bryson from Light in Darkness! Stuart Bryson’s promised, the evangelist sent Elise from Sydney a New Testament and other books she eagerly devoured until one morning she announced to Stuart ‘I am born again!’

“Stuart’s reaction was a blind resentment. He considered themselves to be good-living, Godfearing people. In anger he left the house only to find over the ensuing

days an increasing conviction that all was not well with his soul. Over a period of six weeks as he worked around the farm he pretended to kneel to repair a piece

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EDUCATION

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lege magazine

11

“

One afternoon he suddenly realised that salvation is the gift of God by grace through Christ’s death.”

s autobiography. of equipment. In reality he was praying!

“One afternoon he suddenly realised that salvation is the gift of God by grace through Christ’s

death.”

Having become a regular hander-out of Bible tracts, Stuart was on the Manly Ferry and handed a tract to a man wearing

a clerical collar. “Do I need one of these?” “That sir is your decision,” is how the conversation was remembered.

The man in the clerical collar

turned out to be Benson Barnett, who had returned from China with the conviction that he should start a missionary training college.

He did, and SMBC began in 1916 with Elise and Stuart Bryson among the earlier classes studying in 1918. In 1919, as newly minted graduates of the college they set off for East Africa.

In Out of Darkness, the SMBC centenary history published in 2016, Anthony Brammall recounts a story the Brysons likely told the college. “Bryson had a longstanding desire to translate the Scriptures into the language of an unreached people group. He first taught at, and supervised the building of, the Moffat Bible School at Kijabe, among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. While he was there, one day a very tall, unknown African man arrived and simply announced to him, “I am

from Nandi country, Bwana. I have been sent here by God to teach you our language and prepare you for coming to our country.”

When the Brysons came back to Australia on what missionaries used to call “furlough,” the text of the Nandi New Testament came with them – and it was printed at Century Press in Sydney – at that time a major book printery.

Returning to their mission station at Kapsabet, Stuart Bryson working with Samuel Grimnyige, produced the Nandi Old Testament. The full Bible was printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1939. As Checkley notes in a series of articles for AIM “Many reprints were to follow over the years.”

After Africa, the Brysons returned to Australia. And once again SMBC and the AIM were intertwined. After a period working for the Bible Society as a “deputationist” Stuart became the secretary of the national committee of the African Inland Mission and Vice Chairman of the Board of SMBC. Elise and Stuart both died in 1975 – the circle had already been joined.

The AIM’s Liz Moore is not slow to point out that AIM continues to send the “Brysons of this age.”

SMBC clearly would love to inspire new students with the Bryson story. And why not? Which of this year’s grads will be written about 100 years from now?

FAITH, HOPE & LOVE

Unchanging Virtues for a Changing World

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THE CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY

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In this landmark series, the Anglican and Catholic Archbishops will articulate the importance and relevance of faith, hope and love for contemporary Australian society at a time when competing voices and institutions wrestle to define and influence the national conversation.

LECTURE 1 FAITH TUES 24 SEPT 2019

LECTURE 2 HOPE WED 25 SEPT 2019

LECTURE 3 LOVE THURS 26 SEPT 2019

Each lecture commences at 7:30pm. Please be seated by 7:25pm for broadcasting purposes.

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E COVENANT CHRISTIAN SCHOOL SPONSORED PAGE 12

Caroline Kilby-Covenant Christian School

Kindergarten students reading from The Big Picture Story Bible at Covenant Christian School

What only a parent can tell you about Christian education BECK, PARENT AT COVENANT CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

I’m at a cross-country carnival today. Roadrunner (my daughter) is running 2km. A small number of steps for this child, but a giant amount of steps for her mum.

I don’t run – unless there is a cockroach, and then I could qualify for the Olympics. Roadrunner tells me that during her race she kept focusing on having a growth mindset – something ‘the Dream Team’ have been teaching her.

The Dream Team are her two class teachers this year, aptly named because, well, if the shoe fits! I asked Roadrunner what it means to have a growth mindset?

She spoke of perseverance and not giving up, but she also told me about Philippians 4:6-7. “Do

you know this one, Mum?” she asks, and then produces these incredible verses: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

“I do know that one”, I tell her.

And she smiles and tells me how her legs were hurting and how she wanted to give up, but that she kept bringing her worries to God and He helped her to keep going.

I stopped and thanked God for the Dream Team who have given this wonderful tool a purpose under the Lordship of Jesus.

I’m at Infants (K-2) assembly this morning and the singing is being

led by Maria Von Trapp. Obviously not the Julie Andrews kind, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see this teacher leading a troupe of matching-curtained-garbed children through the playground singing a perfectly harmonised version of Doe-a-deer on her guitar. I digress. Quick, back to the abbey…I mean assembly. Maria tells the children that there won’t be words on the screen for this first song. We don’t find out the name of the song either; only that it is a favourite. She starts with two chords and whilst I have no idea what the song is, it quickly becomes apparent that I’m the only one. Because at just the right moment, 120 sweet voices start singing. And as they start singing they look at one another with big eyes and wider smiles because

they agree with Maria – it is one of their favourite things. And this is what their joyful voices sang: Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you, He will sustain you. And He will never never never let the righteous fall, let the righteous fall, no.

Towards the end of the song, I notice that my friend is also struggling with her allergies.

It feels a little silly to be crying in assembly, but we had just been reminded of something so important – to cast our cares on the Lord for He will sustain us.

These are just some of the everyday stories of my life, but they are actually the threads that God is using to weave His story in the lives of my children. Covenant has been such a significant part of that, and I am so thankful that

my kids are at Covenant for these early years of school. I am thankful for these moments where they are reminded to cast their cares on the Lord; for moments of learning what it means to bring their worries to the Lord in prayer; for moments, every day, where they are reminded of the glorious message of the Gospel. And as God weaves His story into their lives, the incredible thing is that He uses what they are learning to teach me too, and I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise really; after all Jesus reminds us that “from the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise” (Matt 21:16).

Find out more about Covenant Christian School – www.covenant.nsw.edu.au/ learning/junior/infants

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Following Christ on the uni campus ...

REBECCA ABBOTT Studying medicine as a Christian means navigating a minefield of ethical issues, as 22-year-old Alex McHarg has discovered.

Now in her fourth year of a six-year medical degree at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Alex has already tackled weighty debates around euthanasia, abortion and gender identity.

“We had specific tutorials on some of these ethical topics in first and second year. I remember a tutorial we had on abortion and we did the pros and cons, and looked at it from different ethical frameworks and principles,” she explains.

At the time, Alex didn’t feel comfortable enough around her relatively new classmates to bring the Bible into the discussion.

“I often did air my opinion but I don’t think I actually used my faith or the Bible as my reasoning … I feel like people are happy for you to have your own opinion if it doesn’t affiliate with an institution or a faith background. But as soon as you say, ‘Oh well, the Bible says this …’ I feel, potentially, that people would form opinions of me that are incorrect, make assumptions or write me off as … not being progressive.”

As she’s come to know more

Med student Alex McHarg is tackling issues like abortion and euthanasia. students in her course, Alex has grown in confidence to make her faith known.

“It makes it easier because people already have an opinion of me, so if I come out in an ethics

tutorial or in a class and say I actually believe this because of my faith, then people are less likely to form a wrong judgment,” she says.

Alex is also lucky enough to know a lot of other Christians in her degree. “So I feel quite well supported in that respect,” she says.

She sometimes attends events and Bible studies run by Christians in Medicine at UNSW, a group for medical students organised by Campus Bible Study.

This year Alex went along to the Christians in Medicine mid-year conference, an annual three-day event. However, she adds that she’s chosen to divest most of her ministry energy into her local church on the north shore of Sydney, where she serves as a youth group leader.

Despite the strong Christian presence on campus, there are still moments when Alex finds it challenging to be a Christian at uni. One of these times was around the plebiscite on same-sex marriage in late 2017.

“That was massive at uni,” Alex shares. “There were lots of people advocating for it; there were people on the walkway [on campus] trying to stop you to talk about it. It definitely felt like if I expressed my opinion, people would label me as someone who hates other people or who has homophobic views.”

Alex says she chose not to share her views based on an underlying sense of fear about being “hated” as a Christian, but also out of a desire to “keep the peace with other people.

“I didn’t want to hurt other people. I didn’t want my opinion to be out there and get back to people in the wrong way, so misconstruing it or sharing it in a way that would be hurtful to others.”

As she considers her future, perhaps as a rural GP, Alex knows she will confront more sticky issues around her faith in the medical profession.

“Talking about spiritual health hasn’t really been explained to us much in our degree, whether that would be acceptable or not,” she notes.

Fortunately for Alex, she has Christian parents who are also doctors.

“Mum is already a role model for how to deal with issues in medicine where my faith is contrary to what people want me to do. I have asked her a few times, ‘What do you do if someone comes up to you and wants to talk about abortion, or how do you talk to anyone about faith, about spirituality?’ She’s been a good resource.”

Alex adds: “I definitely feel like I’m not alone. It’s helpful to have older, working doctors who hold similar opinions.”

As the end of Year 12 looms, Isabelle says her faith plays a key role in helping her survive the stress.

“I don’t need to stress as much because I know that I’m alright

and that God has a plan for me and he knows what’s going to happen, whereas my friends don’t think that and they are stressing more and [feel they] have to get everything right.”

When asked if there’s anything that could have made school life easier for her as a Christian, she admits it would be helpful to have more information about the school’s Christian fellowship group, which she’s not sure even exists. While the school does have a chaplain, Isabelle hasn’t felt the need to engage with this service, although she does say it would have been helpful to have a friend at school who shared her beliefs.

“If I needed someone to talk to, if I was struggling, it would be nice to have someone that I know believed the same thing as me … so we could talk it out together.”

... and at high school REBECCA ABBOTT Seventeen-year-old Isabelle Sanders can’t remember a time when she didn’t believe in God. Her dad is a pastor and her mum a school chaplain, so Isabelle grew up in the church and has many “lifelong friends” in church circles.

But when it comes to school, it’s a different story. Now in Year 12 at Woodvale Secondary College (an independent public school in Perth, WA), Isabelle doesn’t have Christian friends her age at school and, in fact, doesn’t know any other Christians in her year.

“It’s definitely a bit difficult,” she admits, when asked if her faith sometimes makes her feel like a fish out of water.

“I’ve had people think that being a Christian is just following really, really strict rules and you’re not

allowed to do anything … but they didn’t really understand what being a Christian is all about.”

Yet, as Isabelle has grown into her high-school years and her faith, she has become braver in taking opportunities to share her beliefs at school.

“When I first started high school I wasn’t really interested in expressing my faith, just because I was nervous about what people would think. But now that I’ve grown more in my faith, I’m not really scared of what other people think. I’m more than happy to talk to my friends about it and I’ve invited them along to church. I just love telling people, my friends especially, about what I believe in.”

She gives examples of how this growing confidence has played out in the classroom: “A couple of years ago in health

class, my teacher got everyone to stand up and go to different sides of the room as to whether they thought gay marriage should be legalised or not … I stepped out and said I wasn’t going to do that because I was a bit scared to express how I was feeling.

“But, just recently, this year, I was more open in my media class.

We were talking about evolution because I was writing an article on it … I was saying why I don’t think evolution is real because I believe that God made the world.

I was more than happy to talk to my teacher about it because we had different views on it …

“Then when I got my news article back, [my teacher] said that I wrote it really well and I wasn’t being ‘preachy’ and that I almost convinced her, so that made me feel pretty good.”

Isabelle Sanders is growing in her faith and confidence.

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

EDUCATION

SEPTEMBER 2019

E CHRISTIAN EDUCATION NATIONAL SPONSORED PAGE 14

Christian schools work in partnership

Caroline Kilby-Covenant Christian School

Christian schools are about partnership; partnership in the gospel as schools provide a thoroughly and authentically Christian education to their students.

Christian Education National (CEN) is a network of Christian schools in partnership to do just that. CEN schools work together to deliver distinctively different schooling by; • Employing 100% Christian staff • All curriculum being taught from a Christian perspective • All policy and practice having biblical foundations • Being governed by Christian parents in partnership to raise their children for God’s glory.

A key characteristic of Christian education is academically rigorous delivery of an integrated Christian curriculum. Scripture classes and chapel services are good things, but a Christian school goes further.

To integrate Christian faith and God’s word into the curriculum means presenting all subjects from the perspective of a Christian worldview; viewing the nature of humanity, the purpose and meaning of life, the definition of success, the place of culture, and where true hope can be found as presented in the Bible’s big story anchored in Jesus.

This is based on accepting that God’s word is true, worth reading and believing, transformational, and life-giving.

Teaching from this perspective is a challenge and a privilege. It

Teachers in CEN schools across Australia are working in partnership with parents. is a privilege because a Christian curriculum teaches the full truth.

But this isn’t easy; the Australian curriculum has some assumptions that are not in harmony with a worldview shaped by the Bible.

CEN assists schools to develop and train their teachers to teach effectively, enthusiastically and Christianly. Through CEN Professional Learning, and postgraduate qualifications through the National Institute for Christian Education, staff in CEN schools are continually developed

and inspired to deliver an academically rigorous education which equips students to see the world as God’s, and to live for His glory.

CEN schools employ only committed Christian staff. It is impossible to teach Christianly, respond to students with God’s love, disciple students in their faith, or develop policies that are God honouring, unless staff are Christians. For a school to partner with parents to raise their children in the Christian faith, it must

have all Christian staff, and have the goal of running a school for the purpose of honouring Jesus Christ.

CEN assists member schools to run well and to be governed in a professional, God-honouring way. Schools are regulated with complex compliance requirements.

CEN assists its schools not only to meet these requirements, but to do so with best practice. This means CEN schools can be safe, efficient and operate with integrity.

Christian schools work through

partnership at every level. This includes genuine partnership with parents.

CEN schools seek to assist parents in the nurture of their children because they recognise that parents have the God-given responsibility to raise their children in the Lord. Schools aren’t there to take away this responsibility, but to assist parents in this wonderful task.

CEN schools do this by involving parents in governing their schools - having committed Christian parents participate in their school associations, who elect their school boards.

But it also happens in the dayto-day; when teachers respond to parents about the needs of their child; when the principal’s door is open; when school administrators are approachable and available; when fees are kept as low as possible so more families can access a Christian education.

Partnership at a CEN school goes deeper still. Being part of a strong Christian school community means parents are there to support each other in raising their children, in walking through life - though the challenges and highlights.

The CEN network has member schools across the country, which have been providing a distinctive Christian education for decades.

To find a CEN school to partner with you in raising your children, see the map below, or visit the CEN website at www.cen.edu.au/ schools

SEPTEMBER 2019

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BIBLE @ WORK

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Hope inside one of South Africa’s most notorious prisons Prisoners inside Johannesburg Correctional Centre in South Africa pray at the beginning of a chapel service. Inset: Andrew received his first Bible while in prison.

KALEY PAYNE “You know, when you look at these people you realise, they look so normal and so ordinary, but they’re the people who have caused others a tremendous amount of pain and grief that really cannot be solved,” Pastor Willie Dengler tells me. He’s talking about murderers. Rapists.

Armed robbers. He’s talking about the inmates of some of South Africa’s most notorious prisons.

And he’s talking to me in the car on the way to meet some of them.

I’ve been sent to South Africa by Bible Society Australia, to gather stories on a few Bible projects that Australian donors have supported.

We’re in Johannesburg and I’ll be one of six people entering the city’s prison today with Pastor Willie’s organisation, World Hope Ministries – a Bible Society partner. There’s only one other woman coming in. We’re visiting Johannesburg Correctional Centre’s male medium-security block, called Medium B. I’ll be one of two women among more than one thousand men.

“Just be aware at all times that you’re standing out of the crowd ... that you’re standing next to one of us or next to a guard,” Willie tells me. “Going in for the first time, I would just take a deep breath, say ‘Thank you Lord’ for the opportunity and don’t look surprised and don’t look shocked.

It’s not that bad inside this prison.

But it’s not the place I’d like to spend another day.

“If you get emotional, that’s OK.” “Does that happen a lot?” I ask.

“Yes,” says Pastor Willie. “We do have ‘family’, as we say, ‘on the inside.’ We’re pretty happy with that. We don’t go into a situation which is totally devoid of Christian faith. And so you should feel at home after a few minutes.”

Pastor Willie is right: I do find brothers on the inside.

Inside the prison, it is a sea of bright orange jumpsuits stamped a hundred times over with one word: “corrections.” One inmate has the words “I’m in a zoo” scrawled across his back in thick black marker.

We’re led through concrete halls

that smell like urine. Shouting voices echo everywhere. Guys with mop buckets move systematically in and out of the hallway – wiping down cells we’ve been told we’re not allowed to take photos of.

The hallway opens to a large courtyard, hemmed in by three storeys of brickwork topped by another storey of barbed wire fencing. No one’s getting over that.

The courtyard is full of African men. Some are playing soccer in the dirt. Some are dunking orange suits or sheets in garbage bins full of brown water. They wring them out, creating muddy pools in the dirt, and then hang them out of any window they can find.

Most are hanging out in groups in the sun. For a few hours a day, it’s the only sky they’ll see.

We’re ushered into a concrete room right off the main courtyard, where more orange-suited men are sitting in rows facing forwards.

As our group plugs in a speaker and microphone, the men start to sing spontaneously. They’re singing worship songs, mainly in Zulu, one of South Africa’s 11

official languages. The microphone kicks in and the speaker is really loud. One voice rises above the others and a cacophony of voices become as one, in praise of God. In a concrete hall, in the middle of a prison.

It’s here that I meet Andrew, one of the inmates. I don’t know how long he’s been in prison for. I don’t know what he’s done. None of that matters because today Andrew is graduating from a Bible correspondence course run by World Hope Ministries. The course is devotional in style; you read the Bible on your own or in a small group inside the prison and move through a workbook. There are several levels in the course, and at the end, you graduate and receive a Bible, provided by Bible Society.

I watch as Andrew’s name is called and he heads to the front of the crowded room and clutches his new Bible – his first, he tells me.

“It means a lot. It means a lot.

What I’ve learned in my six courses is so much … many things. That God is our Saviour and we must always praise him. “[I’ve learned]

Transform lives in South Africa’s prisons. $44 will provide Bibles and put hope in the hands of four South African inmates

Call: 1300 BIBLES (1300 242 537) Visit: biblesociety.org.au/everyone

that everybody has got a second chance. God is the one who has planned my life. Maybe he planned that I must change my life in prison ... I will continue to do all these things outside and continue to encourage people so that they will follow our Heavenly Father.”

Andrew’s eyes are on fire as he speaks to me. He is nervous but passionate. He is searching for more that God can teach him.

That’s the story for thousands of other prisoners completing the devotional courses.

In 200 prisons across South Africa, transformed men and women are hearing the good news of a second chance and God’s love.

You can help Bible Society reach 15,000 more inmates with God’s powerful word and give them hope and a fresh start, just like Andrew.

This is an excerpt from a podcast by Eternity and Bible Society Australia about this prison ministry. For the full episode, visit eternitynews.com.au/podcasts

+ If you would like more details, visit biblesociety.org.au/everyone

SEPTEMBER 2019

E CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP TOURS SPONSORED PAGE 16

Don’t just travel – Journey with Purpose In the fifth century St Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”. We are so fortunate to live in an age when it is easy to travel, and the “book” of the world is accessible to explore and experience - there is just so much to see and to learn! John Cronshaw, Anglican lay preacher, former teacher and Director of Christian Fellowship Tours (CFT), has long found inspiration in the words of the devout Christian, Sargent Shriver.

“Just to travel is rather boring, but to travel with a purpose is educational and exciting.” (Sargent Shriver) As Christians we are understandably fascinated by the Holy Land and as a former geography teacher John Cronshaw followed his twin passions by researching biblical locations in depth. John’s published work “The Land of the Bible” shows how the Bible is grounded in geographic reality. Professor Robert Pryor PhD, a past passenger on CFT’s Land of the Bible tour, commented - “John Cronshaw demonstrates not only his deep knowledge of the Bible in its entirety but also years of experience developing tours and researching the Holy Land. … The text itself is deceptively easy to read, yet the insights contained will provoke thoughtful and prayerful consideration.”

On CFT’s comprehensive Land of the Bible tour of Israel and Jordan this book is gifted to our

John Cronshaw, CFT Tour Leader and author of Land of the Bible (second from left) at Mount of Olives passengers and accompanied by a manual that links the tour itinerary with the appropriate pages of the book. Each day passengers are offered the opportunity to read aloud appropriate passages from the Bible relevant to the biblical site visited – a wonderful sharing

and spiritually uplifting experience.

This is a perfect example of journeying with purpose, where your holiday as full of meaning as it is of sightseeing opportunities. In April 2020 we will be travelling to Israel and Jordan on our Land of the Bible

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with purpose” and enjoy a holiday enhanced by learning about the Holy Land, Apostle Paul’s journeys or Reformation history.

Christian Fellowship Tours is an Australian family-owned company passionate about creating enjoyable but purposeful travel experiences. CFT holidays are non-denominational and we draw people together from all over Australia for personal and caring travel experiences that are big on fellowship but leave the theology for Church. We include short daily devotions and Sunday worship to reinforce our common bond of faith and this warm fellowship and friendliness of CFT tours brings people back again and again. As well as the normal sightseeing, our tours aim to connect with local Christians and include Christian sites and organisations so you can experience a more unique and memorable holiday. Why just be a tourist when you can connect with like-minded people and develop a deeper understanding of your faith and its history?

So, make your next holiday unique when you travel with Christian Fellowship Tours whether a faith-based itinerary, a relaxing domestic holiday, a cultural experience or an overseas adventure you know you will be journeying with purpose and travelling with likeminded people. Come and be inspired.

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SEPTEMBER 2019

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You need joy Michael Jensen on how to find infinite joy In his recent book, The Second Mountain, David Brooks of The New York Times says: “our society has become a conspiracy against joy.”

We’ve emphasised pleasure and status as the paths to a fulfilled life. But these things are sticky traps that end up making us sad.

We now live amidst an epidemic of anxiety and depression. According to Beyond Blue, in every 12-month period two million Australians will experience anxiety. If you are anxious or depressed, it isn’t just you: it’s the times we live in.

We’ve lost the ability to cultivate joy in our lives. We don’t know how to find it. I’ve been trying to think how many people I know are genuinely joyous, and apart from toddlers and puppies, I don’t know many. Paul lists joy as one of the fruits of the Spirit – fruit that he expects Christians to cultivate. In Philippians 4 he says: “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” We should not be those without joy. Christians should be those who know joy. So, what is this joy, and how can I have it – even in the midst of a society which has become a conspiracy against joy?

We should start with God. Does God have joy? Yes. The God of the universe has delight. And he has delight especially in two things:

in his creation and in the people he has redeemed. We know that God has great joy in his creation because in Genesis he sees what he has made and declares it “very good”; and he then takes a day off to enjoy his work. The book of Job describes the moment of creation as a time when all the angels of heaven sang for joy.

But God has particular joy in his people. In Zephaniah 3:17 we read: The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

God’s people make him rejoice.

And in particular he delights in us when we delight in him.

Jesus also shows us this divine joy in his people. In Hebrews 12 we hear that Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before him.” He was so dedicated to us, and so wanted to rejoice in us, that he went to his death for us.

When he teaches his disciples about the command to love one another in John 15, he says: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jesus gives his divine joy to his people, through his command to love. When they love one another, they will know his joy.

So then: the joy we are to pursue is the joy that belongs to God himself. And from God’s joy we learn two things. First, that true joy is found in other people; and second, that joy involves hope.

True joy is found in other people.

For this reason, a narcissist can’t even conceive of joy. We can have pleasure as individuals, but not joy. We most enjoy the world when we have someone to enjoy it with.

And our deepest joys are found in others. David Brooks says that “joy animates people who are not obsessed with themselves but have given themselves away.”

He could have been talking about the apostle Paul, who himself was copying Jesus. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, even though he is writing from a prison cell, he is overflowing with joy – because he has joy in the Philippians. He calls them “you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown.”

Paul’s joy comes first from delighting in Jesus Christ, and then from his focus on others. He tells us: “rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” This isn’t a “don’t worry, be happy” philosophy.

He’s not just telling us to fake it till we make it. If we remember what God has done for us in Christ, and that he delights in us, then we will rejoice in him.

Joy is found in other people; it is bigger than just you. And joy involves hope. This is why the Bible can speak of having joy even in trouble and suffering. This idea is totally mind-blowing in a world where we think that suffering robs us of meaning and happiness.

But can you imagine having a joy that cancer and divorce and poverty can’t take from you?

Paul has joy even in the midst of disappointment, pain and imprisonment. James tells us: “Consider it pure joy when you suffer all kinds of trials.”

How is this possible? Because joy in God comes with hope. Because joy knows the future rests in the joyful God; it’s not dismayed and it never despairs. True joy can weep with sorrow.

But joy comes with a longing.

This is not the kind of longing of loss, or the ache of an appetite.

Joy has an eager anticipation.

You know when you are looking forward to something great, that you sometimes find yourself smiling to yourself about it. You don’t yet have it, but you have the joy of it in anticipation. I feel that way about going to our beach house with the family each year. Joy anticipates joy.

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unsplash / bruce-mars

OPINION

OPINION

“

Envy or comparison will rob you of your joy. Looking over the back fence will make you miserable.”

And this makes it possible to have joy even when you suffer. If you have joy in God, you have a different outlook – and that means you can have an unassailable joy.

C.S. Lewis once said: We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Infinite joy is on offer for you, in Jesus Christ. Are you too easily pleased in the way Lewis suggests?

If you want to cultivate joy, the first thing to do is some weeding.

There are many things in your life that can rob you of your joy.

Envy or comparison will rob you of your joy. Looking over the back fence will make you miserable.

Excessive debt will rob you of your joy. Being stingy will rob you of your joy. Unresolved conflict and broken relationships will rob you of your joy. Not looking after your physical health will rob you of your joy. A person without sleep and with unmanaged stress will not be joyful. Sleeping around will rob you of your joy. Laziness and workaholism will rob you of

+

On the secrets of keeping the faith Michael Frost page 20

your joy. Keeping your burdens to yourself will rob you of your joy, as will isolating yourself – since joy is found in others.

If you desire to have infinite joy, the joy of God, you need to do some weeding. What all these things do is turn us in on ourselves. They remind us of ourselves. They keep us from having wonder, gratitude and hope. Above all, if you want to have joy, you need to give yourself away. Let yourself go! This is the way of Jesus, who did not consider equality with God as something to hold on to, but humbled himself, even to death on a cross, for the joy of saving his people.

Get rid of the things that will rob you of your joy – especially your self-obsession; and instead pursue joy in God and his people. How? By praising God, and by serving others. We praise God when we gather together because we are rejoicing in him and what he has given us. We want to please our Heavenly Father, and to delight him: and he is delighted in us when we have joy in him. We put praise of God to music because we want to feel joy in God. We want our delight to be in him. When you open your heart to engage in the praise of God, you are practising for divine joy.

And serve others. The greatest antidote to self-obsession is just humble service of others. It’s the greatest antidepressant ever invented. It makes Paul smile even when he’s in prison. What do others need? Who are they? How can you see Jesus in them? What can they teach you? The selfish reason to be more selfless is that it will nurture your joy. My prayer is that you won’t see joy as an option but as a necessity; and that you won’t settle for anything less.

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

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SEPTEMBER 2019

More than conquerors - and not victims

Tim Costello on God’s perspective I have been reflecting on how hope expresses itself in gratitude.

I recently expressed the view that wealthy and closeted middle

Australia wrongly feels it is doing it hard, and some consider their annual trip to Bali, or the latest mobile gadget, to be fundamental human rights – while remaining oblivious to real suffering overseas.

It seems to me to be a loss of perspective, and those comments caused some outrage.

More rage ensued when I called on my fellow Christians to calm down about their alleged persecution, amid the calls for a tough religious freedom bill.

The automatic response by some Australian Christians to claim victimhood is, I believe, sadly misplaced.

We might expect secular culture – without Christian hope – to feel

this way but not those who should know that, in Christ, we are more than conquerors, certainly not victims.

I know only too well the personal temptation of moving towards victimhood and entitlement.

But what would be God’s perspective? Surely he would remind us that we Australians are blessed to live in a wealthy nation with access to education and health services. He would counsel us to have a heightened awareness of those less fortunate rather than complaining about how hard off we are.

Gratitude, along with humility, is an unfashionable, almost forgotten virtue. It can offend our

self-centred sense of entitlement by forcing us to admit that our lives, and everything within them, are gifts. Faith can mean seeing justice for the poor as ultimately more important than brand labels and expensive holidays and travel.

In the face of the ancient obsession with material things, Jesus pointed to a lily, and a sparrow, and calmly said, “Trust.

Seek first the kingdom of heaven.”

He focused on the joy of giving, not on the promise of return.

He said we were foolish if we wanted to “lay up treasures’’ for ourselves and ignore God and our fellow creations.

Consumerism has become a modern theology. And what gets

easily lost in all this is the message of social justice.

It surprises me that some Australians on $120,000 per year – or more – believe they are doing it tough, and are angry that our nation gives “too much” in foreign aid (although we give much less than most nations).

I’m saddened that our rich middle-class homes have become incubators of self-righteous apathy. Health and wealth are the expected repercussions of hard work, clean living and respect for authority. Struggle, hope, gratitude and faith do not come into the equation.

Tim Costello is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity.

for aborting women.

The parliament also voted down an amendment to make it an offence to coerce someone into having an abortion. Two highprofile footballers recently had former girlfriends come out and say they were coerced. One was paid hush money. Both regretted it.

A Galaxy Poll of Queensland voters, astonishingly, revealed that more than a quarter know someone who was coerced or pressured into an abortion.

Speaking of women’s rights, an amendment to ban sex selective abortion was voted down.

Melbourne doctor Mark Hobart was disciplined by the Medical Board for refusing to refer a couple for a sex-selection abortion of a baby girl. They happen.

I fear that many Australian Christians are naïve about these

realities – about where society is at. Naïve about just how bad things are. People have truly forgotten God. Look how brazenly and deliberately and knowingly and carelessly otherwise respectable people are enabling this grave evil with no conscience about it.

Until we understand how far we have come, we will never act as we are called to act in dark times: to shine the light in the darkness, to remain uncompromised, to stop committing the sin of silence, and to be unashamed of the priceless truth we carry for a hurting, breaking world.

Martyn Iles is Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby Eternity has published a variety of views on this bill at eternitynews. com.au/topics/abortion

People have forgotten God

Martyn Iles on the NSW abortion bill During the abortion law debate in the NSW parliament, a range of amendments were proposed to improve this dreadful law.

Each of these amendments was voted down; they were rejected by the members of the lower house.

You may ask, what were they?

The answer is depressing.

The first one is of tremendous significance – an amendment to ensure that babies who are designated for abortion, but are born alive for whatever reason, are rendered medical care.

In Victoria between 2009 and 2016, there were 304 babies born alive because abortions failed, but were then left to slowly die on operating tables and rendered no care. Dozens faced the same fate in Western Australia. This is a nationwide reality.

The second amendment that was voted down would have required that abortions performed on children under 16 be reported to the relevant authority.

So, pregnant minors who seek abortions may not receive the necessary attention to ensure there is, for example, no sexual abuse.

In fact, the bill in its current form

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eternitynews.com.au A national newspaper for Australian Christians, Eternity is sent free to any church, school or Christian businesses.

Individual subscriptions are also available. Eternity is published by Bible Society Australia eternity@biblesociety.org.au GPO Box 4161 Sydney NSW 2001 P: (02) 9888-6588 (ACN 148 058 306).

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contains provisions which could overrule the wishes of parents when an abortion is requested by their child.

A third rejected amendment would have required counselling and a 72-hour cooling-off period for any woman seeking an abortion.

Women seeking an abortion are often facing grave challenges.

An independent counsellor in those circumstances is often just what they need. Three-month post-abortive women have a three-and-half times greater incidence of clinical depression and one-fifth higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists therefore recommends comprehensive preand post-termination counselling

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OPINION

SEPTEMBER 2019

19

pixabay / Alexas Fotos

Persecution the wrong label

Mark Stephens on the P-word Persecution is a hot topic right now. Some Christians see a swelling tide in Australia, while others think some perspective is in order. But our conversation could be improved via a richer vocabulary for describing hostility towards Christians. This would leave everyone better placed for discussions within the church and with the wider culture.

If we define persecution in terms of deliberate attacks on the person or property of Christians, then outright persecution of the early church was often local and sporadic rather than global and constant.

The church did experience largescale persecutions involving horrific violence against the faithful. But even some of those campaigns were

more inadvertent than deliberate.

For example, when the thirdcentury Roman emperor Decius wanted to revive pagan sacrifices, his universal edict demanding loyalty to the gods necessarily collided with monotheistic Christians. But it is less likely that he set out to destroy the church.

However, Christians were regularly viewed through a lens of suspicion and fear. And much of this suspicion was directed towards what Christians didn’t believe in. This is why some were branded “atheists,” not because they didn’t believe in a god but because they didn’t believe in enough gods. The logic of hostility was that Christians failed to join in with key practices that were seen as essential to the health of ancient society. The Christians were threatened because they were perceived to be a threat.

How might these insights help improve the conversation in these times of perceived hostility towards Christians? First, Christians don’t always have to employ the P-word whenever things get uncomfortable. The English novelist George Eliot wrote: “Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution.” Labelling something as persecution can obscure the complexity of a situation. Yet part of the reason many want to reach for the P-word is the way everyone seems to treat it as an all-ornothing category. Either Christians are being persecuted or hostility

must be absent. But early Christian history shows that there are a range of ways in which Christians experience real social tension, without it always becoming outright persecution.

Second, acknowledging the presence of hostility, without jumping straight to the persecution label, opens up a space to ask exactly why tension might be present. Even the New Testament concedes that Christians can suffer for bad reasons, not just for good (1 Pet 2:20; 3:17). If Christians suffer because they are “obnoxious for Jesus” then they cannot claim to be fools for Christ – they are just fools.

But let’s assume the best and presuppose that an experience of hostility is because of faithfulness not foolishness. It is still helpful to ask why it is happening. Does this episode represent a wholesale attack on Christian belief? Or is it because Christians are refusing to join in some thought or practice that society deems as mandatory?

Being specific in this way may not eliminate the hostility, but it might help Christians communicate about where the real issues lie.

After all, the solid core of Christian faith will always clash with some features of every culture.

Third, the fact that persecution can be locally experienced should discourage thinking in “one-sizefits-all” categories. Just because I’m not feeling pressure doesn’t mean you aren’t experiencing hostility where you live and work. Hostility and persecution do not have to be

society-wide and systematic for them to be real.

Finally, for those Christians who are experiencing hostility, even to the level of persecution, the bigger question to ask is how they can respond in ways that follow the example of Jesus and maintain love towards their neighbour. On this point the Bible has a lot to say. So here let me cite just two examples.

The book of 1 Peter is written to believers who are experiencing all kinds of trials (1:6), who keenly feel their strangeness in the surrounding culture. Yet Peter tells them to avoid all forms of retaliation, to humbly examine their own behaviour, to set apart Christ as Lord, and to commit to speaking with gentleness and respect (1 Pet 2:23; 3:14-16). Peter urges the believers to: “commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” (1 Pet 4:19) The book of Revelation knows well the potential for Christians to clash with their social context.

While not everyone in the audience of Revelation is being persecuted, its template for faithful Christian living nearly always includes suffering. And yet John still wants his readers to see themselves as “conquerors” or “overcomers.”

But here is where everything gets turned upside down. For the church’s power lies not in worldly weapons but in imitating the Lamb who conquered sin and evil through the sacrificial love of the cross (Rev 12:11; 14:4). Accordingly, disciples in Revelation participate in the victory of Jesus through a willingness to give their lives and livelihoods away for the sake of God and for their neighbours. No matter what it is that Christians are facing right now, this is the challenging vision that both Scripture and the history of the church have to offer.

Mark Stephens is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. He has a PhD in ancient history from Macquarie University.

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OPINION

20

SEPTEMBER 2019

A good Abbott for Marty, Josh, Bart and Co

Yet another high-profile Christian leader has taken to Instagram to announce that he is giving up on Christianity. Marty Sampson, a much-loved songwriter and performer with the bands Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United, Delirious?, and Young & Free, recently posted: “I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy.”

The news left a legion of followers reeling. Many people are grieving. One of my friends called it “an unexpected gut punch.”

This follows Joshua Harris’ similar Instagram announcement that he no longer considers himself a Christian. Harris was previously one of the leaders of the American evangelical purity culture movement. But it feels as though Sampson’s decision has affected people here more than Harris’ – and much more than other recent high-profile losses of faith by people such as Michael Gungor, Bart Campolo or Frank Schaeffer.

For this reason it’s worth spending some time looking at Sampson’s “Dear John” letter to his faith, to try to make sense of what might have precipitated it being on “incredibly shaky ground.”

(Sampson told Christian Post last month that “Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point.”)

In that now-deleted Instagram post, Sampson wrote: “How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send

four billion people to a place, all ’coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it.”

Did you get that? He’s shaken by the moral failure of leaders, a lack of miracles, the challenges of biblical hermeneutics, and questions about theodicy and eternal punishment. And in particular, he’s distressed that no one talks about it.

When I first read that, I thought, “But I talk about that stuff. A lot!”

The more I reflected on it, the more I realised that whenever I do talk or write about those things, I get howled down by other Christians telling me I shouldn’t be so discouraging. I’m often told I should build up the church, not tear it down. I’m regularly reprimanded for criticising God’s anointed leaders. I’m routinely gaslighted as grouchy or a stirrer.

And here’s the problem, as I see it. If we foster a church culture where hard questions can’t be asked and answers can’t be attempted, we end up with the kind of brittle faith that Sampson is now shedding.

I say brittle because none of the issues he mentions are that difficult to address. I don’t mean there are easy answers to them. But there are plenty of resources out there for developing a robust faith that can integrate the breadth of perspectives reflected in Scripture; that can make sense of a lack of miracles; that can embrace the tension between God’s love and God’s judgment; and that can be unshaken by derelict leadership.

Facebook Marty Sampson

Michael Frost on the secrets of keeping the faith

“

I don’t mean there are easy answers … but there are plenty of resources out there for developing a robust faith.”

I have friends at Hillsong who know and love Marty. They tell me there are plenty of people he could have spoken to about his doubts and questions. So, why didn’t he?

Why does he repeat over and over, “No one talks about it”?

Was it that he became a public Christian too young without the grounding and the discipline to continue to flourish in his faith while still asking the awkward questions? Did he feel that as a Christian celebrity he wasn’t able to express his doubts incrementally, as they arose? And, now, all those questions about hermeneutics and science and disappointing leadership have heaped up and broken open the walls of his faith.

Marty Sampson’s announcement made me think of an even more famous young Christian from a previous era.

In 1941, the man who would become known as Thomas Merton, entered the Abbey of Our Lady

of Gethsemani in New Haven, Kentucky, to begin monastic life. A brilliant, restless man, constantly curious, always appearing to juggle multiple ideas at the same time, Merton was quite a handful for his superiors.

None of the other 200 or so monks at Gethsemani taxed the sympathies and patience of their abbot like Merton did.

Many of his interests – Zen asceticism, peace activism, the civil rights movement, Christian ecumenical dialogue, French existentialism, the history of communism, and a thousand other things – lay far outside the concerns and interests of his superiors, who struggled to focus their new recruit.

But then, in 1948, Dom James Fox, a former military officer and graduate of Harvard Business School, was appointed the abbot at Gethsemani. Fox would go down in history as the monk who kept a lid on the dazzling intellect of Thomas Merton. Indeed, one of Merton’s biographers, Monica Furlong, claimed Fox exercised a kind of tyranny over him.

But Dom James knew exactly what Thomas Merton needed.

James Fox imposed restrictions on Merton, it’s true, but his intent was to help the difficult and complex young monk to flourish, not to snuff out his flame. It wasn’t tyranny, it was elderhood.

At that time, Merton was a world-famous author of unbounded curiosity and intelligence. He wanted to pursue a thousand

interests, to read voraciously on an endless range of complex subjects, to correspond with hundreds of adoring fans. But Dom James restricted his writing time, focused his contemplative life, insisted he continue his theological study.

He anchored him.

He deepened him.

He allowed him to exercise his role as the pre-eminent public Christian of his time. But he released Merton into the world in short, manageable bursts.

Fox stewarded Merton’s genius by tempering it with discipline, solitude, study and service.

Fox died in 1968, and his successor was so intimidated by Merton’s fame he allowed him to do whatever he wanted. If James Fox had been like that 20 years earlier, I suspect Merton would have flamed out, or left the monastery, or embraced Buddhism, or something similar.

I share this story because I suspect churches need more James Foxes – men and women who know how to help the Marty Sampsons and Thomas Mertons to flourish through discipline; men and women who aren’t shocked by the so-called wrong questions; men and women who produce growth in us by limiting us, pruning us, feeding us.

Would a James Fox have let Joshua Harris write I Kissed Dating Goodbye at age 21?

Would a James Fox have let Marty Sampson get to age 40 without a robust theology of the miraculous or the afterlife?

In his Instagram post, Sampson grouses, “I am not in any more. I want genuine truth. Not the ‘I just believe it’ kind of truth.” And that’s the gist of it. Genuine truth.

In our information-drunk, effectiveness-addicted culture, finding genuine truth happens through the life-tested skill of gathering what is needed to sustain faith without killing faith in the gathering. We need elders, mothers and abbots to help us.

We need flinty truth-tellers, men and women of deep faith, who haven’t stopped asking their cranky questions, and who give permission to us all to ask and ask and ask until we too have found genuine truth.

Michael Frost is head of the missiology department at Morling College.

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