Eternity - December 2018 - Issue 108

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108

Number 108, Dec 2019 / Feb 2020 ISSN 1837-8447

Brought to you by the Bible Society

Yes, it IS time for prayer

Christos Tsiolkas is keen to talk

Welcome to country debate

China prints 200m Bibles

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NEWS

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DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

Obadiah Slope OOPS: A blunder in coding the results of an experiment in 2015 led University of Chicago researchers to publish a paper saying that religious households are less generous than others. Cell Biology, the journal that published the original paper, has now retracted it after another researcher from Canada found the opposite result. It turns out that Chicago’s researchers had somehow added the number codes for country of origin into their research. So, it seems that religion does lead to generosity. Obadiah’s prejudices are safe once again.

News 2-3 In Depth 5-11 Bible Society 12 Opinion 13-16

Quotable

FRIDGE SABBATICAL: A fridge repair man has given one Eternity writer a fun fact: many fridges and other appliances now offer a “sabbath” model which can be programmed to turn off lights and alarms one day a week. Useful for Orthodox Jews and Christians who are keen to observe a day of rest.

YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS: Obadiah knows about government cuts but this goes a bit far in his opinion.

Amity prints 200 million Bibles BEN MCEACHEN

WE ARE ALL GUILTY: Quotable: “Are Christians victims of this postChristian world? No… Our cold and hearts; our failure to love the stranger; our selfishness with our money, our time, and our home; and our privileged back turned against widows, orphans, prisoners and refugees mean we are guilty in the face of God of withholding love and Christian witness …Our own conduct condemns our witness to this world.Shame on us.

Rosaria Butterfield, The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World, page 61 OUR COVER: Obadiah intends the Eternity cover to point to the power of prayer in tough times. It’s also a response to the criticism of those who send “thoughts and prayers” in times of emergency. Obadiah knows prayer is powerful, powerful enough to motivate practical help as will. Of course it is!

There is a new world record for printing Bibles – China’s Amity Printing Company (APC) has now printed 200 million Bibles.

And they are producing Bibles faster and faster. The first 100 million Bibles to be printed by the Nanjing-based company took 25 years, with the 100 million milestone passed in 2012.

In a span of just seven years, Amity Press has produced yet another 100 million Bibles.

“Out of the 200 million Bibles printed, more than 85 million copies were printed and distributed for the churches in China, including Braille Bibles and Bibles in 11 ethnic minority languages,” Qiu Zhonghui, Board Chairman of Amity Foundation, announced at a celebration for the 200 millionth Bible.

“Since 2003, APC began to grow their Bible printing for overseas distribution and, to date, it has printed 115 million copies of the Bible for more than 140 countries and territories.”

Chinese church leaders and government officials joined leaders from the United Bible Societies (UBS) on November 11 as the printing plant produced the 200 millionth Bible. “It was a wonderful celebration of the partnership between Amity Foundation, the church in China and the church around the world – and demonstrates the incredible

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Our believers love the Bible, looking to God’s word as a lamp to the feet.”

Rev Xu Xiaohong

impact that can be made when we unite together behind a vision,” Melissa Lipsett, COO of Bible Society Australia told Eternity from Nanjing.

“This incredible milestone represents the Bible being placed into the hands and hearts of millions of Chinese Christians – a remarkable ‘only God’ feat!”

Bible printing restarted in China in the 1980s, and Aussie David Thorne played a key role.

Today, Amity Press occupies a modern factory, about the size of two AFL ovals, in Nanjing, one of China’s booming cities. Six

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hundred staff print, bind and ship Bibles and other books.

“Our pastors love the Bible and they use understandable language, relevant teaching and interesting illustrations to preach and teach the scriptural truths accurately and clearly,” Rev Xu Xiaohong, Chairman of the Three Self Patriotic Movement (the Protestant Churches in China), told the 200 million celebration.

“Our believers love the Bible, looking to God’s word as a lamp to the feet. They read the Bible to obey the truth, glorifying God and benefitting people, bearing witness in community service.”

The Three Self churches sell the Bible throughout China.

UBS Director General, Michael Perreau, congratulated APC for reaching this remarkable milestone. He remarked that the establishment of APC and the completion of 200 million Bibles by the press is a miracle no one can fathom.

He also reflected that there are people still waiting for God’s word in their own languages and people groups that cannot yet know that God speaks their heart languages.

“My prayer would be that when APC celebrates its 300 millionth Bible, it will include all people because the Bible is for everyone,” Mr Perreau said.

Bible Societies around the world subsidise the paper used in printing Bibles for China, making the Bible as widely available as possible.

Funny Man Dan arrives at the Eternity studio on an electric unicycle.

It’s a fitting entrance for the “world’s best children’s comedian” – that is, he clarifies, according to his mum.

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NEWS

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

Why you should ‘Trash Your Bible’ BEN MCEACHEN “We should be reading the Bible every day! It’s a lifestyle, not a profession! This is not just for people who want to become ministers; it is for every Christian.”

In case you missed it, Katie Haldane is passionate about God’s word. And about everyone flourishing in their relationship with Jesus and God, through a deeper grasp of the Bible.

A New Testament lecturer at C3 College in Sydney (a creative arts and Bible college), Katie is founder and director of Trash Your Bible – an intriguingly titled service aimed at helping everyone get into the Holy Scriptures. Repeat: everyone.

When she first started studying at C3 College, Katie was struck by the “benefit of historical context and studying the Bible, book by book.” Knowing more details about biblical times, or a book’s structure, increased her overall grip upon – and joy found in – the Bible.

But Katie also knew how many of her family and friends were time poor, or not inclined towards

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Getting rid of ‘sexist rubbish’

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KALEY PAYNE

something that looks like university lecture notes. She wondered: “How can I get this kind of Bible college content to them, but in a very short and succinct way?” “Trash Your Bible” was her answer – an online resource of 5-10 minute “snapshot” videos, blog posts and other encouragements to help people really get stuck into God’s word.

In a world where many similar study materials compete for attention, Katie always knew what could set TYB apart. “Our point of difference is our language, and we set our sights on those who may be a bit nervous about studying the Bible,” explains Katie, who has launched a special TYB Bible – an actual, printed Bible. Old school.

“It’s made for ‘trashing,’” says Katie. “It’s got thicker pages, so the highlighter doesn’t go through.

It’s got more journaling space, as well as QR codes and links to the website.” In essence, TYB’s “use-itso-much-you-trash-it” Bible aims to do what TYB online has been endorsing for the past three years.

For more: trashyourbible.com

When Bauer Media Group axed soft porn titles People and The Picture magazines for good in October, activist group Collective Shout – which opposes the objectification and sexualisation of women and girls – claimed victory.

Both magazines have been longstanding men’s magazine titles and will close by the end of 2019, joining other raunchy men’s titles including Zoo and FHM which were closed in 2015.

A Bauer spokesperson said the commercial viability of the magazines had been damaged after several big retailers, including BP, 7-Eleven and Coles Express, pulled the magazines off their shelves in September and October. The action was in response to a social media campaign run by Collective Shout, a grassroot campaigns movement.

Headlines on the covers of People and The Picture have included “Better Than Viagra” and featured a photograph of a young woman in pigtails with the caption “I have no gag reflex,” Collective Shout said on their website.

“Through our campaign, we have relentlessly exposed the true nature of these ‘Unrestricted M-rated’ magazines. We have repeatedly made the case for why they should not be sold in service stations and ultimately, why they shouldn’t be sold anywhere,” the group said.

Speaking with Eternity, Collective Shout’s founder Melinda Tankard Reist hailed a “significant victory” that she said had been ten years in the making.

“I wrote my first article on the availability of porn magazines in

All the women and girls we represent thank Bauer Media for demonstrating corporate social responsibility.

May other companies follow their lead.”

– Melinda Tankard Reist

2005,” Tankard Reist said. “But I think [now] the time was right.

We continue to see a growing body of global literature that demonstrates that the display and sale of pornographic magazines in the public space creates a hostile environment for women and girls.

“Sexual objectification and sexism creates a culture of violence against women. This is acknowledged in the Federal Government National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022.”

Tankard Reist said Bauer’s decision was evidence that society had moved on. “These sexist titles cannot co-exist in a society that claims to care about sexual harassment and other forms of mistreatment of women,” she said.

She added there was plenty of evidence of how a sexist culture groomed sexist boys. She points to reports of misogynistic behaviour by boys from St Kevin’s School, a prestigious inner-Melbourne boys’ school. Video footage emerged

recently of Year 12 graduates singing a sexist chant on a packed Melbourne tram, and while on a pub crawl.

“The sexist behaviour of the St Kevin’s students ... is a reflection of boys’ conditioning by a pornified culture ... We can’t change behaviour without addressing the cultural normalising of it.

“All the women and girls we represent thank Bauer Media for demonstrating corporate social responsibility. May other companies follow their lead.”

Tankard Reist says Collective Shout and its supporters have been buoyed by this victory, and will “go harder” on their next campaigns.

Collective Shout is running a campaign against Honey Birdette, a lingerie store which has attracted hundreds of complaints for its sexist advertising. According to Collective Shout, Ad Standards has investigated complaints against 70 ads and upheld those complaints in 38 cases.

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For more information about Our Partners: see our directory at www.cmasc-generosity.net.au Accreditation: go to www.cmasc.net.au Board Training: go to www.cma.net.au/governance

CMA Standards Council is a ministry of CMA, www.cma.net.au CMA Standards Council PO Box 16210, Collins St West, Melbourne VIC 8007 | P 0417 316 932 | www.cmasc.net.au

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

E MORLING COLLEGE SPONSORED PAGE 4

Chaplains: offering hope to those in need While the fundamental principles of chaplaincy do not change, the culture in which they can be applied are diverse. There is a huge difference between a Chaplain placed in emergency services where trauma counselling is required - like the recent bushfires - compared to a professional sporting environment.

Mel*, a postgraduate student in Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care at Morling College, never knows what a day - or night - might bring her role at a juvenile detention centre. One evening she counsels 17 year old Nick* who has already threatened self-harm multiple times in the 2 hours since she started her shift.

“When I do the rounds, I’m hoping this isn’t the check where I find he has followed through,” says Mel. “He’s awake and asks me to stay and talk, saying tonight is bad.”

For Nick, the prospect of leaving juvenile detention in three months’ time is not an exciting thought.

Nick has never known his dad.

His mother overdosed – suspected suicide – just after he came into custody. He’s the youngest of three. His brother is serving an eight-year custodial sentence; his sister is a long term psychiatric patient. He has no visitors. Nick’s charge sheet is long and his FACS

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If God loves everyone, how come all this bad stuff has happened to me?

How come my parents died?

How come I’m all alone?

file even longer. His caseworker is trying to find accommodation for when he gets out.

“He’s old enough to live on his own now, it doesn’t matter that he has no guardian. But he wishes he did, wishes he was going home to Mum or his sister. Other than scripture classes in school - he jokes he only stayed for the lollies and then tried to get kicked out - it wasn’t until he came into custody that he connected with anyone who told him about Jesus,” said Mel.

Mel shares that often she feels inadequate trying to offer comfort and hope: “Nick is a scared kid whose life has been hard from the very beginning. When he asks questions like, “If God loves everyone, how come all this bad stuff has happened to me? How come my parents died? How come I’m all alone? I wonder what I can say. Quoting Job, Jeremiah 29:11 or Romans 8:28 are just words to him, they are likely going to bring pain not comfort.”

Instead Mel leans on the door

and nods, while he continues to talk. Like so many in the world, Nick has enough people telling him what to do. “He needs me to listen, to be present. During our conversation I reflect on his feelings of hurt, sadness and loneliness. With these heightened emotions he isn’t going to remember my perfectly worded explanation of why God is good, loves him and has a plan for his life. But he will remember that I was there, I didn’t walk away,” says Mel. She adds: “Nick struggles to believe that a God who is good

and loving could let him lead the life he has. I’m reminded that God has the perspective that I cannot see, like a child holding the hand of their parent to cross the street.

My heart breaks that anyone made in the image of God, loved beyond measure, can only view themselves as hopeless.”

Mel understands that there is nothing she can say to reconcile Nick’s hurt, to take his pain away - but she has faith that God has good plans and purposes and will offer Nick a greater hope for his future. It is students like Mel who are offering hope, not with trite theological formulations, but with highly skilled training and impactful outcomes.

With the need and demand for Chaplains growing across Australia, Morling College—in partnership with BaptistCare and other industry groups—has developed a unique suite of awards in the field of Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care. These are world-class awards, designed to help people become competent chaplains in a wide range of fields. Visit morling.edu.au for more information or see the advert below. *Names changed for privacy reasons.

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

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IN DEPTH

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Donna Mulhearn is feeling grateful.

9 November at 11:14

Some shout outs: our first RFS crew from Lawson brigade who fought the main front last night came back this morning to here they are, legends! check on us, Thanks to Claire Morgan who ordered and thanks us breakfast and coffee who to Wikileaks Cafe Hazelbrook delivered it to our home and took no payment from Claire and said they are providing free food and coffee today for those fire affected and for fire fighters and volunteers – how beautiful, thank you! Cafe worker was too shy to pose for a photo, so I photographed the food instead, it was delicious! Thank you!

Scorched earth KYLIE BEACH Donna Mulhearn and Martin Reusch have spent two desperate days alongside rural firefighters, defending Blue Labyrinth Bush Retreat – the stunning rural retreat they co-created – from the ravages of bushfire.

Located in New South Wales’ Blue Mountains, in the area from Wentworth Falls to Glenbrook, on the south side of the Great Western Highway, their property is a spiritual retreat centre especially designed for people to come away for silence and solitude, inspired by Jesus’ invitation “Come away to a quiet place and rest a while.”

Eternity asked Donna if battling the bushfires felt spiritual to her, given the property’s purpose?

“Yes, it did,” she replied. “But I also felt it was being defended for us, because it was so special.

And the firies sometimes made a comment about how the wind kept changing now and then, and how it didn’t make sense to them but that it was helping.

“I just smiled. This is sacred land; the Aboriginal paintings in the cave mean it was a meeting place for spiritual purposes, so we are just bringing the land back to its original purpose. Thanks to God, we felt protected and were.”

Donna Mulhearn 8 November at 14:23

Mountain folk: Bushfire behind our place lots of smoke and embers, anyone in or near Riches Ave any info please let us know ... if it’s out of control will reach us quickly ...

8 November at 16:09 Firies are here, they are legends 8 November at 17:48 Internet has gone down, only have patchy data ... We are struggling to get up to date info on Hazelbrook and Woodford fires, anyone got new info on wind direction? Heaps of choppers in the air, but hard to know what they’re targeting 8 November at 17:59 We can see fire near bottom yurt someone please tell Firies to come back urgent, moving fast hurry 8 November at 18:53

Fire truck has returned, ready to defend house, thanks everyone 8 November at 19:37 · Just heard ABC report things are downgraded in Woodford tell them we have flames approaching our house

Father we pray, in your mercy, restrain the forces of nature from creating catastrophic damage across NSW & QLD. In your mercy, protect all human and animal life in jeopardy. Guard those who selflessly step into the breach to fight these terrifying fires. Give them courage, skill and protection as they fight nature’s fury. Bring comfort and healing to all who suffer loss.

TAKE A MOMENT AND PRAY for those fighting the flames, those still in harm’s way, those now piecing their lives together. It goes without saying, but nevertheless, PRAY winds will lose their power, PRAY rain will come and PRAY this wretched long-standing drought over this precious land will break. #prayforAustralia

Have mercy upon this land of Australia; which you have blessed with so much natural beauty and majesty. Hear us, as we cry to you for help.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Bobbie Houston

Hillsong International Senior Pastor

Host of The Pastor’s Heart, Dominic Steele from the bush, they are getting higher and more intense we have a crew here and we will stay and defend house, will be a long night, we have to wait till bush is totally burnt around house then will start to use the hoses ... Pray that the wind will die down 8 November at 19:52 Feels so strange, watching our bush burn, getting closer, orange everywhere I’m living my worst nightmare. But there’s absolutely nothing I can do until the flames get closer, totally powerless to the elements ... It’s almost here then we start, have helmet, glasses and mask, and water ... Us versus the flames ....

Can hear the crackling getting louder ... Determined to save the house, here we go ...

8 November at 20:17 ·

Bring choppers back please!

8 November at 22:12 Please can someone call for another truck down to 30 Park Road Woodford, one hose not enough, out of control moving fast 8 November at 22:54 In the end, (and I hope it’s the end) we were saved by a labyrinth. I kid you not. That was a very intense last hour ... The labyrinth path stopped the oncoming flames that were moving fast. We ran down and attacked the flames from the perimeter of the labyrinth There’s still flames here and ember showers, but we think the worst is over and oh my god the Firies just told us the bottom yurt is still intact, we thought for sure it was gone! Fire went all around it, that’s the old fellas that saved that, it was their campsite. ... now back to dowsing the last flames and thanks Firies!

8 November at 23:10 We will be here a few more hours, flare ups going on but seems OK, but can someone who’s still up please tell me, how are the other houses going? Any lost?

8 November at 23:38 Oh bugger, big flare up on other side...

But fresh crew here ready to go 9 November at 00:21 After ten hours on my feet now taking a break, keeping watch with crew, still a lot of flames and flare ups cos of the wind, but sitting down to rest my feet...

9 November at 00:34 New threat, hoses out, ready to go get it

8 November at 16:09

Firies are here, they are legends

8 November at 23:56

Midnight at our place

9 November at 1:45

It’s 1.45am and this is the view from my deck.

9 November at 3:03

Fire 5-10 metres [away], but we’re on to it 3.04am

9 November at 00:39 Now need the other labyrinth to save us, it’s between our house and this ...

9 November at 03:26 3.25am fire is about 25m from house but under control, Firies commenting that it’s gonna give us good fire protection for a few years!

9 November at 05:33 · The blue light of dawn is appearing after a long night, Fire truck still here chugging away pumping water from the pool, last flames (hopefully) being attended to, more fire trucks at the top of the drive working from that direction as well, turned out the fire made an almost ring, well two thirds of a ring around our house, still lots of trees burning and spot fires so need to keep watch, perhaps a new crew will come and relieve this one, they deserve a good rest ... I’m exhausted and body aching, will wait for a while before trying to rest though, still need to keep watch as it’s a very windy day ahead and we will have flare ups, thanks for your messages everyone, appreciated reading them when I could during the night. Our place looks nothing like it did yesterday, but it will be beautiful again, thanks everyone, especially the RFS heroes, so professional, thank you, phew xx 9 November at 08:46 Good morning! Managed to get 2hours sleep, Martin been out there since about 5am putting out spot fires, a new RFS crew just arrived to extinguish and pull down dangerous burnt trees ...

Many trees and logs still burning!

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IN DEPTH

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DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

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Why Christos Tsiolkas is keen to talk to Christians

“[Christianity] doesn’t only belong to Christians.

It’s a legacy that is for the whole of the world.”

Damascus

by Christos Tsiolkas (Allen & Unwin) $32.99rrp

Writer of The Slap declares he’s fallen in love with Paul ANNE LIM There were times while reading Christos Tsiolkas’s new book, Damascus, when I had to peep through parted fingers, shielding my eyes. Such is the horrific brutality of the world it portrays – the ancient world of the early worshippers of “Yeshua” (Jesus) and the Romans who condemned them and threw Christian slaves to wild animals for entertainment.

It starts with Saul being the chief accuser of a woman – a girl, really – who is stoned for adultery.

Then after this zealous Jew is attacked by a blinding light on the road to Damascus, it describes his struggle to overcome the scandal of mingling with slaves and women before being baptised and “reborn into the light.”

The novel vividly portrays how outrageous Christianity’s message of equality before God was in this caste-ridden Greco-Roman society, where girl babies were abandoned on a mountain to be eaten by wild dogs and fellowship with slaves was considered an abomination.

It is an amazing, imaginative feat, but a challenging read for a Christian, not only because of its dark, animalistic imagery, but also because it mixes Paul’s expressions of profound gospel truths of love, hope and forgiveness with heresies such as the apocryphal legend that Yeshua had a twin brother, Thomas, who preached against the resurrection.

But Tsiolkas calls it a “sincere investigation” and welcomes the opportunity to talk to Christians about his book.

In Tsiolkas’ portrait, Paul is a tormented soul – struggling with shame and sin, terrified at having been chosen by God to take the good news of Jesus to the world and tormented by his exile from his family, his tribe and his land.

But the Greek-Australian author of international bestsellers The Slap and Barracuda insists he has come to love Paul through his reading of his letters.

“I don’t think you can write a book about faith without writing a book that is also about doubt,” he tells Eternity .

“Paul – Saul of Tarsus, not the saint because a saint mythologises

him and makes him into an icon – I was really fascinated by the man.

A living, breathing, struggling, terrified, brave man ... [and] what that meant. And you can’t read Paul’s epistles without seeing someone struggle with both faith and with doubt.”

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I am profoundly moved by Jesus’ words and his best interpreter is Paul.”

Tsiolkas wants to make it clear that while he is very much influenced by Christian ethics, “it’s been a very big and long journey to come to a kind of reconciliation and peace with Christianity for myself.”

In a departure from his usual way of working, Tsiolkas spent a year in which he did no writing at all but simply read the New Testament, along with early Christian and Gnostic writings and philosophy.

He also travelled to Rome, Turkey, Israel and Greece, walking in Paul’s footsteps.

“It’s been close to six years of my life now – but longer, it’s been a long, long time that I’ve been thinking about these things – but when I decided to start work on this book, that first year I didn’t write; I just researched and read.

I went back to the Bible and I went back to theology, and I went back to history and I went back to philosophy, and I feel like I’ve been a student for the first time in my life. And my partner, Wayne, he’s lived with all my books, and he said ‘what you’ve learned through this book will never leave you.’”

Tsiolkas’ feelings for Paul have changed radically since he first encountered his writing as an adolescent, when he was feeling the shame of experiencing samesex attraction. He had just turned 13 and the family had moved from inner-city Richmond in Melbourne to Box Hill in the outer suburbs at a time when “I was being besieged by the evil of my sexuality.”

Having grown up in the Greek Orthodox church, Tsiolkas only knew Paul as an icon on a church wall until a “wonderful woman” who belonged to a Baptist church introduced him to Paul’s letters. He found that he couldn’t get past the stricture against homosexuality in the verse from 1 Corinthians that was made famous recently by rugby player Israel Folau.

“I couldn’t read him [Paul]. All I could feel was this sense of exile,” he says.

Unable to reconcile his Christian faith with the imperative to honour his sexuality, he “proudly and defiantly and angrily” declared himself an atheist at age 15.

Coming out to his Greek migrant parents was terrifying for Tsiolkas and a source of shame for his parents, who lived in a community that never had frank discussions of sex and sexuality. After his father died, Tsiolkas was surprised to discover that his mother had found strength to go on living by reading Paul’s letters in her Greek copy of the Bible. She said “I realised, through Paul’s works, that God loves you.”

In his late 20s, during a period of confusion and despair, Tsiolkas walked into a Uniting Church “and I found myself praying, I found myself just falling into prayer after a long time of not doing it and I started reading Paul from that moment.

“And unlike the child at 13, what I discovered there were incredible passages of what it means to struggle to be human and what it means to finally find the peace of God’s love. It was almost as if I could listen to him for the first time. And since then he’s been important to me because I love the letters and because I do think – even though I’m not a Christian because I don’t believe in the resurrection and it would be wrong to call me that – I am profoundly moved by Jesus’ words and his best interpreter is Paul.”

Tsiolkas welcomed the opportunity to talk to Eternity about Damascus because “it’s really important to me that I have discussions with Christians about this book. I hope it feels like a sincere investigation. That is what keeps drawing me, when I say I love

Paul, because that’s precisely what I hear. Unlike the younger me, I don’t hear exile or derision – I hear love. My mother hears love when she reads Paul. Paul was really important to her to come to terms with accepting me, her son’s sexuality, because she heard love in it.”

Tsiolkas says he has been battling with the idea of what it is to be a moral and good person in the world for a long time, and a lot of his books have been about the question of faith expressed in different terms.

After abandoning his Christian faith, he grasped for another faith and found socialism, which led him to travel through Europe after the fall of communism and the writing of his third book, Dead Europe.

“And, again, I came to a point of crisis with that. Travelling through eastern Europe and seeing the enormity of what communism had done – I called it my road to Damascus moment – I had to really think through and go, ‘I have espoused this belief that was quite tragic in its consequences.’

“But I think what connects Damascus and Dead Europe is just as, because of 2000 years of the institutionalised church, so many atheists I speak to condemn all of Christianity because of that history – I wanted to go back to first principles for myself and remind myself of what was really deeply challenging and deeply, profoundly important for me, from my youth.

And it is the best of Christianity I don’t want to give up on; and I – I hope it’s all right to say this – it doesn’t only belong to Christians.

It’s a legacy that is for the whole of the world – that compassion, that forgiveness. So, I did write this book for myself, but what I would hope is that people who come to it will find that in the reading.”

For Tsiolkas, the most revelatory aspect of Christianity is how Jesus, a man who came from the humblest of backgrounds, “has this profound understanding of what I think God’s grace must be, absolutely profound. That’s a miracle for me; even beyond the miracles that have become part of our popular lore, that to me is the most miraculous thing about Christianity, that he could say something like ‘If you are without

sin, cast the first stone,’ which has been probably the biblical teaching that has been most important for me.

“I was a little boy in primary school and a very wonderful teacher told us that story about Jesus coming across the adulteress about to be stoned. And I was so moved by those words.”

He says he is grateful for the experience of writing this book. “It’s actually been one of the greatest joys of my life working on this book.

Yes, it’s been hard, but it’s also been one of the greatest joys.

“I think on one simple level, it’s the joy that comes from being able to understand the richness of history. I feel like a student in the best sense of the word, that I now realise I’ve got so much to learn.

I’ve got so much to read and that’s exciting at the age of 54, to feel that the world is opening up for you.”

Tsiolkas’s favourite passage of Scripture is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. “It is that we’re not woman or man, we’re not master or slave, we’re not Jew and Greek, we are all one in Christ Jesus,” Tsiolkas refers to Galatians 3:28. “That is beyond anything. That is another miracle, the appearance of the universal; that is the passage that always moves me.

“The other one that you can’t read without being so grateful is Paul’s words on love, because that’s when you go ‘this man understood Jesus.’ In thinking about it you can’t help but be moved. ‘Love is patient, love is kind, love does not boast.’

[1 Corinthians 13:4] It still speaks through the years and, again, it wasn’t until working on this book that I was able to hear it anew without the words becoming cliché, without them becoming something you put in a greeting card.”

Having wrestled with Paul for a long time and finally saying goodbye to his rage and bitterness towards Christianity, Tsiolkas says he has understood something about patience through Paul’s letters.

“I know he’s waiting for the return of Christ, but every single one of those letters – and it weaves in and out – there’s a lesson there to learn about patience. I think that’s been a really important thing that I’m really grateful for, that I’ve got from working on this book.”

IN DEPTH

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

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Ministry under fire This new book by Linda and Robert Banks tells the stories of five Australian women missionaries who served in China during periods of armed conflict. Working in villages, hospitals, schools, a university, orphanage and refugee centres, they suffered deprivations, hardships and dangers alongside the people among whom they worked. Here is an excerpt about twin sisters from Melbourne, Eliza and Martha Clark.

In mid-1937 Japanese forces for the first time crossed the border from Manchuria which, in the following months, escalated into full-scale war with China. In August the first decisive conflict was the Battle of Shanghai in adjacent Kiangsu Province. This began with air raids, followed by naval bombardment, military invasion and finally street-tostreet fighting which lasted until November. Throughout these months, Japanese forces observed the neutrality of the International Settlement, but gradually won control of all Chinese sections in the city. The missionaries in Ningpo first heard about this fighting during their summer break and conference in the hills east of Hangchow. As Eliza writes: “We very much realised we were in the middle of war, for not only were aeroplanes continually flying about but we could hear the thuds in the distance and at night the order was to keep all windows darkened. On our return journey

… wounded men and military cars passed us and … we reached Ningpo and found the city was very empty … There is an airfield about five miles from the South Gate and the Japanese planes keep careful watch over it and bomb it at intervals … on November 12, Sun Yat-Sen’s birthday, five planes flew over the city, later they returned and dropped bombs. They missed the railway station, but the houses nearby suffered. Near the bus station there was more destruction.

Our little English church St. Paul’s, had many windows broken by the concussion … It was decided to close the school but the sirens and planes passing made it difficult to hold classes and rumors were flying fast and furious.”

It was decided that all female foreigners should be immediately evacuated to the International Settlement in Shanghai. Eliza and Martha stayed in the China Inland Mission house. To cope with the flood of refugees escaping from the Japanese advance, 180 makeshift camps had been set up. The sisters went to work at the largest of these at Chiah-tong University, just outside the French Concession.

According to Eliza: “There were about 16,000 there during part of the winter. It was pitiful to see them. Their home was the piece of floor covered by their quilt. In some cases the neighboring families’ bedding was touching. The rooms varied in size.

One large room had 167 people in

it, another about 200. It was cold weather and the plea for warm clothes was insistent … Some of us helped in the hospital, the sewingroom, where the tailors among the refugees were the workers. Others distributed clothes, others went from room to room to find the ones in greatest need. My sister was asked to oversee a house … and I helped her downstairs, there were about 1000 people on the ground floors. Day by day, we tried to help these poor people, especially the sick ones.”

Martha adds: “Some of the scenes must remain in our minds as the acme of bitterness and distress … Every day people died in the crowded rooms. The others who had come to the camp with nothing but a babe in their arms and children clinging to them, now saw their last treasures snatched from them by death … As one of the missionaries said ‘We felt that we had not been “evacuated” but “mobilised” by God in Shanghai to help in their time of extreme need.’”

Another eyewitness account by a fellow missionary from Ningpo reported that: “The two Miss Clarks … have done splendid work in a large refugee camp here … The refugees were so grateful for their loving sympathy and help, that they collected a sum and presented with it a silver shield. It was a most touching thing. Some of the people of course are destitute and others have had little money, some earned

!

U O Y K N A H T

sus through FEBC Millions are hearing about Je

Find out more or donate online at febc.org.au OR Phone: 1300 720 017 FEBC Australia, ABN: 68 000 509 517 FEBC Relief, ABN: 87 617 872 287

Above: The book Right: Martha Far Right: Eliza a few cents a day … The response in the camps to the preaching of the gospel is most encouraging.

Chinese Christians go with foreign missionaries, and are doing a wonderful work. It is the same too in military hospitals. Chinese soldiers listen and gladly read Scripture portions, so that out of all the misery, opportunities are given for hundreds to hear and learn to read and Christians in many places are bearing witness.”

In the midst of this relief work, the sisters began to hear about horrific atrocities in Nanking, less than two hundred miles from Shanghai. Over several weeks Japanese soldiers carried out mass executions of men, women and children, as well as raping tens of thousands of women. The army looted and burned the city and established a puppet government in the nation’s capital. This so-called “Rape of Nanking” sent shudders through the whole population.

The two women arrived back in Ningpo in April 1938 emotionally exhausted but were grateful they could resume work in their respective schools. Encouraging news at this time was the reversal of government policy prohibiting religious instruction to students.

This was announced by Madame Chiang Kai-shek in a publicised radio broadcast. But disturbing news was signs that the Japanese forces were now on the move towards Chekiang province. Hangchow was the first to be attacked and the sisters were concerned for their Church Missionary Society and other colleagues when it fell to the Japanese. Concerned for their safety, word came from CMS in London advising its missionaries to leave China as soon as possible.

Even though Martha and Eliza were overdue for their next furlough, they believed God wanted them to remain and not forsake their Chinese friends and students.

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IN DEPTH

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DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

When Christians gather should we ma

Yes

“It’s a mark of respect”

The Rt Rev’d Chris McLeod is the National Aboriginal Bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia In recent years it has been customary in some Christian churches and gatherings to have a Welcome to, or Acknowledgement of, Country. This is also true of secular gatherings.

There has also grown the use of dedication plaques on buildings, and the like, acknowledging prior First Peoples’ custodianship of the land.

To begin with, we should recognise the differences between a Welcome and an Acknowledgement.

In a Welcome a First Peoples’ custodian welcomes the gathering to the land. There is normally an acknowledgement of elders, past, present and future, and of the wisdom that is contained within First Peoples’ culture. An Acknowledgement is just that, an acknowledgement that we gather on the land of the original custodians.

Custodianship is a concept which Christians can easily resonate with.

The land is not exclusively ours, but we care for it and are responsible for it (Gen 1:26; 2:15).

As a man of Gurindji descent ministering in Adelaide, I acknowledge the custodianship of the Kaurna people. There is no fixed formula, but here is an example of what I often use in Christian circles in Adelaide.

We acknowledge that God is sovereign over all land. Everything in heaven and earth belongs to God. We acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region in which this church is located, and we respect the spiritual relationship they have with their country.

We pay our respects to all elders, past, presen and those to come. We acknowledge that their cultural beliefs, authority and wisdom are still important to the Kaurna people today.

As Christians, we commit ourselves to pray and work for justice and reconciliation with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia.

Sometimes the question arises why should we do this or, indeed, is it right to do this. My answer is yes, of course – but why do I say this?

Out of respect is the simplest answer.

Paul writes in Romans chapter 13 about being “subject to the governing authorities” (Rom 13:1 NRSV). He goes on to say, “pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due; respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due” (Rom 13:7 NRSV).

After thousands of years of continual occupation of Australia, alongside forced removal from traditional lands, “the stolen generations”, brutal and violent treatment, the destruction of culture and language, much of which is still ongoing, and the sheer resilience in the face of these, the First Peoples of Australia are due respect. Alongside this is the acknowledgement that this continuous and resilient custodianship of the land contains within it much wisdom.

Some people struggle with the concept that wisdom did not first “build her house” (Prov 9:1 NRSV) in this land with the arrival of the “First Fleet”; wisdom was present with the original custodians, and found its expression in living in close and respectful connection with the land.

For some, the concept that wisdom can be found outside the Christian tradition is a challenge.

Let me answer that concern this way.

Most Christians accept democracy as the best form of government. We have come to accept democracy as preserving the rights and freedoms of our Western societies. We have even gone to war to protect the freedoms that we associate with Western democracy, and Christian churches have, largely, supported these causes. Most, if not all, Christian Australians participate in the democratic process of elections. However, there is nothing essentially Christian about democracy. Democracy’s roots lie in the thinking of the ancient Greeks, and were given renewed impetus during the so called “Age of Enlightenment” (18th century).

It is said that the ancient Athenians established the first democracy

in 508-507 BCE. Democracy has also become the backbone of how many churches conduct their business. Anglicanism, my own denomination, uses democratic principles through our parish councils, vestries and synods. We accept that there is an inherent wisdom in democracy, which can be of service to our Christian goals. No Anglicans that I know of feel that by using the wisdom of democracy we will become pagan Athenians. In similar terms, most Christian First Peoples accept that we can learn from our elders and forbears, and that their wisdom may be of use for an Australia still struggling to live with the land. It should be noted that many First Peoples custodians are Christians, and feel they are able to be 100 per cent First Peoples and 100 per cent Christian.

Christians should always be discerning about what acceptable practices for the church. This includes many secular practices, such as democracy, that we just simply take for granted. For my part, I strongly recommend the Welcome to, or Acknowledgement of, Country as an acceptable and respectful practice for our Christian gatherings.

How do Australian churches A When Christians gather in church and at other events in Australia a Welcome to Country (when an appropriate Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is present) or an Acknowledgment of Country is becoming more and more common across various church networks.

Here’s how the Hillsong leadership team explains their support for an Acknowledgment or Welcome.

1. Because recognition of the history of our land also allows a moment to recognise the triune Creator God: Father, Spirit and Son. Our God is truly evident in creation.

Many people include a Scripture or a thought in the Acknowledgement.

2. Because it is an honour moment to recognise the elders of our land.

As Christians we are encouraged in Scripture to give honour where honour is due (Rom 13:7).

3. Because it allows us to recognise the importance of the land that we are gathered on. It allows us to acknowledge this land at this time, and that God has woven all the lands of the world into his story.

Here’s the acknowledgement of country the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies wrote into speeches he gave at the opening of the Sydney synod (church parliament).

As we gather in the presence of God, I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land upon which we meet. In his wisdom and love, our heavenly Father gave this estate to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.

Upon this land they met for generations until the coming of British settlers. As we continue to learn to live together on these ancestral lands, we acknowledge and pay our respects to their elders, past and present, and pray that God will unite us all in a knowledge of his Son, in whom all things were created, in heaven and on earth, whether visible or invisible – for all things have been created through him and for him.

IN DEPTH

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

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ake an Acknowledgement of Country?

No

“Not in church”

together with biblical truth. Once again, this is incompatible with the exclusive claims of Scripture which teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).

In contrast, note the recent article by Aboriginal Christian, Brooke Prentis, in which she refers to Uluru as the “most sacred and holy place”, which gives to a part of God’s creation an inappropriate status and significance (see Rom 1:18-25).

Third, the parallel to ancestor worship. Official Indigenous protocols insist that words like “Elder” should be capitalised to acknowledge the continuing real presence of those who have died. (This is also why there is a warning on television programs which show images of deceased Aboriginal people). However, acknowledging Aboriginal “Elders”, past and emerging, is not simply honouring the memory of the departed – like many Australians do on Anzac Day – but is more akin to the ancestor worship still practised by many people today.

Fourth, biblical peacemaking principles of forgiveness teach that past sins should not be continually re-raised once they have been repented of. However, these prescribed “politically-correct” statements do precisely that. They have the practical effect of perpetuating guilt, while allowing no final resolution or real reconciliation to occur.

Fifth, the political nature of language. The secular form of language used in Indigenous protocols (such as “Traditional Custodians,” and “Respect to Elders”) is neither politically nor theologically neutral. As such, if we are serious about reconciliation, then we ought to use biblical language to express theological truths of sin, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Sixth, it implies guilt by association. There is a growing pressure in our country to conform to a progressive social agenda involving identity politics.

As such, to what extent are Christian denominations – or their individual members – responsible for historic crimes committed during the colonial period of Australia? Whereas injustices have tragically occurred, we should be careful of condemning our own spiritual forebears or of implicating the church today

3.

Mark Powell is the Associate Pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Community Church

Acknowledge Country today?

The Uniting Church’s National Assembly Working Group on Worship has compiled a document which “encourages congregations through the worship leaders to use some form of Acknowledgement of Country and Indigenous Peoples during all acts of worship.”

The document includes a variety of Acknowledgements which can be used on any occasion, as well as suggesting occasions on which particular Acknowledgements could be used. It also advises: “When Acknowledging Country and Indigenous Peoples it is important to be sensitive to local community and culture. References only to ‘land’ may need to be expanded

in places where the Indigenous community has close association with sea or other water.”

Following are two UCA examples of Acknowledgements: This would be useful for general occasions: This land is God’s land and God’s Spirit dwells here. We acknowledge the ... people, traditional custodians of this land under God. We commit ourselves again to working for reconciliation in this land.

This would be useful on national days: This is God’s Land.

Many have gone before who have honoured God by caring for the Land, in the ways they have lived and in the stories they have shared.

We give thanks for the ...... people, who have held as sacred the duty of protecting the Land and living in harmony with it.

May God honour and bless them – now and to eternity.

For more examples, visit assembly.uca.org.au/images/ Ministries/cudw/Acknowlegement-

Both Welcome to Country – said by an Indigenous person – and Acknowledgement of Country – which is said by someone who is not Indigenous – have become a popular practice in the media, government and even in business.

What’s more, Aboriginal smoking ceremonies to ward off evil spirits have become an integral part of opening of the Australian Parliament for the past decade.

Significantly, a range of these “Indigenous protocols” is also being increasingly conducted at the opening of church services, ecclesiastical synods, graduation ceremonies, school assemblies, etc.

But while the motivation behind doing so are well-intentioned, I believe that the rationale is fundamentally flawed.

What follows are ten reasons why I believe Christians, in particular, should abstain from such practices: First, it takes away from the worship of God. The Bible declares that “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it” (Psa 24:1) and that God says “I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isa 42:8).

Hence, the practice of things such as smoking ceremonies to ward off evil spirits is completely at odds with Christian theology.

Second, it leads to syncretism. Following on from this, because Aboriginal cosmology is pantheistic – God and the creation are one – there is a tendency for the traditional religious beliefs to be fused

1.

2.

through guilt by association.

Seventh, theft must involve financial reparation. While many regularly acknowledge their guilt of dispossessing Aboriginals of their land, very few are willing to make financial restitution.

But if one truly believes that they are in possession of “stolen property”, then they should give it back and not simply engage in disingenuous displays of virtue signalling. What’s more, this should be done by the individuals most concerned and not merely projected onto their own particular religious institution.

Eighth, it undermines gospel reconciliation. As the gospel goes out to the ends of the earth, the redemptive power of the cross will continue to deliver God’s chosen people from enslaving idolatries and unite us together in Christ.

But Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country protocols support a worldview that privileges Aboriginal culture within our society and thereby hinders – rather than promotes – the work of reconciliation.

Ninth, it harms Christian unity. Our doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ is harmed since it perpetuates an unnecessary distinction between Aboriginal and all other Christians who live in Australia.

In short, it rebuilds the dividing wall which previously existed before the cross (Eph 2:14-18; Gal 3:28).

Tenth, because the current Aboriginals were probably not the original inhabitants. This is a position historically held by many Australian anthropologists, scientists and academics. For example, Professor Manning Clark (1915-1991) originally argued that the modern Aboriginal was a descendant of a racially distinct, third wave of immigrants, who had themselves invaded and conquered those living here before them.

In conclusion, it is important to remember that the arrival of Europeans brought the light of the gospel to those in darkness and that was in fulfilment of the sovereign plan of Almighty God (Acts 17:26-27).

And while traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremonies were powerless to ward off evil spirits, the Lord Jesus Christ has bound the “strong man” once and for all (Matt. 12:29; Col. 1:13).

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

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IN DEPTH

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DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

All I want for Christmas... E If your Christmas shopping is stuck in a rut and you find yourself resorting to vouchers or hampers every year, fear not. Eternity has taken the stress out of Christmas shopping with our ultimate 2019 Christmas gift guide. Our selection of gifts covers all bases: Christian, ethical, interesting and Christmassy. That should keep everyone happy!

NRSV Cultural Background Study Bible Also in NIV Available from koorong.com

$59.99

Set of 10 lase ornaments cer-cut wooden various nam lebrating the es of Jesus.

Comes in whi

Metanoia by Anna Mc

Gahan A memoir of a body, born again. Perhaps we have done to our bodies what we hav e so long done to Go d? We have let vessels of peace be used as rubbish bins, weapo ns and punching bag s.

te or natural finish.

Comes boxe d up ready fo r Christmas. $50 for the se t with free sh ipping to anywhere in Australia Available fro m etsy.me/2J Qfu7p

Woven by Joel McKe

rrow This is is not a book of cookie-cut spiritu ality. It is not a book of answers, nor progra mmable spiritual gro wth. This book is a question. An invitat ion. A beckoning tow ard movement and allowing your world to be shaken.

Available from kooron g.com and selected bookst ores

$50

$24.99ea

Bush Church Aid tra Christmas wrappi ditional pudding in ng (500g)

A traditional style, handmade pudding , boiled in a cloth and made by the Newcastle Pudding Lady.

Proceeds support the work of Bush Church Aid in sha Jesus with people ring in remote and reg ional Australia.

Available from bu shchurchaid.com.a u

Aid Bush Church hristmas C al on iti ad tr box (700g) cake in gift m Available fro d.com.au bushchurchai

$30

$40

Som ething for the kids

Kids’ short sleeve t-shir navy with various print t in colours

Supporting local farm ers Available from lovethyfarmer.com.au

$29.95

English really special gift? spend up big on a ul Got the budget to utif bea a ing don have made buy company Vitae Lon with NFPs good by partnering ial soc a into tch wa ica. in sub-Saharan Afr range sees a child sed from their classic cha pur Each watch forms (so kids who’d uni l h either: two schoo through the year wit ir own clothes, are the in l, oo sch m away fro y otherwise be turned as without electricit are al rur ar light (so kids in ul mf har n admitted); or, a sol bur or p, et lam for hours for a stre don’t have to walk dy at night). stu to ne ose ker as fuels such 2 (approx) Watches begin at $28 elondon.com vita m fro le ilab Ava

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Poetry is the gift that keeps on giving

Eternity: Barry Chant, you have written children’s books, history books, devotional books, exegetical books. Where does your new volume Moments and Memories fit in?

Barry Chant: Well, it’s something quite different. It’s a book of verse.

E: You mean “verse” as in “poetry”?

BC: Yes. E: Why poetry?

BC: Well, over the years I have often scribbled poems and rhymes.

Sometimes just for fun – for a birthday or for Christmas or something – and sometimes just as part of my own meditation or reflection or even occasionally for a sermon illustration. Then early this year, I realised I actually had a book-full of poems just sitting there.

In praying about it, it seemed a good idea to go into print.

E: Didn’t your publisher warn you that poetry is really difficult to sell?

BC: Yes, he did. And when I told a Koorong sales rep about the book, there was awkward silence at the other end of the phone.

E: So they won’t handle it?

BC: On the contrary, as soon as they saw it, they placed a multiple order.

E: But don’t people find poetry boring?

BC: Not necessarily. Christians, in particular, read poetry regularly.

Much of the Bible is poetry. And the best Christian songs are usually poems set to music.

E: But what about modern poems?

BC: Sadly, much contemporary verse, like much contemporary art, is incomprehensible to the average person. But I don’t write to please academics. I write for thoughtful people in all walks of life in the hope they will find what they read diverting, entertaining and encouraging.

E: Fair enough. So why else should people buy Moments and Memories?

BC: Well, for a start, it’s designed as a gift book. It would make a perfect Christmas or birthday gift: hard cover, nice paper, pleasing layout, excellent artwork.

E: Anything else?

Moments and Memories by Barry Chant This gift book features a unique collection of poetry from Australian Pentecostal writer Barry Chant. The poems cover topics including the Bible, nature, worship, ministry, times of disappointment and discouragement, and special seasons such as Christmas and Easter.

According to Chant, “This volume is for those moments when you just want to be diverted for a while into the vast, boundless, wonderful realm of the imagination, the window of the heart and the soul. I hope this will be your experience.” Hardback, published October 2019.

Available from koorong.com

$27.99

BC: I’m told it could be the first book of poems ever published professionally by an Australian Pentecostal writer.

E: Mmm. So this could be a unique volume. That’s something. One more question. Why the title Moments and Memories?

BC: The first part of the book is divided into sections with titles like Moments of Encouragement, Christmas Moments, Moments of Ministry, even Moments in the Shadows. The second part contains a series of imagined memories by biblical characters as they look back over their lives. I enjoyed writing those.

E: Thank you for your time. Sounds like there could be a lot of people reading poetry this summer.

IN DEPTH

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

The origins of Hillsong’s Funny Man Dan REBECCA ABBOTT

Funny Man Dan arrives at the Eternity studio on an electric unicycle. It’s a fitting entrance for the “world’s best children’s comedian” – that is, he clarifies, according to his mum.

Before long, he’s balancing a chair on his chin.

There’s no denying Funny Man Dan’s unique entertainment brand – which he describes as “bouncearound comedy” – is compelling and it has earned him a huge following of kids and parents.

Australia’s Funny Man Dan (otherwise known as FMD, or plain old Dan Lee-Archer) has been an integral part of Hillsong Kids for 16 years. During that time he’s written and sung on two of Hillsong Kids’ eight albums – Crazy Noise and Follow You – and appeared on the Can You Believe It? DVD. He’s one of the main stars on the Hillsong Kids YouTube channel with 83,500 followers worldwide.

Dan also has his own YouTube Channel FMD.TV, with 330 videos ranging from Super Mario commentaries to night-time pranks. And he’s performed live in front of many thousands of kids across the world, with his circus antics captured on his video Funny Man Dan Live: Hello, as well as on Hamish and Andy.

“Balancing is the number one circus skill that I have kept,” says Dan, reminiscing about his days busking with friends in his home state of Tasmania, before he became FMD. “We spent two years busking on the weekends and traveling around the state. Our big finale was one guy rode a unicycle and juggled, another friend juggled a chainsaw and I juggled a bowling ball, an egg and fire, and caught the egg in my hat.”

But there’s more to this performer than circus tricks – including his Christian faith. In fact, it was Jesus who made Dan

funny in the first place.

“Kid Dan was very shy … I just kept to myself; I was a bit of an odd child. But then as I grew up, I remember going to a Christian camp. I got saved there, found my voice and started to become more myself. I started going by Dan instead of Daniel, and it just kind of changed me as a person.”

So when Dan was first asked to perform at Hillsong Kids in 2003, he had already honed his circus skills, his funny bone and his love of Christ.

“From there, they asked me to do Hillsong Conference, and it was awesome,” he says.

“

“I got my ministry and a wife all in the same day, which is really, really cool.”

Dan Lee-Archer

That conference also gave birth to his “Funny Man Dan” moniker (although to this day, it’s a mystery who came up with this name, used on a PowerPoint slide to introduce him as he ran out).

Dan spends a lot of his time co-writing Hillsong Kids’ “Big” curriculum, along with his good mate and Hillsong Kids pastor David Wakerley. The curriculum has been used by at least 10,000 churches across the world, and this year celebrates its tenth birthday.

To coincide with this milestone, Funny Man Dan has launched his first album – Songs of Some Silliness – which collates 20 of his

best songs from the curriculum throughout the past decade.

“These songs are from ten years of the Big curriculum. So we did themes like faith, hope and love and unlikely heroes – talking about different people from the Bible who didn’t realise they would become heroes. The songs were written on those themes, so [the album] is a collection, rather than a dedicated effort. I’m pretty sure the next album, if we try, could be made in nine-and-a-half years,” he jokes.

When asked to select his favourite songs on the album, Dan chooses It Was Science – about a genius hamster unleashed in a science lab who is set to take over the world.

“It has no context at all. If you’d seen the episode [of the Big Curriculum] it’s attached to, it would make sense. But there’s absolutely zero context and we put it on there anyway because it’s funny. So I like that no one would really get that.” (Side note: For those who do know about the hamster, Dan says he’s alive and well and is the majority shareholder in Big HQ.) His other top-two favourite songs from his album are Fruit … the Spiritual Kind and Talking ‘bout Love.

And since he mentioned it, Eternity asks Dan to open up about the love of his own life – Jasmine, his wife of 12 years – who he met on that first night he was asked to perform at Hillsong Kids.

“So I got my ministry and a wife all in the same day, which is really, really cool,” says Dan. In describing “FMDW” (Funny Man Dan’s Wife), he says: “She laughs at things that I do that no one else would find funny, and she likes to torment me. She thinks I have the best reaction if you throw water at me or put a cold hand on my back or anything like that. She finds me very predictable but she still laughs a lot.

“We have a lot of fun together.

11

“

Kid Dan was very shy …

But then I got saved … and found my voice.”

We laugh a lot in our house and she wouldn’t say this, but she saved me from myself. She’s just the best.”

Along with Jasmine, Dan has three other girls in his life: his daughters Grace (10), Mya (7) and Olivia (5).

“I’m surrounded by women. It’s my childhood dream – except it looks a bit different and costs a lot more. But it’s awesome.”

Outside his home, Dan also still finds it awesome to be surrounded by kids.

“If you can make a kid laugh, it’s awesome … if I can come in and perform and make them laugh and make that connection. Then the best part is afterwards – I always make time to go walk around, high-five the kids and say hello.

“I try and do that as often as I can: tell kids that they’re incredible, awesome and amazing.

“Kids open their hearts to you when you make them laugh for some reason, and so I want to plant a seed that they’re awesome and that I think they’re great and they’re going to do awesome things.”

“

I try and do that as often as I can, tell kids that they’re incredible, awesome and amazing.”

Dan Lee-Archer

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DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

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BIBLE @ WORK

George distributes Bibles in Syria When I’m writing this letter I can tell you that the weather is beautiful. It’s the time of the year when the temperature is just right, but in the evening we start feeling the chill in our houses and all the ladies will have started cleaning, not only the floors of the houses in Aleppo, but also the walls.

And maybe this is the year that the paint has started showing its age and it’s time for a new coat of glossy or half-glossy paint on our walls. It’s got to be real paint and not emulsion! It won’t be long before the husband, in this case me, will get the heater down from the attic or up from some hideout in the cellar. Soon our homes in the evening will be as “hot” as during the hot summers in Aleppo, and our bedrooms will be colder than a Norwegian bedroom during their winter, spring, summer and autumn. Yes, it’s time for a change

and we are getting prepared.

So are things going back to normal? Maybe the only thing that is normal is the way we are trying to keep our home-life the way it was during those good old years! But when we look at one another we realise that so much has changed.

You cannot blame people for being negative, as nobody was prepared for the tremendous changes that each Syrian’s been going through.

In some buildings, like ours, some neighbours, who had also become very close friends, are gone and their apartments are empty. In other buildings total strangers have arrived and in some cases they and the original inhabitants are building walls around themselves instead of opening up to one another. Yes, do we know where to go from here?

In all of this at the Bible Society in Syria we are trying to open up to “all.” This is quite a statement!

What we really want to say is that we are Syrians and when you look at the ethnic and religious background of the Syrians you will find a mosaic

of communities and religions.

We can limit ourselves to some of those communities and especially communities that we feel familiar with. But this is not what Jesus Christ asks us to do! And it’s not what the Bible Society wants us to do. So when Jesus tells us to Go Out ... ! What can we say? So this is what we have tried to do.

The encouraging thing is that so many people have not only welcomed us “to Go Out,” but they’ve gone with us and “our circle” is becoming wider and wider. It’s exciting to live in a world, which we had only tasted before!

How difficult it’s been to relearn that God looks at humans in a totally different way from us. How challenging it is to understand that God in Jesus called himself “Son of Man.” Yes, he did use “Son of God” a few times, but most of all he talked about himself as Son of Man, and the miracle is that God became our Emmanuel in Jesus, “God with us!”

So how can we close ourselves in without becoming a “man”

The Gospel of John : Image IngridHS (Adobestock)

A letter from Syria with other “men”? It shouldn’t be a mystery, but through our lives and mostly because of our fears and anxieties we have made our circle of family, friends, church and acquaintances so very small, and all in all it’s been to protect ourselves.

But now we are working on breaking down our own walls and really living like men among men.

Personally I think our Trauma Healing Programmes might have done more to break down the walls and open new doors than anything else we have ever tried to do. Suddenly we have allowed our hearts to link up with others and we have realised that our heartbeats are very similar to those of others.

It’s been an intensive year for us with big Scripture distributions.

So far the Easter distribution was the biggest ever, and would you believe me if I tell you that the Christmas distribution will be even bigger? Everything is packed and ready and in a few days we will start dispatching these treasures to recipients all over our country.

Some of these Scriptures we will have the privilege of distributing together with the churches, while most of the Scriptures will be handed out by volunteers all over this country. We believe that God will speak to people’s hearts through each piece of Scripture. God speaks through his word! Hallelujah!

Looking back on the year 2019 makes me scared even thinking what next year will be. If things develop this way with so many open doors and torn-down walls we will never have a minute to rest. The needs are only surpassed by the opportunities! Pray that we will be able to choose the best way forward and not the good way!

Thanks for being there with us right through the years. We couldn’t have done anything without your prayers and support!

In Jesus, George and the Bible Society in Syria.

Can you support the Trauma Healing Program in Syria?

Please give today biblesociety.org.au/resolve-ep

OPINION

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

13

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Rewinding 2019

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but not circular: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches...

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about thirty kilograms of flour until it worked all through the dough.

These are pictures of growth, change, culmination – all irreversible. You cannot shrink the mustard tree or separate the yeast out again. Two millennia later, the outbreak of Christianity in the ancient Mediterranean has made the world a dramatically different place.

That tree is still growing.

The Apostle Paul describes creation as groaning, subjected to frustration, in bondage to decay. The culmination – the liberation – is still to come. But the apparently interminable cycle of human achievement and human failure is not the whole story. The promise of the incarnation, and the ripples that continue to spread from it, is that beneath “the churn”, God is doing something new, something purposeful.

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race, says the Teacher. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

That tension between the

U:

Early in 2019, I started emailing myself little notes about whatever was blowing up online.

In January everybody seemed to be talking about Marie Kondo and making jokes about what (or who) “sparks joy”. Then there was the storm over that Gillette ad and what the term “toxic masculinity” is really referring to.

Fast-forward to April and I’ve jotted down “Notre Dame fire”, “first image of a black hole” and “Israel Folau”. Also, the guy whose toddler found the family iPad and, after making who knows how many guesses at the passcode, left behind a

more perfectly than the “teacher” of Ecclesiastes: The sun rises and the sun sets …

The wind blows to the south and turns to the north … All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.

All things are wearisome, more than one can say … The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

At the end of another year, looking back over the countless upsets, dramas, fails and wins that made up 2019 on Planet Earth, you could be forgiven for sighing that all things are wearisome, more than one can say. Another circuit round the sun, another bajillion instances of history repeating itself, whether in politics or your personal life.

But if the dying of the year can make us melancholy about time and the meaningfulness of our swiftly passing lives, the approach of Christmas has a spanner to throw in those works. The birth of Jesus is the moment that cleaves history in two; it is something entirely new under our same old sun. From the time that God himself comes to dwell among humans, the kingdom advances – in one direction.

The imagery Jesus uses to describe this burgeoning kingdom is everyday,

SK

Natasha Moore on how Christmas throws a spanner in the churn of life

screen that read: “iPad is disabled: try again in 25,536,442 minutes.”

I wanted to track – not at all scientifically, but just to get a feel for the thing – some of those stories that seem, to our 24/7 connected selves, so all-consuming while they’re going on, and then sink more or less without a trace. From within the spike of collective outrage or wonder, amusement or fear, it seems impossible that we could forget that this particular thing happened in 2019. But apart from a few stayers (cough, cough, Folau), even the stories we invest the most passion in at the time tend not to linger long past their proverbial 15 minutes.

It’s not just the relentlessness of the news cycle either. If you’ve ever kept a journal (or a prayer diary) and spent an idle half-hour dipping back into your six-months-ago psyche, the experience can make us a little sheepish. That thing we angsted over so intensely one week, or prayed so fervently about, has left nary a mark on our recollection.

There are, as well, the lifealtering sorrows and joys. But so much of our lives takes the form of these minor upticks and downturns, stresses and reliefs, brief excitements and minor jealousies. They are ceaseless and almost entirely forgettable. Yet, as the writer Annie Dillard reminds us: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Perhaps nobody has ever nailed “the churn”, as we might call it,

remorseless stream of time and the beckoning of eternity is inherent to the human condition. The writer of Ecclesiastes urges his listeners to put down roots, to invest where they find themselves, despite the uncertainty and the attrition of life under the sun: Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land …

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

At this time of year in particular, perhaps we could use the reminder that God is making everything beautiful in its time; that there is a season for every activity under heaven; and that all of this is heading somewhere. It is Christmas that gives courage for the New Year.

Natasha Moore is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. She is the author of the newly released book, For the Love of God: How the Church Is Better and Worse than You Ever Imagined.

For Bible references, refer to the online version of this article.

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OPINION

14

A prayer for religious freedom

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

A Jesus movement radical DR. DAVID R WILSON

Martin Iles on religious freedoms Religious freedom advocacy is often criticised as playing the victim. The argument goes that it’s fundamentally a self-interested effort, and that the need is not pressing enough.

Through the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit exhorts us to pray for our leaders. The content of that prayer is that the godly life might be a life of peace. That sounds close to a prayer for religious freedom.

Is it self-interest or victimhood?

The answer is a decisive “no,” because the prayer is made in the context of a desired outcome – an others-centred outcome, that all people might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

And it’s true – most opposition to religious freedom is opposition to the knowledge of the truth.

Laws to prevent Christian schools teaching Christianity compromise a key mission field. Some of my classmates were converted at my Christian school.

Laws that claim to ban “LGBT

conversion therapy” are more likely laws that ban parts of the Bible, key aspects of the Christian gospel, and a parent’s right to raise their gender-dysphoric child to affirm their biological sex. These laws are as serious an attack on Christianity and the Christian home – another mission field – as I’ve ever seen.

When employees cannot hold down their job whilst discussing beliefs grounded in God’s truth at work, another evangelistic option is lost.

When people are losing professional accreditations, getting drummed out of universities, disciplined at work, and generally facing the prospect that the godly life is no longer a life of peace, we need to remember Paul’s prayer.

These things are happening, often.

I’ve always said Israel Folau and Archbishop Porteous are the ones that were famous – there are many more, often worse examples in which the media has no interest.

But our remembrance of Paul’s prayer must focus on its ultimate purpose: that people might be saved

and come to a knowledge of the truth.

It is noteworthy that nearly all the recent cases are examples where the truth has been subjected to attack.

It’s never the parent who raises their child as “non-binary,” or the employee who talks about atheism over the watercooler. It’s practically always the person who witnesses to truth.

I once thought that we were in a fight for freedom. I don’t think that anymore. I think we are in a fight for truth, and it’s a spiritual battle.

And we cannot love Christ and neighbour unless we proclaim God’s truth through godly lives. Likewise, the governing authorities cannot fulfil their “servant of God” mandate unless they get out of the way, and let the truth be spread.

I am more evangelist than lobbyist. Being named after a preacher probably has something to do with it. The reason I regard religious freedom as the crucial political issue of our times is that it relates directly to Christ’s call upon us to evangelise the world. It keeps the doors open for the gospel.

So, it’s not about me.

Our suffering family in double distress Gabriel was separated from his wife and two young children when he fled a militant attack on his village in Burkina Faso. When he was reunited with them after weeks of searching, he was overwhelmed to find that Christians far away – Barnabas supporters – had been taking care of his family.

“You gave us clothes, shelter and food,” said Gabriel, with tears in his eyes.

“Christians we don’t know are sending us help. This is strengthening our faith and giving us the sense of the real body of Christ. Wherever they are, may the Lord bless them and rescue them in difficult times as they did for us.”

As anti-Christian violence has soared in west Africa in the past year, thousands upon thousands of families have lost their homes, possessions, livelihoods and crops.

Their most urgent need is food.

As displaced people, they have no way to support themselves. Famine is looming in west Africa and the regions where Christians have sought refuge are struggling to feed the newcomers.

Thousands of persecuted Christians are hungry and desperate around the world

Will you give a Christmas gift so that hungry Christians can rejoice?

You can donate online at: barnabasfund.org/eternity 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

Kevin Smith passed away recently, in Perth, at the age of 75, after a long illness. He was a visionary, an innovator, and a revolutionary.

RIP Kevin Smith. You have already heard the words of Jesus saying ‘Goodonya mate, welcome home’.

Kevin founded On Being magazine, one of the most important elements of the Jesus Movement. Jenny Baxter, in writing on her blog, tells of how she and her husband Stephen linked up with On Being and became a proofreader (Jenny) and graphic designer (Stephen). She states that they felt it a privilege to be involved in this ‘exciting venture in innercity Melbourne’. Jenny gives credit to Kevin (along with others who teamed up with him) in starting On Being, calling them ‘trailblazers of Australian Christian Media in the 1970s’… and that they were.

Reading through the names of the people who were a part of the team that Kevin was able to bring together is like reading a who’s who of Christian radicals in the 70’s…

David Boan, Marcus Breen, Richard Horne, Owen Salter just to mention a few. It was a labour of love for Kevin and for the many others involved in this ‘periodically inspired’ (usually monthly) magazine.

One of the great dangers of the Jesus Movement was fragmentation

and empire building, the very things we preached against. It was never an organised Movement but one that arose spontaneously around the world, led by the Spirit of God, with passion and commitment. It was truly awesome to be a part of it. But we could easily become fragmented.

On Being helped to address these dangers in Australia and was mostly successful. It wasn’t the only unifying factor that God used.

There was The Master’s Workshop and Theos Sun, both connected to Scripture Union; there were the Annual ‘Happenings’ at Belgrave Heights; and the deep relationships between most of the leaders across the Movement… and On Being, ably led by Kevin Smith, helping to cement it all.

Kevin was involved with a number of Christian organisations including Campaigners for Christ and Scripture Union, and was a CEO of Urban Seed. Marcus Breen, one of the early writers for On Being put it well: “Over 50 plus years, he threw himself into enterprises that sought to engage the public and the church in the gospel that he believed needed to be more in line with the humility and social action that was exemplified

by Jesus Christ.

Vale Kevin Smith.

Full tribute at eternitynews.com.au

OPINION

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

15

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When Saint Paul enters the blogosphere

Michael Jensen ghostwrites a blog for the leader of a tech company LIFE & WORK BLOG Matt Carmody, Co-CEO When Sam and I founded Alterian 15 years ago, we committed ourselves to being a future-focussed company.

Technological change has been a constant throughout the history of industrial civilisation. Nothing is different today.

So how are we going to respond?

We can ignore change; we can fight it; we can try to slow it down; we can stand by and “hope” it goes well. Or we can embrace it. And that’s what we’re determined to do. Our range of software products have transformed the way people think about and do their work.

And you know what we say: it’s a spiritual thing. If you want to work with us on the cutting edge, it’s because you understand that the mission of this company is about the future of the planet. We don’t work together because we want to take; we have come together at Alterian because we all want to give – to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Last week I invited a very unusual but remarkable guest to visit us at Alterian HQ in Sydney: Paul the Apostle. His tour to Australia has caused quite a lot of conversation, if not controversy.

It was actually overhearing one of those conversations between two of our engineers at the table tennis table here at HQ when I decided that he would make a great guest at our “From the Left Field” series.

Watch the session if you didn’t see it live, and see what you think. Love to have your thoughts!

Eternity_news_ad_final_outlines.indd 1

In the Alterian Cafe Myrtle Cheong looked up from her mobile phone as Lucy Tremain approached her table holding the number 38, which was the number of her coffee order.

“I’m having a beetroot latte,” Lucy said.

“Oh,” said Myrtle, placing her phone on the small disc that passed for a table. “Everyone in London is drinking them at the moment.

“So – what just happened in that session? These sessions are getting more and more out there, and I just know I’m going to get a bunch of complaints to the HR department after that.”

“I didn’t see it,” said Myrtle. “Tell me.”

“You know it was Paul, the Apostle. Matt met him at some media thing, and thought ‘hmm, that might work,’ and just went with his gut.”

“Oh, the famous gut, So... ?”

Lucy’s coffee arrived. It was faintly purple.

“I was sceptical about getting an ancient person in to talk about work, technology and the future.

That seemed weird. And also, a guy who’s got associations with the church. I get the theme of ancient wisdom for the modern world, and the idea that left-field connections make for creative futures, but this seemed to stretch the friendship.

And that was why the first part of it seemed to be about asking Paul who he is. What would he put on his business card? Self-help guru?

Philosopher? Academic? Rabbi?

Spiritual leader? What’s his niche?

Matt kind of pressed him to identify one of those. But Paul didn’t really like the question, you could tell.”

“Did he come down to an answer in the end?”

“He said, ‘Look, I’m really a messenger. Or an ambassador.

That’s what apostle means.’ So, he sees himself as speaking for Jesus Christ. But see, I’d prefer it if he just said ‘these are my ideas I’ve thought about’ rather than ‘I’m the megaphone for Christ.’

He’s no idiot, but he hasn’t got a research degree or a background in academia that qualifies him. He’s gone deep into ancient texts, like a guru, but it’s not so much reflection that he does. He doesn’t simply ask questions all the time, like the ancient Greeks used to do, either.

It’s hard to put him in a box.

“See, this is so typical of religions.

It’s the gap between the founder and the people who follow after.

Did Jesus really want to start a church? Can you really imagine

Jesus building the Vatican? It’s an institution. It’s got wealth. It has power over people.

“Well Paul’s kind of realistic about that, to be fair. You don’t hear him idealising the church.

He couldn’t do that, given what he’s been through. Actually, that’s the place where it made sense to have him, because Matt was asking him about human groups and organisations how they can do relationships better, not be dysfunctional, and simply cause gridlocks.”

“What’d he say?”

Myrtle casually licked the back of her teaspoon, then stirred her chai.

“Well Paul said that it was funny how we use the word ‘corporation’ to speak about an organisation like ours, because it means ‘body’. And it’s a very ancient way to talk about groups of people. The Chinese and the Indians used it. Plato used it and the Romans used it. And he made use of it, too, but with his own twist – like, the usual reason to use the body metaphor for a group of people is to emphasise diversity of functions, and to prioritise the group over the individual, you see.

The body’s the thing, you are just an arm or an eye or whatever, and your function is to serve the body.”

“Yeah, and it’s a bit cheesy, don’t you think? ‘We are one but we are many’, blah, blah, blah. That’s the sort of thing we get told. Then you get the impression that you are really just a toenail. I don’t get it.”

“Yes, and there’s a whole history of talking about ‘the body politic’ which has been pretty toxic through the years. But when Paul uses the body as an image for the group,4 he’s got his take on it. In the first place, it’s organic, right? And

here’s the thing: we think so much about our company in terms of the machine. All the time. The company is governed by systems that make us function with greater efficiency, the parts all whirring around and never getting tired because they are pieces of silicon or plastic.”

“I guess we do.”

“But it’s not a machine. You can’t get humans to be like machines or parts of a machine. We’re not machines. We hate being governed by the system. Its rigidity. Its grind.

It’s like a factory in the industrial revolution or a sweat shop. But we’re an organism made up of organisms. Love and hate drive us, and food and sex, and pride and shame. So, the body idea is only going to work if we see it more like a coral reef.”

“Wait, now I am confused. You are changing pictures on me.”

“Sorry! What I mean is: the way the Paul talked about the body it wasn’t that the whole dominated the parts or that the parts were independent of the whole. The belonging together he talked about meant a mutual interdependence.

Not that he denied that there were weaker or stronger members in any community or society. It was just that, according to the vision of it that Paul has, the strong need the weak, so they compensate for and care for the weak. And the benefit that comes is to each individual.

If one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. There’s a common nerve centre.”

“OK, but isn’t he talking about a spiritual community? The church?”

“Totally, he is. And the problem is that that thing we call church today is very often nothing like that. It’s become institutional and

mechanical. But if you go back to Paul, it’s a way of doing community that is totally different. It’s got a radical vision of equality in it.”

“Sounds like communism – and we all know where that leads.”

“No, but here’s the thing. This way of doing community is shaped by the way power and authority comes from Jesus. It matters who the head of the body is.”

“Huh?” “He’s the ultimate picture of the leader who is a servant. The king who freely dies as a sacrifice. He’s not just in it for the Christmas bonus!”

“Ha! I like that!”

“Yes, this is what Paul calls ‘grace’, or ‘the gift’. When a group of people gather around a gift like Jesus and understand themselves not as deserving but blessed, it changes the whole nature of relationships.

If I think of myself as blessed, I can be kind and generous and not defensive. I can try to be a blessing to others, instead of seeking to screw them over – which is the usual way in business, right?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“And Paul was actually able to talk about the way that some corporations in the past had tried to be like this. The Christians who started Cadbury’s chocolate did this back in the 1800s. They tried to follow the example of Jesus in building a business by treating their workers as members of the family.”

“So, what about here at Alterian?”

“Well, are we here for making a profit or to do some good on the earth? That’s a great question.

Anyhow, gotta go back to it. See you tomorrow.”

Lucy strode off, leaving Myrtle gazing into her chai thoughtfully.

15/11/2019 12:46:48 PM

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OPINION

16

DECEMBER 2019 / FEBRUARY 2020

Children want to see real faith Tim Costello on role models A new global report from the US-based Barna Group shows that in Australia, just eight per cent of young people who grew up as a Christian remain “resilient disciples” – those who continue actively in their faith.

According to the Connected Generation report, Australia has a higher than global average drop-out rate among young people leaving the faith.

Why are so many Bible-believing parents losing their children?

The main reasons given by the young are “hypocrisy of religious people” and their view that religion generally is not contributing to the common good. They want to distance themselves from what they see as “the politics of the church” and the theatrically pious.

They see much of Western Christianity sitting in judgement on some moral issues but failing to address global, poverty, human rights, refugees, homelessness, ecological justice and other challenging social issues in authentic ways.

A recent McCrindle survey noted that many Australian Christians are buying into the consumerist culture. The survey reported that many adult Christians cite financial independence, owning a home, being well regarded and travelling the world as the defining

factors in what it means to live “a good life.” Care for the local and global community rated as less defining.

We can fashion God in our own image; a God who approves of our tastes, judgments and social biases. Young adults are quick to

see through that sort of religious hypocrisy. We know why young Christians are leaving. It’s time to give them a reason to stay. A time to take responsibility for our own thoughts, words and behaviour.

The evangelist Charles Spurgeon said train up a child in the way he should go – but be sure you go that way yourself.

We need to honestly dialogue with our children with the troubling, unanswered questions of faith. We need to listen and learn when our children challenge our views and values.

The Bible compares life to running a race. It is not an individual event. It is a marathon and a relay. We only win when we pass on the wonders of faith, hope and love to the next generations.

Throughout the Bible is the importance of passing the baton from one generation to another.

We see Moses passing the baton to Joshua, David to Solomon, Elijah to Elisha, Jesus to his disciples, and Paul to Timothy.

Mentoring is loving. We impart truth from honest, meaningful relationships. Let’s repent. Let’s recommit to really listening to what our children are saying.

Tim Costello is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity and Executive Director of Micah Australia.

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