Eternity - September 2015 - Issue 62

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62

Number 62, SEPTEMBER 2015 ISSN 1837-8447

Brought to you by the Bible Society

Colour my world Image: Lorien Atwood

The adult colouring craze

Koorong joins Bible Society

Victoria axes school scripture

meets mindfulness “Scientism” the new atheist’s logic hole

NEWS

SEPTEMBER 2015

Chaplains’ stories win book prize

In Depth 5-10

JOHN SANDEMAN

Books Liftout

“I am a bit stunned, but honoured as well,” was Australian Christian Book of the Year winner, Michael Gladwin’s reaction on taking out this year’s award. His book, Captains of the Soul, is an official army history of Australia’s chaplains.

The “soldiers without a gun,” as one soldier in Vietnam dubbed the chaplains, have waited a long time for their story to be told, being one of the last Army corps to have an official history published. It is a history of inspiring home-grown stories, according to the Australian Christian Book of the Year judges.

“The common task remains the ministry of God’s word and the sacraments to soldiers, burying the dead and presenting an alternative reality to the conflict, chaos and suffering,” said Gladwin, a lecturer at St. Marks National Theological Centre in Canbera.

Gladwin told Eternity that in writing the book he was struck by the chaplains’ “Testimony of Christ while being with Australians in the most difficult and horrendous circumstances imaginable.

“The story that had the most impact on me was about Geoffrey Bingham, a famous Australian evangelist. But in the POW (prisoner of war) camps in Singapore it was a chaplain who enabled him to work through the difficult existential and philosophical questions brought on by being a POW. “Bingham, who went on to

Bible Society 9 Opinion 15-20

Obadiah Slope PICTURED: Sitting in his GP’s surgery Obadiah was waiting to get the results of a serious test: glances up and there on the wall is a picture of the “Eternity” sign on the Harbour Bridge from New Year’s Eve 2000. The news results in a visit to emergency at the local hospital, but with a reminder of heavenly intent.

WE’VE NOTICED TOO: Justin Welby told the Jewish Board of Deputies that there’s one unfortunate thing we Christians are good at. “The worst poison-pen letters I get are from other Christian groups on the whole,” he said.

IDENTITY THEFT: The Financial Review announces a free boozeup with the heading, “Redcape [a company] invites fundies in for a drink.” Obadiah, sometimes called a fundamentalist, got rather excited although he wondered if Redcape, whoever they are, realises most fundamentalists are teetotalers. But reading on (always a good idea), he realises the Fin meant fund managers. Surely they could afford their own drinks.

Benjamin James Long

News page 2-3

Author Michael Gladwin won Australian Christian Book of the Year with his work, Captains of the Soul. have an international ministry, always looked back to that time when the chaplain, Aubrey Pain, was standing with him, helping him through that difficult time. Chaplains leading men to a transcendent hope in God throughout all of Australia’s military history is a powerful testimony,” said Gladwin.

“I think Michael Gladwin did a brilliant job, capturing the essence of what chaplains have done for 200 years,” the Army’s principal chaplain, Geoff Webb, told Eternity. “I asked him to give an accessible history, while being

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Hear Revd Dr Greg Anderson, missiologist, specialist in Indigenous ministry and newly appointed Bishop of the Northern Territory:

What is God doing in Australia's fast growing North?"

//

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Tuesday 22 September Berwick Anglican Church 55 Peel St, Berwick

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academically rigorous, and he has done that.”

2015 saw an especially strong field of entries to the book awards, which were opened to books published by overseas publishers for the first time.

This meant that books like John Dickson’s A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible, (published by US-based Zondervan), and Michael Bird’s The Gospel of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus (published by Eerdmans, also from the States), with other local entries provided stiff competition.

The Young Australian Christian

Writer award, for an unpublished manuscript, was won by Tim Sharpe for Undying, featuring a narrator who is an assassin sent from a different realm into ours.

“Where God raises up a people, he raises up a writing and reading community,” Michael Collie, the National Director of SparkLit, which organises the awards, told the crowd at the ceremony: “It has always been that way.” “ ‘Preach the gospel and if necessary, use words’ is falsely attributed to St Francis. It is also a falsehood. It is true that words without actions are hollow. But it is also true that actions without words are meaningless.”

Collie introduced mission partners from SparkLit’s work of supporting Christian publishing in majority world countries.

“We are publishing the first Bible handbook,” said Chim Titmakara of Fount of Wisdom in Cambodia.

“The first commentaries, too.

Everything is ‘first’ because they don’t have resources.” Christian books are so unusual in Cambodia that pastors are still learning that Christian resources can be trusted.

They are used to only having the Bible and no other Christian literature at all.

In Pakistan the Open Theological Seminary has 500 tutors teaching 5000 in extension courses.

“We publish a lot of books,” Julius Qaisar told the awards crowd. “There are 4 million Christians living in Pakistan and we have to look after them.”

Infographic: Burnout in ministry (Australia)

Of the 4324 Australian church leaders surveyed: Causes:

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50%

25%

were potential candidates for burnout

experiencing burnout as an issue

Bio-Ecological diet, exercise, pressures

Vocational uncertainity, overload

Quotable Tim Costello Page 18

Results: poor physical health reduced job performance higher turnover conflicts with others decline in commitment reduced self-esteem poorer life satisfaction Psychological life-changing stressors

Spiritual temptations, anxiety

“Humanity has the God-given talents and resources to meet our challenges.”

NEWS

SEPTEMBER 2015

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Religious instruction in Victorian schools axed from class time KALEY PAYNE Victorian public schools will no longer be able to run Special Religious Instruction (SRI) classes during class time.

A statement made in late August

by Victorian Education Minister James Merlino outlined that the SRI programme would be moved to either lunchtimes or before and after school from 2016, suggesting students not participating in SRI are missing out on “essential learning time.”

“The move means that teachers and students will be able to focus on core curriculum, learning the lessons and skills they need to be their best,” said the government in a statement.

The axing of the 30-minute SRI makes way for new curriculum material for Prep through to Year 10 specifically on “respectful relationships education,” supporting students to learn “how to build healthy relationships, understand global cultures, ethics and traditions, and to prevent family violence.”

The new curriculum material follows a pilot programme across 30 state schools. Access Ministries, the main provider of SRI in Victoria, has said that the government did not consult with providers or parents on its decision to push SRI outside

class times. “Access Ministries is disappointed that the government has made this announcement without consultation. And while

we applaud all efforts to address the issue of family violence we do not believe that this needs to take place at the expense of SRI,” said

Access CEO Dawn Penney. “Nearly 30,000 children in Victoria are enrolled in Christian SRI, with many more unable to participate due to decisions by schools not to run the programme. The wishes of these parents to have their children introduced to the concepts of the Christian faith are being ignored and overridden by the government.”

Access Ministries says it is “urging the government to reconsider this overly hasty decision.”

Lobby group Fairness in Religion in Schools (FIRIS) is claiming victory, having campaigned against SRI for several years.

Access Ministries says it is seeking urgent discussions with the Education Minister.

Let’s pray for Victoria’s Christians Victorian Christians’ reaction to their government moving Special Religious Instruction (“Scripture”) out of class time in their local schools will be one of disappointment or sorrow.

Despite knowing that God is still in charge south of

the Murray, many volunteer teachers will feel rejected.

Eternity hopes that local groups of Christians will take up the challenge to run Christian education before or after school or at lunchtime. We hope they will do it cheerfully and

with creativity. It’s time for the rest of us to pray for the Christians of Victoria.

May the words of the Australian poet James McAuley be true of them.

“Fully tested, I’ve been found fit to join the underground.”

John Sandeman

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In brief WHO GOES WHERE: Weekly attendance figures are hard to come by but here’s the best we can find.

1. Catholic 578,000 (weekly mass attendance) 2. Australian Christian Churches 272,000 3. Anglicans 220,000 (Sydney Diocese 68,000) 4. Baptist 142,020 5. Uniting 97,200 6. C3 50,000 Next come SDAs, Salvos and Presbyterians. Please send Eternity any updates.

ON THE HILL: The parliamentary Christian Fellowship is holding its 27th Australian National Prayer Breakfast on Monday, September 14, 2015. Guest Speaker is Mr Michael Ramsden, International Director for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

WARTS AND ALL: The Centre For Public Christianity (CPX) has started filming a new documentary which will chart the impact, good and bad, of Christianity on society.

CPX founder, John Dickson, interviewed Miroslav Volf last month to kick off the project.

CHECK YOUR WEBSITE: Communications expert Steve Kryger says that Melbourne’s City On A Hill’s website is best practice.

It says “Jesus Christ is the most influential person who has ever lived, whose presence in human history some 2000 years ago has influenced all that has followed.”

What does your website say about Jesus? communicatejesus.com

SEPTEMBER 2015

E MORLING COLLEGE SPONSORED PAGE 4

Take the Plunge

How do young adults make a difference in the world? We learn to live well in it. Plunge is a gapyear program, for 18–23 year olds, and new for 2016 is the Plunge Diploma of Christian Studies available with Fee-Help.

In 2015, the Plunge gap-year program is seeing a group of thoughtful 18–23 year olds become people who are making a difference in their spheres of influence. At Plunge, we believe that community transformation includes spiritual transformation.

Change starts within a person and the fruits of change are seen in practical love, peace, justice and restoration. Through Plunge, young adults are learning to dive deeper in their life and faith. Two students who completed Plunge last year, Shannon and TJ, have shared how Plunge has changed them and how they are now changing the world.

Shannon finished school in 2013. She knew that eventually she wanted to study at university, but decided to do Plunge in order to be better prepared for tertiary studies. At first, she found our Community Engagement Days challenging and confronting.

Who isn’t a little nervous about spending a night sleeping rough with the homeless in inner-city Sydney? Who isn’t a little worried about travelling to Canberra to meet our nation’s leaders and talk directly with them about increasing the Australian Aid

Budget and speaking out against global tax corruption? Shannon didn’t let her feelings of discomfort prevent her from plunging into these community engagement experiences. What impacted Shannon the most was visiting Juvenile Justice Centres. Shannon was able to make a difference by listening to the girls’ stories. She could see that the girls “craved to know more about God, to have answers, to see change”. Shannon has commenced university studies this year and continues to visit with teenagers in detention.

TJ teaches at a weekly youth group, called Go Fish, for Years 5 and 6 students from the local school. As part of a Plunge assignment, TJ developed a simulation game to raise awareness about how Australia is currently treating asylum seekers.

When the students arrived, they were taken to an area marked out like a cage with chicken wire.

They were told to stay there while leaders did a “background check” to determine whether they genuinely wanted to come to Go Fish. They were assigned numbers, which were to be their names while they waited in the “detention centre”. They were not told how long it would take before they would be let out! TJ then proceeded to let them out gradually to have afternoon tea.

The students expressed feelings of frustration and confusion during the simulation. One boy said he

would drop a pole from the cage into a neighbour’s yard unless he was let out. TJ explained to the boy that what he was doing was protesting, and asylum seekers do that too because of the way they are treated in detention centres.

Plunge students learn in the classroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Through subjects such as Old Testament, New Testament, Theology, Mission, Ethics, and Personal and Leadership Development, students can work towards either a Certificate IV in Ministry or a Diploma of Christian Studies (and

this Diploma may be placed on Fee-Help). Wednesdays are our Community Engagement Days.

For many Plunge students, the highlight of the year is our threeweek, cross-cultural experience overseas. In 2015 Plunge will travel to Cambodia and, in 2014, Plunge travelled to Northern Thailand, including visiting and partnering with cross-cultural workers in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Plunge students learned about the Buddhist faith in the Thai context and spent time talking with monks at a program called Monk Chat. They worked with local

villagers through harvesting corn together. They ran English Camps for High School students. They spent the night in a tribal village and learned about the tribe’s culture and worldview.

Plunge is all about: • Learning to live out dynamic faith, radical lifestyle, and adventurous mission as a part of a community of Christian young people.

• Focussing on biblical and spiritual engagement that stretches you, challenges you, and engages you.

• Experiencing life and ministry in Australia and cross-culturally to show you the world and the ways you can impact our world for good.

• Developing personally and spiritually in a strong and supportive community. You’ll experience love and laughter while you learn.

• Engaging with community issues that count so that you can find a new passion.

Plunge equips you with the skills and behaviour that you need to navigate your life ahead with confidence and competence.

Through our action–reflection model of learning, students learn to live the change. Be the change you want to see in the world.

For more information or to “Take the Plunge” in 2016, come along to our Open Night on Thursday 26 November 6:30–8:30pm and please visit our website: www.plungegapyear.com

SEPTEMBER 2015

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+ Kaley Payne experiences Hillsong without the glitz - Page 7

Koorong joins Bible Society Koorong’s managing director Paul Bootes in one of Koorong’s bookstores

Bible Society Australia has acquired Koorong, Australia’s leading Christian retailer.

The deal, signed in mid-August, will increase access to the Bible and Christian resources both within Australia and around the world, in places where God’s word is most in need, says Bible Society Australia chairman, Richard Grellman.

Bible Society’s CEO Greg Clarke said that the Society and Koorong share a common goal. Bible Society’s cross-denominational mission is to translate, distribute and engage people with the Bible, while Koorong’s mission is to “effectively supply and promote an extensive range of Christian products that will be of spiritual benefit to the body of Christ.”

Bootes the bookseller JOHN SANDEMAN It all started in Koorong Street in Marsfield, a small suburban street of sixties brick veneer. Bruce and Olive Bootes arrived in the early seventies when Bruce, a country vet, got a head office job in the Agriculture Department.

“It was a big old red brick house and it is still there today,” recalls their son, Paul Bootes, Koorong’s long-serving managing director.

“My mum still lives there. She’s 87.

“We believe that by coming together we have the potential to transform hundreds of thousands

“Dad always loved books and he was a part-time Reformed Baptist preacher. Around 1971 or 1972 Dad started getting books in from a couple of publishers, especially along the ‘modern reformed’ line, Banner of Truth and people like that. It was nothing more than a small church bookstall type of thing. But then a few more friends said ‘get me this’, ‘get me that’. So in the period 1973-74 it became a business rather than a little hobby, I suppose.”

Olive Bootes was the mainstay of the business. It outgrew the garage, taking over the bottom of the house, and then the younger Bootes brothers and sisters found themselves sleeping with books.

A couple of suburbs away, in a still-sleepy shopping street, Ryedale Road in West Ryde, the family bought a shop in 1978. By then Paul was an English teacher but trekked back to the family business each night to help out. continued page 6

of lives. It’s a match made in heaven and will ensure that both organisations are positioned

positively for growth and can thrive for years to come,” said Dr Clarke. “We will now be able to

share our important Bible work with, and garner support from, Koorong customers. What’s more, those who shop at Koorong can now know that their purchases will fund even more important Bible mission projects here and around the world.”

Koorong’s managing director Paul Bootes will continue to lead Koorong operations, which includes 15 stores across Australia, an online shop and 400 employees.

Mr Bootes says it will be business as usual for Koorong. “We’re thrilled with the new partnership as it allows us to both share the important materials that mean so much to our fellow Christians and support vital missions around the world,” he said. continued page 7

St Mark’s celebrates the recognition received by its history lecturer Michael Gladwin for his scholarship and research into military chaplains.

stmarks.edu.au engaging the people of God with Australian Society

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Koorong’s first bookstore was opened in 1978 and has expanded to include an extensive range of Christian books, Bibles, music, DVDs and gifts. Customers purchasing from Koorong will now be contributing to spreading the word of God, through Bible Society mission projects around the world.

Bible Society says it used funds from investments and property to acquire Koorong.

“Instead of investing some of those funds into the financial markets, we are investing in a company that shares our values, provides jobs … and will increase support for our mission,” the organisation announced. It says funds committed to mission work, primarily raised through fundraising, were not used for the acquisition.

Dr Clarke says the partnership will help support the overwhelming need for more literacy and translation efforts.

“In the past three years, Bible Society Australia has established more than 100 international programmes but there are a huge number of deserving projects that still go unfunded. In China, demand for Bibles outstrips supply and more than 54 million people there are still illiterate.

In Pakistan, women have one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, and in Zambia, the need for support is at a critical level,” said Dr Clarke. “We look forward to expanding our mission efforts alongside our loyal Koorong customers and the continued prayers and vital contributions of our valued supporters,” he said.

SEPTEMBER 2015

Bootes the bookseller from page 5 He decided to leave teaching and run the business full-time. He’s still there 37 year later.

Paul’s a big bloke, built for rugby league. Rather than the book-laden warren I expected, his office is bare and functional, above a new, larger Koorong shop in West Ryde. “We grew. In the ’80s we opened stores in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Adelaide in the ’90s. At our peak in Australia we had about 19 stores. I enjoyed building the business with God’s help – lots of God’s help.”

So what are Australia’s leading Christian bookseller’s favourite books? “I loved Philip Yancey’s book What’s So Amazing About Grace? That was an incredible book, an absolute classic. A book

by Tom Smail, The Forgotten Father, is one of the most amazing books I have read. Another book I really enjoyed and which I have read several times is I Give You Authority by Charles Kraft, who was a professor at Fuller Seminary.

That is a bit of an ‘out there’ title but it is a very interesting book.

I am eclectic – I read a bunch of different books.”

And what has he read recently?

“I read the Alistair McGrath biography of C.S. Lewis, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have been reading a lot of The Passion Translation by Brian Simmons.

He believes that a lot of Bible translations don’t have the passionate heart of God in them so as a former New Tribes missionary he has translated the Bible.”

All staff at Koorong have to experience what it’s like to sell on the floor. So I ask him what

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he might sell a young person exploring Christianity.

“I will often start with a Christian biography, someone who has had some amazing experiences. I’d try to sell them a Bible if they did not have one. Then it depends on where they are at. If they are a 15-year-old kid I might sell them Run, Baby, Run or a story like that ... If it was someone who is a little bit older I might sell them something like Heart of a Lioness, which came out last year, and is the story of Irene Gleeson, an amazing story of stuff that happened in her life.”

What if it was a Christian who had doubts?

“I’d maybe sell them something like the Doubter’s Guide to the Bible by John Dickson. I think doubt can sometimes be dealt with intellectually, but I personally don’t think that doubt should be a normal Christian thing to have.

I’d want to try and get them to a place where they had some sort of existential experience of the Holy Spirit because that’s what I think Paul talks about in Ephesians 3 when he talks about the sealing of the Spirit.

“But of course one size does not fit all. Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God is an excellent book to give someone who is either a seeker or at a point of doubt.”

Koorong’s range has grown over the years, to serve its growing customer base, says Paul.

“In the end, if you are serving the church you are providing the resource the church wants. You ask about theological conviction?

I think I have believed and not believed half the books I have sold

over the years. And changed my position many times on numbers of subjects. Not that my core faith has changed.

“We like the notion that ideas can fight it out graciously on the shelves; the thrust and parry of how people understand the Bible and Christianity and how that all fits together. The Holy Spirit leads people to inquire and he leads them into truth.”

And then Paul leaves Eternity with a puzzle. He points to the great Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon as a person who said he was happy to have books fight on his shelf. Paul challenged us to find the quote. We did.

“I have placed next to Gill in my library Adam Clarke but as I have no desire to have my rest broken by wars among the authors, I have placed Doddridge between them.”

It’s from C. H. Spurgeon’s Commenting and Commentaries.

It’s a relatively obscure work.

Gill, a Hebrew scholar, was a fierce Calvinist (believing God draws people to him without human effort) who was too fierce even for Spurgeon: “His ultraism is discarded, but his learning is respected.” Spurgeon was able to criticise people of his own theological tribe.

Spurgeon said of Clarke, with whom he disagreed, “Adam Clarke is the great annotator of our Wesleyan friends; and they have no reason to be ashamed of him, for he takes rank among the chief of expositors.” Doddridge, the neutral, whose book he placed in the middle, was a Bible translator – still often skilled at keeping peace among Christians.

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IN DEPTH

SEPTEMBER 2015

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Hillsong rolls up its sleeves KALEY PAYNE For 13 years, Glenn Olney has been knocking on the same doors on Perigee Close in Doonside in Sydney’s western suburbs. Today, almost everyone answers. Many are waiting for him when we arrive on the circular street early on a Saturday morning in June. But it wasn’t always that way.

“If you didn’t take rejection very well, it wasn’t easy,” Glenn says as we pull up along the curb. “When we first started visiting it was pretty much ‘doors in faces’ for weeks on end.”

As we get out of the car, I can see green shirts. A green shirt pulls a lawn mower across the road.

Another green shirt is digging around the boot of her car, fishing out cleaning supplies. Another two green shirts are walking up the footpath of a house on the corner.

Visiting has begun.

The green shirts have become a symbol on this street. That’s the street team. You’ll see them every second Saturday. They’re from Hillsong. They’ll mow your lawn.

Before we arrive on Perigee Close on this cold and foggy winter morning, about 50 green shirts have already gathered at Hillsong’s Baulkham Hills campus. They sipped hot coffee and ate crumpets while listening to one of the leaders exhorting them to remember that “individual people make the biggest difference” and that God has given them the power to be “a light in someone’s darkness.”

They pray and then they go out. From the Hills Campus, groups head to Bidwell, Doonside, Riverstone, Wentworthville, Blacktown and Telopea: mostly to areas of public housing. But across Sydney and now Brisbane too, over a hundred other green shirts will spread across the cities to some of the most disadvantaged areas.

“It’s not a high profile ministry within Hillsong,” says Glenn.

“We’re not flash, it’s not glamorous, but it’s very effective.”

Back on Perigee Close, we’re ready to go. Before we’ve unloaded our mowers and some meals prepared by the team’s family members to give to some of the residents, Brenda is already upon us. She’s been waiting for Glenn.

She wants to tell him about some problems she’s been having at work. And she’s keen to let the team know that there’s a new family on the street.

Glenn says this is just an

The Street Team in prayer, as resident Rosemary [inset] watches on. example of how the street has changed in the 13 years he’s been visiting. “People didn’t know each other. You can never underestimate the importance of just talking to people,” says Glenn. “We’re here to do two things. We do jobs around the street – washing dogs, gardening, cleaning – but more importantly we spend time with lonely people.”

Further down the street, another lady is waiting on the path.

“Rosemary is the heart of the street,” Glenn tells me as we walk to meet her. “It took a few weeks, but she was the first person who opened her door when we started.

She was the turning point.”

Rosemary has lived here for 33 years. She’s got a list of chores for the street team to do. A nononsense person, the organiser, she sends a few of our group next door to start mowing their lawn.

A resident next door hasn’t been well, “So why don’t you go say hello?” she tells Glenn. And off he goes. Two others on the street team get to work weeding part of Rosemary’s garden. She laughs at one of their jokes and invites me on to her porch, where we sit in the glorious sun and watch the work being done around us. “Sometimes people around here can be shy to ask the team to help out, so I keep a list of what needs to be done,” she tells me. “There are a lot of very ill people on this street. Lots of people don’t have enough money, there’s a

lot of social problems.”

When Glenn and his team first arrived on Perigee Street, Rosemary says she was suspicious.

The view of “The Church” from this street in Doonside is not a sunny one. “No one’s particularly religious here and we don’t trust churches,” she says resolutely.

Rosemary grew up in a Catholic orphanage where she was abused.

She hates nuns and priests and says that most Christians she’s known haven’t lived as though they believed in God. “When these guys first started coming here, I didn’t think they were honest. I’d never seen church work the way it should. But now people look forward to Hillsong coming here. They’re normal, normal people.”

Down the road, Charlie and Des are waiting for us to visit. Charlie’s sitting on the porch steps, Des squats on the grass. They shout a “G’day” to Glenn and I as we approach. Charlie’s lived on the street since 1984. Des has lived next door since 1999. They take great pride in the difficult time they gave Glenn and the team when they first visited. The pair used to shout out their windows at the green shirts walking down the drive. “We don’t want your religion here!’ we used to shout,” said Charlie cheekily.

Des nods in agreement. “We used to tell them in very colourful language to ‘get lost’,” he says.

“But they were back again the following Saturday saying they just wanted to see if I needed help with anything. I thought the quickest way to get them to leave was to test them. So I told them I’ve got a pile of ironing they could do. They actually took me up on it! They did my ironing and expected nothing in return. Churches always put their hand out for money,” says Des. “But these people weren’t asking for anything. They didn’t even ask to be treated with respect.

It got me thinking: it’s so strange that they’ll do this for free. So I let them in the next week too.”

Des, an Aboriginal man from the Darug tribe, tells me he and Glenn have been arguing about the truths of the Bible versus the Dreamtime for years. He often offers the street team some of his bush tucker when he’s been out hunting.

“Des goes hunting for snakes and grubs,” says Glenn. “We’ve eaten carpet snakes on a visit before.”

He taunts Des about snakes in the Bible. Des grins. “Now, don’t start that again. I really should read that Bible one day.”

Charlie was harder to crack, says Glenn. For years, he wouldn’t talk to them, even once Des had opened up next door. “He has to know you for a very long time,” Glenn says.

Turning to Charlie, he says “I’ve prayed for you a lot over the years.”

“He’s a good fella,” says Charlie.

“We get on real good now. But geez, he’s put some weight on! We look

forward to one another, just to see how we all are.”

Des, Charlie and Glenn chat like they’re old friends. “It’s strange to think how many people I love spending time with now who told me to p**s off the first time we met,” Glenn laughs.

There’s no gardening or domestic work being done by the team at Des and Charlie’s place this weekend. But there’s plenty of conversation. And Glenn’s got another meal for Charlie, trading a full plastic container for a bag of empty ones. There’s been many meals offered and gratefully received. While we talk, the sounds of lawn movers and whippersnippers echo around the street – other green-shirters hard at work.

This Saturday morning the street team from Perigee Close mowed five lawns, weeded or cleared three garden beds and made contact with 17 people from the street.

We’ve been here just three hours.

“You can’t do it all in one morning,” says Glenn. Consistency and stability is important in this type of ministry. It took someone like Charlie almost two years to open up. Most people on the team – all from different parts of the Hillsong world – are committed for at least a year. And most turn up every week. “I’m stunned at what God has provided us with.

There’s a lot of experience in this team. We’ve been very blessed.” So blessed, in fact, that Glenn wants to expand the ministry into the next street over later this year.

Rosemary says the street is much better off since the street teams have been visiting.

“A lot of children – and adults, for that matter – around here have never seen people do good things for no reason. They’ve helped me believe there are decent Christian people out there. I didn’t really know there were. When people have been kicked in the teeth, and then kicked again, they lose heart.”

Glenn and his team, she says, have been welcomed in to their community because they “just kept coming back.”

“If you come here and preach at us, we won’t listen,” she says. “But come here and live your religion, we’ll take notice.”

Since writing this article, Charlie has very sadly passed away after a long illness. Glenn and the street team conducted a memorial service for Charlie on Rosemary’s front lawn, with most of the street in attendance.

Join us as Grammy Award winner, Rebecca St James, lifts us in song and praise.

Dr Michael Youssef will lead us on a journey to discover the value of your soul.

1 night only in Sydney - Sydney Town Hall, 16 October Melbourne - Plaza Ballroom, 19 October Perth - Riverside Theatre, 21 October

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SEPTEMBER 2015

E PEOPLEAIDS SPONSORED PAGE 8

PeopleAids – Wells Of Life For India Clean water is a basic necessity for life and people simply cannot exist without it. The World Health Organisation estimates that around 700,000 Indians die each year from water-borne diseases.

Several million more suffer from multiple incidents of diarrhoea and still others fall ill as a result of enteric fever, hepatitis A, intestinal worms and eye and skin infections caused by unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene.

It is horrifying to think that every 8 seconds a person dies of a disease caused by the consumption of contaminated water. Lack of clean water is seen as a key factor in causing and perpetuating poverty.

Safe drinkable water is one of the greatest needs in India especially in poor rural areas.

However, only 26% of the slum population has access to safe drinking water and only 25% of the total population (1.1 billion) has drinking water on their premises.

One flush of an Australian’s toilet devours as much water as the average person in India uses for a whole day’s washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking.

In India millions of litres of clean, life-saving water lie deep below the earth, while on the surface multitudes of people suffer and die unnecessarily from these deadly water-borne diseases.

This is the sad reality of life in so many impoverished locations around the nation.

Jesus said, “If you give just one cup of water ... you will not lose your reward.”

Fresh water wells are the simple long term solution and PeopleAids – Wells Of Life For India program bores wells in many regions of India, which are all fully tested and certified for their water purity. They are also fitted with high quality hand pumps which are easy enough for a child to operate.

To date 570 life giving wells have been provided for stricken Indian communities however hundreds more are desperately needed.

The simple provision of clean, fresh water wells to poor communities, significantly reduces child mortality and dramatically improves the health of everyone.

The sparkling, fresh water that is retrieved from uncontaminated aqueducts below the earth’s surface is truly a gift from God for these impoverished people. Wells also provide income as women and children make a business of fetching and delivering water.

When you sponsor a Well Of Life, you are sent two photos of the people in the village with their new life giving well, along with its GPS location so that you can view it using Google Maps.

If requested we also signwrite your name or message on a plaque at the well. This is a treasure that you can display in your home or office to remember your Indian friends by. It also enables you to share with others

about the Wells Of Life For India program.

Villages and communities of desperate people anxiously await for life-giving wells. Sponsor a Well Of Life online today at www.

PeopleAid.org. It is only $2100 to give an entire community, clean fresh water – forever! Sponsoring a Well Of Life is a gift that keeps on giving day after day, year after year.

Tel: 1800 677 337.

Wells Of Life For India

Setting Communities Free

Sponsor A Well Of Life Today At ABN 76 064 270 793

Most of India does not have drinkable running water and everyday too many precious children die as a consequence of drinking contaminated water. The simple provision of clean, fresh water Wells to poor communities, significantly reduces child mortality and dramatically improves the health of everyone. Wells also provide income as women and children make a business of fetching and delivering of water.

PeopleAids – Wells Of Life For India program bores Wells in many regions of India, which are all fully tested and certified for their water purity. They are also fitted with high quality hand pumps.

When you sponsor a Well Of Life, you are sent two photos of the people in the village with their new life giving Well, along with its GPS location so that you can view it using Google Maps. If requested we also sign write your name or message on a plaque at the Well.

Sponsoring a Well Of Life is a gift that keeps on giving day after day, year after year. Tel 1800 677 337

A Well Of Life gives an entire community, clean fresh water - forever!

SEPTEMBER 2015

9

BIBLE @ WORK

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Opening hearts for God in Zambia Five Zambian communities will soon receive the Bible in their own language. Bible Society is starting literacy classes in these communities, including among the Nsenga people (above).

KALEY PAYNE International Literacy Day is celebrated on September 8 around the world. As an associate of UNESCO, the United Nations agency responsible for education, Bible Society’s literacy work is globally recognised. Bible Society uses Bible-based literacy resources and partners with local churches to help people understand the Bible in their own language. In 2015, Bible Society Australia has committed almost $1 million for literacy projects around the world, including the introduction of the first literacy classes in five communities in Zambia.

“I will be proud to hear God talking to me in my own mother tongue,” says Gasiano Chawala, a Nsenga man leading the Nsenga Translation Project Committee in Zambia, in south-central Africa.

Bible translation work in five local Zambian languages will help to preserve the languages for future generations. The Bible translation in Nsenga is almost finished, well ahead of schedule because of the enthusiasm in the community for

the project and the dedication of local Bible translators.

“We’ll be very happy,” says Chawala as he looks ahead to when the Nsenga Bibles are ready. “To me, it’s a sign of prestige to hear God talking in my own language.

And my confidence grows that God knows me by my own language, not by a foreign language.” Chawala says with a Bible in Nsgena, he can know God as his own; he can know God personally. The God who speaks Chawala’s own heart language doesn’t appear distant or foreign.

But Chawala is one of only a few people in his community who’ll be able to read the Nsenga Bible when it is finished.

Nsenga is one of over 72 languages and dialects spoken in Zambia. The official language of Zambia is English, and the Zambian Government has chosen seven local languages to be taught in schools too. Nsenga isn’t one of them. That means there are thousands of Zambians who speak Nsenga as their mother tongue – their “heart language” – but who have never learned to read or write

it. It also means that there are few written materials available in Nsenga. The Bible, due for completion by 2016, will be one of the only materials in modern Nsenga in common usage today.

Bible-based literacy classes starting in the Nsenga community are set to change that.

CEO of Bible Society Australia Dr Greg Clarke is head of the United Bible Societies Global Literacy Affinity Group. The group is implementing and strengthening Bible-based literacy projects around the world. One of its goals is to coordinate Bible translation projects with literacy work.

“If your community is receiving the Bible in your heart language, then it’s the perfect opportunity to start literacy classes too. We see a great connection with translation work and transforming the community to become a reading and learning and teaching community,” said Dr Clarke.

“To my mind this is the ideal combination. The word of God comes not just in a book that will sit on a shelf unopened, or opened by only a few readers in the

community, but it is opened up to the community by the addition of literacy skills there.”

Bible Society Australia is supporting the first literacy classes in five communities in Zambia, including the Nsenga. Classes will start at the end of the year, with work underway to use the almostcompleted Bible translation to create Bible-based, audio literacy resources across three basic levels.

Dr Clarke says it is easy to underestimate the importance of being able to read and write in your heart language, especially for those of us for whom English is our first language.

“If you have grown up with a language, you think in that language, your symbolism and emotions are in that language. All those things are deeply important to properly understanding the Scriptures.

“We hear time and time again from people who have received the Bible in their language for the first time that it’s like finding out that Jesus cares personally for them.

That’s how important a heart language Bible is to people.”

And while you don’t have to be a reader to know God, Dr Clarke says Christianity is an “articulate faith.”

“It’s a faith that helps you not just know God but to know that God in great detail, and it’s the Bible that reveals that detail to us. So the more you can read, the deeper that knowledge becomes.”

That’s a gift that Bible Societies around the world want to share with the over 780 million adults who are still illiterate.

“Literacy adds depth to your spiritual life. Literacy adds understanding. Literacy adds flavour and nuance and meaning, so that you can not only learn how to live but how to avoid error and work out what it means to walk along the straight and narrow path,” said Dr Clarke.

“And you will always be more articulate in your heart language than a second or third language you don’t speak or think in.”

+ Can you help? Bible Society’s current appeal for Zambian literacy classes is tax deductible. biblesociety.org.au/zambiaep

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INDEPTH

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SEPTEMBER 2015

Powerful words from jail DAVID PETTETT & TREVOR CAIRNEY The prison referred to in this article is a maximum-security prison and the prisoner’s name has been changed.

Andy sat at his sewing machine watching the chaplain walking through the prison workshop. He stopped and spoke to one or two men. Andy watched. The chaplain came closer. “Hey chaplain,” Andy called, “tell me about prayer will you?” The chaplain looked a little surprised. Andy was not a man he had had much contact with but he knew that Andy had been doing it tough lately.

“Yeah,” Andy continued, “I’ve been praying and praying and praying. And nothing’s happening.”

Andy had been born in Australia but was from a Vietnamese background and nominally Buddhist. “Yeah. I’ve stopped wearing my Buddhist amulets. I’ve given up. What do I do? It’s like there’s no god to hear me. I just lie on my bed all night wondering if anybody cares. Blokes I thought were my best mates have turned on me.”

The chaplain began, “Well, from a Christian perspective it’s about a personal relationship with Jesus.”

Before he could go further Andy leaned forward and, almost poking the chaplain in the chest with his finger, said, “I want that!”

They spoke over the next few

weeks. The chaplain explained that God rules the whole universe and at the same time hears the prayers of even the most destitute person.

He went on to share that ever since God made himself known to his people they have told of his goodness from generation to generation. Andy listened to the

chaplain tell him that though this world will pass away God will last forever and his people will be with him into eternity.

As the chaplain explained how God had raised Jesus from the dead, conquering sin and death and opening the way for eternal life, Andy sat head bowed and with

tears in his eyes saying, “I want that.” Andy wanted to give his life to Jesus and to take part in the resurrection.

Shortly after, the chaplain baptised Andy in the prison chapel.

Two of his mates stood with him as he declared his faith in Christ. God began to answer his prayers. God

had brought powerful words to bear fruit in Andy’s life.

For Christians, motivated by the words of Jesus, there is an age-old dilemma of how to faithfully take the gospel into areas of the public sphere in a way that respects the outcomes desired by government and private institutions that have their own agenda. Unlike preaching a sermon in church, a chaplain in a public hospital or prison does not own the space. They are a guest. Often a valued guest, but a guest nevertheless. When you are a guest, disrespecting the host is never a good idea.

In Psalm 102, the fleeting days of human life are set in the context of God’s timing and his power to speak words of life.

Powerful Words is the theme of an upcoming conference for chaplains and others interested in pastoral theology and care. Powerful Words is being jointly run by Anglicare and The Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education (CASE). The keynote speaker will be Dr Rhys Bezzant (Ridley College) who will reflect on the importance of individual care in the course of Christian history and how to value opportunities to serve our neighbour in pastoral settings.

The conference will also include some innovative sessions, including a live performance of a radio play version of the Book of Job. newcollege.unsw.edu.au/events

Bible Society Young Scholars Scholarships include: • $2,000 accommodation support • $450 assistance for resources and conference support • Mentoring and assistance to research a topical issue and produce works of Christian scholarship • Guidance and support to engage in tailored ministry activities For information about eligibility, selection criteria and how to apply, visit www.newcollege.unsw.edu.au/scholarships or phone 02 9381 1999.

Apply Now For 2016 Scholarships

The Bible Society Young Scholars program supports young Christian men and women to live at New College or New College Village while studying at The University of New South Wales.

This introductory program to Christian scholarship also provides practical opportunities for participants to engage in Christian ministry in the College community.

THE BIG PICTURE

SEPTEMBER 2015

The rehabilitation of evil MARK HADLEY

Pan starring Hugh Jackman (above) as Hook is in cinemas from Sept. 24.

This September the children’s movie Pan will re-introduce your family to a familiar set of characters. J.M. Barrie’s modern fairy tale orphan-hero Peter Pan will, like many characters before him, receive a Hollywood backstory, along with many more inhabitants of Neverland.

We’ll watch with bated breath as Peter crouches in the cloud of dust created by his escape attempt from the mine to which the fearsome pirate Blackbeard has confined him. He’ll turn to his companion who helped him gain his freedom and say, Peter: If I’m going to trust you, I need to know your name!

James: It’s Hook!

The name’s James Hook!

And, reassured, Peter soon-tobe-Pan will set off on their adventure together. But the mums and dads will have caught their breath. Clearly we know something our hero doesn’t – the man to whom Peter has tied his fate will one day become his evil adversary. Or will he?

Apply Now for 2016 chc.edu.au

EternitySeptember.indd 1

Pan is the latest children’s film to turn our notions of villainy upside down. We discover forces in Hook’s past that at least explain if not excuse the attitude he will one day take to Peter. And the children who make up Pan’s primary audience will walk out with the barely conscious conviction that evil is not as black and white as it seems. But Pan won’t be the first film to push this conclusion.

Four months earlier the release of Minions unveiled the backstory of the yellow pill-shaped munchkins we first met in Despicable Me. Though they’ve been the servants of villainous masters for longer than human beings have existed, it turns out they’re not so much evil as desperate for a purpose. Likewise the bulbous headed blue villain from Megamind embraces evil because he’s rejected at school.

It’s not as though Hollywood is seeking to provide kids with an excuse to be bad. Most of its villains opt to become good guys in the end. However through a series of sequels, prequels and reboots, scriptwriters are creating a fairly consistent fantasy world where evil is an understandable consequence of unwarranted abuse and mistaken choices. In short, a land where no one is to blame.

Take Maleficent for example.

Angelina Jolie gave us a whole new perspective on the evil witch who poisoned Sleeping Beauty with her apple. Betrayed in love and crippled by a selfish man, the

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queen’s vindictiveness comes to look more like the understandable reaction of a wounded soul.

In short, Hollywood is in the habit of using context to make bad look good, or at least reasonable.

However, the Bible pictures this sort of thinking as one of the lowest levels a society can sink to: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter ... (Isa 5:20) Sodom and Gomorrah revelled in their sexual immorality; ancient Israel celebrated its spiritual prostitution. And in life or at the movies, God’s word warns that the upending of his standards indicates a society ripe for judgment: … for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

(Isa 5:24b) It’s not that the average person denies the existence of sin, but these excuses for evil are another way of putting us beyond the reach of judgment. If sin is the result of a poor background then it’s something we can excuse, even justify – much like Megamind, Maleficent and Captain Hook. Yet, though understanding the context for evil might explain its origin, that’s a world away from personal exoneration. We need to remind ourselves and our children that ridding ourselves of sin begins with seeing it for what it is, and ends with asking God to set us free.

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ON SCREEN EVEREST Ernest Hemingway once quipped, “There are only three real sports: bull-fighting, car racing and mountain climbing. All the others are mere games.” What his selections have in common is a preparedness to weigh your life against the glory that might be obtained. However the film Everest shows what happens when we fail to realise our scale in God’s creation.

Everest is based on the true story of the “1996 Mount Everest Disaster” during which eight people from various expeditions succumbed to the elements due to a combination of crowded routes, poor planning and naked ambition.

The philosophical focus of the film is the tension arising between those who celebrate the “triumph of the human spirit” and those who recognise we are merely flesh and blood. Everest records many heroic moments, and many allowances are made for the men and women who balanced their lives against the danger. But it’s worth remembering, even as we celebrate their survival, that we don’t draw our meaning from our ability to endure or overcome. As inspiring as elements of Everest can be, the Bible reminds us: “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.”

God did not make mountains to provide human beings with the opportunity to display how great they are. Everest is a testament to his power, not ours.

In cinemas from September 17

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CHARITY FEATURE

12

SEPTEMBER 2015

You can make a difference!

Come on a Short Term Mission us in 2016 TESS with HOLGATE

WorldShare connects people to transform lives. They partner with indigenous Christian Contact Phil Cogger (03) 9899 2044 ministries throughout Africa and www.worldshare.org.au Asia. These ministries include a teenage pregnancy crisis centre in Uganda, a Christian University in Indonesia, a school for the deaf in the Democratic Republic of Congo, community development programmes in India, children’s homes in Myanmar and many more. WorldShare works to help bring transformation to the people of these nations.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, WorldShare partners with HEAL Africa, an organisation with medical and community development programs. Josephine (name changed) is one of the women who has been helped by HEAL Africa. Josephine was raped by rebel militia near her village. She was taken to a local health centre that was many days walk from her home. She had fistula surgery there but was still incontinent. Josephine was referred to HEAL Africa Hospital and received the appropriate care she needed. She has now fully recovered from her surgery. “I am very glad for the warm welcome I gained at HEAL Africa and all the health care I received. May God

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On WorldShare short-term missions in Indonesia and Uganda; connecting people and transforming lives. extend the work of HEAL Africa,” says Josephine.

Kate Munns, Africa Partnership Manager says, “I am motivated by the time I spend with our partners face to face and from what I can learn from them on the ground. It spurs me on to want to advocate for them. I love working with our partners in Africa because of who they are, how they live their lives and what they teach me about living out the gospel.”

In China, WorldShare partners with A&A Ministries. In Yunnan,

Jilin and Guangxi Provinces, A&A Ministries build medical clinics, train church workers, plant new churches, run youth programmes and build water reservoirs.

Wen Ju Mei has benefitted from the work of A&A Ministries. She says, “I’m from a Buddhist family.

When I was young, my father had a terrible accident and we suffered severe financial trouble.

Christian brothers and sisters rescued us and, through this love, the whole family came to the Lord. My mother was determined

to show gratitude to the Lord by sending me to a Bible college when I graduated from high school.

She enrolled me at DaLi Bible School to do a three-year diploma course. It was tough and on many occasions I wanted to give up. But I received the Lord’s encouragement whenever I was low in spirit. I finished the course because of God’s grace.” Jenny Crameri, Asia Partnership Manager, says “we have so much here in Australia and that comes with a real sense of responsibility. WorldShare’s

projects work! I know they work because I’ve seen them for myself and I see the difference they make in peoples’ lives.”

Each year, six WorldShare shortterm mission teams visit many of their partnerships. These teams work alongside the local ministry partners to help them reach their goals. WorldShare’s next mission trip is to Uganda in November 2015. worldshare.org.au

+ Next month’s charity feature will be Barnabas Fund.

Each month Eternity will highlight a charity from a group that is bringing you this special page.

OPERATION SAFE HAVENS Come on a Short Term Mission with us to Uganda in November 2015

Can you help evacuate Christians in danger?

Contact Phil Cogger (03) 9899 2044 www.worldshare.org.au

Tel: 1300 365 799 barnabasfund.org/osh

LIGHT IN DARKNESS

SHINES 2015 APPEAL smbc.com.au

whenwomenspeak.net

t s u b o t s r le f f a b le ib B ! in a r b r u o y ) w lo b r (o

We are all invited to God’s Big Party You Just Have to RSVP.

While on this island John was given a vision of what heaven would be like.

John was a disciple and follower of Jesus. When he was older where did he live as a prisoner?

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led up the keys Oops! Our typist has mudd ould be! key to the right of what it sh and typed everything one Work out what the answer _____

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

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N O P Q R S T U V W X Y 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

In Revelation 4:6-8 we read, Around the throne in the centre were four living creatures... Day and night they never stopped singing...

Follow the lines to unjumble the letters to find out where John lived.

See Revelation 1:9

er is by writing down the lett on left that is one key to the the keyboard. Watch out for capital letters and the letter ‘a’ uses a ‘?’ as its clue.

You're Invited!

Heaven is described as like an incredible banquet – like a party for a wedding. And everyone is invited!

Then the angel told me, “Put this in writing. God will bless everyone who is invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:9 John already knew that Jesus was going to invite everyone.

_ _. ______

?md e r t r f

Jesus told his follo wers preparing a place that he was for them.

Find the bold wor ds in

____

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How is heaven described in Revelation 21:3-4?

Read from a CEV Bible to fill in the missing words for the word block.

God’s _ _ _ _ is now with his _ _ _ _ _ _. He will _ _ _ _ with them, and _ _ _ _ will be his _ _ _. Yes, _ _ _ will make his home _ _ _ _ _ his people. He will _ _ _ _ all _ _ _ _ _ from their _ _ _ _, and there will be _ _ more _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , crying, or pain.

These things of the _ _ _ _ are gone _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

the ‘find a word’ fro m John 14:1-3 T D E K A T E C A L P U T Q I T O L H M J M Q L W P W Q L N P R G H T S E L P I C S I D J R N U E B H R E R F H C A E F E F A E T V G E S F G P F M S P B F I F H H O A U M P N O G A G A B Y T E S I A O B A C K R F B J A O K R N N R H J B S E K L F L F T Y H R G S E V E I am Jesus! And I am the one who sent my angel to tell all of you these things for the churches. I am David’s Great Descendant, and I am also the bright morning star.

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”

Everyone who hears this should say, “Come!”

If you are thirsty, come! If you want life-giving water, come and take it.

It’s free.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have fa ith in God and have faith in me.

There are many rooms in my Father’s ho use.

I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true . I am going there to prep are a place for each of you.

After I have done this, I will come back an take you with me. Thd en we will be togeth er...”

rd.

Every child needs God’s Wo ! sus Je t ou ab Help children learn

Revelation 22:16-17

Looking for Bible-based, relevant, engaging lessons for kids aged 4-12 years?

GodSpace is the answer! www.godspace.org.au

Make sure you check out

www.wildbible.org.au for the answers & more about the Bible!

RSVP

French for ”Répondez s’il vous plaît”, which means ”Please reply”

Will you say yes to the invitation to join the feast – to live for eternity with God?

www.biblesociety.org.au

SEPTEMBER 2015

E SLAVIC GOSPEL ASSOCIATION SPONSORED PAGE 14

God has not forgotten the afflicted!

Appeal to Christian pastors, ministers and all Christians because of the difficult situation in Ukraine

Photo Credit: People in Need, Nikishina, Ukraine, March 2015/flickr

Through SGA’s Ukraine Crisis Evangelism Fund, you can help local churches provide food and aid to desperate refugees.

Imagine your church was receiving 250 fleeing war refugees every day? This is what’s happening at the Baptist Church in Berdyansk, where Eric Mock, Director of Ministry (SGA-USA) spent time with some of those who have fled the region. He reports…

“As I sat with several families, they told me stories of living hidden in their basements while artillery shelling and machine gun fire erupted daily above their heads. Tearfully, they said that they had to leave everything behind, and in some cases even their elderly family members who could not travel. Friends were killed. These families — especially the young children — are afraid, confused and feel a sense of despair.

“I met a young man named Sasha who came from a mixed Muslim/Christian family and I asked, ‘What do you think about

all of this?’ Sasha’s face flushed slightly, and then he emotionally declared, ‘I think God forgot us!

If there is a God, He forgot us!’

Sasha then began spilling his heart out to me. ‘My mother told us to pray and that He would take care of us. So we prayed. My father was a strong Muslim man, and he has been killed. My mum left us and moved to Russia. My younger brother is in Donetsk and I can’t visit him because I don’t have money. Our family is broken.

That is what happened. God has forgotten us!’

“I asked him to consider that God had in fact heard his prayers and brought him to the church. At the same time, God had brought me all the way from the USA to be sitting with him that day. I added ... ‘It may be that God worked all these things together, even the most terrible and tragic things, so that He may tell you about true hope in His Son Jesus! There is

peace that can be found in the middle of the storm. God has not forgotten you, for today you are hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ!’

“Before Sasha and his wife left, I asked if I could pray for them.

He agreed, his eyes filling with tears. When I finished, I asked if I could give him a hug. He held on to me for some time and did not let go. I told him again that God has not forgotten him, and that today, Jesus is calling out to him.

Please pray with me that Sasha will repent of his sins and trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord.”

There is a steady stream of refugees coming to the churches and asking the same questions.

By supporting SGA’s ‘Ukraine Crisis Evangelism Fund’ you can help local believers reach them with physical help and the love of Christ. Please pray for God’s provision and the salvation of these war-stricken souls.

“Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Peace to your homes from the Lord Jesus Christ and warm greetings from Baptist Ukrainian churches! Our country is in a very difficult period of its modern history....

We ask you, dear friends, to support the initiatives of the Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists as they provide assistance to the displaced persons in their area. And keep on praying for Ukraine, asking the Lord for peace and protection for our country.”

Valeriy Antonuk, President of the Baptist Union of Ukraine

Ukraine crisis taking heaviest toll on women, children and elderly

Source: United Nations

SEPTEMBER 2015

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15

OPINION

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+

Greg Clarke on why you matter Richard Shumack explores the limits of ‘scientism’

Keeping it all in the mind Michael Jensen on mindfulness About six weeks ago, I broke my foot. It hurts. A lot. Still. How did I break it? I thought you’d never ask.

Trying to manoeuvre my unnecessarily oversized car around a shopping-centre car park with shopping, kids and spouse on board, I scraped it on a bollard. Or rather, I scraped it, and then in an attempt to correct the angle of my reverse, scraped it again.

The sound was horrendous. And all I could think of was the waste of money that this meant. Before I knew it, I was out of the car, aiming an almighty kick at the bollard.

What was I thinking? A steel and concrete bollard is designed to withstand a two-ton SUV. My feeble whack with bone, skin and Converse trainer was only ever going to damage one of us, and it wasn’t the bollard. I can hardly believe that I was so stupid.

Why was I unable to act more … mindfully?

I am sharing this none-tooflattering incident because it

seems like a very typical tale of contemporary life in a modern city.

We are wound-up, over-stretched, anxious. All our activity is frenetic.

As a pastor, I would say that chronic anxiety is almost a basic condition for contemporary living. Depression is endemic. Even people who would not say they have a mental illness as such would be able to tell stories like my own.

No doubt because of these

conditions, I am meeting a lot of people who are talking about a psychological technique called “Mindfulness”, and the way it has helped them gain control and thrive in the midst of an anxious world. A friend with depression has found it immensely valuable. Another friend who lost her mother at the beginning of this year talks of how it has helped her recognise and manage her grief.

A third person said “it was a useful

tool … when I had a breakdown when my son was eight. It taught me to recognise what my body did when I was anxious and at times depressed.” Another uses a threeminute session of mindfulness each morning to prepare for the day.

Each of these people is an active Christian. So what is this practice? Mindfulness has roots in Buddhism, but has been adopted and adapted by Western therapists

Colouring craze KALEY PAYNE In case you hadn’t noticed, there are a lot of people colouring in right now. Three adult colouring books are on the Amazon bestseller list. You can colour your way through a secret garden, through the world’s greatest cities and to the depths of the ocean.

And now you can colour Scripture too. Australian illustrator Lorien Atwood has published a book of Bible verses made just for colouring, called Meditations. She’s also started a Facebook group, “Colouring In Truth,” with over 4000 members.

The rise of the colouring craze has been tagged to a “Peter Pan market”, playing to an adult desire for childhood experiences, or part of an “analogue” trend to untangle

our anxieties about the impact of a digital life.

One of the bestselling colouring books is The Mindfulness Colouring Book, anti-stress art therapy for busy people. The rise of colouring and an aspiration for “mindfulness” have found a timely co-existence.

Lorien Atwood’s book isn’t a mindfulness colouring book. She says it’s about meditation on God’s Word. But the principles behind colouring for mindfulness or for meditation seem very similar. Both are about capturing our attention.

Trying out the colouring craze, one New York Times writer said “Colouring required just enough attention to disrupt the obsessive loop playing in my mind. It wasn’t so much relaxation as immersion in something else.”

For Lorien, colouring in Bible verses is not just a way to de-stress, nor is it really for entertainment.

“It’s Scripture. What’s around the edges is just extra. We dwell on the verse that we’re colouring, instead of fleetingly moving past Bible verses like we often do when faced with big chunks of text. There’s an opportunity to sit and concentrate.”

We’re all busy, says Lorien. But putting pencil to paper, is “a simple pleasure and joy that brings a slowness that people really seek.”

And, sometimes, new things – like colouring – can help us see truth more clearly.

“It’s not the drawings, but what God has written down that gives the power,” says Lorien. “People can just slow down while they colour in and let God’s Word do the healing and the restoring.”

for use in clinical treatment. It has then also been used by individuals, and now by companies and schools, as a way of managing everyday stress. That is to say, mindfulness has been used to treat people we might regard as having a mental illness, but then is also used as a life management technique by those who aren’t.

Its tenets are quite simple.

Mindfulness is described by one of its leading proponents, Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn, as “paying attention in a particular way on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” That means pausing, noticing what your body is feeling and simply taking it in. It is taking in the big picture, rather than getting swamped in the immediate. It encourages you to become an observer of yourself and to quieten that all-pervasive voice of self-condemnation or of impulsive desire. The “non-judgmental” part of mindfulness is designed to help us to stand back from our immediate emotional reactions, rather than have them overwhelm us.

A person might practise mindfulness by setting aside a few minutes a day at a set time and/ or by trying to be mindful in the thickets of everyday life.

At that level, it is quite clear from most of the literature I have read and from mindfulness practitioners I have spoken with that mindfulness is not “religious” as such, despite its origins. continued page 16

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It is best viewed as a technique rather than a philosophy with any particular claims about the world.

Anglican minister from Perth, Rev. Kanishka Raffel, who grew up in Sri Lankan Buddhism, told me this: “The discipline of awareness is a common grace that I learnt as a Buddhist. It is related but not identical to the spiritual fruit of self-control. But in Buddhism it serves the purpose of detachment, especially from emotional states, while in Christ mindfulness/ meditation leads us outward to thanks, joy, prayer and deeper communion with the Lord.”

That is to say, the practice of mindfulness no more involves you in Buddhism than being an Olympic athlete involves you in Greek paganism. It is a discovery about the way we as human creatures work that can be of great benefit to us – and even of great benefit to Christians in their Christian walk if they allow it to be. It is just a piece of wisdom, just like the wisdom that going to the gym is good for you or smoking is bad for you.

Having said that, mindfulness has in my experience proved for some people to be an “entry drug” for Buddhism.

Now, my aim in this article is not to provide an extensive Christian evaluation of mindfulness. My expertise is far too limited for that, and others have done this elsewhere, as a quick session with Google will show. I am simply an interested bystander and a pastor who is thus perhaps more aware of people’s ongoing anxieties than most. Rather, the rising popularity of mindfulness has prompted two lines of thought in me. One is this: that the New Testament has some strong statements about worry and anxiety. Jesus tells us “do not worry about your life”, in the Sermon on the Mount. And Paul in Philippians 4:6 writes: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and

EARLY

petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Of course, there’s nothing more likely to make an anxious person more anxious than telling them not to worry! But both Paul and Jesus are not telling us that we should just try not to be anxious. They are telling us that the gospel gives to us a perspective that, if we understand it at depth, gives us good reason to be assured and confident. It is a view of the world that begins with a loving and just God, in whom and with whom we can find rest and security, and who wants us to flourish.

But we know from experience that it is not enough to tell ourselves “don’t worry, God is in control.”

Some of our anxiety stems from not believing this enough; but we have to remember that we are not simply minds, but bodies as well. The sources of our anxiety and depression and confusion can be external and physical, not simply because we have forgotten that God is in control. Sometimes my stress comes from a sinful and unbelieving mindset. But sometimes it just comes because I have failed to look after my body – I have eaten badly and forgotten to go the gym.

Kanishka’s words above are wise: as Christians we pursue self-control and are not to be mastered by our bodies or by our emotions or by our bad patterns of thought. Many techniques which help us to do that are worth pursuing.

But the second line of thought is this: when we are dealing with our inner selves – our feelings and thoughts – there is, necessarily an intersection with our faith. And at one level, I am somewhat disappointed that Christians seeking to manage stress and anxiety haven’t always been aware of the riches that are there for them in the traditional Christian practices of meditating on Scripture and personal prayer.

That is a failure not of individual

BIRD SAVINGS

Christians, by the way, but of our church culture. The practice of Lectio Divina (“divine reading”) was given particular emphasis by Benedict in the sixth century, but Protestant greats like John Calvin, the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter and the Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer also advocated and practised reflective and prayerful meditation on Scripture. In the common evangelical parlance of my youth it was called the “quiet time”.

Christian meditation involves prayerfully engaging with the text of Scripture not as something to be studied for information but as the living word of God in Jesus Christ. Like mindfulness, it involves becoming aware – but not just of the self, but of the presence of the almighty and most merciful God. Typically, the great instructors of Christian meditation have recommended the practice of reading and re-reading short passages of Scripture as ideal rather than immersing oneself in whole books or long sections. For me personally, I can say that knowing I am in the presence – and hearing the voice of – the God who loves me, and in whom is my past and my future, gives me great ease of mind and reassurance. God is with me, by his Spirit, because of Jesus Christ!

Practising mindful awareness of that reality is of enormous practical help, day by day.

So let me take you, with regret and embarrassment, back to the carpark where I foolishly assaulted the bollard. A mindful awareness of what had been going on for me in the weeks leading up to that mindsnap could have made me aware that there had been several stressful circumstances placing pressure on me in combination. A simple ability to acknowledge that these stressors were going to affect me mentally and physically, and a clearer mind, might have given me pause. In the moment itself, an ability to catch my emotions and stand apart from them before I let fly would have been invaluable.

But a deeper, more consistent habit of standing in the grace of God, too, might also have prepared me for the crisis. In an instant, I forgot that cars and their scrapes really don’t matter a great deal; and that the feet I have been given by him to use are precious, and not for breaking against solid poles. Did he promise me that frustrations would not be part of this life? No. But he does promise me, that in Jesus Christ, everything will be OK, because they are in his hands. A life of more rich encounters with God may have prepared me better to handle the moment.

Michael Jensen is the rector of St Mark’s Anglican church in Sydney and the author of several books.

SEPTEMBER 2015

The (un)popular route 48% 52% In November 2010, 18,192 citizens of 23 nations were asked “Is religion a force for good in the world?” ahead of a debate between former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and atheist Christopher Hitchens.

Saudi Arabia Indonesia India Brazil South Africa United States South Korea Russia Mexico Italy Hungary Argentina Turkey Poland Germany Canada Australia Japan Great Britain Spain France Belgium Sweden

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Believe religion provides common values and ethics

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Italy voted 50/50 Believe religion promotes intolerances, divisions and impedes social progress

Is religion a force for good?

Karl Faase says Christianity should not be silent A few years ago a debate was arranged between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens on whether religion is a force for good in the world. In the lead-up to the debate, the international organisation Ipsos carried out a poll to see what various countries around the world believed about that same question.

They polled over 18,000 people and a majority (58%) believed that “deeply held religious beliefs promote intolerance, exacerbate ethnic divisions and impede social progress in developing and developed nations.” This is a poor outcome but even worse was the response of Western nations to another question, “Is religion a force for good?” In Australia only 32% agreed, in the UK 29% and Sweden an appallingly low 19%.

It would seem that religion has a significant image problem!

If you read local press you will not be surprised by this outcome.

In fact you may believe the situation is actually getting worse.

Recent Fairfax media articles suggested that Christians who were opposed to the redefinition of marriage were “haters” and even “religious Taliban”. These

are strong statements of criticism and could even be defined as vilification. The question is how do we respond? What can we do?

One obvious approach is to attempt to turn the tide by changing the image. We could look for inroads into the marketplace of ideas with a positive picture of the Christian church and attempt to shift people’s thinking. This is not an easy task, given the multiple negative attitudes at present.

Instead we tiptoe through the minefield of community debate, careful not to step on anyone’s toes or say anything that will blow up your carefully constructed position. It’s about staying popular with the “right people” so your voice is accepted as credible and your opinions taken seriously. This may seem wise and thoughtful, and certainly accords with the idea that Christians should be winsome in our community. But the question is whether this is possible or even a biblical attitude?

UK Christian leader and author of Christianity Explored, Rico Tice has recently released a short book, Honest Evangelism. In the first section he looks at the classic verse in 1 Peter (3:15): “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

Tice makes the point that we all seem to think this verse refers to the times when people ask you why you follow Jesus and where does your hope come from … if only they did! But the context of this verse in 1 Peter is referring to a small, persecuted church struggling to survive the torrent of opposition coming its way (1:6, 2:15, 4:12). As Tice writes “He’s [Peter] talking about being prepared to answer people when they say: ‘The way you continued page 17

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OPINION

SEPTEMBER 2015

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Mercy and evangelism join hands

I remember when I came to faith as a young man and being gripped, absolutely caught, by the love of God in Christ. I still am. And I remember being challenged and compelled to understand myself as both a recipient of God’s abundant, overflowing, costly love and a vessel for bearing and sharing that love, in word and action, out into the world. To understand myself as a person saved and being renewed by grace, and to reflect that grace more and more in how I speak, live, love and serve. That challenge and compulsion hasn’t lessened over time. Receiving and knowing God’s love, we are called to be “imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.” (Ephesians 5:1-2) All of which is to say that I have often found the notion of a conflict between evangelism and social concern puzzling. Surely both are necessary and fundamental to our identity in Christ. I find it difficult to see where and how a conflict could arise between loving my neighbour in practical action and advocacy and sharing words of life that point to Jesus. I struggle to understand this supposed conflict in the same way I would be confused by a debate on the topic: “Eating or drinking: Which

should be our priority?” or “Does breathing distract us from the more important work of talking?”

We are captured by God’s love and called to be agents of God’s love in the church, in our communities and in our world.

While there are certainly different gifts within the body of believers, the call to love with everything we are, everything we have, everything we do, and everything we say, is not an optional or divisible task. We cannot choose to love people in word, but not in action. Equally, we can’t be people who love in action without also wanting to share the saving words of God’s forgiveness in Christ. We are created anew in Jesus to be a people who are, and who do, good, seeking opportunities to share the hope that we have in Christ.

In practice, of course, there really is no conflict between social concern and action and sharing the words of life. Far from it. Acts of loving service inevitably point towards the one who is the source of love and justice and lead to

evangelistic conversations. When Christians stand with suffering people and communities, we will inevitably be asked “why”, and have the trust of those with whom we share the gospel.

And, conversely, in order for our telling of the stories of God’s work in Christ to have integrity and power, our words must be embodied in lives and communities of love and grace, just as the Word of God himself took flesh and lived among us. Without this embodiment, our speech can sound cheap or exploitative and we diminish powerful words of the gospel by failing to be obedient to our confession (2 Corinthians 9:13). Let me share two examples of social concern and acts of justice and mercy which are themselves evangelistic – they demonstrate the truth of gospel words of love and forgiveness, grace and healing – and open the way for people to encounter Jesus and heed his claim on their lives.

At a Jubilee Debt Campaign meeting in the year 2000, calling

for the cancellation of unjust and unrepayable poor-country debt, a group of campaigners shared why we were involved in the movement.

A trade unionist, himself agnostic about God, spoke about his concern for poor workers and struggling families. A seasoned campaigner spoke about her hope for a world free from poverty.

When it came to my turn, I said that I shared those concerns and was part of the campaign because Jesus wanted his followers to stand with the poor against injustice and that God had commanded his people to cancel debt if it drove people into poverty and enslavement (Leviticus 25).

I was asked to explain what I meant, so the meeting included a brief and informal Bible study among Christians, atheists, Jews and agnostics, suddenly and unexpectedly appreciating that a concern for justice and love for the poor was at the heart of biblical faith. At that moment, people whose hearts beat with a passion for justice and mercy were made aware of the heart of God, the source of justice and mercy. In subsequent meetings, my trade union friend and I had several conversations about God, the Bible, Jesus and our need for personal faith, forgiveness and renewal to be the people God wanted us to be.

In a small town in the southern plains of Nepal in 2009, a local church hired a hall from the district branch of a Hindu Nationalist political party in order to meet with community groups to discuss and seek solutions to shared concerns – such as unemployment, corruption, discrimination, violence and immorality. Christians are a small minority of the population and have often been viciously persecuted in Nepal, a majority Hindu nation. Indeed, the

The (un) popular route from page 16 live offends me, and your belief seems ridiculous to me.’” These are the questions we will be asked to answer in the present reality.

Another insightful reflection on Christianity, which in part deals with the challenge of being popular, is by New York Times writer Ross Douthat who analyses the decline of the US church in his book, Bad Religion. He looks at different responses to the decline, which was partly created by the sexual revolution,

when a new generation redefined sexual relationships due to the contraceptive pill and distanced itself from the church. One response from Christian leaders was to redefine what the Bible had to say and find ways to incorporate the current sexual freedom into Christian lifestyles. It seemed like a good idea at the time for many but in fact it had the opposite effect – those churches failed.

Today, the greatest pressure on the Christian church in the West is to find ways to incorporate gay

morality into its teaching. It is exactly the same issue faced by the church of the ‘70s repeated again.

Why do we think the result would be any different today compared to the prodigious decline of the churches and denominations that followed that route back in the ‘70s and ‘80s? It is a complete failure of logic as well as biblical scholarship to suggest that changing our values to suit popular sentiment will create a wave of people entering faith or the church. In fact it may be the opposite. When

the Episcopal Church in the USA ordained a practising gay bishop the most telling response was from the atheist and gay writer, Matthew Parris who back in 2003 pointed out how far from the teaching of the Bible this move was. He wrote, “Revelation, not logic, must lie at the core of the church’s message. You cannot pick and choose revealed truth.” He was completely unimpressed by a church that tried the popular route to gain community affection.

The future of the church is not

Ben Thurley is the new head of Micah Challenge

Local democracy training and advocacy in Doti, Nepal.

restoration of the Hindu monarchy and restriction of the rights of Christians and other religious minorities are major planks of the political platform of the Hindu Nationalist Party, which owned the hall.

After hearing the church share their heart for the community and watching them plan ways to serve the community and to protect the poorest and most vulnerable people, the secretary of the local branch spoke to the group, which had been convened by the local church but included Christians and Hindus. “If we had known,” he said, “how much you Christians love Nepal and want to serve the community, our party’s platform would have looked very different.”

That man is not yet a Christian but he still meets every month with church leaders in his community and speaks in support of the rights of churches within his party.

In small and large ways, Christians have always lived and acted to demonstrate the love of God, which we share in our proclamation and preaching.

Through cafes set up as social enterprises in poor communities.

Through refugee support groups, mothers’ clubs, or tutoring help for disadvantaged students.

Through fundraising for charities, action to challenge politicians to increase and improve Australia’s aid program or protect refugees and asylum seekers. These aren’t distractions from evangelism; in fact they create opportunities and demonstrate integrity for our proclamation. They are not lower-priority ways to love. And this unity of speech and action – of living, sharing, acting and speaking – is what really matters: “faith, working through love.”

(Galatians 5:6) Ben Thurley, National Coordinator of Micah Challenge Australia. to fall into line behind popular sentiment, or keep quiet in the hope that everyone will start to love us. I agree with being winsome but that won’t create a tsunami of people coming to faith.

Only the gospel does that! As the apostle Paul experienced and knew to be true, the gospel – Christ crucified – will be “a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles”. (1 Cor 1:23) It may be time we get used to that again.

Karl Faase is CEO of Olive Tree Media

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OPINION

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Tim Costello on hungry witnesses The seasons are turning again in Australia – magnolias blooming in Melbourne and the Sydney flame trees and Brisbane’s jacarandas not far behind.

Two constants that mark the shift from winter to spring for me are football finals and 40Hour Famine. Sadly my team isn’t seeing September action this year, but 40Hour Famine has been an especially memorable one.

This year’s event marked 40 years since the first Famine event, and as I visited schools, churches and community groups taking part I had a real sense of just how alive and relevant the Famine remains.

40Hour Famine has become a rite of passage for generations of young Australians, and the last few years have seen a revival of participation by the not-soyoung. A couple of years ago I was contacted by a 91-year-old, saying how much she had liked doing the Famine over the past three decades, but her children had finally told her

they thought it was time to take a rest.

As a young university student I participated in the very first 40Hour Famine back in 1975. Little did any of us then suspect just how enduring and important this event would become.

Over the years 40Hour Famine has raised tens of millions of dollars to help some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people to overcome poverty, hunger and hopelessness.

Just as important, it has given young people the opportunity to live out their positive values, to develop initiative and leadership, and to find meaning in faithful sacrifice for the love of others. For so many Australians that simple 40 hours of doing without has been a springboard for a life lived in a spirit of giving, a life much more closely aligned to the path lit by the gospel.

Among the many communities getting involved, it’s been a particular inspiration this year to visit some of our Christian schools.

I really want to express my deep gratitude and admiration, and give a special shout-out to the extraordinary work being done by committed teachers and chaplains, supporting young people as they grow to responsibility, buoyed by hope, a spirit of generosity, and a deep belief that they can make a real difference.

I find my faith enlarged and strengthened by these young people’s witness – a witness of deeds, not just words, and a witness that will shine a long light into the future.

SEPTEMBER 2015

Letters Service not status

Don’t worry about calling me at church, we switched all our outreach to social media.

It puzzles me that so many people like to make complicated explanations of the parable of the landlord and workers, Matt 10:1-16. For me, the focus is on our glorious and generous landlord who is always giving and forgiving: making his sun to rise on the just and unjust. He pays what is right, not what we deserve or earn, because we don’t. The second focus is on the mean-spirited workers who are challenged: “Are you envious because I am generous?”

Envy destroys community. The tenth commandment is “Thou shalt not covet.” Envy is one of the seven deadly sins.

Grace Holden, Kyneton Vic

Divorced A few comments on Michael Jensen’s opinion article in the July 15 issue of Eternity. Divorce is no doubt a thorny issue as he recognises. However, Michael’s exegesis of Bible passages was hardly convincing. He tries to limit the application of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 19 by telling us to look at the context – “Jesus was responding to the question of the Pharisees.”

Yet when he looks at Exodus 21:1011 he makes no reference to the context – Moses is talking about a slave girl. Jesus actually refers to the teaching of Moses saying, “Moses permitted you to divorce because your hearts were hard.

But it was not this way from the beginning.” (Matt 19:8) Jesus knew

about Exodus 21! Secondly, Michael is rather loose in his use of the term “abuse”. He writes that “physical abuse is definite biblical grounds for divorce.” Physical abuse is a criminal offence. A spouse who is physically abused can go to the police; within the church they can take the matter to the elders (Matt 18:15f). Would it not be more biblical to do this than telling such a person to get a divorce?

Dennis Muldoon, Georges Hall, NSW

Nanny statism As I read the transcript of Peter Costello’s address to the Centre for Independent Studies (Eternity, July) I was initially pleased and encouraged. I generally agreed with

his point of view until he trotted out that old pejorative the “nanny state”, so beloved of people on the far right of politics. Australia is not a nanny state and never has been.

One of the great fruits of postreformation Christianity is the state which uses its powers and revenues to provide for the needs of the disadvantaged, to provide services which private enterprise can’t provide or doesn’t provide well, and to redistribute wealth and income. I for one will fight against those who are out to dismantle it, and their think-tanks like the CIS. I certainly don’t want to live in a nanny state, Peter, but I do want to live in an uncle state, one which cares about us and looks after us well.

Derek Walter, South Hobart, Tas

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OPINION

SEPTEMBER 2015

19

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Who holds extraordinary beliefs: Christians or atheists?

Richard Shumack on the limits to “scientism”

Anne Swoboda

Australia recently hosted a lecture tour by noted celebrity atheist Peter Boghossian. Peter is part of Richard Dawkins’ speaking team and notorious for his book A Manual for Creating Atheists. I had the privilege of being invited to join him on stage in a public discussion of his ideas. This was challenging because, like Dawkins, Boghossian thinks that Christians are highly defective in the ways they come to their beliefs about God. So defective, in fact, that they can be regarded as having some sort of mental illness.

In defence of this bold claim Boghossian puts forward a central big idea: to get sensible beliefs you need to use reliable ways of knowing. Peter illustrates this using an instance from his life where he needed to work out the size of a broken door in his house.

He suggests that if you want to know this reliably then you shouldn’t ask your dog, shouldn’t use divination and you shouldn’t offer a goat as a sacrifice. Instead, you should use a tape measure.

And fair enough. You won’t be surprised to hear that, in my parttime job as a surveyor, tapes are my go-to device for finding out the size of doors.

The general idea aside, this illustration is not great. It doesn’t recognise the complexities of knowing in real life. So sometimes asking dogs can be a good way to find things out. My dog loves tennis balls, and her sense of smell is so acute that she can find them in closed cupboards or under beds.

She knows the words “find” and “ball” and will do so on command.

“She is the most reliable method I have for knowing where hidden tennis balls are!”

She is the most reliable method I have for knowing where hidden tennis balls are! More to the point, however, I don’t know anyone who actually tries to measure distance using dogs or divination. Similarly, my hunch is that goat sacrifice isn’t about finding out things at all – it’s more likely to be about appeasement. Nevertheless, despite the weakness of the illustration, Boghossian’s key idea is well made.

We should know using reliable methods. Where he goes wrong, however, is to then go on to say that the only reliable way of knowing things is via the scientific method.

In other words the only beliefs that are sensible are ones based on reasoning from objective evidence – ideally in laboratory conditions.

Now I agree that reasoning from objective evidence is a very good way of knowing lots of things. Especially scientific things like door sizes. But just a

little reflection reveals that it is not the only way we know things.

In everyday life we know things through a whole range of different methods. We know some things, like the fact that child abuse is wrong, intuitively. We know some things, like I have a headache, from personal experience. We can know some things, like riding a bike, through just doing it. And we know some things – and probably most things – through other people telling us. So, aside from a few monuments, everything we know about the past is based on eyewitness testimony. Similarly, most of what we know of our friends is from their personal testimonies. In fact, a few experts aside, pretty much all we know about science comes from what our teachers tell us.

The upshot of this is that reasoning from objective evidence is well and good. But it really

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20/08/2015 2:41 pm

doesn’t give us enough knowledge about so many important things in life like other people, morality, experiences and history. We know these things in so many other ways that are also well and good, ordinary and necessary.

Here’s an example. An ancestor of mine was one of the earliest European settlers in the Canberra area. Near the end of his life he produced an oral history of those early years. It’s a great read, full of stories about bushrangers, cricket, family and friendships with, and injustices suffered by, the local Aborigines. Now, not one single thing in this book can be proven scientifically. But it is still completely reasonable for me to say that I know my family history, and that the only way I can know it is through this sort of eyewitness testimony.

In arguing for the sole reliability of scientific knowledge, Boghossian

is wrongly arguing for a position that he holds in common with most of the so-called New Atheists.

Philosophers call this “scientism” and almost to a person they recognise that it is a silly position to hold. Atheist philosopher Massimo Pigliucci says that “what really characterises the New Atheism, as distinct from previous versions of atheism, is its marked turn toward scientism … I maintain – as a scientist and philosopher – that such a move has been a bad one for public atheism, [because] scientism is philosophically unsound.” Indeed it is really only the militant New Atheists who like to argue for it. It is easy to see why they try though.

Since the existence of God or the supernatural can’t be conclusively proven by the scientific method, people who follow “scientism” can then argue that belief in such things is baseless and probably delusional.

But here there’s a great irony.

Scientism is revealed to be an extraordinary and unsustainable way of thinking about knowledge, whereas Christian belief is based on all the ordinary ways of knowing. Christians sensibly ground so many of their ethical and existential beliefs in intuition.

Christians put their faith in Jesus in large part based on the eyewitness testimony to the historical events of his life, death and resurrection. Christians know God personally through the presence of the Holy Spirit and they experience his power through miracles like healing and visions.

Of course, Christian belief in these things is extraordinary. But it is extraordinary because God is extraordinary. The way we come to these beliefs is remarkably ordinary, and it’s on account of that “ordinariness” that it is reliable.

Richard is a part-time Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. He is also Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Other Faiths at Melbourne School of Theology, and part of the Understanding and Answering Islam team for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

For more print, video and audio material on the intersection of Christianity with contemporary life, go to publicchristianity.org

E

OPINION

20

SEPTEMBER 2015

Yes, we are all individuals, thank God

Greg Clarke on why you matter

wombatzaa

In politics, it is considered a sign of disaster for any given leader when he or she “no longer has a narrative.” At that point, their individual decisions look shallow and their motives start to seem selfish. When blighted MPs can no longer explain the larger story that shapes the choices they are making on our behalf, they are dead in the water. Why? Author Larry Siedentop would say it is because human behaviour is always the consequence of the interaction, consciously or unconsciously, between beliefs and social institutions. In his 2014 book, Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism, Siedentop endeavours to bring to the surface the ideas behind the West that have sunk out of view.

And they are precisely the key ideas which inform the narrative of our social lives that we now seem to be struggling to tell.

Why do we care so much about getting the coffee we ordered?

Among the most important of these ideas, Siedentop argues, is the notion that individuals matter. We are so used to this concept that it is hard for us to imagine a world in which it isn’t true. We are so used to our preferences being taken into consideration, that if they aren’t we are immediately outraged.

“I ordered a double shot decaf skim cappuccino,” we cry, “not this full-fat weak flat white garbage.

I am an individual; I have rights;

bring me the coffee I ordered!”

More seriously, our legislation and social customs instinctively consider equality of individuals to be basic. Siedentop tells us that this is thanks to the apostle Paul, who taught that “the identity of individuals is no longer exhausted by the social roles they happen to occupy” (p.62). Or, in Paul’s words, “there is no neither slave nor free … for you are all one in Christ.”

(Galatians 3:28) Everyone has

equal value, because of the primacy of Christ; our “secondariness” actually makes each of us more important than we would have been in the ancient world of inherited social status, innate inferiority theories and set roles.

That’s why you care about getting the cappuccino you ordered.

Siedentop also argues that it wasn’t the European Enlightenment that brought liberty to downtrodden human beings, as they escaped oppressive religious bonds. On the contrary, it was properly construed Christian thinking about the individual that gradually reduced human enslavement of many kinds across twelve centuries or so throughout the Middle Ages. The Modern age merely built on that Christian foundation. Freedom emerged from the difficult task of applying the gospel in practical ways to the stubborn beliefs and calcified institutions that we had constructed for ourselves from ancient times.

This means that the cappucinoorderer needs to know that his very highly developed sense of selfworth actually owes a great deal to the apostle Paul’s radical inversion of ancient values, following his encounter with the loving Christ.

Try explaining that to him across the cafe counter!

But it doesn’t take a genius to see that we have taken this

notion of the individual way too far. We have placed it on an unreachable pedestal, insisting that we get our cappuccino regardless of the consequences on those other, equally valuable, individuals who make up family, friends, neighbours and strangers.

We see the damage that this hyper-individualism has done in everything from traffic congestion (mainly caused, I understand, by one-occupant vehicles) to credit card use (I have to have it now, to keep up with everyone else) to relationship contracts (I promise to love you until you no longer satisfy my needs).

A properly Christian understanding of individualism will always balance individual value and conscience with social needs and responsibilities. We have to use our hard-won liberty well, not merely on our own preferences and interests but also on pursuing the common good, on the actions and attitudes that will build something greater together.

When each of us knows we are individually loved by God, we are free to love our neighbour unselfishly. That kind of individualism sees us playing a part in the larger narrative of our lives – not just our own inner story but the unfolding social narrative of the coming of the kingdom of God. Greg Clarke is CEO of Bible Society Australia.

Bible Stat 9,300 women graduated from Bible-based literacy classes across Pakistan in 2014.

Books

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ANNE LIM John Dickson has hailed the brand new NIV Zondervan Study Bible, with digital access and new notes and articles by a team headed by Don Carson, as possibly “the most important single volume in a generation of Christian publishing” (in English).

“God bless Carson and his mighty team of experts!” said the co-founder of the Centre for Public Christianity.

Another prominent Christian who was impressed by his advance copy was Reverend

Dr Brian Rosner, principal of Ridley College in Melbourne, who contributed an article, “Justice” to the new edition.

Dr Rosner believes the new Bible is a great resource for personal Bible study because it helps the reader appreciate the Bible in three dimensions – historical, literary and theological.

“The first thing that strikes you is its beautiful appearance,” he said.

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Dr Rosner identified three reasons why people find reading the Bible a daunting prospect. The first is historical distance.

“What this does very nicely is help ‘mind the gap’ to understand historical information about terms and social conditions and the storyline of the Bible,” he said.

“The second dimension that’s very important and sometimes neglected is its literary side. This

Bible does very well on that score as well, so it’s sensitive to reading the Bible as poetry, as prophecy and as narrative; all genres of the Bible are treated very well.”

Dr Rosner believes this new Study Bible provides the basic knowledge to enable the prophecies of the Bible to engage readers who are not used to reading such genres.

“Sometimes I tell students to ‘mind the gap’ but I also tell them to ‘smell the roses’. Slow down and appreciate the figures of speech, the metaphors, the irony and all those literary features that make the Bible

such an engaging read when done well.”

The third dimension of reading the Bible as biblical theology is done exceptionally well, he believes.

“So there are three dimensions – history, literary and theology – and this helps you to mind the gap and read it responsibly as a historian would, read it sensitively as a literary scholar would, and it also helps you to join the dots as it shows connections across the Bible and to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

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LORIEN ATWOOD

A new colouring book for adults is here, but this one comes with a twist. All the designs in Meditations by Lorien Atwood are based on Scripture verses.

“I loved the idea of colouring in because it’s relaxing and meditative, but I wasn’t getting much out of colouring in ‘motivational’, feel-good slogans,” says Atwood.

“When a friend suggested I take what I’d been doing in my devotional journal for years and add colouring designs around the edge, I discovered a whole new way to enjoy meditating on Scripture.”

Lorien began it after friends and friends of friends begged to get copies of one of her designs, based on a verse from Isaiah. The group has grown from 20 members to over 4000 in about two months.

“It’s about encouraging people to find their own ways to worship God with art and Scripture,” explains Lorien.

Early on, members of the group began asking for Lorien to publish a book of her designs and their hopes will be realised on October 1 when Meditations will be published, featuring 18 original, handdrawn designs.

“Of course I hope people will love them, but what I really want is for people to interact with Scripture and benefit from the truth in the words,” says Atwood.

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Captains of the Soul In 1942 the Reverend Hugh Cunningham was serving as a chaplain with the elements of the Australian Army captured with the fall of Singapore to the Japanese. He went into captivity with the rest of that unhappy band finding his way to imprisonment on the notorious Burma Railway.

There he was treated extremely badly by the guards until one of them gained an inkling into his special status among the men and gave him an arm band with green Japanese characters on it. It was only after the war that Hugh Cunningham found out that they said, “Captain of the souls of men”. With this anecdote Dr Gladwin begins his history of Australian Army Chaplaincy which he entitles in the light of this story Captains of the Soul.

He sums up the story of Hugh Cunningham this way, “As I will attempt to show, Cunningham personified a model of practical service and religious and moral leadership that had been forged by the Australian Army Chaplains’ Department during the Great War, and by the generation of chaplains before them in South Africa.” So he summarises in his typically clear, winsome and succinct style his aim in writing a history of the Royal Australian Army Chaplains’ Department. The book was commissioned and published to coincide with the formal centenary of the RAAChD on the 1st of December 2013. As such it is part of the Army History Unit’s goal of having an official history of every corps in the Army. Captains of the Soul goes well beyond simply an official history to be a very accessible account of the courage and commitment of Australian clergy who left their parishes to bring the presence of God to men and women who had taken up the challenge of serving their country and as a result often faced, death, injury, privation, disease and all

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Review by Geoff Webb the other horrors attendant on armed conflict.

Captains of the Soul grew out of the need for the story of Australian Army Chaplaincy to be told. Army Chaplaincy was one of the few Army Corps that had not yet been covered in an official history. In addition Army Chaplaincy had only been covered in part by a few scholars and by comparison with other Army chaplaincies around the world Australian chaplaincy had received relatively scant attention. Dr Gladwin’s approach has been to provide a complete but not unnecessarily detailed history of Australian chaplaincy from its historical antecedents up until the time of writing. Captains of the Soul is a very accessible and readable account of the story of chaplains’ ministry to soldiers as well as an acutely realised account of the historical development of the Department within the Army.

Dr Gladwin’s aim was to produce a readable account of a vital but as he puts it “undeservedly obscure” ministry. He has drawn as much as possible on the reminiscences of chaplains to illustrate and enliven his account of the role of the Padre (the common title used both by officers and men of chaplains).

A title that captures that the chaplain’s role is both unique and valued as Padre is generally used instead of sir as a form of address.

Dr Gladwin has succeeded in his aim as the result is a warm but not uncritical account and appraisal of an often overlooked ministry of the church. The book tells how Padres have pioneered both ecumenical and interfaith ministry and established themselves as a vital part of the life of the Australian Army. This tradition of service for God and humanity continues to this day and Captains of the Soul is a worthy testament to this vital ministry of God’s people.

The original version of this review was first published on the Victorian and Tasmanian EFAC website.

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Time Poor Soul Rich

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“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36) This question from Jesus is the subject of Anne Winckel’s book Time Poor, Soul Rich. There are many books around that deal with setting life goals, fine-tuning priorities, managing your time, and deciding what are the most important things for you to be doing. Winckel is more focussed on those women who are doing what they feel is right or necessary but want to do so without losing the joy and vibrancy of life. Her goal is to provide these women with simple and quick strategies for re-engaging with areas of life that bring richness to our souls, without requiring radical changes in lifestyle. The first section (Part A) of this book engages with aspects of our inner or outer lives, such as our relationships, our engagement with the world, our knowledge and experience of our emotions and passions. Winckel offers stories and tips to inspire, equip and motivate women to live more richly in those areas. The second section (Part B) addresses obstacles to soul enrichment such as personality traits that sabotage our efforts and negative beliefs and experiences that hold women back.

We read this book together as a couple because, although it is written for women, men also struggle from being time-poor and need to understand how to work with this problem in concert with the women in their lives. Our feeling was that men often struggle differently with timepoverty, not having perhaps the same pressure to “have it all” as women do, but also having less ability to put into practice the kind of strategies that Winckel gives us. However, for men who read Time Poor, Soul Rich it is a reminder of the many ways that we can support the women in our lives as they seek to enrich their souls, as well as finding ways that we can do the same for ourselves.

This is a very balanced and thoughtful book, and very practical. It would be useful for “dipping into” from time to time to help stay on track. The stories that Winckel provides are drawn from the experiences of a variety of women, beyond just the “busy professionals” who are the key audience for her writing. In terms of spiritual matters, Time Poor, Soul Rich is a bridge between general spirituality and specifically Christian approaches to these issues. It offers wisdom for people regardless of their personal beliefs while showcasing the positive benefits of Christian faith and involvement in nurturing church communities. We encourage you to read it – whether or not you have the time.

The original version of this review was first published on the Victorian and Tasmanian EFAC website.

Hardcover

Generously

18.

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Jonathan Edwards and the Church

by Rhys Bezzant

Reviewed by Karl Grice

Arriving at Figtree Anglican Church in the late 1980s, Rod Irvine found himself responsible for completing a major building project and then raising money to increase the church staff team. This book contains the lessons he learnt during the Figtree years and wisdom distilled from other books on church leadership and finance. Irvine writes, “It is now my belief that rather than being an uncertain, fretful, anxious endeavour, raising money for God’s work should be a positive exciting growth in faith.” His book is intended to fast-track the reader on the same journey towards confidence in church fund-raising.

Irvine sets forth key principles and unpacks them with specific, practical advice. One principle is that “money follows a credible vision”. Rod explains that it must be a God-honouring project addressing a genuine need. The vision must be in accordance with Scripture and Irvine encourages spending a period of time praying about the project before getting too excited and foisting an idea upon the church. Once you have a clear vision and a core team ready to support the project, the next step is to cast this vision to the whole church. Rod also gives concrete examples of how to communicate the vision through multiple channels in the church.

A recurring theme is that church fund-raising is a corollary of faith-building. In learning to give generously, we grow in our faith. As we grow in our faith we will become more generous. The invitation to give generously is an invitation to live out the reality that our wealth comes from God and to demonstrate that our true hope and treasure is with God in the age to come: “It would be easy for the rich (and I believe that includes most Australians) to get an unjustified sense of our own importance and forget it is God who provides our wealth… We can enjoy some of our riches as we are citizens of this world and should thank God for them. However, far more importantly, we also look forward to our citizenship of the age to come, and we should use our wealth now to store up spiritual blessings for the future.”

Jesus provides the ultimate example of giving generously – and sacrificially. In this regard, Irvine quotes Ray Galea: “There is no one richer than the owner of the universe. There is no one poorer than a man stripped naked on a cross.”

By placing church fund-raising in this larger context, Irvine shows that generosity is about something much more profound than money. Generous giving of money is purposeful – and a joyful, exciting faithbuilding experience.

Irvine’s examples focus on fund-raising for the ministry of the local church congregation, yet the principles can be applied to other forms of Christian ministry. Each chapter concludes with clear summary points and great discussion questions, ideal for working through with a fund-raising committee. This book is a great new resource for Australian churches.

9780199890309 $59.99 Paperback Reviewed by Chris Porter Jonathan Edwards wrote and preached on an exceedingly wide variety of theological subjects, yet many scholars declare that he did not have any independent ecclesiology. In Jonathan Edwards and the Church Rhys Bezzant demonstrates that Edwards actually held a robust ecclesiology that took into account both social and theological drivers. Bezzant sets out to expound Edwards on his oft-repeated model of the church as a “focused domain where God’s promises, presence and purpose are to be discovered.” In doing so he opines that Edwards’ ecclesiology was ultimately “a revivalist ecclesiology within a traditional ecclesiology of nurture and institutional order.”

Bezzant traces Edwards’ reflections from his lessconventional conversion narrative through his early life, developing theology and burgeoning ministry – the period heavily influenced by the Great Awakening – and then into his mature ecclesial ministry and global focus. These chapters mine the depths of Edwards’ own writings as well as the copious secondary literature.

Bezzant helpfully shows how wider theological and social concerns impacted upon the fledgling colonies and does not seek to divorce Edwards from his historical milieu. This dual focus assists in understanding Edwards’ ecclesiology as well as how it has shaped evangelical patterns in the following generations. Although there is little room for sustained modern theological reflection and application, the passion for the church of Bezzant and Edwards shines through and any astute reader will be able to draw concrete links and applications with ease. Brief observations gleam from the text such as when Bezzant observes “the church is an expression not just of pastoral or apocalyptic functions but of prophetic aspirations too.”

Bezzant draws the themes of the book together to highlight the weekly ecclesiological routine of Northampton and the broader New England church. He focuses upon worship, discipline and polity and assists the reader in seeing how Edwards’ ecclesiological vision played out at a broader scale - even if imperfectly. Finally Bezzant reflects upon the ecclesiological tensions and pressures present within Edwards’ ministry and concludes that his ecclesiology ‘highlights the orderly processes but not the ordinary origins of the church’s life.’ This organising theme of “orderly but not ordinary” plays out throughout the book and helps to strike a balance between the extremes of each theme.

While Jonathan Edwards and the Church is aimed at an academic audience, the book will appeal to academics, clergy and intent readers of all stripes.

The original version of this review was first published on the Victorian and Tasmanian EFAC website.

Daily Light Devotions

Attributes of God

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