Eternity - December 2017 - Issue 87

at your FREE church or bookshop

E

W: eternitynews.com.au F: eternitynews T: @eternitynews

87

Number 87, December 2017 ISSN 1837-8447

Brought to you by the Bible Society

How to be a

PUBLIC CHRISTIAN Speaking to a new Australia From Gangster to Preacher

The 12 books of Christmas

Are you generous (really)?

E

NEWS

2

Obadiah Slope HOLY SMOKE: Here’s a tip for church planters in “hard-to-reach” suburbs – introduce a cigarette break half way through. That’s helped All Hallows, Bow, an Anglican church surrounded by council estates in London. They are one of five churches in the East End that have been revived (multiplying their attenders by ten) by the Holy Trinity Brompton network. “For me, it was pragmatic,” All Hallows’ minister Cris Rogers explained to Premier Christianity magazine. “If you have a time of worship and notices, then by the time you get halfway through the talk, people walk out and don’t come back in because they’re having a cigarette outside. I didn’t think it was particularly interesting until The Times newspaper rang up and said, ‘We’ve heard you grew your church by putting in a cigarette break!’”

BIBLE MAN: An “elderly male” witness at the scene of the Texas church massacre: “The Bible tells us that we overcome evil with good.

The Romans 12 passage begins ‘Do not repay anyone evil for evil … do not take revenge …’”

SMELLY: The most curious memorial to Martin Luther, celebrating the posting of his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church 500 years ago last month was a pile of pig dung. Luther often talked of dung and other earthy images in his writings. He compares his rival Erasmus’s teachings to “dung on a gold silver tray” in his classic The Bondage of the Will. But he also wished Erasmus “grace and peace in Christ.”

DECEMBER 2017

Euthanasia on its way JOHN SANDEMAN In an Australian first, the Victorian Parliament has passed voluntary euthanasia laws.

The vote in the state’s Upper House was 22-18, after a marathon session to debate amendments.

The laws are expected to come into force in 2019. The bill needs to return to the lower house to accept some amendments – but this is unlikely to be more than a formality.

Lyle Shelton, head of the Australian Christian Lobby, said the move “must not spread to other states.”

“Today is the day a Parliament voted not to improve palliative care but to allow killing as a form of medical treatment,” Shelton wrote on Twitter moments after the announcement was made.

“What poisons people end up taking and what happens if they are left gagging alone on the floor at home with complications is unknown. But yeah, Go Gently.”

ABC’s The Drum tweeted a comment by journalist Caroline Overington: “My concern is, do we all believe every patient’s family is going to do the right thing? Do we all believe every nursing home + staff in it can be relied upon?”

“The passing of assisted dying legislation in Victoria’s Upper House is certainly a historic day, but not one I can celebrate,” Philip Freier, the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, said in a statement to Eternity. “For Christians and

others who regard human life as having absolute value, this is a dangerous and disturbing piece of legislation, though I acknowledge its advocates have the highest motives. It represents a momentous social shift, with many doctors concerned about what it means for their profession and their duty to preserve life.

“I hope and trust that the Act will be accompanied by a greater emphasis on palliative care, and much improved funding.”

Supporters of euthanasia had hailed the bill as the most restrictive in the world, but even tighter regulations were added to get the bill through the Upper House. They include halving the timeframe for terminally ill patients to access euthanasia

from 12 months to live to six months to live.

There will be exemptions for sufferers of conditions such as motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis, who will still have a year to request to end their lives.

The Victorian criterion for patients to access euthanasia is “intolerable pain”, which is narrower than the European schemes that include with “mental suffering”. Opponents of euthanasia have pointed to the Belgian scheme as an example of a scheme being broadened. First passed in 2002, it was expanded in 2014 to allow “competent minors” to request euthanasia.

David Cook, the former Moderator-General (national leader) of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, recently drew a parallel between the introduction of euthanasia and the legalisation of abortion.

“When abortion law reform was introduced through Australian State Parliaments in the 1970s, it was done so, ‘under strict medical circumstances,’ ” he said.

“Most of us believed this was a necessary reform and that probably there were valid grounds for one or two thousand abortions each year in Australia. That figure has now grown to 180,000 to 200,000 abortions each year!

“I am now hearing the same argument for the proposed introduction of legislation allowing the termination of adult life, ‘under strict medical circumstances.’ ”

News 2-3 In Depth 5-6 Charity 7-13 Bible Society 14 Opinion 15-20

Quotable

Lucy Gichuhi on the Berocca Principle “It reminds me that we are all created in the image of God but with unique gifts, diff erences and talents.”

Page 19

Companions in your questions At Whitley, we are a learning community committed to helping you understand and articulate faith and values in ways that connect with the needs of our world. Our faculty and staff will assist you in finding your pathway of growth, learning and practical engagement.

Whitley College is a College of the University of Divinity CRICOS 01037A

Enrol now for 2018

03 9340 8100 whitley.edu.au WHT 149 – 09/17

P Let Moore College show you how God’s word lights our path, so you can share His light with others.

Apply now at:

moore.edu.au/apply

NEWS

DECEMBER 2017

A real gift JOHN SANDEMAN More than 200,000 copies of The Really Good News of Christmas giveaway booklet offered by Bible Society to churches and individuals, have been ordered as Eternity goes to press, and the number is rising.

Most Aussie kids think Christmas is all about holidays and “stuff.” But Christmas is better than that. The Really Good News of Christmas is an eye-catching little book on the true message of Jesus’ birth. This colourful 28-page book features simple text and bright illustrations aimed at children aged five to seven. However, its narrative is suitable for all children and adults as well.

Measuring just 140mm wide by 148mm high, it’s compact enough for hands of all sizes. This booklet has been offered free to churches and individuals to give away. An animated version of the story – which is even more captivating than the booklet – can be watched at biblesociety.org.au/reallygood.

Participating churches will receive a link to download the video and other resources.

The church offer has closed with 1350 churches taking part. But individuals can still order up to three copies at biblesociety.org.au/ reallygood

3

Will churches join child abuse redress scheme?

Campuses combine JOHN SANDEMAN

TESS HOLGATE Churches and institutions are being called upon to join the Federal Government’s national scheme to financially compensate victims of child sexual abuse.

In early 2015, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended the establishment of the national redress scheme.

Churches were encouraged to come up with a response to the proposed national redress scheme.

The scheme is opt-in, meaning that any state, institution or church that does not want to sign up to compensate victims with payments of up to $150,000, will not be obliged to do so. The scheme also includes the provision of access to counselling and psychological services and a direct personal response from each participating institution responsible for the abuse, if requested by the survivor.

For the scheme to provide compensation to the majority of survivors (estimated to be about 60,000 people), state governments, institutions and churches will need to sign on to it. Legislation to establish the scheme was tabled in late October. If it passes, survivors will be allowed to apply for compensation from July 1, 2018.

As Eternity understands it, only one denomination has

E

publicly committed to joining the scheme. The Catholic Church has, since the beginning of the Royal Commission in 2013, said that it would join a national scheme.

In a press release on October 26, Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council (which coordinates the Catholic Church’s response to the Royal Commission) said, “The Catholic Church has said from the very start of the discussions around redress that it supports and will be part of a national redress scheme as recommended by the Royal Commission. In other words, it’s over to the states.”

In September, the Anglican Church of Australia voted to establish an independent company to handle complaints and compensation for victims of child sexual abuse, which will enable

them to join the national redress scheme in the future. However, Barney Zwartz, communications adviser for the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, said, “no decision has been made” and the church was “waiting for more details.” He said the church was “preparing to join,” but it hadn’t yet been approved.

All other major denominations – Presbyterian, Baptist, Salvation Army, Uniting, Australian Christian Churches, Lutheran, and Seventh Day Adventist – are still considering the scheme.

They applaud the development of the scheme, and support it “in principle,” but all indicated that they were waiting for further information about which states would opt in, as well as more detailed financial information about administrative costs of the scheme.

Two prominent Melbourne Bible Colleges will share the same campus from this month.

Eastern College of Australia will relocate to the Melbourne School of Theology (MST) site in Wantirna in eastern Melbourne.

Eastern College was formerly known as Tabor College (Victoria) and has a wide range of courses in their schools of Education, Arts and Social Sciences as well as Theology.

MST began life as the Melbourne Bible Institute and retains the purpose set out by its founder, C.H. Nash: “The MBI stands foursquare for the wholehearted acceptance of the entire sacred volume of the Old and New Testaments as from God. This is God’s book for the plain man, and to such he will interpret its full meaning progressively by his Holy Spirit. Herein, too, is provided a full equipment for everyone who would serve Jesus as Lord.”

The combined student population at Wantirna will be more than 600. While each college has a distinct profile, actuaries employed to do “compatibility research” found strikingly similar “DNA” in their data.

A L P H AC R U C I S C O L L E G E 7 0

Y E A R S

Apply now to secure your spot for 2018

DECEMBER 2017

E

5

IN DEPTH

E

From street gangster to justice warrior

+

Tess Holgate on books of Christmas

British Baptist minister and social justice leader David Shosanya speaks at The Justice Conference in Melbourne in October.

ANNE LIM When David Shosanya was a child, he overheard a false prophet tell his mother: “David will never be a Christian.”

The son of poor Nigerian parents in East London, he decided then and there that if his end was not with God, he might as well make the most of it.

“I decided that if I was going to go to hell, I was going to arrive in fanfare. I wasn’t just going to slip in, inconspicuous – it wasn’t my style,” he told Eternity during a recent visit to Melbourne.

So at age 13, Shosanya joined a violent street gang and quickly rose through the ranks.

“And then one day we actually physically assaulted someone quite badly,” he confesses.

“I had to get taken home in a

friend’s car with the police and all sorts of things, and I just said to myself, ‘This is silly – I’m going to church every week, I know what this life is supposed to be like. I come from a jolly good home – it might be poor, but it’s a good home.

And I’m not happy in what I’m doing.’ And I just began to question everything.”

One Sunday in church he was touched by the testimony of a man who knew his violent world.

“He was a Rastafarian, he was about to kill his father, and he met a Christian outside the shop that was closed where he was going to buy the machete. And this man told him about Christ. That was during the week and on Sunday he was in church. And I heard his testimony.”

But Shosanya did not respond to the gospel until he heard this

man, as a pastor, preaching at a baptismal service at his church.

“The Bible says in Acts ‘each one heard them speak in their own tongue,’ and it was the first time I heard the gospel in my tongue, by a man from the streets – and that night I gave my life to Christ, 3rd of October 1983.”

That night Shosanya cried for all the poverty, embarrassment and shame he had experienced growing up, but within weeks of this life-transforming experience the former gangster was sharing the gospel in prisons.

Inspired by Eugene Rivers’ TenPoint Coalition in the US, which was a response to gun and knife crime on the streets, Shosanya and his friend, Les Isaac, teamed up with the London Metropolitan Police to train a team of Street Pastors to “do something about

the increasing number of gun and knife crimes” blamed on the crack cocaine epidemic.

Shosanya and Isaac toured through Manchester, Birmingham and London, talking in churches about guns on the street and encouraging them to become more aware of the “impending problem of gun and knife crime.”

One of the locations they gave their talk was the church attended

by Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare, two teenage girls who were killed in a gang-related drive-by shooting in Birmingham as they were leaving a New Year party in 2003.

“It was almost a kind of prophetic act, and since then we’ve been involved in advising the police, been involved with the Home Secretary, the Prime Minister, various agencies and

encouraging them to reconfigure policing tactics and think about interventions around gun and knife crime but involve the community, particularly the church, because what we find is that a lot of young people who are in gangs still go to church,” he says.

Shosanya, a regional minister for the London Baptist Association, recalls that when he was speaking to a congregation of 3000 young people, God told him to ask young men who were “recruiting gang members to come forward for an altar call so we could pray for them.”

Sixteen young men came forward. One of them was in the worship band.

“There’s almost like a syncretistic belief that, on the one hand, you can be in church; continued page 6

E

IN DEPTH

6

Warrior

from page 5 on the other hand, you got to do what you go to do to survive, so we’re just trying to wrestle with that and encourage people to come to church and realise we have an antidote to some of the challenges young people are facing.”

Patrolling the streets between 10pm and 4am, Street Pastors are “just people in the pews who want to offer care and concern” who have been trained in issues such as drug awareness, how to get to know your community, mental health, young people and statutory agencies.

“It’s interesting because of the 15,000 street pastors we have in the UK, 500 are black. Most of them are white, and most of the work that is undertaken now is with young people in club scenarios and in university spaces.

We have a few specialist areas, who are involved in gun and knife intervention strategies, and also partnerships with organisations, but the greatest users of our service are white British university students, and then you have this hard core of African, Caribbean, Latin American, Asian communities where street pastors are involved.

“We have intervention for people who are in altercations because they’re drunk. If women have drunk too much and they can’t walk in their heels, we give them flip-flops; people get an opportunity to have a drink of water; some people have lost parts of their clothes so we wrap them in a blanket to keep them warm.

Some people call their parents to come and pick them up so that they can carry them home because they are completely out of their head. There have been incidences of where women are about to be raped and street pastors have turned up.”

Shosanya believes the initiative has grown so much – having spread to California, Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, as well as Australia – because people in church want to demonstrate Christ’s love and give something back to the nation.

It has also had a knock-on ecumenical effect by allowing churches in an area to work together without being concerned about doctrinal or liturgical differences.

“I think what I missed out on as a youngster continues to motivate me.

So, for example, if I go to a meeting with the Prime Minister or with the Home Secretary, I go there seeking to represent me – because I realise that I wasn’t represented in the space that I was in,” he says.

DECEMBER 2017

The 12 books of Christmas TESS HOLGATE Christmas is just around the corner and we know that buying presents can be stressful, so here are some gift ideas we think your friends and family might enjoy.

Plus, we’re giving you the chance to win every item on this list. Enter at Facebook.com/eternitynews MY MERRY CHRISTMAS BY SALLY LLOYDJONES Why do we put up twinkly lights at Christmas time? Why are there angels? What about stars on top of Christmas trees? In this illustrated kids’ book, popular author Sally Lloyd-Jones helps children relate favourite Yuletide symbols to the true story of Christmas: the night Jesus was born.

READ SCRIPTURE: ILLUSTRATED SUMMARIES OF BIBLICAL BOOKS

BY THE BIBLE PROJECT From the creators of The Bible Project – a team of illustrators and theologians who produce shortform, fully animated videos to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere – comes a beautifully presented book with 66 one-page illustrated summaries of the books of the Bible. It’s a super-cool, go-to resource to help you know just what is in each book of the Bible. As a bonus, it will look pretty awesome on your coffee table.

UNSHAKEABLE BY CHRISTINE CAINE Ever lost track of what God is doing in your life?

Ever got bogged down in the daily grind? Have you forgotten who God made you to be? God is bigger than fear or shame or that voice in your head that whispers that you are not enough, too broken, or too flawed. This year-long devotional by popular author Christine Caine will get your faith back on track.

BE THE GIFT: LET YOUR BROKENNESS BE TURNED INTO ABUNDANCE BY ANN VOSKAMP It turns out that sometimes the moments when you feel the most

broken are the moments God calls you to give yourself to others.

This book will challenge and encourage you to listen to God and look for opportunities to be his gift to others.

MR ETERNITY: THE STORY OF ARTHUR STACE

BY ROY WILLIAMS AND ELIZABETH MEYERS Almost every day for 35 years, Arthur Stace spent hours writing a single word – Eternity – on and around the streets of Sydney. Sometimes his mission took him much further afield, to country New South Wales and even to Melbourne. Stace’s identity was a mystery for more than two decades.

Then, after his “unmasking” in 1956, he became a reluctant folk hero. By the time he died, in 1967, his was a household name and the word Eternity was ingrained in the soul of Sydney. It still is.

OUR MOB, GOD’S STORY: ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ARTISTS SHARE THEIR FAITH BY BIBLE SOCIETY AUSTRALIA Our Mob, God’s Story takes you on a biblical journey through the eyes of the nation’s first Australians. It features more than 115 works in an exciting variety of styles and stories by more than 65 established and emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

These artists are well known and unknown, from communities, towns and cities across Australia, from Tasmania to the Tiwi Islands, from Ceduna to Cairns, from Perth to Wongthaggi. They share their faith in more than 100 paintings inspired by Bible verses and stories, many well loved, others not so well known, from Creation to the Crucifixion.

ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING: FINDING CALM IN A CHAOTIC WORLD BY MAX LUCADO “Don’t be anxious, it’s in the Bible.”

Yah-huh. Sure. I mean, yes, it is in the Bible, but what does the

Apostle Paul really mean when he says, “don’t be anxious” in Philippians 4:6-7?

This new book by popular writer Max Lucado addresses this very issue.

Lucado says, “The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. It’s the life of perpetual anxiety that Paul wants to address.

“With his help you will learn to face the calamities of life. You’ll learn how to talk yourself off the ledge. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will learn to view bad news through the lens of sovereignty; to discern the lies of Satan and tell yourself the truth.

You will manifest a gentleness that is evident to others. Anxiety comes with life. But it doesn’t have to dominate your life.”

THE CASE FOR CHRIST (DVD) Journalist Lee Strobel was horrified when his wife became a Christian.

Her new-found faith in Christ went against everything Lee believed – or didn’t believe – as an avowed atheist.

Lee was determined to use his journalistic and legal training to prove that the claims of her new faith were false, and save his crumbling marriage. This movie is based on the best-selling book that resulted from his quest.

MERE CHRISTIANITY (65TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) BY C.S. LEWIS One of the most popular and beloved introductions to the Christian faith ever written, this book brings together C.S. Lewis’s legendary radio broadcasts during the war years, in which he set out simply to “explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.”

Sixty-five years after its first publication, this anniversary edition makes a beautiful addition to any bookshelf.

2017 HILLSONG CHRISTMAS: THE PEACE PROJECT (CD) So it’s not technically a book, but we think it would be a pretty perfect soundtrack to decorating the Christmas tree. Go on, give Mariah Carey’s Christmas album a rest and give this one a hearing.

Includes fresh arrangements of five of the most beloved Christmas classics including Hark, O Holy Night and Joy to the World along with seven new, vibrant tracks such as Prince of Heaven, Seasons and Peace Upon the Earth.

OWN THE MOMENT BY CARL LENTZ Carl Lentz is the lead pastor of the first United States branch of global megachurch Hillsong, and doesn’t really look like it. He is a tattooed thirty-something who wears a motorcycle jacket, listens to hip-hop music, and references The Walking Dead and Black Lives Matter in his sermons.

In the book he shares the unlikely and inspiring story of how he went from being an average teenager who couldn’t care less about church to leading one of the country’s fastest-growing congregations.

He addresses questions such as: How do you maintain your values – and pass them on to your children – in a society that worships money, sex and fame?

How do you embrace your flaws in this Instagram era that exalts the appearance of perfection?

How do you forget about “living the dream” and learn to embrace the beauty of your reality?

THE BOOK OF AMAZING STORIES

BY ROBERT PETTERSON Throughout history, regular everyday Christians such as you and me have made a difference in the lives of others.

Turns out that you don’t need to be extraordinary to love Jesus and love others.

Please contact Koorong on (02) 98574477 or koorong.com for details.

GIVE CONFIDENTLY, GIVE GENEROUSLY! When an organisation has gone above and beyond the essentials in order to demonstrate their accountability and integrity, you can be more confident that your support for them will be used wisely.

The CMA Standards Council is a ministry seeking to help build Faith and Trust in Christian churches, schools, missions and other charities.

• For information on accrediting your ministry, visit www.cmasc.net.au • For your free information pack and newsletter, visit www.cmasc.net.au/contact • For information on the Brisbane conference in June, where hundreds of church, ministry and business leaders gather in sessions on ministry governance, finance, fundraising and more, visit www.cma.net.au/conference CMA Standards Council is a ministry of Christian Ministry Advancement ABN 63 157 713 534 | PO Box 16210, Collins St West, Melbourne VIC 8007 ph 0417 316 932 | www.cmasc.net.au

Your Seal of Trust When you see this Seal, be assured that the ministry using it has been accredited by the CMA Standards Council against over 50 standards of good governance, financial and fundraising practice.

Now you can give confidently and generously to our partners who display this seal.

View the partner directory at www.cmasc-generosity.net.au

TEAR believes that Christian organisations should strive for excellence in everything they do – as stewards of God’s resources the CMA Standards Council helps affirm high accountability and encourages all ministries to strive for excellence.

Matthew Maury, CEO, TEAR (Foundation Partner)

DECEMBER 2017

E

7

CHARITY

E

Generosity

comes from your heart, not your bank balance +

Embrace justice and mercy Graham Hill and Rebekah Coles page 12

LOIS WEISE I learned a lot during my time as a nurse. But the lesson that influenced me the most – that the distinctive mark of a true Christian is a generous heart that cares for the vulnerable – came from a friendship with my colleague, Betty.

One afternoon in 1979, Betty introduced me to her fiancé Allan, who worked as a health professional. We got talking and Allan shared a personal story with me. Allan was an intelligent, charming man and well qualified, but had struggled with an addiction to alcohol.

Things weren’t looking promising when he was found in the gutter having an alcoholic seizure.

Eventually, he was picked up and taken to hospital to be dried out. Unfortunately – or maybe fortunately – he was checked in to the hospital where he worked as a health professional and was immediately struck off the register.

At the hospital, they dried him out then handed him over to Sydney City Mission, a Christian organisation devoted to helping the city’s homeless and vulnerable.

Today it’s known as Mission Australia. Here, he received both physical and spiritual care. One of his favourite pastimes at the mission was the Sunday chapel service. There, he heard about the sacrificial love that was displayed

by Jesus Christ – and decided to put his faith in him.

Seeing the transformation in

Allan was completely remarkable.

It was hard to believe that the story he had shared was true, as he was now doing so well. When Allan and Betty invited me along to see the City Mission, where Allan had lived as a recovering alcoholic, I couldn’t say no.

I visited on a Sunday. Before the chapel service, we went into an area where there were beds and there were some gentlemen there. They were clean and clothed but you could see that they were struggling.

I was very familiar with alcoholic types because of my work in an inner-city hospital. I knew what alcohol-affected men were like before they cleaned up – they were often aggressive with slurred speech. But in this chapel service

I saw men who had been cleaned up, fed and cared for. I turned to look at Betty’s fiancé and saw the phenomenal difference that the Sydney City Mission had made in his life. In that moment I thought, “Right, this is an organisation I’m going to support.”

I accepted Christ in 1959 as a child during a Billy Graham crusade. Even then, I realised what it meant to serve God, and here was another way of serving him.

The staff members at Sydney City Mission overflowed with kindness and compassion from the love that they had received from God themselves – and it was making an obvious impact. It inspired me.

When Jesus Christ was on earth, he was not the king people

expected. He spent most of his time helping poor and vulnerable people – those who were rejected by society. And through both seeing this scene and reading the Scriptures, I’m convinced that he calls his children to do likewise.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34 In this passage, Jesus tells his disciples that a devotion to loving people is a clear sign that they are following him. If you call yourself a Christian, loving and serving others is non-negotiable.

A generous heart in action will look different for different people. continued page 8

CHRISTIAN SERVICES FOR THE BLIND AND HEARING IMPAIRED*

Making a

difference in their world . . .

For the Blind: • Delivering Christian audio books via Vision Australia For the Deaf: • Closed-captioning of online and DVD media • Sponsor of Auslan-signed weekly worship service at New Hope, Sydney • Sponsor of annual Deaf Camp If you or someone you know could benefit from these FREE services, contact us at CSFBHI: Phone +61 2 9847 2296 Email CSFBHI@adventistmedia.org.au Web hop.ec/CSFBHI *CSFBHI is a registered charity. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today.

“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped . . .” (Isaiah 35:5)

VISIT

New Hope Auslan-signed Church

WATCH Auslan-signed worship* at

findjesus.tv OR JOIN US Saturday mornings at 11am at New Hope live, UWS Nirimba Campus, Eastern Rd, Quakers Hill (NSW). *Some signed programming on FTA TV weekly, on GEM, Sunday, 7am

E

CHARITY

8

Generosity from page 7 In my current position, I don’t have the capacity to look after the homeless in the way Sydney City Mission did. I can support their work, however.

Although I had been giving financially to various Christian organisations, after what I witnessed of Allan’s experience at Sydney City Mission it became very important to me to make contributions where I could. When I turned 40, I asked the guests at my birthday party to make a donation rather than giving me a gift. I did the same on my 50th birthday for Anglicare. Most recently, I visited a solicitor to seek help to complete my will and have included Mission Australia as a beneficiary.

I’m not wealthy by any means, but I see the importance of sharing what I have when I can. At times, that’s meant giving a very small amount, but small amounts can add up to be significant.

The love that God has shown us through giving his son Jesus Christ demands a response. What does this response look like for you?

Lois lives in Queensland and attends Scarborough Anglican Church where she is a liturgical assistant and mentors a weekly Bible study group. Mission Australia is a non-denominational Christian charity that has been helping vulnerable Australians move towards independence for more than 155 years. For information on leaving a bequest or donating, visit missionaustralia. com.au/take-action

DECEMBER 2017

Students experience poverty WENDY MULDER Gaining an understanding of the practical realities of poverty and displacement is an important part of developing as a global citizen. Two ways members of Arden Anglican School’s Social Justice Group (SJG) have tried to gain a better understanding of these challenges this year is to be involved in the Live Below The Line Food Challenge and World Vision’s Backpack Challenge.

While both experiences provided only a small glimpse of the actual challenges faced by those suffering poverty and displacement, Karen Moss, Arden’s Social Justice Group Coordinator, believes they have encouraged students to engage with the issues and helped them realise they can be change-makers.

Imagine having to survive on just $2 a day for your whole life.

The Live Below the Line (LBTL) challenge, a campaign of the Oaktree Foundation, challenges Australians to feed themselves at the local equivalent of the global extreme poverty line. Thirty students at Sydney’s Arden School recently joined thousands of Australians who had taken the challenge.

“We wanted to feel what it would be like to make those difficult food decisions,” says Karen. “Over the course of the day, we each got half an egg, half a piece of wrap and one cup of watered-down soup with frozen veggies in it. The students were all shocked with how little

“

... encouraged students to engage with the issues of poverty and to realise that they can be changemakers.”

experienced it for a short time,” Isobel Bennett, Year 10, recalled. “I had a glimpse of poverty-stricken lives, which has impacted my overall world view.”

Meredith Dimarco, Laura’s mother gave a parent’s view.

we had to eat. We all had to make choices about whether to eat the food in one sitting or spread out the rations. We also experienced the physical symptoms of inadequate nourishment. Overall it was a very confronting experience.”

One of the group members, Laura Dimarco (Year 10), took the challenge for five days. She said: “LBTL was a challenging experience for me, but knowing that within a few days I would be back to my wide-ranging diet and well-stocked kitchen made it much easier. Unfortunately, this is not the case for over 896 million people around the world living on under $1.90 per day. LBTL gives us a tiny insight into the daily struggle that so many have.”

The message sticks. Eternity went back to students a few weeks later. “LBTL was such an eyeopening experience, even if I only

“We were very happy for Laura to be involved in LBTL. She had to research prices and plan what she was going to eat to make sure she kept to the daily amount. She had to price meat versus other protein sources such as lentils, and it becomes obvious why those in areas of poverty are forced to be restricted to diets that are high in cheaper carbohydrates.”

Arden Anglican School student Laura Dimarco bravely took on the Live Below The Line Food Challenge for five days.

ROMANS 10:15

JESSICA

Invisible to the world?

Not to us.

The world only sees you when you’re valuable. Jesus sees everyone’s value. So do we. See more at anglicare.org.au

The world only sees you when you’re valuable. Jesus sees everyone’s value. So do we. See more at anglicare.org.au

Retirement Living | Residential Care | At-Home Care | Community Services

MAKE A DIFFERENCE APPLY NOW! GAP YEAR FOR 18-21s

THEBRIDGE.SMBC.EDU.AU

/THEBRIDGEGAPYEAR

CHARITY

DECEMBER 2017

9

E

We were broke, now we’re on fire BEN MCEACHEN A Uniting Church minister who also is CEO of Sydney’s Wayside Chapel, Graham Long has a firm philosophy about charity work: “You can’t underestimate the power of knowing what it is you are here to do and then having some idea about how to do it.”

“

You can’t underestimate the power of knowing what it is you are here to do and then having some idea about how to do it.”

Famous beyond its infamous King’s Cross setting, Wayside Chapel is a notable Christian charity that, under Long’s watch, has gone from a crumbling relic to a thriving sanctuary.

“When I came here 14 years ago, we had two employees and the building was in tatters,” says Long, a warm and earthy leader.

“We were threatened with closure because of the poor state of the building. And we were utterly broke. Today, we have over

Minister and CEO Graham Long with Alan, a visitor to Wayside Chapel 100 employees. We rebuilt the building, starting with no money and finished with no debt. And the place is flying – it’s just on fire.”

With 800 volunteers actively serving in the various facets of Wayside – from a rooftop community garden, to providing daily needs and church services – Long steers an unusual and prominent ministry.

“Everything that you can imagine goes with King’s Cross, is what happens here. We would have about 300 people each

day through the front door. The working girls and boys show up for a shower and change of clothes.

Street dwellers show up. We have about 100 Aboriginal people per day come here.”

Long simply explains what fuelled the rebirth of Wayside during the past 14 years – knowing what you are about and how to do that. “We have clarity about our mission – to create community with no ‘us’ and ‘them’.

“If you can’t explain what you are about in ten seconds, then

you really don’t know what you are about.” Within Australia’s charity sector, Wayside’s ability to attract funding and support is be an example others would wish to emulate. Long is a big believer in helping others to see what Wayside is about and enthusing them to be part of it.

To that tune, 90 per cent of Wayside’s funding is from nongovernment sources. This allows Wayside to operate freely as a church in King’s Cross, without needing to restrict itself to the

requirements of government funding. But Long describes Wayside as “free from churchspeak” as well as government language. He doesn’t want Christian jargon or statements to push away those being approached.

Such communication feeds into Wayside’s desire to get alongside people and not to talk down to, or at, them.

“I’m interested in what actually happens when somebody walks in.

Are they treated as a person or as a client? Are you going to be a person or an expert? If in the end their goal is not to meet people but to push them into a Christian sausage machine, how is that not abuse?

“We say all the time, ‘If someone feels met, rather than worked on, we had a good day.’ ” Long has seen many good days when people have received Jesus in their lives, after having received other basic needs and care at Wayside. He often has noticed a significant shift in people who come to Wayside. First, they look for what they can get, but they come to see beyond themselves and wish to help others. “When you see that shift, you know there is a miracle on the way.”

Despite his continued passion for Wayside and those it serves, Long is retiring as CEO at the end of 2018. He is keen to hand it on and see how someone else steers the robust charity. “Wayside is at a point where it is poised to have a very strong 10 years in front of it.”

E ALPHA SPONSORED PAGE 10

CHARITY

DECEMBER 2017

How do we engage Aussies in faith conversations?

Millions of people across the world have explored life, faith and meaning on Alpha – including more than 450,000 Australians.

We all explore, every day. In small ways and big. For all our searching – it’s rare to find time to think, and talk, about the big questions of life; about faith and reason and God and meaning.

But exploring is good. We’re built for it. Everyone should have the chance to explore the Christian faith, ask questions and share their point of view; wherever they are in the world.

So, what is Alpha?

Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, typically run over eight to eleven weeks. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation.

Alpha is run all around the globe, and everyone’s welcome. It runs in cafés, churches, universities, homes – you name it. No two Alphas look the same, but generally they have three key things in common: food, a talk and good conversation.

Alpha runs across all major Christian denominations, and invites people to explore the basics of Christianity within a local church or parish, regardless of faith or background.

Bill Hybels from Willow Creek (USA) declares, ‘Alpha is the most predictably redemptive tool I’ve seen in forty years of ministry.’

Alpha has found a place in Orthodox and Catholic churches.

We are designed to explore life, faith and meaning.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge (Brisbane) believes Alpha is a powerful “in bringing faith alive in all kinds of people. Its focus is on Jesus, its method is simple and its appeal is wide-ranging. It is also well-adapted for use in Catholic communities looking to provide the kind of ignition we need if we are to become a more missionary church.’

At Hillsong Church (Australia), Alpha has helped the church in a ‘very significant way’ according

to its lead Pastor, Joel A’Bell.

‘Alpha is a genius programme that has serious results in bringing spiritual formation to all ages, all individuals, from every background.

In the last year over 30,000 Australians explored life, faith and meaning on Alpha right around the country. Some were like Jeremy who somewhat begrudgingly accepted an invitation by his sister to attend Alpha.

“I attended Alpha initially for an

explore life faith meaning

Find out how:

alpha.org.au

intellectual fight, ready to argue everything, but instead found acceptance and family.”

Growing up in a non-Christian family, Jeremy had very little exposure to religion. However, his study in Arts and Law (specifically philosophy) led to his curiosity about more profound things like ‘why we do the things we do, and what meaning do they have?’

On Alpha, Jeremy listened to the talks and realised that he had carried many misconceptions

about the Christian faith and his intellectual barriers were broken down.

When later faced with a personal crisis, and feeling like an emotional ‘cripple’, Jeremy realised his intellect couldn’t bring comfort to the pain he felt in that moment. At that time, he realised he needed Jesus. “For me, Alpha put all the groundwork in place so when I was at a place where my heart was breaking, my mind already understood what I was falling in to.”

Some were like Julie who had always been looking externally for love, understanding and support.

“I constantly looked to others for approval and validation and never knew what I truly wanted or valued personally.”

After being invited to Alpha, Julie found a warm and inviting place where she felt she could ask any question that she had, without feeling judged or criticised.

“After Alpha finished, with a transformed heart, love for life and new found sense of purpose, I gave my life to Christ. I took a leap of faith and have never looked back.”

Seeing how much Alpha had transformed her life, Julie’s husband decided to rekindle his own relationship with God, and they attended an Alpha together at their local church.

You can read more stories of incredible transformation and learn how easy it is for anyone to run Alpha anywhere at alpha.org.au.

CHARITY FEATURE

DECEMBER 2017

11

E

We spend billions on Christmas, others struggle MICHELLE CHASE

“

... we do want people to remember that God has been generous to us in Australia – and he calls on us to be generous with people in need.” during the very cold Syrian winter.

Just $100 provides them with fuel that enables them to cook and heats their home for three months.

Brick kiln slaves in Pakistan, most of whom are Christians, are paid the equivalent of $3 for every 1000 bricks they make. This is barely enough to buy food for their families, let alone repay the debts they owe to the brick kiln owners.

A $30 gift provides a food pack to a family this Christmas through Anglican Aid’s Pakistani partner, Miracle Schools.

And just like Australian children who are counting down to the end of the school year, children in South Africa are getting ready for a long school holiday. But many AIDS orphans in South Africa

Anglican Aid

The weather is warming up and Christmas is on its way, which for most Australians means two things: lots of food and lots of presents. Australians spend a lot of money creating a special day for their families.

The Australian Retailers Association estimates that Australians will spend an eyewatering $50 billion in the lead-up to Christmas this year.

But in the busyness of planning menus and purchasing gifts, Anglican Aid is encouraging Christians to stop and think about people around the world who will not have a table laden with food this Christmas.

David Mansfield, CEO of Anglican Aid says, “We think that celebrating the birth of God’s promised one, the Lord Jesus Christ, is a great thing! We don’t want people to feel guilty about celebrating Christmas. But we do want people to remember that God has been generous to us in Australia – and he calls on us to be generous with people in need.”

This Christmas, Anglican Aid is highlighting the needs of the poor and vulnerable in different parts of the world – needs that we can meet. Like women left widowed by the civil war in Syria. Many of them feel trapped, with no option but to turn to prostitution to support their children. While we’re sweltering in Australia, things are especially tough for the women

A brick kiln slave prepares dinner in Lahore, Pakistan. don’t have family to take them on holidays or outings. $35 will go to providing fun holiday activities for the children at Lily of the Valley Children’s Village – visits to a museum, an aquarium and the beach.

These gifts make a great alternative to the stocking

You can give an Emergency Package and help save a child from starvation.

BANNER of TRUTH

the hype that spending more and more money this Christmas will make you and your kids happy. The food will be eaten; the toys will break. This Christmas give hope instead of hype.”

See www.anglicanaid.org.au/ Christmas for Anglican Aid’s range of gifts, books and cards.

Australian Conference for Ministers, Christian Workers, and Wives

13 – 16 March 2018 The Collaroy Centre Sydney

Registration & Enquiries to: Mrs Robyn Phillips Email: ajp162@bigpond.net.au

Donate Now 131 226

Speakers: Allan Blanch David Jones Ed. Loane Iain H. Murray Michael Prodigalidad Noel Weeks

Visit www.banneroftruth.org for more information

cbm.org.au/ActNow/donate chrity feature Dec.indd 1

fillers that so many of us open on Christmas morning. Giving a gift of hope like this sparks opportunities for conversations with family, friends and colleagues.

It’s also a good way to model to our children the importance of caring for others.

Mansfield says, “Don’t buy into

Make a Dif erence for Jesus!

23/10/2017 11:47:13 AM

Begin a journey of study into the Word of God that will change your life and the lives of those you come in contact with.

Contact us TODAY! 02 9603 2077 | contact@visioncolleges.net | www.visioncolleges.net

MISSIONWITHOUT WITHOUTBORDERS BORDERS MISSION

Go to www.anglicanaid.org.au/Christmas for our range of gifts, cards and books

E

CHARITY

12

DECEMBER 2017

If you want to impact your community, GRAHAM HILL REBEKAH COLES Gordon Buxton leads BaptistCare’s HopeStreet and he’s also involved in church planting in the western Sydney suburb of Lalor Park. He’s a pioneering leader, who expresses his commitment to justice and mercy both in the ministry of BaptistCare HopeStreet and in his church planting. Here’s the story of BaptistCare HopeStreet and the church plant.

BaptistCare HopeStreet provides support in many different ways to people who are living on the margins and often forgotten within our neighbourhoods. They are passionate about serving the urban poor and many of the most disadvantaged people in our cities through community development initiatives, support for the homeless, women’s services, gambling and financial counselling, and employment training programs.

What are the innovative ways that BaptistCare HopeStreet expresses justice and mercy? The HopeStreet team aims to express a holistic approach to mission, understanding that it is necessary to meet not only people’s physical needs but also their spiritual needs. This cannot happen without the involvement of local churches, which exist to support the spiritual and everyday needs of their surrounding communities.

BaptistCare HopeStreet seeks

HopeStreet out in the community with its coffee van. to partner with local churches at every opportunity. Over 900 members of local congregations have learned about homelessness and serving the poorest people in Australia, by getting involved in BaptistCare HopeStreet’s Urban Engagement Program.

BaptistCare HopeStreet knows that it is not the church. So, it partners with local churches in three key areas.

The first way they work with local churches is to love people where they are at without passing judgment. A beautiful example of this is the work of BaptistCare

HopeStreet’s Women’s Services Program, where the team connects with women who are working in the sex industry.

Diminished choice is often a factor for women who are working in the sex industry and who access Women’s Services. The women have often experienced financial hardship, unstable accommodation and homelessness, trauma histories, domestic violence and drug dependence. They can also be from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, which means, due to language barriers or visa status, it can be difficult for

WHY PRAY FOR AFRICA?

1 2 3 4 5

Pray for Africa because its needs are too often ignored by the media and are unmet by those who are able to help.

Africa is a continent in conflict that needs prayer for peace and reconciliation.

them to access traditional services.

Regardless of the circumstances or barriers they face, stigma and stereotypes that society has about sex work often leads to these women facing social isolation or discrimination. This can compound the disadvantage or marginalisation they face, so a key factor in how Women’s Services operates is to increase a women’s sense of belonging, as well as using their professional skill set to increase choice and safety.

A beautiful way that the church plays a part in increasing belonging is by hosting regular high tea events in our community. The event serves as a medium where both women in the church and women in the sex industry work together in contributing to the event by cooking, decorating, and most importantly getting to know each other through conversation, and establishing friendships.

For the women that access Women’s Services, these events are a powerful reminder that they do have value and that they belong. It reinforces to them that, regardless of what choices they make or don’t make, they are supported where they are at and they know there is a company of other women cheering them on.

For the women in the church it’s a valuable opportunity for them to break down stereotypes they might have, address stigma they might hold and perhaps most importantly, embody the way of

the gospel in bringing those on the margins to the centre.

BaptistCare HopeStreet also helps local churches to stand with people in their neighbourhoods at their point of need. Whether it’s serving people experiencing homelessness, working in the sex industry, struggling with addictions, living in social housing, or working in corporate jobs, local churches need support to serve their communities.

Matt, who worked with BaptistCare HopeStreet in previous years, says, “If we are to truly connect with our communities, it is important to be prepared to sit in the gutter with a person, be prepared to walk into a brothel, be prepared to go places we wouldn’t normally go, and be prepared to do whatever it takes to meet people and connect with them.”

The final key area is connecting people with God and celebrating that connection. BaptistCare HopeStreet seeks to partner with local churches in addressing the spiritual needs of the community.

David’s story illustrates how this can happen.

David was homeless for over two years with no job prospects.

BaptistCare’s HopeEnterprise’s Employment Training Program gave David the opportunity to gain a qualification that led to a job and a steady income. This led to David being able to secure a home of his own. BaptistCare HopeStreet was

Alemtsehaye Zewde lived in a hole-ridden house made from mud and bamboo sheets in a shanty town in one of the poorest areas of Ethiopia.

As part of its December 2016 mission in Bahir Dar, African Enterprise (AE) helped fortify and rebuild her home, “Now my children and I will not be afraid of the rainy season.

I raise my hands upwards to thank God.”

Parts of Africa are experiencing extreme famine to which we must respond with prayer, compassion and generosity.

The AE led mission mobilised 100 church leaders for a five-day city wide mission, reaching all levels of society.

Africa is experiencing a great revival in the Christian faith and the Church needs our prayers.

26,117 people were reached with the Gospel, and 1,327 gave their life to the Lord.

African Enterprise ministers to both the spiritually and physically needy, and seeks your prayer partnership and support for the Great Commission in Africa.

Please pray for our December 2017 mission in Dessie, Ethiopia, and for the ten major city-wide missions being held throughout Sub-Saharan Africa in 2018.

JOIN OUR MINISTRY IN WORD AND DEED Email us for your prayer guide. Donate online at www.africanenterprise.com.au/donation Evangelising the cities of Africa in Word and Deed in partnership with the church

p: (02) 9889 1799 | e: ae@aeint.org | www.africanenterprise.com.au

African Enterprise Limited is a Registered Charity established in 1978. ABN 88001563417

CHARITY

DECEMBER 2017

13

E

embrace justice and mercy

Planting a church in the Sydney suburb of Lalor Park involved asking the local community what it needed and what would help it change. able to assist in meeting David’s physical needs, but was not able to sustain David’s spiritual needs.

That mandate rests with the local church. A local church came alongside David, and helped him explore a life of discipleship and faith. Now David has a job, and a relationship with Jesus.

Gordon Buxton doesn’t just live out his commitment to justice and mercy through BaptistCare HopeStreet, but also through his church planting in Lalor Park.

Fifteen years ago, Gordon and his family felt a deep call to western

Sydney. They took six months to pray through where to plant, and God called them to Lalor Park.

They bought a house in the poorest area of that suburb, and decided not to plant an ordinary church.

When they first arrived in Lalor Park, they noticed that some locals struggled to feel pride in their suburb, because of the social and economic difficulties. Gordon thought, “What would it mean to help the community have pride in the place they live?”

Gordon and his family immersed themselves in the Lalor Park

community. They started an afterschool programme for children, and a Tuesday night dinner that was open to the community (they avoided planting a “traditional church”). As they got to know the community they asked, “What are your needs? What would change this community?”

Gordon and his planting team are committed to being a part of the Lalor Park community because the community has the solutions to their social and economic struggles; planters from outside the community don’t. Gordon

says, “We can’t do church in needy and marginalised areas the way we do church in middle-class areas. Regardless of the suburb our church is in, discussions about spiritual and social wellbeing flow naturally out of doing life together in a local neighbourhood. If we are about serving physical needs, but ignore spiritual needs, then we are not loving.

“Likewise, if the church only looks at spiritual needs and doesn’t minister to people’s physical needs, then we are not loving. It’s crucial that we serve people’s spiritual

needs and their other needs. This is about justice and mercy.”

What is the challenge for the local church? It’s a challenge to us to embrace God’s heart for the marginalised and poor, and those often forgotten by society and church. If you want to impact your community, join with God in what he’s already doing there. Do you really understand the needs of the community in which you live? Sometimes we look around the suburb our church is in, and wonder if needs exist. But if we truly dig deep we find that every community has needs.

Are we inviting the community to have a voice in our churches?

This may be through partnering with local people and groups who are already doing something to assist their community, or it may involve inviting people in our community to tell us what the needs are in our neighbourhood.

If you want to impact your community, embrace justice and mercy. We do this by loving people where they are at without passing judgment, by standing with people in their neighbourhoods at their point of need, and by connecting people with God and celebrating that connection. These are the practical and local expressions of justice and mercy.

Graham Hill is the Provost of Morling College, Sydney. Rebekah Coles is at Morling too, and she researches pioneering expressions of church and mission.

APPLY NOW FOR 2018 Live On-campus High quality accommodation and student facilities Pastoral care and academic support High speed internet included via WiFi and Ethernet Scholarships and bursaries available Catered and self-catered options Weekly cleaning Make life-long friends Vibrant social programs Formal Dinners with eminent guest speakers

Do you know someone thinking of studying at UNSW?

Music nights, theatrical productions and cultural events

New College is a Christian residential community on-campus at the University of New South Wales, open to people of all faiths or none. It operates sister communities: New College, fully-catered for 250 students and New College Village, a mostly self-catered residence for 315 students.

Both communities provide pastoral care and Christian ministry through a strong team of supportive residential staff led by the Master and a live-in Dean in each residence. The College seeks to challenge residents to consider matters of faith through optional Bible studies, College services and Christian fellowship.

Inter-College Sport Exciting O’Week programs Safe communities in which to embark on new challenges

(02) 9381 1999 newcollege.unsw.edu.au

(02) 8344 4500 ncv.unsw.edu.au

E

14

DECEMBER 2017

BIBLE @ WORK Literacy classes teach it’s OK to put up your hand

In Egypt, Shedi is learning that asking questions is a good idea.

KALEY PAYNE Shedi, 10, wants to be an inventor.

Or an oil engineer. But mostly, an inventor.

“I want to invent a machine so that if we have a pet the machine can help us understand the words that the pet is saying,” he says.

He has two cats, Mish Mish and Rita, and a dog called Raad, which means “thunder.”

Shedi is imaginative. His big brown eyes light up with excitement when talking about his idea. But his progress at school has been hampered by a system that is failing him.

Egypt ranks 145th out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s report on quality of

education around the world.

Egypt’s huge population and struggling economy mean that school classrooms are frequently packed with more than 100 children. Teachers are underpaid.

Children are drilled to learn by rote and critical thinking is not encouraged.

Shedi has been going to literacy classes that are being offered by the Bible Society of Egypt at his church. For 18 years, the Bible Society has been running these classes across Egypt, supplementing schooling for younger people and offering the opportunity of literacy to adults who never got the opportunity to learn.

The Bible Society literacy

programme incorporates Bible stories in the curriculum and uses a participatory method to encourage students to ask questions and speak up if they don’t understand something.

Trained volunteers teach 700 classes across the country.

At full strength, the literacy programme can accommodate more than 20,000 students.

The class Shedi attends is in a 4th century church in Giza. It’s a short drive to the pyramids, along dusty, windy roads. Boys ride donkeys laden with produce through the streets. Pigeons and chickens are piled up in baskets along the road.

In the classes, Shedi feels free to speak and ask questions about

difficult words which he doesn’t understand.

“In school, we’re not allowed to ask questions,” Shedi says. “But here, I’ve learnt a lot about those difficult words. I’ll be able to come here to church to ask about it.”

Shedi is receiving more than just help with reading and writing.

Before he joined the classes, his priest himself would often dread Shedi coming to church. Shedi was a trouble maker.

Now, the priest says Shedi is learning about responsibility and caring for his neighbour.

“I learnt from the Good Samaritan,” he says. “If anybody needs help, I must take the initiative and help.”

Shedi says he initially signed

Will you teach Christians to read so they’ll shine a light in Egypt?

Four million Christians need your help to read God’s word and to be a witness in their troubled land.

Call 1300 BIBLES (1300 242 537) or visit biblesociety.org.au/egyptep to donate.

up to the classes to play with his friends. But the students in Shedi’s class obviously want to learn. They concentrate on their books and hands are raised quickly to answer questions. And now Shedi’s hand is right there alongside, waving in the air, eager to answer. Eager to ask.

Bible Society is aiming to teach at least 60,000 Christians to read by 2020 and provide each of them with a Bible. That means they need to double the number of literacy classes they ran last year. It’s an ambitious goal. But with your help, it’s possible.

+ Find out what you can do at biblesociety.org.au/egyptep or call 1300 BIBLES (1300 242 537)

DECEMBER 2017

E

15

OPINION

Speaking as a Christian outsider

E

+

After the survey: page 16 and page 17

Simon Smart on the art of being a good guest

Reading the comments section of articles, especially when you are the author, is not always recommended practice. I’ve never forgotten a response to something I wrote for ABC that sardonically suggested a name change for the organisation I work for: “I wish it was the Centre for Private Christianity.”

Sometimes it’s better not to know!

But the sentiment expressed that day is fairly common now. “I don’t care what you choose to believe.

Just keep it to yourself.”

Obviously, that’s not the view of the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX). We think that Christian belief shouldn’t remain private, because it has public implications.

We also happen to believe that the Christian faith is good news and that Christianity still

has something really positive to contribute to society at large.

The problem is less and less people agree!

For a variety of reasons, both fairly and unfairly, Christianity has an “image” problem in the West.

This means it’s a huge challenge for those wishing to commend Christianity to do it in such a way that the message is likely to be heard and understood.

So how should Christians speak of their faith in the public sphere in contemporary Australia?

I want to suggest an analogy that I find helpful – that Christians view themselves as guests at an unusual dinner party, a “PostChristian Australia dinner party”, so to speak.

So, how might a Christian be a good guest at this imagined dinnery party?

Accept that you are an outsider Christians in the West once held the keys to power. Those times are over and it’s important to recognise this. Instead of adopting an air of wounded entitlement, Christians should see themselves as “guests” in the home of an acquaintance who may well see the world very differently. This doesn’t mean there’s no room at the table for the Christian but sensitivity and politeness are vital in this sort of environment.

Recognise that the culture is largely ignorant of what you believe At this post-Christian Australian dinner party, you shouldn’t be surprised, or offended, if your fellow dinner guests don’t have a clue what you’re on about.

The census figures released this year are well known. Only 52%

of Australians still have any kind of affinity or connection to Christianity. Only around 15% of people attend church once a month. On any given Sunday, close to 92% of us are at the beach or sleeping in rather than attending worship services.

Those ticking the no religion box are now at 30%.

Astonishingly, 60% of Australians say they don’t have a close personal friend who is a Christian. This itself is an issue.

In the last 30 years, we have moved a long way from the place where a shared narrative, foundation and even language could be appealed to in the communicating of Christian concepts. This is simply foreign territory to many people today.

Christians need to remember this. continued page 16

Preparing people for Christian Ministry since 1949

Christian not just in name but in practice Experienced, Christian and Professional Psychologists and Counsellors for Individuals, Couples, Children and Adolescents Face to face counselling in Hoppers Crossing, Melbourne Skype counselling available www.sovereigntypsychology.com.au 03 8742 4468 admin@sovereigntypsychology.com.au

Kingsley College

Why hesitate any longer?

Study for Christian Ministry Certificate IV, Diploma, Advanced Diploma, Graduate Certificate

eternitynews.com.au For advertising enquiries contact Sherina Swan on 0414 291 273 or advertising@eternitynews.com

(Training Centres around Australia, Web conference or distance study)

A national newspaper for Australian Christians, Eternity is sent free to any church upon request. Eternity is published

by Bible Society Australia (ACN 148 058 306).

Kingsley College offers training under the auspices of Unity College Australian. RTO 6330

Edited by John Sandeman.

Contact: enquiries@eternitynews.com or 02-9888-6588

P: 03 9357 3699 E: kingsley@kingsley.edu.au www.kingsley.edu.au

E

16

OPINION AFTER THE POSTAL SURVEY

Sadly, there’s more to lose

LYLE SHELTON on what comes next The loss of the true definition of marriage in law and culture may never be recovered in our lifetime.

Children born in recent years and from now will know nothing other than an anthropological lie about marriage that we enshrined in law and culture last month.

That decision will not be without consequence.

Ten years ago the idea that marriage would be redefined so two people of the same-sex could get “married” was unthinkable.

For years politicians told me it was not an issue and would not happen. “We’ve got this.”

As I was being told this, activists using tools of democracy such as free speech and parliamentary advocacy continued their push.

Most of our people were silent.

After at least 18 failures in the federal parliament and in most State and Territory parliaments, the activists prevailed.

For most Australians the idea that gender is fluid and a social construct is fanciful. Yet already we are seeing little boys being taught they might be girls trapped in the wrong body and anybody who opposes this idea is “transphobic.”

If we are as silent as we have been during the 10 years marriage was under fire in the public square, the normalisation of transgenderism will be even more rapid. Now that we have voted to redefine marriage, what are kids to be taught in sex education classes?

Will it be considered discriminatory for schools to only teach children the details of heterosexual sex?

What rights will parents have to withdraw their children from classes that teach concepts contrary to their values?

What will happen to religious schools, Christian and Muslim, who teach marriage is exclusively one man and one woman? Will their funding be secure?

Outsider

from page 15 Understand that people are suspicious of your motives (and some of them have good reasons for this) Increasing absorption of a secular worldview, hyperindividualism and cynicism about tradition and institutions has left the church with less presence and authority in public conversations and less apparent relevance. And the church hasn’t helped itself either. The tragic revelations regarding sexual abuse and subsequent cover ups has, understandably, done immeasurable damage to the public reputation of the church.

But it’s not only that. People today might not know much about Christianity but they do seem

How do gay married men get babies in a country where there are extremely low numbers of babies available for adoption and commercial surrogacy is illegal?

Don’t worry, the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2015 under the leadership of Tim Wilson, now a member of Federal Parliament, has a solution.

The AHRC’s 2015 report ‘Resilient Individuals’ identified Australia’s ban on commercial surrogacy as a “barrier to equality” and suggested this be looked at.

Imagine that. A commercial trade in human babies and a rental market in women’s wombs, so two men can have babies.

If anyone thought the postal survey would put an end to LGBTIQ political activism, they were naïve. The rainbow political movement is only emboldened.

Having campaigned on the basis that redefining marriage would have no consequences for freedom of speech, religion and parents’ rights, the victors have dramatically changed their tune now the voting is over.

The Dean Smith Bill, put forward by the WA Liberal Senator, contains the most narrow protections for paid religious clergy only and commercial premises attached to a church.

There is nothing for free speech for the religious or nonreligious. Nothing to stop another Archbishop Julian Porteous case where a minister was taken to a tribunal simply for distributing Christian teaching to Christians about marriage.

Appeals to the Yes campaign simply to deliver what they campaigned for – same sex marriage with no impact on the freedoms of anyone else – have been met with demonisation and extreme hostility.

They have changed Australia and the freedoms which have until now been part of the Australian settlement. Migrants who voted No in their droves, having fled countries where there was no concept of civic freedom, are wondering what is happening to the land of their choice.

There has never been a greater need for courageous voices of truth in the public square. If the church will not do this, who will?

Lyle Shelton is Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby and a spokesperson for the Coalition for Marriage.

to possess a keen and somewhat garbled sense of the crimes of Christian history. And it’s a long list they can appeal to: Crusades, Inquisitions, church corruption, support of slavery, witch hunts, oppression of women, abuse of power. (CPX has a documentary coming out next year on this very question. Look out for that.)

At the very least this has had the effect of making many feel cynical about a faith that is supposed to be transformative.

So, it’s important to recognise the atmosphere at our dinner party. And, having assessed the feeling in the room, to approach the table with an appropriate demeanour.

Good company First of all, it would be great if Christians could at least relax

DECEMBER 22017

The Admit it, YES Bible ‘romped it in’ has not changed BRIAN HOUSTON says lose the labels Australia has overwhelmingly voted to legalise same sex marriage, and my hope is that once this becomes law, Australians will move forward in unity and love, viewing one another without labels. I believe every person is created by God with a plan and purpose, and the focus of Hillsong Church has always been – and will always be – to point people to Jesus.

My personal belief in the Bible’s teachings on marriage will not change, and the work of our church will continue as usual as it does in many parts of the world where same sex marriage is legal.

Brian Houston is Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church.

MICHAEL FROST on the wages of fear

Now that the outcome is that the Yes vote is the majority vote on behalf of the Australian people, as I said to the Prime Minister 18 months ago on behalf of other religious leaders: if that’s what the Australian people want, then we live in a democracy and I recognise and acknowledge that outcome.

Therefore it is quite proper for the parliament to legislate for same sex marriage in accordance with the will of the people.

That doesn’t mean I will change my views. I will still teach marriage is, in God’s plan, between a man and a woman. But I acknowledge once the parliament passes those laws, that will no longer be the law of the land.

The consequences then are: what happens to people who want to hold to that truth? It is one thing to say, for example, we don’t have laws against adultery, but I still want to say adultery is wrong – it is immoral. I want to be able to uphold that teaching without the law saying to me - no, it is not illegal, so you can’t say that.

Glenn Davies is Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

When Danica Roem became the first transgender person elected to a state legislature in Virginia last month, there was outrage from some sectors of the American church. One church leader tweeted, “Christian parents, the nation’s first transgender elected official enters American history tonight. What are you doing to prepare your children for that?”

In response, bestselling author, Brené Brown tweeted: “We’re doing the same thing we did yesterday: loving neighbors, giving thanks, and finding the face of God in everyone we meet. You?” I suggest we have a similar response to the result of the postal survey. What is the church doing in the new era of Australian society in which same sex marriage is soon to become a reality? Still loving, caring, serving, welcoming, feeding.

Now is the time to redouble our efforts to love our neighbours, to seek to be Christ’s representatives in the world.

And all the more so because recent events in this country have greatly damaged the church’s reputation. After the testimony heard at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and the conduct of some sectors of the church in prosecuting the No case in the postal survey, the church is not viewed positively by many Australians.

The fastest-growing category of religion over the past 50 years has been “No religion,” up from just 0.8 per cent in the 1960s to 30 per cent last year.

German Jesuit scholar Hans Zollner, visiting Australia recently, said Australians have completely lost trust in the church.

“There seems to be almost nil trust in what the church says,” said Fr Zollner. “This is not true in other parts of the world.

over the first drinks and show themselves to be good company: Interesting. Decent. Thoughtful.

Fun. Engaged with the world. That will surprise some of those who were hoping not to be sitting next to you!

Resisting the urge to say it all at once also seems prudent.

Sometimes a person only earns the right to speak when they’ve lived in a community for years – showing commitment, compassion and love to those they’ve shared life with.

Good listening Sadly, we’re not known for this, but it’s crucial that Christians to become good listeners. There’s nothing worse than being stuck with someone who talks incessantly about themselves and their opinions. Or treats others as if they’re simply an object or a target.

Much better is the guest who asks the right questions, shows empathy, listens to the hopes, fears, disappointments of others.

The person who enters into other people’s struggles and then sensitively offers their perspective.

Stay to do the dishes!

The Christian community is at its best when it impels its people to “Seek the good of the city,” to seek the good of the other. Christians are called to sympathy and action, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, and there is a long and distinguished history of this in the Christian church that all believers can be part of, and rightly proud of.

Christianity “with its sleeves rolled up” is needed now as much as ever.

GLENN DAVIES on democracy

Tell a story Finally, remember that while

“I think you are in a pretty unique situation.”

I agree. But people aren’t rejecting the church just because they hate Christ. They distrust us because of the way some of us have behaved. Sure, Yes campaigners behaved badly (assaulting the former PM; firing a No voter from her job; graffiti-ing churches in Melbourne), but let’s be frank, a lot of the No campaign, supported by the churches, was in my view designed to foster fear among voters.

While some Christian campaigners tried to make the No case based on biblical interpretation and Christian tradition, a great many, including advertisements made by the Coalition for Marriage, in my view were scare-mongering with stories about kids wearing opposite sex clothing to school and questioning the legitimacy of non-traditional families. There seemed to be no sensitivity to how these kinds of charges would be felt by those who don’t or can’t fit into traditional family arrangements.

Many in the LGBTIQ community have found the whole survey extremely difficult. Calls to helplines increased by 30% during the campaign period. One line received 10,000 calls.

Now that the vote is in, we need to grieve for the anger, fear and hurt that occurred during the campaign and seek to make amends for the ways we may have contributed to that.

And those people claiming it wasn’t an overwhelming victory aren’t helping. It makes the church look churlish. The Yes vote romped it in. For some perspective, any federal election won 61.6% to 38.4% on two party preferred would be the most comprehensive landslide since Federation.

In absolute numbers, Yes received more support (7.8m) than Labor or the Coalition ever have at a federal election (the record is 6.9m on TPP, 5.9 primary).

Now is not the time for moaning or nit-picking. Neither is it the time to appear so attentive to how the new legislation will effect us that we look like self-focused sore losers.

Now is the time to do the same thing we did yesterday: loving neighbors, giving thanks, and finding the face of God in everyone we meet.

Michael Frost is the vice principal of Morling College in Sydney.

you may be a guest and to some extent an outsider, you still have great stories to tell. Of radically transformed lives – perhaps your own. Of the difference faith makes in both the joys and sorrows of life. And of the immense, lasting, positive good that Christianity has brought to the world.

Today, being a Christian in an increasingly secular environment is not always easy. But Christians mustn’t shrink from the world, but be even more fully engaged, aiming to be a good presence in the lives of the people around them. And to paraphrase the words of 1 Peter, they need to be prepared to explain the hope that they have, but always with “gentleness and respect.”

Simon Smart is Executive Director of the Centre for Public Christianity. publicchristianity.org

DECEMBER 2017

OPINION AFTER THE POSTAL SURVEY

17

E

Let’s doorknock the gospel The big shift

NATHAN CAMPBELL on our core business The introduction of same sex marriage into Australian law represents an apocalypse; in the technical sense of the word.

Apocalypse means “revelation” – and not only the survey result, but the campaigns around Yes and No revealed much about Australia’s values in the present age, but also a significant disconnection between how the church understands our neighbours and communicates with them, and how people conceive of important things like identity and decision making.

This sort of result would’ve been unthinkable in the Western World until very recently, and the No campaign revealed a fundamental misunderstanding about what has shifted in the West to make this redefinition of marriage both plausible and possible. Societies that held a common belief in a God underpinning the natural order and human traditions could not, or did not, historically, make this

change; once that common belief disappears, once we are gods, everything is up for grabs.

Broadly speaking, the Yes campaign was built on storytelling, on emotions, and on the experience of LGBTIQ citizens and their sense of being denied a fundamental human right. Their concern was not just to secure recognition of their love or relationships but of their status as equal citizens before the law. Meanwhile, the No campaign was built on logic – that marriage always has been defined as a particular relationship and this definition is fundamental to that relationship and its purpose – and on potential consequences, foreseen or otherwise.

The Yes campaign aimed at the heart and at the cultivation of civic virtues such as love, equality and commitment, while the No campaign aimed at the head and, inasmuch as it had emotional weight, it was aimed at the baser emotion of fear (with a dash of loathing). As a pastor with a diverse congregation, including same-sex-attracted Christians who have ties to the LGBTIQ community but who are grappling with what faithfulness to Jesus means to their identity and actions in this age, I was frustrated by the way the church jumped in to the official No campaign’s secular strategy. It seems to me that religious voices in a pluralistic society would be better served by clearly giving legislators a sense of what religious belief means and the sort of vision for life it produces for the faithful.

What we ended up with was a confusion of our message and a straying from the core business of living and proclaiming the gospel.

We had mission organisations and denominations (who should be mission organisations in an increasingly secular Australia) urging supporters to join this campaign by doorknocking.

When was our last concerted doorknocking campaign for the gospel?

Where this has interesting ramifications for the church, and for Christians figuring out how to live in a fractured, pluralistic society, is in how we proceed from here. Are we able to learn from the mistakes in the campaign’s strategy? Or to consider whether political campaigning was a mistake from the beginning (given that we are a secular, pluralistic society and our convictions about marriage come largely from a religious framework, even if we believe that marriage is created for all people, not just the religious).

Are we prepared to reconfigure our communities and strategies so that we present the truth, beauty and goodness of the story of Jesus, articulated in the words, lives, marriage and singleness of the faithful – speaking to the heart as well as the head?

The fight for the hearts and minds of Australians on the definition of marriage is over; the fight to present them with the good news that Jesus is king goes on.

Nathan Campbell is campus pastor at a Presbyterian church in Brisbane’s South Bank.

embrace those norms hurts you.

Neutral World (1994-2014).

Christianity is seen as a socially neutral attribute. It no longer had dominant status in society, but to be seen as a religious person is not a knock either. It’s more like a personal affectation or hobby. Traditional norms of behaviour retain residual force.

Negative World (2014-). In this world, being a Christian is a social negative, especially in high status positions. Christianity in many ways is seen as undermining the social good. Traditional norms are expressly repudiated.

Whether you accept the precise dates, many will agree that a profound shift has occurred in the Land of the Free. So, just maybe, the postal survey result marks Australia’s shift from Neutral World to Negative World (or draws our attention to something that had already happened). And it seems to me that whether you voted yes or no, or even abstained, the shift in attitude to Christianity is something we can all see.

Or as Eternity’s CPX colleagues might say, we have moved from “pre-Post Constantinianism” to “Post Constantinianism.” That is, the privileged position Christianity has held in Western societies since the Roman Emperor Constantine made it the official religion is over.

So a new-style conversation between Christianity and wider society begins – or, actually, we go back to our origins and 1 Peter and Revelation become alive to us.

John Sandeman is editor of Eternity.

2

JOHN SANDEMAN asks “post what?”

If you had to pick a title for a magazine that would least appeal to a good half at least of Eternity’s readers, you might pick “The Masculinist” – a new online publication that explores what it is to be a Christian and a man. I must read it sometime.

It’s caught the attention of American Rod Dreher, whose book The Benedict Option has been causing Christians to think carefully about whether the “politics heavy” stance of US Christianity has worked out at all well. He quotes a slab of commentary from Masculinist editor Aaron Renn: In my framework, there are three worlds we’ve seen in my lifetime related to the status of Christianity and traditional Christian norms in society.

Positive World (Pre-1994). To be seen as a religious person and one who exemplifies traditional Christian norms is a social positive. Christianity is a status enhancer. In some cases, failure to

1

3

Every journey begins with a single step.

To study Christian theology is to embark on an adventure of the mind, heart, and soul. Whether you’re seeking to explore your beliefs, deepen your faith, or equip yourself for greater work in the Kingdom, St Mark’s provides a safe community for your journey into the world of theology.

DISTANCE EDUCATION Partnering with families to provide

Start your adventure with us.

Applications open now.

authentic schooling at home In partnership with

stmarks.edu.au

70 Laughlin St, Kingston Qld 4114 www.groves.qld.edu.au P. (07) 3380 5800 E. de.registrar@groves.qld.edu.au

E

OPINION

18

DECEMBER 2017

So why do you want to travel?

Michael Jensen on bringing the good news to others What is it about the airport? Even when I am just picking someone up or dropping someone off, I get that feeling. And what is that feeling exactly?

It makes me restless. It’s the longing to be on the move. To be free of the everyday and to be seeing something new. To be collecting stories to regale (or bore) my friends with, and to have images to post on my social media pages to say “look, here I am really living.” I went on a tour to Europe this year (it was a tour advertised in the pages of Eternity magazine) as a way of celebrating the Reformation. It was a pilgrimage of sorts. It was thoroughly enjoyable – an experience to savour.

I love to be in a place with history and to be learning as I go. I love hearing the chatter of languages I don’t understand around me, and sampling unfamiliar food. You can’t visit Germany and not eat German sausages or sample the seasonal white asparagus. You can’t go to the Black Forest and not eat …

Black Forest cake! You can’t go to Switzerland and not have a fondue.

Why do we love to travel?

There is no doubt that we do.

UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics tells us that the number of students travelling overseas has increased 75% in the last decade, and that that number is growing by 12% per year. What’s more, travellers of the millennial generation make up something like 20% of international travellers and the number of trips they are making is increasing all the time.

My experience in pastoring a young adults congregation is that almost all of them would see both travelling for fun and living overseas for at least a year as items on their “must do” checklist.

But we shouldn’t just pick on

the millennials. The retirement contingent are just as likely to pursue travel – not just “doing the lap” of Australia, but getting on a cruise ship or taking a tour to somewhere new.

According to English psychotherapist Dr Greg Madison we often travel for existential reasons.

This is not travel because we are fleeing poverty or tyranny.

This is travel because we are seeking selfunderstanding and adventure.

We travel because we are trying to address profound internal questions like “where do I belong?” and “who am I?” What we are really trying to understand by going away is what home is like. The danger is – especially when we travel or live overseas for an extended time – that we disconnect from home, which of course changes while we are absent, and never really find a home elsewhere. We set off on a voyage of discovery but what we are seeking seems elusive even though we travel a million miles to find it.

But it’s also true that we travel to escape some of these difficult questions. We literally escape through travel. It gives us the luxury of space to think, to recuperate and to heal. As the English writer Alain de Botton puts it, in his book The Art of Travel: “Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship, or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts, new places.”

The experience of wonder comes to us as we travel, because of the newness of things. We see animals we’ve never seen before, landscape that is weird to us, climate that is strange. It can make us more reflective and more aware people.

Of course, a Christian will realise this. The opportunity to travel is a real blessing from God. God’s world is far more extraordinary and diverse than we imagine it to be. We are humbled

“

Instead of travelling to one place, the disciples were sent to every place on the earth to preach Jesus Christ and to make disciples.”

as we open ourselves to new places, and have more opportunities to praise the Creator for his creativity.

As Australian pastor and writer Steve Liggins writes in his interesting new book Travelling the World as Citizens of Heaven: “The world is an amazing place.

It should be – it is God’s world … Travelling and living overseas provides opportunities to meet incredible people, learn about intriguing cultures, and witness some of the breathtaking wonders of creation. When we view all of this through the lens of Scripture and with the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit, we appreciate more and more that we’re travelling God’s world.”

We should travel, argues Liggins, “with God,” aware that there is nowhere we can go that is not his or where he is not present. With this in mind, we can be open to the ways God may bless us as we travel his world.

One of those ways may be that we meet Christians in other places who have much to teach us. But we

also need to recognise our inner motives for wanting to travel in the first place. What do you think that travel will give you that you can’t find at home? Do you think that travelling or living overseas will satisfy that inner hunger, that sense of restlessness? That restlessness of heart is in fact a spiritual condition. Augustine of Hippo famously prayed: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.”

The longing of the human inner being is for a home with God, that we discover only through Jesus Christ and in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. We set sail for foreign shores in the hope that we will discover who we truly are. But whatever we may find, we will not find ourselves until we are found by our Creator in Jesus Christ.

In fact, there’s a grave spiritual danger in travel because we find ourselves an opportunity to try on different “selves.” We can pretend to be a different person altogether – perhaps to try things that we wouldn’t ordinarily try at home, because people would see us doing them. We may tell ourselves that “what goes on tour, stays on tour” – as if the world of our travel is a world with an entirely different sense of right and wrong.

So, if you are feeling the yearn to travel, ask yourself: why? What is it about my current world that is giving me this sense of needing to be somewhere else, even if only for a time? And it’s worth checking that feeling, because we need to know that travel is a consumer good like any other.

And the consumer economy feeds off our feelings of envy and dissatisfaction.

These feelings are massively amplified by our poring over the Instagram feeds of our travelling friends. What do we see there?

Images of freedom, pleasure, joy, beauty. Sheer happiness. Novelty and excitement. Is everyone having a good time but me? When will we have some great photos to share, meet an attractive foreigner, and drink a drink with an umbrella upon it? When will we get to speak knowingly about Peru, or to drop into my conversation “when I was travelling in the Balkans … ”?

Bring your passion for youth ministry and desire to grow in God. Abide is Young Life’s residential program for leaders who want to make an impact theology + ministry + community

> where is God leading you?

Enquire now for 2018

younglife.org.au/abide

When will people be envying me as I am now envying them?

And so, does our wanderlust emerge from our sense of being left behind? Is it really the same peer pressure that makes us want to buy a smart phone?

Like any consumer good, travel is more accessible to those who have more money. Though it seems more noble, it’s a middle class accessory like any other. We often gear our whole personal economies to affording travel. It costs, and sometimes it costs big bucks. As with any big spend, a Christian should think twice about whether travel is really a wise use of all that time, effort and money.

And, like anything in a consumer economy tempting us with a vision of personal fulfilment, travel can be part of an economic system that causes harm in the world. We can and do cause environmental damage as we travel. We may be causing who knows what economic imbalances as we travel.

We become more aware of the poverty of other places when we travel, but what do we do with that awareness?

In the Old Testament, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and its temple was an essential part of the spiritual life of the people. How else, and where else, could you find atonement for sin and right relationship with God unless you journeyed to the temple?

The gospel of Jesus Christ means the reverse. We don’t have to go to a place to meet God. The word of God is now preached in every nation under heaven. Instead of travelling to one place, the disciples were sent to every place on the earth to preach Jesus Christ and to make disciples.

Instead of travelling the earth to find God and yourself, could you perhaps be the one who travels the earth to bring the good news of Jesus to others?

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

If you would like to receive a daily devotional from Michael Jensen, email him at michael. jensen@ stmarksdp.org twitter: @ mpjensen Travelling the World as Citizens of Heaven is available at Koorong.com

OPINION

DECEMBER 2017

19

Dual citizenship Let’s stick together Tim Costello on citizens of heaven, residents of earth The dual citizenship crisis that has been sweeping federal parliament poses the question: Can we be exclusively loyal to Australia while holding entitlement to another nation’s citizenship?

It also prompts another question: Are Christians potentially subversive? After all, life for a Christian is always a tale of dual citizenship.

As our loyalty is to Jesus, we are first and foremost citizens of heaven.

While our citizenship and final authority is in heaven, our vocation is lived out on earth. We have been given great commissions to act as both citizens of heaven and earth.

We know all are made in the image of God. We know believers, as our fellow citizens, are invited to surrender loyalty to our King Jesus in exchange for exclusive nationalism or tribal boundaries.

We are commanded to love God and to love our neighbours. We are told we are saved by grace, not works, and yet we are commanded

to actively care for all our brothers and sisters.

It’s a paradox. Martin Luther declared, “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.”

As Christians we know the limits of worldly politics and look instead to heavenly powers for our redemption and fulfilment.

Believers are, in a sense, refugees on this planet. We subject ourselves to the governing authorities of our nation but our priorities and the basis of our trust are heavenly.

We are here to proclaim the kingdom. Christians know they need God’s grace. None of us can be “good enough” to get to heaven.

As Mark Twain said: “If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”

Our greatest gift as Christians is freedom from fear.

Paul says the peace of Christ should rule in our hearts. It is a gift of our heavenly citizenship, which is available to all.

While here, we share Abraham’s experience, living “like a stranger in a foreign country ... looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Heb 11:9-10) In faith, we consider what the world offers and what the promises of God offer.

We know that, in another time, we will walk in the City of God where perfect justice and perfect love reside.

One day we will have only one citizenship. In the meantime, we are here to bless and be blessed.

Tim Costello is chief advocate of World Vision Australia.

Lucy Gichuhi on the Berocca Principle Disagreeing agreeably is an art.

Our community needs it now more than ever to heal a divided nation.

Growing up in Kenya, I learnt one of the most valuable lessons as a child – how to disagree agreeably.

Due to lack of material comforts such as shoes or even a bed to call my own, I had to learn how to disagree agreeably with my siblings. As one of ten children I had to share everything, including one Sunday best dress.

I wouldn’t change a thing about my childhood. As a Christian I now know and believe God was preparing me for what lay ahead – A moment like this.

Whatever your circumstances, whatever your situation, God is also preparing you for the task ahead and He can use anything and everything in your past. This reminds me of Philippians 4:13 - “I can do everything through

Senior Pastor: Discovery Bay International Community Church (www.dbicc. org) located in Discovery Bay, HK is seeking a senior pastor with: - a commitment to preaching, disciple making & evangelising - a vision to expanding an already strong children’s ministry - a plan for a growing missions ministry Interested candidates who subscribe to the EFCC mission statement, and have 5 years senior pastor’s experience, a seminary degree and Native-English fluency may apply by sending a CV to pastorsearch@dbicc.org

E

Letters Preaching on a cruise

Christ, who gives me strength.”

Can we fast forward to 1999 when I landed in Australia with my husband and our three daughters?

My initial impression was how different Australia was compared to the home I had left behind.

In Kenya, the majority of the people are black Africans. But here, landing in Perth, seemingly all of the world’s races were represented in one city! In that airport, I encountered Britons, Australians, Europeans, Asians and Africans living and working together harmoniously. This must be as a result of the perfect art of how to disagree agreeably.

In such an environment with so many cultures represented, disagreement is inevitable.

The way Australian culture has evolved over the years is like when you put a Berocca tablet in water.

It is what I call the Berocca Principle. When you drop a Berocca tablet into water it fizzes and dissolves. You no longer have a Berocca tablet or pure water. It is a new mixture which did not exist before and it has a different colour!

This is the way the Australian population has grown. It reminds me that we are all created in the image of God but with unique gifts, differences and talents. It is what God intended for all of us – unity and diversity here on earth.

Lucy Gichuhi is the independent senator for SA.

Holidays, time to relax, be incognito? Take a break from ministry and sharing the gospel? Or ... Cruising has become very popular and many cruise companies actually allow time on the daily schedule for Bible study in the mornings and time for a worship service on Sundays.

Often there is no one designated to lead these and passengers are encouraged to take the initiative.

So, in June, someone I know wrote to Princess Cruises and offered to preach at the Sunday Services. He was asked to send his credentials and present them on board. Both Sundays happened to be at sea (so no land excursions).

His offer was accepted. A basic order of service was printed out containing two hymns, “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art,” a time for prayer, Bible reading and the message. They also provided a pianist.

On the second Sunday, there were no other printed hymns so we sang the same ones again but managed to ask different people to share in leading the prayer and reading the Bible. The two sermons on Genesis 1 and 3 were well received and were a great opportunity to share the gospel. There were a number of non-Christians present plus both Catholics and Protestants.

May I suggest bringing along a suitable sermon on your next cruise, if you are a gospel preacher, or prepare some good Bible studies to lead at the morning Bible study times? May the Lord use us for his glory even when we are on holidays.

Jeannette Kuswadi

Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship

CONFERENCE Challenges for Christians in Healthcare Sat 9th March 2018 Croydon, Sydney Key topics for all Health Professionals Program and Registration office@cmdfa.org.au or 02 9680 1233 www.cmdfa.org.au

Read “The Objective Evidence For The Christian Faith” by David Holden at defenceofthefaith.org

ASLAN FINANCE a division Cronulla Sutherland Mortgage Options Pty Ltd

Home Loans/ Investment Loans Commercial and Industrial Finance Business Finance Non-Conforming/Specialist Loans SMSF Loans Motor Vehicle Finance Plant and Equipment Finance Personal Loans Associated Financial Planning and Insurance Services Tel 02 9526 5544 Mob 0407 432 910 Email: graeme@aslansolutions.com.au 2A Kungar Road Caringbah South 2229 ABN 50 007 982 167

www.biblesociety.org.au ETERNITY NEWSPAPER Print Co-ordination and Distribution by

1800 88 MAIL sales@intellimail.com.au

www.m4music.com.au Hear new Choral Cantatas, Hymns, Instrumental & Vocal works with lyric melodies.

Downloadable or folios reasonably priced.

FOR SALE in Tasmania PRIVATE CHRISTIAN RETREAT CENTRE

4 cottages plus manager’s home on 12 acres of peaceful bushland IDEAL FOR THOSE WANTING A LIFESTYLE CHANGE Contact: taschristianretreat@gmail.com

E

OPINION

20

DECEMBER 2017

Jesus would roll in his grave this Christmas

“

The Bible is never far from public discourse, but its deployment is often a long way from gospel truth.

I hear snippets of Scripture, and plenty of proverbials every day, but they are more often abuses of the Bible than legitimate use of it.

Some are innocuous, such as a Rugby League commentator who described a match as a “Jesus and Goliath” battle (which would make good TV, I admit). Others are a bit offensive, but can pass, such as Lady Gaga playing Mary Magdalene and getting stoned to death in her song and video clip, Judas. At least she is interested in the emotional depth of the story, albeit a fanciful perspective she has taken. But other misuses are just not acceptable.

Perhaps the most egregious

Youtube / LadyGagaVEVO

Greg Clarke is face-palming A scene from Lady Gaga’s Judas video clip. example in many a year is the recent effort at defending the indefensible by Alabama State auditor, Jim Zeigler. In attempting to normalise the alleged sexual advances towards minors by a US Senate candidate, Roy Moore, Zeigler cited the Christmas story: “Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”

This is awful in a myriad of ways. To use the ‘imprimatur’ of the Christmas story to minimise claims of inappropriate sexual activity with a minor is beyond the pale. It’s also not the Christmas

story at all, since there is no suggestion of sexual contact between Joseph and Mary prior to Jesus’ birth. In fact, that’s the point!

When a book has such a profound and influential history as the Bible, it is bound to be misappropriated for various purposes, be they political, social, or for the sake of your sporting team. It is interesting that the Bible still has such power that invoking it is worth a go, even if you don’t really know it well. A biblical misquote still gives you some kind of aura of authority.

What I’d love to see, in the

What I’d love to see, in the developing post-Christian atmosphere of 21st century Australia, is less use of the Bible in the public square.” developing post-Christian atmosphere of 21st-century Australia, is less use of the Bible in the public square. It would be helpful if media commentators, sports heroes, the Twitterati and (in particular) politicians stopped invoking the Bible when they want to make a point. At least until they have read it a bit more closely.

I find it shocking that comedians are now seen to be the interpreters of the meaning of the Bible. They loudly, frequently and confidently boast that the Bible teaches something rather akin to what they have always thought, and leave no room for the ‘misguided’ theologians to speak differently.

A verse is misquoted, an opinion aired, and an audience entertained.

That’s Bible interpretation in the Australian public square today.

It’s galling, appalling and a bit gobsmacking.

One of the great and noble tasks for the churches today is to urge people to live in reverent fear of the word of God once again. To pause before shoring up their opinions with a half-remembered gospel saying. To bring back a level of respect, care and reticence before declaring that the Bible supports your case. We need to remember we are on holy pages.

After all, the Bible itself puts the fear of God into those who might misuse it. The Book of Revelation declares a plague on anyone who adds to the words of Scripture.

Hebrews calls the word of God a dangerous sword that cuts to the soul. And Paul urges Timothy to “correctly handle the word of truth”.

In case you missed it, Jesus won’t be rolling in his grave this Christmas. According to the documents of the New Testament, he rolled out of it a long time ago.

But it’s hard to imagine he’s singing Deck the Halls with the level of uninformed sub-biblical bravado now rampant in Australian society.

Greg Clarke is CEO of Bible Society Australia.

Bible Stat 160 million people have NO scripture in their languages.

ENROL NOW FOR 2018 COURSES

BIBLE | MINISTRY | MISSION | COUNSELLING | EDUCATION | CHAPLAINCY | GAP YEAR Morling College offers world-class in Bible and Theology, and also in Counseling, Education, and Chaplaincy.

Morling College exists to equip and shape Christ-centered followers to impact the world.

God can use you - Visit www.morlingcollege.com P. (02) 9878 0201 E. enquiries@morling.edu.au