Lift Issue 14 - Winter 2014

THIS THE IS THE LORD DAY

HAS MADE Pam Bedwell

issue 14: Winter 2013 PLEASE MAKE A GOLD COIN DONATION Koreana Wilson: Redeemed, Renewed and a Good Cup of Tea

Euthanasia: A hot political potato

Carol-Anne Begbie: Windsor Counselling Team

Bruce & Tracy Anderson: Family is for Ever

Sharon Taylor: Care Full Commitment

Liam Badger: The Boy with the Grace to Play Ball

FROM THE EDITOR|JULIE BELDING

WINNING WORDS T

he life of an editor can be a lonely one.

You spend most of your day in front of a computer, emerging to eat occasionally or to go for the required daily walk with the spouse. But generally as you sit there putting in commas and apostrophes (or — as it usually the case these days — taking them out) and trying to make abstruse sentences clear, and long words short, you’re pretty much isolated from society. Not for us the tennis clubs, the soccer coaching or the barbies. Mind you, we introverts like it that way, most of the time. If we weren’t loners we probably wouldn’t have become editors in the first place. We thrive on quiet, on solitude, on tiny, pernickety details, on making pretentious paragraphs simple and beautiful. We hate pompous prose and we love crisp clear words that cut to the chase.

But here’s where I need to be honest. You can get to feeling guilty about it. You realise that, as a Christian, you should be more into human relationships which are, after all, at the heart of our faith. While you accept that you’ll never be the life of the party — and that’s fine because that’s not how God wired you — you wonder if you’re really living the Christian life authentically.

How can you possibly love others into God’s family when you hardly interact with a soul aside from email?

In short, I felt I needed a Christian activity in my life that was more social — an interest that was meaningful, helpful and possibly even Kingdom building. But what could I do that was useful? As we all know, in a church the size of

Windsor the opportunities to volunteer are limitless. But to thrive in any ministry you need to understand how God has gifted you. What kind of endeavour would suit a wordie who was more into punctuation than partying? Then it dawned on me. I could volunteer for the weekly conversational English class. It would be a chance to support others, to talk to them, to befriend them…. and to use words. Good words. Simple words. Bright words. Crisp, clear words that cut to the chase. Heavenly!

Well, I’ve been doing it for six weeks now,

and love it. John and Pat Wearn lead the team of helpers, and each week he gives us a different theme to chat about in our small groups.

Moreover, the new English speakers are so keen and grateful. I realise this kind of service might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it fits me like a glove.

More helpers are needed, and if you enjoy talking to people it really is an easy gig. So if you can spare two hours on a Tuesday morning, give John or Pat a call.

If I can do it, anyone can.

CONTENTS issue 14 : Winter 2014

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Features 06 Pam Bedwell: This is the Day the Lord has Made

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08 Guns N Moses: David Knell visits Israel 10 Koreana Wilson: Redeemed, Renewed and a Good Cup of Tea 12 Euthanasia: Reflections by Andy Wearn and Myk Habets 16 Carol-Anne Begbie: Windsor Counselling Team 18 Bruce and Tracy Anderson: Family is for Ever

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22 Sharon Taylor: Care Full Commitment

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24 Liam Badger: The Boy with the Grace to Play Ball 28 A passage to India: Grant and Ben Harris visit Kolkata and Nagaland

Regulars Senior Pastor Grant Harris

Advertising advertise.lift@gmail.com

02 Editorial : Julie Belding

Editor Julie Belding | editor@liftmagazine.org

Writers Pam Bedwell, Grant Harris, David Knell, Iain Litterick, Lisa Michelle

26 Sam Burrows: I’m not a Jesus Freak

Design & Production Lewis Hurst | lewis@hcreative.co.nz

Lift (“Life Integrating Faith Together”) is the quarterly magazine of Windsor Park Baptist Church, PO Box 65385, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 0654. Its aim and vision is to reveal members of the church serving God in all their diversity. Ideas and articles for future issues are welcome. Contact the editor at editor@liftmagazine.org

04 What’s happening at Windsor?

Lift is a member of the Australasian Religious Press Association.

ISSN 2230-2646

CONTENTS

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SMALL FRIES AREN’T SO SMALL In February Small Fries Christian Childcare Centre celebrated its second birthday, and birthdays are always a time to reflect on how much a person or organisation has grown and evolved.

It doesn’t take long to reflect on Small Fries because it took only eighteen months for Small Fries to achieve the targets we thought would take three years! While this keeps the business side of the operation ticking over nicely, it also means we’re able to have greater impact into the lives of many families from our wider community, and that was always the greater goal.

The catch line of Small Fries is “A childcare centre but more than a childcare centre.” In 2014 we’ve been able to work this out by appointing a chaplain to work in a more significant way with families than the staff can. This level of care sets us apart from the rest and we’re pretty excited about how this is already working out. Support-

ing the wider networks of kids at Small Fries was always our goal, and to see it happening now is just darn pleasing. With an amazing internal culture — meaning that Small Fries is experiencing long waiting lists — we’re in the final stages of planning an extension to the Mairangi Bay operation.

Very exciting. We’ll keep you updated with the plans when we’ve got all the information together.

BEYOND THE WALLS On the wall at the end of the Theosart Gallery is a TV. Ever had a sneaky watch of it? Scrolling around the screen are some slides of all the people and projects that Windsor Park supports “beyond the walls.”

To those who have been around a while we might call this the mission team; to those who are new to Windsor Park it’s a bunch of folks who live and work as missionaries away from Windsor Park (often overseas). Or they may be members of the Windsor Park community who live “by faith” – meaning they need to raise their own financial support to work in the Christian mission they’re part of.

In our budget for 2014 we’ve committed $120,000 to these people and projects, an increase from 2013 because we’re now supporting fifteen different groups as part of this team. The groups include a missionary family from Nagaland who plant churches in the far west of Nepal, freedom businesses in the red light district of Kolkata, an aid and development project in Vanuatu and several NZ-based missionaries who work on university campuses and who oversee the growth and development of sports chaplaincy in this country.

We make sure these people are cared for and prayed for, and on the first Sunday of each month we take up a second offering as part of our gatherings. This goes directly to help support these fifteen groups. It’s a privilege to be involved in the world “beyond the walls” of Windsor Park.

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WHAT’S HAPPENING AT WINDSOR WITH GRANT HARRIS

BAYS YOUTH COMMUNITY TRUST At Windsor Park we’re always keen to work in with organisations who have a similar heartbeat to ours – anyone that’s trying to transform communities one life at a time (in the Bible – Romans 12:2) will normally be a friend of ours. The Bays Youth Community Trust are a big-time friend of ours who provide a wide range of services tailored for young people. These services include youth development work, counselling and mentoring. As we’ve got to know each other more (and accepting that a good chunk of Bays Youth are part of Windsor Park anyway) we’ve extended to Bays Youth the use of one of some our rooms “out back.” This has worked out so well that at the start of the school year (2014) Bays Youth began an alternative education programme during the day in the Youth Shack. This is part of a contract with Orewa College to provide a high-ratio education to kids in our area who may have slipped through the cracks for one reason or another. This is being lead by a Windsor Park member and right from the get-go there have been cool stories coming out of this programme. We’re pretty happy to be partnering up with Bays Youth in this way and providing a unique space where young people can see and be part of healthy community being developed during the week.

TWO INTO ONE Sing along with us: “If you went down to the woods today…” but change the lyrics to “If you went down to Belmont today…” You’d see a new sign outside what was Belmont Baptist Church.

It now reads Windsor Park Baptist Church (Belmont Campus) as at the end of 2013 Belmont Baptist merged into the operations of Windsor Park Baptist and Windsor Park become a multi-site church – meaning one church on multiple sites. We believe that this is a positive way for the church to be more significantly involved in the wider community, together. Over the first stage of the merger, except for a new sign, you’d find it hard to see any noticeable difference as we’ve been putting all our energy into amalgamating the “back-office functions.” But as we move forward we’ll be seeing what opportunities exist in the Belmont area that can be resourced from Mairangi Bay – and maybe you’d like to be part of this? There’s definitely plenty to do, so contact us if you’re looking for a new opportunity to make a difference in the world. The significant change we’re working on is a property redevelopment, including a “Small Fries Belmont.” But these projects don’t happen overnight, or the night after, or the month after, so in the meantime we’re stoked with new life groups beginning out of Belmont and the general positive feelings we’re getting after doing something uncommon within Baptist “autonomy.” Good times coming our way!

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT WINDSOR WITH GRANT HARRIS

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THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE

BY PAM BEDWELL

I

tried to say the Lord’s Prayer as I lay on an examination table having a biopsy but this verse kept intruding until they were both playing in my mind at the same time. “Our Father – this is the day, which art in heaven, the day the Lord has made.”

Many women have similar stories. In fact today seven women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. We go through the tests.

We hope. We sit with our emotions in our lap as the surgeon says we have a carcinoma. I did a quick check as I heard that word, and translated it to cancer – the word we all dread to hear. From the get go you are making decisions because it’s all moving so fast. Within two weeks I was on the operating table.

But let’s back the truck up. There is more to the story than meets the eye. There are a series of events that helped shape me and ultimately helped me in the present circumstance.

Beginnings I grew up in a small town on the British Columbia coast called Sechelt – blink while driving through and you’d miss it. It was idyllic. I played with my boy cousins all the things boys like to do.

We all went to the same school as there was no other choice. In high school I met Jesus. It was a funny, round-about way but any way is a good way.

At this point I am a fairly naive teenager from the back of beyond. I don’t remember all the particulars but I do recall being invited to the home of the cutest basketball player (I was on the girls’ team) for a mini crusade, and since I had the hugest crush on him of course I went. I remember sitting with the evangelist, one on one. As he told me how I, like everyone, was a sinner I thought to myself, Yeah right. You should meet my sister. But the how doesn’t matter. I began a relationship with Jesus, and am so glad I did.

After two years at university I wanted to study some Bible and I was drawn to study at Capernwray Bible School (no tests!) in Howick, New Zealand. It was then a three-month study of various topics plus an outreach, with the option to stay a second term. Ian Bedwell was on his second term there when we met. Afterwards he showed me around New Zealand on the back of his 650 Yamaha motorcycle, where, wedged between him and our backpacks I nodded off briefly every now and then. As we crossed Cook Strait we read 1 Corinthians 13, at which time he told me he loved me. Suddenly I found there is no place on a ferry you can hide when given that sort of information. After all, I had to go back to Canada. And when I did, as we prayed, I felt hot tears on my hand. We wrote a lot of snail mail letters until one day Ian flew over to propose.

Challenges After Bible School I was to go home via Tonga, Fiji, Raratonga and Tahiti. Once again God stepped in. From Fiji I sent a telegram saying I’d be home early. This news brought tears of relief to my Mom and two sisters. You see they didn’t want to interrupt my travels, so they hadn’t told me Mom was going in for breast cancer surgery. It was just us. They felt that now with big sister coming home in time, everything would be ok.

I don’t remember much about those days. None of us does. It’s only later you realise you’re in the firing line. What I do remember are the funny bits – how Mom saw her prosthesis floating away while out swimming one day; how my two-year-old daughter was showering with Mom one day and looked all the way around to Grandma’s back for the missing breast.

A sense of humour has been important to me. After all – throughout the testing you’re clamped in the jaws of a seven-ton machine and told not to move; you’re slathered in cold jelly and pushed and prodded some more. During the biopsy she turns her back and pulls the trigger so that I can “hear” this won’t hurt a bit.

After the first one I lifted my head to watch. The technician and

assistant were totally aghast but we all burst into laughter. The last laugh was with the surgeon, as I had written “Goodbye” on my right breast before being wheeled off.

I had found a little nodule while at our bach in Ruakaka. That’s what started this whole journey. The nodule turned out to be nothing. However, I call it my pointer. It’s what God provided that pointed to something more sinister – the most aggressive grade of cancer, that no one would have found for some time yet.

I tremble to think what kind of trouble I’d have been in by then.

As it was, the cancer itself was very small and they got it all, plus there was none in the lymph nodes. I don’t need radiotherapy or chemo, though I am aware of many brave women who go through one or both. You’d be surprised how many are right here at Windsor Park. I will take a pill — I call it the icing on my cake — for the next five years. It’s the direct result of research that I have this pill today. That’s why so much fundraising goes on – to give women options that weren’t around for my Mom 37 years ago, or even for women ten years ago. But hopefully, too, we can lower the percentage of women who get breast cancer.

The chances of my sisters getting it have just gone up since they’ve had a mother and a sister with it. The same goes for my daughter. I can’t tell you how much I want things to be different for her. I used to donate to the cause because it happened to my Mom but now it has happened to me. It could happen to you.

“I had found a little nodule while at our bach in Ruakaka. That’s what started this whole journey. The nodule turned out to be nothing.

However, I call it my pointer.”

A New Life I’m told I’m a survivor. My husband says I’m alive, I’m healthy, I’m beautiful and he loves me very much. But the healing process isn’t just physical – it’s mental too. Each stage of the journey presented hurdles to jump. Do I get a full or partial mastectomy? Do I take medication or not? What are the percentages? What are the side effects? Do I have reconstruction? As we did our research it always came down to percentages for Ian. In his calculating mind he could see through to the worst case scenario — death. This year alone some 650 women will die of the disease. Remember, our husbands need support too.

Now that it seems done and dusted, I appear to be doing well.

For the most part I am. At times I struggle with self-image, but God reminds me that we are made in his image and that he is good. (I don’t think he had shape in mind when he said that.)

My children, Anna and Graham, have been most supportive, and my mother too. Imagine mother/daughter talks about mastectomies! The mind boggles. Hopefully I won’t be having those same conversations with Anna.

I delight in Anna’s two sons, Elias and Lane, and Graham’s newborn, Aaren. They all live in Canada but the wonder of Skype brings me closer to them as we talk, play and read together over the screen. Photography is one of my hobbies and I’ve made magnets of us to play with and books of our adventures like Gran and Grandad at the Beach and Fishing with Gran and Grandad.

The tomboy in me from my younger days is still present, so when I visit them (and I’ll be in Canada when you read this) there will be plenty of digging for bugs, worms and crabs. We’ll laugh and play with young and old alike, because that’s what life is for.

Illness and shape do not define who I am. It’s not a story of “Ooh, such a shame.” It’s a story of hope and a future; a story to remind women to be vigilant in their checking, and a story of God’s provision. Because “this is the day the Lord has made.”

PAM BEDWELL

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“GUNS ‘N’ MOSES” David Knell visits Israel

I

visited Israel for the first time with my daughter Julie, having heard and read so much about this nation and its people. As a Christian, it is exciting just to be there, to see places Jesus would have known, to get the Judean Desert dust on your sandals.

But what stood out to me as we travelled around the country were Israel’s extreme contrasts.

Despite an uncanny feeling of peace, Israel is under constant threat of conflict, as seen in the numbers of soldiers, mostly armed, that are everywhere. Girls are not exempt from conscription. All the soldiers we spoke to were friendly and helpful, but I was pleased they were on our side.

On one occasion when we

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“GUNS ‘N’ MOSES”

passed by the entrance to the modern Mamilla Mall (described by The Lonely Planet Guide as the home of some of the “nicest posh restaurants”) a young Israeli man was pushing a stroller with a small child.

He was dressed in a white shirt, jeans and sneakers, with dark curly hair, a kippah on top and a hand gun on his hip.

Apart from one guard on the door of our hotel, this was the only civilian we saw carrying a gun.

Before we left, several people had asked if we were concerned for our safety in Israel. My response was that the Lord was well able to take care of us. Surprisingly, when in Israel you feel a security and peace that is hard to explain. One of our fellow travellers, a likeable Angli-

can minister, put it this way: “Well, there are millions around the world praying for the peace of Jerusalem. It’s no wonder you can feel it.”

The Jaffa Gate, built in 1583, was set in the city wall. Just inside it was a maze of narrow alleys lined with tiny shops and pushy shopkeepers, all trying to sell you plastic crosses, gaudy clothes and other kitsch.

I donned a kippah and went to the Western Wall to pray with the Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Back in the marketplace I found the tee-shirt.

On the front was an emblem, a Torah scroll crossed with an assault rifle, surrounded with symbols of the menorah, the two tablets of stone and the badge of the IDF. The inscription was “Guns ‘n’

Moses.” Quite profound really.

As David Ben-Gurion once famously declared “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.”

A Donkey Called Taxi On our arrival in Jerusalem, our luxury air conditioned coach drove up to a lookout over the Mount of Olives. Before us lay the unforgettable panorama of the Temple Mount, the city wall and the Golden Gate. Among the usual gaggle of hawkers selling postcards and beads was an Arab gentleman in traditional Bedouin dress – a long faded grey smock with dribbles down it. He muttered something in Arabic, pointing to his mouth and said “Shekel.” That he was not

exactly starving was evident by his girth, and when that was pointed out he guffawed with laughter.

Standing over by the wall was one of the oldest forms of transport known to man – a donkey.

When I gave him a couple of shekels and said I would like to take a photo of him and the donkey, he looked over and called out its name: “Taxi!”

A Nation of Faith Israel is home to the three great faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. To say these faiths are in contrast, contradiction and conflict would be an understatement.

Then there are all the shades of observance in between. As a Christian, I was eager to see the places associated with Jesus, especially where the drama of his death, burial and resurrection had played out. For me, the most moving place of all was the Garden Tomb.

Just outside the Damascus Gate, is a rock formation that resembles a skull, Golgotha. That the nearby garden belonged to a wealthy man is evidenced by a stone wine press dug into the ground. The tomb is carved out of solid rock. At the entrance is a wide groove where the huge circular stone was rolled away, just like the scripture says. Inside is a small preparation room and on the right is the place where the body lay.

This was an unusual feature in that in most tombs the burial chamber was to the rear of the preparation room. It is interesting to note that on resurrection morning the women “…entering the tomb … saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side” (Mark 16.5.) As you go out, on the back of the door is the inscription “He is not here, he is risen”.

This felt much more authentic than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which has so many dimly

This felt much more authentic than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which has so many dimly lit chapels and reconstructions all overlaid with religious paraphernalia, that it is confusing and depressing. It speaks of death. The Garden Tomb speaks of life.

lit chapels and reconstructions all overlaid with religious paraphernalia, that it is confusing and depressing. It speaks of death.

The Garden Tomb speaks of life.

Travelling round One of the loveliest areas in Israel is Galilee, where Jesus spent much of his time ministering to the needs of the people. This is where the early kibbutzim were established, where the new immigrants laboured with picks and shovels to make vegetable fields, orchards and vineyards, and to turn the land green again. It was the clever use of water and irrigation that made it all possible. The river Jordan is only a small river where it enters the Sea of Galilee, but it is teeming with fish and life. At the southern end of the lake, the river Jordan continues down to the Dead Sea — down being the operative word here. It is the lowest place on earth at 400 metres below sea level, and its waters the most saline. It contains no life of any sort, unless you include the bathers enjoying the unique experience of floating like a cork. The water is so salty that if you swallow some you are sent straight to hospital.

Travelling down on the bus towards the Dead Sea you pass through the Judean Desert. Mile upon relentless mile of barren hills, scorching hot boulders,

stones, sand and dust. When you actually walk the land, Scripture takes on a new clarity. “Lest you dash your foot on a stone” is a real possibility. In biblical days, people walked everywhere. Narrow tracks wandered through the hills, with stones and boulders all over the place. It also made you realise just how much travellers looked forward to getting his feet washed, a common courtesy of the day.

Jesus was dismayed at the disrespect shown to him by Simon the Pharisee. “I entered your house, you gave me no water to wash my feet,” he said.

Then, in the middle of nowhere, the coach turns a corner and we see an acre or two of lush cultivation. Several springs provide plentiful water for this green oasis of palm trees, desert and tropical plants. This is En Gedi, where David sought refuge from King Saul.

It is also mentioned in the Song of Solomon as “The vineyards of En Gedi”. It still refreshes the weary traveller.

“GUNS ‘N’ MOSES”

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REDEEMED, RENEWED AND A GOOD CUP OF TEA

BY PAM BEDWELL

I

n telling the story of a young person there is not a lot of history – or, at least not the sort of history we older folk might think. The usual is that Koreana was born in Wellington, moved to the Shore when she was six, went to Rangitoto College, graduated from Elam with a Bachelor of Fine Arts followed by a gap year managing Cafe Windsor, then graduated from Laidlaw College with a Bachelor of Counselling. Then it gets interesting.

The interesting bit is seeing how God used each part of the journey – either as something to learn from or something to be blessed by — or both.

There are two places of calm for Koreana.

They are at the beach and in a cup of tea.

“A cup of tea at the end of a hard day relaxes me,” she says. “It gives me my moment of selfcare... and makes me happy. It’s like a little cup of joy.”

Between Koreana and her flat-mate Patsy Way there are more than 55 different blends to choose from. Guests, as I can attest, find it hard to choose which variety to try. Today I chose Strawberry Champagne black tea while Koreana stayed with a favourite – French Earl Grey. Some friends who come time and again have their favourite cup and saucer. Koreana’s favourite changes regularly. I peer into the china cabinet and choose a blue one that looks like it should have windmills just over the horizon. Hospitality is a strong part of Koreana’s creative side. She loves to bless people.

Her years of doing the Bachelor of Fine Arts opened a world that was both challenging and rewarding. The beach came into its own here, as a place Koreana could go to where the calm of God could cover her. It was here God would remind her that he was and is and will be bigger than everything. Perhaps some of her projects subconsciously illustrate this – like the giant knitting needles she used to knit what we decided to call “The Sailor’s Patch,” or the 1920s style fringe hanging in the hallway that was made from hundreds of pieces of old film roll ends.

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KOREANA WILSON

Project problems presented opportunities for thinking outside the box. This became the base to enhance her counselling work. Her time at Elam allowed Koreana to explore and build up her creative side. This in turn has helped as she searches for creative (and therefore often fun) solutions for young people. It contributes to making Koreana adaptable. No two students are the same and there is no template. You have to be real, honest and totally authentic. Otherwise they see right through you and there will be no connection.

The work today Koreana works at Murrays Bay Intermediate, sponsored by Bays Youth Community Trust and Windsor Park’s Behind the Walls mission outreach, as well as giving some time to the Windsor Park Counselling Centre. She notes that counselling is not all about problems.

Sometimes there are celebrations that need to be shared.

“It’s not my work or your work. It’s God’s work. It’s not about me but about what God has invited me to be a part of.”

I asked Koreana what is important to her personally. Not in relation to work or home life or church life, but what is important. Period.

Relationships. “When I trained as a counsellor,” Koreana explains, “the whole crux of the theology was that we were created in and for relationships... because of who God is.”

Participating in what God is doing. “It’s not my work or your work. It’s God’s work. It’s not about me but about what God has invited me to be a part of.”

“The story is so much bigger than my story,” Koreana continues with enthusiasm. “It helps me see the bigger picture. It anchors me, because

the work can take its toll sometimes. I realise it’s not just all up to me. I think about the possibilities Christ brought at the cross – of faith, hope and love – and I want to present possibilities to the young people.”

Personal healing Five years ago Koreana would not have seen herself where she is today. Verses that mean much to her are Isaiah 45:2-3 (NIV) I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, “I wouldn’t be where I am now without a healing from God,” she says. “I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. God really brought about a transformation in me so I could do this work, and I really desire this healing for others. I have a history of trauma which has affected many areas of my life. It affected my self-esteem and my relationships with people and with God.” Koreana explains that she felt broken and damaged. Half way through her fine arts degree it all began to surface and she didn’t know what to do. Through a few people at church, through prayer and the hearing of God’s truth, Koreana got over the bumps to a place where God redeemed her brokenness.

“Redeeming and renewal is a constant thing,” Koreana says. “It’s a process of building. God is very thorough with his healing if you open yourself to him – his joy replaces all the sorrow.”

She quotes Ephesians 3:20-21 — “He can do ‘immeasurably more than we can imagine.’

That’s beyond our comprehension, especially during our darkest moments.”

Koreana can see that God has brought her to a place she never would have thought possible.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been hard work – but it’s been so worth it. Now she is blessed to be in the position of helping others. A position she’d never have been in had it not been for her past, and for the future God’s grace presents.

“I wouldn’t be where I am now without a healing from God. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. God really brought about a transformation in me so I could do this work, and I really desire this healing for others.

KOREANA WILSON

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EUTHANASIA ….

A HOT POLITICAL POTATO Maryan Street, MP, has proposed the End of Life Choice Bill, which, if passed into law, would allow voluntary euthanasia in New Zealand. While we note that the Bill has been withdrawn from the private member’s ballot for now (until after the election?) it will likely be re-submitted after September.

Where should Christians stand on this issue?

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FEATURE

L

ast May a public meeting in New Plymouth, warning of the dangers of legalising euthanasia, was jointly organised by members of the local Catholic and Anglican parishes. In his introduction, general practitioner Dr Ian Smiley commented: “Although the idea for the meeting has come from within the churches, we are keen that this meeting … should not be seen as a religious issue, but one that the community as a whole need to openly discuss and consider.”

The next day, Professor Richmond, an expert on geriatric medicine, spoke at Taranaki Hospital on the implications of Maryan Street’s proposed Bill.

There was considerable discussion around the wording of the conscience clause which, in its current wording, would force any doctor who received a request for assisted suicide or euthanasia, and who was opposed to being involved; to refer the patient to a doctor they knew would carry out the request.

That evening Dr Richmond, together with Dr John Kleinsman, the director of the Wellington-based Nathaniel Bioethics Centre, spoke with a group of local GPs on the End of Life Choice Bill and its implications for them, as well as its potential implications for providing end-of-life care.

Their point was that legalisation of euthanasia would compromise the provision of good holistic health care by professionals. It could also compromise people’s willingness to be cared for – rather than end it all.

For this issue of LIFT magazine we invited two WPBC members, Dr Andy Wearn, a clinical academic and general practitioner, and Dr Myk Habets, a lecturer at Carey Baptist College, to present their views.

A CHRISTIAN PHYSICIAN’S PERSPECTIVE

BY ANDY WEARN

A

lthough the original Greek means “a good death,” a more contemporary meaning is “physician assisted suicide,” or PAS. For health professionals there are a range of issues that might exercise our ethical muscles: abortion, stem cell research, genetic modification, for example. In New Zealand, with the postponement of a recent parliamentary bill, the current hot topic is euthanasia.

Although the Hippocratic Oath is now often replaced with modern, alternative wording, the preservation of life is still central to a doctor’s practice. We have a responsibility to care, and to assist when patients suffer, but most of us wouldn’t see that extending to assisted suicide. As far as possible we seek to reduce suffering and journey with people through their illness. We get it wrong sometimes, but we aim to make disability or the end of life bearable. When I’ve had conversations with seriously ill patients, the conversation is more likely to be about maximising the life left, not ending that life.

Often that might mean a decision to stop treatment.

But that is not assisting death. It is respecting an individual’s right to choose not to be treated.

We all know that one of the commandments is “Do not murder.” Despite some of the uncomfortable history we’ve recently covered as part of The Story series, the consistent biblical theme is that taking a life is contrary to God’s order. Jesus underlines the precious-

ness of life and acts with compassion to heal and care, especially those who were hopeless or vulnerable.

Christianity is life-giving, life-affirming. Life, however, inevitably includes pain, disability and mental illness, and these are significant challenges. But Christ is with us in our suffering and we have a hope beyond this life.

Job’s life is an obvious example of extreme suffering where there was strong motivation to check out, but Job dug in to God’s faithfulness and acknowledged his sovereign power.

Some of my comments might come across as trite, but I think the response to euthanasia is not especially complex – patients need to trust doctors and know they will receive appropriate care. They need to know they can be helped to cope with their illness or have a dignified death, but that doctors will not take their life.

Returning to where I started, euthanasia is what could be termed a big or “macro” issue in ethics — one that I would rarely encounter in practice. “Micro” ethics, on the other hand, are the bread and butter of clinical practice. Issues such as equity, consent, choice and access are commonplace. These resonate for me with the well-known verse in Micah: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8).

Clinical practice, including end-of-life decisions, needs to be underpinned with a wise balance of compassion and justice.

FEATURE

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EUTHANASIA: A THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE DR MYK HABETS

T

he issue of euthanasia will undoubtedly be played out in the New Zealand public later this year or early next year, as the government seeks to update many of its archaic legal regulations and further the secularization of New Zealand society. Like the Civil Unions Bill and the Marriage Equality Bill, the issue of assisted suicide is a major issue potentially affecting many of us in this country. Unlike the two former bills, the issue of euthanasia is, in my opinion, far more important and one which Christians ought to be audibly exercised about.

Euthanasia entails the deliberate act of intending or choosing a painless death for the humane purpose of ending the agony of someone who suffers from incurable disease or injury. There are two kinds of euthanasia: active

The basic fallacy of active euthanasia is to presume upon the sovereign right of God over human life. Naturalists presume to play God rather than simply to be human. and passive. The former is taking a life to avoid suffering, and the latter is simply allowing death to occur in order to avoid suffering.

Euthanasia can be either voluntary or non-voluntary. In the former the patient consents to death, and in the latter they do not. The death can be self-caused or caused by another. In the former case it is a form of suicide, and in the latter case it is a homicide. Those subjected to humanly initiated death can be young or old. The

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former is infanticide and the latter is generally just called euthanasia.1 There is a growing dissatisfaction with the distinction between active and passive euthanasia amongst many ethicists today. The main difference between active and passive euthanasia is the physical nature of the act—whether it is an act of commission or omission. But many believe this is not the salient point. Rather, the key issue is intent. The main question to ask is: What is chosen or purposed or intended in this act? For this reason, ethicists are increasingly distinguishing euthanasia from letting die. Here euthanasia means intending death as a means to ending suffering while letting die is withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging and life-sustaining technologies as an intentional act to avoid useless prolonging of the dying process. This is a subtle distinction I agree, but an important one to consider. It is true that in letting die, a physician knows that death will come. But this does not mean the doctor intends or purposes death. Those who defend letting die emphasise an important distinction between intention and foresight. If someone intends to bring about the end of a woman’s life, he murders her even if the physical act is an act of omission.

But in letting die, someone foresees the end of her life as a result of his action (say, by withholding useless surgery), but without intending the death. Ethicists that advocate the letting die position conclude that we are forbidden to choose death even to end suffering. Yet we are permitted, in certain cases, to choose the patient’s well-being by withholding or withdrawing medical treatments that either intensify the suffering or, at best, merely postpone the moment of death for a short time. 2

I. Active Euthanasia or “Mercy Killing” Active euthanasia denotes directly taking the life of the patient. In active euthanasia, a physician or a friend causes death (perhaps by injecting a toxin or by smothering them with a pillow [remember Leslie Martin?] 3) though for merciful reasons.

Many arguments can be cited to argue against any form of active euthanasia being morally right under the Christian worldview.

Here are a few.

There is no moral right to kill.

The Bible is clear when it says in Ex 20.13 “You shall not murder.”

As creatures we have no right to take life. That right is reserved for the Creator (Gen 1.27), for God as illustrated by his words in Deuteronomy 32.39, “I put to death and I bring to life. . . and no one can deliver out of my hands.” The basic fallacy of active euthanasia is to presume upon the sovereign right of God over human life. Naturalists presume to play God rather than simply to be human.

Suffering has a purpose.

In addition to the point above we could add that the Christian view of suffering is not that it is an evil to be avoided but rather, as James 1.2-4 puts it, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking any good thing.” While suffering is never pleasant (Heb 12.11) it is a very real part of life and a part that God would not have us (or his Son) shy away from or cut short.

There is no price tag on a human life. Naturalists have said

•

•

•

that an argument for euthanasia is that it is cost effective! This is to wrongly assume that we should protect and preserve life only if we can afford it. This is materialistic, not moral! As is written in Mark 8.36, “What good is it for person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

The end does not justify the means. The view that euthanasia will relieve society of a great burden is misguided as well.

This overlooks the intrinsic value of human life, all human life. It also attempts to make a wrong (killing) right because it relieves an assumed burden on society.

If this maxim holds true, then why are we disgusted by Hitler’s attempt to use euthanasia to rid the world of “undesirables”?

Human beings are not animals.

This point must never be lost sight of. We could shoot an ass caught in a burning barn because an ass is an animal and is not created in the image of God. Once we reduce human beings to animals, then a host of evils follow logically, including human experimentation, killing AIDS victims, eugenics, and even genocide.

•

•

II. P assive Euthanasia or “Letting Die” Passive euthanasia is when we allow someone to die of natural means, and there are cases where this is morally acceptable to the Christian worldview. Taking a human life by infanticide or euthanasia is never right, but allowing someone to die is not always wrong. Withholding unnatural means of sustaining life is not always wrong. Here are a few guidelines: When extraordinary human efforts are prolonging death rather than life, when artificial life supports are interfering with the natural process of death, rather than enriching a person’s natural life, then their use is wrong. It is resisting the hand and will of God that is involved in the very process of death.

Keeping a comatose person who has an incurable disease alive on a machine when they are irreversibly dying is unnecessary. It could even be viewed as unethical, as it is opposing the processes of natural mortality that God has ordained (Gen 2.1617; Rom 5.12).

•

•

When extraordinary human efforts are prolonging death rather than life, when artificial life supports are interfering with the natural process of death, rather than enriching a person’s natural life, then their use is wrong.

• The disease must be irreversible. No one should be allowed to die if we have the means at hand to save their lives.

The patient has veto power. If the patient is conscious and rational they have veto power over any decision not to extend life by artificial means.

A collective decision. The Bible says there is wisdom in joint decisions (Num 35.30; Prov 24.6).

So it would be wise to discuss the issue with the doctor, pastor,

•

•

family and friends, but above all, to invite God in on the decision through prayer. When the course of death is medically irreversible and no divine intervention is forthcoming, it is morally justified to stop unnatural efforts to prolong the process of dying. Then we must rest assured that God’s grace is sufficient (2 Cor 12.9).

More could, and should, be said, but I trust this brief overview of the issues is enough to get your interest and move you to action. God values life, death, and resurrection and expects his image bearers, humanity, to follow suit. We should publicly and audibly stand against any moves to legalise euthanasia in our country.

For helpful information see the blog of former Baptist pastor Thalia Rowden: sacraparental. com/2013/11/25/matters-of-life-anddeath-euthanasia/ 1 N.L. Geisler, Christian Ethics: Options and Issues (Grand Rapids. Baker, 1989), 157.

2 This is taken from D.K. Clark, and R.V. Rakestraw, (eds.), Readings in Christian Ethics, 2 vols (Grand Rapids. Baker, 1996), 2:96.

3 See: http://www.life.org.nz/euthanasia/ abouteuthanasia/nzeuthanasiahistory5/

FEATURE

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THE ROAD TO COUNSELLING

BY CAROL-ANNE BEGBIE, WINDSOR PARK CHRISTIAN COUNSELLING CENTRE

As a youngster I had a beautiful children’s Bible.

Reading it one day, as a ten-year-old, a raw and revealing painting of Jesus on the cross, storm clouds in the background and people weeping at his feet, caught my attention. I cried and cried. It was when I first realised what God had done by sending us his Son.

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FEATURE CAROL-ANNE BEGBIE

I

was born in Johannesburg and grew up in nearby Sandton with my younger brother.

My parents were born in South Africa and my grandparents were from England. My mother had a Pentecostal background (Assemblies of God) and my dad was an Anglican.

They married and fellowshipped in the Methodist church, where later my brother and I went to Sunday School.

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know the Lord. As a little girl of about four I remember visiting my maternal grandparents who lived in a different town and going to church with them.

This time was different, for during the worship I experienced the most inexplicable joy. I just knew God was present.

As a youngster I had a beautiful children’s Bible. Reading it one day, as a ten-year-old, a raw and revealing painting of Jesus on the cross, storm clouds in the background and people weeping at his feet, caught my attention. I cried and cried. It was when I first realised what God had done by sending us his Son. I learned much about the Lord from my grandparents, and learned about serving through the example set by my mum and dad and through the Mercy Convent School I attended. We were taught to care about others, to show mercy, and to help the poor. The first altruistic project I was part of was in my last year of the primary section, fundraising to rebuild a classroom in Soweto following the 1976 riots the year before.

Higher Education After school I went to Rhodes University in Grahamstown. On my first day I walked into this bare, brown room in my residence hall, and on the desk next to my bed a campus organisation had placed a little book about Jesus. What a relief! Soon I began to attend a local Baptist church.

At university I started a B Com with psychology. I joined the university’s chamber choir and the music professor suggested I register for their choral diploma, which involved singing, music theory and conducting. It was a two year course which I was able to study simultaneously. I graduated with the diploma, but since I was really not enjoying the accounting and economics component of the B Com, I thought about switching to a social science degree.

My parents suggested I work for a while, and then decide which way to go. God’s hand was in this because after I returned home my mother was diagnosed with late stage cancer, and I was able to be with her. The following year my mum passed away. Dad encouraged me to follow

through with an overseas trip I had been saving for since starting work. So six months later, I took a month off to go to London and Europe.

Shortly after returning, I began working in the market research department at Toyota Marketing South Africa. This led to a position as a personnel consultant and assistant branch manager at the Kelmac Group.

More study Before long I felt the Lord nudging me to return to university. I was by now doing well professionally and not too interested in more study. But wanting to obey God’s leading, I began studying part time at UNISA, in Pretoria, while continuing in my job. I embarked on a BA in Social Science, a comprehensive, four-year degree comprising counselling, psychology and social work. Far from being bored, I loved this!

It was an amazing decade. I was walking closely with the Lord and serving on the church’s praise and worship team, for seven years as its leader. I was baptised and served as a deacon and in other ministries.

A new vocation As I learned counselling skills and theory and began working with clients, I realised I’d found my calling. My attitude changed from obedience to surprise, joy and gratefulness. I couldn’t work regularly during the last two years as I had to do an internship, but my old personnel company hired me as a relief branch manager during the holidays, and I continued to serve at church.

During this time God showed his faithfulness and I lacked for nothing.

After graduating I worked part-time in adult mental health doing case management, counselling and training. At the same time, I worked for a children’s home as their play therapist/counsellor and supervised their halfway house.

Marriage By now I was 30, my focus had been on other things and I’d decided I wasn’t interested in a relationship unless it was serious and leading to marriage. One of my friends, a female youth pastor who knew I would be up late singing in a street ministry event in town, said to me, “This evening I’m going to be doing the flowers for a wedding. Do you want to pop in for coffee? I’ll need company as I’ll be up all night.” So afterwards, I dropped by and noticed another car there. A pleasant chap by the name of Kevin was having coffee while Sandra was doing her flowers.

Kevin’s and my paths seemed to cross a lot

after this and he joined our young adults on a weekend camping trip. Following this, he invited himself over to my place to ask for advice on behalf of someone who had a problem. The rest is history. Within five months we were engaged, and six months later we were married.

Later I resigned and God opened doors for me to work part-time at the university to train second, third and fourth year students and to set up private practice. I loved this combination.

A few years later we had our first daughter (I was almost 34 by then) and I felt it was important to be there for her. So I reduced my practice and no longer trained students. Three years later our second daughter was born.

As the girls grew, it was time to step up work and grow the counselling practice again. As part of this, I did counselling/therapy and groups at two schools. Kevin and I were also invited to join a church planting team. It was an exciting time, as we each served in multiple roles.

New Zealand We were settled in South Africa. Church and work were going well and I had no thought of emigrating. But one day at the beginning of January 2008, much to my surprise, my husband told me he thought we should move to New Zealand.

We briefly visited in August 2008, and Kevin set the immigration wheels in motion. But they turned slowly. In December 2008 Kevin was retrenched from his marketing position, with the current economic recession making it hard to find similar work. So 2009 was a challenging time for us. In December 2009 we were finally granted permanent residency in New Zealand and our house sold at the same time.

Kevin arrived in Auckland in February 2010 and the girls and I followed in March. I’d planned to be at home initially, settle the children, get accreditation in my field and then look for work.

But with Kevin unemployed at that time, our plans changed and I needed to work quickly.

At the eleventh hour, God stepped in and Kevin

was offered a job. Today he is working in an internet-based business.

Windsor Park Christian Counselling Centre I’d heard Windsor Park was starting a counselling centre and I contacted Sue Ogilvie in July 2010. I was not yet accredited and the centre wasn’t yet up and running. I’d also heard good things about Equip, the mental health service, and successfully applied for a position where I could work school hours around my family. Through Equip I learned much about New Zealand and its peoples and systems. I gained provisional accreditation from the NZ Association of Counsellors and began doing counselling and play therapy from an office at Long Bay Baptist.

It can also be challenging when people have been damaged and/or abused within a religious context and it has skewed God and Christianity for them.

During 2011, I officially joined the Windsor Park Christian Counselling team, while still working at Equip. I was later seconded to another NGO part-time for six months, obtained full accreditation and resigned during 2013 to focus on counselling.

Windsor Park Christian Counselling Centre got its own counselling suite during 2012. We are currently a team of five professional counsellors, spanning different ages, genders, ethnicities and specialities. The counsellors are Dave Sanders, Kaye McGregor, Alison Redwood, Koreana Wilson and myself. Our heart is to be Jesus-centred and we align ourselves with Windsor Park’s mission to “transform communities one life at a

time” by providing confidential counselling to help people work through life’s challenges.

To avoid burnout it’s important to pace oneself and plan ahead where possible. Having down time, some great friends and a good supervisor is essential to me, and importantly, being able to take all my clients and their situations to the Lord. I love singing, worship, reading, walking and talking with friends, and solitude too.

Challenges of counselling One of the reasons I love this work is that people have so much untapped potential.

They often don’t even realise what inner and personal resources they actually have, or that they can develop insight and learn new skills or ways. It is amazing to see how God moves in people’s lives.

At times, it has been a challenge for me when working with children who may be dealing with so much pain and difficulty. I can do little to change what’s around them. It can also be challenging when people have been damaged and/ or abused within a religious context and it has skewed God and Christianity for them.

My advice to those thinking of becoming counsellors would be to pray and seek God’s leading and guidance. Recognise how God has shaped you, identify your talents and giftings, and consider why this profession appeals and what you hope to achieve. Then apply to a good training institution.

You can be taught the required skills, but I believe God purposes each person to work in accordance with his shaping and gifting. You need to be empathetic, a good listener, teachable, and able to put people at ease. You also need integrity and sound knowledge and skills.

It’s not hard to see why Jeremiah 29:11-12 is my favourite Bible verse: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

You can be taught the required skills, but I believe God purposes each person to work in accordance with his shaping and gifting.

CAROL-ANNE BEGBIE

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FAMILY IS FOR

EVER

BY DAVID KNELL

W

e all have a story to tell. In Bruce and Tracy Anderson’s lives the hand of God can clearly be seen, leading to an exciting new challenge in the year ahead.

The story starts in Glasgow, Scotland, where Bruce was born. When he was ten, he and his parents moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. It was the early 70s, the oil crisis was making life tough, and South Africa beckoned as a land of opportunity. Bruce attended intermediate and then Athlone Boys High School in Johannesburg.

Bruce became a Christian in his last year of school. He was involved in Boy’s Brigade and Scouts but something else caught his attention. A mini revival was going on, led by one of the prefects, and some of Bruce’s friends had become Christians. The prefect was captain of the A swimming team, and Bruce the captain of the B team.

A challenged B to a debate in the locker room after swimming practice, but before it came to that, Bruce realised his friend had a joy, peace and happiness that Bruce didn’t have, and so he simply asked what it was.

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BRUCE AND TRACY ANDERSON

BRUCE AND TRACY ANDERSON

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Tracy was born in Johannesburg. She grew up in a Christian family and was involved in Lombardy East Methodist Church. At a Student Christian Association youth camp, at age fourteen, she was overwhelmed by the sense of God’s presence and made a commitment to follow Christ. Tracy started teaching Sunday School, ran a holiday club, sang in the choir and started a band.

Bruce went on to complete a BCom and a BAcc at Witwatersrand University, whilst Tracy also completed her education at Witwatersrand, gaining a BEd. Although they were at the same university, they didn’t meet there because they were in different departments. The threads of their story are, however, beginning to twine together.

It was the Spring Ball at Lombardy East Methodist Church. Tracy’s friend Corinne desperately wanted to go to the ball with a young man named Sean, but Sean was equally sure he wanted to go with Tracy, and would not be persuaded otherwise.

“In the end I gave in,” Tracy says, “but made a secret arrangement with Corinne to swap partners as soon as possible at the ball.”

The plan went like clockwork. Corinne’s partner was not so bad either. His name was Bruce.

At this time Tracy was teaching guitar on the side, so Bruce borrowed an old guitar and took lessons. They started dating, and romance blossomed. On their first walk, Bruce held her hand and they prayed together.

“I knew this was my man,” says Tracy.

They were married at the Edenvale Baptist Church in January 1991.

Bruce had found employment in the form of a three-year contract with a Jewish company, Kessel Feinstein, one of South Africa’s leading firms of chartered accountants. It was a rewarding time of his life, joining in Christian/Jewish debates at the Messianic Fellowship.

Tracy taught for four years in girls’ schools, and then found a position in the Chamber of Mines.

The Chamber of Mines in South Africa was an all-encompassing authority for mining operations and included recruitment and many other general services from wage negotiation to hospitals. Tracy’s role was to educate and

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“If you’re in the army you’re given a gun. Then you’re expected to use it.

It didn’t fit with my Christian beliefs.” train the miners. During this time she met Nelson Mandela who came to The Chamber of Mines (followed by a mass of rioters.) She found him to be a tall, pleasant, gentle and well-spoken man who was lovely to meet.

In 1995 the Chamber of Mines was establishing national qualifications for industry, and they sent Tracy to New Zealand to see how it was done there.

It was, as Bruce says, well timed.

“We had been considering a move to New Zealand,” he says, “so I came along too. It was

what we call an LSD trip.” Not the hallucinogenic variety, he adds quickly, “but Look, See and Deposit!”

Bruce had become a conscientious objector.

He was due for compulsory conscription in the South African army, but could not see himself as a soldier.

“If you’re in the army you’re given a gun. Then you’re expected to use it,” he says. “It didn’t fit with my Christian beliefs.”

More importantly, the Andersons felt there was greater support for family life in New Zealand, and so a life-changing decision was made.

The couple returned to South Africa and started the long process of obtaining immigration and medical clearance.

On arrival in New Zealand, Bruce initially found employment with Deloitte. There were several other jobs along the way, until he joined UDC Finance, part of the ANZ Group. At ANZ, Bruce took on more and more senior financial

“There comes a time in everyone’s life when there is more than making money. You can only get so much satisfaction from profits on the bottom line.”

roles, culminating as head of NZ Management Information Systems.

He also became involved in Radio Rhema.

Sport had always been an important part of his life, and so he took on the Sports News, following Prime Minister Helen Clark at 8.25.

“That was hard work,” he recalls. “Every day was different. It took an hour of preparation for a few minutes on air.”

By the time Rhema launched Shine TV, Bruce was the financial controller for the organisation.

He was invited to join the board of Rhema, but due to his senior position at ANZ, he had to ask permission from the board of the bank.

“This could be damaging to your career,” they responded. But Bruce reassured them that although it was a charitable organisation, it was built on a firm foundation. He was elected by the Board to be its chairman in July 2013.

Meanwhile Tracy had her hands full, raising three boys.

Family is all important to the Andersons. Tracy took on home schooling, as she says “I wanted to raise the boys to be good, strong, godly young men.”

The boys are a credit to her. Glen, now aged seventeen, has one year to go before Massey University, and is with Home Schooling NZ. He is a sports nut, follows basketball avidly, and plays tennis and football. Derek, aged fifteen, was home schooled up to intermediate, and then chose to go to Rangitoto College. He is a footballer and a drummer in the Tribe Band. He is also going to play in the youth services. Craig is twelve and has been assessed as gifted.

Apart from home schooling, he attends one day a week at the Gifted Education Centre. He swims like a fish, and is into computers, reading and drama.

Following the merger of the National and ANZ banks, Bruce was asked to take on roles that didn’t seem to fit and were unappealing. He

began to look around for something else and went for a number of interviews. A few things came up, but nothing worked out. At one interview, he was told that maybe he should look at a charitable, not-for-profit organisation.

Was this God’s gentle leading?

Bruce knew that just as Abraham went out not knowing where he was going, God was in control. Bruce prayed that he would know God’s plan, but realized that with a young family, he urgently needed a job.

Bruce and Tracy have been involved at Windsor Park Baptist since arriving in New Zealand.

Tracy ran the crèche, and both are team leaders of Tribe, Youth and Young Adults.

Bruce Pilbrow was a youth pastor at the time and so knew Bruce well. Bruce Pilbrow was also CEO of The Parenting Place, and told Bruce he would be resigning in eight or nine months’ time, and what about taking on his job?

The Parenting Place, begun by Ian and Mary Grant, was previously known as Parents Inc, and before that, Parenting With Confidence. They had a vision to equip and encourage parents with the skills and resources to fulfil their vital roles. The name changes reflected the organisation’s increasing involvement with the community and its role as a resource centre for everything to do with parenting.

It was just what Bruce was looking for. After the usual interviews with the agent and board, he was offered the position.

It was a big sea-change for Bruce.

“I have always done what I feel God has asked me to do,” he says. “There comes a time in everyone’s life when there is more than making money. You can only get so much satisfaction from profits on the bottom line.”

Bruce has a passion for family, and with his skills and qualifications, the non-profit organization fits him like a glove.

He believes nothing is more important to the fabric of society than the family. He says the greatest need in New Zealand is to challenge and help parents to create good families as God intended. By raising the visibility of The Parenting Place, Bruce hopes to serve families through a wide range of programs and activities, and pass on the best ideas about family life. After all, family is for ever.

BRUCE AND TRACY ANDERSON

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CARE FULL COMMITMENT

BY IAIN LITTERICK

“I feel privileged to have the life I have.”

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SHARON TAYLOR

G

etting hold of a busy woman like Sharon Taylor is not easy. Somehow between youth group, uni, a healthy dose of community service, and staying involved with her almost grown-up children, she manages to squeeze in a chat with me.

First I have to come clean and admit I already knew Sharon and her family. We had known each other for almost 25 years, since before I married my wife Helen, at Milford Baptist. In fact we attended a young married home group that Sharon and her husband Greg were leading from their home. So this journey has been going for a while. Secondly, we also both serve on the worship team, so we’re rostered on together from time to time. However, I hadn’t spent any quality time with her in ages, so this opportunity was savoured.

Sharon and Greg have been married for 26 years and have three children. Myles (24) left the nest two years ago; Stephanie (22) has just finished university, landed her first job and gone flatting, while Blake (18) is in his first semester of an engineering degree. Greg is the creative director at Ballantyne Taylor, a small advertising agency.

Early years As I ask Sharon about her life and faith journey, she pauses, slightly cautious in her reply. “I feel privileged to have the life I have.”

She was born in Whangaparaoa, the middle child of three, where her parents were founding members of Whangaparaoa Baptist. Her father was the local pharmacist, a focal point of the community, and her parents were involved in every aspect of their community, be it school, sports or church. Sharon feels their legacy has molded her into the person she is now.

Both her parents and siblings are musicians. Her dad is still in the worship team at the age of 78 and her mother was also on it until a few years ago. So it’s not surprising that Sharon herself has been singing in worship teams for most of her life.

After leaving Orewa College, she trained as a nurse at AUT, and worked at Auckland Hospital as a critical care nurse for some seven years, enjoying its challenges. When the children started to arrive, however, Sharon and Greg made the decision that she would be a full-time homemaker. So Sharon immersed

herself in all aspects of her children’s lives. She ran Waterwise, the local school sailing programme, managed the tennis, soccer and rugby teams her children were involved in and went on school trips and church camps, including ten consecutive years at Easter camp with Windsor Park.

Despite the commitment and the endless hours that have gone into all this, Sharon believes firmly, “You have to keep going, be persistent.”

Always a sporty type, she took up tennis after her youngest was born, and later served as president of the tennis club. When the family got into skiing, as a great way to play together, Sharon ended up managing the kids’ ski teams too.

Church involvement Originally joining Milford Baptist as a newly married couple, Sharon and Greg ran their first home group for thirteen- and fourteen-year olds. It was fun but chaotic.

“You never really knew whether it was doing any good at the time,” says Sharon, “but recently that question was answered in an unexpected way. A young couple in their early 30s with two small children came up to me after the morning service at Windsor and said, ‘Is that you, Sharon? Remember me? I was that kid in your home group that kept falling off his chair. We had some great times and it kept me in the church!’”

Sharon and her family have now been part of the WPBC community for about sixteen years, and although worship leading has consumed much of that time, Sharon feels her work with the Windsor youth has been her most significant church activity over the past eight years. She and Greg journeyed from Year 9 to Year 13 with the same group of young people as team leaders.

“I find myself attracted to the fringe,” she says,

“whether it is the misfits smoking out the back, young people unsure of themselves, or someone questioning their faith. I love the ratbag kids. I can connect with them. In fact if I weren’t a Christian I might have been a ratbag myself.”

Sharon recalls going on a youth immersion trip to Samoa led by Heather Ameye-Bevers. Years later she still mentors a few of the young women, although they are now in their twenties. As the trip nurse, Sharon spent a good part of each evening picking coral out of the swollen feet of one of the young men. This year she was invited to his wedding.

Sharon today In recent years, Sharon completed papers at Carey Baptist College (Introduction to Theology and Interpreting the Bible) which she says helped to crystallize her faith. Then she switched to Unitec and is currently two-thirds of the way through a postgraduate diploma called Leadership and Management, designed for the not-for-profit sector. This has consolidated her work in various leadership roles over the years.

“We each bring a unique combination of tradition and experience,” she explains, “which colours our view of the world and of God.” Whether her Unitec diploma will open a new door in her journey or simply present a fork in the road, she does not know. Sharon has trusted God and continues to do so.

“Our responsibility is to do the best with what God has given us,” she says, “to achieve all that we can.”

It is clear to me that this family is coming to the end of one season, and the beginning of a new one. As her family reaches the point where they begin their own journeys, it is time to reflect and take stock.

One thing is for certain: that won’t last long.

“I love the ratbag kids. I can connect with them. In fact if I weren’t a Christian I might have been a ratbag myself.”

SHARON TAYLOR

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FEATURE LIAM BADGER

GRACE TO PLAY BALL

BY LISA MICHELLE

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t has taken a while for us to cross paths, but finally I am sitting opposite Liam in the Young Adults’ office of the church, and he has me smiling in seconds. This quick-witted young man seems slightly suspicious of my wanting a story from him, but we relax into the interview after a short banter about what the logo on his cap means. It’s probably best I don’t say.

Liam was born 23 years ago in Melville, Hamilton, and lived on Bader Street, which, he tells me, was recently voted the worst street in Hamilton. But he says he was pretty proud of it.

He grew up under his mother’s supervision (his father had left before he was born) and he has nothing but praise for her. “I was very independent and she let me be my own person.”

She took him along to church. He was never pressured to go, but he loved it.

“From a very young age, God was real for me,” he says, “but not because mum told me. My faith is my faith.”

He played soccer. He also enjoyed his church’s youth group. “I had a pretty good group of friends, and we’d just charge around Hamilton on our bikes, watch movies, and talk about Jesus.”

Liam shared that despite all that, something was missing.

“I was going along to church and stuff, but I had never said the forgiveness prayer. I didn’t even know the Gospel. I only knew about David and Goliath and all the good stories...”

Christian camping became a huge part of Liam’s teenage years, both as a camper and as a leader, and he was involved almost every school holiday. He liked it because he felt competent there. At age fourteen he was good at leading the kids and doing all the fun things. “I was only a couple of years older than the other kids,” he says, “but I was tall. I looked and acted older than I was...”

At the camp would be chapel time, and some of the kids wanted to know how to become Christians.

I’d better learn how to do it! he thought, because he’d been helping kids say a prayer he’d never said himself. He does recall saying the prayer once, halfheartedly, at “some random conference” but it wasn’t until later at camp that it became more personal to him:

“I might hold a youth event and two kids turn up...

I’d be upset, but to God that might not be a failure.”

“I started to understand what sin was, what forgiveness was, what the gospel meant...”

Today Liam says, “I feel my relationship with Jesus is one that was established very strongly in my teenage years, and has always been there. I’ve always had a cool connection with him. The way I hear from him and speak with him has always been real to me, but there have been periods when I can’t tell you when I last read my Bible or sat down for a good prayer time. Yet whenever I turn back to him it feels like there’s never been any time lapsed.... That’s awesome but at the same time it doesn’t encourage me to always be seeking him. No matter where I am or what I’m doing I always feel quite close, even if I’m not in direct communication.”

Liam has understood something of grace.

“I would have friends in my teenage years who when they did something bad, like thought a girl was hot or saw a sex scene in a movie, would feel, Oh crap, I’m a terrible person!”

By contrast, Liam never felt overwhelmed by guilt.

“It’s not like I sin heaps because I’m forgiven,” he reassures me. “I just don’t understand why Jesus would die for our sin and yet we still need to worry about it.”

After graduating from university at the end of 2012, Liam decided to join a group from Soccer Plus, a ministry which holds camps in New Zealand and takes mission groups overseas to play and coach soccer and share the love of Christ.

This would take him to Brazil and Paraguay for three weeks, and he thought it was “a pretty cool way to top off the year — sport mixed with God!” The idea was to share the gospel via football, but Liam became frustrated at one stage.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of telling the kids about Jesus. We were just playing football against other teams. We would go to church, visit an orphanage and meet the people and I just felt like a celebrity.”

As time went on Liam began to realise that the people were actually grateful to see and be encouraged by them. He concluded that God would work however he wanted. He didn’t need them to do specific things, but just to be there.

Although Liam never saw people coming to Jesus, he had faith it would happen.

He came to see that just being there playing soccer with the people was a way to serve the Lord, and acknowledged that God might see success differently from the way people did.

“I might hold a youth event and two kids turn up,” he says. “I’d be upset, but to God that might not be a failure.”

Things were different in Paraguay when they had a chance to share God’s love and sow a few seeds. Liam shares a diary entry: “My God is a creative and dynamic God. He has these crazy, complicated, amazing plans that intertwine like spaghetti.”

He learned not to guess God’s plans. God told him he could never fathom what he had planned for this trip anyway. The biggest lesson Liam learned on his travels was that he didn’t have to do anything — he just needed to be.

“Relax and just trust that God is good. I think if you were to ask people who do that — who just chill and trust God — you would find they would say God provides, every single time.”

“From a very young age, God was real for me, but not because mum told me.

My faith is my faith.”

LIAMFEATURE BADGER

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Sam Burrows is an ex-Middle School teacher (he made it out alive) who is currently working in Young Adult ministry while completing a Graduate Diploma in Theology at Laidlaw College.

LIFE WITH SAM BURROWS

I’M NOT A JESUS FREAK I

’m willing to bet good money on my ability to beat anyone else in a competition about Christian song lyrics. Seriously, you’d be dumb to take me on. My childhood consisted of Rich Mullins with a bit of Amy Grant chucked in, watching hours of the Donut Man, and then witnessing the Hillsong United boom in my teens.

My skills include being able to recite complete Jars of Clay albums and knowing the entire rap to Michael W. Smith’s Love Crusade. You’ve got nothing on that. This stuff made me who I am.

As I grew older I became increasingly conscious about how this music was often not just “inspirational” or “introspective”, but actually contained extremely formative ideas about what it meant to be a Christian.

Some songs point to behaviour appropriate for those who identify with the church, some put language to the wrestles of faith common to many, and other songs focus on the new sense of meaning that faith gives to life.

But there are also other lyrical ideas common to Christian songs that characterise those who wouldn’t call themselves believers.

And it is these lyrics which are perhaps the most interesting, and often unnecessarily divisive.

These songs seek to explicitly define the self, but also the other in an effort to show points of difference.

And it turns out that the 90’s teen anthem of the Christian sub-culture is one of the most abrasive of them all.

Jesus Freaks DC Talk

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SAM BURROWS/COLUMN

Jesus Freak No other song defined the 90’s Christian scene in the way that this one did. It was cool because it kind of sounded like Nirvana with a bit of hiphop but it was mostly cool because it was so loud and proud.

Nothing screamed “I am Christian, hear me roar!” like DC Talk’s breakthrough single Jesus Freak. It was fun and a bit dark, but importantly it made it seem like a rebellious choice to be a Christian.

Historically this is an interesting move in a culture in which Christianity has been seen as a norm or foundational on at least a value level. If you’re not familiar with this song, the chorus asks: “What would people think if they knew that I’m a Jesus freak? What would people do when they find that it’s true?”

It then moves on to declare: “I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak, there ain’t no disguising the truth.”

The lyrics of the song focus on the idea that adhering to Christianity is socially unnatural, against the flow of the mainstream, and that following Jesus is therefore a new form, giving the middle finger to the mainstream. Basically, Christianity is a form of punk culture.

And this is fine, except the subtle message here is that the “they” that DC Talk are talking about in this song are described in morally inferior terms.

The non-Jesus freaks are characterised as

oppressors, as labellers, a high and lofty mainstream that doesn’t appreciate Christianity. The “other” in this song are clearly the one dimensional baddies. ‘Jesus Freak’ becomes very oppositional, defining Christians by what they aren’t, and encouraging individualistic indifference towards those outside.

And while I have a special place in my heart for this song with all the experiences I’ve attached to it growing up, it is these definitions of self and other that probably deserve a bit of thought.

While claiming they “don’t care” about the label, the reality is that they really do care, because the aim of this song is to establish an alternative post-family identity - a fundamental teen activity.

Identity Telling stories about who we are and where we’re going is an important human activity.

Paul spent a lot of his time telling people about who they were “In Christ” and clearly saw it as crucial to faith development. But response to the secular is never simply an outright rejection of anything non-Christian and neither is the subsequent treatment of non-Christians with wary suspicion.

As Christians we are definitely called to resist parts of mainstream culture, and called to challenge some of it for positive change. But there is so much of “secularism” that is great and needs to be celebrated, and even learned from.

Ultimately, though, while we can probably see what DC Talk were trying to do in strengthening and encouraging those who do feel oppressed by non-Christian influences, we have to concede this is a very one-dimensional portrayal of anyone who does not share the same worldview.

It suggests that anyone on the outside is the enemy until conversion and neglects any conversation about how we in fact do a lot of labelling and oppressing ourselves.

So I’m not comfortable with the freak label because of what it says about me and what is says about those who don’t share the same beliefs. I don’t think my beliefs are freakish or unnatural, but actually speak of what true humanity is.

I do care if we label each other because it stops important conversations around things that are important to us.

So I’m not a Jesus Freak.

Equip is opening two Transitional Houses.

Equip began in the early 1990s as a Christian response to need in our community. The particular need being responded too was Mental Health issues. And that core purpose lies at the heart of who Equip is today. As a response to the shortage of social housing on the North Shore, Equip is establishing Transitional Housing for Mental Health Service Users. We have recently purchased two flats for this purpose. Although this is a non DHB Funded and non contracted Service it will be available for Waitemata District Health Board Clinicians to access on behalf of their Service Users.

Background At any given time, there are Service Users staying in the Inpatient Unit at North Shore Hospital solely because of a Housing issue. This is mainly due to two reasons; (a) there is a shortage of affordable Housing on the North Shore and Rodney areas and (b) Service Users may have exhausted their housing options.

Rationale for Equip getting involved in Transitional Housing

We need your help Donations of household items would be gratefully appreciated. Please contact Des Bucklee via our office ph4770338 or by email Des.Bucklee@equip.org.nz if you have anything we may be able to use.

Transitional Housing is not commonly funded by DHBs. Equip has seen the need in our community and seeks to provide a response which is in line with our core purpose. The proposed Two 2 bedroom Transitional flats are designed to enable people to move from dependency to independence, from homelessness to having a home, and from disconnection to connection with wider community.

A PASSAGE TO INDIA Grant and Ben Harris visit Kolkata and Nagaland

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rom May 2 - 16 I was privileged to visit India with my eighteen-year-old son Ben. We went to spend time with people involved in the two largest projects Windsor Park supports.

The first week we were with Kerry and Annie Hilton at Freeset in Kolkata as well as up in Murshidabad. Freeset is branching into new opportunities to further support women (and their wider families) who have been trapped in the sex industry in South East Asia, often through human trafficking. Freeset is a world-leading organisation, bringing restoration and economic sustainability in places of real need.

Windsor Park has a long history of supporting this work and I have no doubt we’ll continue to be involved in significant ways. During this visit I spent time with the newly-established governance team for Freeset. It was exciting to be a part of discussions that will ultimately mean Freeset will grow its presence and effectiveness in India. I’m grateful for the support of the WP community that enables me to be involved in this work and also for those of you who purchase Freeset products FEATURE regularly – it makes a difference.

We were also able to visit the leaders of the Chakesang Baptist Church Council whose offices are located in Pfutsero, Nagaland (the most north-eastern state of India). Through this relationship we support a missionary family (the Veros) who are from Nagaland but serve in far west Nepal, planting and supporting churches in one of the poorest countries of the world. It was a privilege to renew this unique but effective partnership for another season of ministry. The Council was gracious in its hospitality (there was no running water or internet – gasp!) and their humble desire to serve God impressed us deeply.

We appreciate those of you who support our monthly “Beyond the Walls” offering as these funds — small in the context of our own lives — make a significant difference in the lives of others. They are helping churches to grow in places vastly removed from our own cultural context.

Ben and I were encouraged, and hope that in some small way you might be too. As we give a part of ourselves to world missions, God will continue to do things in people’s lives way beyond our expectations.