Moore Matters Autumn 2022

Autumn 2022 moore.edu.au

A missional heart

h W y gospel mission can’t just be an add-on pages 32-

h T e harvest is plentiful pages 4-5

Gao cf n scholarships: extending the right hand of e f llowship page 6

2 F R O M T H E P R INCIP A L

CONTENTS Why gospel mission can’t just be an add-on �������������������������������������������2-3

How Moore prepared me for mission ������������������� 7

Mission to Hindus ����������������������������������������� 12

The harvest is plentiful �������������������������4-5

The Priscilla & Aquila Centre’s Writing Award �����������������������������������������������������������������������������8-9

Multi-site church planting ���������������� 13

Gafcon scholarships: extending the right hand of fellowship ������������������� 6

Equip gospel ministries in Malaysia ��������10-11

Jesus is what truly matters ������������������������������������������������������������ 14-15

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Why gospel mission can’t just be an add-on Mark Thompson / Principal

ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR CURRENT MOMENT IN TIME IS A FRAGMENTATION OF SOCIETY. WE ARE TOO EASILY PREOCCUPIED WITH OUR OWN SURVIVAL, OUR OWN NEEDS, OUR OWN RIGHTS.

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onfidence in those around us is at an almost record low. The big institutions have failed us: the government, the courts, the police, the church. The shared values which enabled us to live together and at peace with one another have been replaced with myopic personal ‘truths’—my truth, your truth—which must be respected and never challenged.

If we are to believe the press (from both sides of the political spectrum) democracy is tottering on the brink.

The economic situation has soured. A consensus on many issues is far beyond us. Authoritarian figures in many different parts of the world look menacing. Our own stories (individual and collective) are rewritten in a different tone, with different heroines and heroes

and with different villains. In such a climate, looking beyond our own fragility and keeping a clear focus on big picture mission issues is hard.

This is, admittedly, only part of the picture of this moment. While all this is indeed going on, so too is the mission of proclaiming salvation through Christ alone. People are being converted—yesterday, today and tomorrow—lives are being changed, and there is great joy and excitement as men and women meet the Jesus of the Gospels and learn the true meaning of forgiveness, repentance, and a life of discipleship. The Lord is still raising up labourers for his harvest. Thank God, many of them are coming to prepare for that great work at Moore College. Quite a number are specifically interested in cross-cultural mission in Sydney or in other parts of the world. God’s sovereign work of building a people from every tribe, nation and tongue in the world continues. It is genuinely exciting and it has captured their imaginations. All of this is a reminder that the Father is still keeping his promises, Christ is still

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if we are reading our Bibles properly, led by the Spirit who was poured out on representatives from all over the Mediterranean in Acts 2 and who has a message for each of the churches in Revelation 23. “You cannot be growing like Christ”, as another friend of mine once said, “without growing in your passion to reach the lost, because that is what he is like”. If a theological college is by definition committed to the knowledge of God, then it can’t but be committed to proclaiming Christ so that men and women will be brought to the Father through him (John 14:6). Moore College is vitally interested in Christ’s global mission—it shapes all we teach and do— because we have heard the great commission of him who was sent into the world to save sinners (John 3:17; Luke 19:10; Matt 1:21; 28:18–20).

That mission certainly involves the whole person, not just the head and not just the lips. While no one is perfect except Christ himself, who we are and how we live gives credence to (or conversely undermines) what we say. As the apostle Paul knew, that point must be repeated again and again: “keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching” (1 Tim 4:16). Yet at its heart the mission involves proclamation, the announcement of salvation in Christ. It involves speaking so that men and women might hear and believe and be saved (Rom 10:13–17). So a theological college committed to global gospel mission must immerse its students in Scripture in such a sustained way that their message is the gospel message without dilution or distortion. The goal is participation in God’s mission of rescuing men and women and building them into that great multi-racial assembly which will praise his salvation on the last day.

It is God who saves, but he has chosen to do it through the proclamation of the gospel underlined by lives of faith and integrity. That is the truly sacred task for which Moore College seeks to prepare all who come to study here.

Dr Mark D Thompson, Principal

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building his church, and the Spirit is still bringing new life to sinners like us.

Global gospel mission is not simply a pragmatic necessity but a theological imperative. “God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year”, Arthur Ainger wrote in 1894. “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”, the prophet Habakkuk had written millennia before. Jesus himself said “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt 24:14). This is what God is about. He has designed gospel proclamation (in quiet personal conversation, group discussion or from a pulpit or platform) as the means by which he will do it. John Chapman’s famous paraphrase of Romans 1:16 has stuck with me over the years: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the powerful way God saves people”.

If this is what God is about and the end goal really is that innumerable crowd from every tribe, people and language praising with gusto the salvation of God and the Lamb (Rev 7:9–10), then global gospel mission cannot be simply an elective addition to the main business of Christian discipleship or even of theological education. If this is God’s passion, then I cannot be indifferent or uninterested. God’s mission must be our mission. It must shape our priorities. It must direct the way we read the Bible and apply it. It must determine the agenda of the local congregation and direct the energies of the Christian disciple. It must have a discernible impact on the theological curriculum. Discipleship (and even Christian piety) has this context and must never be construed as an alternative to mission. The God we know in Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit is the God of mission. At every ‘evangelistic’ turning point in Scripture it is God himself who takes the initiative. Throughout human history, the great revivals and reformations have been inextricably tied to fresh, powerful preaching of the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. It has never been able to be contained within local or even national borders.

I am always stunned when I hear people say (or hear of people saying) “Moore College isn’t really interested in mission”. Nothing could be further from the truth

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The harvest is plentiful Kanishka D Raffel / Anglican Archbishop of Sydney

SYDNEY IS GROWING. FUTURE PLANNING

BY THE GOVERNMENT IS BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF THREE CITY HUBS EVOLVING OVER THE NEXT FORTY YEARS.

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entral River City’ will be based around Parramatta, ‘Eastern Harbour City’ around Sydney harbour and ‘Western Parkland City’ based around the new Nancy-Bird Walton Airport at Bradfield in Western Sydney. At the same time, the last two years of pandemic and the rise of ‘work from home’ has seen numbers of people opting for ‘tree changes’ and ‘sea changes’ to the mountains or the South Coast. The Diocese of Sydney spans all these geographic areas and we are bound under God, to prayerfully, sacrificially and with loving boldness seek to bring to communities across every part of the diocese the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is projected that by 2030 (just eight years away— two Olympics!) more than 50% of Greater Sydney’s population of 5.8 million people will live west of Parramatta. When I consider such figures, I cannot but hear the words of the gospel writers, who recorded that when Jesus ‘saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like

sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”’ (Matthew 9:36-38) The biblical word ‘compassion’ is a metaphor.

It refers to something akin to a ‘kick in the guts’. A deep feeling, not a mere sentimentality. A propulsive feeling that stirs one into action, not just a passive and fleeting emotion. When Jesus looks at the crowds with ‘compassion’ we are meant to understand that he has a longing and yearning for them, that will ultimately take him to the Cross. Similarly, the phrase ‘sheep without a shepherd’ has a long biblical pedigree. God is referred to as the Shepherd of his people in the Book of Genesis (eg.

48:15, 49:24), and as Moses approaches death, he prays that the Lord would not leave his people ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ but raise up a leader to succeed him.

Jesus’s words to his disciples are striking for a couple of reasons. First, it is clear that Jesus means to involve his disciples in the work that is the response to his compassion for the crowds. He means to be the Shepherd to his people, but he will enlist ‘under-shepherds’ as his agents and emissaries. This was by no means the typical pattern of ancient rabbis, whose disciples followed them in order to learn from their wisdom.

1 https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/blogarchive/church-attendancein-australia-infographic/

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The disciples of the rabbis did not share in their rabbis’ work. They were recipients not participants. But Jesus enlists his disciples in his work, and equips them for the task: ‘Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and infirmity’ (Matthew 10:1). Second, Jesus asks his disciples to pray for workers and then appoints them as workers. In other words, they become the answer to their own prayer.

And third, Jesus enlists co-workers in his mission because the ‘harvest is plentiful’. The Lord intends to have a big harvest, a bumper crop! Chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel describes how the disciples are sent first to the ‘lost sheep of Israel’, but they are promised (warned!) that in time they will stand before ‘governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles’. The

mission begins with Israel but will embrace the nations.

The twelve are sent out in the first instance, but a vast cohort of workers whom God raises up in answer to their prayers will follow.

As we contemplate the scale of the task before us and the Lord’s command and promise to raise up workers for the harvest field, what a joy it is that in Moore College the diocese has a partner that is dedicated to serving the purposes of God and the pressing needs of our mission in Sydney. The forecasts suggest that the new city of Bradfield, to be located next to the new airport, will have a population of 1.5 million people. (That was about the population of Perth when I moved there with my family in 1999.) We currently have three churches in that area. According to McCrindle research, about 8% of Australians attend church at least once a month.1 As a proportion of 1.5 million people, that’s 120 000 souls. If as Sydney Anglicans we sought to gather up just 10% of the 120 000 people who might already be Christians or have a desire to attend a church in the new community where they have chosen to make their life; and if we asked the Lord to grow churches of say, 500 people each, we would need 24 church planters. To this we must add the teams of co-workers each planter would require to partner in the work. And this is before we even begin the further and essential work of reaching out with the hope of the gospel to those who will take up residence in that area without any knowledge of the Lord or his love for them. We are not seeking to establish new church communities only for Christians who move to new areas, but to bring new birth to those who, as we once were, are spiritually ‘dead in transgression …and by nature objects of wrath’ (Ephesians 2:1,3).

To undertake this work will require men and women who are moved by the compassion of Jesus and the call of Jesus to labour at his side in his harvest field, who have the very best equipping possible in the Scriptures and the ‘work of ministry’. Moore College is central, but not alone, in providing this equipping. It takes the corporate discipling and encouragement of the local church; the practise of ministry in a local congregation, or community, workplace or educational environment; as well as the rigour, reflection and refining of theological study in community to form those who are willing to devote their lives to this task, whether in full time vocational ministry or as fellow-workers sharing ‘the gospel and their lives’ in the community more broadly.

As we face the challenges and gospel opportunities of the growth of our city, please join me in thanking God for the gift of Moore College, its faculty and students, and ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field, fully equipped in the knowledge and love of his Word and the power of his Spirit so that by all possible means we may share in the Lord’s joy as he gathers in his own.

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Gafcon scholarships:

extending the right hand of fellowship Peter Jensen / Former Anglican Archbishop of Sydney

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he first Global Anglican Future Conference was held in Jerusalem in 2008. From it emerged the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration, a strong confession of the Anglican and Christian Faith. As well, the Conference gave birth to a movement, called Gafcon, which has gone from strength to strength ever since. It has held three other world-wide conferences and is planning for another one next year.

At the last conference, also held in Jerusalem, 2000 Anglicans from over 50 countries gathered, prayed, sang, listened to God’s word, and gladly committed once more to world mission in accordance with Matthew 28:16-20.

It was a stirring and memorable occasion.

Of course, what motivated the existence of Gafcon in the first instance was a profound conflict in worldwide Anglicanism over the authority of the Bible. God’s word sets out for us a mode of life, especially family and sexual life, which is God’s will for our good.

Increasingly, however, biblical teaching is at odds with the reigning ideologies of our world. The biblical way is ‘a better story’ which leads to human happiness and fulfilment. The world’s way leads to anxiety, loneliness, and unfulfillment.

Many of the participants in Gafcon come from parts of the world where it is dangerous to be a Christian.

They represent faith and courage in a way which we can scarcely imagine. But they also represent churches which are multiplying with great speed. Western decline is met with Global South growth.

But whatever part of the Anglican (or Christian) world you come from, it is the case that sound theological education is vital for the present and future health of the churches. Where the Christian faith is in numerical decline, as is the case in so much of the west, the exception is largely where we see biblical Christianity flourishing, where the Bible is taught from the pulpit, and where both adults and young people have additional instruction in the biblical faith outside of church. One of the features of a healthy Christian community is well-informed lay people, able to live and speak for Christ in the world in which they serve.

Humanly speaking, as goes the Pastor so goes the church. Humanly speaking, as goes the theological education, so goes the Diocese or denomination. We need training at least equivalent to that provided by local secondary school teachers if we are to pastor and sustain the churches.

Gafcon has set up a Theological Education Network (TEN) numbering so far about 45 colleges and institutions from around the world, committed to praying for each other, and to serving each other with biblical insights and practical help. I am notionally in charge of this, but Dr Bill Salier, formerly Principal of Youthworks College and Vice Principal of Moore, is my full-time colleague in this work.

One of the absolutely key things we can do, is to help with the training of Theologians and ministers of the gospel from elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.

We already do this through our Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC) course material which continues to have an immense influence in many places around the world.

But we must also have the capacity to invite some people to Sydney for further training, whether at undergraduate or post-graduate level. It is hard to exaggerate the potential impact of this on those who come, and the key roles they are likely to assume on their return home. I have seen this happen and I can assure you that the influence of the College for the gospel in such circumstances leads to great and enduring results.

But the cost of coming to Sydney and staying for several years is well beyond many of the people who will benefit.

This is where we must show our hospitality and welcome. A special fund has been set up at Moore College to support students within the Gafcon fellowship—the GAFCON Fellowship Scholarship. When we show our loving hospitality by greeting our friends in this way, we are multiplying the work of the College in its impact for the gospel in ways which are astonishing.

A few years ago, I attended a Gafcon conference on theological education. While I was there, the Principal of an Asian theological college said to me that doing the Moore PTC course transformed his understanding of the Bible, and was the basis of what he was doing.

A little later, the Primate of a large African Anglican Province said exactly the same thing to me about the impact of our PTC course material on him.

Imagine the possibilities for good if some leaders and potential leaders could come to the College in person and be trained here?

You can help that happen by extending the right hand of fellowship to our friends who are standing for the same gospel, and have a commitment to the same Scriptures as us.

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How Moore prepared me for mission M / CMS missionary in North Africa I LOVED MY FOUR YEARS STUDYING AT MOORE. I LEFT WITH PRECIOUS FRIENDS, AN APPRECIATION FOR INNER CITY LIVING, AND A DEEPER LOVE FOR GOD AND DELIGHT IN HIS WORD.

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spent many hours in community exploring the richness of God’s salvation, and his work in his people spurred my desire for others to share our joy in Christ.

So, after graduation, I became a Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionary in North Africa. I’ve been here for the last three and a half years, working as a teacher and living alongside my Muslim neighbours, sharing about Jesus whenever I can.

In many ways I’m still a newbie, still coming to grips with Arabic and with ministry here. I’m very thankful for my college training which equipped me well, in ways I’m only beginning to grasp.

Here are a few snapshots to give you an idea of how College prepared me for my life as a missionary.

At work last year, we ran weekly literacy classes for five older women. They’ve spent their lives looking after families and haven’t learned to read or write in their own language. The highlight was always the morning tea after class.

As we ate sweets and drank tea, the women shared about a huge range of topics—everything from funny stories of grandchildren’s antics, to struggles with widowhood and shame. We laughed and mourned alongside them, and I drew upon my College training in pastoral care, Christian ethics, and the breadth of the Bible to share Bible stories that

spoke into their situations.

Churches in North Africa (praise God there are small local churches) meet in homes, and usually face harassment, and sometimes harsh persecution, from authorities and neighbours. Chatting with the few local Christian sisters I know, I can be overwhelmed by their situations and the sometimes poor decisions made by missionaries and locals alike. My ideas of church are challenged, and the disorder of leadership, finances, and teaching can do my head in.

However, reflecting on ecclesiology and church history subjects, I’m encouraged to remember that God has always graciously worked through messy humans to bring about his good purposes. Just as he does that in Sydney, he’s doing it in North Africa. I will add that the

benefits of Church history have somewhat surprised me—it was not my best subject at College!

I’m part of a mission team with people from all over the world.

There’s an inherent beauty as we reflect something of Revelation 7, however there are also great challenges as we interact with each other’s different experiences and expectations. Sometimes I feel at sea amid lots of unfamiliar ideas and practices of Christianity, but I’m thankful that because of College I’m very clear on the main things, and have been equipped to be discerning as new ideas come up.

Missionary life throws you into the unfamiliar, but Moore taught me to fix my eyes on our amazing God, and to trust in his plans and purposes. In missionary training, there’s nothing more important.

8 T H E P R IS CIL L A & A Q U I L A CE N T R E

The Priscilla & Aquila Centre’s Writing Award Jane M Tooher / Director, Priscilla & Aquila Centre

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GOD HAS GIF TED CHRISTIAN WOMEN IN MAN Y AND A V RIOUS WAYS. HE HAS DONE THIS SO THAT WOMEN MAY SERVE CHRIST ’S CHURCH, THE CHURCH WILL BE BUIT L , AND THE LOST WILL HEAR ABOUT THE S AVIG N GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.

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ne of the a w ys many Christian o w men are gifted is through their rw iting ability. oT day e w have the privilege of reading h w at our female co-o w rkers in the gospel have rw itten throughout 200 years of church history. h T eir contributions cover dierent genres and include, amongst other things, prayers, eulogies, hymns, letters, poems, and books.

Countless examples can be seen in even a brief look at history.

Continental e R former Katharina Zell’s character, courage, and clear understanding of the e R formation faith repeatedly come out in her letters, the hymn book she edited, and her husband’s eulogy.

Lady a J ne rG ey’s writing shows God’s sovereignty in his evident gifting of someone so young, and in how much good writing she produced in such a short time.

Puritan Anne Bradstreet’s poems describe a range of human emotions, h w ich help Christians to understand their own experiences and feelings through the ups and downs of life this side of eternity. e H r poems also act brilliantly as a reality check, since there is a common theme of holding loose to this world.

In the 180s, a J ne Barker wrote letters from Sydney to her sister

back in England. They reveal the privilege, necessity, and sacrifices of mission work so that other people will hear about Jesus. And they show the importance of good deeds, good preaching, suitable clergy, and the danger of heresy.

More recently, Dr Erica Sainsbury, who served on Moore’s Academic Board until her death on Christmas Eve 2021, wrote several hymns. Like her sisters before her, Erica’s writings reveal her theology.

An example of this is seen in the third verse of her 1991 hymn ‘God Almighty, Great Creator’.

Raised again to heaven in triumph, Now he sits at God’s right hand, Making priestly intercession For his own from every land.

He will come to judge the nations, Hosts of angels in his train, His new kingdom to establish, Over all forever reign.

Although we have access to numerous things written by women over the last 2000 years, the number

of their contributions is dwarfed in comparison to those of men. This has been mainly due to females not being members of the clergy or in vocational ministry for most of that time. (It is also true that lay men didn’t write as much as male clergy.) It is only in more recent decades that the contribution of female Christians has significantly increased in the form of things such as articles and books. And then, with the coming of the digital age, Christian women’s writings exponentially increased. Ease of access, affordability, flexibility in when and what to write, and distribution have all helped women of different backgrounds, ages, and gifting serve the church across the globe through their writing.

What one woman writes in Uganda can benefit someone in Slovenia.

At no other time in history have more Christian women written than right now. Many women are very keen to write! And we want to keep encouraging women with good theology to write, as writing

i) One article between 800 and 1000 words (poetry or prose). ii) One article between 2500 and 3000 words (prose, not poetry).

ministries can be very infiuential for good or bad.

I have the privilege of witnessing ffrsthand the writings of female students and female graduates of Moore College. Their theological convictions as reformed evangelicals come through in their work. I think it would be excellent if these women were further encouraged to write and more men and women had the opportunity to read their writings. Along with reading what Moore College women have written, I have also enjoyed other

women’s writings—both those with theological training from other colleges, as well as those who have not undertaken formal training.

These women demonstrate depth and insight about God’s word and its implications for our lives. I hope that they continue writing.

I am keen that reformed evangelical women contribute more to Biblical Studies, Christian Thought, Church History, Ministry Practice, and Missiology. That is why the Priscilla & Aquila Centre now has writing awards for

Up to three awards will be distributed.

2 x $1000 each for the 800-1000 words and 1 x $2500 for the 25003000 words (pending funds available and appropriate entries).

Maybe you or a woman you know would like to enter? Or perhaps you would like to partner with us financially with the writing award?

I would deeply appreciate every contribution, no matter the amount.

paa.moore.edu.au/award

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Christian women in these areas.

Through God gifting women by his Holy Spirit, many women are excellent writers, and these awards are an encouragement for women to write. These awards say, “We want to read what you have written!” “We think it is worthwhile.” “We want to learn from you.”

Too often, there is the false assumption that if a woman is conservative theologically, she is not well thought through theologically. Ironically, those supposedly more “pro-women” and not as theologically conservative can patronise conservative women at times with these assertions.

People having access to what more reformed women believe through their writings will hopefully help to show how well thought through many of these women are in the robustness of their theological thought, their ability to exegete Scripture, and their grasp of history, for example. These awards are an opportunity for more people to know who these women are. And they are an opportunity for women to serve the church further while growing in their writing gifts. It is hoped that many of the entries will be published on various platforms.

The Priscilla & Aquila Centre Writing Award competition closes on December 1 each year. It has two categories.

10 E Q U I P G O S P E L MIN I S T R IE S

Equip Gospel Ministries in Malaysia Andrew Cheah / Dean, St Mary’s Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

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quip Gospel Ministries1 began more than a decade ago—initially as a way of making the Moore Preliminary Theological Certificate materials accessible to people in Malaysia. Since then, it has,

by God’s grace, taught Biblical Theology to just over 2000 Malaysian Christians using the Bible Overview course,2 used the other certificate level courses to further strengthen Biblical literacy across churches, trained believers in other ministry skills, and begun to work in the national language. Equip seeks to develop into a tertiary level Christian training institution that is reformed, evangelical, and centered on the gospel. Its mission now is to help prepare Christians in Malaysia for gospel-centered ministry, in partnership with local churches, through Biblical, theological and ministry skills training.

1 Equip is seeking to develop its theological education program as a gospel-centered, Biblically faithful and academically rigorous training provider. It seeks to produce graduates who love God and his Word, whose lives are centered on Christ and his gospel, and who handle Scripture in a humble and faithful way, being well informed by Biblical Theology.

2 Bible Overview (known in Australia as ‘Introduction to the Bible’) is the first course in the Equip-MBS Certificate in Theology. The materials for the whole Certificate are generously supplied by Moore College’s Centre for Global Mission (CGM). We are currently getting about 500 subject enrollments in the certificate course each year. Students access the materials through the Moodle that is kindly hosted for Equip on Moore’s servers. We are also thankful for theological graduates from Moore as well as local graduates who help mark our exams.

Equip’s ministry can be illustrated by how God has used it in the life of one student. Dinesh Natorajan is a Malaysian Christian who now pastors one of the congregations at his local church, St Mary’s Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur.

Dinesh came to Christ from a Hindu background after being invited to church by a friend. A few months after his conversion, he did the Bible Overview course with Equip that was being run at his church. This early introduction to Biblical Theology enabled him to see how the whole Bible fits together and is centered on Christ and his gospel.

As he continued to grow in his faith, Dinesh was involved in various church ministries and training. He learnt to share his faith with others and to help nurture believers through speaking the truth in love. He also did more subjects in the Certificate in Theology to equip him to do this better. Eventually, he was asked to consider doing an apprenticeship at his church. He left behind his job as a scientist to serve Jesus in this role.

During his apprenticeship, Dinesh continued to grow. In addition to the practical training he received, Dinesh continued with his certificate level studies using the Moore PTC materials throughout his apprenticeship. He also trained in expository preaching through the Centre for Expository Preaching (a

3 Klang Valley Bible Conference exists to promote expository teaching in Malaysia.

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ministry of the Klang Valley Bible Conference)3 and in personal ministry through some modules that Equip also provided in partnership with the Christian Counselling Education Foundation (CCEF).

With the support of his home church, following his apprenticeship he enrolled through Equip in the Master of Divinity program at the Malaysia Bible Seminary (MBS). As an Equip student, most of his subjects have been taught by Equip lecturers. Some of his Equip subjects were delivered through the materials provided by the Timothy Partnership, while others were taught by teachers who flew in for intensives, or who taught weekly on Zoom through the pandemic. These included lecturers and graduates from Moore College and other like-minded institutions. Throughout this time, Dinesh remained active in his local church, gradually taking on more pastoral responsibilities there. Dinesh is now serving full time as a pastor while finishing off the last two subjects in his degree.

We in Malaysia are very grateful to God for people like Dinesh and for the kingdom mindedness of our partners like Moore College that makes his training through Equip possible. However, the development

of the ministry does not end here.

We recognise that the Moore PTC material in Bahasa Malaysia has great potential for training leaders for many indigenous churches. We are seeking to work with churches to help them see the potential of theological training, and to help them run courses in our local certificate program. We are also seeking to improve and further develop the English language diploma and degree programs, especially in the area of theological community. We are in the process of merging our ministries with that of the Klang Valley Bible Conference. This will strengthen the place of Biblical exposition in our training. In the longer term, we are seeking to develop our own local faculty to teach at degree level.

Please be praying with us that God would enable us to see these things happen.

Over the years, God has blessed us with visionaries who have worked hard to see the ministry grow. In the early days, we were blessed with a small, dedicated team of volunteers which became our board.

We have been given committed staff—including the Rev Tim Nicholls, a Moore graduate who served as our Ministry Director from 2015 to 2020 and, under God, oversaw a significant growth in the ministry. We have recently welcomed a new Ministry Director, the Rev Tan Kay Hoe, who is leading the newly combined staff team. Please pray that God would continue to supply the people we need for this ministry.

In the end, our hope is in the God whom we worship. It is his gospel we proclaim, his Word that we teach, his church which we seek to serve, and his people that we seek to equip. Our humble prayer is that God, in his mercy, would continue his work in Malaysia, and, if he sees fit, would continue to use Equip for his kingdom and glory.

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Mission to Hindus Clive Buultjens / Moore College Alumnus

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first really understood the gospel and started growing through Campus Bible Study (CBS) at UNSW in the early 2000s. My friends and I soon realised how few Indians and Sri Lankans were attending CBS. As we started praying for and trying to connect with them, we also noticed how tight-knit their culture is. There was less chance of them even knowing a Christian, let alone hearing the gospel of Christ.

Since then, God has been laying on my heart the need to reach people from the Sub-continent generally, and Hindus specifically.

Even at that time, Muslim ministry was seen as an important mission field. However, there were very few people aware of, and concerned for, the salvation of Hindus. Hindus are pluralistic, and so exclusive truth claims don’t really make sense to them. When one Hindu came to a Christian talk and met the speaker, he was challenged with the idea that not all views can be equally valid. Either Jesus died or he didn’t die. Muslims believe he didn’t die. Christians believe he did. They couldn’t both be right! Faced with a crisis of faith, he ended up choosing to stick with the Hinduism he knew.

From that time onwards, over the last 20 years, I have been praying for, learning about and training others in Hindu outreach. Hindus generally are not troubled by logical inconsistencies. They

learn their religion through experience, not doctrine.

In addition, their community and culture are more authoritative for them than any Scriptures. Finally, there are many cultural and historical barriers to Hindus considering Christ. Hindu culture and religion are tightly interconnected. So it’s hard to know which elements are cultural, and which are religious.

This makes it very difficult to engage Hindus with the standard gospel presentations and resources we have available. We need to engage in critical contextualisation to break down barriers and make connections to the gospel. Hindus need time to meet Jesus in the stories of the Bible, and experience his power in the changed life of his followers. They also need to see authentic Christian love in community.

A conference I went to in 2017 in Thailand helped me to understand the Hindu worldview better. My own reading, experience talking with Hindus and visiting temples have also helped shape my understanding.

Alongside my regular church ministry, my friends and I have been holding (almost) annual conferences to train and raise people to reach Hindus, as well as an annual Hindu Prayer Guide. I have also run training programs at Moore College through ADAPT (Applied Discipleship of All Peoples & Tribes), Ministry Training and Development (MT&D), the University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney, as well as many churches and para-church organisations.

There were around 160,000 Hindus in NSW in the 2016 Australian census, and this number is likely to grow.

Thankfully many more people, churches and groups are realising what a huge mission field there is among Hindus, and how difficult and important it is to reach them. I think we are on the cusp of a wave of wise and effective ministry to Hindus, and I look forward to how Christ will win them to himself.

Please pray that more and more people will be equipped to share Jesus with Hindus and disciple them to trust and follow Christ. We are also considering whether we can start a Hindu MentAC,1 inspired by the good work that has been happening among Muslims.

I cannot tell how He will win the nations, but I rejoice that I can be part of this glorious work to give Jesus his earthly heritage!

1 A Church Missionary Society (CMS) program for Mentoring Across Cultures. More information can be found at https://www.cms.org.au/ nswact/get-involved/mentac/

Beth Webb / Moore College Alumna

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ur church planting journey began in south west Sydney six years ago. Our family and a small group of people from various churches battled against limited resources, limited church planting experience, and a pretty much non-existent budget trying to start something multicultural.

Somehow, in God’s great mercy, first came some Samoans (all nine members of their family), then some Sudanese, Syrians, Venezuelans, Mauritians, and so on. They were mostly unchurched or from different religious backgrounds. We became a motley mix who somehow grew into a new community held together by countless meals. Every Sunday morning the church kitchen was full of slow cookers, pots and pans packed with interesting ingredients and smells.

Multi-ethnic community is beautiful. But to be a multi-ethnic church community it must gather around God’s word. The church community needs to hear the word, digest it and be transformed by it. This was where things got interesting.

For many, English is a struggle. Even those with good conversational English struggle with sermons (translated ones are not the same). With so much lost in translation, the danger of syncretism is real. We were convicted of a need to raise leaders from other cultures to speak to people in their vernacular. This was particularly the case for those who would culturally never step into a church building.

In those days we read a lot of missiology, and talked with lots of missiologists and church planters—whoever would help us really!

We began to mull over the idea of creating smaller or simpler congregations or churches that were more decentralised and flexible, joined together in a network with centralised training, kids, youth, access ministries, and other key resources. The goal: raise more indigenous leaders, and have church gatherings where people could access God’s word more clearly.

Then COVID came. The ideas that were abstractly floating around suddenly were thrown into action.

Smaller churches seemed a strategic way to both weather the pandemic storm, and try out some of these ideas. It was like two birds with one stone. The Revelation 7 network was born.1 What followed gave much food for thought. The positives?

1 For more information visit our website at https://revelation7.network

1. People were growing 2. People who previously struggled to connect were connecting 3. People became Christians The big three challenges decentralised systems face?

1. Heresy (ironic I know, since we’re doing this to help people access God’s word!)

2. Homogeneity, since groups tend to grow around a common language 3. Losing ‘missional heat’ due to limited resources in small groups Working against each of these requires a centralised system which can provide some checks and balances.

It depends on developing clear ‘campus constants’ throughout the gatherings, to have some kind of healthy synergy expressed through all-in activities and events with a critical mass. Mostly, it depends on constant leadership training and collaborative think tanks.

Establishing these elements effectively is crucial.

And much of it is new to us. We’re kind of building the plane in the air. While church planting is hard, multichurch planting takes on a new level of complexity which I regularly feel overwhelmed by.

Where in all this chaos are we trying to head?

There are many small homogenous churches in south west Sydney. Often leaders can lack access to support and training. They struggle with keeping the second generation engaged, and find it difficult to reach those outside their own cultural group.

Multi-church planting speaks into this reality. It seeks ways to support indigenous leaders and equip people to access God’s word in their heart language while being part of something bigger and multi-ethnic to both reach our city and support the next generation.

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Multi-site church planting

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Jesus is what truly matters Ben P George / External Engagement Manager

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I HOPE THAT AS YOU COMBED THROUGH THIS EDITION OF MOORE MATTERS , YOU HAVE BEGUN TO SEE THE WAYS IN WHICH MOORE COLLEGE CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE THE WORLD THROUGH THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. rom the rich melting pot of ethnicities right here in Sydney, to the various overseas ministries that our graduates are involved in, your generosity in supporting the training and equipping of men and women is both strategic and signicant. Every one of you, through your nancial generosity, fervent and consistent prayers, and advocacy for the work of the College, are valuable partners in this ministry that aims to see God gloried through providing excellent evangelical theological education.

In recent times, I have been reecting on 2 Thessalonians, and the urgency of the spread of the gospel, given our current context. n U like the of the day, h w ich is focused on secondary things, Scripture is very clear about h w at is of rst importance. eW are sitting between the work of e J sus on the cross and in his resurrection, and his imminent Second Coming, h w en the Lord e J sus will be revealed from heaven in blazing re with his powerful angels ( . 2 Thess )1:7 to judge the living and the dead.

Considering the truth of the times in h w ich we live, the gospel is paramount because h w at truly matters is our relationship with e J sus! The world is in darkness, and so we ought to be focused on preaching the gospel of salvation, and praying for the very same, for there is an end date and the Lord e J sus will return at any moment.

This sentiment of urgency is helpfully articulated by Charles Spurgeon,

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Our contemporary society is arguably as far from knowing or acknowledging God as it has been in a long time. Only recently, public 2021 Australian Community ‘ The Wailing of Risca’, preached in the Exeter Hall, 9 December 1860.

Trace Akankunda

Survey2 results show that in Australia alone, a large proportion of people don’t even know someone h w o goes to church, let alone believe that e J sus of Nazareth was a real historical person. This is precisely the reason we prayerfully plan to continue expanding our student body, bringing people from all over the world to engage in evangelical theological education and formation to be sent out to the far reaches of the globe. aT e k our brother rT ace Akankunda, for example, h w o was born in a Christian family in g U anda. e H was introduced to e J sus by passionate peers, h w o invited him to Bible study groups and patiently walked alongside him, helping him to understand the signicance of e J sus. After moving to Adelaide to pursue postgraduate research in science, he was further nurtured by rT inity Church, h w ere he was also challenged to appreciate the need for gospel workers and to consider pursuing vocational ministry.

Of his experience of his rst year on campus studying the Bachelor of Divinity, he says: I“ have been challenged to grow in character, conviction, and competence for ministry. I have enjoyed learning God’s word in community and building godly relationships that I will hopefully carry into ministry beyond college. I have also had the opportunity to get involved in church ministry and see how good biblical teaching translates into practical ministry.”

2 This is research conducted yb the National Church Life Survey research group. More information at .

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Ruvini Katugaha

Under God, Trace hopes to return home and partner with gospel workers in Uganda, to proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Or consider Ruvini Katugaha, one of our online Diploma of Biblical Theology students from Kandy, Sri Lanka. She was born to a family with a Christian mother but did not really come into a personal relationship with Christ until she was in her mid20s, studying law in Hong Kong. When she finally found an English-speaking church where she felt connected, one of the pastors there was a Moore College alumnus. It was only natural, then, to consider Moore College as the place to equip herself for the ministries God had placed in her path.

Ruvini is passionate about serving the Lord in the space of evangelism. Now back in Sri Lanka, she has started two Bible studies, one of which is distinctly aimed at non-believers who are interested in answering questions from the Bible. She is hoping to keep evangelising as many people in Sri Lanka as will listen, and wants to publish books in Christian Apologetics in her mother tongue, Sinhala.

We are also excited about our new cohort of undergraduate students who are starting with us on campus in 2022. One of these students is David Wong, who grew up in a Christian family in Hong Kong, always being taught the Bible and encouraged in his relationship with God. Once David came to Australia, he was heartened in his Christian conviction and maturity through FOCUS Campus Bible Study (CBS) ministries at the University of NSW. After his traineeship with CBS, he was convinced of the need to serve God in a full-time ministry capacity, and is excited to study at College

David Wong

after having been told by his trainers that it is the obvious next step in his training and development.

David wants to serve Cantonese speaking people, whether that be in Sydney or back in Hong Kong.

These are just three examples of students who are from other countries and are investing in theological training for the sake of preaching the gospel wherever our Lord may lead them. Please continue to pray for all our students, that they will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (cf. Col 1:9).

Especially pray for the cohort of students this year, that they will develop good patterns of study and integrate well into this wonderful community of Christian brothers and sisters.

Will you please also prayerfully consider giving to the Scholarships Fund and the Overseas DBT Scholarship? These funds will help us to invest in our students, ensuring that financial limitations do not inhibit them from being thoroughly equipped to serve Jesus in whatever context they find themselves ministering. We want to ensure that every student who is enrolled in College can financially afford studying with us. This is especially the case for our international brothers and sisters who do not have the generous benefit of government assistance.

The Rev Ben P George External Engagement Manager On behalf of the Foundation

My Moore gift Please actively support Moore to ensure that together we can continue this vital gospel work under God, for His eternal glory.

Your gift will be a personal investment in future generations of gospel workers.

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Call Leanne Veitch on 02 9577 9865

Moore Matters is the newsletter publication of Moore Theological College Principal of Moore College » The Rev Dr Mark Thompson Editor » The Rev Ben P George Assistant Editor » Paula Darwin Photography » Anna Zhu, Gabriel Lacoba NCNC, Moore College students Art and Design » Lankshear Design Moore Matters Copyright © Moore Theological College 2022 1 King Street, Newtown NSW 2042 AUSTRALIA moore.edu.au | foundation@moore.edu.au +61 2 9577 9999 CRICOS #00682B | ABN 47 46 452183 About Moore College Moore College exists to train men and women to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. Since 1856, more than 5,000 students have graduated from the College and have been sent out by God. Moore College has equipped men and women to serve in over 50 countries across the World. Today over 3,500 students are enrolled in our courses globally.

CMS missionary Norm Gorrie in Kenya.

Autumn 2022 moore.edu.au

A missional heart

Why gospel mission can’t just be an add-on pages 2-3

The harvest is plentiful pages 4-5

Gafcon scholarships: extending the right hand of fellowship page 6

2022 OPEN EVENTS Open Week Open Night Open Week Open Night Open Day

9 – 13 May 9 May 29 Aug – 2 Sept 29 Aug 8 Oct

Know someone who should consider theological education?

Invite them along to ask their questions.

moore.edu.au/open