20 church actions

Points from a video by Matt Dabbs at Revolution of Ordinaries, a YouTube channel by a Churches of Christ minister from what I can gather. But, I like the guy. He makes good sense in most cases.

 My comments.

00:16 - #1 - Biblical teaching without smoke machines

And this means: not a 'sermon'. Sermons aren't how we teach practices and how we truly learn and grow in true knowledge, knowledge we incorporate into our thinking world.

How we do this is by discussion. Discussion for learning-teaching is not a free for all: see Stephen Brookfield's work on this. It might start with pre-reading of a passage, not necessarily constrained by the chapter-verse coordinate system we have, and some pointed questions and cross references to consider. Then as a group we discuss. Then the teacher gives a summary talk to bring it all together, and Q and A following, perhaps while still seated, but with some refreshments. 

00:55 - #2 - Participatory worship

Of course, he means participatory gatherings.Worship is what we do all the time as our minds are transformed and we are caring for our brethren in need (Romans 12:1-2, James 1:27).

As per 1 Corinthians 11-14, each has something to contribute: more a 'round-table', discussion circle than a one-person lecture all facing the front. 

And our singing is to teach each other: Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16 

01:24 - #3 - Preachers who know the people

He means teachers/prophets, of course. Yes, this is a thing of the gathering of the saints, not a dislocating rant or ceremonial address that has nothing to do with relationship. It is the members of the gathering who do the teaching/prophesying (encouraging biblical reminders).

01:48 - #4 - Holy Spirit back in charge

Our church needs to be prayerfully conscious of being in the hands of the Spirit. Church means the body of Christians together. Not merely the building we use to meet in or the times of meeting in that building.  

02:26 - #5 - Make Disciples

This marks the biggest failing of the entire Western church! We don't make disciples. We grab every new believer and shove them into a pew, perhaps having urged them to read the Bible, or given them a study book to work through; perhaps a couple of meetings with a counselor (I mean a mature Christian to encourage and teach, not a head-doctor) .

Not enough.It should be at least a year of careful coaching and instruction, in groups if possible. This should cover the foundations: what the Bible is, its organization and textual history; biblical theology, basic church history, study of a gospel, Acts, a couple of shorter letters, Genesis, Job, and selected 'episodes' from other OT books. It should also include simple apologetics, such as the 7 basic questions and the 7 Muslim challenges.

Some instruction on basic heresies and heretical cults could also be important. 

Then, the new Christians should be drawn into the community with hospitable inclusion in the life of the church: being invited for a  simple meal or coffee in your home, go to movies, concerts together, etc.

Finally, they should be invited to participate in giving: volunteering in ministries they are suited to or interested in talk about their 'journey' in the gathering or small group, and their reflections on their journey so far.

General on-going discipling is important, so people can become teachers where so gifted, conduct groups, organize functions or ministries, be trained in public speaking, and the pragmatic side of church life as well. 

03:36 - #6 - Plant churches

Carefully and wisely. Thorough research on the local area.

05:02 - #7 - Make communion central

I don't think the early church had a 'ceremonial' or 'sacramental' communion. It was part of their 'love feast' or meal together. 

06:02 - #8 - Play together

Go out together, not in cliques, but in assorted groupings: to entertainments, picnics, conferences.

07:18 - #9 - Fasting

An inconvenient practice...that's why we need to get back to it. 

07:46 - #10 - More hearing the Bible

Not just snippets, but, in the right context, whole coherent passages. We also need to train and practice this craft so that its  worth doing and worth listening to. 

08:48 - #11 - Healthy accountability

Sure, but not intrusive:always kind, supportive, in love, and seeking the others (or mutual) growth. 

09:31 - #12 - Less clock, more connection

Besides, we need to have longer more varied gatherings. If your church has a building, turn it into a whole Sunday thing:

Classes in the morning

Morning tea

Large meeting for edification

Lunch together, maybe a talk and some discussion

Skills workshops

Casual chat-around (people come and go)

Supper

Evening gathering: sharing and singing, prayer. 

10:06 - #13 - Teach on sin

Avoid legalism and casuistry. Sin is 'anti-God', anti-love, pride in action. It is not of the New Creation.

10:31 - #14 - Spiritual community engagement

Connect with the local community, real connections, join local groups, be known as Christian, and genuinely interested in the group. Get involved in various relief efforts for local and distant disasters. 

Be seen on the street and in any fairs with community booths for organized stand-up evangelism; and don't be corny, be real. 

11:41 - #15 - Less programs, more training

As per #5 above. 

12:18 - #16 - Spiritual leadership

Expunge the modern usage of  'leadership' Replace it with 'communityship', serving each other with one's gifts and skills and Philippians 2:1-17. 

12:53 - #17 - Kingdom vision and goals

Know that we are working to the New Creation in all that we do. But do it with careful thought based on real opportunities, needs, challenges and know the barriers to overcome.

13:18 - #18 - Privatize giving

All giving should be top-secret. 

14:06 - #19 - Engage community leaders

Connected with #14 above. Get your senior brethren (that is those with responsibilities) to connect with civic authorities.

14:41 - #20 - Don't rely on tech 

Good pointers in the video: that is be personal, not 'automated' by web services. But in the fine detail, do technology well. 

Make sure any use of equipment, IT or otherwise is skilled and tested. Set up sound gear professionally (no tapping a microphone asking if it is 'on'. You should have done a sound check with the panel operator/producer). Have people trained and skilled as 'producers'.

Nevertheless, do your best to make you equipment serve, not lead. If you have no illustrations that add to a particular presentation, talk, speech, training session, don't use PowerPoint! 

Talking it up.

A suggestion I made to our local public High School Religious Education teacher (funded by donations, but accepted by the school).

 The school exec. is reluctant to approve a lunchtime meeting of Christian pupils, as part of a network of such groups across the country.

I suggested this  course of action:

Would a visit from you and the chairman to the Exec for a 'get to know you/how are we doing here/how can we further contribute to the school community?' meeting help open the way for ISCF, perhaps?

We might add that our key objective is to give young people a life-grounding that is non-materialistic/consumerist, community oriented and focused on living for the benefit of others. This, we think would reinforce values that contribute to a positive school environment.

ISCF helps to advance this using time tested approaches (I mean here the whole approach to Christian formation), that include programs to build social capital through small group training in and practical development of leadership, relationship-building, and growth experiences in self-development.  (Supported in vacation house-party opportunities-if these still happen).

This type of framing approach might open some positive avenues.

 Note, that unlike most Christian approaches to secular groups, I've talked about 'benefits' to them, and not 'features' of Christian faith.

That is, I've used their language and conceptual framing, not ours.

I wonder how many such approaches by Christian groups think this way. 

What is your church doing to evangelize?

A friend asked me this recently.

The church I am part of has a number of corporate activities to connect with the community:

Special Religious Education at the local primary school. Although this could be developed by making positive connections (meetings, seminars, etc.) with parents and school staff.

We have youth activities weekly and at school holidays; mainly for the children of church families, but non-church friends are welcome and do come. The connection with external parents is, I fear, yet to be fully developed.

A community gym operates on weekends.

Classes for new speakers of English are offered. 

There are special community activities for elderly people: mid week gatherings with lunch monthly, exercise class twice a month, with lunch once a month, a bridge club.

I don't think any of these are really connected to 'next step' offerings to bring people close to knowing the Christian faith. 

Christmas and Easter include some community connections, but could be better developed.

OK. What's missing?

Person to person direct evangelism (with appropriate back up activities)

For instance we could have a stall at the monthly service club market, just of coffee and conversation; we'd have to charge for the coffee to avoid the ire of commercial operators.

We could do street work: a stall on the pavement, with council approval, of course, handing out leaflets, Bibles, having conversations. Here we'd need Bibles with adequate plain English introductions to books, and a real table of contents, not just a list of the contained books. A good index too.

Visits to nursing homes, hospitals, aged care homes? Maybe.

But people need skill here.

In another blog I'd described a teaching/training program for a local church. Now, that was ideal for a large church, but probably better done jointly with a group of churches. And maybe just one weekend session a year.

This would run for Saturday and Sunday with options in the afternoon. It would cover basic apologetics, Christian conversation approaches, and skills for 'positive evangelism' or street work. People who wanted to could get involved in active outreach with a mentoring program. This might include local door knocks as well for both evangelistic and pastoral needs.

10 tough questions for Christians

This is based on a video interview by Sean McDowell with Doug Groothuis

It deals with 10 prominent, supposedly 'tough' questions that Christians might be asked.

These are the time stamps for the source video with some notes after each.

1-- 0:57 - How can a loving and good God allow so much evil in the world?

The 'evil' in the world; let's call it suffering, tells us what we are like, beneath the veneer of self-righteousness, pride, convenient niceness, and basic selfishness. We can break through these from time to time, usually for short periods, or with an eye to 'duty', but look at the general suffering: Our world, and we can't mange it for universal benefit. Look at the evil that people do, in their simultaneous dignity and corruption: we are people. Evil? It's what people do.

Refer to Luke 13:4: our basic response to evil is to repent. Turn from the world we shape to the world to come and its king, Christ.

Also to Romans 7:14-25.

2-- 5:49 - How can a loving God send someone to hell?

People who repudiate life with God and love their life of alienation from him will not be forced to love God against their will; their will will be 'respected'. The Bible assures us that there is ample reason in the created world to know God. In our fallen vanity we avoid this knowledge. 

3-- 11:18 - Why is God so hidden? 

Only to the obdurate. He has shown himself firstly in the creation, then in Christ, and now, with those, in the church universal and its proclamation of saving hope. 

4-- 15:18 - What about those who have never heard (of God)?

God is just, so all will be dealt with justly. 

5-- 19:12 - If Christianity is true, why is there so much abuse and damage done through the church?

Christ came to save us from who we are, with the gradual transformation this brings; and to help others to see him...also see 1 and 3 above. 

6-- 21:30 - Isn't the cross an example of divine child abuse?

The cross is the culminating demonstration of God saving us. This started in Genesis 22 where, instead of child sacrifice (and Isaac was a 'youth') God provided and guaranteed the sacrifice. The token of God provides, and man cannot 'save' himself. In the Cross, God is the sacrifice. Jesus was God, creator, taken on human flesh and limitation. So, no! 

7-- 25:43 - Is Christianity racist since the Bible was used to promote and justify slavery?

You misunderstand chattel slavery with ancient indentured service one could enter to avoid penury and death.

See Exodus 21:16 and Deut. 24:7. 

8-- 30:38 - Is Christianity homophobic and hateful towards the LGBTQ community?

Leaving aside the tendentious elephant hurling of the terms, Christ came to save we sinners. He hates all sin because it degrades our creational humanity. Any person who turns to Christ is a broken person, but is on the path of recognition of that, seeking its repair in new life aligned with our creational origin. 

9-- 35:05 - Is Christianity at war with science?

Christianity, or rather the world-view of the Bible, framed in Genesis 1-3 shows why science is possible at all. It shows we are in a real world of which we can and are called to make sense. The real enmity is between the dehumanizing doctrines of materialistic naturalism and the various colours of humanism,

10-- 39:00 - Is Christianity sexist?

 No. The church often as been as it apes the corrupt culture of the fallen world, but, Galatians 3:28 sets the scene for being 'in Christ'. 

Who are your leaders?

The favourite job in a Christian group is 'the Leader'. Apparently we need more of them. 'Leading' is the preferred skill.

Yet our Lord throws some cold water on this in Matthew 23:8-10:

But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your father, he who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for one is your leader, that is, Christ.

Hard to argue with.

Paul's view in the list of giftings seems to differ as well, from our modern hubris:

1 Corinthians 14:39 sets the record straight:

Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.

There are plenty of other roles called for as well. Roles, not titles. Romans 12:6-8 covers it. But we have to be wary here, the word sometimes translated 'leads' is proistēmi.

It has a range of meanings: to be a protector or guardian, superintendent, to give aid, to care for, give attention to. Hardly the modern 'leader' which is acted out as the Greek 'archon'. Not a happy term in a gathering of Christians.

What should we do with 'titles' then? 

Here are a few that we can use:

• Moderator
• Organizer
• Convenor
• Coordinator
• Minister
• Worker
• Helper
• Assistant (that could be a quite high 'rank', come to think of it)
• Teacher
• Facilitator
• MC/Master of Ceremonies (for formal gatherings)
• President/Chairman (committees)
• Administrator
• Coach
• Counselor (as in Summer Camps)
• Speaker.

 But above all...let everything be done in love...do not be conformed to the world...

Son of Man?

As a younger Christian I was much puzzled by this term. Not helped by the poor Christian education provided by my church, of course.

One minister, RS, offered a suggestion that it had something to do with the Son of Man in Daniel 7:13; and this has some weight, I think.

Perhaps it was merely the human-like form of the vision, that attracted the title, but even here, it seems to denote something of greater significance, a sort of summative title.

The son is usually the inheritor, so what does the 'son of man' inherit?

I think it might be that, as the incarnate (to be, in Daniel) God...the Son, he inherits all that man as created was to be, pre-fall. He also, as the Lamb of God, inherits the consequence of the fall for man as created. This bears out both his conduct on earth pre-resurrection, but as the divine adopting human form, and his accepting the punishment given for sin (the repudiation of God-ness, and of God himself): death, despite him not meriting it. He accepted it to defeat it.

Also check out this video from the Bible Project. 

Not the words I use

In his article "Christian Apologetics" in Hooper's anthology: C. S. Lewis "God in the Dock", Lewis put his finger on the problem of communicating the gospel to non-churched people.

He listed words that have either no meaning, or a mistaken meaning to them:

Here's a selection. I've updated some of Lewis' explanations.

ATONEMENT

People have no idea what this means.

BEING

This may or may not be understood as 'person', as 'human being'. For example the Holy Spirit as a 'being' may not be understood as a person: a 'centre of consciousness'.

CATHOLIC

The Roman church, rather than the church universal.

CHARITY

An organization that helps people for no charge, instead of 'love in action'.

CHRISTIAN

A nice person, a person who is ordinarily 'moral' or 'nice'.

CHURCH

A building they'd never step inside, rather than a gathering of saints.

CREATIVE

Description of an artist, designer or sometimes writer or film-maker (photoplay maker: I like that older term).

CREATURE

An animal.

CRUCIFIXION, CROSS

A ceremonial religious emblem rather than an instrument of cruel torturous death.

DOGMA

Unreasoning and stubbornly held statement of opinion.

MORALITY

Being 'good', rather the general behaviour category of values.

PERSONAL

Applicable to oneself exclusively: my personal wardrobe, computer, equipment, tools.

PRIMITIVE

Not fully developed as in 'primitive man' uses sticks for weapons and stones for pillows.

SACRIFICE

Something you give up, usually at tolerable personal cost.

SAINT 

A super-spritual person, usually related to episcopal church usage for special religious people.

SPIRITUAL

Immaterial, usually related to aesthetics or emotions. 

The lesson? In talking to people outside your church circle, use common language that communicates meaningfully to your listener.

Get 'em in!

I came across this church website: St. Swithuns (sic), but not in England, In Oz. That may explain the odd spelling.

This is a 'brochure' type site, with info about the church programs, etc. OK as far as it goes, but just how far does it in fact go?

I clicked on Hope25, because this looked like something I should  know but clearly don't. That means its addressed to an 'in' crowd. 

OK, so its a special activity. I'll screen shot it because it will disappear after the event, I guess.

The special activity advertised these 'gripping' themes:

The Sermon Topics

11 May: Hope for the Despairing

18 May: Hope for the Stressed

25 May: Hope for the Lonely

1 June: Hope for the Ageing (that's all of us!)

We'd love to welcome you to any of these services. If you'd like a friendly church member to be looking out for you and/or sit beside you, please contact Andy on XXXXXXX or by email XXXXXX

Observations

1. The "sermon". This is 'in-talk'. What's a 'sermon' to most people? Either no clue, or a boring discourse on some irrelevant topic or a moralistic exhortation without an argued basis.
2. The topics are framed to attract people who self-identify as some sort of 'can't cope' loser. Or I may be wrong, a whole lot of people from the community will say to themselves, 'heck, I'm despairing after the recent elections, I'll toddle along'. Not.
3. If you need a 'dial-a-pal' we'll supply one.

It really seems to be an anti-advert. Framed for the weak-at-heart, and not for adults with serious challenging questions of our common lot.

I predict it will attract no new person along. It may even discourage a few of the regulars who don't want to be marked as 'despairing', 'stressed' (and not on top of it), 'lonely' (and therefore unpopular), or not able to deal with the inevitable aging.

The 'dial-a-friend' service would be about as attractive as admitting that one dates paid 'escorts'.

It also suggests that the church has no confidence in the capability of its doormen or ushers.

The topics themselves are real issues, but to attract those who might be interested, the titles have to be affirming and encouraging, not deprecating.

Perhaps less pointed language:

"The challenge of despair" our human lot.

"Success and its stresses"

"Alone again, naturally: we all go there sometimes." 

"Dynamic aging"

Not brilliant, I'd admit, but I'd call them 'themes' not 'sermon's, and include structured interviews with 'successful' people who would deal with the topics. And optional 'focus' groups to follow up.

Natural Theology: its place and purpose

For those who say NT is not a 'salvation' issue.

From Bray, 2012 God is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology, p., 27

"Natural theology has its importance and is taken seriously in the Bible,  but it is a preparation for the gospel and not a substitute for it. It gives people enough knowledge for people to be able to respond to the message of salvation, but not enough to work it out for themselves."

Emphasis, mine.

The days of Genesis do this by placing creation and God's direct action in the history that we are in and showing that God is close, active in history, communicative, and personal. And we are connected to him by his word.

Salvation by diagram

I found this neat diagram to explain salvation to the average Joe. Only I don't like it. Penal Substitution cuts no ice with me (or the NT, more importantly). Nowhere is Christ 'punished' for our sins in a pen-sub manner. He takes the punishment that we are under, he even takes our sin. But he is not punished for it, he conquers it.

So, I redraw the otherwise excellent diagram

Chosen?

I commented to a post on FreeGrace blog on Ephesians 1:

You wrote: "Verses 4-6 expound on how the Father is involved in the church’s salvation: He chose us."

They DO NOT. This passage is not about salvation, but about  the blessings from God by our position as saints based on our being 'in Christ'. This phrase or its analogue 'in him' is the drum-beat of the first chapter, and they are all showing that our blessings revolved around our being 'in him'.

The passage is about Christ not about us. It is about us, being regenerated we are 'in Christ' for the purpose that we would be holy and blameless being in him.

Correspondingly, we are not predestined for salvation, but being saved we have a destination previously set by God for those who would be in Christ: adoption as sons!

 Incidentally, if we are talking about salvation, the order of salvation is set out in 1:13, 14:

In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

See the order: Listened--Believed--Sealed (regenerated).

We could set it out thus:

    "In him, you also, after

    listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also

    believed, you were

    sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who is given as a pledge of our inheritance,

[For?]

    with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

 

Train, educate, or get out of the way!

Great video. I was one of those arrogant Calvinists! Happily no longer, so I know the feeling you are talking about.

What started me on the Calvinist path, many decades ago, was a Bible study group that an old (but not that close) friend invited me to join. In my church I was demographically and intellectually isolated. My friend's group was people of my age and all university qualified. Even here, though, the Calvinism was trickled. Firstly by recommending books (the tedious Puritans), and finally a Bible college where I did some summer courses and made some friends, including with the principal and his son. But what distinguished this church to mine was an emphasis on knowledge, on reading theology and 'pious' conversations about what we read.

My church was intellectually  barren. One deacon in discussion vowed to read the italics in his Bible with due emphasis, not being aware that italicized words were translators' additions. An elder, when I asked about a Schaeffer book, told me it had 'too many big words' (it didn't). In this church I was given youth teaching and 'leading' roles for which I was unequipped and given no training. In fact, no one was trained for anything. This intellectual (knowledge) vacuum made me ripe for not only Calvinism, but would have made me ripe for any cult that promised knowledge of the Bible. It also rendered me useless for the roles given. Note, this was way before the Internet age and resources were hard to find and expensive...and I was not even aware that they might exist.

Here's what I now would expect for all new Christians, or Christians from the age of, say 16: a one year course of maybe fortnightly sessions during school terms on Bible basics, an outline of church history, and a thorough grounding in soteriology, if not Christology at the appropriate level. It might also include 'workshops' on the basic questions Christians get asked. A couple of weekend 'consolidation' conferences could be added in.

Similar, but shorter courses should have been available, perhaps at the denominational/conference level on Sunday School teaching and youth ministry. These being ubiquitous and constant needs in 'volunteer' ministry.

The fact that most churches rely on either a weekly 'talk' (aka the sermon) and other forms of osmotic learning is a real derogation of the duty of the church to make disciples. Our biggest effort should be training to 'make disciples' rather than no training, which makes for ineffectiveness or complete passivity.

How you say it.

My church has started some well thought-out training seminars, brief, but targeted, to help people fine-tune their skills in talking about our faith.

The announcement at this morning's assembly was along the lines of: "we are having a training session for people who are not so confident in communicating the gospel. Please put your hand up if you are planning to attend."

Three people did.

I made the observation to the convenor that no one is going to nominate themselves as lacking confidence. I suggested that playing to people's presumed strengths would be better.

Something like: "We are holding some short seminars to help people fine-tune their skills in gospel conversations. If you could contribute your experience and attend that would be wonderful."

This presumes expertise and experience from the get go, rather than presume a deficiency. Anyone who nominated to attend would feel like they were experts giving a hand and not gormless newbies, lazy for the gospel.

Chance and Necessity?

In a useful article on Wikipedia, this is written about Jack Monod's 'Chance and Necessity':

Chance and Necessity: Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (French: Le Hasard et la Nécessité: Essai sur la philosophie naturelle de la biologie moderne) is a 1970 book by Nobel Prize winner Jacques Monod. Aimed at a general audience, the book describes the basic characteristics of life, reviews findings of modern biochemistry and molecular biology, and argues that life arose by blind chance guided by natural selection, could not have been predicted, and does not have a higher purpose.

It may seem odd, but Isaiah also writes about Chance and Necessity:

But you who forsake the Lord,
Who forget My holy mountain,
Who set a table for Fortune,
And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny

                                                             Isaiah 65:11

Now, let's look at some words.

The word translated 'Fortune' in Isaiah is 'Gad', a Babylonian deity, the 'god' of 'fortune'.

'Destiny' in the passage translates 'Meni', the Babylonian 'god' of 'fate'.

Israel forsook Yahweh (the great I AM) for Babylonian imposter gods: demons, perhaps.

Today, modern materialistic naturalism adds a third 'god' Cronus, or Chronos: 'time'. But rather than Chronos representing the destructive ravages of time (see for corroboration Romans 8:18-24, where the creation is subject to corruption and, by implication the ravages of time), it produces benefits!

Here's the connection: modern evolutionary speculation couples 'chance' and a form of 'necessity'* over time; but the great deceit is that here time, instead of  exerting its ravages, does the very reverse and brings about increasingly capable and sophisticated organisms, culminating (so far?) in mankind.

This perhaps represents the greatest vanity: a deceit that instead of time diminishing us (we all die) it paradoxically is the engine of idealist benefit. No 'one' benefits, but things are asserted to get better*. This inverts the ancient's recognition of the true effect of time on events and substitutes a deceit that time makes for the better, denying Sanford's 'genetic entropy', an observable decline to genetic catastrophe.

Now do you understand the parlous implications of Darwinian Evolution? 

Many thanks to M for his insight into this passage in Isaiah.

*Darwin's ideas were congruent with Victorian optimism that saw things inevitably getting better. He mistook the additive growth of knowledge, in line with mankind's imageness of God, with some form of ontological 'progress'. Thus I call his idea a 'mid-Victorian gross-morphology pipe-dream'.

Whence the Trinity?

A lot of scuttlebutt on the Internet seems to assert that the Trinity is 'invented'. But, as Greg Koukl points out, the Trinity is a solution, not a problem.

Bob from Speakers' Corner in the UK put this logical set of Bible references together:

1. There is one God

Isaiah 45:5

“I am the Lord, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me;

2. The Father is that God

John 17:1-3

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

3. Jesus is also called that God

Titus 2:13

looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

4. The Holy Spirit is called that God

Acts 5:3-4

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

5. Christ promises a 'helper'

John 15:26

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

6. The Holy Spirit is the helper promised by Christ

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

7. Jesus aligns himself with God via the Old Testament

John 8:54-59

Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ⁵⁵ and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” ⁵⁹ Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

The new thanksgiving

Our curate likes to play around with the liturgy. At least, I think it's he.

I think the latest adaptation of the Thanksgiving needs some work, though.

Here's an upgrade, based on "A General Thanksgiving" (2007 Version)

Father in heaven, we praise and thank you for your grace towards us and your working all things together for our good.

We thank you for the splendor of your creation, for the beauty of this world that shines through its fallen corruption, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of your love towards us.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side and for the community of your saints.

We thank you for setting before us opportunities which ask our efforts, and for equpping us to grow in accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.

We thank you also that in those disappointments and failures that can beset us we learn to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying for our sin and for his rising to life in defeat of death, and in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, we pray, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things.
 

Conversations--with atheists

Atheists do not form an homogeneous group. When you have a conversation with one it is essential to know which type of 'atheist' you are talking to.

1--Atheist proper: this person denies that there is such a thing as 'god' of any type. The 'a' before 'theist' means precisely that. It is a statement about reality.

The strategy I'd use here is simply to ask why? What reason do they have for their claim, then seek clarification on particulars that need it.

Then go to paragraph three under point 2, below, starting 'If they are genuine'.

2--Fake atheist: this person simply does not believe in god. They have a 'non-belief' in any god, but usually, particularly the Creator God proclaimed by Christians These are non-theists. They express an internal belief state that is theirs. It is not a claim about reality. About reality they may be either indifferent, or actually agnostic; if they are genuine, of course. Yet, we have to assume genuineness, or gently test for it.

The test for genuineness is not, I think, at least in most cases, asking if there was sufficient evidence, or reason, would they consider the call of Christ to repent. Of course, using relevant vernacular that would make sense to the listener. The question  would be, how would you evaluate evidence or reasoning that might establish, on balance, that the existence of God was more likely than not...because that's all we get in this world.

If they, on the other hand persist in their non-theism, I'd probe why they think that their internal state (of disbelief) is of any interest to anyone.

If they are genuine, I'd ask about the consequences of their belief in terms of the actual state of the world, or how their belief makes sense of the actual state of the world: how knowledge is possible, what drives their 'meta-ethic', how they establish real value in states of affairs, what is love, really, if merely chemical collisions, is your consciousness real or merely a random result of the evolution of chemicals, etc. along the lines of Plantinga's naturalism's self refutation.

3--Uncertain atheist, or, properly, agnostic. If this person is genuine, they show a level of honesty that must be respected. BUT, you have to check this out first, IMO.

Because an agnostic is like a non-theist, but less determined, see the third paragraph above.

In any case, I'd suggest avoiding the evangelical 'secret sauce' of a personal 'testimony', unless it becomes really relevant, or if it is asked for; such as 'tell me, why are you Christian?' or, 'how did you become a Christian?'

The reason to avoid a 'testimony', is because it is personal: far better to discuss objective reasons in the shared reality of the objective world.

 

Foundations for local churches

Our diocese has great plans to increase gospel connections by...huffing and puffing: just try harder type deal, without understanding the underlying system that prevents this very thing our worthies seek.

We did this a decade or so ago with a slogan-based campaign to 'try harder'. But, again, no understanding of the system that was in the way so as to change the system.

Management (they would say 'leadership') by slogan is known to fail as a matter of course but it grabs headlines, so remains popular to the neglect of the hard work of: 'Check--Plan--Do'. Check what the system produces and why. Plan adjustments, changes and resourcing for same, then Do them. Then repeat.

So this letter went to the chief servant at our Bible college.

"I was encouraged by the latest issue of College News.

Much is 'on' and that's good...as far as it goes.

The real challenge is to equip every Christian to be able to at least casually evangelize in their own circle. I doubt that we do this, but this was the way of the early Church. Sure, there were 'evangelists' gifted for a more focused role, but Peter sets before us that all need to be able to 'give a defence'.

How many can confidently and effectively do this?

I daresay, from many decades experience in many parishes, as I've moved around Sydney, London, Cambridge and New York, not many.

And at none of the half-dozen or so Anglican churches I've been a part of has this aspect of our mission been advanced.

That is, at none have we as a church experienced a consistent parish commitment to true training in talking out our faith and dealing with the challenges typically brought to it. Nor indeed, at none have I seen consistent training in the foundations of faith that is more than confirmation classes.

Most parishes hope the set-piece sermon will do. It won't! For most, the sermon drops out of mind as soon as they pop out of the auditorium (which is what our assembly halls have become). Some use Alpha or Christianity Explored, etc., and these are OK as first step 'in-drag' efforts, but where to next?

Sermons/lectures are not effective means of teaching transformational content that will see people changed. What is, is immersive discussion-based training sessions, with plenty of to and fro, where adults can test their ideas and understanding, having 'simulations' of dialogues and debates, with set readings to be discussed and mulled over. The 'tutorial' more than the 'lecture'.

Now, how might this play out in the parish, or for greater efficiency, and fellowship, in groups of parishes?

My 'top of mind' program could pan out like this:

Based on a church of my recent experience, and not of this diocese, I'd expect that we separate learning and the Sunday gathering. Let's keep this for edificational sharing, prayer and a meal (with a short talk to add to this). The 'learning' stream at this church had three adult bible classes: questioners, explorers, and  developers, reflecting 'beginners', intermediates' and 'further study' These met during school term time on a three year cycle of topics. New facilitators/conveners were also trained up in these cycles.

Alongside this would be three 'Recharge' weekends a year, to focus respectively on Bible (Lent?), evangelism (Pentecost?) and apologetics/society (Advent?).

The Bible stream would start with the whole Bible overview as a picture of soteriological reality from Creation to New Creation and how all the parts fit to this theme. It would then introduce all the books in logical groups: Pentateuch, History, etc.

The evangelism stream would start with the '7 basic questions' people have of our faith...and that most Christians would be hard pressed to answer  cogently, confidently and accurately.

To my mind these questions are:

-- Why are you a Christian?

-- Why do you believe in God?

-- Why is Jesus the only way to God/don't all religions teach the same thing?/that's your truth not mine/ I'm spiritual, not  religious.

-- Why do you 'attend' church (actually it is 'why are you a part of a church)?

-- Hasn't science disproved the Bible?

-- Why does a good God allow evil in the world (this is often given a very personal aspect)?

-- Why do you read the Bible?

The apologetic stream might start with a very ripe opportunity we have at the moment in Islam.

There are also 7 challenges Muslims typically bring to Christian faith. Working through these would be of value with other Docetic/Arian views and delve into some important theological matters.

These 7 are:

1. The Bible has been corrupted (the Quran is perfect).

2. The Trinity makes no sense (Allah is one not three).

3. Where did Jesus say 'I am God worship me'?

4. Why did Jesus pray to God if he is God?

5. How can God die (i.e., the crucifixion, which they don't accept)?

6. How can God punish one person for the sins of another (misreading the already confused penal substitution theory)?

7. If Jesus died for your sins, can't you sin all you want?

Both these lists would occupy a full day of interactive group sessions, as the first Recharge of a cycle, with groups trialing and discussing based on input segments. The only way to make the material one's own in skills acquisition: guided practice and not 'chalk and talk' sessions.

Along with these sessions I'd see the distribution of relevant published articles, or prepared for the session, as pre-readings, and 'tip-sheets' along with Bible studies for private study afterwards.

These Recharges would also follow a three-year cycle of themes, with actual content being continually updated, in line with the 'recharge' idea, giving opportunities at presentation and facilitation roles for people to develop capability.

All up, the vision we should have for the local church, the local 'gathering of holy ones', to use Paul's wording, is not a passivizing ceremonial 'worship' event weekly, but an active community engaged in learning, practicing and outreaching, with practical service for brethren in need and the local community.

Outreach would be real outreach: conversations in coffee shops, on the street, at work or school, none having to 'conclude' but always to 'plant a seed'. Some formal 'outreach' would also be beneficial in the many ways parishes might do this: community seminars, short topic-based 'courses', discussion and support groups for people with varying interests, etc.

A great example could be shown both at Moore and at St Andrew's Cathedral. St Andrew's has thousands of people walk by every day. It should get rid of the Muslims, Falun Gong, Mormons and JWs on its doorstep (and maybe its own land) and have its own stall offering water or a small coffee, a sit down chat, Bibles in a number of languages, including Arabic (not Two Ways to Live, please) or just a brief street encounter using (provocative) handouts. The Bibles should have a short introduction as to what the Bible is/is about and a reading guide. All this would be low key, but not on the back foot. The current state of affairs is a real indictment of the Cathedral's surrender to evil in making way for the enemies of Christ.

College could do similarly in Newport, and on the [nearby] campus with 'walk-up' chats and simple tables where we have discussions with people. Muslims and Trotsyites do it, why don't we? Indeed these two groups offer us a great training opportunity: go and discuss with them: by first asking simple questions, then demanding questions, then critical questions."