If you're in western Sydney on Saturday 31, take note there is a Family Festival being held at Merrylands Baptist Church from 3.00 pm onwards.
Activities include face painting, craft, colouring in, Wii Sport, foosball, air hockey and a puppet show. And after from 6pm there will be a free youth concert with the band Mischievous Blue.
The event is being run by the combined Christian Churches of Holroyd.
I wasn’t there for four days though, just last Saturday, but what a packed Saturday it was. In the morning it was a Bible study with Brian McLaren. McLaren spoke on the barriers that divide us and had some interesting insights into the gospel of Matthew that I hadn’t picked up on before. He explored the confronting encounter between Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman, but then linked this to the second feeding incident and Deuteronomy 7. His synopsis? If we resist the temptation to water down the text, we can see how, in overcoming his own barriers, Jesus models this for us. My synopsis? I give a thumbs up to anyone who can surprise me and get me wrestling with scripture in new ways.
After this I caught up with friends, Lucy and Andrew (HT for photo), who had organized a small, informal gathering over at the Genesis Lounge for people interested in missional arts and dancing. Good conversation.
After this, I caught some electives, the most inspiring of which was a talk by Andy Flannagan on Just Worship. Andy affirmed poets and artists as worship leaders, encouraged us to explore all of God’s character in worship, and inspired me to delve deeper into how I can lead others into poetic worship through my own.
Then some dinner with Simeon and Rosemary, friends from my Mind Body Spirit Festival days, and down to Mars Hill Café, where I joined a conversation with Tom and Christine Sine, Dean Tregenza, Ben Weatley, and a few others. Four or five hours later … after the lights were turned out on us … I turned into a pumpkin.
In the process though, I accepted an invite from Dean to be on the Sacred Space team next year. Keep posted.
Keep posted also because one of the things I haven’t mentioned previously, but may as well now, is that Tom and Christine Sine will be joining us for dinner in Pendle Hill towards the end of October before returning to America. One of the things I appreciate about Tom and Christine is that they seem to have more appreciation than most for the diversity in the emerging / missional conversation. I’ll be keen to see how their experiences here shapes that.
With the Jesus All About Life campaign now underway in Sydney I thought I'd do a scan of what's happening online. In the process I stumbled across a conversation between Dominic Steel, senior minister of Christians in the Media, and Shane Rogerson, an old church buddy.
Dominic asks, "I have been struggling to think of the next 10 words that I want to say after the advertisement’s brilliant catchy statement: Jesus is all about life. But what are the next 10 words I am to say to my friends?"
Shane responds, "Its a great conversation starter. Everyone knows it won't seal the deal. My next 12 words: what do you think life's about? have you seriously looked at Jesus?"
Now, while I think there's a danger here in any suggestion we adopt formulaic responses, I do agree asking open-ended questions like that is not a bad way to engage with the sorts of questions the Jesus All About Life may stir up.
I think Shane's other comments deserve some attention too. We all know it is nothing more than a conversation starter, but I am not sure how many non-Christians realize that we realize that.
So, I'd just like to throw this question out to everyone, Christian and non-Christian, religious and non-religious. What do you think life's about? Have you seriously looked at Jesus?
For those in Sydney, you may be interested to hear that Ryde based group The Harbour is holding a forum called “Faith Beyond Church” next month. The forum is for people "who have been emotionally or spiritually hurt or disillusioned by the institutional church" with the aim of providing opportunities for people to share experiences and find ways to renew their understanding of church. Details:
Friday 11th September 2009
I am feeling a bit like a Hillsong Cinderella at the moment. Christians all around me are dashing off to the Hillsong conference, and here I am, left behind, just doing the missional chores. I think I'd turn into a pumpkin if I kissed Osteen though, so maybe I best stick away. Apparently there is a simulcast on something called God TV. I had no idea God simulcasted via his own TV channel.
Related Articles:
Ross Clifford, former President of the Baptist Union in Australia and principle of Morling College, recently wrote on the state of the denomination in Together in Ministry and I though a few of you might find it an interesting read.
For those who don't know the back story, Ross, along with my friend Philip Johnson, were the pioneers of Mind Body Spirit Festival ministry back in the early 90s. Together they co-authored Jesus and the Gods of the New Age and Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and your Spirituality in collaboration with John Drane. Community of Hope, the group they formed and which first introduced me to incarnational mission, was the forerunner of groups like Dekhomai in the UK which is were Jonny Baker comes into the picture. Mike Frost, who many of you would know, is deputy principle at the college where Ross hangs out.
Morling, you may recall, is also where I am studying counselling. I was discussing the leadership issue with a few bods over dinner last night when Ross dropped by. Unfortunately a pesky exam precluded any in depth conversation over this but I appreciate that Ross is putting these comments out there. Anyway, onto the article:
President of the Baptist Union of Australia Rev Dr Ross Clifford shares some insights gained from his 3 year term which finished in November 2008.
In my columns I have endeavoured to highlight the many inspiring things Baptists are doing across the country as well as to challenge our thinking on sharing the gospel in the market place. I wrestled over this final column and I have a real sense the Lord wants me to speak about a prophetic reality check for Aussie Baptists.
Let me explain. A couple of months ago Mark Driscoll hit Sydney. If you haven’t heard of him he is a bullish pastor from Seattle who is growing a significant church and creating waves. He is the unusual mix of being a reformed pastor who is open to the gifts, eg. tongues. He shoots from the hip, which can be a concern. He preached at my College, Morling, and told us that we were world leaders in contextualization, but needed to lift our game in proclamation. He went to Moore College (Anglican) the next day and from the same passage told them they weren’t cool (i.e. weak in contextualization). He then spoke to a forum of mainly Sydney Anglican ministers and part of his presentation was 18 things wrong with Sydney Anglicans. It has created a stir around the globe, and it appears that many young ministers have responded positively to the challenge/rebuke. I believe that Sydney Anglicans showed a spiritual maturity by putting the 18 criticisms on their website, rather than being defensive.
I don’t want to match Driscoll, but I believe it is time for Australian Baptists to accept the challenge of a reality check. Unlike many denominations we are holding our own, but we are not significantly growing. There are issues we still need to address. After three years let me list some areas of concern I have. I only want to mention a few, as I would really appreciate your responses (principal@morling.edu.au). My commitment is to ensure that your concerns are shared with our Baptist leadership. So let’s get in touch. My list is not about what’s wrong, but positively what can we do better together. Where is the Lord challenging us?
Leadership – I don’t believe that we are challenging enough of our best young people to consider pastoral ministry. Our churches and our denomination will suffer if this does not change. Leaders also need to be empowered to lead.
Theological education – How we train is still strongly influenced by accrediting agencies, consortiums that we are a part of. Our colleges are strong, and therefore it is time for some radical reflection and action.
Baptism – In some churches it is lost. Have we become ashamed of baptism, in our openness to other traditions?
Evangelism – Often spoken of, but I sense for many it’s left to the occasional church event/outreach.
We need to support both our ‘mega’ churches and our ‘missional’ churches. Let’s call a truce, and empower both forms of church and learn from both.
How can our pastors and smaller rural churches survive without a new paradigm of supporting them financially and with resources? This is a national issue for all denominations.
Prayer has a vital role in all our churches, but without concerted prayer for denomination as a whole we will continue to struggle. A more national, global perspective to our prayer life is needed.
Well, just a few thoughts which are offered by a former President who has been blessed by many wonderful things God is doing in our midst. Let me know your thoughts.
I plan to respond to this, but first, what are your thoughts?
Where is Hillsong? If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you'd know that I occasionally cross over to the dark side (Stu, this is your opportunity to raz me) and visit Hillsong. After all, I like to write about Sydney and Hillsong is the most globally recognizable church in Sydney. So, ever wondered how close? This map gives you an idea. If you go directly south from Hillsong you'll see a little white man. That's me. It's probably about a 20 to 30 minute drive cross country. That's reasonably local in Sydney terms. We're all in the Hills area, in case you ever wondered where the Hillsong name came from. And by the way, the above map is a map of Christian churches across Sydney. The red dots I mean. If you want to search for other churches in Sydney, see here and search for "churches".
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