Deep Creek Anglican Church Blog

“The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Ps 19:1

And the northern lights (Aurora Borealis) certainly do that.  A documentary, featuring Joanna Lumley, was shown on ABC TV at the end of November.  It was absolutely spectacular (and sometimes funny) and you can see a trailer here.  Magnificent photos of the aurora are here and here.

The  name aurora borealis derives from the name of the Roman goddess for dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas. Aurora is sometimes referred to as ‘the dance of the spirits.’

But all of creation has one source – the one and only God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Gen 1:1-3, Isa 42:5-9, John 1:1-4, Col 1:15-17, Heb 1:1-3, Rev 4:1-11).

As we observe the wonder of the cosmos (of which the aurora is but one of countless wonders), our hearts should fill with praise to our mighty Creator, the One who reminded Job of His awesome creative power and sovereignty (Job 38:1-21).

The wonder of grace is that this unimaginably powerful God took on human flesh and through Jesus’ death and resurrection, provided the means for the reconciliation of the estranged creation to its holy Creator (Col 1:15-23).

Only two more sleeps to the New Year (assuming you’re still awake at 12.00am on the 31st!).  At this time of any year, we often become somewhat reflective on the year nearly passed.  But 2010 marks the start of a new  decade so our reflections this year are likely to span the last decade.

I know I have contemplated a number of times in recent days the significant changes in my life since the beginning of the decade.  So many instances of the Lord leading, continuing His work of transformation (not a straight line!)  and escalating family health struggles that have required me on numerous occasions to ensure my theology of suffering is very practicable.

Reflections on the exodus were a key aspect of Israel’s spirituality.  And for each follower of the Lord Jesus, we will have our own  ’exodus event(s)’ that will serve to give us great assurance of God’s presence and grace when we are journeying through difficult times.  But I find it healthy not to stay too long in historical mode, but to press on and to look forward to the Lord Jesus’ return and the arrival of the New Heaven and New Earth.  That’s God’s trajectory and it is amazing grace of God that we can be on that same trajectory as we continue to trust in the Lord Jesus.

If you have interest in reflections on America over the last decade (and the changes have been huge) then check out these opinion pieces in The New York Times.

Christianity Today has put together its own Top Ten News Stories of both 2009 and also the decade here based on their assessment of “the events, people, and debates of the past year that have shaped, or will significantly shape, evangelical life, thought, or mission.”

We come to the final chapter of ‘A Passion for Leadership.’  It has a slightly different flavour to the rest of the book – it deals with preaching, applicable to some but not all Christian leaders.  The writer is well qualified  to address this aspect, having authored the 2001 Preaching Book of the Year, Preaching to a Postmodern World.

Chapter Ten: Telling the Story for Twenty-First Century Listeners (Graham Johnston)

The writer addresses the fundamental question: “How can God’s message be presented for this generation?”  Answer: in story form.  Johnston contends that every biblical passage possesses a story (including the epistles) and the story should be communicated inductively from the text.

In discussing development of the body of the message, Johnston comments:

“Discriminating audiences always demand content.  People want to see the connection between the story (where one is leading the listeners) and the details of the text (what the Bible actually says)…”

Johnston deals with a big topic and chapter size limitations obviously make the comments, albeit helpful, rather generalised.

This final chapter in many ways represents the strength and weakness of A Passion for Leadership.  The topic of chapter ten seems a little out of place, notwithstanding that some, but not all Christian leaders will preach on a regular basis.  The book contains some useful insights and the contributors of the chapters are well experienced in the areas on which they are writing. But the book would have had much greater coherence if a unifying theme (such as ‘A Passion for Leadership’) was developed through all the chapters.

Ian Harper is a very well known economist in Australia and was the inaugural Chairman of the Australian Fair Pay Commission.  He’s also a committed follower of Jesus and contributes a chapter in ‘A Passion for Leadership’:

Chapter Nine: Church Leaders and the Market Place (Ian Harper)

Just as in Jesus’ day, the business of commerce occupies much of the daily lives of people.  Christian leaders must therefore be familiar with it.  Familiarity is also essential if the Christian leader is going to be able to pastorally care for those impacted by its stresses, as well as ascertain mission strategies to reach the commercial world.

Ian encourages Christians to be involved in the marketplace.  Sure there’s sin present – the church response should be to bring god’s redeeming love to the marketplace, not withdraw.

The writer then confronts an often found myth: “It is a myth sometimes perpetrated in Christian circles that only those who work in the caring professions like health and education, or who work for the government are really serving their fellow human beings.  Christians who work in business, on the other hand, are just looking after themselves.  This is simply not true.”

Ian then provides some practical suggestions on ministering to the marketplace and encourages the appropriate use of marketplace principles/practices within the church.

I resonated with this chapter, having spent much more of my working life in business than in full-time ministry.  The workplace provides stacks of opportunities for relationship evangelism.  But it is not easy living as a committed disciple of Christ in this environment.  I came to faith 15 years after commencing my career and there was much that needed to be redeemed in my approach to business.  It is imperative that Christian leaders have some familiarity with this world, in order to more effectively minister to their people working in it, and to equip them for a very fertile but challenging mission arena.

It’s Boxing Day, and if you’re a sports fan (like me!), this is a BIG day – start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and the Boxing Day Cricket Test, between Australia and Pakistan.

And as we enjoy the Christmas/New Year period, continue to praise Immanuel, the ultimate Servant, who calls each of us to The Servant Way:

We’ve had a wonderful time of reflecting on, and worshipping the Christmas Baby through the month of December.  The Children’s Christmas Eve service last night was an action packed presentation of the Christmas message.  The 11.00pm Christmas Eve Communion service is perhaps my favourite service all year.  Last night we even had a harpist in our music team – the sounds are beautiful but the instrument is, well, a bit hard to put in the boot of your car!

Across a wide variety of service formats at Deep Creek, we have focussed on the amazing grace of God – to take on human flesh to be the Saviour of the world.  The narrator of the Christmas video below, from St Helen’s Bishopgate, London comments:

“Someone as supremely powerful as God has taken the initiative to come and get to know us – that’s Christmas.”

That’s Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

Chapter Three: Paul’s Theological Axioms Imply the Equality of Man and Woman

Having examined the influences on Paul’s view of women, and then having identified the women serving as ministry leaders in the NT, the writer turns in chapter three to the apostle’s theological axioms that provide the framework for understanding his teachings about men and women.

Payne identifies a dozen areas where Scripture affirms the equal standing of men and women, including: both created in God’s image; both received the creation mandate and blessing; the redeemed are all ‘in Christ’; oneness of the Body of Christ, the priesthood of all believers and liberty in Christ presupposes equality; gifts of the Spirit manifest equality.

The writer states that the nature of church leadership as service applies equally to male and female.  He notes that church leaders’ authority is not intrinsic to themselves or their office, but is derived.  It is the Holy Spirit who gives the necessary gifts for leadership and guides the leader (Acts 20:28).  Payne draws on the Scriptural data presented in chapter two to conclude that “the Spirit gifts and guides women as well as men for church leadership.”

Payne also notes that mutual submission in the church (Eph 5:21) presupposes equal standing, and then he draws the same conclusion about submission in marriage – a topic he returns to in some detail, later in the book (chapters five and fifteen).

Chapter Three concludes the introductory section of the book – the next eleven chapters comprise exegesis of Pauline statements about women in Galations and 1 Corinthians.

Peter Corney, the joint editor of ‘A Passion for Leadership’ makes his second contribution in:

Chapter Eight: Leaders and Teams (Peter Corney)

Peter knows, through many years of leading large ministry teams, the challenges but great opportunities presented by team ministry.  As Peter says at the start of this chapter, “The NT pattern of ministry is teams!  Monoministry is nowhere to be found in the NT.”

Peter provides some useful tips on:

• recruiting teams
• recruiting principles.  Eg. Don’t assess based on the CV – check references, thoroughly!

A useful diagram is provided summarising the changing role played by the team leader with increasing size of staff and organisation.  A growing church requires the leader to spend increasing time on ministry rather than in ministry.  The chapter does not elaborate on the tensions that this typically produces, especially for the congregation (s) but also sometimes for the leader.  This is unfortunate as the author has a large reservoir of acquired wisdom in leading churches.  Peter does summarise what ‘on ministry‘ includes:

• vision casting
• strategising
• planning
• creating structures for empowerment of others
• recruiting and training leaders
• motivating and communicating with key lay leaders.

He concludes with nine ‘wants’ of team members from their leaders.  You can check out your own list against those identified – chapter eight is actually provided on the author’s own web site here.

As Peter says, if you find this article useful, purchase the book!

Free2Believe provides an update at www.free2believe.org.au on the Final Report from the Victorian Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee (SARC) that was published last month.

This Report reviewed proposed changes to religious exemptions and exceptions in the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 1995 and is available here.

Free2Believe comments:

“A Minority Report published by four non-government MPs of the SARC committee, gives important insights into concerns resulting from the review process and is also available here.

Although there were some positive conclusions in the SARC committee’s Final Report, a key recommendation [3], if adopted, would see uncertainty and erosion of religious freedom in Victoria because it would mean that employment by religious  bodies and schools would be subjected to an  inherent requirement test .

This test would be used to determine whether or not religious schools or organisations could exercise the freedom currently available to them to employ according to its ethos and religious beliefs. There remains strong concern that ultimately, VCAT would have the power to make decisions on important matters of religious principle .

This recommendation is consistent with a media statement issued by Victorian Attorney General, Rob Hulls in September where he said:

“In relation to employment, the religious nature of the organisation or school will need be taken into account in determining whether a particular position needs to be filled by someone who adheres to that religion’s beliefs.”

Mr Hulls views are completely opposite to that expressed during the inquiry and  encapsulated by the Communications Officer for the Association of Independent Schools:

“we are of the firm belief that the people at schools are in the best position to employ those people they feel are the best people to educate students attending those schools, based on the values and tenets of those schools, whether they be faith or not.”

Although the Victorian Government will have to respond to SARC’s Final Report before May 2010, it is under no obligation to accept any of its recommendations.

The Report leaves many lingering uncertainties, but one thing is for sure: religious people and communities will be letting themselves down and future generations of believers, if they do not continue to carefully scrutinize the movements of Mr Hulls and the changes to our equal opportunity laws over the coming months.”

Chapter Two: Women Paul Names as Ministry Leaders

Philip Payne begins his second chapter:

“For centuries, the apostle Paul has been castigated as a stone-faced misogynist with a particular dislike for women.  Yet reading his letters reveals, instead, a man deeply invested in relationships with both men and women.  He accepts women as ministry leaders and respects and honours women who labour for the Lord, not as his subordinates, but as his partners and equals.”

The writer then considers the Scriptural data about several NT women:

• Phoebe (Rom 16:1-2).  Payne contends that rather than “servant” (NIV) in v1, diakonon should be translated as ‘deacon’ as per Rom 13:4 (twice); 15:8. Further, he argues strongly that in v2b “a great help” (NIV) [from prostatis] should in fact be translated as ‘leader’ (see Rom 12:8).
• Priscilla (Rom 16:3-5).  The writer looks at Priscilla’s ministry to Apollos and the unusual word order used when referring to her and her husband.
• Junia (Rom 16:7).  Payne interacts with Eldon Epp’s study, Junia: The First Woman Apostle. He argues that the name clearly refers to a woman.  More than that, she and Andronicus must have been revered by the churches and had authority as ministers of the Gospel.
• Other women, such as Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Peris (Rom 16:6, 12); Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2-3) are reviewed.

Payne concludes: “The extent of Paul’s affirmations of women in his circle of ministry stands in stark contrast with the typical attitude toward women in Paul’s day.”