Taking the Jesus out of Easter

Easter show bans Jesus

I'd love to say it's unbelievable, but sadly I'm not even shocked.

H/T Gordo via FB

There's no copyright in the Kingdom

To conclude my Moorebank/Hammondville Mission posts, here are a couple of evangelistic ideas I’m planning on shamelessly stealing.



1. One of the lessons I’ve taken from mission is the desire to try new things to reach out to people with the gospel. One such example was a different slant on door-knocking. For the third of our allocated door-knocking times, we went out in teams of three to offer to mow lawns and clean windows for whoever wanted it. The aim wasn’t necessarily to get evangelistic opportunites, but to serve people in the community and as Steve Young the minister put it, just to ’see what happens’. If they offer you a drink at the end, you might get a chance to talk about Jesus. If not, they get a freshly cut lawn and a positive view of Christians. Two wins, I think.

Consider the idea stolen.



2. Big Questions from small people was an event run during mission which invited parents and carers along to church on a Thursday night, to discuss the Bible’s answers to their kids’ big questions. The night was for anyone who has been asked big questions that have left them stumped.

The night began with an introductory video, which set the scene well for those who have ever had that moment where the big question came, only to be followed by silence, broken shortly after by a few mumbled half-words while the palms get sweaty and small beads of perspiration begin forming on the forehead. A panel of three college students (two were parents of tweens, the other a trained primary teacher) fielded questions from the floor and humbly attempted to answer them as if they were speaking with a child. It was a great night of thinking hard about how to communicate the big truths of God in simple ways. Inevitably, a few really big kids questions crept into the discussion; that is, those of the adults themselves. ‘My child wants to know the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human freedom’. Sure they do.

The beauty of the night came not just from the wisdom of the panel, but that there was no evangelistic sermon, no testimonies and no specific gospel outline. Instead it was simply a panel of individuals who understood God’s word and God’s work in the world. This gave ample opportunity for gospel explanation through the answers.

Consider the idea stolen.



3. Jesus on the grass is probably not what you think it is. It is not a ministry to hippies. Rather Jesus on the grass is an event designed to break down the barrier of the church front door and the people in the community. Generally run twice each year for two consecutive Sundays, the service could well be titled ‘Christians on the church front lawn’. Kicking off around 5PM, a band entertains with music while a barbeque sizzles away. Those walking past are invited to join us for a bite to eat and a quick chat. After 20 minutes or so of music and meat (an unbeatable combination) the crowd is invited to take a seat and a short talk (10-12 minutes) is given from the Bible with the challenge to consider Jesus.

It is surprising just how many people came out on their verandahs to listen, pulled over in their cars, or were simply out walking the dog. The barrier of the church front door is removed as people see the congregation. Also, in a community such as Hammondville, by the second week all the locals know it is happening.

Some cooked animal, lovely weather, a cool drink, a captive audience and Jesus. Open-air preaching at its finest.

Consider the idea stolen.


_____________

Thanks to Steve, Ed, Tim, Becky and all those at Riverside Churches, for their willingness to give just about anything a go if it will provide an opportunity to proclaim Jesus.

Moore College Mission is a waste of time...

I’m not usually one to court controversy, but let me simply put it out there: Moore College Mission is a waste of time. It’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it? Moore College Mission is a waste of time. Have you heard this complaint? Perhaps even in a moment of weakness the thought has wandered into your own head?

What long-term benefit could possibly come from just 8 days working with a church?

To be honest, leading into my first mission I was mildly sceptical myself. There is, as with most criticisms, an element of truth to this particular view. There are great limitations to what the students and staff can achieve in such a short period of time. This is especially true when compared to the week in, week out effort of the local congregation in reaching out to people in their area with the saving message of Jesus.

Yet perhaps the key is that we are working with the local church. I am not currently on Moore College Mission at Moorebank, rather it is Moorebank Mission with Moore College.

One of the greatest blessings thus far has been the clear explanation as to where we fit into the ongoing work of proclamation through the believers here.

Some examples;

• Explaining the Easter message to over 2000 schoolchildren – this rides on the coattails of the faithful scripture teachers who have such good rapport with 6 schools in the parish that they each gave us a whole school half hour ‘opt out’ assembly, where we could proclaim the gospel.
• Revisiting houses where people had taken Luke’s gospel or expressed interest when the church members door knocked the majority of the parish last year.
• Providing teaching and general foot soldiers at the church’s regular gatherings throughout the week.
• Seeking to talk about Jesus with passersby at Hammondville’s semi-regular ‘open air preaching’ service, Jesus on the Grass.
• 50 primary age children coming along to a Jungle Safari afternoon to hear about Jesus saving the lost, and be invited into the regular children’s ministry programs.

I have no idea if any individuals have turned this week to put their trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. If they have, that’s just spectacular. Praise be to God. That is work which I trust will last for eternity.

But it seems to me that regardless of people becoming Christians this week, they will continue to be presented with the truth next week too. We have in many ways been utilised as reinforcements for the regular front line troops.

It has struck me just how few once-only events we were responsible for this week. Sure, we provided a dedicated team of workers who have laboured hard in the Lord, sure we have assisted and encouraged the locals with some additional elements to their structures, yet the goal is so much further towards the horizon.

I can only conclude that Moore College Mission is not a waste of time. In great part, because I am certain that though accelerated substantially this week with our assistance, the work will continue as it did before we came, through men and women in Moorebank who love Jesus and love telling others about our great God.

This post originally appeared here.

Door knocking aboard the Mother Ship in Moorebank

Hitting the streets, and then the timber as you move from house to house hoping for opportunities to commend Jesus to people in their homes; door knocking is a strange beast. It's different to just about any other form of evangelism. You aren't on church property, nor in the public sphere, rather, you are meeting people on their turf.

As a method of evangelism it's a scattergun approach. Door knocking is farming like the sower of Jesus parable, scattering the seeds uncertain of where they will land.

This year on Moore College Mission at Moorebank, the team were promised, 'a door knocking experience like never before'. That is, an entirely positive one. The saints at Moorebank had pretty much covered the entire parish over 2009 as they offered the gospel according to Luke, to every household. Better yet, they kept records of every house that either took a gospel or was even remotely positive towards the Christians. So how was this going to be a 'door knocking experience like no other'? We were only going back to the households that didn't slam the door previously.

Thank God that so far the predictions of positive proclamation have been fairly spot on. Not every household could remember the previous visit, nor taking the gospel of Luke, but the majority of people were willing to have a chat. A number expressed interest in coming along to events being held this week, more people took copies of Luke (one lady told us she had just rediscovered her copy under a pile of paperwork last week.) Another woman who identified herself as a Roman Catholic was happy to take Luke's gospel once some initial confusion was overcome regarding Luke's gospel being a part of the Bible.

To give you a feel for the positivity of the door knocking, a practicing Mormon woman at another house ended up talking with two of our team for an hour and a half about Jesus. This was even after one of our team members had initially offended her by referring to Salt Lake City as 'the Mother Ship'.

We're hitting the streets (and then doors) again on Thursday, so please pray God will go before us and (literally) open doors for sharing the message of forgiveness of sin through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

This post initially appeared here.

Stick Figure Jesus

One of the Moore College Mission team members is giving a talk at playgroup tomorrow. The team member asked me today if I could draw. 'Only curtains' a quick thinking man would have replied. This dim-witted one however simply replied, 'Stick figures'.

Seeing as though the picture required was of Jesus on the cross, it's probably a good thing the team member commissioning the work moved onto another artist.

I imagine my effort would have looked something like this;

Jesus on the cross doesn't translate particularly well with stick men.

Moore College Mission

This week I'm on Moore College Mission. Someone from each team will be blogging a few times throughout the week. I'm not sure if I will be scribe for my team, as the impressive Steve B put his hand up before I was asked. If you're keen to find out what mission is all about, and/or are keen to pray for us, check it out.

However, not all has started well on the team blog. This photo from the York St team probably has John Woodhouse wanting to crawl into a grave just so he can turn over in it.

Quote unquote

I visited a Bible Study once where one of the girls proudly proclaimed;

Jesus said, "Preach the gospel, and when necessary use words."

No, he didn't. And I don't think he'd appreciate you putting words into his mouth.

iPhone Holey Bible

It's hard being Christian and cutting edge.

As well as all those general feelings of guilt over your excessive technology purchases, you also need to deal with the unending silent rebukes of naysayers. You know the ones, the glare down the nose from Mrs Smith as you drag your MacBook out to take notes during the church AGM. A small shake of the head clearly demonstrates her disdain for 'people like you'.

This clash of cultures is felt no more than by the humble Bible-reading iPhone user. I know, I know. I feel your pain. You figure, you no longer carry a watch, a diary or an mp3 player, so why in the world would you carry a Bible? It's all on that little screen. All you need to do is gently tap the NIV button between Tetris and Poker, and voilà.

As you read your "Bible" in church, are you tired of embarassing questions like "Who are you messaging?" Are you fed up overhearing "Tsk tsk. Gladys, look at that inconsiderate young man using his portable telephone in church. It's just rude." Are you sick to death of the gentle encouragements from service leaders to "please bring a real Bible"?

Introducing; the iPhone Holey Bible.

Satisfy your technology craving by reading your iPhone Bible app free from prying eyes and sneering glares.

WARNING: To avoid detection ensure you remember to make page-turning noises at appropriate times.

ESV for free on iPhone

Finally, you can download the ESV app on iPhone for free. That is free as in no cost. And better still, you don't need to be connected to the net. It's all there.

The only negative with this app is it still hasn't addressed the fact that you look like you're messaging someone or playing tetris as you constantly fiddle with your phone during Bible Study.

H/T Tom M

Video of Gibbo on Millionaire

I am aware many people who read this blog know of Richard Gibson as a great gift of God to the church. He is one of the many reasons Moore College is such a great training ground for evangelical Christians.

Tonight via his daughter's application, Gibbo was on the lightning fast version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire known as Millionaire Hot Seat. Sadly Gibbo's vasectomy story was cut from the final show that aired.

Curse you 5:30pm timeslot.

The video is fairly poor quality but will hopefully give the idea to those who missed it. Also, it's worth watching through to the end. Unfortunately I missed the beginning of the program and had to settle for quoting Gibbo's introduction from Eddie McGuire.

For some unknown reason Channel 9 saw fit to start the program at 5:25pm rather than the scheduled 5:30. Some possible explanations for this lunacy include;
1. Channel 9 simply operates in a time zone that doesn't actually exist
2. Someone didn't change their watch for daylight saving
3. Programmer can't read an analogue clock
4. Eddie McGuire has broken the time/space continuum, but only managed to transport himself 5 minutes into the future thus constantly operating a mere five minutes ahead of the rest of the world.

Here's Gibbo;

Gibbo on Who Wants to be a Millionaire Tonight 5:30PM

Moore College lecturer, Greek aficionado, and all round good guy Richard 'Gibbo' Gibson will be on Channel 9's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire tonight at 5:30.

I will attempt to get some video online after the fact.

The Moore College Diaries 16/3/10

One of the things that scares me away from the Anglican Church is the prayer book service. The unfamiliarity with the sitting, the standing, the kneeling, the recitation, the call/response, pretty much fills me with dread. Consequently my default position towards the recitation of common prayers and creeds is an upturned lip sneer. It has lately become apparent as I study at an Anglican Bible College that to maintain this position will result in a long four years. So with Sarah's encouragement I have stowed away the sneer until we have an opportunity to think about the purpose of these traditions later in college life as we study 'church history'. Which interestingly is where I believe the prayer book should permanently remain.

This morning during our chapel service there was cause to give brief thanks to God for musicians. Not that they were doing anything, it's that I wish they were. There is something unsurprisingly dry and disatisfying about the monotone communal reading of Psalm 47.

47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.   Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!
8 God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted!

Some words just need to be sung.

To be clear this is not a case for chanting the prayer book.

Overheard at lunch

I had the misfortune last week of overhearing at lunch this comment from a part-time student at Bible college;

No, I never considered full-time study. I couldn't stand the thought of not talking to people about Jesus for four years.

This goes to show some people just don't understand Bible College. With that attitude, it's probably a good thing they aren't studying full-time.

Answering kids questions about God

One of the evangelistic ideas for Moore College mission this year is a night held at the school where our host church takes Scripture lessons. There will be a panel taking questions and speaking on the topic of 'Answering your children's questions about God.'

My favourite Scripture moment from when I taught at Lidcombe Primary was when I was talking about the background to an Old Testament story being a war between God's people Israel and the country next door. One of the children put up their hand and politely asked, "Was that the first world war?"

Kids have no concept of time, hey? If I was quicker on my feet I would have answered "No, the first world war was between Adam and God." Though in hindsight I'm not sure how well wit works with children.

For more tough questions check out these videos from the BBC program Outnumbered






H/T Costa and Luke

Book review up on WebSalt

I remember some time ago somewhere I was struck once by something some guy said. If my memory serves me correct it was Don Carson speaking about during the time of his PHD he never turned down an offer to preach if he was physically able to do so, regardless of the size of the group. That's gospel generosity, my friends. And I want to be like that.

Occasionally amongst the effluent spewed forth on the pages of this blog, there are articles which people wish to reproduce in other locations. If they want it and I support their ministry I am happy to oblige. A few months back the guys at Geneva grabbed a couple of articles, until they thought better of it.

The latest gospel ministry I've chosen to support through reproduction of my content is AFES WebSALT. My review of Paul Grimmond's Right Side Up has just gone up.

I'm slightly disappointed that the line was removed that read;

Paul Grimmond is the kind of guy who I imagine would nurse a sick kitten back to health

In fact, this entire post is almost entirely for the purpose of making sure the sentence isn't completely confined to the bowels of history. I should clarify however that this editing was done with my full approval. It also gives me a window into what Izaac thinks aloud would be like if my thoughts were written by someone with better taste.

Blind-sided

Did anyone else notice in 'The Blind Side' the misquote;

With man this is possible, with God all things are possible.

Where's the 'im'?

It's kind of ironic that this man-centred egoism came as a result of removing the letters 'I', 'M'.

More on Micah

It's important in teaching the Old Testament to understand and communicate the "feel" of the text. That is, what would the original recipients have felt as this was read to them? This will aid our understanding and exegesis.

The start of Micah is pretty much doom and gloom. It is a glorious thing to behold the righteous judgment of God on disobedient humankind. Consequently I'd love to preach my first sermon on the judgment of God dressed in some manner of emo/gothic garb. I remember once at uni church the four of us preaching on Lamentations decided to all wear black for the four week series.

Sarah tells me gothic dress would be distracting from the word of God. I like to think it's because she doesn't want me to be seen wearing skinny leg jeans in public.

Micah sermon prep

During April, I'm teaching the book of Micah at Sydney Uni Cumberland Lunchtime Bible Teaching over three weeks. There are a number of decisions to be made as I try to cover the whole book in these three talks. Conceptually there are a numerous ways to divide the chapters, however most of these result in huge amounts of content to be covered in a single sermon. Therefore the method I've gone with is that indicated by Micah's repeated refrain of "Hear, you..."

1. 1:1-2:13

1:2 Hear, you people, all of you

2. 3:1-5:15

3:1 And I said; Hear, you heads of Jacob (repeated in 3:9 'Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob')

3. 6:1-7:20

6:1 Hear what the LORD says;

As well as having manageable chunks to devour it provides the great reminder each week as we study "The word of the LORD that came to Micah" (1:1) that our primary response is to hear.

First date

From a newsletter of a friend of mine in ministry, letting his supporters know he's started dating;

She is a Christian girl who loves Jesus and things have been going well. During our first date we read the Bible, shared our views on leadership and submission, talked about overseas mission, the ramification of going into ministry, money, kids, adoption and about what we would have for dinner.

I imagine the only way this date could have been more intense was if they were camping.

On our first date Sarah and I went and watched Shawn of the Dead. It's a romantic zombie comedy (A Rom-Zom-Com).

The Moore College Diaries 13/3/10

As my darling wife Sarah has left the blogosphere describing it as "a pain", I  have shamelessly taken over The Moore College Diaries. I am hoping to convince Sarah to become an occasional contributor on this blog.

The Moore College Diaries 13/3/10

It has been a great pleasure of mine since arriving in Sydney to see women who firmly believe in complementarianism working out how to support and encourage men in taking initiative. It is not always as common to see men who firmly believe in complementarianism working hard to encourage the womenfolk in their respective ministries. This is certainly not the case among the faculty at Moore who are working hard to this end. An incident this week however perhaps demonstrates that the student body aren't as sensitive in this area.

How not to encourage women in ministry;

When a complementarian female is two minutes late for her turn to lead a biblical theology tutorial group discussion, the male dominated group should use the time to passionately discuss the roles of women in ministry. Ensure this conversation is continuing when aforementioned female arrives*.

*To the guys credit they assured Sarah that the conversation did not arise in the context of her about to lead the discussion. 

Who knew the 'T' in T-shirt stood for 'theology'?

Dave K knew. In the comments here.

On the difference between biblical and systematic theology;
_______

I often think about organising your wardrobe to help understand the difference. Think of all the shirts you wear hanging in your closet. How do you arrange them?

Some arrange them in the order they are going to be worn from Monday through to the culmination of your best Sunday shirt. Biblical theology of shirts.

But then again some like to put all their long sleeve shirts together, followed by their short sleeve shirts, then collared shirts, then t-shirts. Systematic theology of shirts.

Is this too silly? Or does it make no sense?
________

It makes perfect sense Dave. You are the people's theologian.

Next up; Dave uses his sock drawer to explain God's sovereignty.