Monthly Archives: March 2011

Canberra: Day 2 & 3

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Well, much has happened over the last 2 days in Canberra.

Monday was gentle ease into the week – we spent some time getting to know the Crossroads team, doing some walk-up evangelism training with the students at FOCUS at the Australian National University, then in the evening a few of us were able to take part in an open discussion night for people who were thinking about paid ministry and bible college for the future.

Today we put the walk-up training into action as we joined FOCUS for a few hours of walk-up at the ANU. By all accounts so excellent conversation were had and people showed a lot of interested in the other events that FOCUS is putting on across the week. Praise God for the students at FOCUS who are convinced that the gospel is true and boldly took the opportunity to share it today. Pray that those we spoke to will take the opportunity to go the other events and hear who Jesus is.

This afternoon 6 of us went to Turner Primary school to help out with an afternoon kids club called SUPA. The day started with leaders demonstrating Jesus servant heartedness by washing the feet of all the children. Thank God for the 3 kids who came today, for the first time.Pray that kids will remember that Easter is about Jesus, the king who washes our sin away.

But much more is still to come for day 3. Please pray for the 3 events on tonight

  • Cameron will be speaking on God’s grace at ADFA
  • Nick will be answering tough questions at a dialogue dinner
  • Adam will be answering whatever questions are thrown at him at a Q&A session at ANU. Pray especially for Adam who is unwell

Pray that many will come to these events, and be convicted of the truth of the gospel.

 

[republished from here]

Answering tough questions in Canberra

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Yesterday was a great start to mission in Canberra. Both morning services went well with Crossroads South having their biggest service yet.

Much of the day was spent meeting and getting to know the families we will be living with this week.

Kate and Cameron were lucky enough to be able to join a family who, in light of neighbour day, had invited their whole street over to the house for lunch. They have 8 neighbours visit, most of whom didn’t know each and yet stayed for over 3 hours. Thank God for the new friendships that were formed, and pray that Ken & Jo (hosts) would continue to work on those relationships, and embrace opportunities to share Jesus’ words of eternal life with their neighbours.

The whole team was together for the first time yesterday at Crossroads in the City, a night congregation that meets at the ANU.

The lecture theatre was just about packed out, and Con preached on the Invention of Dying (for sins) from Isaiah 53. After church, we had areas set up where people could come and speak to members of the team to get answers to tough questions such as

  • Are science and Christianity against each other?
  • Can we believe the Bible?
  • Does God really punish people who don’t trust in him?
  • Is Jesus the only way?

No-one was sure how or if this would work, but it was a great success! Most the discussion groups had a lot of interest – in fact the science and Christianity discussion have to split into 3 groups.

We also had some areas where people could go for prayer and to talk about how to become a Christian. Last night a guy who the church has contact with though ADFA finally made the decision to follow Jesus! Praise God for him and those who have been sharing, & will continue to share, God’s word with him.

Praise God for a great first day and please keep praying for the team’s preparation for various events, interactions with church members (especially our billets) and those doing work with the ANU team.

 

(republished from here)

Behind the scenes: Canberra

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Today was our final team meeting before we all arrive at Crossroads Church, Canberra, on Sunday morning.

We’re all really excited about the chance to partner with Crossroads for the week and we would love your prayers as we do so. Please pray for us as we prepare talks, kids programs, for door knocking, walk up evangelism and to answer difficult questions. Pray that we would always be prepared to give an answer for the reason for the hope that we have and that we would answer with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15-16).

Here is a snapshot of our calendar for the week

It’s going to be busy so please pray for the team as we navigate events in multiple locations. Pray that we would work well together, and with the team at Crossroads. Above all pray that we would be worthy ambassadors of Christ and that people would be compelled to consider who Jesus is.

(reposted from here)

 

Mission in the nation’s capital

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Once again the time has come for Moore College to send us out into the world (literally) to partner with churches for a week of mission. While many of our teams will be Sydney based, there are a few teams heading a little further.

This year my mission team is heading to Canberra to work with Crossroads Church for 8 days, starting Sunday. Much excitement!

But we’re not the team going the furthest. One team will be on planes this weekend, heading to Hong Kong for the week.

If you want to know a little about what we do on mission read about my last 2 years here.

It’s always a busy week and of course we’d love your prayerful support as we head out. If you’d like to pray for us, or if you would just like to know what’s happening, you can read updates from all the teams on the moore college mission blog. I’ll be over there, keeping you updated on behalf of the Canberra team.

You can also follow the #mooremissions tweets.

Identity & Sexuality: Part 1

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Issues of human sexuality and how it relates to our identity are more and more becoming crucial and much talked about issues in our culture. It’s hard, if not impossible, for Christians to shy away from these discussions. And while they are complex issues, shying away from them is one of the worst things we can do. We need to be prepared to engage at some level.

It makes sense that if we what to start to answer the question of who we are we should look at where we started. The beginning of humanity – the 6th day of creation.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” [Genesis 1:26]

Humanity stands out here as the only thing to have been created in the image of its creator. We bear the image of a trinitarian God, who is eternally in relationship with himself. So to be human is to be relational.

It’s this that differentiates us from the animals that we are to rule over. But that’s not all that is different between Adam and Eve and the animals. Here’s what we’re told about the animals

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. [Genesis 1:24-25]

The animals are produced and arranged according to kind. And there are many kinds. Humans are their own kind – there’s a reason we call it called humankind. But what we do see, which we don’t for the animals, is gender. Part of being made in God’s image is being made male and female. We are different, and yet of one kind and together image bearers of God.

In the last few weeks, as part of some sermon prep. I’ve been reading some writing of several Queer Theorists who would like to convince us that gender is fluid. It’s not set in stone and it can be changed easily because it’s not based on our physiology but on some transitory feeling within us. But Genesis shows us a very different picture than the one they are trying to sell us. Gender is there in the very first description of humanity. Before we’ve heard a word from either of them, we’re told they are created male and female. Their gender isn’t fluid because their male and femaleness isn’t based on how they feel. They are male and female simply because God made them that way.

You’ll also note that they are described as male and female rather than man and woman. This is because the Hebrew words for male and female are intended to express sexuality. To be human is to be a sexual person. So gender has played a role in the first introduction to both humanity and sexuality.  The sexual bond of the man and the woman are part of God’s good creation and integral in his purpose for them to fill and subdue the earth.

Genesis doesn’t leave room for the confusion of gender or sexuality. Being male and female is fundamental to both our identity and our sexuality. And it’s part of the creation that God declared was very good.