Change is not always easy

Change is not always easy…  

and at the same growing as a christian involves a life of change.

As the gospel takes root in our lives it brings about change; it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and yes to growing in godliness (Titus 2.11-13). Or as Paul puts it in Colossians 3 we are called to put off the old self and to put on the new self ‘which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the creator’ (Colossians 3.10). 

As a church we have gone through a lot of change in recent years, and we are experiencing more changes too. Last Sunday, St Matt’s Ashbury met for the last time as a church family. 

From next Sunday both 9.30 am and 5.00 pm will look and feel a little bigger as we are joined by members of St Matt’s Ashbury.

It’s worth being realistic about how that will challenge us in different ways.

Biological families grow together slowly and experience the ‘slow burn’ of sharing life together. They have time to build memories and develop a shared history. And for the most part, church families grow in that way too - slowly and in a way that allows time for history to be shared and memories to be built together. There’s something unusual about having a church family that grows by 20-30 adults in a week. It’s not a bad thing in any way, it’s just a different kind of thing from what we’re used to and so it’s worth being realistic how change may effect us in different ways.

For some of us we’re excited at what’s going on at church and we’re excited to be a part of a bigger family. For others there’s a sense of loss that comes with that. In the short term, some of us may feel a little disoriented as we find ourselves in a familiar space with unfamiliar faces.

I want to encourage you to take some time to process how you’re faring with that and reach out to me, Mel or Luke, your small group leader, or a friend to help process these things. 

There are three things I’d love to commend us all to be a part of. 

1. Shared fellowship

Families grow together by spending time with one another and understanding each other better. 

One way we can do this in the next few weeks is to commit to coming along to our March 20 connection lunch. 

This will be a chance to share food together and get to know one another in a fun way (more on that to come…but it may involve a round of Kahoot!). 

It will also be a chance for us to hear from some members from St Matt’s about what has happened and how they got to this point as a church. There will also be a time where some of our members from St Paul’s share a little about what church means to them and how they’ve seen God at work in our church.

I hope that will be a helpful moment for each of us to understand one another better and to welcome these brothers and sisters into our church family. 

2. Language that reflects we’re one family

One of the challenges in a church family is making sure you use language that reflects your sense of belonging. It takes some getting used to, but the moment you choose to join a church you are one with those people. It follows that our language needs to reflect that. There’s no ‘us’ and ‘them’ in a church family. 

From next Sunday we need to be mindful that our language reflects the reality that we are one church family, not two. There’s not ‘us’ from St Paul’s and ‘them’ from St Matt’s, and there’s not ‘us’ from St Matt’s and ‘them’ from St Paul’s. We’re one family, St Paul’s Canterbury.

3. Prayer

I’ve said this a bunch of times, but it’s important to get that while this isn’t something St Matt’s, or St Paul’s would’ve chosen, it’s something we can (and should) pray that God will use for his good and the furthering of the kingdom of Jesus. Hold dearly onto Jesus’ promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s church. And pray boldly that our church will continue to bear witness to him so that the lost may be found and find a home with us at St Paul’s.

Why do the Lord's Supper online

There are those of us who quite enjoy the experience of doing church online. It’s convenient, you can wear your ugg boots and trackies for example. I’ll be honest. I’m not one of them. I’m learning to make the most of it, and there are things we do as a family to make it work for us.  I’d love to hear how you are making it work. 

One of my bugbears with streamed services is the lack of participation. As an aside, this is something I and the staff team are wanting to lift where we can (through things like psalms of call and response, times of reflection and prayer in households etc). 

Some people are really not comfortable sharing the Lord’s Supper online, and I get that. One of the most convincing reasons not to do it is that in the New Testament, the Lord’s Supper is instructed for churches when they gather. You can see this in 1 Corinthians 11.17-34 where Paul uses the phrase ‘when you gather’ five times. 

However to use this as a reason not to share the Lord’s Supper online, seems to me, an argument from silence. Paul is not addressing a situation when Christian's are unable to gather because of illness, or persecution….or a pandemic. He is simply stating what any of us would - when you gather for worship and share the Lord’s Supper do it this way…

I have found that those who tend to hold this view also hold a view that the Lord’s Supper is not an essential element of Christian worship. 

For me, it comes down to two convictions. 

First, the Lord’s Supper is an important element of our worship. 

One of Jesus’ last acts before his crucifixion was to gather his disciples and institute this meal.

‘On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover….

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.  “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Mark 14.12-16, 22-26

That the early church understood this as an institution from Jesus is seen, I think, in how Paul quotes Jesus’s words here in 1 Corinthians 11. And what is fascinating here is that Paul’s letter was probably written before the gospels. This means that there was an oral tradition of Jesus’ words (later recorded in the gospels as the generation of eyewitnesses neared death) that Paul and the early church knew and practiced when they gathered. 

Our reformed, evangelical, Anglican tradition has, for the most part, understood that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinarily essential element of corporate worship. 

John Calvin put it like this: 

Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists

This is important, because for Calvin, and the reformers of the church, what they thought about Lord’s Supper was connected to the question ‘where is the church?’

The reformers were trying to answer the question: ‘where is a true church?’ And their answer was: where the word of God is preached and the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) are duly administered. 

This is reflected in Article 19 of the Anglican Thirty-nine Articles of Religion:

‘The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful people, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered.’

Second, even when we’re not physically present we are still the church of God at St Paul’s Canterbury. 

We are the people of God, and we are his people gathered in Christ at St Paul’s. There is something spiritually significant about walking into the church hall on a Sunday and worshipping God together. Gathering together online just simply isn’t the same.

But it's not just that we meet in a hall together that makes us a church family. 

God has bound us together in Christ and when you chose to make St Paul’s your home you chose to be one with his people here. While we don’t have a formal membership course at St Paul’s like some churches do, if St Paul’s is your church home you are spiritually bound with his people here. The fact that we can’t meet as one family in person doesn’t change your oneness with Jesus’ people here.

Sharing the Lord’s Supper (even from our homes) is one way we express that.

Like I said at the beginning, I really don’t like doing church online….and I’m learning to make the most of it. Whatever ways I can suck some joy and authenticity out of this I will. Last year when we shared the Lord’s Supper while in lockdown was one small, but spiritually significant way I could participate in the service and remember that I’m one with Jesus and one with his people. 

A Planner's Reflection: Two sides of the same city

Sydney is a beautiful city, but its inequities run deep. The pandemic only shines a light on the deepening socio-economic divide across the city.  

In the last few weeks as Sydney deals with an ongoing lockdown, we have seen an elite private school in the Eastern Suburbs receive dispensation to take students on a trip to Kangaroo Valley and accidental vaccinations at a private school in Sydney’s lower north shore. Meanwhile, teachers in Western Sydney prepare resource packs to be sent home to families that struggle with connectivity issues and sharing devices between family members. 

We’ve also seen different narratives around responses to the outbreak of Covid in south-west Sydney, compared to those in the Eastern Suburbs or the previous Northern Beaches cluster. As one article has put it, “Rich, white, wealthy and middle-class Sydneysiders are treated with care and compassion. Multicultural and working class Sydney is a problem to be policed.” 

Sydney’s ‘latte line’ 

This divide is nothing new. It’s known as the ‘latte line’, the ‘Goats cheese line’ or the ‘Red Rooster line’. This line represents a huge socioeconomic disparity across Sydney. It’s a concept that sees a divide between things like income, housing affordability, amount of tree canopy, distance to public open space, NAPLAN and HSC results and even life expectancy. According to the economic commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission, this line generally separates the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. Depending on which side of the line you live on, life can look very different. 

Source: Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue

The pandemic only highlights this even more. Above the line, people are generally more likely to have access to white-collar jobs that can be undertaken from home, easy access to great open space like coastal walks and harbour parklands and be predominantly English speaking, which can make understanding health advice easier. 

Below the line, people are more likely to have blue-collar jobs which, under current restrictions, many people in South Western Sydney can’t leave their LGA for. There is less accessibility to high quality public open space. Large or multigenerational households in small apartments. Opportunities for adequate outdoor play and exercise are more limited and often just include the same small local playground. You also have single or struggling parents with no option but to rely on family members for babysitting. There are significant cultural and language barriers. Life in lockdown is complicated for the ‘have nots’ and may not be as straightforward as it might be for those above the latte line. 

Even just being able to watch Gladys at the 11am press conference, and be able to understand it, is a privilege (though, it can be confusing even for those who predominantly speak English!) 

The messaging around the current crackdown in South Western Sydney is also not the same as the messaging a few weeks ago when this all began in other parts of Sydney. This is likely to be for a number of reasons which I won’t go into, but this sadly leads to ‘othering’ and subtle (and not so subtle) opportunities for racism and classism. 

What can we do? 

From a planning perspective, there are many ways that this socio-economic divide could be addressed. Open space is a great place to start. An equitable distribution of quality, accessible and large public open space is key for planning across Greater Sydney, particularly in areas that are seeing high population growth and housing targets. Currently, open space is dealt with on a site-by-site basis, which is missing the mark. We need government intervention, consideration of open space at the zoning stage and need to ensure that future planning proposals on private and public land achieve positive long term social outcomes (Canterbury Racecourse is an example). 

What does this mean for St Pauls? 

When you look at the map above, Canterbury is right on the latte line. This presents us with some pretty unique opportunities as a church.

Our church vision, being a church for all people, comes to mind. This should include, amongst other things, the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. 

We have an opportunity in Canterbury to live out what it looks like for all people, regardless of social or economic status, to be part of one body. We can aim to personally get to know and welcome all people, regardless of where they are from. We can get around and support those who might be struggling to make ends meet. We can share life and pray together. And when we engage in conversation around Sydney’s lockdown, we can look on Western Sydney with compassion, not judgement. 

Jesus is deeply concerned that all people hear the good news of his kingdom. Our unique geographical location is an opportunity for our church to be a true reflection of God’s diverse kingdom. 

Samantha Kruize

Sam is a member of our 5pm congregation. She has a degree in City Planning and has worked as a Planner in the public sector for the last 5 years.

Why we need vaccines

Currently about half of the population of Australia is directly impacted by the delta variant of COVID. This pandemic is one of, if not the most, significant health events of our times and is affecting all countries. In Sydney we are seeing huge challenges in getting on top of the current transmission, with spread happening mainly in families and essential workplaces.

The question on everyone’s lips is ‘How long will this go on for?’ and we are not just talking about this current lockdown, but how long before we no longer live on the brink of yet another lockdown? What is clear, and was predicted by epidemiologists at the start of the pandemic, is that until you get some level of herd immunity, either through vaccination or most of your population getting the virus, every country will just see sequential waves of disease. Even countries with high rates of previous infection and reasonably high vaccination rates, are seeing multiple waves. So, why bother with vaccination? Can’t you still catch COVID even when you’ve been vaccinated? Is one vaccine better than another? Why does the advice change all the time, and who can I trust?

This blog intends to try and answer some of those questions, and provide some information that is accurate at the time of this blog being written. The information may change in the future and I”ll explain a little bit more why below.

Before I go any further though, one of the biggest problems is that if you listen to your friend down at the pub, or someone on facebook, or even the ‘experts’ in the media, you’ll hear many different statements and opinions. Some of these are good and accurate, some are partially accurate, some are just personal opinion without fully understanding it, and some are just wildly wrong and even harmful. So how do you know who to believe? As a health professional with expertise in epidemiology, sometimes I find it hard to navigate all the information out there and am frustrated by people saying different things. What I try to do is go back to the facts, listen to a variety of opinions and understand where things are clear, and where things are not clear.

And that’s what I’m trying to do in this blog. If anything is unclear or you have more questions then get in touch!

Why do we need vaccines?

Without vaccines, our only option is to just live with COVID and accept it, a bit like we do with other diseaseas like the common cold, or the flu and that was how they managed the last major pandemic in the early 1900’s, the Spanish flu, which eventually faded out, but not before causing massive waves of death. So why don’t we just ‘let COVID rip’? Well, for one, we have seen clearly from overseas that when millions of people are infected, hundreds of thousands of people are admitted to hospital and thousands die. This overwhelms the hospital system meaning that not only could you die of COVID, but also they have no room when you have a heart attack, or stroke, or develop cancer. Therefore death rates of those common illnesses go up as well.

But also, we are seeing that the COVID virus keeps mutating and many of these mutations are worse than the last (for example this delta strain). As long as you have widespread transmission of COVID, you will keep seeing mutations. And that means that even if you’ve had COVID before you can catch it again, and maybe worse than before.

So the evidence now is absolutely clear, this is worse than the flu. The flu has not overwhelmed hospitals and health systems like COVID has overseas. The flu does not cause long term impacts like COVID. A study of just under 3000 cases from the first waves in Australia last year followed those people until they had fully recovered from their COVID symptoms. Although most people recovered within a month, at three months, 5% (about 150 people) were still having significant symptoms including fatigue, neurological problems, and chest pain. If we let the whole of Australia get COVID then over 1.25 million people, including younger people, will have long term chronic illness, which we don’t know how to treat yet.

Therefore, our best way of dealing with COVID is either with treatments for those that get it (very few successfully identified so far, but research is ongoing) or vaccination.

What vaccines do we have and do they work?

We currently have access to the Astra-Zeneca and Pfizer vaccines, and will be getting the Moderna vaccine later this year as well. All these vaccines have been widely used around the world and have been credited with preventing thousands of deaths and hospitalisations in many countries. The effectiveness of Pfizer and AZ (which are available at the moment in Australia) are excellent against the delta variant, with over 90% effectiveness against hospitalisations and death. These are outstanding efficacy rates for vaccines. Several other vaccines that we use commonly may only have 50 to 60% effectiveness (which is still enough to manage some diseases). Unfortunately, COVID is very transmissible, and requires highly effective vaccines, and so we are incredibly fortunate that we have so many vaccines that are so effective. 

However, even if you’re vaccinated, you can still catch and spread COVID to others. This is not a failure of the vaccine, its designed to stop you getting very sick and dying. Studies from the UK have shown that Pfizer and AZ vaccines do reduce your risk of passing it on by about 50%, but until we have large portions of the population vaccinated, the Health department still wants vaccinated people to stay home and socially distance along with people who aren’t vaccinated. 

What vaccine should I get and why does the advice keep changing?

As I write this blog, people over 40 yrs can book in to get Pfizer, however supplies are limited until September and its almost impossible to find an appointment for Pfizer at the moment unless you are a prioritised worker. Until yesterday, AZ was recommended for over 60s due to the widely reported clotting risk, however today (24th July) ATAGI (the government’s advisory committee on vaccines) has now recommended anyone over 18 in Sydney consider getting AZ due to the rapidly spreading COVID outbreak.

So why is the advice changing and what is this clotting risk?

The only problem with Pfizer at the moment is that we just don’t have enough of it to vaccinate everyone, otherwise everyone could go out and get it as soon as they want. More is coming in September/October and there should be plenty to go around then for anyone who wants a shot. That’s the only reason why they are limiting it to over 40s. Its highly safe and effective for anyone, even for teenagers. There are some reports coming out of the US about a small risk of inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) in younger people, but they tend to recover and its very mild. But its good to discuss risks and benefits openly. Every drug has side effects (even Panadol and Aspirin) and so every discussion is a about risks vs benefits.

The reason why the advice changed for the AZ vaccine is that it became apparent that one of that vaccine’s side effects is causing unusual blood clots. These are not the same type of blood clots that you can get when you fly, or take the oral contraceptive pill, or have surgery. They are much rarer and occur in different places in the body. The risk is about 1 clot for every 50,000 doses of AZ. So if you filled the Sydney Cricket Ground with people and vaccinated them all, 1 or 2 might get a clot. For those who get a clot, the risk of dying is about 3% (or 3 in a hundred). So, overall, your risk of dying from the AZ vaccine is just under 1 in a million. Super rare. In comparison the risk of dying during an operation, or in a car accident, is more like 1 in 400,000.

So, why did the advice change? The ATAGI group of experts were balancing the risk of COVID, with the risk of clots. When we had no COVID in Australia, the risk of clots was higher than the risk of COVID. But now that COVID is spreading in Sydney again, the risk of catching, getting seriously ill or dying of COVID, is now greater than the risks associated with the vaccine. At the moment in Sydney, about 18% of people diagnosed with COVID are being admitted to hospital including many people under the age of 50. Thankfully we aren’t seeing too many deaths at the moment, but don’t underestimate how sick those people in hospital are, or the high risk of chronic disease even after discharge.

This is why the advice changes, ATAGI simply balances the risks and benefits at any given time. At the moment, they are recommending that everyone over the age of 18 strongly consider getting vaccinated.

Do I have to get vaccinated?

No, vaccination is never mandatory. This includes all vaccinations given in Australia, even the ones we all get as children. However, what may happen is that if you want to work in certain occupations where the risk of COVID is very high (such as aged care, or health) you may not be allowed to work in those areas without vaccination – this is similar to the ‘no jab, no play’ rules for childhood vaccinations. We may find eventually as well that there are things you are only allowed to do if you are vaccinated (such as flying overseas, or even interstate). This is fully legal.

So, why should I get vaccinated?

Firstly, to protect yourself against COVID. This is a nasty disease and is going to be around for years to come, quite possibly with many different variants that may be even nastier than delta. You may be lucky and get it mildly, but do you want to take that risk?

Secondly, to protect your loved ones. You may get COVID mildly, but may pass it on to your family who then get sick and may die. No-one wants to do that.

Thirdly, to protect those that can’t get vaccinated. A small proportion of people cannot get these vaccines, due to various reasons. If enough people get vaccinated then we reach herd immunity and we can protect those amongst us who are vulnerable and can’t get a vaccine even if they want to.

Personal reflection

To finish with, a few personal reflections. For me, as soon as I was eligible, I booked in to get vaccinated (I got Pfizer). So did my husband (he’s had one dose of AZ, waiting for his second one). For us, we trust the science (I have looked into it in some detail) and are keen to do our bit to protect ourselves, our parents, and others, as well as play a part in getting our society back to some semblance of normal. As a Christian, I also see getting vaccinated as a way for me to love others, to play my part in getting ahead of this disease and protect others around me who can’t (or choose not to) get vaccinated. This is not to judge anyone who doesn’t get vaccinated, simply noting that vaccination for me fits into the biblical imperative to love my neighbour as myself. I also don’t see vaccination as a lack of faith that God will protect me and my loved ones from disease. The Bible doesn’t promise that Christians will not suffer or get sick, and in fact when the Israelites were wandering around the desert for 40 years, they had clear guidance for social distancing of people who had infectious diseases (check out Leviticus 13!). God provides us with brains, scientists and medicine to use with wisdom. 

I fully understand that some of you might have genuine concerns and questions about this. I am always happy to have a chat through these issues without judgement or prejudice, just get in touch with me directly, through Steve, or the church webpage. These are important issues to deal with and I’m really happy to help work through the facts with you while you make a decision.

Dr. Ruth Griffiths

Ruth has been a member of our 9.30am congregation for the last three years, married to Nev, and Mum to Ally and Emmy. She is a medical doctor and epidemiologist, and has worked in medical research for the last 16 years.

Leadership is...

Ed teaching at our Growing Leaders course

One day I was struck with a dawning and somewhat scary thought about my role as the minister of my church. At the time, I had planted a church along with a team of people, that was growing and thriving. It was becoming really clear to me that I had a significant role as the leader of this church. The dawning realisation was that I wasn’t exactly sure what ‘leadership’ actually was, and what it entailed. Or to put it a little more sharply, I didn’t really know what I was doing.

At that time, there was no doubt that I was engaged in doing the things that leaders do, and I was aware of that. The problem was that I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right things, or if I was doing them the right way. I had received a theological education that had equipped me very well in some areas. However, it was becoming increasingly clear to me that I hadn’t been taught very much about ‘leadership’, and some of what I had been taught was worse than useless.

It became clear to me that if I was going to be the leader that my church needed, I would have to develop a personal theology about the practice of leadership. It was clear to me that I needed to be a leader. Members of the congregation were asking me to be clearer about the vision of our church, but I wasn’t really sure that I knew what the vision was. We had grown to the point where we were able to add some staff members to the team. This was incredibly exciting, but also really challenging. I had never actually led a staff team before, and I felt very uncertain about how exactly to do that. As well as that, I wondered if there were other things that I should have been doing as the leader that I hadn’t even thought about. There were some things that I knew I didn’t know. I suspected that there were other things that I didn’t know that I didn’t know! To be honest, I didn’t feel like I knew a lot!

Knowledge is always preceded by ignorance, and I knew I was pretty ignorant. So over the next five years or so, I went on a quest to work out what leadership is, and how you exercise it. I was blessed to have some great companions and guides on this journey. During this time I was accepted into the Arrow Leadership programme, and through that met people like Ian Jagelman, an older and wiser Christian leader who was writing on the subject of leadership. I committed myself to reading, thinking, talking, learning, writing and teaching about what it means to be a leader. 

All that coincided with a period of time which was quite dark and difficult for me. I faced challenges in our church for which I felt woefully ill-equipped. At that same time, I was struggling in my marriage. I had begun to realise that the upbringing I had received in my family was impacting the way I related to lots of people, but especially to my own family. It began to dawn on me that the quest to understand leadership, and the desire to be a better husband and father, were really one and the same.

Out of the confusion and storm came clarity. I can tell you now what I think leadership is, and how it should be practiced. In fact I can give you a pretty simple formula. It’s a simplicity that comes from the far side of complexity, after much thinking and wrestling and struggle.

So here it is: Leadership is influence through vision and nurture.

Leaders influence people around them. Sometimes they give orders and act in directive ways, but really powerful leadership is highly influential. In fact it doesn’t even need titles or positions. Good leaders influence people.

When I realised that, it led me to the next question. Exactly how do leaders influence people? My own personal answer is that leaders influence through vision and nurture.

By Vision I mean the ability of the leader to help the organisation understand what it is and where it needs to go. It includes all sorts of activities like developing strategies, raising resources and solving problems. Great leaders are able to help organisations gain clarity on these matters, which creates unity and momentum.

However, I also realised that this is only half of the leaders task. The leader also needs to be engaged in Nurture. This somewhat idiosyncratic term has become incredibly important to me. The insight came from reflection on my own family of origin, and how it did and didn’t equip me well for the leadership task. Great leaders do the vision thing, but they also grow other leaders around them. This involves training, but also much more. They are able to create an environment which fosters the growth of the people who work (in both paid and voluntary capacities) and allow them to develop and flourish. This means the team environment will be inclusive, sustaining and collaborative. 

The truly great leaders drive the organisation to great results. And they do it through growing the people who work with them. They demonstrate great influence, through vision and nurture.

For me, that sums up the kind of leadership to which I aspire. Needless to say, I have often fallen short of that aspiration. However, having clarity about what leadership actually is has allowed me to grow and develop. Not surprisingly, the exemplar of this kind of leadership is Jesus himself. At my stage of life, my desire is to see other leaders raised up who are leaders like Jesus. 

Personally, I see it as the greatest need, and the greatest opportunity for the Church in Australia in the 21st century.

Ed Vaughan

A confession...

For a long time I have not been convinced that planting congregations targeting particular language groups is a good idea. In fact my thesis in my final year at theological college was an argument against such practices!

For me this has been based on two major concerns.

First, a theological concern. when I read the New Testament, increasingly I see Jesus and the Apostle’s bending over backwards to communicate that now in Christ, there is one body made up of many parts. In the last post I quoted Ephesians 2 where Paul speaks about the gospel tearing down the dividing wall of hostility that existed between two racial groups - Jews and Gentiles. This is reinforced by John’s vision in Revelation 7 of a multi-ethnic community gathered around the throne of Jesus in worship. The church, it seems to me, is called to be a foretaste of that future multi-ethnic worship service gathered around the throne of Jesus. We’ll see a glimpse of this, this coming Sunday as we look at 2 Corinthians 5.16-21. A passage that speaks of the present church in these kinds of terms.

My second major concern with this approach to church planting is a strategic concern. Congregations targeting particular language groups often are very effective at reaching first generation immigrants, but the second generation don’t identify as first generation immigrants as their parents did. They have been raised speaking both English and their heart language. I’ve found they often don’t feel entirely at home in their heart language church. By the time the third generation of immigrants come around (i.e. the grandkids of those who begin a service in a particular language group) they almost always never identify with that cultural group. They often only speak English and have very little desire to identify with their grandparents cultural group. I

In Sydney in the late 90’s and early 00’s there was a push to plant churches reaching out to the many SE Asian immigrants moving to the city. Twenty years on, many of these churches are now reporting how difficult it is to keep the emerging young adults in their churches. Many of them are leaving those home churches to join English speaking congregations, or sadly disconnecting from church all together. This is the third generation moment.

Because of these concerns, from the time we begun reaching out to the Mongolian community (in 2018) I have not been convinced that we should consider planting a Mongolian speaking service…until late 2020.

What changed for me was not my theological convictions, or my concerns about long-term strategy. I hold these perhaps stronger than ever, what changed for me was reflecting on our Anglican ecclesiology (this is going to get pretty nerdy for a little while) and how well suited it is to incorporate targeted ministry with certain parameters in place to ensure our oneness in Christ is not compromised. To put it simply, we are already one church with targeted ministry taking place. In the next post I will tease out some more detail about how we target ministry and express our oneness in christ, and our oneness as a church, St Paul’s Canterbury.

Some thoughts on multi-ethnic planting

As a church, we are fundamentally convinced that our fellowship needs to be an expression of our oneness with Christ. In Ephesians 2 Paul writes of a diverse community (Jew and Gentile) whose spiritual reconciliation with the Father, through the cross of Christ, is experienced and expressed in the oneness of the church community by the power of the Holy Spirit:

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 

Ephesians 2.13-18

A local newsagent stocks a range of newspapers in languages that reflect the area.

Our commitment is to express our unity in Christ despite our age, gender, or racial background. This is important theologically, for God has made one new humanity. And this is also important given our particular context. The parish of Canterbury and Hurlstone Park is one of the most culturally diverse parishes in the city of Sydney. We need to be a church for all people because all sorts of people call our parish home and the Lord Jesus has commanded us to make disciples of all people.

What this means is that we have a commitment to gathering together in multi-ethnic and multi-generational congregations. This has been our approach with both our 9.30 am and 5.00 pm congregations. Out of this desire came about our easy english service which we planted in 2020 and recently brought back to run alongside our 9.30 am service.

Because our commitment is to multi-ethnic and multi-generational congregations we think its important to have a long-term strategy of making disciples of people from different cultural backgrounds. What this looks like in practice is a particular focus on the second and third generation of immigrants. So wherever possible we want to encourage the children to gather together in shared kids and youth programs, rather than starting a separate Nepali speaking youth ministry, or a Mongolian speaking youth ministry.

However, what we’ve experienced over the last few years, particularly as we began reaching out to the Mongolian community, is the acute challenge in reaching the first generation of immigrants. Since 2018 we have had around 30 Mongolians regularly attending our services, but very few stay connected with us. There are lots of reasons why this is the case but a huge factor has been language.

Over the next few posts, I will share some more thoughts about how our thinking has developed and offer a confession of sorts…

What a Japanese Maple tree teaches us about the Holy Spirit

Recently at church I shared the story of our Japanese Maple tree in the church yard. Apparently these trees are supposed to turn this beautiful, bright red colour each autumn. But until this year this particular tree was refusing to do that. The grass of the lawn had grown up around the base of the tree preventing the roots from soaking up the nourishment they need.

About two years ago, Claire set about bringing nourishment to the roots of the tree. She cut back the lawn and began laying mulch…a particularly potent home grown mulch full of worms!

I’d watch Claire doing this most days and also look at the tree and see very little change.

But about a month ago, Kay (a long term dearly loved member of our church and expert gardener) walked past the tree and winked at Claire and said ‘well done!’

It struck me that this is precisely how the Holy Spirit often works in our lives.

Internally, gradually, but powerfully.

As we’ve been working through 2 Corinthians we see this dynamic often. In a nutshell Paul says that the Holy Spirit brings about change when our hearts are affected by the gospel. This is what Paul speaks of when he writes to the Corinthians:

'You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.'

2 Corinthians 3.3

The Holy Spirit is the marker of the new covenant God has established with his people. The old covenant, was not bad, it just served its purpose. The new covenant far surpasses the work of the old covenant in that it takes God’s word deep into the core of our being. God’s powerful, personal presence has now taken up residence in our hearts, applying the work of Jesus into the deepest recesses of our hearts. Remarkble!

Like the transformation that has taken place with the maple tree, the work of the Spirit often goes unnoticed. This seems to me because of where it takes place, in our hearts. So the work of the Spirit is primarily internal. And according to the bible, the heart is the control centre of our lives. You can’t see what is going on in the human heart, but over time you will see the outward affects of what is happening internally.

It follows then, that the work of the Spirit is often a gradual work. Looking at the tree each day I may not notice the change that is taking place in the roots. But when I take a step back and look what that tree has now become compared to what it used to be it’s striking. The same dynamic is often at work in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Because it’s gradual it would be a mistake to assume it’s not powerful. The Spirit’s work in our hearts is so powerful that Paul likens it to a moment of new creation. As powerful as that moment when God spoke the world into being:

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ

2 Corinthians 4.6

How have you seen the Spirit gradually, but powerfully, transforming the life of a brother or sister?
I’ve found this to be a helpful question to reflect on as it causes me to take a step back and notice what God has been doing in someone’s heart over time.

Why not reflect on this question, and ask someone to do the same for you.

We have a problem

Over the last week the news has shifted slightly away from COVID-19 to another crisis in America. Last week George Floyd was killed in custody. His tragic death, captured on video, has fanned a flame of protest after a number of African American people have been killed in police custody. Floyd’s death has rightly affected many people around the world. 

We are coming to the end of reconciliation week here in Australia. I didn’t realise this until earlier in the week, but reconciliation week can trace its origins back to a Christian movement of prayer for our nation. 

The 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody made 339 recommendations to the government, most of which have never been implemented. The final recommendation was this: 

Initiate a formal process of reconciliation between Aboriginal people and the wider community.

Interestingly it was a movement of Christians who picked up on this recommendation and in 1993 called for a ‘week of prayer for reconciliation’. Three years later, a wider societal movement began, National Reconciliation Week. 

The events in the US this last week have shown us two things. First, and sadly, that racial tension and injustice is a prolific problem across the globe. But secondly, it has put the spotlight on our own nation and the need to tread carefully here. Many people have condemned the crisis in the US without reflecting on the continuing crisis in our own land. 

Since 1991, and despite a Royal Commission, another four hundred and thirty Aboriginal people have died in police custody. No police officers have been convicted. In fact, since 1991 things have actually become worse. The rate of incarceration of Aboriginal people has doubled and a 2019 study found Aboriginal Australians are more likely to be imprisoned than African Americans. 

The Australian Law Reform Commission reports that ‘Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults make up around 2% of the national population, they constitute 27% of the national prison population’. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women it is 34%.

There’s a huge problem in our country. Whatever you think about the reasons for this problem, or what solutions are at our disposal, we need to acknowledge that this is a huge problem. 

Since the early days of the church the gospel has been applied vertically (between us and God), and horizontally (between each other). And so Paul wrote to a fractured church in Ephesus: 

For he himself (Jesus) is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2.14–18)

Our context in Australia is very different. But it’s interesting to note that every time Paul spoke of the new, free, justified stance of the Christians before God he also related this to the relationship between Jews and Gentiles. The vertical gospel must be applied horizontally.

We might disagree about what we can actually do, or what part we play in this problem, but can you imagine if the church had kept leading society in prayer over this? At the very least let us draw near to God in prayer for our nation. Below is a prayer we’ve often used at church written by the Wontulp Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group:

Holy Father, God of Love,

You are the Creator of all things.

We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history

and the sufferings of Our peoples,

and we ask your forgiveness.

We thank you for the survival of Indigenous cultures

Our hope is in you because you gave your Son Jesus

to reconcile the world to you.

We pray for your strength and grace to forgive, accept and love one another, as you love us and forgive and accept us in the sacrifice of your Son.

Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history so that we may build a better

future for our Nation.

Teach us to respect all cultures.

Teach us to care for our land and waters.

Help us to share justly the resources of this land. Help us to bring about spiritual and social change to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, especially the disadvantaged.

Help young people to find true dignity and self-esteem by your Spirit.

May your power and love be the foundations on which we build our families, our communities and our Nation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Wontulp Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group 13 March 1997 Brisbane, Qld).

Calling Me Home

The most vivid memory I have from my early childhood is of running down the footpath from my house to meet my father, with the expectation of seeing his arms opening wide ready to embrace me. The reason I remember that day is because he didn’t meet me there. It was in that moment at the end of the road that I remembered he had left and wouldn’t ever be coming home again. It was only then that I understood what I had been told and I was left with the pain of deep rejection, feeling sad and unworthy, knowing that my father had chosen to be somewhere else.

That rejection cut deep within me and brought with it a great emptiness and longing. As a child I carried with me the burden of this sadness and the weight of not feeling worthy of being loved. I felt broken and often wondered if I would ever feel truly happy.

From an early age I believed that God was real and over the years that followed he gradually used the hurt that I felt to draw me near to him. I wanted desperately to relate to God but felt sure that he could never really love me. Despite hearing God calling me to him as I read the Bible and tried to pray, it took many years before I truly believed that my heavenly Father would never let me down, and even longer for me to give myself completely to him. God gradually helped me to trust him and to learn to find shelter and refuge in him, even when around me all else seemed to be going wrong.

It was so hard to fathom that the creator of the universe wanted to welcome me and that he loved and cared for me like no other. But in sending his son to die for me the depth of his love was unmistakable.

More recently, I experienced rejection from my earthly father once again. Although still painful, the difference this time was that I was aware that my value doesn’t lie in the things of this earth. I have meaning because I am a child of God. I know that my heavenly Father is trustworthy, dependable and true, and that his love for me is deep and endless and without condition. To this I hold onto tightly.

God, my heavenly Father, who waited so patiently for me with his arms wide open, has called me to him and welcomed me. He loves and cares for me like no other and he alone makes me whole.

I have chosen to run without fear towards my heavenly Father and to kneel at his feet. Because in him, and only in him, can we find true refuge and true peace. He will never leave us or let us down and he is our true protector. He is not only capable of bearing all of our burdens but when we trust him wholeheartedly, he gives us wonderful rest and peace.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’. (Psalm 91: 1–2)

All you need to know about doing church online

The below is a letter that was sent out to our church regarding how to make the most of our streamed church services.

I hope you are holding up ok given the circumstances. I wanted to share with you all that you need to know about accessing our services this coming Sunday. But firstly I wanted to ask, how can we best be serving you right now? 

The ministry team is very keen to hear your thoughts about how we can make this situation work. We would particularly like to know how we can be serving you and feeding you at the moment. If you have ideas, or if there are things we've overlooked please reply to this and let us know. 

Below are some FAQ's

1. HOW CAN I ACCESS THE SERVICES?
From this Sunday our two services will be streamed on Facebook Live, Youtube and our church website. If you're unsure of where to go just go to www.stpaulscanterbury.com and you won't be able to miss it. 
The stream will be running from 9.00AM for a 9.30AM start AND 4.30PM for a 5PM start. 
We will also send out a text to the congregation before the services begin.

2. WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CAN'T ACCESS THE INTERNET?
Of our regular attendees there are very few people who don't have access to the internet. Those we know of have been invited to join others at their homes. If you know someone who might have slipped through the cracks, please reply to this. 

3. WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT?
Firstly it's important to be realistic. This won't be the same as meeting in person and there's a real grief there. 
Some things will be the same - there will be singing, prayers, notices, bible readings and a sermon
But some things will be different. The services will intentionally be shorter than a regular Sunday (about 40mins). This is for two main reasons.
First, keeping engaged on a computer screen is much harder than in person. So we need to be realistic about what we can achieve online. Second, we want to give space for people to continue other elements of church in their homes in smaller groups.

In the coming weeks we will send out 'home worship' guides for you to use (prayers, questions to dig deeper into the bible etc). 
For this Sunday Luke has prepared a kids activity guide for this Sunday which has gone out in a separate email to parents and care givers.

Michael and Luke have been working tirelessly to adapt to this situation and are trying to redeem as much good out of a situation we wouldn't have chosen. Expect the services to improve as we learn how to adapt. 


4. HOW CAN I MAKE THE MOST OF THIS EXPERIENCE?
If it is safe for you to do so I would encourage you to gather at one another's homes in groups of 4-6 to keep up some face to face fellowship and to enable people to engage with the content together. 
If you would like to join other people but don't know who to ask please reply to this and lets see if we can work something out. Some people have already offered their homes as venues to gather. 

Engage with the service. We will be singing and praying and reading God's word like we normally do. Sing, pray and read from home. Perhaps log on to our Facebook group (if you have it), or use a WhatsApp group to communicate with other church members during and after the service. 


I would cherish your prayers as we do this. Again, there's been a small team who have been working very hard to pull this off. Pray that any technical hitches will be sorted out tomorrow when we do a 'dress rehearsal.' Pray that in God's kindness this would come together for the good of his people and the multiplication of the gospel. Pray that our fellowship with one another would continue as we still meet up (in smaller number) to pray with and for one another and to spur each other on in the faith.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Steve

Ancient Words

In the last two years since coming to St Paul’s, I’ve said the Apostles’ Creed more than I ever have. I still don’t know it off by heart but I’m hoping that one day soon I will. While it’s important for me to become more familiar with it, what I really want to know is: who wrote it and where did it come from?

With the name the Apostles’ Creed it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that it was written by the apostles. And although there were once legends that this was indeed the case, that the apostles each wrote one of the clauses, this is no longer a popular idea.

So, if the apostles didn’t write it, who did? It is thought that the words for this creed were first put together by the early church around the year 150 AD, most likely in Rome, in response to the alternate doctrines being presented at the time by Christian Gnostics (those who believed that knowledge could lead them to salvation) and by Marcion, an infamous teacher and heretic. The earliest version was therefore known as the Roman Creed. The most common use for it initially was as a series of questions during baptism, as a way of asking people what they believed. It was a means of identifying true believers, because those who were prepared to affirm the beliefs stated in the creed were unlikely to have been negatively influenced by the false teachers around them.

The earliest written form that we have of the Roman Creed is in a letter from Marcellus of Ancyra to Julius, the bishop of Rome, and was written in Greek around 341 AD. There are also slightly later versions of the creed that can be found in Latin. The form of the Apostles’ Creed that we now use is most closely linked to a Latin tract that was written by a monk called Priminius in the early eighth century.

It’s amazing to think that what we say together regularly on a Sunday could have been written so long ago, by people in a very different time and place. But rather than focusing on all of the reasons why such an ancient creed might be relevant to us today, as I think it is, I’d like to encourage you with just one simple thought.

Over the many, many generations since the creed was first written Christians have chosen to hold onto this set of core beliefs, ones that they have not been willing to compromise on. For generations people have continued to gather together to profess their beliefs before each other, thereby helping to strengthen their own faith and encouraging those around them.

In light of the uncertainty around us at the moment I’d suggest that the Apostles’ Creed serves as a reminder that we are bound together in faith not only with those near to us but with Christian brothers and sisters from all over the globe, including those from different times. And just like the early Christians, I believe that we can be an example of a body of Christ that does not give into fear, but instead stands united in faith, love and hope.

The historical information used in this post came from the following sources: 

Apostles’ Creed, Marcion. Lexham Bible Dictionary (Logos Edition). app.logos.com.

González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, pp. 58–66, 368. New York: Harper Collins, 1984.

Being an adaptable church

There’s a fascinating book that has been doing the rounds recently called The Spider and the Starfish. It’s all about how decentralised organisations can adapt much quicker to changing situations than highly centralised organisations.

The author likens centralised organisations to spiders. Spiders are controlled by their head (like most of us!). If the head is cut off then very quickly the spider dies. Starfish are different. They have no head. And its major organs are replicated throughout each arm. Cut it in half and instead of killing the starfish you now have two starfish. 

Starfish organisations don’t have headquarters.

For those from St Paul’s you might recall in our recent sermon series in Acts we reflected on the adaptability of the early church. This is one of the hall marks of the church. It is a dynamic, decentralised movement that can easily adapt to ever changing situations because our Head is not human authority but the Lord Jesus, whose headship is permanently affixed to every part of his body, the church  

We’ve seen this in Acts as persecution was applied to where the gospel movement first broke out, Jerusalem. The very centralised opposition - the pharisees and saducees - tried to lock down Jerusalem. This resulted in a scattering of the early christians and a decentralisation of the church. Now it was no longer just the apostles who were preaching the gospel, it was everyone. And new gospel outbreaks popped up in unlikely places like Samaria (see Acts 8). 

There are no two ways about it, COVID 19 is a crisis, and one that is rapidly changing the way society functions for the time being. This includes the church. 

Friends I want to remind you that this won’t defeat our church. We know that. We sing about that every week, and we read endless promises in the scriptures that God will never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28.20); That our help will come from God, the Maker of heaven and earth. The One who doesn’t slumber nor sleep (Psalm 121.1-3); That Jesus is the bread of life and those who come to him will not go hungry (John 6.35)

And I want to encourage you to be like a starfish. To already begin thinking, how can we adapt to this crisis? 

This is our spiritual strength - something up our sleeve that will help us get through this. Here are some thoughts to get us started:

Creating community online

A small team of helpers is preparing to move our Sunday services online. They will be streamed at the usual times of 9.30AM and 5PM. This Sunday will be a dress rehearsal and from the following Sunday we expect to have our services running completely online. 

It is not the same, by any means. There’s a real grief in not being able to greet one another with a hug and sit and pray to our Father in heaven together as a beautifully diverse congregation of people. 

But there’s an opportunity here too. We can also adapt to share our church community with the broader community. Doing short, for example, devotions online that speak into the felt needs of millions of people right now.

God, in his common grace, has connected people together online in a way that empowers our capacity of sharing our hope - those promises I just reminded you of - with a world that is right now devoid of hope. 

A recent video we put on Facebook was seen by more than 5,000 people. 5,000 people reached with quite minimal effort! We couldn’t fit 500 people into our hall. It’s not the same, but it is an opportunity for us to bless the city we live in right now with the good news of Jesus. 

Decentralising pastoral care - a care network

Crises force you to reassess what’s really important. As a pastor these last two weeks have reminded me that the beating heart of my vocation is the ministry of the word of God and of prayer. To pastor God’s people by reminding them of his promises, by praying with them and for them, and by caring for the flock of Jesus I have the privilege of serving.

Another opportunity before us is to maximise this care by decentralising it.

You may have seen that just yesterday I invited everyone in the congregation to sign up to a care network. The idea is simple. A network of church members who will commit to receiving, and distributing prayer points for those in need. A network who will also be up for helping those most vulnerable and isolated - that may mean a daily phone call to an elderly friend from church, or dropping off some groceries to someone unable to get to the shops. Adapting to this crisis enables us to come back to the basics of what the church does - pray for one another and care for one another. 

The analogy of the spider and the starfish falls over at one point though. We have a head, the Lord Jesus. The one who sits enthroned in heaven. And that’s the key. As long as our head is in heaven he cannot be defeated, and neither can we. In fact his ascension - empowers him to be more present over all the earth through the witness of his body, the church.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Colossians 1.15-20

Let Your Light Shine

2020 has been a particularly dark, dreary and fearful time for many in our city and our nation—from the endless bushfires that quite literally darkened the skies, to a virus that has captured the imagination (and fear) of many. Like it or not, this coronavirus will impact life for the foreseeable future.

In our recent sermon series in the book of Acts we have been exploring the beginnings of a movement that changed world history: the church. The dynamics of the early church and its exploding influence on the first-century world have caused us to reflect on our own engagement with the twenty-first-century world. 

Take the famous story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9.1–19). In that story there are obvious themes of light penetrating the dark.

Saul sees a light flash from heaven (Acts 9.3) that flaws him, and he hears the voice of the once dead Jesus. But what is most surprising is that rather than condemn him, Jesus commissions him for service. He says of Saul:

This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel (Acts 9.15).

Having seen the light himself, Saul is then required to reflect it to a dark and fearful world.

I remember as a kid being shocked when I learnt that the moon doesn’t have any light in it. There is nothing shiny in it. It’s just a clump of dust and rock (pardon my lack of scientific knowledge). This shocked me because sometimes on a cloudless night, as I stood on my bed and peered out of my window at the night sky, the moon was so bright it would light up the night sky.

Saul is called and commissioned by Jesus to be like the moon. This new way of being for Saul taps into a great theme of the Bible. The prophet Isaiah spoke of one to come who would be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49.6). Jesus came and said, ‘I am the light of the world’ (John 8.12), and now he says to Saul—go and shine as a light to the gentiles.

Saul’s post-conversion life is a life lived for others; a life that reflects the light of Jesus into a dark, dark world. I’ve not met another Christian with a story like Saul’s, but I’m reminded that all of us share a similar story. For all who call on the name of Jesus have seen the light, and we are all called to shine brightly as a city on a hill—to be a new movement with a new way of being.

It seems to me that right now there are some really obvious ways we can reflect that same light that led Saul into a dark, dark world.

At a personal level, we can shine a less panicked, less fearful way of being. When we draw upon the endless spiritual stockpiles that we have in Jesus, perhaps it would cause us to be less panicked, less fearful and more concerned with the interests of others.

This would enable us to reflect a community that doesn’t exist for its own interests but for the interests of others. The church would be less concerned with stockpiling toilet paper and more concerned with caring for the most vulnerable people in our city: the sick and the elderly. What effect might this way of being have on our city? It may just look like a light shining into a dark room.

It’s also worth noting that this way of being is not new for Christians. 

The early church faced a far greater threat in the early fourth century. The world had already been engulfed by a devastating war and famine when a plague broke out around the region of Caesarea. People did what people continue to do—they were gripped by fear, panic and self-interest, and so many fled the city and went into the countryside. There was one group that offered a different way of being: the church. Eusebius, a historian and bishop of the church wrote:

All day long some of them [the Christians] tended to the dying and to their burial, countless numbers with no one to care for them. Others gathered together from all parts of the city a multitude of those withered from famine and distributed bread to them all. 

Eusebius, The Church History, trans. Paul L. Meier (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007), 293.

If you’ve ever been to a baptism service at St Paul’s, or another church, you may have noticed this theme of light and dark. Baptism is all about commissioning someone to this new way of being. So, fittingly, we end the baptism with this commissioning:

God has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father.

We Believe Sermon Series

Over nine weeks we are going to be exploring one of the ancient creeds of the Christian church, the Apostle’s Creed. These words are vitally important because they connect modern Christians to our ancient heritage. Sometimes it’s said that the creed is a summary of everything Christians believe in. This isn’t quite right, as there are lots of really important things missing in the creed. For example, the creed doesn’t say anything about what it means to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ. This was something that was hugely important at the time of the Reformation and divided the church. So it’s not quite right to say that the creed explains everything we believe in.

The Apostle’s Creed is more concerned in stating who we believe in rather than what we believe. This creed has a very Trinitarian shape. It articulates the God who Christians have worshipped throughout the ages as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This will be an important series for us as a church because our story is rooted into the story of God as we hear it in the words of the Apostle’s Creed.

These sermons will be slightly different in style from our regular sermons, and that’s ok as we need a wide-ranging diet of sermons at church. Most of the time we work through a book of the Bible section by section (e.g. our recent series in Acts) and from time to time we also preach on topical issues that our culture is already talking about. Sometimes we have a series like this one that is more doctrinal in nature, that is trying to teach Christian theology and say why it’s important. Each sermon in this series will focus on a line of the Apostle’s Creed and will seek to explain both what it means and also why it’s important.

15.03.20 Introduction to the creed
22.03.20 We believe in God the Father
29.03.20 We believe in God the creator
05.04.20 We believe in Jesus’ humanity
10.04.20 GOOD FRIDAY We believe in Jesus’ suffering
12.04.20 EASTER DAY We believe in Jesus’ resurrection
19.04.20 We believe in judgement
26.04.20 We believe in the Holy Spirit
03.05.20 We believe in the transformed life

Whatever It Takes—Read the Bible!

The aim is a thriving, living, intimate relationship with Jesus, the king of the universe. Pursuing a relationship with Jesus delivers incomparable seasons of immense joy. However, pursuing a relationship with Jesus without reading the Bible is like being in a relationship where you do all of the talking, and none of the listening. It would take a patient person to put up with that kind of relationship. While it is true that God wants us to present our requests and concerns to him, with prayer, petition and thanksgiving, God importantly wants us to read and dwell on his word.

Here are some ways that I have grown my relationship with Jesus though Bible reading.

Memorisation

When I started the home schooling journey with my children, the Christian curriculum I chose included Bible memorisation. We memorised Bible passages together. Repeating God’s word many times to memorise the passage helped me to pay close attention to the reading. The meaning and impact of the passage became increasingly clear to me. By the time I memorised the passage, its meaning was crystal clear. This was a delightful and unexpected outcome! The clarity and understanding armed me with courage and wisdom to face my daily challenges. Memorising Scripture is surprisingly powerful.

Teaching Scripture

While I was comfortable in my knowledge of Scripture, explaining it to a room full of wide-eyed, attentive Canterbury school children immediately highlighted my gap in the topic knowledge. Being held responsible for delivering a Scripture lesson compelled me to fully understand a biblical principle or story to the point where I could easily explain it to the students.

‘Google It’

Reading my Bible is dry at times because of the number of unanswered questions it raises in my mind. I find it stimulating and insightful to read the responses to my googled questions from John Calvin, Matthew Henry and Charles Spurgeon. I am grateful to God for the access to this information. I also often listen to a Bible sermon while driving. Finally, I plan to formally study the Bible in the future because I believe it will enhance my relationship with Jesus.

Other Helpful Resources 

Bible plans are a great way to assist regular Bible reading. Steve publishes a five-day plan in the weekly church newsletter. You can also download the ‘Bible App/You Version’ on your phone. My husband David and I start each morning by reading a devotion from the Bible App. We love it and have gained much personal counselling from God!

I find the ‘Bible Project’ videos excellent for making clear what can be longwinded and complex reading. Often, my children and I watch a five-minute Bible Project video before we read that book in the Bible. Here is a good one on Leviticus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvyrLXoQio

These ways of reading the Bible have enormously helped me to grow my personal relationship with Jesus.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11 ESV)

Some Tips for Reading the Bible

I have a friend who knows the Bible better than anyone I’ve ever met. At first I thought he was very intelligent but then I found out that he was just very quirky. It turns out he had developed a habit that he had kept quiet for many years. For most of his Christian life he had woken at 5.30am to read ten pages of his Bible. After some trial and error, he realised it was too tempting to go back to sleep. So he decided to put the alarm on the other side of his room so that he had to pull back the covers and walk over to it. He would then stand up and read his Bible while it rested on a music stand, again because he knew his inclination for sleep. I asked him once how many times he had read through the entire Bible and he couldn’t tell me. It was something like four times a year for most of his Christian life. The entire Bible. Four times a year.

Most of us aren’t as disciplined (or as quirky!) as my dear friend, but the single best thing you can do for your growth as a child of God is to get into a habit of regularly reading God’s word. Over the next few posts some members of our church will share how God has grown them through Bible reading. Here are some brief tips to start with.

1. Know what the bible is and isn’t

The Bible isn’t a collection of fables to live your life by. Nor is it a roadmap to discern God’s will for what you should do on any particular day. It’s a story. I know it sounds cheesy but it is the greatest story ever told. It’s God’s revelation to the world about Jesus Christ. The resurrected Jesus said to his disciples:

This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. (Luke 24.44)

The author of Hebrews also put it like this:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. (Heb 1.1–2)

2. Read the different genres of the bible differently

Not many people get stirred up by reading the dictionary. But reading poetry can be a different experience. We read different genres all the time. And when we do, we read them in varying ways. The same is true of the Bible. It is made up of history, highly symbolic poetry, songs, humour, long sections of civil and moral law, and even some down right raunchy sections (see Song of Songs).

3. Develop a habit of reading large chunks of scripture

There are many ways you can grow as a child of God through reading the Bible. In some seasons of my life I’ve picked a book of the Bible, read it in smaller sections and then meditated on those words. I repeated this until I knew the book intimately.

The model I find myself returning to most often, though, is regularly reading larger chunks of the Bible. My current aim is to read through it all in one year. Although this sounds like a lot, it’s quite doable. Every week in our church email we have five readings that will take you through the entire Bible each year. Five readings over seven days. It works out to be about 10–15 mins of reading per day.

I have found this habit has helped me to understand that the Bible is one story all about Jesus.

4. Remember that reading the bible is a means to an end, not an end in itself

At the end of the day, how you read the Bible isn’t anywhere near as important as why you read the Bible—to grow in your knowledge and love of God. The goal of any spiritual discipline is to grow in our maturity in Christ (Col 1.28).

The more reading the Bible becomes a habit for you, the more you will grow as a child of God. And that will be obvious to those who see you.

One day I’d love to introduce you to my friend. He’s by no means perfect but the fruit of his daily habit is obvious to anyone who meets him. You can see how his knowledge of the Bible has developed in him a deep love of Jesus and other people.

In his book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis describes what it’s like to meet someone like this:

Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off. They are, I say, recognisable; but you must know what to look for. They will not be very like the idea of ‘religious people’ which you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you.

What about you? What have you found helpful in reading the Bible?

Learning to Pray

Learning to come before God each day in prayer has certainly helped me to grow as a Christian. I say learning as it’s not something that always comes naturally or has been easy to do.

I remember saying my first heartfelt prayer with a Scripture teacher in primary school. This teacher made a life-changing impact on me for she demonstrated that God was relational—that he wanted me to know him.

When I was younger, I used to worry that I hadn’t ever really been taught how to pray. I realise now that it’s much less about what I say to God than my attitude when I do come to him. All that I need to bring to him is myself. I don’t need to worry about the right words or my own efforts, but just to come humbly as I am, acknowledging him as my Lord and Saviour.

There have been moments in my life when I’ve tried to pray and haven’t been able to find any words. I also recall a time more recently when all that I could pray for days on end was the Lord’s Prayer, over and over again. But I’m aware that he already knows all of my needs and that even when I am unable to express myself it honours God to kneel before him.

When I pray it helps to go somewhere quiet, although finding uninterrupted time can be hard. So sometimes I pray in the middle of the night, behind a closed door, in the backyard, sitting in the corner of a quiet room, or with my eyes and ears covered in a noisy one. Where and when doesn’t matter. It just matters that I do. That I learn to pour out my heart to God, and that I learn to be quiet and to listen to him.

Shift work, sickness, babies and family issues are some of the challenges over the years that have made it tough to spend time regularly with God, but through all of these things I’ve been taught the importance of prayer, and now I yearn to do so. God has shown me in so many ways just how faithful he is, and I want to grow to know him more.

I know that God desires for us to spend time with him. So, this year, I plan to continue with God’s help to set aside some time each day, just for him, and to fix my eyes on Jesus. I encourage you to do the same.

Why and How to Grow as a Child of God in 2020

I don’t know about you but I’m a sucker for new year’s resolutions. In December and January, I sit down with my journal and come up with ten goals that I hope will shape my year. It’s so easy for these goals to be gobbled up by my work, my physical health and by my relationships. And it’s so easy for my spiritual growth to be neglected, or maybe just to assume that it will happen on its own.

Now you don’t need a list of ten goals to help you grow as a child of God, but you and I do need to have a concern for spiritual growth.

Over January we’ll be hearing from some of our friends from church who will share about different things that have helped them to grow as children of God.

To help us as we begin, I want to mention two brief things.

1. Why you need to be concerned with growth

God’s vision for you is to grow in maturity in Christ. You can see this quite clearly in Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

He (Jesus) is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Col 1.28)

The thing about Christian growth is that you will never simply arrive. There will always be more room to grow as a child of God. There are many, many other verses we could reflect on here. But pursuing maturity in Christ is something every Christian is called to do.

2. How growth happens

In the upcoming posts we will hear some really practical thoughts about a range of spiritual disciplines. Each of those spiritual disciplines (e.g. prayer, Bible reading, service, solitude) are an outworking of the gospel. This is so important to grasp. 

Fundamentally, you can only grow as a child of God by the grace of the gospel. 

Notice how Paul puts it in Titus 2.11–14:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Paul says that the grace of God doesn’t just save us, it changes us. It helps us to grow in godliness. To put it another way, the gospel isn’t just about knowing the ABC’s of the Christian life, it’s the power that will enable you to live out the A to Z’s of the Christian life.

As you look to 2020 and develop a plan to grow as a child of God, make sure you develop a habit of applying the grace of the gospel to your own heart.