Talk I Gave

I gave this talk to a Christian group at a non-Christian school. It was a way to encourage and show them that evangelism is not just speech but also how we live. Hopefully it'll be encouraging for you as well. For your ease of reading unified is the name of the group I spoke to. Just to help your understanding

Titus 2:11-3:11

Just after I finished high school, which is actually quite a long time ago now, I went on a student conference called the ‘Global Young Leader’s Conference.’ It was a program run by the American congress and I thought it was going to be full of serious, studious people. To be honest I wasn’t really sure what I was doing there as I am neither serious nor particularly interested in studying. But that was alright because I quickly found some friends who were also not interested in studying. So we spent the two weeks on the conference gossiping, skiving off and in general not learning very much. In particular gossip about the other conference attendees was something we very much enjoyed. And even more particular there was one girl, who dressed in a way that made it very easy to make fun of her. She also liked to sing karaoke badly on the bus trips to the places we went. You know how there are just some people whom there is nothing about them that you can’t laugh at them? She was a target that was easy to hit. And we spent two weeks making fun of her. It’s sort of funny but also really sad. Let’s have a look at why. Rd Titus 2:11-3:11.

At unified you guys have been doing an evangelistic theme. Which is awesome. How to share the good news of Christ. And I want to encourage you guys in that. Even by coming to Unified you’re sharing the good news of Christ. You’re declaring that you’re a Christian. And when you declare that there are certain things that come along with that. The grace of God has saved us because of that we should be living self controlled and upright lives. What we believe should effect how we behave. Because telling people about Jesus is fantastic and our mission as believers. But if it is not backed up by how we behave we come off as hypocrites. Today all I want to do is show you that living as a Christian witness is not that hard, and that you are probably already doing a great job.

When you listen to your teachers, you are a being a witness for Christ. When you are prepared to pay attention to those who are in charge of you and not gossip about them or make fun of them you are being a witness for Christ. When we were gossiping about that girl on the conference rather than me continuing to do that I should have made a stand and got them to stop. Instead I behaved like someone who wasn’t a Christian. As Paul puts it we ‘we too were foolish, disobedient…we lived in malice…hated and hating one another.’ There is no doubt that we were being hateful towards the girl we were mocking. And if she’d heard us she would have hated us.

As Christians it’s not that we’re morally superior to non-Christians. It’s simply the fact that as Paul puts ‘when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us…so that those who trusted in God (that’s us!) maybe careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.” Christ saved us-and because of that we should live lives that reflect our salvation. Non-Christians have no reason to do good but as Christians we do.

On the conference I had a great example to shine Christ by my behaviour but because of what I said and what I did I came off as no different to someone who couldn’t care about Christ. As Christians our behaviour is so important. Like I said though, I want to encourage you guys. You may not have thought that the way you behaved in class or at lunchtime was evangelistic but it was. If you have a sponsor child-that’s evangelistic. When you go and support a friend in a difficult time that’s being evangelistic. When you’re in a group and you’re all having a gossip and you change the conversation-that’s being evangelistic.

Seriously-it’s that simple. You’re not doing those things so that people will become saved, you’re doing those things because Jesus Christ at an incredible personal cost saved us. Our lives should reflect the change that’s happened in our hearts. On that conference I was the worst possible Christian-had I said anything about Christ none of the people I was hanging out with would have listened. Our behaviour tells people what we believe. In the simple, everyday interactions that you have with people at school you have an opportunity to be evangelistic.

Bearing the heavier burden

Hey, another week, another blog. That is life, forever moving forward. But that said, I’m going to have a look backwards at something that happened in class the otherday. We were talking about the Pietists (a movement that started in Germany in the early 1700’s with the aim of getting people to really start reading their Bibles, and being concerned about sanctification not just justification. Also they kicked of the idea of small groups) and they had three questions they would always ask about scripture

            What does it teach us?

            What does it command us?

            What hope or promise for us does it contain?

Regardless of what you think of the validity of the questions they lead to some good discussion. We were having a look at Titus 2:11-12, and having a laugh about how it could so easily be interpreted as no fun (well, I wasn’t laughing. Because I’m not like that) Christianity. But what does it actually teach us? It looks at being self controlled so that we can live Godly lives. In the wider context of Titus (as Tim Blencowe showed us at engage) we do this to shine a light. But what I was really interested in was that was we started to talk about this we got on to the subject of movies, i.e., should Christians watch movies that are filled with ungodliness and worldly passions? We are not participating in those things but we are watching them. I’ve never had a problem with Christians watching any movies and to be honest I watch a lot of movies that are brimming over with ungodliness. What really moved me though was when of the other students said, “We need to carry the heavier burden. Maybe there is value in movies but if we are saying something about our faith by watching them maybe we shouldn’t watch any.” And it was that bit about carrying the burden that struck me. How often as Christians are we not willing to shoulder the heavy burden when we should? I will nearly always take the shortcut and defer to my liberalism, oh it’s okay to do that and that and that, whatever I want so long as I don’t hurt anyone. And too often I do what I think is right, and not necessarily what the Bible says is right. Which is wrong. So I was definitely challenged to bear the heavier burden. Now all I need to do is follow through…

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: a review.

To be honest I’ve lost all track of when I should be posting. So sorry if I’ve stuffed up your RSS feed. On the plus side it means I’m posting today. Which is quite exciting. Today I thought I’d do another book review, because my last one was well received. Well at least by the one person who commented! Anyway, I’m going to review a book my boss made me read-but which I ended up finding quite helpful: 7 Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner & Lane Jones.

Who’s it for?

It is definitely a book aimed at those engaged in church-based ministry. BUT before you tune out there is valuable stuff in there for anyone engaged in Christian ministry, which if you’re a Christian you are. Also if you run a business there are some effective strategies too.

Easy Read?

Definitely. I feel like I’m interview myself here. Actually, I am. It’s important to know that it is easy to read or you wouldn’t bother. It is written in an engaging and easy to read style. In fact the first half of the book is a story and who doesn’t like stories? In the first half of the book the 7 practices are introduced in a parable style and in the second half they are explained and deepened. In fact when I started reading it I skipped the first half and went straight to the meat. Which you could do. But I felt bad and went back to the beginning anyways.

Valuable?

Yes! The writers really focus on practical things that you can be doing as a church for your ministry to grow. I also think that these practices would be effective for individuals but also say, if you lead your Sunday school, or are in charge of your youth group. The 7 practices are things like Clarify the Win and Listen to Outsiders. Which aren’t necessarily new but the way they are looked is. The writers also present lots of examples to support their ideas. I particularly liked how throughout the book there is a focus on teamwork, and a realization that we can’t do it all on our own. In case you’re sitting there thinking “Oh no, but churches grow through the Holy Spirit…” You’re absolutely right, it is not what we do it is what God does and the authors recognize this: “Conspicuously absent here is any discussion about prayer, the Holy Spirit, and dependence upon God. Though absent from the book, these things are certainly not absent from the culture of North Point or from any healthy church.” I think the most valuable thing about the book is that it encouraged me to ask questions about the ministry I’m in, and to think about it at a deeper level.

Dangers?

Yeah, there could be. (No ‘Yes!’ this time. Feeling like being excited about danger is a bad thing) One of the points is about narrowing your focus. Which I agree with if you are spread to broad you won’t accomplish as much. I just feel that there is a danger here. It’s a common theme in leadership books these days, “lead to your strengths.” Which let me emphasise, I don’t think that is bad. God has given us gifts and we are to use them. I think the danger here is that it means we can become short sighted and unaware of needs in our community. And while the authors acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is key, I think this step is the one where we are most likely to stop relying on God, and start thinking about our focus. The danger that we will start to go, “Oh no, that’s not my focus. So I can’t help you. Sorry,” is a worry for me and could be an end result. To be fair that’s a danger that could result but if you follow practice 7 ‘Work on it,’ it is a danger that is lessened.

Anything else?

Yeah. Read the book. It’ll get you thinking about your ministry. Which is a good thing. Even if you disagree with the book.

Suffering

Taking for our text today…jokes, apparently that’s a terrible way to start a talk. So I did anyway. Joking aside, I’ve been thinking a lot about suffering recently, in fact since I finished Rediscovering Holiness by Packer awhile ago. And what’s struck my mind is that maybe in the West we don’t suffer enough. Or to make it more personal-I don’t suffer enough. Suffering is something that refines and tests our faith (James 1) but I don’t know that I suffer enough. Please, before you bring the rage, I don’t think suffering in and of itself is something to be desired. Nor is that something that I think God wants for us. Suffering happens and it hurts. Also, I’m not particularly desiring a lifestyle of suffering.

What I’m thinking about is that I just really don’t suffer that much. And in the West if you’re middle class I think that that seems to be the case. Yes, definitely there are people around me that suffer, and severely as well. But I never really suffer (which is a blessing) but how does faith grow without that? Or perseverance? Yes, I believe firmly in Christ but it has never really been tested in a really difficult time. What do you guys think? Do we suffer enough?

Tim’s Tidings: April to July

Hey!

Sorry for the delay with this supporter’s letter. As the youth ministry was running two camps in July I thought it would make sense to include them in this letter rather than wait and include them in the next letter. I’m a little over a quarter into my internship at the moment and I’m finding that it both more and less than I expected.

Crossfire

Crossfire is definitely one of the main thrusts of our youth ministry. Every Friday night during term time we run an evangelistically driven youth night. What we tell the kids who come to youth is that it is “a safe place to hear a dangerous message.” I look forward to Friday nights and it is one of the highlights of my week. This is for a number of reasons. I love that we get this opportunity to meet non-Christian kids. As a ministry Crossfire has always tried to make sure that the kids know that it’s for them and their friends-as leaders we don’t really know their non-Christian friends and we can’t minister to them. But they can and on Friday nights we get to share that ministry with them and that is a real joy. It is great to be able to share the gospel with people-especially when they come to you! Crossfire is a constant encouragement to me to see kids from year six to year twelve who are all keen to see Jesus making a difference in their friends lives. The other great thing about Crossfire and this was something that was a little unexpected is seeing what a difference a fantastic leadership team means. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the best teams of leaders I have ever worked with. They all put in effort every week to make sure that Crossfire is an open and welcoming community where it is fun and safe to be.

I had the opportunity again this term to speak at Crossfire which is something that is absolutely great to do. I spoke on the parable of the ten virgins and my main question for the kids was-are you ready for the kingdom? It was a good experience especially as I was able to debrief with one of the pastor’s at St. Paul’s who gave me valuable feedback. That is one the blessings of doing my internships at St. Paul’s, we have a great team of pastors who are always willing to give advice and answer questions which is incredibly beneficial.

One of my other duties at Crossfire is to make sure that the storeroom is kept tidy. Now this isn’t particularly interesting except for the fact that it is an incredibly helpful training tool. It is easy (especially for me) to kept swept up in how great Crossfire is and how keen the kids are but then to forget how much work goes into keeping Crossfire great. Cleaning out the storeroom especially after a camp helps keep me grounded and reminds me that ministry is not always exciting and not always fun. Sometimes it involves getting dirty and having the storeroom to tidy is a great reminder of that!

Camps

In July as a youth ministry we’ve run two camps. We re-launched our evangelistically focused weekend camp, and also ran Study Camp. Our weekend camp is called Winter Break and the focus was all about the kids. As preparation went into it Rod, the youth pastor, made sure that kids that came to Crossfire had an opportunity to really shape it into a camp that their non-Christian kids would like to go on. The camp went really well, I was helping site-direct the year 6-8 site and it was a really good weekend. The kids that we had on camp really enjoyed the weekend and the leaders help make it a standout weekend. Some of the highlights were the bonfire on Saturday night where the kids really loved making s’mores (marshmallows + chocolate + biscuits = wonderful) and damper. Tim Hawkins, our youth pastor emeritus, gave an absolutely wonderful talk on Romans 6:23 contrasting ‘the wages of sin is death’ with ‘the gift of God is eternal life in our Lord Jesus Christ.’ It was a message that would have resonated with any audience not just teenagers. One of the things we noticed about camp was that as much as it was evangelistically driven and we did see decisions made for Christ (praise the Lord!) was that the vast majority of kids on it were our Christian kids. Which leads to lots of questions for me, ie, are camps the best way to do outreach? That is one of the great things about being an intern you get the space to ask questions about this with out having to stress as much about the results-that’s something for the pastor to do! In all seriousness though Winter Break was a great camp and leading on it was a real joy.

The other camp we run is Study Camp which is an opportunity for our year twelve to get in a good solid week of study before their trials. It is also a great time as we get to minister to them. The theme of the week is to finish year twelve with no regrets about our ministry to our friends, no regrets about our family life, no regrets about our study and especially no regrets about our walk with Jesus. I’m impressed by how dedicated they are to studying (much more so than I ever was!) but also by the genuine passion many of them have for Christ. It’s a real blessing to get to spend time with them and get to know them a bit better. I also had the opportunity to speak about finishing with no regrets about our ministry to our friends. I spoke on Philippians 3:12-20. As I prepared it I was particularly struck by Paul writing, ‘and now say again even with tears many live as enemies of the cross.’ I was challenged by this and reminded that there are really only two options: salvation or damnation. It was a spur to me to spend more time with my non-Christian friends and I hope that I was able to express that in my talk.

Training

One of the joys of the internship has been the fortnightly training sessions we’ve been having.  We’ve had training sessions on Christology, church history, ministry to the pew and how to deal with suffering. They are all taught by the various pastors at church and getting to spend time with wiser Christians and tap into their experience is a great blessing. The other interns also help make the learning fun!

The other training that I do is my study at Morling Bible College. I’ve finished my first semester (no results yet) and it was so good. I loved seeing the Bible opened up for me. In particular the Old Testament class (an intro to the OT from Genesis to 2 Kings) was fantastic. I really enjoyed learning about how it all ties together, how we can see God working at saving the Israelites and how He constantly returns their sin with love-but also at times retribution. I was challenged by the class particularly in how I read my Bible and notice God’s constant love for us and his preparation for the cross. I’m very much looking forward to looking at the prophets next semester!

Miscellaneous

One of the great things about my internship is that it gives me the opportunity to come into contact with people I would never otherwise meet. One of the guys in my small group invited one of his non-Christian friends to our church’s “Why we don’t believe series” and I’ve been able to start to grow a friendship with him. We’ve met up to talk about the Bible covering everything from evolution to why Jesus had to die on the cross. It has been good for me to articulate what I think about this but also encouraging to see how God works in people’s lives. We’ve also had the opportunity to just hang out and become friends which is also fantastic.

I think that along with a continued prayer for humility and awareness of other’s needs as I do my internship I would love prayer for my continued ministry to the young man I was talking about. Pray that I will be honest with him and that Christ will really speak through me and his other Christian friends to him.

Thanks for journeying with me and taking the time to see where I’m at. This wouldn’t be possible without your help and I really appreciate it.

Tim Collison

For those who may have lost or ‘misplaced’ details on how to support me:

BSB: 032-173

Account: 87-1775

Make sure that the deposit is clearly tagged with the words: ‘Tim Collison’

Please inform me if there is any change in your level or frequency of support.

The Great Commission

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded for you.” Matt: 28:19-20.

The great commission. My church’s purpose echoes it: “to transform all followers into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” But recently I’ve noticed something disturbing about myself. I’ve been working really hard at making disciples. I’ve been staying up late and getting up early to work on it. I’ve been vocal. I’ve talked about it with people I rarely or never talk to about it. I’ve researched it. I read and think about it every day. And it’s absolutely great! I’ve been meeting with wonderful success. I’ve convinced people to come to church!

You might be going, “well if he’s doing all that, what’s the problem?” Or you may have guessed where I’m going with this, already. I’m working really hard at the great commission…but only if it reads something like this:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of Villa and Ronaldo and of Oezil and getting them to watch every game on TV.”

That’s right. At the moment I’m just a touch obsessed about the soccer world cup. I’m loving it and I’m talking about it all the time. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this. I’m not saying that staying up to watch Germany eviscerate England was a sin. I think the problem is that I am very rarely this excited and enthusiastic about sharing the Gospel. Yes, very occasionally I get that way but never for months, and never to this extent. God wants us to be consumed with Him in a way that makes it obvious to everyone else we meet that is how we identify ourselves: in what Christ has done for us. At the moment people who meet me will think my identity is wrapped up in being a football/Germany supporter. Which makes me sad.

I guess my hope and my prayer is that I will become this consumed with God. That my identity in Christ will be obvious to those I meet. How awesome would it be if there came a time when everyone who was obsessing over the world cup was as full of talk, ideas and enthusiastic discussion about the Gospel?

As a prayer request: Our evangelistic youth camp Winter Break is on this weekend. Prayers for safety and good Gospel sharing would be much appreciated. Be blessed!

Fair Trade

So I’m writing on something I don’t usually write about and wouldn’t have thought to write about. But the boss (well, one of them, there’s a lot of people that can “suggest” things to me) suggested I write an article on Fairtrade. I’m not writing to convince you about fair trade, but to look at some issues about Fairtrade. Especially since the church I go to is a Fairtrade church and people have recently been asking if we should be. Hopefully this helps answer some of that. This is particularly because recently Fairtrade has started to cop a fair bit of criticism and more exposure. Four Corners (an Australian TV program) did an expose on it that showed that there were some Fairtrade cocoa farms that actually did have child slaves working on it. The other suggestion is that Fairtrade is simply economically unsound. I’m going to have a look at both criticisms: is Fairtrade ethical and fair, and is Fairtrade economically sound? Yes, I’ve done research and no I’m not referencing in text because that’s boring. But if you want to chase up on me you can either do your own research or kick off by reading the articles I’ve linked to at the bottom of this post.

Is Fairtrade fair? Well, yes it is. Becoming a certified Fairtrade produce and distributor is really hard. Just ask the guys at Silvertip who produce the St. Paul’s Fairtrade coffee: Malacci’s. It took their boss a long time to become Fairtrade certified and source the beans and he’s a bit of a bigwig in the Australian coffee industry. I’m aware that difficulty in becoming certified doesn’t make it fair though but there are a lot of checks and balances in the system, and Fairtrade producers are regularly audited. You might be going, “well, if there are child slaves working on Fairtrade farms then the auditing can’t be that great.” Which is a valid point, but here’s the deal: if a Fairtrade farm is shown to be rorting the system the Fairtrade organisation can be brought to bear and force them to stop. Currently they are doing this with the cocoa farms in practice and also running an investigation to make sure this doesn’t happen again. If a non-Fairtrade certified farm is using child labour nobody can stop them doing that.

Is Fairtrade actually ethical? The two major items that are Fairtrade are coffee and chocolate and there are different issues there. With coffee it is primarily about ensuring a reasonable guaranteed price for the farmers; while this is also the case with cocoa, cocoa also has the issue of child slaves and child labour. Fairtrade is making a difference in both these areas and has made a difference. Fairtrade co-ops have used the money received to build better infrastructure, send kids to school and ensure that they can actually afford medical care when they receive it. If you don’t believe me about the child slaves check out Carol Off’s book ‘Bitter Chocolate.’

Is Fairtrade economically sound? The Adam Smith Institute claims that Fairtrade actually causes more poverty in the long run and creates dependency. Fairtrade organisations say that no, Fairtrade will make a difference and is bringing people out of poverty. Some economists and critics claim that forces should be left up to the market and long term that will bring poor producers up to a Western standard quicker. Fairtrade advocates say that this isn’t working.

To be honest I agree with both. I think we do need to invest economically in poorer countries rather than throwing aid at them. Building schools and universities, clinics and roads is an important thing to do. Also starting up business and investing in them is a good idea especially when these factories pay fair wages. But to be honest we’re not really doing those things and Fairtrade is doing something. Which makes me inclined to believe Fairtrade. If this doesn’t satisfy your economic brain read Tim Foster’s comment on Tony Payne’s blog about Fairtrade which claims that Fairtrade is economically sound and gives reasons (one of the links below).

To be honest I don’t think Fairtrade is perfect. It can be bureaucratic and slow. Sometimes it does miss stuff. But it can fix the things it misses. And it is making a difference to many peoples lives. It definitely needs more work-which people are putting into it. I think the best thing about Fairtrade is that it is actually making a difference and many people who criticize Fairtrade offer no solutions (*cough* blog mentioned above *cough*). Yes, be aware of the issues and make sure that you do keep Fairtrade ethical. At the moment Fairtrade is better than the other options and buying Fairtrade chocolate and coffee is a damn easy way to make a difference. You can’t force governments to do things-but you can switch to Fairtrade over other choices. Vote with you feet. People may say it’s just tokenism to make us feel good about ourselves, and up to a point this is true. But it’s tokenism that’s making a difference.

As a Christian I think Martin Luther sums up nicely why we should be striving to make a difference even with our luxury goods purchases: “We are saved by faith alone [not our works], but not by faith that remains alone.” If you have any more questions or comments please feel free to ask below.

The Tony Payne Blog (Tony Payne is intentionally provocative in his writings. Just be aware of that): http://solapanel.org/article/smell_the_coffee/

Summary of the Four Corners report: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2885745.htm

The Fairtrade homepage: http://www.fairtrade.net

Why Cadbury’s hasn’t been promoting its Fairtradeyness in Australia: http://www.smh.com.au/business/cadbury-wont-dare-milk-fair-trade-gong-20100617-yjyg.html

Carol Off’s book: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=xdCxktE3acYC&dq=carol+off&source=bl&ots=TkuOuil8Z8&sig=3--yKu7soHoloVFdqWpb3JrLK10&hl=en&ei=xPwaTIqgCsmekQXHmIifCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg

Good article on the issues with Fairtrade: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6426417.stm