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

Boring Ministry

As part of my internship I often get stuck doing boring tasks. Like database input. Or photocopying, or cleaning out the crossfire storeroom and the list goes on. I’m not complaining (honestly) but doing them has made me wonder how often we are willing to do boring ministry. I’m also aware that I’m an intern and getting stuck with boring jobs is part of that, but I’ve done boring ministry at other times.

Please realise that I’m not attempting to denigrate the ministries that are boring, I just don’t believe that anyone finds cleaning the bathrooms fulfilling but this still needs to be done at church. After youth group we vacuum the floors: I don’t know that anyone enjoys doing this. So we have boring ministry. Often it’s not even behind the scenes ministry, but in the cupboard locked out of sight ministry.

You might be involved in a boring ministry and that’s awesome! I really think it is one of the things that is key for Christians to find and do something that isn’t interesting but is useful, something that nobody will thank them for because nobody is aware they do it. It might be cleaning a storeroom. It might be filling those little communion cups or folding the weekly news. Whatever it is doing a boring ministry is good.

It’s good because it teaches us some great things. Or at least it has taught me some cool things. Last year when I was cleaning out the youth group storeroom (which I did occasionally) I learnt some really cool things. I learnt that being involved in ministry means you need to be prepared to be bored. At some stage you’ll be bored either by the ministry you’re in or the person you’re talking to. It will happen. Pray about it. Work through it. Do something different! Ministry will be frustrating; as in why am I the only person doing this? Sometimes it will seem that way. If it does find someone to talk to. Ministry can be hard. Seriously there was some heavy equipment in there. Share it with people. It’s easier to carry something heavy with other people (share it with God!). Sometimes we fail; as in when I just gave up doing the storeroom because it was too boring. Then we need to look for forgiveness and repent.

I learnt some great lessons doing boring ministry. You can too! Find a boring ministry and help out.

Saved, not separated

Solomon has always been one of those guys I can’t decide about. Good or bad? He was definitely blessed with wisdom, health and riches and was almost certainly Israel’s most powerful king. Kings and queens came to visit him from all over the world to listen to his wisdom. The Proverbs he wrote are not only of literary brilliance (more so in Hebrew than in English, unfortunately) but have so much to say about following the path God has set for us rather than our own ways. Yet this ended up being something Solomon was singularly unable to do. In Deuteronomy 17 there is a list of what a king should not do-and when the writer of 1 Kings is describing Solomon’s kingdom Solomon pretty much does everything Deuteronomy commands them not to do. He also forces the Israelites and the aliens in the land into forced labour. Oh yeah-he also married 700 women. The mind boggles. And the thing is Solomon had actually seen God. Let’s turn to the narrator of Solomon’s story for this bit, “The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.” (1 Kg 11:9f, bolding mine).

Solomon had actually seen God, had been given blessing upon blessing and still turned away from God to follow other gods. Douchebag much anyone? But more seriously if a guy who has seen God, who has pretty much been given every earthly thing a man could desire still turns away from God what hope is there for us?

Let’s take a broader look at this. The Lord tells Solomon “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you” (1 Kg 11). The covenant is the agreement between God and the Israelites that if they follow God’s commands the Israelites will prosper in the land. If they do not, however, the punishment will be severe (check out the last few chapters in Deuteronomy. It pretty much spells out the covenant). The Israelites end seeing pretty much every result that was foretold for disobedience to the Lord’s commands fall on them. Solomon fails and the consequences are severe: Israel is never as powerful again and long term it sets up the Israelites to be conquered first by Assyria and then by the Persians. Again, what hope is there for us? Most of us are not even close to having the experiences of God that Solomon had and he failed. How will we obey when Solomon could not?

The thing that gives us hope (and I mean hope in the Biblical sense: a joyful certainty) is this:

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law…But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known…This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 2:20-24.

So what? SO WHAT? This means that we are saved, we who don’t experience what Solomon experienced, us without anything great, we’re saved not separated. I hope that today’s blog about something you may already have known is an encouragement. If this is new to you: chuch me an email at timlearningtoserve@gmail.com. Oh yeah, and if you are saved share the joy!

Best Blog yet (maybe?)

Hey, so I missed my posting date on Monday. But that’s okay because I’m still going to post fortnightly, but on a Wednesday instead. Also my recent posts haven’t been that great or even interesting so I’m going to try and up my game. I thought I’d start with something different: a book review.

I wasn’t going to, but I was in Koorong yesterday and saw this book, got and just devoured it. Totally brilliant, so I thought I’d share the ideas it raises. It’s Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose? by Denis Alexander.

Alexander is a biologist and Fellow at Cambridge as well as being a professing Christian. He holds true to the idea that the Bible is the word of God and as such it is true, he believes that the means of salvation is Christ’s death and resurrection and he also believes in Darwinian evolution. Which is why I read the book. One of the common questions I face when talking to non-Christians is about the creation of the world and I always struggle to answer it. I’m firmly convinced that God created the world (as Alexander points out, to be a Christian you do need to be a creationist at that level). I also think that it doesn’t really matter how God created the world, but if I want to be fair, open and honest when talking with non-Christians they do often ask questions about it. I do always make the point that we need to start with what Christ does for us and go from there, but I want to be able to answer their questions as well. Before I continue I want to make the point while I find the book lucid, interesting and explanatory I haven’t come to a firm decision on whether I agree with everything Alexander says.

Likes
Alexander starts at the Bible and acknowledges the primacy of scripture. Which is something we should always do. He really got me thinking about what the purpose of the Bible and what the purposes of science are. I’ve never held the Bible to be a scientific text but he gives really good reasons why shouldn’t hold it as a scientific text.

He opens up what scientists actually mean when they use the term evolution. He gives a nice little history of what Christian thought and response has been to evolution since Darwin first published. One of the really interesting things I learnt was that the Christian academic response to Darwin was not hostility but acceptance that it validated God’s creation, and that the idea of a literal six day Creation isn’t actually around until the beginning of the twentieth century. In fact guys like Origen and Augustine held that it was a figurative six days. He really gives a readable and understandable explanation of the theory of evolution.

One of the things I really liked was the point he made that science doesn’t need to affirm the Bible. In the last 200 years much of our modern worldview has come to the conclusion that if it’s not scientific it’s not true. Well the Bible isn’t scientific and it is true, and when we try and make science fit the Bible or the Bible fit science then we’re saying for God to be true he has to be proved by science. Which is dumb. Because (to quote a friend): “the Bible reveals to us the supernatural Creator, why we were created and how we can know him personally.” God doesn’t need to be proved by science and when we do that we reduce God.

Dislikes
Well, not really dislikes because I really liked the whole book. More things I’m not as comfortable with and am not directly able to say yes to. But which got me thinking anyway.

Alexander’s model for how God first came to have a relationship with Adam and Eve. Mostly because it’s not from the text, but also because I’m just not comfortable with it. But as he says it is just a working model that seems to fit the evidence and is not conclusive. And me not being comfortable with it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. I’m uncomfortable with it, because I feel he doesn’t really address when Genesis stops being theological manifesto (which is a brutal way to put it. Alexander is more elegant) and becomes history, especially in regards to the flood. I’m not distressed by the idea of a local flood I’m just not convinced that the language used in God’s covenant relates to a localized flood. But to be fair it is not a salvation issue and Alexander doesn’t really spend much time on it. Which is my main gripe with this section of the book: I wish he’d spent more time on the flood.

His theology in regard to original sin isn’t directly convincing for me. He’s very much up and down the evangelical line of the sin was putting ourselves above God and choosing to follow our desires rather than God’s (summing up that idea in a sentence was hard and doesn’t contain everything about the whole idea). Generally Alexander’s exegesis is very good (seriously, he’s a brilliant mind) but I feel he’s not as thorough as he might have been on the issue of how original sin fits in with evolution. Again he might be right, I just wish he’d spent more time on it, but because he hasn’t I have to do more work…

Lastly, his postscript. He has a three page postscript where he pretty much says if you don’t believe in evolution, keep your mouth shut because otherwise you embarrass the church and legitimate Christian scientists. I don’t disagree with him that if you’re science isn’t sound you should shut up, but I wish his language wasn’t so strong. Generally he is pretty even handed throughout the book, but a lot of the criticism of his book has focused on this rather than on the actual science. A couple of times in the book he makes the point that if you have an alternate theory to evolution (like ID or new earth) get it published in peer reviewed journals. Which is a totally valid point, and the response from Paul Taylor (from AiG) is basically that there’s a consipiracy against creationist views like ID and new earth being published (more basically he’s saying poor me). I actually agree with Alexander’s points about peer reviewed publishing completely and his points that we should be careful in what we say in public about evolution I just think he could have been a little bit more loving towards Christian’s who might hold other views to his. To be fair he is even handed through the book but his postscript not so much.

Summing up.
Great read, really enjoyed it and has provoked lots of thought and will keep provoking lots of thought for me. I thoroughly recommend it. I’ve had to restrain myself in this book review from just vomiting out everything I learnt and thought and it’s still my longest blog yet. Read the book. It’s great!

Not sure

Hey folks,

So I'm not sure what to write about today. But I promised a post every two weeks, so here goes. For my Old Testament class I've been writing an essay on the purpose of the laws in the Pentateuch. Which has actually been fairly interesting. I've enjoyed seeing how the laws are to teach us how to relate to God and to each other, and not to save us. But I think so often we try and live by the idea that the law saves us. So we strive harder and harder to please God, trying to do all those things we think we have to do, and keep failing and keep beating ourselves up. And we keep driving a wedge between us and God.
Because we can never get to God through the law. We can only be saved by what Christ has done for us on the cross. Not that the laws aren't important. They are: but they don't save us. So it's not much from me today, but hopefully it's an encouragement. We can never save ourselves.

Time with Tim:

January to March

I hope this finds you three months into a good year. I know I’m having a good year,
thanks to God and you guys. My internship has been going well so far. The church
staff went on staff retreat a couple of months ago and it was a really good way to start
off the year. I’m starting to learn what ministry from the other side is like (there’s still
a lot to learn!). Here are some highlights:

Children’s ministry

At the moment I’ve been given the opportunity to help plan a JAM group for years
five and six at Castle Hill Public School. JAM is Jesus and Me and is a Christian kid’s
club run at lunchtime. Hopefully this will be an opportunity to reach non-Christian
kids as well. This will kick off once a month from term two.

Youth

This is the area in which I spend the most time, which makes a lot of sense since this
is where I’m interning! It’s been a learning process coming onboard and starting to
work with Rod and Amy (the youth pastors). I’ve enjoyed the learning process and it
has been great to see the other side of youth ministry, as opposed to volunteering.
One of the areas that I’ve particularly enjoyed starting to work in is our D-teams
(small groups for our teenagers). At the moment we’re looking at planning a
curriculum for them, and I’m helping with that, and it’s been a good way to use the
skills I’ve learnt at university. I’ve also had the opportunity to start meeting up with
D-team coaches and seeing how they are going and if there is anything we can help
them out with; also to encourage them and pray with them.
At Crossfire (our youth group) I’ve been co-coordinating year six. This has been a
real joy. The kids that come are delightful, they listen well, they bring friends, and it
is such a privilege and a blessing to spend time with them. Just as much of joy has
been the team of leaders I’m working with. My co year coordinator is just fantastic, a
genius with kids and full of enthusiasm. The other leaders all bring a servant heart,
great ideas and a passion for sharing Jesus ever week and are a real encouragement.
We’ve had a great term so far and are looking forward to next term!
I also had the opportunity to preach at Crossfire and as far I can see it went well. It
was a great way to learn more about God’s word as I prepared the talk, and read and
I’ve also had the opportunity to do scripture seminars at Castle Hill High, and that’s
been good as well, but also difficult as well. It is an excellent opportunity to get to
spend time with non-Christians and tell them about the Gospel; it can be frustrating
when you’ve got a group of twenty kids in a noisy hall and struggle to chat with them.

Other Stuff

I lead a young men’s group and it’s been great to kick that off again this term.
Preparing and thinking about studies that will challenge them is another great way to
grow in the word. They also really keep me on the ball with their questions!
At church I’ve gotten to service direct a couple of times, and while it’s not a difficult
job it was interesting to see how everything tied together, and how much of a job it
was to get a church service going. I wish I’d been told that it was my job to start the
service, before the service started, though!

As interns we also get to do group training. At the moment we’ve been looking at
atonement and Biblical theology with Keith, and we also had preaching training with

Tim Hawkins which was a great learning experience.

Things to pray for
: God’s blessing with such a great year six team.
: Continued humility for what God has and is doing in me.
: An ability to communicate with the kids at Castle Hill High


Thanks for taking the time to read and pray.
Tim.collison@stpaulscastlehill.org.au
Learningtobeaservant.blogspot.com
P.S. Hopefully next letter there will be some photos

Newsletter

So the shape of this blog seems to have changed from informative to thoughts...so here's my newsletter. Hope it's more informative!

Time with Tim:
January to March

I hope this finds you three months into a good year. I know I’m having a good year, thanks to God and you guys. My internship has been going well so far. The church staff went on staff retreat a couple of months ago and it was a really good way to start off the year. I’m starting to learn what ministry from the other side is like (there’s still a lot to learn!). Here are some highlights:

Children’s ministry

At the moment I’ve been given the opportunity to help plan a JAM group for years five and six at Castle Hill Public School. JAM is Jesus and Me and is a Christian kid’s club run at lunchtime. Hopefully this will be an opportunity to reach non-Christian kids as well. This will kick off once a month from term two.

Youth

This is the area in which I spend the most time, which makes a lot of sense since this is where I’m interning! It’s been a learning process coming onboard and starting to work with Rod and Amy (the youth pastors). I’ve enjoyed the learning process and it has been great to see the other side of youth ministry, as opposed to volunteering.

One of the areas that I’ve particularly enjoyed starting to work in is our D-teams (small groups for our teenagers). At the moment we’re looking at planning a curriculum for them, and I’m helping with that, and it’s been a good way to use the skills I’ve learnt at university. I’ve also had the opportunity to start meeting up with D-team coaches and seeing how they are going and if there is anything we can help them out with; also to encourage them and pray with them.

At Crossfire (our youth group) I’ve been co-coordinating year six. This has been a real joy. The kids that come are delightful, they listen well, they bring friends, and it is such a privilege and a blessing to spend time with them. Just as much of joy has been the team of leaders I’m working with. My co year coordinator is just fantastic, a genius with kids and full of enthusiasm. The other leaders all bring a servant heart, great ideas and a passion for sharing Jesus ever week and are a real encouragement. We’ve had a great term so far and are looking forward to next term!

I also had the opportunity to preach at Crossfire and as far I can see it went well. It was a great way to learn more about God’s word as I prepared the talk, and read and prayed over it.

I’ve also had the opportunity to do scripture seminars at Castle Hill High, and that’s been good as well, but also difficult as well. It is an excellent opportunity to get to spend time with non-Christians and tell them about the Gospel; it can be frustrating when you’ve got a group of twenty kids in a noisy hall and struggle to chat with them.




Other Stuff

I lead a young men’s group and it’s been great to kick that off again this term. Preparing and thinking about studies that will challenge them is another great way to grow in the word. They also really keep me on the ball with their questions!

At church I’ve gotten to service direct a couple of times, and while it’s not a difficult job it was interesting to see how everything tied together, and how much of a job it was to get a church service going. I wish I’d been told that it was my job to start the service, before the service started, though!

As interns we also get to do group training. At the moment we’ve been looking at atonement and Biblical theology with Keith, and we also had preaching training with Tim Hawkins which was a great learning experience.

Things to pray for

Thanks for:
: God’s provision for me
: God’s blessing with such a great year six team.
Prayer for:
: Continued humility for what God has and is doing in me.
: An ability to communicate with the kids at Castle Hill High
: That JAM would go well.

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.

Thanks for taking the time to read and pray.

Tim Collison
Tim.collison@stpaulscastlehill.org.au
Learningtobeaservant.blogspot.com

P.S. Hopefully next letter there will be some photos

Are we the unrighteous?

Our church series on Isaiah just finished up and it got me thinking. Often we sit in church and assume that we’re the righteous (we’re in church after all, right?). I have the strong feeling that we often forget that we’re not. We’re only made righteous through the grace of God by the act of Christ on a cross, crucified and then risen. Over the last few months there has been an increasing awareness that we need to love the world which has been very encouraging; there has been a push to sponsor a child; an urging to get people to sign a cocoa petition against child slavery and an increased awareness of other social justice ministries in our church.
All this has been very encouraging. But I was still left wondering are we (we being the church) the unrighteous? Both services I sat in on last night had the example of 30,000 children dying of hunger each day in the majority world, and the fact that children are sold into sex slavery. The point that the preachers were making by using this example was that the people responsible for that would be held responsible by God. The assumption was that these people are evil. That they’re sinful. But they’re not us. But are they really not us? I know the evangelical church in the minority world acknowledges that we are sinful and only saved by Christ on the cross. And we all agree on that. But do we believe both parts of it or do we just believe that we are saved by Christ on the cross.
We don’t really seem to think that we’re the sinful ones, the ones responsible for child slavery, for children dying of hunger, for single mothers prostituting themselves, for the corruption of governments, and the injustice of many countries. It’s not us. It’s someone else. But is it us, are we the unrighteous?
I know I haven’t done much, if anything for children dying of hunger. I know I haven’t written my local representative asking why the Australian government doesn’t do more to prevent sex tourism. I buy and wear clothes and shoes that have been produced by people working at next to nothing in sweatshops. And don’t kid yourself: that 320 dollar pair of jeans you bought the other week wasn’t made by someone earning the same amount per hour as you do in your retail job. I have the choice of hundreds of food outlets in a ten kilometre radius for lunch or dinner everyday, some people walk further than that every day just to get water.
I am the unrighteous. Saved only by Jesus crucified and Jesus risen. What about you?

God is in control

The last two weeks have seem to have blown past. The whole year is moving at a relentless pace. Maybe it’s because it’s just going really well. Also I now have a lo-hawk so maybe that’s affecting my time space perception. I’ve learnt a fair bit in the last couple of weeks.
I’ve been reading Rediscovering Holiness by Packer and it has been very challenging. One of the things that it has made me think about is my pride. When I started my internship at church I was heaps excited because of all the cool and wonderful things that I was going to do. And then I realised: I’m an intern. I don’t have all that much power! Don’t get me wrong, I always have stuff to do, but it was different to what I expected. So, I was reading Packer and he talks about how sometimes we might feel sidelined from the ministry we feel God has called us to. And while I haven’t been sidelined I have felt that I could be doing more.
And what God graciously has been teaching me is that ministry isn’t about what I can do. It never is. Ministry is about what God can do, and God can do that ministry through whomever he chooses. God can use anyone he wants-he is the creator of the universe! It came down the fairly humbling realisation that God doesn’t need me. And then came the awesome realisation that even though he doesn’t need me he has still been gracious enough to use me. I’m a clay jar, quite often a broken clay jar, but God fills me up.
It was a great lesson and I’m glad I’ve learnt it. Hopefully it is something that I’ll be able remember. As to how the actual internship is going, it is going well. The year I’m co-coordinating is going great. I lead year six and they are just such a joy to work with. I feel that I’m fitting in the office better and better which is a real blessing from God. I’m speaking at crossfire this week on Acts 8:26-40 and I’m looking forward to that, but it’s also something I’d appreciate prayer for.
Thanks for reading, and as always questions and comments can be posted or sent to timlearningtobeaservant@gmail.com

greed

I hope that the last two weeks have gone as well for you as for me. I’ve learnt a lot in the last two weeks. I’ve started at Bible College, I’m there part time, and it’s been really good to meet fellow Christians who engaged in ministry in different areas. What I wanted to write about today, however, is a little bit different to what I usually did.
On the weekend I went to Club Red, which is my church’s weekend away for young adults (basically the 20 something’s!) Although a few year thirteens were there and it was sensational to get hang out on a camp with them. It was a great camp all around. The musos did a really great job of leading us in praise of our great God. The food was good and we had great fellowship to go along with that. The mattress high jump was extremely excellent as well. What was really great, though, was the teaching. Our young adult’s minister had put a lot of work into preparing the talks which were on generosity. God spoke clearly through him to remind us that a life of worship is a life that is geared towards generosity, whether that is financial, time or social generosity. A young woman from Kenya who had been sponsored all the way to university through Compassion also spoke about what a difference that had made to her life. Her testimony about supporting sponsor children herself was just so amazing.
One of the talks was on greed and this got me thinking. Clearly greed is an issue in our society. Or at least it is for me. When I first went to uni I chose the course I thought I could make the most money in. I spend a lot on myself, and I indulge my choices a lot as well. Thankfully in the last few years the Holy Spirit has been working in me and guiding me towards a more aware and thoughtful generosity. But, and this wasn’t in the talk, I realised that there was another area of greed, one which is very subtle.
This is the greed for the personal experience. By this I mean the greed of wanting to do something for our own benefit, for our own experience. And by this I mean that we often desire to do something for own benefit. We want to be the ones to help Paul make the right choices. We want to be the ones to minister to Lucy. We want to be the ones to start the awesome ministry that changes people’s lives. But what if there’s already an awesome ministry that change’s people’s lives? What if there’s already someone helping to Paul and Lucy? Should we still help? Of course we should. I think where the greed steps in though is when, sometimes, with the best will in the world we jump in thinking we have a better solution, a better way to help. And we do this simply because we want the joy of seeing the changed life. And I think this becomes a problem when our desire to help sees otherwise successful ministries lose funding because we’ve essentially set up a ministry that does the same thing in the same area. And it becomes a problem when we do find a solution to a problem that is not as effective as another solution because our solution has to involve us. So I was wondering is this actually a problem that you see happening? Is the greed for personal experience affecting the effectiveness of our ministries? Or am I wrong?
I’m certainly not advocating that we don’t get involved. There’s a clear indication in the Bible that we shouldn’t outsource care, which has become a problem: we do outsource care. At the same time I think that we need to be very careful when we’re thinking about getting involved in a ministry. What are your thoughts?

Being encouraged

Hey everyone. Hope you all had a good valentines day supporting hallmark! No, but seriously, hoping that it was awesome. Really. So I’ve had a really good first couple of weeks in the office. I’ve sorted out my desk, oh, and I figured out how to fix the office chairs so they lean back which has made me a bit of a hit. Seriously, my youth pastor was super excited by it.
On a more serious note we had our staff conference and it was really good to get to know the rest of the staff better. We have a really good team. God’s blessed us and I’m really happy that I have this opportunity to work with them. All of us interns seem to get along really well and that is a blessing. It would suck if one of us was a bully…although not sure that they would then be an MTS!
I’ve got to start to hang out with the team I’ll be coordinating at youth group, year six and what an awesome team it is. My co year coordinator is lovely, and totally passionate about really building up an environment that allows the kids to be in a safe place to hear about Jesus. The rest of the team is a really good mixture of experience and first year leaders. They are all passionate to see kids transformed for Jesus which is excellent.
Youth group (called Crossfire at our church) has started really well. We have great kids. Year sixes will sit down and listen with no fuss! It’s amazing! One of the boys had a party last Friday and brought along four friends so it’s sick that they’re really starting to get into inviting friends and feeling comfortable with that.
We also had our first training session of the year and we started to look at how the Bible fits together and it was good discussion as well. I also start college this week and so it should be really good to start being steeped in knowledge about God’s word. I’m looking forward to it.
Since starting work at church I’ve noticed that there’s so many different people who put in behind the scenes and work hard for the kingdom and that’s just been so encouraging. I guess I’d really appreciate prayer for starting college and also that youth group will continue to go well.

First Week

Hey, I’m back! I hope you’ve had a great new years and there was something else as well…Oh, yeah, Christmas. Hopefully it was everything you desired. If it wasn’t I hear that Santa has a complaints department these days.
I had a great time over the last month or so. Last week I got back from our church camp, ImpaKCt, and it was so good. God really worked on camp and it was so encouraging to see 17 people give their lives to him for the first time. I was junior site-directing and it was the first time that I haven’t led kids directly on a camp. It was a little weird and then turned out to be totally great. When you’re leading kids you’re focused on them, which is how it should be, but stepping back allowed me to see how everyone works so hard, and how God speaks through so many people. It was a massive encouragement for me.

So on the 27 of January I had my official first day at church as a youth intern. We started the day with a devotion, and I was like, “what an awesome job!” Gotta love a job where you get to read the Bible. Then we spent the rest of the day hearing about the church’s vision, and there was a welcome BBQ for us. Which was pretty good. Props to Mike and Carey who prepared it. We also went out to Glenhaven, a smaller church attached to St. Paul’s, and the minister there took us through what they’re doing. It sounded like God was really working through him and doing some really cool stuff out there. Their eight thirty congregation has actually shown fairly large growth over the last few years which is absolutely amazing.

The next day was more orientation, and I’m starting to get a feel for what a church actually does. I also got to help plan out the talk series for Crossfire this term which was totally awesome. I love teaching and reading and talking about the Word. The series is going to be on people who encounter Jesus, so we’ll be doing the centurion at the cross, Jairus, Saul and others like them. It’s called “Blown away by Jesus” and looks like it’ll work really well.
I also learnt a major lesson this week and it is that I’m going to really have to submit to authority. In case you’re worried it’s not because I did something wrong and got smacked down. It’s just that as I sat there I realised that there were things that I could do as member that I won’t be able to do as an intern. But it’s a good lesson, especially since I’ve never been very humble.

God’s also been very generous and I’ve pretty much got commitments to cover me for the next two years. It has been encouraging, and has really moved me, about how many people are supporting me, and how generous they are being.
Anyway that’s it from me today. See you in two weeks. Go with God. Oh, yeah, as always email’s, and questions can go to timlearningtoserve@gmail.com or just post below.