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
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
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?
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?
Sunday, March 14, 2010
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
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
Monday, March 1, 2010
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?
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?
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