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Written by: Rob & Claire Smith

Rob and Claire Smith begin to address what you have probabaly noticed—that there is a continuing and deepening advocacy in our culture for further revolution in our attitudes to gender and identity.

Rev Rob Smith is an Anglican Minister at St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney. He teaches theology at Sydney Missionary & Bible College and works for the Department of Ministry Training & Development.
Dr Claire Smith is women's Bible teacher and the author of God's Good Design: What the Bible Really Says About Men and Women (Matthias Media, 2012).

The transgender tipping point
In May 2014, a year before Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner became headline news around the world, the cover story of TIME magazine declared that we’ve now reached a ‘transgender tipping point’. Sociologically speaking, a tipping point is that point in time when a minority is able to bring about a significant change in the minds of the majority, such that long-held attitudes are reversed and the momentum on an issue begins to move in a completely new direction.
That new attitude and direction is, in essence, a new way of thinking about gender. And it really is new. Much of the discourse on homosexuality over the last 40 years has been about the fluidity or variability of sexual orientation, but not about the fluidity or variability of gender itself. In fact, both sides in the same-sex ‘debate’ have tended to view gender as something that is not only binary (i.e., you’re either male or female) but also as something that is fixed (i.e., it’s determined by your biological sex).

Read more: The End of Gender?

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Written by: Ben Underwood

The Good Bishop: The Story of Mathew Hale
By Michael Gourlay
Mathew Hale Public Library, 2015

On September 2, 1847 Mathew Bladgen Hale sailed from England for Adelaide on the barque Derwent. He came to Adelaide with Bishop Augustus Short as archdeacon in the freshly minted diocese. Hale went on to become the first Bishop of Perth, and the second Bishop of Brisbane, and over the near forty year period of his public ministry in Australia this vigorous evangelical threw himself into serving Aboriginal people, establishing churches, advocating better treatment of convicts, pioneering education, recruiting and encouraging clergy and stirring up Christians to give to support new ministry in regional areas. Dr Michael Gourlay, a retired engineering academic from Brisbane, has expanded an address he gave at the Mathew Hale Public Library to mark the 200th anniversary of Hale’s birth into a brief, engaging biography of a very significant colonial ministry. Gourlay has interspersed many relevant illustrations throughout the text, and has frequently woven the words of Hale and his contemporaries into his account of events. I have many times walked past the statue of Hale with outstretched hand on St George’s Terrace in Perth, so it was wonderful to fill in my understanding of the man and his times.

Hale might have been thought a spent force in 1845, when, just short of his 34th  birthday, he resigned from the busy parish of Stroud, Gloucestershire, having suffered an emotional breakdown following the death of his first wife, Sophia. He retreated to the quiet of his family’s rural parish of Alderley. But Hale was far from spent, and, having sailed to Adelaide to minister in the newly established diocese that stretched west to include Western Australia, he became first rector of St Matthew’s Kensington, and as archdeacon travelled to Albany, the Vasse (Busselton), Bunbury and Perth. In 1848 at Fairlawn in the Vasse, Hale met and, it seems, fell promptly in love with Sabina Molloy, eldest daughter of John and Georgiana Molloy. (The late Georgiana had been, by one contemporary assessment, ‘the best informed, the most accomplished, the most elegant, the most lady-like woman who ever came to the colony’ – p20). Sabina quickly became Hale’s second wife, and their marriage lasted all his life. Sabina died in 1905 in Tasmania, having lived with Hale in England during his retirement until his death, then having returned to Australia to her son Harold. I really enjoyed all this human detail in Gourlay’s telling, it gave individuality to people who have given their names to Western Australian Anglican schools.

Hale was so concerned with the vulnerable position of Aboriginal people in the harsh new realities of colonisation, and so moved to seek to bring them the gospel, along with Western education and training, that he gave himself to this work for six full years from 1850. Inspired by a Christian village for Aboriginals being established by Wesleyans at Wanneroo, north of Perth, Hale enlisted South Australian government support and also gave his own resources to establish The Poonindie Institute, which became a kind of English village populated by Aboriginal people. Hale hit his targets of evangelising and Europeanising the Aboriginals at Poonindie in many ways. One of the motives that shaped his work seemed to be to demonstrate to his fellow colonists that Aboriginal people were in no way sub-human, nor incapable of receiving and mastering whatever the colonists might have received or mastered. Hale’s concern for Aborigines was lifelong – in 1870 he proposed to resign as Bishop of Perth to become the chaplain of an orphanage for Aboriginals which was threatened with closure after its supervisor fell ill. A deputation of over sixty gathered to persuade him to continue as bishop. Later he became the chairman of the Queensland Commission for the Protection of Aborigines.

There is, of course, much more to the book than I have indicated here, and even more to Hale himself. Gourlay focusses proportionally more upon Hale’s later Brisbane years (he was 64 when he left Perth), than upon the bulk of his Australian ministry which took place in South Australia and Western Australia, but this hardly mars the work. Gourlay says of this biography that he has ‘attempted to bring the life and work of a truly good and faithful servant of Jesus Christ and loyal member of the 19th century Anglican church in Australia to the knowledge of 21st century Christian disciples.’ (p ix), and this is an excellent aim well carried out. The book is pretty well designed and well produced, and has plenty of supplementary end matter. I read it to my profit.

Ben Underwood, Shenton Park, WA

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Written by: Chris Porter

Standing on Their Shoulders
Heroes of the Faith for Today
Rhys Bezzant
Acorn Press, 2015

We live in an age where many people in the church will know more about the Marvel or DC comic superheroes than the historical heroes of the Christian faith. This small book from Rhys Bezzant seeks to redress at least some of this paucity of knowledge. Standing on Their Shoulders consists of twelve brief vignettes of Christians who have greatly impacted our modern faith. These vignettes begin with the church fathers—Athanasius and Augustine—through the Reformation era of Luther, Calvin and Cranmer. Continuing with the post-Puritans: Jonathan Edwards, John Newton, William Wilberforce, and Charles Spurgeon, before finishing in the 20th century considering the impact of Pandita Ramabai, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Billy Graham. Each of the twelve vignettes provides a short and succinct overview of the hero’s life and context, along with the biblical, ecclesial and social impetus that underpinned their ministry. Helpfully, each focuses on a relatively narrow aspect of the individual’s ministry while remaining historically broad. This allows the reader an insight into each person and their context without being overwhelmed with new information. Concluding each chapter is a series of reflective questions that help the reader to draw connections from history to their life. These questions also enable the book to be used in a teaching setting. (Bezzant originally presented these vignettes to his students).

While some attempts at this form of historical reflection end up in hagiographic territory, Bezzant here helpfully gives a rounded picture of each figure. The vignettes do not shy away from seeing the failings and troubles of each character, and even for some highlights how God still used them. However, two gentle critiques may be made. Firstly, the book focuses primarily on Reformation and post-Reformation figures, with Luther being presented in chapter 3. The thousand years of history between Augustine and Luther provides a host of other characters whose various profiles would also serve to edify the church, such as Thomas Aquinas, and John Knox to name but two. This gap causes the book to feel slightly lopsided as a result. Secondly, the book focuses relatively heavily upon Anglo-Saxon males, with Pandita Ramabai being the only female and majority world figure to be profiled in the later sections of the book. However both of these points are likely a product of the original setting for these chapters: as conference training talks and studies. Hopefully the rumoured second volume of the work will expand and address these gaps.

Throughout this book Bezzant’s complementary passions for teaching church history and edifying the saints shine through. The book is written in a pleasant and emotive style that assists in the absorption and understanding of the material. Throughout it seeks to challenge, encourage and edify modern Christians as we realise we are standing on the shoulders of giants to see further. This book is highly recommended for individuals, small groups and churches—indeed the whole body of saints.

Chris Porter, Melbourne, Vic
 (originally posted on Euangelion.)

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Written by: Dale Appleby

The Power to Save: A History of the Gospel in China.
Bob Davey.  EP Books, 2011.
A New History of Christianity in China
Daniel H. Bays. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
A History of Christianity in Asia, Volume II 1500-1900.
Samuel Hugh Moffett. Orbis Books, 2005.

China continues to be in the news for many reasons. Not least because of the growth of the Christian church there. A growth symbolised perhaps by Amity Press which, by the time of the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury in June 2015, had printed 135,602,476 copies of the Bible.

The existence of Amity Press is a remarkable political, religious and spiritual reality. The story of The Heavenly Man is perhaps better known to modern western Christians. Some will also know of the work of Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission. And of other famous names such as Watchman Nee and Gladys Aylward. Beyond that not much is known.

Unfortunately. The story of the gospel in China goes back to Nestorian times. Around 1625, in the west of Xi'an a three metre high marble stele was unearthed. In Chinese characters and Syriac a Christian monk named Jingjing, writing in 781, tells of the history of Nestorian Christianity in China which started back in 635.  It seems the gospel came via the Old Silk Road.

That church didn't prosper too long. Later Jesuit missions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries made significant inroads against strong opposition, led in the early days by the amazing Matteo Ricci who nurtured the Three Pillars of the Chinese church of the time, Paul Hsu, Michael Yang and Leon Li.  The story of the Jesuit mission is worth studying. It practised many of the principles that Hudson Taylor was later to adopt. It provided a kind of mission training that modern ordination programs could learn from.

The story is told well in Daniel Bays book which is a brief academic study. Moffett's larger book contains very valuable chapters on China and is in some ways more thorough. All three books cover the period from the 19th century onwards. It should be noted that there is much more to the story than the amazing CIM. Bays and Davey give pretty up to date and detailed accounts of the 20th century, bringing the story back to the Old Silk Road and the Back to Jerusalem mission.

Davey's book is written for the broader audience. Bays is more detailed with lots of end notes but very readable. Moffett's is probably more detailed and of course ranges over the whole of Asia. The good thing about all three books is that they all show a heart for the gospel. The more academic books are not dry and detached but as much taken with the wonders of the gospel as Davey's is. Moffett concludes his book with a story of an unnamed Baptist deacon in Burma. Christian Karens in the hills were starving after rats had eaten their crops. They were reduced to eating the rats. The deacon brought ten rupees (5 dollars) to the missionaries from his church for the mission among the Ka-Khyen, a tribe further north. The missionaries said, no, you must use this for your needs. You are starving. The deacon shook his head. “Yes, but we can live on rats. The Ka-Khyen cannot live without the gospel.”

Dale Appleby, Bayswater, WA

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Written by: Ian Hore-Lacy

Responsible Dominion
A Christian approach to Sustainable Development
Ian Hore-Lacy
Second Edition, Kindle, 2016

A new edition of Ian Hore-Lacy’s 2006 Responsible Dominion: a Christian approach to Sustainable Development has just been published in Kindle: www.amazon.com/dp/B00YGJTUNE. It has a completely rewritten and expanded chapter 1 setting out a Christian perspective on resources and environment. “The thrust of this chapter is to establish the theological basis of a balance between respect for biodiversity and 'the environment' on the one hand and respect for God's purposes vis a vis people on the other, while steering clear of the kind of anthropocentrism just defined and critiquing ecocentrism.”

The introduction is recast to include mention of the Ecomodernist Manifesto. Hore-Lacy brings the debate up to date with respect to both theological and scientific developments. “...a significant counter to the widely-accepted views of contemporary environmentalism was published over the names of 18 individuals known for their environmental stance and writings.  'We call ourselves ecopragmatists and ecomodernists.' ”

“But we do have an evolving consensus regarding God's priorities in the world, expressed for instance in the Lausanne Statement and subsequent Cape Town Commitment from the same source, and stressing the importance of considering the physical needs of people alongside their spiritual needs.”
Updated theological discussion includes creation and fall, and the redemption of creation, and interaction with recent discussions by McGrath and Wright for example.

One of the helpful aspects of the book is that it takes issue with the impact of ideology on science. Many assertions are made in the name of science, which are not scientific but rather ideological or religious (in this case green religion).

Overall for those interested in the environment and sustainable development or who want another perspective on the emerging debate about nuclear energy, this is a good book, written from a biblical perspective and challenging many assumptions of the green movement.

Dale Appleby, Bayswater, WA

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Written by: Mark Short

At the Anglican Future Conference Mark Short sought to turn assumptions about life in the bush on their head. Here’s how he went about it.

Mark Short is the National Director of Bush Church Aid Australia (BCA).

Earlier this year Monica and I were in the audience for the ‘When the Bush Comes to Town’ edition of Q and A. The makeshift studio was decorated with hay bales, there were a couple of bemused-looking alpacas greeting us as we walked into the venue and before the broadcast we were warmed up by a bloke with a guitar singing 80’s rock covers with a generic country twang. Clearly the producers had their own assumptions about what life in the bush looks and sounds like!

In mission our unspoken and untested assumptions are generally the most misleading. When the AFC organisers kindly invited me to share at the conference I was given the title ‘The Future of Rural Ministry’. I asked if I could change it ‘Rural Ministry and the Future of Mission.’ The change is subtle but significant. We often assume that the bush is sheltered, at least for a time, from the cultural and technological changes sweeping through the rest of western culture. It can even be comforting to imagine that somewhere over the ranges there is a rustic backwater where life is simpler. If we want to understand the challenges facing the church in the west we are told to look to our big cities, because as goes the city, so goes the culture.
I’m going to turn that assumption on its head, for two reasons. Firstly, in an era of rapid globalisation there really are no backwaters. The modern farmer who follows the weather on the Bureau of Meteorology website, who makes decisions based on movements in the Chicago futures market and who downloads GPS data before sowing is under no illusion that the reach of capitalism and technology stops at the farm gate. Secondly, there is what you might call the ‘localised diversity’ of the bush. The Australian bush is every bit as diverse as our cities but the different aspects of that diversity are often concentrated in particular geographical locations. Let me unpack that final point by describing five different types of rural communities we encounter at BCA and how each one highlights a pressing missional challenge for all of us.

Mining communities and the challenge of fluidity

If I were to ask what are the main features of our big cities I reckon you’d come up with a list that included mobility, cultural diversity, a young age profile and a blurring of the boundaries between home and work. I’ve chosen the label fluidity to sum up those trends — everything and everyone seems to be on the move. Then let me tell you about places in Australia that are even more fluid than our big cities. It’s not unusual for a BCA minister in one of our mining towns to farewell half of their congregation each year. And that congregation will be young and culturally diverse — when I visited the church at Newman there were something like 20 nationalities in a congregation of 60. Members of that congregation will be engaged in a variety of working arrangements — not only FIFO, where the mine worker leaves home in the city to relocate to a mining camp for up to two weeks at a time, but the emerging pattern of reverse FIFO where a worker sets up home in the mining town and flies to the city every couple of weeks to catch up with his wife and family.

Our Anglican parish structures originally developed in a settled world, where people were born, lived, work and died within a few square kilometres around which we placed discrete parish boundaries. But that is not our world and it is certainly not the world of our brothers and sisters in mining communities. We have much to learn with them and from them as they adopt a generous kingdom perspective that equips Christians for ministry wherever life and work might take them.        

Farming communities and the challenge of faithful innovation

For many of our farming communities the challenges are different.  Their populations are older and less mobile.  Declining terms of trade and increases in productivity mean that many of them are experiencing steady declines in population as young adults have to re-locate to larger centres for education and/or work. Here the great challenge is both to tend inherited structures of ministry and mission while also developing new expressions to engage those not yet Christian. You could call this the challenge of faithful innovation — recognising the good in the old so it becomes the inspiration for the best of the new. By God’s grace, we have seen this happen in some of our BCA locations both through the renewal of existing ministries and the establishment of new ones. Of course this is a challenge for many of us regardless of where we live and so once again we have much to learn with and from one another.

Regional communities and the challenge of networking for growth

Larger regional centres like Bendigo, Ballarat, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Toowoomba, Mt Gambier and Geraldton are often called sponge communities because they have a tendency to soak up resources and people from their surrounding districts.  They become the places people must go to for health care and shopping and to deal with banks and government departments. The great challenge for ministry and mission in these regional centres is to squeeze the sponge so that some of the resources and maybe even some of the people begin to flow outwards again.

What might that look like? It might look like a church in a regional city becoming a hub for the training and support of Christians in outlying towns. It might look like a regional university campus becoming a centre where young people are discipled and given a vision for servant-hearted ministry in the bush beyond graduation — as we’re seeing in BCA-supported ministry at Launceston. It might look like Christians dispersed across a wide area engaging and learning through online technology. In a world where people wish to connect through networks rather than serve under hierarchies we have much to learn with and from the bush.

Lifestyle communities and the challenge of scepticism

We live in an age of increased scepticism and even hostility toward the Christian faith, but we often assume that the bush is somehow immune from those trends as if closeness to creation gives you a head start in knowing the creator. But the reality is that many rural communities, and particularly those with a high lifestyle component, are notable for their high level of scepticism towards what they see as organised religion.  Locations like Maleny in Queensland, Nimbin and Byron Bay in New South Wales, Daylesford and Castlemaine in Victoria, Kangaroo Island in South Australia and Denmark in Western Australia have the same mixture of aggressive secularism and diffuse spirituality you might associate with inner city Sydney or Melbourne. At BCA we are learning to engage with these communities through friendship and courageous, clear and creative gospel proclamation — there is much we can learn from each other.

Indigenous communities and the challenge of partnership

I find it fascinating that people often imagine that issues of justice for our Indigenous brothers and sisters are uniquely relevant in the bush, as if the land on which the AFC was held isn’t also colonised/invaded/stolen. Having said that, ministry in Indigenous communities in the bush does (or should) force us to engage with the issue of genuine partnership. How can we create sustainable pathways into leadership for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christians so they are not burdened with almost crippling obligation and expectations?  How can we move beyond paternalism and into a genuine partnership where ministry with and from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christians is the norm rather than ministry to them? How can we engage the mixed record of our church in this area in a way that both acknowledges the past and does justice in the present? Surely these are vital challenges for all of us. At BCA we are beginning to learn what God is asking of us in response as we seek to support booth the current and the new generation of Indigenous Christian leaders. We would love you to learn with us as we learn from them.

Conclusion

You may have noticed that I’ve asked many questions and given few answers. For now I want us to sit with the questions and the challenges because it’s from here that I believe that we have our best opportunity to strengthen our partnership in the gospel. I would love to see a network develop around each of these questions, or adaptive challenges that I’ve outlined: a set of networks that are solidly grounded in God’s word; that reach across diocesan and cultural boundaries; that are committed to mutual learning and courageous experimentation under God; through which the city and the bush discover they have more in common than they might ever have imagined. Of course, the real challenges facing the church in the West are not organisational and neither are faithful responses. The key issue is profoundly theological — will we drive our foundations deep into the bedrock of God’s gracious sovereignty revealed in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus? The goodness, the power and the wisdom of God are to be found where our world least expects to see them — in a man condemned to death on a cross.  Now, as then, God turns our assumptions on their head.