Essentials
God s Mission Our Mission
- Written by: Tim Harris
"This is certainly part of the core mission of the church." A comment to this effect came at the conclusion to a presentation on climate change at General Synod, and it certainly stimulated conversation. Just what do we consider to be the 'core mission of the church', and how does it relate to evangelism? Are evangelism and mission essentially the same? Should not our core focus be in saving souls?
This is more than a matter of semantics. With the attention given to 'mission-shaped' ministry and rediscovery of what it means to 'be church', notions of mission can mean very different things to different people. However, it may be that we are framing our questions the wrong way round. Does the church have a mission in its own right, and is it in any position to decide what such a mission is?
Who is like God?
- Written by: Richard Condie
Micah Then
Micah was writing to the Southern Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of Kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah (1:1) which places him somewhere between 750-686BC. This period was a time of great affluence in Judah and the lure of wealth and power led to sins of corruption and idolatry. We see these sins among the people of God, germinating in the fertile ground of wealth and prosperity, growing up into their day to day dealings, into business, leadership and religion. Micah speaks strong words of judgement against these sins. He denounces the idolaters, the wealthy landowning classes who oppress the poor and marginalised, the civic and spiritual leaders who take the law into their own hands, and informs them of the coming judgement of God.
But the book is not all judgement. The fabric of the book is also woven with a strong message of redemption for the faithful. These signs of hope in the God of the covenant intersperse the messages of condemnation against sin. There is a vision of the renewed Jerusalem as the sign of hope and restoration beyond the exile. There is the promise of the ruler who will be born in Bethlehem of Ephrathah. There is the wonderful note of forgiveness and mercy that rings in the readers' ears as the book draws to a close.
Rethinking Gen 3:15
- Written by: Simon Flinders
'SERPENT CRUSHER OR SERPENT CRUSHERS?'
RE-THINKING THE TRAJECTORY OF GENESIS 3:15
About two years ago now I came to preach on Genesis 3, and I found myself thinking again about how it points us to Christ. I'm convinced it does. But in what way? So I found myself pondering again the ways in which I've heard others answer that question. Because on many occasions, at least in the circles I move in, I've heard people explain the Biblical Theology of Genesis 3 in a way that I'm not sure is right.
I'm referring to the idea that Genesis 3:15 is the first explicit statement of Messianic expectation in the Old Testament. From that moment on, so people say, the narrative invites us to await the appearance of the Serpent Crusher- the one who will crush Satan under his feet and thus reverse the effects of the fall. Furthermore, as Christian readers of the Old Testament, people have taught that we should see in this verse God's plan to send his Christ to deliver humanity from themselves. Jesus is the Serpent Crusher of Genesis 3:15. Or so the story goes . . .
Christmas at Trinity
- Written by: Craig Broman
What is your church doing this Christmas?
Upon reflection after Christmas last year, Holy Trinity Adelaide realised that they had in fact run a major mission over the season. Apart from school visits, heritage tours and the Christmas services, three events in particular helped them to reach out to not-yet Christians. Over 3,000 people were reached. This is their story by Craig Broman:
A Christian Approach to Sustainable Development
- Written by: Ian Hore-Lacy
My book Responsible Dominion sets out to do two things in grappling with the stewardship question:
- challenge some green Christian waffle which has been published over the last 15 years, and suggest that a Christian approach should not only respect God's handiwork in creation - the focus on green and aesthetic aspects, but also encompass a practical understanding of the earth's resources, which are no less his handiwork. Furthermore it asserts that those resources are needed to give all the 6.5 billion inhabitants a standard of living comparable with ours.
- challenge the basis of secular environmental ideology, which is fundamentally pagan and contemptuous of Christian priorities which understand humankind as made in God's image. That of course doesn't stop it being picked up by Christians and retailed into the churches, as it has been.
Book Review: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
- Written by: Peter Adam
Book Review: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, Eerdmans, 2006
Richard Bauckham is a distinguished academic, a prolific author, and Professor of New Testament at St Andrew's University in Scotland.
In his latest book he works through the evidence of the four Gospels, and the writings of Papias [fl. 98-117 AD], in the context of various kinds of writing and historiography in the first century. He claims that the notion of eyewitness was recognised in the writing of history and in the writing of 'lives' of famous people in the first century, that it has good claim to be authentic, and that this kind of eyewitness account forms the substance of the four Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. Richard Bauckham applies this theory in great detail to the gospel of John, which he claims is the witness of John the elder of the church in Asia [not John son of Zebedee].
The significance of this claim must be seen against the background of Gospels' scholarship over the last 100 years. The key questions to ask is: what was the source and focus of the theological creativity which produced the Christian movement and which is reflected in the four Gospels? There have been three answers to this question over the last century.
Read more: Book Review: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Conference review: A Christian Approach to Transforming Society
- Written by: Wei-Han Kuan
A Christian Approach to Transforming Society
…was the subheading to the recent Ridley College Centre for Applied Christian Ethics ("CACE") conference, "Life Through the Relational Lens", with Graham Cole and Michael Schluter. The word used most often was 'relationism', or the underlying relational world-view of Christianity. Relationships matter to God; God is interested in our relationships with Him, each other and His creation; we should therefore prioritise relationships in every sphere of life and ministry – and certainly in our approach to social engagement.
The strength of the conference lay in the challenge to think through the application of the explicitly relational Christian worldview to an increasingly less and less relational society. This worldview provides a positive way of engaging with public policy issues in a time when Christians are often perceived as having a narrow agenda focussed exclusively on issues like abortion or homosexuality.
Graham delivered two talks: outlining the essentially relational framework of salvation history's storyline; and arguing for the connection between personalism (people matter) and relationism (relationships matter) in ethics. Graham is currently teaches biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago and his strengths in those two areas helped us to connect relationism clearly with the Bible and systematic and ethical categories. His talks were helpful, comprehensive and encouraging.
Read more: Conference review: A Christian Approach to Transforming Society