Essentials
Employing an evangelist in the local church
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- Written by: Tim Patrick
Paper from 2006 National EFAC Conference
In this seminar I am not beginning by arguing that we should employ specialist local church evangelists but simply working from the assumption that this is something to think about. However, towards the end of the seminar, a couple of questions arise as to whether such a position really is the best way to sharpen and grow a church's evangelism.
What to look for in an evangelist
Of course the baseline requirements for any Christian leader are that they measure up to the biblical standards in passages such as 1 Tim 3:1-10, Titus 1:7-9 and 1 Pet 5:1-4. These qualities and gifts are required of all in Christian leadership. Beyond this, we must also specifically look for a person of both truth and love – someone with a passion for the Word and also for the world around them. It is no good being an evangelist if you are only interested in theology and doctrine and don't have a real heart for the lost.Episcopal Leadership Today
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- Written by: Stephen Hale
Episcopal Leadership Today - Helping or Hindering Church Renewal?
Paper presented at the 2006 National EFAC Conference
The Anglican church is an Episcopal church. One way or another Bishops have a lot of potential for good or ill. Given the need for significant parish renewal, how can Bishops help to foster this?
Nurture a sense of the need for a deep dependence on God
It is a struggle to go forward in many places.
To go forward will only happen with God's help and blessings.
Bishops can foster and model deep dependence in God through prayer.
Mission at our Doorstep
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- Written by: Hooi Wan Cheng
These students are to be found in our universities, high schools, language schools and other institutions.
In my experience, reaching out to overseas students from China is much easier than reaching out to regular Aussie adults. There is also the strategic importance of reaching out to them.
- Those who eventually return to China after their studies here, become influential people who can reach out to their families and friends.
- Those who return to China over their school holidays, would be good channels for short term mission trips.
- Those who do not return to China after completion of their studies, would be able to reach out to immigrants (increasing by more than 10 percent annually), as well become assets to local Chinese churches.
Passion for Ministry
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- Written by: Lynne Sarah
Paper presented at the 2006 National EFAC Conference
At a conference on "Growing Gospel Passions", my topic is Passion for Ministry – and I must say preparing this talk has made me sharpen my thinking about both passion and ministry. People who know me will say that I'm not a particularly passionate person (apart from the occasional shout at the TV when watching football) and as an adult convert I, to begin with, sort of drifted into ministry…
But over 25+ years of being involved in ministry and observing others in ministry, I have reached the conclusion that ministry and passion for ministry are all about our response to the grace and mercy of God – loving God and loving one another. Let me expand on that – first, by having a look at:
A. Passion
1. Definition - the what question
Passion – what is it? My dictionary says passion is: a very strong emotion; an intense enthusiasm for something – which is not all that helpful as it could describe what's going on in anything from a football crowd to a suicide bomber. It seems to me that words like passion and vision are bandied about pretty freely these days and its generally assumed we all know what we are talking about when we use them – but I must confess that I get a bit muddled at times. So, its been good for me to think through what passion is all about, in the context of ministry.
Supporting evangelicals in isolated contexts
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- Written by: Tim Harris
Paper presented at the 2006 National EFAC Conference
The 'tyranny of distance' is a well recognised feature of Australian experience, and it is an area of pastoral need EFAC is well placed to both recognise and address. One of the goals of the recent National EFAC conference was to assist in connecting evangelicals across Australia, and this was prominent in the discussions as part of the workshop on this topic.
Isolation is experienced in a variety of ways: geographically, culturally, socially and even emotionally. There is also an ecclesiastical version of isolation, where those with differing theological or ecclesiological perspectives can be left out in the cold. While this can be the experience of any who are a minority presence, this article will focus primarily on evangelicals experiencing isolation in Australian contexts, but many of the observations are applicable more broadly.
It is quite possible to feel isolated in a crowd – in some cases, especially in a crowd. One significant aspect relates to a sense of identity. A sense of being a nobody, of being invisible or of minimal significance can be a painful part of feeling isolated. It is important to feel as though you haven't been forgotten. The following suggestions (arising from the workshop discussions) are not in any priority order, but collectively can be packaged as our 'top ten' suggestions.
2006
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- Written by: C Appleby
In 2006 there were two editions of Essentials, Summer & Spring. See the list of articles at the left or check our archive site.
Who Cares About Justification?
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- Written by: Jason Hobba
The New Perspective on Paul
1. What is The New Perspective?
The last twenty-five years has seen a paradigm shift take place in some quarters of New Testament studies by proponents of what is called "The New Perspective" on Paul ('TNP'). TNP re-frames the way we understand the issues Paul deals with in his letters to the Galatians, Philippians and Romans among others. At the heart of TNP is a change in the way we should understand Judaism leading up to Paul's time – called Second Temple Judaism – and the Pauline language of righteousness/justification. This change to represents a significant departure from the Reformation understanding, and has caused great concern amongst a number of evangelicals.
This article provides a brief introduction to TNP and outlines some ministry implications.
1.1 Second Temple Judaism
A dramatic shift took place with E. P. Sanders' Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977). Sanders argued that Second Temple Judaism was a religion that relied on God's grace, not legalism or works as theologians of the Reformation onwards characterise it.