Will's Words

Do you think you're cool?

2011-01-30T06:26:00.001+11:00

Do you think you're cool?

Answered here: http://briggs.id.au/jour/2011/01/qa-do-you-think-youre-cool/

I now answer questions through Q&A on my blog: http://briggs.id.au/jour/qanda/

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/155588351674576682

Imagine you are Atheist, and cannot believe in God no matter how much you want to, what would you live for?

2011-01-01T06:27:00.001+11:00

Imagine you are Atheist, and cannot believe in God no matter how much you want to, what would you live for?

Answered here: http://briggs.id.au/jour/2010/12/qa-imagine-you-are-atheist/

(I now answer questions through my blog at http://briggs.id.au/jour/qanda/ )

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/2003873277

What is your current reason for living?

2011-01-01T06:27:00.000+11:00

What is your current reason for living?

This question is answered here: http://briggs.id.au/jour/2010/12/what-is-your-current-reason-for-living/

(I now field questions here: http://briggs.id.au/jour/qanda/ )

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/2001611591

Where has your formspring gone?

2010-12-31T06:27:00.001+11:00

Where has your formspring gone?

I've migrated Q&A to my new blog site at http://briggs.id.au/jour

Questions can be asked through the form at http://briggs.id.au/jour/qanda

When formspring (finally) release their API I may consider integrating the blog and formspring more closely, but in the mean time, please ask questions through the blog.

Thanks.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1995738623

In Heaven, those who endured bad things on Earth are comforted (http://ref.ly/Lk16.25) implying we’ll remember what we’ll be comforted for. Can you add your opinion to this?

2010-12-31T06:27:00.000+11:00

In Heaven, those who endured bad things on Earth are comforted (http://ref.ly/Lk16.25) implying we'll remember what we'll be comforted for. Can you add your opinion to this?

Answered here: http://briggs.id.au/jour/2010/12/qa-in-heaven-those-who-endured/

(I now receive questions here: http://briggs.id.au/jour/qanda/ )

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1995925874

I find that people always want more. Even when it comes to death, they want more. It' s like money - people always want more. They think there should be more. But why? Why after you die people expect there will be more to come after death?

2010-09-12T06:26:00.001+10:00

I find that people always want more. Even when it comes to death, they want more. It's like money - people always want more. They think there should be more. But why? Why after you die people expect there will be more to come after death?

An interesting thought. And thinking about it I can see how some people's yearning for the afterlife is a variant of materialism.

But I generally tend to associate thoughts (or expectations) about the things after this life with the human passion not for "more things" but for "more knowledge" or "more understanding." In other words it wells up from the human trait of enquiry - to find pattern in chaos, meaning in mystery, to understand where things are not understood.

We have looked to the miniscule and the astronomic, the visible and the invisible - why would we stop that enquiry when it comes to the shape, purpose and finitude of human life?

In that sense I do not think it is wrong to want "more." While there is value in a sense of being content with "what is" - without the passion to look further, look beyond, a key driver of human activism for good grinds to a halt.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1105301142

When you say: " I don' t doubt God' s existence. when I do doubt, I am not being sensible." do you mean this as a purely personal position or do you think that anyone, eg atheists or other religions, are not being sensible when they doubt the Christian God

2010-09-12T06:26:00.000+10:00

When you say: "I don't doubt God's existence. when I do doubt, I am not being sensible." do you mean this as a purely personal position or do you think that anyone, eg atheists or other religions, are not being sensible when they doubt the Christian God

The answer you are quoting from was very much a personal reflection. It also was an answer that highlights the degree of internal lack of logic that that exists within me when I doubt.

If there is an other-than-me reflection in it at all it would be towards those that profess Christian belief but fail to live like it. To the extent of my failings, I consider myself in that number.

I'm not sure if I would use the phrase "not being sensible" to describe those who doubt the Christian God in a way that is entirely in accord with their worldview and philosophical framework.

I'm not sure that there is one phrase that would demarcate those of a Christian worldview from those of atheistic worldview. For instance, I know of some atheists who have come to faith through the path of logic (i.e. they have applied "sense" within their own framework and reframed their conclusions about God), others along the path of moral conviction, others along the path of grappling with some form of revelation that rendered their previous worldview untenable. "Becoming sensible" certainly would not adequately or consistently describe these transitions.

I know some current atheists / holders of other religion who are quite "sensible" (in the sense of coherent internal framework). And there are others who are less sensible - in that they espouse one thing and live like another.

In other words, it's a mixed bag all round, and I don't know if the internal sensibleness of a worldview is a useful tool for demarcating the debate.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1103512397

If you could be either God' s worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose?

2010-09-11T06:26:00.001+10:00

If you could be either God's worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose?

I have been God's enemy. Without Jesus I would still be God's enemy. And I would, of myself, choose to be that still.

Thank God for Jesus. He has made me his friend. And now I would be nothing else.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1099279285

Have you ever had any doubts about God' s existence? No offense. Some people take that question in offense.

2010-09-11T06:26:00.000+10:00

Have you ever had any doubts about God's existence? No offense. Some people take that question in offense.

Not offended. Not offended at all.

I remember when I was five telling my mother I didn't believe in God. I'm not sure why. It was probably precociousness. It's the last time I remember doubting the _existence_ of God.

I remember toying with the idea in my teens. What would it be like if God wasn't real and I could live as a non-Christian? As a hormone-ravaged young lad the initial preoccupation were about the rampant amounts of premarital sex I could (hypothetically) then have. But even then I realised that even that preoccupation would become meaningless if there was nothing else "under the sun" except what I could experience. And emotionally speaking I teetered on the edge of having nothing to hold on to, nothing to refer to, nothing to guide, uphold, support, correct, or shape me. To be defined by and limited to... me, my own thoughts, my own experiences, my own strategems and philosophies. It literally scared me.

The doubts I have now, when I have them, are usually associated with moments of depression - when my emotions have moved away from what is actually True (arguably a good definition for depression). But these doubts would not be about the existence of God, or his goodness - but of his ability to love me, save me, care for me, nurture me, to not turn his back on me or forget me. In other words, in times of depression, I have a tendency to forget the reality and extent of God's grace and embrace the self-centered notion that the love of God revealed in Christ is big enough for everybody except me.

As with all doubts of depression these doubts are irrational and somewhat nonsensical. These doubts are undermined by the truths of the Christian gospel.

So no, I don't doubt God's existence.
And when I do doubt, I am not being sensible.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1099266296

Why do we need a "Marriage Act" at all?

2010-09-10T06:26:00.000+10:00

Why do we need a "Marriage Act" at all?

Thanks for the question, which I assume derives from an article on my blog ( http://god-s-will.blogspot.com/2010/09/asking-right-question-in-marriage.html ). Caveat: These are initial thoughts only.

The fundamental question to ask is whether or not we want marriage law to be _passive_ or _active_. The passive sense of law is to reflect society - to enact or provide a legal model that encapsulates societal reality and allows for legally guided (and bound) interactions between members of society according to those reflected norms. The active sense of law is to guide, shape or even control society - to provide rights, assert responsibilities, and enable punitive measures in order to modify behaviour or shape cultural norms.

FLOW OF THOUGHT #1 - We need something in the passive sense, to reflect society.
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The problem is that if we look at society I don't think this "something" is the Marriage Act. In particular, it is not the concept encapsulated in the Marriage Act that is the "solemnisation" of a marriage.

Solemnisation is not just about something being solemn or heartfelt. Legally speaking we can consider it to be a "formality necessary to validate a deed, act, contract." I guess its much like the settlement on a house - something happens when the keys are exchanged. It is not wrong to think of a solemnified marriage as an enacted contract then, in two senses:

a) A contract between the parties. Entering into marriage implies (as is recognised in law) a whole bunch of rights and responsibilities. These only usually come into play when a marriage ends (e.g. inheritance rights) or breaks down and where some form of reparation for obligations-not-met are required - alimony, custody of children, separation of assets etc.

b) A contract with society. Entering into marriage implies a legal state that is recognised and taken into account when it comes to affairs external to the couple - everything from taxation, social welfare, interaction with the education system, issues relating to privacy, issues relating to next-of-kin, and (topically for NSW at the moment) the adoption of children etc. - all take into account (to a greater or lesser extent) the existence, or not, of a marriage contract.

But solemnnisation, legally speaking, is becoming more and more meaningless. For instance, the "common law" or "de facto" marriage, is now pretty much taken as an implied contract even thought it has never been "solemnifed." This is true in both sense of the contract. As a contract between the parties the implications of a relationship breakdown financially and in terms of children etc. is now pretty much identical to that of "real" marriages. Similarly, as a contract with society, there is very little distinction made between solemnified and registered marriages, and de facto situations.

To a lesser extent, the advent of "civil unions" or the ability in some jurisdictions to register a same-sex relationship, also provides the rights of the contract without the solemnisation of a marriage. This is particularly the case in the sense of the contract between the partners (shared property rights etc.), yet increasingly so in the sense of the contract with society (availability of the privilege to adopt etc.)

As the distinctiveness of solemnised marriage is reduced, so is its value.

Solemnisation alone, therefore, provides very few things, legally, that are not provided for by other means. Perhaps this is simplistic, but the only thing you can get via legally solemnised marriage that you can't get anywhere else is:

a) Convenience. Sign four or five pieces of paper and you have the legal recognition of your relationship in a few easy steps. More importantly: your relationship can be enacted by proclamation (we are now married) rather than by demonstration (we are cohabiting, so consider us married).
b) Cross-recognition. Generally speaking (and less uniquely now that there is provision for cross-recognition of civil unions), a legal marriage in one jurisdiction is recognised in another.
c) Symbolism - you get to refer to your relationship, unquestioningly, as a "marriage" and have the certificate to prove it.

And none of these things are inherent to any deeper concept of "marriage."

Personally, I would, for instance, and for some good theological reasons (for another time), define a marriage relationship as: a faithful, sexual, lifelong relationship between a man and a woman in a covenant freely entered before God, each other and the community. If any of those characteristics were not present a relationship would not easily be classified as a marriage in my thinking.

Legal solemnisation is not needed for any of these characteristics to exist. It is not even needed for a relationship with these characteristics to be legally recognised (although it is a possible way in which that legal recognition can occur).

So why have legal solemnisation at all? Let relationships be formed either by behaviour or voiced intention or religious rite and then them recognised as legal by registering them. Let the legal reality be a _recognition_ of relationship rather than the creation of the relationship. Let marriage (defined by man-and-woman) be, legally, simply one form of recognised civil union (defined more broadly as the case may be - including non-sexual relationships).

After all, that is, in practice, what we have now. And if we are looking at representing reality, let us represent it.

Freedom can still be exercised. Ministers of Religion would, just like now, be able to lead people through religious rites - to solemnify spiritually - and exercise their conscience and religious freedom as to who they would do this for and who they wouldn't do it for. Relationships covenanted within those rites would be able to be registered and recognised legally. All is well.

The debate about what gets to be called "marriage" therefore becomes what it actually is - a cultural debate about definitions and nomenclature.

However,

FLOW OF THOUGHT #2 - Do we need something in the active sense, to shape society?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starting with my definition of the characteristics of marriage - a faithful, sexual, lifelong relationship between a man and a woman in a covenant freely entered before God, each other and the community. Is it possible to ensure that the legal representation of marriage reflects that definition?

Only partially, but substantially. Solemnisation, with any effect, can only insist on the objective characteristics of a relationship - that it is a covenant freely entered before the civic community, and that it is between a "man and a woman."

The debate is about whether to reduce the restriction of this latter characteristic to "between two people." Some would even like to see the characteristic further liberalise to recognise polyamory - i.e. more than two people.

The fact that the law is resistant to change in this characterisation of marriage is itself a "shaping of society." The law is active. And there is value to that.

The problem is that it is only active in a shallow sense. If the legal affirmation of marriage will only extend to the depths to which solemnisation under the marriage act extends then this is not very far because the activity of solemnisation is of lessening practical effect (see previous flow of thought). It confers fewer and fewer particular rights and the choice to not seek legal solemnisation of a relationship carries less and less penalty.

Those who are intent on marriage law maintaining a particular objective definition of marriage need to not only argue for the retention of that definition but also consider the extent of its enforceability. Their needs to be an increased discussion of how the law can actively assert that definition. The argument needs to not just be about what legal marriage _is_ but what legal marriage _does_ - what unique rights does it bestow? What things are unavailable to those who do not avail themselves of legal marriage? What penalties apply where a marriage covenant is broken?

The question becomes: where do we draw the line as to what the law should do?

Which is where I'll leave it - unanswered for now.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1093895321

If you could have and use any super power what would it be?

2010-09-08T06:25:00.000+10:00

If you could have and use any super power what would it be?

Flying. That'd be cool.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1083246245

Is ' bad' teaching better than no teaching? (ie is it worth attending the only church in my town even though I know the teaching is not ' good' ?)

2010-08-26T06:26:00.000+10:00

Is 'bad' teaching better than no teaching? (ie is it worth attending the only church in my town even though I know the teaching is not 'good'?)

>From the fact that you have been able to discern that the teaching at your church is not good I suspect that you are reasonably empowered in your spirituality and knowledge of the Bible etc. My gut says that here is an opportunity for you to be a giver rather than a taker.

If you remain in your church you can remain part of the (only) community of faith in your town. You can speak life where you can, lead "up" with humility and love to those who are appointed in the church to teach. You can use sacrificial service as a platform for the gospel. Without knowing the detail of your situation, my default advice is "stay in and bless."

A couple of caveats though:

1) You do need to ensure that you are being fed. Bible study with godly friends is one option. There is plenty of teaching material available online which you could access. Be careful to maintain your own discipline of devotions.

2) If the church is militantly anti-gospel (some are, I'm just not assuming that for yours) then it may be untenable for you to remain part of that church. But be very very careful here. It is very easy to be correct in your theology but not right in your attitude. It is very easy to "leave" in a way that is unwise and does damage to people. Seek godly counsel from people who know your context before you consider making this step - and if you do it, do it with humility, humility, humility.

Blessings,

W.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1010862419

why won't you say who you voted for?

2010-08-24T06:26:00.002+10:00

why won't you say who you voted for?

Because, unless there's a significant issue at stake that relates to the mission of God through his church, flying my party-political colours simply gets in the way of doing my job. I do not want the reality, or the perception, that I use my "pulpit" to spruik for politicians or political parties. I try and stick to the issues.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1001468068

Do you have any interesting comments or analysis of the closeness of the Federal Election or the implications of a hung parliament?

2010-08-24T06:26:00.001+10:00

Do you have any interesting comments or analysis of the closeness of the Federal Election or the implications of a hung parliament?

I am not disappointed that it's a hung parliament. I am no Antony Green but I think the prediction of Coalition 73, Labor 72 or 73 (depending on Denison which is now, sadly, is predicted for Labor), 1 Green, and 3 Formerly-National Independents is a good guess. This would make it anyone's game as the 3 Independents would truly hold the balance (able to bring the Coalition up to 76 or Labor+Green up to 76). If the Coalition lose Hasluck and are stuck on 72 then I think we'll see Gillard returned with the Independents support because there is no way the Independents will be able to offer stable government to the Coalition.

So I'm hoping for a 73-73 result with the independents (who seem to be quite sensible people) empowered to do some good.

If they choose for the Coalition I think there would be a push for a change in policy on regional infrastructure, including the NBN. I would suspect a decent commitment to _regional_ broadband at least. That would be a good thing.

If they choose for the ALP I think there would be a benefit in the form of increased transparency in government and parliamentary processes and some sort of detail (in terms of cabinet positions or so forth) that may reduce the power of personalities in the government ranks. That would also be a good thing.

Let wisdom and principle prevail. I will be disappointed if the three independents settle for some extra pork in their own electorates. Their rhetoric is that this is a "national interest" issue and I hope they stick to that.

It's obvious that Tasmania was sacrificed in this election. The 5% swing to the ALP in Tasmania was all about the NBN and the Libs knew it. Guy Barnett is right to be peeved at his machine just as much as Sid Sidebottom can blame his 2004 defeat on Latham's forest policy. I am hoping for Wilkie to get up in Denison just to prove a point that you can't/shouldn't ignore Tasmania.

All in all, this is a fascinating outcome for a governance geek. Any discussion between now and when the seats are officially called (not likely for days) is just commentary in a holding pattern. So I'll hold off further until then.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1001458172

Who did you vote for and why?

2010-08-24T06:26:00.000+10:00

Who did you vote for and why?

I voted pragmatically and cynically. I did not vote informally, but I was tempted. I perceived no clear vision for the nation, nor a set of coherent principles underlying the policy base. The personalities tired me. Only one issue had distinction in my field of view - would I prefer no NBN, or no Internet Filter?

When I received the ballot paper my reaction was "is that it?" My choice (which I shall not reveal to you) was not an affirmation but simply the result of a random vibration in my indecisiveness balancing on the knife edge between two pits of mediocrity. If my numbering had truly reflected my affinity it would have been 1.4999995, 1.5000005, 3 (we had 3 candidates on our form).

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/1001407581

Is it possible to feel like a dead bush on the wasted salt lands but actually be planted by the rivers edge and yielding fruit, Strongly planted?

2010-08-17T06:26:00.001+10:00

Is it possible to feel like a dead bush on the wasted salt lands but actually be planted by the rivers edge and yielding fruit, Strongly planted?

Ouch. Yes. I think this is the disparity that often exists between emotion and reality.

In fact, it is here that faith kicks in.

In the words of a song I greatly appreciate at the moment ( http://www.metrolyrics.com/faithful-lyrics-steven-curtis-chapman.html )

I am broken, I am bleeding,
I'm scared and I'm confused,
but You are faithful.
Yes You are faithful.
I am weary, unbelieving.
God please help my unbelief!
Cuz You are faithful.
Yes You are faithful.

I will proclaim it to the world.
I will declare it to my heart
And sing it when the sun is shining.
I will scream it in the dark.

You are faithful!
You are faithful!
When you give and when You take away,
even then still Your name
is faithful!
You are faithful!
And with everything inside of me,
I am choosing to believe
You are faithful.

I'll leave it at that - if you want to interact more, ask a further question.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/967661972

Should children and parents be getting involved in social media (eg Twitter, Facebook, blogs) through schools? Some new research suggests schools will be left behind if they don' t show some leadership on this.

2010-08-08T06:27:00.000+10:00

Should children and parents be getting involved in social media (eg Twitter, Facebook, blogs) through schools? Some new research suggests schools will be left behind if they don't show some leadership on this.

I'm one of those that don't see social media as a "thing" that it's made out to be in the popular media. It is just another form of communication, albeit with some interesting characteristics.

You might as well ask "Should children and parents be getting involved in phone conversations, pen-pals, letters to the editor, radio talk-back through schools?" And the answer would be - why not? I know I had pen-pals organised through schools, and we were encouraged to put our opinions in writing letter-to-the-editor style.

It is a "new" medium, but it's an old form of engagement. And yes, parents and schools should be involved in helping children be good socially. Issues such as etiquette, watching what you say (lest your words come back to haunt you), how to have meaningful and genuine conversation, interact with the real issues, discern fakery from the serious etc. etc. - all are good skills and learning about them in social media would be a good thing.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/925564093

Were you mindful of your bucket list on your recent vacation? Did it contribute to or satisfy anything of your list? (by crunchiejen)

2010-08-07T14:45:00.019+10:00

Were you mindful of your bucket list on your recent vacation? Did it contribute to or satisfy anything of your list? (by crunchiejen)

I looked for lobster but could not find it. Scuba diving wasn't on the list but it should have been. Now "become a certified diver" is on the list.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/924803484

Is it biblically acceptable to ordain women into any position of leadership within the church, or are those who do this in error?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.018+10:00

Is it biblically acceptable to ordain women into any position of leadership within the church, or are those who do this in error?

I once commented on Mark Driscoll's imprecise consideration of this issue ( http://is.gd/dBDrG ) where I stated:

"Complementarians hold to a "serving, sacrificial male leadership and gender partnership" model of marriage and the home as a clear expression of Scripture. However there is a distinction within this view...

Some are willing to quickly extrapolate the home to the church - and this is not done unthinkingly, as Driscoll demonstrates.

However, others will argue that this extrapolation is not so simple or clearly prescribed by Scripture - where "man/woman" passages can be rendered "husband/wife", where offices and functions within the church are only broadly defined in Scripture. They would argue that allowing a woman to teach, for instance, does not inherently damage or undermine the complementary relationship between husbands and wives. They would cite, gently, that when Driscoll announces that the "sermon" is now over and that his wife is now allowed to join him on stage to answer questions that he is juggling semantics and that the men in the congregation are being taught by his wife just as much as the women - and appreciate it!..."

In this sense I am a "broad complementarian", taking the latter view.

The issue is that church life should not be antagonistic to the life of the families who constitute that church. In other words, a commission to ministry should never undermine a marriage or familial relationship.

Strict complementarians (women cannot be ordained to leadership) tackle this issue in the abstract. I tend to tackle the issue in reality, even on a case by case basis. Does the shape of this ministry require this man to forego serving his wife? Does the shape of this ministry require this woman to forego serving her husband?

The reality of this is reasonable easy to tackle when it's a consideration of women in ministry in the broadly diaconal/service sense (I include serving the body through teaching ministry). Because both ministry and marriage relationship looks like service and it generally just works.

It can get complex, perhaps, in the consideration of women in leadership (although the line between ministry and leadership is fuzzy because they are both acts of service). But the only place where any complexity can (or needs to be) resolved is in the marriage relationship of the servant leader and her husband. He can lead/serve her by championing her leadership/service of others. What that looks like or how that works might need to be sorted out by the couple themselves.

If the husband cannot bless his wife's ministry then that ministry is fraught and probably shouldn't proceed in order to honour the marriage. But I would say the same thing if a wife was unwilling to bless her husband's ministry. (And I know plenty of male ministers who inflict the cost of ministry on their wife and children without their blessing who need to take a long hard look at themselves).

So I have no problem, personally, working under the leadership of a woman. It does not impact on the relationship with my wife at all, or cause that relationship to be feministic or something.

Having said all that - this is an open-handed issue for me. I know that others read Scripture the other way. Strict complementarians have a place within the church and should be able to minister and lead according to conscience and integrity. The "two integrities" principle creates complexity, but such is life.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/841994421

One thing you can’t wait to eat from a bucket list destination?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.017+10:00

One thing you can't wait to eat from a bucket list destination?

Lobster. I've never had lobster. From wherever the lobster is best.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/846507295

Badly worded my question about your being an on-line pastor...I should have asked how many pastors' sermons are recorded for on-line listening and were you the first for Tasmania and are there many in Australia doing this?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.016+10:00

Badly worded my question about your being an on-line pastor...I should have asked how many pastors' sermons are recorded for on-line listening and were you the first for Tasmania and are there many in Australia doing this?

Not sure how many pastor's sermons are recorded online. But I'm sure I wasn't the first.

I know Anglican Parish of Kingston have sermons: https://www.apok.org/modules/wfdownloads/
And Wellspring: http://www.wellspring.org.au/index.php?page=sermons
And St. Johns' Launceston: http://www.stjohns.net.au/?q=sermons

It really is a pretty common thing these days. Google around.

My sermons from the 9:30 Congregation in Burnie are also recorded (using my phone!). Available here: http://burnieanglican.org.au/burnie/sermons/

Connections sermons are, of course, here: http://burnieanglican.org.au/connections/category/teaching/

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/858950432

http://www.godtube.com/featured/video/mosque-near-ground-zero Would you care to comment on this?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.015+10:00

http://www.godtube.com/featured/video/mosque-near-ground-zero Would you care to comment on this?

For those reading this quickly: The video link is to a story about a mosque being built near "Ground Zero" in New York City. The imam of the mosque is communicating it as a gesture of peace. Others are ambivalent. Some are outraged and question the mosque's links to terrorists and see it as a gesture that embraces 9-11 as a victory in jihad.

In answer - firstly, I'm not from NYC and can only guess at the level of emotion that is associated with 9-11 the "sacredness" of Ground Zero and the attitude towards Muslims. I can't unpack that side of things. I think Ground Zero is significant but, for me, not being "involved" in any sense more than seeing the tragedy unfold on TV in 2001, the place is not "sacred" and I don't have anything invested there that might be "profaned" by the building of this mosque. If the building of the mosque was deliberate provocation of the feelings of hurt, or done in a way that was deliberately ignorant of them, I would decry it's construction and location as inhumane insensitivity and advise some relational wisdom.

Secondly, how would I consider this in general terms?In general, would I have a problem with a mosque being built, wherever it might be built? No, not really. I think religious pluralism is a healthy context for Christian witness and religious freedom for all maximises the opportunity to evangelise for me. So "I have no problem with it" would be my default position.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/779309454

What' s your view on dinosaurs? Is there a biblical basis for them (i.e. the reference to ' behemoth' and ' leviathan' in Job)? How do they fit in the Christian world-view?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.014+10:00

What's your view on dinosaurs? Is there a biblical basis for them (i.e. the reference to 'behemoth' and 'leviathan' in Job)? How do they fit in the Christian world-view?

What's that Terry Pratchett quote about the obstinate "god" who put pre-fossilised bones in the ground just to confuse archeologists?

By dinosaur I'm assuming you mean the big extinct sort. After all, I was just in Cairns, and I bought a bag of crocodile jerky, and I felt real close to a "terrible lizard."

The Job quotes you refer to are from Job 40:15 and 41:1. The first refers to what is translated as "behemoth" with "a tail" that "sways like a cedar." From the description you can imagine one of those big four-legged dinosaurs - more so than an elephant which, last time I looked, did not have a "tail that sways like a cedar." But I don't know enough Hebrew to be able to analyse the original language - and the NIV footnotes point out that "behemoth" could be "elephant" and "tail" could be "trunk." So perhaps it's referring to an elephant - it would still fit the imagery and the point that is being made at that point in Job.

Similarly with 41:1 which refers to a "leviathan" - a water-based creature from the imagery. Again, imagination allows for a Loch-Ness-Monster type animal. But a crocodile also fits. I also like 41:3-5 which seems to be the inspiration for the song "Never smile at a crocodile."

So basically, if you're looking for a biblical basis for dinosaurs: is the Bible aware of them? In particular, does it have an example of humans and dinosaurs co-existing? Then my answer is: you're asking a question that the Bible is not setting out to answer. The point of Job 40 and 41 is not to answer that question, it's to point out Job's inherent smallness and powerlessness by comparing him to this big animals.

The Bible also doesn't mention kangaroos, polar bears, or boa constrictors. Doesn't mean they didn't exist or didn't coexist with humans. But you can't invent an answer (one way or the other) where the information simply does not exist.

In that sense, a particular view on dinosaurs is not an inherent requirement for holding a Christian world-view. It's an "open hand" question - something on which variation in thought, speculation is allowed, necessary in fact.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/924880556

Is their God ordained gender-roles for the Christian home? What does it mean to be the " head" of the home? What doesn' t it mean?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.013+10:00

Is their God ordained gender-roles for the Christian home? What does it mean to be the "head" of the home? What doesn't it mean?

I've received two question to do with the theme of gender roles and women in ministry etc. I'm not sure which order they arrived in. I'll answer this one first because it's somewhat conceptually prior.

When it comes to "gender roles" different people mean different things.

Some use "role" in a very functional sense - certain jobs belong to the woman (stereotypically home-making, domestic stuff) and certain jobs belong to the man (stereotypically providing for the family etc.). I think this is less ascribed to these days - even among the most complementarian of couples I find men cooking and women working for income etc. I don't think this is a helpful place to be begin.

Some use "role" in more of a management sense - certain decisions belong to the man, and other decisions belong to the woman. In an extrapolation this is the "wife obeys the husband" sense. Less extreme, but equally unhelpful is a "we work cooperatively, but if we can't agree, he wins" attitude. Again, however, I find inconsistency - amongst complementarian couples you will find everything from choices of dinner menu to decisions about remortgaging the house made by either partner or both. I don't think this is a helpful place to begin.

Some use "role" in more of a relational sense - and I think this is where I would want to begin. And it begins with unity. For instance, Jesus interprets Genesis 2 in Matthew 19 along these lines: "They are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

The aim of each partner in a marriage/household relationship is therefore to maintain that unity. The question is "what do I do, how do I respond/engage express myself in relationship that will maintain and build a genuine unity?"

And that begins with mutuality and submission. Ephesians 5:21 expresses this: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Submission can only be given, not taken. And so the intimate unity of the marriage relationship is, at it's heart, a giving of oneself to the other. The cry of the heart is "I am yours."

If there is differentiation, or a dynamic asymmetry, in what this means for the man or the woman, it can only be grasped at this point. Otherwise you end up destroying the mutuality. (It's like slipping into tritheism if you forget that Trinity is unity).

The differentiation I see is that the masculine cry of "I am yours" is meaningfully expressed in terms of "I give myself FOR you." And the feminine cry of "I am yours" is meaningfully expressed in terms of "I give myself TO you."

When it works, this is beautiful. There is no danger in the woman placing herself in the hands of someone who absolutely has her best interests at heart. Rather, ugliness in relationship comes, for instance, when a man takes the one who gives herself to him and abuses that gift, or, when a woman takes the one who gives himself for her and belittles or betrays that gift.

The masculine side of this is often expressed in terms of "headship" taking cue from Ephesians 5:23 which states "the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church." The explanation of what this actually means comes a couple of verses later where it talks not about Christ's authority or lordship but in terms of his giving of himself FOR the church. A man therefore loves himself when he truly loves his wife - by "dying" for her (in the sense of dying to his own interests and living for hers) etc.

For this reason when I hear men standing on the fact that they are the "head of their home" I often wonder if they realise the true meaning of what they are saying.

And I don't look for how their family is managed, I look to see whether that man is truly serving his wife and family with gentleness and respect and a deep sense of self-sacrifice. And if I don't see that, he may call himself the head of his house, but I can usually think of other parts of the anatomy that are a better fit.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/841897875

What is on your bucket list?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.012+10:00

What is on your bucket list?

Nice. I had to look up "Bucket list" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bucket_List ). It's the list of things to do before you "kick the bucket."

It's an interesting question that speaks to my passions, my drive and passions, my priorities and call, and how I see accomplishment. I am in a season where I need to dwell on these things and so thankyou for the question.

Here is a quick initial response. It will not be my final thoughts. You might want to ask me again in six months or so. :-)

I have categorised the list somewhat:

1) FORMATION
* Spend a season (three months minimum) of on-the-ground travel, in two continents, with my wife.
* Do more study (of a deeply applied theological sort.)
* Spend a season of apprenticeship to a good and godly Christian leader (not necessarily of a church) of significant calibre (happy to receive suggestions as to who.)

2) ACHIEVEMENT
* Witness and be present at significant moment's of my children's life (I'm not going to specify what - for that's their story, not mine).
* Teach something significant to teachable people.
* See at least one leader, whose formation I have participated in, impact a nation/society in a significant way.

3) NOSTALGIA
* Return to England with my own family, while the children are still young, and meet family members I have not seen in a long time.
* Shake Bob Hartman's hand ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hartman ) - his work was incredibly formative to me as a person.

4) FUN
* Learn to ski
* Cook a meal with Jamie Oliver
* Experience a hot lap of Mt. Panorama
* Discover, in real life, the following places:
- the most awesome natural vista on earth
- the most awesome architecture on earth
- the most peaceful place on earth
- the wildest place on earth

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/846278649

How can I be sure that I' m Christian? I have professed Christian faith for ten years, but used to be a lot more bold & passionate about my faith. I still believe the same things & pray/read Bible daily but I don' t feel my faith or experience God. I sin 2.

2010-08-07T14:45:00.011+10:00

How can I be sure that I'm Christian? I have professed Christian faith for ten years, but used to be a lot more bold & passionate about my faith. I still believe the same things & pray/read Bible daily but I don't feel my faith or experience God. I sin 2.

Thanks for the question. It's taken me a while to get to it partly because it is worth pondering and took some pondering.

What is a Christian? The quick answers is from Romans 10:9 - "...if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." I can infer from your question that you are still confessing with your mouth, and you have not, in a rational belief sense, denied him.

But I think the crux of your problem is that you "don't feel" your faith or "experience" God. It would relate to Romans 10:9 at the phrase "believe in your heart."

I think my push-back to you here would then be - "Well, what does being a Christian feel like?" Or, more specifically, "What does faith feel like?"

Sure, sometimes it feels like joy, gladness - even euphoria at times. I assume you are not feeling these things.

Sometimes faith feels likes determination, or pain, or burden (for me, personally, occasionally to the point of nausea). Faith is to trust in God which means trusting him as you face everything from temptation, sadness, hurt, betrayal, and guilt.

The path of faith is when God calls you, "come and die." He will take you to the place where you are not yet Jesus-shaped, or to an area that is crucial to how he has called you - and to follow him will literally hurt. Many of us stall here, go into denial, go "around the mountain" until we have to face it again, for he won't let us go.

It is often in these places that we don't "feel" our faith - because our faith is being tested. And it is often in these places that we don't respond in faith but try to cover up the hurt with the false comfort (that is no comfort at all) of sin.

So I guess my advice to you is a mixture of determination and abandonment. Be determined to be fully reliant on God. No matter the cost, no matter the pain, no matter how much it _feels_ like a path or difficulty - determinedly choose to abandon yourself to his purposes.

Put that into action. Put aside any idols you have. Be honest about what he is calling you to face, and face it.

God bless you.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/741629010

Dear Pastor: This is an interesting / challenging article considering the upcoming election. Please read and consider sharing the information. Sincerely. C Harris, Wynyard. Tasmania http://justmeintchristian.blogspot.com/2010/07/faith-and-politics.htm

2010-08-07T14:45:00.010+10:00

Dear Pastor: This is an interesting / challenging article considering the upcoming election. Please read and consider sharing the information. Sincerely. C Harris, Wynyard. Tasmania http://justmeintchristian.blogspot.com/2010/07/faith-and-politics.htm

Sorry. That URL doesn't see to work.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/864677914

Were/are you Tasmania' s first/only online Pastor? Statistically do you know the Australian numbers for these?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.009+10:00

Were/are you Tasmania's first/only online Pastor? Statistically do you know the Australian numbers for these?

I'm an online pastor?

Depends what you mean about "online" - their are plenty who are socially networked (and plenty who were before my time).

If you mean Tasmanian pastors that blog: I was probably pretty early in the piece but I'm sure not the first. And there's quite a few now. Just some that I know of (sorry if I've got things wrong or missing).

Bp. John Harrower: http://imaginarydiocese.org/bishopjohn/
Luke Isham: http://post-apocalyptictheology.blogspot.com/
Joshua Skeat: http://skeatnet.net/
Mikey Lynch: http://www.thegenevapush.com/christian-reflections/
Chris Bowditch (formerly Tasmanian): http://www.youthministryandme.com/
Staff at Wellspring Church (hardly used though): http://wellspring.org.au/blog/
Alan Reader: http://www.readeral.com/blog/
Alistair Bain: http://paradoxspeak.blogspot.com/

Online/offline is getting to be a false dichotomy. I am a pastor. I bring that to my interactions with people - and that happens online, IRL and in a fuzzy overlap between the two.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/853282008

If you had 1 week to live, where would you go/do?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.008+10:00

If you had 1 week to live, where would you go/do?

Not sure. Somewhere quiet. With my family. And I would teach my heart out.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/846505371

Do you think that Christianity is set up in a way that favours people who can read?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.007+10:00

Do you think that Christianity is set up in a way that favours people who can read?

Firstly, interesting thought that Christianity was "set up." I'm not saying I disagree - I "set up" things with regard to organising church and administrating a (very) small section of the people of God all the time. And I trust I do it with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But "set up" sort of sounds like Christianity is the outcome of a committee meeting or something - the reality is that it has grown organically and divinely chaotically over millenia.

I think Christianity as it currently is expressed _does_ presuppose an ability to read - but mostly because (in the Western World at least) - the whole of society is "set up" that way. If the idea of Christianity is to communicate the truths of the good news of Jesus of Nazareth to our society then that is entirely appropriate - you use the medium of communication that best suits.

In times gone past the emphasis has been less so. For instance, the early church had a significant (and reliable) oral tradition (that informed much of the Scriptural canon). At other times the emphasis on iconography, stained glass windows and other imagery were intended as a means of communicating gospel truth. The Reformation (in England at least) emphasised the public reading of Scripture so that those who couldn't read could hear. And much of the early educating system formed around monastic libraries and the teaching of people to read (and copy) them. The gospel has always been contextualised in its communication.

The emphasis on reading I think simply derives from the fact that until very recently the best way to communicate information persistently - by which I mean the best way to say something to somebody else in a way that will last after I am gone - was writing. And so the _record_ of Christian truth has, necessarily, been writing - and perhaps that has shaped our society.

Of course we now live in an era when communication can persist through other media such as audio and video and perhaps we will see less reliance on "reading" in Christian expression. I know, for instance, that I make use of a NIV audio Bible to listen to in the car - and I have given something similar to someone who had failing eyesight and could no longer read. People download sermons and expositions of Scripture. It's becoming less and less necessary to be able to read in order to not only hear the truths of Scripture but have a record of them.

But like all things historic in our world if you want to learn more about them then you need to "go to them" somewhat. And so teaching people to read so that they can delve into the authoritative truth of Scripture is useful - even necessary. And so is teaching people NT Greek and Hebrew so they can delve into the original documents. We teach people as much as we can to get as much as they can out of the written Word of God.

But the truth speaks to all and it is our job to make it accessible no matter where they are at.

So is that "favouring" people who read? I'd rather simply "favour" people and give everyone as much as I can give them to discover as much as they can.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/779229474

In your view, what are the moral boundaries for ethical scientific research? Are the things that shouldn' t be tested at all, or just techniques that shouldn' t be used?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.006+10:00

In your view, what are the moral boundaries for ethical scientific research? Are the things that shouldn't be tested at all, or just techniques that shouldn't be used?

A question that professional ethicists have struggle answering. This is very much my $0.02 worth.

1) There is a moral boundary. There are things that are wrong and things that are right and scientific research, like most fields of human endeavour is able to cross that line.

2) How do we discern the moral boundary? From a Christian point of view, the line is drawn along the question of whether something is _inherently_ sinful. Two aspects to this:

a) Inherency: I wouldn't see something as unethical/sinful just because it _could_ (or perhaps _has_) been done sinfully/unethically.

b) Sinfulness: In Christian terms, broadly speaking, sin speaks of rebellion against God our Creator. The concept has the sense of "usurping" the role of God in some sense.

In terms of scientific research this is often (and sometimes simplistically) couched in terms of taking control over "life and death", or "playing God" (in somewhat more sensationalist terms). So, for instance, the right to take another person's life can be seen as a divine right. To destroy human life in the pursuit of scientific research (or any other endeavour) is therefore sinful. Any scientific research that inherently involves the destruction of human life is therefore clearly on the other side of the moral boundary.

Perhaps a more general way of looking at this is in terms of "the right to exploit." In the Christian worldview humanity has the right to exploit the earth and all that grows in it. (This exploitation is clearly coupled with a sense of caring for, stewarding, tending creation, so I'm not talking about something inherently destructive). This means that there _is_ room (although not carte blanche) for research involving experimentation on animals. But in other areas (the exploitation of humans - physically (including death), emotionally, psychologically, spiritually etc.) that right to exploit does not exist and is rightly called abuse.

3) Utilitarianism is not the place to begin. The question "are the means justifiable at all?" is the place to begin. This is inherently an epistemological question (what is right and wrong) and requires an agreed upon moral framework. This is where the conflict often lies.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/794047628

http://www.theage.com.au/national/broadband-future-comes-to-tasmania-20100709-1049f.html And why were these little boroughs chosen?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.005+10:00

http://www.theage.com.au/national/broadband-future-comes-to-tasmania-20100709-1049f.html And why were these little boroughs chosen?

I'm not sure. But I suspect it's because:

a) the fibre was already in place due to it being laid at the same time as the recent gas roll-out

b) they are small communities that are a microcosm of larger communities and so will help them analyse the product and overcome problems at a smaller scale before taking it further.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/785703109

Do you see scientific research into the fundamental building block of matter, the origin of the universe, abiogenesis and biological evolution as " usurping the role of God"

2010-08-07T14:45:00.004+10:00

Do you see scientific research into the fundamental building block of matter, the origin of the universe, abiogenesis and biological evolution as "usurping the role of God"

Thankyou for improving my vocabulary. "abiogenesis" :-)

The answer is "no."

I can't conceive of enquiry in and of itself being immoral - certainly not inherently immoral. In fact, more the opposite - we are made to be inquisitive and the delving into the fascinating workings of creation can even be respectful, even worshipful of a Creator. And this is not contingent on including God in the subject or scope of that enquiry.

Someone may undertake such research in a determined attempt to "disprove" God or something. But that sort of rebellion/rejection is not necessary/inherent to the research. And even if it were present, being simply conceptual/emotional/personal, it does not enter the domain of ethical actions which I interacted with in my previous answer ( http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/794047628 ).

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/794373137

1 Peter 3:15 says that you should " Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." What are your reasons?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.003+10:00

1 Peter 3:15 says that you should "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." What are your reasons?

Excellent question. I'll preface the answer with the observation that I did relatively poorly in my oral exam in Evangelism class because I hate non-contextual hypotheticals. 1 Peter 3 assumes that a real person within a real context is talking to me - and my answer would reflect that in some ways.

Not that the substance would be different though. Here's one example of what I might say:

The hope I have is the hope of eternity made right - of all injustices dealt with justly, of all brokennesses healed, of this groaning world clothed in beauty without injury. The Lion laying down with the lamb stuff.

At the heart of this hope is reconciliation: Creation (including us!) living once more in obedience, harmony, worship of God our Creator. All rightness lies in him, therefore restoration means reconciliation him.

The foundation of this hope is therefore Jesus Christ who delivers this reconciliation. In Jesus the justice and mercy of God - are evident, present, exercised, and satisfied. All restoration with God is therefore in Christ. In him the power of sin and shame is overcome as he pays the price for sin and enters into this new resurrection life for which we hope.

So now I live to follow Jesus - not just to walk, eventually, into that eternal hope, but to reflect him in my life today. Because of him I can pray, with hope, "Lord, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Because of him I can sing, "I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

So matter what I face in this real world, I face it with the assurance of eternity in Jesus Christ starting now. That is why I have hope.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/779107948

There are a lot of movie remakes at the moment and old tv shows being made into movies. If you could chose an old film or tv show to redo with a fresher modern version what would you chose, how would you do it and why?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.002+10:00

There are a lot of movie remakes at the moment and old tv shows being made into movies. If you could chose an old film or tv show to redo with a fresher modern version what would you chose, how would you do it and why?

Nice.

I'm not sure. Most of my childhood things have been redone - A-Team, Knightrider, Doctor Who, Scooby Doo etc. We didn't have a TV for much of my childhood (we bought one to plug the Commodore 64 into) so I'm deprived in this area...

Perhaps Battle of the Planets? But I suspect that would be really really cheesy and annoying - like the redone Astro Boy.

I don't want to see 70's British comedy revisited. Except, perhaps, The Goodies (or equivalent concept).

What about Mary Poppins - not as the movie/musical, but as the books, re-done as a series? I loved those books.

And I think for me, that would be what I would want to see - books converted to the screen in a good way. Because it was books that shaped my childhood. So show me Biggles as a TV series. Do Lord of the Rings and Narnia properly. Do Robin Hood properly.

But then again, a remake of Back to the Future would be fun. Perhaps it could be done by 2015 :-)

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/720342853

If you could invent one thing, what would it be?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.001+10:00

If you could invent one thing, what would it be?

It's almost 2015 => Decent, effective anti-gravity devices => Hover boards!

Oh, and something to help world hunger... or world peace... but I think they have more to do with human decision-making rather than technology.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/744937567

My Christian friend told me that God in unchanging/unchangeable, what does it mean then in the Bible when it refers to God changing his mind or repenting?

2010-08-07T14:45:00.000+10:00

My Christian friend told me that God in unchanging/unchangeable, what does it mean then in the Bible when it refers to God changing his mind or repenting?

This seems to be a good answer: http://www.gotquestions.org/God-change-mind.html

If you could point me to the exact texts you are talking about when you I could interact in more detail.

Sometimes there is difficulty in language. For God to regret something, for instance, does not conceptually preclude the immutability of God.

In other instances, for God to "repent" of his anger (e.g. Nineveh in Jonah) what looks like change is actually an expression of his _unchanging_ mercy etc.

I think in the end the point of contact between the theological concept of the immutability of God and everyday life is the question: Can God be trusted? Does he have integrity?

This puts the issue in relational terms - where overly-rationalistic and overly-narrow semantics actually miss the point.

Think of a person who you would consider trustworthy and stable, a person of integrity. One thing you trust about them is that their response to other people will be consistent and not contradictory with their previous behaviour.

Place that person in a situation where they are interacting with people (particularly imperfect people) then we would expect the exercise of relationship - including initiation and RESPONSE from that person. We might say that the person has been MOVED by those around them. We may even describe that movement as "repentance" (simply meaning to change direction) or "change" - even change from voiced intention. But really that person probably has remained consistent with their character - they, themselves, as a person, is unchanged.

That's the heart of immutability I think.

URL: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/720324852

Blog Migration

2009-11-16T13:53:00.002+11:00

Just a reminder that the content of this blog has now shifted to

http://burnieanglican.org.au/connections

and is also available through Connections Facebook Page.

Position Vacant

2009-09-15T23:20:00.000+10:00

Children & Youth Minister and Regional Coordinator

Ready to commence immediately, Connections Church in Somerset, Parish of Burnie and the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania are seeking to engage a suitably gifted and qualified person to fill a full-time position combining local and regional aspects of children and youth ministry.

This is an exciting new role ideal for anyone with a pioneering heart who is able to take the lead in commencing a new youth ministry as well as supporting and guiding existing children's ministry teams.

Connections Church is a part of the Diocesan Imagine Project and the Anglican Parish of Burnie.

We have an energetic volunteer base and a strong heart for mission in our local area.

Applications close October 30, 2009.

More information at burnieanglican.org.au/connections/youth

Contact:
Will Briggs, Connections Minister
0428 695156, (03) 6435-1007
will.briggs@anglicantas.org.au

New web site, new blog address

2009-09-15T22:04:00.003+10:00

As foreshadowed, we have refurbished the church web site so that it includes the content of this blog as well as new content from the life in and around Connections Church.

The website is here: http://www.burnieanglican.org.au/connections

If you have subscribed to the feed of this blog and which to continue to receive content via subscription you may want to subscribe here: http://burnieanglican.org.au/connections/?feed=rss2

The new web site is based on the wordpress system which allows blog articles to be categorised. You can view different content categories:

News: General news, photos, commentary about Connections and related activities.
Teaching: Content such as links to sermon audio and other related content.
Prayer Points: Regular prayer letters, also released on our Connections Prayer email list.
Discussion: Articles, thoughts and other material regarding church planting, fresh expressions and the nature and characteristics of church life. Dialogue and comments welcome.

Migration

2009-09-13T22:56:00.001+10:00

We are in the process of migrating this blog to our own website.
Details very soon. In the meantime Comments have been closed on this blog.

Service in Setting up

2009-09-12T19:54:00.004+10:00

We have a bunch of dedicated servant-hearted folk who come in on Saturday nights to setup the hall. This includes our musos who then spend time praying and worshipping together as a small group in their own right. These people are gifts to our community.

Teaching Times Recorded

2009-09-03T13:13:00.003+10:00

Our teaching time are being recorded and are now available. Our current series is Spiritual Gifts.

First two weeks:
Overview: http://www.burnieanglican.org.au/connections/sermons/Connections-Sermon-20090823-Spiritual_gifts.mp3
Prophecy: http://www.burnieanglican.org.au/connections/sermons/Connections-Sermon-20090830-Spiritual_gifts-Prophecy.mp3

Collection found here: http://www.burnieanglican.org.au/connections/sermons/

Prayer Points - August

2009-08-17T15:28:00.002+10:00

Recently sent out on our prayer email list:

Dear Prayer Partners,

We continue to appreciate your support as we continue in the task of Kingdom work here in Somerset and the local region.

Some points to guide your praying:

1) We recently sent out a family who are going to live in Asia bringing medical care to those who need it. Please pray for their travel, provision and wellbeing.

2) We have the joy of a number of people coming to church who have not been part of a church for many years. A key focus of our heart in this region is for the so-called "de-churched." Please pray for good relationships and the strengthening of our church community.

3) Relatedly, we continue to have interaction with a number of people who are involved in a situation involving sexual misconduct amongst church leadership (across a number of denominations) in the region. See http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/07/nw-tasmanias-abused-generation.html. Please pray for all those involved and for healing and growth to come
about even in the midst of pain.

4) Please pray for the local Parish of which we are a part. Our Annual Meeting was recently held and had some significant administrative aspects to address. Please pray for creativity and
generosity in the reviews and considerations that will flow from this. The other congregation (sometimes called the "Traditional" congregation) in the Parish is about to locate to renovated premises. Please pray for them as they formulate the specifics of their identity
and mission in a new location.

5) Our Connection Leadership Team is just about to begin the process of reformulating our Mission Action Plan (MAP). Please pray for wisdom and creativity and boldness as that process gets under way.

6) We understand that we will soon receive the green light to begin advertising for a Youth Minister. Please pray that we will find someone able to pioneer a ministry from the ground up. Please pray for those involved in administrating this and for all those specifically involved in our children's activities and KLT (Kid's Learning Times).

As always pray that we all may grow in Christ and follow him closely,

Yours,

Will.

Another perspective on "Self-Governing"

2009-08-11T09:52:00.003+10:00

As it relates to an earlier post I enjoyed reading some insights by Mikey Lynch.
I don't know whether he would use the term "Self-Governing" but he certainly interacts with the concept. I'll reproduce his thoughts in full:

A basic form of church planting is multiplying services. It's one of the basic ways to grow your church and reach new people. But is it really church planting? Yes and No.

Here are some of the problems with multiplying services:
You run the risk of just duplicating what you are already doing, rather than doing the hard planning, contextualisation and planning for outreach.
Multiplying services can place a limitation on leadership development. All leaders of the new service still sit under the leaders, eldership, parish council of the existing service. There is a glass ceiling to full responsibility.
The new service rarely has the full range of duties and services of a new church. This makes it easier to start a new service, but stops the new service from developing a robust life of its own.
The leader of the new service need not be as much of a pioneering leader, because the new service may ride the wave of the existing service's momentum. Focusing on starting new services can let us off the hook of recruiting pioneering leaders.

This is why Connections has always been more than being "just another service."

The Three "Selfs" #2 - Self-governing

2009-08-03T12:35:00.004+10:00

Part of what it means for Connections to belong to The Imagine Project is to articulate and communicate some of the things we have learned and are learning in pioneering fresh expression ministry.

Almost twelve months ago I began a series of blog posts about the consideration of "the long-held principle for guiding the planting of new congregations and churches that the ultimate aim is that the new body be characterised by the the 'three self's' - self-governing, self-financing, self-reproducing [or self-extending]." In that first post I looked at our learnings and experience in the area of finances.

In this post I want to look at the second principle of "self-governing." To introduce the concept let me quote from the definitive Mission-Shaped Church report that laid a solid foundation for fresh expressions in the Church of England and was of great influence here when Connections was being conceived.

"All church plants and fresh expressions of church benefit from the process of learning to run their own affairs, as far as they are able. Learning to make decisions and taking responsibility (including permission to fail) are part of growth and maturity. Protective 'sending' churches need to discover how to give away control and power, and celebrate the independence and interdependence of the new church." (Page 122)

This is certainly something we have experienced in the five years of the Connections project. At the moment Connections has no legal existence in itself and exists as a cost centre within the wider Parish of Burnie.

At the beginning of the project it was emphasised, as recounted in the introduction to our current Mission Action Plan (MAP):

"From the outset the 'Somerset Project' has been much more than simply 'starting a new service.' The focus is on forming and operating a genuine community of believers that care for one another, worship together, and help one another grow into the persons they are called by God to be."

The implications of this have not always been well understood from both sides - that of the congregation, and that of the wider Parish. Early on I remember the many situations in which there was tension between eager, energised church planters wanting to move ahead but being held up by months-long decision-making, and diligent and concerned stewards of the Parish resources unsure of how much and to whom they should be invested.

At the beginning of 2007 we drew up our MAP. It did (and does) what all Mission Action Plans should do - articulate our vision, outline our values and objectives. It also, however, gave the broad brush-strokes on how the "Connections Leadership Team" could be formed and take on certain responsibilities by delegation from the Parish Council. The MAP itself, when adopted by the Parish Council, therefore became an instrument of delegation. The conversations and debates in the process that led to the MAP's adoption were energetic and substantial and touched on fundamental matters of ecclesiology and identity.

Both our "sending" Parish and Connections have changed in the last couple of years and the MAP is now somewhat out of date and leaves questions unanswered. For instance, how will our planned Youth Minister relate to the governance of the congregation - who will that person be answerable to and how? What about our plans for an Ordained Pioneer Ministry training position - can that go ahead "in faith" or only if approved and financed by the larger organisation? What is the strategic planning of the wider body, and how does this relate to the priorities that Connections has? etc.

And so we are about to begin again the process of considering the way in which Connections is governed and stewarded and the place of that governance within our wider context. And yet again, we will touch on fundamental matters of ecclesiology and identity.

Some parties are keen to for Connections to cut the apron strings and to become independent of the Parish - existing alone, perhaps not as a separate Parish, but as a Special Ministry District or some other identity within the Diocese. There is merit in this position. Although it would take some re-arranging, this path appears to be financially viable. Connections has its own momentum that is not always in the same direction as that of parochial context and this could be a way of "growing up and leaving home" with blessing and rejoicing from all.

Others are keen for Connections to remain a part of the Parish and to bless and to be blessed from "within the family" so to speak. There is also merit in this position. It would enable economies of scale, provide an environment for inter-congregational initiatives and provide some long-term financial security. It would allow Connections to take it's place within the Parish and to be an influence on the "bigger machine" at local, regional and wider levels.

In the end the reality that the "self-governing" principle points to will bring us to a place of asking the question of "to stay or to go." Either option will require a willingness from both the congregation and the Parish to invest in relationship and to detail priorities and negotiate arrangements with good grace, the love of Christ, and Kingdom priorities.

The Connections Project will be reviewed in the next 12-18 months and I'm sure governance will be a key part of the considerations. Whatever the eventual direction, the status quo will be untenable, and everyone will come out the other end changed. Let us pray it is for the better!

There are many ways to implement the principles of balancing autonomy with accountability and interdependence. All I know is that I am aware of the truth of this statement from Mission-Shaped Church:

"Lack of legal existence can make a plant collapse at a time of stress and, if present, can help support it through crisis."

NW Tasmania's Abused Generation

2009-07-18T10:25:00.004+10:00

The local paper recently carried it on the front page - a report on the conviction of a man who was a youth group leader in a Burnie church in the 1970's for abusing a young girl in his youth group.

Those who are associated with the Anglican church will know of our own sorry history with a former rector of Burnie currently in jail for abusive actions towards members of his youth group in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

I recently heard of another situation - a man in his late thirties who was active in his NW church at a younger age but left after a person with pastoral authority abused a member of the youth group.

The stories abound and cross every form of denomination. In each case the victims belonged to the so-called "Generation X" - the current parents of children, the generation to which I belong, the generation that is so absent from the church and amongst whom gospel ministry is so hard and fraught with opposition and apathy. Considering the history, in such a small connected community, should we be surprised?

The facts about, and the existence of, these situations are only recently being made clear in many cases. And with that comes, for myself at least, a heavier burden for my generation.

When we were "little ones" we were damaged by those who wore the name of Christ but did the work of the enemy. They will have their millstone. But where does that leave us who currently stand under that banner which for us stands for life but for many others is now a sinister symbol?

We are recognising at Connections the immediacy of the imperative to evangelise - to gospel people, to share the good news of life in Jesus. And our heart is for this same Gen-X.

And while we don't yet know what that might look like in terms of programs or strategies or events. We must now realise that such a task of speaking life where there is none, light where it has been snuffed out, is a spiritual task of eternal substance. Without spiritual, substantial grounding our efforts will be useless, counter productive, perhaps even re-abusive.

This widespread painful story must drive us to prayer, to intercession and to travail. It must call us to cry out for collective mercy for the church that has so betrayed the name of God. It must make us yearn for a sanctification that we would so be able to model Christ that this particular gate of hell will be well and truly overcome with love and grace and life-giving trust in a loving Lord. The tears of Christ are a call to spiritual warfare that has healing at its end. And we must answer that call.

And it is a particular call to the members of that self-same "Gen X" - a number of whom have grown into leadership in the Body of Christ. We must be the wounded-healers and the speakers of truth - making no excuses, dealing with reality, patient, gentle, wise, vulnerable because we can rest in God. We must run towards purity so that we are without blame. We must drink deeply of God's Word so that our words are words of life. And we must be God-reliant, and bold.

Please pray for us and the generations of the North West of Tasmania.

Prayer Points - July 2009 (Back on Deck)

2009-07-08T09:39:00.002+10:00

Gill and I and family are back from holiday and starting to get back into our stride. Please excuse the absence between posts. There are some things coming up that I will reflect on here in this blog including the results of our Natural Church Development survey, the (re)creation of small groups, the stimulation of evangelism, Pioneer Ordained Ministry, the importance of action-reflection, and the formation of an updated Mission Action Plan. Hold me to it - I will blog!

Herewith latest prayer notes:

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thankyou for continuing to pray. You may have noticed an absence of correspondence in June. Gill and I and the children went on holidays during that time, catching up with people and touring parts of the mainland.

Please pray:

1) For Gill and I and the children as we settle back into the rhythm of life and the next season of ministry.

2) We have recently identified priorities for the church. They are, unsurprisingly, evangelism and small group ministry. With regard to evangelism, please pray for a reinvigoration of people's heart for God, a thirst for the gospel, and a ready-willing-and-able-ness to share the hope that is in them. With regard to small groups, please pray for us as we begin to approach and train some of the untapped potential leaders in our midst. Pray for those who are already putting their hands up.

3) Please pray for the local church community that has been rocked by sexual misconduct situation involving a youth leader (this time in another denomination) a number of years ago. This is yet another example in the Burnie region of abuse towards members of "Generation X" in their child and teen years - it makes ministry with that generation (the current parents of children) difficult and tenuous. Please pray for a breakthrough.

4) Please pray for one of our families who have been with us for a number of years (from when we were very small) who are now leaving us to take up missionary work in Asia. They are in the midst of packing and making arrangements. Help us to support them well and send them off with our blessing.

5) Ongoing prayer for this year is required for the amalgamation of our local schools. Please pray that the right arrangements are made, the right buildings are built, and the right people get the right jobs to make the new school community a great champion for our local children and local community. This is a key aspect of seeing Somerset advanced as a community.

God bless,

Will.

The Last Nine Months

2009-05-25T09:25:00.005+10:00

One of our guys recently put together the following video. It was requested by one of BCA link parishes who will be praying for us on Pentecost Sunday (a huge blessing) . It was also played at Synod of the Diocese of Tasmania which met in Launceston over this past weekend.

Prayer Points - April 2009

2009-04-26T07:27:00.002+10:00

Recently sent to the email list for our prayer supporters:

Dear Supporters,

Sorry that this month's prayer points are a little late. Thankyou for continuing to support us in prayer. As always, more news can be found at http://will-briggs.blogspot.com

Prayer points for this week.

1) Please continue to pray for the local community, particularly the local school communities as the two primary schools in Somerset begin the process of amalgamation. (More about this here: http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/04/somerset-schools.html) Please pray for the school community to be blessed, it is a real blessing to have use of the facilities there.

2) Please pray for the contacts we are making with the local neighbourhood, particularly children as we meet at the local school and are "noticed." Please pray for those who have shown a desire to attend and that they and their parents would become part of our community.

3) Please pray for us as we finalise a plan for (re)instituting small "community" groups. Pray that we would identify the key leaders and release a good foundation of mutual support, shared mission, and pastoral care at the heart of our community.

4) Please continue to pray for those who are participating in the "Search for Life" program, that there would depth of learning, sharing and engagement with the substance of following Christ.

5) Please pray for renewed evangelistic zeal and that we would have the encouragement of new Christians in our midst.

Finally, please pray for Gill and I and the children as we prepare for and take a month of leave beginning at the end of May. Pray for arrangements to come together and for a time of rest and rejuvenation. Please also pray for the rest of the leadership team who will be ministering during this time.

Blessings,

Will.

Somerset Schools

2009-04-25T15:00:00.003+10:00

As those who follow our prayer news will know the local community here in Somerset is facing a significant opportunity wrapped up in the amalgamation of the two local primary schools.

For years there has been what has been called a "thin red line" arbitrarily drawn along a street in Somerset which demarcated which primary school a child would go to. Despite the fact that the two schools are only 800 metres apart this division has also impacted relationships and attitudes in this small community.

With government incentives and some visionary leadership the decision has been made to amalgamate the schools and invest more than $6 million dollars in new school facilities at what is now the location of West Somerset Primary School (which just happens to be where we are currently meeting as a church).

A media release from the state government gives some insight:

Mr Bartlett also acknowledged the hard work of the Somerset and West Somerset school communities, which began 18 months ago.

“In many ways the Somerset and West Somerset school communities are trail blazers. Community and school leaders realized the impact of the changing demographics in their community, and both school associations had the foresight to work collaboratively with their school communities,” he said.

“The result of that hard work will result in a $6 million investment to refurbish and modernize the West Somerset site using both our $5.7 million School Futures Fund and the Australian Government’s $370 million Building the Education Revolution package for Tasmanian schools.”

As a new school community is formed and people struggle with the changes, please be praying for Connections as we seek to be people of God in the midst of it all. It is a significant opportunity for the local community in many respects and much good can come of it.

The Local Global Financial Crisis

2009-04-07T15:47:00.003+10:00

More bad news for industry in the Burnie area: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25301849-1244,00.html

CONSTRUCTION and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar will cut 280 jobs from its 700-strong Tasmanian workforce by the end of the month, a federal MP says. Caterpillar's Tasmanian base is at Burnie, in the state's northwest, where the local federal member is Sid Sidebottom...

Mr Sidebottom said up to 500 more jobs could go in the area from Australian Paper's pulp mills at burnie and Wesley Vale.

A review on the viability of those two commercially troubled mill's is due in June.

This will have a direct impact on those amongst us and around us here in Somerset. We know that this is far from a unique circumstance for communities around the nation in these times. Pray for those affected and that we may respond well.

Prayer Points - March 2009

2009-03-18T22:49:00.002+11:00

This recently went out on our prayer points mailing list:

Dear Supporters,

Thankyou for continuing to pray for the Connections Church project in Somerset. Thankyou in particular for those who have prayed for us over the summer while we have been meeting in the local park. We have recently moved our Sunday gatherings to a local primary school. If you would like to see photos you can click here: http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-blue-gym.html.

Some prayer points for this month:

1) Please pray for our transition into the school hall. Particularly pray for us with the ongoing contact this is producing with many in the community.

2) Please continue praying for the number of couples amongst us who have recently been married or who are getting married shortly. Pray for good beginnings, good foundations, and a firm awareness of God's grace.

3) Our "Search for Life" lifekeys program has recently started. Please pray for those who are participating, for insight, courage, humility as they encounter the opportunity to grow in God.

4) Continue to pray for those who have leadership roles within our congregation.

5) Please continue to pray for the newcomers in our midst, for a sense of belonging and believing together.

6) Our KLT (Kids Learning Time) ministry on Sundays needs more (childsafe-endorsed) leaders. Please pray for new helpers and leaders and the necessary processes to get them on board.

God bless,

Will.

What's Our Culture?

2009-03-16T13:42:00.003+11:00

Following a train of thought they began with my recently reading a book is this quote from the Lausanne Movement's Willowbank Report which makes an attempt to define what culture is. I'll quote their definition with a re-arranged layout:

Culture is an integrated system:
of beliefs (about God or reality or ultimate meaning),
of values (about what is true, good, beautiful and normative),
of customs (how to behave, relate to others, talk, pray, dress, work, play, trade, farm, eat, etc.),
and of institutions which express these beliefs, values and customs (government, law courts, temples or churches, family, schools, hospitals, factories, shops, unions, clubs, etc.),
which binds a society together and gives it a sense of identity, dignity, security, and continuity.

So here's a question for you, if you are reading this and you live in (or know) the North West of Tasmania. What is our culture?

Placing yourself as an ordinary/average member of the North West community - what are your beliefs, values, customs, and valuable institutions?

Leave an answer in the comments or email me.

Big Blue Gym

2009-03-16T13:06:00.002+11:00

As promised, here are some photos from our move to the "Big Blue Gym" at West Somerset Primary School.

We have now been meeting at the gym for two weeks. We have access to the gymnasium pictured and also to a nearby multi-purpose room for our KLT (Kids Learning Time) ministry during our gatherings.

Our first week in the gym.
Note the tent from the park as a way of marking the transition!
Photo courtesy Jonathan Adamczewski

For a large hall the atmosphere is great. It's comfortable, open, airy, accessible.

It's very much "in the marketplace" with contacts being made simply by being there. God is good.

Bible time during our second week at the gym.
Photo courtesy Jonathan Adamczewski

A Heart-felt Conundrum

2009-03-13T10:07:00.005+11:00

We have recently moved in to our new venue at a local primary school. (I'll blog about that later, hopefully with photos).

This is a great thing. It places us as a gathered community in a physical place that is acceptable and accessible by churching and non-churching alike. It is bearing fruit - already, on our first Sunday - we had neighbourhood kids asking what we were doing. This is a good grounding for good missional stuff.

But then comes the conundrum. These kids also asked (or looked like they wanted to ask) "Can we join in?"

Can they?

The evangelist and mission-heart in me says "Yes! Come on in! Hear about Jesus. Hang with your friends (they go to the same school as some of our church children). Be blessed!" Find a loving community, a place of peace, a safety, a source of life!

But the administrator and overseer in me knows that I can't. Who would have duty of care for these children? We could set up systems of permission slips and other things - but how can I tax our overly-taxed kids ministry volunteers even further by putting further responsibility on them? Do we want church to become a pseudo-babysitter? What about our philosophy of having a multi-generational gathering with Kids Learning Time (KLT) happening during the "teaching/sermon" part of the meeting? Who would be in charge of these children when we are gathered as a whole - or should we only invite them to the KLT bit?

At the moment our line is "Yes, we'd love to have you join in, go and get your parents or someone to look after you."

But that means we turn them away. And we'll become known as the ivory tower church that's available for the families-who-have-got-it-together. We'll be teaching them "Jesus is for those "other people" and not for me."

And that breaks my heart. What to do?

Disciples & Citizens (Cross-post)

2009-02-27T14:31:00.002+11:00

A book review from my personal blog that also relates here: http://god-s-will.blogspot.com/2009/02/disciples-citizens-review.html

Plans & Validity

2009-02-19T09:36:00.004+11:00

A lot of the recent articles on this blog about Connections have been "newsy." However, one of the intentions behind this blog is to reflect upon the process of church planting for the edification of ourselves and others.

Yesterday I met someone who is involved with an emerging church/fresh expressions/church planting network. One of the points of conversation revolved around the issue of validity.

One of the purposes of having such networks is to provide the blessing of validation. A key struggle in the early years of Connections was battling external perceptions with regard to our validity - were we a valid church, a valid congregation, validly Anglican etc. etc.?

I vividly remember our first baptism, some months after starting, where afterwards there was the sense of "I don't know what we are, but we're something." We had encountered a sense of validation, and this has only increased as we find ourselves being included, recognised, supported and growing. In a network, because we have been given validity, we can give that to others as well.

Soon after this conversation I found this concept of validity creatively colliding in another conversation with some musings about how churches should be organised and managed and the importance of having "mission and ministry plans for a local context." I found myself perceiving an implied demarcation between "valid" churches/congregations that are able to produce such a plan, and "invalid" churches/congregations who can't.

That is a flawed demarcation.

Why? Because the ability to develop a plan is not a good (sole) indicator of church vitality. For instance, in some “dying” loci the plan is easy - “sustain palliative care as long as possible.” For some “emerging” loci the plan is more difficult because they would be in the middle (or the beginning) of a process which is asking “Who are we? What can we do?”

I would say that enforcing young church plants or fresh expressions to develop a “plan” too early can end up killing them. It's like asking a 12 year old to have the self-awareness of a 30 year old resulting in them feeling trapped in the decisions they were forced to make too early. You don't force 12 year olds into mapping out their life, but you do talk goals, ambitions, heart and allow them to explore, fail etc.

All this shows is that church growth is primarily organic in nature (because it is relational), not bureaucratic (like a machine).

What validates a church, no matter how old or young? Evidential commitment to grow as a local Christian community. No matter how ill-defined the trajectory, that is the true heart.

Prayer Points - February 2009

2009-02-16T16:48:00.000+11:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thankyou for continuing to support Connections in prayer. We have had much joy over the summer. A baptism in the river the week before last was a particular highlight (http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/02/summer-grace.html).

For more news and photos you can click here: http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/02/connections-summer-photos-update.html

As we head into March and well into the regular routine of the year please be praying:

1) Our "Search for Life" program starts up in March and now is the time for people to sign up and commit to it. It provides an environment to consider the deeper and sometimes more difficult aspects of life and so allow people to consider, address and grow. Please pray for the participants and the leaders.

2) Please pray for the ongoing discipleship of our children. A team of volunteers has come together to restart our childrens' program for the year. Please pray for them and for our children.

3) We are planning to end our "Connections Summer" meetings in the park on March the 1st and follow our meeting with Clean-Up Australia Day in the park. Please pray for that time.

4) With regards to a next venue - a number of options are opening up. Our focus at the moment, once again, is the local school. Some hiccups have been ironed out and a consideration of our of the facilities is on the agenda for a meeting at the school this Thursday. Please be praying.

5) A number of people have joined us in recent weeks. Some are keen to put their hand up for the many tasks that need to be done and ministries that need to be exercised. Please pray for continued growth, quick but strong relationship building, and appropriate and effective release of people into their investment in God's Kingdom.

God bless,

Will.

Summer Grace

2009-02-13T10:05:00.005+11:00

It was a delight this past Sunday to celebrate the baptism of one of our young members.

Baptism prep had involved looking at "Two Ways To Live For Kids." Ben's t-shirt had a picture of him with Jesus as King.

We moved from the park, to the nearby river. A public declaration of faith and gospel.

Connections Summer: Photos Update

2009-02-13T09:57:00.002+11:00

Recently added photos to our Connections Summer album:

View Album

Get your own

Prayer Points - January 2009

2009-01-28T21:17:00.002+11:00

These just sent to our prayer points mailing list. Contact me if you want to receive these by email.

----

Dear Prayer Partners,

Apologies that this is later in the month than usual. Summertime has it's own complex routine! Thankyou in particular to those who made contact to let us know of your particular prayers - it is greatly appreciated.

For those keen to receive news about Connections, please go to http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/. In particular there are some photos of what has happened so far over summer at http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/01/connections-summer-photos-so-far.html.

Please pray, thanking God for

1) The success of our Christmas events - particularly the contacts made at Kid's Christmas on Christmas Eve.

2) The ability and opportunity of the local park - our Sunday outside gatherings have gone well with many bringing guests and visitors.

3) A qualitative growth within us - people willing to share, and pray for each other.

4) The number of those who have picked up using the "Connections @ Home" daily bible reading and journaling program. (More information http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/01/word-in-season.html)

5) For the numbers amongst us getting married - a wedding was held at a local waterfall this past weekend.

Please pray for:

1) The upcoming transition out of summer - what do we do, where do we meet, how do we do it next? We are working on some options, please cover them in prayer - particularly our need for an ongoing children's program.

2) The children who have come forward for baptism and to be admitted to communion.

3) For those considering participating in our upcoming "Search for Life" discipleship program - particular for those for whom it would be of great benefit but are feeling hesitant in showing interest.

4) A continuing of spiritual growth - increased commitment to being part of a Christian community that is resident - gospel-focussed and counter-cultural - within the local community.

Blessings,

Will.

Connections Summer Photos So Far

2009-01-12T17:25:00.002+11:00

View Album

Get your own

Word in season

2009-01-09T12:42:00.005+11:00

Click here for pdf

Two important and substantial aspects of sharing life together as a church community are:

the centrality of God's word
sharing times together outside of Sunday

Traditionally these have been met through emphasising personal biblical devotions and through small group ministry. Last year, for instance, we had a number of small groups (men's, women's, young adults') and we promoted the M'Cheyne bible reading program in conjunction with a sermon series on spirituality at the beginning of the year. And while the small groups are currently on hiatus we hope to ramp them up again.

However, quiet times and shared study of the Bible does not require a formalised program. And rather than re-invent the wheel, we thought we'd combine M'Cheyne with a leaf out of the book of New Hope church's Life Journal program.

Every person at Connections got a Christmas present this year - a small notebook and a booklet called "Connections@Home" which contains the M'Cheyne readings and some direction on how to go about journalling (which is what the notebook is for) as part of daily devotions - and how to share that with others.

The journalling method promoted is the "SOAP" method - write down a meaningful Scripture from out of the day's readings, some Observations about it and how it Applies to your life, and a Prayer about that application.

You can share SOAP together by getting together with people for a "20-20-20" time - spending 20 minutes reading the readings, 20 minutes journalling, and 20 minutes sharing and praying together.

A lot of our Connections people are now SOAPing and 20-20-20ing together. Twice a week I do my devotions outside a cafe in the main street of Somerset and it's fantastic to have people join me there.

God's Word is the stuff of life. I'm looking forward to our 2009.

'Twas and 'tis the season

2009-01-09T11:39:00.005+11:00

It's now close to mid-summer and an opportune time to look back on the last few weeks - and in particular to the previously mentioned "Kid's Christmas" in the park.

The heart behind this event was very simple: to tell the story of Jesus at Christmas time to those who value some form of spiritual input at Christmas for themselves and their children even if they would not consider themselves to be regular churchgoers.

We held the event in the local park where we are currently meeting (with the surf club as wet weather back-up). We hired a marquee and set up a manger scene. The service revolved around carol-singing and using "pass-the-parcel" and the unwrapping of "gifts" to bring out props and impromptu "actors" to tell the story. It flowed naturally into an opportunity share the heart of the gospel explaining the little fridge-magnet gift - "Jesus is God's gift to us" - that each child could take home.

It was fun. We had advertised widely, in schools and shops - and we weren't sure who or how many would turn up. But a good number (about 60) did of whom many were people who we hadn't seen before or were passers-by that had come to check us out. The feedback was good, relationships were formed.

It was an opportunity to advertise "Connections Summer." The response to the question of "Where do you meet regularly?... In the park" continues to be a question that causes thought about what church is and why that matters.

A few months ago some church-planting friends from Queensland asked the question - "What is the folklore in the community about your church?" The "in the park, enjoying summer" folklore seems to be spreading. As long as it moves people to those substantial questions of what is church, and who is the God who can draw such a diverse bunch of people together and why - then it is a valuable folklore and I am glad.

In the weeks that have followed Christmas engagement amongst our members is high and it is a wonderful thing to see the Holy Spirit stir us.

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Adamczewski.

Prayer Points - December 2008

2008-12-17T11:33:00.001+11:00

This was just posted to our prayer points email list:

Dear Prayer Partners,

We are into December and the Connections Summer has begun. Our first
December Sunday followed a wedding of a couple in our congregation and it
was great to spend the next day picnicking together in a local forest
reserve (You can find a picture here:
http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2008/12/update-observations-from-forest.html).

We are now ramping up to our "Kid's Christmas" event on Christmas Eve in our
local park. The aim here is twofold: Firstly, to seize the opportunity of
Christmas to present the gospel. Secondly, to do so in a way that builds
community, an accessible activity in a public space.

We are still making use of the local park and the local surf club as a
venue. We recently had a bit of a "problem" with the local council
triple-booking the park with other organisations. But to "do church" in
semi-public view and to follow up with bbq and fun on the beach is good for
us. We want it to be known that "Sunday morning and lunchtime something is
happening in the park."

We are still on the learning curve, however, and value your prayer.

1) Please pray for our times in the park - the key aspect of our
"Connections Summer." Pray that we are able to interact well with those who
see us, and that they will join us in some way - at least in conversation.
Pray for those who are willing to run kid's activities and the like each
Sunday lunchtime.One thing we are feeling the lack of at the moment is

2) Please pray for fine weather each Sunday!

3) Pray for our Kid's Christmas event at 5pm Christmas Eve. The reaction to
our advertising has been positive. Pray for the logistics and for those
preparing things for that time.

4) One of our difficulties at the moment is how to incorporate all ages
within our Sunday gatherings. Please pray for us as we work out how,
especially, we minister to our children. Please pray for the provision of
workers in this regard.

God bless,

Will.

Update: Observations from a Forest

2008-12-08T13:41:00.005+11:00

I'm going to stop calling our current season "weird" - it's just "interestingly normal." I still get aghast looks from colleagues and friends when I tell them "no, we still don't have a permanent venue." And yes, there is tiredness and tedium involved in setting up, packing up, making sure people know where and when we are etc. etc. But the positives of being on this particular edge continue:

This Sunday just gone we met for a picnic at a local forest reserve. Spiritual input, lunch, hide-and-seek, cricket with the kids. Interestingly - many of our long-term group did not come along (partly due to a wedding the previous day) - and most of those who were there are those who have recently joined us or came for the first time that day. God's gift of "getting to know one another."
We are ramping up to having a "Kid's Christmas" in a marquee in a local park on Christmas Eve. So the next two Sundays will be in that same park. The physical "four walls" are gone and we just need to step up to the plate.

Re-Vision - Kid's Christmas & Community

2008-12-01T14:45:00.007+11:00

[Brochure pdf]

We've had a month in the Surf Club but in the lead up to Christmas we are again without venue - so picnics in the forest, church in the park and other like activities will abound. The season of adapting continues raising disconcerting but exciting questions of "who are we?" and "what are we doing?"

Often the answer to these sorts of questions revolve around a "returning." What was our original vision? What did God place on our heart at the beginning? Are we still heading that way or have we gone off course? Often we don't need new vision we need a re-vision!

One of the things that has been close to our heart as a church since the time we began was to be a presence in Somerset that helps to build Somerset as a community with a growing identity. For instance, if we have hopes and dreams about buildings to have or to make use of, they revolve around having a facility that can be, in the true sense of the word, a community centre.

One of the ways in which communities are built is through a sense of being able to "do things together" in the local space. So, for instance, earlier this year some of us were involved in an Easter festival ran at a local school with some local leaders from Fusion Australia - it brought kids and others together to simply have fun in the local space.

We are planning a "Kid's Christmas" time in the park on Christmas Eve. Not only is it an opportunity for those on the fringes of the church who want to some form of spiritual expression over Christmas (without interrupting Christmas Day) - it is also an opportunity to build community.

On the eve of Christmas we can provide a safe and accessible time for children and families to gather around, engage with the Christmas story. And so we can do something community-building while sharing some gospel truth at the same time. What an opportunity!

Prayer Points - November 2008

2008-11-24T23:42:00.001+11:00

This was just sent to our prayer points email list.

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thankyou once again for your ongoing support. Apologies that this - November's prayer points - are a little late. There has been a lot going on - keep an eye on http://will-briggs.blogspot.com for up to date information.

As you know we are going through a period of uncertainty with regards to our Sunday venue. There is much blessing in this difficulty as we seek God in the midst of it. It is a blessed time of being uncomfortable in a way that leads to growth and living lives pleasing to God and contributing to the substance of his Kingdom. Please keep praying for us - not just for the practical logistics of things but also for further and ongoing opportunities to learn about, grow in, and share the good news of Jesus.

Some points to guide your prayer:

1) Praise God for those who have joined us in the last few weeks during our interim time at the local surf club. We have five or more newcomers who have returned and blessed us with their presence and input. Please pray for them.

2) Please pray for our Christmas events - our annual "Kid's Christmas" will this year be held in a local park under a marquee. It is an opportunity to share the Christmas story and it's meaning with those who would otherwise not hear it.

3) Please pray for our Sunday gatherings during December - we are currently looking for places to meet for December 14th and 21st.

4) Please pray for those who are "stepping up" to organise outreach events and possibilities across the summer. There is the possibility of some outreach to musicians and other opportunities to connect.

5) Please pray for us as a Christian community - that we would be knit together through more than just Sunday services but in the sharing of life and mutual support generally.

6) Please pray that we would continue to be renewed in the vision of how to bring the gospel to where the people "are at" with boldness and courage.

God bless,

Will.

Our Blogging Bishop

2008-11-13T14:58:00.003+11:00

Bishop Ross Nicholson, Missioner Bishop - Projects & Training within The Imagine Project has started a blog which will have various things relating to the Imagine Project and Leadership in general. Check it out: http://mitreswell.blogspot.com

One step at a time

2008-11-10T17:14:00.006+11:00

The Connections Summer has begun. Since my last article three weeks have passed. In terms of our Sunday gathering we spent the first of these weeks in a marquee in a local park, the other two weeks in the local surf club.

It has been a time of being "emptied out" and being brought to a place of relying on God. We have had to re-evaluate what we do and re-engage with who God has made us to be. On November 2nd we had a brain-storm time together, recognising that "everything we do or have done is on the table." It is time to reboot, restart, respond to what God shows us.

In this last week a friend offered a reflection on the current state of things. It was in response to my sharing how, at the EFAC conference in September, I was asked by someone whether I was satisfied with where the church was at. In response to that question I found myself answering "No, we're too "churchy", too mainstream." The Connections heart-beat has always resonated with a desire to be accessible to those who would not find "churchy" church accessible. My friend's reflection was a suggestion that the previous season was a (necessary) journey on a siding - and the current situation was God bringing us out of that siding to set us up for the next set of tracks.

The difficulty in this is a natural inclination for us to go back up that siding of "comfortable church" and to look for and bring about "churchy" things that are not going to help - we can think up plenty of "good things" which might not be the "right things." There is always the danger of jumping into the "busyness" of what we think is mission but in the end is spiritual stress.

Rather, we have to get back to the basics of a Christian community gathered around the Word of God. We are continuing our teaching series in Corinthians which encourages us in that gutsy counter-cultural gospel life. It's all about being authentic, radical, Jesus-focussed change-agents of ourselves as well as the world.

And so plans are starting to emerge. We will make use of our summer in Somerset. Our children in the congregation are really keen - they'll be doing things in the lead up to Christmas, inviting their friends along. The marquee will come out again on Christmas Eve, we hope, for "Kid's Christmas" in the park. We're changing around how we gather so that we both serve the inward needs of the church as well as being accessible to enquirers - we can learn from the cafe-church people a bit! There are many many ideas for everything from curry nights to kite flying to sand sculpting to book groups - ideas there for a person with the vision to motivate them and carry their burden through to completion. There is stuff to do.

But in the end, the new track we are on is more than just "doing." It is about the genuineness of our faith, and the courage of our day-to-day proclamation.

Continue to pray for us. There are plenty of logistics to sort out - we would like to stay at the surf club for the summer, beyond our November bookings, and the conversations about that are ongoing. But above all pray for us to have opportunities to share the hope that God has put within us, for inspiration and boldness to speak where we not normally speak, to act as we would not normally act, and so be overwhelmed by how God decides to use us.

Connections Summer?

2008-10-20T10:57:00.003+11:00

On Sunday (Oct 19) we finished up meeting at our venue for the past almost-year at Somerset Heights. It's been a great occurrence to shake us out a bit and cause us to get back to our "fresh expression" missional heart. As mentioned in a previous article - the joy of known uncertainty is the need to rely on God.

What lies ahead for us? As soon as we found out that we would have to be making some changes we have recognised that God in his grace is providential. Our prayer has been "Close the doors you want to close, Lord; open the doors you want to open - and above all keep us obedient to you."

And in the light we have some immediate plans and some medium-term opportunities.

The immediate plan is to meet this coming week at ANZAC Park near the Surf Club in Somerset. We're going to have a marquee from the local Scout group. The Bishop will be there to pray for us and encourage us. It will be good to gather in that place and enjoy each others company at BBQ and beach afterwards.
(If you want more specific information about what's happening each week then you can find it at http://www.burnieanglican.org.au/connections/index.php/ComingWeek)

Our medium-term plans are in the process of being "brought forth." It is looking less and less likely that the use of a local school will eventuate (at least not until next year). What is more likely is the possibility of having a "Connections Summer" with our Sunday meetings at the Surf Club or thereabouts.

The message amongst us is this:

As part of the Imagine Project we are encouraged to imagine under God the possibilities of what ministry, church, and following Christ might look like in many creative ways - and as we have been conversing with people and sharing together it seems that a "Connections Summer" at the Surf Club fits with people's imagination. Our prayer has been that God will close the doors that need to be closed and open the doors of the way he would have us go. God answers prayer. This door seems open, and looks good - being near the beach throughout summer gives us opportunity for building relationship, outreaching, and creativity in our gathering together while continuing to shake us out of our comfort zone and press into God.

The Connections Leadership Team (CLT) is meeting this week and we hope to finalise some of the administrivia for this so that Bishop John can pray us into it on Sunday. However the administration is not the substance of what we do or plan to do. Rather, the substance of it depends on us all being willing and able to look to God and to grow, work and play in Him. It will require us all to be praying and sharing ideas and thoughts and putting up our hand to be involved. So please be praying and communicating.

We are in a transition into something new as a church. Please be praying for us, particularly this week, as lots of decisions are made and new things eventuate.

Exciting times. In his hands. For his glory.

Prayer Points - October 2008

2008-10-13T16:48:00.003+11:00

These prayer points were recently sent out on our prayer partners mailing list. If you'd like to be part of that email list please let me know.

Dear Prayer Partners,

Once again thankyou for supporting the Connections project through your prayer and intercessions.

The chief prayer point for this month revolves around our need for a venue. We have been given short notice that we will need to leave our current premises. We found out last week and this coming Sunday (October 19) will be our final service at our current location. Arrangements for our next venue have not yet been finalised. This means that we are entering into a transitional season with a certain amount of uncertainty. I am full of confidence, however, in God who will use this time and whatever short-term interim measures we require to grow us and get us ready for the next season that lies ahead.

I've made some more comments on this on my Connections blog: http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2008/10/homelessness-blessed-uncertainty.html and I'll share with you the prayer request I've written there:

Please pray for us. Please pray for those opening doors - that are next long-term venue will not be too far away. Please pray for us to be wise and discerning. And above all, please pray that God will have his way with us and we will learn what we need to learn during this time so that this congregation of God's people may bring glory to his name alone.

Please also pray specifically for this forthcoming "last Sunday" that we will end well at this venue - that has been a real blessing for us for the last few months.

Of course our church is not about bricks and mortar. Life continues and we would be grateful if you could also pray for:

1) The two couples getting married over summer.

2) Those of us who are training as facilitators for the "Lifekeys" program that we are looking to make use of next year.

3) And thank God for the many relationships that we are part of in the local community.

Thanks,

Will.

Homelessness - A Blessed Uncertainty

2008-10-12T17:25:00.005+11:00

The excitement of church planting continues...

Last Thursday we were informed by the owners of our current venue that they had sold it and that the new owners wished to move in as soon as possible. This meant that we had two Sundays left - the one just been (October 12, 2008) and the one just about to happen (October 19).

While this wasn't a surprise (the building has been for sale for some time), and we have been (and are) working on procuring our next venue, the fact of the matter is that right now I cannot tell you where our congregation will gather on October 26 to share together in worship and word.

And I'm not worried. Even despite the fact that the Bishop was booked to join us on October 26 - and he is still coming - doesn't worry me. Our church does not depend on bricks and mortar - and we will still be the church no matter where we meet.

Of course we're planning and organising things. Hopefully a new venue in a local school gym will be forthcoming sometime in November, or even sooner. And we have plenty of short-term options from local sporting clubs to the local park.

And of course they'll be a bit of stress involved. Routines will be shaken. People will end up in the wrong place or something. Things won't happen quite as smoothly as they would otherwise. And they'll be more energy required to set things up and pack things up and basically get everything organised.

But in the end, this is a time and a season of change, and it's value comes from the way in which God will ground us, gather us and grow us during this time. I can see this already happening.

It will draw us to God. It already has. After we announced what was happening this past Sunday we entered into one of the most participated-in and profound prayer times we've had as a whole congregation.
It will draw us to God's purpose for us. We will be stripped away of some of the comforts of "church life" and will have to get back to the basics of why we're here - to reach out and to grow to be a community forming people to be and do what Christ has intended - discipling and speaking the truth where it is needed.
It will draw us to each other. This coming Sunday is now a time of "closure" of this season and an entering into the next. We will share lunch together and people will have brought their utes and their trailers to help shift stuff away to where we are storing it. It is quite appropriate that in our sermon series from 1st Corinthians we will have just reached 1st Corinthians 3 with it's emphasis on unity and mutual solidarity in Christ.
It will strengthen our faith. The truth is that we are always dependent on God's grace to survive as Christians and as a church. This truth is now obvious. We are dependent on God in the seeking of our next venue - we need his creativity, his discernment, and his grace to go before us to pave the way through authorising committees and the finalisation of hire agreements and the like. If doors close we have to trust that God has closed them. And when the doors open he will have given us the gift of never being able to say that "we did it" but that God out of his love for us has blessed us with all things.

So we are homeless, we enter into a transition, a season of uncertainty - and it is a blessed thing.

Please pray for us. Please pray for those opening doors - that are next long-term venue will not be too far away. Please pray for us to be wise and discerning. And above all, please pray that God will have his way with us and we will learn what we need to learn during this time so that this congregation of God's people may bring glory to his name alone.

Prayer Points - September 2008

2008-09-29T14:01:00.002+10:00

These prayer points were just sent out on our prayer support mailing list. If would like to join this list please email me.

Sorry that these are a bit late this month, and I'll blame it on school holidays and conferences and things!

Thankyou for continuing to support us in prayer. We are also now in the BCA prayer notes booklet.

Here are our prayer points for September:

1) Praise God for the milestone on September 14. On the first day of our fifth year we had a baptism and confirmation at the Cam River. Photos and details can be found here: http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-sunday-fifth-year.html. It was a significant event and affirms the heart of our mission as we see lives switched on for Jesus! Please continue to pray for Dave, who was baptised in the river, and his family.

2) Please thank God for the many who put lots of energy, time and prayer in many acts of service that keep our community ticking over. People are stepping up to the plate in leadership and acts of service. Pray for this heart to spread! And please pray for more "harvesters" for the harvest in the next season and 2009.

3) Please continue to pray for our need to shift our venue. There have been some administrative hiccups recently with regard to considering a local school gym as a venue. Please pray for the way forward to become clear and smooth.

4) Please pray for those who will be attending facilitators training in the next month, preparing for the Lifekeys "Search for Life" course that we will be running in the new year.

5) Please continue to pray for those who run and help with our children's program - KLT - and for the raising up of those willing and able to work in the discipling of our older children.

6) Please pray for a new small group looking to start up with men in Somerset.

BCA Conference

2008-09-23T10:43:00.003+10:00

My family and I have just returned from holidays and attending the BCA Conference at Grindelwald. We really appreciated the opportunity, in particular, to meet with other BCA Field Staff and discover the people behind the Prayer Notes faces.

It was also a real blessing for us as a family to be cared for with the provision of a program that was an energy-gain and in which the children were cared for. It was well-balanced time of adult-input and interaction and times as a family together. Pictured is the standard post-breakfast romp by BCA children on the "bouncing pillow" near the Grindelwald restaurant.

We made a number of new friends. It's always great to meet people with the similar heart, similar call, facing similar issues, learning similar lessons, carrying similar burdens. Ecclesiology will talk about the collegiality of ministry - but here it was in flesh and blood.

Bp. Graham Cray was the keynote speaker. Bp. Graham is the Bishop of Maidstone in the Diocese of Canterbury and is a significant promoter and enabler of Fresh Expressions of ministry in the Church of England together with new ordination streams for pioneering ministry. I had already heard Bp. Graham speak at the EFAC Conference the week before and it was good for Gill to hear him as well, and also have the opportunity to have a conversation with him and his wife Jackie. Good encouragement and good advice.

And not just for us. One of the delights was to meet with a number of those who are ministering under the banner of both BCA and Church Army involved in church planting or in situations where ministry is "one continuous church plant" because of sociologically-driven high turn-over. As it is doing with Connections, I can see BCA using its resources to establish sustainable next-generation churches. I applaud that, and it's great to be part of this network.

First Sunday, Fifth Year

2008-09-14T16:44:00.005+10:00

Today is the first Sunday of the fifth year of Connections. And what a way to celebrate it! Our dear brother Dave McPherson was baptised today in the Cam River. Dave's fiance, Emily, reaffirmed their faith, and their daughter Kiara was also baptised (but not in the river).

Dave came to Jesus a couple of months ago. It has been a joy and delight to see how God has been at work in him and his family and he has taken his place amongst us. The Missioner Bishop (Training & Projects) in the Imagine Project, Ross Nicholson, was with us and following the baptism confirmed Dave in his faith.

It had been a miserable day today - the weather was blustery and rainy. The rain stopped as Dave and I entered the water, the sun burst through the clouds as he came up out of the water and lasted until we prayed and declared God's truth following the confirmation. I'm not usually one to wax lyrical about metereological coincidences but it was truly profound. The truth of the gospel was demonstrated and declared in public as a firstfruits of conversion growth of the church in this time and place.

And the shared life of Connections continues. Four birthdays to celebrate amongst the children - where the children prayed for each other. And another engagement to rejoice in. Please continue to pray for us to depend on God and to grow in Him in the way He would have us go.

Photos courtesy Jonathan Adamczewski

Married Life

2008-09-07T23:48:00.002+10:00

There's great joy in the season that we are in. In the Connections community we have had new babies, engagements, and forthcoming baptisms (in the Cam River this coming Sunday) and more weddings.

Four weddings in five months. The first of these took place on a beach in Hobart this Saturday last.

Not only are weddings and baptisms and the like good in their own right. They are also a great witness, particularly when they are held (in an appropriate way) in a public space.

But also, from a church-planting perspective these occasions of life are great catalysts for community building. Sharing the beginning of married life, or the testimony of baptism, creates connections of community between people. Acquaintance turns into "I was at your wedding, wasn't it wonderful." Broad knowledge turns into "Thankyou for sharing how God has been at work in your life."

These weddings and things - they are a gift of grace in many ways - but a gift to us as a community, for they give us something to share in, and so share in each other.

BCA Blessings

2008-08-27T17:51:00.003+10:00

We received our latest Prayer Notes and The Real Australian today - the regular publications of Bush Church Aid. We now part of the BCA family.

We have a BCA web page:
You can join BCA prayer warriors in praying for us on the 15th of each month.
We are mentioned on a page in the Real Australian.

Fantastic! What a blessing.

Formation for Transformation - Money, Sex, Power

2008-08-22T20:35:00.005+10:00

It's been a policy of ours for sometime now to include within our annual preaching program at least one teaching time on money and stewardship and one "topical" series. Our other teaching series are "expositional" in that they work through books of the Bible (or at least biblical themes) and expose God's Word to us and us to God's Word.

During this year, as part of our focus on taking responsibility for our response to God, on seeking to grow spiritually, and therefore to be formed to be part of God's transformational intent for the world - we have needed to go back to basics. And so we have looked not just at money - but at the three key human drives of Money, Sex, and Power. We've stolen the title from a book by Richard Foster which I've reviewed on my other blog.

It's in these three areas - money, sex, and power - that we run into and expose our spiritual immaturities, our weaknesses, and propensities to sin - our "flesh" or "sinful nature" hanging on at the gut level of who we are. My attitude towards money and wealth, the way I exercise my sexuality, and the level and manner of control and power I exercise in my life are good places to help determine spiritual maturity.

During this sermon series we are spending two weeks on each topic - the first topic has been power, leadership, authority and control; the second money, wealth, and stewardship; the third sex and relationships. For each topic the first week has been spent giving a time of teaching and bringing to light some of what God tells us through Scripture about each topic. And then we have invited questions to be asked for email, SMS or facebook so that the subsequent weeks is presented as answers to the questions that people are asking.

We have done power and money and are just about to do sex. And the questions have been though-provoking, challenging, and relevant. Are you meant to seek authority and influence? If so, how? What do I do with the money God has give me? Am I meant to tithe 10%, why and for what purpose?

We have tried to be direct and as honest as possible. Some of the feedback to me has been that it has been "uncomfortable but in a good way." You can see that for others there is a dawning about some of the ways in which the 24-hours-a-day 7-days-a-week nature of following Jesus confronts them and convicts them. Above all, but dealing with these issues we are facing the fact that this isn't a game, and church isn't just a nice place to go on a Sunday, but its about offering our lives to God seriously and totally and provoking one another to righteousness.

In some ways this basic stuff is just milk - following Jesus with the basics. But it's not meant to be rocket science. It's just a matter of dying to self and growing for him. We've got more growing to do, through more dying to ourselves and living for him. Our constant prayer - don't let us get away God - deal with us and make us your own in everything we do.

Prayer Points - August 2008

2008-08-22T15:42:00.001+10:00

These prayer points we just sent to our prayer point mailing list. Please contact me if you would like to be added to that list:

Thankyou for continuing to support us by praying for the Connections congregation and the work of the gospel here in the North-West of Tasmania. This email list started off in preparation for the visit by the Ridley Mission Team - and it's been almost a year since that happened. The work, and prayer continue. Here are some points for this month:

1) We have been, and are being blessed, by a number of milestones and joyous occasion in people's lives. We have three engagements in our midst at the moment, all to be married before the end of the year. Babies are being born, people are being baptised and confirmed. It's great to see God at work in that wonderful mix of the ordinary and extraordinary that make up our lives. Please pray for those who will be at the centre of this occasions over the next few months.

2) Please pray for us as we go about organising some new programs that will help reach new people, and provide some of the foundational teaching and formation that people are thirsty for. Please pray for those preparing for baptism and confirmation as they go through the "Jesus All About Life" course. Please pray as we identify and train up facilitators for a Lifekeys "Search for Life" course and for those doing the organising. Please pray as we begin the early stages of having a clearly defined program for raising up and training leaders.

3) Please pray as we go about finalising arrangements for a Youth Worker and a Children's Worker and begin advertising. Please help us to "pray in" these harvesters.

4) Arrangements for using the local school as a Sunday venue are at the initial stages of being organised. Please pray for those participating in the negotiations and discussions and pray for favour with the various boards and committees that will need to give approval.

5) With a number of new comers and other factors, we are learning the importance for each of us to take responsibility for helping build a cohesive and unified church community. Please pray for us to be sharing life with each other well.

6) Please continue to pray for a thirst for God's Word in us and around us - that God will be at work in the people of Somerset and the Burnie area and that the seed sown through us will find fertile soil and the Spirit already at work.

Also, please pray for myself and for my family as I attend the EFAC National Conference in Melbourne before heading with my family to the BCA conference in Launceston.

Points of Connection - Mark Driscoll in Australia

2008-08-22T14:39:00.006+10:00

I was going to blog this in my other blog which has a lot of stuff regarding my personal thoughts and cogitations about things. But after watching this interview of Mark Driscoll in Sydney (at sydneyanglicans.net) there was so many points of connection with Connections that it seemed best to put it here.

All of our leadership at Connections have read Mark Driscoll's Confessions of a Reformission Rev which describes the planting and growth of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, USA. I have found much wisdom, encouragement, and inspiration in Driscoll's attitude to church planting. I gel with his reformed theology, his healthy grasp of the Spirit at work, and his method of cultural engagement. There is much from Mars Hill that can and has shaped Connections. Personally, I know that I have become more direct, perhaps even bolder, in my preaching. The sheer importance of getting to know Jesus, worshipping him and serving him 24/7 becomes our point, purpose, and joy.

And so when the interviewer in this video talks about Sydney Anglicans being intrigued about his reformed theology but ability to culturally connect, I smile and I cheer.

And some of the questions that readers of the sydneyanglicans.net website that are raised on the video are interesting. Again, there are echoes of the small-scale issues and principles that we face at Connections. Paraphrasing, examples are:

Q) How do you prevent issues of being a personality cult?
A) The leader needs to give up power - not too quickly, but slowly to qualified people. It takes the stress off of me...

Q) Isn't secular music worldly?
A) It's using culture in a redemptive way.... Our goal is to redeem as much as we can...

Q) You do communion every week - see it as commanded by Jesus - how do you stop it slipping into repetitive formula?
A) It follows preaching - think, pray, work it through - and you come when you're ready, not row-by-row. The key is to give people time and put it after the sermon so that it's in response to the Bible.

Q) How do you balance the cultural application when at times it can be seen as watering down the gospel?
A) The gospel will always win - we are to be faithful and fruitful, but if you have to pick one - faithful. I'm going to do everything I can to reach as many as I can - we see Paul say that.... The key is to never forsake the gospel.

Q) Dreams, vision, prophecies - do you still experience this? How do you interpret them as God-given or something else?
A) Most of the time when it's a prophetic dream, God gives me Scripture and then wakes me up. And usually its something in the future which happens as he says. Other times I see things, the gift of discernment... God telling me something I need to know so that I can serve people.

Q) What are the main things you can impart to us (Australians)?
A) I find Sydney to be one of the most selfish cities I've seen in my whole life - everything is about personal happiness. [With reference to Connect '09 a bit gospel initiative for Sydney next year:] That's all going to be relationship - reaching young men in cities is key to everything. The only way to reach them is through relationships... Strategic friendships with young men in cities.

The Three "Selfs" #1 - Self-financing

2008-08-17T16:32:00.005+10:00

It is a long-held principle for guiding the planting of new congregations and churches that the ultimate aim is that the new body be characterised by the the "three self's" - self-governing, self-financing, self-reproducing.

In earlier stages of the Connections project we have put a lot of work into governance issues - particular when it came to our relationship with our immediate context of the Parish of Burnie. This work will need to be tweaked over time.

Our vision includes elements of "self-reproduction" - which ultimately would include sending out a group to plant a church from amongst us somewhere else. But in the meantime we are committed to reproducing some of the blessings that God has given us and taking our place in contributing to the wider church through whatever opportunity arises.

I've called this article "The Three Selfs #1" because I hope that at some point I'll write about the self-governing and self-reproducing aspects.

However, in this entry I want to reflect a little on the self-financing aspect of this principle. The Parish recently had it's Annual Meeting and for the first time a clear demarcated budget for the Connections Process has been adopted and approved. We've always had self-sufficiency financially on our list of aspirations - but now we need to actually have a plan to achieve it.

Underneath the self-financing principle lies a necessary vision for growth. We have to plan for growth and, therefore, to be basing certain decisions and projections on things that don't yet exist!

The way it works for us is this. At the moment the Connections project is subsidised to the tune of what it costs to provide one paid clergyperson. Half of this money is provided through the Diocese by Bush Church Aid (BCA) and the other half comes from the contribution of the Parish of Burnie. The rest of the budget (which in the coming year needs to incorporate amounts to pay for youth ministry and to support the ongoing children's ministry) comes from general giving at Connections - either in donations, regular electronic transfers, or "in the plate." Our giving is reasonable - about $18 per adult per week (although it could be better) - and covers these expenses and balances the budget.

But it is unhealthy for us to depend on the subsidy from Parish and from BCA. To be self-sustaining, and ultimately a net-giver to the Kingdom we need to budget for a phase out of this subsidy. We are projecting a phase out of around 25% of the original subsidy per year over the next few years. So subsidy will go down and costs will necessarily go up as more ministry is done.

And so we plan, believe, pray for growth. We are planning for an increase in the number of adults. We have to act on that plan by removing the obstacles to that growth - things like the size of our current venue, and our lack of efficient structures for incorporating newcomers. We can see what we need to do.

The growth needed in the next twelve months is for about another 5-10 members or families. This is the grace of a target that looks reachable but is only available as a gift from God. Pray that we will get there - for the faith that's needed for subsequent years will be greater still.

Some are uneasy talking about money matters and church. I count myself among them often. But in the end we aren't talking about riches here, we're talking about corporate maturity and growth as a gospel-organisation. We wish to be blessed to be a blessing, to give and to contribute. And so we must take the risky, difficulty, scarey path of growth.

July Prayer Points

2008-07-21T22:12:00.002+10:00

These prayer points were recently sent out on our prayer email list.

1) Praise God for some of the excellent testimonies that have been shared during our Sunday meetings. It has taken some courage for some to speak up the front but each time of sharing has been helpful for many.

2) Please pray for the amount of administrative things that are happening in the coming month. Our first clear Connections-related budget is being produced along with financial projections and so forth.

3) Please pray for our next venue. We are in the process of considering a move into a local primary school and have begun to consider what the various and ongoing logistics would entail. Please pray for wisdom and creativity.

4) There have been a number of health and other crises amongst our members recently. Please pray for those impacted and those caring.

5) The local pastors group has organised an ongoing "pray-for-Burnie flag" that passes form church to church each month - the idea is that the church who has the flag focuses on the local region for prayer. It is our turn during July - please pray for the city of Burnie and its local region, of which Somerset is a part.

6) Please continue to pray for growth in small groups - an increase in their number, the raising up of leaders, and growth within them also.

The Emotionally Healthy Church (a sort-of-book-review)

2008-07-11T15:04:00.009+10:00

This comes straight from a book that I've just read (Scazzero and Bird's The Emotionally Healthy Church, which is also sold in Australia) but it fits so well with our current focus at Connections that I thought I'd put it here rather than on my other blog where I often put book reviews.

Our focus is on taking responsbility for our response to God's grace. As mentioned in a previous article, we are to have a shape that emphasises “the spiritual growth of Christians [formation] and the finding of spiritual life by those who have not yet encountered Christ [transformation].” We have a responsibility to "work our our salvation with fear and trembling" as God does his work in us (Phil 2:12) and so be a community of people who desire maturity and wholeness in Christ and are willing to count the cost for pressing on towards that goal.

Scazzero's book taps into this desire as he outlines some of the principles that he has learned from his own spiritual growth journey. For him spiritual growth isn't about some nebulous "out-there" form of spiritual experience, it's about real and substantial growth as a person of Christ. And key to this is the need to be emotionally healthy. He writes:

"The sad truth is that too little difference exists, in terms of emotional and relational maturity, between, between God's people inside the church and those outside who claim no relationship to Jesus Christ. Even more alarming, when you go beyond the praise and worship of our large meetings and conventions and into the homes and small-group meetings of God's people, you often find a valley littered by broken and failed relationships." (p17)

My response is "ain't that the truth." One of the little idealisms that I had when the Connections Project was first conceived in 2004 was a thought that "if only we can get a church of young people together, we'll change the world" but the truth is, now that we do have such a church is that, even as young people, we are just like humanity has always been - a littered valley of brokenness, sorrows, sinfulnesses, weaknesses, shames and misdeanours. We need to grow as spiritual, emotional, persons.

From his own experience and research Scazzero proposes "six principles of an emotionally healthy church" which are helpful for us:

Principle 1 - Look Beneath The Service
This principle covers our need to be honest with ourselves about ourselves - to face pains and weaknesses and acknowledge behaviours and attitudes that come from them. It's looking beneath the service in the light of God's love:

"A revelation of God's free grace gives us the courage to face the painful truth about ourselves. As we step out onto the tightrope of discovering the unpleasant things about ourselves, we have a safety net below - the Gospel of Jesus Christ." (p83)

Principle 2 - Break the Power of the Past
This principle causes us to consider the roots of our emotional and other issues in the light of our backgrounds and past - particularly our family of origin which "is the most powerful, influential group that has affected who we are today." (p95). He writes:

"To become a Christian and to be adopted into God's family... does not erase the past. God does not give us amnesia or emergency emotional/spiritual reconstructive surgry. God does forgive the past, but he does not erase it. We are given a new start, but we still come in as babies drinking milk and are expected to die daily to the parts of our lives that do not honor God and follow Jesus... Discipleship, then, must include honest reflection on the positive and negative impact of my family of origin as well as other major influences." (p99)

Principle 3 - Live in Brokenness and Vulnerability
This principle acknowledges that emotional growth lies not in self-reliance or even self-resilience but in a brokenness -brought-to-Jesus. We can look to the example of Saint Paul who's "growth in Christ parallels his increasing sense of weakness and sinfulness." (p118) This principle is counter-cultural:

"Twenty-first-century culture measures strength in terms of power... Brilliant people dazzle us with their intellectual and verbal abilities... We look for building, finances, numbers of people, and large budgets to demonstrate the strength and success of our churches... Yet... Paul argues for the authenticity of his leadership by appealing, not to his visions and revelations from God, not to his successes and gifts, but instead to his weakness!" (p116)

Principle 4 - Receive the Gift of Limits
Each one of us lives within natural limits - the limits of our personality, season of life, life situation, emotional, physical and intellectual capacities, and the scars and wounds of our past (ppp142-143). This principle acknowledges the fact that the world is inherently out of our control and causes us to run headlong into the "core spiritual issue for us if we are to be faithful to living within our God-given boundaries and limits: Is God good and and is God really sovereign?" (p150). He recognises:

"Maturity in life is when someone is living joyfully within their God-given limits. I find most of us resent limits - in ourselves and in others. We expect far too much from ourselves and each other and often live frustrated and angry lives. Much of burnout is a result of giving what we do not possess." (p144)

Principle 5 - Embrace Grieving and Loss
This principle recognises that emotional maturity lies not in superficiality but in acknowledging and, indeed, embracing the losses and sufferings that are at the heart of substantial living. It recognises that that path to Christlikeness is necessarily the path of grief, dying to self, and living for him.
Using forgiveness as an example, he writes:

"Forgiveness is not a quick process. I do not believe it is possible to truly forgive another person from he heart until we allow ourselves to feel the pain of what was lost. People who say it is simply an act of the will do not understand grieving." (p157)

Principle 6 - Make Incarnation Your Model for Loving Well
Finally, the last principle of emotional health recognises that one cannot "love well" unless there is a willingness to "be Christ" to the other person - and that that means loving with a model of "incarnation." Basically, this means willing to be authentically oneself, but truly engaged with another person's world, rather than simply ministering or advice-giving from the outside.

"As I sit, I close my eyes and reflect on the experience of asking people, "What is it like to be you? To walk in your skin?" I am aware of the truth that when we go out of ourselves and live briefly in the world of another person, we never return to our own lives the same person. God changes us into the image of his Son through the process. We learn to die to the ugly parts of ourselves. Our feet are kept on the ground." (p191)

This book has many blessings, and insights for us and our church. I am getting copies for the members of the Connections Leadership Team (CLT) to read. If anyone is interested, I can find a copy for you!

One Stage At A Time

2008-07-07T01:28:00.003+10:00

The Diocesan Ministry Council recently received a report from a Youth Ministry consultation process with Tim Hawkins. The report has been made public now and so I am free to talk about it.

If and when the recommendations of the consultation are adopted there will be much to talk about in relation to how Connections can join in with the Diocesan youth strategy - in particular with regard to any regional youth coordinators that may eventuate.

In this article, however, I don't want to unpack possible futures but have a look at some of Tim's insights - in particular with regard to a recommendation surrounding a "20 year strategy for every Anglican Church that wants to grow."

The strategy revolves around the fact that "to have a growing and lasting youth ministry in your church you ideally need a few other key age groups." In particular, the 35-50 year age group who are the parents of teenagers, the 0-11 year age group in a children's ministry who will feed into a youth ministry, and the parents of the 0-11 year group - aged 20-35 years. Tim offers a diagram something like this:

Parents aged 35-50	→	Teenagers 11-18
		↑
Parents aged 20-35	→	Children 0-11

He then proposes a 20 year strategy that would provide a step-by-step set of "stages" for building a church that contains all age groups. The beauty of his suggestion is that it is incremental, and therefore in the reach of pretty much any church that has the desire to grow and the inclination to incorporate the necessary changes.

The strategy is simple - it begins with outreach to young parents and children, and slowly builds up through junior high ministry and high school ministry, aided by the parents and children who are growing older and entering into the subsequent age areas. In summary it goes like this:

Stage 1	The first 2 years	Reach out to 20-35 yr olds
Stage 2	The first 5 years	Build a children's ministry
Stage 3	5-10 years	Reach out to 30-40 yr olds
Stage 4	5-10 years	Build a junior high ministry
Stage 5	10-15 years	Build a high school ministry
Stage 6	15-20 years	Build a young adult's ministry

This isn't anything particularly complicated - which is how most strategy's of merit are! And it is interesting to note that it maps a path that Connections has been on over the last three and a half years and continues to be on.

We are at about stage 3, moving into stage 4. Our 0-11 year olds that joined us with their parents in their 20's and 30's are quickly becoming junior high youth. And we are also beginning to pick up youth of that age as newcomers with their parents in their 30's and 40's. And so we are in the process of looking to begin and budget for a junior high youth ministry.

We also need to shore up our children's ministry - to bolster "stage 2" in this model (again we are looking at some plans and budgets for this). And of course, we need to continue to care for parents of all ages - and everybody else who are with us whatever stage of life they are in.

Tim's analysis should encourage us - including an encouragement to pray as we make that next step with our youth.

Prayer Points - June 2008

2008-06-20T22:42:00.002+10:00

This from our monthly prayer letter:

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thankyou for your ongoing support in praying for Connections and the work of the gospel in Somerset and the Burnie region of Tasmania.

1) Praise God for a young couple who recently gave their lives to the Lord. It was a great privilege to pray with them in their home as they turned to Christ. Please pray for them and their baby daughter as they take their next steps in a Christian journey. Please pray for their encouragement and nurture, and also pray for ongoing spiritual growth for the rest of us.

2) Praise God for the blessing of provision through BCA. Gill and I are now officially BCA Field Staff with a commissioning to happen soon. The financial and prayer support of the BCA network is a vital resource in the next stage of Connections. Thank God for BCA

3) Please pray as we tackle some significant planning and strategic direction administratively in the next little while, including budgeting and finanical planning for the next five years. This administrative framework needs to be there to serve the gospel ministry of outreach and growth, please pray for discernment and creativity and for the gospel vision to be well communicated through this area.

4) Please continue praying for those who are taking the bold step of sharing something of their testimony at our Sunday meetings.

5) Please pray for God to prepare those whom he has set aside for ministry work in the area of children and youth in our congregation. Please pray for the raising up of these leaders from within or from outside of the congregation.

6) Please join with us in praying for the local primary schools - Somerset Primary School and West Somerset Primary School. We have "adopted" these schools through the praypal.org.au initiative. The schools are currently considering an amalgamation process - a process full of emotion - so please pray for a covering of grace in that area.

7) Please continue to praying for our small groups.

If you have any encouragements or questions please feel free to contact me. It's a joy to touch base with the wider body of Christ who are supporting us in prayer.

Will.

Formation for Transformation: It begins with me...

2008-05-22T22:59:00.009+10:00

At Connections we are moving in a direction that can perhaps be summed up with the phrase formation for transformation. Being a church can easily be, if we let it, all about programs and activities. These might even be “successful” programs and activities, in terms of participation or some other measure. But in the end our faithfulness and success will not be measured in terms of how busy or how active we are, but in terms of how closely we follow God's Spirit at work in the church and in the world

And so, in a previous article, we looked at how we are to have a shape that emphasises “the spiritual growth of Christians [formation] and the finding of spiritual life by those who have not yet encountered Christ [transformation].”

There is a yearning in the world for spiritual life and spiritual maturity. People have a need for salvation – a restored relationship with God their Creator – but this fact has a richness that is often ignored.

The riches of salvation is wholeness, a maturity, or what theologians sometimes call sanctification, in God – an overcoming of not just the fact of sin, but something of its effect in our lives.

We are all aware of the power of sin as it shows up in hurts, guilts, shames, addictions, weaknesses, and wounded emotions, relationships, and personalities. The gospel offers not only a firm foundation, a grace-filled reconciliation that sets us lovingly in the arms of God, but a richness that works itself out as an ongoing formational work of God in our lives. This formation isn't a “quick-fix” but a dealing with the worldly and fleshly things so that we grow into a wholeness and a maturity - we become more and more like Jesus.

I love how Paul, when writing to the Philippians, immediately after the section where he exhorts them - “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” gives his readers this:

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed... continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Phil 2:12-13, emphasis added)

And so as a church we understand that God is at work in us, to form us, and to spiritually grow us – but we are not absent from the process. We are called to work – to put energy and effort into applying God's truth to the difficulties and manifestations of a broken world that make up our lives.

This is something we are to take seriously. A book I am reading at present (and I will review soon on my other blog) portrays a sadly-all-too-true picture of what church is often like:

“The sad truth is that too little difference exists, in terms of emotional and relational maturity, between God's people inside the church and those outside who claim no relationship to Jesus Christ. Even more alarming, when you go beyond the praise and worship of our large meetings and conventions and into the home and small-group meetings of God's people, you often find a valley littered by broken and failed relationships.”[1]

Returning to the Bible, James is quite blunt about it, speaking to the church:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:7-10)

Each one of us is called to respondto the grace by which Christ saves us and takes responsibility for our sin. We are in charge of how we respond to God. In other words - Your response to God's grace is your responsibility in the end. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you, forming you: In the light of God's love, and moved by his Spirit, deal with your issues, overcome the weaknesses, repent of the sins, adjust your paths, live by the truth – be broken, fixed, healed, adjusted: be formed.

God loves us, saves us – and so we respond. Peter Scazzero reminds us - “A revelation of God's free grace gives us the courage to face the painful truth about ourselves. As we step out onto the tightrope of discovering the unpleasant things about ourselves, we have a safety net below – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”[2]

We are called to have formation for transformation at our heart. Whatever activities and programs we run (and we are currently exploring a few) the aim is to foster and assist this formation – to encourage, exhort and empower people to step up to the plate and respond to God's grace.

[1] Peter Scazzero with Warren Bird, The Emotionally Healthy Church, p17. Also sold in Australia.

[2] Scazzero, p83

May 2008 Prayer Points

2008-05-22T10:52:00.002+10:00

Prayer points that have gone out on our "missionpray" mailing list. If you want to receive these prayer point emails please contact me.

Thankyou once again for your support in praying for Connections. The season we are in is an interesting one. In many ways we are building up to the "next wave" of how we push ahead with the work of the Kingdom in the Somerset region - and this means we need to be well-founded, and well-aligned with God's purposes.
Here are some prayer points that pertain to our current season, in no particular order:

Please pray for spiritual growth in our congregation. This is always a good thing to pray! But in a season of significant planning it is particularly important. Please pray for us in the sense of Paul's exhortation to the Philippians in 2:12-13 that we might heed the call to "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Pray for courage for us to face the weaknesses, sins, and worldly patterns in our lives and find resolution of them in the Spirit of Christ.
Please pray for the "fact-finding" part of our season. We have some of our number going to Melbourne to explore the opportunities provided by a conference there. There are other avenues to explore - all with the aim of finding the best way to implement a culture of spiritual growth and substantial outreach.
Please pray for some who are beginning new aspects of ministry - preaching, service leading, music ministry, and more. Praise God for people willing to step out and "have a go." Particular thanks for the Saturday night musicians small group and the consequent increase (in all aspects) of our music team.
Please pray for the rising up of people into some key positions. In particular, pray for our KLT (Kids Learning Time) and children's ministry leadership. Please pray as we look to begin a youth ministry - for enthusiasm, paperwork and funding opportunities, and people to be inspired.
Please pray for our leadership as we seek God's wisdom in this season. Pray for Bp. Ross as he has returned from Long Service Leave and is into the thick of things.
Please pray for those who will be sharing their testimony of spiritual growth over the next few weeks in our Sunday gatherings.
Please pray for our small groups, and thank God for the young adults group that is coming together well.
Please pray once again as we look to change venue. It seems our current venue will be sold by its owners. This is an opportunity to be positioned well and we are approaching local schools etc. Please pray for opportunities to eventuate at the right time.
And finally, please pray for the Synod of the Diocese of Tasmania as it meets this weekend - please pray for myself and Jonathan who are the synods people at Connections.

Formation for Transformation

2008-05-12T09:26:00.013+10:00

We are at an "OK God, what next?" stage in the Connections project.

It's been about two years since we looked at our "Ministry Action Plan" (Our "MAP" - a version is available.) and the detail of what we are called to be and do. And since then:

We have grown.
Our broad context has changed – we are now under The Imagine Project
Our immediate context has changed – the Parish around us is in a period of transition.
We face immediate decisions with regard to our venue.
We have something of a “clean slate” with regard to our own activities and programs.

It's time to hoist a flag to the winds once again to see which way they are being blown.

An easy way to handle this situation would be to look at the "holes" in our programs and try to fill them. However that's not always the best thing to do[1]. A process that relies on doing nothing more than saying "here's something we're not doing, let's do it!" leads to a number of dangers (some of which we ourselves have been tripped up by in the past) including:

a focus on busy-ness and "doing stuff."
promoting achieving a program rather than spiritual growth as a measure of "success"
creating a co-dependency between "providers" and "receivers" - some programs require some people (often the majority) to be passive recipients and so can actually stop people from becoming active.

Noting where there is a hole in the program isn't always bad - for instance, building a youth ministry is high on our agenda for this year because it's an obvious "hole." But the main thing that we are called to do at times like this is to understand who God is calling us to be. In other words, what sort of culture are we to build and promote, and how do we make sure that our activities are not just for their own sake but actually do something of eternal significance?

Our success doesn't automatically come from having well-run programs but only when we see stuff happening that relates to what church is all about - the spiritual growth of Christians and the finding of spiritual life by those who have not yet encountered Christ.

And so we want to move in a direction so that we are a church which feeds and founds formation (spiritual growth of Christians) and transformation (finding of spiritual life by non-Christians). So perhaps we have a catchcry here - formation for transformation.

It isn't rocket-science - it's meant to look obvious! But even obvious things can be forgotten - the history of human organisations (such as churches!) will tell us that we will always tend to slip into the pride of "good works." Our need is to continually engage with the real substance of following God - a beautiful submission where his ends are achieved by his means through us - and steer deliberately away from the temptation to cling to the success of the things that we can do and achieve by ourselves.

Our engagement with this has started. At the beginning of the year we looked at what it meant to find God in "solitary places" - including being vulnerable before God, and open to daily devotions and the power of God's Word. In recent weeks we have been looking at the spiritual blessings from Ephesians 1 and our call to depend on Christ, be submitted to him, and to be "spiritual" - to have spiritual growth - formation for transformation.

And so perhaps our "what next" can be caught up in this catchcry of formation for transformation. This is the way we are heading - and it involves:

Prayer, prayer and more spiritual prayer. As a body we need to be praying for each other and hearing from God by his Word and Spirit.
Sharing stories, formally and informally, of what spiritual growth - formation and transformation - look like.
Considering our current program of services (including KLT), small groups etc. and looking at how, simply in how they are arranged and managed, that we can broadly foster further spiritual growth.
A number of us will be exploring different resources that we can make use of - from programs and courses, through to venues and other arrangements - and reporting back.

Over the next few days I'm planning to write a bit more about what formation for transformation looks like. It's time to interact, converse (use the comments on the blog!), and share our heart and look to God - "OK, what's next?"

What a fantastic time to be in.

[1] This wisdom can be seen in books such as Hawkins and Parkinson's Reveal from out of Willow Creek that I'm hoping to review on my other blog soon. [Edit: This is now available]

April 2008 Prayer Points

2008-04-14T17:00:00.003+10:00

Thankyou for continuing to pray for the Connections project. There is much to rejoice and much for you to uphold in prayer for us.

Praise God for continuing growth in the life of the congregation. We have had growth in numbers but also a sense of depth. This Sunday in particular was a fantastic celebration of the baptism of little Isabella Grace. There was a sense of God's presence and a real engagement with the truths of the gospel. Please pray for continued growth in depth as well as breadth.
Praise God for activities and services of Easter. The "Good Friday @ Five with Fish & Chips" was a time for making contact with people. Fusion Australia also ran an Easter community festival in the lead up to Easter which had some very positive outcomes.
Please continue to pray for our administration and infrastructure. These are the things that can niggle and be stumbling blocks rather than good vehicles. Please pray for the owners of our venue as we consider ongoing terms of hiring, or the possibility of moving to a different venue. Please pray for good financial management etc.
Please pray for Gill and I as we meet this week with the candidature committee for Bush Church Aid. BCA are kindly providing resources to us to help us kickstart into the current and next season of the church plant.
We have grown in youth all of sudden - from people joining us, and from children growing into the youth age levels. We are working on proposals and things to invest in a youth ministry, building up through this year to be up and running by 2009. This is early days yet so please pray for things to go smoothly in this regard.
Please pray as people complete safe ministry accreditation and begin to be released into new positions. Please pray for right spirit and closeness to God and steadfastness in the word for our leaders, wisdom and ability for those who minister and exercise gifts in the church.
Please pray for new small groups that have started - Saturday night musicians group, Thursday morning daytime group, and Sunday night young adults group.

These prayer points go out on our "Mission Pray" email list. If you would like to receive them please let me know by emailing me.

Experiencing the God of Mission.

2008-04-14T10:31:00.011+10:00

What is the primary aim or purpose of the church? What is our point, our reason for being? What is the goal for which we strive? When we are seeking to grow a church community these are fundamental questions of value and purpose that sooner or later have to be answered.

In our historical context the answer to the question of purpose would revolve around a sense of "chaplaincy" - the church exists to meet needs, provide comfort in times of trial, and a place that is stable and secure so that legacies and memories have somewhere to reside. This is the "traditional" emphasis.

A more recent development, surrounding and built on the charismatic renewal of the 1970's and 80's, pick up an emphasis on transcending experiences. This is particularly related to music and an emphasis on the more "supernatural" manifestations of the Holy Spirit which are valued together with touchy-feely values of fellowship and being "God's family."

Alongside this however, has been another emphasis - often placed at odds against charismatic values. This emphasis was rooted in post-war apologetics and evangelicalism and in recent times has been manifested through emphases on direct evangelism of the gospel - usually as shaped by reformed theology - and the catchcry of "mission" and of growing the Kingdom of God through the preaching/proclamation of the word to produce converts.

I don't want to malign these emphases. I respect the traditional view, and I identify greatly with both the other views - which I'm going to call the "experience emphasis" and the "mission emphasis." What I want us to consider is how we can look at both "experience" and "mission" - and seek the best from them to drive our vision and our plans for Connections.

So let us begin with a critique and firstly consider the "experience emphasis." This emphasis can of course be an overemphasis. But it has considerable strengths. This view, in particular, puts a great emphasis on personal and corporate spiritual growth. The view of God is that he is desirable and that relationship with him is necessary for full spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical health. The catchcry towards God is "I'm lost without you." The experience of times of "worship" (in the sense of "adoration") - including through music - is an expression of intimacy in that relationship with God. It incorporates a prayerful exhortation that God would touch the deepest parts of a persons being and walk them through the valleys of brokenness and sin so that each one of God's people may witness by their very lives and experiences the greatness of God and the reality of the Spirit of Christ at work in the world. This holy desire is found in Scripture, for instance:

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" - Psalm 42:1-2
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." - Romans 12:1
Jesus prays for his disciples and those who would believe through their message - "... that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." - John 17:21

Of course, the experiential emphasis taken to its extreme becomes unbalanced. The quest to experience God personally can lead to a focus on self - and the experience itself becomes more important than what is being experienced - "I heard" becomes more important - even more authoritative - than "God said." It can also lead to people becoming too passive - as long as I'm happy with my experiences, I need not do anything - as long at the music is good at church in doesn't matter what goes on outside of those four walls.

And this is why the mission emphasis is also needed. Godly mission is about being active and about doing God's will and applying God's purposes for the world and not just for the self. It's about preaching the gospel, speaking out the call and commands of God and seeking the response of faith. It's about going and doing and getting on with the job. The catchcry scriptures for this emphasis are ones like:

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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 you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." - Matt 28:18-20
"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine... But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." - 2 Tim 4:2,3a,5

We see this emphasis played out in books such as Peter Bolt's Mission-Minded - a very useful book for helping get things done in church in a manner that aligns with the evangelistic purposes of the Kingdom of God.

But the point is this: the mission-emphasis helps balance the experience-emphasis - but the reverse is also true. The danger, for instance, with Bolt's book is that, taken simplistically, it turns the purpose of church into a "convert machine" - put non-Christians in one end, and if you do the right things and have the right sequence of public awareness, pre-evangelistic, evangelistic, nurturing and training activities, you will have evangelists coming out the other end. This is the danger that the mission of the church moves from glorifying God to glorifying the mission.

Perhaps the first part of Hebrews 12 gives us the balance:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1-2

Here we see that while we have a race to run (our mission) we do so setting our eyes on Jesus and experiencing him in the casting off of sin and entanglements and allowing him to author and perfect us. There is a dual emphasis on being and doing in this framework for God's people.

At Connections our vision is to be "a community forming people to be and do what Christ has intended" and so we try to encapsulate this framework. It makes for a dynamic experience. Sometimes we need to emphasise the doing - responding to needs, seizing opportunities, living and speaking out the gospel, putting into place activities, events and programs.

At other times, (such as the present season it seems), there is an appropriate emphasis on being. We can load ourselves up with programs - new and old - and run the risk of showing ourselves to be the stressed, burned out and scatterbrained people of God. Rather the programs that we start or change this year (and that will happen, we do have stuff to do) need to founded on a growing depth - a beating heart, a spiritual awareness, a renewed passion, a wholehearted abandonment of self that comes from faith, a true calling, a move of the Holy Spirit, a experienced sense of the love of God for us and for the world.

At the moment, that seems to be an appropriate emphasis for us. We need to use the current time to seek God and find in Him the answer to things that entangle us, individually and corporately. It is a blessed season - a season to look to God.

Sometimes our call is not to build up too quick, but to dig down - building strong foundations for the work ahead. In that lies both experiencing God for who he is, and being caught up in his mission and purpose. In that framework when both the experience of God, and the carrying out of his commands, together become the essence of what the church is really about: worshipping the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and body.

Worship is founded on an experience of God. Worship is active and declarative.

We are a people who worship.

Calling Theory

2008-04-02T12:01:00.005+11:00

I've been reading Stephen Covey's The 8th Habit recently. It's not a book I would class as particularly religious or spiritual, but I'm a firm believer in general revelation - and that we can learn truth and wisdom from the "secular" world.

And there is indeed a bit of wisdom in Covey that relates to our vision at Connections to be a community forming people to be and do what Christ has intended. At the core of that vision is an impetus to help people to grasp their "calling" in life.

Before I get on to Covey, let me say that the word "calling" is a word that some people have strong views about. Some people say that God does not "call" people to anything except salvation - that asserting that you are "called by God" to something is simply a way of manipulating or, at the least, putting your own goals and framework ahead of the ordinary day-to-day commands of Holy Scripture. Some people, at the other end of the spectrum, spend so much time trying to find their "call" and asking the question "what does God want me to do" that they fail to do anything.

I use "calling" in terms of understanding of how God, a follower of God, and God's purposes applied in the real world, interact. God very certainly does call us to salvation, and part of that salvation (or at least an integral outworking of it) is the "good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:10b).

Covey talks about "the fire within" or "discovering one's voice" or "unique, personal significance." And the gem he has to offer us is this analysis:

Covey sees the whole person as an interaction of body, mind, heart and spirit relating to four human needs - "to live, to learn, to love, to leave a legacy" - and four aspects of "voice" - "need, talent, passion, conscience." I'll let him explain it:

...I suggested that voice... lies at the nexus of talent (your natural gifts and strengths), passion (those things that naturally energize, excite, motivate and inspire you), need (including what the world needs enough to pay you for), and conscience (that still, small voice that assures you of what is right and that prompts you to actually do it). I also said that when you engage in work (professional, community, family) that taps your talent and fuels your passion - that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet - therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul's code." Stephen Covey, The 8th Habit (Free Press, New York: 2004), pp84-85

There is much to like in what Covey says. At Connections we often talk about doing things from one's calling - because it's when you are a square peg in a round hole that you get burned out and disillusioned. But we need to do more than make simplistic statements.

Covey helps us to see that to help people find their calling means to help them bring together their talents and passions with a need that they can see, motivated by a deep spirit of conviction about how that aligns with God's purposes.

In our context I think we often get hung up on the "need" aspect - we see the need and get frustrated that we can't meet it - as church or as individuals. This is exacerbated by emerging church rhetoric about considering "target groups" and the like - it's need focussed and so sometimes leads to imbalance and disillusionment in the real world where things are holistic and where we, the ones who are called to achieve that target, have to live.

The need needs to be considered, but in line with other questions - What is my/our passion? What talents do we/I have or want to get? What is God driving us/me toward or has placed in front of me/us? and To what need has God called us/me to be a part of the solution?

This matches with my theology of the spiritual (charismatic) gifts. I'll blog about that some other time - but the gist is this: God's grace is administered through the gifts of his people to a situation he wishes to touch. God aligns us with his purpose, raising our passions, engaging our talents, to achieve what he wishes to achieve.

Easter Explanations cont. - The Resurrector

2008-03-25T21:55:00.003+11:00

Having been prompted, I've put some further thought into some of the biblical theology behind my Easter presentation to kids (mentioned in my last post). Because its general personal theology stuff I've put it on my other blog.

Easter Explanations

2008-03-22T14:15:00.007+11:00

This is another little mention of a "positive proclamation" - how do we take our "doctrine" and "what we believe" and "make it sing" for the generation and people we are seeking to reach.

Yesterday we had our annual "Good Friday for Kids" service. We find that providing a specific children-focussed event on Good Friday afternoon is worthwhile. There are a lot of people who are going away for the Easter break but who want to bring their kids to something "spiritual." There is teaching and interaction with the kids, and we top it off with a shared meal of fish and chips - and so it is a community-building and relationship-forming time as well.

Of course, the age-old problem is "how do you explain the cross to pre-schoolers"? There's a lot of ways that I find unsatisfactory: The "Jesus will get you into heaven" method - which explains the outcome of the cross but not it's reason. And there's the "Jesus rose again just like little lambs and so God loves you" method - which engenders, perhaps, the right feelings and thoughts of trusting in God because of Jesus - but doesn't really get to the facts of the cross - especially the fact that Jesus had to die.

So, for what it's worth, here is the text of my attempt that we used last night. It latches onto the truth of how the substitutionary nature of the cross can be accessed through an understanding of Christ "representing" us. A fuller study of this (another blog! [Now done and available]) would pick up on what it means for the act of atonement for us to be "in" Christ as opposed to being "in" Adam (Romans 5), and also the incarnational impetus of what it means for the act of atonement for Christ to count himself as one of us, a perfect person including himself in sinful humanity.

That's for another day - the text below used lots of pictures and animations on the screen (including the trike shown at top - named "bike man" by the children). For your thoughts and comments:

When I was little I used to have an old tricycle. It wasn't one of these teeny tiny ones. It was a big one with blow-up tyres and proper brakes.

And even though I was little, I was still old enough to ride my tricycle around the quiet streets near my house and up to my friend Marcus' house.

One day I was riding home after playing with Marcus and his slot-car tracks. I was looking down at the pedals and not watching where I was going.

What do you think happened? (Animation of crash on screen)

That's right! I crashed into the back of a parked car.

How do you think I felt?

I felt bad. I felt wrong. I felt guilty. I had done something wrong.

Has anyone felt like that?

I also felt scared – what would the owner of the car think?

What do you think I did?

I went and got my mummy.

And what did my mum do? She TOOK RESPONSIBILITY for me.

She found the owner of the car and she talked to him.

I don't know what she did – but I guess she might have paid for the damage. And I guess she said sorry – because I was her responsibility.

And then, when she had finished, she picked up my tricycle and we went home, and she said - “It's OK. I've paid for it. Everything is fine."

Now, we've already heard that Easter is all about Jesus. And we know that Jesus died on the cross and rose again – but why did he do that?

Well, the story about my tricycle and my mum, tell us something.

When I crashed my tricycle I felt bad. I knew I had done the wrong thing. And my mum took responsibility for me.

When we look at the cross, what Jesus is saying is “I'm taking responsibility for everybody who believes in me – and everything that they've done wrong.”

Because, we know that's not just about bike accidents. Everyone of us does things that we now are wrong. And we feel just as yucky on the inside.

And just like my mum didn't leave me on the road to try and pay for the damage to the car – Jesus doesn't leave us, feeling yucky, and knowing we've done the wrong thing but not being able to do anything about it.

When Jesus dies on the cross, Jesus is saying – I'm going to take responsibility for all the bad things in the world – and I'm going to the pay the price – even if it means having to die.

And so we know that Jesus died – to take our bad things and make them right.

Can you remember my story? What happened after my mum had paid for the damage – did it work, was it OK? Yes it was?

Well it's the same. After Jesus died, they put his body in a grave. And three days later, he rose again.

He was dead, and now he was alive.

And it's like God was saying “It's OK, the price has been paid. The bad things have been fixed. Everything will be OK.”

Po-mo-ecclesiology

2008-03-14T20:58:00.006+11:00

I received a comment with regard to a previous post which included this question:

...I will take the bait and ask: Will, would you share with us your general views and perspectives on the postmodern church?

*Cough*, ahem, a good question - and one that relates well to the Connections project, although here I will give my general $0.02 worth.

Firstly - the term "postmodern church" needs unpacking. Unlike other adjectives which speak to the nature of the church (e.g. "holy church" or "church of God"), this adjective should more properly (or perhaps firstly) be used to refer to the situation of the church (e.g. "The medieval church"). The postmodern church is the church that exists in the context of postmodernity and deliberately engages with that context.

And that's important because that engagement has two sides - parts where the church and the context are "in phase" and parts where they are "out of phase." In other words, the postmodern church is sometimes cultural and sometimes counter-cultural when it engages its postmodern context. The debates, views, and perspectives that surround the "postmodernity & church" issue in the end come back to an argument as to how the cultural/counter-cultural engagement needs to be balanced or expressed.

Let me seed my thoughts by considering some "tenets" of postmodernity which I have abridged from Millard Erickson's Postmodernizing the Faith. This is not an exhaustive or precise list.

Knowledge/truth is subjective/experiential
Abstract knowledge is uncertain
All-encompassing theories are impossible and inherently evil (all “metanarratives” “totalise”)
Better knowledge ≠ Better life
“Progress” is rejectable: Ancient is good.
Truth is discovered in/through relationships
Science is questionable.

And let me launch into my thoughts by referring firstly to the issue of "knowledge and truth" - that the postmodern context asserts that knowledge and truth is subjective/experiential, and that abstract knowledge is uncertain.

The postmodern church is in-phase with this notion because the gospel has always been _more_ than just doctrine, and salvation has always (meant to have) been something different to passing an exam, or agreeing to a sequence of propositional truths. The gospel is meant to be experienced - salvation is about rebirth, regeneration, attaining the blessings of being in Christ by the grace of God the Father - these truths are not meant to be examined but met, embraced, grasped, and enjoyed with conviction, joy, trembling, thanksgiving etc. etc. etc. The postmodern church does not shy away from the experience of the gospel. In fact, it's something that the postmodern generation is crying out for. When trying to explain this to pre-postmodern people I often tell this story (link).

Of course, the church speaks counter-culturally, as well, in regard to the issue of knowledge and truth. We remain insistent that the truth we experience is not a purely subjective truth but a truth that is grounded in reality, in history - and is therefore exists outside of our agreement or disagreement with it. Someone once asked me - "Will, do you actually believe in Jesus, or just in the idea of him?" We actually believe.

Similarly the church is "out of phase" with postmodern culture when it comes to "all-encompassing theories" (or "metanarratives" in the jargon) - we do not and can not reject the all-encompassing reality of God and his work in the world.

However, the postmodern church is "in phase" when it recognises the postmodern rejection of "metanarratives" is based on a framework of assertions of power. And the church is therefore sympathetic when it recognises how the lies of this world have been used to assert the power of sin and human rebellion. Pick an "ism" and the church will at least have a critique of it - capitalism, communism, humanism etc. etc. - all are or have been used by a sinful humanity to assert a view and lend power to a few.

Many would assert that the church has been guilty of the same thing. And we must ask the question - Do we assert a worldview so that we can have power over people? The sad fact is, that when the church loses the gospel, we have been guilty of this - systems of sinfulness and sacraments are set up so that the church has power of life or death, membership of society or not - the Christian metanarrative has been used to "totalise" - i.e. to assert the totality of reality and so force people to submit to powerful "ministers" and "mediators" of salvation.

But the gospel, while universal and objective and indeed a "metanarrative" for history and human life is, in truth, unique in that it does not work on the premise of power assertions. It's easy to get lost in weird and wonderful philosophical analogies, but the call of Christ is not so much "match your narrative to mine, submit, submit!" but "see how our narratives interact?" The gospel is the interaction between two people in the end - God made man, and the ones to whom he calls - and so is a transaction based on relationship, not assertion of power.

It is at this point that the postmodern church faces it's greatest difficulty. The postmodern generation (in its search for experience) is one of the most spiritual generations in history. Yet to suggest that spirituality can be found and expressed in church just simply doesn't compute. Church is about power, not about spirituality, in the popular postmodern mindset.

In the end, the postmodern Church, is the post-Christendom church, the church that exists without any power and status except that of the gospel alone. And because of that dependence on the gospel, the postmodern church excites me.

There are many places where postmodern culture resonates with the gospel - or at least provides a means of communicating the gospel. Let me finish with a couple of points:

The postmodern church engages the cultural value of "Better knowledge ≠ Better life" because God has chosen the weak and foolish to show that he is God. And the knowledge we are to grow in - a knowledge of God - is relational.
The postmodern church engages the cultural value of relationship and "authentic community" as a valuable means of engaging with truth. The communal and collegial nature of Christianity is obvious in Scripture.
The postmodern church engages the cultural rejection of human optimism - that human progress is not always good (in fact often idolatrous), that science cannot give all the answers - because we all have a need of Christ.

EPIC epochs

2008-03-11T10:16:00.005+11:00

When Connections first started one of the things we had to interact with was how we arranged/targeted a Sunday gathering to engage with and be accessible to the younger generation we were trying to reach. This wasn't about the content of the gathering - expounding the ever-relevant truth of God's Word is the never-changing root of Christian spirituality - but about the style.

"Back then" (an ironic statement really - we're talking only two or three years) the whole "postmodern thing" was starting to be accepted and talked about - with varying degrees of insight. I was reading books like Ancient-Future Faith by Robert E. Webber and had already engaged with books like Postmodernizing The Faith by Millard Erickson. I was particularly moved by Gerard Kelly's RetroFuture and had attended a seminar of his in Launceston where, after a number of months of being stuck in post-war-church-of-england-curate-land, I felt like someone had given me a glass of sweet ice water in a very dry desert.

Remind me to blog about postmodernity in general some other time - the point for now, is that after engaging with the "postmodern thing" we picked up a little catch-cry for creating the style of our services: Our services were to be EPIC - Experiential, Participatory, Image-driven, and Communal (or Connected). I can't remember where we picked up the phrase - it's certainly not original to us, and a quick google shows its use is widespread now. A brief glance indicates that that the article at this location (link) is a good summary. Briefly, from my point of view, the essence is this:

E = Experiential. For the postmodern person truth is determined primarily from experience (not argument or logic etc.) If you can experience it - it is true. An experiential service engages all the senses - the "primal pathways" as I have been known to call it - either directly through having something tactile, auditory, olfactory etc. in the service, or through narrative and creative words etc.
P = Participatory. The postmodern person is dialogical - that is, they want to be engaged in dialogue and debate, not passive listeners to a monologue etc. Discussion times, non-rhetorical questions are a part of that, as is high-involvement of people in the running of the service.
I = Image-driven. Previous generations have found that the prayer-book speaks to their heart through the use of wonderful, engaging words. The postmodern person engages more readily with images, received in parallel (all at once) - not words received serially (one after the other). Images don't need to be explained, they simply evoke.
C = Communal/Connectedness. Religion used to be a very private thing - you came to church in silence to give each other space to be alone with God. Now communal gatherings are just that - gatherings of community - and we learn together, engage with each other, and help each other grow. (I think Hebrews 10:24-25 might support this one).

And so we embraced "EPIC" as a stylistic framework: lots of images on the screen, dialogical sermons, emphasising "authentic community" as a missional strategy, having lots of people involved in leading the service, using old and new things in an engaging way etc. etc. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't - but it was and is a good framework.

There's a couple of issues that relate to it, however. Firstly - it is very easy, when energy levels go down, when time pressures go up, to construct a service so that it is "EPIC" only in ways that you (the service leader) engage with. It takes time and energy to think through and implement what other "learning styles" or "primal pathways" exist in the congregation, and engage with them. Personally, in recent months when I have been stretched so thin with two half-time jobs, I have slipped down this slope somewhat. Now I am full-time at Connections this is something I want to address.

Secondly - the growth of a congregation necessitates a change in how an EPIC framework is applied. We are moving to a different "epoch" - we were an embryonic sized church three years ago and then we were a family-sized church (around the 40-50 mark including children) recently, and now/soon it is the community-sized church (theoretically the 70-100 mark) that we are becoming. Implementing the EPIC style in a larger sized church is different to a smaller one. Dialogue is more difficult, "experiential" elements are harder to implement and manage, the community is a number of smaller groups (rather than individuals) and so not as easily tapped into - perhaps the only thing that doesn't change so much is the "image-driven" bit as we still make use of the data projector in some reasonably creative ways.

What we need to do now is put some work into re-considering and re-applying the EPIC framework. It is possible to do things differently - a case in point is Mark Driscoll (of Mars Hill Church fame) who despite giving hour-long monologues as sermons (you can't easily field questions on the fly and to-and-fro dialogically with a 1000's strong congregation) does participatory things like using SMS and Internet polls to shape what topic he speaks on etc. - I'm not saying we should do that, but we can just simply note that we can be more creative.

What doesn't work is a hard-and-fast absolute application of a "style." Sometimes a didactic sermon is required. Sometimes the experience needed is visual and auditory silence. Sometimes people need to simply sit and receive from God rather than get up and do.

We are in something of a state of flux. I'm sure we will have new service leaders and preachers over the next few months as newcomers grow into the Connections community and through the necessary (but slow) proceedings of safe ministry accreditation and other formalities. Every new member is a new "input" into the service (whether leading it or not). And so we will be figuring out, again, what it means for us to take the Word of God and express it in EPIC fashion.

Prayer Points

2008-03-08T01:19:00.003+11:00

Here is an abridged version of the prayer points that I have sent out on our prayer partners email list. If you would like to receive the prayer points via email - email me and let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Praise God for the beginning of the Imagine Project, launched and commissioned on March 1st at the Diocesan Gathering. This is a significant boost for Connections as we come under this project, the leadership of Bishop Ross Nicholson, and a funding arrangement with Bush Church Aid (BCA).
Consequently I have now finished up in the Parish of Wynyard. Saying goodbye was a moving time for me, but the time ended well and I can look back on the two and half years of ministry in Wynyard with a great deal of gratitude. Please pray for the Parish of Wynyard as they enter a time of transition.
At Connections itself, God has brought a number of people to us and we have gained a number of families and young adults in the last few weeks. This something to thank God for, and to be grateful for the privilege that God is at work in us and through us. Please pray for all of us (newcomers and oldcomers) and particulary for wisdom for myself and the leadership so that we can best care for, pastor, empower and release this growing congregation.
Please pray, in particular, for the playgroup - Time-Out - as it is goes through a time of transition with new leaders picking up responsibility for it. Please pray for the new leaders, for good relationship, purposeful conversation and interaction - and for persistence etc. as they complete safe ministry checks, and engage with the task at hand.
Please pray for a new small group of musicians and others who are to commence meeting on Saturday evenings. They intend to practice music and to have all that soaked in the joys of Bible study, fellowship etc.

A passage that has touched me recently is from 1 Corinthians 2 - particularly verse 12 - "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." Please pray for our region, that the Spirit would move, bring people to faith and an understanding of the wonderful gift of salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

Demarcation

2008-03-05T22:38:00.002+11:00

I've decided to bring a little bit of order to the chaos. This blog will now be for Connections related musings only. My personal rants and raves can be found here.

The journey of a church plant will be in this blog, enjoy this alone, or subscribe to both!

The Desert of New Things

2008-03-02T20:33:00.004+11:00

Tomorrow I am off for two days of retreat with a number of other pastors - we get together a few times a year for overnight get togethers and then for a whole week once a year. It's a refreshing and uplifting time.

Early this year at Connections we had a series on the importance of the "desert" or "solitary place" (we even put the Greek word ερημος up on the screen and talked about it). We looked at how Jesus deliberately went to "solitary places" - and how the theme of "wilderness" is often at play in the Bible when it talks about God meeting with his people.

In the end, the "health" of a Christian walk is not measured by how well someone acts at church, or how readily they volunteer - it's who they are when they are alone, laid bare before God. That is the "desert" we are talking about. It is in such solitary places that some of the more intangible works of sanctification are done - especially as we turn to the Bible at such times. It is there that we are convicted of sin, assured of forgiveness, comforted, guided, and can consider the wisdom of God at work. It is there that we are matured, helped, strengthened as individuals who follow Christ so that when we return from that place of solitude we are effective and purposeful as God's agents in the world and in church.

2008 began with a call at Connections for people to seek God and to take the discipline of daily bible reading, prayer and solitude seriously and joyfully.

Our church has been blessed in recent weeks with a number of new people attending and committing to being part of us. This is a joy - but also a time of change and enquiry. What is God's heart for our ever-forming church? Who will we be together? What things need to change? In what way do I pastor and serve? What are we called to in this season, and how do we implement it?

Soon this will mean a time of planning and doing, visiting, relating, befriending, enjoying. In some ways this has already begun - our vision is to be a community forming people to be and do what Christ has intended - and community-building requires positive action. So we will be having BBQ's and picnics, opportunities to relate, know and belong etc. etc. etc.

But the next two days, for me, are a time to be alone with God, shaped around brothers in ministry, and to lay this blessing, and all other things in his hands. To hold what has been given lightly, and to store up his word in the deepest place. Then whatever comes next - a leap or a fairy-step - it will be well done in faith.