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Written by: Peter Brain

It is not uncommon for our strengths to become our weaknesses. Could this be a problem with our love for a rigorous exegetical method of preparing sermons?

Ministers are sometimes told that there is no need for a devotional reading of the Bible since all our reading and preparation should engage us with God. I believe this is a half- truth which can so easily lead us away from one of our great evangelical strengths. The strength of a warm devotion to the Lord Jesus has nurtured and strengthened the hearts of evangelical Christians and pastors alike. The daily quiet time has been an essential expression of this devotion.
The very concept of a regular time alone with God has often been branded legalism. A moment’s reflection ought to dispel this as unwise, unbiblical (Lam 3:21-23 and Matt 6:11) and singularly unhelpful since we regularly make time to eat our evening meal with our family and applaud the husband who arranges a regular date with his wife. Anything worthwhile requires planning and discipline.

Pastors who forget that they are Christians before they are pastors are at great risk in many areas of their life. Perhaps the chief danger is that of a professional approach to the Scriptures that is content with a knowledge and careful handling of the Bible rather than a growing loving relationship with God.

The advice given to me by one of my parish leaders shortly after I was converted was both wise and helpful. “Peter, try to read the Bible every day and expect God to speak to you”. Reading the Bible is more than reading the Bible. It is to engage in relationship with the living God who loves to speak to His children. This is a prior responsibility to our role as pastor, meeting as children with our Father rather than as servants with our Master. The primary purpose is not to prepare a sermon,  but to be trained, corrected, encouraged, led, indwelt and nurtured by our loving Triune God.

A number of blessings follow this prayerful expectation. The first is that the Bible will always be seen and experienced as a living book. Devotional reading will always keep our preaching  and pastoring fresh because our relationship with God will always be growing. The S.U chorus will be at the heart of our approach to Scripture. “Make the Book live to me O Lord, Show me Yourself within Your Word; Show me myself and show me my Saviour, And make the book live to me”.

Our evangelical tendency to exalt the objective above the subjective will be moderated as we expect God to speak to us in this way. We will not only preach the third day resurrection of Jesus, but remind ourselves that every day He lives to be our great understanding High Priest and our Friend. We will take great heart from His desire to fellowship with us, that abiding antidote to lukewarmness (Rev. 3:20), that persistent enemy of western Christians and zealous pastors alike.

One of our dangers is to slip into a “Christism”, as devastatingly erroneous and unhelpful as deism.   This is the trap of so focussing on the propositions of scripture as to neglect the three Persons to whom the propositions testify. The recent trend to speak of “gospel ministers” as the way of describing our role rather than “ministers of the Lord Jesus” could be an unintentional way of robbing ourselves of the joy of being called into and involved intimately with our Lord in our Father’s business.

At a very practical level of encouragement in ministry, meeting with our Heavenly Father is surely more important than simply reading or studying the Bible. Devotional reading will expect God to speak to us through the text rather than our exegetical methods. Our Lord’s “do not be afraid” to His disciples on the lake becomes a timely word to us when buffeted with life’s demands and problems. The fearful Israelites quaking in their boots at Goliath’s taunts will be a rebuke to our fears just as David’s boldness, a spur to action, along with biblical theology’s insight that David represents Christ who has won the battle for us. Would we argue with the doyen of 18/19th century expository preachers, Charles Simeon, finding strength from our Lord, when, following prayer for God’s comfort from a plain verse of scripture upon opening his Greek Testament, put his finger on the text “they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; they compelled to carry his cross” (Matt.27:32)? It may not be pure exegesis but it is does express the love of our Father for His son who was in need of encouragement to press on in His faithful exegetical ministry. If we expect our fellow Christians to apply all the exegetical skills of homiletics which we apply to sermon preparation might we in effect be closing the Book to them and missing out on God’s comfort ourselves?

Marital unfaithfulness and addiction to pornography are more likely to be kept at bay by those who engage in “a devotional pattern that places us starkly in awe before a fearsome God. A God-angled view of sin and its consequences.” (Bill Halstead).

We are far less likely to sin against One with whom we meet daily and far more likely to find the strength and pleasure of obedience from our gracious Lord who lovingly encourages us every time we meet with Him.

Our heritage is as priceless as it is satisfying. And herein lies our greatest danger when we can so easily be satisfied with our heritage rather than the One who has so graciously blessed us with it. As we remember that the same Holy Spirit who guided the Biblical authors to write the Scriptures also dwells in us we should not be at all surprised that He will make God’s written Word alive for us every time we make the time to meet with Him. 

Peter Brain is the former Bishop of Armidale and presently Rector of the parish of Rockingham in the Diocese of Perth.

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Written by: Ben Underwood

What is the business of church? ¹ Why does the congregation congregate, and when they get together what should they be doing and why should they be doing it?

In answering this, our thoughts might first turn to the kinds of things that we do in church, things like praising God, learning from the Bible, praying, sharing with and serving our fellow Christians. But is there anything that holds these things together, some purpose that they all serve?

This seems to be a useful question to ponder. For if we were clear what church was for, it would help us participate in church, and give us a way to help others participate too. More than that, knowing what the congregation was supposed to be doing when it met, and why, would also help us assess how well church was serving its God-given purposes. 

I notice that reformed and evangelical Christians take different approaches to this question (to say nothing of those with other theological outlooks). I want to explore two contrasting approaches to these questions: those of John Piper and of D. Broughton Knox.

Church is for the pursuit of worship – John Piper

One answer that might occur to you is that the God-given purpose of church is the worship of God. The church service is ‘corporate worship’. Speaking this way about church places the emphasis on us making some response to God, and towards God, whether that response is the reverent and orderly participation in a proper liturgy or joyful praise and adoration in song, or receiving God’s word with open ears and ready hearts.

John Piper is a pastor and writer for whom worship is a fundamental category for talking about the Christian before God, and his thinking on the church as worship is worth our attention. In what follows I am following his seminar notes ‘Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning: The Pursuit of God in Corporate Worship’.² Piper sees the business of the Christian life as worship, and the business of church as corporate worship, unfolding as an awakening, a pursuit and an experience, all of which are worship in some manner, for they show forth the glory and worth of God. The awakening as that we are stirred up to pursue satisfaction in God by hearing the word of God, supremely in preaching, which is an act of expository exultation. The pursuit is pursuit of satisfaction in God in the common activities of the church service, and the experience is of satisfaction in God,1 in which God is glorified by our enjoyment of him.

The Experience: Worship

Piper works backwards through this triad, because for him the essence of worship is the experience of satisfaction in God, and the awakening and pursuit are only worship inasmuch as they lead to the experience. So, as he often does, Piper begins with the foundational thesis that there is no other greater than God and that our great good and purpose is to glorify him (i.e. worship him) by enjoying him forever. Worship is an inward, spiritual experience. In his words, ‘The essential, vital, indispensable, defining heart of worship is the experience of being satisfied with God because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him for ever.’³
It may seem to fly in the face of the New Testament to think about church from the category of worship, but Piper faces this difficulty explicitly. He  looks at NT usage of two main words that might be translated ‘worship’ (proskuneo and latreuo) and acknowledges that these are not used to describe what happens in the Christian gathering. Piper seeks the explanation of this in Jesus’ aim to divert attention ‘away from worship as a localized thing with outward forms to a personal, spiritual experience with himself at the centre. Worship does not need a building, a priesthood, and a sacrificial system. It needs the risen Jesus.’ ⁴

Piper takes Jesus’ words that ‘true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth’ (John 4:23) to mean that ‘this true worship is carried along by the Holy Spirit and is happening mainly as an inward, spiritual event, not mainly as an outward, bodily event.’⁵ And, as Piper sees it, the New Testament writers continued Jesus’ programme so that in their writings worship ‘is being significantly de-institutionalized, de-localized, de-externalized. The whole thrust is being taken off of ceremony and seasons and places and forms and is being shifted to what is happening in the heart – not just on Sunday, but every day and all the time in all of life.’⁶

Piper suggests that for the NT writers to use worship language for church would too much have suggested an identity between worship and certain occasions or acts. Hence, by avoiding worship language and categories in speaking of  church gatherings, the NT does not marginalise worship, but underscores that  worship is located ultimately in the heart, not in any outward form, place or act.

The Pursuit of Worship
If, as Piper reasons, the essence of worship is the experience of being satisfied in God, then since we are to worship God, we should pursue this experience of being satisfied in God. This pursuit of satisfaction in God then becomes a kind of extension of worship out from its essence. The ambit of worship widens to include both the experience of satisfaction, and the activity of pursuing that satisfaction. Indeed all things in life should serve the pursuit of this satisfaction in God, including church. So, if Christians are convinced that ‘nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their aching hearts besides God’, then ‘This conviction breeds a people who go hard after God on Sunday morning. They are not confused about why they are there. They do not see songs and prayers and sermons as mere traditions or mere duties. They see them as means of getting to God or God getting to them for more of his fullness.’⁷

This pithy answer to the question What is church for? explains why Piper’s Philosophy Of Music And Worship begins with ‘God-centeredness’, which is expounded as ‘A high priority on the vertical focus of our Sunday morning service. The ultimate aim is to so experience God that he is glorified in our affections.’⁸
Congregation members are to ‘Come on the lookout for God, leave on the lookout for people.’ And they seek to ‘Remove horizontal intrusions between vertical acts.’ (I take this to mean that a focus on people should not interrupt the congregation’s focus on God.)

The Awakening of Worship

However, there is something else to be taken into account: ‘In the real world of ordinary Christians, the pursuit of satisfaction in God through supplication, thanks, and praise do not usually arise in the hearts of God’s people without being stirred up in some way when they come together.’⁹
The stirring up is accomplished by the Word of God, by the mouth of the preacher, augmented by the example of the preacher: ‘in this world it is normal to go backward without continual exposure to the Word of God awakening in us the spiritual affections God deserves from us.’¹⁰ ‘God also designs that some of this continual exposure to the Word of God be provided by leaders in the church whose calling it is to make truth known to the people and to be examples of Godward affection for them.’¹¹ ‘The content of God’s Word will be woven through all we do in worship. It will be the ground of all our appeal to authority. Preaching (expository exultation) will be central.’¹²

This high valuation of the preaching of the word leads Piper to a further widening of the ambit of the word worship. Worship is not only the experience of satisfaction in God, and the pursuit of this satisfaction, but the stirring up of others to pursue satisfaction in God through preaching (‘expository exultation’) is itself worship too,
‘because the declaration of God’s truth and the demonstration of its value with appropriate affections is worship. That is, it displays the value of God in that it shows he is worth knowing and proclaiming and feeling strongly about.’¹³

Two observations about all this. Firstly, Piper is thinking out of a theological foundation into the practice of church against the background of Scripture and his context. Worship is the big theological category for everything in Piper’s view of what it is to be a human being before God, so worship is the foundation for thinking about church too. This is not surprising. What we should note is that in this analysis, church is complex – it is not a simple, uniform act of worship that goes on in a congregation, but centres about sluggish, forgetful human hearts being stirred up to seek satisfaction in God, centrally by the expository exultation of a preacher, and the congregation together using the activities of the service as the means of seeking and expressing that satisfaction in God. 

The second observation I would make here is that this analysis is an antidote to any approach to church which does not place the relationship we have with God at the centre of what church is about. It is an assault on the church as social-cum-community group or cultural habit. It is a theological, un-sociological account of church designed to reveal the real significance of what it is to go to church.

Church is for the expression of fellowship – D. B. Knox

To be frank, Piper’s approach to church seems foreign to me (unsurprising, really, since he is from a slightly different culture). Engaging with Piper’s vision of church has sent me back to examine the influential voices in my own Christian culture to understand my own instincts about church. If the pointy end of John Piper’s theological vision is worship, then D. Broughton Knox, who taught influentially in Sydney Anglican circles, had a theological vision with a pointy end too, namely, fellowship. We Knox sees the business of the Christian life as fellowship, and the business of church as to express and enjoy that fellowship. We may summarise Knox’s view of the aims of church as the increase and expression of the experience of fellowship.

The Experience: Fellowship

Whereas John Piper thinks of the true end of human beings as the worship of God, Knox thinks of the true end of human beings as fellowship with God and one another in Christ. As Piper sees it, God’s basic delight is in his glory and its display. Our fundamental way of sharing in God’s basic delight is our worship, which is the enjoyment and display of God’s glory. As Knox sees it, God’s basic delight is the fellowship – the shared love and activity – of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our fundamental way of sharing in God’s basic delight is to come into fellowship with him, and his people.
In his essay ‘The Biblical Concept of Fellowship’, Knox defines fellowship as, ‘friends sharing a common possession, leading to a common activity on the basis of that sharing’.¹⁴ For Knox, although ‘fellowship is a basic and delightful human experience’¹⁵ , fellowship begins in God – the full, perfect and blissful fellowship within the Trinity. Their common possession is the self-giving love the persons of the Trinity have for one another, and all the divine works of creation and salvation are their common activity.¹⁶

Human enjoyment of fellowship with one another ‘springs directly from the image of God in which men and women have been created’.¹⁷ We are made for fellowship. This fellowship is to be with God, and with one another, and although the fall has broken that fellowship with God and one another, in Christ, that fellowship is restored. A favourite verse of Knox’s is 1 John 1: 3;  ‘that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.’

In Knox’s view a verse like this describes the heart and reality of the Christian experience and the goal of salvation. Christ (that ‘seen and heard’) has brought Christians into fellowship with himself and his Father, with one another (‘we’) and, through their proclamation of Christ, with still others (‘you’).

Elsewhere Knox writes: ‘In the Scriptures, God has made known his plan and purpose and final objective for mankind, which he is bringing to pass. It may be summed up in one word – fellowship; God has made us for fellowship. Heaven is fellowship with one another in God’s presence’¹⁸

Fellowship is friends sharing in a common activity¹⁹ , and Knox sees this fellowship with God and one another as being experienced by the Christian in several areas of activity. Christians share together in the praise, thanksgiving and intercession directed to the Father, led by the Son and helped by the Spirit.²⁰ We share together with Christ and one another in the fellowship of evangelism, of living by faith in God, of suffering, of generous giving, of hope, of the inheritance of God’s people, of the Spirit.²¹

Knox writes that ‘our truest fellowship is the sharing of Christ’, and, ‘to be conscious of this fellowship means being conscious of of our relationship with God and one another in God.’²²

This is the Christian life – a life of fellowship with God and one another, which is fundamentally a delight. So then, as Christians, we should seek to express and to increase this fellowship.

Expressing Fellowship

Church, then, is an expression of this fellowship. ‘The church service should provide this fellowship’, writes Knox, going on to say ‘The real reason [for church] is that the Spirit of God has drawn [the congregation] into each other’s company to meet with Christ in each other, in accordance with his promise to be present with them. The Spirit has drawn them that they might experience the fellowship of the Spirit whom they all share.’²³

Knox lamented the failure he perceived in his own culture of church to appreciate the centrality of fellowship – ‘friends sharing in a common activity’. Neither pulpit nor pew thought they were in church for fellowship, and the formal, solemn, quiet, constrained conduct of church services provided little opportunity ‘to see the faces of our fellow-Christians […] shining with the face of Christ’.²⁴ Rather, Knox laments that in his church culture, ‘the only thing a worshipper at Morning Prayer sees of his fellow worshipper from the moment he enters the building, til the time he leaves it again, is the back of his head.’²⁵
Rather, the expression of Christian fellowship, friends sharing Christ in common, as we meet, ‘doing together what we do on our own, seeking Christ’s face for he is in each of us and we meet him in one another.’ I’m not sure what Knox would have said to Piper’s ‘Come on the lookout for God, leave on the lookout for people’ quoted above, but he might have said, ‘If you are on the lookout for God, look for him in his people.’ Knox is concerned our recognition and appreciation of one another as we gather is natural, genuine and primary in our engagement as church.

Increasing Fellowship

Knox holds that the end of church is Christian fellowship, and this fellowship is not a means to a further end, and always exists as it has been established by Christ. However, our consciousness and enjoyment of that fellowship can be and should be increased.  The means to Christians experiencing the fellowship of the Spirit ‘is remembering Jesus, dwelling in him, setting our minds on things above, where he is. All these phrases mean the same thing – namely being consciously in his presence.’²⁶

One important way to increase our consciousness of the reality of our  fellowship, our consciousness that we are together in the presence of Christ and his Father is teaching the word of God. ‘Christian fellowship is evoked on the word of God, and response to that word.’²⁷ The word of God brings a knowledge which is the first thing necessary for the strengthening of fellowship. He writes,

‘Christian fellowship is based on knowledge; knowledge of our common possessions, our common calling. This knowledge stirs the imagination, warms the affections, energizes the will to work, to suffer and to hope, and unites us all into one, God and his people. Knowledge comes through being taught with a receptive, obedient mind.’²⁸
Knox therefore treats the teacher of the congregation as one exercising a foundational function in the strengthening of fellowship. But his emphasis falls more upon the ‘receptive, obedient’ minds of we who hear, who ‘must act on our knowledge and direct our wills to the things of God’ to experience fellowship with him, whose fellowship is weak because we fail to set our minds on things above, where Christ is. ²⁹

The things we do together at church help us to set our minds on things above – not only hearing his word, but praising him, thanking him, praying to him, sharing the Lord’s Supper. All these things help us remember Christ, and that we are in him and he is in us. When we do these things together at church, our fellowship ‘is not only directed towards God, but also towards one another, building one another up as Christians. The Spirit’s gift of love for one another will ensure that when we come into each other’s company, an important consequence will be helping one another to be better Christians through instruction, exhortation and encouragement’.³⁰

There are obvious points of similarity between Piper and Knox.  They both have an experience taking a central place in their vision of the Christian life. For Piper it is the inward, spiritual experience of being satisfied in God, for Knox it is friends sharing a common possession, namely Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And for both, church has important role in strengthening that experience for the Christian. And further, the preaching or teaching of the word of God has a central place in that strengthening role.

There are also striking differences. In Piper the oneness of God is to the fore. He is God and we are his worshippers, and the great pleasure of God is the display of his glory before his creatures for our joy and his. In Knox, the triunity of God is to the fore. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and his great pleasure is in his own fellowship, shared with his creatures for our joy and his. Perhaps as a result of these differences Piper also focusses more upon the individual ‘going hard after God’ for him or herself in church, with other parties somewhat secondary, whereas Knox focusses on the primacy of the sociality of church, of mutual recognition and appreciation.

Both Piper and Knox offer robustly theological accounts of church designed to reveal the real significance of what it is to go to church, and how we should see and engage with the activities of church and the people we meet there. I can’t read what they have to say without being challenged to examine what I am thinking and feeling and seeking when I go to church on Sunday. And I have a hankering to read what some of the reformers had to say on this topic.

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Written by: Richard Condie

It might not be too far fetched to claim that the Anglican Church in Australia is at a cross-roads. With one third of our Dioceses now declared unviable, and several more teetering on the edge, at the least, we have a serious problem to address. It seems to me that we need to come together to make some positive decisions about our future direction.

One of the glaring omissions in the viability report that was presented to the General Synod last July was the recovery of mission and evangelism as the only real strategy to reverse the trend of decline. There was an assumption that if we got the structures working better, then somehow we would see improvement.

I was recently talking with a ministry colleague of a different tradition. The ministry they were doing was primarily around trying to get people to “come to church”. That was the expressed and assumed goal. When I tried to prod that perhaps helping people come to faith in Jesus might be a more effective goal (and even delivering the desired outcome), I was met with a slightly mystified look, as if I was espousing some arcane idea from a bygone age.

But before I feel too smug, I weep when I see the relatively few people who have made first time professions of faith through our own ministry. If I am brutally honest, the vast majority of people who have become disciples of Jesus at our church have been from overseas, and vastly different cultures from the one in which I have grown up. Praise the Lord for students from Asia, and refugees from the Middle East who are hungry for the gospel, and who want to learn about Jesus!

But to borrow Paul’s phrase in Romans 9, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart … for my kindred” Aussies. Perhaps it has something to do with living in “the most livable city in the world”, but they seem almost immune to the gospel message that we try to hold out to them. While Melbourne claims that moniker, the rest of the country ain’t that bad either. I remember as a Curate in rural northern NSW preaching at a harvest festival on Deuteronomy 8 about the dangers of “forgetting the Lord”. In many ways the fertile valley where we lived was the Aussie equivalent of a “land flowing with milk and honey”, well at least bananas and sugar cane!

So what are we to do? If Australians already live in something they think of as close to heaven, and quite frankly see no need for the God that we speak about, then we need to do some pretty clear thinking if we are going to make any kind of impact, let alone see a future for our denomination.

At one level we need to be concerned more about the progress of the gospel than we are about the viability of Anglicanism. But at the same time, our Anglican heritage and identity is exactly what Australia needs. The English reformation was about transforming the church so that it was able to present the pure word of God to a world that was in the dark. Sound familiar? And the prayer book, was an attempt to put the word of God and the worship of God into a form that was understandable to the masses (pun intended). It was a missionary endeavor, to reach the people in a way that made sense.

We have just sent out a family from our church to work in cross-cultural mission in East Asia. They have spent the better part of the last 10 years learning about the culture and the ministry context into which they are about to step. They will learn the language, they will find appropriate illustrations of gospel truth that will work in their new context, they will think hard about how the gospel challenges the idols and systemic sins of the country in which they work.

We Aussies need to do the same. We need to realize that we are losing ground for the gospel in Australia by our refusal to change. I do assume with the general readership of Essentials that I am preaching to the converted. However even the converted need to keep sharpening their tools.

We recently did an exercise among our leadership team to develop a spiritual profile of the area we are trying to reach – a series of observations about what people believe and how the gospel addresses each of these beliefs. It was a fascinating exercise and we have much more work to do on it. So far we have identified that the typical person in our neighbourhood views themselves as: 

• Autonomous – valuing freedom to govern their lives.
• Secular – valuing the here and now, the material, and rejecting the supernatural .
• Consumerist – where their consumerism is focussed on experiences.
• Activist – passionate about social and political causes.
• Tribal – belonging to groups of like minded individuals.
• Culturally diverse – in ethnicity but also subcultures.
• Distrusting of institutions – therefore suspicious of the church along with other institutions.
• Egalitarian – believing that every individual has value and a say.
• Sexually active and libertine – where sexuality is a matter of personal choice.
• Highly educated and affluent – most with tertiary qualifications and or well paying jobs (with significant pockets of exception).

Highly engaged with technology – constantly connected through social media and tech devices.
That list might resonate with your context too. But that is a very different kind of person to the one who was being reached by Anglicans in Australia even in the 1980’s when I came to faith. If we don’t adapt, and don’t think how the gospel addresses these changing aspects of our society, and then build an action plan around them, then we will be tossed onto the scrap heap of irrelevance.

We know the Gospel still has something to say. We know that it is the Word of Life for our broken world. We know that it is powerful to transform lives. We know that it answers the deep assumptions and yearnings that are behind many of these observations. But we are going to have to work hard at finding new ways of communicating and engaging with the world and communicating in their language and culture, which I think is a very “Anglican” thing to do. The Anglican Church of the next generation may look very unlike the Anglican church of the last (or even this) generation. But being culturally adaptive, while holding on to the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints (Jude 3), is exactly what Anglicans are supposed to be good at.

Enter, The Anglican Future Conference, 2015. My hope and prayer all along has been that this national gathering of Anglicans will grapple seriously with the issues that I have raised. The conference has six strands:

1. Hearing from God’s Word: It is right that we listen to what God wants to say to us as his people. Kanishka Raffel will open up 2 Peter for us with its challenge about the importance of doctrine and the godly life, and its call to action.

2. Recovering our Anglican Identity: As I have said above, the Anglican movement has been a force for gospel good in our world. Recovering what it really means to be Anglican in a theological sense will help us see the relevance and beauty of what our tradition has to offer for mission in the 21st century. Anglican identity is “what we believe”, and Ashley Null (an internationally renowned Anglican scholar) will unpack this for us over our three days together. Our desire is that it will make us confident about our Anglican future.

3. Standing in the Global Anglican Community: We are not alone in dealing with rapidly changing mission environments. In fact the whole Anglican communion is engaged in different ways. From the challenges of Islam, to the rise of secularism, and the changing face of mission, we need to learn from each other. We are bringing the world to Melbourne in March, where we will hear from Anglican brothers and sisters across the globe about what contending for the faith means for them.

4. Understanding our Missionary Context: As we have noted above Australia is on the move. Our plenary session on our missionary context, and the seven workshops that follow, will help us encounter some of these changes, and think how the gospel helps us to engage them. Simon Smart from the Centre for Public Christianity and Julie-Anne Laird from AFES at Melbourne University will help us think like missionaries at home.

5. Encountering Critical Issues for the Church in the West: There are many issues we need to grapple with if we are going to adapt for mission. New ideas and opportunities abound, and a few hurdles must be overcome. A plenary session led by Stephen Hale (Chair of EFAC Australia) with a panel of practitioners will identify the issues, and again 8 different workshops will help us think about how to put this into action.

6. Imagining Our Anglican Future: We have the potential for a strong positive and healthy future. In the plenary session Peter Adam will share some thoughts about what this might look like, and then a panel will respond to him. Contrary to the thoughts of some, this is not about the secession of FCA and EFAC from the Anglican Church of Australia, it is about our positive contribution to its future. Various workshops will help equip us for a strong faithful future.

On the Thursday evening we will launch the Australian branch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, and invite people to become members. We think this fellowship of likeminded orthodox Anglicans will be a necessary alliance as we move forward together.

My hope and prayer is that this conference will be a positive contribution for all Anglicans in Australia. We have a great gospel to proclaim, and much work to be done. Registrations continue to grow and so I’m glad that it looks like we will have a strong group of Anglicans gathered to work out how to move through our cross-roads to a fruitful and exciting future.

Richard Condie
Chair – Anglican Future Conference
Vicar, St Jude’s Carlton.

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Written by: Dale Appleby

Tradition and change, old and new, debates, opinions, discussions, experiments, can make one feel a bit sea-sick. If you pay attention to social media you will hear lots of voices telling you what's wrong with church and why people don't like going. To a lesser extent you will hear some discussion of what kind of message, or what form the message might take, in relation to different groups – Muslims, secular atheists and so on. You might even hear a variety of ideas about the Bible and how to read it.

Church, gospel, Bible are of great interest to evangelicals. And the broad church that is modern evangelicalism has a whole range of views on these topics. And these are not even the controversial Shibboleth topics. So much talk could drive you to the monastery.

Or make you think you were in the monastery and wanted to get out.

What we may not hear much of in the monastery is talk about the criminally oppressed poor. Or talk about our indigenous brothers and sisters. But, I suppose that depends on which cell you are in.

Are there too many voices? Is the Christian world too noisy? Is it a post-Babel world where everyone talks and no one understands? Maybe. But the post-Babel world is a very old world. And although God spoke everything into being before Babel, he continued to speak to the world after Babel as well.

Can he be heard? Can I hear him? Sometimes we can identify with David who recognised that God had dug out his ears for him (Ps 40.6 ESV fn). Quite an interesting picture, don't you think?  Paul says it a bit more eloquently, “For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor 4.6).

Both of those can be turned into excellent prayers.  Amongst the noise, we want to keeping hearing the voice, and seeing the light, of God himself.

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Written by: Dale Appleby

Dale Appleby reflects on the incarnation

Christmas is quite shocking. At least the big event at the heart of Christmas is. It is like the good shock we get when a very important person visits our home unexpectedly. We may wish later that the place had been cleaned, or that we had said at least something that was intelligent, but as we recover from the shock we feel pleased that we were honoured by their visit - even if we are not quite sure why they came.

We could feel like that about the birth of Jesus, because this is the creator of everything coming to visit and live with his creatures. Presumably he thinks this is important. Or he thinks we are important. Or we could think we were important because of his visit. All of that is true. But why?

Why did the Son of God want to, need to, take on human life, become a human being while still remaining God? And here is a different kind of shock. It was not so much that God needed to do something but that we needed him to do something. He saw that we had a problem that is focussed on death.

Heb 2.14-15 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.

We see the answer to why he became human by observing what he did with the humanity he took to himself. Did he turn it into something glorious and noble, did he become the epitome of the legendary great human? Quite the opposite to startt with: as a human he seemed very ordinary and weak.

Phil 2.7,8 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.

The great shock is that he took the humanity to death. He killed it off. He took on humanity in order to put it to death.

Heb 2.17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.

Gal 4.4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.

To redeem humanity, to bring it back because of its sin, its rebellion, its turn-your-back-on-God and treat-him-like-a-servant attitude. Because it not only deserved death as Adam was told, but needed it.

Rom 8.3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh

Which doesn't paint humans in a very good light. But then God is not a painter, he is a creator. His interest is not in renovating humans, or giving them a make-over, but in recreating them.

The greatness of the shock of bringing Jesus' humanity to death is deepened when we see what God did next. He raised it from death. He didn't leave the humanity in the grave as though he was finally rid of it. He raised it to a new life.

1 Cor 15.21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

The raised Jesus is the human divine Jesus who was killed. He took the humanity of Adam to death, and through death to a new life which is now directly connected with Christ rather than Adam. A new start has been made, a new humanity created out of the old. The shock is that God intends that humans should live in an entirely different way. The new life for humans is directly connected with the life of Christ. Who is no longer on the earth.

Eph 1.20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come

It is  the same human and divine Christ who is now seated in the highest place. The humanity has not been left behind. The shocking fact that he has taken humanity to the throne of God gives a clue to God's intention for us.

Eph 2.6,7  God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

But how shall we enjoy this new life? It is not a life given to us independent of Jesus. It is not ours to do with as we like. It is the life of God as we know it in our relationship with Christ.

Col 3.2-4  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

So many shocks. That God sets such value on us that he goes to such great lengths to bless us in this way. And also that he declares that we do not deserve this life but that we have forfeited what he gave us in the first place.

In fact that we live under the shadow of death - a death promised by God in the beginning. But it is through death (the death of the New Human) that God does away with the judgment that hangs over us, and also brings to an end the old corrupted humanity and from it raises up a new human, united with himself in Christ.

Such a wonder. That humans who were once made as the image of God, should in the end share the likeness of God's only Son.

1 John 3.2 Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

Why did God the Son take human flesh? Why did he want to become a human? Why did the Father send his only Son into the world?

1 John 4. 9,10  God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

So? These are the kind of shocks applied to someone whose heart has stopped beating. Do you, will you, live for this God who loved you so much? The new life is directly connected with Christ himself.

2 Corinthians 5:14,15 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
1 John 4. 11,12  Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Details

Written by: Chris Appleby

The Top Five Mission Books
Essentials asked a number of Mission Agency leaders what their top five Mission books were.

Here are the nominations from Bishop Tony Nichols and Rob Healy (BCA WA).

Tony Nichols

David Bosch Transforming Mission, though more than thirty years old, remains a classic text. (See review on page 13).

Bruce Dipple’s recent Becoming Global has good practical advice for the local church, but in my view is not strong theologically.  (See review on page 6).

Rob Healy
Out of the Saltshaker and into the World - Rebecca Manley Pippert  ISBN 9781844744282

This was one of the first books I read about personal evangelism/mission. Pippert uses Biblical truths and stories to inspire the individual and churches in mission.

Christian Mission in the Modern World – John Stott 
ISBN 9780830844104

Stott shares a model of mission that engages with people’s needs both spiritual and physical. There is a link between the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.
When we focus on one or the other mission is unbalanced and ineffective.

Transformed! People – Cities – Nations: Ten Principles for sustaining genuine revival. Alistair Petrie  ISBN 9781852404826

The Transformation Movement has had an impact around the world; especially in the 3rd World. This book encouraged me in seeking to build relationship with other Christian Leaders as we engage in mission. It highlights the importance of unity of purpose, and the bond of peace, in the Holy Spirit,  for the struggle of mission is not just against flesh and blood.

Operation World – Jason Mandryk  ISBN 9780830857241

My family used this book as part of our devotions. It gave us great encouragement in prayer for mission. It helped our children to see the broader picture of God’s mission to the people of the world. When we welcomed a Sudanese Refugee Congregation at Holy Cross Hamersley, it was a given that they were our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Mosques and Miracles – Stuart Robinson  ISBN 9780987089137

A book for the present times and our response to Islam. Without understanding a culture there can be little effective mission.  When we understand something there is also less fear and a far greater willingness to engage in dialogue. I have learnt not to be a critic of Mohammed and the Koran, but to point to Jesus as the “Hukum Dunia” (Judge of the World). It is a good idea to get to know the judge before you must stand before him.

The Suburban Captivity of the Church
by Tim Foster
Acorn Press 2014.    ISBN 9780992447618

Reviewed by Stephen Hale

“The truth of the matter is, unless we think really carefully about who Aussies are, what they believe in, what drives them, what makes up their culture and worldview, and then think about how the gospel addresses those issues, we are going to continue to be ineffective in reaching people in our generation.” said Richard Condie at the Book Launch at Ridley College.

Tim Foster's book seeks to address these very issues. The issue is  how we contextualize the gospel: that is, how we take the eternal truths of the scriptures that God has revealed to us, the gospel, and communicate it in such a way that people in contemporary Australia can understand it. I didn’t realize this was a controversial issue until I attended the City to City Conference earlier this year. Tim Keller helped to unpack some of the themes in Centre Church related to this important mission principle. The people I was with loved it. It was a surprise to discover afterwards that not all were convinced of the need to contextualize!

Tim Foster's book is very helpful because it tackles these questions in an Australian context. The first part of the book deals with our understanding of the gospel. Tim argues for a gospel story that is more about how God is fulfilling his purpose in the world, rather than a punitive gospel. These chapters are challenging and well argued but won’t be without controversy. The view presented here is about how we converse with people with God’s story and how they fit into it, rather than a set piece that we present if we’re giving a talk.

In the Second Part Tim looks at Good News for three different groups - Suburbanites, Urban dwellers and Aussie Battlers.

I’ve mainly ministered with suburbanites and lived as a suburbanite and the analysis rings true from my experience in two cities. But if your ministry is more amongst Urbanites or battlers, then there is also a feast of cultural analysis and gospel observation in the book for you as well.

“Tim is concerned that we understand the hearts of the people we are trying to reach, and tell them the gospel story in a way that opens them up to it rather than turning them off. The thesis that drives the book is that mostly the gospel we preach has been held captive by suburban values, hence the title. That it is more suburbia than gospel. If he is right, and I think he is, this captive gospel will fall short in even reaching suburbanites, let alone battlers or urban dwellers or people from other cultures in our midst.” Richard Condie

The final part of each chapter in this section of the book reflects on the key  gospel themes that speak to the culture of the three segments of society that he looks at. Tim is a member of the church I lead and it was encouraging to see that we are reflecting his vision of how to communicate in a suburban context.

Lately I’ve been reflecting on the Americanization of the Australian church with a year of Conferences with speakers from the US. It is refreshing to read an Australian book that speaks into our context and both inspires and challenges us.

 Stephen Hale is the Vicar of St Hilary's Kew and Chair of EFAC Australia.

Graham Stanton considers
The Wisdom of Islam, the Foolishness of Christianity, and the Challenge of Youth Ministry

The Wisdom of Islam and the Foolishness of Christianity  is a new book by Richard Shumack. Shumack is a graduate of Moore College with a doctorate in Islamic studies. In this book he engages with nine objections to Christianity held by Muslim philosophers.

Each chapter begins with an objection that Muslim philosophers have to the Christian faith. Shumack presents each objection with care and respect and interacts with prominent Islamic scholars. He then explains why the objection is not philosophically necessary. His aim is to show that Christianity is not as foolish as Muslim philosophers claim. Each chapter finishes by arguing why the Christian approach is the more persuasive alternative.

Shumack shows that the fundamental disagreement between Islam and Christianity concerns how God and humans interact. In Islam human beings relate to God as servants relate to their king: a legislative model. Servants have no need to know the sovereign as a person, all we need is to know the sovereign’s will and to obey it. Christianity operates on a fellowship model: God is not only the Lord, he is also Father. Shumack’s aim is to ‘show how the adoption of this fellowship model removes many of the Muslim objections to Christian belief and opens the way to a much richer conception of human knowledge of God’ (p.14). The book sets out to help Muslims see that the Christian faith is not only plausible, but captivating, beautiful and true.

This book is a wonderful example of the sort of tone to use when Christians discuss and debate with others. Shumack has an obvious respect for the Muslim scholars he interacts with. He makes frequent reference to the sincere affection he has for his Muslim friends. Is there any other way for us to debate as Christians? How can we urge people to put their faith in the God of love if we do not conduct our debates as people of love?

Shumack’s winsome and gracious tone is in itself a commendation of the Christian faith.
But it's not just those engaged in Muslim-Christian dialogue for whom this book is essential reading. It may be surprising that I think Shumack's book will be particularly helpful for youth ministers!

Many young Christians seem to share the Muslim approach to each of the issues Shumack discusses. This is particularly so among those who have grown up in conservative churches. They long for certainty in place of doubts. They want God to make himself plain to them and the world. They have optimistic views about human capacity to do the right thing. They find the doctrine of the Trinity confusing and irrelevant. They regard the incarnation more like God making himself just look like a human rather than actually becoming just like us. They often use simplistic and unjust presentations of the atonement. They are unsure of how to respond to the human authorship of Scripture or the imperfections in the transmission of the text. They tend to have a legalistic approach to ethics and look for ways to exercise political power to bring moral change. In short, I suspect that many Christian young people reach adolescence with a legislative model of divine-human relations.

Perhaps what I am observing is the result of conservative theology that has operated in a legislative model of how we relate to God. This is the ‘older brother’ church that Tim Keller has identified (The Prodigal God, 2008). But even for children raised in a more healthy fellowship model, the way teenagers take on childhood beliefs often leads to legislative thinking. There is a normal process of questioning that comes with adolescence. This is often a destablising experience for young people. It is especially so when the church hasn't supported or encouraged that process. The searching involved in adolescence should identify and strengthen central convictions, while leaving room for unanswered questions and uncertainties. Without searching and questioning, many teenagers just retreat back to the security offered by a legislative model of interaction with God.

Effective youth ministry needs to wean young people off familiar certainties. We need to walk with young people as they examine and rework their childhood faith. This will prepare them to become mature Christian young adults. Shumack’s book is a wonderful resource to help adult mentors assist young people in that search.

Mature faith is able to live with uncertainty and mystery because we have seen the plausibility and beauty of Christ. Young adult Christians will need that sort of maturity to hold on to faith amidst the variety of beliefs the world throws at them. That sort of maturity will also help them respond with the same wisdom and grace that Richard Shumack has shown in his engagement with Islam.

Shumack, R.  The Wisdom of Islam and the Foolishness of Christianity: A Christian response to nine objections to Christianity by Muslim philosophers.  Island View. 2014 
ISBN 9780992499709

Graham Stanton was the founding Principal of Youthworks College, Sydney. Among other things he is currently serving as the youth ministry advisor for the Matthew Hale Public Library in Brisbane alongside pursuing research in practical theology at the University of Queensland.




Shoot Me First. A cattleman in Taliban Country. Twenty-four years in the hotspots of Pakistan and Afghanistan, by Grant Lock. Broad Continent Publishing  2012 Also available as an eBook and on CD ISBN 9780980526417
 Reviewed by Dale Appleby

Someone once told me that if I wanted to understand the troubles in Palestine I should read The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia).  It was good advice.  I think if anyone wants to understand better the events in Pakistan and Afghanistan they should read Shoot Me First.

Here is an amazing testimony of God at work in places where you wouldn't think God was present at all.

John Thew (former CMS Federal Secretary) said,  “It's a missiological book but it reads like a thriller."  It is certainly a great read. Short chapters, lots of action, tension, humour, threat. In some ways the book is like an anthropologist's road movie with story after story describing in fascinating detail the interactions, confrontations and heart-warming love of an Aussie couple attempting to cross cultural and language divides.

In this book you will also get up close, on the ground, insights into Islam for ordinary Pakistanis and Afghans.

It is a personal book, full of hope, fear, frustration, love, and danger. It is also a missionary book that shows how the gospel and the love of Christ can make progress in the most difficult places. Here are eyewitness reports of the power of God at work in very dark places.

Grant says that the aim of the book is to give people an insight into Islam on the ground, and to give people insights into cross-cultural ministry and an understanding of development. “I challenge people in the west,” he says, “to love Muslims but ask big questions about Islam and Sharia law.”

The politics of Western aid and intervention are seen with insights only an expat on location can see. The practices of Islam in Taliban territory are described by an eye-witness who lived there for 24 years.  He asks questions that people in multi-cultural Australia should ask.

And the final story of the man who turns to Christ in prison after visions of Jesus ought to encourage every person who prays for people to turn to Christ.

It is no wonder that this book is one of Koorong's best sellers. Worth reading  - and giving away.

http://www.shootmefirst.com/

For other books on Islam and Christianity
See page 15
Justice Awakening by Eddie Byun
InterVarsity Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-8308-4419-7 (includes questions for group discussion after each chapter).
Reviewed by Cassandra Nixon

We celebrated the 200th anniversary of the end of legalised slavery in 2007, but slavery isn’t over! Byun’s book is written to draw our attention to ongoing slavery, and to encourage us to lead our congregations into awareness and action against it. Eddie Byun is (apparently) a United States citizen, but is the pastor of a large church in South Korea. When he was made aware of how ubiquitous slavery was while reading Not For Sale by David Batstone, he gathered his church into action, initially in Thailand and Cambodia. Later he found out that there are about one million women in sexual slavery in his own country of residence - South Korea.

His statistics are frightening: someone is sold into slavery every eight seconds, and there are about 30 million slaves in the world – many more than the population of Australia.
We are dimly aware that there are people in sexual slavery even in Australia, and those of us in WA saw and read headline news earlier this year when market gardens north of Perth were raided by the Immigration Department and dozens of agricultural slaves were found living in prison camp type conditions.

Byun’s book is light and easy reading (if you can say that about a book on slavery) and has lots of practical suggestions on how to make a congregation aware and active against slavery of all kinds.

He suggests:

•    Getting informed (he provides lots of background information on how modern slavery works)

•    Praying (one of the ideas that caught my attention was praying every time you stop at a red light, for the red light districts in your town, and the enslaved women who may be in them.) No red lights in Manjimup though, and no obvious brothels either.

•    Fasting

•    Supporting ministries among men, families and youth to strengthen and keep them away from use or involvement, especially in sexual slavery

•    Joining with organisations already involved, so as not to have to start a ministry from the beginning

•    Working together with other churches in your area or denomination

•    Researching what is happening locally, and in places where your congregation may travel for business and tourism.

The book as a whole is readable, practical and Biblical.

Byun spends several chapters spelling out the Gospel, and how God’s character and love for people leads to God’s passion for justice and the church's calling to speak and act for justice. He probably spends too long doing this, especially considering who his readers are likely to be, but it is emotionally compelling material – good source for sermons and bible studies. There are useful appendices with lists of organisations, resources (not surprisingly nothing Australian) and case studies.

I found the book a bit irritating in the way it focused so much on Byun himself, and his own feelings and actions.

I have my own criteria for books:

Would I buy this book for my own library with my own money?  No

If I had free access to this book, would I keep it in my library?    No

If I had a copy, would I give or lend it to someone?                       Yes

Would I encourage the church to buy copies for group study and discussion?      Yes

If your church does not already have a social justice activity of some kind happening (don’t spread yourself too thin!) I could recommend this book as way to inform, challenge and lead to action as a whole congregation or in a small group.

Cassandra Nixon is doing a long locum in the Southern Forests of the Diocese of Bunbury (including Manjimup, Pemberton and Northcliffe).

View from the Faraway Pagoda by Robert & Linda Banks Acorn Press 2013 Also available as an eBook. ISBN 9780987132956.  
Reviewed by Peter Schendzielorz

View from the Faraway Pagoda recounts the life and missionary service of Sophie Newton (the grand-aunt of Robert Banks), who served in south-east China from 1897 to 1931.  Her work in establishing schools and training local Christian women happened amidst events like the Boxer Rebellion, the Nationalist Revolution and other local conflicts.

The book captures Sophie's trust in God in serving abroad and is an encouragement and challenge considering the ongoing gospel needs and conflicts in the world today.
As a biography, it's encouraging to read of an Australian missionary.  Anyone familiar with Sydney suburbs such as Newtown and Burwood, or country areas like Katoomba, Singleton and Yass will find an identification with Sophie's journey.  CMS Summer School events are mentioned regularly as missionaries report back and are re-commissioned after furlough.  These references in particular give insights into the priorities and mission of the Church Missionary Society (formerly Church Missionary Association) that continue today, and the role of local churches in sending and supporting missionaries.

The book is an easy, engaging read.  Historical events are interleaved with personal reflections and reconstructions based on journals and letters.  This balance of details and facts alongside emotion create a sense of connection and empathy with the events that are taking place.  It's also interesting to read about some of the conflicts and opportunities present in China over time, particularly in understanding the openness of the past, and in understanding the challenges since.

It's somewhat surprising to read of the effectiveness of communications and committees despite not having instant means of sharing information as we do today.  The book makes reference to mail arriving in Sophie's location every 2 weeks.  Yet she was able to achieve much in the space of 3 years in preparing to serve abroad.

Another insight the book gives is to Sophie's reliance on God, particularly in her scripture reading and prayers.  A motivating text for Sophie is Psalm 37:4: "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." which impacted her life in preparation for mission, and also her reluctant (and short lived) retirement. 

Her reliance on God is also reflected in the value placed on the prayers and partnership of others, despite the geographical distance separating them.  There seems to be a knowledge and support of mission (and Sophie) that many churches or missionaries would be envious of today.  A passion and concern for those they support, and a longing to hear from them that is perhaps less prevalent today despite easier means of communication.

As a model of ministry, Sophie's emphasis on equipping local people for ministry (an approach that sometimes put her at odds with other missionaries) has left a legacy in the areas she served.  Her impact was effectual to the extent that on her final retirement (having had an interim retirement due to poor health) the local church requested that  CMS send a replacement to continue her service.

View from the Faraway Pagoda isn't just a good book to read for those connected with China.  I'd recommend it to anyone considering long term ministry or mission particularly in the way it portrays a life of service to Jesus.

Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, by David J. Bosch Orbis Books, Maryknoll New York 1991. 
ISBN 9780883447192
Reviewed by Dale Appleby

This massive work is Number 16 in the American Society of Missiology Series, written by the former Professor of Missiology at the University of South Africa, who died a year after this work was published. Although now more than 20 years old, it is nevertheless a classic that should be re-read.

Bosch examines five major paradigms that have described how God saves, and how people respond to God's salvation. He then outlines a "post-modern" paradigm for an emerging ecumenical mission theory.

Bosch examines the history of "mission", noting that until the sixteenth century, the term was used exclusively with reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. The Jesuits introduced the word into the vocabulary of the spreading of the faith. The new expansion of the faith throughout the world in the following period was closely associated with European colonial expansion into the non-Western world.
More recently the assumptions which underlay this missionary expansion have been modified, questioned and in some cases abandoned altogether. Bosch identifies a major crisis in mission itself, that has to do with the authority, aims and nature of the mission.
This crisis is linked with a wider crisis in the church at large. His analysis of this crisis is very informative. He lists six elements:

1. The advance of secularisation.

2. The steady de-christianising of the West - the traditional base of the whole modern missionary enterprise.

3. A change from a world divided into "Christian" and "non-Christian", to a religiously pluralist world in which the followers of some faiths are more aggressively missionary than many Christians.

4. The guilt of Western Christians because of their involvement in the subjugation and exploitation of coloured peoples.

5. The increasing gap between rich and poor, and the fact that the rich are those who consider themselves to be Christians; which leads to anger and frustration on the part of the poor, and a reluctance on the part of affluent Christians to share their faith.

6. Western ecclesial ways, and Western theology are now suspect and have been by and large replaced by various indigenous practices and theologies in the Third World. This has added to the confusion in the Western church.
Bosch attempts to show a way forward and provide a paradigm for a mission practice that takes modern realities into account.

He introduces the book with an "interim" definition of mission which the book spells out in detail. He has thirteen elements in his definition:

1. The Christian faith is intrinsically missionary.

2. Missiology is not neutral, but views the world from the standpoint of Christian theology.

3. But this must be continually reassessed, so a narrow or permanent definition is not possible.

4. A necessary foundation for mission lies in God's self-communication in Christ.

5. The Bible does not give a set of unchangeable laws of mission. Mission is an ambivalent enterprise which remains an act of faith.

6. The entire Christian existence is a missionary existence.

7. Foreign missions is not a separate entity to home missions. Both are grounded in the gospel.

8. Mission is God's mission. Missions are particular forms of participation in God's mission.

9. The missionary task includes the whole set of needs and aspects of human life.

10. Mission is thus God's "Yes" to the world.

11. Mission includes evangelism as one of its crucial elements. "Evangelism is the proclamation of salvation in Christ to those who do not believe in him, calling them to repentance and conversion, announcing forgiveness of sins, and inviting them to become living members of Christ's earthly community and to begin a life of service to others in the power of the Holy Spirit." (p. 11)

12. Mission is also God's "No" to the world.

13. The church-in-mission is a sign in the sense of pointer, symbol, example or model. It is a sacrament in the sense of mediation, representation, or anticipation.
Bosch has an extended survey of New Testament models of mission. He discusses the early church's missionary practice and considers whether there were alternative approaches that may have made the ultimate exclusion of Jews from the church less likely. He outlines missionary paradigms of Matthew, Luke and Paul.
He traces four subsequent historical missionary paradigms: that of
* the Eastern church;
* the medieval Roman Catholic church;
* the Protestant reformation; and
* mission in the wake of the Enlightenment.

The concluding section outlines elements in a post-modern ecumenical missionary paradigm. These include: Mission as the church-with-others; as Missio Dei; as mediating Salvation; as the Quest for Justice; as Evangelism; as Contextualisation; as Liberation; as Inculturation; as Common Witness; as Ministry by the Whole people of God; as Witness to People of Other Living Faiths; as Theology; and as Action in Hope.

Bosch offers a profile of what mission is in terms of six aspects of Christ's ministry:

Incarnation; The Cross; The Resurrection; The Ascension; Pentecost; and The Parousia. His insights about how these great events affect the nature and method of our mission are very suggestive.

He concludes by raising again the modern criticisms of mission, exemplified in John Mott's question asked before the Edinburgh Conference, "Do you consider that we now have on the home field a type of Christianity which should be propagated all over the world?" Bosch rejects the idea that mission is merely western colonialism in disguise, and points to its origin in the missio Dei. It is not the church which undertakes mission but the missio Dei which constitutes the church - and purifies it.

"...mission is, quite simply, the participation of Christians in the liberating mission of Jesus, wagering on a future that verifiable experience seems to belie. It is the good news of God's love, incarnated in the witness of a community, for the sake of the world." p.519.

Transforming Mission is a mighty work, that deserves to be read by clergy and all who are thinking and planning in any area of the church's mission.

Tactics for Teen Ministry by Scott Petty
Anglican Press Australia, 2014.
 ISBN 9781922000972
 free sample: http://tiny.cc/e0w7ox
Reviewed by Stephen Ritchie

Not too big, not at all boring and just a little bit fancy.

Scott Petty speaks straight to the point on essential youth ministry topics that leaders will always have questions about.  Including the most recent ones of evaluating and navigating the online world in a positive way.  He has a gift for articulating his topic comprehensively and concisely, proven already by his successful series of Little Black Books. It is easy to see why Tactics for Teen Ministry was shortlisted for the 2014 Australian Christian Book of the Year Award.

Throughout this comprehensive and well structured handbook, we are convinced that every teen ministry tactic should be for the purpose of producing whole-hearted disciples of Jesus:

“If you are going to the effort of running a youth ministry, it should be one that honours God and puts his Scriptures into action, one that harnesses the energy of your leaders for maximum kingdom impact and aims to grow disciples of Jesus.”

Every meeting, every camp, every small group and every talk is for this purpose. Petty has undeniably achieved a more succinct and updated form of Ken Moser’s in depth and detailed work entitled, Changing the World through Effective Youth Ministry. In fact I would promote Petty’s contribution to pastors as “the version that will actually get read” by volunteers, whilst keeping Moser’s series of four books close at hand for further reference. Petty packages his years of experience for an Australian context, sharing his own helpful snapshots entitled How We Have Done It including seven very welcome practical appendices. Just while writing this review I have easily adapted his New Leader Package (Appendix 1), Camp Leadership 101 (Appendix 5) and his Small Group Evaluation questions (p.50) for my own volunteer team. 

Perhaps the best way to set this parish resource apart from others, is to understand the significance of its finishing focus on communication (Chapter 9) and families (Chapter 10). Having addressed the common tendency towards highly attractional youth ministry models and events, we agree that without authentic relationships (1 Thessalonians 2:8) we are building in vain. However the fatal flaw many churches fail to avoid is perceiving and engaging Christian parents and family members (biological, nuclear and wider church) as the primary disciplers of kids and youth. The youth ministry team simply backing them up. Is your youth ministry setup almost entirely disconnected from families and the wider church family? This is the immediate area that any fresh energetic youth practitioner needs skills in: a strategy for communication with parents and an insight into the significance of family ministry for a parish context.

“The implication for our youth ministries is very plain: if we attempt to raise mature young Christians without the influence of older Christians (be they parents or other older mentors), we will doom ourselves to failure in many instances.”

Visit Youthwork’s youth ministry website Fervr.net (easily the best in the world) and follow their book review link or find the free sample here: http://tiny.cc/e0w7ox. 
Stephen Ritchie is a PK who became a High-school Chaplain before studying at Trinity Theological College and now serves passionately as Kids and Youth Minister at Dalkeith Anglican Church in Perth.

Some other books on Islam and Christianity

Jesus and Muhammad
by Mark A. Gabriel.  Charisma House. 2004 
ISBN 9781591852919

This volume explores the surprising similarities and differences between two of the most important religious leaders of all time--Jesus and Muhammad. Born into a Muslim family in Egypt, Gabriel is a converted Christian and former professor of Islamic history at Al Azhar University in Cairo. [Publisher Notes]

Islam and Christianity on the Edge
by Peter Riddell,  John Azumah. Acorn Press 2013
ISBN 9780987132949

This collection of essays by scholars and human rights activists engages with some of the most pressing issues in Christian-Muslim relations, addressing matters of theology, the encounter between civilisations and inter-religious affairs.  These are key questions for the 21st century. [Publisher Notes]

Christianity Alongside Islam
by John W Wilson. Acorn Press 2010 ISBN 9780908284917

An excellent book for the person who wants to know how to respond to questions about Islam. Is Islam about war, peace, politics or pietism? What does Islam say about Jesus, the Bible, human rights, women? [Publisher Notes]

The Third Choice
by Mark Durie. Deror Books 2010 ISBN 9780980722307

Mark Durie's  book exposes the history and ideology of surrender - the 'Third Choice'.

The worldview of dhimmitude, he argues, offers indispensable keys for understanding current trends in global politics, including the widening impact of sharia revival, deterioration of human rights in Islamic societies, jihad terrorism, recurring patterns of Western appeasement, and the increasingly fraught relationship between migrant Muslim communities in the West and their host societies.  [Publisher Notes]

Liberty to the Captives
by Mark Durie. Deror Books 2013 ISBN 9780987469106 

Mark Durie presents unique resources for ministering freedom from the yoke of Islam, both for those who have lived as non-Muslims under Islamic dominance, as well as those who have come to Christ out of a Muslim background.  The prayers and declarations provided here have been tested across four continents, and have proven value for setting people free from fear, breaking spiritual strongholds, and releasing men and women to be bold and effective witnesses to Muslims of the saving power of Christ.