Month: March 2008

Categories
Future

Is there a future for “normal” churches?

StrangeThe proportion of churches which are growing in Australia, the US and other western countries is small compared with the proportion of those which are shrinking. Many of those which are growing – at least those which we hear about – seem to have some distinctive feature which makes them a bit odd. Some overemphasise the “prosperity gospel”; others overpromise and underdeliver on miracles; still others preach a strident form of ultra-conservatism. Which leads to the question: Is it possible in today’s climate to have a growing “normal” church which preaches orthodox Christianity?

Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York seems to be a good example of a “normal” church which has grown rapidly since it was started 17 years ago, and which has planted a large number of other churches. According to a Newsweek article, the successful “formula” is just “orthodox Christianity and challenging preaching, with an emphasis on social justice and community service”.

The minister of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Rev Tim Keller, says that churches in major cities should have as equal as possible emphases on:

a) welcoming, attracting, and engaging secular/non-Christian people;

b) character change through deep community and small groups;

c) holistically serving the city (and especially the poor) in both word and deed;

d) producing cultural leaders who integrate faith and work in society; and

e) routinely multiplying into new churches with the same vision.

HT: steveaddison.net

Categories
Present

When anarchy rules

KnifepointIn the wake of the recent political settlement in Kenya following the disputed elections, the government is now trying to deal with the consequences of the insecurity. Numerous people are still refugees, too frightened to return to their homes because of continued threats of violence. Meanwhile, in Mount Elgon District, the army is trying to eliminate a self-proclaimed militia known as the Sabaot Land Defence Force, which has operated a protection racket in the area for some time, and which has flourished during the post-election period.

Kenya’s Sunday Nation reports: “The rag-tag army turned on the community it claimed to fight for and imposed illegal taxes, raided farms and abducted residents and led them captive into the deeply forested mountain never to return… The latest twist came when militiamen joined displaced people – victims of their own violence – in stealing relief food distributed by the Kenya Red Cross Society… So deadly has the conflict been that the government – in a rare move – decided to call in the army in the hope of dealing decisively with the crisis created by the militia.”

One problem is that locals fear the army is not as accurate as would be desired in identifying the troublemakers. As the local MP, Mr Kapondi, has said, “Criminals are always smart. When they heard of this operation, they fled … they will come back and the same people will be victims. It’s the people who are feeling the weight of the military.” First the people become victims of the outlaws, and then they become victims of the law-enforcers.

Categories
Past

Courage to withstand tyranny

Saint PatrickAccording to tradition, St Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on this day either 1515 or 1547 years ago. An absence of reliable historical sources makes it difficult to know for sure the details of Patrick’s life, but the available records indicate that he was born in Britain and taken into slavery by Irish raiders at the age of 16. While experiencing considerable hardships during six years of slavery to a Druidic high priest, he became passionately committed to his previously nominal Christian faith, and he eventually escaped back to Britain determined to devote the rest of his life to serving God.

Some years later, after Patrick became a priest, he was consecrated by the church and sent out as Ireland’s apostle, probably arriving in Ireland in 433AD and returning to the scene of his earlier slavery. According to tradition, Patrick effected many miracles to counteract the dark arts of the Druids, and his humble message of redemption was accepted by many and spread rapidly, although not without fierce opposition and persecution. He travelled throughout Ireland establishing churches.

Patrick was a vigorous opponent of slavery. He is believed to be the author of a letter to “the soldiers of Coroticus” protesting against raiders who had carried off some of his converts into slavery. The slave trade in Ireland ended shortly afterwards.

Categories
Faith

Faith-stretching exercises

ExerciseMost people – including those who consider themselves to be Christians – have a fundamentally incorrect understanding of what it means to be a Christian. In order to be a Christian, it is necessary to have “faith” in Jesus. The popular misconception is that “faith in Jesus” means “expressing an allegiance to Christianity”, and carrying out that allegiance by supporting particular conservative political views. It’s a relatively safe and comfortable thing to do, apart from incurring the wrath of some people who hold differing political views.

However, faith is not about allegiance at all. It is about actively trusting Jesus. It is about doing things in obedience to Jesus that you know you would not be able to do yourself without his miraculous intervention. He sent out his twelve disciples: “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go proclaim, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ Heal the sick, cleanse people suffering from leprosy, and cast out demons. Give freely just as you have received freely. Don’t take any gold, silver or brass in your belts, or a bag for your journey, or a spare coat or shoes, or a walking stick…”

It must have been pretty scary stuff for the disciples – learning to trust in God’s provision, rather than organising everything in advance, stockpiling resources and insuring against all contingencies. Faith in Jesus is something that necessarily requires constantly facing up to the fears and risks involved in taking on tasks for which a successful outcome is not pre-ordained in human terms.

Categories
Books

Tyranny in Afghanistan

KiteOn the surface, tyranny looks different in different countries and cultural contexts, but the underlying feelings and emotions which it engenders are the same. Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner vividly portrays the suffocating feelings of injustice, helplessness, despair and bitterness caused by tyranny in Afghanistan over the years at the hands of racist Afghans, Russian invaders, and members of the Taliban.

The main themes of the book are fear, cowardice, failing to stand up to injustice, regret, bitterness, and then finally the high price of redemption requiring courage, confrontation with evil, and sacrifice. At times the narrator seems overly sensitive in continuing to dwell on his failure to stand up for a friend in cirucmstances where by standing up he would have done nothing more than subject himself to the same fate as that suffered by his friend. However, it is the narrator’s sensitivity to right and wrong, justice and injustice, that gives the story its poignancy and power.

I am not sure whether the book can be relied upon as an accurate source of information about the conditions and customs of Afghanistan during the Taliban period. I am sure that the author has a well-founded disdain for the Taliban, but the portrayal of the former school bully as a Taliban leader and rapist seems a little far-fetched given the strict moral code apparently followed by the Taliban. Nonetheless, I highly recommend the book to strong-stomached readers.

Categories
Poverty

Evicting the Hippos

HippoThe new Cheetah generation is a new breed of Africans who brook no nonsense about corruption; they understand what accountability and democracy are; they’re not going to wait for governments to do things for them; and Africa’s salvation rests on their backs, according to George Ayittey, a Ghanaian economist, who spoke at the TED conference in Arusha in June 2007.

In contrast, the hippo generation are the ruling elites, stuck in their intellectual patch, complaining about imperialism and colonialism. They are not interested in reforming the economies because they benefit from the rotten status quo. Helping Africa is noble, but it has been turned into a theatre of the absurd. It is like the blind leading the clueless. Africa’s begging bowl leaks. Corruption costs Africa $148 billion a year. Capital flight out of Africa costs $80 billion a year. $20 billion is spent annually on imported food. In the 1960s Africa not only fed itself, it also exported food.

In traditional Africa, the means of production is privately owned by extended families. The extended family pool their resources and decide what to do and what to produce. Independence granted ruling elites powers to distort the system. The way forward for Africa, according to Ayittey, is to bypass the governments and reinvigorate the informal and traditional sectors.

Categories
Future

Environmental cost of the Australian dream

Carbon GasesMelbourne has less than half the population of London, but its transportation system produces considerably more carbon dioxide, according to an article in yesterday’s The Age newspaper. The great Australian dream in which each family owns its own quarter acre block has resulted through population growth in extensive urban sprawl and high costs both in land prices and in damage to the environment.

Because Melbourne’s population is much more widely spread out than London’s, its citizens rely more heavily on cars. Melbourne’s public transport system is much less developed than London’s, and carries fewer people, but on average those people travel further. Melbourne’s trains and trams rely on electricity from brown coal which produces more carbon dioxide than Britain’s black coal and nuclear power stations.

How can Melbourne become more sustainable? It is not an easy question to answer, because the city’s population is not likely to start decreasing any time soon. It seems impossible to imagine any solution which does not involve extensive new public transport infrastructure, probably coupled with the development of new suburban business centres which reduce the amount of traffic heading to Melbourne’s central business district each day.

Categories
Present

Prisoners of the State

PrisonerMore than 2.3 million adults are imprisoned in US jails, according to the Pew Report. This represents the highest US incarceration rate in history, amounting to one in every 99 adults in the US. By way of comparison, the incarceration rate in Australia is around one in every 600 adults. The Australian incarceration rate is highest in the Northern Territory at one in 168 adults, and lowest in the ACT and Victoria (one in 1,587 and one in 961 respectively, as at June 2007).

Why are ten times as many people imprisoned in the US, on average, than in Victoria? The most likely reasons seem to be that the US social system provides less support for people at the bottom of the social scale, and the US justice system takes a more punitive approach to offences, particularly minor offences. One in nine black American males aged 20 to 34 are in prison, which suggests that the US has a long way to go in order to overcome its racist past.

The word “prison” and its variants such as “prisoner” occur 71 times in the New Testament (NIV). Not a single one of these refers in an approving manner to imprisonment, other than perhaps the reference to Satan in prison in Revelation 20. Nearly all of the other occurrences refer to imprisonment as a form of persecution or to prisoners as people deserving of sympathy. For a nation claiming to have Christian heritage, the US seems to have things horribly wrong.

Categories
Past

Paradise delayed

inferno.pngOn this day 706 years ago, Dante Aligheri was sentenced to be burned at the stake, as a result of political disagreement with Pope Boniface VIII. At the time, Dante was aged 36. He had been sent from Florence, where he lived, to Rome as part of a delegation to ascertain the Pope’s intentions following political disputes in Florence. The other delegates were sent home, but Dante was ordered to remain in Rome.

While he was in Rome, all of Dante’s assets were seized. He managed to escape death by burning by going into exile, and he never saw his wife again. Embittered by his treatment at the hands of his enemies and by the treachery and infighting of his “allies”, he commenced work on the Divine Comedy. After 19 years in exile, he died in 1321 at the age of 56. After his death, Florence finally came to regret his exile and a tomb was built for him there, although his body remained in Ravenna.

The Divine Comedy tells the story of Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, beginning on Good Friday in the year 1300, lost in a dark wood. Dante is guided through the nine circles of Hell by the poet Virgil, leaving just before dawn on Easter Sunday. They then travel through the seven terraces of Purgatory, after which Virgil is replaced by Beatrice as Dante’s guide, and she leads him through the nine spheres of Heaven.

Categories
Faith

Eating with tax collectors

Eating with tax collectorsThe gospels are filled with stories and statements which must be very uncomfortable for typical church-goers today if they really read and understand them. Jesus hung around with tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees criticised him for it. How many church-goers nowadays hang around with tax collectors and sinners? And when they do, who are the modern-day Pharisees who criticise them for it?

It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that the biggest critics of those who are truly involved in Jesus’s mission are in fact people inside the church. It seems bizarre, but the biggest obstacle to the work of the church is provided by internal saboteurs. Jesus said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor; sick people do.” Why is it that so many people who are supposed to be “doctors” stay as far as possible away from the “sick” people for fear of contagion?

Jesus went on to say, “You need to learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Mercy is something that requires action; the believer has to go and serve people who are in need. Sacrifice is a religious ritual which can be done within the safe confines of a sacred gathering, with no fear of danger, embarrassment, or criticism by others. Why does the church in the West seem to be marching slowly these days? Too many internal critics performing sacrifices; not enough doctors visiting the sick.