Month: August 2007

Categories
Future

Christianity in Australia

SickAccording to the National Church Life Survey, the number of people who attend churches in Australia on any given Sunday declined by about 7% between 2001 and 2006, after declining by a further 7% between 1996 and 2001. Mainstream denominations bore the brunt of the declines, whereas Pentecostals saw small increases.

One possible reason is that Pentecostals are the only ones being faithful to God. A more likely reason, in my view, is that most churches perform poorly when it comes to doing what churches are supposed to do. We keep telling people that it is essential for Christians to be members of local churches, but the reasoning is somewhat confused. Usually the reason given is something to do with fellowship, but often the quality of fellowship on offer isn’t that great.

The real reason why followers of Jesus must team up with other believers is because Christians are designed by God to work in teams. Churches which can find ways of linking believers together in teams to do productive ministry will be growing churches, regardless of denominational affiliation or theological inclination in respect of non-core beliefs. Non-Pentecostal churches in Australia just need to do a better job of putting people to work.

Categories
Present

Does Religion Cause Violence?

SoldiersIn recent years militant advocates of atheism such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have argued that belief in God causes violence and bloodshed. They therefore argue that all religious beliefs should be abandoned. I thought I would put their claims to an empirical test. Let’s compare the five most influential Christians of the past 100 years with the five most influential atheists. By most influential, I don’t just mean people who said things and waved their hands in the air; I mean people whose beliefs have had the most profound effect on the lives of other people.

The top 5 on the Christian list would probably be Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The top 5 on the atheist list would probably be Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Kim Il-Sung and Leon Trotsky. Now, which of the ten listed people have been most responsible for promoting violence, and which have been most responsible for promoting peace?

The list of the ten worst genocides of the 20th Century is instructive: 1. Mao Zedong (49 to 78 million, atheist); 2. Joseph Stalin (13 million, atheist); 3. Adolf Hitler (12 million); 4. Hideki Tojo (5 million); 5. Pol Pot (1.7 million, atheist); 6. Kim Il Sung (1.6 million, atheist); 7. Mengistu Haile Mariam (1.5 million, atheist); 8. Ismail Enver (1.2 million); 9. Yakubu Gowon (1 million); 10. Leonid Brezhnev (0.9 million, atheist).

Categories
Past

Christianity in Australasia

disgruntled-convictChristianity in Australia got off to an inauspicious start. The First Fleet arrived in 1788 with the first load of convicts and with the Reverend Richard Johnson appointed to the thankless task of official chaplain. A further chaplain, Reverend John Crowther, was sent out in 1790 but was shipwrecked by an iceberg in the Indian Ocean.

Reverend Samuel Marsden was the next reluctant recruit, arriving in Australia in 1794. He was given 100 acres of land and 26 convict labourers, and he soon managed to amass a considerable fortune through farming activities. He was appointed a magistrate and became well known for his unusually harsh and cruel punishments, earning the name The Flogging Parson. He disliked Roman Catholics and Irish people, and he felt that efforts in reaching Australian Aboriginals were wasted because they rejected material civilisation.

However, Marsden showed considerable interest in the Maoris in New Zealand. In 1814 he visited New Zealand and showing great courage, tenacity and resourcefulness in establishing a mission station there. Thus, although Marsden’s work in Australia is regarded as somewhat embarrassing, he is, for the most part, fondly remembered in New Zealand.

Categories
Faith

What You Really Believe

There is often a reality gap between what our mind thinks and what our body does. Our minds might be convinced that junk food is bad for us, but that doesn’t necessarily stop our bodies eating it. Daniel Decker has an interesting post on what we really believe. His post quotes John Ortberg, who talks about public convictions, private convictions and core convictions.

SecretPublic convictions are the things which we want others to think that we believe. Private convictions are the things which we sincerely think we believe. Core convictions are what our actions demonstrate that we believe. For many people, faith in Jesus is more a matter of public conviction than private conviction. For others, it’s a matter of both public and private conviction but it’s not a core conviction because it’s not reflected in their lifestyles.

This is another way of saying that faith – real faith – isn’t just something that happens in your head. It isn’t just a matter of giving intellectual assent to all the right theological doctrines. It isn’t something passive. Real faith is active faith. As James said, faith is about showing what you believe by what you do.

Categories
Books

Outreach Made Easy

EvangelismOne word strikes fear into the heart of many people: evangelism. It stresses out people who feel that they’re obliged to do it, and it alienates people to whom it is done: the hard sell of the gospel. In Galatians, Paul talks about the offense of the cross, but does this really mean that Christians are called to be offensive in the name of Jesus?

One of the best books I have read about evangelism is A.K.A. “Lost” by Jim Henderson, also published under the alternative title Evangelism Without Additives. The book talks about simple ways of listening to people, praying for them, and being generous, which can be practised without embarrassment. Jim’s website is also well worth a visit.

Not everyone is given the gift of evangelism, but every follower of Christ is called to make friends with unbelievers, let them know that you follow Jesus, humbly live a lifestyle which is distinctively and transparently Christian, accept invitations to participate in your friends’ lives, and where the opportunity arises invite your unbelieving friends into your life and into your church.

Categories
Poverty

Myth of the Free Market Economy

MarketA problem with the free market economy is that it exists only in textbooks. A slum in Nairobi could be regarded as an ultimate free market economy. There is minimal government intervention, because the police are too scared to enter. There are no rules, so that the market forces are not distorted by external influences. But what actually happens is that the biggest and meanest are the ones who win. There is no incentive for people to be productive when the fruits of their labour will be stolen by someone else.

In fact, a free market economy can only work effectively to the benefit of all participants if the participants voluntarily submit to the rules of the game, such as: no stealing, no cheating, no misleading conduct, always describe your goods accurately, always provide your highest quality services, and always deal honestly and fairly. Any breach of these rules acts like a tax on the marketplace and penalises everyone, so that everyone ends up poorer.

If people agree voluntarily not to engage in shoplifting, then the shop owner does not need to incur high costs of security, and the goods can be sold at a lower price. If the car mechanic can be relied on to tighten the nuts on all the car’s wheels, the car owner does not have to incur the cost of car crashes caused by wheels falling off.

Categories
Future

The Power of a Compelling Vision

VisionYesterday I watched the movie Amazing Grace, about the anti-slavery struggle of William Wilberforce and his friends. Although the movie is about events which happened in the past, it also gives excellent directions for shaping the future. It shows that a small group of people with a sufficiently compelling objective and sufficient determination and persistence can overcome overwhelming odds to achieve that objective.

First, it is necessary for the objective to be clear and compelling. You need to be able to see what the future will look like when the objective is achieved, and it has to be something that is worth struggling for. Secondly, you have to be determined. You have to be willing to make sacrifices, devote a significant amount of your energy, and lie awake at night dreaming of ways to reach the objective. Thirdly, you have to be persistent. You have to face up to criticism, abuse and setbacks, and keep heading forwards until the objective is reached.

It is easy for us to look back and say that the great social issue of the day was slavery, and Wilberforce’s objective of abolition was the right one. But if we are looking forwards, how do we identify the great issue or issues of our day? What is the objective to which we should be devoting the rest of our lives?