Ministry and literacy

The literacy rate in Australia is supposed to be up near 100% but apparently, over half of the country is functionally illiterate. Christian ministry is generally based on a literary approach which isn't surprising since we're taught by people who generally have two university degrees. We walk into church and are given a Bible and notices and a pen to take notes, there's a book stall and sometimes even a book review during the meeting. Evangelical ministers expect their hearers to be following along with Bibles open. We love pulling out 1 Corinthians 9 and talking about being a Jew to the Jew and a Greek to the Greek but the way we do ministry at the moment excludes or at least sets up a barrier between us and over half the population. So how do we do it differently in places where we need to?

Bron and I have been reading Don Carson's biography of his dad lately. One of the things that has struck us in reflecting on it is how over time you can be fixed in a certain attitude. Wrap yourself in anger or define yourself by your opposition to something and it changes you. Down the track you'll find yourself bitter, abrasive and authoritarian. But spend years marinating in the joy of knowing Jesus and you'll be a delight. The attitudes and emotions you maintain become an intrinsic part of you. Scary but also cool.

Spreading the love

The same church planter said that one way he encourages his church in evangelism and reminds them of the vision of the church is by having a celebration service about three times a year. In this service they have testimonies from people who've been saved recently, they sing some songs and they pray and give thanks to God. It reminds the church that the salvation of people is what they're about and encourages them in evangelism.

Mistakes

I was talking to a church planter the other day and he reflected that many of the mistakes he'd made came down to busyness. He was too busy to train people, busy evangelising but not sharing his vision with the rest of the church and that sort of thing. It was really helpful for me because they sound exactly like the sorts of mistakes I'd make, I tend to get so excited and busy with things that I react more than plan. Two things occur to me from the conversation: I need to be prepared for things to grow and have things in place to accommodate it and also to be prepared so that busyness doesn't rule what I do.

What do a Digital Ninja, Wii and Heidegger have in common?

Well, they're all mentioned in this article about the future of mobile technology: hyper-connectedness and the disappearance of the internet.

Lots of things

• Yesterday we got to see the house we'll be living in next year. It was awesome! And, thankfully, not pink on the inside! It's a cute little one bedroom 19th century terrace house. It's got storage space, light blue walls, an eat-in kitchen and and a concrete bbq area out the back. None of it is new or posh looking but it feels like it will be really homely and a great place to live.

• Chilli Squid sushi rolls. Not something I would have chosen, but Nick has discovered something awesome! (This was from the sushi place downstairs at Broadway when we went to do shopping yesterday). Mmm, we were still talking about how delicious it was all the way through Victoria park as we walked home.

• Last night, we took our dear friends Aidan and Soph to eat at the Sultan's Table. It was so packed we couldn't actually, um, get a table... but luckily they do takeaway too. So we ate the Sultan's food at Aidan and Soph's table. And it was awesome. Mmm, Tourrrkish....
  

I was talking to someone yesterday and he gave me a hard but great piece of advice for dealing with anger. He said that as well as apologising for losing your temper you should ask whoever you hurt how you made them feel. You might have to deal with some anger in return but you'll also get an insight into how your words affect others which helps you to be truly sorry and to stop next time.

Mikey linked to a post by Paul Grimmond on the Christian response to current economic slowdown.

I like it, and I reckon Mikey's right in saying that churches should be responding to this. But after reading a rather sobering newspaper article about the long term social and political effects of serious financial crisies, I wonder if we need to be thinking further ahead.

If Waleed Aly is right when he draws a link between economic turmoil and extreme social politics, perhaps we need to be prepared to address a world that is not just hurting... but also hateful.

"The most lasting fallout of the global financial crisis is unlikely to be economic. This is the nature of true financial disaster: in the long run it brings down ideas, recasts societies and redistributes power in a way that resonates far beyond its lifespan. One day, the markets will stabilise and even recover, but the political terrain will likely be altered irrevocably"

Small government like Republicans

As I think Mikey has mentioned before, our churches don't need people to MC, read the Bible and pray in public. Traditionally they're all part of the minister's role. But when we find someone who's committed and enthusiastic the first impulse is to get them to do the Bible reading on Sunday and work them up to doing the other things too. Isn't that creating unnecessary work and just an impression of busyness and involvement? It also seems to implicitly limit the legitimate ways you might be able to serve the church to certain jobs. Maybe it'd be better if people who want to serve the church have to think and struggle with the idea of what they can contribute first rather than just slotting in to whatever we've got running.

When I grow up...

I was thinking the other day that if/when I have elders or a staff team to relate to I want them to be my Bible study group. I want to relate to them firstly as a Christian seeking to live the Christian life, not as co-managers or employees or anything else. I reckon it'd help to avoid conflict and help keep everyone on the same page with everything else you've got to do. Also, it would just be a huge encouragement.

Now that I work for a web development company I have very little time to browse the web. Google reader - why can't you actually read it for me!?

How to write with style

I'm not much of a writer but I do like the idea of being able to write better. This article by Kurt Vonnegut Jr offers 7 tips to help us write stuff that others will actually want to read.

Beer O'Clock

The Australian Beer Festival is on again this year, for the fourth time I think. Bron and I went last year and it was great. They have a huge selection of Australian boutique beers which I'm pumped to try out. Hopefully we'll get a bit of a crew together this time as it'd be heaps of fun with a group.

I went to Redoak with a few guys from church the other day and a good time was had by all. German sausages and handcut chips with lemon and rosemary aioli went with great beer (I had the Wee Heavy Ale and the Special Strong Bitter) and great conversation.

Also, we've made another Bruny Island cheese club order! It's arriving on the 22nd October so it looks like that week is going to be packed with good food and drink.

Finding the man

From what Philip said, selecting appropriate church planters is a big deal. However, lots of churches seem to be a bit erratic in their staffing, sometimes they make brilliant decisions, other times clangers. Maybe as part of V100's aim to provide resources for churches planting churches they could provide this kind of service. If they've invested in it, got someone trained in that sort of stuff, that'd be a great resource for the church in Tas.

From scratch

Jensen said that Mark Driscoll doesn't give his church planters money (at least to start off). He reckons it's an area where Driscoll's criticism of our 'socialist' background needs to be applied. We shouldn't start each new church with a handout, they've got to work or raise support for themselves. It takes lots of the pressure off the home church and helps us to be realistic about how the plant is going.

Tim Chester has recently done a couple of great posts about church planting: Church planting is a divine activity and Church planting movements: the pattern of living is dying.

The cost

If the home church needs to pay a church planter, rent a building and bear all the other costs of a church plant for 1-3 years, the rate we can plant churches is incredibly slow. Also, the cost in terms of people and energy just isn't sustainable. If our method of church planting requires such a massive investment each time then the 4-6 out of 7 that fail will sap our energy, momentum and resources.

Two ways to live

Philip explained the difference between two kinds of church-plants: Split and Missional. The Split is where a group leaves the home church to start a new church, it often leads to evangelism as the group is challenged to survive and grow. The Missional is the result of evangelism as a church grows up out of new converts. That's not so new but what was helpful was that Philip pointed out that the two kinds of plants require different kinds of planters. It helps to clarify the question 'are you a church-planter?'

Vision 100 or Vision 700?

It didn't make the notes but Jensen made a comment in passing that on average only 1 in 7 church plants 'succeed'. He said that if you implement really good screening techniques in choosing your church planters then you can increase that to 2 or 3 in 7. That means that Vision 100 is actually more like Vision 400 to 700.

Philip Jensen on church planting

Once I get out of the groove of blogging I tend to be paralysed. There are so many things that have happened I don't know where to start. To break out of it I'm going to post my notes from Philip Jensen's seminar on church planting at College a week ago and later post some reflections on it. The notes are very brief but hopefully catch something of the flavour of it.


Church Planting Entrepreneurs
Philip Jensen 26/9/08

1. What is church?
Gathering together to hear the word of God. Church is fundamentally for Christians. You don’t run church for evangelism. It will lead to and results from evangelism but it isn’t for it.

2. Why church planting?
We reach more people with more churches and new churches. It’s more effective than growing larger churches. Not that growing larger churches is a bad thing.

Two kinds of plants: splitting which leads to evangelism and missional which is the result of evangelism. Splitting is sending a bunch of people off to start a new church, they essentially have the same dna as the mother church. Important to do both. They require different kinds of leaders.

3. What is an entrepreneur?
Business man. Someone who takes greater risks than normal, especially financial ones to build a business.

Don’t need Christian entrepreneurs but ministers of God’s word who are also entrepreneurs. The first may be able to grow a church but not through evangelism.

4. How can you tell if you’re an entrepreneur?
Starts things. Current activity is a good indicator of future behaviour.

Are you asking permission? Complaining about restrictions and limitations? Propably not an entrepreneur then.

Entrepreneur is a scavenger. They find their own money. They don’t complain about their lack of resources, they badger people for them.

5. What is a church-planting entrepreneur?
Heightened evangelistic tentmaker. Pay their own way until the thing happens.

Driscoll was right, we have a socialist background. Need to have more of an entrepreneurial approach to it.

6. What is the future?
Independent or part of a system? Independence has lots of attractions. Freedom. BUT: need a constitution, theology, who you work with, ministry practises, discipline. Ultimately be part of a system so be aware.

7. Are you a tentmaking church-planter or an evangelistic pastor?
The first plants a church and moves on, the second plants a church and stays. Figure out which one you are.

8. What training is needed?
None and much. Get keen people into it straight away but know they’ll need help and will run into trouble. Depends also on your answer to the previous question. An evangelistic pastor needs more training than a tentmaking church-planter.

Good Old Melbourne

So I'm in Melbourne for the weekend. Work sent me down to meet everyone (the company started in Melbourne). Had a good flight, got in mid-morning. Went out with everyone for a long lunch. Did a bit of sitting at a computer looking busy... then it was beer-o-clock! What a day!

It was hard to leave Nick behind in Sydney. But it is pretty cool to be back in old Melbourne town. It's all just so.... Melbournian! I can't put a finger on it, it's just different. It's also nice to escape the 35degree heat of Sydney! And it will be lovely to come back and then have a public holiday to spend hanging out with Nick on Monday. Very civilised!