Praise God that the church in India is growing at an amazing rate. But with this the church faces unique challenges. One challenge is having pastors who are trained well in the bible. This is made more complicated with the poverty that many pastors experience in India, they cannot afford to go to bible college for a year and they are certainly not funded by the Government to do so. (Praise God for how Australians are supported by our Government).
India Gospel League has recognised the need for pastors to be trained and has partnered with Moore College to see pastors be trained in correspondence courses by teams of Aussies who will travel to India. One such group is leaving in 3 days.
The team is lead by my sister and her husband. They would love your support – in prayer and in your generous gifts. To find out more visit newcastlechristianstudents.org where you will find out more about the team and more about how you can support them.
They leave in a few days, have already raised over $10K, and have only $3000 to go… what do you reckon?
I graduated! Woot. Here’s a cheesy photo in the cape and hoodie with my lady:
Shout out to Row, Sam and the rest of my family for supporting me throughout college. Props also to Moore College Faculty, Staff and class mates for the love. And thanks to Christ Church St Ives, Willoughby Anglican and the many other churches/ministries/youth groups I hung out with during college.
The Castle (here’s a snippet) is the greatest film ever made. It was brilliantly parodied this week at the Moore College Revue 2010. Check out The Castle on King:
My highlight is Keith Condie ‘just passing on a message’…
Moore College has introduced a new preaching subject this year. We meet for an hour a week with 2 faculty and a group of 5-10 students. Each week someone gives a sermon, and the rest of us offer feedback. I’m only in one group, so can’t speak for all the other ones, but it’s been a really valuable time encouraging each other to preach well. This past week, Fiona gave a solid talk on Psalm 46. I like safety and security; I was challenged to find security not only in things of this world, but ultimately in the God who is described as “our strength and refuge”. See the text of Psalm 46 below.
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. [a]
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
In my former life as a sportsman, I had a number of injuries. Both ankles. Rectus femuris. Both thumbs. Lower back. Both shoulders. Out of all my injuries, I managed to never break a bone. Until last night. I broke my toe. The little one. On my left foot. I haven’t been to a doctor, but I’m confident this is more than a stubbed toe! I think I can deal with it. I’m pretty tough. The thing I can’t deal with is how I broke the toe.
Was I viciously tackled from behind by a South American while playing football? No. Did I fall off my bike while riding in the picturesque French Alps? No. Were my calculations slightly out when dropping into a 90ft half-pipe on my skateboard? No.
I broke my toe writing an essay.
Embarrassing. I know. Yep. My first broken bone is from an academic injury. How the heck can you break a toe writing an essay? Let me explain.
Mid-year exams rock my Winter. We’re currently on StuVac at the moment. Next week it’s game time. So Moore College crew get your exam prep tweets on with this hashtag: #MooreExamFest. I figured the World Cup (pray for it) is on, lots of festivities, let’s make a festival of exam study!! (Probably the single most nerd thing I’ve ever typed!)
There were quite a few peeps who got in the action for #MTCexamcram09. It was good. Here are the 3 reasons from last year:
I’m motivated to study because I see others studying
There are gems among the quotes, reflections and bible verses being shared
It’s a fun and maybe (?) useful way to use social media
Follow the action in the widget above or by clicking here.
While on the subject of catechisms, Moore College has just launched its own student contributed and run theological magazine, The Catechist. It’s worth checking out.
Shout out to Stephen McGuiness for pulling everything together. Good job.
Lots of my posts lately have been written with younger punks in mind (ie Youth Ministry and KYCK posts). If you’re an older smarter punk, I haven’t forgotten you! This one goes out to you. Themelios is An International Journal for Pastors and Students of Theological and Religious Studies. If you kinda fit into either of those categories, check it out.
The latest issue – Volume 35 Issue 1 April 2010 – has just been released. It’s hectic in length – 196 pages. But jam-packed with solid content. My tip for reading? Read the feature articles – that’s manageable. The 1000 book reviews aren’t manageable – so scan them and work out any that grab your attention. I enjoy Don Carson’s editorials and have particularly liked reading Carl Trueman during the past year.
Moore College is also represented. Mark Thompson and Paul Williamson are on the Editorial Board. Paul Barnett and Con Campbell both have book reviews this issue.
It’s taken 6 days, but I’ve now recovered from all-you-can-eat at the Merrylands’ Men’s Fight Night last week! It seemed like a good idea at the time, but 10 different types of meat with next to no vegetables really wasn’t a brilliant idea. Excessive food consumption aside, partnering with Merrylands Anglican Church was a joy for our team of Moore College students.
If you missed our posts during mission – they are listed below the jump:
Realising that the man only spoke Arabic, plan B kicked into action. I reached for the green Arabic copy of Luke’s gospel. Proudly I held it up the right way. My cultural savviness was paying off; I know that this language reverses the reading direction. This is going well! Simultaneously he began closing the door as he said ‘Islam’. The conversation quickly progressed to plan C.
Yeah-soos?? Yeah-soos?? Yeah???
As the door closed, the smile on Robbo’s face said it all. Yes. I said Jesús in Spanish instead of Arabic.
I could justify my cultural faux pas by explaining to you that my mission team is very Anglo-Christian. It does include 3 Dave’s, 3 Matt’s, 2 Andrew’s and 2 Daniel’s. Or maybe I just need to work harder at understanding people and cultures…
We’ve sent a number of advance troops out to leaflet commuters at Merrylands Station each morning. If you’ve spent much time catching trains around Sydney City, you’ll realise that commuters are willing to read any trash you put in their hands. MX is the prime example. Trashy journalism at it’s best, or worst. Yet everyone reads it!
Merrylands Anglican Church and/or Moore College don’t have the budget to produce glossy glossy publications every day, but we figure that we can provide some content that’s less trashy and hopefully a little more thought-provoking.
I think this is an evangelism/engagement strategy that churches could use once a week. If you’re near a busy train station or bus stop, here’s what you do:
get someone with basic skills* in design to provide a simple template
write a brief article with a thought provoking/provocative title
advertise church and/or some upcoming events
throw in a puzzle and some pictures
print it A5 double sided
give it to people thursday (or whenever) morning each week
Hey presto!
Does anyone know of churches/ministries doing this regularly??
*basic skills = knowing that Comic Sans is a bad font!
I met my host family tonight. Lovely family. We spent about 4 hours chatting! Around midnight the family of 4 had dwindled down to 1. So it was just the father and me left. I was getting tired. But I didn’t want to be the one to break off the conversation. So in my head I thought I’d play chicken with him. Last one left standing wins.
By 1am I realised that I needed to call it off. But I couldn’t. I had to win. I thought if I just held out for another minute or two, he’d say “good night” first. He didn’t. I did. He wins. I lose. That’s okay.
I miss my family already, but here are 3 reasons why being billeted is gold:
A tangible way of showing our gospel partnership
A glimpse into the culture of the family, the local church and the local community
An encouragement hearing of God’s work in their lives
The street we door-knocked this afternoon had an unusually high number of people offering us to come in for a drink. It may have been the heat, or maybe that’s just how they roll. We thought it would have been rude to reject the kind invitations. So we enjoyed the hospitality in four local Merrylands’ homes.
I don’t normally drink instant coffee. I’m not a coffee snob, but you’re a jerk if you reject an instant coffee when door knocking. Maybe you’re a jerk at any time if you reject instant-coffee-hospitality! So I drank the coffee.
While drinking, I explained Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee & the Tax Collector from Luke 18. She seemed to understand that God doesn’t accept the religious, but those who throw themselves on God for mercy. Yet, when pressed on what gave her confidence before God, she insisted that it was because she was good, moral and obedient. Pray she’d understand the Jesus-bit.
Here are 3 observations on this street:
There are many religious people in Merrylands willing to talk about Jesus
Their confidence before God is in their religiosity and not the work of Jesus
John Woodhouse isn’t a sexy preacher in the Justin Timberlake mould, his sexiness is more like Johnny Cash. Deep. Thoughtful. Dark hair. The glossy new Moore College website has recently been flooded with 704 John Woodhouse sermons! Sweet.
The only thing that would make them better would be a podcast feed. BUT when you’re mining for gold, it’s worth taking the extra 10 seconds to click ‘download’.
Get to know Jesus better by hearing his word read and explained
Whether you’re thinking of studying at Moore College, or just want to be encouraged by the work God is doing in the world through Moore College grads, all are welcome to attend the Moore College Graduation on Monday 15 March. Come and celebrate with the largest group of people graduating from the College in its 154 year history.
John Woodhouse kicked off the Moore College (make sure you check out the sexy new resource rich website) academic year with a solid exposition of John 15:1-17 on Monday afternoon chapel. I’ve recently reflected on this passage about Jesus as the True Vine.
On Monday I was particularly struck by verse 9, it’s breathtaking:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
Woodhouse skilfully brought our attention to the wonder of God the Son loving us with the same love that God the Father has loved Him. Jesus is the one who is “Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father” (Nicene Creed). This Jesus, who for all eternity has been loved by the Father, is the one who demonstrates his love for us in his death on the cross. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (verse 13).
As I type, Row is in the room next door in her final class for her Diploma of Biblical Studies. I reported this back in May – but she ended up doing an extra two subjects. This time she’s really finished. Props to Row for finishing! Proud husband.
Props also to Moore College. I think this course is brilliant. While there would be value lost from the intensity of community and relationships, I’d argue that the Diploma of Biblical Studies is more beneficial pedagogically than the full-time one year option. If every Christian could take a year out to study full-time at Moore that would be the bomb! But not every Christian can manage that. Most could manage one evening a week over 7 weeks per subject. Thinking of theological study? Get your feet wet in this course!! Correspondence courses are also available for those outside Sydney.
