A life of 9s - 1999

A life of 9s – 1999

June 6^th, 1999

At about 9.30pm (my D-Day?) I stepped off a Qantas flight to Singapore. At 0600 that morning I had put a suitcase in a car at our Mittagong home, bid farewell to my wife, driven to Wahroonga in Sydney’s north where I fulfilled a longstanding preaching commitment) dropped the car and then boarded the Singapore flight to a farewell from some family and friends.

I had arrived for what was a ‘strictly four-year term” as senior minister of Orchard Road Presbyterian Church Singapore. The four years became 11.5 years and so I entered on what became my third pastoral ministry and, in my view, my most significant ministry.

This post tells the story of my ministry for the 10 years leading up to the Singapore move.

January 1989 to June 1998

By mid-January 1989 I was the recently resigned pastor of Strathfield Presbyterian Church in Sydney.

For the next 10 years I was given to the following:

·       Part-time employment by the NSW Christian Education committee of the Presbyterian Church

·       Convener of the federal Christian Education committee

·       Part-time teacher at the Presbyterian Theological Centre

·       NSW and Federal Trustee for the Presbyterian Chruch

·       Convener of the Colleges and Schools Committee of the Trustees

·       Activist in church circles

·       Student

·       Wider ministries

Amidst all this, our family moved on. Glenda was Head of English at the Frensham School, which enabled our survival on my part-time income. Our children moved through their schooling and our firstborn into uni and marriage. We lived in our own home at Mittagong, adjacent to my widowed mother and within 40 mins drive of Glenda’s widowed mother. These were good family years.

I will now comment on each of my activities as listed above.

Part-time employment by the NSW Christian Education Committee of the Presbyterian Church. As noted in the last post, I was convener of this committee from 1983. In time the work grew with particular reference to curriculum publishing and church-based training. Funding was secured for a part-time position and so I left pastoral ministry first as a one-third appointment as a training officer and then for a half-time appointment as Director. I enjoyed the role and worked hard to serve the ministry of local churches through the position. This necessitated much travel and so the committee provided me with a vehicle. At one stage one-third of my nights were spent away from home on this and the other ministries mentioned below. This was my major single post in this period. I built up the commercial operations of the committee, which produced an income that helped pay my salary and expenses.

Convener of the federal Christian Education committee. As NSW convener I had a seat on the federal committee and then became its convener. This involved a publications programme and an annual interstate visit to one of the weaker states for a committee meeting and local training activities.

Part-time teacher at the Presbyterian Theological Centre. My range of teaching subjects changed as I taught less church history and broadened into Christian world view, philosophy, literature and culture and Christian education, as well as continuing with Westminster Confession. In some semesters my teaching load was seven hours weekly - getting near that of a full-time teacher, but without the ancillary duties.

NSW and Federal Trustee for the Presbyterian Church. In 1996 I became one of the 12 trustees who legally held all assets of the NSW, ACT and federal church. This involved many Monday meetings at church offices. I was out of my depth in the financial aspects of this role and had some frustration with what I saw as poor governance practices which I was unable to address.

Convener of the Colleges and Schools Committee of the Trustees. Within the trust, I was appointed to chair the committee that oversaw the church’s four schools. During my time the trustees removed two school Councils and replaced them with Management Committees, one of which I chaired and the other in whom I had an active interest. In both cases we also replaced Principals. For a man who had not attended a private school and who had only previously served on such a school council for a few years, there was a steep learning curve. This role drew a lot of my time at certain periods, had some very interesting moments and involved much conflict and much time away from home - as both schools were in rural areas.

Activist in church circles. Somewhere in my early 20s I wrote a price on the obligation to use means for the reform of the church. It was a justification and explanation of using political strategies within the church for higher ends. I did not know it at the time, but it proved to be manifesto for a major them in my whole Australian ministry … of being a strategist and activist in church courts. In 1989 the PCA and PCNSW were still balanced between evangelical-reformed and traditionalist-moderate influences. Key issues were theological college appointments, the ordination of women, the Peter Cameron heresy trial and such like. This was played out presbytery meeting by presbytery meeting and Assembly by Assembly. I became part of a small inner group who were on many committees, often on our feet and who acquired a reputation for using the denominational rule book to advantage. To my later shame, I often did this with much focus on product and less on process. I had yet to learn how to balance process and product.

Student As I became involved in educational ministry, I realised the need of some educational studies. Hence a Diploma in Continuing Education and then a Master of Education by part-tie study from the University of New England. My Master’s work was in adult Christian education and ministry training and led to my first look at Theological Education by Extension, with which I later became involved. Enrolment in a doctor of education followed. The distractions of ministry and my personal circumstances (see the next post in this series) meant that it advanced in fits and starts, with changes in direction and a glacial rate of progress.

Wider activities. During this time, I broadened my writing profile. Thus there were articles in various church and wider publications, presentations at some educational conferences and the co-writing of a book on the Presbyterian In Australia which was published by the Australian Government. I also had the first of what was to be an enduring pattern of overseas ministries. Hence a visit to Kenya to speak at a youth conference, a visit to Vanuatu to teach a course on Christian education and a trip to the highlands of PNG to teach a NT course.

As the above shows, this was a period of much activity and of being spread widely across several theatres of action. This both suited my somewhat restless nature and fed into it. I had what I regards as exceptional opportunities to make a difference in several strategic directions and to be part of the successful battle for identity in the denomination. That battle was largely won by 1999, but there had been a high personal cost. It could not be sustained, and nor was it in God’s providence, as he redirected me in 1999.

Getting to Singapore

I was on my knees one Monday morning in late October 1998 when the phone rang. I’d like to say that I was knelt in prayer, but rather it was my turn to clean toilets. The person on the phone introduced himself as the Session Clerk (senior elder) of Orchard Rd Presbyterian Church (ORPC) in Singapore and asked if I was free to talk about becoming their senior minister.

I was not looking for a move, let alone a return to the pastorate, but I was open to a move. After 10 years in my then post I was periodically approached about other positions, including “attractive” pastorates and a colleague had urged me to consider such a return. None of the approaches met any inward interest or conviction in me, but rather a sense of grief at what I would be leaving. After one of these approaches it occurred to me that when the right thing came along, one sign would be that anticipation and desire for what was coming would outweigh the grief at what I was leaving. This happened over the next few months.

So, I accepted that Monday phone call and listened. As I listened, I thought: (a) I can see why you are calling me (objective fit to criteria re education, experience etc); (b) I’m interested and can see myself there (inward desire) and (c) “This is going to happen” (intuition or wishful thinking). The phone call ended with me agreeing to consider the possibility.

I went for a long prayer walk that afternoon and at its end was resolved (a) that I was interested to pursue the matter; (b) that Glenda or our youngest son could veto the move because it had big implications for them. Neither vetoed.

And so over the next few months we went through a selection process involving documentation, sermon recordings and then finally, a week-long visit. That latter meant arriving one Saturday night in late January 1999, preaching morning and evening and then a round of meetings and meals around the church over the next five days. By the Wednesday night I was ready to say ‘yes’, even before the Board interview.

Two memorable moments from the interview. One was that I was ill from heat stroke and needed to leave the meeting and vomit. Nothing was said, but questions went to Glenda for a few minutes. Another was an elder asked me if I liked food. I inwardly wondered what planet he was from but made light of the questions. I soon learned that this elder was a divergent thinker, sometimes helpfully so and sometimes just plain puzzling. Some years later I went to him, reminded him of the question and remarked that it was the most insightful question of the evening. Food was culturally important and if I was fussy or restrictive, that would be a barrier to ministry.

Before long the church voted to call me as senior minister – four-year terms were the constitutional norm and I accepted. The vote and acceptances happened by late February 1999 and so I commenced disengagement both the various roles mentioned above. In fact, I left 31 different posts – a mark of how enmeshed I was in denominational affairs at a state and federal level.

Looking for meaning      

This was a big move. It meant Glenda leaving her work; Nat changing school, all leaving friends and a very big change of direction for me. It meant breaking up the family home we had built at Mittagong and leaving two widowed mothers behind, along with our other children, one of whom was going through troubled times. It was full of unknowns and risks. Would it work? What would happen when we returned after the specified four years?

As mentioned, I had expected a move. After 10 years in the same role I had realised that I was    danger zone of doing my job (apparently) well without having to try hard. I knew that this was dangerous at age 47-48, because it could mean cruising to ineffectiveness in the ministerial graveyard zone of my 50s. I had long observed that 50s to be a dangerous decade for ministers ordained young and had seen this in my father. Early in 1998, Glenda and I separately spoke to someone at a social function and had mentioned that we expected God was going to move us on soon, even though we had no sense of what it would look like and some prospective pain at moving.

So there was sense that God was taking us on, even as he went before us. By now we had experienced enough (see my 1979 and 1989 posts) to know that he went ahead; that he prepared the way and that our past chapters would equip us for the next one.

During the 1989 to 1999 decade, the roles described above had given me exposure to ministry among Chinese background people and experience at large organisational leadership. These helped at ORPC, even though they were not an exact fit. Hong Kong background and Cantonese diaspora Chinese in Sydney were not the same as majority-culture Mandarin speaking Chinese in Singapore! Leading committees and being a Trustee in a western church organisation was not the same as leading a large, multicultural high socioeconomic church in Singapore! Nonetheless, in God, the past readied me, in part, for the future. I was ill-equipped for ORPC, as I soon discovered, and there was much to learn, but God in his kindness provided. That, however, is a story for the next post.

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A life of 9s - 1989

A life of 9s – 1989

Several significant events in my Christian life happened in years that ended in 9. These are 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 and now 2019. This post recalls the third of those events. The earlier posts are tagged “A life of 9s”.

A change of ministry direction

In January 1989 I left pastoral ministry and we located to a new home that we had built in Mittagong NSW. From there I served as denominational director of Christian Education (part time); as a theological college teacher (also part time) and a church trustee (unpaid).

It was a big family move. My wife Glenda returned to full time teaching to help make family finances work and our three children (then 13; 9 and 6) went to local government schools.

For me, it was a big change in ministry direction.

This post tells the back story to that move.

The previous decade

From January 1979 to January 1989 I served in pastoral ministry.      

January 1979 to January 1983 were served at Henty in the eastern Riverina of NSW. As told in the last post, this was a small town of mixed farming activity and a small multi-centre church that had lost people in the 1977 church union that resulted in formation of the Uniting Church of Australia.

I was the sole pastor in this church. A typical week saw me with two to three Sunday services in different locations, three primary school Scripture class, an occasional secondary school Scripture class, occasional funerals and weddings, home visitation and sermon preparation.

My ministry model was mainly maintenance rather than expansion, for that is what I had seen in my own father. I put much effort into word ministry for I saw that as strategically key and also because it suited my gifting and temperament. There is no doubt that I had “L” plates as a pastor and I’m thankful for the patience of the church. I drove many klms, talked with many people and made many mistakes.

At the same time, I became involved in wider church affairs. At the start of 1980 I became a member of the denominational Christian Education Committee and in 1981 I taught a Westminster Confession class in the denominational ministry training scheme. These two extras set a pattern in both fields that was to enlarge over the next several years.

In mid 1982 it was a clear that a move was likely. I was appointed convener of the NSW Christian Education Committee and also as lecturer in Church History for the Presbyterian Church. Both posts were Sydney-based. In previous years I had been approached about a move to another church but declined as I felt I owed Henty a longer stint. Finally, an approach came from West Strathfield, a solid church in an area we knew. The ministry potential there was good, and it held promise of working well with the wider posts.

As in all my ministry moves, the move was a mix of objective considerations (my fit to the need; could I reasonably leave where I was); advice from appropriate counsellors; and the subjective (sustained prayerful conviction – did it feel right before God and within myself?).

Henty church was gracious about my departure after just four years. In God’s kindness my successors have by and large been good Bible men, a matter remarked on by some of the elders when I have visited in later years. In a twist of providence, the Presbyterian church there is now relatively strong and the Uniting Church which had taken many former Presbyterians is virtually no more.

From January 183 to January 1989 I was minister at St David’s West Strathfield. Immediately prior to my arrival there has been a good ministry by a Bible man, which made my work easier. However, I inherited some of the legacy of his predecessor – a theological liberal who was a warm-hearted pastor and who was there for a long time. Thus, the church had an older layer who wanted things done very traditionally in terms of ministry style coupled with theological moderatism, and a younger layer who wanted a distinct evangelical note. I gravitated to the latter which gave rise to, mostly latent, tensions with the older group.

My ministry there stayed word-centred with two different sermons to the morning and evening congregations The evening service moved to an earlier time slot (better suited to the mostly young audience) and use of the organ was largely replaced by a band. The organ and a shrinking choir singing traditional anthems stayed in the morning. Session developed a ministry plan for the congregation and formed some ministry task forces to implement this in various portfolios. We engaged in local evangelism through door knocking with leaflets and children’s outreach in a local park. I kept to a target of five pastoral contacts weekly, whether by hospital or home visits or by visiting people in their workplace.

I always had between one to three field education students which gave me the opportunity of involvement in hands on ministry training and which supplied people to assist in the ministry on my absences.

Denominational responsibilities grew as I assumed office as the NSW Christian Education Committee and as a theological teacher.

The Christian Education role saw me run an office, develop and implement a publication programme and develop and implement a training programme for local church educators. I also became a member and then convener of the federal Christian Education Committee which meant more publications and more travel.

The Presbyterian theological college was taking new shape in this period. Over time I taught church history and a variety of subjects in the cultural engagement, worldview and practical ministry spaces.

Life was busy. A typical week saw me in the Christian Education office on Mondays, doing sermon and lecture prep on Tuesday and Wednesdays, teaching on Thursdays, writing sermons on Friday / Saturday and then Sunday preaching. On many weekends I would fly intra-state on Friday afternoon, run a Saturday training seminar, preach at the local church on Sunday morning and then fly back in time to preach the evening sermon. It was no surprise, in retrospect, that I had a crash and burn episode in mid 1986.

One fruit of that was for Glenda and I to see another change of direction coming. After an open discussion with the elders in late 1986 we took the decision that I would leave pastoral ministry to work wholly in the educational sphere. Thus, Glenda returned to full time teaching to fund our family and we built a house at Mittagong on a block adjacent to my parents intended retirement home. And so began 1989 and our new chapter.

Stepping back

So ended my first chapter of pastoral ministry, extending over 10 years and involving the two churches mentioned above.

In retrospect, I don’t think I was a good solo pastor. For one, I was inexperienced. For another, I was distracted by wider denominational roles (prescient of my future). For yet another, my gifting at this stage was angular. I was a teacher and leader, but not yet a pastor.

The teacher leader identity reached back to childhood and adolescent. On the teacher side, I was a Sunday school teacher at 15; an army cadet instructor soon after and a swimming / lifesaving teacher for summer jobs. On the leadership side I held rank as a boy scout, became a commissioned office in the army cadets while at school and quickly moved into senior leadership roles in Christian youth work. However, I did not yet have the all-important pastor’s heart, which was develop some years later and in a surprising setting.

Given all the above, a move out of pastoral ministry seemed wise. There was a need. We had the opportunity and means to do it. I seemed suited to educational work. Glenda and I were agreed and others gave approval and understanding.

And so, we gave the church notice at the start of 1988 and left a year later. This gave time for all to get over the initial shock and to lay measured preparations for the vacancy the church would face. I was concerned to leave well and so the elders and I worked through measured steps prior top my departure. I had seen another pastor undo his ministry by an abrupt and poorly handled departure and had no wish to do the same.

A year of 9s - 1979

A life of 9s – 1979

Several significant events in my Christian life happened in years that ended in 9. These are 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 and now 2019. This post recalls the second of those events.

20^th April 1979

This was day of my ordination as a Presbyterian minister. It happened at St John’s Presbyterian Church Hayes St Henty NSW. It was conducted by the Presbytery of Wagga Wagga with my parents present and also Paul Cooper from Finley attending.

Before that day

The previous post told of my awakening to personal faith in 1969. At that time, I had started studying for an economics degree at the University of Sydney on a NSW government scholarship to be a secondary school economics teacher.

That project came to a conclusion at the end of 1970:

(a)   I lost interest in things economic for things divine. I gave much time to my own growth in Christian understanding and quickly became involved in youth group leadership.

(b)   The economics faculty shifted to a quantitative model which meant lectures taught by a new range of lecturers whose accents I struggled to understand and whose approach mystified my non-mathematical mind. So, while doing well in subjects like government (offered entry to the honours programme) and industrial relations, I bombed out in the core economic units.

The outcome was to leave economics and FT study at the end of 1970. After a brief period working as a hospital orderly ,I worked for Robert Bryce and Co (industrial chemical wholesalers) in sales support for two years.

During this period, I married Glenda and rose through the ranks of the local, regional and state level Presbyterian Fellowship of Australia. I also preached my first sermon.

1971-72 were thus formative and prescient with marriage and the start of serious ministry. They were my growing up years.

By this time Glenda and I already had a sense that my future would be in employed ministry. So, when I switched to part time studies for an Arts degree at Sydney Uni, I chose philosophy and history as good background to later theological studies. Combining FT work, PT study, weekend ministry and marriage made life busy.

By mid 1972 the need for choice arose. My employer spoke to me about training as an executive and including study at Harvard. The people that gave me the teacher training scholarship wanted me back in teacher training and Christian friends were suggesting employed ministry. There was really only one choice and I so I applied for, and was accepted as a candidate for Presbyterian ministry.

I returned to university full time in 1973 with a clear sense of purpose. Glenda worked as a school teacher to enable this. As an honours student I had freedom to shape my studies in the direction of reformation era and evangelical church history and chose philosophy options to fit with ministry.

Meantime I preached weekly or twice weekly in long term supply ministries in the southern and western suburbs of Sydney. This built my preaching skills and gave grounded ministry experience.

During 1975 the question arose as to where to do theological studies. The realistic options were Moore Theological College or Sydney University School of Divinity. From our own considerations and the advice of others I opted for the Sydney BD. It was thought good to have some evangelical study there (against a background that saw some regard evangelicals as dim-witted) and it was a good follow on from my BA. So, to the BD it was from 1976-78. The spiritual tone was low, the theological range was very wide and there was no practical ministry component. In fact, I studied none of the things that I later taught as lecturer in ministry and practice at a theological college. Church requirements saw me do one year of field ministry training in a fairly dispiriting location, after which I declared that I would do no more of this and returned to supply preaching. Ironically, I was later to supervise the field education ministry training that I had opted out of.

In late 1978 the question of where I would be posted on graduation arose. The way the system worked is that the student went to a meeting, was given a list of churches, asked to rank three and then a church committee took the decision. Of course, we students had talked and had figured out several of the places on this list. So, I went to the meeting and made my choices (the place I hoped for was not on the list at all). I was rung a few days later and offered one place that I declined and was then told I would go to Henty.

I had never heard of Henty. I could not find it on a map. I then found there was nowhere to stay for a weekend visit. So, the fact that I had not asked to go there and could not find it was potentially unsettling. We consoled ourselves with the thought that God was in charge. Then we went to church the following Sunday at Ashfield (where we lived). An elderly man shuffled up and introduced himself as the retired minister of Culcairn (16k from Henty) and said that he had watched me and had been praying for the last year that we would go to Henty.

Wow! That meant we went to Henty with high purpose.

Henty was a town of just 1,000 people. The church had preaching centres at Cookardinia, Yerong Creek, Woodend and Pleasant Hills and Lockhart was soon added. That meant some long Sundays with much driving. The area was dominated by family farms of about 1000 acres and with mixed cropping and livestock.

I had lived in Hay as a child so this was not altogether unfamiliar to me. Glenda had never lived in a rural setting and we entered a learning curve. Two of our children were born there (one was earlier born in Sydney) and so we settled into family life.

The church had recently undergone change as about half the congregation left to join the Uniting Church. Its determination to survive helped created commitment to my ministry and patience as I made the very big transition from academic study and PT city ministry to FT rural ministry. My ministry was shaped by a weekly sermon preached two or three times over, teaching religious education in several local schools and pastoral visitation. I soon also became involved in wider denominational affairs, but that is a story for the next post.

April 20^th 1979.

After I arrived in the church as a licentiate in February 1979, the issue of a Call from the congregation soon arose. I was dutifully called, accepted it and so a date was set for my ordination.

A major hiccup arose when I said I would not wear the then customary clerical robes (I had written on this issue in 1975). My reasons were mainly theological and related to a view that the minister was different from the rest of the church only on functional grounds and that special clerical dress implied an ontological distinction. The local church may not have grasped my reasons but seemed untroubled by the issue. It was different however with my interim-moderator, who was also presbytery moderator who state moderator. And so, there was a period of a few weeks when the ordination seemed in doubt. I was prepared not be ordained and would not budge … and so the ordination happened.

Making sense of it all

The ordination meant little to me. I had been ordained as an elder in 1976 and saw the 1979 event as little more than an extension of that. Further, I had been preaching and effectively caring for churches for several years on a part-time basis and already had a sense of ministerial identity.

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A life of 9s – 1969

A life of 9s – 1969

Several significant events in my Christian life happened in years that ended in 9. These are 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 and now 2019. This post recalls the first, and most significant of those.

It is March 1969 and I am soon to turn 18. I am seated in a corner of the lounge room of a house at 12 George St Liverpool one evening. It was a planning meeting for a regional church camp at which I had a minor role. Across from me, the speaker was summarising his talks. I vividly recall thinking “this guy really believes this stuff” and a micro-second later thinking “so do I”. And so, I realised that I was a Christian.

Behind that day

It was not always thus. 

My dad was a Presbyterian minister. When I was born, I went home from hospital to a Presbyterian Manse and thence to a childhood and adolescence lived within the church.

I dutifully went to countless church services, said grace at mealtimes, graduated through Sunday School, Pathfinders Club and into the local PFA (youth group). Aged 15 I was appointed to teach a Sunday School class and stumbled through lessons as my first exercise in teaching something to someone. I recall occasional prayer for divine help in some minor duty in the PFA group. Aged around 16 I passed through a confirmation class, took the vows and became a church member without great awareness or conviction.

I would not say that I was a pagan at this time, but rather someone with a second hand faith that was lived through my parents. There was nothing vital about my soul and I was religious rather than Christian. I don’t suppose that my behaviour was worse than many teenagers of my era, but my conscience only troubled me occasionally.

Aged 17 there were some spiritual stirrings. A slightly older man with strong and definite Christian convictions joined the youth group. This encouraged others to show themselves including a particular girl from a non-Christian home. I didn’t know what was going on, but was blindsided and perplexed. I knew they had something that I didn’t and, furthermore resented it. I was the minister’s son and thought I had a monopoly of religious status in the group’s pecking order.

I argued against this man and his ilk with fervour. To worsen my attitude, the girl mentioned above went out with me briefly then dropped me – in part, because she saw through my religious veneer. Bah – my first girlfriend was gone!

In late 1969 I finished secondary schooling and had a few months waiting to see what came next. My hopes to train as a military officer were on hold because of my young age and so I applied for a scholarship to do a uni course that would qualify me as a secondary teacher of economics. While waiting for uni I held short-term jobs in a post office and then a factory.

Christmas 1968: my parents gave me a new RSV Bible (that’s what happens when your dad is a pastor). My menial occupations over that summer left plenty of brain time and so I started reading the thing. And kept reading. And then started asking questions and talking with the  man mentioned above. God was searching me out.

And so I was led to that corner of a lounge room in March 1969.

After that day

I recall going home that night and knowing something big was different. I sat up quite late reading my Bible, praying and making some notes.

That became my pattern with some intensity. I could not read enough of the Bible and Christian literature and routinely sat up into the small hours. Within a few months I wrote 200 pages of handwritten commentary notes on John’s Gospel. I bought and devoured L Berkhof’s full Systematic Theology and still see it on my study bookshelf as I write this post.

I soon became very active in the youth group and started on a path of ministry and leadership roles that have developed over the years and which will be spoken of more in later posts.

My intellectual interest in Christian things crowded out my studies in economics (God replacing mammon?) and I was to have a time out from economics studies and a shift to a different programme within two years.

Meanwhile, the girl who had dumped me came back into my life with weeks of March 1969 and we agreed to resume our relationship with an expectation of marriage. That happened soon enough, but fortunately this did not wait for the next year of 9s.

I, of course, had much to learn about being a Christian. I recall thinking that now that I believed, I no longer needed Jesus. I soon discovered otherwise as any young man will. I am sure I was an irritating, opinionated precocious prat to my parents and people around me as I opined on matters religious with forceful arguments that brooked no alternates. God yet had much to do, but he had started the journey that continues in 2019.

Making sense of March 1969

I don’t see March 1969 as my conversion from pagan unbelief. However, it certainly was the year of my spiritual awakening.

My parents’ faith became my own.

I moved from second hand faith to first hand.

I moved from being religious to being Christian.

I read my story through that of Jacob in Genesis 28, when a careless son of covenant- keeping parents came home to the Lord of the covenant.

And I say that this was all of God’s doing. I quite expect that ,without his Spirit leading me to the Bible, placing those people around me, I would have drifted along asleep. Doubtless the outward form of religion would have stayed with me as it was so deeply ingrained from childhood. But this was the Age of Aquarius and I expect that in time I would have drifted to one or another of the idols of my day.

So that is my testimony from March 1969. All else about my life since is shaped by that evening 50 years ago this month.

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Where is home?

Where is home?

In the last month I have caught six international flights, crossed time zones seven times, slept in eight different beds and been in four different countries.  Meanwhile my family is scattered across three different parts of Australia and in Vietnam. As I write I am checked in to fly again to a foreign land today. Late next week I fly to yet a different country and have five beds in eight days.

So, where is home? Is it my official residential address, at which I will spend just seven nights out of 49? Or Singapore where I will spend 10 put of the 49? Or the place where my wife is?

From past reflections I have concluded that:

·       Home is every place where I have lived.

·       Home is where I sleep tonight.

·       Home is my official address.

·       Home is where loved ones are.

These multiple senses of home enable me to make sense of my “where” which contributes to my sense of “who”. Both are important for a sense of groundedness.

That earthly sense of home matters because this life matters.

I also have an eternal sense of home that contributes to my where and who. My eternally real home is with God through his grace in Christ. That has an earthly aspect, for one can be “home” with him here. And it has eternal aspect, for I anticipate the dwelling of many rooms where there is one with my nameplate etched for eternity.

Where is home? It is wherever I am with my God.

An ordinary Sunday

An ordinary Sunday

It was a smallish town in the midst of an unusually hot summer, and it was that “dead” space between Christmas and New year. That nation was in its usual summer sleep and gave little interest even to the traditional; MCG cricket test (“great time to invade” is often said).

However, it was a Sunday.

30-40 people gathered in a local church. They were mostly older, and many knew each other over many years. There was no musician, so the singing accompaniment was YouTube. An elder in his 70s was preaching. His offering was faithful to the text and warm in his application – a ‘straight bat’ kind of sermon without flair or fancy tricks. The kids talk (two kids present) was apt to the season and the pastoral prayer had a global focus.

All in it was the kind of gathering hardly worth writing about … a bit like an ordinary meal that creates no memories and generates no lingering ‘wow’.

However, it was a gathering of the bride of Christ. And he was present through his Spirit in the ordinariness of familiar routines. We left, reminded of higher things and called to live in their light as a new year loomed. It was a bit like an ordinary meal that nourishes its diners for the coming days.

My point? The gatherings of God’s people are often like this – embarrassingly ordinary. Our yearning to have ears tickled and senses stimulated by dazzling gatherings of large numbers may blind us to the reassure that is before our eyes. Christ may be as much present and working in the ordinariness of the forgettable Sunday as in the memorable event that resembles Pentecost.

The dummy's guide to church planting

The Dummy’s Guide to church planting

So, you want to plant a church.

Great!

You could work alongside a church planter, read some books, do a course, attend conferences or hook up with a network for some assessment or training.

Or, you can read this post and follow these tips.

LOCATION

Find an area where there are already many church plants that are doing okay. After all, if they could do it there, the ground is fertile, and you may as well join in. Avoid areas where churches are thin on the ground as they are clearly the rocky soil of the parable and your pearls will fall to unappreciative swine.

For a flying start, choose a location with hipster cafes and a craft brewery – that almost guarantees that you will be the next star.

PEOPLE

This one is tricky.

Pastors who say they support you fully, may try to offload their problem people to you. Don’t fall for that and don’t take other’s discards.

Instead, do some advance networking in select churches and cherry pick the best people. That’s the willing workers who will influence others and who can help pay the bills.

While having some diversity looks good in your promo picks, too much diversity can be counterproductive. The best bet is to collect a group of uni students and graduates born not much earlier than 1990. They tend to have lots of energy and are ready to follow the leaders who inspire them without asking too many questions … so long as you are attentive to their needs.

Do have some good filters to encourage certain types of people that another church may be best for them. You know the ones ... they are ‘different’, ask too many questions and have ideas of their own. Proactive greeting is a good way to keep these certain types at bay.

STYLE AND TONE

This is really important, and we suggest your church has a digital stylist. Think logo and slogan; colours; fonts and layouts. Match it to your community. Be aspirational. Have a style that hints at something higher without being too specific about it.

Music is a special part of your style.  The play list doesn’t need to be long, but it does need to match your audience. nothing earlier than 2,000 in composition please (after all, the Bible urges us to sing a new song unto the Lord). Reserve the front of stage posts for the younger and more attractive musicians. Some cute girls and spunky guys is a good look. A drummer is essential.

DIGITAL PRESENCE

We know a church that existed in its digital presence for some time before anything actually happened. We’re not suggesting a purely virtual church, but do observe that a good Facebook, twitter and Instagram feed can cover a multitude of sins.

MESSAGE

Okay, you stand for the age-old message and have nothing to do with that liberal nonsense.

Great!

But you still need to be all things to all people. Discard the dross and focus on the core. What do you really stand for – what is the irreducible minimum message? Once you have that, think how to express it. You don’t want to raise barriers or give needless offense, so take care to make the message short, memorable and positive. If you give it from a trendy perspex stand and with slides that capture the “how did he do that?” feeling, it really doesn’t matter what you say.

READY TO GO

Go for it!

Assemble the launch team; give them plenty of food, sound like you have a vision and go launch. With a bit of luck, you’ll last long enough to write a post like this and be an expert.

On second thoughts, maybe you had best read the books, apprentice yourself to a church planter and hook up to the assessment and support networks.