Eternity - July 2013 - Issue 38

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Christians have come to be seen no longer as merely irrelevant but are seen as a threat to the culture.

People are not just bored with us but angry at us.

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Moore College Principal Mark Thompson on the world that the new generation of ministers face

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NUMBER 38, JULY 2013 CIRCULATION 100,000 ISSN 1837-8447

Why low-fee Christian The real Mr Eternity, schools are the big winners from Gonski Arthur Stace

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JULY 2013

Visiting Mongolia

Obadiah Slope We’re a brand, too: On the side of a bus Obadiah spotted an ad for a phone: ‘Samsung Galaxy S4 | Life companion’ Personally, I prefer the Holy Spirit; he’s my life companion. Oh, and my wife as well. Before I dig too deep, here is the punch-line: it could have been worse.

They could have used the “life companion” tagline to advertise the Samsung Eternity phone.

Travelling lightly: You travel the world, you expect new things but delegates to the United Bible Societies Global Publishing Conference in Holland discovered a new concept: compulsory nudity.

To use the hotel sauna, or the swimming pool after 8pm required disrobing.

Obadiah did not have the guts to check and see if any Bible Society delegate adopted this local custom.

Inevitable: A pair of life coaches who hosted a New York radio show called The Pursuit of Happiness ran a business to “put you confidently on the path to designing the life you’ve always wanted to live”. Sadly, Associated Press reports they were found dead in their apartment after an apparent suicide pact.

Quotable: Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in The Spectator: “‘Some people get religion; others don’t. Why not leave it at that?’

“Fair enough, perhaps. But not, I submit, for readers of The Spectator, because religion has social, cultural and political consequences, and you cannot expect the foundations of western civilisation to crumble and leave the rest of the building intact. That is what the greatest of all atheists, Nietzsche, understood with terrifying clarity and what his latter-day successors fail to grasp at all. Time and again in his later writings he tells us that losing Christian faith will mean abandoning Christian morality. No more ‘Love your neighbour as yourself ’; instead the will to power.

No more ‘Thou shalt not’; instead people would live by the law of nature, the strong dominating or eliminating the weak. ‘An act of injury, violence, exploitation or destruction cannot be “unjust” as such, because life functions essentially in an injurious, violent, exploitative and destructive manner.’”

Forbidden talk: A parade of politicians claiming that abortion should not be an election issue has Obadiah puzzled.

Why not?

It could be you: A contact brings Obadiah up to date about a Christian leader: “He’s much easier to deal with.

He’s really been working on being a better human being.” I have to confess the comment took me by surprise. Which only goes to show what a faithless person I am. Dear reader, we could be talking about someone in your denomination.

Tim Costello Students like these from Penrith Christian School will be better off under the Gonski funding model

Low–fee Christian schools big winners from Gonski John Sandeman The new school funding model proposed in the Gonski report will give low-fee schools—often sited in low-tomiddle-income areas—a welcome boost.

Gonki’s needs-based funding model suits the low-fee Christian schools sector.

“The Gonski approach is very much in line with what Christian Schools Australia (CSA) has been advocating since our inception 11 years ago,” CSA CEO Stephen O’Doherty told Eternity.

“It is based on some principles that we strongly believe in. It is fair and equitable; it bases funding on need—including educational and socio-economic need—and it puts all sectors on the same footing. This is new and welcome.”

The Howard Government’s SES (socio-economic status) model had features that increased inequity for some schools. The “funding maintenance” and “funding guarantee” provisions of the current model have created distortions that have tended to disadvantage lower-fee independent schools. The inclusion of the Catholic system in the SES system only made this gap more apparent for the low-fee independents.

“The Gonski model removes the need for funding maintenance and restores equity—that is, providing governments adequately fund it,” said O’Doherty. “In fact, whoever is in government will need to deal with this issue, and the Coalition has given us an undertaking it will have a plan to do so within two years if it wins in September.”

Gonski contains another major breakthrough for low-fee Christian schools. For the first time, funding for students with a disability will follow the child. “As well as more funding in the ‘loadings’ category, modelling to date shows the majority of CSA schools also receiving a boost to their base fund-

ing under the Gillard plan,” O’Doherty reported. “This is because our schools tend to be located in low to middle income areas, serving families who, quite frankly, struggle to pay even the relatively low fee structures of Christian schools. They do so because they passionately believe Christian education is right for their family.”

Despite there being so much at stake, O’Doherty is not impressed with the way our political system is dealing with the question of education funding.

“The debate in recent days, since the budget, has been unedifying. That’s partly because it is inherently complex, but mostly because we are now very much in pre-election mode and, like so much that has happened in the last three years, there’s a lot of heat and not much light in the public debate. Making the issues even harder to explain is the reality that as State governments cut money to schools—particularly NSW and QLD—all schools are being affected by the flow-on. If nothing changed, money for schooling would be tighter in the next two to three years. This is tending to distort the discussion about the new model, which itself will be phased in over six years.”

The verdict: “Despite the nervousness around implementation, and the complexity of the new system, we still believe that the Gillard reforms should be supported by all states, and implemented,” said O’Doherty.

“It is a fairer system. It achieves greater equity for those who need it.

“It is based on a model that measures educational and social need, and provides funding in a way that should address that need.

“Most if not all schools in our organisation will, over time, gain access to more funding than is currently available. Some, we already know, will receive significant boosts.”

What students cost Average student cost for Aust.

Association of Christian Schools (A low-fee school network) $12,288 State schools $14,380 Independent $15,240 Parent contribution at an AACS school $4,577 Government contribution at an AACS school $7,771 Source: cen.edu.au Based on 2010 figures, including primary and secondary schools

Recently, Mel Doyle, from Channel 7’s Sunrise program, joined me in Mongolia to visit her World Vision sponsor child for the second time. Mel first visited eight-year-old Khulan in 2006.

Today, Khulan is a confident 15-year-old making wonderful progress.

Khulan still helps out with household chores and looking after her sister and cousin. But sponsorship means her family can afford to give her more time for school and study.

One third of Mongolians live in poverty. Many must choose between food and firewood. Not everyone is as fortunate as those whose communities enjoy the benefits of child sponsorship.

Because of the generosity of many Australians, we saw how sponsored children and their communities in Mongolia now have a future that is very different. It is a future you see in their faces, a future they can dream of, a future they can reach. God’s kingdom is among the people of Mongolia.

The gospel of Jesus is primarily about transformation in the here and now, and its completion when heaven finally comes here and the earth is renewed.

Jesus did not talk about going to heaven when we die. That is not what the kingdom of God is about. It is about God’s rule coming into the world through his people; on earth as it is in heaven. That means places like Mongolia, and for children like Khulan.

The primary mention of heaven in the Bible is that it is coming here. The message of the Bible is that God has acted in history in the person of Jesus, and is in the process of renewing societies and cultures. One day that renewal will be final, when he returns.

Any gospel that doesn’t have a primary concern for the poor is not the Gospel of Jesus. To reduce the Good News to simply a ticket to heaven when we die is not doing justice to it. The transformation I saw in Mongolia, in the faces of the families who have been given hope, is the work of God. Jesus calls Christians to be transformed, to become totally committed to discipleship. That is what being a Christian is about. And that is what I saw happening with Khulan and her family in Mongolia.

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JULY 2013

BRIEFS

NEWS

No tax deduction for shoeboxes John Sandeman

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What is it about dreadlocks? The braided hairstyle features heavily in the line up of the Blackstump festival scheduled for October at Cataract, NSW. And that’s for the speakers, not the musicians. Antipoverty campaigner Shane Claibourne and the new Bishop of Wellington in New Zealand both sport dreadlocks.

The musicians, including Flagfall, Jake Nauta and Compliments of Gus, look comparatively well-scrubbed according to their pics at blackstump.org.au

2 Samaritan’s Purse Australia

Most charities work hard to get Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status from the tax office. But Samaritan’s Purse Australia has renounced DGR for one of its major programmes because its overseas partner churches do evangelism in response to Operation Christmas Child.

DGR means that a donation attracts a tax deduction.

“The reason for us foregoing DGR status for Operation Christmas Child is that although it is a developmental tool, in that it often leads to other projects, it is increasingly used by our overseas partners—the ‘local church’—as an evangelism tool,” executive director of Samaritan’s Purse, Jorge Rodrigues told Eternity. “We are foregoing DGR status only for Operation Christmas Child but retaining it for our developmental projects such as water, health, education, farming, animal husbandry and anti-human trafficking. We are also retaining DGR status for disaster relief.”

Operation Christmas Child is Samaritan’s Purse best–known programme.

Every year, generous people across the world lovingly pack shoe boxes with gifts: simple, yet powerful messages of God’s unconditional love. It’s a simple hands-on effort that connects with an evangelistic programme mounted by locals and local churches overseas. This year the number of shoe boxes given by Australia and New Zealand will reach a cumulative three million since the programme began.

“We want the freedom to let our overseas partners share the Good News of Jesus through Operation Christmas Child and The Greatest Journey and the only way to accomplish this is to forego

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DGR status,” Rodrigues told Eternity.

“Financially speaking I am very concerned about this huge step of faith that we are taking. Foregoing tax deductibility seems counterintuitive in a world where most charities offer tax deductibility. This year more than ever, we need the understanding and generosity of our supporters.”

“In early June we travelled to Labasa, Fiji to attend the opening of a new church established by a local pastor as a result of a December 2011 shoe box distribution and subsequent The Greatest Journey discipleship program which started in January 2012,” said Rodrigues .

“A ten-year-old boy called Melvin received an Operation Christmas Child shoe box as did other kids in his village.

“I am very concerned about this huge step of faith The Greatest Journey course followed and many adults and children accepted that we Jesus as Lord and saviour. Over 35 were baptised; they bought land and our supare porters donated the money for a church construction.” taking.”

About 30 churches were planted in PNG and three in Fiji as a direct result of Samaritan’s Purse partners reaching communities through Operation Christmas Child. Samaritan’s Purse as an organisation does not do the evangelism, but its overseas partners often use the programme to do so.

The Greatest Journey is a discipleship program offered to children who receive shoe boxes (with parental consent) and this adds to the evangelism component of Samaritan’s Purse programmes. samaritanspurse.org.au

Unhappy world record More than 100,000 Christians are killed each year because of their faith, and millions more face bigotry and marginalisation, according to Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s Observer to the UN in Geneva. He cited research

by Massimo Introvigne of the Centre for Studies on New Religions.

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Resilence in Cyberia is Channel Seven parenting advisor Collett Smart’s title for her talk at a conference hosted by Fusion Australia on Teens, Sex and Technology.

The conference is on August 1-2 at St Mary’s in western Sydney. fusion.org.au

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Norway emerges from deep freeze Despite having a church attendance of only one per cent, Norway has seen the Bible become the number one bestseller. The sudden burst of interest in God’s word has also spread to the stage, with a sixhour play called Bibelen (Norwegian for ‘the Bible’) drawing 16,000 people in a three-month run that recently ended at one of Oslo’s most prominent theatres, Associated Press reports.

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A Bible in every house will be the result of distributing 40,000 Bibles in Vanuatu. The first container arrived to great rejoicing.

Understanding the whole Bible’s teaching on the ‘world’ as the context of faith 13 August, 8pm | 19 August – 23 August, 9am Knox Lecture Theatre | 15 King Street Newtown Speaker: Bill Salier, Vice Principal of Moore College

02 9577 9999 moore.edu.au

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JULY 2013

When fare evasion becomes Facebook pages dedicated to explaining how to fare evade. These pages would give you up-to-date information about where and when ticket inspectors had been spotted. I googled “how to fare evade” and I learnt many techniques to do so—which seats on the tram were best to do a runner, which seats were closest to a ticket machine/reader to validate the ticket when needed, and I learnt which routes were easy targets for ticket inspectors.

I never got caught—God was merciful. I had a handful of near misses, but I managed to get away (This does not mean I think God allowed me to fare evade. It had a greater purpose—for me to repent in all areas of my life).

It became a game of hide and seek, not just with ticket inspectors, but with God. First, I stopped giving to God. Then, I felt more and more ashamed of myself. I could not bring myself to pray. I felt that I could not be close to God for I was an awful sinner, an awful Christian.

Soon, I stopped going to church regularly—being in his presence was confronting. Listening to his word was difficult, for it convicted me of my sins.

Yet, I still chose to fare evade.

My identity in Christ started to be blurry. I started to believe the lies that I was unworthy of his love, that God hated me; not just my sin, but me. My self-image was torn down. I started to run away from God. To be deaf, dumb and blind to his words.

It became a game of hide and seek, not just with ticket inspections, but with This was how Satan had a grip on me: I allowed money to be on the God. throne, instead of God. God reached out his arms to me. He called me countless times, he waited for me to turn back to him. Yet, I still chose to sin. It was getting harder and harder to not sin; I was controlled by money.

I allowed myself to tell lies. I allowed myself to justify my actions of fare evasion. I avoided God, I avoided anything

Britsinvade

I never thought I loved money that much or that money would control my life.

However, it happened to me after moving to Melbourne as an international student.

On an extremely tight budget with rent consuming two-thirds of my income, I first chose to fare evade while catching a tram one day in August 2010. My heart was beating so fast, my palms sweating and my knees turning weak. My eyes were looking out for uniformed ticket inspectors. It was a short trip—maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

When I reached my destination, I let out a sigh of relief. With all that anxiety, one would think I had good reason not to do it again. But, the $3.50 I “saved” enticed me to do it again, and again, and again. Soon I was an avid fare dodger.

It was like playing with fire. I could get caught anytime. Yet that adrenalin rush when I managed to pull it off was addictive. I was hooked. I started being bolder, not validating my ticket when there was a customer service officer on the tram.

I learnt how to dodge fares, how to hide from ticket inspectors and how to spot them from afar. This was the time before Melbourne’s smartcard Myki system came in, so you still had the option of buying single tickets and I always had an un-validated ticket on hand just in case. I conjured heaps of excuses in my head in case I was caught. I liked

and everything that screamed “Come back to me, my child. Come back.” Even when I had free public transport tickets, I used them sparingly. I chose to fare evade.

I justified it to myself that by not paying, I was getting back at Myki which ripped people off. I developed a sense of entitlement: since I was paying so much in tuition fees, couldn’t I be entitled to a free tram ride?

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JULY 2013

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God evasion: a testimony

Geoff Penaluna

I looked to fare evasion for comfort, to feel I was saving money...

But it just consumed me.

There were so many excuses in my head: 1 in 3 international students fare evade; some of my brothers and sisters in Christ fare evade too; 1 in 10 Australians fare evade; the public transport system is not up to par; international students don’t get concession.

I did not realise that because everyone is fare evading didn’t mean I should join in. I didn’t realise that I was becoming one with the world.

One day, my Aunt said to me, “I am worried about your fare evasion. What are you going to steal next?”

I was not just stealing a tram ride; I was stealing God’s sovereignty in my life.

I was stealing time and effort (used to dodge fares) given by God, instead of using it to proclaim his name.

I was short changing God by putting a mere $7 daily fare ahead of Jesus’

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death for me.

I ignored his word that though we are made holy by Jesus’s blood, we should not keep sinning deliberately.

It was a struggle; my relationship with God was adversely affected. It was a vicious cycle.

I looked to fare evasion for comfort, to feel I was saving money…But it just consumed me.

Every day was a battleground, and I

lost every day, yet, the world said I was winning.

O, how many times I tried to give it up. How many prayers I said. How many mentors I went to for help. But, it was guilt that drove those prayers and attempts of giving up. It was not about obeying God and seeing him as my Lord.

Of course, it failed.

Now, I understand why God hates evil. It is because God knows evil kills us, it destroys us. It is not only for His good, but for our own good.

Now, I no longer resist. I understand that only by dying to my earthly self, God will be on the throne of my heart.

Sometimes completely following God’s word is painful. But I am willing to go through this small pain, because it means my earthly self is dying, and that is reason to celebrate.

Now, I own a yearly Myki pass. I chose to own it even though it may be cheaper to use Myki money or a monthly Myki pass when I don’t use public transport 365 days a year. That’s because it greatly reduces the chance of fare evasion creeping into my life again. I would rather pay more to avoid temptation.

I am still struggling with allowing him to be in complete control of my life. But, this time, I feel safe, for God is with me. I am not alone.

Carrying this cross may be hard, but Jesus carried it first.

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SPONSORED PAGE REVIVE

Paul Scanlon and Crossing Over

We chatted with Paul Scanlon from Life Church, UK about the Crossing Over journey, the local church and the upcoming Revive conference.

How did the ‘Crossing Over’ journey begin?

People would come to our church and they were just too comfortable – they would leave their belongings lying around on the seats. That became a parable for me about how safe our church was. People left their most prized possessions unattended.

We wouldn’t do that anywhere else in our week and I realised our church was just too safe. We are an inner city church – we should have people in our services who would steal our stuff. We had a gap between our theology and our reality. The two didn’t match up. And I wanted them to match, so I began to take initiatives to turn the church outward.

First initiatives and first reactions?

We began busing people in from the poorer parts of the city, from the unchurched community. Bringing people in that would never really be

welcome in any church in the country, never mind our church! Bringing in the poor, the drug dealers, prostitutes, criminals, people with all kinds of lifestyles we wouldn’t approve of. I began to bus these people in and all hell broke loose. I realised that outreach was fine in a song or a sermon, but when the rubber hit the road and they came in amongst us, people found it really difficult. Other churches couldn’t really figure us out, I think they wondered what we were up to. But it’s not the other churches we were trying to reach; we were trying to reach the unchurched.

What does the outreach in your local church in Bradford look like?

Outreach is absolutely the DNA of the church we’ve become. It is no longer a theory or a theology; it is now the reality of our church life. Our focus is reaching the inner city for Christ and this takes us into all sorts

“...march to the beat of what God’s put in your heart.” of areas, even the prisons around our region. We are very involved in education programs, in feeding and clothing the poor. We are active in home visitation and in helping people with lifestyles that don’t have a basic support system. We have been led to work with refugees and have seen so many amazing examples of people’s lives being changed because of our reaching out to them. People are coming off drugs, people coming off the streets, prostitutes are getting out of that lifestyle to make better choices, all because they are believed in. We are seeing people do things they never would through the support structure the local church gives them.

What’s planned for Revive 2013?

One of the things on my heart (for Revive) is to encourage you to get out what’s in your heart. To realise you are only here for a short time and it’s vital you don’t dance to the many tunes people play for us. You are here to march to the beat of what God’s put in your heart. I’m going to come to encourage you to live full but die empty. To encourage you to put away the things that are a distraction and a dilution of why you’re on the planet. I can’t wait to be with you!

For the full interview with Paul Scanlon or to register for Revive, visit www.revive.org.au.

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JULY 2013

IN DEPTH

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What makes a nation great?

Roslyn Phillips of Family Voice In 2011, Indian theologian Vishal Mangalwadi wrote his best-selling book The Book That Made Your World: How The Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization. It’s about the things that make some societies far more successful than others.

He first pondered the question while languishing in a rural Indian jail, held there by corrupt politicians because he was helping the poor people they wanted to exploit. How he ended up there is quite a story.

Vishal grew up in India surrounded

by Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic influences.

He initially rejected his family’s Christian values, but in his teen years came to recognise that his habit of lying and stealing was not something he could control. He asked Jesus Christ to be his Lord and saviour.

“I did not lack willpower. I realised I was a slave to sin,” Vishal says. “I learnt that Jesus could deliver me from my slavery, so I accepted him and he changed me.”

Vishal did well at university, but remained curious about other religions.

He spent time in the Hindu ashram made famous by The Beatles, and later was a student of the late Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland.

In 1976, Vishal and his wife Ruth turned down attractive US job offers and went to live in one of the most backward districts in central India.

They lived on ten dollars a month and founded a community to serve the poor.

Their efforts to transform rural India

Vishal Mangalwadi will discuss ‘What good is Christianity?’ in forums resulted in violent opposition, several arrests, and the burning down of their and home and community.

“After a hailstorm, I organised a seminars meeting to pray for the victims’ relief. authorities were threatened by the around The people’s enthusiasm for prayer! The of police told me to canAustralia. superintendent cel it, or he would personally kill me,” Vishal recalls. “Fortunately, I was only thrown in jail.”

In that jail, Vishal had time to think: What is a just and free society, and how do we build one?

Over the years, as he travelled more widely, the answer became clearer.

When visiting Jinja in Uganda, he stayed on the shores of Lake Victoria and observed hundreds of women and

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children hauling water on their heads.

He asked: ‘Why are women staying near an abundant source of water and electricity still carrying water 365 days a year? Were they unaware of pumping technology?’

No—nearby was an industrial pumping complex, he thought.

Vishal found it difficult to respect an ingrained cultural practice that forced women to engage in this drudgery while many men sat and played cards. It was not only a waste of labour, it meant that families did not bathe, wash or flush enough, leading to easily avoidable diseases and producing stunted women and children with less time to play, learn and be creative.

Vishal began to see that such prac-

tices stem from an underlying worldview that is different from a Christian worldview.

Mahatma Gandhi rejected technology, and there is a huge statue honouring him in Jinja.

But unlike Gandhi, the Bible distinguishes “work” from “toil”, and Christian monks were among the first to develop technology to free them from the tyranny of toil so they could focus on more creative pursuits.

Vishal Mangalwadi will discuss ‘What Good is Christianity?’ in forums and seminars in all Australian capital cities during 8-24 August.

Details at fava.org.au/events Roslyn Phillips is the national research officer of FamilyVoice Australia

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JULY 2013

TESTIMONY

Following Jesus on death row Chris Makin of Leading The Way

Leading The Way

Andrew Chan is in Kerobokan prison, awaiting death by firing squad. It’s the penalty he received for being one of the leaders of the Bali Nine, a drug trafficking ring made up of Australians arrested in Indonesia in 2005. But following his conversion while in solitary confinement, Andrew Chan is now a man on a mission from the Lord.

Last week, a small team from international evangelism organisation Leading The Way were granted a visit with Andrew. What transpired during our visit to his church and subsequent conversations and prayer time with him, was nothing short of remarkable.

Andrew still bears the scars from the life that led him to his current predicament, but his face provides insight into the new life he has found in Christ. His smile is infectious, his manner warm and friendly. His conversation topic: Jesus.

Currently Andrew leads the Christian church inside Kerobokan prison. From preaching to worship leading, pastoring to evangelism, he uses his days in service of the Lord. To ensure the longevity of the ministry in the prison, Andrew is training leaders to carry on the work of the Lord in Kerobokan.

We were privileged to speak with Andrew about his conversion.

“It wasn’t until I was in solitary that I felt the need to be on the right side of God,” he said. After wrestling with the New Testament, and reading it for the fourth time, Andrew finally chose to submit his life to the Lord. “I was on my knees and cried for the first time in years,” he said.

Andrew Chan leading worship at Kerobokan Prison, Bali - May 2013 What follows is Andrew’s testimony, in his own words: “I found myself in here. At first I thought it was no big deal, I’ll get outta this. It wasn’t until I ended up in solitary confinement that I realised I wasn’t going to get outta this. In fact, I figured they were gonna kill me. I had never felt so hopeless and alone before, and decided that if they were going to kill me anyway, I’d just do it myself. I took my t-shirt off and made a noose, and then remembered the heaven/hell issue, and decided that if I was gonna kill myself I should make sure I ended up in heaven. I wasn’t sure how to do that, but figured I should pray. I wasn’t sure how to do that either, so I looked up and just said ‘God if you’re real...’,

and for the first time in my life I began to cry and ended up on my knees. I cried and cried and said, ‘God if you’re real, send someone who cares about me to see me.’ I fell asleep like that. At 6:30 the next morning a guard woke me up. I woke up cursing him in my usual response, and he said ‘Get up, you’ve got a visitor.’ I said, ‘I can’t have a visitor, no one knows I’m here.’ He took me to the visitor area and I saw my brother. I thought, my mum must have seen this on the news and sent my brother to see about me, because I knew my brother wouldn’t just come—we don’t like each other. We get along like cats and dogs.

“When I got to him, he said, ‘Andrew, no matter what happens or how long it takes, I’m gonna be here with you.’ I

“I’ll be executed this year.

It’s not that I fear death ...”

told him to bring me a Bible. I started in Genesis when I got it and thought ‘These are a lot of nice stories’, but I got nothing out of it.

Someone else came to visit me who was a Christian, and I told him I was reading the Bible but didn’t get much out of it, and he told me to read the New Testament. I didn’t even know what that was and told him I didn’t have one. He had to explain to me that it was a part of the Bible, and told me to start reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I read through the New Testament a couple of times, but didn’t really notice any change. I just didn’t get it.

“Just before my court date, I remember reading Mark 11:23-24, where it says that if you have enough faith you can say to this mountain, ‘Be removed’ and God will do it. So I said, ‘God if you’re real and if this is true, I want you to free me, and if you do I’ll serve you every day for the rest of my life.’ I went to my court hearing and they convicted me and gave me the death penalty. When I got back to my cell, I said, ‘God, I asked you to set me free, not kill me.’ God spoke to me and said, ‘Andrew, I have set you free from the inside out, I have given you life!’

From that moment on I haven’t stopped worshipping Him. I had never sung before, never led worship, until Jesus set me free.

“My last appeal is on the President’s desk for review. If he doesn’t grant it, I’ll be executed this year. It’s not that I fear death, but I promised Him I’d serve Him for the rest of my life, and I feel I have more things to do. So if you want to pray, you could pray I’ll be released.”

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Fighting poverty, one stitch at a time Sophie Timothy Jake Doleschal sews his own clothes.

Far from trying to imitate the kitschy lifestyle of a 50s housewife like so many crafty types these days, Jake’s impetus to whip out the sewing machine is a question, not of gender equality, but of social equality. Jake is trying to fight poverty and reduce his reliance on consumption to stop “contributing to the cycle of supply and demand.”

The Bible college student and kids ministry leader at his Baptist church says it’s his faith in Jesus that gives him a passion for the poor.

“I see faith as not being just spirit or justice centred, but having to engage both. My faith is really entangled in meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the world.”

20-year-old Jake grew up in a Christian family, but says he wasn’t a Christian himself until he was gripped by the gospel in high school.

“I started asking questions: what does my identity look like, and what would it look like for me to actually be a follower of Jesus?”

For Jake this meant thinking more about the billions in poverty around the world, seeking to live in a way which minimises his impact on the environment and which demonstrates his concern for the poor. To this end he has a veggie patch and worm farm, cycles a lot and is involved in lobbying his local MP about issues of justice.

While many would see his lifestyle as extreme, Jake says anyone can take a step in the direction of helping to alleviate poverty and advocate for the poor.

“It’s not as daunting as it looks. Often we think about poverty and it looks

“Poverty looks like this massive issue we could never change, but Jake Doleschal (second from R), at Parliament House for Make Poverty History it’s about like this massive issue we could never injustice, including contacting their small steps change, but it’s about small steps and local MP. small wins.”

As for those who may be disappointed and small “It could be as easy as only purchasby the Federal Government delaying its ing clothing or food produced ethically. increase to the foreign aid budget, or wins.”

Or it could be as big as studying it and to the re-allocation of aid money to the changing your career path,” he says.

Living on the pristine Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne, Jake is a community leader with the global anti-poverty movement Micah Challenge, which aims to encourage Australia to meet its Millennium Development Goals.

As part of his involvement with Micah Challenge, Jake visits schools and churches, trying to empower people to take action against poverty and

immigration budget, Jake says it’s important to keep the conversation alive.

“That was a blow and people are feeling a bit disappointed, but it doesn’t change the fact that being an election year, the politicians are eager to hear what we think. MPs are still always interested in what we care about. So don’t lose hope.”

Advocating for the poor is a gruelling task in a culture plagued with apathy.

Jake says there are times when he suf-

fers activist fatigue and needs to refocus on why he’s doing what he’s doing.

“It can be daunting just seeing how much need there is. I went to Calcutta earlier this year and I came back feeling overwhelmed with how much need there is and how much the world needs us to to take action and how little politicians and people in general care or know about the issues.”

But he says his recent trip to India to help out at Mother Theresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying, and a special encounter with a local woman on the way provided motivation to keep doing his bit towards alleviating the inequalities in the world.

“I got a bit lost trying to find the place. Less than a kilometre away from the building, I walked past a Landrover car yard, some massive five star hotels and fast food takeaway joints—massive, multinational businesses where people are armed with machine guns to stop poor people getting in.”

“Then I made my way to the Mother Theresa Centre. And there was this little old lady; she would’ve been about 60 or 70, and she didn’t speak any English.

“But she came really close to me and she wanted to show us something. She came so close and then she took out this little container and inside she had a single four rupee coin. In other words, she had two cents with her, and this was her only item, her only possession.”

Jake says the encounter left him bewildered by the inequalities he’d witnessed and even more passionate about fighting poverty. It’s inspired him to enrol in a Bachelor of International Studies, with the hope of having more of an impact through his career. He starts his course next semester.

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MISSION

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Planting churches in Thailand Guangyao Un

New bridge a blessing Lea Carswell

he said. “This EU-funded bridge will stimulate other infrastructure and trade, and Christians will be able to get in more easily, to help the poor, to give Bibles and to share the hope of salvation through Christ.” After arriving in Australia a few months after his escape, Daniel and others who had escaped from Romania established ROMAID, to raise funds for the extreme poor.

Their first major projects focused on Romania’s north-east where six months of flood in 2005 had left rural areas without roads, rail and supplies. Farming families lost their homes and source of food.

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“After building six houses in the floodaffected area, we embarked on our most ambitious project, a multipurpose community centre in the regional town, Bacau, about 300km north of Bucharest,” Daniel said.

“We pray: Please God, we will receive more money to finish it to include medical facilities, a kindergarten, a school, a church and community hall.”

Daniel is hoping that the story of his and other daring escapes from Communist Romania, to be published later this year, will raise more funds for the country that he can never forget. www.romaid.com.au

Breaking down barriers in Bulgaria Tiffany Randall & Ian Shaw, Langham Scholars In Bulgaria, 76 per cent of the population belongs to the Orthodox Church, and Protestant evangelicals are generally viewed with suspicion. None of the evangelicals who had applied to the University of Sofia Orthodox Theological Faculty (the only PhD programme for theology available in Bulgaria) had ever passed the entrance exam. That is, until lawyer and theologian Kameliya Slavcheva enrolled. She said about this experience: “From the beginning I was assured

by God’s guidance and in the fact that He made things to happen. I knew it was no accident I entered the Orthodox Theological Faculty. To be able to take the required exams, I had to learn

“From the beginning I was assured

by God’s guidance ...”

Orthodox theology and understand and use Orthodox terminology. It was hard, but now it helps me a lot. First, because now I have many friends who were my colleagues and teachers with whom I was for four years. Second, the Orthodox theology expanded my knowledge.”

During her studies, Kameliya consulted closely with another Langham Scholar, Dr Parush Parushev, who is the Academic Dean of the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague.

As a result of her doctoral studies, Kameliya is now one of the premier experts on human rights and religious freedoms in her region. This will enable her to assist in pursuing the religious rights of minorities who have often been ignored.

God has opened amazing doors through her studies. Kameliya now

has opportunities to teach Church law within the Theological Faculty of Sofia University, as well as teach Masters level courses at the New Bulgarian University. She also serves as Dean at the St Trivelius Institute, where she teaches her students ways to defend their religious rights and freedoms.

She said of her support from Langham: “A major difficulty was finding the time and resources to be able to read and do my research related to the doctorate. I had to work all day to take care of my family, take the time for the children and read at night. It was really difficult. Then Langham decided to support me. This gave me the opportunity to travel to find the literature that I needed and participate in various conferences, and to meet with different theologians.”

On April 10, 2013, after her public defence Kameliya received a unanimous vote from her doctoral committee to award her the degree, making her the first Protestant student to receive a PhD in Theology from a Bulgarian university, and the youngest Bulgarian Protestant to hold a PhD. Her public defence in Sofia was attended by people from Protestant, Orthodox, and Armenian churches, as well as the Union for Interreligious Dialogue and the Department of Ecclesiastical Matters. Following in her footsteps are ten more Protestants who are now enrolled at the Theological Faculty of Sofia University. Dr Slavcheva has helped to build a bridge between Orthodox and Evangelical churches in her country, and fresh understanding of religious freedoms and human rights, all to the glory of God.

Phil and Jenny Malone

More than just an engineering feat or an historic moment in European trade, the newly opened kilometre-long bridge over the Danube River between Romania and Bulgaria, dubbed the ‘New Europe’ is nothing short of an act of God’s blessing, according to Daniel Stuparu. A Romanian-born Australian who devotes his life to supporting gospel work in Romania, Daniel fled Communist Romania in 1988 with his brother, leaving his parents and sister behind.

“The bridge will open up parts of both countries that have been isolated and

abandoned since the end of Communism,” said Daniel. “I think the bridge will tell Romanians that God has not forgotten them.

“We swam across the Danube for about six hours at night to escape, always scared that we would be caught and punished. There was definitely no bridge for us,” he remembered.

“In Communist Romania it was illegal to be an evangelical Christian.

Today about 85 per cent of people call themselves Romanian Orthodox but most don’t have a strong trust in Jesus.

“Romania is the EU’s second-poorest country (the poorest is Bulgaria),”

You’d be forgiven for thinking that one reason to leave your church plant in a slum community in Bangkok after seven years would be to return home, having ‘done your time’.

But for Phil and Jenny Malone, Pioneers missionaries in Thailand, the reason to leave was to plant more churches.

After planting a church in Samut Prakan, in Bangkok, they decided to go further afield: by 2020 they plan to plant a series of churches throughout the Isaan region, in the north-east of Thailand.

“God has laid on our hearts places where there are no churches, and no known believers,” Phil said, as he and Jenny spoke to Eternity.

After seven years in Bangkok, they have now spent the last seven months in Isaan. The population in this region alone is over 21 million, but it is a dry place for Christianity.

On average, across Thailand, there’s one Christian for every 170 people, but in the Isaan region, there’s only one Christian for every 1000 people. The Malones told Eternity, one district called Kuchinarai, in a neighbouring region, has 100,000 people and only one church. And that church has ten people.

But an opportunity came as they drove to one of the villages in Isaan.

Trucks laden with bundles of sugar cane passed them, while Buddhist monks clad in their distinctive orange robes were walking barefoot along the road.

When they arrived in the village, they saw some of the local ladies, so they stopped the car and began to chat. A few hours later, they were still chatting.

And a few months down the track, they remain in weekly contact with these women.

“The lady that really took to us was the local policeman’s wife. We’ve been going back to her every week since February and hanging out with her, having a drink or having a meal. Sometimes her husband’s there, sometimes all his friends are there, from the local police station,” said Phil.

Through their persistent efforts and with the aid of the testimony of a local Christian, the policeman’s wife has gone from being apathetic to the Gospel, to becoming interested.

If all of this sounds heroic, it quickly becomes obvious in chatting to them that they believe the source of this vision is nothing more and nothing less than a deep reliance on God. “If you don’t have intimacy with God, you might as well go home. That’s what I say to our team members all the time: ‘If you do nothing else in your first term, other than grow more intimate with God, then you have been a huge success.’

Phil and Jenny Malone in Thailand Because it’s as we’re intimate with God, and that naturally flows from our life, that people come to Christ,” Phil said.

Jenny added, “So many times we’ve talked to people and thought, ‘This will turn out well,’ and nothing comes of it.

So we’re totally reliant on God leading us to the right people, the people that he’s already prepared. We can’t do it without God.” Their path to Thailand began years ago, with a passion for cross-cultural ministry. They planted a church, Brindabella Baptist Church, in Canberra, but Phil said, “We also got caught up in the Australian dream of possessions: house, car and all those kind of things. And so we got sidetracked quite a bit.”

However, after a spiritually intense time, the passion returned.

“We were just wanting to live our lives with purpose after that, and no longer seeking to increase wealth, and keep up with the Joneses, but really wanting to have our lives count for God’s kingdom,” Jenny said. It was that rebirth of passion that brought them to Thailand, and it’s fair to say there have been significant

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“God has laid on “To be Thai is to be Buddhist. And they’ll say at the end of the conversaour hearts tion, ‘That’s great for you, but we’re Thai, and that means we’re Buddhist.’ … places We’re just really praying that God would show himself through power encounters where - through healing, signs and wonders, so they cannot deny the power of God.” there One of the driving Bible passages for them is Romans 10:14-15: “How, then, are no can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe churches.” in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?

As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

With this passage in mind, Phil said, “There are significant groups of people—we’re working with one of them—that don’t have access to the gospel. That don’t have access to hear about Jesus. We’re seeking to stand in the gap, so they would have that access, and we’re really seeking others to come along and join us.”

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challenges along the road. Some of them are quite mundane: “I remember the second day [we were in Thailand] and we went to buy things for the house … and just going to buy detergent and not being able to read the label was quite a shock,” said Jenny.

Others are spiritual: “We’ll be talking about everyday things… and as soon as we bring up the gospel or anything about Jesus, their head goes up, and we lose eye contact, they get distracted by someone walking past and they yell out to that person. It’s a spiritual stronghold, and the evil one does not want them to hear about Jesus,” said Phil.

However, one of the joys of their time in Isaan is those who have come to join them. “We were trying to recruit the whole time we were in Samut Prakan and we didn’t. No one really joined us.

But as soon as we came here, others started coming. We have three single team members and five families in the process of coming. God’s just provided all these other workers,” said Phil.

Nevertheless, they realise that there is a significant cultural tide to turn.

JANE TOOHER

RICHARD CHIN

JODIE MCNEILL

Lecturer at Moore College & Director of the Priscilla & Aquila Centre MTS Apprenticeship at St Matthias Anglican, Centennial Park & UNSW, 1989-1991

Director, Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students MTS Apprenticeship at UNSW, 1988-1989

Senior Minister, Oak Flats Anglican Founded Year 13 Youthworks Gap Year MTS Apprenticeship at St Ives Anglican Church, 1995-1996

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Catacomb Underground Church in Coober Pedy is dug out of natural rock.

Sophie Timothy “A lot of people come to our church because they want to visit an underground church, but they don’t know what they’re in for.�

Brian Underwood, a member of the Catacomb Underground Church in Coober Pedy in northern South Australia says every year, 10,000 tracts and Bibles are given away to tourists as they pass through town.

Ranked by TripAdvisor as the 7th most popular attraction in the old Opal mining town, the Catacomb Underground Church is an undeniable tourist destination, attracting travellers looking for a unique (subterranean) church experience.

Many of the tracts and Bibles are no doubt thrown away as tourists continue on their nomadic lifestyle, travelling

light without realising the life-changing words they’ve received. But one man’s careless act is another man’s salvation.

Brian says a few years ago, a man who’d been living on the streets in a coastal town of Australia rang the church to tell them he’d found one of their Bibles in a rubbish bin and started reading it—he’d become a Christian and was now a street preacher, so he wanted to let them know.

Catacomb’s ministry to tourists, miners and cattle farmers is possible because of the support of Bush Church Aid, who fund the parish, and have done so for decades.

BCA sends fieldworkers to remote and regional places across Australia to support people living long distances away from neighbours and large networks of family and friends. Brian says they couldn’t survive without their

BCA

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BCA

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The interior of the church is coated with sealer and is 24 to 27°C all year round. support. “We couldn’t meet a minister’s wages and we certainly get the type of teaching that we get through a professional minister.�

Arriving at Coober Pedy in the 1970s with the intention of staying two years, Brian and his family never left. When they arrived he wasn’t a Christian, but his wife was. She wanted to send their kids to a Sunday School, so sent them to Catacomb. Before long, the minister became friends with the Underwoods and Brian gave his life to Christ. “I guess it was through that ministry I realised where my life was going and that there was something greater that I need to commit to,� he says.

Brian says the demographic of the town has changed as the opal industry has gone from boom to bust. “I mined for 35 years. We’ve seen the lows and highs of the industry, and

almost been bankrupted ourselves, but your faith carries you through just about every hardship.�

Brian is so used to the Coober Pedy lifestyle he initially neglected to mention the church’s underground position to me during our conversation. “It’s just normal for us,� he said when I rang him up to later confirm what I’d read about the church online. And yet, it’s this striking feature (to those of us aboveground) which provides the church’s platform for their amazing outreach to tourists.

It’s a wonder that something so “normal� to Brian could be such a boon for the gospel. And it’s something Bush Church Aid is helping to keep alive; assistance Brian can’t speak of more highly. “BCA has been a big part of our life here,� he says matter-of-factly. “[Without them] we’d be stormied.�

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Bike For Bibles has raised more than $12 million for Bible work around the world

Cyclists on epic ride to raise money for Bibles Suzanne Schokman Eris Gillis had leg surgery in February.

Steven Clarke lives with multiple sclerosis. Evan Elliott is 76 and the youngest on the team is five. Nick Corr is an ace on two wheels, while Helen Zietsch is happier driving the food truck. Peter Wickens is travelling solo, Dave Chappel has roped in three relatives, and ten non-Christians are riding with a distinctly Christian group.

Say hello to the Bike For Bibles team on The Australia Big Ride.

As Eternity hits churches this month, the very diverse group will be into the first of nine weeks on the road. They’re travelling 7231 km from Broome to Perth to Sydney to raise money for Bibles.

Some are doing the whole distance, while others in the group of 65 will ride or serve as roadies along different segments of the route. The team will cut across four states, stopping in towns along the way to rest, meet with the townspeople and spread awareness of their mission.

It’s a huge challenge being away from creature comforts for weeks and sleeping largely in school and church halls, especially in winter. Ask anyone on the ride though, and they laugh it off as something they just take in stride.

“It’s epic!” is how 22-year-old Corr describes it. To ensure he’d make it, he took on a contract job that ended just before the Big Ride started. Even medical school will have to wait till next year.

Elliott can hardly wait either. The oldest member on the Big Ride, he is also

in the team of fast riders (‘the Dream Team’­) along with Corr. “The only thing I’m not looking forward to is camping out when it rains!” says the 76-year-old.

“It’s like something on a bucket list that I really want to do,” says Eris Gillis, who didn’t let major surgery get in her way. “I exercised all I could afterwards, and in early June I got the all-clear from my doctor. He said, ‘Let pain be your guide’, and so I will!”

Surgery did put a bit of a dampener on her fundraising, and Eris had to depend on emailing friends and family.

“But I also had an anonymous donation from someone who’d read about what I was doing for charity. That was very generous of them!”

Fundraising for Bibles Bike For Bibles (BFB) is a mostly volunteer-run fundraising initiative of Bible Society Australia. There are day rides to marathon rides to cater to all levels of riding ability. “If you can’t ride, help out in the road crew,” invites BFB organiser, Jim Blaxland. “We have food and road crew members who’ve been volunteering for twenty years and they help fundraise as well.”

BFB began with the inaugural ride from Sydney to Melbourne in 1984 when Bob Forrest and two others raised $2000. Since then BFB has raised more than $12 million for Bible-based literacy and welfare programmes which lead to people engaging with God’s word.

“That’s why it’s called Bike For Bibles,” says Blaxland. “While the riders and crew love being on the ride in the great outdoors, they are also motivated

by spreading God’s Word. I do encourage everyone reading this to dig deep and give as much as they can.”

BFB fundraising spreads the gospel in another interesting way. Rider Graeme Rapp says that fundraising in his town of Narrabri gets young people and families interested in BFB. “It helps us reach out to non-Christians in our community. A number of people have also taken up cycling because of it, and the awareness helps too when we are fundraising.”

Bibles for Australia and the world The BFB Big Ride is a fundraiser for projects in Australia (Bibles for schools, hospitals, prisons, emergency services, the ADF and for Indigenous communities), as well as the Read To Live project in five South American countries.

This Bible-based literacy programme reaches women in rural communities, helping those who are victims of domestic violence. Bible Society is committed to rebuilding these women’s lives, and giving them a new future centred on God’s Word and Christ’s love.

Maria Mendez, a participant in the Chilean Bible Society literacy project shares how her life has been changed: “My parents never let me go to school.

From a young age I was forced to work very hard, and without pay. Soon after I married, my husband became an alcoholic; he then abandoned me with three small children. Bible Society asked me if I wanted to be a part of the literacy programme. They told me they wanted to help me learn and integrate into society, and not feel any shame. With God you

BROOME

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Geraldton 17th July

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can achieve everything!”

Christianity in action Anyone who’s been on a BFB ride talks about the camaraderie and “different spirit” on the ride. The focus is not on competition but on being part of a team. Thrown together for all or part of the next nine weeks, every team member will be challenged, but Pam Turpin is not worried. Turpin says that although she “does not move in Christian society” she’s done a number of BFB rides since 2007. “I was very cautious the first time. But then I started riding and meeting people on the rides, and they accepted me. I’ve formed some really wonderful friendships. I also enjoy the dedication that we do at nights. For me it’s an experience that I don’t have in my day-to-day life.”

You can be part of The Big Ride Everyone’s support is welcomed on this massive ride that ends September 1 by donating, praying and spreading the word about the Ride.

Graeme Rapp sends this fundraising appeal out on behalf of everyone on the Big Ride. “Please help us get the word of God to people here and overseas. In Australia we often donate for health projects, but the greatest disease is sin, affecting everyone. The only healing is Jesus, and so the Bible is essential!”

Anyone can donate to specific riders on their Towards The Goal fundraising pages, or make a generic donation towards the BFB Big Ride. Details are found on the Bike For Bibles page atbiblesociety.org.au/bikes

Read the original Superstar script Kaley Payne

Promoting the “original manuscript” outside JC Superstar

Audiences at the openings of Jesus Christ Superstar – The Arena Spectacular in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne were challenged to get to know the ‘original superstar’ in a stunt by Bible Society Australia. Ready and waiting outside venues in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, teams of Bible Society staff and volunteers distributed free copies of the Gospel of Matthew with t-shirts and badges carrying the tagline: ‘Jesus. The Original Superstar’.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera was first staged in Broadway in 1971, and has historically received heavy criticism from Christians on its Biblical inaccuracies, with many considering the musical blasphemous. But that hasn’t stopped thousands of Australians— Christians included—flocking to see the

new adaptation, which features Aussie musician, comedian and outspoken atheist Tim Minchin as Judas.

It also hasn’t stopped Bible Society Australia making the most of an opportunity to get people to talk about Jesus.

“We always love it when Jesus Christ is getting airplay, whatever the vehicle,” says Bible Society CEO, Greg Clarke.

“We just want people to have a chance to enjoy the original story in all of its glory and see what they make of it.”

Outside the Sydney Entertainment Centre in opening week, Bible Society children’s worker Rick George was pumped to spruik Jesus.

“They don’t know we’re coming. So people coming along to see the musical, we’re just going to give them something special to take home. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I think we’ll get a mixed response.”

In Sydney, the volunteer team gave away almost 1,000 t-shirts, buttons and Gospels of Matthew. However, at the opening in Brisbane, the team didn’t have quite as much success and were asked to move on by Brisbane Entertainment Centre management.

“Tonight’s stunt at Brisbane Entertainment Centre was short lived; we were asked to move on. On a positive note, if you were one of the lucky ones to get a t-shirt in Brisbane, they are collectible now. Not many made it out,” posted Bible Society Manager Mark Owen on Facebook.

Damian Fisher, Bible Society’s new head of marketing, says response to the stunt has been well received by the Jesus Christ Superstar audience.

“They got the joke,” he said of the aim to tell people: ‘Seen the show? Now read the Book.’

15

JULY 2013

NEWS

Who’s afraid of atheist Lawrence Krauss? Christians underwrite a tour of Krauss and apologist Lane Craig Sophie Timothy When the City Bible Forum (CBF) learned American philosopher of religion and prominent Christian apologist William Lane Craig would be in Australia in August, they couldn’t resist pitting him against a big name atheist.

And so the search began for someone who would draw the crowds and provide a suitable match for Lane Craig.

The City Bible Forum’s Robert Martin says they searched for a while to find someone who was willing and available to join Lane Craig in a series of events across the east coast to discuss the interface of faith and science. He says they even had an offer from one local unbeliever eager to take on the world class philosopher, however, it was theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss who seemed most suitable and willing to participate. “In the end the guy that we’ve got is probably the best of the lot. There’s been a lot of interest overseas, online about the events. In the end we’re very pleased to have two people of high calibre intellect.”

Famous for being able to explain how something (ie. the universe) could come from nothing, Krauss, also known as “the Woody Allen of science”, has become a household name in Australia over the last 12 months. Starting with his appearance at the Global Atheist Convention last year, Krauss has been in our country and on our television screens with regularity. He’s perhaps most well-known for his interactions with John Dickson on ABC’s Q&A ear-

lier this year, when Dickson famously said “I get all the science, plus Jesus!”, a sentiment Krauss was happy to dismiss.

William Lane Craig has publicly debated a number of atheists, Muslim apologists and even Christians holding beliefs differing to his own. The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students have invited him to Australia to speak at their events for students.

It was they who offered his services to CBF. Controversially, in 2011, Richard Dawkins refused to debate Lane Craig at the invitation of the Cambridge Debating Union and Oxford Christian Union. He’s debated Lawrence Krauss, once, which you can view on YouTube.

But this time around, the two will just be having a ‘conversation’, at the request of Krauss.

advantage of existing online networks.

CBF has already notified a number of atheist, secular and skeptic communities about the conversations. Robert Martin says so far, the majority of ticket purchases have come from these connections.

With the group investing considerable resources in getting the intellectuals together for ‘Life, the Universe and Nothing’, one would expect the City Bible Forum to consider the public dialogue format as an effective method of evangelism. Martin says while it won’t appeal to everybody, there are some things a conversation like this can achieve which a straight forward Christian talk can’t.

“It’s an easier invitation to explore the big questions than if any Christian thinker were to present by themselves,” he says. “I think it opens up to a larger pool of potential interested people, because the other side is represented.

It makes people feel less threatened or intimidated. They’re not going to be hoodwinked into believing—a bait and switch type of event.”

The three events have also been recognised as part of National Science Week, lending them credibility and bringing questions of faith into the public sphere, something Martin firmly believes in.

“Sometimes we think Christian ideas belong in their own domain, but the ideas that Christians have belong in the public sphere and should be in the public sphere.” http://lifeuniversenothing.org/

Robert Martin says so far, the majority of ticket purchases have come from atheist The City Bible Forum’s Robert Martin says the conversational and secular format should allow for more nuance, describing it as “much connections. less adversarial” than a debate.

“It’s a brilliant way of raising questions, unsettling fairly well held ideas. If someone disagrees, you can talk about a particular point,” he says.

Entitled ‘Life, The Universe and Nothing’, the conversations will interact with aspects of Krauss’ book, A Universe from Nothing. The first talk in Brisbane will focus on the question: ‘Has Science Buried God?’, while the second in Sydney will answer ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’ and the last, in Melbourne asks: ‘Is it reasonable to believe there is a God?’.

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JULY 2013

Super shoes just not our size Mark Hadley The gravelly tones of Russell Crowe echo across an infinity of space – with the help of a little Dolby Digital magic – instructing his superhuman son in his purpose on earth: “You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun.

In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.”

And so a hero is born. Consciously or just by example, Kal-El (better known to us as Superman) will use his greatness to show humanity the path to its own excellence. It’s epic, inspirational and, in the darkened cinema in which director Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel is playing, a seemingly unique destiny for a single pair of iron shoulders. But in 2013, mild-mannered Clark Kent is taking his first steps on a path thousands of heroes have trod before him.

Whether it’s the local cinema complex or Athen’s ancient agora, audiences have always looked to the hero to show us the way forward. Superman might be the oldest of our caped crusaders with his comic books dating back to 1938, but his journey was already familiar a millennia before. Gilgamesh and Achilles, Beowulf and King Arthur. Mythologist Joseph Campbell used his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces to identify a storyline that’s so common to unrelated cultures, it’s almost as though we were designed to appreciate it: “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

It’s the same structure George Lucas used to craft the Star Wars saga; it will feature again this month in The Lone Ranger (July 4), Pacific Rim (July 11) and The Wolverine (July 25). And its hallmarks are just as plain in Man Of Steel. Young Clark wakes up one day to find he’s not like every other boy … his discovery leads to a clash with the extraterrestrial General Zod … his hardearned victory guarantees our freedom and teaches us that we too can aspire to be something greater than human.

I’m not the first person to note that the hero’s journey is one that can equally be applied to the life of Christ – the child of God … confronts sin and death … delivers eternal life and a place in a heavenly family. The difference is where Superman is a comic-book creation,

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Jesus is firmly bedded in history.

It’s my personal belief that his story so underpins the reality of our universe that we can’t help but repeat it to ourselves in fractured forms, down through the ages. God allowed this like the many, muted voices of natural revelation, and in the same way He crafted the shadowy signs of the Old Testament, so that we might be ready to recognise our hero, “…when the fullness of the time came, [and] God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Gal 4:4-5) But if this is the case, if all humanity instinctively recognises we’re not who we could be, and hungers to be more in a way that sees millions handed over at the box office for a chance to fly with Superman – why do we still prefer the shadow to the reality? It has a lot to do with a missing step.

When Superman offers to show us the way, he appeals to a seed lying dormant within us. The advice Kevin Costner offers as Clark’s human father is open to every viewer, “You’re not just anyone. One day, you’re going to have to make a choice. You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be. Whoever that man is, good character or bad, it’s going to change the world.”

But Jesus’ comes to tell us that our choice isn’t enough. It’s as if General Zod came and conquered us long ago. Where Superman invites us to ‘join him in the sun,’ Jesus tells us we are ‘dead in sin’.

We need more than someone to point upwards; we need a hero to raise us.

This helplessness doesn’t sit well with you and me. We’d like to think we could get the better

of those evil Kryptonians – eventually.

Just give us a few more millennia… what evolution doesn’t accomplish, science and determination will.

The truly sad thing is that we can actually become something superhuman now; a place ‘in the sun’ is actually on offer. Jesus came to not only redeem but to offer a status equal to his own.

All we have to do is accept our place in the back seat, and let him drive us there.

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Superman is a comicbook creation, Jesus is firmly bedded in history.

Jesus Christ Superstar Ben McEachen What are Christians to make of this longstanding musical, loosely based on “The Passion” week? In contrast to other screen depictions of Jesus (from The Passion of the Christ, to The Last Temptation of Christ), what does “Jesus the Superstar” teach about the true Christ?

For someone who is loathed, ridiculed or ignored by the majority of Australians, Jesus continues to draw a crowd. The latest incarnation of rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar toured in June, ahead of this month’s 40th anniversary re-release of the 1973 movie version, on DVD and Blu-ray.

The recent stage show enjoyed soldout performances and gushing reviews. Loosely based on ‘The Passion’ week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the musical emphasises Jesus’ humanity and sympathises with treacherous Judas.

Routinely, the teachings and actions of Jesus have been reconfigured by the entertainment industry. From parableriffing Godspell to polarising The Last Temptation Of Christ and comic-book series Jesus Hates Zombies, artists present the Son of God however they desire.

Tim Rice, co-creator of Jesus Christ Superstar, believes the real Jesus wasn’t divine. Instead, he was just a timely revolutionary whose deified reputation has caused Judas to look like a bad guy.

The clearest and best verified records of Jesus’ life are the New Testament’s first four books. Despite how they vividly document Jesus and Judas, Jesus Christ Superstar chooses to embellish the social conscience and moralising of the greedy disciple who betrayed the Messiah to death.

More than Jesus being transformed into a circumstantial celebrity, the endorsement of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar symbolises how so many believe humanity is greater than the selfless leader sent to save it. Those who sing along should compare the musical’s self-righteous speculation with the true tune of salvation, as conducted by Christ.

See also “Read the original Superstar script” on page 14 of this issue.

17

JULY 2013

INTERVIEW

‘We are not competing for students’ John Sandeman The world of Bible Colleges gets more and more competitive. So Moore Theological College’s new principal Mark Thompson finds himself having to run very hard to keep his college in front.

But he says, quite convincingly, that he welcomes the competition.

Eternity: There’s lots of colleges in Australia—do we have too many theological colleges?

Mark: I am not sure we have too many theological colleges in Australia. I think the variety of theological colleges is not a bad thing. I am delighted at what is happening at the Presbyterian theological centre at Burwood [with a big building project that doubles its size], Sydney Missionary and Bible College, Morling College, Queensland Theological College, each of these colleges are growing and it is really exciting to see. And we see ourselves in partnership with them rather than in competition.

That is counter-intuitive to many people because they expect that we will be competing for the same students.

Well, in a sense you are. The growth of theologically conservative colleges in WA and in Queensland means that people can get what Moore college offers but stay at home.

Yes. I know many of the people at Trinity in Perth and at Queensland Theological College. And Ridley College as well. What they gain is the ability to do that theological learning and be involved in their church at weekends.

So what’s the thing that Moore College wants to take to the world?

I think there are a couple of things.

Mark and Kathryn Thompson with their daughters left to right: Anna, Mary, Rachel and Elisabeth The first is Moore College’s “biblical theology,” which is known around the world. It’s an approach to seeing how the Bible fits together as one coherent story, centering on Christ with the dynamic of promise and fulfilment that holds the whole Bible together.

Now that way of reading the Bible and the consequences of reading the Bible in that way excites people when they discover it for the first time.

I recently read the new book by Diarmaid MacCulloch – and at one point he refers to conservative Christians as coming across as “cross”. Is this something we should be doing something about?

Yes and no. Diarmaid has his own agenda. He would tend to see people of a more conservative bent as cross from his perspective.

I think sometimes, in some parts of the world more than others that it is quite true. You hear voices that are angry and always negative.

I think it’s a bit of a caricature to say that is the voice of Sydney or that is the voice of Moore College. But you do hear that voice from time to time in evangelical circles.

It is hard to be angry with people when you see them as for whom Christ died—and if you are praying for their conversion.

There is a sense in which Christians are more on the margins of society and you are producing ministers to serve that group in the future—unless you are expecting revival or things to turn dramatically.

Always pray. Always know that God

“You see just how many people are chewed up and spat out by this world.”

is sovereign. And always know that God is able to turn around even the hardest culture.

Think of 18th century Britain: you could not think of a more immoral, hard-hearted culture and God was able to use the evangelical revival. So there is always God’s sovereignty. And we pray for a widespread movement of his spirit.

That would be wonderful.

But the reality is that over the last ten years, perhaps the last twenty, Christians have come to be seen no longer as merely irrelevant but are seen as a threat to the culture. People are not just bored with us but angry at us.

Now that’s a change of context in which people are going to be exercising their ministries. It puts enormous strain on people.

Sometimes people have said do we over educate people at Moore College?

And my answer to that is. “No, we give people what they need to be able to take the gospel to this kind of world”.

You see just how many people are chewed up and spat out by this world: how many people fall into ministry, crumble into depression and burn out.

If we can’t give them the resources to handle that kind of world then we are not doing our job properly.

Are there changes that need to happen to teach students in that more difficult environment?

Well, firstly it is understanding the environment and seeking to understand what is driving it.

We now have the Centre for Christian Living, and under the directorship of Andrew Cameron, its role is to help people see how they might live in and engage with this culture.

Nathan Tasker

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JULY 2013

OPINION

A Moment of Eternity Michael Jensen Before dawn, Sydney smells of the decaying fruit of the ancient fig trees and stale beer.

That musty smell is one of Sydney’s few constants, for, like a snake shedding its skin, it is always changing to match its growth. Only the facades of the old pubs along Broadway remain. The old factories and the breweries have been levelled, and in their place are now sprouting glassy apartment complexes.

The old church of St Barnabas, Broadway disappeared in flames a few years back when rats chewed through the power cables, and has risen again as a shiny white new structure.

But these are the streets which once belonged to one of Sydney’s most legendary and elusive characters. If you had been a shift worker at Tooth’s Brewery knocking off at dawn in the 1940s and 50s, you might have glimpsed the gaunt figure of an old man hunched over on the pavement. On closer inspection, you would notice that he was writing with a piece of chalk, in an immaculate copperplate hand, one single word: ‘Eternity’.

Walking a hundred yards further, he would stoop again and write the same word: Eternity. The workers of Sydney, trudging to the beat of the daily routine, would smudge it with their feet. The heavy rains that regularly drench the city would wipe the slate clean. But still the word would come, however temporarily it stayed: Eternity.

For years, the identity of the writer was unknown to Sydney-siders – a living ghost of the city. But however secretive and elusive he was, he was certainly no ghost. The old man, it turned out, was a returned soldier and reformed alcoholic named Arthur Stace.

Stace was a child of the city’s underside. Born of hard-drinking parents in working class Balmain, he had fallen into a life of petty crime as a teenager, for which he spent some time in jail.

Lacking an education, he at one stage worked as a runner for his sister’s brothel. He also began to drink heavily Stace returned from WWI half-blind and gassed. Subsequently, his life spiralled out of control. He was a hopeless drunk, consuming bottles of methylated spirits when that was all he could afford.

Life took a dramatic turn for him, though, when he walked through the doors of St Barnabas, Broadway one

evening in mid-1930. In the pulpit stood another extraordinary man of Sydney, the Reverend RBS Hammond.

Hammond had a ministry to the hundreds of homeless and poverty-stricken men in inner city Sydney – a problem exacerbated by the onset of the Great Depression. The message that night so gripped Arthur Stace that he went over to Victoria Park and, kneeling amidst the fig trees, gave his life to Jesus Christ.

Things would never be the same for the desperate Stace. He gave up the drink, for a start. A couple of years after that, he turned up to hear the wellknown evangelist John G. Ridley preach on the subject of ‘The Echoes of Eternity’. What did Ridley say that night?

“Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. You’ve got to meet

it, where will you spend Eternity?”

Time had not been kind to Arthur Stace, and yet he put his hope in Eternity. His mind and body were scarred by his experiences, and he was little use to anyone from a human point of view. Other than grog, nothing had gripped him until this moment when he caught a glimpse of “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” (KJV, Isaiah 57:15, the text from which Ridley preached that night). Evading cruel time is not the greatest challenge a human being has to face, it turns out.

It is the approach of Eternity, which we cannot evade.

But the One who inhabits eternity has approached us. He has walked the same dusty ground and lived in a body exposed to the ravages of time. That verse from Isaiah 57, which describes God in

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Time had not been kind to Arthur Stace, and yet he put his hope in Eternity.

such lofty terms continues: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

The God of Eternity dwells with such as Arthur Stace, the broken thief and drunk. Stace later said: “Eternity went ringing through my brain and suddenly I began crying and felt a powerful call from the Lord to write Eternity.”

Writing was not Stace’s strong suit, to be fair. He claimed that he could barely even write his own name. He told a journalist from the Sydney Sun that “the word ‘Eternity’ came out smoothly, in a beautiful copperplate script. I couldn’t understand it, and I still can’t.”

A minor miracle? A fraction of lucidity emanating from an otherwise addled brain? Whatever the explanation, Stace spent the rest of his life inscribing the message of Eternity on the pavements of the suburbs of inner Sydney – more than half a million times, on some counts. Though Stace is long gone, and only a couple of examples of his famous word remain, he soon became part of the city’s legend.

Thirty-three years after his death in 1967, they wrote Stace’s Eternity on the Harbour Bridge. It was to celebrate what was in fact a sliver in time, when the clocks tripped over from 23:59 on December 31st 1999 to midnight on 1st January 2000. Nothing could have been less eternal than that moment of cork-popping excitement. The fireworks exploded or glowed, and then burnt out.

Though it was pretentious and selfcongratulatory where he was anonymous and humble, it was uncannily like Stace’s message in chalk. It was an ephemeral invitation to consider the eternal, a momentary invasion of that which transcends mere moments. It was a challenge to the ego of the city and its inhabitants. You look permanent and unsurpassable, as if you have been here forever and will stand forever. The old hymn puts it beautifully: “Frail as summer’s flower we flourish Blows the wind and we are gone.”

Like the chalk on the pavement, we are soon erased. And yet, (as Stace instinctively knew when he heard of it) Eternity has walked into the middle of time, humble and compassionate, speaking a word of mercy and hope to the lowly and rejected. In that glimpse of Eternity, we are confronted with our own vulnerability and temporality. But we are also given the news that God, even in his eternity, has come looking for us in time.

JULY 2013

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Letters

We were healed As the parents of a 31 year old son with an intellectual disability I was extremely interested in the articles on Disability and healing and disability and the church.

It is very complex as disability takes on many roles and how does and can the church be an inviting community to these people and their families?

Another difficult area is healing as we had asked for healing for our son so he would be like his older brother but that did not happen so healing takes place in so many other ways. The healing came with us to be able to accept him as he is, but it is still difficult and the underlying grief is still there and the uncertainty of a future home when we are no longer able to care for him.

If our son would have been healed he would have had to have every chromosome in his body corrected as he has a chromosome disability and is the only one in the world with this one.

But he can worship God with his CDs and DVDs better than so called ‘normal’ people. So we ask ourself the question, “Who has the disability”?

Keep up the good articles.

Henry and Wendy Ponsen

Before Azusa On page 10 of the May Eternity there is an article by Lee Burns which mentions the beginnings of Pentecostalism. Research into Pentecostalism has largely neglected its first church, which going by my memory, was started in 1830 and called the Catholic Apostolic church in London, England. I would not be surprised to hear that this was adapted to suit other denominations. I suspect that the Azusa Street could be one of those

adaptations as the first Pentecostal denomination one was of a more hierarchical structure while Azusa Street was more based on the freer Baptist/Church of Christ system.

Harry Kloppenburg, Thornlie WA

True Confessions In the latest version of Eternity, Michael Jensen refers to a website www. trueconfessions.com.au in his opinion piece. Please note this is not the correct website. That website is an adult sex shop. The correct website should be www.confessions.com.au Abe Wong

Free tatts In the previous Eternity letters, Jenny expressed her concern that Christians not get tattoos by quoting Leviticus 19:28. Of course quoting Leviticus is tricky - the previous verse says ‘Do not clip off the edges of your beard’. You see the problem!

The coming of Jesus has freed us from having to obey Jewish customs.

We now live by a simpler—though more demanding— ethic. As Paul says in Galatians 5:6 ‘For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love’.

That rules out tattooing associated with the occult, pornography, violence, greed etc but leaves room for other tattoos. Of course, out of love for my (weaker) neighbour, I may choose not to exercise my freedom (see Romans 14).

P.S. I don’t have a tattoo.

Rob Elder, Kingswood NSW

A long time ago, when I was working on a different Christian paper, the chairman of the board suggested that we served “an imagined community”. As it was a denominational paper, it would be fair to say it required less imagination than Eternity does. Less imagination, that is, to imagine who reads the paper.

To see, even in my mind’s eye, who you are, means taking in God’s activity throughout this land. I am never going to get it all in focus. There’s too much going on. There’s too many of you.

Eternity is unlike many other magazines and newspapers in that we often write about our readers.

We are not focussed on celebrity.

The old journalistic adage that everyone has a story to tell; that “there’s a million stories in this city” is true for us. After all, there’s a story of ‘God’s Big Rescue’ inside everyone who has come to Christ.

Which means you all deserve a write-up—there’s a drama in your life, a great adventure to be retold inside each one.

This paper is so small—and God’s kingdom is so big. There will always be more to see, capture in pictures or words than we could ever do. Will we ever get the big picture? Well, yes and no. Each of you is the big picture. But you live out your lives in different ways just think of how varied Sunday morning is.

Will we ever get all of that down on paper? No. But it will be fun trying. John Sandeman

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Insight for Living Australia, the radio Bible teaching ministry of Chuck Swindoll, is seeking an experienced Executive Director to lead this regional, evangelical ministry from the national office in Boronia, Melbourne. Reporting to the Australian Board of Directors, the successful candidate will have a keen understanding of the mission and role of radio ministry and be willing to work in a growing, learning environment.

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For further information contact the Operations Manager, Ian McLachlan, on 1300 467 444 or ianm@insight.asn.au

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20

JULY 2013

Plumbing the deepest source of statesmanship most of australia’s leaders since federation believed in god. some were serious Christians and very few were indifferent towards religion.

in this timely and original book, Roy Williams examines the spiritual life of each of our Prime ministers from Edmund barton to Julia gillard. He explores the ways in which – for good and ill – their beliefs (or agnosticism) shaped the history and development of the nation. featuring extensive interviews with John Howard and Kevin Rudd, and pulling no punches, IN GOD THEY TRUST? will appeal to voters across party lines and excite plenty of debate among believers and non-believers alike.

Greg Clarke

Australian Christian intellectual, Roy Williams, has written a game-changing ROY WILLIAMS won the sydney University medal in law in book on leadership. In God They 1986 and practised as a litigator for almost 20 years at one of the country’s leading firms. He now writes full-time. His Trust? is a unique, in-depth study of first book, God, Actually, a rational defence of Christianity, all Australian Prime Ministers from was a best-seller in australia and has since been published 1901-2013. It focuses on one element in britain and North america. of leadership: religious convictions. . . . the notion of a deity and views Williams has uncovered the influence rejected of religion on the decision-making their was social responsibilities “i thought that God, Actually one of the best statements in a humanist processes of those we have elected to faith thatcontext, their fellow Australians of reasoned i have read.they i lovedlike it.” Tim CosTEllo govern the nation. Perhaps surprisingly, will retain in a corner of their minds the “Williams has not only done a lot of hard thinking and reading, he has the he concludes that for all but a handful possibility of aCaPP spiritual source of help literary skills to do justice to his views.” fioNa , The Age (Melbourne) of PMs, religion plays a role in their apand .possibly a broader point of account. . proach to leadership. ing than an electorate.” (p. 13) Christians will have different views What does this mean for the Chrisregarding which aspect of leadership tian voter? In my view, it is good news. matters most. Is it moral fortitude? Is it It means that in our deliberations on compassionate vision? Is it the courage who will be our best leaders, we are of conviction? Or something else? If able to identify the spiritual wells from Roy Williams is correct, the leadership which they are drawing. It gives a greatpriorities of our Prime Ministers are er sense of their character, their history, informed by their deepest beliefs about and the forces applying pressure to the God, human nature, and the concept decisions they make. In the cases of of final judgement. As Kim Beazley, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, we have current Ambassador to the USA, writes plenty of material on their religious bein his splendid foreword to In God They liefs to consider, including the chapter Trust? on Rudd in Roy Williams’s book.

“Unless a Prime minister has actively It also means that we, as the voting BSA032-In God They Trusted-Cov-ART.indd 1-3

“Williams is considering statesmanship at its most complex but perhaps deepest source.” Kim Beazley

iN goD THEy TRUsT? Roy Williams

WHICH OF OUR PRIME MINISTERS BELIEVED IN GOD?

Roy Williams’ book puts to death the notion that religion and politics don’t mix. have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1). If most of them already have an inkling of this, no matter how faint, it is an appropriate call for us to make. And the quality of our political discourse will be all the better for it.

Just as importantly, Roy William’s book puts to death the notion that religion and politics don’t mix. It is quite obvious, historically and morally, that they do and have for the majority of Australia’s Prime Ministers. The Christian faith has shaped this nation more than any other worldview, and continues to do so. This fact must not be lost as we consider what kind of nation we want to be, and the degree to which religious convictions have brought us the many social goods that we enjoy today.

In the face of rising secularism, and the problems associated with religion in the public square, there is a very appropriate conversation to be had about what Kim Beazley again describes as “the most complex but perhaps deepest” source of statesmanship.

GOD iN

THEy TRUsT? THE REligioUs bEliEfs o f a U s T R a l i a’ s P R i m E m i N i s T E R s 1901-2013

Roy W il lia m s

public, can keep calling our leaders to attend to their highest convictions, to remember that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist

15/05/13 2:30 PM

In God They Trust? is widely available in secular and Christian bookshops and at biblesociety.org.au/pm

Moore coLLege Library day 2013 LauNchiNg MarSdeN’S MiSSioN

Saturday, July 27 • 10am-4pm • 15 King St, Newtown Rev Samual Marsden is significant as one of Australia’s first missionaries.

His sermon in the Bay of Islands on Christmas Day 1814 marks the beginning of the Church Missionary Society taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to New Zealanders.

Speakers: Dr Peter Bolt, Rev Simon Manchester, Dr Meredith Lake and Dr Michael Gladwin.

Registration: $35 includes morning tea and lunch Register online today: library.moore.edu.au/libraryday

In the lead-up to the bicentenary of this event in 2014, Moore College Library Day 2013 will look at the commencement of Marsden’s mission.

02 9577 9999 moore.edu.au