Eternity - February 2014 - Issue 44

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NUMBER 44, FEBRUARY 2014 CIRCULATION 100,000 ISSN 1837-8447

PRAYER AND FASTING

Church plants Are Christians for 2014 really being persecuted? Insomnia and faith

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FEBRUARY 2014

OPINION

Speaking truth to the G20

Obadiah Slope Is this the first? “Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano was sworn in for his second term …[and] took the oath of office on an iPad with the Bible pulled up when a printed copy could not be located.” This is the first digital Bible oath Obadiah has heard about.

Burwood heights: The NSW Presbyterians are poised to open new buildings at their theological centre which gets a new name, “Christ College”.

The Pressys must be contenders for the title of being the best developers of church property, especially for multi-storey buildings. In settling on their new name the Presbyterian press release says one reason to choose it was “little possibility of it being made into an acronym”.

But Obadiah can’t resist a challenge.

What about “C2”?

Too much time on the net? A sharp-eyed Melbourne Blogger, Michael Bird, has spotted that the conservative US-based Gospel Coalition website is visited more by people from Sydney than from any other city. More than Chicago, New York or London which come next.

Weird name: “Eternity” made it into the top 50 unusual names for girls for 2013 according to the US based site babycentre.com. It could be worse (for the child): a girl named Eternity will have avoided the US celebrity trend of naming children after places: London, Egypt and Dallas for boys, and Phoenix and Olympia for girls (according to Essential Baby). We’d like to think this paper has something to do with the name’s popularity, but that’s unlikely.

Old news? Sometimes Obadiah is surprised by what makes headlines.

“The reality is that where you have a good vicar, you will find growing churches,” the newish Archbishop of Canterbury (Anglican leader), Justin Welby told BBC Radio.

Now, allowing for the fact that sometimes a good minister will struggle in a difficult area—and Welby has spent time in those places—Obadiah can’t see what was so newsworthy about Welby’s comment.

Unless it was the implication that the church can grow. That is genuinely shocking to some in the secular media and some in the church as well. Fleet Street may not have noticed, but Christianity is growing in the UK. Quotable: US pastor Rick Warren: “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do.

Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”

Tim Costello Justice holds her scales outside the Brisbane law courts

Rae Allen/Flickr

The rule of law and Christian thought Mark Fowler

The recent furore in Queensland over laws that allow politicians to overturn judgements of a court in relation to sex offenders has led to allegations that the judiciary is out of touch with reality and that the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers is not applicable.

The legislation was ultimately held to be invalid by the Queensland Court of Appeal, thus affirming this essential legal principle. But I have seen firsthand some of the consequences of an absence of a formally independent and impartial judiciary in a society.

Recently, I had the privilege of leading a team of Australian lawyers on a legal mission trip to East Africa.

We met a Supreme Court judge who reflected on a common saying in his country: “why pay a lawyer’s retainer when you can buy a judge?” He was lamenting the extent of corruption at the bench, and the two-tier system of justice, which delivered a short stay for rich offenders, and a long indeterminate pre-trial period for those unable to afford the bribe.

I later learned that this particular judge had been pilloried in the local government-run press for delivering judgements in favour of plaintiffs who had dared to take the government to court. I also learned, to my amazement, of the frequency of attacks by spontaneously formed mobs drawn from passers-by, who set upon and beat persons caught committing a crime.

Where the public has no confidence in the courts to impartially deliver due process of law, the danger is that the mob will administer justice as it sees fit.

In The Book That Made Your World, Vishal Mangalwadi argues that the

principle of the separation of powers, finds its forbear in the accountability of Saul to Samuel, of David to Nathan and of Ahab to Elijah. Reflecting on these limits on absolute power, English writer G. K. Chesterton observed in Orthodoxy that “The heart of humanity … is certainly much more satisfied by … the Trinitarian idea, the image of a council at which mercy pleads as well as justice, the conception of a sort of liberty and variety existing even in the inmost chamber of the world.”

To Chesterton, the Christian doctrine of original sin is the surest protection against autocracy. This acknowledges that what Plato referred to as the ‘benevolent dictator’ is impossible to assure. There is always the risk that sinful compulsion may outweigh benevolence, hence the need for a formal separation of powers and judicial independence.

The Bible consistently upholds the concept that there are limitations to be placed upon the actions of the State against the individual. Witness God’s condemnation of Saul’s attempts to murder David, or God’s judgement on David’s abuse of authority in his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah the Hittite. These important theoretical frameworks set part of the historical background against which our modern conceptions of separation of powers and checks on the power of the legislator were drawn.

Christians have a rich and diverse tapestry of thought that has made a significant contribution to the foundations of our modern democratic society. We would do well to remember the centrality of these foundations before contemplating any shade of variance.

This article is based on a recent address given to the Queensland Christian Lawyers Society.

Mark Fowler is chair of CLEAR Australia. www.clear.org.au.

An overlooked aspect of the lives of Old Testament prophets is that they often had access to the powers of the day. For example, Daniel held high office in two different pagan governments (Daniel 2:48, 6:1-3). Using his position, Daniel faithfully obeyed God and stood for what was right.

Later this year in Brisbane, Australia will host the first C20 Summit that is fully integrated into how the G20 is set up. The C20 is a group of civil society organisations, including non-government organisations, which seek to represent community voices, including those living in poverty around the world. Despite global poverty decreasing in recent years, a major challenge remains the growing gap between the world’s rich and poor.

Australia’s C20 Steering Committee, which I chair, has begun to map out how civil society can best utilise our access to power through directly influencing G20 policy. Civil society includes faith-based organisations which, in Australia, play a major role in the delivery of welfare services.

So, having a seat at the global economic policy-making table of the G20 is a wonderful opportunity.

One of the aims of the C20—while Australia holds the G20 Presidency this year—is to embed civil society’s input into the G20 process.

Indeed, for the world’s premier economic forum to include those who work at the coalface of improving life opportunities, brings greater legitimacy to the G20. It gives us the privilege of living out Proverbs 31:8-10: speaking out, judging righteously, and defending the rights of the poor and needy.

The C20 will be working on behalf of those most disadvantaged, just like Jesus did.

In practical terms, that means prompting world leaders and policymakers to consider how the benefits of economic growth are shared. Civil society is acutely aware that making greater global prosperity a reality is not just about increasing economic growth; it’s about improving the lives of as many people as possible, not just the wealthiest.

Just like Daniel with the powers of his day, my prayer is that we will do this work well.

Using his position, Daniel faithfully obeyed God.

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FEBRUARY 2014

NEWS

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BRIEFS

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Rethinking who ‘sends’ a missionary Sophie Timothy Bruce Dipple, former director of SIM Australia/East Asia and ex-head of Missions at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, has challenged missionaries and churches to reconsider their use of the words “sent” and “called”.

Speaking at the CMS “Summer Under the Son” conference in Melbourne in January, Dipple called on churches to move away from associating the biblical concept of sentness with only a select few being sent to share the gospel.

During a Q&A, he questioned CMS describing themselves as a sending agency, rather than referring to the local church as the sending body.

“I have a problem with any suggestion of CMS being a ‘sending agency’. I think that’s unbiblical and unhelpful in practice. But CMS know my view … I have sat down with their leadership to try and explain my view … they still invited me back to speak,” he said wryly.

The discussion at Summer Under the Son is a local example of a worldwide debate in mission circles about who does the ‘sending’.

Dipple says Jesus’ prayer in John 17 shows that we are all sent people, with many ways of expressing our sentness.

“What I would love to see—and there are many churches expressing it this way—is your church extending its ministry, expressing its sentness through [the missionary family] to the location they’re going to. Not sending the missionary off to do their ministry over there, but rather extending your church’s ministry through them.”

He argues that by shifting the way we think and speak about mission, more people will become engaged in the

Jesus on free to air TV: Leading the Way, the ministry headed by Dr Michael Youssef, has started a half hour show on the national channel 7TWO. It’s on Sundays at 7.30am. Digital TV’s multiple channels offer a return to reasonable viewing times for Christian programmes. “We’ve had a great response,” Leading The Way’s Chris Makin tells Eternity.

Pressy high rise: Presbyterian Theological Centre will open the doors of its new multi-million dollar, purpose-built college in Sydney’s Burwood on February 21 with a bold new name. “Christ College” will attract students from other denominations if all goes according to plan.

Anderson visits PNG: John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia challenged the 57 graduates at the Christian Leaders’ Training College in Papua New Guinea, using 2 Timothy 4:6-8 to encourage the graduates to accept that they were bought at a great price. CLTC needs a General Manager, Business.

Contact CLTC: (03)9881 7800 Listen up: Book ends: learning and sharing faith in a YouTube world is the title of an orality conference to be held May 31 at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. The Bible’s message needs to be communicated orally to people who can’t read, or read well, or (like many Westerners) do not regard reading as the main way they get information. See future Eternitys for more information.

Volf at the door: Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture and a renowned public theologian will speak at Re:Thinking: a public faith, hosted by the Centre for Public Christianity in Sydney, March 18-20. CPX has partnered with Arrow Leadership and World Vision.

Volf will also give public lectures in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

2 gospel work that’s being done by their church through their mission partners.

“You will ask yourself, who is it you’re trying to reach? We better find out who those people are. What are they like?

What’s their culture like? What’s their language? Should we go and have a look ourselves, and have a visit and learn about our ministry that’s taking place there through you?”

Following his comments, the head of development and training at CMS Victoria, David Williams responded to Bruce: “Bruce, you helped us in the development of our current vision statement and part of the outcome of that was an internal conversation within CMS about exactly this question of who sends …

“And our current key purpose vision statement says: ‘We work with local churches to set apart long-term workers who cross cultures to share the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

“So thank you for helping us make progress on this issue. We’re a huge

ocean liner and we have a very large turning circle.”

Both Dipple and Williams’ comments were made with obvious respect for the other, and were met with laughter and appreciation from those present.

Speaking to Eternity later in the day, Bruce said he also thinks the concept of ‘calling’ has become distorted by people using the word in a supernatural sense to refer to their path to becoming missionaries, which Bruce believes is unbiblical.

“The biblical call is always to salvation,” says Bruce. “Ministry is for all; we’re sent into that world to minister, and we’re promised the guidance and wisdom we need to do it.

“So let’s get on board helping people to discover the way forward in their life instead of waiting for this super-spiritual zap from above.”

Dipple has written a book on church engagement with global mission called Becoming Global (Sydney: SMBC Press, 2011).

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Bruce Dipple: Changing the way we think about mission will mean more people will get engaged in it.

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FEBRUARY 2014

Thank you, Australia!

We praise God for your faithful support over the past 60 years.

Since 1954 Australian Churches and Christians have supported 740 Australians serving in Bible translation and support roles in 126 languages, worldwide.

Today almost 180 million people in 1,919 language groups still require Bible translation to begin, but praise God that work is already underway in a further 692 languages for which there is no known Scripture. Workers from the Wycliffe Global Alliance are active in the majority of these programs.

To support Australian members or projects please visit www.wycliffe.org.au.

To celebrate Wycliffe Australia’s 60th Anniversary in your Church or small group please visit www.wycliffe.org.au/60th-anniversary/.

wycliffe.org.au

Vision: To see people from every language group living as disciples of Jesus Christ through the power of God’s Word in their Heart Language Member of Wycliffe Global Alliance Member of Bible Agencies Australia Member of Missions Interlink Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia 70 Graham Road Kangaroo Ground 3097 VIC ABN 22 004 705 953 Statistics: www.wycliffe.net

60th Anniversary

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FEBRUARY 2014

Is There Power in Prayer and Fasting?

Matt Prater

When I was a youth group kid, we did the World Vision 40 Hour Famine. I thought I was going to die. I was so hungry! It was a challenging experiment to go without food to raise money for the poor. But it taught me some lessons. It taught me to toughen up, and that it’s ok to go without food. It taught me to consider others and that God can help me when I commit to a fast.

I remember at Bible college, the Principal told the graduating students there were four things we should focus on as we followed Christ: prayer, the Bible, church and fasting. I was surprised he’d included fasting in this list, but now I agree it’s meant to be a part of the normal Christian life. Fast forward a few years. I was asked to pastor a church at the age of 30. And I thought, this is a pretty big decision, if ever I had to set aside time to pray and fast, it was then! So I did a one week fast. No food, just fluids. It was a powerful time of seeking the Lord and I felt the Lord give me the answers I was seeking. I accepted the role as pastor.

I remember at that time I had been reading some of Billy Graham’s comments on fasting. He said: Fasting can be a wonderful spiritual experience. Believers who never practice fasting and prayer are missing a spiritual discipline that has blessed many throughout the ages. A person in good health may choose not to eat occasional meals in order to focus on devotion to God. Not only are there spiritual ben-

efits, but some doctors believe that there are also health benefits. The early church found prayer and fasting valuable when seeking the guidance of God for making important decisions such as choosing spiritual leaders; see Acts 13:2-3 and 14:23. God will honor and bless anyone who fasts and prays in the right spirit.

At that time, I would do the occasional fast, sometimes three days, other times seven. I’d heard of great men and women of God doing 21 days and 40 days. I’d read about Jesus doing his 40 day fast, but I thought it was too much of a challenge for me.

Then in 2008, I went on a trip to the USA. I attended an event called, “The Call”. There were 15,000 people gathered in a stadium to pray and fast for America for 12 hours. I was so inspired.

These crazy Christians were praying to end abortion, for biblical marriage to be upheld, and for an end to sex-trafficking around the world. I am passionate about these issues, and I think there is an appropriate way to speak out about them. But I believe if we pray and fast God will hear our prayers, and we have a much better chance of success than if we try to change things by our own efforts.

I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to do a 40 day fast while I was at the conference. The first few days are always the worst; then it gets easier as your body adjusts and your heart becomes fixed on doing what the Lord has prompted you to do.

When I returned to Australia, I went to Canberra for a meeting of prayer

You might remember Matt Prater as the pastor who took on Kevin Rudd on Q&A. But a more lasting role is chairing the National Day of Prayer and Fasting, and 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting teams.

leaders and pastors from around the nation. We felt the need to call a National Day of Prayer and Fasting for the marriage debate. We also felt that praying and fasting was the best thing we could do. Someone in the room suggested I should lead it, because we needed to raise up a new generation of prayer leaders. I think I was chosen because I was the youngest person in the room.

But I felt that the Lord had prepared me for this role during my 40 day fast, so I hesitantly accepted the role as Chairman of the National Day of Prayer.

At the start of each year we also call a

40 day fast. It’s a great way to start the year, and to seek the Lord for the year to come. We have a day of prayer and fasting in the great Hall of Parliament in Canberra (on March 2 this year). People from all over Australia join in. We have worship, prayer and short words of encouragement from many politicians, pastors and leaders.

I’ve done different types of fasting over the years. Fasting food, and just having liquids. I’ve done a Daniel Fast, which is no meats or sweets. I’ve tried fasting from the washing up and ...

[Continued on page 7]

“Fasting can be a wonderful spiritual experience.

Believers who never practice fasting and prayer are missing a spiritual discipline that has blessed many...”

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FEBRUARY 2014

PRAYER

The Salvo’s Man of Prayer John Sandeman interviews Commissioner James Condon head of the Salvation Army, Eastern Australia, about prayer.

How do you pray?

I am an early riser and the first thing I do is pray. I get out of bed and I go to my prayer chair as I call it and I spend time in prayer.

I am also a person who takes time for prayer retreats which can vary from a day to two days, down to perhaps a couple of hours.

On a particular morning I may decide I will not go to the office early. I will head off to somewhere like Centennial Park, sit by a pond, and spend a couple of hours in prayer.

I have got other places that people make available to me for prayer retreats—where I may spend a day or two waiting on God and praying.

When do you get up? How long do you pray for?

I am up at 4am. My personal prayer time is approximately 30 minutes at the start of the day. I adhere to the Scripture that says “pray continually”. As I sit at my office desk during the course of the day, the one thing I ask God for is wisdom.

I often pause during the day to pray.

Today for example I decided to go and sit in Hyde Park in the sun for a while and pray. I don’t do it every day.

While I am sitting there I am thinking about things that are happening, and wanting to commit them to God in prayer.

When I go to my times of prayer retreat I read the Scriptures, I spend time in prayer. And I always take time to listen to God. What I have learned about prayer is that prayer is not just about talking to God—offering praise, intercession, repentance, confession, praying for people and about situations—it’s absolutely critical that we take time to listen to God. The last thing that I always do at the end of my time at a prayer retreat is to say, “Lord, this is my time to endeavour to listen to you”.

I always think of Samuel: “Speak Lord for thy servant listeneth”. That’s not easy because my mind goes in all sorts of directions. I have to stay focused and say to the Lord, “What do you want to say to me?” I sit there with a pen and a pad, ready to write down what I think the Lord is saying.

Of course the Lord speaks to us in different ways.

I find sometimes the Lord will speak to me from Scripture. I will be reading and I will feel that the Lord is saying “James—this is speaking to you”.

I had an experience only last week. I was reading from the book of Daniel, about Daniel in the Lion’s den, how God rescued him, how God saved him. And I felt ‘this is a word from the Lord for me’.

The Lord was saying he will rescue you, he will bring you out of the fire.

Can you tell me a story of how prayer has changed your life or caused you to do something different?

I am a great believer in Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6: “Being confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion, until the day of Jesus Christ.”

I remember praying, “Search me, oh God, know my heart—is there anything there?” as I always do on retreat. And I did feel the Lord say to me, “Yes. You can sometimes be a bit harsh with the way you speak to your wife.”

I thought “Oh, okay. Yes Lord, I can see that now.”

Can I talk to you about the Salvation Army—something you pray for a lot. To someone outside, the Salvation Army seems like a welfare agency but perhaps from inside, it is a church.

The Salvation Army’s history comes

I have long believed in repentance as a key to receiving God’s blessing upon the church, upon the Salvation Army.

in here. The vision that God gave to William Booth, who was a Methodist Minister in London at the time. He wanted the church to do more (and I say that with reservation because some churches were doing nothing because of the caste system) to help the poor—the homeless, the hungry, the rejected of society and the vulnerable. But his vision was never to start another church.

He wanted to help the people with the prayer that they would become members of the local church, Church of England, Methodist or Baptist. But because he was a preacher himself—and the people knew that he was a preacher—the people said we want you to be our preacher, we want you to be our church. So he put up a tent and started to have meetings.

That’s how we were born. A church with an acute social conscience. A church seeking to fulfil Jesus’ words in Matthew 25: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

It is interesting with our work with refugees and asylum seekers, [the word] “Army” strikes fear. ‘What is this army?’ In suburbs like Auburn, where many of these people first settle because that is where the Department of Immigration has their housing units, these people are often referred to the Salvation Army to get clothing or furniture.

They see us as a charity. But we endeavour to share the gospel—the good news—with them as well. Because they will say “Why do you do this?” and then it is an open door.

One of the challenges for us is that the average Aussie who knows us as a church, does not see us as the church for them. They see us as the church for the down and outs or homeless, the drug addict or alcoholic. That’s not them.

That does not mean we don’t have middle or upper class people who make up Salvation Army Churches.

What should other Christians be praying for the Salvation Army?

I have always been a great believer in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face…” I have been a great believer in that verse for Australia because we are the “great southland of the Holy Spirit” and I long to see revival.

So, to answer your question, pray that we, the Salvation Army will be what God wants us to be—that we will fill the place that God has given us in the Christian church—to be the Salvation Army in 21st century Australia in terms of connecting with all Australians, in terms of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. That is my number one prayer request.

[Also pray for] repentance. I do believe repentance is important. I am talking now about the Salvation Army.

When I talked to you earlier about God speaking to me through Daniel, I was referring to the Royal Commission (into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse). On the 28th of January to the 7th February, I will be in the Royal Commission every day answering questions about abuse that happened in Salvation Army homes.

I believe—and I am talking about the Salvation Army, personally—I have long believed in repentance as a key to receiving God’s blessing upon the church, upon the Salvation Army.

People have not always understood me when I talk about “corporate repentance”. The abuse that happened in children’s homes is a typical example. We need to acknowledge what happened.

We need to repent of it.

What do I mean by repent? We need to show that we are sorry, that we regret it. And of course repentance is not just about being sorry, it is about change.

And that is one of the things we will be showing to the Royal Commission.

I could not think of a more powerful illustration. I wish you well at the Royal Commission. Any other prayer points?

Last week I sent out an email: “Pray for rain”. I went to Christmas bush mission to Dubbo in December. Out to a place called Tottenham for a community carols on the Sunday night. Boy, things are bad out there.

A couple of months ago I was up in Mt Isa, went up in our helicopter all day visiting properties. We have got rural chaplains in the outback.

The message I am getting back is that it is really really bad. So the first point this morning was praying for people to be saved. Prayers for healing.

Prayers for rain.

And prayers for particular events.

Red Shield summer camp is on this week. It’s when we bring children from low socioeconomic areas, and people from the outback who have never been to the sea. And opportunities are given there for children to make decisions for Christ. Many children make decisions this week.

What do you think Christians in Australia do not have because we do not ask?

For me, the church in Australia need to be asking God, how do we connect with the wider Australian community?

I am 64 so I remember the Billy Graham Crusade. The crusade—the public gathering together with the preaching of the evangelist was the way we reached people.

Today, it is all about relationships.

We have to build relationships with the unchurched, the unsaved people.

Our prayer needs to be that the Lord will direct us to people, that he will put people in our way that we can build relationship with and be used for the salvation of that individual.

That God will open our eyes and direct our steps so that we really do connect.

FEBRUARY 2014

PRAYER

A nation on its knees Praying for Life

Fasting

Australian Heart Ministries

[From pg 5] ... mowing the lawn, but my wife wasn’t happy with that one. I’ve done Facebook fasts, TV fasts, and I’ve even been doing overnight fasts from food for a while. I start at bedtime, and finish when I wake up...

The heart behind a fast is to make a sacrifice to the Lord, not out of legalism, but from your heart. Where you say to the Lord, I’m going to lay down (something) for a season, to seek you.

I find that when I do this, I’m training myself to die to myself and live for Christ.

In the book of Ezra there’s an example of God’s people fasting. It says, “I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.” (Ezra 8:21, 23) I believe it’s great to have a day of prayer and fasting, just like this verse, but we should also live a fasted lifestyle.

A life commited to fasting regularly; privately and corporately.

When we pray and fast, we are saying, “Lord, let your kingdom come. Not my will but yours be done!”

We need to be a people who pray and fast regularly. A people who connect with God all day long. Not just praying at church, or at home group, or at bedtime, but praying all day long.

Someone once said that we can make history when we pray. I believe now is the time for us to pray for a shift in our nation to come back to God. Will you answer the call?

Pastor Matt Prater is the Chairman of the National Day of Prayer. He is also Senior Pastor at New Hope Brisbane, and host of the Breakfast show on the Vision Radio Network.

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Praying in the Great Hall of Parliament House Canberra for the National Day of Prayer and Fasting 2013.

Our cover photo is from the same event.

John Sandeman Well-known Australians like Senator Eric Abetz and musician Colin Buchanan are part of a team of 40 encouraging Australians to pray and fast in the 40 days leading up to Easter.

This team will contribute daily prayers and reflections leading up to Easter, around the theme of “activating God’s promises of revival”.

The 40 days of Prayer and Fasting begin on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014.

This aligns the 40 days of prayer with the traditional Catholic and Anglican churches season of Lent—a time of preparation and prayer before Easter.

Senator Eric Abetz, Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister for Employment, Liberal Senator for Tasmania: “It is simply God’s rock solid promise of grace—available to all for the asking—that provides the comfort of a firm foundation and safe anchorage for our earthly lives. What a blessing to

live every moment of our lives with that unassailable assurance.”

Senator Helen Polley, Labor Senator for Tasmania, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care: “The Lord will provide just the right amount of strength to ensure you can overcome whatever challenges you are facing.

That is the beauty of loving and believing in the Almighty.”

Prayer from Ian Harper, Partner at Deloitte Access Economics: “I know you will welcome me into eternal dwellings not because of anything I have done or will do but only because of your sacrifice on the cross. Yet you command me to do your will on earth and I pray that you guide me and direct my path as I seek to fulfil your command in all aspects of my life, including my life at work.”

Prayer from Colin Buchanan, songwriter, recording artist, media vagabond: “Creator God, may your gospel capture hearts and lives and imaginations, shifting eternally the dead motivation of sin and self to the glorious, eternal, good Point of All—honour for Jesus.”

The 40 day programme’s full details are in an insert in this edition of Eternity. Sue Tinworth of Partners in Prayer and Evangelism runs the 40 day programme: “It’s about grassroots evangelism, about Jesus’ kingdom coming into our neighbourhood. It is also about our prayer releasing the abundant life of Jesus our King to those around us.”

Sunday March 2, a few days before the 40 days of prayer and fasting is the National Day of Prayer & Fasting. The centrepiece of the day will be a Prayer Service in the Great Hall of Parliament House, Canberra on Sunday March 2, from 10am to 4pm. www.nationaldayofprayer.com.au www.40daysofprayer.com.au

Marilyn Rowsome from Mt Gravatt in Brisbane prayed for 40 days for an end to abortion. Here, she writes of the answers she has seen to those prayers.

In 2012, I was recovering from a very low point in my life. I wanted to focus on something other than myself.

I decided to list some friends to pray for daily, that they would come to faith in Jesus. And that outward focus has revolutionised my prayer life. Today, I delight in praying daily for many by name, in my sphere of influence and beyond. I have seen that prayer does, indeed, change things.

But it wasn’t until I took part in last year’s National Day of Prayer and 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting that God opened my eyes to the enormity of our abortion problem in Australia. We were praying we’d see a culture of life replace the culture of death. And we saw many answers to prayer.

Six days into our 40 days of prayer, we heard of an abortion worker who quit her job after speaking to those keeping a forty-day prayer vigil outside a Sydney abortion clinic. In those 40 days, we also saw pro-life bills presented to Parliament in Victoria, pro-life politicians hold their seats or gain more ground in state elections in Victoria and WA and the election of a new Pope, a fearless fighter against abortion.

There were answers to prayer, but we also saw setbacks. On day 23 of our prayers, a Tasmanian bill was introduced in parliament to decriminalize abortion. It’s why we know we need to persist in our prayers as the spiritual battle around this topic intensifies.

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I arrive at the office of City on a Hill, one of the biggest evangelical churches in the heart of Melbourne expecting to find all the usual trappings of a church office: cubicles, ‘office-grey’ carpet, fluoro lighting, a kitchenette with a few stained mugs, perhaps some fake flowers. Instead, I’m met with what looks like a design studio: lounges, black walls, wooden floorboards, low-hanging lights. It’s anything but cubicles and carpet. But this postindustrial chic is more than simply a fun office space, it is a deliberate stamp, marking this space out as an extension of the uber-hip church.

I speak to Lead Pastor Guy Mason in a crowded café down a Melbourne laneway on his first Monday back at work for 2014 and he uses the phrase “our DNA” a number of times to describe what makes City on a Hill distinctive. Part of what he’s describing is the church’s deliberate, concerted effort to understand culture, and to not only understand it, but to engage with it aesthetically and apologetically.

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to engage with culture can make it an easy target for criticism. But the fact remains, the church is one of (if not the) the fastest growing evangelical churches in Melbourne, and it’s multiplying.

Last year they planted City on a Hill Geelong, this year, City on a Hill West (to be held at Hoyts Cinemas in Maribyrnong), while the next plant will be announced later this year, says Guy. “Our hope is that City on a Hill West won’t just be a church plant. Like everything we want to do, it’s got to be a church-planting church. So this will be the beginning of churches in the west for City on a Hill,” he says.

With each new church, hours are spent researching the people they hope to reach. The church even employs a research co-ordinator. Guy says while many churches work hard at understanding culture when they start

out, few continue to stay ‘on trend’ as they grow. “I think a lot of churches do [cultural research] in the church planting stage, but a lot miss it later on.

So 10 years into a church plant, they look very much like they did when they started and yet the culture around them has change dramatically.

“We’re not doing anything radically new or different. We’re seeking to proclaim Jesus, but also working really hard to understand the cultural barriers that get in the way for people. And that’s both demographic research, but also ethnographic research: How do they think? What do they understand of God? What are their hopes, fears and dreams? What are they living for?”

Realising they had some knowledge and training to offer young wannabe church planters, last year City on a Hill launched an internship programme for

theologically-trained would-be pastors to learn from the inside what it’s like to plant a church. And it’s already bearing some fruit. Former intern Sam Wright will this year launch a new church in Melbourne’s outer East with the support of City on a Hill. Redemption Church in Ringwood is just one of many independent churches Guy hopes City on a Hill can support financially and logistically in the future.

“At our fifth birthday in Oct 2012 we released a vision document called City Steps. And one of the goals was to see three City on a Hill churches planted, two independent churches planted and one international church supported over the following three years. We’ve launched one City on a Hill plant; we’re about to launch a second; the third will be announced probably mid next-year and we’ve launched one independent, but we’ve got another one to go.”

Church planting is continuing to prove popular across denominations and locations. While researching for this story I discovered 16 new churches starting in 2014 under a number of denominational banners through a range of church planting networks - and there’s likely others too.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, many are taking place in the same areas. Take for example the west of Melbourne. City on a Hill is not the only church planting in the area. Hillsong recently took over two former Life Christian Church campuses in the west, while Anglican church St Jude’s has announced it will be planting in the inner-west suburb of Kensington later this year.

Similarly, Sydney’s Green Square—the site of a huge urban redevelopment— is set to become a “feeding frenzy” according to one insider, with reports of three different church plants cropping up in the area this year.

Guy says it’s not necessarily a bad

thing. The more churches, the more chances of reaching the population.

“There’s always room for more church plants, I think. Not at the expense of existing churches—it’s not an either or.

We need more pastors to help handle existing churches, but we also need new churches. We need a combination of both.”

In New South Wales, the C3 network will be launching a new Cronulla campus, while the Acts 29 network is planting in Green Square (Anchor Church), Forestville (Mission Church) and Newcastle (Gospel Church).

Meanwhile, the Anglicans are planting in Green Square (One1seven Church) and two churches in the Redfern area.

In Victoria, three new plants will crop up in country areas. Warrugul Presbyterian Church is launching in February, the Christian Reformed Church is planting in Geelong and Seed Community will start in Swan Hill.

The Reformed Church have been planting prolifically over the last eight years, particularly in Tasmania and Western Australia. In the past 20 years one church (Willetton Reformed Church, Perth) has planted four churches, two of which have planted daughter congregations.

Clinton Berenden from the CRCA’s church planting taskforce says the denomination believe church planting is biblical and effective.

“I think we see that biblically, church planting is an outgrowth of the gospel, of evangelism and discipleship. But I think also some of the research that’s been done in the United States reveals that if someone comes to faith, they are six times more likely to have done so in a church that’s less than five years old.”

Perth and WA more broadly seems to be a hotbed of church planting at the moment. Unichurch Curtin (Perth) is launching this year and the Seventh

Day Adventists are holding a church planting summit in Perth in February, while Geneva Push will host theirs in Perth in March.

In Tasmania, the Vision 100 network is continuing its work of encouraging church planting in Tasmania, where the reformed churches in particular have been making inroads.

In South Australia, Elizabeth Uniting Church is researching how to plant churches in northern growth corridors, while the Trinity Anglican network is still aiming to plant 20 churches by 2020. In other parts of the country, planting is less prolific, though still happening; the Presbyterians are planting in Southbank in Brisbane (Creek Road), as an example.

It seems like church planting is here to stay, something Guy Mason welcomes, but not without a word of warning.

“Church planting is a little trendy in the Christian world. It’s like the sexy option. That’s a great thing, we want lots of church planting, but we don’t want people jumping into church planting for their own platform.

“Church planting is a freaking hard thing. The guys who don’t make it, or the churches which don’t seem to flourish, the statistics just aren’t great. And often the research says it hinges a lot on the leadership and their preparation for what is to come.

“We can’t expect church plants to just appear. It begins with training and building a culture that allows that.

We have to change the mindset some churches have about other churches planting ... all of us are here because of a church plant which happened at some point. We need to do a lot more work in supporting, training, resourcing. I think as we move forward into the decades we’ll develop that material and it will support others.”

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Australian Institute of Family Counselling

Does your ‘but’ get in the way?

We all have them. They can be big, though some may be bigger than others. Some are so big that others try to hide behind them. ‘Buts’ always end up getting in the way: ‘But I can’t,’ ‘But I’m over 40,’ ‘But I don’t have an education,’ ‘But I don’t have any money,’ ‘But I’m in the wrong job,’ ‘But I’m in bad health,’ ‘But I’ve been through so much,’ ‘But I don’t have anything to offer.’

every excuse is the failure to do something’.

Let’s look at ways of getting of our ‘buts’ in 2014.

Jesus wants to make us fishers of people (Matthew 4:19). Paul says that Christians must “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). You’ve probably heard this but your ‘buts’ have got in the way of our But, but, but….My what big buts we have. Notice how they all start…. doing anything about it.

“But I…?” God had a big but too.

Twenty-two years ago Doctor Bruce and Nellie Litchfield had a His but is always in response to vision to grow and mature every our excusesChristian in Australia.

We say no – but God says yes.

We say can’t – but God says can.

Equipping them as trained We say won’t – but God says will. counsellors, so they could We say stop – but God says go. minister effectively to others inside We say don’t – but God says do. and outside their churches. In We say defeat – but God says consultation with many experts, victory! locally and overseas, the Australian Institute of Family Counselling Our ‘but’ is an excuse not to (AIFC) was birthed. do something. ‘The origin of

It is a Registered Training Organization, accredited by the Australian Government, CCAA and ACA and PACFA (The Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia), meeting all the professional training standards.

Offering a Diploma and Advanced Diploma and a Graduate Diploma in Christian Counselling. Students, from school leavers, to seniors have access to Fee Help.

A couple of years ago AIFC received recognition within the industry to be the most popular course in Australia and has continued that popularity with over 500 students enrolling across Australia in 2013.

Imagine if you were to enrol and complete the course: 1. You would be trained in active listening with empathic skills to be truly there for others.

2. You would have a solid grounding in theology and have

a balanced approach to training, effectively integrating theology, psychology and spirituality.

3. You would be trained in the understanding and use of psychotherapies that are compatible with Christian principles, 4. You will have learnt a model of counselling which applies to both Christian and non-Christian clients, and 5. You will have worked on many of your own issues let alone ready to be there for others.

Think of the ministry or career opportunities, too. There is still time to enrol for 2014 at: www.aifc.com. au, or call the Registrar on (02) 6242 5111 or 1300 721 397 Remember, excuses have a price so stop letting your ‘buts’ get between us and God. Rev David Mitchelmore Melbourne Centre Director and Senior Staff Trainer for AIFC

Eyes Wide Open Photo Credit - iStock

Sophia Russell Contrary to what most people think, houses are not silent at 3 o’clock in the morning.

Clocks tick; the fridge purrs; children toss in their beds, giving out the odd whimper; the nearby freeway roars with trucks making early morning deadlines.

I know what 3am sounds like because I am often awake at this time. While my husband and children have the enviable gift of being able to fall asleep in eight seconds flat, I suffer from chronic insomnia. For six years this condition has been my presumptuous friend, sometimes dropping by for a week, other times a whole month. During her visits, I sleep around three hours a night, sometimes less. My record to date is 72 hours without sleep. By the end of those three days, I was a delirious mess, a bundle of raw nerves that could barely catch the right train home from work or string a sentence together.

I’m not the only one who knows the frustration of sleeplessness. One in three people experience mild insomnia according to the Sleep Health Foundation. For me, most nights begin with optimism. I’ll clean the sink, scrub the cupboard doors, maybe watch the odd cat video on YouTube.

By the early hours of the morning the glee of a clean kitchen gives way to frustration. I inwardly curse my expensive ergonomic pillow, and stare with crazed eyes at my husband’s slumbering form.

“Have you tried warm milk?” friends have asked. “Or dabbing a spot of lavender oil on your temples?” I’ve tried it all: yoga, prescription drugs, counselling, a CD called Ocean Sounds to Soothe the Soul that did nothing of the sort. My presumptuous friend still visits.

It has recently occurred to me that my battle with insomnia collides with my faith as a Christian. While reading my Bible one night, I was struck by the psalmist’s cry to God in Psalm 77: “I meditated, and my spirit grew faint ...

You kept my eyes from closing.”

Sleeplessness is one of the many human experiences articulated in psalms such as this one. Like King David before him who flooded his bed with tears (Psalm 6:6-7), the psalmist stretches out untiring hands all night long, his soul “refusing to be comforted”.

On the flip side, a good night’s sleep— an insomniac’s white whale—is granted to those whom God loves. Sleep is a blessing, not just for the physical rest it provides but by the fact that those who sleep well rest easy in God’s care.

This makes sense. Worrying about marauding enemies, imminent exile or societal oppression would be enough to

One in three people experience mild insomnia according to the Sleep Health Foundation. keep any psalmist awake at night. Even today, depression and anxiety are two of the most common causes of chronic insomnia.

It’s a self-defeating situation. Sleep experts say the more you worry, the less likely you are to fall asleep. But like the writers of the Psalms, it is precisely when I go to bed that my anxieties emerge, along with a whole host of

destructive thoughts.

Negative, sometimes sinful attitudes I restrain during the day wreak havoc at night. With teeth clenched and aching shoulders, I replay conversations, regretting all the stupid things I’ve said. I nurse a litany of hurts people have committed against me, refusing to forgive. I feel guilt for failing to live up to my own exacting expectations.

I imagine God’s judgement bearing down on me. I am full of envy. At night other people’s lives become shinier and

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my friends become superwomen who have it all.

Mostly I worry about what I cannot control—from ridiculous things like whether my microwave is giving me cancer (thanks to Today Tonight for that one), to big things like: what if my children fall away from Christ when they’re older? Will I always have insomnia and anxiety? Will I always feel like I’m failing in my struggle against sin?

It is at this point that I have much to learn from Psalm 77.

I love this phrase: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord.” By the end of the psalm, the writer isn’t dwelling in anxiety. He isn’t even focused on himself.

Instead, he finds solace in remembering God as the one who performs miracles and leads his people like a flock.

Am I willing to do the same when I can’t sleep at night? Although my exhausted mind wants to wallow in despair (or, more specifically, bawl into the arc of my ergonomic pillow), I’m challenged by the psalms to “remember the deeds of the Lord”. Greater than

Sleeplessness is one of the many human experiences articulated in the psalms.

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performing miracles in the desert, God has acted powerfully through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He has removed my sin, cleansed my soul and given me new life. What better time to meditate on this truth than when I’m alone at night and my soul is wrestling with shadows?

These days I’m slowly learning to accept my presumptuous friend’s visits.

My nights have become a form of spiritual bootcamp. When Satan accuses me of guilt in the early hours of the morning, God trains my eyes upon Jesus—the author and perfector of my faith.

When I lie in bed obsessing about someone I find irritating, he teaches me to desire holiness rather than sinfulness.

When the night feels endless and lonely, I remember that nothing can separate me from God’s love, not even insomnia.

This is one of our great blessings as Christians: God uses every hardship as a chance to refine us, deepening our understanding of what it means to trust in him.

Even the hardships that occur at 3am can be an opportunity to “remember the deeds of the Lord”.

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FEBRUARY 2014

Scriptures seized in Malaysia

Staying brave in the Bible lands

Suzanne Schokman In the midst of bewildering turmoil, Syrian children hear about Daniel and other Bible heroes who stood firm through adversity. Starved of hope as much as of food and amenities, children learn about persevering through struggles and coming out triumphant because of a faithful God. Despite conflicts and religious restrictions throughout Syria, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, Bible Society continues to work distributing Scriptures. Where needed, an aid pack of daily staples is also provided, but spiritual food right now is equally vital for the peoples of the Bible lands, where Christianity forged its roots some 2,000 years ago. The narratives of the Bible are close to home for them, naming places in which they live their lives.

However, the very presence of Christianity in the Middle East is under threat. Repression and escalating antagonism towards Christians have seen numbers dwindle. A hundred years ago, almost half of Syria was Christian.

It’s estimated that today, one third of the nation’s Christians have fled, terrified at seeing churches destroyed and believers killed.

In Iraq, more than a million Christians are said to have fled over the past ten years, escaping from political, social and economic upheaval. It’s a struggle for Bible Society work there, keeping staff and volunteers safe as they distribute Scriptures, yet they persevere.

“In the Middle East, the Bible can get you killed,” blogs James Catford, Group Chief Executive of Bible Society UK. “While (here) we buy and sell ‘the Book of books’, our brothers and sisters across

North Africa and the Middle East are harassed, attacked and even murdered.”

In another post he writes: “The sheer volume of people moving across borders tells of the human cost to families who not only lose their homes, but also their history and sense of identity. Christians are being caught in the crossfire and the depopulation of Christian towns and villages is considerable. Relationships between religions that have lived side by side for centuries are being broken. And the religious geography of the region is unlikely to look the same again.”

But the work of distributing Scrip-

It’s estimated that today, one third of the nation’s Christians have fled. tures goes on. In Iraq, the local Bible Society continues to share the good news of hope with those who remain.

Fundraising is close to impossible given the current economic climate and the ever-decreasing number of Christians.

That makes support from Bible Society donors elsewhere all the more important, in order that work may continue.

The church in the Middle East also needs help as it responds to the growing refugee crisis. It’s said that in Beirut alone, up to one million Syrian refugees walk the streets, desperate for normalcy.

Dr Mike Bassous is the General Secretary of Bible Society Lebanon, which also looks after Iraq and Syria.

He has seen firsthand the enormous human cost of the Syrian conflict, as

refugees flood into his country, and he’s committed to sharing the hope of Christ with them. Bible Society Lebanon has worked in partnership with relief agencies, providing Scriptures, food, household items and medical care.

“The impact, of course, is five or ten times greater than just giving out the Bible by itself,” says Bassous, “because here what we are doing is not only giving out the word of God, but actually practising what the word of God says.

When you see your brother is thirsty, give him a glass of water; when you see he is sick, go and visit him. So we are actually living the Bible, and presenting a hard copy at the same time.

James Catford in the UK is passionate about giving to help the people of the Bible lands. “We can give; certainly for the humanitarian needs of every person who is displaced, detached from their loved ones, or lacking in physical goods.

But not just that. The spiritual needs for Christians and others are also considerable. If you have lost everything, what you want to know the most is that God still loves you and cares for you. Bibles and other resources are a huge comfort when the storm is at its greatest.”

Giving a Bible is a tangible way to express solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the Middle East, helping to ensure that Christian communities continue to survive and thrive. “When we hear of tragedy and mayhem in the lands of the Bible,” says Catford, “this is God’s reminder to us to weep with those who weep. And to show that we are hurting too.”

To help provide Scriptures for people in the Middle East, please donate at biblesociety.org.au/eternityappeal or call 1300 BIBLES (1300 242 357).

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom 8:35) Persecuted Christians in the Middle East need hope from the Scriptures that you provide.

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Above: A child in Iraq enjoys Bible stories for the young, and learns about courageous people who remained strong through trouble.

Out on bail: Lee Min Choon of the Bible Society in Malaysia wants the secular and religious authorities in Malaysia to work together.

Malaysian authorities have seized hundreds of Bibles from Bible Society in Malaysia and detained two staff members, another step in the country’s tensions over use of the word ‘Allah’ (Arabic for ‘God’).

In January, 321 Bibles were confiscated by JAIS, a Malaysian Islamic authority, which also arrested Bible Society’s chairman Lee Min Choon and office manager Sinclair Wong and took them to Damansara Utama police station where they were later released on bail.

As Eternity goes to print, the Malaysian Federal Court is ruling on whether to allow a Catholic newspaper to refer to God as ‘Allah’ in the Malaylanguage section of its publication.

The Bibles that were confiscated were in the Malay and Iban languages, and both referred to God as ‘Allah’.

Christians and Christian scholars have pointed out that the name has long been used by Arabic-speakers of the pre-Islamic Abrahamic faiths—Judaism and Christianity—in reference to God. Bible Society Malaysia chairman, Lee Min Choon, says he expects the secular and religious authorities to work with each other and sort the situation out, “so that Malay-speaking Christians here can continue to read their Scriptures”.

On themalaymailonline. com, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism described the raid as illegal.

Sikh groups in Malaysia have voiced concern over restricting the use of the word ‘Allah’. In previous media comment, veteran lawyer and parliamentarian Karpal Singh pointed out that “the word ‘Allah’ appears in the Guru Granth Sahib [the Sikh holy book] 46 times. Any ruling that the word Allah cannot be used by non-Muslims would mean that Sikhs couldn’t utter that word in the course of their prayers.”

The word ‘Allah’ has been used in the Malay Bible since the first translation in 1629. However the United Bible Societies avoid using ‘Allah’ in English Bibles. Eternity reported last year on the related ‘familial terms’ controversy where some groups (not Bible Societies) avoided terms like ‘Son of God’. After an investigation by a panel of Christian scholars organised by the World Evangelical Alliance, the translators have gone back to the traditional words to describe Jesus.

13

FEBRUARY 2014

Review by Mark Hadley The release of 12 Years A Slave is certain to result in more columns and conversations about the evils of slavery, particularly since it won Best Picture at the Golden Globes. Christians will undoubtedly join in those discussions, confident that they have pioneering abolitionists like William Wilberforce to support them. But those who watch the film will realise that Christianity’s slave history is chequered at best.

12 Years A Slave is based on the real account written by African American Solomon Northup, a citizen of New York, kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery. Shortly after his abduction, Northup (Chiwitel Ejiofor) protests that he is a free man, and is brutally beaten in response. He learns this is a secret he must keep to himself—plantation owners don’t take kindly to slaves who threaten their investments. As Northup is traded from one master to another, he learns that these Christian gentlemen not only own him but define his spiritual existence. When he finally arrives on the plantation of Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), he is alternately subjected to inhumane punishments and threatening sermons about his duty to God and master. As affecting as it is to witness the savagery suffered by the slaves, it is these sermons that will make Christians shudder.

It would be comforting to consider the beliefs of the cruel Epps as isolated perversions of Christianity, were it not for their historical accuracy.

Christianity has certainly had its champions amongst abolitionists including Wilberforce, Spurgeon, Wesley and Newton. But our involvement with slavery is far more complex, as Epps and other characters suggest.

Slavery: is God on your side?

Christianity has also had its champions of slavery. George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards both kept slaves, drawing support from church fathers like John Chrysostom who argued that slavery was part of God’s mechanism to preserve the natural order of things.

For more than a thousand years, the prevailing Christian view was that slavery was an institution ordained by God and backed by biblical mandate for three main reasons: - The New Chosen: The extension of salvation from the Jews to Gentiles seemed to show the Old Testament laws God provided for his ‘Chosen People’ should extend to the New Testament.

This included permission to own slaves and the manner in which to treat them.

- The Bible’s silence: Campaigners against abolition pointed out that neither Old Testament nor the New condemned slavery. Jesus was curiously silent on the subject and Paul sends a runaway slave back to his master.

- God’s curse: Others argued that enslaved races had been subjected to

slavery by divine decree. When Noah curses his son Ham, the father of the Canaanites, by proclaiming, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers!” Some theologians argued that the African nations were Ham’s descendents and so, slavery was fulfilling the patriarch’s prophecy.

These arguments are, of course, based on spurious interpretations of God’s word. But I include them because Christian anti-slavery campaigners need to be wary of making the same mistakes. The danger lies in coming to the Bible with the sole goal of enlisting God’s support for our social causes.

However noble our causes, God will not be marshalled into anyone’s army.

There are plenty of passages that should make a Christian oppose slavery, but God’s primary concern lies with another enslavement. Paul encourages slaves to gain their freedom if possible, but even more, to avoid slavery to the principles of this world. He reminds slaves and masters that Jesus died, not simply to free us from slavery to sin, but

to transfer our ownership to God: “Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness...”

And if this sounds like minimising slavery’s evil then I suggest we may be in danger of minimising sin. A person might have their chains smashed and sin still sink them lower than the grave.

12 Years A Slave will distress any sensible viewer as it reminds us how much pain sin’s selfishness can cause. AntiSlavery International conservatively estimates there to be in excess of 27 million slaves in the world today. No person filled with the love of Christ should rest easy with such a global atrocity.

But we cannot allow the world’s outrage to deaden our sensitivity to the Bible’s chief concern. When Abraham Lincoln was asked whether or not he thought God was opposed to slavery he replied: “My concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God’s side.”

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14

FEBRUARY 2014

OPINION

Are Christians persecuted?

Michael Jensen

“It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are ... deliberately targeted...” secularisers want us to be. They want us to be a clearly definable group that depends on the approval of the secular state for its existence.

But I would argue that the ambitions of Christians are much bigger than simply claiming the right to exist. We are interested in proclaiming a power that is mightier even than secular democracy—and a power to whom secular liberal democrats will one day bend the knee!

Thirdly: secular democracy is forever having to engage in the imperfect business of allocating measures of freedom to different claimants. It can never do this perfectly, or even well. But in a lot of cases, it is to be applauded for trying because the outcomes are more just than before. That Christians lose on occasion shouldn’t always be seen as persecution, or as a trend towards persecution. The tension that exists between sexual liberties and religious freedom is not an easy puzzle to solve and can actually exacerbate tensions between groups. The rights of Christians seem to be inevitably pitted against the rights of homosexuals at the moment.

Still, I am sure that members of both groups would rather live under Australian democracy than in Saudi Arabia or northern Nigeria.

What is the way forward for Australian Christians, then?

Firstly, we have to insist on the truth.

There has to be truth-telling about the situation of Christians overseas. We have to challenge the lazy reporting of persecution, and we have to speak loudly in support of our sisters and brothers in other lands. We have to make a comfortable home for them in Australia if we can. We have to pray for those suf-

Bible Society Egypt

In 2010, the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George made this prediction: “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”

This alarming prophecy was made as a reaction to the rise of the strident secularism which seems determined to expunge all traces of religious faith from public discussion in the West.

When secularism manages to co-opt the media and the law for its own purposes—as it frequently seems to do—then the prospect of an Archbishop being punished simply for his adherence and advocacy of Christian views seems not so fanciful.

It is most overt in somewhere like France, where freedom from religion seems to be the goal of the government.

The wearing of all religious symbols was banned from French schools in 2004.

In the UK, there have been a series of cases in which anti-discrimination legislation was used against the Christian point of view.

The most famous case concerned a Christian couple Hazelmary and Peter Bull, the owners of a guesthouse in Cornwall. The Bulls refused two gay men a double room in 2008. The gay couple took the Bulls to court and won damages. Despite appeals to the Supreme Court, the original decision was upheld. The judges made it very clear that the right to expression of sexual orientation trumped the right to freedom to express one’s religious opinions.

Was this ‘persecution’? And is it headed our way in Australia?

I think we should be very careful here: persecution of Christians is a terrible reality across the globe. In northern Nigeria, Archbishop Ben Kwashi of Jos reported to me that more Christian lives have been lost under the fearful assaults of Muslim renegades in the last decade than were lost on 9/11. Christians in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and North Korea are dying for their faith, or having to flee. In Indonesia and in Malaysia, Christianity is carefully confined along ethnic lines, and evangelism restricted.

Even Prince Charles was recently reported saying: “It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are increasingly being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist militants.”

The form that this wave of persecu-

tion takes is frequently violent. It is sometimes undertaken by terrorist groups, but often has the force of law.

John Allen’s book The Global War on Christians (h/t to The Age’s Barney Zwartz) shows just how widespread and nasty the attack on Christianity has become.

What compounds it is the way in which Western media reports outand-out persecution of Christians as ‘religious violence’. This of course suits the secular narrative about religion: that religious people are all basically possessed by a form of madness which means they will always be fighting one another. Western journalists seem uninterested in who is attacking whom. To them it is all ‘religious’.

But this ignorance, apathy and arrogance does not make for the kind of systemic persecution of Christians that we see in Pakistan or Nigeria. Persecution of Christians in Australia is at present isolated, occasional and relatively minor.

Now, I don’t want to deny that individual Christians experience persecution, and that it is on occasion severe—but it is not on the same scale as what we see elsewhere. All persecution for the sake of the gospel has the nature of a spiritual attack; but the scale and form of the persecution can vary enormously.

With that in mind, I think Aussie Christians need to remember three things about their current situation.

First: criticism, even severe criticism, is not ‘persecution’. The public square is hotly contested space. Anyone who enters it will have their words disputed, whoever they are. The internet has intensified this, massively so. If I write a piece for the secular media, I make it a point not to read the comments because they are usually so venomous. But I don’t think that is unusual, or ‘persecution’: it comes with public discussion of any issue people feel deeply about.

Sometimes, criticism of Christians is actually deserved because Christians behave like jerks. Being criticised for being a jerk is not persecution.

Second, secularism actually invites us to see ourselves as victims. A group which can point to a history of victimisation is a group that deserves special treatment from the state in order to redress the balances of history. Christians have usually been cast in the role of the oppressive majority. The temptation for us is, however, to see ourselves as an oppressed minority because we know that’s how to portray ourselves in order to get a hearing in secular society.

Can you see the irony? It is buying in to the language of ‘rights’.

There’s a huge danger here. It’s this: that we will become exactly what

fering that they would stand fast under the terrible trials they are experiencing and know the love of Christ and the witness of the Spirit. But we also have to be careful not to call persecution on things that are not. A persecution complex is a most ugly thing.

Secondly, we have to be indispensable, loyal and blameless citizens of our own nation, so that if the question of discrimination or persecution arises we will have such a good reputation with outsiders that it just seems inconceivable.

That was the advice of the New Testament authors to the first Christians. The contribution of churches and Christian organisations to the social fabric of Australia is such that a programme of active anti-Christian discrimination by any government would be completely suicidal. Governments in Australia already know that this is the case.

Thirdly, we need to tidy up our own act by being willing to repent. The great evil of child abuse has been the cause of great discredit to the churches of Australia, and rightly so. This has not been persecution, but it has given great impetus to those who would like to see Christianity disappear from Australian life. We cannot expect the free pass we get with tax and anti-discrimination laws to last if we do not maintain justice within our own gates.

Fourthly, we need to argue our case!

We need to commend the gospel and advocate, strongly but peaceably, for our point of view amongst those who do not share our presuppositions. In theory at least, secular society invites us to do just that. We should take them at their word. The ‘secular’ ideal of course ...

[Continued on page 15.]

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FEBRUARY 2014

Letters

15

The Left and prophecy

On Prayer

Thank you for the excellent article by Karl Faase in last month’s Eternity.

It was a helpful article that opened a needed area of conversation. However I would like to point to two areas that I think add to the discussion.

Firstly, the labelling of the Christian “left/right”. While even in the secular arena, the notion of left and right is becoming increasingly irrelevant, in the Christian context, we should never position as left or right, as both ends in the classic sense are deeply flawed. While it is a convenient and understood label, it is not helpful. A suggested alternative is justice-oriented and moral-oriented.

Secondly, Karl raises some excellent, timely, helpful points for those that are highly justice-oriented. However I can’t but feel that he has let the morallyoriented off the hook. The Bible clearly teaches both moral purity and justice for the oppressed. There is no difference in the mandate for Christians to care for the refugee (justice), or to prevent euthanasia being an option for the terminally ill (morals). The bigger issue however is not that each ‘side’ doesn’t have enough of the other (though this is true), but that neither side has enough

One of the more sensible things Umberto Eco, the Italian philosopher-novelist, said was “the function of news is to tell us things we already know”. He meant that media repeats the ideas or aspirations of a particular society. His idea applies to this edition of Eternity, centred on prayer.

The Bible makes it clear that every Christian prays, sometimes with groanings too deep for words. So every Christian reader will pray— and long to pray. That makes you wonder why we need this Eternity and other encouragement to pray.

All I know is that I do.

So, as editor, part of me would like to think most readers take one look at our cover and decide they don’t need to read about prayer. Provided that was because all of you are well schooled in prayer and already “pray without ceasing”, that would be wonderful.

Sadly I think I can say without contradiction from anyone that this country needs more prayer.

And it starts with us.

John Sandeman

Persecution

[From pg 14] ... originates with a Protestant Christian commitment to exactly this freedom of speech. Use it, or lose it.

Fifth, we have to remember that our task is to testify to Jesus Christ, not to seek persecution as some kind of validation. The world’s reaction to Jesus tells

of the love and conviction of the gospel when they speak in the public square.

It was a missed opportunity for Karl to shine the spotlight on this need for both ends of the Christian political spectrum.

Matt Sykes, Leichhardt, NSW.

Jesus’ desire

ministries,in families, in life in general, the “I” word eats away like cancer. To kill the spiritual cancer replace those three “I” words with “You, us, we”. This will unite us as God’s family and will let the world know that God, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, loves them.

Dave Vincent, Bidwell, NSW.

Jesus’ desire, before He was crucified, was that all believers, all Christians, would be one, in complete unity, so that the whole world will know that Almighty God loves them.(Jn 17:2023.) To many non Christians though, the Church, us Christians, is laughable.

Unity!! Often they say “Where is it??”

In Jesus’ prayer for believers to be one we must realise this one vitally important fact—Almighty God is our Heavenly Father and all Christians are His children—all. We are one huge family under Almighty God as our Heavenly Father. Yet we argue and fight, backbite, complain and even destroy each other.

One church I knew years ago split because of the colour of the new carpet.

Red vs green. “I, me, my” are three words so often the cause of much hurt and destruction. In individual church

The Gospel beat

us that we are not in a popularity contest. As followers of a crucified Lord, we should not expect anything else. After all, as Jesus said: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18). Paul wrote to Timothy that, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Tim 3:12) But being persecuted is not the goal:

the goal is to proclaim Christ and to obey him. The rest is in the hands of the Sovereign Lord. Sometimes in history that has meant persecution for Christians. Sometimes it hasn’t. Whatever may happen—and I pray we are spared the ravages of a systemic persecution— we should never tire of holding out the gospel of Jesus Christ to our nation.

That is our calling.

I find I must disagree with Greg Clarke on two counts in the latest issue of Eternity that I’ve read.

There are times in Country music that I’m convinced that Gospel music is a beat rather than the Gospel. We follow it closely and have been presenters in Community Radio in two places. So much of it has nothing to do with the Gospel but may be the singer’s expression of their so-called spirituality..

In his column on the back page he says that even Republicans have a tear in the eye at the announcement of a new royal pregnancy. Sorry, Greg but I’m a Republican and even more so since visiting the Tower and my attitude is ho-hum.

Mary Grocott, Orange, NSW.

Part of me would like to think most readers take one look at our cover and decide they don’t need to read about prayer.

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16

NOVEMBER 2013

Getting past politics for education’s sake Greg Clarke

Photo Credit - iStock

Is it possible to discuss the place of religion in public life in Australia today without getting politically pigeonholed?

If you raise the importance of recognizing our “Judaeo-Christian heritage”, you are quickly labelled a conservative who wants to return us to the 1950s, with barefooted women in kitchens and monocultural colonialism.

But if you mention Jesus’ teaching on welcoming the outsider, the Good Samaritan and the fact that we are all refugees, well obviously you are pinker than the skin of a tennis champion at the Australian Open this summer.

The latest issue to bring to the surface our ongoing ‘culture war’ around religion is the decision by Federal Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, to review the national curriculum, appointing known critics of it to do the job. Chief among the areas of revision is the role of religion in Australian history. It has been broadly suggested

by Pyne and others that there might be insufficient attention paid in the current curriculum to the influence of the Judaeo-Christian tradition on our institutions and key events.

Whether or not this is true, the whole issue has the whiff of politics about it.

After a long process of development, how can it be right that the new curriculum be reviewed by just two people (one a former Liberal Party staffer) to check it off for bias? Won’t they simply bring their own biases to

Chief among the areas of revision is the role of religion in Australian history. the task? Thankfully, I am sure it will have more to it than that.

And yet, I find myself cheered with the thought that we need to make sure that credit is given where credit is due.

In terms of the influence of Christianity on Australian history, it’s hard to believe that is in fact happening. Students emerge from school and even university with the foggiest notions of the shaping force of the Old and New Testament in areas such as the origins of the unions movement, the establishment of charities, aspects of the law, free-market economics, services for the disabled

and elderly, the education of women, literature, indigenous relations (there’s good and bad in that), and so much more.

Has our curriculum been developed in reaction against the perceived dominance of the Christian worldview?

Do we need to swing the pendulum

back for the sake of honest, integrated education?

I’m not in a position to know. But I’m extremely pleased that these kinds of questions are filling the opinion columns.

Let’s hope we can move beyond right and left to reach an answer.

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