DECEMBER 2019/ JANUARY 2020
CARING IN GOD’S WORLD
Amelie Gray wins the Moderator’s art competition
GO MAKE DISCIPLES…
FAILURES OR EXAMPLES?
Equipping young people for ministry Challenging our attitudes to poverty
CONTENTS | DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020
FEATURES
16 A Bethlehem experience Edengrove’s Christmas outreach
18 Enjoy
The Moderator’s Christmas reflection
20 The turbulent teens
Looking back at the last decade
22 Hashtags and hormones Sex and relationships from a biblical perspective
24 A new home
How we relate to migration
26 Responding to reality
Analysing the cultural landscape
37 Side by side
Women’s intergenerational ministry
38 Farming God’s way
A Bethlehem experience p16
The World Development Appeal 2019
42 Ministering to ministers
Pastorally supporting ministers and their families
44 Imagination and interpretation
Interview with Walter Brueggemann
46 Giving the gift of hope
The work of the Presbyterian Children’s Society Responding to reality p26
REGULARS
4 7 8 9 13 14 15 29 48 50 55 57
CONTRIBUTORS
Letters News In this month… My story Life lessons As I see it Talking points Mission Connect Reviews Life in PCI Betsy Cameron Arthur Clarke
Cover illustartion by Barry Falls Dec 2019/Jan 2020 No 827 £1.50 (€1.80) Published by: The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Assembly Buildings, Belfast BT1 6DW. T: +44 (0)28 9032 2284 E: herald@presbyterianireland.org W: www.presbyterianireland.org
Farming God’s way p38
Olwyn Mark is head of research and strategic partnerships at Love for Life (www.loveforlife.org.uk).
Rev Niall Lockhart is minister of Ballyhenry and convener of PCI’s pastoral care of manse families panel.
Ruth Sanderson lives in Co Down with her husband Harry. She is a freelance radio/television presenter and producer.
Rick Hill is PCI’s Discipleship Officer. He is a member of Carnmoney Presbyterian Church and lives in Doagh with his wife Sarah and sons, Noah and Micah.
Editor: Sarah Harding
The views expressed in the features, news reports, letters and book reviews of this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor. Editorial comment and signed articles do not necessarily contain the Subscriptions and Advertising: Elaine Huddleston; Suzanne Hamilton; official views of the Church, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply endorsement Renée Finnegan of the goods or services. The Editor reserves the right to decline any Design and Layout: advertisement or letter without assigning any reason. Letters may be Edward Connolly edited for publication. No correspondence can be entered into regarding Printing: non-publication of advertisements or letters. W & G Baird Ltd.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is a Registered Charity in Northern Ireland (NIC104483); Registered Charity in Republic of Ireland (20015695).
Herald December 2019/January 2020
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Cabinet Office
The turbulent teens deargdoom57 Flickr.com
ChiralJon
Boaworm
Laura Poitras / Praxis Films
As we stand on the cusp of the 2020s, Ruth Sanderson takes a look back over the last decade.
F
or as long as I can remember, the end of each decade has been waved away with a flourish. Before the fanfare of a new year, columns about the previous 10 years pack our newspapers and magazines; there is always a review of the year on TV. The highs, the lows, the analysis, the reflection. However, here we are, late in 2019, and there hasn’t been the same time-honoured passage for this particular decade. This feels a little
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conspicuous. Perhaps it’s too hard? It’s been a difficult decade – even its name has been problematic. Have we been living though the teens? Tweens? Twenty-tens? It seems to have been one tremendous fudge for the past 10 years.
Now more than ever, he asks us to be…his voice in a climate of confusion.
Yet here we are on the eve of the 20s – have any of us really looked back? Perhaps, like me, you are too obsessed with the current political machinations domestically, the unfolding American Trump saga and the alarming climate emergency to really have thought about it. All across the world – populism, far right, far left, super powers, wars and rumours of wars are breaking out like blisters. We wring our hands, decry the craziness of
today’s world; yet if we look back to 2010 we can see the seeds were already sown. Cast your mind back 10 years. Britain was gripped in an epic, snowy winter; Gordon Brown was British Prime Minister and would soon step aside to make way for the Cameron-Clegg coalition; Brian Cowen was Taoiseach in Ireland; and a huge volcano in Iceland was playing havoc with our holiday plans. It all seems like distant history. However, if we think of how the past 10 years have been shaped, much of it can be seen through the lens of the 2008 global financial crisis. A decade ago we were still coming to terms with what the fall of huge banking institutions would mean. Trading practices were being exposed and bankers were being uncovered as risky gamblers, betting our savings and pensions in an increasingly credit-thirsty world. We were still trying to get our heads around what the fall of Lehman brothers meant and what subprime mortgages were – toxic debt portfolios. Ten years ago, the UK’s new chancellor George Osborne announced massive spending cuts, taxpayer funded banking bailouts, the slashing of local services and ‘the bonfire of the quangos’. Austerity Britain was born. This led to movements like ‘Occupy’, mass citizen activism dismayed at how governments were treating normal people whilst cushioning the banking sector, who were seen as the ones who were ultimately to blame. In Ireland, the property bubble had burst and the Celtic Tiger days were at an abrupt end. Of course globally it was a similar situation. In Europe, the economies of Greece and Portugal collapsed. America was hit by recession. With a new distrust of money, commodity prices went through the roof, leading to tension in the Middle East as vested interests tightened their grip on oil supplies. More mass political movements would break out and huge protests would lead to the sweeping away of governments in the Arab Spring. These began as a response to oppressive regimes and low living standards. With the toppling of governments, power vacuums began to emerge. In places like Syria, this would lead ultimately to a civil war and the emergence of ISIS. Unrest and violence in the region – Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq – would prove a long drawn out military campaign for
British, American and European armed forces. Much of the unrest unleashed by the Arab Spring, and indeed unrest domestically, began on newly fangled social media – voices which had never been heard before were meeting on Twitter and Reddit forums, harnessing this relatively new communication. Twitter and Facebook were still in their infancy, and Instagram didn’t exist until halfway through the decade. Not everyone had a smartphone. Ten years ago it was almost impossible to imagine the impact that this new online communication would have.
As we head into the 20s, we hope for a more certain, settled decade. The last decade has been a revolution in terms of personal technology. The online world now affects everything from children chatting to each other (nonverbally of course), to the outcome of global elections. We stand on the edge of the artificial intelligence era – already many of us talk to Siri or Alexa. In another decade will we be looking back nostalgically at this as a time of digital naivety? The digital revolution over the past 10 years highlighted the power of information. Now we all have a digital footprint, it is almost impossible not to have many details of our lives online somewhere. Huge companies harvest our data; our smartphone microphones and cameras can monitor conversations and internet usage. Yet it happened in a way which makes it all feel normal – imagine knowing that 10 years ago. But data isn’t solely used to sell us more stuff via algorithms. This power of information was highlighted by the WikiLeaks scandal, the arrest of players such as Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning. These computer bods became the embodiment of interstate danger. It soon became clear that information, and misinformation, were the new weapons used by superpowers to gain supremacy. This past decade has also seen a rise in those superpowers, and the ‘strongmen’ who lead them – Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Donald Trump. The old battle lines of Western democracy and Eastern totalitarianism are more blurred than ever.
In Europe, like America, there has been an increase in populism. The march towards nationalism saw the far right come to power notably in Austria and Hungary. Closer to home, the emergence of UKIP led the conservatives to become less middle of the road, forcing the opposition to increasingly polarised battle lines. Of course the biggest upset for the UK and Ireland in the past decade has been Brexit. At the time of writing, a general election looms and the UK is more divided than ever. No one is sure if, when or how Brexit will happen, or what its impact will be on Ireland, north and south. The Northern Ireland Executive has collapsed, well over 1000 days have passed since it last sat and politicians are still at loggerheads. Meanwhile, whilst politics becomes more extreme, and the world more dangerous, ‘global warming’ has become ‘climate change’ which now, at the end of 2019 has become ‘the climate emergency’. This evolving language reflects its increasingly critical status. Almost all scientists agree that we are at a tipping point, a chance to save our planet from ourselves. Yet the US is exploring drilling for oil in the Arctic, the Amazon is burning and whilst the planet is finding new ways to generate electricity and cut carbon, the world population continues to rise. The battle for natural resources we once took for granted, like water and food, could become the new crisis of the 2020s. Ten years on, the world feels very uncertain. The future is anything but clear, not politically, environmentally or globally. We stand on the precipice of a time which feels alien to the 2000s, and stare into the 2020s, unsure of what’s to come. God, of course, is the God yesterday, today and forever. This is the time to reflect on how far the world has moved in the past 10 years, to thank him for what he has done in our lives, but also to look outside of ourselves unto what is unfolding. Now more than ever, he asks us to be his will in the world, to stand up for the weak, the poor, the downhearted, to be his voice in a climate of confusion. As we head into the 20s, we hope for a more certain, settled decade. We must cling to God’s promises and pray for his guidance. Through him, we are the ones to change the world – and change it for the better. Herald December 2019/January 2020
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Rick Hill encourages congregations to analyse the cultural landscape in which they function and make positive changes that will allow them to engage more effectively in the community.
“I
don’t like it around here anymore!” Those were the words our six-year-old son shouted in frustration as we encouraged him to share his toys with his younger brother. It’s funny that no matter what our age, we can be tempted to assume it’s never as good as it used to be. Do you ever feel like it’s just not the same as the good old days? I wonder if we think about the church in this way. Perhaps remembering a church more central to society, our buildings bursting full of people and the Christian message being more widely accepted leaves us fearing that the glory days are over. However, Ecclesiastes 7:10 says: “Don’t say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it’s not wise to ask such questions.” Nehemiah might have felt despair as he looked at Jerusalem’s broken walls. The city lay in ruins, the walls were destroyed and the people were in distress. What Nehemiah saw broke his heart: “When I
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heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” What do you do if you don’t like what’s happening around you? It would have been easy to rush to activity, but Nehemiah’s first response was pausing to pray. Against a bleak backdrop prayer came before productivity. Nehemiah’s next step was to survey the land, going at night to inspect the walls and get a full picture of the task at hand. Before he communicated to anyone, he analysed the landscape and studied the culture. Observation came before action. We need to see the context we
…we can be so focused on getting those on the fringe into the core…that we miss…how we invest in our core members and send them out.
are leading in and reflect on our current reality.
Changing commitment patterns This is a generation with more choice than ever before. Work and family patterns have changed and lives are packed full. Parents are taxi drivers, entertainment options are endless, time is a luxury and choice is a god. Shortterm thinking dominates the landscape and long-term commitment is feared. ‘FOMO’ is a common phrase with the ‘Fear of Missing Out’ preventing people from committing in case a better offer comes along. People might love the idea that their church serves the poor every Thursday but don’t ask them to help every week. Comedian Milton Jones says: “Some people see the church as a giant helicopter. They’re scared to get too close in case they get sucked into the rotas.” A generation ago, a strongly-committed church attender went to church three times a week. Today it might be closer to three times a month. It was also easier
to get church members to volunteer in organisations. It’s a problem if our church relies on a schedule suited to the three-times-aweek attender and a dilemna when we have organisations to run. Now I don’t think we should necessarily lower our expectations. Church attendance and commitment have always mattered. But if people are only going to commit to a couple of things, then are we sure they are prioritising the things of most importance? Karl Vaters writes: “Great churches are doing fewer services, but getting more out of them. When they ask people for a second commitment in their weekly calendar it’s for something that isn’t already happening in the main church service. Like an opportunity to meet practical needs or have deeper study and fellowship.” Perhaps doing less might mean helping people do what really matters. I refuse to believe that people are no longer committed but they now commit in different ways. There’s an attraction to ‘Couch to 5k’ programmes that get us fit in six weeks or 28-day body cleanses that sheds weight fast. It’s more intense for shorter periods of time than every single week for the rest of their life. I wonder if how people commit now can actually be used to our advantage. What about a 10-week Alpha course with an end point in sight? Or a six-week book club to engage your neighbours? Or inviting people to serve in leadership for the next year? It might give opportunities to pilot fresh initiatives, trial new things and stop things that aren’t working so well. Karl Vaters says: “That’s how people commit today. In chunks of time and/or money. A wise leader won’t berate them for that. Instead, if they want to commit in chunks, let’s give them chunks to commit to. Then leverage that experience into long-term, consistent giving.” Of course churches need weekly helpers and steady givers, but getting people involved in simple ways might be how to get the ball rolling. How do we ask people to step into service or leadership?
Rather than targeting everyone, we should be personally inviting individuals. People might still say no but they’ll never say yes if we don’t give them the option.
Engaging a younger generation means leaning away from a church-as-business model and towards a church-as-family model. On the margins According to Christian Research, the church in the UK has lost 192,000 under 15s in the last nine years. Another survey revealed that one-third of 15-24-yearolds in Ireland didn’t know what Easter was about and a third of 10-13-year-olds don’t know that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. Biblical illiteracy is high. Generally, for those who haven’t grown up in church, God isn’t on their radar. Many don’t believe in the God of the Bible and therefore rationally they won’t follow the principles in the Bible. Even among young Christians, many embrace Jesus but neglect the church, sometimes deliberately due to growing suspicion of institutions, other times unintentionally drifting from one church to another. In an article on the Netflix generation, Brett McCracken writes: “We can cycle through entire seasons of TV in a weekend, binge-watching as fast as we can because there are just too many other shows to get to. But all of this only further entrenches us within consumerism which also wreaks havoc on our spiritual lives…We engage in ‘church shopping’ that is not unlike Netflix scrolling, looking for the perfect fit but feeling predictably anxious that the
search will never end.” We need to remember that the church is scattered as well as gathered, and there is a pressing need in a churchless generation to envision, inspire, encourage and equip followers of Jesus to bear witness to Jesus wherever they find themselves. We must equip people to go and be carriers of the kingdom of God. Often, we can be so focused on getting those on the fringe into the core of our church that we miss giving attention to how we invest in our core members and send them out. Heat the core and let it work its way out to the fringes. If people see something compelling, either in our lives or in our community, then they will want to come and experience it. In my congregation, the team who regularly ran Alpha courses on our own church premises, recently moved that course from our building to a local community centre in a working-class housing estate half a mile down the road. It might sound like a small shift but it’s been significant because the focus was shifted from bringing the community into church to bringing church into the community.
Engaging a younger generation Often the way we do things in church doesn’t naturally engage a generation whose education system conditions them to be active rather than passive. Technology goes hand in hand with life. Their phones have always been smart. When Youth for Christ asked 1000 teenagers about their favourite activities, their top three responses all involved consuming media. Their research revealed that while 94% of teenagers go online daily, 69% of young people never attend a youth club of any kind. Attention spans are shorter and online content is consumed at a rapid pace. Research shows that the average length of time a video is played on YouTube is 11 seconds. In other words, if it hasn’t engaged them in that time, they switch Herald December 2019/January 2020
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off. That’s a challenge to how we often do things in church where a 30-minute spoken presentation is foreign to the Snapchat generation. This is also a generation suspicious of authority and institution. In previous generations those in authority (teachers, politicians, ministers) were automatically respected because of their position, however having a leadership position today doesn’t equal influence. Take the US President, holding the most powerful position on earth, yet at least half of his own country won’t follow his lead. He has authority but lacks influence. In contrast, a 15-year-old Swedish girl starts skipping school to protest at climate change and less than a year later millions of people are doing the same all over the planet. She lacks authority but has influence. Theologian Andrew Root describes this as the ‘age of authenticity’ where the idols are internet stars and social media influencers. People are better connected than ever before and their social circles aren’t limited by geography, however while community is craved, it is a struggle to achieve. In the last decade, Barna tracked the faith development of millennials by conducting more than 27,000 interviews. The researchers said that churches successfully engaging millennials made room for meaningful relationships through mentoring relationships. Engaging a younger generation means leaning away from a church-as-business model and towards a church-as-family model. Last year I had a phone call from a minister who was telling me about how he was trying to engage the young adults in his congregation. “I think I’m doing it wrong!” he said, before going on to tell me he just invited the young adults from his church to the manse for dinner once a month because he didn’t know what else to do. I think he was doing it just right!
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He was prioritising relationship and moving closer to them. I love how the Apostle Paul described his philosophy of ministry: “We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well.” In the same way we need to engage them in relationship.
Empowering with responsibility It’s not all negative. This generation care deeply and want to make a difference by being part of greater good in the
We’ll honour our forefathers by embracing their principles but being flexible with our practices. world. Research shows they are more likely to volunteer and give time to support good causes. They are self-starters who co-create, live stream and take part. Social media isn’t always destroying them, but often motivates their interests, choices and causes they support. There’s an entrepreneurial spirit where creativity is high, innovation is important and communication is crucial. They aren’t just on the production line, they want to be the production line. Nontraditional careers are popular as many desire to make an impact on the world, live a life of meaning and lose themselves in a sense of purpose. They won’t just commit because a church, ministry or denomination is where they’ve always been. The cause must be practical, valuable and trustworthy. Don’t assume they aren’t capable. Mark Zuckerberg
launched Facebook as a student, Rory McIlroy has been a national sporting hero since his teens and last month a 15-year-old addressed the UN. Yet often in church, young people are given token roles, entertained or overlooked. More than involving them in our ideas, we need to allow them to shape their ideas, encourage them to have a go and resource them to do it. We won’t honour our forefathers if we repeat their traditions but lose a generation. We’ll honour our forefathers by embracing their principles but being flexible with our practices. Everyone needs equipped for their ministry. Let’s empower young people with responsibility.
Back to Nehemiah After Nehemiah wept over the city and inspected the walls, he went on to communicate a clear vision, build a team and involve others. Despite obstacles and opposition Nehemiah led with hope, discerned a response, shared a vision, called people to action and rolled up his own sleeves. Once we survey the land to assess current reality, our heart should stir to find a response, call people to action and roll up our sleeves to do something about the challenges we see. A world of despair desperately needs dealers of hope. Rather than carry a spirit of despair, retreat in frustration and assume the culture is too difficult, we need to respond with a realistic hope. Without hiding away from challenges or pretending everything is fine, we step forward with hope-filled reality that God can repair broken walls and restore ancient ruins. Rick Hill is PCI’s Discipleship Officer.
DEC 2019/ JAN 2020
Mission Connect
Learning through play
Soaring temperatures and learning through play Diane Cusick
Mission news from workers around Ireland and the world.
Open doors of opportunity Leslie and Mabel Brush Glorifying God into old age Hazel Reid A hidden gem Wendy Hanna Made in Tuum Stephen and Angelina Cowan
Every aspect of our Church’s mission depends to some extent on United Appeal. Hundreds of projects and programmes at home and overseas are helping to advance God’s kingdom, showing God’s love in action to hundreds of thousands of people.
Shared fellowship Rev Colin McKibben
Including Dec/Jan prayer diary