The school holidays finish this week in Tassie and the Year is about to begin with gusto. How has your year started? How did you fare with your New Year’s resolutions? How is your relationship with Jesus going?![MP900309664[1]](http://stephenlbaxter.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/mp9003096641.jpg "Mew year")
Recently I was reading again the story of the Exodus when God liberated the children of Israel from Egypt leading them across the desert to the Promised Land. As they prepared to leave Egypt on the night of the Passover God said to Moses for the Israelites that this time of year will be for them “the first month, the first month of your year” (Ex 12:2).
While modern Israel follows the Georgian Calendar as we do, nevertheless God instructed them . . .
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Is that Walking on Sunshine? Or Perhaps It’s Eggshells!
For many Australians the very idea that there are Christian missionaries is offensive. Good willed people involved in such areas as agriculture, education, and medicine are okay, but if they talk about Jesus hoping to convince others of who he is, they become the target of anger and abuse. They are no longer acceptable.![MP900443225[1]](http://stephenlbaxter.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/mp9004432251.jpg)
Despite this, Christians are all called to be witnesses for Jesus endeavouring to help others see the reality of who he really is. Seeing others come to acknowledge Jesus as Saviour and Lord is the heart of what we are about. Yet this leaves many of us feeling in a bind. The very thing we are called to do is often misunderstood, criticised and lampooned by family, friends and neighbours.
Over the past few months at our deacon’s meetings at Hobart Baptist we have been watching a series of videos titled “Missional Conversations.” It is a resource developed by Crossover Australia (an initiative of the Baptist Union of Australia) to help churches ask and discuss the hard questions about their church’s mission strategies. These videos have provoked deep and probing discussions amongst our deacons.
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Violins and Remembering who we are
The story goes that the German violinist Fritz Kreisler had an hour to spare before his boat sailed for London where he was scheduled for a concert performance . . .
The proprietor of the music shop Kreisler had wandered into asked if he could look at the violin tucked under his arm. After one glimpse the proprietor quickly vanished returning with two policemen who promptly arrested Kreisler.![MP900382756[1]](http://stephenlbaxter.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/mp9003827561.jpg)
“What for?” Kreisler asked. “Because, you have Fritz Kreisler’s violin,” came the reply.
“But I’m Fritz Kreisler,” he protested. But they didn’t believe him. Aware his boat was about to sail Kreisler asked for the violin and began to play a piece he was well known for. It didn’t take long before the store proprietor and the policemen were convinced and let catch his boat.
Kreisler’s story is a great illustration of the old adage, “Actions speak louder than words”. It is not what you say but what you do that really counts. It reminds me of Jesus’ comment that, “everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
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Vis-a-Vis OR Face-to-Face
A few people from Hobart Baptist recently attended an excellent workshop with Dennis Pethers, an international evangelist based in the UK. Dennis is founder of Viz-A-Viz Ministries, International Director of “More to Life” and spends around seven months each year outside the UK equipping Christians, churches and church leaders.
There is a good chance that Dennis doesn’t fit your perception of an evangelist. He is quietly spoken, unassuming, humble and very down to earth. Although he has spoken at large rallies, he pointed out that the era of the big evangelistic rally is almost extinct in our contemporary Western community. Our society has changed and because people just don’t come like they did once.
One insight Dennis shared was . . .
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Many Cultures – One Church
As Hobart becomes more and more multicultural city we shouldn’t be surprised to see significant changes in many churches as they too become multicultural. It’s been our experience here at Hobart Baptist Church; we also are on a journey becoming more and more a multicultural church.
So what does it mean to be a multicultural church? Obviously, it means we are a church with many nationalities represented. Our church is made up of people from quite a number of European nations, and . . .
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Developing an Aussie Gospel
At the recent engageHOBART conference, Jenny and I led a workshop on Developing an Aussie Gospel. In our workshop we explored what we might be able to do to make the gospel message more meaningful in our Australian culture.
This is no easy task. Our community has changed so much over the past 50 years, and recently we have witnessed a growing criticism of the church that is increasingly hostile. Although we are called by Jesus to be messengers of the “good news” of the Kingdom there are many who in no way believe our message is “good” news at all.
In addition to exploring new ways of doing ‘church’ and revisiting some of our many treasured forms, we also need to learn how best to communicate the gospel to Australians.
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Better Together
Have you ever watched a film clip of a colony of Emperor penguins huddling together during a snow-storm?
It is fascinating to watch them pack in closely to each other and constantly change position moving from the outside in. Normally these penguins are territorial and reluctant to approach each other . . .
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Resurrection life . . . making a difference
Over Easter the New York Times ran an article that commented in passing that Easter Sunday is the day Christians honour Jesus’ “resurrection into heaven.” A mistake which, once pointed out, was quickly corrected. Nevertheless, such an error reminds us of the growing ignorance in our Western world of Christian belief.
This year’s Easter has come and gone and life returns to normal, almost as if the resurrection has no effect. But it wasn’t like that on the first Easter. I wonder whether Easter should make more of an impact in our lives. Maybe we too reflect the ignorance of the rest of our community.
Read more . . .
There’s Something About Jesus
Like many others leaders of messianic movements, Jesus’ life was nothing special when it ended as many of them did with a crucifixion. He was another dead leader with a band of
disillusioned and scattered followers. But something happened. Before long numbers exploded and over the next 300 years they spread across the entire Roman Empire.
What was the difference? This Messiah was alive.
The Jesus they followed was alive
For nearly two thousand years Christians have . . . Read More >>>
Australia: The Land of the Long Weekend . . . But why?
When the first convicts stepped onto Australian soil they faced the harsh realities of a strange land far from the familiarities of home. Dispossessed and disinherited this disparate and unlikely collection of soldiers and convicts met these unwelcomed challenges by doing all they could to dampen their effects.
Gambling, alcohol, sport and illicit sex became standard obsessions, becoming the foundation of a new nation that slowly grew out of the penal settlement. The “pursuit of pleasure” had “become the highest value and the avoidance of suffering the most vital of stratagems, in Australian life” (Ronald Conway, The Great Australian Stupor, 1985).
Given the beginnings of white settlement in Australia it is not hard to see why following Jesus has never been attractive in our country. “The greatest happiness of the greatest number” is the axiom we live by. As Ronald Conway puts it, “Material Wealth = Pleasure = Happiness = Reason for Living.”
So despite the lament many Christians voice over the decline of Christianity in Australia the reality is there was never much of any size to decline from. While the winds of culture may throw up great numbers of “Sunday Christians” from time to time there is little evidence to suggest a deep and practical faith has been in practice by more than a small minority.
The majority of Australians practice a form of “utilitarianism.” It proposes that in any situation the worth of an action is to be determined by its outcome, and the outcome is measured in maximising happiness and reducing suffering. Australians are not unique in this, in fact utilitarianism is the default moral position in the Western world, but it does take on a rugged and confident form within Australian culture which is often the envy of many across the world.
Given the strength of these elements in Australian culture it is no wonder that the Christian way of life has always been seen as somewhat irrelevant and inhibiting. The caricature of the church is that it declares evil all those things Australians desire for pleasure. Its concern is not conversion, but conformity. As a result the church has been pushed to the periphery, declared out of touch, and discarded as a dangerous relic from the past.
While Pontius Pilate asks, “what is truth?”, Australians ask, “will it work?”
Here is a clash of world views. While Pontius Pilate asks, “what is truth?”, Australians ask, “will it work?”, and we Christians will ask, “what is faithful?” We are called to be witnesses to the love of God and the compassion of Jesus. We are called to the task of reconciliation (2 Cor 4). However, as we endeavour to do this it is not surprising we have to reject the Australian pursuit of happiness as the main goal and objective of our lives; despite how tempting and attractive it might look for us Australians.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed that we are to be in the world we are but not of it (Jn 17:15, 16). Our task is to live a ‘counter’ cultural life. We do not look to the world for suggestions as to how we are to be the church; we look to Jesus and the work of his Spirit. We are not surprised when the world around us finds us strange and threatening. That is not to say that we give up trying to relate. Rather that we do not ask the question of others “will it work?” but switch to asking, “what is faithful?”
May God grant to us his church the strength, grace and will that Jesus had; and the ability to live fully in this world as his witnesses even when our communities, work colleagues, school mates and even family members struggle to understand us.
Stephen L Baxter