Mark Conner Church, Evangelism and Mission, Travel

To Russia With Love

As I teenager I loved to play RISK, a board game similar to Monopoly, but in RISK the goal is to conquer the world, not just own the houses in the neighbourhood. Each player is dealt a certain number of countries and armies to placer on them. Then through the roll of the dice they choose to attack neighbouring countries endeavouring to conquer them and expand their territory. The winner is the one who eventually conquers the world. We played it for hours, even creating multi-day games through treaties and all sorts of secret strategies. 

I also loved Geography while growing up and I have been privileged to travel to over 30 countries of our wide world in my fifty-six years on the planet so far.

In 2010, I visited Russia for the first time. I had an invitation to speak at a pastor's conference in Moscow which allowed me to then apply for an entry visa. The visa process was complex. Just ONE of the questions was, "What countries have you visited in the last 10 years (date of entry and departure)?" I needed extra paper for this one and it took hours to backtrack my overseas trips, as you can imagine. 

During my first visit to Russia, I found the people to be friendly, very hospitable and they have a terrific sense of humour. I have now been back to Russia four times, having visited St. Petersburg and more recently two trips to Siberia – to the cities of Novosibirsk and Achinsk. 

RiskWhen I visited Siberia for the first time, I suddenly remembered all of those remote Russia regions on the RISK board – places such as Ural, Yakutz, Irkutz and Kamchatka.  

Here are a few interesting facts about Russia:

  1. Russia is a huge country. In fact, it is SO big that there are 11 time zones! Think about that. 
  2. Moscow is amazing. So many people, so much history, such rich culture and so much traffic!
  3. St. Petersburg is truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world and home to the State Hermitage Museum with over 3 million artefacts including the original of Rembrandt's Prodigal Son painting.
  4. In Siberia, it gets so cold in the winter (-52 Celsius!) that people leave their car engines running 24 hours a day so they don't freeze. 
  5. Russia is rich with history and both heroes and villians. If you love reading big books and want to grasp the full sweep of Russia's history, check out the 945 page historical novel by Edward Rutherford called Russka. It is an epic story, covering over 1800 years of Russian history traced through the generations of four families.
  6. Alexander Pushkin is Russia's most famous poet. He influenced many other writers such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Check out my wife's BLOG post on "From Russia with Love" for more about this creative poet.

R1

This old building pictured above (with a huge below ground basement) is in the remote city of Achinsk, Siberia. It was once a storage place for vegetables for the Russian military. When I was there a few weeks ago week it was packed with 3,000 enthusiastic Russian Christians worshipping Jesus. See below for a short video clip.

Hundreds of these people are former drug addicts, alcoholics and criminals whose lives have been literally transformed by their experience of Jesus. Grace is still amazing! It reaches out to every person, even to the remotest places on our planet.

R2

 

If you can ever visit Russia, please do so … with love.

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture, Evangelism and Mission, Relationships

Who have you been eating with?

Dinner

One day Jesus was having dinner at the home of one of the top Pharisees (the religious leaders of his day). As always, there was some lively and interesting conversation around the dinner table. Near the end of this meal, this happened …

Luke 14:12-14. Jesus turned to the host. "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be — and experience — a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned — oh, how it will be returned! — at the resurrection of God's people."

Who have you been eating with lately? 

Mark Conner Evangelism and Mission

A Call to COURAGE

Courage

ANZAC Day

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, a day when Australians and New Zealanders remember the beginning of World War I. This was Australia’s first major military encounter as a nation with the wider world as we joined Britain’s fight against Germany. Last year was the 100th anniversary of the ANZACs landing at the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. This was supposed to be a quick knock-out battle but the wildness of the terrain and the fierce resistance of the Turkish defenders led to a stalemate campaign that dragged on for 8 months. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships.

ANZAC Day evokes mixed and strong emotions. Some people feel it glorifies war. Our last ANZAC, Alec Campbell, pleaded on his deathbed: “For God’s sake, don’t glorify Gallipoli – it was a terrible fiasco, a total failure and best forgotten.” War is not a noble enterprise, nor a great source for national identity, or an ideal proof of a person’s coming of age. Only those who have been to war can understand its horror and the trauma it leaves in its wake. Others say it is a fitting tribute to remember those who gave their lives and made such a sacrifice. We should honour the dead not glorify war. Regardless of our personal views of the annual ANZAC Day celebrations, we can find common ground in commending the spirit of the soldiers who went to war. Their commitment, sacrifice, friendship (‘mateship’), endurance and courage in the face of great adversity is admirable. Courage is the attribute we want to focus on today.

Courage

Courage is strength in the face of fear, grief and pain. Afro-American author Maya Angelou once said, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” JRR Tolkien noted, “Courage is often found in unlikely places.”

The Bible has a lot to say about courage and how important it is in our daily lives:

  • “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
  • “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart.” Psalm 27:14.
  • “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
  • “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Acts 4:31
  • “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7.
  • “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Eph.6:10

As followers of Jesus, we are called to stand strong in the face of adversity – to be courageous! Thankfully, God is with us even in the midst of challenge, suffering and pain. We can draw on God’s strength.

Our Mission

John ‘Jack’ Simpson is one of our ANZAC heroes, as he rescued 300 injured soldiers from the heat of the battle over a period of 24 days, with the help of a donkey he found at ANZAC Cove. Sadly, he was hit in the back with a bullet from a machine gun. He died saving others. This reminds us of the words of Jesus Christ who said, “Greater love has no one than this than to lay down their life for a friend” (John 15:13). Jesus modeled this by leaving the comforts of heaven to risk and eventually lay down his life to rescue us from sin and death. That’s great courage!

It also takes courage for us to pursue our God-given mission today. Many of our World Impact workers and partners are working in some of the poorest, most persecuted and least evangelised parts of our world today. For many, there is a high price tag that includes their lives being endangered. We admire and commend their courage in planting churches, raising up leaders, growing congregations and transforming communities.

A Call to Courage

Here are three ways we can respond to this call to courage, as we draw inspiration from our ANZACs and our mission workers:

  1. Pray … for our mission workers. Adopt a mission work or project and consider joining a support group. Jesus’ desire was for his Father’s house to be a “house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17). Clear the clutter and move out anything that is hindering your heart from being a place of prayer and worship.
  2. Go … to another nation. Consider being part of a short-term team or taking up a medium or long term placement in another nation. You will be a blessing to the people there, an encouragement to our mission workers, and travel enriches you too. Augustine once said, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
  3. Give … financially to the work of World Impact. Yes, there are local church ministry needs and we have building and community projects that need funds, but we never want to lose our heart for global mission. Make a financial donation to your church's mission program. Compared to the rest of the world, we are ‘rich’. As our generosity grows, our capacity as a church does also.

Your Life 

What are you facing right now that is calling forth courage within you? Are you overwhelmed by fear or discouragement? Has criticism or adversity taken its toll? God’s Word to you today is, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go!” God is with you and he will give you the strength to go through whatever you may be facing.

Reflection Questions

  1. What does ANZAC Day mean to you?
  2. Reflect on a time in your personal life when you had to be courageous.
  3. How does courage relate to us engaging in our mission to reach our neighbours and friends with the good news of Jesus?
  4. What story have you heard so far from our mission workers that inspired you the most when it comes to courage?
  5. Spend some time praying for a specific mission worker or project.
  6. Ask someone who has been on a short-term team to share about their experience.
  7. Ask a friend what challenge they facing right now that is requiring courage for them. Pray for them. 
Mark Conner Church, Evangelism and Mission

Jesus’ Ministry

Ministry-of-jesus

The Gospel of Matthew tells us this about the ministry of Jesus:

Matthew 9:35-37. Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a d shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. NLT

Here are a few insights we can glean from Jesus' approach to ministry:

  • Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages in his region. Note the big picture vision and the strategic approach of achieving it step by step. What is your field of mission?
  • Jesus had compassion (to 'feel with') for people. The crowds of people were confused, aimless, without care and leadership. What do you see today when you look at the people around you?
  • Jesus provided ministry to meet their felt and real needs. What needs can you meet, what pains can you help heal?
  • Jesus saw the harvest opportunities as great but the workers as few. Not much has changed in 2,000 years.
  • Jesus prayed for more workers. The need was too great for one or a few people to meet. May we do the same today.
Mark Conner Church, Evangelism and Mission

Four Kinds of Churches

Churchmuseum

There are four kinds of churches in the world today:

  1. The Museum Church. They are old and beautiful but empty (like the picture above). No one goes there. They are showpieces of past. Sadly, there is no spiritual vitality within their ancient walls.
  2. The Maintenance Church. These churches are a little better. They are almost empty … but hanging on. Their mission is to survive, to maintain amidst the many drastic social changes. They refuse to change, members are dying off. Sadly, they too will soon become a Museum Church.
  3. The Ministry Church. These churches pursue Christian ministry to people within their walls. They have a full calendar of activities … Sunday worship (with free coffee and donuts), Bible studies, prayer meetings, good youth group, weekly choir, holiday services, summer camps, fellowship dinners. A quality staff of loving pastors and devoted members deliver its full-service programs. But there is no contact with people outside the church. They would rather stay securely this side of the Jordan than to cross into uncharted territory and engage in conversation.
  4. The Mission Church. These kinds of churches offer full service ministry, caring for their members, AND they reach out to serve their community, their city and other nations – sharing the good news of Jesus and taking his command to GO seriously. They go OUT the church door and INTO the world (locally and globally). They are actively crossing the street and going into the world.

What kind of church is yours?

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture, Evangelism and Mission, Relationships, Travel

How’s Your Cultural Intelligence?

CQ-word-cloud

The apostle Paul worked hard to relate to a wide variety of people. Have a read of this from his letter to the church at Corinth in the first century:

1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose–living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized––whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ––but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God–saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it. Message Bible

As followers of Christ, we are to the same. This means learning to relate to people of different personalities, background, educational level, religious belief, age, gender and race. When it comes to race and nationality, we now live in a truly 'global village'. Yet people living in different localities still have their unique manners and customs.

Over the last month, for the purpose of both holidays and ministry, I have had the privilege of travelling to Russia (St Petersburg and Moscow), Sweden (Uppsala), Poland, Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) and United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi). What a whirlwind it has been yet what an enjoyable experience visiting different places and meeting different people.

Cultural differences include (noted by David Livermore):

  • Individualistic versus Collectivist.
  • Low verses High Power Distance.
  • Cooperative verses Competitive.
  • Punctuality verses Relationships.
  • Direct verses Indirect.
  • Being verses Doing. 
  • Particularist verses Universalist.
  • Neutral verses Affective.
  • Tight verses Loose.

These differences can be seen across a wide range of cultures, including Anglo, Germanic, Easter European, Asian (with many differences between regions), Latin American, African, and Arab … just to name a few.

A simple example is my recent experience with Indigenous Australians. When two men from Western descent greet each other, after exchanging names, their next question is always something like, "So what do you do?" We derive our primary identity from our work – our doing. In contrast, when two indigenous men meet, after exchanging names, their next question is more likely to be "Who's your mob?" In other words, tell me about your family. In their culture, your family and tribe are the source of your identity – your being. What a difference this makes in how people from these two different go about their daily lives!

Not everyone will travel, like I have had the opportunity to do, but people from different cultures are everywhere around us – in our neighbourhoods, our schools, our workplaces and our churches. Everyone of us should seek to understand people who are different, so we can better love and appreciate them, do life together with them with appreciation, and share the love of Jesus with them in meaningful ways.

Every time I travel to a new place, I do a few things to prepare myself:

1. Read as much as I can about the history, demographics, and local culture. Wikipedia as well as various travel guides are a good source of up-to-date information.

2. Learn about the people – their values, language, interests, education and well-being.

3. Study various maps to understand the geographical area and it proximity to other places.

4. Read about the state of Christian faith in a particular area, as well as the other local religious beliefs. Operation World is an excellent resource for this.

I am always enriched the more I know and understand about the people I am visiting and connecting with. 

Here's some recommended further reading for those who are interested in learning more:

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture, Evangelism and Mission

Mars Hill – The Marketplace

Mars Hill Graphic 1080

Paul at Athens

The apostle Paul gives us an insightful example as to how to engage with our culture during his time in the pagan city of ancient Athens as recorded in Acts 17. He spent time in the synagogue, in the marketplace and then was invited to the Areopagus to engage with the philosophers there. These places can represent three different environments or spaces in our own world today.

  1. The first space is the synagogue, which is where Jews and God-fearing Greeks gathered (vs.16-17). These are people who believe in God and share a common language, experience and belief system. This space can refer to the church community today or to a Christian organisation. It is where we share much in common with the people around us, including similar faith, beliefs, customs and language.
  2. Paul also spent time in the marketplace (vs.17).  This was the area outside the synagogue where people went about their daily life and work. There is less common ground here as there is a range of competing beliefs and insider language doesn't connect. This space can refer to the marketplace today, the places outside of the church community where we work and do life. This is where most Christians spend the majority of their time. The challenge is to connect and bring the good news of Jesus to people in this space in a language they can understand.
  3. The third space Paul went was the Areopagus (also called 'Mars Hill'). The people he had influenced in the marketplace invited him there (vs.18-34). He entered another world because of the interest he had created. Here Paul shared the good news of Jesus but never once quoted an Old Testament text, although his comments were based strongly on a biblical worldview. Despite his initial anger at their idolatry, he chose to build rapport with his audience by commending them for their spirituality and he even quoted some local Greek poets.

The result? Some people sneered or mocked, especially when hearing about the resurrection, others wanted to hear more, while others put their faith in Jesus (vs.32-34). We see these same responses today when people hear the Gospel.

There is much we can learn from Paul in living out his faith in these three very different environments, each of which has relevance for us. Today, we will focus on the marketplace.

The Marketplace

Most people spend over half of their waking hours in the ‘workplace’. Everyone works, whether we get paid or not, including students, stay-at-home parents, and retirees. God himself is a worker (Gen.2:1-3; John 5:17) and we are created in his image to work as his representatives on the earth (Gen.2:15). Work, despite the effects of the curse, is to have dignity, value and meaning. Unfortunately, we have been affected by a dualism that divides between the ‘sacred’ (the synagogue) and the ‘secular’ (the marketplace) when in reality all of life is sacred and part of God’s domain (see Col.3:17). God is just as interested in our Mondays as he is in our Sundays!

A few years ago, in our teaching series entitled Your Work God’s Work, we looked at a theology of work. The purpose of work is to: (1) glorify God, (2) serve people, (3) provide for meaningful contribution, and (4) generate wealth. Of course, work isn’t everything. You are not your job. We need to balance work with the other aspects of our life, including family, church, rest and recreation. However, because of the importance of work, how we work really matters (see Col.3:22 – 4:6). Qualities such as diligence, integrity and love usually lead to opportunities to share our faith in Jesus with ‘outsiders’. Each of us needs to be ready to give an answer (Greek apologia, from which we derive the concept of Christian Apologetics) for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15).

When speaking to these pagan people, Paul stated that, “God is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27). This directly challenges the concept of certain people being “far from God”. The truth is that God is close to each person and we simply need to pray for them to awake to the reality of God’s existence and love for them. This is usually a process and occurs over a period of time. Our part to play is simply to join the work God is already doing in people’s hearts and lives.

The first Christians preached the same Gospel of Jesus Christ (1Cor.15:11) yet they expressed it in significantly different ways depending on their audience. For instance, Matthew emphasises ‘the kingdom’ while John focuses on ‘eternal life’ and Paul on ‘justification’. These are not different gospels. Contextualisation requires us to think about how the good news of Jesus meets the needs of a particular person, as well as how it confronts their idols (things they pursue to meet those needs but that, in the end, don’t truly satisfy).

Reflection Questions

  1. One approach to evangelism is to invite unchurched people into the ‘first space’. What kind of person is this applicable to? What kind of person may never come straight into a ‘first space’ gathering? What ways could we can make the ‘first space’ more welcoming and meaningful to outsiders?
  2. The majority of our church congregation spends a great deal of their time and energy in the ‘second space’. How can the church better equip people to fulfil God’s purpose for them in this space? What are some keys to them receiving more ‘third space’ opportunities?
  3. Reflect on a ‘third space’ experience you may have had? How did it happen and what was it like? What are some practical ways we can become more comfortable in communicating in ‘third space’ environments?
  4. What are some of the biggest challenges you face each week as a Christian in the workplace?
  5. Take the Workaholic Test. How did you score?
  6. In what ways does the Gospel meet the needs and confront the idols of the people in our world? Consider aspects such as the human longing for intimacy, meaning, purpose, belonging, and contribution.
  7. Conversion is sometimes described as an ‘awakening’. Reflect on your own coming to faith: was it an alarm clock conversion (like Paul on the road to Damascus) or a gradual waking up to the reality of God? How can this inform our evangelistic efforts?
  8. Consider the varied response to Paul’s message at Athens (Acts 17:32-34) and the parable Jesus told of the seed and the different soils (Matthew 13:1-23). How can we draw encouragement from this?

Also, check out Halftime Australia.

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture, Evangelism and Mission

Mars Hill – Engaging Culture

Mars Hill Graphic 1080

We live in a rapidly changing culture that often seems at odds with the character of God's kingdom. Some Christians choose to reject the surrounding culture, escaping to live separate lives. Others seem to embrace the culture uncritically and end up no different than the world around them. Could it be that a better approach is to engage with the culture – to be in the world but not of it. The apostle Paul modelled this exceptionally well during his time in Athens, especially at Mars Hill – a place full of idols, altars and pagan philosophers. Where is your Mars Hill and how well are you engaging with it? That's what we'll be talking about this month at CityLife.

Here is a summary of week 1 – a message given by Josiah Conner.

Engaging Culture

Change your culture; or your culture will change you (Acts 17:22)

Embrace/Escape: We are often pulled to blindly embrace or escape our culture

There is a tension that we all find ourselves in. It emerges out of this question: What does it mean to be in the world but not of the world?

At times we can be pushed to two extremes. Firstly, we can think the best thing is to escape our world and surround ourselves with safe and good people. The second extreme is to blindly embrace the world uncritically. Neither of these is what Christ has called us to do.

1. What examples have you seen of Christians trying to escape the world? What are some reasons for and against this?

2. What are some examples of Christians trying to embrace the world? What are some reasons for and against this?

3. Consider which of these extremes you find yourself drawn to in this season of life and why.

Bible: The Bible reveals how God plans to reveal His wisdom through the church.

The Bible shows how God created the world good (Gen 1) but humanity took the good things of God and used them outside of His purpose, wreaking havoc on everything (Gen 3). But God set about redeeming the world back to its original purpose by calling humanity to be part of His redemption story. He called Abram to leave His culture and create a counter-culture (Gen 12). He called Israel out of Egypt and made a covenant with them so they would be holy (Ex 19). He called people like Daniel to be an example in a foreign culture (Dan 1).

Jesus steps into the tension (escapist/embrace) and shows us humanity’s purpose. Jesus was in the world but not of the world (John 1:4, Luke 7:34, John 15:18). He also called His followers to do the same (Matt 5:14, John 17:9, Mark 16:15).

4. What does it mean to be in the world but not of the world?

Paul: Paul models a third way of relating to the world: Engagement. Paul shows in Acts 17 a way of relating to the culture without embracing or escaping: Engagement. Paul was in the world but not of the world. Read Acts 17:16-34.

5. What observations do you make from Paul’s sermon?

6. Why did Paul quote one of their poets?

Engage: The Holy Spirit helps us take the good of culture and leave the rest.

We are called to change our culture and not be changed by our culture. Jesus does not call us out of the world but he does call the world out of us. We can engage our culture by using the tools that God has given us to engage our culture with:

     a) Scripture: The scriptures are a light to helps us navigate the culture.

7. Read Ps 119:105: How can we better embed this in our lives?

8. What movies are out that are about the scriptures? Can we use them to point to Jesus?

    b) Reconciliation: The culture has the good waiting for us to call it out

9. Read 2 Cor 5:17-20: What does it mean to be ministers of reconciliation?

10. Many people say there are 7 Spheres of culture: Religion, Family, Government, Media, Arts/Entertainment, Education, Business. How can Christians better engage these areas?

    c) Spirit: We are to be led by the Spirit in engaging our culture

11. Read Gal 5:16-26: What does it mean to be in step with the Spirit? 

[Notes by Josiah Conner – @josiahconner]

Mark Conner Current Affairs, Current Issues, Evangelism and Mission

Beyond the Walls by Brad Chilcott

Bad C

Who would’ve thought that one photo could cause so much trouble?

It wasn’t the first time I’d been criticized for my friendship and solidarity with the Muslim community, in fact I’d had some threats of violence when I spoke up about Halal certification but this one took it another level. Had I renounced the gospel? Sure, being friends with Muslims, but praying in a mosque? Did I even believe in Jesus anymore? The beard didn’t help any.

Had I taken the instructions “love your neighbour as yourself” and “love your enemy” too literally? Too far?

1 John 3. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

We know what loves looks like by only one measure. Jesus Christ. We only know what loves looks like because we know Jesus and what it looked like for him.

And if I had a Bible for every time I’ve heard a Christian use their love for everyone as an excuse to be bigoted, hateful, insular, selfish, fear-mongering, greedy and self- interested I’d be the library at the Vatican.

You’ve heard it like I have. This flippant Christianese about loving people for whom we hold our deepest prejudices and ugliest hatreds.

Let me say this –

If it sounds like hate, feels like hate and makes people feel hated then it’s certainly not love.

There’s not some special form of love that only Christians get to know about that looks and feels a lot more like hate for those that it is directed towards, but in some super spiritual secret way is still love.

If it looks like prejudice, feels like prejudice and keeps us as far away from people as prejudice does, then it’s prejudice.

There’s not a special form of Christian love that looks like prejudice, feels like prejudice and distances and dehumanises people like prejudice but in actual fact is some secret kind of love that only Christians know of.

There’s no special kind of love where you get to be horrible to people, or pretend they don’t exist, a kind of love where you stay in your insular and ignorant world, judge people you’ve never met, protect yourself from difference and religiously maintain your privileged way of life and self-righteously sheltered paradigm.

There’s a reason that doesn’t sound a lot like love.

Because it isn’t love. It’s prejudice wrapped up in faith.

It’s ignorance wrapped up in religion.

It’s bigotry masquerading as Christianity.

It’s selfishness appropriating the name of the selfless one to excuse greed and insularity.

It’s our rampant desire for a comfortable, self-interested life using the one who gave up the trappings of heaven to set us free as an excuse not to give a damn about anyone except ourselves, our situation and our perspective.

That’s not love it’s blasphemy.

But seeing as that little rant doesn’t relate to anyone here in this room I want to move on and talk about some things that are a bit more insidious, a bit less overt and obvious but are nevertheless important to reflect upon if we are to apply this wild measure of love to our work in the community and world.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us.” There’s a CS Lewis quote that I find helpful to explain it in practice

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” ―C.S. Lewis

Another way of putting that could be “good intentions are not the same thing as love”.

Why? Because if we don’t do the hard work of turning good intentions into real outcomes for people then it’s likely that the “good” in “good intentions” is more about how good we feel about what we’re doing.

There’s a danger that we’re in fact congratulating ourselves for the intention to do good deeds, the videos we made to celebrate them and the likes on our Instagram account of ourselves with poor children rather than doing whatever it takes for the good of the people we say we love.

The phrase in CS Lewis’ quote “As far as it can be obtained” is key for us, I think. Love seeks the ultimate good of the loved person “as far as it can be obtained”.

Here are some very practical things that love does when love has the intention to work for the “ultimate good … as far as it can be obtained”.

1. Love intentionally escapes the echo chamber. In love we realise that it is easy to be surrounded by people, ideas, books and stories that affirm what we believe, the way we think, our theology, missiology and ecclesiology and we end up in a situation where we think anyone who isn’t doing it like us, or with us, must be naive, uneducated or willfully incompetent.

The echo chamber is when we find a bunch of like-minded churches, with similar culture to our own, and so do what they’re doing – it must be the right thing because they had a sick video and their people love it.

Love is not an excuse to be uneducated, or narrowly educated. Love is a steady wish for the loved one’s good as far as it can be obtained. As far as it can be obtained means being aware of the danger of the echo chamber where all our ideas, practices and projects are constantly being affirmed by those who we have become mirrors of.

2. Love is teachable and actively seeks out learning and critique. Love makes sure we’re at the cutting edge of community engagement, aid and development and have made every endeavor to learn from the best practitioners in the world about how to maximize our engagement with the people we say we love.

Love is not an excuse to do things badly. Love is not an excuse to be ten years behind. What I mean by this is that love won’t just send money, people and hours to any foreign aid and development project, or local community development work, driven by an emotional response we call love.

Love will, in seeking the loved one’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained, actively seek to understand what it world’s best practice today and invest in that best practice.

If you don’t know what results-based accountability, asset-based community development or collective impact mean, it’s time to learn.

When we’re still behaving like the white Saviours who can solve all the world’s problems for them the photos look great but It’s not love.

3. Love maximizes outcomes no matter what the cost – because it’s about the recipient and what they get out of our love acting towards them and not about us and our desire to feel like we’re good people.

In a small church community like mine, hundreds of people hours and thousands of dollars are invested in helping the people we love. In larger churches it’d be thousands of hours and tens or hundreds of thousands.

Across this room, across Australia, it’s incredible to think how much human and financial resource flows from our love for others.

Love, seeking the loved one’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained, pays the price of ensuring this investment does the most good it possibly can. That sometimes leads to conflict when we learn that our favorite projects aren’t aligned with good development principles, or that our community engagement isn’t helping but is feeding a dependency mindset.

Love sometimes means educating people that there are better organisations, projects, activities to invest their time and money into, and others that need to be abandoned, or radically re-imagined.

Love is not an excuse to avoid the conflict that comes from assessment, accountability and education. In fact, love makes those things essential because love doesn’t ask, “How does this activity benefit me and my church?” or “How does this keep people in my church happy and comfortable?” love says, “How can I best obtain the ultimate good for these people we say we love?”

This is how we know what love is – Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. What would you give up for love of people?

Changing the way it’s always been done? Escaping the echo chamber and being challenged by new ideas and paradigms? Being willing to take your people on a journey towards world’s best practice despite the uncomfortable changes on the way?

Maybe it’s risking your reputation, like Jesus being seen with sex workers, tax collectors and sinners as we do whatever it takes to make our community engagement about them and not about us and our church-culture measures of success.

This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. Thanks. 

Brad Chilcott

[Source: World Vision's National Church Leader's Summit – February 2015]

Mark Conner Evangelism and Mission, Travel

Travel

Travel-1z8o7ii

I admire the many Christian mission workers around the world. Many of them work in some of the poorest, least evangelised and most persecuted countries in the world. 

Personally, I believe everyone should have a passport. We encourage everyone in our church to go on a short-term team to another nation sometime in their life time. It opens your eyes, enriches your faith, and makes you grateful for all we have been blessed with. Ever heard of 'first world problems'??

Here are a few quotes about travel that I love:

  • “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine
  • “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” Aldous Huxley
  • “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Maya Angelou
  • “Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.” Andrew Zimmern
  • "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." Jesus
  • "You will be my witnesses … even to the ends of the earth." Jesus

Once you start to pack your bags, here are 13 travel tips.

Mark Conner Evangelism and Mission

Embracing our Sentness

SentHere is a recently published book I'd like to recommend - Sentness: Six Postures of Missional Christians by Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw.

From the back cover:

Ever wonder why people fall asleep in church? It happens. We’ve all seen it. We shuffle into rows of seats that grow more comfortable with every new fundraising campaign. We slouch down and settle in for an hour or so, as singers and storytellers and preachers and teachers take their turns filling our ears. And almost without fail, at least one of us nods off while listening to the greatest story ever told. The church was not meant to be like this. The church was meant to be on its feet, in the world, making all things new. The church was meant to be sent. Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw want to help us—all of us—rediscover our sentness. Dive into Sentness, and explore the six postures of a church that’s keeping pace with God’s work in the world. Rediscover the gospel that first quickened your pulse and got you up on your feet, ready to go wherever Jesus called you. Get Sentness, and prepare to get sent.

To quote one reviewer:

"The authors begin with the completely re-orienting the basis of all missional thinking: disciples of Jesus are sent vs. consuming. We cannot be receivers of God’s blessings for our own sake, but for the sake of the world. “(Spiritual) formation is not for any other purpose than for mission.” This spins spectators 180°… into missionaries. The shift could not be more radical, from “come and see” to “go and do.”

Dangerous but needed reading for the church in our time!

Mark Conner Current Issues, Evangelism and Mission, Special Events

Indigenous Awareness Trip (October 2013)

IMG_1627In October 2013, my wife and I participated with a number of other church pastors in an Indigenous Awareness Trip, sponsored by the Concilia organisation. 

We began by flying from Melbourne to Alice Springs. It was my first visit to this iconic Australian town. It was not as big as I thought it would be – only 28,000 people. It was 41 degrees when we arrived – a very warm welcome. We began by visiting a number of the 20 Aboriginal camps around the town. Aboriginal people make up about 20% of the local population. We also visited some of the work of Mission Australia. Needless to say, it was quite confronting to see the challenges being faced by Indigenous people in this area. 

The next day, we took a 3 hour chartered flight north to a little town called Kalkarindji. Population - 450 people. Temperature – 43 degrees! We visited a Baptist church there led by Bill and Pauline. God has been at work in this small community. They had baptised 250 people a few months earlier.

After this, we spent some time in a number of other Aboriginal Christian churches and training centres in Brisbane, Logan City and Tweed Heads. 

The entire trip was an educational and moving experience. I realised how ignorant I was and how little I knew about my own country's history. Many stereotypes had been shattered. The needs are huge … and they are right on our doorstep. It's hard work. These are very hot and isolated communities. The cultural differences are huge. There needs to be a lot of listening and learning.

The United Nations estimates that there are around 300 million indigenous people around the world today. They have a disturbingly similar experience of being swept aside by immigrant majorities, primarily through Western colonisation. Their close relationship to the land has been misunderstood, they have experienced the gradual dispossession of their land (through trickery, broken treaties, and violence), their culture has been decimated resulting in general despair and an ongoing struggle for identity in the midst of an overwhelming immigrant culture. As a result, Indigenous people are often the most socially disadvantaged (when it comes to unemployment, alcoholism, violence and abuse) and marginalised people in their own country. All of this is true in regards to Indigenous Australians.

Should this matter to us? Should we be concerned?

I believe it should!

When speaking to the religious leaders of his day (the Pharisees), Jesus commended them for their pedantic tithing (they even gave a tenth of their spices!) but challenged them not to neglect the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy, faith-fulness (Matthew 23:23). This was nothing new. Jesus was affirming the age-old prophetic tradition that called God's people to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God (Micah 6:8).

For Jesus, the 'good news of the kingdom' was not merely about individual salvation (going to heaven when you die) but about the coming of God's rule right here right now. It was and is about God setting things 'right'. His followers, the church, are to be the visible demonstration of God's Kingdom on earth. That means we are to be instruments of justice and mercy. Justice trumps spice!

Moving beyond good intentions requires us to practice justice. This begins with awareness – having our eyes and ears open to the cries of our world. Being 'salt and light' in our world requires a proactive stance. The opposite of good is not always evil; often it is indifference. Jesus saw the multitudes then acted on the compassion he felt. The next step is to allow what we see to influence the choices we make. Knowledge doesn't change the world; action does. It's a call to pray, give, get involved, and lobby. Social action (providing help for those who have fallen off the cliff)  and social justice (challenging structures and systems by building fences at the top of the cliff) are both important. 

Over the last few years at CityLife Church, we have lifted our focus on justice through addressing current issues such as human trafficking, poverty, and consumerism. This year, we are looking at issues facing indigenous Australians. 

Please check out Australians Together.

Let's embrace a deep respect for all people made in the image of God. 

Let's value building relationships over solutions by well-meaning white people

Let's increase our awareness and understanding.

Let's be compassionate.

[Picture: cooking up some kangaroo tail for dinner in Alice Springs]

Mark Conner Evangelism and Mission, General Interest

Max Conlon – Aboriginal Artist

 

Birth-of-Jesus-by-Max-Conlon

Last weekend, as part of our Australians Together focus, we were privileged to host Max and Tracey Conlon at CityLife Church. They are indigenous Australian church leaders who founded Walkabout Ministry. They travel and minister to many of the isolated indigenous communities across our nation.

Max was raised amongst 14 siblings in the Cherbourg Aboriginal settlement in south east Queensland and is a descendant of the Kabi Kabi/Kullali tribes. Max is an established artist and has been painting for 35 years. He has travelled extensively with exhibitions of his work in Dubai, Japan, Korea and a number of European cities.  He has also exhibited extensively throughout the east coast of Australia, collaborating with his brother Robin (Goma) on murals and art projects with cultural community outcomes. His family traditions have inspired a unique body of work which utilises traditional and contemporary symbols to communicate stories of life experiences.

Max is also an award winning artist. Check out the firsthings gallery to see some of his work.

See also: Australians Together

Mark Conner Evangelism and Mission

Mission: The Work of God

Slide03Mission is the activity of God himself. It has its source not in the church but in the very nature of God. Mission is not just an activity or a department of the church. It is an attribute or a character quality of God. God is a missionary God.

[The word “mission” is not used in the Bible. It comes from the word “to send”, which in the Greek language is “missio”]

1. God the Father sent the Son into the world. Jesus was the first missionary.

John 3:16-17. … God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

2. The Son sent the Spirit.

 John 16:7. “… It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor (Comforter – the Holy Spirit) will not come to you, but if I go away, I will send him to you.”

3. Together, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit send the church into the world to do the work of mission, spreading the message of good news.

Matthew 10:16. I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.

John 20:21. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

4. The Holy Spirit also selects and sends individuals to specific tasks within God’s mission. We are “saved” and “called” (2 Timothy 1:9).

Matthew 9:37-38. Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

When we get involved in mission, we participate in the sending of God. Our mission has no life of it’s own. We simply partner in mission activity, an initiative that comes from God alone.

“It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfil in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church.” [Moltmann]

Mission is to be seen as a movement of God to the world; the church is to be viewed as an instrument for that mission. To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love. Mission has its origin in the heart of God. This is the deepest source of mission. There is mission because God loves people.

Specific examples of God’s mission activity (the book of Acts is really the missionary “acts of the Holy Spirit”, often through people):

1. Philip and the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40). God sends Philip to a place where he becomes instrumental in bringing understanding to an influential man who is already spiritual hungry.

2. Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:1-19). Jesus himself appears to Paul to save him and to call him to the work of mission (specific target: Gentiles).

3. Cornelius (Acts 10:1-48). Here is an good man who has not heard of Jesus Christ. God appears to him in a dream and tells him to send for Peter. The very next day, God gives Peter a vision preparing him to preach the gospel to Cornelius and his household.

4. Lydia (Acts 16:11-15). This businesswoman believed in God and followed the teachings of Scripture. God now causes Paul to cross her path (praying on the Sabbath outside the city at a place of prayer) and she believes the gospel message. As a result many people come to Christ and a significant church is born.

We are here because of mission (what’s your story?) and we exist for mission. There is church because there is mission, not visa versa.

Missio Dei – we get to partner with God’s mission in the world.

God is already at work with mission. We can choose to be involved or not. When we do choose to be involved, we are not starting something new. We are simply joining in with what God is already doing.

Worship is ultimate, not mission. Mission has a short life span – it won’t exist in heaven. Worship alone last forever. However, now the focus and priority is mission because time is short.

Let’s make heaven’s priority our first priority.

Mark Conner Evangelism and Mission

William Carey, the Father of Modern Missions

William-carey-1-sizedWilliam Carey was one of the main instruments in God’s hand for the restoration of mission into the mainstream of Protestant Christianity through his writing, emphasis on prayer for world evangelisation and promotion of practical structures for mission. He was not the first to preach on missions, but he was the one used by God to lift the lid of the church preventing it overflowing to the world. He was preceded by great preachers and theologians such as Jonathan Edwards, and also a few significant missionaries like David Brainerd.

The month of May 1792 was a pivotal time for church and world history. An impoverished pastor, named William Carey, in rural England was about to impact history. Carey preached a passionate and well-reasoned sermon to fellow ministers meeting in Nottingham, England. His vision was for the evangelisation of the whole world.

Isaiah 53 shows us the Suffering Servant giving his life for our salvation. Most people stop at the end of chapter 53 and fail to read on. Remember that the chapters and verses were put in as a helpful addition but were not part of the original inspiration. We should be grateful for them, but at times they obscure the continuity God intended.

Isaiah 54 moves from the salvation of the Suffering Saviour to the mission of seeing an abundant and joyful harvest. The barren woman (symbolic of the church – God’s people) rejoices at the overwhelming fruitfulness God gives to her. The church is to enlarge its borders and spread out to influence the nations and cities of the world.

The message had a profound effect on those who heard it, but they had neither the faith nor the courage to do anything about it. The meeting broke up with no decision. The immensity of the task seemed overwhelming.

Carey turned to his friend, Andrew Fuller, who was also a pastor, gripped his arm and cried out, “Is there nothing again going to be done?” This sudden outburst broke through and Fuller persuaded the meeting to reconsider their lack of response. That turned the day around. A resolution was passed that “a plan be prepared at the next Minister’s meeting for forming a Baptist Society for propagating the gospel among the heathen.”

Four months later that meeting took place and 12 men committed themselves as the first members of the new missionary society. They contributed the, then, large sum of just 13 pounds – collected in a small snuffbox. So was born the modern missionary movement, which despite its many weaknesses, was to lead to an astonishing and unprecedented expansion and growth of the church over the following 200 years. Over this period the largely isolated, introspective Protestant church in northwest Europe was transformed into a global multi-cultural family of churches in which those of European origin were to be a distinct minority.

Why was William Cary so influential and so effective?

1. His years of pastoral ministry and church planting in rural England.

2. His perception of mission as the heart of God and the message of Scripture.

He passionately believed that the Great Commission was just as valid for modern Christians as for the apostles to whom Christ addressed it. The prevailing attitude for the previous centuries had been that the Great Commission was exclusively for the apostles to whom the words were originally addresses.

There was plenty of room for discouragement. In one minister’s meeting when he raised the issue, his old pastor, John Ryland, retorted: “Young man, sit down, When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid (help) or mine.”

3. His study and understanding of the modern world.

He lived in a time when Europe was discovering the existence of the wider world. Explorers were returning with detailed maps of new worlds and descriptions of peoples and cultures. The published accounts of Captain Cook’s discoveries were a significant contribution to Carey’s thinking.

The trading companies were sending their representatives to every corner of the world for financial gain. The industrial revolution was gathering momentum. Amazingly, this poor rural pastor acquired the reports, books and information to carefully craft a coloured wall map and a personally hand-sewn leather globe reflecting the latest discoveries of his time.

He did the first real statistical global survey ever undertaken and published it in 1792, in his 87 page book Enquiry. It was a masterpiece of factual accuracy, balanced assessments and global comprehensiveness. Patrick Johnstone’s influential book, Operation World, was birthed from Carey’s example.

4. His ability to communicate the vision by word and print.

His book the enquire became the most convincing missionary appeal ever written, and a landmark in which deserves a place alongside Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses in its subsequent influence on church history.

5. His proposal of a mechanism for mission work to be initiated and sustained.

He saw the need for practical structures to assist the accomplishment of the task. He created a strategy and a structure for mission work. He actually modelled his mission agency on the big international trading companies that were carving out powerful trading empires across the oceans. He motivated the church to action and provided a simple, but effective framework to channel church planting ministry.

6. His example in going as a missionary himself (to India).

Despite many obstacles with finance, opposition, disease, setbacks, he plodded on with unswerving dedication to become one of the greatest missionary Bible translators and church planters of all time.

7. His faith in God.

He allowed no discouragement from those around him to deflect him and no obstacle to hinder him. He lived the words he preached in his famous sermon, “Expect great things (from God) and attempt great things (for God)”. He was a visionary, researcher, theologian, linguist, writer, preacher and an effective communicator all rolled into one. He claimed to be no genius, just a plodder – but what a plodder! What appeared to Carey’s contemporaries as an impossible dream is becoming an attainable reality. 

Next: Mission – the Work of God

[Gleaned from The Church is Bigger Than You Think by Patrick Johnstone]