This would do nicely for Christmas.
7′ tall with the red moving eye and creepy Centurion hum. Any takers? It’s only $7,900!
Monthly Archives: December 2010
What the Christian Life is About
I’ve been engaged in a very interesting conversation on facebook, and in response posted a comment that is probably something of my Christian manifesto. It’s not complete, but I didn’t want it to get lost in the ether either. Hope it’s helpful…
It seems to me there is something more fundamental to your complaint. ’This provides a single platform to sin’ is a very valid criticism (note: the poster was commenting that Christianity treats all sins equal, and equally forgivable, and hypocrisy of this). I’m going to take a punt and say the attitude you’re referring to stems from the Reformation emphasis on grace alone. Continue reading
Blessed Are the Poor
There’s a level of poverty beyond which the poor are not blessed. But what we saw in India (as have many others in similar situations) was a joy in the simplicity that blew us away. In middle class Australia we have everything we could want and more. In fact, our wealth is killing us through life style and related diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes, and the plague of depression. Poverty brings its own diseases and challenges, but it also brings simplicity and, surprisingly joy. Well, the joy is not the product of poverty, I suppose, but of finding God and fellowship in its midst.
I asked one old woman what the secret to living to 86 was. She said she rejoiced in God everyday. Whether she had food or not, she praised God and had joy. We saw children and teenagers who had a carefree manner, in stark contrast to many teens we see in our own society who look like they’re carrying the weight of the world.
We don’t need to feel bad for our wealth (and if you’re reading this, you’ve probably got enough disposable cash to put down on an internet service). But we can choose a lifestyle of simplicity where our aim is to enter into the joy of a life of worship and fellowship. Yes, giving generously to the poor financially, but giving generously of our time to one another. But it comes with a sacrifice (probably another lifestyle item you don’t need, you know what I’m talking about).
Lessons from India: the power and simplicity of the gospel
In missions there’s a lot of talk about contextualisation – being relevant to the culture we’re trying to reach. In our home culture we tend to do that unconsciously, but when we move cultures we often end up doing things the way we do at home, even if it’s neither necessary for the gospel nor helpful for reaching the host culture. This is an important issue and I’ve seen first hand unhelpful carry-overs from colonialism in different countries. Continue reading
Lessons from India: the Bible Comes Alive
To be honest, I’m still processing what India means for me here in Australia. I’ve been involved in missions before, and visited India before, but this was a new experience on both fronts as I was immersed in the culture for the first time, and came with an expectation that God would move in power. On both fronts, the Bible came alive. Continue reading
Stories from India: Angels
One of the most extraordinary things that happened in India was during the worship on one of our last nights of ministry. We sensed an open heaven in the village of Kaza. On this night the believers were worshiping intensely and God was clearly present. My friend Steve says he was getting scared by the intensity. At one point during the worship I had to urge to go down and start laying my hand on people and blessing them. As we so often do (at least I do), I rationalised it away. Continue reading
Stories from India: Keeping it Simple
Standing before a group of 70 to 100 pastors and pretending to know what you’re talking about is scary at the best of times. Our first two days were spent training pastors from the Restoration Churches and a few other local pastors (we then did outreach in the evenings in Lodidilanka – a pretty intense schedule but I loved it). Continue reading
Stories from India: My Undoing
Without a doubt the most moving experience in India was a visit to a Dalit village. Deva took us into what can loosely be described as a village on the edge of Guntur (a city I really enjoyed). The people effectively squat on government land in grass huts, while in the background high rise apartments are being constructed.
We prayed for one elderly couple who hadn’t eaten in a week, feeling completely helpless that we couldn’t do more, but assuring them we’d tell people about them in Australia. Continue reading
India Team Report is Up
Our India team report is up on our church website. You’ll need to stream it from the site or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes to download.
Stories from India: Something to Say
I went to India prepared for the pastor’s conference but not having a clue what to preach at the crusades. On the first day Deva asked me to speak to a family we visited at a stop off and I completely choked – I had nothing to say (fortunately Steve did). So I sought God about it, “Give me a word.” He didn’t give me a word to share, just that I was to press into him and worship. So that’s what I did.
The first night we were doing a pre-meeting rally Continue reading
