Why is the Big Picture of the Bible Important?

  Its important as Christians to see the Bible as one big story. The big story helps us understand what the little stories and verses are all about. And how we fit into the story of the Bible ourselves.

Like one puzzle piece on its own tells us very little. We can assume what the puzzle picture is.  But until we get a snapshot picture from the puzzle box, we wont see where the small piece fits in, or what part it plays in the bigger picture.

Biblical Theology is the framework for the Big Picture of what the Bibles all about. We can think of the Big picture of the Bible as God’s plan to redeem his people and the world he has made.

Craig Bartholomew has written (2004:12), “The Bible … is a unified and progressively unfolding drama of God’s action in history for the salvation of the whole world”. So at the centre of the plan is the person Jesus Christ.  The Bible is all about Jesus!

Luke 24:27 “ … beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures (i.e. The Old Testament) concerning himself”, and again (Luke 24:44) “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (i.e. in the Old Testament).”

We can think of the Old Testament as a big neon sign (Vegas style) pointing back to creation and forward to Jesus. And the New Testament as a big neon sign pointing back to Jesus and forward to the new creation. The Old Testment has a lot of promises. Which then come true ( Are Fulfilled) in the New Testament.

For more on What is Biblical Theology? By Ross Anderson

Lifestyle Evangelism with Bruce Nygaard

 

Bruce Nygaard who works with the Navigators on UCT Campus shared with us for 3 weeks on lifestyle Evangelism. He shared a number of biblical motivations for our enthusiasm and encouragement to continue to plant words of truth in our friends, neighbours and families lives. His focus was to persuade us from scripture to actively see ourselves all as evangelists in the times and places God has put us in. Through the Holy Spirit, he awakened in us a sense of Gods plans and purposes to use us through prayer in our everyday spheres of relationships and influences.

 

 

 

Here are some of the practical tips drawn out from the series.

 

 

 

Evangelism takes different forms.

It is incredibly important to pay attention to the form that is working best in our present day and bearing lasting fruit. Bruce stressed some of the dangers of seeing evangelism as merely an event, and us thinking that suffering disgrace for the gospel is having your Church invitation refused.

 

 

 

Bruce reminded us that the two forms of evangelism are Reaping and Sowing

Reaping is what most of our Churches are good at. Spotting an opportunity to create a gathering where we can bring people to hear the gospel. While Bruce mentioned this as an effective tool for evangelism, he mentioned that it becomes defective if not combined with a radical plan of sowing. Sowing would be all the necessary word ministry in a persons life before the point that reaping (conversion) is able to take place.

 

 

 

It may even be dishonest to expect someone to entrust their entire life to someone they don’t know

 Asking someone to entrust their life to King Jesus more often than not requires patience and persistence. People today are becoming more and more unfamiliar with the God of the Bible.

 

 

 

This is where relational evangelism is so key in the entire process

 Its our responsibility to steward and build relationships in trust and closeness with the people God made and loves. Through the Spirits wisdom and guidance, it reaches the tipping point where we ourselves introduce them to the Jesus of the Bible. Bruce reminded us that in some cases it had been years of reading the Bible with someone before they crossed the line of faith. The ultimate goal of every relationship is to read through a gospel with them and to use the Bible as the tool for creating faith.

 

 

 

Introducing people to Jesus rather than our Church

 

It is crucially important to keep the priority in the relationship to introducing people to Jesus rather than to our specific Church. Already by making friends with you, they are being introduced to the Church. We are not making converts to our specific Church, but to the body of Christ. Non Christians can sniff motive a mile away and if our objective is to prop up our church attendance, we are on a slippery slope of having zero effectiveness in evangelism.

 

 

 

Don’t pounce on people like a cat

 

Bruce shared some great stories of how not to do things. I believe we need to understand the psychology of how people work. We don’t like salesman pouncing on us with events and promises. We need to respect people’s space in the sowing process. Bruce suggested that we empathise with peoples difficulties with the claims of Christianity. He encouraged us not to feel the need to answer every question immediately, but to create mystery and suspense with our unbelieving friends. One way of doing this would be to reply to a question by saying: “That’s a good question. We should chat about it again sometime, but I need to be somewhere now. Maybe another time.”

 

 

 

Natural relationship development

 

Bruce stressed the need to allow natural relationships to shoot, bud and flourish, like every other human relationship. When you go on a date with someone. Your intention is not to propose immediately, but to earn another date. And then to earn a second and a third. We should be seeking to earn the right for people to listen to us and hear our gospel. Because it is the power of God to save all who will believe.

 

Questions our kids asked on Heaven

Over the last three weeks we’ve been doing a series on heaven for kids (Ever Ever Land) based on the book by Randy Alcorn called “Heaven for kids”. We had a Question and Answer section in the kids booklets and these are some of the questions taken as is, unedited to give you a sense of the kinds of questions kids ask when they start thinking about the world to come.

 

 

Questions Ever-Ever Land

1. If Jesus is God then how can Jesus be sitting on the right hand side of God? (Danni)
2. At first I thought that Heaven was going to be a huge sky scraper high up in the sky made of gold, copper, silver, ruby, saphyer and diamond, but when I went to the Gods city room, and they told me that heaven was going to be a like cape town but just better. that is not going to have any sin. But I was hoping that it was going to be a huge field with trees, hills streams and grass. So now I’m confused? (Simon)
3. Can fruit heal itself? (Wendy)
4. What if you fall will you laugh or what? (Wendy)
5. Will there be one way Kids in heaven? (Wendy)
6. Who made questions? (wendy)
7. One kid wrote for Gods king what he learnt about heaven is that theres war?? (Dylan B)
8.  Who made God? (Nicole Botha)
9. Can you get married in heaven? (kurt)
10. Is there bicycles in heaven? (kurt)
11. Is there cars in Ever-Ever land? (JP)
12. Will we fly in heaven? (Devon)
13. Can we get pie there? (Liam )
14. What would the world be like if adam and eve never sinned? (Danni)
15. How is God gonna talk to everyone if there are so many people in heaven? (Danni)
16. Do you get old in heaven or do you stay the same age? (Adon)
17. Is there any trick bikes in heaven? (Luke)
18. Do you get old in heaven? (luke)
19. Will there be PsP’s and animals in heaven? (Tristan)
20. Will there be technology in heaven? (Garyn)

We’ll be attempting to answer some of these next week in our Q+A session with the kids.

Watch what you write on your notepad in Church meetings.

I was sitting with a guy after our church meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, on Sunday night. He was in his late twenties and was from the UK. He told me how amazed he was to see more than a handful of young people in a church building.

The interesting thing he said was this: “I enjoyed the talk. It was very different to what usually happens in our home parishes. Its nice to see all the people taking notes and working out their own opinions of what the Bible is saying.”

I had never thought that anybody would ever interpret a bunch of young adults taking notes as forming their own opinion of the Bible. The fruits of postmodern thinking are blooming.

It might be worth explaining to visitors what everyones doing when they wip out their pen and notebook.

What should drive the mission of the Church?

In College today Des Ingelby spoke to us about what should drive the mission that we are on as followers of Christ. With all the talk of mission and missional thinking, it was a timely reminder for me. I’ve been pondering what the elements of a missional church should be and what core practices or ideas should govern the mission. To my surprise he took us to Acts 4:23-31. This is a prayer that the apostles prayed in light of being persecuted for speaking and teaching about the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18).

The amazing thing we discovered was that the apostles prayers are a template for us of what drove the mission of the early church. Des drew our attention to three things that saturated the apostles prayer in that time of the early church mission.

Three things that drove the mission

1. The apostles view of God (Acts 4:24-28)

They had a clear doctrine of God, of who he was, of his power and control over all aspects in the universe as well as a sovereign reign over history.

2. The aposltes view of scripture (Acts 4:29)

Their prayer is marked with scripture and is word centred. Their prayer is that they would speak the Word of God with great boldness.

3. The apostles view of Jesus (Acts 4:27 + Acts 4:30)

The risen Jesus and his name was the driving force of their mission. The prayer of the apostles was that the Word of God would go out through the name of Jesus.

The thing that corrected my thinking the most is that as I have been pondering the mission of the church and what makes a church mission a good one, I have somewhat been reminded again that it is the message of Jesus and the Word of God that should drive us in the mission. This was the mission of the early church.

Do you think your Church mission aligns with the apostolic Church Mission.

Obama shows his heart through his speeches.

I want to begin by congratulating Obama on being the new President of the USA. In listening to Cape Talk radio (South African talk radio) I could not help noticing the number of callers who were drawn to Obamas authenticity in the delivery of his speeches. On more than one occasion people phoned in raving about having found a man who was just real with them. This seems to be a growing point of importance when it comes to public speaking in our day. I wonder if this is not something we should be considering in terms of sermon delivery during church gatherings. I have been in plenty of churches where sermons are generally read so as to provide the audience with precision and accuracy in thought. I have no doubt that the preacher was convicted in his preparations. But it does seem to affect audience perception of that conviction. It seems that the everyday guy on the street wants authenticity and conviction over precision and accuracy of truth. This could be because in our day truth is not as great a point of reference as conviction is. I’m not suggesting that precision of truth is not important. But rather that we analyse peoples receptivity of our method of public speaking.

Tim Keller on heartfelt preaching

I spoke about peoples opinions of a heartfelt communicator in Obama shows his heart through his speeches. Dave Bish posted this article on the Blue fish project Tim Keller- Preaching to the heart that is helpful in thiniking about how we as communicators of the gospel message should preach to change hearts of people.

What can we learn from the mistakes of Hyper-Calvinism?

I remember listening to a sermon by John Piper on Hyper-Calvinists. I had almost forgotten what distinguished them from Calvinists. This blog post highlights the main points of hyper-calvinists. It caused me to think largley about how we preach the gospel to believers and the unbelievers present. Sometimes in preaching it can come across as if we believe that the power to convert is not possibly tied to the preaching of the gospel message. It stood as a reminder that even a theological system like Calvinism can branch off into something that it never set out to be.

I think in the Christian circles I have moved in we have fallen trap to points 3-5 at times.

3. OR Denies that the gospel makes any “offer” of Christ, salvation, or mercy to the non-elect (or denies that the offer of divine mercy is free and universal

4. OR Denies that there is such a thing as “common grace,”

5. OR Denies that God has any sort of love for the non-elect.

My comments

3. I find in preaching an expository style sermon without ever making an exhortation of appeal to unbelievers could be linked to an underlying disbelief in the power of the gospel offer of Christ, salvation and mercy to non-elect individuals.

4. I think this point can be seen in church communities that avoid any reference to the outside world. This could often be seen through a denial of any good in arts, culture and anything outside Christianity.

5. This I think is displayed in church behavior that speaks about evangelism and rallying troops to do evangelism. But there is a general failure of any affective evangelism because there is a lack of love for the non elect because that love for the non elect comes from a knowledge and conviction that God loves the non elect.

Those are just a few ways we can keep examining ourselves by looking at past theological systems and comparing them to ours.

South African Jesus in Son of Man

Last night I watched the South African produced movie “Son of Man” which portrays Jesus as an African in a 21st Centrury setting. I must say the movie was very eye opening in terms of what it means to contextualise the gospel into a present African context. I’ll talk about some of the those things some other time. But what really disturbed me about the movie was that the gospel message it portrayed was not the same as that in the Bible and the person of Jesus was a twisted view of the picture of Jesus that the gospels have given me. It simply portrayed Jesus as a freedom fighter who had been sent by God into the world to bring freedom to this small South African town of Jerusalem. It disturbs me because many of the African people I speak to in everyday conversations often speak about knowing Jesus and believing his message of salvation. While part of Jesus message of the gospel was to bring peace and ultimately justice it was never simply just that. It was far far more. It was the hope of Gods King who brought his heavenly Kingdom and purchased a people for himself through his substitutionary death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

And so I think the intention of a gospel movie in a South African context is a great initiative and I think we as Christians can learn from the movie in terms of understanding the severity of what happened in Jesus day. But I must oppose the message of the gospel the movie portrayed as it was not faithful to the biblical account of Jesus.

Christmas, the opportunity of a lifetime to share Christ.

I was thinking in church this morning of the millions of people who will step into the doors of church buildings around the world this year on the 25th December. I think this is one of the great opportunities that more long standing churches have in the world. Many people by the common grace of God believe it is important one sunday a year to go and sit in church. I love this because it means that many more people will have chance to taste the sweetness of the Christian community and most importantly hear the saving and redeeming message of Jesus Christ. Praise God! I was wondering if anyone out there has any innovative ways of running their services this Christmas so we can make the most of the opportunity.

A Reflection on Reconciliation

I’ve been  reminded of my reconciliation to God as I have been reflecting on Colossians 1:15-21.

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death”

I’ve been reflecting on the evidences of Christs reconciliation in my life. Sometimes I’m reminded of my still yet sinful heart. But its when I stop to think about who I once was that the evidence of Christs reconciliation becomes clear.

Often we look at our lives like a video. Frames move along so quickly that theres little time for reflection on individual frames and moments of our lives. Its when I push the pause button in my life and look at a freeze frame shot of myself now as a follower of Christ alongside a picture of myself before I was a follower of Christ that the grace of Christ becomes evident in my life.

I was hostile in my mind against God and alienated from any inclination of his grace. When I look at those now whose lives are full of evil and sinful actions. I’m held back before making judgment of them as I myself have been one who has not benefitted at one stage from the peace of God made through the cross. Thank you Father for your unending love and grace towards me which you have given me through the death of Jesus on the cross.

Moving to Burgundy Estate

Next year I’m off to work as a pator in Bothasig, an area outside Cape Town. My Wife to be, Carmen and I are moving into a flat in a new Estate called Burgundy estate. Its a new development with 5000 units planning to be built within a reasonably dense area. The idea is to create a community environment for young adults and families in the estate. The Estate is planning to have its own shopping mall, schools, sports fields, golf course etc. Our intention in moving into this area is a gospel intention. We are seeking to befriend people with prospect of being used to bring people into a relationship with Jesus Christ and God willing form a gospel community. So far the estate agents are informing us that the majority of the people are young adults between the age range 20-30 with some young families joining. Development has some what to go but we’ll be moving in somewhere towards the end of January. We  are praying for doors to open and opportunities.

Vision and Mission of ACT 29

With the Acts 29 conference coming to Cape Town next year. Here is a summary of the vision and mission of Acts 29 as a church planting movement. This is also a great outline for anyone thinking of planting a church wanting to form their own vision and mission.

The way of the christian academic applied to the pitiful seminary graduate

These are some strong words by Carl Trueman in his article The Way of the Christian Academic (Themelios Journal) about the dangers that people can have thinking they have some superior theological knowledge that needs to be shared with their congregations. This was a stern reminder to me as a theological graduate returning to the local church to serve as an overseer. My prayer is that I take this to heart. 

“Finally, to return to the local church, make sure you are involved in the local church and, when you are there, you sit under the word in listening submission, not over the word in judgment. Endless mischief has been done in churches by those who have some formal theological training and yet who think they have never been given the recognition or the strokes which they deserve. They sit in church not so much to be under the word as to rate the pastor’s sermon, assess his theology, offer him oh-so-helpful criticism as to how he might improve his performance or how he should (i.e. how they would) have preached the text. Ultimately, such people are merely divisive, and they are so because their concern is not to have themselves checked by the word of God, or to see the congregation built up in its knowledge of God; rather, it is to see themselves puffed above others, and their theological knowledge, whether real or assumed, is simply the means to this end.” 

10 worst habits of preachers

I’m going to keep this in mind when preparing my next sermon. 10 worst habits of preachers is a great list of things to keep in mind. But lets not be too hard on the preacher forgetting the beautiful message we have in these fragile jars of clay.

Thinking through Mark Driscolls words for the Church of England in South Africa

I know this is late but I’ve finally listened to the talk given my Mark Driscoll in Sydney called reaching the next generation. Here are the notes from Gordon Cheng’s blog. Listening to it I was convicted and found myself repenting of things he said. In addition to that I found myself repenting on behalf of my denomination (CESA- Church of England in South Africa). Now you need to understand that I love the denomination I am in and really respect everyman I have come into contact with in it. They love Jesus and are faithful in preaching the Word of God. But the criticisms Driscoll had of what he saw in Australia was too close to home for me. In the next few posts I’m going to speak about how the 18 points he made in that talk are relevant to the Church of England in South Africa starting with 1. The Bible guys aren’t the missional guys.

I dont presume to know exactly what the blindspots are in CESA. This is really an invitation to those in CESA ministry to start talking about the way forward. Was Driscoll right? Is there another side? Are things different here to Sydney?

Prayer for a pastor

Here is a list of prayer points from the T4G blog that one can use to pray for elders, leaders, pastors and overseers in the church.

Driscolls 18 points applied to the CESA

I said I was going to work through Mark Driscolls 18 points given at a ministry conference in Sydney. Link to previous post. Except I’m going to apply them to my church denomination, the Church of England in South Africa (CESA). 

Driscolls first point was “The Bible guys are not neccessarily the Missional guys” 

He said often the guys that know the content of scripture are not neccessarily in touch with the context of ministry. He encouraged men to follow not only the theology of Paul but also the example of Paul. 

At this point I would say that there is some of this in my denomination. Although there are a number of men in CESA who I believe are both Bible guys and missional guys wraped into one. There are a large number of guys who I think would be proud of being known as Bible guys. I think this could be a result of having a strong Bible college (George Whitefield College). It is the practice that those involved in CESA ministry on a full time basis, must attend the college. The curriculum is an intense Bachelor of theology which means that those who finish the programme have to be scholarly in some way. 

I found my time at George Whitefield College incredibly fruitful and shaping but I cant help but think that the missional guys might not stick it out for three years.

I also think that the CESA is saturated with the Bible guys and there is a strong training emphasis in CESA (which is good). I cant help but notice however that missional guys are not being identified, recruited, trained and sent. Possibly because the Bible guys are looking out for other Bible guys. I wonder how we could change this? Not to get rid of the Bible guys but to encourage the recruitment of Bible saturated missional guys. 

The great thing however is that at the heart of CESA is a missional focus. Our presiding Bishop Frank Retief has often encouraged us as young men to be missional and evaluate ourselves for church planting. I just think there needs to be a resurgence of this spirit in our times. Lets pray that God will raise up men who will perform this function in the body.

Definition of church

I found this a great definition of what the church is by Mark Driscoll on Robert Grishams blog.

Top 10 redeeming movies

Here is an article from Christianity today that gives movies from 2008 that have a redemptive storyline, character or plot. Some are stronger on the redemptive storyline than others, but it seems like a good resource to have for teaching the Bible to kids, teens and adults.

2009 Flux trends for South Africa

Last week I attended the Acts 29 Conference in Cape Town. It was an awesome time to connect with church planters and guys from all over South Africa. One of the things that came out of the conference for me was setting our focus on doing ministry in South Africa for a diverse group of South Africans. I came across this helpful website called Flux trends. 

It provides analysis of South African politics, culture, tastes etc. Digesting huge amounts of information and reformulating them into bite sized junks for those seeking to analyse the people of South Africa for business or social purposes.

Seven Pounds

 

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I watched the movie seven Pounds yesterday with my wife. It stars Will Smith and brilliantly tells the story of a retired businessman who pretends to be his brother, whose job is an IRS taxman in the USA. He does this because he plans to commit suicide, the reason not being clear. But before he does so he has an agenda to help 7 people, one being an abused women, another a woman with heart problems, and another man who is blind. He leaves his beach house to one lady, he organises his heart to be given to the other lady and his eyes to be given to the blind man, using the IRS inroad as a means of doing this. Obviously these things are given after he kills himself. The plot unravels as toward the end of the movie it becomes clear that he was responsible for killing his wife and 6 other people in a tragic car accident, as he was doing work on his cell phone, behind the wheel of his car. He does these things for these seven people out of the guilt he carries for the accident. He eventually commits suicide and dies. We often as people carry tremendous guilt from our pasts. We often live life seeking to pay back a kind of debt that we feel we owe either to God or to humanity in general. This movie reminded me of the guilt I myself carried untill I realised that Jesus Christ came as the guilt offering for me. That as he died on the cross 2000 years ago, the bible tells me that the burden is no longer mine to bear, but has been fully carried by my saviour who is now alive in heaven. 

Don’t fire your childrens pastor

I have been at my new job as childrens pastor in the Bothasig community of Cape Town for 3 months. I am in the process of running an Upward Soccer Clinic for the children in the community. I think that it is a great tool for sharing the gospel with unchurched children in the community.

I believe that programs are still essential for childrens ministry. There is lots of talk these days in community driven churches that programs for children are irrelevant and outdated. The alternative is that children should be evangelised and discipled through the missional community through parents etc.

While this is a biblical model. I do not think the programe should be tossed out the window. The reason being that there are as many unreached, unchurched children as there are adults. Statistically children are more likely to become followers of Jesus Christ. Surely to focus on Christian families alone would be to ignore the great commission we have been given by Jesus to one third of the worlds population, who are the marginalised members of our world.

Excited about Jesus

I really like this article by Stephen, Excited by Jesus. It reminded me that whatever ministry I’m doing that I’m not the leader getting people to do stuff for me. But rather I am a lamp-post pointing with all my might, passion and capacity to the risen Lord Jesus imploring people to follow him.

Giving People a stronger desire

It would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

C.S Lewis

I found this quote by C.S Lewis helpful in preparing to preach on John 6- Jesus being the bread of life. One of our goals in preaching is reminding people of who they are and what they have in coming to the person of Jesus for life. Showing the mud pies (Idols) in peoples lives is half the battle. The right hook is welling up a joy in Christ as the preacher and exhorting the people to see the offer Christ is making to them.

Getting married young?

This is a great post Just put a ring on it written from a biblical perspective  in response to a general assumption made by young adults that it is foolish to marry young. This was found on the radical Womanhood blog.

Young adults Group

For anyone reading this blog. I am going to be posting some entries which relate to areas we are studying in our young adults community group. We are looking at key concepts of Christian living. 

Last night we looked at the idea of Spending time with God. 

Our Young Adults group is situated in Bothasig which is situated 15 minutes outside the Cape Town City Centre. We have a great view of Table mountain.

8 Ways to easily be missional

Have you ever thought of yourself as a missionary in your street, in your lecture room, filling up your car with petrol. Gods commission to us is that we live our lives in such a way that wherever we are, people will see our good deeds and praise the  father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This was a down to earth practical guide by Jonathan Dodson called 8 Ways to easily be missional.

Spot the Real Enemy

Last night in our young adults group we looked at who our real enemy is. We discovered that it is satan, and that we are engaged in a very real war against him.

Rather than tearing each other apart in the body of Christ we should be aware that satan and his enemies are seeking to devour us.

 

Here are some practical ways we can stand guard together as a group against him.

1. Realise that those in Gods family belong to Christ and that any bad mouthing, gossip or slander about anyone is one way that satan tries to trip us up.

2. Satans big project is stop us from following Jesus. Satan doesn’t really mind who or what we follow as long as we are not following Christ. Each of us have things that compete with our relationship with Jesus. It could be a relationship that diverts us from Christ. Sin that seems to have a hold over us. Or even something good that we have put in place of Jesus like the desire for money, desire for a better life etc.

We can pray for each other. Why not try pray for a different person in the group in your quiet time.  

We can become vulnerable with each other admitting that we all stumble in many ways. And be there to support each other when under attack from the real enemy.

Great promise in Jame 4:7 “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Please feel free to comment so we can encourage each other.

How do deal with temptation

Last night a group of us looked at temptation.

The question: How do we deal with an overload of temptation in our world?

It became aware to me last night that a number of us cannot neccessarily keep evil out of our lives. Eric touched on the idea of a computer and it sparked another image in my mind.

Our minds are kind of like a computer, receiving, processing and making decisions with the information it receives. We cannot always control what comes in. But as followers of Christ we have the Holy Spirit living in us. Its kind of like our hearts have a kind of antivirus software that is able to discern good from evil (Phil 1:10). The result is that we cannot keep evil out but we can send the junk to the trash can because we have the law of Christ written on our hearts.

1 Peter 2:11-12 says I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.  

God wants us to live among the pagans (non believers). That means lots of evil will come our way. But the Spirit of Christ is able to help us live such good lives that they see us among them and give all glory to God.

Is Harry Potter for Christian kids?

I found this article on movieministry by Marc Newman exploring Christian response to movies like Harry Potter.

Coolest webpage for childrens pastors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check this out! Its a webpage with the top 100 Sunday shool websites. Its called Little blots.

Missional childrens ministry

I’ve been wrestling with the idea of how to make childrens ministry missional through the gospel. In the short time I have been involved with kids ministry I have noticed children are incredibly flexible and easily influenced. Now that of course can be used for evil. But what if a generation of children were discipled to be missional through the gospel. I have found that childrens ministry is often structured around a group of people seeking to serve the children and in so doing share the gospel with them. But would it be possible to form gospel community with children. I think it is possible. I think we need to be creative in giving outlets to children to serve and minister to each other and those in the community.

Things I have noticed.

1. We cannot just teach children the gospel but must provide avenues for them to serve. Very often we teach children on a sunday and tell them to change and never mentor and disciple them in acting out on the gospel.

2. We need to understand that they have hearts just like ours. We need to stir their hearts, preach to them, call them to repent, comfort them, and show them that the gospel will not only save them but change them.

Why Mark Driscoll Shouldn’t Bug Ya

Due to some controversy that seems to be making the rounds closer to home among some in the church of England in SA I thought this article would be a good defense of Mark driscoll- a man who has been a huge blessing from the Lord Jesus to many of us.

Don’t let him bug ya- by Michael Spencer

Why would he use the weak?

On my holiday last weak I spent an evening wrestling with the ministry God wants me to do. I often feel torn between desires not always knowing which are my own selfish aspirations or his predestined plans of good works for me to walk in (Eph2:10).

These thoughts came to me in reflection of 1 Cor 1 and 2

Theres nothing I can do to make God pleased with me but that which he wills to do through me. This leaves one with absolutley nothing to boast in, not our own talents or gifts or models but his workings in us.

If I feel weak, then 1 Corinthians reminds me that God will use me. While at the same time being reminded not to be proud because God chooses the weak. If at any point the inclinations of pride start to bubble in your heart gazing at what you think you have achieved, then remember that God has designed ministry so that all glory flows back to Christ. If the tongue feels the tingle to boast or your jaw feels the desire to jabber about your boasts and executed dreams, programmes or models, then pinch yourself hard in the arm and remind yourself of 1 Cor 1:31 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Stop wasting time trusting in pragmatics and watching the clock tick away listening and reading the fast fleeting wisdom of men and models and ideas and heros. “I follow him, will I follow him, Oh and I follow him!”

Lets never forget the one on the throne High and lifted up, who the angles for eternity past cannot stop praising with their lips and mouths. Cast your eyes on him, lets drop to our knees and start boasting in Jesus and his glory.

Using Bible Bucks positivley for childrens ministry

I’ve been wrestling with the idea of introducing Bible bucks to the childrens ministry at St Johns. Bible Bucks is based on the philosophy that you reward children with Bible Bucks for positive things they have done. For example if a child brings a friend then 1 bible buck is given. If a child brings their Bible then another Bible buck is given.

Traditionally bible Bucks were then used to spend on toys and sweets sold at the end of the term from a store created by the childrens ministry. I was not in favour of the idea until a childrens worker suggested alternatives to using Bible Bucks. For example if your church supports justice ministires like feeding the poor, looking after orphans etc. then the children get to decide which ministry they get to give their bible bucks too. Obviously then the kids trade in their Bible Bucks for rands and the transfer is made to support the ministry chosen.

The difference is that the children still have opportunity to compete and to be spurred on to come and earn Bible Bucks, but the end result is that the children are earning in order to give and support existing ministries in the church. Showing the kids the outworking of the gospel into various ministries in the church.

Totally like whatever, you know?

This is a real challenge for the generation I find myself in. This post on the Blue fish project called Totally like whatever, you know? was a wake up call for me as a man preaching to a generation that prefers a fragrance of uncertainty in whats being told to them from the pulpit.

I think there are reasons for a generation losing confidence in things said with conviction. But that does not mean that we in the church should ever be shaped by the cultures doubts about authority from the scriptures. We should like proverbs says add sweetness to our speech so that men will be persuaded, but we should never sound as if we doubt what we are convinced God has said to us.

The Golden Lampstand

The Golden lampstand is a feature in the Book of Revelation which is said to be the revelation of Jesus Christ and the things still to be added to the cover of Time Magazine. Reading Revelation 2 gave me shivers down the back of my neck this morning. We are told that the golden lampstands are symbolic for 7 churches which Jesus walks between.

The church in Ephesus we are told were hard workers, they had kept going in the faith for years, they were able to discern good and evil, their teaching was fantastic. Their pastors were trained at a good Bible College. They even had snipers in the balcony with a laser pointer on anyone who claimed to be an apostle. Jesus said that they were even bearing up for his name and not growing weary.

But he had this against them.

Rev 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

I have never repented on behalf of an entire church until reading this in the morning. I was terrified to think that it is possible for Jesus to take away the lampstand from an unrepentant people who have forgotten from where they have fallen. I cannot help but feel that Jesus is standing with his hand on the lampstand threatening to disown churches that have lost their first love.

Lord Jesus. Please have mercy on us and give us hearts that repent and remember where we once were.

Bold Christian Apparel

I came across this cool clothing company C28. That has a whole selection of clothes branded with the gospel. Really cool designs. It makes Christians look cool.

Driscolls new book out

Saw that Mark Driscolls new book Religion Saves and nine other misconception is out. This book is timeless truth with very timely application. Topics range from dating, the emerging church, Grace, humour in church etc. I really enjoyed listening to the sermons online and I think it will be a great read also.

Gospel Familiarity Breeds Missional Contempt

This article by church planting novice called Gospel Familiarity Breeds Missional Contempt nails an issue I have been wrestling with and  thinking through in terms of more traditional church setups. For so long struggling to understand how a church can be sitting in missional neutral mode with very few members excited about mission or even spreading the gospel over itself. The rabbit hole goes very very deep in this articel as it expresses the concern that a mere familiarity with the gospel and a past conversion experience may not be a true conversion as the gospel has not dug deep under the surface of a persons heart and life. This really stuck out for me from the article.

“There are many people who believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. They know that the story of Christ can be found in the Gospels of the New Testament. They know that belief in that Jesus can get you to heaven and out of hell. They know where to find that message preached. They may even “attend” a church, repeat the catchwords of grace, but have very little understanding of the gospel of grace. They have become too familiar with the gospel.“

“When we are too familiar with the gospel, we scorn the church and her mission. If we don’t need the gospel every day, then why spend time with the church or attempt to advance the good news through mission? Lovelace writes:

Thus their pharisaism defends them both against full involvement in the church’s mission and against full subjection of their inner lives to the authority of Christ.

Familiarity with the gospel breeds missional contempt. If we know the gospel as a set of spiritual facts and a code of morality, then we have very little use for the Church and her mission, the community and evangelism. But if the Gospel is deeper and more honest than we have imagined, then we must be desperate for more. More gospel talk from our friends, more gospel community from church, more gospel songs with fellow saints, and more gospel news for our neighbors. If the gospel is this great, then is must be shared.”

This article shook me up because what I originally perceived as a possible stagnation in the life of a church may in fact be a large makeup of unconverted people wearing the “Christian costume” terrifyingly thinking that they are what constitutes a Christian. An unconverted pharisaic heart will push a person from involvment in spreading the gospel as well push them from wanting the gospel to water their own heart. Thus real christian community is never achieved or even desired.

Time Magazine thinks Calvinism is Changing the World Right Now

This article Time Magazine thinks Calvinism is changing the world right now was found on Robs blog the awakening grace blog.

Could a wave of resurgence be on the horizon or even already on the beach according to top trend spotting Magazine Time. You dont have to like a trend to admit that its there. But Time has definetly spotted a new wave of Calvinism sweeping its way through the world with guys like John Piper, Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll being labelled as the ring leaders.

New Calvinism was number 3 on the list. I was as surprised as many to think that a gospel movement has dominated cultural trend setting. But maybe we should have known better after Jesus said the gospel will stretch to the ends of the earth.

Rob said

In an interesting little piece by Time Magazine, ten cultural trends are isolated and identified as “The Top Ten Ideas Changing the World Righ Now.”  To my delight and surprise I saw that the “New Calvinism” is #3 on the list.  While I’m more concerned with being Biblically faithful than I am in being lumped in with a new cultural movement, I am nevertheless excited to see the God glorifying theology of John Calvin making a global resurgence in our day and age.  The article is a bit of a caricature laced with sarcasm, nevertheless it was quite a thing for the secular magazine to identify Calvinism as a world changing idea in our time.  Check out an excerpt of  the article below with a link to the full feature at the bottom.

Leadership unravelled

I’ve just finished listening to an MP3 by PJ smith from Johannesburg available on the common ground website. I’ve been truly blessed this week by the guys at common ground listening to Rigby Wallace speak to us yesterday about being a pastor at the Cape Town ACTS 29 Conference.

PJ spilled some shiny pearls of wisdom in his talk on leadership.

Here are a few.

Branson said “Screw it, just do it!”

Billy Graham- Ruth Graham said it was his sense of destiny that attracted her to him. At Bible college some Friends Found him face down in the grass hitting the ground saying “let me do something for you God. Let me do something great.”

Winston churchhill fighting the Sudan wrote to his mother- on the battle front- “I road my pony into the battle enemy and dispatchd two with my pistol and turned around and road again and dispatched two more. Near A bullet touched my pony, tunic or person. I believed I was preserved for higher things. For great things I’ve been preserved.

The point PJ  Smith made was that we must hold the promises of God believing that he has a purpose for our lives as Christians to do great things for God. As David realised as he slay Goliath that God had chosen him to do unimaginable things, so we must accept our calling from God and proceed in faith leading our people with certainty in the vision God has given us.

Free Tim Keller Sermons

Have to make it known that there are now 150 free sermons available at the redeemer sermon store. Tim Keller is a pastor in New York City. He has probably been one of the most influential Christian leaders in shaping my thinking about the gospel. I have benefited from listening to many hours of his preaching and hope to benefit from more time spent listening to his sermons on my Ipod.

Pauls balance between culture and counter culture

What amazes me about Paul is his balance between culture and counter culture. In Ephesians 5:21-33 on marriage, Pauls structure is one that follows in thread and grain of the cultural houshold codes of the day. Paul acknowledges the structure of the codes and retains what is good while at the same time identifying the pitfalls in the cultural norms and expectations.

He maintains that woman should respect their husbands which in Greco Roman culture was a generally accepted standard while at the same time he pushes the boundaries by explaining that only within a gospel framework can true submission really work and function.

What he is doing well is contextualising the gospel into a certain framework. He does not flush the culture but rather examines it. With a sculpal he dissects the cultures writings finding the truth that is there. And then shows the readers why that truth is flawed unless it fits into the puzzle of Christ and his church.

In a similar way in the culture it was considered a good thing to love your wife. But Paul stretches it and shows that it is a command to husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. This leaves the reader understanding that marriage has been designed to function like a well oiled machine within the love and under the headship of Jesus Christ.

Michael Jacksons This is it

Last night my wife and I went to watch “This is it”. The movie started with interviews of men and women who were selected to dance along side Michael Jackson in his upcoming concert.

One of the guys interviewed trying to hold back the tears said : “Life is so hard, and I suppose I have been searching for something greater. And I think I’ve finally found something to believe in. This is it!”

He said it with such belief and conviction that my heart really went out to him. I began to think of what it must be like for him when the thing he thought he had found was taken from him.

I suppose life is like that. We spend our lives searching and looking for some reality greater than the one we presently find ourselves in. We are constantly seeking for a more fulfilling life and satisfying existence. It is a sad thought that so much of what we derive our fulfillment from can be taken away from us in a moment and leave us completely shattered.

I suppose that is why John (One of Jesus disciples) wrote about Jesus in the way he did. I can just imagine him writing with tears, and absolute conviction and belief that he had found something that could never be taken from him.

As he wrote about Jesus he said in John 20:31 “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

When John speaks about life he is talking about a continual living in and through Jesus who died on the cross. But what was different about Jesus was that he rose to life showing that he indeed is the bringer of true and satisfying life. If we derive our joy and pleasure from him then it can never be taken from us.

In Michael Jacksons last song of the movie “This is it” He referred to himself as the light of the world. It is interesting that Jesus was first to refer to himself as the light of the world.

Is your Church a Religious cushion?

I came across this post Is your Church a Religious cushion by Scott Thomas, Director of the Acts 29 Network.

To Quote the article directly,

Jack Miller was the director of World Harvest Mission and pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church near Philadelphia and professor at Westminster. In his book, Outgrowing the Ingrown Church (one of the best books I have read in a while), Jack described the church as a “Religious Cushion.” He characterized the religious cushion church:

1. Resembling a retreat center,
2. Practically being fellowship-driven and not mission-driven,
3. Consumer congregants demanding worship as a separate dish ordered aside from the mandate of making disciples,
4. Preachers without the courage to confront the missional apathy of the church, and
5. A church only doing missions in far away lands.

As we make disciples, we lead them to be Spirit-led followers of Jesus who are life-long learners, obedient to Jesus and who are then making disciples of all nations who make disciples. It’s lather, rinse, repeat.

As a missional leader, you have the responsibility to continually remind the people of your gathering to go into the Lord’s harvest fields. Like Jesus, you have to continually point them to the gospel message of redemption through a sent people. As a band of missionaries, you have to engage the lost, not as a means to build your church, but to follow the mandate of Jesus, the One sent by God to seek and to save the lost for the glory of God.

C.H. Spurgeon said, “You do not love the Lord at all if you do not love the souls of men.” [John Blanchard, Gathered Gold (London: Evangelical Press, 1984), 299.] The people in the churches where I was pastor quickly strayed away from the harvest like a runaway criminal on the chain gang. They wanted to work on the building, have fellowship dinners, potlucks, and men’s breakfasts. They wanted to read books, sing songs—as long as it was in the style they preferred—and start programs for their own kids. MOPS, AWANA, VBS, BSF and home school CO-OP. Whatever kept them away from S-I-N-N-E-R-S.

Jack Miller calls this missional leader the “Pacesetting Pastor.” A pacesetter, according to Miller, is a runner who moves ahead of the pack and sets the example that gets others moving. This is not a comfortable position unless you are called to make disciples of all nations and you are called to lead a group of believers to be radical followers of His mission. The pacesetting pastor keeps the mission of Jesus as the focus of the gathered community. I like “A United Gospel Community on Mission to all people for the glory of God” as a slogan. It is simple, understandable and easily remembered. A pacesetting pastor cannot let the mission become an elective of the church. Most of all, the pacesetting pastor cannot be sucked back into the pack and lose the influential role as the leader of the mission.

How to Have A Not So Quiet Time

Since I became a Christian I have attempted a number of different ways of spending personal time with God. After listening to a sermon by Tim Keller on Personal Prayer I have attempted the following. It has truly transformed my time spent with God. And I hope it is helpful to the rest of you.

How to do it?

Step 1: Reading the Bible

Three questions to ask yourself

1. What does this passage tell me about Christ and God?
2. What does this passage tell me about myself?
3. Is there a promise or command

Step 2: Meditate

Meditation is not reading the Bible or prayer. It is talking to yourself about God. (See an example in Psalm 103:1)

Questions to ask in meditation

A How would my life be different if I really believed this?

B Why is God showing me this today?

Step 3: Prayer (Apart from prayer for daily needs,

pray the scripture)

A-     Adoration- What can I praise God for from this passage?

C-    Confession- What sin and heart idols can I repent of from this passage?

T- Thanks- What can I thank God for in this passage?

S- Supplication (Asking)- What can I ask God for from this passage?

Step 4: Memorise scripture (As much as you can)

Start with one verse a week and keep refreshing.

Mark Driscoll in Cape Town

I wanted to post this link to the urban force website with the provisional plans for the Mark Driscoll conference in March this year. Looks like its going to be a good one. He is going to be accompanied by some great South African speakers like PJ Smythe, Rigby Wallace and others.

Mark Driscoll in Cape Town

To anyone around Cape  Town in March. This is really worth considering.

2010 Upward Soccer Clinic

We are getting excited for the World Cup coming to South Africa. I am getting even more excited for the great opportunity we have to share the gospel with children over this time.

The host country of the world cup is hugely exposed to abuse and evil during the World Cup. Children are largley the target, as Child trafficking poses a huge threat.

We at St Johns Church (CESA) are wanting to host a Soccer Clinic in Partnership with Upward Soccer Ministries over this time in Bothasig, a suburb on the fringe of the city, about 15 minutes from the Cape Town CBD.

Our vision is to bring light into darkness by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ over this time and seeking to bring redemption in the hearts and lives of children.

Our mission is to provide a place for children to feel safe and to be encouraged in the game of Soccer, while at the same time introducing children to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The Clinic is scheduled to kick off on Youth Day the 16th of June and end on Sunday the 20th of June.

We are expecting and praying for local children, children from the surrounding communities as well as orphan children from a surrounding township, and a group of children from safe houses in our community.

If you have any questions about our mission please do not hesitate to ask me.

Finish the dating sermon…

These are all the points I didn’t cover on Sunday night. Many of them were taken from the Religion saves book- chapter on dating.

Be reasonable- Don’t have too high or too low expectations

-         mr perfect doesn’t exist.

-         Guys- theres something called photoshop. Those models in magazines don’t exist.

-         Don’t hold out for the supermodel. Be realistic.

-          “People have to throw away this absurd Vera Wang shopping list which says of a man that he has to earn R300 000 a year, that he has to be able to cut down a tree, play the Spanish guitar, make love all night and cook a cheese soufflé”

-          Dont settle for first guy- who buys you a flower or calls you beautiful.

Let the men be men and women be women

The Bibles clear (Eph 5) that the man is the head of the wife and family.

Frank Retief- said “Find a man with a plan”

From the starting blocks of a romantic relationship- the men need to lead.

“But he’s shy, he needs my help.” Don’t do it ladies- he’s going to be doing that his whole life. You’ll be pulling him along by the hair.

Open your eyes- to who God puts in front of you

If no one- then wait. God may have plans to work on you personally in your life-stage.

Or put yourself in front of someone who loves Christ. The way Ruth got dressed up and put herself in front of Boaz. It resulted in one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Feel free to date people in other churches, but agree on theological convictions.

Agree on Gospel issues- like the death of Jesus.The Truth of the Bible. Authority.

Other things- family. Gender issues- head of the home etc. Very important to build a life on.

Pursue someone you are attracted to

Song of Songs- physical attraction does play a part.

But also a character attraction- mans name. Song of Songs1:3 “Your name is like perfume poured out”

Song of Songs- it was the person who stood out among the rest.

“The Lily among thorns.”

Marry someone who loves you

Song of Songs- the lover calls his wife his darling and praises her.

Proverbs 30:21-23-Under 4 things the world cannot hold up- an unloved woman when she gets a husband.

How do I know who to marry?

Closed handed issues- dont compromise on these, for example a member- opposite sex. A Christian- growing in relationship- God.

If you a Man- ask Is this someone I find easy to love?

If you a Woman- ask Is this someone I find easy to follow?

Consider your life ambitions etc.

Open handed issues- eye colour, hair colour (you are free to choose these things)

How do I know when to marry?

Marriage= responsibility.

Are you able to be responsible for yourself?

If not- you may be a boy- not a man.

Marriage is for men. Its time to step up in marriage.

If you a Girl-who is not  ready to follow someone. Then marriage is not for you either.

Wisdom issue as well- studies, work, dreams.

Isn’t living together important to get to know someone

Johan answered this well. Popular idea- living together makes a stronger marriage. Evidence shows otherwise.

Report shows more conflict after marriage for those who live together.

SA- more people living together- but at the same time there is an increase of divorce.

Reflection- selfishness- not about me going into a relationship to become more holy.

Now about that person giving me what I want. And what I need.

Causes break down because relationship functions best around giving.

Marriage is for holiness before happiness

Sinner+sinner does not =less sin.

Sanctification. Lots of conflicts+ things to work through.

Marriage is not the end but the beginning of a lifetime of being made more like Jesus.

Church family matters

1 tim 5:1-2 Treat younger woman like sisters, in all purity.

Would you sleep with your sister?

Will you watch out and protect the girls in your church.

Father- in home- the buck stops with you. Physical and emotional protection of your daughter.

Questions to ask:

1. How is your relationship with Jesus?

2. What do your mature Christian friends and family think? Song of Songs 1:4 “We will praise your love more than wine”

Maybe Jesus is calling you to wait and to grow your relationship with him first.

Is your goal in dating to meet someone who you can grow in your relationship with Jesus with?

Ministry to Children Website

I wanted to share this resource for anyone who is doing gospel work with kids. It is a blog by Tony Kummer from Madison called Ministry-to Children. It doesn’t surprise me that Tony has over 200 000 readers who benefit from his content online. The greatest part is that he is just an ordinary childrens pastor/evangelist working with his own small group of kids in his home town. I have found him to be firmly rooted in Gods word with the aim always to give the kids Jesus. He writes much of his own material with much emphasis on tugging the heart of the child while giving a healthy diet from Gods word. He uploads videos, games, object lessons, childrens talks, lessons and links to many other kids resources worldwide. I wish I had found someone like this earlier.

The Backing of Gods Word

Why when we speak about the Bible do we call it Gods Word?

Well as I’ve been reading the Trellis and the Vine by Collin Marshall and Tony Payne, I’ve been reminded of why we call it Gods Word. Growing up in a church where it seems all that was ever drilled into me was “Gods Word above all things” I haven’t done lots of thinking on why its so powerful and so true.

Gods Words in the Bible are backed by someone. It is a supernatural backing. As a R10 note or $10 bill are backed by the reserve bank and ultimatley a claim on gold in reserves. So Gods words as they appear in the Bible or as they are spoken by men are backed by God himself. The Words of God are claims made by God himself. The Holy Spirit has pledged to fully back the gospel of God.

1 Corinthians 2:2 says that Paul decided to know nothing among the Corinthians except Christ and him crucified.

In 1 Corinthians 2:3-5 Paul explains that even though he was there in weakness and he was stumbling over his words and not particulary brilliant in the worlds eyes. vs 5 says it was in demonstration of the Spirit and power.

You see the Holy Spirit and the gospel are like two railway tracks. They cannot exist inseparably. Where the one goes, the other follows.

It was encouraging for me to think that when the gospel of Jesus Christ is coming out my mouth or being read to the kids I work with, or to the church I preach to, that the Holy Spirit is backing that message with great power. The same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead.

What if Jesus never died?

Just imagine. Where would you be now if Jesus had never died on the cross for our sins?

There would be no common Grace. There would be no kindness. There would be no satisfaction for Gods Wrath. We would be running from an angry omnipotent and omni-present God.  The running would never end and you could never escape such anger and devastation. I wouldn’t have a relationship with God.There would be no such thing  as prayer, no communion, no worship, no joy, no waking up to a warm sun. No idea of what it means to be loved unconditionally. No cross cultural relationships and friendships. There’d be no Word from God without it being a Word of Judgement. There would be an enormous escalation of sin, violence, crime, no repentace for the wicked. No justice without punishment. There’d be no hope of heaven. No life to come. No share in the Glory of Christ. No Holy Spirit. No comfort, No hunger for heaven, but a fearful expectation of hell and the wrath of God.

What a God we have. Who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But made himself nothing! Jesus. Thank you for coming. Thank you for suffering a measure that cannot be known. Thank you for going to the cross physically, emotionally and spiritually for me. Open my eyes to the grace you purchased for me.

Bullying (Establishing Awareness)

In response to many kids in our community who have expressed concerns about being bullied. I have copied and pasted this article to assist any parents who want to understand bullying.

Bullying (Part I): Establishing Awareness

by KRISTIN CHARLES on FEB 25TH 2011 |  Print | Share on Facebook

Posted in the category CHILDREN’S MINISTRY IDEAS

Educate yourself about the bully situation that many children are facing today. This article outlines the common types, possible effects, and warning signs of bullying. Click here to leave a response.

Among the issues plaguing our children today is the predominance and escalation of bullying.  Bullying has pervaded our social media, schools, and youth programs.  Researchers estimate that 20 to 30 percent of school-age children are involved in incidents related to bullying, as either the perpetrators or victims.  Yet these statistics only include reported cases.  We have reason to believe the numbers are much higher than that, closer to 60 to 80 percent.

As individuals who work with children on a regular basis, we need to be aware of the magnitude of bullying, its definition, its warning signs, and its effects.  This particular post will address these specific components.  In future posts, we will focus on intervention for both bullies and their victims, and practical ways to address the subject in your children’s ministry with a proactive stance.

What It Looks Like (Types of Bullying)

As we all know, teasing is an integral part of childhood.  Children find humor in just about anything and many times in their peers. Light hearted teasing ends with each party in hysterics over a silly word spoken, an action, or a shared experience.  However, teasing becomes bullying when it is a repeated aggressive behavior or when there is a conscious intent to hurt another child, physically or mentally.  Bullying involves continual victimization for the purpose of exerting power or force over another individual.

It is said that bullying can begin as early as preschool or kindergarten and extend through college, worsening in the transitional years.  Typically, bullies target children who are more introverted and sensitive than their peers.  Victims can be targeted for any number of reasons:   physical stature, their family’s social status, race, faith, athletic ability, intelligence, and/or low self esteem.  Bullies consider targeted victims to be safe prey, mostly because they do not retaliate and they do not alert trusted adults to the problem at hand.

With younger children, physical bullying may look like shoving, tripping, throwing items, hitting, or making obscene gestures at one person.  As bullies grow older, their actions tend to escalate into more intimidating and humiliating behaviors, including punching, provoking to make a scene, and ganging up on an individual.

Verbal bullying may sound like name-calling, derogatory labeling, threat-making, rumors, gossip, slander, obscenities, ridicule, and cruel jokes. Forms of social media including Facebook, instant messaging, emails, and texts are playgrounds and platforms for verbal bullying.

What Its Effects Are

If your child or a child in your ministry is the victim of a bully, it can have devastating effects on their developing identity.  Children cannot grasp that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” if a bully is relentlessly attacking them for their unique character qualities. This is a tender and formative age for their sense of self-worth.  If a child is being bullied, he/she will often carry those feelings of inferiority and insecurity with them through adulthood and may even struggle with depression and/or suicide because of them.

Often, a victimized child feels as though he/she deserves such harsh ridicule because of an inherent flaw of some sort.  Instead of reaching out for the help of a trusted adult, the child takes the punishment upon himself/herself because there is a perception that it is deserved.  The child may think, “If only I weren’t so clumsy (or) if only I looked like all the other girls than all of this wouldn’t be happening to me.”

A child may also resist confiding in an adult if the adult showed little concern for past grievences, if the adult urges the child to retaliate with aggression, or if the child feels seriously threatened by their perpetrator.  The child in this case may think, “If I tell someone what he did to me, it’s only going to get worse.”

Though the child may have a hard time confiding in an adult about the repeated acts of physical or verbal aggression, they will most likely be exhibiting symptoms of the problem.  Included here are warning signs of this victimization.

Warning Signs

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) identifies these possible warning signs for bullying:

• Child comes home with torn, damaged or missing clothes, books, or belongings
• Unexplained cuts, bruises, scratches
• Has few friends, if any
• Seems afraid to go to school or take part in after-school activities
• Takes a long “illogical” route when walking to and from school
• Has lost interest in school work or suddenly begins to do poorly
• Appears sad, moody, teary, or depressed when he/she comes home
• Has trouble sleeping and/or frequent bad dreams
• Experiences a loss of appetite
• Appears anxious and suffers from low self-esteem
• Recurrent complaints of physical symptoms such as stomach-aches or headaches with no apparent cause
• Sudden change in language (calling herself a “loser” or a best friend a “jerk”)

The children in our homes and ministries deserve our awareness in the struggles that they face on a daily basis.  Even if they may not be the targeted victims, they most likely see bullying occur and are at a loss for what to do about it.  It is our responsibility to take the lead on every issue related to this subject.  The first step in tackling the problem is educating ourselves, opening our eyes, and being made aware.

References:

Stop Bullying Now! A resource published by the HRSA
What Do I Do When Teenagers Encounter Bullying and Violence, by Steve Gerali

For as the rain and snow come down from heaven

 

Today is one of those days. Where I woke up excited, but slightly worried about having  to preach at a concert to 400 parents of which I only know a few and of whom I am sure many of them don’t want me to come.

Praying this morning I was reminded of one of the few times a group of people from a ministry team laid hands on me and spoke scripture like a knife into my heart. It came from Isaiah 55.

For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

I was reminded this morning that sometimes when we preach the word, it comes like rain. Its impact is fast and flooding achieving its purpose immediatley. But many times Gods Word is like snow. It lands on the grass and it can take sometime before it melts and achieves its purpose of watering the grass and producing vegetation. For instance many times we preach and it seems as if little or no impact was made. But God promises that his word will achieve the purpose for which it was sent. Sometimes it may be hours or weeks or even years before the sun rises to melt the snow and carry out its purpose. And the Holy Spirit is the sun that melts the word into peoples hearts and lives. He is the after preacher. And so I can preach tonight knowing that even if no immediate results come. The Word that goes out will not return empty by the time the Spirits finished with it.

The second thing that struck me from these verses is Isaiah 55:10 “giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater”. And it made me realise that the preaching of the word, after some time of producing plant, then produces new seed for the sower. So that other people then have seed to go and spread and sow with. And so I was encouraged that the preached Word of God produces words in other peoples lives so they can take it and multiply it.

And so regardless of how I feel whether its anxiety, nerves, excitement. One thing I will rest in today is that the Word is not mine, but on lone to me from Jesus. And he promises it shall not return to him empty.

One Way Kids and TV

On average, western children are watching more and more TV. Personally I don’t think TV is a bad thing. I think it’s a good thing that can open up windows and avenues that kids would never have been able to see in the past.

For instance, I thought CARS 2 did well to expose kids to different parts of the world when I watched it this week. But like a knife can be used for good and bad. TV can be used in a similar way.

I think the problem I’m having with kids watching TV is when it is uncontrolled and unsupervised. Looking around at aftercares and chatting to kids in our community. It sounds as if TV is the default thing to do when people don’t really want to spend time with them. They have been programmed since a young age to sit in front of the TV when they don’t have anything else to do or mom and dad are busy.

These statistics bothered me a little bit from research done.

By the time the average child finishes primary school.

• They will have witnessed 8000 murders on TV.

• They will also have seen and comprehended 200 000 violent acts by age 18.

• As well as have performed thousands of murders on playstation and Xbox themselves.

• On average by age 65 they will have spent 9 years glued to the TV.

Chatting to my wife who is now a teacher and reading some of the research being done seems to be showing that kids don’t learn that much from television because they disengage with the content. With the pace of information flowing out the TV and into their ears, there is no time to think or comprehend new things that they hear or see. I’ve seen an increasing passivity among kids in general because possibly they are not being stimulated in other areas of learning.

Some advice

1. Schedule specific times for kids to watch TV rather than being uncontrolled about it.

2. Keep an eye on the games your kids are playing on Playstation and XBOX. (little white and black signs on the back- parental, explicit violence warnings etc. be careful)

3. Find out what the aftercare is doing with your child.

4. Engage with your child about what they are watching. Talk about a movie after you watch it. What could we learn? What was good? What was bad? What do we as a family that loves Jesus think about it?

The Bible gives a good challenge in all this.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers (moms and Dads), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things (Or expose your children to such things)

 

127 Hours

This was an intense movie, well directed with some great camera work.

I was challenged recently chatting to Frank Retief about making the most evangelistically of the movies people are watching.

This is one of those movies that has an underlying message behind it. The movie is about a guy called Aaron, an adult man who works and lives a busy individualistic city life. Choosing a work har, play hard lifestyle. On weekends he retreats to the mountains with his mountain bike and backpack to escape on his own.

As his mountain adventure progresses, he slips climbing down a canyon and gets his arm caught between a big boulder and a cliff face. With no one around, he screams for help and then tries to free himself by force, but cannot. He gargles down a quarter of his bottle of water. Little did he know he would be stuck there on his own for the next 127 hours.

He manages to keep calm and collected, but as the reality kicks in of his imminent death, and his water bottle begins to empty, he for the first time begins to reflect on who he is.

He has a number of flashbacks of his life. How he treated his family and isolated himself from them. He begins laughing at stupid things he did. But begins to envision strong regrets like not returning his moms calls, missing his sisters wedding and selfishly allowing his girlfriend to leave him. When it all gets too much, these feelings rush forward to where he is- all alone.

Starring into his video camera, he realises his life has been one where selfishness has reigned supreme. He confesses to have thought of himself as a hero who didn’t need anybodies help.

By the end of the movie, he is forced to cut off his own arm with a cheap pen knife and getting free, he says thank you to an unknown character. That unknown character reminded me of God and the deep seated realisation that our lives must be in his hands.

For the first time in his life as he is descending down the mountain holding his bleeding arm, he shouts help with all his might to a hiking family passing by.

What is interesting about the movie, is that in talking to himself through the 127 hours, he understands that the entire trajectory of his life lead him to this point. He conveys that he is receiving nothing more than what he deserves. He cries out: I chose this! I chose this!

He chose an independent life free from relationships and all alone, he has no one but himself to blame.

This reminded me of our lives. How we choose a life on independence, not just from other people, but from God. We innocently go about our lives, enjoying our stuff and the things of this world. But we do not acknowledge the God who is there. When death finally meets us head on, we begin to realise we are getting what we deserve. As we have chosen a life independent from God.

It was God himself who came to search for us and save us from the place we have got stuck under-our own sin. Jesus himself took the weight of our independence from God and set us free through his death on the cross.

Apart from being a gory movie, this would be a great one to cause people to search their hearts and lives before presenting the good news of Jesus. 

Crossword Kids Camp 2011

The Western Cape 2011 Crossword Kids Camp took place over a weekend in April this year. It happened at the Rockland’s campsite which besides a few leaders and baboons was for Grade 5-7 kids.

Rudi Swart did a great job in preparing our camp material taking us through the Bible Book of Romans showing us what the gospel is. Our aim for this years camp was to share the basics of the gospel in an easy and understandable way for all. So that unbelieving children would put their faith in Christ and so believing children could know they don’t have to ever be ashamed of the gospel.

Gladiators was our theme this year and so it was a laugh to see Grade 5 boys acting like Russell Crowe from the movie Gladiator for most of the weekend. As always the leaders were fantastic in getting involved and really spent time building friendships with the kids in their groups.

Our sessions were really blessed by God as we enjoyed worshipping in song, hearing a testimony, reading God’s Word, an introductory talk and watching the Roman Dungeon, a GWC Studios Production. We had small group discussion times which were a wonderful opportunity for leaders to engage and discuss what the gospel means in everyday life with the kids.

We enjoyed a Gladiator challenge on Saturday where in and amongst other things, the kids got to wack each other with pool noodles and fire tennis balls half way across the field from our very own homemade Roman slingshot.

Keeping with the rhythm of the Cricket World Cup, we had a cricket challenge on the Saturday night where kids got to show us their skills with the bat and ball playing some indoor cricket. The crowd sang songs like Shoshaloza and the National Anthem with pride as they edged their team mates on. There were some umpire (Andre Visagie) decisions that were queried but all ended well.

A highlight this year was making some changes to try to reach children from all our churches. As children’s workers we brainstormed and decided that we would have work books available in Xhosa, Afrikaans and English. Our talks were also translated in sessions from English to Xhosa by Katleho Meslane, which the kids thoroughly appreciated. We were able to provide proper transport for our township and Cape flats churches. We also enjoyed singing songs in different tongues and it was a great reminder to us that the gospel is for all and makes us all one in God.

Many thanks to our director, Andre Visagie, and secretary, Melissa Byne, who made our camp a great success. Overall it was a wonderful time where God was glorified. We pray that many kids came to know Christ and that others were strengthened in their relationship with him.

- Chris Ebden