A little (non-profund) insight from Jeremiah

I'm reading through Jeremiah at the moment. It's a great read. Tough, but lots of gems along the way.

Here's something (not really a gem, but a useful insight) that I came across today.

Have you ever wondered about that slightly unusual ceremony in Genesis 15? You know the one where God has just promised to Abram that he will make his offspring like the stars in the sky - despite the current situation of Abram being childless and the biological clock for he as his wife Sarah seeming to have ticked it's last tock.

Having made that promise, God then tells Abram to cut up various animals in half and lay them out. Abram does so and as night falls, he goes to sleep.

He then has a dream in which God visits him and makes more promises - again, about his offspring. But also, in the draw, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the pieces of the animals and we are told that on that day God made a covenant with Abram.

We don't really understand the details of how this covenant ceremony works and they are not explained for us, which perhaps means that the original readers understood exactly what was going on and so didn't need an explanation.

But here is what I found in Jeremiah today. In Jeremiah 34 God commands Jeremiah to go and speak to the Zedekiah, King of Judah, and the message is not great. Basically, because the people of Israel have been systematically and habitually ignoring the law of God, they are going to suffer under his judgement. This is expressed in various ways throughout the chapter, but verses 18 and 19 say this.

"And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts - the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf."

In other words, they have broken the covenant and as a result, they are going to become like those animals that were used in the covenant ceremony.

I don't know about you, but that helps me understand what is happening in Genesis 15. The symbolism of the halved animals is a promise of what happens if the covenant is broken. Therefore, the promise is a very serious one and needs to be considered with great caution and respect!

(Told you it was little and non-profound, but useful all the same.)

Church discipline : the first step

I recently had the privilege to attend a conference run by 9Marks, a group led by Mark Dever from Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington. Mark is an incredibly well thought our and humble teacher and is leading a great movement to encourage Biblical churches in the USA and beyond. I was there because for the first time ever, a simultaneous conference for Spanish speakers was held, which meant I had a great opportunity to network and learn.

Mark's sessions and generous conversation at dinner made me think about lots of things. Not surprisingly, I didn't agree with everything he said (but then if you are going to conferences where you agree with everything that is said, maybe you need to push your thinking a bit harder) but I was really challenged by one point that he made.

Throughout the weekend there was quite a bit of talk about church membership and church discipline. Membership being the formal process that people are asked to step through to declare their commitment to their local church, and the process of the church accepting and including them. And discipline being the process of confronting those members who move away from the things they committed to in the membership process, with the aim of restoration (guided by passages such as Matt 18).

We had a really helpful discussion on the process and purpose of discipline and, how people within the church are involved, how discipline can be exercised without encouraging "the church police". But the thing that really stuck out for me was this comment. "The first step of church discipline is church membership."

When he said "the first step of church discipline is...." I immediately started thinking about who raises the question, who does the visit, how hard do you go it - all that sort of stuff. But no, for Mark, the first step was membership. Because in his mind, without a clear membership process and commitment, the exercise of discipline becomes much more difficult. Why? Because the expectations and boundaries haven't been clearly defined. And without those in place, it is much harder to say - hey, you are not keeping up your end of the agreement. Perhaps without some sort of membership system, the response might come back... "What agreement?"

Now for different churches and denominations the process of membership will look different. Whether there are covenants to be signed or courses to be completed or pledges to be made - who knows. The point is, if we want to be caring for the people in our churches, then perhaps there needs to be something.

Maybe the 21st century response to this idea might be - wait a minute, I don't commit to anything beyond a 3 month gym membership, and so requiring a commitment to church might be seen as being a bit over the top. Maybe so - but then again, maybe we need to be counter-cultural, and say - people matter to us. They matter so much that we care about them and their walk with the Lord, and to care for them as best we can, this is something we ask.

Why exegetical preaching is good for you.

Last week I was one of the presenters at a pastor's conference on an isolated Caribbean nation. (Yes, one of those ones that got smashed by Hurricane Sandy - which made for an interesting couple of days.)

I was speaking about the importance of Biblical Theology and how we as pastors can teach it to our congregations. But I was also invited to be part of a panel which discussed various issues and took questions from the floor for an hour each day. During one of these panels I was reminded that exegetical preaching is good for you.

It came up because we were talking about the different of roles of men and women in ministry, and someone asked about 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 - the famous "head covering" passage. 

We talked about the different issues involved in the passage, cultural things, creation order, expressions of authority and submission to authority etc. It is a difficult passage, requires hard work to understand it, and even harder work to teach it. And then it came to me - that is exactly why a steady diet of systematic, exegetical preaching is good for us. Because it makes us think and work hard.

You see, if each week you preach on what has come to you during the week, or what is the "live issue of the day"or what doctrinal or theological topic you think needs to be addressed in any particular moment, I'm guessing you'll probably never preach on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. Because it is unlikely to come up on your radar as a "hot topic"while you are considering what to preach about this Sunday.

But if we are committed to work through a book, chapter by chapter, then we commit ourselves to the hard yards or having to deal with these sorts of passages. And that is a good thing, because I think if we preach week in and week out on what we think the congregation needs to hear, then I suspect we tend to preach on what we think we already understand, and therefore our preparation and thinking gets sloppy. We spend more time trying to work out how to communicate what it is we already think we know, rather than being challenged by something new and then working out how to communicate that.

But if each week as we open to the next chapter in our program, we are presented with the agenda from the Bible, sometimes - in fact hopefully, many times - our thinking is going to be challenged, our eyes are going to be opened to new truths and insights, and we are going to need to read and prepare carefully to answer the surprises and challenges that the text throws at us. Yes, that will require careful thought, hard work, and longer preparation, but that is a good thing, because it will make us students and servants of the text, rather than authorities over it.

So, get that diet of regular, systematic, expository preaching going - and look out for the challenges it will bring your way!

(The picture is of sunrise over our city this morning, snapped by our most excellent language tutor Lillian.)

A little reminder of why we are here

I had a conversation last week which was a good reminder of why we need to be here, and what we can and can't take for granted.

I was chatting with someone I have got to know over the last year or so. He's a christian and a great guy, very keen to be doing what he can to encourage others, but hasn't really been settled in a church for a while. He has recently started studying a couple of the courses I am running, and we are also both part of a mid-week Bible study group.

We were talking about what he'd been learning as he studied his first Old Testament subject. The conversation went something like this. He is 'F' (for friend), I am 'M' (for me).

'F' : Do people really study the Bible?
'M': Do you mean, do people really study the Bible - in terms of where it came from, how we got it etc, or, do you mean, Do people study it in terms of what it says?
'F': No - do people study it deeply or just skim over it? I mean, I have learnt so much from studying this course and I wonder if others do it or they would benefit from it?
'M': Yes - people do study it in depth. There are some places, like in Sydney where I come from, where it is totally normal for people who are members of a church to also be involved in a Bible study group each week where they read the Bible carefully and try to apply it to their lives and encourage the other members of the group to do the same. Each week in the sermon the preacher also tries to carefully teach the passage for the day and apply it to our everyday life.
'F': Really ?! Wow, that would be really good if we could get people doing that sort of thing here.
'M': Well, I'm running a group on Sundays at our church in which we are reading through Ephesians. Looking at 10 or so verses each week, thinking about the details and how those details speak to us.
'F': That's fantastic - that is exactly the sort of thing people here need, because they just spend a lot of time skimming on the surface.
'M': Yes.

For readers in good churches where this sort of detailed study is par for the course, can I make two requests.

1. Don't take it for granted. Keep pushing your leaders to do a good job of careful teaching from the scriptures.
2. Don't forget that there are whole lot of places in the world where things are very different. So please keep on remembering those places in your prayers and in your giving.

(Photo: Holy Cross Anglican Church, Tarija, Bolivia)

Fly in, Fly out teaching

I teach classes in all sorts of contexts, but one which is becoming more common is the "fly in, fly out" model. Kind-of like the miners who commute from Perth, but without the big $$!

I was recently involved in a group which illustrates how this model works, and why.

The academic year has just begun in Spain, and the local IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) group (GBU) was gearing up for their program to begin. As part of their week long staff get together and start up for the year, they invited me to go and teach the MOCLAM Old Testament 1 course.  So, for a week I'd teach the material, and in the afternoon they'd do other GBU stuff, study or get ready for the year ahead.

It was fantastic - here are some of the reasons why.

i. They got the chance to study. 

For many of the people in groups like this, formal, full time theological education is not a possibility. Whether it be for reasons economic, geographical, educational or others - the possibility of going to a seminary to study for a few years is not on the horizon. Therefore, for them to be able to do a seminary level course in their own environment is a great advantage.

ii. They got the chance to study with others.

There is no substitute for learning in community, especially learning theology in community. Distance education is great and it means lots of people can be studying who may not have been able to in the past, but  there is no substitute for community. Studying together in a group for a week means we get to discuss questions, chase ideas, swap experiences, think about personal applications and generally have a fun time - all of which is much harder if you are by yourself.

iii. The got to study in their own language.

One of the issues with theological education, particularly here in Latin America is that many of the good resources and colleges require English. The vast majority of my fly in - fly out teaching is done in Spanish, so is very much more accessible.  (Due to the makeup of the group, the class in Spain was actually in English, which is the first time I have taught in English!)

iv. It is relatively cheap

I can get anywhere in Latin America or Europe for about US$1000. In the world of education that is cheap! Of course the students don't pay for that - the generous supporters of CMS who see this as a worthwhile thing to be doing do.

But of course there are some disadvantages as well.

i. It was only for a week.

Yes we got to study in community and we bonded quickly, and I will have some ongoing email contact with the members of the group - but the class only existed for a week. Theological education is a process of shaping. It is not about giving a long list of answers to an even longer list of questions. It is about shaping our minds so that we can read and understand the Bible so we can teach it to others and work out, using God's wisdom, the answers. You can't do that in a week. You can start, you can give a few building blocks, but the house can't be finished in a week!

ii. It takes time to understand local culture

As a teacher in a fly in, fly out role, I really need to be on my game when it comes to understanding and adapting to the local culture. There are all sorts of things that can be very off-putting for students if I don't understand what is going on. For example, what is my expectation of students asking questions? What do I do when a student gives a wrong answer to a question that I ask? Are the students able to work in small groups without direction? What is considered a reasonable starting time and what is the correct reaction when someone is late?   

All these are cultural questions, and require careful thought. As much as possible, I try to have a local organiser who deals with a lot of the local logistical stuff, and I try and take my lead from them.

iii. Modelling

I think I am safe in saying that the greatest influence on a Christian's life is their day to day and week to week interaction with their church, their pastor, and their fellow local Christians. They will model their Bible reading habits, their methods of thinking, their devotional life and their attitude to others on the models they see around them every day. Therefore, if I come in for a week and say "here's a brand new way to think about the Bible" or "here's a new preaching model", it is hard to know what use that is - and that is assuming that the model I'm introducing is brilliant!

Just as there is no substitute for long term, community based theological education, there is no substitute for long term, relationship-based modelling of the Christian life. 

But, just because it isn't the best, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

What we're trying to do now in MOCLAM is see how we can use the "fly in, fly out" model as a basis for forming ongoing study groups. Things like:

- trying where possible to make return visits to teach subsequent classes.

- having students continue in their studies as individuals and meet regularly in local groups.

- encourage students to participate "virtual classrooms" as they continue to study individually.

(By the way, you might be glad to know that we have passed 1,000 enrolments for 2012!)

(Photo: Boarding in Tarija, Bolivia - just before the Military Policeman grabbed my camera!)

Day off trickiness

Today I was doing a bit of planning for the remainder of the year. There are a couple of busy months coming up including a long (4+ weeks) trip and some weekend things. In the midst of that planning, an age old question has arisen. When do you say "no" - I just need to have a rest?

On one hand, the answer is obvious. You say no when you need to.

But its never quite as simple as that is it. I mean, if the thing I was saying no to was a waste of time or pointless, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. No would have been the answer a long time ago.

The problem is, the things that are filling my diary are neither a waste of time nor pointless. In fact, they are exactly the sorts of things I am here to do. Teach courses, participate in workshops, meet and encourage leaders.

You can see (and I'm sure resonate from your own experience) the problem.

Added to that is that fact that out of necessity (due to the availability of those who are coming) many of these things happen on the weekend. Saturday is our family day off. We try and do something together - go to a park or have an adventure somewhere. It is an important thing for the health of our family to do these sorts of things.

But me teaching a course means that family day doesn't happen. I'm led to believe they all have a reasonable time while I'm away - but its not the same. Certainly not the same for me.

Yes - I can usually take a day or so off sometime during the week if I need to, but its not like a Saturday, because the normal stuff of life carries on.

And so - day off trickiness is the result.

On the road again

Tomorrow - I'm on the road again.

My main reason for travelling this time is to teach an Old Testament intensive course to IFES staffworkers in Bilbao, in the north of Spain. (The Spanish IFES group is the GBU) Some of their staff have been doing MOCLAM courses regularly, and for some this will be their first. I'll be seeing my good friends Derek and Jane, who are missionaries from Ireland and who are very quick to remind me about Australian sporting failures.

As usual, I try and do a few other bits and pieces while I'm travelling. This time I'll be having a meeting with the great people from Christianity Explored in London who are producing a Spanish version of the video resources to go with the printed material we already have. I'll also meet a couple of MOCLAM students in Barcelona and have a chance to meet and encourage / be encouraged by other CMS missionary families (Lovells, Whittens), and talk with them about how MOCLAM can help their ministry. Finally, I'm meeting with some people involved with the work of MOCLAM in a large Caribbean island and look forward to working with them on how we can keep the work growing in a very needy part of the world.

Lots of flights, buses, trains,early mornings, late nights and waiting, but as always, I'm looking forward to a productive time. (I'm also packing my running stuff in the hope of continuing my slow build up for the Monterrey Marathon in December!)