Aotearoa

 

The mountains. The rivers. The ocean. The land. The people. This place.

WE ARE NEW ZEALAND. IT’S YOU AND I!

Minuit have produced this song and video: a composite snapshot of this New Zealand/Aotearoa.  I saw it for the first time and it stirred in me a fresh love for this place that God has called me and my family to live in; a fresh commitment to the peoples of this land – a new and deeper commitment.

Back in the UK recently I was talking to a group of students about New Zealand and TSCF. I spoke of ‘we’. One of the students interrupted, “Excuse me,” he said. “You said ‘New Zealand, we”. I hadn’t done it purposefully it had just slipped out. “Yes, I said, it’s where I live, it’s where I pay tax, it’s where I vote, it’s… it’s my home”. “BUT SURELY.” he said with real incredulity. “BUT SURELY IF ENGLAND WERE PLAYING NEW ZEALAND IN RUGBY YOU’D SUPPORT ENGLAND?”

“To be honest it would be a close call” was my reply. “BUT… BUT… YOU’VE GONE NATIVE” his incredulity turned a little toward disgust!

Maybe I have.  I long to spend time with friends and family back in the UK, LOVED the time I spent with them recently: spent at church back in Leicester, spent travelling on the road.  I loved it all but with each day away from NZ my heart grew sore with missing family and friends here, missing church here, missing TSCF ministry.

Watching the Minuit video on Monday night reminded me that God has called me here because my home is not in the UK or NZ but rather in Heaven.  He has called me here with wife and kids to become a part of the communities of this land for the sake of the good news about Jesus Christ.

If I’ve ‘gone native’ it’s following a good example and is a good historical missionary reality: Jesus was the Word who became flesh – he went native – and elsewhere the apostle Paul speaks of becoming for the sake of proclaiming.  I hope to become more ‘native’ to make the reality of the call to follow Jesus all the more clear and plain.

Are you ‘native’ enough where you are?

¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Sometimes evil makes a gain BUT NEVER wins a victory

“More than 100 Christian houses were burned and looted on Saturday in a rampage that lasted about eight hours by a crowd the authorities estimate was as large as 20,000 strong. In addition to the seven members of the Hameed family who were killed, about 20 people were wounded.”

from NY Times Aug 2nd

“The attack in Korian, where homes of local Christians were torched, churches vandalised and Bibles desecrated, were allegedly sparked by rumours that a copy of the Qur’an had been burned during a Christian wedding. No one was injured in the attacks in Korian, but tensions continued to rise and fresh violence erupted two days later. According to eye witnesses, more than 800 Muslims carrying a variety of weapons raided a Christian settlement. Incited by broadcasts from local mosques, they looted, vandalised and set fire to houses. Seven Christians died in the flames and at least 20 injured. There are indications that the attack on the two areas was planned; according to one local Christian, those in surrounding villages and towns began receiving threats as Muslim clerics began preaching hatred and revenge.”

“According to reports, police have charged 816 people, including the district coordination officer and the district police officer, with murder, attempted murder and terrorism.”

From The Barnabus Fund website

 

 Paul Windsor forwarded this news via email.  One of the minor triumphs of evil is that this news is covered over in a deluge of celebrity gossip and sporting obsession. There has been not a hint of these goings on in the media here – well not that I’ve seen: plenty on celebrity lives though and a little too much post match analysis on the fortunes of the All Blacks.

There is no victory for this sort of evil though for God is a God  of justice.  His justice will be made plain, His glory seen, His rule made clear. I’m praying for the Hameed family, for the families around the world who are persecuted for the sake of Jesus that they will endure under hardship and that the words of Christ will fortify their hearts.

‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander… Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

Revelation 2:9-11

I’m praying too that the Lord Jesus may return quickly and bring an end to the tsunami of evil in the world.

Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.

The Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Ps 10:12-18

Tell the World About Jesus

Here’s some exciting news that just hit my inbox – I’m including the ‘press’ release in full

At its biennial leadership meeting in Korea in June, The Lausanne Movement named the expositors for Cape Town 2010. This Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, will take place 16-25 October 2010. www.capetown2010.com

The Revd Doug Birdsall, Chairman of the Lausanne Movement,  stated that the six Bible expositors will reflect the demographic, theological and cultural composition of Cape Town 2010. ‘The Congress will be truly global while at the same time being distinctly African in nuance and feel. Two hundred years ago, William Carey proposed a congress of similar scope for Cape Town, South Africa. In a very real sense, Cape Town 2010 will be the fulfilment of his dream. Each day, the Congress programme will begin with expositions from the book of Ephesians. The six Bible teachers we have invited to Cape Town 2010 come from six different regions of the world and represent some of the finest Bible expositors of our generation.’

The expositors have been named as Ajith Fernando, Director of Sri Lanka Youth for Christ; Calisto Odede, Associate Pastor of Nairobi Pentecostal Church, Kenya; John Piper , senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis , US; Vaughan Roberts, Rector of St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford , UK; Ruth Padilla DeBorst, General Secretary of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (Costa Rica); and Ramez Atallah, Director of the Egyptian Bible Society, and his wife, Rebecca, who has a grassroots ministry among children and Sudanese refugees in the ‘garbage village’ in Cairo.

Lindsay Brown, Lausanne Movement International Director, spoke of his hopes for the Congress: ‘We are hoping for clarity on the nature of evangelism; for clear-sightedness on the critical issues to be faced by the Church in the next 20 years; for many new international partnerships and initiatives such as characterise The Lausanne Movement; and for decisive action as the gospel is taken to the ends of the earth, by which we mean both the geographical ends of the earth, and every area of society.’

The Congress will draw 4,000 participants onsite, from 200 nations. In addition, capacity is being built for virtual participation by churches and theological colleges around the world, through the Cape Town GlobaLink. From October this year, the Church on each continent is invited to join The Global Conversation at www.lausanne.org, the first of its kind to draw the world’s evangelicals together in engaging critical issues in world evangelization. Peter Brierley, founder of the UK body ‘Christian Research’ said, ‘I suspect this will be the best-planned, technologically-led global conference ever.’

I’ve heard half of the named speakers teach God’s Word and think this will be an extraordinary conference in addressing the opportunities and challenges the Church faces in making Jesus known around the world.  I’ve been to Cape Town and think it will be an extraordinary conference in an amazing setting.

Living the Dream 8 – Living for the End

Nigel Pollock spoke this morning from Daniel 7: knowing the end transforms how we understand the present.  God has revealed the end of the story for us: we know how history will wrap up. How does that change the way we live in the present, how we live out the dream.

Daniel has a dream which is recorded for us in Dan 7.  Daniel’s dream has parallels to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Dan 2. Both dreams are about successive kingdoms and about God’s Reign. The headlines are that earthly authorities are transitory but God’s Reign, through God’s King, is eternal and unassailable.

In Daniel 1-6 the friends have lived through and won some battles.  But what happens when those battles aren’t ‘won’?  Daniel 7-12 is not like the first 6 chapters: it is thematically compiled prophecies/dreams/material which helps us understand what Daniel learned through his years in exile; what we also need to learn.

Daniel sees God as the ‘Ancient of Days’ before whom the ‘Son of Man’ comes as an eternal and universal King.  The hope is of a Kingdom over all kingdoms – a new Reign under an Eternal Ruler.  God will rule and reign. Our hope is not ethereal and unreal: our hope is to live and serve the King for all eternity. A new heavens and a new earth: a new reality under the Real King.

God reveals the end to Daniel. He sees what he won’t live through but must life for.  Daniel sees that through the crumbling of earthly kingdoms, through the turmoil of history, God’s appointed servant – The Son of Man – Jesus Himself, will rule and reign as the eternal king.  History itself will one day come to an end and at the end we will see what has been in place since the beginning: that God rules eternally as King, Judge, Saviour.

How does Daniel respond? He responds in repentant and hopeful prayer in Chapter 9.  In that prayer Daniel makes it clear that the letter to the exiles written by Jeremiah (Jer 29) is what has framed their understanding of God’s action in history.  Jer 29 is all too often given as a little encouragement in the face of personal disappointment BUT Jeremiah is writing about BIG encouragement that God is at work over a long period of time.  Daniel: 70 years down the line, 70 years of exile living behind him, 70 years of waiting prescribed by God responds in obedience to God’s Word and get’s on his knees: seeking after God as God had commanded 70 years earlier.

How we respond is determined by how we perceive the urgency of what is going on.  Daniel’s prayer is repentant because of the sin which has characterised the response of God’s people.  Daniel’s appeal is to God’s glory: to God’s purpose, to His holiness, to His honour.  The confidence in the prayer arises out of what God has said, in who God is, in how He has revealed Himself.

God honours His Name according to His faithful Word.  Prayer is our response to God’s faithfulness – prayer is not a lack of action BUT the correct action in response to God.

In Dan 12 we see that Daniel does not understand it all but God gives him insight into the end.  God’s plan is to fashion a people for Himself: a people that God will prepare, purify and preserve.  God’s judgement will fall on the wicked, on those who refuse the honour of God.  There will be a time delay – but there is great certainty.

The last words, the last instruction to Daniel:

“Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days. As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” Dan 12:12-13

WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!

Wait with hope.  The more we have invested in this world the harder it is to wait with hope; precisely because the things which we treasure know entangle us in the affairs of today.  Those who are most excited about the coming of the end are those who have the least in this world; they are those who have the most hope in Jesus.

Knowing the end transforms how we live – because we are living as those who wait with hope.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15-16

Living the Dream 7 – Dreaming together

 

Being at mid-year this week has been a total joy.  It’s not that I enjoy being cold (and it has been) nor away from my family but that I’ve really missed being with the TSCF gang of students, staff, MInterns, graduates, supporters and visitors.  It’s hit me again what a privilege it is that God has called and placed me in this work; it’s reminded me of how painful it’s been over the last year to be away from the work and the people who God has given me to serve.

Students and staff have both said that it’s good to see me again. I’ve not found the words to express how great it is to be here to be seen but also to see, to share with and to be ‘back’ in the work God is doing in TSCF. Mostly I’ve said ‘it’s great to be here!’ which is an anaemic way of saying what I really want to say: that it is amazing to back and I’ve been on the edge of being overly emotional all week with gratitude.

It’s also been brilliant to see this year’s MINTY gang in action.  They have served well with humility, fullness of heart and unstinting faithfulness through the week.

On Wednesday Nigel shared during the TSCF AGM about our dream to share the gospel.  It isn’t a usual experience to hear stuff at an AGM that you find transforming and life re-orientating truth: but Nigel isn’t a usual sort of person and God used him extraordinarily in the AGM. You can read what he said HERE.

We are dreaming together. We are living the dream together.  We are small and despite great weakness, under God’s grace there are great adventures ahead. 

This week has reminded me that I am living the dream – a dream which God planted into my heart: serving Him where he has sent me, doing what he has set for me to do, alongside others who love Him too. It is a mystery to me, a joyful one, how I ended up here because I’m not worthy of so great a privilege. May God be praised for his kindness in Jesus Christ!!!

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,  but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:5-10