College

Reading: The Trellis and the Vine

At college we have a long list of books that we need to read. Ranging from really interesting to not so interesting, they include books on history, Bible commentaries and books to help us think critically about what ministry looks like in practice. We also read the Bible a bit.

Recently I’ve been reading a book called, ‘The Trellis and the Vine‘ by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. I’ve actually owned it for ages, but never read it.

It really is a great book, and I would out it into the ‘really interesting’ category mentioned above. It says a lot about trainer/trainee relationships, and how trainees end up being imitators of their trainers. From this, it has helped me reflect on where I have been so far in my ministry, and why I now do things the way I do (mostly because my trainers taught me to do it that way).

The book speaks a lot about how to train Christian people for a lifetime of serving Jesus, and his people. The book suggests that just running endless courses for people is not enough, but training by your example is much better.

One bit in chapter 6 especially stood out to me.

“… to make real progress in helping the Christians in your congregation become ‘encouragers’, they need more than a six week course. They need the example of seeing it done; and they need the personal instruction and mentoring and prayer that addresses the spiritual issues at the heart of becoming an ‘encourager’. This takes time and personal attention – before, during and after the structured training opportunity.”

I’m still reading it. If you want a copy, Matthias Media sell it.

Do you have the right tools?

Because I’m training to be a Christian minister, I feel the need to have good tools to help me do my job. It sounds simple, a carpenter needs good tools that work. If it is not a good hammer (nail gun), his work might be compromised. This is the same for Christians, you need to have a good bible. A bible that you can trust in.

This year ive been trying to work out what I should do about bible software on my computer. Traditionally there have been two main programs that have served the Mac, Logos and Accordance. From what I have heard, they are both good pieces of software. Really helpful tools for studying the bible,and sharing it’s contents with others. Recently both programs unveiled versions for the iPhone and iPad, meaning that you can have all your tools available to you even when you don’t have your computer handy.

The problem sometimes lies in the price of these programs. The middle package from Logos is priced at $629.95, and the accordance pricing is so confusing that I ran out of patience.

This is where Glo Bible comes in. Glo Bible is a program that has been on the PC for the past year and a bit, and just quietly, I was a bit excited when I found out that they had released a version for Mac, iPad and soon to be iPhone. The interface is really easy to use, and the content is amazing. On a really simple level, it is a bible. And the aim of it, is to get you to read the bible. But it also offers timelines, photos, an atlas and heaps HD video content. And it only cost $50 US, because they are having a launch discount.

Ill probably end up getting Logos, because that has lots of stuff that I think ill need in the future years. But at the moment I couldn’t justify the $629 price tag, so the $50 Glo Bible got my vote. It’s a great tool, and ive already found it extremely helpful in my bible study.

Lets start at the very beginning…

The last couple of weeks at church we have kicked off a series in Genesis. Also at College, my Old Testament lectures have been on the book of Genesis. It has been great to have a rare opportunity to study this book in both contexts.

Often at college, subjects take an academic flavour. Simply a downloading of information, in the ambition that we will be able to synthesise what he have learnt and heard, into an essay or an exam. This isn’t what normally what happens, but it does sometimes. This can be frustrating, but it isn’t really a problem, College is a University after all.

But it has been great learning this book in two very different contexts. Mostly because is has allowed me to use this knowledge from College to help love and teach the people at church. I’m preaching again in a couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to being able to continue to do this to a fuller extent.

I thought I would share some of the things that I have learnt from the first 2 chapters.

  • God creates with his word, or his speech.
  • Creating is not a by-product of some other event, it was created in it’s own right.
  • God created Man under himself, but above the animals.
  • God created Woman out of the side of man. (Implying that they are not above or below each other, but side-by-side)
  • Everything that God made was good.

Moore Mission in Photographs

My time last week down in St George North was a blast. St George North Anglican is a church that I suspect is going to go on to achieve great things in and around St George North. They have a great staff team working there for Jesus. That being said, I don’t think I have ever packed so much into one week for a long time.

This week everyone is back at college, and the assignments are starting to pour in again. I thought I would lighten things up with some random photos I took last week. Enjoy.

p.s you can check out St George North Anglican Church, here.

Moore Mission, Day 3

Yesterday was a really good day here in the south. The day kicked of at 7am, with the whole team stationed at various train stations inviting people to come to Church on Sunday and the Easter services of St George Anglican. The ladies of our team then kicked on, and ran a training event for the Christian women of the church on “Spreading Jesus Through Friendships”. By all accounts it went really well, with lots of women realising that they were already doing everything that was spoken about. Which was encouraging for the ladies on our team.

The day then rounded out with 2 hours of door knocking. Lots of stories came from this also. Lots of conversations were had with people from all different backgrounds. Please pray for all the people we shared the gospel with. We can’t go into specifics about the people we met. Mainly because we don’t want people to be afraid to speak to us because of fear that we will then go and blog about them.

Moore Mission, Day 2

Last night we had the 7pm service here at St George North. It was a great night spending time with a truly great group of Christians. After the morning services, a team meeting and some walk up evangelism/flier drop most of us were pretty tired, so the smiling faces at Church in the Bank were really encouraging for us as a team. The stories this morning of conversations had last night were a testament to this encouragement.

Today was a much quieter day. Today we spent most of the day planning for this coming week, along with a tour of St George North. Because nothing much happened today, I thought I would let you know of some stats.

St George North is a vastly multicultural area. Looking at Census data from 2006 for the suburb of Kogarah the population sits at 11,715 people with a pretty 5,810/5,905 Male/Female split.

  • The 25 to 54 age group is the highest represented with 5,703 people.
  • 2,697 people were born in Asia, with 1,325 of them being born in China.
  • Because of this, Mandarin and Cantonese speaking homes are high in proportion with a combined 16.6%

So with a quick look at these stats, it is evident that St George North is a very multicultural area. Sadly this is not the case within the Church here. But it is something that they are spending time and energy trying to change. We have been really thankful that there are a few people on our Mission team, who can speak both Mandarin and Cantonese. Meaning that we are able to make vital contact with these groups in Kogarah.

Moore Mission, Day 1

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This morning the St George North mission kicked off with 3 services in 3 different buildings in Bexley, Bexley North and Carlton. St George North Anglican Church is a multi site church, with a total of 4 services over 4 different sites in and around Bexley.

This morning our mission team was split between these 3 different services with 3 people from the team preaching. Tonight we will all combine for a 7pm service in a bank in Kogarah.

If you are the kind if person that likes to pray, we would love it if you would pray for the beginning of our mission here in St George North. Pray for the churches we will be working with over the next week, and that this mission will only be the beginnings of a wider and longer lasting mission here in St George.

Week 5 is over.

I thought it was about time to write something about how college is going.

One thing about college that has genuinely surprised me has been how busy the place is. I’ve been at college for 7 weeks now, and is feels like it has been about 2. I mostly have classes in the morning, which I can manage with a good coffee. But along with other various meetings and groups, the day ends up rounding out with some revision, some readings and then an assignment or two. Along with church responsibilities and other things, by week seems to be over just when it is beginning.

Another aspect of college that has surprised me has been the friendliness of the staff here at college. The experience is like nothing I have ever experienced at an educational institution before. This week I was encouraged by their genuine care for their students. I’ve had many random conversations with faculty where this care has been demonstrated.

Along with this care, college has still be quite challenging. Mostly because I have not studied formally in 5 years.

So far college has been brilliant, I have learnt heaps and I’m looking forward to what the next 4 years will bring.

Moore Mission 2011

This last couple of weeks have been exciting. But first a short story.

A couple of years ago Kirsty and I stopped leading on Kiama Beach Mission. Kirsty led on it for two years, and I led for eight. Finishing up mission was both a sad and happy time. Sad to be finishing up in a ministry we had loved, with people we loved and sad at the prospect of not being able to keep in touch with the churches in Kiama. But also happy because we were getting married, and felt that the leadership had passed on to new people with fresh ideas. KBM was in safe hands.

Why would I share this story? Next week Moore College mission for 2011 begins. It has been great being able to be part of plans for a new mission. Even if there will be considerably less beach involved. The whole college is splitting up for the week to tell people from all over Sydney about Jesus. With a few other groups heading to places like Hong Kong and Port Macquarie. Personally I will be heading to St George North, around Carlton, which is near Sydney airport.

If you want too read about what is happening during the week. Ill be contributing to a combined blog over the course of the week. My posts will be the ones with less text and more fun stuff like photos, and possibly a video or two.

But if you are reading this, then I want to invite you to be part of our Moore Mission street team. We need people to spread the word that Moore College is having a mission. There are 4 basic things that you can do.

1) if you have a blog – get the word out! let people know about mooremission.wordpress.com

2) if you’re on twitter – tweet about us. if you have mission related tweets, use the hashtag #MooreMission

3) if you’re on facebook – share the love.

4) if you have family, friends, churches that would be interested in following Moore Mission 2011 – let ‘em know!