8:03pm – Bec finds modern creed in the front of her notes. ARGH!!!

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Dear reader,
Do comment once in awhile.

General YITS

Desparity… exaggeration. Tomorrow is a new day.

Church was good… no further descriptive words. After announcement and none of the expected someone get up to protest, things went on normally, a better normal (which happens every now and then). Amanda did a good job leading. Lots of focus on Jesus – sermon included (funny that for a church). It was what was needed. My mind returned to what I read last night…

Colossians 1:21-23
21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Anyway, sat or rather participated with a somewhat better attitude than yesterday’s. Enough to say I even enjoyed myself – or rather, God. God reminding me of various stuff, thoughts in my head. Sense somewhat of community. Surprise surprise. Older guy… Ian Broadley (had to ask Nathania his name afterwards) started talking to us quite out of nowhere… mainly about workloads, YITS, uni etc… he asked about the Solomons, or rather the integration into the ‘Australian Way of Life’…. funny that 🙂 haven’t been asked that in a long while.

I got my act together this afternoon. Emailed Rowan for an extension for the Personal Creed. Hopefully my reasons are vaild enough. Wrote the Evangelism essay – which wasn’t as hard, once I worked out what the topic was talking about… Study for Doctrine test tonight and tomorrow morning over Subway… save the oral presentation for our long 40min Monday breaks x2. Must bring computer. Is it enough to suggest things are a little more under control.
🙂 for God.

I actually found the PE essay kind of interesting. What of more I’d like to do, when feasible. The topic being: Incarnational Mission relating to evangelism. Hopefully okay for a cram session maybe didn’t include enough practical examples. Read it if you like.

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Introduction

Incarnational Mission plays a key role in evangelism. John 1:14 (NIV), tells that, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” As Christians we are called to imitate the life of Jesus and by incorporating this action of the incarnate God into the act of mission, resulting in the concept of Incarnational Mission. This can be more clearly defined as, “The immersion in the life of Jesus rooted and growing in a particular context.” (Taylor, 2004) Simply put, Incarnational mission brings the concept of mission i.e. evangelism into the environment where it is most effective, amongst people in their typical culture.

Incarnational Mission

Mark Norridge states that, “Marshall McLuhan has famously said: “The medium is the message”, implying that the means of communicating the message contains a message itself. If this is indeed the case, then our efforts to communicate God’s love to God’s world can take no higher form than that which God Himself employed.” (Norridge, 2004)

The ‘means’ taking the form of anything from; overseas missionary work, by which the ‘missionary’ is called to, temporarily adopt or understand another culture (Hesselgrave, 1982: 131) to the implementation of activities undertaken by many emerging or organic churches in getting involved in their community and employing a lifestyle both Christian and culture specific.

By intentionally immersing yourself within a culture, be it modern, postmodern, western, international or other, you seek to meet the people on their level. Paul explains this well through his letter to the church at Corinth, “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews… I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor 9:20-22 for full text see appendix) By seeking common ground, you can be effective salt and light (Matt 5:13) where there is a genuine need in a culture that will respond far better in their apathy to ‘Christ coming to them’, than the passive act of waiting for the outside world to come to our churches.

Living out a lifestyle of this kind has implications for those involved, “Lifestyle and words go together. People notice that there is something different about us. They may put that down to our simply being nice people and Christians don’t have a monopoly on being nice! Unless we tell them why we’re different how will they know?” (Pollard, 1999: 77) So, despite Incarnational mission being, ‘to go out’ to the world in culturally appropriate ways, there needs to be words behind our motive so as to be able to adequately explain “why Christ”, and to be secure in the balance of being ‘in the world but not of the world.’ (Rom 12:2)

However, “The picture Jesus paints for his disciples is to live life with one hand clasped in the hand of God and the other reaching out to serve the needs of others.” (Posterski, 1989: 148) (Mrk 10:42-45) there are numerous examples of this both through once off youth/congregational attempts and those that seek to live Incarnational Mission daily. Be it to visit the same café a given morning of the week and seek to build relationships with the workers and other regulars, or the more drastic step of living in an unfamiliar culture and learning the ways of another.

Relationship is by far the most effective means of reaching others. Words are by no means the most effective way of communicating. Others will respond when they are both comfortable in a situation – this usually means a familiar environment, and have reached a point where they can trust the person they are listening too. A force fed measure of ‘Bible bashing’ will only make the individual on the other end resistant and will undoubtedly result in offence of an unwanted belief being shoved down their throat. By presenting a familiar lifestyle and not segregating through boundaries of foreign activity, the incarnational missionary has a far more effective means by which to live and share the truth.

Conclusion

By incorporating lifestyle into evangelistic approach, employing incarnational mission, we start placing the onus back on ourselves as Christians. Instead of our passive means of making church attractive to the world we create a situation that has relevance to outsiders. “It’s not the church that has a mission; the mission has a church.” (Morris, 1994) and as part of this church we are called to be the salt and light of Matthew 15, and follow in the footsteps of Jesus by becoming involved in the world we are called to disciple.

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Christianity Church General Life YITS

Not good.

Can’t find my ‘modern creed’ which we wrote in class about a month back, was so sure I had it. Need it for major Doctrine essay: Personal Creed. 2000wrds
So much for having that done before monday. I can’t start.
Rowan did take photocopies.

However…

I have a Practical Evang. essay, and not enough info on the question to even start.

A Doctrine test on Monday.

An Old Testment test on Tuesday.

A group presentation on Wednesday (the only one I am vaguely prepared for). Meeting at Subway $2 breakfast (yes thats right :P) w/ computers and group to finish that off tomorrow morning.

All this needs to be done by Friday.

All up: 2750 words, 2 tests, oral presentation.

Friday afternoon, going on work Conference all weekend. Semester break. 5 beautiful free weeks! One camp.

just to get through this week.

General YITS

If you have every vaguely wondered about Augustine (for some strange reason)… I did. After I heard the Switchfoot song Something More… yes, Emily laughed at me when I said that so I decided to write my Christian History essay on him, just to find out a bit more. A decision I fractionally regret as it was painfully slow. Consequently I found out rather a lot, namely that he’s a highly complicated kind of person with wacked out ideas, some really good ones and that Cert IV (to play down and incoporate Educational standards in to this one sided conversation) students shouldn’t bother researching him as it requires far too much effort.

So instead of reading a biography three books deep you can just read my essay, but only if you are vaguely interested… (qu. should I post this kind of stuff on the web, or am I opening it for plagarism?? Very aware that although this site is not opensourced… could be found via some buried search engine link. So I guess I’ll just go through and remove various bibliographical details, that will at least make it painful (or is that plagarism on my behalf?). Dont copy work, it’s stealing). 1580words

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Introduction

Aurelius Augustine (354-430) known also as Augustine of Hippo has been aptly named as an ‘early church father’, his ideas and writings have had significant impact on the Christian world. Augustine has been influential both historically and theologically. His books have touched a complete range of doctrinal questions and his ability to provoke has encouraged a greater development of the collective Christian mind.

Augustine Bishop of Hippo
Augustine’s Life

Born in North Africa (354) to a pagan father and a Christian mother, Augustine’s life reflected his upbringing, he had a double-sided nature and felt both a deep sense of sin and a profound sense of God’s grace. (Bull, 1967: 227) Augustine had a mistress and a child by the time he was eighteen, became proficient in rhetoric and moved into academic circles in Milan. While walking alone in a garden, Augustine had a conversion experience, where he heard a child’s voice instructing him to read. Augustine found a Bible on a nearby seat and opened it at Romans 13:13-14. From this point on in his life, Augustine has provided answers to the world. His philosophy has played a major role in the foundations of Christendom. (Shelly, 1995: 125)

A chief influence in Augustine’s life was Bishop Ambrose. From Ambrose, Augustine discovered that Christianity could be both eloquent and intelligent (Shelly, 1995: 126) After a reluctant ordination as a priest and his return to North Africa, Augustine was selected by Bishop Valerius as an assistant. Augustine became his successor as the Bishop of Hippo until his death on the 28th August 430.

Two Kingdoms

As the Bishop of Hippo, Augustine had great exposure to both church and state issues. His philosophical formation of ideas about two kingdoms led him to write ‘The City of God’ which has been called a “philosophy of human history” (Bull, 1967: 232) Augustine did not despise Rome or the ‘earthly city’, and declared that both the church and state should serve God. Although never stated explicitly, Augustine implied the identification of the city of God with the church, and the city of the world with the state; this was critiqued by Reinhold Niebur for “assuming that the church as an historical institution can never become a vehicle of evil and never really stands under the judgment of God.” (Bloesch, 1978: 136)

In regards to Augustine’s significance, a theory has been put forward that the practical nature of Augustine’s writings is due to his historical era mirroring our own. Augustine supplied answers for those in his own time, an explanation for the destruction of Rome providing hope to those around him. His response to “the moral and theological concerns of a world racked by pillage and destruction, random and chaotic violence… attempts to answer the question of innocent suffering”. (McPherson, 2000) this question is just as relevant today, and authors and theologians go back to his work to gain perspective and insight.

Sin and Salvation

Just as suffering was a common theme in the lives of those in the 400’s so was sin. Augustine’s struggles with sin were mostly that of relating to sex and women. He had a profound self-awareness that this was his downfall, books such as, Confessions and The City of God carried a negative approach to both sexuality and women, this, “was passed on to generations of Christians, making them uneasy about what Augustine called their ‘lower appetites’.” (Guthridge, 1999: 51) Many copies of Augustine’s books have had their anti-feministic parts edited from them, although examples still exist such as, ““What is the difference – [Augustine] wrote to a friend – whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman” (Guthridge, 1999: 51). This legacy has tainted many of Augustine’s works although they are far outweighed by the many documented scriptually based insights.

The deep sense of sin felt by Augustine was contradicted harshly by Pelagius a British monk. Their views differed greatly in that Pelagius saw sin as a bad example set by Adam, and Augustine defined sin being an instinctive nature, human’s being powerless to their will and that “God’s grace must come first in living the good life, as well as in assisting it.” (Bull, 1967: 234) Augustine rejected the idea that, “God created evil as a full-fledged malignant principle. The human person, from free will, commits a sin and partakes of that death we name evil.” (Elshtain, 1998) Augustine’s view of human imperfections in dictating our motivations opposed the monastic structures of the time and Anti-Pelagian literature was penned to condemn the current perspective of sin and the implications for predestination. Today’s doctrine of sin has found its origin within Augustine’s principles, although many Christians have had difficulty accepting his position of complete human helplessness.

Augustine’s emphasis is on salvation through grace however he also places extreme significance on the sacraments. Baptism is a regeneration of grace (Shelly, 1995: 130) and both faith and baptism are necessary for salvation (Bloesch, 1978: 214). From this stems Augustine’s concern for unbaptised infants. This disquiet is expressed in many of today’s denominations and their conviction of infantile baptism.

Historical Influence

Augustine believed in eternal torment for any who chose to reject Christ. Well-known Reformers with similar views have solidified his perception of Heaven and Hell. E.g. Martin Luther held a similar position on “heaven and hell as the outcome of divine foreordination.” (Bloesch, 1978: 215)

Throughout history, renowned individuals have used and recommended Augustine’s work. Names such as Alcuin from the court of Charlemagne advised the use his book, De Catechizandis Rudibus ‘On Catching the Uninstructed’ in aid of evangelism. Others such as Martin of Braga and Primin drew on Augustine’s work for insight into the Christian life. (Fletcher, 1998: 222, 235)

Mission

Augustine’s book Confessions has been described as; ‘the greatest work of spiritual autobiography ever written’ (Fletcher, 1998: 28) from this, and other works, a theology of mission can be constructed. His firm conviction that the end of the world was near drove him to formulate his ideas of citizenship in heaven, Augustine recites, ‘so long as he is in this mortal body, he is a peregrinus (stranger/exile/pilgrim) in a foreign land’ (Fletcher, 1998: 30) and led him to write eschatological books such as, De Fine Saeculi (On the End of the World).

Despite confirming the urgency of preaching the gospel to the world, Augustine misconstrue or rather did not follow through the logical nature of Romans 10:14-15. This misunderstanding can be defined by Augustine’s younger contemporary – Prosper of Aquitaine as, divine grace alone can bring about conversion and if humans set about on mission we are interfering with its workings. (Fletcher, 1998: 32) Augustine stressed that we must believe before we can understand.

Divine grace is irresistible and the issue between free will and determinism will continually in Christian circles be a point of dissent. (Bull, 1967: 235) Augustine’s emphasis upon divine grace may have clouded his view upon mission. However, this ‘clouded view’ in light of the modern church’s implications on mission across the world served a purpose in elaborating Augustine’s position as not only the Father of the church in the west, but also as a significant influence on the East. The interest of the eastern Church was the nature of God, the divinity of Jesus and the escape of the soul to God, where in the west it was the nature of man and God’s work in man through grace. (Bull, 1967: 233).

War and Peace

As a bishop in a time of many church divisions, Augustine was confronted with the Donatist controversy. His rejection of Donatist theologies of a ‘pure church’ and his support for the Catholic Church presented him with the concern of the use of force in a religious situation. (Shelly, 1995: 128) Augustine’s views on war have shaped and led to the justification of many leadership concerns in the Christian world. Augustine established that although war is neither desirable nor advised, if it is the means by which to ensure peace it is permissible, however, “War is and must remain a cautionary tale, not an incautious and reckless call to arms. For peace is a great good…nothing better can be found.” (Elshtain, 1998)

Conclusion

The hundreds of theories and theological ideas that Augustine has offered to the world have presented him as one of the greatest theologians of all time. His books are both doctrinal and devotional; they explore the nature of God, morals, human ethics, sin, grace and history. (McPherson, 2000) His arguments are Biblically based and formed; the volume and variety of works is enormous. Augustine has left a profound legacy to the world.

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…Incase you were wondering, this research did not help me one bit in relating Augustine’s life to the Switchfoot song – I should probably go back and listen to it again, however I did get a fairly good mark. 🙂

Christianity General YITS

I slept in until 1:00pm today. I never do that. I should watch myself, maybe I”m more worn out than I think. Wrote my 5 Principles of Living essay. It’s strange lately, I’ve had heaps of Solomons and PNG memories come back to me. Why? It’s great, but why now? Is my mind, myself able to cope with them now I’ve sorted other stuff out? I don’t know.
God open my eyes as I look through stuff like these 5 principles and remember past stuff. Thank you for working in me then and for making me the person I am now. Continue your good work.

General Life Solomon Islands YITS