Response to the Global Atheist Convention
Some of you may have seen articles in the local newspapers about this convention which is happening in Melbourne in March. Some Melbourne churches have organised some meetings.
The details can be found here.
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David Wanstall, 01/03/2010 |
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Our Strategy
Over the last few months we reflected on our church's journey over the last few years. In that process we have clarified our strategic approach going forward and identified some simple goals for 2010.
Our Strategy is to create simple, self-funding and reproducing discipleship and mission focused groups.
(See new sections of our website: Groups @ Stonnington, and Discipleship Triangles)
Our simple goals for 2010 include:
- to pray for our church as ONE at ONE pm for ONE minute
- to process ONE Kairos moment each month
- to go on ONE retreat during the year
- to be in ONE discipleship triangle?
- to invite ONE person to join your triangle?
- to participate in ONE “Discipleship Sunday” each quarter?
- to be in ONE mission focussed group?
- to participate in ONE “Mission Sunday” each quarter
- ?to share your faith with at least ONE person
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David Wanstall, 24/02/2010 |
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The Christian Life and AFL
Following on from the last post on Christianity and Sport, I thought it would be good for us to think through how we should approach the upcoming AFL season (for those who may have a passing or more than passing interest).
In particular how should we apply Jesus teaching in Luke 6:27-28 to our teams, opposing teams, other fans, and umpires.
Luke 6:27-28 But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Sport is about drama - focused competition, great physical and mental effort, close games, sudden reversals, critical plays etc. It engages our emotions and draws our participation barracking for one team or the other. But how deep should that go? For you, where should it go on the continuum between a matter of life or death, the level of engagement in a pantomime (cheering the hero, booing the villain), or disinterest?
Do you find yourself hoping injuries happen to the opposing team, or do you sincerely hope that they will play their best and that your team will play its best as well?
Do you find yourself celebrating the other's misfortune?
Can you acknowledge and celebrate an excellent performance by whoever it is?
Do you abuse the opposition or more likely the umpires? Beyond good natured ribbing do you actually find yourself tapping in to and feeding a source of frustration and a capacity to denigrate the other in your soul?
Do you find yourself overlooking the real mistakes of your own side and focus on the mistakes of the umpire?
Could your interactions at the football help you to grow in your capacity to love enemies, bless those who curse you etc? I'll think you find it can.
Go Hawks
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David Wanstall, 16/02/2010 |
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Christianity and Sport
Here is an interesting article from Christianity Today. After reading it you may want to leave a comment here.
The article is written in and for the USA so the focus is its sports and sports systems, but the ideas/principles are easily transferred.
How should we participate in sport?
How should we participate in supporting sports teams?
How should we teach our children about participating in sport?
Here is a quote from the article:
Let Christian athletes, mindful of sport's temptation to pride, shun victory celebrations and consider whether the gospel's spread is well served by on-field prayers, religious gestures, and post-game testimonies. Cheap advertisements of the faith embedded in the cheap milieu of big-time sports smack of cheap grace. Let's scrap the tired images of Christ as coach or Christ as a teammate who is always on our side. It seems to me that hot sporting blood has a much better chance of being leavened when Christ is envisioned as one's opponent.
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David Wanstall, 08/02/2010 |
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Reading the Gospels
We have created a new menu item at the top of our web page titled 'Reading the Gospels'.
A vibrant Christian life flows out of a clear and compelling vision of who God is and what His Kingdom is like. This is much more important than the visions we have for a particular church or ministry. Since Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of God (Col 1:15-20, Heb 1:1-4), it is good for us to regularly focus our attention on Him.
To do this we are encouraging everyone in our church to read and reread one of the Gospels each quarter of 2010. Do it in two ways:
- read a small portion regularly,
- read a large section (even the whole gospel) in an extended sitting. Reading a whole gospel takes between 1 and 2 hours if you don't pause at the details and it gives you a great overview.
We would also love you to share your insights and thoughts that you get from reading, so please contribute them to the forums.
p.s. the church camp audio recordings can now be found under 'What we Do'. |
David Wanstall, 03/02/2010 |
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Invictus
During the week I went with some of our youth group to see the film 'Invictus'. It looks at Nelson Mandela's early Presidency of South Africa through the lens of the 1995 Rugby World Cup which was held in South Africa.
A good film on many levels. If you are interested in a review here is an extensive one from the New York Times but it does explain the plot in a fair bit of detail.
The movie addresses themes of leadership, wisdom, and forgiveness.
One of my favorite quotes was from the SA rugby captain François Pienaar (played by Matt Damon) on the eve of a rugby match. He was asked by his girl friend what was on his mind and he said, 'I was thinking about how a man (referring to Mandela) could come out of prision after thirty years ready to forgive his jailers.'
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David Wanstall, 28/01/2010 |
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Some more food for your mind
For those of you who like to think seriously about reality, God, His Kingdom, discipleship and tough questions here are some great online recordings from Dallas Willard that I think you will find very helpful:
Audio recordings on www.discipleshiplibrary.com:
The list of recordings is found here. They are not necessarily grouped in series or in order but you should be able to figure it out from the titles.
Video of a question and answer session with John Ortberg:
Can Smart People Believe in God?
...That's what John Ortberg wants to know. So on the weekend of December 12-13, John asked Dallas a variety of tough questions about this topic during the worship services at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. They talked about different questions at each of four services, and the combined Q&A is available on video on the MPPC web site HERE
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David Wanstall, 18/01/2010 |
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A sermon on the incarnation from Dallas Willard
You might like to listen to this sermon a few times over the holiday break.
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David Wanstall, 30/12/2009 |
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The blessing of the same old Christmas
This Christmas you are unlikely to hear anything particularly new in church services. In an entertainment culture with a voracious appetite for the next new thing, this can seem strange. However, Christmas is not about discovering something new it is about deepening something important. In life and particularly in relationships, the important things are deepened by repetition. Many people remember significant times from their childhood when their family went to the same place for holidays every summer. The repetition each year reinforced the family relationships, relaxing, having fun together etc.
This Christmas it is important to recall and remember the Son of God emptying and humbling himself to become a vulnerable baby, entering into our humanity to fulfill God's promise, demonstrate His incredible love for us and bring salvation. As you hear the familiar bible stories and sing the familiar songs, ask God to write the truth and joy of them deeper into your soul and you will be blessed by 'the same old Christmas'.
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David Wanstall, 16/12/2009 |
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Jesus and Abraham
At Christmas time people often focus on the opening chapters of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew as they read the accounts of Jesus birth. However when you go to Matthew's Gospel, the first thing that greets you is a genealogy of Jesus.
Amongst other things this genealogy ties the life and ministry of Jesus firmly into the Old Testament. The significance of Matthew's genealogy going back to Abraham is that it ties the coming of Jesus to God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-7 to bless all peoples on earth and give the land to his offspring. This is explained by Paul in Gal 3:13-18.
To complete this connection to Abraham people have also noted that Matthew's gospel finishes with the command to 'go' in the great commission (Matt 28:18-20). This echoes God's command to Abraham to 'go' in Gen 12:1.
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David Wanstall, 09/12/2009 |
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