Not back to church?

Though I said I wouldn't be posting regularly on here from now on, I can't resist adding this:



It was brought to my attention by Bosco Peters in Christchurch. His comments are worth reading.

God is in charge...

Peter Carrell, an Anglican priest resident in Christchurch writes today:

For Christchurch, in the midst of death, destruction, and (increasingly these days) despair, it is good news that God is in charge, Jesus is Lord. A tad difficult to believe, but an important gospel fact nevertheless. The earthquakes are not in charge of us and our future: God in Jesus Christ is boss.

Last night was a challenge to faith in this God, incidentally: a hefty 5.3 at 10.34 pm, just prior to going to bed, and then a whole series through the night, including a 4.4 at 3.28 am which woke us up. A cheeky friend texted me at 11.03 pm asking if I still had an office. I shall check soon. Not to worry if I don't. Neither did the Son of Man who has graciously called me to follow him without pack, blanket or jacket.

Update from Christchurch

An update from Martin Stewart on some of the ongoing mission work in ChCh, post-earthquake...

It is a real pain all this shaking – I really feel for those poor people out east with any hope they might have had of something being closer to normal being erased this week. While the quakes themselves weren’t as bad insofar as the devastating trampoline effect in February (esp the lives lost) in other ways they are more demoralising, especially with winter upon us. There is widespread anger now – wanting some resolution over what will happen with their land and property, but anger at the sense that there may not be any end to this in the medium term. It is scary, hard on the nerves, massively inconvenient, and hugely disheartening.

I do a bit of chaplaincy at a university hostel (well I try – it is hard to get there these days) – I was talking to some students last night who are quite fed up. They have missed crucial parts of their semester but also they are in exam mode with exams postponed and squeezed into a very tight timeframe but also their ability to concentrate in any extended way is very difficult. Some are seriously contemplating transferring elsewhere for next year. I cannot blame them, but it will have devastating consequences for ChCh and the University of Canterbury who are quite worried about their ability to attract new students for 2012 as it is.

The Presbyterians have had fewer problems in this week’s round of shocks – a disused church to be demolished is now demolished (quite convenient as it had historic places issues), another two congregations that were uncertain about whether their buildings could be repaired are clearer now about having to move on from them, and one minister is probably going to have to move from his damaged house.

My little project of having people from St Stephen’s, St Giles, and St Mark’s delivering $200 supermarket vouchers to the homes of people in the Avonside/Dallington area is chugging along nicely. My target of raising $50,000 is now up to $33,000 thanks to two large donations from a Wellington trust and an Auckland parish, along with quite a few $1000 donations from supportive folk. Once I get the $50,000 I will be approaching several supermarkets on this side of the city to buy the vouchers and invite them to match us dollar for dollar.

St Stephen’s is handling this project for the three parishes – we even have a dedicated account:
contact Martin for details of this account: martin@ststephens.co.nz

The earthquake story you probably won't have heard

The earthquake story you (probably) won't have heard....

The following extract comes from a post that was written on the 16th May on a blog site I was previously unfamiliar with: the kiwifruit blog. It tells of some heroic work done in the first minutes and hours of the second Christchurch earthquake, and what followed after that. The 'sting in the tale', one might say, comes right at the end of the blog post, so make sure you read it all.

Doug Watt is the Sales Manager of OMC Power Equipment on Gasson St in Christchurch – directly down the road from Madras St where the collapsed CTV building was. As soon as the quake struck, Doug grabbed some hardhats and tools and headed for the city, encouraging his workers to do the same. They were among the first people on the scene at the collapsed CTV building. There arrived so early that the police and the fire department hadn’t worked out who was in charge of the site yet. Doug was able to convince them that, since he and his men were builders, they ought to get onto the site and try to rescue as many people as possible (those in Christchurch will know builders were the most useful people in dealing with the ruins). Doug and his workers stayed at the CTV building until 4am the following morning and rescued as many as 8 people from the building.

Liturgy back online

One of the websites that's been missing as a result of the Christchurch earthquake has been the internationally popular Liturgy site, run by Anglican Bosco Peters. As a result of being offline, a lot of his fans have assumed he'd gone for good and have departed themselves.

After a few spasmodic tweets, sent from an internet cafe, or the like, Bosco and Liturgy are now back online again.



And as perky, informative and occasionally hilarious as ever...

Some updates on ChCh

Via a tweet leading to a website where there was a post about another blog, one written by the current Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, I found out a bit more about what's happening on the Prezzie front in Christchurch. Peter Cheyne has written quite a lengthy post about his visit to Christchurch to see at first hand what the churches are experiencing.

On the Anglican front, I was sent a lengthy email a few days (which will probably already be slightly out of date). This lists what's happening in a number of parishes around the city. I'm not in the position to post this here - and I don't know that it's been posted in this particular format elsewhere either - but if anyone wants a copy by email, I can forward it to you. Just ask in the comments section of this blog. The official Anglican site is here and there's a good deal of information about where the Christchurch Anglican community is at on that site.

The Catholics of Christchurch also have a good deal of information on their site, including the dire state of the Cathedral - a building I know better than the famous Anglican one (which I think I've only ever been in the porch of). A few years ago when my wife and I were in Christchurch, we spent a bit of time in the Catholic building, and it was distressing to see photos of the present state of it after the recent earthquake.

There isn't a central Baptist website for Christchurch - Baptists being rather more independent church-wise, they've each got their own sites.

Workplace trauma after the earthquake

In response to the urgent need, Skylight has developed a practical and unique hand book for employers, managers and team leaders in organisations and businesses impacted by the Christchurch Earthquakes and aftershocks - When trauma and grief come to work.

Employers are not only dealing with their own trauma and grief but are faced with the trauma and loss in the lives of their staff and customers too.

Hard copies are also available 0800 299 100 or email rs@skylight-trust.org.nz

The booklet/pdf looks at a variety of issues: post traumatic stress, grief, coping with staff reactions, looking after yourself as an employer, support organisations and more.

Advance notice...

Gaynor McCartney is collating a list of Songs, Prayers, and Readings under the generic title "For Christchurch."

Gaynor says the list will also be suitable to help people through all kinds of trauma. This list is to be published on the NZ Hymnbook Trust Noticeboard.

The list isn't available yet, but will be coming. We'll let you know when it arrives.

I can't get over it

In the light of the disaster and chaos and trauma in Christchurch, I was particularly interested in a book that came to my attention this morning.

It's not new - the second edition was published in 1996 - but it obviously hasn't dated, if the enthusiastic review I received today is anything to go by.

The book is I Can't Get Over It - a handbook for trauma survivors, by Aphrodite Matsakis. Dr Matsakis has worked for many years with victims of all manner of post traumatic stress disorder. Her clients have included Vietnam veterans, rape victims, disaster survivors. Though this book is listed as a 'self-help' book, and could probably be used that way, I suspect it's more valuable used in tandem with a counsellor, therapist, minister, supervisor - anyone who is willing to work through the PTSD a person is suffering.

"...one of the most informative and sensitive books on surviving violent trauma. [It] covers most useful techniques and self-help suggestions for safe recovery, empowerment adn groth following trauma." Yigal Ben-Haim, trauma specialist.

This may be a useful book to have on your shelf in the days to come, when many hundreds of people around Canterbury in particular will be looking for help to get past the horrors of this week.

Pastors and Burnout

Carol Howard Merrit posted a piece on TribalChurch.org which asked, What Causes Pastors to Burnout?
Her concern is that there's a very high attrition rate in the first couple of years after graduation from seminary.  (Note that this is in the USA - the attrition rate is probably less here in those first years; the losses seem to come further down the track for us.) 

Merrit's question is one we post about a great deal on this blog too, and it's one we're working on in the National Mission Team on an ongoing basis.   Some of the answers are obvious, some less so, and in some cases there's nothing anyone could do that would assist the burnout situation.

I like what Martin Stewart from Christchurch had to say about this topic:

1. Stop taking yourself so seriously. Ministry is not all about you and what you do, but about who God is and what God is doing in Christ.
2. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
3. Ministry is not at people but with people. I have been aware of many colleagues grumbling about the people or church, and often the escalating conflict has been about a leader trying to bully people into something different rather than working alongside, building trust, and finding a way ahead that is appropriate for the people of that place and time. Too often ministers (and sometimes the people) embark on a totally unrealistic set of expectations.

Daniel Chung

It takes quite a few paragraphs of the Stuff.co.nz story to find this out, but Daniel Chung, who hands out food every Sunday in Latimer Square, Christchurch, , is a Christian. 13 years ago he came to NZ from South Korea, and has worked as a taxi driver for a good deal of that time, not being able to get work here in his field of chemical engineering.

He doesn't make a lot of money, but still spends between $100 and $300 a week on providing food for homeless people in the area. "It is a struggle financially to keep doing it. If possible, if God permitted me, I would do this to the end of my days. It's an eternal job I will do until I leave this world."

His desire to help people came from his mother, who was a pastor in Pusan, South Korea, where he was born. She dedicated her life to helping people with leprosy, and that had a big impact on him, he said.

After feeding the people, he and his family head off to a church service. Seems to me they may have already 'done' church before they leave.

Facebook growth

Thanks for Bosco Peters for the following information. (Bosco is a great user of the Internet - his Liturgy page recently reached the million-reader mark - which goes to show that it doesn't matter where in the world you live, you can make an impact. Bosco's in Christchurch, and has been Chaplain at Christ's College for as long as I've known him.)

[A fortnight ago] there were 1,248,360 people on Facebook in New Zealand (population about 4,268,900 – ie about 30% of all Kiwis are on Facebook). The proportion is not much different to other first world nations.

Checking a couple of weeks later, there are now 1,375,560 Kiwis on Facebook (32%): 127,200 have joined within the last fortnight! In New Zealand! 10% increase in a fortnight!

You may not think this is as exciting as Bosco does - I'm in agreement with him that it's significant at least - but it does show that Facebook has enormous value for a large number of Kiwis. Yes, many of those who join don't go on to do much with Facebook, but their name and the links they've made to others remains until they finally decide to close down their membership.

Leaving Bebo

On his Liturgy blog the other day, Bosco Peter pointed out an article from his local newspaper which described the probable closing down of Bebo. He quoted the following from the article:

The site has lost members to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Kaila Colbin, of Christchurch social media consultant Missing Link, compared Bebo to a party that people wanted to leave.

“You go to a party, everyone’s having a good time, but suddenly the momentum changes and someone says, `Let’s go to the pub’,” Colbin said. “And people start flowing out. And when people flow out, there is no way to recover that energy.

“The more you try, the more desperate you look and the more people want to leave.”

Bosco comments: Now reread the above, and instead of Bebo think “church” – your parish, diocese, whatever. Any echoes?

Check out the rest of what he has to say....it's quite thought-provoking!

More from Baronness Cox

Back on the 4th March, 2009, we posted an item about the visit of Baronness Cox to New Zealand. While she was here, Baroness Cox gave two lectures, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. The Auckland lecture was to be recorded and put online, but apparently isn't available yet. (We'll try and keep tabs on when it comes online.)

In the meantime, if you want to see Baronness Cox talking, you can see a clip from the Breakfast programme that appeared on the 25th March this year, in which the Baronness talks to Paul Henry about modern-day slavery. The clip seemed to me a bit fiddly to get up and running, but maybe I'm having a bad day. Suffice to say, it can be viewed - with perseverance - once the brief ANZ Bank ad has flitted by.

Multi-ethnic Church

The following enthusiastic review of Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Mandate, Commitments and Practices of a Diverse Congregation by Mark DeYmaz comes from the Christian.com site. It's written by Andrew Wilson, who appears to be one of the leaders of the Mosaic Christian Community in Christchurch, a three-church multi-ethnic community. (I haven't been able to find Andrew on the Net to ask his permission to use the review, so I hope he won't object!) The review was written back in February this year.

A Must Read for Every Church Leader! Being in leadership at a multi-ethnic church I have read most of the books that are considered landmarks in terms of coming to grips with the `race' issue in the local church. Mark DeYmaz's book is unique in terms of what it offers.
It is unique because it does not focus on issues of racial reconciliation. It does not focus on issues of cultural anthropology and sociology. This book starts with theology and finishes with practice. Mark does not ignore issues of power or the very real stench of systemic racism within the church. He challenges these issues head on. It is neither the untested musings of a seminary theologian nor the pragmatic response of a frustrated practitioner. This is a book written from the perspective of deep theological insights and strong exegesis backed by years of practical involvement in multi-ethnic ministry.
This book is theology in practice. As such there are stories and examples that inspire any in multi-ethnic ministry and resonate for others involved in similar ministries. This book is not a how-to book although there are basic principles and guidelines in the second section of the book. These simply reflect the difficult path that you walk down when you are involved in multi-ethnic church.
Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church is compulsory reading for our leadership team. Every church leader should read this book regardless of the diversity or homogeneity of their church. Then after reading this book they should answer this question from the book, If the kingdom of heaven is not segregated, then why on earth is MY church?:

The book is published by Jossey-Bass, 2007.

PASTORAL CARE OF ADOLESCENTS

We've been sent a notice about this course in the hope that anyone who doesn't get to hear about it, and should, will!

A Four Day Block Course in Christchurch

Dates: July 29 - August 1

Times: 9.30am to 4.00pm

Venue: To be advised

Cost: For tertiary level credit through Carey Baptist College: $538. For audit (no assignments) $250

Presenter: Murray Brown (YouthTRAIN)

Who for: Paid youth workers, interns and key volunteer youth leaders looking to improve their ability to care for teenagers

Content: At the end of these four days you will be able to:
- Describe the physical, emotional, intellectual and moral changes that occur during adolescence.

- Describe various faith development theories

- List the various "needs" of adolesence

- Identify those factors that lead to poor adoscent adjustment

- Describe the effect of various parenting styles on adolescents.

- Develop a Biblical philosophy of pastoral care

- Explain various strategies for pastoral care in youth ministry

- Describe a three step process for helping adolescents work through problems

- Describe approaches for dealing with common adolescent issues.

Presentation will be varied and interactive and will include reference to the two 180 page workbooks that are supplied with enrolment.

Enrolment: For further details and to enrol, email me. Enrolments for credit students closes 25 June for returning students and 9 July for new students and those doing the paper for audit purposes

Contact me if you'd like further details.

Steve Graham at Mosgiel

The South Island Pastors' Conference took place last week in Mosgiel, at the East Taieri Presbyterian Church. The main speaker was Steve Graham, the Dean of the Bible College in Christchurch.
I'll be mentioning other books and articles Steve spoke about, but let's start with one that's available on the Net. It's called Teaching a Calvinist to Dance. A couple of quotes:
It can be a little intimidating in a Reformed context to admit that one is Pentecostal. It's a bit like being at the ballet and letting it slip that you're partial to NASCAR and country music. Both claims tend to clear a room. And yet I happily define myself as a Reformed charismatic, a Pentecostal Calvinist.
I started a master's degree in philosophical theology at the Institute for Christian Studies, a graduate school in the Dutch Reformed tradition at the University of Toronto. So my week looked a bit odd: Monday to Friday I was immersed in the intellectual resources of the Reformed tradition, diving into the works of Calvin, Kuyper, and Dooyeweerd.

Steve talked about brokenness in leadership too, but perhaps more of his focus was on the need for Presbyterians to work more in the middle area of the supernatural-this-worldly, in other words, not being content to live just in the natural, with the supernatural as something for the future next world, but to live with a sense of the supernatural in our everyday lives. (This is sometimes called the Flaw of the Excluded Middle.)

We'll look at these other areas further in other posts.

How NZ fell prey to the demon P

In just five years, the drug P has made big inroads into New Zealand society. In an article that originally appeared in the Christchurch Press, on 12th April, 2008, John McCrone investigates the power of methamphetamine; sums up the issues relating to the use of P in NZ (and Australia); compares with other drugs, alcohol; shows its effects on NZ society – not just youth, but some older people. Shows how wide-spread its use is, and looks at whether it has plateaued as a drug of choice.

This is an article that all youth group leaders (as well as ministers) should read.

Good old ecuminism!

There's nothing new under the sun, as they say, and what you think it is a good idea is often pre-empted by someone with a similarly good idea. Nevertheless it was still good to come across the NZ Methodist Church's blog with a very similar name: Mission:Resourcing. It treats the topic of Mission Resourcing in a slightly different way to us, but the best part about it is that they too are being missional. The more the merrier.

The reason I discovered their blog was that they were advertising Lynne Taylor's seminars on using data from the 2006 Census to give pictures of the community in which parishes work. Check out the details here.
Lynne actually works for the Baptists, and is based in Christchurch. She works part-time doing statistics and logistics.
Our office has done a bunch of similar work, and very shortly the Presbytery Stats (which were sent out on DVD to all the Presbyteries early this year) will be available on the Presbyterian website.

Tod Bolsinger and the emerging church

Martin Stewart of Christchurch writes: I’ve been looking at Tod Bolsinger’s blog recently – he is one among many thinking about the emerging church – I think he gets the balance between mission and theology right in that the two are not seen as separate entities as we often end up making them to be.

Martin referred to a particular post in which Bolsinger quotes Richard Mouw, who asked: "Should we attempt to be communities of interest or communities of memory?"

Bolsinger comments on this question: That is to say, which is more important: restructuring churches to appeal to the outsider who is searching for God and responding to the missional opportunities and challenges present in the culture or insuring that churches remained focused on the liturgical, doctrinal and sacramental elements that keeps the church anchored in it's core beliefs and practices?

Check out the rest of what Bolsinger has to say by clicking here.