This Sunday at NAC we’re running an Indian Style Service as part of the lead up to our India Training Trip. Every year we send a team to India to work alongside the India Gospel League (IGL) to run the Moore College PTC training courses to further educate the pastors working in regional areas.

We’re going to capture something of what it is like to go to a church in a village in India – and so expect some surprises. Now we can’t give it all away, but one thing that you should be aware of is that we are going to sit as many people as possible on the floor. So what you need to do is to bring a pillow or cushion with you to make it more comfortable (there will also be the usual seating available for those who need it). Plus if possible, we’re asking the males to wear a long sleeve shirt with trousers, and for the women to make sure that they bring a scarf.

We’ll also have a meal together with Indian as well as Aussie fare, so that should be great.

Plus we’ll also have some special guests joining us, who have either previously been on an India Training Trip or will be heading off this year. Meet them and say hello.

Remember that 9am church is meeting at 11am this Sunday.

And 5pm church is combining with 645 for dinner, beginning at 6pm

INDIA TRAINING TRIP FUNDRAISING

To fund 100 pastors to go to the training, we need $12500 (it costs us $125 to send each pastor to it). So far we’ve raised over $5000, which is fantastic. But we still need more, so if you are in a position to give to this great cause in addition to your regular giving, you will have the opportunity to do that this Sunday.

This Sunday at WHAC we’re running an Indian Style Service as part of the lead up to our India Training Trip. Every year we send a team to India to work alongside the India Gospel League (IGL) to run the Moore College PTC training courses to further educate the pastors working in regional areas.

We’re going to capture something of what it is like to go to a church in a village in India – and so expect some surprises. Now we can’t give it all away, but one thing that you should be aware of is that we are going to sit as many people as possible on the floor. So what you need to do is to bring a pillow or cushion with you to make it more comfortable (there will also be the usual seating available for those who need it). Plus if possible, we’re asking the males to wear a long sleeve shirt with trousers, and for the women to make sure that they bring a scarf.

We’ll also have a meal together afterwards (an Aussie BBQ), so that should be great.

Plus we’ll also have some special guests joining us, who have either previously been on an India Training Trip or will be heading off this year:  Peter and Emma Davies from Moore College, Brett Jones and Michelle Sewell.

India TRAINING TRIP Fundraising

To fund 100 pastors to go to the training, we need $12500 (it costs us $125 to send each pastor to it). So far we’ve raised over $5000, which is fantastic. But we still need more, so if you are in a position to give to this great cause in addition to your regular giving, you will have the opportunity to do that this Sunday.

Parenting Seminar Slides

Roger has forwarded through his slides from the most recent parenting seminar  and you can download them here. Even if you didn’t attend, you might still find them useful to look through, and if you want to talk to Roger about them just send me a message and I’ll pass on his details.

Praise God for new life

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

20th May - India Style Service @ WHAC

6th June - The Boardroom

I concluded with the question: what big theological ideas shape your thinking? I think there are at least three big biblical ideas – the gospel, the Trinity and the sovereignty of God.

Let’s start with the gospel. I recently asked a couple of people in a formal interview: “What is the gospel?” Interestingly, they both said almost the same thing. In both cases their answer focused on us and that Christ dies for our sins and we need to accept him to be forgiven.

I was asked the same question when I was interviewed for the Senior Minister’s position here at NAC. My answer was from the opening verses of Romans 1:

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul was set apart for the gospel and he says five things about it.

1. It’s God’s gospel. God is the source of the gospel. No person or group of people invented it.

2. It was promised in the Old Testament. There is no contradiction between the Old Testament and New Testament.

3. The gospel concerns God’s Son who is totally human and descended from King David

4. He is also totally God, God the Son.

5. Jesus is Lord.

There are other biblical summaries of the gospel but, surely, every Christian should know what the gospel is and how to explain it to others.

We should also have a basic grasp of the idea of the Trinity. It’s this big biblical idea that sets Christianity apart from other faiths. For example, Muslims believe in a god they call “Allah”. Muslims emphasise that he is one! Islam has its origin partly in response to the idea of the Trinity. It is important for them that Allah is one.

The Bible teaches that God is one being and three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. But there is only one God and the three Persons are all the same God who cannot be divided. So, as the New Testament teaches, Jesus is “the fullness of God.” (See Colossians 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, …) You can’t have fuller than full!

This big biblical idea helps shape our thinking, for example, about why we’re here. We exist for relationships. God is relationship within his essential being. We are made in his image. We are purpose-built for relationships. You’d work that out simply by observing our world. Sin, anti- Godness, destroys relationships!

No space left. What big ideas do you want in this list? Next week, sovereignty of God is in mine.

The ride for pastors is happening tomorrow! It’s the first major fundraising activity for the India Training trip. Every year we send a team to India to work alongside the India Gospel League (IGL) to run the Moore College PTC training courses to further educate the pastors working in regional areas.

So far over $4000 has been raised – which is great – so thank you so much! We still have another $8500 to go. You can help by jumping on a bike tomorrow, or by supporting them financially using the information above, or by filling out a pledge form this Sunday.

INDIA STYLE SERVICE – 20TH MAY

We’ve mentioned this a few times already, and that’s because we want you to be expecting something a little different on the 20th. We’re going to capture something of what it is like to go to a church in a village in India – and so expect some surprises. Now we can’t give it all away, but one thing that you should be aware of is that we are going to sit as many people as possible on the floor. So what you need to do is to bring a pillow or cushion with you to make it more comfortable (there will also be the usual seating available for those who need it)

Plus we’ll have a meal together, after 11.00am church and before 645 church (some Indian food as well as Aussie food) so you can expect that too. Should be fun!

NEW ATHEISM

Lewis Jones will be joining us again this week to speak to the question “Does Science Believe in God?”. There will be time for questions afterwards, so if you have some queries from last week or any questions more generally about the New Atheism, please bring them along.

EQUIP WOMEN’s CONFERENCE NEXT SATurday 19th May

The Equip Women Conference is only a little over a week away: Saturday May 19th. If you would like to car-pool with others from NAC/WHAC please let Michelle Allen from WHAC know this as soon as possible. Also, it’s not too late to buy a ticket – use the code REFERRAL online at https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/newreg.php?eventid=33655&

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

12th May - Ride for Pastors

13th May - New Atheism series- ‘Does Science Believe in God?’

19th May - Equip women’s conference, Darling Harbour

20th May - New Atheism series – ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’

20th May - India Style Service @ 11.00am (with lunch to follow) and 6.00pm (dinner with church to follow, combined 5pm and 645 congregations)

The ride for pastors is happening tomorrow! It’s the first major fundraising activity for the India Training trip. Every year we send a team to India to work alongside the India Gospel League (IGL) to run the Moore College PTC training courses to further educate the pastors working in regional areas.

So far over $4000 has been raised – which is great – so thank you so much! We still have another $8500 to go. You can help by jumping on a bike tomorrow, or by supporting them financially using the information above, or by filling out a pledge form this Sunday.

India Style Service – 20th May

We’ve mentioned this a few times already, and that’s because we want you to be expecting something a little different on the 20th. We’re going to capture something of what it is like to go to a church in a village in India – and so expect some surprises. Now we can’t give it all away, but one thing that you should be aware of is that we are going to sit as many people as possible on the floor. So what you need to do is to bring a pillow or cushion with you to make it more comfortable (there will also be the usual seating available for those who need it)

Plus we’ll have a meal together afterwards (an Aussie BBQ) so you can expect that too. Should be fun!

Freedom in the Family

We held part three of our ‘Freedom in the Family’ parenting series on Tuesday night.

You might remember that we ran the first of the these last year, and it gave us a general framework for thinking through what we’re trying to do as parents, plus explored the importance of developing a strong attachment during the early years.

In the lead up to Easter we had part 2, which looked at two key concepts ‘discipline’ and ‘encouragement’.

On Tuesday we looked at two more key areas. ‘Parental Expectations’ got us thinking about the expectations that we either implicitly or explicitly place on our kids, and the positive and negative impacts that this can have. ‘Forming Positive Relationships’ pushed us to think through how we can work through difficult issues with our kids while keeping a positive relationship.

Once again it was really encouraging to see the number of new people (six this time) who came along after being invited by members of WHAC. It’s wonderful to make connections with others in our community. Please pray for those who came that the Christian perspective on parenting which was presented might intrigue them, and that they would be interested in learning more about Jesus and why we follow him.

New ATheISM

Lewis Jones will be joining us again this week to speak to the question “Does Science Believe in God?”. There will be time for questions afterwards, so if you have some queries from last week or any questions more generally about the New Atheism, please bring them along.

Equip Women Conference Next Sat

The Equip Women Conference is only a little over a week away: Saturday May 19th. If you would like to car-pool with others from WHAC please let Michelle know this as soon as possible. Also, its not too late to buy a ticket – use the code REFERRAL online at https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/newreg.php?eventid=33655&

Upcoming Events and Reminders

12th May - Ride for Pastors

13th May - New Atheism series- ‘Does Science Believe in God?’

19th May - Equip women’s conference, Darling Harbour

20th May - New Atheism series – ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’

20th May - India Style Service @ WHAC

He wrote for them. He wrote in their language. He wrote about things that mattered to them. They understood him! While I struggle to understand him.

Some things about the Christian faith are hard to understand. Some teachings of the Bible are hard to understand. But I wonder if it’s a bit like Shakespeare. The writers wrote for their audience. So maybe they understood?

Even if they did understand, that doesn’t mean it all came easily for them. They still needed to be stretched and developed. And that was the role of the pastor-teacher, the shepherd. The shepherd feeds the flock. The shepherd “dips” the sheep and does other rather nasty things to them. But fundamentally he makes sure they’re fed.

Good shepherd feed God’s sheep on the word of God. That doesn’t simply mean teaching them the Bible. The shepherd’s job is not simply exegesis and application. It’s more than that.

In Hebrews 5 & 6 we read:

11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

Good shepherds feed God’s sheep on solids, not milk. But check out what the writer here thinks milk is, what the elementary school syllabus contains – instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

I hope his original readers understood. Modern-day readers often struggle to know what he was talking about. But he illustrates the point I’m trying to make. Shepherds make sure believers learn the more complicated ideas. He makes sure they are good theologians.

The word of God drives us to think about big issues. It makes us think about theology. Not simply so we know big, hard ideas, but so these ideas shape our thinking and shape our lives. It’s a bit like the theory of evolution. Most people I know are shaped by the theory of evolution. It affects how they think about the world. But only really modern people are influenced by this theory. Up until Darwin, no one’s thinking was shaped like that. Big ideas shape our thinking.

So, what big theological ideas shape your thinking? More next week.

Freedom in the Family – Parenting Seminar Part Two – Next Tuesday

This Tuesday Roger will be focusing on two more key areas (Parental Expectations and Forming Positive Relationships) to help parents survive the transition of their children from Toddlers to Teens.

If you missed the first seminar, you can take a look through the slides from that night here.

LISA MASSEY @ WHAC THIS WEEK

We’re not just starting a new series this Sunday on the New Atheism, we’re also hosting Lisa Massey. Lisa works at Parramatta High teaching SRE amongst other things, and it will be great to hear from her and how we can support her work there.

WHAC iN Southern Cross

If you grab a copy of Southern Cross at WHAC this week you’ll find a nice article on our Freedom Events (and a big picture of James Lewis too)! It was an article that they requested, and you can read the full text that we sent through below.

How did it come about?

Well, it was just one part of our broader strategy to help Winston Hills Anglican Church (WHAC) reach out to our community with the good news about Jesus. The congregation began in February 2009, meeting weekly at Winston Heights Public School and aimed at young families. Initially we ran ad hoc events such as assisting with community events. In 2011 we formed our Community Connection Team. Their brief was to train, inspire and equip our church to reach out to our community. During 2011 this team pushed a number of initiatives. It got all of our weekly Connect Groups to work through the “Just Start Talking” and “Two Ways to Live” training courses, so that our people could be confident and clear when taking up any opportunities to talk about Jesus. It also met with ANGLICARE to work through our parish’s Community Social Profile, to better understand our community we wanted to reach. The team also ran monthly spots in our Sunday meetings to show how show members of our church had been connecting with others, to inspire others to do the same. It was within this broader strategy that they held a couple of public events last year, which now the “Freedom Events” have taken to a whole new level.

Evangelistic?

We’re convinced that our community’s greatest need is to hear about Jesus. So the Freedom Events were designed to do that, and we were clear about that in our advertising. But we also made sure that how we spoke about Jesus suited the context. We wanted to avoid those awkward and obvious transitions where there is no real connection between Jesus and what came before, during the event or talk. So some of the events included a fifteen minute Bible talk, whereas others gave us reasons for why we should investigate Jesus, and others highlighted links between Jesus and their topic. However the big outreach events, which the other events pointed to, were our Good Friday and Easter Sunday meetings, and a five week Simply Christianity course starting straight after Easter.

Can you give me a run down of the events?

We ran five events in two weeks, all based at where we meet weekly, Winston Heights Public School. They were:

Freedom in the Groove – Jazz Afternoon with Con Campbell

Freedom from the Grind – Coffee Appreciation with Neil Atwood

Freedom in the Family – Parenting Seminar with Roger Stonehouse

Freedom from Death – Good Friday meeting

Freedom for Life – Easter Sunday meeting

Why jazz and coffee appreciation?

Even though we also sent out over twenty thousand postcard advertisements to Winston Hills and its neighbouring suburbs, we knew that most people not associated with our church would only come through personal invitations. So we chose events that we knew our people could invite their friends to, and events which we could run well. This seemed to work, as for the jazz, coffee and parenting events we had people come who in the past hadn’t been interested in church activities.

Could you explain a little bit about what happened at the coffee and jazz events. How they were structured, how you incorporated Bible content?

At the coffee event we had four espresso machines setup with their own grinder and barista, each serving four quite different coffee blends and origins. When the guests arrived they were invited to sample as many coffees as they liked, before we sat down to listen to Neil Atwood. Neil explored why so many of us look to coffee to escape the daily grind. He took us through how coffee is grown, the different bean varieties and regions, along with some of the more popular ways of producing coffee based drinks. But while he was passionate about coffee and the freedom it gives, he said that is even more passionate about Jesus and his offer of true freedom. He then gave us some great reasons why we should explore the claims that Jesus made.

The school hall was transformed into a Jazz club for the Jazz afternoon, with wooden pallets serving as tables for example, along with other creative transformations. We brought in our midweek kids and youth ministry leaders to run a range of kids programs, so that the adults would be free to focus on Con and his band. They played two sets, and during the first Con introduced us to some of the fundamental concepts lying behind Jazz, such as the freedom to improvise within certain parameters. In the second, Con explained how Jazz is like Jesus, and he encouraged us to embrace the freedom that Jesus offers.

Each event had roughly 70 adults, except for the two weeknight events which had around half that number. But that’s not surprising – our community is full of families with young kids, who can be reluctant to take their kids out at night. Of those who came, over 40 adults were not associated with our church, and there were around that number again who had agreed to come, but who pulled out at the last minute. So it was a real encouragement to see just how many friends and family our church had personally invited.

What was their response?

We had a feedback form at each of our events, which we encouraged everyone to fill it out. Those responses were all positive, with a median rating of 10/10. So people had fun!

How will you try and follow up?

For those who indicated that they were interested in finding out more about Jesus, we passed their details on to our follow up team. The hope is that they will join a Simply Christianity course, and come along to a new series on Matthew’s gospel at our Sunday meetings that we started straight after Easter. Plus for the first time we also used online registration for each of our events, which not only captured contact details, but also whether they would be interested in hearing about any future events. So we’re working on how to continue to grow those links, such as inviting them to further outreach events that we’ve got planned for later in the year.

Of course, for the majority of people who came along, it was because members of our congregation personally invited them. So, working in the context of those existing relationships, we will continue to encourage our members to keep praying for their friends and seeking opportunities to talk with them about Jesus.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

5th May - NCEA Prayer Breakfast

6th May – New Atheism series – ‘Can We Be Good without God?’

8th May – Parenting Seminar

12th May - Ride for Pastors

13th May - New Atheism series- ‘Does Science Believe in God?’

20th May - New Atheism series – ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’

20th May - India Style Service @ WHAC

We partner and participate in God’s mission in the world both locally and globally – proclaiming the Gospel in our own backyard and across the world as God gives us opportunity to do so.

Today I would like to highlight two areas of NAC mission.

First, we are having a great impact on the three high schools around us through Steve Barnett and Lauren Stretton at Northmead; Lisa Massey and Chris Petschack at Parramatta; as well as Matt Daly at Model Farms.

The Northmead Christian Education Association (NCEA) supports the work at Northmead and Parramatta. There is a regular prayer meeting each term for this. Our congregations are in process of receiving visits from Steve and Lisa, so we can hear about and further support their ministries.

However, there is also an ongoing financial need. To enable the work to keep progressing at its current level, there is a pressing need for additional sponsors to provide regular support. Donations are tax-deductible.

You can take up this opportunity by completing one of the forms, which are available in the foyer. Contributions can be made by

1. Internet banking: BSB 062-336 ACCOUNT 10062951 2. Cash or cheque to Northmead High School RE Fund

Secondly, we would like to present to you an opportunity to support and partner with the India team. In June, an enthusiastic group of believers is heading to India to teach the PTC (Preliminary Theological Course) from Moore College to rural pastors, who have little possibility of getting to Bible College for any length of time. These intensive Bible courses help equip them to be Bible teachers, preachers and pastors. The 2 courses being taught are ‘New Testament 1’ focusing on Mark’s Gospel and ‘Promise to Fulfilment’ which looks at God’s unfolding plan of salvation from its historical beginnings, to the prophets, as they look forward to the fulfilment of the promises of God, and finally the new creation.

The team of 9 includes 6 people from the various congregations at Northmead Anglican Church, as well as three 2nd year Moore College students.

The pastors, almost without exception, have left most of what they know and love, turning their backs on tradition and belief systems. They often suffer rejection and even personal harm from family and so called friends due to their courage, conviction and trust in the one and only true God.

In mission it is so important for God’s people to pray, care, give and go.

This is our opportunity to cry out to God in prayer and seek his blessing on this endeavour and also to financially support the pastors with their need for accommodation, food and materials.

We have a great team, which has been meeting since March to prepare the teaching materials and resources for the training trip in June/July. Please pray for Roy, Richard, Brett, Steve and Robyn, Nathan, Pete and Emma, and George. Please give by supporting the fund raising bike ride on May 12th and the India style service on May 20th.

You can do this by 1.Cash or cheque to Northmead Anglican Church 2. Internet banking: NAC BSB 062-279 ACCOUNT 10082734 ref: INDIA 3. Credit Card (payment slip provided at church meetings)

George

SUNDAY

We begin a short series on understanding and talking with atheists.
Do we need to feel under threat that they are being very noisy at the moment?
Are their arguments genuinely answerable?
Do we really have a solid basis for faith?
What is faith anyway?

Dr. Lewis Jones (degrees in astrophysics and theology) will be our preacher for the next 3 weeks.
For more information, refer to last Sunday’s Rev Writes from your goody bag or online at the NAC website.

Pray for him and for us all as you read ahead in Mark 10:17-31.
Readings for coming weeks are
13/5    Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
20/5    Luke 16:19-31

The we return to Matthew’s Gospel – It’s All About Jesus
27/5    Matthew 4:1-11 (Steve Cimarosti)


BEFORE SUNDAY

Saturday 5th May
7.30 – 9.00am
St. John’s Parramatta

Please come and pray with us for God’s work in our high schools.
Come and hear about how Term 1 has been at Parramatta and Northmead, and find out the plans for Term 2.

The Northmead Christian Education Association, which supports this ministry, is running very low on funds.
So please think about becoming a financial member of the association so we can keep Christian workers in our local schools.
All contributions are tax-deductible.

For more information contact Greg Pendlebury (9.00am congregation)

SUNDAY 20th May at 11.00am

This is the morning that we’ll be focussing attention on India!
The plan is that we will gather at 11.00am for an India style church meeting and then enjoy a meal together afterwards.

You will hear more about this over the next couple of weeks, but please note the change in your diary now.

The ‘Ride for Pastors’ event is now so close that it’s a really good time to finalise your involvement. If you want to ride, just let Roy know and take a look at this rider FAQ. If you’d like to contribute financially via credit card, then take a look at this credit card pledge form. It should be a great day, and is a great way to help Indian pastors attend the training that we’ll be running for them this year.

PRAYER BREAKFAST

NEW ATHEISM SERIES

Have a look at Mike’s introduction to our new series beginning next week. It’s in this week’s Rev Writes.

It promises to be a wonderful series, and in God’s hand will help us to engage thoughtfully with our community.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

5th May - NCEA Prayer Breakfast

6th May – New Atheism series – ‘Can We Be Good without God?’

12th May - Ride for Pastors

13th May - New Atheism series- ‘Does Science Believe in God?’

20th May - New Atheism series – ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’

20th May - India Style Service @ 5.00pm

The ‘Ride for Pastors’ event is now so close that it’s a really good time to finalise your involvement. If you want to ride, just let Roy know and take a look at this rider FAQ. If you’d like to contribute financially via credit card, then take a look at this credit card pledge form. It should be a great day, and is a great way to help Indian pastors attend the training that we’ll be running for them this year.

PRAYER BREAKFAST

NEW ATHEISM SERIES

Have a look at Mike’s introduction to our new series beginning next week. It’s in this week’s Rev Writes.

It promises to be a wonderful series, and in God’s hand will help us to engage thoughtfully with our community.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

5th May - NCEA Prayer Breakfast

6th May – New Atheism series – ‘Can We Be Good without God?’

12th May - Ride for Pastors

13th May - New Atheism series- ‘Does Science Believe in God?’

20th May - New Atheism series – ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’

20th May - India Style Service @ 9.00am

The ‘Ride for Pastors’ event is now so close that it’s a really good time to finalise your involvement. If you want to ride, just let Roy know and take a look at this rider FAQ. If you’d like to contribute financially via credit card, then take a look at this credit card pledge form. It should be a great day, and is a great way to help Indian pastors attend the training that we’ll be running for them this year.

Prayer Breakfast

New ATheism Series

This week I had the pleasure of writing the Rev Writes section for the NAC weekly bulletin. It’s an introduction to our new series beginning next week. Have a read:

“The Global Atheist Convention held recently in Melbourne brought together some of the biggest names in the ‘New Atheism’ movement. The numerous media appearances by the conference speakers such as Richard Dawkins – including his much hyped debate with George Pell on the ABC’s Q&A – has given the claims of the New Atheists unprecedented media attention.

This is a good thing.

So often we can be frustrated by our world’s failure to engage with the big questions about life, the universe, and everything. But right now, in God’s providence, we have an opportunity to engage with our friends and family and give a clear and coherent defense for the hope that we have in Jesus.

But how do we join the conversation?

The current edition of Eternity newspaper contained two articles urging us to avoid a knee jerk response. Rather than immediately dismissing the claims of the New Atheists, they encouraged us to offer a thoughtful response. Against the claim for example that ‘Christianity has been a force for bad’, we must be willing to admit that churches are a human institution, and that at times they do fail us, and that Jesus himself attacked the hypocrisy present in the religion of his day.

Of course at the same time we mustn’t fall into the opposite error, which I have heard one Christian leader label ‘concessionalism’. This is where we too quickly concede a point, which we would dispute if we were better informed. For example, Dawkin’s claim on Q&A that Christians were missing in action in the fight against slavery, is simply wrong, and is not a point that Christians should ever simply concede.

The point is, for us to be able to give a defense for the hope that we have, we need to thoughtfully engage with the claims of the New Atheists. That is why it is my pleasure to introduce our new sermon series beginning next week, focusing on the “The New Atheism”.

The series will be presented by Dr Lewis Jones, who is the director of The Simeon Network, a network of Christians in academia committed to knowing God and making him known at universities around the world. Lewis is based at UNSW, and has a degree in theology and a doctorate in astrophysics. He regularly engages in the debate surrounding the new Atheism, whether as one of the co-creators of doubtingdawkins.com, or through speaking and debating on university campuses.

In the first talk of the series, ‘Can We Be Good without God’, Lewis will articulate how the New Atheists understand morality. He will explore the implications of their view, and will argue that the Biblical witness not only makes better sense of our own personal experience, but also provides a more satisfying and compelling answer.

The second week, ‘Does Science Believe in God?’, will begin by debunking the oft-made claim that science rules out Christianity and requires a commitment to atheism. As a Christian who has worked in the scientific community, Lewis is perfectly positioned to highlight the historical and logical errors lying behind such a claim, and will argue that science and Christianity are anything but enemies.

The last talk, ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’, will address the claim that belief in God is equivalent to believing in ‘fairies at the end of the garden’, by focusing on the evidence that we have for God in the person of Jesus.

It promises to be a wonderful series, and in God’s hand will help us to engage thoughtfully with our community.”

Parenting Seminar

Upcoming Events and Reminders

2nd May – The Boardroom @ The Winston. 8pm

5th May - NCEA Prayer Breakfast

6th May – New Atheism series – ‘Can We Be Good without God?’

8th May – Parenting Seminar

12th May - Ride for Pastors

13th May - New Atheism series- ‘Does Science Believe in God?’

20th May - New Atheism series – ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’

20th May - India Style Service @ WHAC

This is a good thing.

So often we can be frustrated by our world’s failure to engage with the big questions about life, the universe, and everything. But right now, in God’s providence, we have an opportunity to engage with our friends and family and give a clear and coherent defense for the hope that we have in Jesus.

But how do we join the conversation?

The current edition of Eternity newspaper contained two articles urging us to avoid a knee jerk response. Rather than immediately dismissing the claims of the New Atheists, they encouraged us to offer a thoughtful response. Against the claim for example that ‘Christianity has been a force for bad’, we must be willing to admit that churches are a human institution, and that at times they do fail us, and that Jesus himself attacked the hypocrisy present in the religion of his day.

Of course at the same time we mustn’t fall into the opposite error, which I have heard one Christian leader label ‘concessionalism’. This is where we too quickly concede a point, which we would dispute if we were better informed. For example, Dawkin’s claim on Q&A that Christians were missing in action in the fight against slavery, is simply wrong, and is not a point that Christians should ever simply concede.

The point is, for us to be able to give a defense for the hope that we have, we need to thoughtfully engage with the claims of the New Atheists. That is why it is my pleasure to introduce our new sermon series beginning next week, focusing on the “The New Atheism”.

The series will be presented by Dr Lewis Jones, who is the director of The Simeon Network, a network of Christians in academia committed to knowing God and making him known at universities around the world. Lewis is based at UNSW, and has a degree in theology and a doctorate in astrophysics. He regularly engages in the debate surrounding the new Atheism, whether as one of the co-creators of doubtingdawkins.com, or through speaking and debating on university campuses.

In the first talk of the series, ‘Can We Be Good without God’, Lewis will articulate how the New Atheists understand morality. He will explore the implications of their view, and will argue that the Biblical witness not only makes better sense of our own personal experience, but also provides a more satisfying and compelling answer.

The second week, ‘Does Science Believe in God?’, will begin by debunking the oft-made claim that science rules out Christianity and requires a commitment to atheism. As a Christian who has worked in the scientific community, Lewis is perfectly positioned to highlight the historical and logical errors lying behind such a claim, and will argue that science and Christianity are anything but enemies.

The last talk, ‘Why Can’t Richard Dawkins Find God?’, will address the claim that belief in God is equivalent to believing in ‘fairies at the end of the garden’, by focusing on the evidence that we have for God in the person of Jesus.

It promises to be a wonderful series, and in God’s hand will help us to engage thoughtfully with our community.

Mike

Welcome to term 2, 2012!

Members of our church are trying ways to build community. For example, there’s a bunch of women from our 9.00am congregation who walk together and talk while they walk. But there’s plenty of other ways in which members are building community.

I’ve been thinking about congregational meetings. I was once invited to take the service at another church while the minister was on leave. The service was at 7.45 on Sunday morning. When I started the service there were about 20 people there.

I talked to them about community, the church as community. I pointed out to them that I could tell a lot about their theology of church by where they were sitting. Not one of them was sitting within 2 metres of anyone else.

Our theology, what we believe, determines our behaviour.

But it’s more complicated than that. When I go into a building full of people, at a conference say, I almost always go and sit where no one else is sitting. Even if there are friends of mine there! People are complicated.

But, our theology, what we believe, determines our behaviour. When we think about it. So, let’s think. We believe in community. We want to build community. When you walk into your congregational meeting, where do you sit? Some people act out of habit. We always sit here. Some people sit with their friends. That’s what friends are for. Some sit … well, away from people.

But what if, because we believe in community, when we walked in to our congregational meeting we looked for someone to sit with?

Perhaps someone we don’t know. So we might build community. Perhaps someone who’s sitting alone. So we might build community. Perhaps someone we’ve been struggling with. So we might build community.

We believe in community. And we want our theology to determine how we behave. So we need to think about what we do rather than simply run on auto-pilot (walking in the flesh).

We need to think about what we’re going to do when we walk into our congregational meeting next Sunday. We need to think about it and pray about it beforehand, otherwise the situation and habit will win out.

Think about looking for someone to sit next to. What we believe determines our behaviour. When we think about it.

Our theology determines our behaviour. But we need to develop new behaviour patterns. That takes thought and practice.

Theology, prayer, thought, new behaviour patterns. Worth thinking about.

In the wake of the recent controversy surrounding ‘The New Atheism’, we’re thrilled to announce that Dr Lewis Jones will be joining us for three weeks to guide us through the debate. Here’s a short bio about Lewis:

“Dr Lewis Jones is the director of The Simeon Network, a network of Christians in academia committed to knowing God and making him known at universities around the world.  Lewis is based at UNSW, and has a degree in theology and a doctorate in astrophysics. He regularly engages in the debate surrounding the new Atheism, whether as one of the co-creators of doubtingdawkins.com, or through speaking and debating on university campuses. Originally from America, he met and married Jenny in Australia, and they have three kids Nathan, Heidi, and Macauley.”

It should be a very helpful series for us as we engage with the claims of the New Atheists.

PRAYER BREAKFAST COMING UP

MATTHEW

We kicked off our new series on Matthew last week, as we looked at whether Jesus was a legitimate heir to God’s promises, and what it would mean if he is the long promised descendant of Abraham and David. This week we’re looking at chapter 2, and the controversy surrounding where he grew up. Have a read beforehand if you can!

UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS

April 22nd – Connect Group Leader and Co-leader Training 2-4pm (9.00am and WHAC leaders).

May 5th – Northmead Christian Education Association prayer breakfast. St John’s Parramatta. 7:30-9am

May 6th – Beginning of new Series – The New Atheism

In the wake of the recent controversy surrounding ‘The New Atheism’, we’re thrilled to announce that Dr Lewis Jones will be joining us for three weeks to guide us through the debate. Here’s a short bio about Lewis:

“Dr Lewis Jones is the director of The Simeon Network, a network of Christians in academia committed to knowing God and making him known at universities around the world.  Lewis is based at UNSW, and has a degree in theology and a doctorate in astrophysics. He regularly engages in the debate surrounding the new Atheism, whether as one of the co-creators of doubtingdawkins.com, or through speaking and debating on university campuses. Originally from America, he met and married Jenny in Australia, and they have three kids Nathan, Heidi, and Macauley.”

It should be a very helpful series for us as we engage with the claims of the New Atheists.

Prayer Breakfast COming Up

Matthew

We kicked off our new series on Matthew last week, as we looked at whether Jesus was a legitimate heir to God’s promises, and what it would mean if he is the long promised descendant of Abraham and David. This week we’re looking at chapter 2, and the controversy surrounding where he grew up. Have a read beforehand if you can!

Upcoming Events and Reminders

April 22nd – Connect Group Leader and Co-leader Training 2-4pm.

May 5th – Northmead Christian Education Association prayer breakfast. St John’s Parramatta. 7:30-9am

May 6th – Beginning of new Series – The New Atheism

pdf – 645 Rosters Apr-May

Questions and changes contact Sean at

sean_hampstead@hotmail.com