LISTEN TO THE 2010 TOTAL CHURCH TALKS

Some folk have asked about the Total Church Conference talks from March 2010.

Well, please follow this link to our Porterbrook Training site to hear Steve Timmis, the Author of Total Church, taking us through 6 talks with Extras.

NEW PORTERBROOK WEBSITE

Hi folks.

Please check out the new website for Porterbrook in South Africa.

You can get much more info and register online.

You can even purchase modules through CBD

UPDATED PORTERBROOK DISTANCE LEARNING PAGE

Hi folks

Just a short note to let you know there is an updated page on my Blog Site on Porterbrook Learning.

Check it out here.

BURNING QUR’ANS: A CROWDED HOUSE RESPONSE

Christians in the Crowded House Church, Broomhall, UK, responded in the following way to the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainsville, Florida, who wanted to burn copies of the Qur’an this Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

As part of the Crowded House Network and a new missional church network in South Africa, I want to express the same sentiments.

We are horrified by the news that the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainsville, Florida has announced that it will burn copies of the Qur’an this Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The stated purpose of this action is to raise awareness of the ideology and teaching of Islam and to warn against its dangers.

We condemn burning the Qur’an, for the following reasons:

1. We do not agree with many aspects of Islam. But we believe that the Biblical and Christ-like way to disagree is by speaking the truth in the power of God’s love, and by showing love to Muslim people even when they are hostile to us. We believe it is not justified to destroy the book that Muslims regard as sacred, even though we disagree with its contents.
2. Burning books only shows that there are extreme religious people who don’t care about the wider consequences of their actions. They don’t value human dignity and life which are God-given. Only God has the right to give and to take away human dignity and life.
3. No-one reading the life and teachings of Jesus (Isa) in the Injil could justify this burning. Burning the Qur’an is NOT a Christian action. It has been condemned by Christians all around the world.
4. This action will be the action of one man – the leader of a tiny extreme group – but it may be misused by militants in many countries to distort the wonderful message of Jesus Christ in the Bible and to cause terrible harm to followers of Jesus in many countries.
5. The Bible tells us to speak the good news of Jesus to others “with gentleness and respect” and it is a message of reconciliation. Burning the Qur’an is deliberately offensive and may have the effect of further dividing communities.

For these reasons we urge the Dove World Outreach Centre and its supporters to repent and NOT to burn any Qur’ans on the anniversary of 9/11.

Please understand that followers of Jesus do not approve of this burning. Please don’t let this divide our communities any more.  We may profoundly disagree with each other over very important things. If so, let us speak passionately, strongly and lovingly to each other, but leave the judgement and sentence to the one true God who is the perfect Judge of all.

We are praying:

• that the Qur’ans will not be burnt;
• that followers of Jesus Christ show the love of Christ to Muslim peoples here in Broomhall and all around the world;
• and also that Muslim people show restraint in their response, if the burning happens.

May God be glorified.

Here is a helpful site for stories and copies of the Injil and the whole scriptures in Arabic and English

Click for link

GOOD NEWS! IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY ROOMS

The Problem

My friend Dirk is part of our new and developing Gospel Community network.  He knows somebody who is out of work and has recently lost his house because he was not able to pay the bond.

The Prayer

Dirk and his wife were thinking how they could help.  Could they really afford to take this family in when they only have a small house themselves?  What to do!
‘Lord, how can we help’?

The God Who Hears Us

Dirk and I and our families went away for a weekend with the other South African Kingfisher co-workers just a few weeks ago.  It was there we were challenged to recognize our ‘blind spots’.

The speaker at the one session said that we can look back 100 years or so and be astonished at what Christians did and what they tolerated without thinking twice about it – like slavery and so on.  BUT if people looked back 100 years at our generation of Christians, what are the things they would be astounded at?  What are our ‘blind spots’?  As an example he said ….

‘How many of you have a room in your homes fully furnished, nice curtains, a bed always made up, cupboards … but most of the time it is empty – no-one uses it?  It is just in case someone sleeps over.  Yet there are people just down the road sleeping under a bridge or in a shack’.     Silence ….

‘How many of you have a car?  How many of you have built a house especially for your car to sleep in?  Perhaps big enough to have both your cars sleep in their own house?  While down the road people are living with a family of 5 in a one-room tin shack with no water or electricity’!    Silence ….

but the Lord had provided an answer to the problem and to the prayer of Dirk and his wife.

The Answer – A New Creation Begins

A short while later I called Dirk.  He was renovating his garage!  All the garage equipment needed to be moved into a shack in his back yard. The cars now sleep outside.  But the Good News has born fruit once again!  We are being restored into the human beings God created!

The Gospel Is Seen

The house has now got two families staying in it sharing the same bathroom and kitchen.  An adjustment for sure.  But God has taken us into His family at great cost to Himself.  Unlike Dirk’s friends, we are not the easiest people to have taken in.  We are so different to God and take his hospitality and kindness for granted … as if we deserve it!

But as we watch Jesus with His Father and grasp His love for us, we are changed … and we start to become like Him.  We start to share a family likeness.

What is the Spirit saying to the Church today?

PORTERBROOK PARTNERS WITH BOOKSHOP

Christian Book Discounters (CBD) and myself have entered an agreement which should benefit us both and, more importantly, make this unique distance learning available to more people.

A good match

It became clear that the Porterbrook material is a good match for CBD because:

• The originators of the material (Steve Timmis and Tim Chester) and those recommending it (Tim Keller, Vaughan Roberts and others) are authors whom CBD not only stock, but promote and have an affinity for.
• The Material gathers the thoughts, works and quotes from authors CBD stock, while the course actively recommends many of them as further reading (Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Paul Tripp, Chris Wright, Jim Packer, Drane, Clowney, Carson and many more classic evangelical writers).
• The ‘further reading’ would be readily available to students through CBD

Our roles

Because the Porterbrook Distance Learning is not denominationally affiliated, CBD have asked to promote it as their recommended distance learning course as a service and ministry to their clients.

Front

Back

I will be coordinating the distance learning and study groups in South Africa and Africa, tutoring courses, assisting learners online (there is a global student chat area on our website) and helping churches put what they are learning into practice.  I will also be supplying the printed material to CBD.

We are only making 4 modules (subject workbooks) available to purchase without registering. CBD will be promoting the course by stocking these 4 ‘sample’ modules (one from each stream of study – see the flyer) in their stores.  Beyond that, CBD will also take responsibility for the dispatching of course material to learners around the country and further afield, while providing credit card facilities for students (very helpful, especially across our borders).

The sample modules are available at a special introduction price of R95 per module.

A SUMMARY OF MY MASTER DISSERTATION

For those who were wondering what it was all about, here is the ‘Abstract’ or summary and then the contents of the dissertation.  Thanks to those who encouraged me to finish it.

THE SELF-IDENTITY OF THE ESCHATOLOGICAL CHURCH:

THE PAULINE THEOLOGY OF ALBERT SCHWEITZER
AND SUCCESSORS IN THE RESURFACING OF
A MISSIONAL ECCLESIOLOGY

ABSTRACT

The Pauline Theology of Albert Schweitzer and the developments in this field of study a century on from him forms the core of this current Masters dissertation.  The subject of the investigation is the extent to which Schweitzer was a catalyst in steering the conversation toward a self-identity of the Church which can be described as a participation with Christ in His mission.  The motivation for this investigation is the growing interest and development in what has become known globally as, ‘Missional Ecclesiology’, with its claim to be a more faithful understanding of Paul and a true description of the nature and identity of the earliest Church.

The dissertation concerns itself mainly with the work written in the early part of the 20^th century by Albert Schweitzer called, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle. The present work attempts to highlight and briefly describe Schweitzer’s Pauline theology on key themes such as eschatology, Christ-mysticism, the law, justification, and more.  It then takes a fair selection of New Testament scholars who have been more influential than most in this field and demonstrate how and where they have contributed to the main thesis – that of the self-understanding of the Christian, the Church and her mission.  These include such scholars as: Rudolf Bultmann; CH Dodd; Oscar Cullman; WD Davies; EP Sanders; Lesslie Newbigin; NT Wright, and others.

The investigation is set within the changing context from a Christendom to a post-Christendom environment in Europe with South Africa following close on the heals of these changes.  We are introduced to the statistical data in South Africa with its present situation of change, focussing particularly on the Church of England in South Africa as the Author’s personal context at the time of writing.  After the core work on Schweitzer and his successors is completed with sufficient evidence of Schweitzer’s influence especially in eschatology, the dissertation analyses the post-Christian environment of England and Scotland.  It quite deliberately focuses on the theological responses of the two large National Churches of these countries – the Church of England and the Church of Scotland -  and not on the smaller missional initiatives from newer, independent church groups in order to observe the sense of urgency for change despite the long and historical complexity of these organizations.

The dissertation concludes with an attempt to determine any detectable similarities between the theological response of these national churches in a post-Christian environment and the Pauline conversation of Schweitzer and his successors over the preceding century.  The conclusion shows an overall eschatological orientation in both as well as a similar emphases on a corporate participation in the mission of God in Christ that determines the shape and life of the Church as a foretaste of the Kingdom.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1.                     Problem Statement and focus

2.                     Theoretical point of departure

2.1.                  Church trends in South Africa

2.2.                  The Church of England in South Africa (CESA)

2.3.                  Concluding remarks

3.                     Plan of research

CHAPTER 1

THE ALBERT SCHWEITZER FACTOR

1.1.                  The Theological Fabric at the Time of Dr Schweitzer

1.2.                  Gathering The Threads Of The Theological Fabric

CHAPTER 2

HOW SCHWEITZER UNDERSTOOD PAUL’S THEOLOGY

2.1.                  Great Expectations of Redemption

2.2.                  Defining ‘Christ-Mysticism’ or ‘Being-in-Christ’

2.2.1.               As a general concept

2.2.2.               As uniquely Pauline

2.2.3.               As unique to attaining a homogeneous humanity

2.2.4.               As uniquely Jewish in eschatology

2.3.                  The Law

2.4.                  Justification / Righteousness by Faith

2.5.                  The Mystical doctrine of Dying and Rising with Christ

2.5.1.               The ‘Community of God’ Concept

2.5.2.               Dying with Christ Manifested in Suffering

2.5.3.               Being-Risen-With-Christ Manifested in the Possession of the Spirit

2.6.                  Ethics

2.6.1.               Inner Freedom from the World, not Outer Withdrawal

2.6.2.               The Fruit of the Spirit, not that of Repentance

2.6.3.               Love, the highest expression of Christian ethic

2.6.4.               A Self-Consciousness assists Paul and believers in Ethics

CHAPTER 3

DETERMINING SCHWEITZER’S INFLUENCE:

CONVERSATIONS AND VARIATIONS ON THEMES

3.1.                  A Conversation on Paul: his thought-world and theology

3.1.1.               Albert Schweitzer: salient points

3.1.2.               Immediate Opposition: Rudolf Bultmann

3.1.3.               Thy Kingdom Come?

3.1.4.               Paul’s Influences and Battles: Judaic or Hellenistic?

3.1.5.               ‘Controversy is the breath of life’: Debating the ‘Center’

3.1.6.               Schweitzer Revivus  – The Sanders Revolution

3.1.7.               The New Perspective On Paul – A Current Conversation

3.2.                  Pauline themes: detecting Schweitzer’s influence

3.2.1.               Paul’s Thought Judaic or Hellenistic?

3.2.2.               The ‘Centre’ Of Pauline Theology

3.2.3.               Justification By Faith

3.2.4.               Salvation History

3.2.5.               The Overlap Of The Ages

3.2.6.               The Corporeity Of The Church ‘In Christ’

3.2.7.               Our Participation In Christ

3.3.                  Gathering the Thematic Threads of the Conversation in Eschatology

Together for the Church And Mission

3.3.1.               A Summary of our findings

3.3.2.               An Implication for Church and mission

3.3.3.               In Conclusion

CHAPTER 4

THE GROWING SENSE OF UNEASE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

4.1.                  A Timely Observation

4.2.                  British Church Statistics

4.2.1.               Statistical Sources and Methods

4.2.2.               The statistics

4.3.                  Some Given Reasons for the Decline

CHAPTER 5

THE THEOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF TWO NATIONAL CHURCHES

WITHIN A POST-CHRISTIAN ENVIRONMENT  (CASE STUDIES)

5.1.                  The Church of England

5.1.1.               The Prelude to Change

5.1.1.1.            The Five Marks of Mission

5.1.1.2.            Called to Live and Proclaim the Good News

5.1.2.               The Mandates For Change

5.1.2.1.            The ‘Measure for Measures’ Mandate

5.1.2.2.            The ‘Mission-Shaped Church’ Mandate

5.1.3.               A Theology For Change

5.1.3.1.            The Theology Behind the ‘Measures’ Report

5.1.3.1.1.         A Theology of the Interim

5.1.3.1.2.         The Importance of Ecclesiology

5.1.3.1.3.         One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

5.1.3.1.4.         Anglicanism

5.1.3.1.5.         Mission and the Changing Church

5.1.3.1.6.         Incarnation and Atonement

5.1.3.2.            The Theology Behind the ‘Mission-Shaped Church’ Report

5.1.3.2.1.         God Speaks Clearly, So Must The Church

5.1.3.2.2.         The Work of Christ as pattern

5.1.3.2.3.         The Spirit of Christ

5.1.3.2.4.         The Church’s Missionary Posture

5.1.3.2.5.         Salvation History and the Missio Dei

5.1.3.2.6.         The Nicene Nature of the Church

5.1.3.3.            The Supporting Theology of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury

5.1.3.3.1.         Did Jesus start a Church?

5.1.3.3.2.         First Principle of a Missionary Theology: understand the Church

5.1.3.3.3.         What is the Essential Nature of the Church?

5.1.3.3.4.         How do we best Ensure a Continuing Encounter with Jesus?

5.1.3.3.5.         What if it is not particularly Anglican?

5.1.3.3.6.         Second Principle of a Missionary Theology: Be patient

5.1.3.3.7.         How do we Structure a Missional Church?

5.1.3.3.8.         Concluding Concerns

5.2.                  The Church of Scotland (C of S)

5.2.1.               The Mandate from the General Assembly

5.2.2.               The Theology Behind the ‘Church Without Walls’ Report

5.2.2.1.            The Primary Purpose of the Church

5.2.2.2.            The Shape of the Church

CONCLUSION

1.                     An Overall Eschatological orientation

2.                     Mission Belongs to God – The Missio Dei

3.                     Mission Creates and Shapes Church, while Church is Key to Mission

4.                     The Corporate Nature of the Church

5.                     Participation in Christ and His Mission

6.                     Christ as pre-existent Church: A pattern of Church life

7.                     Salvation History and the present Age

8.                     The Church Embodies the Gospel and is a Foretaste of the Kingdom

9.                     Mission is Universal and Restorative