LOOKING BACK OVER THE PAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF OUR CHURCH'S HISTORY FROM 2222

 

As Kim and I enjoyed our weekly coffee-date this morning at Stillwater, she looked out ruminatively across the water at all of the development that has taken place over the past 200 years where the North and South Esks merge to form the Tamar River.

“I wonder if the settlers who came here two hundred years ago” she asked, “could have imagined the silos would have been built over there and then turned into a luxury hotel, or that two bridges would have been built here, or that their tiny village would grow into a large city?“

“What’s more interesting” I responded, “is if anyone today can envision what it will all look like in another two hundred years!“

And my response then got me thinking. Could it be possible to imagine what Launceston will end up looking like in another two hundred years—and, what about our church? What will our church will look like in two hundred years time? As I mused throughout the rest of the day on this question my thoughts went to the future. In 2222, Tasmania’s population on current trends will be 4.5 million. Hobart will have a population of 2 million. Launceston will have a population of 1.34 million. The Tamar River will have population centres on either side of it which will be connected by a series of bridges and tunnels. Tasmania will be connected to the mainland by a “strunnel“ similar to, but much larger than, England’s connection to France through their chunnel. Tasmania’s climate, soil conditions, and abundance of fresh water will lead to it becoming a major international food-bowl. In 200 years, after several periods of devastating natural disasters and military conflicts in various parts of the globe, Tasmania will have opened its heart wide to immigrants from all over the world. This will lead to tens of thousands of people who had also moved here after the collapse of the Islamic world a century earlier. Thousands of Indian families will have also made Tasmania their home. Added to this, there will have been a migration of thousands of Chinese families after the collapse of the formerly oppressive Communist regime. Historians will look back over this period and note that it was a series of spiritual revivals where tens of thousands of people converted to Christianity and churches all across Tasmania were burgeoning. It was the Tasmanian churches of the 23rd century that led many social and cultural reforms where prisons were largely emptied as a result of the change in the moral climate, marriage was once again considered the sacred covenant union of a man and his wife, the rate of violence against women almost unheard of, and wives who became mothers were highly honoured and supported.

Imagine the Friday Pastor’s Desk, written by Legana Christian Church’s 15th Senior Pastor, writing just before the church’s 205th Annual Thanksgiving Sunday…

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

An antique ‘photo’ of what used to be the entrance to the auditorium taken near the turn of the 21st century.

As we prepare for our 205th Annual Thanksgiving Weekend, a tradition that dates back two centuries beginning in 2017, we again pause to give thanks for the goodness of God and the sacrifices and faithful service of our forefathers and those who pioneered our church. This is why, for this week’s Pastor’s Desk, I have decided to use the ancient technology of email and the ‘internet’ to send out my Pastor’s Desk as it would have been done by the pastor in 2017. It was just five years ago (2217) that we gathered to open our last building project, our multi-storey auditorium and ministry centre complex. We all remember that Thanksgiving Sunday when 15,000 of us gathered over our five services that Sunday as the Holy Spirit moved powerfully in each service. The Text by our guest speaker was- 

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”
Psalm 50:23

 

A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS

Not only will we be continuing the tradition of setting aside the second weekend in August to give thanks to God for all that He has done for us as a church, as all of my predecessors have done, this weekend will also mark the goodness of God as I retire and we install our next Senior Pastor. And as we look forward to the future we will, as is our tradition, commission our new pastor by reading the charge written by my predecessor 200 years ago. The text for Thanksgiving services this Sunday, as selected by our guest speaker, will be Psalm 95:2-3 – 

Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
Psalm 95:2-3

Our next pastor will be our church’s 16th pastor in our two hundred and thirty-five year history. We have all had an opportunity to hear and meet him and his family. All two-hundred and eighty-three of our church’s staff have given their endorsement for his appointment, and our elders issued a statement a few weeks ago expressing their commendation of him as well noting that at the age of just 32 he has had extensive international leadership experience. We remember that the last time he shared with us, he talked about how the Lord had clearly called them to come to Tasmania and that he even had a historic connection with our church sharing that his great, great, great, great grandfather also pastored our church two centuries earlier! His grasp of being fluent in several languages will enable him to connect well with our Chinese, and Spanish congregations without the usual need for an interpreter. This was also reflected in his last message with us when he selected the text Revelation 7:9-10 –

¶ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10

 

PRACTICALITIES

Please be praying for our guests and dignitaries who will be joining with us for Thanksgiving services this Sunday – especially our Prime Minister that she will be touched by the Holy Spirit, our State Governor, and our State Premier (even though both our Governor and Premier grew up in our church and coincidentally were baptised here as young teenagers in the same Baptism Service). Could each of our Service Attendant Teams meet 45 minutes before each of their rostered services on the fifth floor of our Ministry Centre (MC), and could our elders gather for prayer before each service in our Board Room located adjacent to my office on the sixth floor. To avoid congestion in the eastern multi-storey underground car park, please use the western multi-storey car park instead. Several dignitaries will be arriving by HV (hover vehicles) and be using the HV landing pads on the roof of the MC. Remember –

[We are] to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Ephesians 3:9-11

See you Sunday,

Your pastor.
August 9th, 2222

RELEVANCE INTACT: The Tasmanian Church's Place

NOTE: This is a critical review of Barry Prismal’s Sunday Examiner Opinion piece published Sunday August 29th 2022, which complies with Section 41 of The Australian Copyright Act 1968 which states: Division 3—Acts not constituting infringements of copyright in works, 41  Fair dealing for purpose of criticism or review – A fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or with an adaptation of a literary, dramatic or musical work, does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the work if it is for the purpose of criticism or review, whether of that work or of another work, and a sufficient acknowledgement of the work is made. The Australian Copyright Council has advised: “criticism and review involves making a judgment of.the material concerned, or of the underlying ideas.” Therefore, you can use either the whole work(if it is needed) or a part of it for criticism or review.

Tasmanian churches play a vital role in our state as a moral compass and social leader. Our moral compass was given to us 2,000 years ago by Christ when He then commissioned the Church to preach, teach, and care in His Name. The Church’s role as a social leader was thus modelled and instigated by Jesus who had embraced the shunned, condemned oppressors of the vulnerable, and upheld the sacredness of every human life and taught His followers to do likewise. 

Two thousand years later, Tasmanian churches continue to gather weekly and proclaim the good news (“the gospel”) which Jesus taught; to care for the poor and homeless, feed the hungry, welcome refugees, and provide thousands of young Tasmanians with an education. This is why the former Examiner deputy editor in recently described the Tasmanian Church as “the most fundamental pillar in society.” But, then he went on to describe it as being led by “a pious clique of fancy robed hypocrites, with less and less relevance each year to the wider community” (28/8/2022). The basis for his sharp criticism of the Tasmanian church is grounded in his assessment that it has not recalibrated its moral compass to align itself with culture’s progressive values. Here’s why I take issue with the esteemed former deputy editor’s assessment.

¶ “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you,
for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Luke 6:26

I know many of the pastors who serve across our state. These men and women are my colleagues. They serve tirelessly and gladly for very little recognition—but recognition or acclaim is not their motive. Their week-in-week-out efforts in preaching uplifting messages of hope makes a valuable contribution to the social capital and mental health of our state – let alone their efforts in weekly food and relief distributions, emergency and crisis housing, hospital visitation, marriage and family counselling, and overseeing after-school care programs. These are the areas where the best efforts of the church are mostly expended with nearly all of the necessary funding coming from the voluntary donations of those in their church communities.

And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and visit you?’
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.’
Matthew 25:33-40

Collaboratively the churches of Tasmania are working together to address some of Tasmania’s social ills such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, and toxic masculinity resulting in violence against women. This involves the UPSTREAM Initiative, the development of the ARK Children’s and Youth Respite Centre in Launceston (for young people traumatised by domestic violence), and several drug rehabilitation centres such as Missiondale. For several years now the Tasmanian church has played an active role in providing and supporting several women’s shelters under the auspices of Anglicare, Catholic Care, Baptcare, to name a few.

While the church in Tasmania continues to address Tasmania’s most urgent social issues, as mentioned above — and does so relatively quietly — it is often only heard and seen in the public square when it is responding ethical challenges. That is, when the church is put on the defensive. Mr Prismall begins his conclusion about why the church is no longer relevant in Tasmania by stating, “A stronger church should not compromise on its theology. It’s a perennial strength people look to.” Here is where Mr. Prismall and I agree!

But it strikes me from his list of criticisms and his clear unawareness of all that the Tasmanian church continues to do to address the spiritual, social, ethical and cultural malaise of our state, that he reveals that he does not understand that when we speak up on matters of sex, gender, and marriage, we are doing so on the basis of both Christ’s teaching and His foundational commission for us to do so!

Jesus Christ made it very clear that it was He and His Father who created the original human pair (Matt. 19:4; Jn. 1:3), and it was He and His Father who designed and established the boundaries for human sexuality and it was He and His Father who instituted marriage as the lifelong, self-sacrificing, commitment between a husband and his wife (Matt. 19:4-6). Jesus Christ gave grave warnings about sexual immorality and its eternal consequences for a human soul (Matt. 15:19). 

 on earth has been given to Me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20, Christ’s “Great Commission to His Church”

To uphold the teaching of Jesus and to be obedient to His commission for us, is not, as Mr Prismall suggests, the Tasmanian church deviating from its rich theology, it’s upholding its rich theology! In fact, it was the efforts of the early church in proclaiming the sanctity and sex and marriage that revolutionised how men behaved and women were treated, as the late sociologist, Professor Rodney Stark pointed out in his landmark book, The Rise of Christianity.

I also share Mr. Prismall’s disgust for those who takes their ordination vows ‘cynically’ and instead of serving as protectors of the vulnerable they turn out to be evil predators. During the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Sexual Abuse of Children, established in January 11th, 2013, I read each of the reports as they were published. This was a heart-breaking exercise. 

But Mr Prismall has asserted that this level of abuse is continuing within Tasmanian churches. He also asserted that every denomination is equally still culpable. This is factually incorrect on both counts. I consider the Bishop of the Anglican Church in Tasmania a close friend. I also consider the Archbishop of the Catholic Church a close friend. What Mr Prismall may not be aware of is that when Bishop Condie arrived in Tasmania and was installed, he made a very public commitment to make full restitution to any victim of sexual abuse by the predatory behaviour of an Anglican priest or teacher – even if it meant that the Anglican church in Tasmania risked going into bankruptcy! The very thing that Mr Prismall has called the church to return to is the very thing that Bishop Condie has done over the past five years or so! And I can say the same thing about the Catholic Church in Tasmania under the also relatively recent appointed Archbishop Porteous.

¶ “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
The words of Jesus warning against anyone who harms a child who follows Christ, Mark 9:42

Closer to home for our church, when we had outgrown our previous church building and were preparing our existing auditorium, we deliberately designed it to be as transparent as possible enabling anyone outside to be able to look through its large windows, or to go online and watch was happening live on our website, YouTube, and/or Facebook. We also installed security cameras throughout our facilities to ensure there were no ‘hidden’ places where a vulnerable child could be at risk. 

Mr. Prismall makes much of the census figures showing that the number of Christians in Tasmania has declined by 10% since the last census. What the census doesn’t reveal though is that the sector of the church that has suffered the greatest decline are the very churches who have done precisely what Mr Prismall has called for! That is, the very churches who have recalibrated their moral compass and endorsed the euphemistically called “marriage equality” and “non-binary-genderism” and “terminating the unborn” – are the churches that have lost members in “droves”.

When Mr. Prismall says, “I’ve heard so-called believers demonising gays and transgendered people as it they’re social lepers, who should be avoided like the plague” – he may have – and he also may be correct in his assessment that they were not really Christians. But I do wonder if he has interpretted disagreement with hatred? On a side note, his metaphors – social lepers and the plague – are curious terms since it was the early Christians who embraced lepers and established a long tradition of care for lepers, and it was the early Christians who stayed in the midst of the plagues to care for the sick and the dying.

The Christian Church has always had uphill battles to fight. Christ warned His original disciples that the populace would treat them just as the populace was treating Him (Lk. 21:17; Jn. 15:18; 16:2). Ultimately the crowd’s hatred of Jesus (Jn. 8:37; 19:18) led them cry for His death – which the Romans were happy to oblige with (Jn. 7:1, 17; 19:16). Despite the constant uphill battles that the Christian church has had to deal with, by the power of the promised Holy Spirit it has more battles than it has lost – even when it has endured persecution, martyrdom, and banning (as it is currently in fifty countries around the world).  And I’m reasonably confident the Tasmanian church will also win more battles than it will lose as it marches on uphill into the centuries to come.

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

THE BUSY FOOLS’ ARGUMENT WITH THE BUSY WISE

 THE BUSY FOOLS’ ARGUMENT

WITH THE BUSY WISE

“Been busy?” I’m not sure if women get asked this question as often as men do (although my guess is that women more frequently ask, “How have you been?” more than they ask “Have you been busy?”). The ‘busy question’ seems to be a badge of honour for men—especially when they stick to the unwritten script and respond with either option A (“Yeah, flat out!”) or option B (“Yeah, I’ve been {insert details here}!”). Even retired men still refer to the modified retirement script with variations of the “Since I’ve been retired, I’ve never been busier!” response. As a student and practitioner of the art of busy I have discovered that there is a type of being busy that is worthwhile and there is another type that is not – but its practitioners are convinced that it is. 

 

THE DOWNSIDE OF BUSY

But busy has its downside. When people are always filling their schedules and adding to their To-Do lists, they run the spiritual risk of neglecting the godly discipline of ceasing their normal activity and resting. This is the basis of the principle of  the sabbath. Cease, rest from normal activity, breathe, contemplate (declutter your mind), worship, re-focus on God, reset, and remember. If you have heard  Pastor Phil Hills preach as often as I have, you would know that he often repeated his ministry maxim (and even though he is retired, I’m sure he still repeats it), “We work from rest rather than resting from work!” What Pastor Hills was affirming the principle of treating the sabbath as a spiritual discipline. This is something that the unwisely busy should consider. It is also why they should consider attending church each Sunday as a spiritual discipline that should not be neglected. 

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God…And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 4:9; 10:24-25

 

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF BUSY

Most of us are aware that someone can be busy but not productive. Those who are highly productive often don’t appear to be as busy as the busy-yet-not-productive. These highly-productive-and-busy people have learned to incorporate rest into their lifestyles — but their moments of apparent idleness should not be interpreted as a inefficiency. I recently learned an amazing example of ‘apparent idleness’ being essential for productivity when I took a course on how the brain works. What I discovered was that before we had the technology to measure brainwave activity, we used to think that when we slept, our brain also took a break. But it turns out that when we “idly” go to sleep (especially when we reach REM sleep) our brain is actually hard at work reorganising its information and deepening its long-term memory which ends up helping us to think more clearly when we awake. That’s why you can go to sleep at night with an unsolved problem on your mind and then wake up knowing what the solution is.  Added to these scientific insights, we know from Scripture that God frequently gets people’s attention while they slept.

But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Genesis 31:24

Coincidentally, those who are unwisely busy often regard sleep as a waste of time. They brag about only needing four hours sleep a night even though their restless brains need at least seven hours to do their nightly routine properly.

 

RECRUITING BUSY WISE LEADERS

I’ve been thinking through for many years what it would take to see Christ’s Great Commission fulfilled in our valley-city. In 2007 I gathered some of the key Christian leaders for a meeting and posed just one question for discussion: If we could fulfil Christ’s Great Commission in our valley-city, what would it look like? Each of these busy leaders were committed to fulfilling the Great Commission in our valley, but not many of them had thought about what it would end up looking like. The problem with not having a clear vision of what you’re trying to achieve is that it can lead to unproductive busyness. The more I’ve thought about it, the clearer the picture has become to me. And the clearer the picture has become to me, the clearer pathway has also become. This pathway involves strong and united local churches. It involves a commitment to evangelism and multiplication discipleship. It involves sharing a common objective that gives the Christians of our city the courage to be bold witnesses. And it involves outside help from those those who are gifted to assist us. Thus, when I was approached by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association with an offer to come to our city and help us — at no cost to us (!) — I was very keen to be involved. The result has been the birth of the Tasmania Celebration journey. At this point in the journey we are now recruiting and appointing various coordinators for the key responsibilities involved. Each of these coordinators, without exception, are already busy. On Thursday morning this week I met with a prospective team member who told me that he was too busy to be involved and was already serving on seven executive boards. I said, “Good! We only want busy people on our team!” I went on to explain what I meant and I will now try and explain it to you…

 

THE PARABLE OF THE BUSY WISE

¶ “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. ¶ “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ ¶ “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ ¶ “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’ ¶ “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ ¶ “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’”
Matthew 25:1-12 NLT

This parable highlights the difference between the foolish and busy, and the wise and busy. The foolish bridesmaids were busy doing things that didn’t matter. They were ignoring their primary responsibilities in the midst of their busyness. The wise bridesmaids took their responsibilities seriously and tended to their oil-lit lamps by securing adequate oil for their lamps. Their busyness was focused on doing what they were supposed to be doing. When it became obvious to the foolish bridesmaids that they had neglected their responsibilities they resorted to blaming the wise bridesmaids for not giving them some of their lamp oil. What we can learn from the busy and wise bridesmaids is that productive work involves: planning, preparation, persistence, and prayerfulness. Prayerfulness? Interestingly, at the end of this parable Jesus sums up its point with an injunction for His followers to ‘watch’ – which is a term used for praying (Matt. 26:41).

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Matthew 26:41

The busy-wise bridesmaids were commended and honoured for their diligent work by being admitted to the wedding feast and seated at the head table with the bride and groom. All followers of Christ must know that we are not saved from our sins because of our efforts. Our salvation, redemption, and divine adoption are gifts of God’s grace through the merit of Christ’s finished work of atonement. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

And all followers of Christ must know that this same grace enables us to be busy-wise in the service of Christ and His Church.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10

We need not sit in the waiting-room of Christ’s servants as if Jesus is yet to figure out what we are to do! Christ prepares beforehand the tasks that He wants His followers to do. Yield to Christ and you will soon find Jesus opening doors of service. Don’t immediately expect these doors to be particularly big or likely to gain you much attention or even appreciation. (It would be worth noting the parable immediately following the ten bridesmaids parable in Matthew 25:15-28 where the point is faithfulness rather than fame.) As we examine each of Christ’s last parables retold by Matthew in chapter 25 we are struck by Christ commending His faithful followers to be wisely busy in His service. And for those who don’t feel that their ability to serve Christ and His Church is particularly glamorous you should take heart in Christ’s appreciation for those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the shut-ins (and prisoners), tend to the ill and sick, and show hospitality to strangers (Matt. 25:35-36).

For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Matthew 25:35-36

What makes our busyness wise busyness? It’s when our busyness is doing what Christ wants for the reasons that He wants it done. It’s when we are busy without neglecting the priorities of spiritual disciplines and our obligations to those we are responsible to and for. This is why, when Christ calls someone to take on a greater responsibility in His Kingdom it is almost certain that they are already busy. I am not at all suggesting that a Christ-follower needs to be frenetic in their busyness for Christ, or that they should never sabbath (two points I have tried to make clear in this Pastor’s Desk by contrasting the busy wise with the busy foolish). But I am hoping that those who have been following and serving Christ for some seasons will recognise the doors of opportunity that Christ will enable them to walk through wisely. And as they do, and we do together, may we begin to see glimpse of the Great Commission being fulfilled in our valley-city.

Your pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.