Epoch Aspire Blog

The problem with relative truth

ross@epoch.org.au — 2011-01-18T08:40:03+11:00

It’s been proven to me over the last few years that objective truth doesn’t actually matter anywhere near as much as opinion. Nearly everyone, including intelligent thinking people, are willing to ignore truth when it suits them. A brief survey of the landscape reveals the foundations people are building on instead of truth. It’s relative, and there is interplay - but what is weird is the heirarchy that’s develped. Truth somehow ended up not as the foundation, but as some kind of topping that can be rejected if it doesn’t somehow fit.

There’s stuff everyone wishes or thinks was true,

Stuff everyone thinks ,or wants to be true.

Stuff most people think, or want to be true.

Truth.

How to pray during disaster

ross@epoch.org.au — 2011-01-11T18:38:58+11:00

Many of our fellow Australians this week are facing immense pressure from flooding. Lives have been lost, up to $11b in damage, and there is more to come. A lot of us are left at home unable to provide any immediate help, and we wonder what we can do.

Some unhelpful people use events like this to talk about the judgement of God. What they’re really doing is using current affairs to help give a platform to their existing views and hoping for some additional exposure. The heart of a follower of Jesus during a disaster like this is to remember God is compassionate rather than vindictive. We need to recognise that His desire for us is to see his sufficiency and to seek Him and ask for His help. This is work we must all do together, and this is work we can do now.

Psalm 57 opens with the following:

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
until the disaster has passed.

It’s important in times like this to remember we serve a very big God. When we face the shock of seeing the power of nature, sometimes it takes a moment or two of meditation and reflection to remember the immense size and power of the God who stands behind all creation. As our picture of Him becomes clear again in our minds, we are reminded of the safety and refuge available within Him. Whatever we face, and whatever disaster it brings, there is always refuge within God.

We can’t control the weather, and we can’t change the circumstances that have been set in place within our country this week. What we can do is pray to God the way David did in Psalm 57 - feeling the full weight and emotion of the disaster around us, recognising that it’s virtually impossible to place any blame; but still feeling a need to cry out for the injustice and human cost. And as we do, we will be reminded of God’s sovereignty and His power and strength. We’ll be filled with a sense that prayer counts and that the hurt creation calling out to the creator for help and protection does not fall on deaf ears.

Palm 47 says:

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;

And even amongst all this, and as disasters occur and we feel the pain, God still says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (v10).

I encourage you to pray this week for our fellow Australians, and to direct your prayer to the God who is with us and for us.

He will magnify Himself within you, and His glory within the world as you do.

Donate to the Premier’s relief flood appeal here.

Five FREE Christian books for your Kindle

ross@epoch.org.au — 2010-10-04T13:41:43+11:00

I love free books. One of the great things about ebook readers is the possibility of building a large library from FREE STOCK. For a limited time you can get a few great deals for free for your Kindle (or device with Kindle app installed - such as iPad). If you don't have a Kindle, it's well worth having a look at the software available for most platforms, especially with the free book deals below.

The DNA of relationships (Gary Smalley)

"Everything in life that truly matters can be boiled down to relationships." That’s why Gary Smalley says it’s so important to learn safe, healthy relating patterns. The DNA of Relationships will help you to understand how you’re designed to be in three exciting and fulfilling types of relationships. It teaches you the main barriers to great relationships and how to construct satisfying relationships with those close to you – your spouse, best friend, your son, even co-workers and neighbors.

The DNA of Relationships

Listening to God (Charles Stanely)

TALKING TO GOD IS EASY. IT'S THE LISTENING THAT'S THE HARD PART. Although most of us can talk with ease to our best friend, many of us aren't so good at keeping quiet and hearing what our friend has to say. So it is with God. For true communication with Him, we must learn to listen through understanding His Word. Dr. Charles Stanley's Listening to God, part of the Life Principles Study Series, presents a sound way to explore the Word and hear God's truths. You'll learn to identify with the passages, recognize your emotional response, reflect on the passages' meaning and take steps to apply what you've learned.

Listening to God

Life Lessons Study Guide (Max Lucado)

Revised and updated, the Lucado Life Lessons series takes the participant on a journey through the Bible, book by book. Inquisitive questions, "Keys to the Text" feature, and new material compose this useful and concise tool from renowned Bible teacher and pastor Max Lucado.

Life Lessons Study Guide: Acts

Luke (John Macarthur)

The MacArthur Study Guide Series continues to be one of the best selling study guide series on the market today. These brand-new releases will join the ranks of the previously released and repackaged study guides, offering readers a complete selection of New Testament Bible studies by best-selling author and theologian John MacArthur. For small group or individual use, intriguing questions and new material take the participant deeper into God's Word.

Luke

Holman Christian Standard Bible

This text edition of the HCSB has been optimized for easy reading on digital devices. Free from the visual clutter of footnotes, cross references, and other links, this edition is fast to navigate and easy to use.
The HCSB was developed by 100 scholars and English stylists from 17 denominations, who prayerfully translated what is one of the most significant Bible translations available today. The HCSB reflects linguistic advances in vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and formatting while it retains meaningful theological terms. In the HCSB you'll find God's personal name (Yahweh), the use of "Messiah" in the New Testament, and the use of "slave" in the New Testament, just to name a few examples. Also, you'll notice the contemporary speech patterns in the HCSB mean that words like "behold" and "shall" are not used. Instead, words or phrases that are common today can be found in their place.

The HCSB employs a first-of-its kind translation philosophy known as Optimal Equivalence, which seeks to achieve an optimal balance of literary precision and emotive clarity through a comprehensive analysis of the text at every level. This process assures maximum transfer of both words and thoughts contained in the original.

The Holy Bible: HCSB Digital Text Edition

Five albums worth listening to right now...

ross@epoch.org.au — 2010-09-27T15:47:18+10:00

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

This dense album from this husband and wife fronted Canadian outfit is full of gems. There is a definite connection to 80s new wave, but in a way that pays homage rather than just shamelessly apeing. The lyrics create a real sense of pain for those who still feel a crucial connection to the idealism and optimism of youth but find themselves facing adult realities. Brilliantly paced, you can listen to this album from track 1 through to 16 without getting bored. This one has been on my frequently played list for ages now and I’m not sick of it yet...

Best Coast - Crazy for you

Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno are the songwriting duo behind this refreshing album that is set to become a favourite for me over summer (as I drive with my roof down). There’s just so much to like about this album, from the simple production values (but intentional sound), through to the simplicity of the song construction and relative vacuousness of the lyrics (basically, boy/girl stuff). This is a short, simple, brilliant album that flushes away all of the pretension from the rest of your collection. Despite its simplicity, these songs will take a long while to become tiresome.

Laura Marling - I speak because I can

The striking thing about Laura Marling is her mature voice (she’s 20). I can’t listen to her without thinking ‘Joni Mitchell’. But she brings something totally original to the folk genre despite near vocal perfection. There may be a smidgen too much banjo for my liking, but her voice makes it totally worthwhile. The themes covered on this album demonstrate a life wisdom, especially around the often confused reality of womanhood.

Club 8 - The boy who couldn’t stop dreaming

Ok, so a couple of years old now, and I’m only just listening to this. I’m a sucker for introspective albums with dreamy, reverby vocals, and this album from Club 8 is perfect to reset the soul at the end of the day. Orchestral, etherial, deep. The album swoops through decades of influences, touching each lightly and creating a beautifully coherent sound. Club 8 is one of many projects from Swedish musician Johan Ångergard, who proves to be an endlessly talented and artistic individual (and label owner).

Deerhunter - Halycon Digest

This four piece US indie outfit have produced a wonderfully textured album with Halycon Digest. Their style is self described as “ambient punk”. There’s a strong pseudo-religious overtone to some of this album, which I’m still processing with lyrics like, “I'm saved, I'm saved!" and "I felt his presence heal me.” Yes, banjo and harmonica ruin this a bit, but overall a standout release in the latter half of 2010.

Check out a track below, or listen to it in it’s entirety until September 28 (US) courtesy NPR.

Jesus still has answers.

ross@epoch.org.au — 2010-08-12T22:42:08+10:00

A friend who was pursuing a career in ministry several years ago explained in detail their logic for choosing to be part of an established, well known denomination. They believed the ‘brand’ was a critical factor for reaching people. In their case, it was Anglicanism. As a recognisable brand, they believed people would be more open. For a brief time, I agreed with their analysis. Today, I could not be more excited that I am not part of an established denomination. Not because I have anything against Anglicans or my many friends who work within the Anglican church, but because my friend could not have been more wrong regarding the world’s perception of the church.

In his book “The Twilight of Atheism”, Alister McGrath builds a great case for a causal link between atheism and the disappointing state of the church. McGrath pins the blame for the French revolution in 1789 in large part on the church. It was so overbearing and corrupt that it caused great thinkers to develop an alternative system of viewing the world. Perhaps not atheist, more deist, but still anti-church. Corrupt overbearance was a feature of the European church. To make his point, McGrath illustrates that the American revolution (which took place after the French revolution) did not feel the need to pursue an atheist agenda. The reason was because of the influence of the Puritan church, the likes of John Wesley, who had developed a church without hierarchy and corruption, but of life, honesty, and of the people for the people. The Americans did not feel the heavy burden of a corrupt church. To them, the gospel was actually good news to be embraced.

I have noticed that even today the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens when debating their position regarding atheism feel the need to refer to the state of the church as a key part of their argument. So often the church is portrayed as a burdensome, controlling, corrupt, abusive institution holding society back. And fair enough, because it sometimes is (let’s be honest). But here’s the key point - if the church didn’t suck quite so much, atheism wouldn’t have quite so much traction. Atheism is required as an alternative to those who have experienced a broken church. Atheism builds an alternative to a hierarchical, controlling, clergy-driven organisation that robs people of involvement, truth, reality, engagement, and more.

There was another time in history where the people of God reflected those kinds of attitudes. It was the first century, and Jesus wrenched the church out of the hands of any class of person, caste, education, status. He handed it to ordinary people, in their homes and workplaces. He sealed it with the Holy Spirit. The hierarchy is simple, not complex. The truth is found in the word of God, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, not in the traditions of the human institution that is the church. The more the church reflects Jesus, the less traction atheism can gain. It is essentially unnecessary, as the vast majority of people begin with the view that there is a supernatural being outside our natural observation and experience. Atheism is often the last resort of the one who has been disappointed by a corrupted human institution, the church. Nearly every atheist I know (all?) have had a negative experience of the Christian church. A key basis for their current system of belief is, “the church obviously can’t be right, it’s clearly so wrong.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t naturally follow that therefore there is no God.

That’s why I love being part of Epoch Community. I was speaking to an academic from a local university campus (not a follower of Jesus) on the weekend, and explaining to them what Epoch Community was. I explained that we were investigating a Jesus centred life based on the bible. I further explained that we were doing so by unhitching the teaching of Jesus from Western history. The two were not the same thing. The church of the last 2000 years has sometimes perfectly reflected Jesus, and other times has perfectly reflected his enemy. We were experiencing God directly, through his word. We were discovering God was accessible to anyone, anywhere. We meet in homes. We encourage the intelligence and capacity of Canberrans to interact with God. We are not illegitimate sons and daughters of God because we aren’t part of a traditional structure created by men, but we are full co-heirs with Christ because we are passionately seeking his word, quietening our spirits before His Spirit, and building a genuine community of faith. To say he was impressed by this picture would have been an understatement. Canberran atheists are within reach of Jesus, by expressions of church like Epoch Community. Despite all the wonderful ministry that occurs within traditional denominations, the general view in the city I’m part of is that the traditional church is corrupt, abusive, backward and protective of itself for selfish reasons. Clearly, this isn’t a major selling point, and is not a ‘brand’ that is helpful in reaching people. Without realising it, the simple existence of a traditionally portrayed church in a city like Canberra is fuelling atheism. There is just so much baggage related to the last several hundred years of church.

Fortunately, an emergency for the traditional church is not an emergency for God. He is at work, and churches like Epoch Community have the opportunity to seep into every subculture in a city like Canberra, introducing people to Jesus in a loving, personal, customised way. Jesus centred community is being developed in the most unlikely places. And the glory goes to God.

Epoch Community is an open source church

ross@epoch.org.au — 2010-06-17T10:25:34+10:00

In the 70s and 80s, most computers were proprietary. That meant their stuff didn’t work on other computers. If you wanted a disk drive, you had to buy the specific one built for that specific computer. Same for software. I had three different Commodore computers - a VIC20, Commodore 64, and Amiga, and stuff didn’t work even between these computers. Basically, proprietary was a massive pain. But from the mid-80s onwards, most manufacturers took seriously the IBM compatibility factor, and by the early 90s nearly every computer was IBM compatible, or a Mac. Proprietary was all about control, and locking people in to a niche channel that kept profits high, and user options few. There was big money in producing proprietary equipment, because you locked a customer in to your options alone. All the big money in computers in the 70’s and most of the 80’s was in proprietary software and equipment. Wang computers, at it’s peak, had 30,000 staff and turned over 3 billion a year. By the late 80s, it was in desperate financial trouble. The turnaround was fast, and took no prisoners. Proprietary was dead.

The established church is in a vicious and fast turnaround right now. Many church leaders are wondering what God is doing, and why the church is in fast decline in the West. This is not a cause for alarm. The sky is not falling, and God is not abandoning His church. But He is changing it. Or, put a better way - restoring it. Jesus did many powerful things when he walked the earth, but one of the most significant things he did was to wrench control of the church from misguided religious leaders and place it in the hands of ordinary people. He then established and sealed that move with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul found himself planting churches all around the known world using ordinary people, not religiously trained people. It is the intention of God that the church be accessible to all, and in the hands of all, under the guidance of the Spirit, and Spirit-filled leaders. Elders existed at city level, not church level. There was no such thing as denominations. Kingdom was kingdom. Did the established church love the rebuke of Jesus? No, they plotted to kill him.

What we see today is kind of like the German idea of proprietary church in the middle ages (ecclesia propria, or Eigenkirche). Wealthy lords would establish churches on their land, where they would choose the leadership, so that the agenda was set not by the worldwide church fulfilling the mission of God, but their own priorities and intentions. The 20th century saw an explosion of denominations and works throughout the world, who for the most part have remained separate from each other and concentrated on building a proprietary brand. Even more established denominations have focused on brand building as a way of differentiating. But Jesus isn’t about differentiation, He’s about unity. An identity based on points of difference is a proprietary view. Jesus only established one church, and He reigns only over one kingdom.

It wasn’t Jesus’ will for people to carve off sections of the kingdom, make them proprietary, and limit entry (by race, socio-economic background, preferences etc). No churches I know of have this idea in their mission or vision statements, but it’s still the approach of many traditional churches - even if unintentional. Consider some of these challenges:

Entry barriers: “If you’re not like us, you won’t be welcomed.” Jesus got in trouble for hanging around with the rich, the poor, sinner and saint, and everyone in the middle.

Discipleship barriers: “If you don’t know the basics of Christianity, good luck working them out from a 20 minute talk each Sunday morning aimed at people who’ve been Christian 20 years.” Jesus told stories, made his points simple. He aimed it at working people, farmers and family people. He spent serious amounts of time with his immediate followers, giving increasingly interesting opportunities, discussion time, personal time. He discipled in homes, over meals, in public spaces, rarely in the synagogues or temple.

Leadership barriers: “We already have enough people leading everything, why not help us wash some dishes or stack chairs if you’re looking for a job? We can never seem to find enough volunteers.” Jesus sent out seventy. They can’t have been very well trained. They’d only known Jesus for maybe a year. But he sent them out, and they performed miracles and ministry in His name. Many churches have no room for new leaders, all the jobs are filled. This is a problem.

Multiplication barriers: “You can’t just start ministering to people you know, even if you feel God has called you to that. We need to identify the call in your life, then you have to commit to training in our institution for at least 3 years, and accept a placement to the location we choose.” Jesus sent those he ministered to off into their world to testify to what he’d done. The didn’t have to wear a special t-shirt, carry a certain brochure, or connect to a particular congregation.

Detail barriers: “You don’t believe in the [insert here] millenial view of Christ? Well, that basically precludes you from doing very much as long as you’re part of this church. If your view is [insert here], then you must basically misunderstand the gospel.” Jesus majored on the majors. Paul addressed theology as part of an unfolding personal journey of Christian maturity. Our understanding of God needs to improve as our responsibility increases. But many detail debates are not important, and never will be. And they certainly shouldn’t preclude people from ministering while they’re on a journey into God. Many of the most influential thinkers in Christianity who’ve shaped me don’t agree with each other on details, but they get on with the job of feeding the theologically hungry church anyway.

Financial barriers: “Our books, CD’s and training courses are reasonably priced.” The bible is free. God’s economy is based on generosity. Jesus never charged for his ministry, and neither did Paul. Workers in the kingdom should be supported, but by those who are already committed to the cause - doing so out of a cheerful heart - so that the pointy end of ministry (witness, discipleship, leadership development) is free (or close to).

Ecumenical barriers: “We’re [***lican] or [***tist] or [***ian] here, and we’re focused on our own goals. Other churches can do what they want, believe what they want, but they can do it alone without us. We’re focused on ***.” There is only one church. There is no room in what God is doing next for churches that aren’t kingdom minded - that don’t recognise God has established people across cities and nations to feed, encourage and challenge His whole church, and that no individual group owns any Chrisitan. We were all bought by the blood of Jesus for His purposes, not ours.

Many churches will not be able to continue on the way they are currently, because they are too committed to a proprietary view of church. Some mainline denominations probably won’t survive at all (yes, that’s my prediction). The more committed we are to proprietary goals under the headship of Jesus, the more resistance His Spirit will bring to bear on us until we break into submission under his leadership and authority - in humility and acceptance of His power and will.

Epoch Community is a true open-source church. We have no denominational attachment to proprietary goals, but we are kingdom minded and support and work with other churches and organisations in our city. We are open to everyone from any background or perspective. Our homes are open to each other. Our ministry and witness is personal, and customised to the individual based on what they need and where they are on their journey, not a one-size-fits-all approach that only works when everyone is the same and in the same position. Our material is all free, from teaching materials to books and articles. Leadership is open to anyone who meets the biblical criteria of leadership and is willing to submit to a kingdom oriented accountability. Our only source material is the bible, and the direction of Spirit-filled leadership. We gain insight from church history (all streams), and current Christian thinkers (from all denominational perspectives) because they are gifts from God to the whole church - not to a single proprietary brand. We are open to rebuke and admonition from respected leaders from outside our group, because Godly people have been established by God for the whole church. And finally, we are committed to Jesus’ kingdom plan for Canberra and supporting all those working in the field to achieve it, whether they are part of Epoch Community or not. Open Source Church - I believe it’s what God is building next.

If you’re not currently actively part of a community of believers in your area, I’d love to meet you. Ring me 0437 000 437, or come to my house for a community gathering on Thursdays (7:30pm for 8pm) or Sundays (2pm for 2:30pm). You’ll be welcome, challenged, encouraged and part of something cool.

Keep bible discussions on track with SOAPA

ross@epoch.org.au — 2010-06-16T14:38:10+10:00

At our team meeting a couple of weeks ago we tasked Ben Frommel with coming up with a couple of pointers to keep bible discussions on track, and on topic. We’re not called to debate scripture, but to understand and apply it. We’d have put these pointers up sooner, but Ben lost his original set of notes in a phone-sync accident or EMP or something... but he has kindly put these notes together hurriedly (I received this at 12:46am) for our benefit.

When you’re involved in, or leading, a bible discussion - keep SOAPA in mind.

Ben’s Notes:

Scripture
Start with reading scripture. It is important that we don't read our own ideas/thoughts/traditions/philosophies into scripture but that we start with scripture and form our ideas from that.

Observation
Thoughts about the passage. What went on? What stands out? How does this link to other themes in the bible etc.

At this stage it is important to be aware of some basic hermeneutic (bible interpreting) principles e.g.

Scripture interprets scripture
Cultural context
Context of the passage etc.

Application
At this stage we want to think about how can we take what we have heard and understood from the word and actually make it a reality in our lives. Do we need to change something we are doing? Do we need to do something new? Do we need to confess an area we have been sinning in? Etc.

In Luke 8:19-21 we read the following story:
19 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they couldn’t get to him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to see you.”
21 Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”

And so what Jesus is saying is that following him requires obedience - it's more than just hearing and understanding what Jesus wants from us but it's going to that next step of obedience - of applying the word.

Prayer
As followers of Jesus we can't be dependant on ourselves to change. At this stage we are asking Jesus through prayer to come into the situations of our lives and to help us be obedient to the word.

Accountability
It is almost impossible to live the lifestyle Jesus is calling us to, if we try to do it alone. We need other people challenging & encouraging us and holding us to the standard Jesus set for our lives.

Subscribe to AspireDE

ross@epoch.org.au — 2010-06-16T14:37:43+10:00

There is so much going on in the worldwide church right now that it’s hard to keep track. To actually process, ponder and assimilate all the information is even harder. But when we’re faced with the task of reaching a modern city with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to be intentional about finding ways to get this information seeded into our hearts and our world. I need your help to find the bright spots, and I need your best ideas. I need your thoughts and insights into christianity in Canberra, and more broadly in Australia. God is creatively building his church, through you and me, and we need to remain sensitive to both His Spirit, and one another.

That’s what AspireDE is all about (DE stands for Daily Email). This is an email that will come to you every Mon-Fri, containing a range of current thoughts, articles, podcasts and training material from sources around the world. It might not be what you’re used to though. Here’s some odd features of AspireDE.

1. It’s for leaders and thinkers. Paul said in 2 Cor 11:28, “besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.” AspireDE is for people who feel the same burden as Paul. It’s for those who want the church to grow, think about the gospel in the context of the modern world, and who can’t go more than a day or two without returning to that Holy Spirit placed burden for the church.

2. It’s not an RSS feed or blog. I need your feedback. If you are thinking about issues related to our generation and the gospel of Jesus Christ, I’m sure you’ll have opinions about the material I send. I need to read your replies. It can be two lines or an essay - I don’t mind. I do want you to be inspired, but I want you to inspire me even more. I really want to hear from you regarding at least one posted article every week or so. Hit reply, and let me know your thoughts. If I set up AspireDE as an RSS feed, thousands could subscribe - useful to them, but not to me or the Canberra church. This way we’re all winners!

3. Your most interesting thoughts will end up on the Epoch Aspire blog. Why keep the best of our thinking secret? Every week or so I’ll place summaries on the Epoch Aspire blog with your thoughts woven in.

4. Material is sourced broadly. We’ll be covering theology, culture, leadership, strategy, and lots more - and from many perspectives. You will be shaped by ApsireDE, because we’ll be sourcing the best of the best. It’s like a daily devotional on steroids.

5. AspireDE is disruptive to the enemy’s plans. So much information so widely available can actually hinder the gospel in a city. Great thinkers, like you, if not sharing their thoughts strategically as part of Jesus’ church - can come to nothing. The enemy keeps us separate. Canberra needs the best of the best focused, united, and inspired together.

So if all the above sounds good to you, subscribe below: