DanSheffield

Egypt -- alternative reflections

An estimated 70,000 Egyptian Christians gathered on November 11, 2011 for praise, worship, and prayer at St. Simon Church in Cairo while millions around the globe followed the event live on TV and the Internet. This was a significant event: It was the largest Christian gathering in the modern history of Egypt; it brought together, for the first time, all Christian denominations: Coptic Orthodox, Catholics, and all branches of Protestant and Evangelical Christians. The prayer meeting that started at 6:00 PM continued uninterrupted till 6:00 AM the following day!

Canadian evangelical leader, Brian Stiller comments here on this prayer event, as well as the current situation in Egypt.

Tyndale Seminary prof, Dr Wafik Wahba, offers this interpretation of life in Egypt since the "Arab Spring"

This historic day of prayer took place at a momentous juncture considering the current situation in Egypt. Nine months to the date, on February 11, 2011 the former President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, was forced out of office. The January 25th leaderless revolution, that surprised the world, seemed to have succeeded in putting an end to decades of oppression and corruption. However, the following nine months saw nothing but chaos, brutality, and frustration. More than 12,000 people have been detained and tortured by military tribunals mainly for speaking up against the injustices and lack of freedom. Hundreds of people have lost their lives due to the lack of security. Tourism and the economy in general are on a free fall since the revolution. A sense of despair and frustration is gripping the people, especially the younger generation, who stood up against the escalating injustices and paid with their lives demanding freedom and basic human rights. The culmination of this sense of despair reached an unprecedented level on October 9, 2011 when the army brutally massacred 27 Christians and injured more than 300 in downtown Cairo. The peaceful demonstrators, both Christians and Muslims, were demanding basic human rights respecting the establishment of places of worship that were previously destroyed by the government. They took their frustration to the streets in peaceful demonstrations after repeated attacks on churches, Christians, homes and businesses owned by Christians. The demonstrators were run over by military tanks that literally crushed them. This was seen around the globe and was condemned by international governments and human rights’ groups, however, no word of apology was offered by Egyptian officials.

see more of his commentary here

Pinnock tribute at SBL

At the recent meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, evangelical theologian and blogger, Scot McKnight was asked to give a tribute to Dr Clark Pinnock who passed away last year in Hamilton, where he was professor emeritus at McMaster Div College (one of my alma maters). I am, of course, always happy to reflect on the life and work of Clark, who lived in the same neighbourhood where my family lived for several years.

Clark Pinnock and the New Testament: 

A Man on the Move

When I was asked to offer a presentation about Clark’s hermeneutics I thought back to my college days when I bought and read his 1971 book called Biblical Revelation. That book was one of the impulses that made me think of studying at Trinity because Clark taught there, though by the time I arrived Clark had moved on to Regent and then to McMaster. The invitation also made me think of Clark’s “revision” of that book on Scripture in his book The Scripture Principle, which I still think was a courageous book in its day.

for the rest of Scot's post, look here

following Jesus -- making disciples

Been doing some further reflection with my colleague Jared Siebert related to a curriculum for disciple-making -- something a lot of people talk about these days, but I wonder how many have a direction or practices that actually "make" disciples...

When Jesus called together the collection of people we call his “disciples” – he asked them to “come and follow me.” These men did not have a clear notion of who Jesus was – they just had enough awareness to recognize there was something different about him, something worth following.

For a period of time they follow Jesus as a community of apprentices. This community was a place of learning, experimentation, questioning, grace-filled transformation, and service – all centred around, and facilitated, by Jesus. Following the accomplishment of his incarnational purpose, Jesus said, “I’m leaving, the Holy Spirit will guide you, now go and make disciples yourselves – incorporate them into our family and help them learn to be a follower in the same way I taught you!”

Fast forward 1700 years and we find John Wesley telling the story of Jesus’ saving grace to crowds of people in England. When people responded positively to his message, Wesley did not assume they had yet met Jesus in a transformative manner, but he recognized they had been awakened to see Jesus for who he was. Then he directed them to join a small community of like-minded persons, in their own neighbourhood, who would help encourage them into a life-changing relationship with God.

What are the essential ingredients in these disciple-making communities modeled by Jesus and the Methodist movement?

1. The Spirit of Jesus at the centre

The first Christian disciples had Jesus in their midst to guide them toward truth, understanding and right action. When Jesus returned to his Father, the Holy Spirit was sent as an ever-present Guide and Counselor to continue directing our attention to God’s purposes and empowering us for service. Our role as disciple-makers is to point our community to seek enlightenment, direction and power from the Holy Spirit of Jesus, not from ourselves.

2. Authentic Community

In reading the accounts of Jesus’ interactions with his disciples we notice all the ups and downs of normal human relationships – great moments of spiritual insight and camaraderie, followed by envy, frustration and even betrayal. Wesley also recognized the need for authentic confession of sin and accountability with fellow-travelers to encourage one another along the way. Our role as disciple-makers means modeling and facilitating an environment of honest communication and grace-filled encouragement.

3. Integrating Scriptural Foundations

With his disciples, Jesus had a way of connecting truths from the Jewish Scriptures and applying those insights to their own daily context. At the same time Jesus was living a story that now has application to our present situations. Wesley had a way of framing the biblical texts that helped to explain the human condition, and God's restorative intention. Our role as disciple-makers requires us to keep taking our community to Scripture, as a way of making sense of our everyday lives from God’s point of view.

4. Reflective, Thinking Environment

Jesus frequently modeled pausing in the midst of a busy life for solitude, Sabbath and prayer. He responded graciously to questions of comprehension, of outright doubt, of misunderstanding. Jesus challenged his disciples to reflect on their ministry experiences and make adjustments in their beliefs and practices. Wesley frequently facilitated ‘conferences’ to enable questions to be answered and the development of better practices among his ministry leaders. Our role as disciple-makers requires the encouragement of inquiring minds in our community and facilitating regular opportunities for practicing works of piety.

5. Integration of Faith and Deeds

In his life and ministry Jesus modeled the integration of a God-centred worldview with the practice of deeds of nurture, healing and service. In fact, Scripture suggests in multiple instances that those grace-filled actions reflect our true relationship with God and may even have a role in determining our eternal destiny. Wesley suggested that our deeds of caring and service have a transformative affect in our own lives, let alone those for whom we care. Our role as disciple-makers must include facilitating regular opportunities for our community to follow Jesus into our circles of family, friend and neighbour with works of mercy.

conscientious objection from FMs during WWI

Came across an interesting historical note in a book published just a couple years ago, Crisis of Conscience: conscientious objection in Canada during the First World War, by Amy Shaw.

It specifically references several Free Methodists who sought to register as conscientious objectors but instead were court-martialed and jailed.

The Toronto Globe reported that one 20-year-old from Housey's Rapids, Ontario, justified his behaviour by referring to the biblical injunction "Thou shalt not kill." Furthermore, "he had never seen anything in the Bible justifying revenge, and because he was a follower of the meek and lowly Jesus he refused to take up arms." His older brother also objected saying, "Because the Lord's word tells us to not take part in any of the things of this world, I object to perform any kind of military service."

Both were sentenced to life imprisonment in Kingston Penitentiary, but were discharged in Feb 1919, after the end of the war.

read the clip in google here.

the white poppy in Canada

free to root through the trash cans

gospel community facilitator Al Doseger gave me some thoughts to ponder...

When humanity begins to share space, we think we can arrange things our way or, crazier yet,  we think we know what people will like and feel comfortable with. Safe places allow for easier movement. Trust begins when those that were once as scared as woodland creatures begin to come around and root through the trash cans knowing that they can get fed and not be shoo-ed away.

Al herds the dogies at Rustle in Kingston...

 

reflecting God's glory together

newly published book from William Carey Library -- Reflecting God's Glory Together: Diversity in Evangelical Mission, includes a chapter I wrote, "Can Multicultural Social Theory Help Us in Leading Multicultural Faith Communities?"

A version of the paper can be Download Can Multicultural Social Theory-EMS.