Mission Week, Ocean Bells Coffee Company

On mission in Watford, I was glad to discover Ocean Bells Coffee Company on our day off: Has Bean‘s Jailbreak espresso blend (MK1 2014 – 60%, Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira Canario Pulped Natural, 20%, Burundi Ruhora AA, 20%, Bolivia Canton Uyunense Tedocio Mamani Washed Typicaon) in the hopper, delicate in well-done milk, friendly staff, power sockets.

Superficially, the host congregation was quite different from the Local Church: social issues, learning difficulties, unemployment, age-related diseases were the order of the day. But underneath, the problems were the same as they are anywhere in the world, in every culture – human pride in refusing to honour God as God and so relying on anything and anybody but God.

This was brought into sharp relief when we were in neighbouring Chorleywood. Within the space of a few hours, we’d encountered (1) in a home, a person with learning difficulties who was also profoundly deaf, who managed to insist that she was a very good girl (patting herself on the chest) and had no need of Jesus; and (2) in a nearby tea-shop, a wine-writer and jet-setter with a plummy accent just back from her birthday party with friends in Cambridge, “of a Christian persuasion”, who said she wasn’t too worried about the afterlife – one just had to be nice to people

Unfortunately, God has stated quite emphatically that judgement on the Last Day won’t be based on anything as silly as relative morality (and on what scale relative morality anyway?). The criteria would simply be whether we acknowledge God rightfully as God – in control of the whole world, a good God worthy of the worship of our whole lives. And the test of this would be our response to his Son, Jesus the Christ:

²² The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, ²³ that all may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement. (John 5:25-29)

The “good” to be done (in 5:29) is the worship of Jesus alone and no other.

Mixed Berry Tart, Joe Christian as Evangelist and Missionary, Wild Rabbit Stew

Needed a think some days ago, so made a mixed berry tart to allow all the stuff swirling in my head the opportunity to settle down and get organised. Had been doing quite a bit of reading on the Heresy Of The Month and argued variously with Associates and Staff Workers alike, many of whom thought me quite the heretic. Some said i was making a fuss merely to avoid God-given responsibilities or getting knickers into twists for useless academic reasons that were far removed from practical reality.

Thought none of this quite valid though. Finally had a good old chat with the long-suffering Tutor about my concerns. The total smack-down i expected didn’t come and he instead agreed with me, with gentle smack-arounds of caveats and corrections (both hermeneutical and pastoral) of course.

The query was this: is there an explicit biblical imperative for all people to do evangelism and/or mission? After all, we’ve all been on the receiving end of many a sermon or bible study that has laid the guilt on us for not telling our family and friends about Jesus.

Well, there isn’t any explicit imperative for every Christian to do so:

1. Many proof-texts used to rouse the masses were primarily applicable to the 11 (and later 12 (with the replacement of Judas) + 1 (Paul)) apostles, for example Mark 16:14-20 (also, this section wasn’t in the earliest manuscripts), Luke 24:44-49, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, and most famously, Matthew 28:19-20:
   

   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.

   (The Tutor thought that if these passages had to be applicable today, they would be to the church as a whole since the 12 disciples were meant to represent the whole people of God – the number “12” recalling the 12 tribes of Israel.)

2. It was the apostles who talked about bringing the gospel to people who did not know God, as themselves as ambassadors for Christ, and frequently asked for prayers for themselves to continue to preach God’s word with all boldness (Acts 4:29-30, Acts 9:19-43, Romans 15:18-21, 2 Corinthians 5:18-6:1, 2 Corinthians 10:14-16?, Ephesians 6:18-20, Colossians 1:25-28, Colossians 4:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2).
3. There was a specific group of people called “the evangelists” in Paul’s list in Ephesians 4:11-12, alongside the apostles, prophets, shepherds, and teachers, who were to equip the saints for the work of ministry. See also Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8) and possibly Epaphras (Colossians 1:5). (It is uncertain what an “evangelist” meant in New Testamental times; the word just means “gospeller”. We must certainly not import our modern definitions into the first century.)
4. Timothy was asked to the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).
5. No where does Scripture explicitly require individuals other than these to do the work of evangelism or mission.

What is explicit and/or clear, though, is this:

• God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
• Christians must ensure that they are good “witnesses” of the gospel and that their conduct does not hinder people from deciding to trust in Christ (“Give no offence to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.” (1 Corinthians 10:32-33); “If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?” (1 Corinthians 14:23); “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).)
• We know that at least one church, the one in Thessalonica, proclaimed the gospel to those who had yet to hear it (1 Thessalonians 1:8).
• Romans 10 says: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

So it would seem that one of the main missions of the church would be to proclaim the gospel to those who are not yet saved. But there does not seem to be any basis for us to burden each individual to do so. God gave different gifts to the church (1 Corinthians 12).

However, one has to be careful not to (i) overstate the case (eg. by saying that no one should do so except for certain people who have been so gifted, nor that others not so gifted should not be assisting (in accord with proper behaviour and with their own gifts) in evangelism and mission); nor (ii) introduce false dichotomies in exegesis (eg. either specific to apostles only or applicable to all; either prescriptive or descriptive).

The ex-Principal said he thought that speaking the gospel would come from the overflow of the heart, citing John 7:38. We weren’t sure that John 7:38 definitely alluded to that, though any cursory observer of human nature could easily conclude that we speak most about things that are most important to us and occupy our thoughts. That’s not quite an imperative though.

To allow time to think further, proceeded to stew a wild rabbit in red wine. These free-range bunnies are cheap environmentally-friendly protein and with the recession on in the United Kingdom, might possibly be becoming just as popular as a nutritious thrifty food as they were during World War II. Unfortunately, the housemates were less than enthusiastic, likening the skinned carcass to an alien baby.

=o=

Mission Week and the Coffee Shops of Durham

A yummy smoky homemade burger dinner at the neighbours’, with roast chillis stuffed with feta, washed down by vintage cider, the night before.

And after a full Sunday that included popping into the Chinese ministry’s Chinese New Year celebrations to hang out with some Singapore visitors (despite understanding very little of what was going on),

fought driving winds and sleet to get to Victoria Coach Station in good time for the overnight National Express bus to Durham.

Wandered around the town at 6am-ish, enjoying the quiet cobblestoned streets and the cold,

then, when it opened, a hot pot of tea at Esquires Coffee (22 Silver Street, Durham) and a reviving square of the brownie some very kind person had baked for my journey, followed by a whirlwind of getting to know almost a hundred new faces and incessant chatting over ubiquitous milky tea and cold hot cross buns.

And then, to use the specialist terminology of mission weeks, mornings were for First Contact, lunch for Lunch Bars, and evenings for Evening Meetings. Michael Ots was particularly helpful, i thought, on the question “Why Should God Limit My Sexuality?” (mp3 here on the See For Yourself website). Long talks with some students who were curious about the evidence for the Christian faith.

Spent downtime with John Stott and other CUGs at various coffee shops around Durham. The company was stimulating, and the delightful character of the cafes a better reason to visit than the coffee:

Flat White (21A Elvet Bridge, Durham) – probably your best bet for a somewhat decent cuppa. The smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel was appropriately chewy and therefore, excellent. Typical indie decor consisting of ephemera and quaintness.

Treats Coffee Shop (27-28 Silver Street, Durham) – relatively generous portions and so, popular with students. One group got two unequal slices of a tea cake, the larger of which being a quarter of a loaf. Loads of power sockets, a good clean loo. Despite the presence of an espresso machine, the “flat white” they served up was coffee from the heating pad with frothed milk.

Leonard’s Coffee House (1 Back Silver Street, Durham) – The Pidgin’ Loft upstairs was a nice place to sit and chat, while looking out windows.

Vennel Café (71 Saddler Street, Durham) – two floors of old Singer sewing machine tables, creaking wooden floor boards, dried flowers hanging from rafters, real fires in fireplaces, loose teas in vintage china, and scones in the morning.

how to tell a British Christian household – tea for all tastes, numerous cups and teapots in expectation of guests

Kind strangers took me into their homes and lives. Comfy beds and hot showers, great conversations to midnight in freezing living rooms (there being no money to fix broken radiators) about the challenges of being a Christian teacher, and of being Geography or English majors (professors with entrenched postmodern mindsets penalising those with Christian worldviews and those who read the text with the goal of determining authorial intent).

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, ³⁰ who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:29-31)

Mission and Sustenance

Had a massively restful weekend sitting in our warm little kitchen (with its dirty sticky floor that no one has mopped for several months), reading.

Grabbed John Pollock’s book on The Cambridge Seven off someone’s bookshelf while looking for something on a completely different subject. The Cambridge Seven were a group of Cambridge students who left for China as missionaries with the China Inland Mission (now OMF) in 1885. Being wealthy, young, personable, and some, great sportsmen, their farewell tour of England gave them a bit of celebrity.

Followed that with Eileen Fraser Crossman’s biography of James O. Fraser, Mountain Rain, who arrived in China a few decades later in 1908, also with the China Inland Mission and did good work amongst the Lisu people in Yunnan. Then to understand how the CIM started (and also because it was on my bookshelf from the amazing 10ofthose.com sale at School), Roger Steer’s book on J. Hudson Taylor.

(Somewhere over the two days, someone came over to talk about her upcoming study on Mark’s Gospel, and another also passed me a book on Corrie Ten Boom who hid Jews during the German occupation, was interred in a concentration camp, and continued to keep her eyes on ultimate reality throughout, giving real hope to fellow prisoners by alerting them to the fact that there was a God who was sovereign over all. Then, conducted some experiments on salted caramel brownies while the rest of the brain had a good think about all these things.)

Past midnight, a housemate wandered in for a spot of tea and a break from studying Isaiah, and we had a bit of a chat about what to make of biographies of Christians. While there were some things I found a bit strange about the biographies – eg. the disproportionate emphasis on how wonderful their lives were and how much they gave up to do overseas mission in China, the lingering look at the love lives of missionaries, and the possibly erroneous use of Bible passages, there was much to learn about their complete dependence on God and at the same time, their dogged hard work to the detriment of their health.

The Christian’s sustenance is to be found in God’s word and in prayer; but for the missionary’s physical sustenance, it would probably be necessary to learn to cook local dishes the local way with local implements etc, and also to learn to cook by instinct, being able to gauge what it will take to make cheap mystery meat palatable. Also, it would be irresponsible not to eat nutritiously so some care about the food to be ingested would be necessary, and if one is also to be hospitable, then the food should also be somewhat tasty. To that end, some experimenting might be of use (with housemates looking on in trepidation at the extensive use of massively discounted meat – “don’t you think it is massively discounted for a reason?!” etc):

normal white chicken which should be a fairly universally-available and reasonably-priced bird – spiced up in a Middle Eastern way: with

an experiment with game birds: pheasant in madeira stew

another experiment with game birds (or as the neighbours said, from birds lately known to have been hanging out at Westminster Bridge): wood pigeon

venison x wild mushroom stroganoff with wild rice and roasted Chaternay carrots

fried duck egg over wild mushrooms on toast – very tasty but not sure if I would trust myself to pick wild mushrooms though…

Peter Williams from Tyndale House in Cambridge just came over to the School to talk about biblical scholarship as ministry. A decade ago, this would have been very attractive – to be able to serve God while burying oneself in books and to not deal with the messiness inherent in relating to people. But now, being in academia, though useful for the church, seems too restrictive. There are so many people who have yet to hear about Jesus, so many still in danger of eternal death. Am very restless to have the training done and to put feet into action.

If 2 years’ time, i seem to have the right skills to serve as an overseas missionary, i’d still want to check that:

• it will not be about how much I’m sacrificing, as if giving up a comfortable life was such a noble thing when in fact, Christ has claim over our whole lives;
• it will not be about running away from the perceived demands of modern society for the simplicity of a less developed country, because everyone is inherently sinful and if i can’t see that, i will merely be doing what good Christian kids do when they grow up, but not pleading with the lost to repent and be saved;
• it will not be not adopting a pietistic attitude of superiority (i have so little, you have so much, therefore i must be more obedient to God and/or more holy),

because all this will just be able about doing mission for self and self-glory. Rather, I must be compelled by love for people to see them saved, and love for God so that I wish to see him proclaimed and glorified in all the world.

And perhaps to the world, the picture of the missionary should be as a Toronto magazine described Hudson Taylor:

Hudson Taylor is rather disappointing… A stranger would never notice him on the street… except, perhaps, to say that he is a good-natured looking Englishman. Nor is his voice in the least degree majestic… He displays little oratorical power… He elicits little applause… launches not thunderbolts… Even our Goforth used to plead more eloquently for China’s millions, and apparently with more effect… It is quite possible that were Mr. Taylor, under another name, to preach as a candidate in our Ontario vacancies there are those who would begrudge him his probationer’s pay.

To which Taylor is reported to have replied,”This is very just criticism, for it is all true. I have often thought that God made me little in order that He might show what a great God He is.”

Financing Highways and Byways

Travelling the North-South highway through Peninsula Malaysia never fails to bring to mind the work behind the issuance of the bonds that financed the construction of the roads (preceding the further issuance, earlier this year, of PLUS Berhad’s RM30.6 billion bonds – the world’s largest sukuk to-date). The financial cost of building that sheer length of paved roads, of the equipment and manpower needed to cut through hills etc. was substantial.

After being fed more pork at Yut Kee Restaurant (Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur) than i have ever eaten in one sitting, even while bracing for a stint in the Middle East (but what good pork – oily roti babi and Hainanese pork chop with a splash of Lea & Perrins (the special weekend roast pork had disappeared within the hour of its emergence from the kitchen), with old skool kaya and toast (though not butter cake) for dessert, washed down with iced lime tea and strong iced coffee),

headed to St Mary’s Anglican Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur, just in time for the combined service celebrating the feast-day (how quaint!) of the builder of a more important highway, John the Baptist. When asked by the Pharisees to explain himself, John B said:

“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’, as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:23)

Several hundred years before, the prophet Isaiah prophesised:

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
²  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
³  A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴  Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
⁵  And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:1-5)

It was by preaching the coming of Jesus (though he had yet to know him by name) and urging repentance for the forgiveness of sins that John the B prepared the way for Jesus’ first arrival.

So Jesus wasn’t a self-proclaimed messiah, just another self-appointed guru out to trick the gullible. John the Baptist had already heralded his coming. As did many prophets of old. Andrew Cheah reminded the congregation that this Jesus was the descendant God promised to King David (2 Samuel 7) who would reign forever. He was a king but in a way that the world did not expect and the world still does not understand – a king that was the servant of all who came to die for our sins and be pierced for our transgressions so that we might be forgiven (Isaiah 53:5). The historical fact of his resurrection from the dead proved that his claims were true, and therefore, there is the hope of being restored to right relationship with God if we turn away from rebelling against God (= “sin”) and believe that Jesus’ death is effective payment for our crimes.

And if Jesus is trustworthy, then what he has promised will also come to pass: that he will come again to judge the living and the dead and to inaugurate the start of a new creation. And we prepare for his coming by urging repentance so that people can have their sins forgiven before the offer is revoked. We do so using words, not acts of kindness or charity because nice deeds, though nice, articulate no warning to repent and explain nothing about the coming judgement.

(Restoran Yit Sieang – yong tau foo noodles, char kuey teow, roasted pork rice, and Mr. Chiam Pisang Goreng/Fried Fritters cart outside – the fried pisang raja and kuih bakul (sweet sticky nian gao sandwiched between two slices of sweet potato) were very good reasons to oil the arteries)

And highway construction and maintenance continued to be the subject of two days’ discussion. Different terrain in different countries required different skills and personalities: some worked brilliantly and very patiently within existing structures, others felt the need to hack through a granite hill with a teaspoon; both anxious to prepare the way for Jesus’ return…and in need of resources.

An attempt at summarising the past week’s discussion on this matter: it is common to think of tithing 10% as a form of church taxation – painful, so we try to get away with giving as little as possible, just enough to please the authorities and God (with an eye out for loopholes and exceptions), yesyes to pay salaries and keep things running. Perhaps the more accurate of perceiving one’s resources is this (very preliminary thoughts):

• if God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, all our time, energy, skills, money come from God. In fact, our very breath and continual life on earth is from him;
• if this is so and we know that God’s will is to have people believe in his Son and be saved, then the proper stewardship of all God-given resources would necessarily require that we plan to give to God’s work once we get our salaries and not scrounge around for loose change at the end of the month (see The Urban Pastor’s useful post on this);
• how much to give? God does not stipulate any percentage to be “tithed”. But like the girl at the Easter Party who was hoarding Bunny Money, not realising it would be worthless after the party, so it would be foolish to be hoarding resources for this world if all these resources will be useless in the new creation;
  
• whom do we give to? Generally, if the aim is to herald the kingdom of God, then whoever is preaching the God’s gospel. So we are to pay pastors and other full-time workers as we would feed the ox and cattle that plow or a labourer who works the field (1 Corinthians 9:3-11, 1 Timothy 5:15-18). And, like the early church, we are to feed overseas missionaries so they can be freed to do God’s work wherever they are;
  *
• gospel generosity – quite a lot of talk was about gospel generosity – giving to (and of) those whom one would not directly serve one’s community: not hoarding well-qualified gifted people but sending them out into the world so they would be a blessing to the universal church, allowing people on the local church payroll time to do gospel work outside the local church’s purview etc.

Now this is what one does in response to God, knowing that one day, he will call us to account for how we have spent all he has given us. And since a Christian’s faith isn’t blind, so his/her giving should not be naive either. And I suspect a Christian’s understanding of criminal breach of trust and mismanagement and misuse of funds would be different from what Kong Hee and four other leaders of City Harvest Church are being charged with under the Charities Act:

• first, God isn’t looking for a fan club; he doesn’t need people to be attracted by the wealth of the church (assuming the general understanding of what CHC’s prosperity gospel was about is correct). Even if such money was legitimately earned, Jesus already warns his disciples that money is a very attractive idol: “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (The Rich Ruler, Luke 18:24-25). God alone rightly deserves to be the sole object of people’s worship and anything else that attracts worship from people is a false god. And He’s attractive enough, thank you, without anyone having to trick people into believing in him;
• second, if indeed church-goers monies (including monies from allegedly forced sales of Sun Ho’s CDs in CHC (what music did she make? Michelle has a nice guide here) funded their S$27,700 a month mansion in Hollywood Hills, and Kong Hee’s supposed weekly flights between Singapore and LA, and their S$9.3 million penthouse in Sentosa Cove, then it is difficult to see how this is using God’s money to do God’s urgent work in warning people to repent before the coming judgement. God wants people to see the depravity of their own sin, how hopeless they are at acting rightly before him; he’s wanting people to be saved from his coming wrath;
• finally, having lavish lifestyle funded by money from the congregation, then preaching that this same prosperity will come to all who believe in God (and give generously to the church) doesn’t so much prove the truth of the prosperity gospel as the moral of The Story of the Stone Soup (the variation that has the villagers buying the proffered magic stone with all their wealth).

(R.A.W. Coffee (facebook, 150 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur). Gieser Roaster upfront to show that they mean business, a Coffee Bean Store for their greens, a lovely Guatemalan Bourbon in the cup)

*cute fondant figure-topped cupcakes from Delectable by Su (Midvalley Mall).

Good Morning, Vietnam!

The glistening sweat of youth camp dried off on the plane to Ho Chi Minh City where there was a bed waiting for a few hours of kip before a roller-coaster flight to Danang (“Don’t worry,”said a man, by way of assurance to his neighbour who sounded busy evicting the contents of his stomach into a little paper bag,”the typhoons only really come at the end of the year.”)

A moto for a quick breakfast bun bo hue in the dark (there was an area-wide black-out) and fill-in on the situation in Danang and environs, shy introductions after alot of giggling because the Vietnamese girls thought i was local and were shocked at the first “Hello”,

then a few massively sweaty hours of work with a necessary ca phe da break (but what a joy to see faces light up!)

before a dinner of banh trang accompanied by murmurs of cheerful exhaustion, exchanging personal narratives.

More discussions the next day after service over lunch (where little squares were to be used to wipe wooden chopsticks and oily mouths)

and more ca phe da (and also a “special tea” at MC Coffee with full Lipton credentials on proud display),

legged it to Da Nang International Airport to be back in Saigon mid-afternoon with a few hours to spare first at the Saigon Tax Trade Centre supermarket to stock up on lovely instant Vietnamese coffee (yes, the Nescafe is better here because they use Viet raw material),

and visit an old bakery haunt (Brodard Bakery (since 1948!), the branch off Dong Khoi – nostalgia won out here),

and to drop in on bo tung xeo and exotic friends at Luong Son (31 Ly Tu Trong, District 1). Photos of a foreign menu with hilarious English translations to be forwarded to smug friends? Check.

Tender beef named for the strips of flesh from flayed prisoners? Check.

Deep-fried crickets with groundnuts in their body cavities, stir-fried with spring onions and garlic? Check. Burnt scorpion for the holiday album while discussing the clean and unclean foods of the Old Testament? Check. Jumping live prawns (not jumping) awaiting a fiery end while their executors talked about the origins of the idea that this might be cruel to the prawns? Check.

Despite (or “because of”, since caffeine has a paradoxical effect on the ADHD body, delayed cicadian rhythm notwithstanding) a last ca phe at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, knocked out on the journey back in Singapore in the early hours. A few snatched hours of sleep before a meeting with the Indonesians. Thankfully, they were the ones on the red eye this time not us.

The forms of the word “encouragement” are used liberally in Christian circles, mostly to refer to some sort of worldly success in ministry. But if the biblical use of that term is restricted to an increase in godliness and God-centred-ness, then this trip was an encouragement because it was obvious that God does not need human intervention to act to save his own people (so none of that Christian-ised white man’s burden please, or assumptions of superiority that people can’t get it right/be saved if I don’t go) – rather he graciously allows us the privilege of being part of his unfolding plan to reconcile all people to himself even though we have the sinful/fallen-world tendency to muck up most of the time!