Interfaith dialogue with students in Years 9 and 10

“This hour has changed my life.  And I think all of our lives in this group.I don’t think we will ever think about each other or the world in the same way again. And it won’t just affect us.  We will pass it onto our children if we have them. EVERY STUDENT in Australia should get the chance to learn this stuff.”

So spoke a year 10 student in an incredibly ethnically, religiously and culturally diverse secondary school in Melbourne recently.  A group of students had just participated in an interfaith dialogue workshop run by the Building Bridges in Schools program.  Guidelines were discussed and agreed at the beginning of the session: to be respectful, present to each other and to keep each other’s stories confidential. In small groups of 7 and a trained facilitator, the students discussed such questions as:

• do you have a belief system, or follow a religious tradition?  Briefly share with the group about what this looks like for you, or if you don’t, what values are important to you in life?
• what festivals or traditions do your family celebrate? Share about one that is special to you.
• has anyone ever put you down because of your beliefs/faith or culture? How did that make you feel?

They talked about the religious festivals in Islam, Christianity and Judaism and eyes were opened as they found so many similarities between them.  “We are not so different!”  The Buddhist and Atheist students were able to ask probing questions about the nature of belief and the connections between religious stories and history and current events.

The questions; ‘has anyone ever put you down because of your beliefs/faith or culture? How did that make you feel?’ prompted a strong response from a Muslim student. “I hate that there are people out there who say they are doing evil things in the name of my religion.  It makes me not want to be Muslim any more.  But then I remember that Islam says that ‘If you kill one person, you kill the whole world’ and I know they are wrong and they don’t represent my religion.  They are not following it and we are suffering because of it.” Another piped up with “it’s the same with the Klu Klux Klan.  They say they are Christian but they are far from it.” And so began a discussion about fundamentalism, tribalism and religion that persecutes and harms.  

All the students agreed that Islam was receiving negative attention and that they needed to carefully critique what was being presented in the media.  The burden the Muslim student had been carrying was physically lifted as she realised that she was not blamed for the actions of a few.

A gay student then spoke about his experience and others were able to ask him what it was like. A couple of comments included “my Mum says you can’t know you’re gay at our age.”  “I’m religious and I can’t see what the fuss is all about.”  In this safe place, with a facilitator guiding the discussion, the students were able to respectfully talk about their differences.

The concept of giving students a voice to share their stories with each other on a deeper level than they would in the playground is life changing for many of them. As many affirmed, our ignorance of each other can breed fear and misunderstanding and will affect the way we interact with each other and the rest of the world.  We ignore this conversation at our peril.

Our experience in the Building Bridges program has shown that the culture and faith of those who are religious, or have religious families, and those who have chosen to not follow a religious tradition, are validated and heard. Their pathway and reasons for their choices are also articulated and affirmed.  Every student has a story and a set of values that comes from somewhere.

The Building Bridges in Secondary Schools program has been running in faith based schools in Victoria, and now Perth, for the last 14 years. It is encouraging to see State schools joining in these vital conversations in their own schools.

Year 10 students are at a wonderful age to have discussions such as this.  They are open to new ideas and worldviews, are keen to learn and test their ideas and are hopeful about their future.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have these conversations in every school in Australia?

Building Bridges in Secondary Schools is a program of WellSpring Centre

www.buildingbridges.org.au
www.wellspringcentre.org.au

For more information, interviews and resources
http://buildingbridges.org.au/

Ruth Sandy, Building Bridges Central region Co-ordinator

The leadership team at a local Baptist church set a goal in early 2012 to double in size over three years, from an average of thirty on a Sunday to an average of sixty. Unfortunately, over the year the church declined from thirty to twenty. The church did not have a fight that caused the decline. People left for good and understandable reasons, having finished their studies, relocating elsewhere for other, further studies, or deciding to participate in a church more local to their home. It was a challenge for the church to consider how to make the most of the opportunity to encouraging people to grow in their faith for the time that they do attend the church, and a challenge to engage fresh, local community outreach. But the question hung in the air, what to do with that growth goal of doubling?

This local church was one where both of the present authors ministered, Darren as the pastor and Julia as a member of the leadership team. In wondering how we might grow and branch out as a corner boutique church in our local community, we have been surprised and encouraged by the picture painted in Luke’s gospel of the great things that can be achieved not only when a large wealth of resources is at one’s disposal, but also when very few resources are mobilized. In the commonly-termed “Parable of the Mustard Seed,” Jesus says:

What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches. (Luke 13:18-19 NRSV)

The mustard seed—small, tiny and seemingly insignificant—is a very humble picture of what kind of resources we need if we are to enact change in our world. God’s Kingdom—an analogy for the time and place when God’s dreams for creation are fully realised—can spring from seemingly nothing at all, provided it is “sowed” in hope and faith. But a further challenge lies in considering the result of the mustard seed’s transformation, and thus the nature of the Kingdom of God that we as local churches, as well as a broader Baptist tribe of churches, the BUV, seek to cooperate with God to advance.

Humble Hospitality

The parables of Jesus inspire a process of rethinking by turning things on their head and challenging assumptions, both of the gospel writer’s first century audience and also of readers today. While it may be tempting to read the parable as just another illustration of the truism “from little things big things grow,” it is surprising to find that a fully-grown mustard tree is not a large and domineering plant that towers above over other trees. It is in fact much more like a shrub that stands, at its tallest, at around nine feet. This begs the question of why Jesus picked the mustard seed as the foundational metaphor of the parable, if not to champion the tree’s grand height and hence the impressive outcome of the seed’s transformation.

The parable concludes in v.19 by referring not to the size of the mustard tree but rather to its role as a place of rest and hospitality: “it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” While a mustard tree, or mustard shrub, on its own is not that impressive, its place as a house for the birds of the air allows it to embody something of God’s reign because it is a symbol of God’s hospitality.

Moreover, this is a hospitality that creates meaningful and sustaining frameworks for those who are vulnerable or in particular need. This becomes clear when we read the parable in its wider context. In the verses immediately prior, we read:

¹⁰[Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ ¹³When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. ¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.’ ¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?’ ¹⁷When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

¹⁸ He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’ (Luke 13:10-19 NRSV)

When read as part of this larger episode, the parable of the mustard seed forms an integral part of Jesus’ criticism of his religious counterparts on account of their failure to care for the marginalised in their midst when it compromised their sense of religious piety. Acts of kindness and hospitality, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, go a long way in God’s eyes, and the failure to reach out to the vulnerable in one’s midst amounts to hypocrisy and shameful conduct. God’s Kingdom is actualized by the “someone” who gives whatever she or he has so as to make a place for someone in need, and is willing to bear the social, material or religious consequences.

A Challenge for Mission

We are inspired by Jesus’ vision for a world where all people can belong, and his particular concern for the poor and marginalized. At the same time, we are convicted by his criticism of those who participate in any system that perpetuates injustice. In our shared church life, Jesus inspires us to place our lives, our little seed, into the ground of God’s nurturing, so that we might become a tree that gives hospitality to all the neighbourhood. We are encouraged that neither the origins nor the end product in realizing God’s reign are necessarily all that big and impressive. We don’t have to strive to become a huge, grand superstructure; the mustard tree is, from certain angles, a pretty humble outcome. Mustard Tree aspirations are about existing to feed and house others, to provide a place where healing happens, where the lonely find community and where the stranded can make a nest. This is an aspiration to be a vibrant, multi-coloured space of hospitality. We live in an age where the end product of successful Christian ministry is often measured according to numbers, growth, financial measures or social media presence. The parable of the mustard seed, and the pericope of Jesus healing the crippled woman before it, challenge us to get over our idolatry of size (whether large or small), and reframe our community aspirations to be mainly about hospitality and inclusion. 

A hero of ours, Jean Vanier, wrote:

“In the midst of all the violence and corruption of the world God invites us today to create new places of belonging, places of sharing, of peace and of kindness, places were no-one needs to defend himself or herself; places where each one is loved and accepted with one’s own fragility, abilities and disabilities. This is my vision for our churches: that they become places of belonging, places of sharing.” (Befriending the Stranger, Mahwaj, NJ: Paulist Press, 2010, 12)

This was an inspiration for “Slow Church” advocates C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison to encourage churches to generously share the resources God gives us. Hospitality, especially to those who are different from us, is a key way of bringing new life to others, and a way of discovering Christ among us in fresh ways. Slow Church advocates urge us to avoid the temptation of modern hospitality which keeps the other at arm’s length, and to instead sit patiently with those around us, with a genuine willingness to share life and “waste time” together. (See their Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus, Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2014, 192-207).

For our local, corner church, we are learning the beauty and blessing of opening our doors and lives to international students. English classes and Bible studies are programmes that our new friends welcome, but it’s more often in relaxed conversations over coffee or social get-togethers that we see glimpses of where God is working and Kingdom life sprouting forth.  While we still pray and plan to grow and double in size, we also welcome and celebrate the signs of growth in hospitality and the connections we are making outside of Sunday gatherings that might not translate into numerical growth at this stage.

As a tribe of Baptist churches around Victoria, we hope our communities will be stretched to flourish in more inclusive directions of hospitality to those who really need it. This doesn’t require a wealth of resources, but simply the willingness to use what we have to do humble things for God and our neighbour. Moreover, our voice as followers of Christ can bring important critique of broader Australian policies that fail to care for the orphan, widow and stranger of our time and treat hospitality as though it was a dirty word. We believe that Australian Christians can make a real, positive difference in discussions concerning asylum seeker and immigration policy in particular by boldly insisting that our resources be planted in ways that bear the fruit of hospitality, refuge and welcome.

We pray, “Gracious God, enable us to become people and communities of hope and life, who plant the seeds of your earthly garden for the benefit of all who need a home and a nest. Fill us with your gentle love, that we may cooperate with your intention of abundant love and life.”

Julia Rhyder is a member of AuburnLife, but spends most of her time in Lausanne, Switzerland where she is completing a doctorate in Biblical Studies.

Darren Cronshaw is pastor of AuburnLife and Mission Catalyst – Researcher with BUV.

Picture by Beth Barnett, reflecting on Auburn’s repeated engagement with the parable of the Mustard Seed.

This article was originally published as Julia Rhyder and Darren Cronshaw. “Mustard Tree Aspirations (Luke 13:18-19)”, W!tness (10 July 2014).

The St Kilda Baptist Reconciliation Action Group (RAP group) transformed our church into an intimate concert space. A full house of 120 people came and were blown away by the wonderful music and genuine community atmosphere and spirit of the afternoon. The Solstice Singers began with a rousing set of wonderful a Capella songs. Yirrmal joined the choir for a Yothu Yindi song Djapana which lifted the roof. Nigel Wearne followed with a set of his beautiful songs. During interval a sumptuous afternoon tea was enjoyed by all. In the second half the audience were totally spell bound by Yirrmal’s incredible voice and songs. You could hear a pin drop as he explained his time with the Marrma’Rom Two Worlds Foundation and his aim to return to Yirrkala as a future leader of his Yolngu community up in Arnhem land. A truly uplifting and inspiring afternoon was also a successful fundraiser. A total of $3400 has been donated to the Marrma’Rom Foundation (including $177 in afternoon tea and $230 in online donations)
 

Marrma’Rom Two Worlds foundation is an Indigenous education foundation based in Geelong at St Joseph’s College. ‘Marrma’ Rom’ translates to ‘two worlds, two cultures or two belief systems’ in Yolngu Matha, the language of the people in Arnhem Land. The Marrma’ Rom’ Two Worlds Foundation is a leadership program to empower the next generation of young men from North East Arnhem Land. The vision of this Foundation is to enable young men from Arnhem Land to walk confidently in ‘two worlds’.  It’s a leadership program for secondary school boys who have already shown leadership ability and a commitment to education. The Foundation was established in 2011 by Cameron Begg and Melissa Patterson, former teachers at various schools in remote communities and current teachers in Geelong. Both are passionate about Indigenous Education and have a deep understanding of the issues remote communities face. The selected candidates will commit for at least one year for them to begin to walk in two worlds. When the boys choose to return to their
community, the next group of potential leaders will be selected by the
elders to enter the program.

Yirrmal Marika is a graduate from the programme and had remained in Geelong to continue his tertiary education in music. He is about to release his long awaited EP ‘Young Blood’ in November.-

http://www.mrf2worlds.org.au/

Article by Judi Kenneally
Photography by Mark Moray – Wicked photography

At Granite Community Church, alongside Boort Baptist Church, we have been encouraging our Church Families to explore Michael Frost’s BELLS missional rhythm of life.

BELLS is an acronym which teaches us 5 missional habits to live out our faith in the neighbourhood – Bless, Eat, Listen, Learn, & Sent. Throughout the week, we seek to live in proximity to one another and be a people of generosity, people who practise hospitality, people who listen to the Spirit and to our neighbours, people who learn to live incarnationally like Christ, and who continually see ourselves as sent, missional people.

In June, I was part of a small group of Baptist Pastors that were privileged enough to travel to the USA West Coast on a BUV Study Tour*. We met over 30 people over the course of a couple of weeks. What was striking to me was the number of times people spoke about “joining God in the neighbourhood”. There were really not many big, fabulous programs, and no “cookie cutter” approach. Rather, what we encountered time and time again were groups of people who loved Jesus, opening their eyes to see what God was already doing where they lived and simply join in with that. What resulted were very unique expressions of what it means to follow Jesus, make disciples, and alert people to the reign and rule of God in Christ.

Neighbourhoods are unique places. No two neighbourhoods are exactly the same. Therefore, the way God works in those neighbourhoods is also unique, and the way we do ministry and mission needs to match the unique nature of our neighbourhoods and God’s work within them.

BUV 2016 US Study Tour – finding God in our neighbourhoods

As I came home I was inspired. Not to grab something that I had seen in the United States and implement it in our communities in North West Victoria, but to come home and find God here. We need to see the unique ways He is moving in our communities and neighbourhoods around The Church in the Paddock, and discover how to join Him on his mission here.

What has been incredible as we have started to live out BELLS over the past 9 months in our Church Family is how we have had our eyes opened to what God is up to. When we began to be on the look out for ways to be a blessing, our eyes were opened to the multitude of opportunities God has placed before us to be generous. When we began to be on the look out for ways to be hospitable, our eyes were opened and we began to see ordinary meal times, or cups of coffee with others, as sacred, as times of worship, and as opportunities to proclaim and demonstrate what our God is like.

When we intentionally seek to live an incarnational life which is shaped and modelled on the life of Jesus, when we seek to listen intently to his Spirit and go where ever we sense he is sending us, we discover an adventure is to be had right here in our own neighbourhoods. When we begin to listen to the stories in our neighbourhoods with new ears, and see the places where we have lived for years with new eyes, we discover that God is present and working. We see life and beauty, and opportunity to join with God on His mission of restoring and redeeming the world!

So open your eyes. Listen with new ears. What’s God doing in your neighbourhood? And how are you going to be obedient to His Spirit in going where he sends you today?

Rev Jono Ingram
Stumbling Jesus- follower, Husband, Father, Community Gardener, Donald Primary School Wellbeing co-ordinator, Donald Bureau of Meterology Weather reporter, and Pastor at The Church in the Paddock (Granite Community Church) in NW Victoria.

*This tour took us from Los Angeles, to San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle-Tacoma, and Vancouver, speaking to Churches, Church planters, missional thinkers and pioneers in innovative mission about ministry and mission in a changing society.

This article reflects a tension with which many Baptist Churches grapple. Our BUV Mission Catalyst and Church Health & Capacity Development Teams exist to support Victorian Baptist Churches to be more missional.

Karina Kreminski had a conversation with a few friends recently where this dichotomy came up yet again; Can we be both missional and attractional?

It seems like this is still a question that practitioners are wrestling with and I think that is a good thing. It’s not a simple question to answer but here is an initial thought to start discussion.

To think about this, maybe we need to ask two things; firstly, what do you think is the purpose of the church? Secondly, how would you then organise the church around this purpose?

To answer the first question, we need to think about who God is since he is the creator of the church and establishes the purpose. God is purposeful, intentional and missional. This is because God is love and the love of God always extends outwards rather than focuses in on itself. God created a world, people and gave them a mission; to take care of and steward the earth. God called one man, Abraham, to be a blessing to the families of the earth. We also see that God creates a nation, Israel to be a light to the nations. Ultimately God revealed his missionary heart when he came to us in the form of a human, for the sake of the world. And now, God has called a group of people who are in Christ, called out of darkness into his light in order to proclaim the marvellous and might deeds of God. This is the church. Mission seems then, to be not a compartment but an essential quality in God and we can even see this missionary nature like a thread woven in the story of God as portrayed in the bible.

Missional is not a fad word or a concept without theological weight. Biblical scholar Chris Wright in his magnum opus The Mission of God writes;

“The Bible renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of the whole of God’s creation. The Bible is the drama of this God of purpose engaged in the mission of achieving that purpose universally, embracing past, present and future, Israel and the nations, “life, the universe and everything”, and with its centre, focus, climax and completion in Jesus Christ. Mission is not just one of a list of things that the Bible happens to talk about, only a bit more urgently than some. Mission is, in that much- abused phrase, “what it’s all about”.

The church essentially then is the expression of a missionary God who defines his church. The church is the instrument that God uses to accomplish his mission. We are outward oriented rather than inward oriented.

That does not mean that we cannot be attractive. 

There is nothing wrong with making sure that our church services are welcoming, our preaching is good and any programs that we run are helpful. There is nothing wrong with inviting people to come to our church gatherings and small groups. Christianity is supposed to be attractive. Jesus said that as we let our light shine through our good works people will glorify the Father (Matthew 5:16).

To answer the second question, how would we organise the church if we believe that its purpose is to be externally oriented? It means that we would make mission the “organising principle” of the church. It means that our goal is not our own edification but everything we are and do is for the sake of others because we reflect a missionary God.

So all of our attractive programs, events and activities must be organised around this purpose. Our gatherings have the purpose of encouraging and equipping God’s people to be on his mission. Our gatherings, while they bring us comfort must never simply rest there. George Hunsberger, another theological heavyweight, puts this well;

“The church is the bearer to all the nations of a gospel that announces the kingdom, the reign and the sovereignty of God…it is not meant to call men and women out of the world into a safe religious enclave but to call them out in order to send them back as agents of God’s kingship”

So missional does not marginalise the church gathering, however, it does reorient the purpose of the gathering. We gather in order to be sent back out into the world. It is never solely for our benefit. So if we the church ask people to “come to us” it is for the purpose ultimately, of sending people out again into the world to live for the sake of others as Jesus did. 

However, if our primary identity and function as the Church is for the sake of church members, we have a problem. If most people are primarily searching for a church to belong to which has good preaching, an attractive worship style and effective programs, rather than primarily a place where discipleship for the sake of others is practiced, we are in trouble. This sadly shows perhaps that the false narrative of consumerism threading our culture is still trumping the narrative of the reign of God which tells a story of cruciformity, radical discipleship and service for the sake of others.

Our responsibility as church leaders is not to pick paradigms, structures and models that are pragmatic, give “results” or make people comfortable, though these things are not always contrary to the reign of God. We are not owners but stewards of God’s church, so as a leader it’s worth wrestling with those two questions;

What do you think is essentially the purpose or nature of the church? Secondly, how would you then organise the church around this purpose?

This article is by Karina Kreminski and appeared on her blog. It is reposted with permission. You can read more from Karina here https://www.facebook.com/karinakreminski1/