Draft: God is Just

Thanks to Raina for thrashing this out with me. There's further complexities/subtleties I have to think about, so stay tuned.

1. What is justice?

• God is just/righteous (Dt 32:4; Rev 15:3; Job 9:2, 37:23; Zp 3:5; Ps 89:14. This includes salvation, grace and mercy – Ps 31:1, 51:14, 103:17, 143:1; 1 Jn 1:9; Jn 15:13).

• God expects people to be just (Mt 5:48, Rom 2:13; Mi 6:8. We were created to obey his just commands Gen 2:16-17. We can do this by having faith – Gn 15:6, Hab 2:4, Is 45:24-25, 54:17).

• Jesus was just (Heb 4:15).

• God judges justly (Lv 24:17ff; Ex 9:27; Lk 23:41; Hab 1:13; Jdg 5:11; 2 Sa 15:4; Pr 3:33). Through Jesus' perfect life and bearing the judgment for our sins, God is “just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26). Jesus is become our “righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30).

2. How important is justice?

• Very! It is part of God's character, and he expects it of us.

3. What things are just/unjust? Who can judge someone if they act unjustly?

• Just = Ten Commandments

• God judges.

• God gives rules for people to follow (eg an eye for an eye Lv 24:17ff).

• He tells people how to judge others who break these rules (rebuking Mt 18:15, 2 Tim 3:16; church discipline Mt 18:15, 1 Cor 5:1-6:5). Christians shouldn't judge non-Christians (1 Cor 5:12-13).

• He tells us to be careful when judging others (judge yourself before you judge others Mt 7:1-5; Jn 8:1-11).

• He puts governing bodies into place (eg Ex 18; Rom 13:1-7).

4. So what should we do?

• Live justly, obey God. Do this even if we have to suffer for it (1 Pet 4:14-16 - unless there is the possibility of continuing to do good while escaping suffering).

• Recognise that God is just and judges justly.

• Judge ourselves before judging others. Recognise that we too are sinful, and that our discernment may be flawed. Show others mercy, just as God showed us mercy. All this may lead us not to judge others at all.

• If we do judge others, do so out of love for them and desire for them to be more godly. Do it gently. (We shouldn't judge non-Christians.)

• Obey authorities (Rom 13:1-7) – unless they tell us to do something unjust (Acts 5:29).

The Worth of Women Helping

Some examples from the worlds of salsa and bible study groups:

• prayer and preparation

• making sure meeting up to prepare/practise actually happens

• helping chose what to teach

• helping determine structure of lesson

• giving ideas about/discussing individual group members

• asking questions about the teaching material – preempts questions group members will have and improves male leader's understanding and explanation

• going over what will be taught

• discussing/preparing any feedback to the group

• making sure equipment is ready

• incidental, public teaching of women during class

• 'private' teaching of men and women during class

• 'private' teaching of (men and) women after group – answering questions/issues

• smooth running of class/group – eg keeping track of time, changing songs, telling barman if people haven't paid, making announcements, inviting contributions from quiet members

• helping create supportive, friendly, fun learning environment – making jokes, admitting difficulties, listening attentively and warmly

• patient and sacrificial participation – eg dancing with beginner men

• socialising/chatting to people, building a welcome vibe

• packing up

• helping review how it went

• helping provide feedback to other teachers/elders

• meeting/liasing with other teachers about how bests to run classes etc

Tips for Working for a Church

These tips are particularly relevant for people doing a two year apprenticeship through the Ministry Training Strategy (MTS). Thanks to all the current and former apprentices and trainers who gave the ideas to me.

Starting out

• It's normal to feel like you're not doing much.

MTS definition . . .

• Ministry is not about being a jack-of-all-trades. You need to establish your strengths (partly through finding out your weaknesses!).

• MTS is an experience of ministry, as opposed to training or a job. You need to benefit, not be used to fill a gap. You need to try new things.

Goals

• Do what you do for a greater purpose. The work isn't an end in itself.

• Primary MTS goal: godliness - from this other things will flow.

• Primary MTS goal: regular bible reading and prayer (prayer is work). Converting non-Christians is also very important.

• Primary MTS goal: to realise how much you don't know and to have an appetite for more, or to find your niche as a lay person.

• Work out [your roles > values >] goals > method of achieving them (so something actually happens!) > review progress towards goals (is any progress actually heading towards the goals?). Being intentional like this fosters creativity and allows for adapting and changing.

• Try new things!

• Make sure you're doing all 8 MTS strands (ie bible study, thinking theologically, prayer and holiness, relationships in ministry, evangelism, bible teaching, training others and leadership and strategy).

Timetabling

• You need to be both led by others and self led.

• Think about the important things and allocate time to these each week.

• Make sure you are spending time on a variety of ministry areas, and on things that are strengths and weaknesses for you.

• Watch for the things and the people you don't naturally like.

• Don't spend all your time on your local church (this can be tempting to do because it can be satisfying, achievable and 'praiseworthy'). Spend time on the wider church, the world, evangelism, friends etc.

• Allocate time to meet with non-Christians (? 2 hours/week).

• Don't do too much mentoring individuals because you can get disheartened by disappointments.

• Ideas/planning: block off time each week to think, plan, pray etc.

• Remember there's life outside of what's due – even when you're busy, take a bit of time out to study and do things to increase your knowledge and for long-term benefit.

• Remember there's life outside of MTS – make time for errands, housework etc.

'At work' vs 'time off'

• Consider your own intuition as to whether something is more appropriately 'time off' or 'building relationships' etc. Also consider what your body needs – even if something could fall into 'time off' you might need to do it during working hours because you need total rest on your day off.

• Don't section Christian stuff strictly into MTS time only. For instance, don't make a Rule to never talk to your Christian brothers and sisters on your day off (if you do this you'll end up seeing this as part of your MTS job only - rather than part of you and your Christian life).

• Consider your own intuition as to whether an 'at home' task is actually that (and should therefore be done out of work hours) – or if it's rather the ministry equivalent of pfaffing around the office while you refocus.

Pitfalls

• Watch out for relationship conflicts and divisions – the devil loves to use these.

• Gossip is a pitfall. Be careful about discussing a person with other leaders. Achieve a balance between useful discussion and betraying confidence.

• There are two extremes to avoid in regard to socialising – making friendships into work and making church work seem a bludge. You can explain socialising with non-Christians in working hours as appropriate because it's important to keep non-Christian friendships going however this needs to happen.

Mentor

• Have a mentor, so you can talk about disappointments – otherwise you may take these personally or become disheartened. Having a mentor enables you to learn from disappointments.

• Clarify your own and your trainer's expectations (eg whether to get to things ahead of time to set up).

• You need to receive training.

• You should have your MTS apprenticeship reviewed.

Relationships

• Invest in past Christian and non-Christian relationships.

• Ensure you have regular contact with older Christians.

Money

• You're not receiving a wage for hours worked, but rather a stipend (ie money given to free you up from doing other work).

Mistakes

• Don't worry about making them. It's part of being a learner. Own up to them and learn from them. Be glad of the opportunity to do this.

• Criticism: take it on board rather than being defensive. Remember to maintain the “I'm here to learn” attitude.

Approval

• Be aware that you will face tension between wanting to seek approval from people because you want to be suitable for this work, while at the same time knowing that you 'shouldn't' be seeking approval from people.

Pain

• MTS can be a painful experience.

Prayer and bible reading

• Pray and read the bible because you love it and it's a privilege, rather than out of duty.

• Vary how you pray and read the bible so you don't get bored.

One-on-one mentoring

• Think of goals for your 1:1 folk. Pray about these.

• Allow your people to give you feedback.

• Keep an eye out for new people.

Leading groups

• Recognise the personalities and roles in your group/team, and make sure you're catering for their needs.

Evangelism

• This can include walk-up, writing tracts, email evangelism, prayer about evangelism, meeting up with non-Christians, doorknocking.

(You might want to allocate a slot of time each week to walk-up evangelism.)

(When doorknocking you can introduce yourself as being from the church down the street and interested in answering questions people have and getting to know people.)

• Make sure you spend time with people that God is obviously working in.

Ministry/MTS ideas

• Reading/discussion group – eg about Christianity and its relationship with today's culture

• Familiarise yourself with an intro to Christianity course (eg Two Ways To Live) and be prepared to take someone through it.

• Get all the local MTS folk together regularly.

• Check out the MTS website.

• Think about how to include non-intellectual people in ministry. Our goal should be about building people's faith rather than their intellect.

Women doing MTS

• Women work differently to men. They tend to see less people, for longer each time and because the relationship is deeper, the women they see will open up more.

Women's ministry

• It's good to have women teach women because of a shared perspective and experience, and for women to see role models. It's particularly good when women have children because both the husband and wife can't attend things.

• Women are good evangelists - they're good at talking and it's natural for them to catch-up to chat. Do evangelism in a group (this way others see you're not alone, and they see how you relate).

• You might need to make women's events girly.

• Ideas: evangelistic events including dialogue dinners and gingerbread house making; training; book clubs; playgroups.

• Help/remind/encourage men to include and consult with women. Do this regularly and gently, rather than infrequently criticising.

How I Became a Christian

I grew up in a Christian home, and was a happy and good child with a child's certain belief. To me being a Christian meant believing in God, being good, having the right morals and being really happy and excited and in love with him (which I never was).

As a teenager I was very embarrassed about being a Christian and scared of what my friends would think if they knew what I thought about abortion, homosexuality and sex before marriage. I was terrified of being ridiculed.

I didn't want to be a Christian so I decided to try not being one. But I couldn't shake my belief in God. So I became willing to call myself Christian and to stick with my moral views.

But I didn't recognise my need for forgiveness. I didn't have a relationship with God. I didn't read the bible, I didn't pray and I didn't live my life in obedience to him. Once I moved out of home I went to church irregularly. I could see that Christianity was true, but I didn't understand why all the words I heard about joy and praise and being thankful for salvation and God being our father had zero emotional resonance for me.

Without a relationship with God, I was left only with some rules and morality to live by, and I tried hard to do these things because I knew they were right. But it was too hard and unfulfilling and utterly disappointing. So in bitterness, I gave up and accepted the comfort and pleasure of the world, although I still aimed to do good, to help the poorest people in the world. I still believed there was a God and knew in my heart I should follow him, but he had little impact on my life. I started having sex and ended up living with my fiance. I wasn't happy though - I was just getting by. I didn't really know what life was all about and none of my ideas, or the ideas I came across, really made sense of things.

A year later my fiance broke up with me. I am now very thankful for this but at the time - even though our relationship wasn't that great - it was incredibly painful and I lived my life under a weight of grief and sorrow. This suffering humbled me. I became very aware of my helplessness and weakness. So I cried out to the God who had previously been in the background, asking him to help and comfort me. I didn't make any other demands of him or put any conditions on him - I just cried out for help.

Very slowly my suffering lessened and I was confident that God was there and that he was helping me, even though it was still very hard and confusing.

About five months after we broke up I came to Crossroads church. I'd never before heard sermons where the bible was so diligently looked into, the character of God made known, and application made to our lives. The sense, truth, relevance and usefulness of Christianity as laid-out in the bible quickly became obvious. I could see that Christianity was really serious stuff and I realised that you had to make a decision whether to go along with it or not, and I saw that if it was true you had to go along with it. Well, it seemed pretty obvious to me that it was true.

Until then I had had it all wrong. I had thought that Christianity was about being good and moral, but it was actually about being forgiven. It was only once I received forgiveness that I could start to really be good - because I was grateful and because Jesus was there helping me.

The First Post: Ideas not Teaching, Copying not Hubris

Each day I find myself thinking about how Christianity affects life. I often write to get my thinking straight. I trust that God is increasingly making my thinking and insight more like his Son's, and so I trust that publishing my reflections will be helpful to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ. If you're not a Christian you're also welcome to read this blog and 'listen in' on how Christians think.

Having said that, these reflections are ideas, not teaching. Some will be God-given, others will be faulty or misinformed or sinful. (The title was chosen not out of confidence, but rather to copy my first blog - Another Good Sentence.) So don't take anything 'as gospel'. And please learn and grow with me by discussing my reflections.

Fiona