If I asked you to create a picture of freedom, then what would you draw?

Maybe you might paint a prison door opening, or the shackles of a slave being released?

Or perhaps you might draw a picture of a person running down an endless beach, or someone standing at the edge of a giant canyon with arms raised high?

Some businesses try to use the idea of freedom to convince us to book a holiday, or apply for a loan, or purchase a car, or gamble in a lottery… even though these things often end up enslaving us.

The Bible tells us how we can become truly free… and the method is surprising.

It’s summed up beautifully in the words of our Anglican Prayer Book, which say to God that his “service is perfect freedom.”

It’s really quite odd to say that we can gain freedom from becoming servants, and yet, the New Testament writers kept telling us that they were servants (or more literally ‘slaves’) of Christ.

In fact, we read this phrase from the hand of Paul, James, Peter and Jude, who regarded this concept as being at the very core of the Christian identity.

But this should come as no surprise to us: Jesus said of himself in Mark 10:45 that “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So as we serve each other, let us enjoy the freedom that comes from being a slave of Christ.

After all, when Jesus is our slave master, we experience a love that came at the very expense of his life.

And so, as we gather to serve each other, let us do so as people who joyfully consider God’s service as perfect freedom.

Jodie McNeill.

(CREDIT: woodleywonderworks via Flickr)

Healthy small groups have always been an important part of a healthy church.

These groups have typically been called lots of different names: bible study groups, connect groups, life groups, growth groups, and so on.

But now we’re going to introduce a new name for our groups that will help us clarify why they exist.

We’re going to call them ‘serve teams.’

The reason why they’re called ‘teams’ is that they are a group of people who are connected, even when they don’t meet. 

So, in the same way that a person is a part of a cricket team, even when they’re not playing cricket, we will all be part of a serve team, even when the group isn’t meeting.

And the reason we’re calling them ‘serve’ teams is that they are teams that are dedicated to doing what Christians do: serve. 

Jesus said that he came not to be served but to serve, and we, too, follow his lead.

In fact, in Ephesians chapter 4, we read that God has given people to his church in order to speak his word, so that all Christians will be equipped for service.

And, so, the reason these teams exist is to serve: to serve each other in the team, as members love and build each other up.

And they exist to serve our church as we get involved in what happens in the life of our church.

And they exist to serve our community, as together the members think of ways to bring the gospel of Jesus to our world.

What’s more, as we serve, together, as a team, it will bring us closer together, as a team.

And in order to serve, we’ll keep doing what our small groups have always done: prayerfully studying God’s word, so we’re equipped to serve, to God’s glory.

Jodie McNeill.

(CREDIT: Artondra Hall via Flickr)

I’ve been reading a number of detective books recently. So when someone handed me a book about Jesus written by a detective I was curious. The book is called ‘Cold Case Christianity‘ by J. Wallace. He’s a seasoned homicide detective and he applies what he has learnt to the witness accounts of Jesus, especially from ‘cold cases’.

At first I was quite captivated by all the real life stories he threw in, but as I read on he introduced more and more sophisticated analysis.

He made some very persuasive arguments in favour of the reliability of the witness accounts about Jesus.

We’ve probably all heard the argument that witness accounts often tell things from different perspectives. But he gave a much more detailed explanation of this point, using forensic analysis. Specifically he wrote about the phenomenon of ‘inadvertent support.’

No eyewitness ever gives a full account of a scene. So often their description raises a particular question. When Jesus calls Peter and Andrew in Matthew, the account at first seems odd. These men drop everything and immediately follow Jesus on their first meeting. Why would they do that?

If Matthew was the only account of Jesus this would remain unanswered. But Luke ‘inadvertently’ answers this question.

In his account we get a prior story of the fisherman encountering Jesus. Jesus used their boats to teach the crowds by the lake. He then instructed them to take him out and fish. They’d had an unsuccessful night of fishing but now they take an exceedingly impressive catch. This certainly gave them something to think about when he later asked them to follow him.

There are many of these incidental questions & answers in the Gospels.

Now these things by themselves don’t prove Christianity, but it’s exactly the kind of thing you’d expect if the witnesses are real and telling the truth.

Simon Chaplin

CREDIT: Ryan Melaugh via flickr.com

After many years of hard work, our Anglican Diocese has developed a policy to help our churches provide the best possible care to people suffering from domestic abuse.

The policy was launched this week at the Anglican Diocese of Sydney Synod, our annual combined meeting of churches and organisations.

In launching the policy, Sandy Grant acknowledged that “clergy and church members have often been under-educated and naive; and on the other hand, sometimes over-confident in their insight or ability.”

He also recognised that “abuse can be hard to distinguish from regular conflict or dysfunction” and that “abusers can be very manipulative”, and so “extra detail and reinforcement of good practice is needed.”

After every member of the Synod united to accept this policy, we also supported this statement of grief, thanksgiving, prayer, regret, and apology:

“We grieve with victims and survivors of domestic abuse, and pray for their healing and recovery. We give thanks to God for those women and men, clergy and lay people, who have faithfully supported, cared for and protected such victims in our churches and communities.

We grieve that God’s good gift of marriage can be distorted and dishonoured through the sin of perpetrators. We pray for their repentance and restoration to faithful living under Christ.

We also deeply regret that domestic abuse has occurred among those who attend our churches, and even among some in leadership. We apologise for those times our teaching and pastoral care have failed adequately to support victims and call perpetrators to account.”

If you or someone you know or love is experiencing domestic abuse, please speak to one of our ministers, or contact ‘1800 Respect’ by visiting 1800respect.org.au or calling 1800 737 732.

Jodie McNeill

(CREDIT: t-bet via Flickr)

Our church has recently started testing a new, online prayer diary called ‘PrayerMate.’

It enables people to subscribe to prayer points from many, terrific organisations and missionaries.

It also helps us connect with the regular prayer points of our own church.

One benefits is that it gives me a list of people from within our church that I can specifically pray for each week.

But what should I actually pray for each person?

Well, according to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, I could start by thanking God for each person, and particularly, for their faith and their love, as he writes:

“…ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:15-16)

It’s great to start our prayers by thanking God for how he is working in each person, leading them to grow in their trust in him, and in the outworking of that through the love they have for other Christians.

But after that, Paul prays that they would know God better:

“I keep asking that the God  of our Lord Jesus Christ, the  glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (Ephesians 1:17)

The reason we pray that people would know God better is so that they can enjoy the riches of their relationship with him.

It’s a bit like getting to “know” a friend or a spouse: it’s not so we can pass a knowledge test about them, but it’s so we can grow deeper in our friendship.

So, let’s keep thanking God for each other’s faith and love, and keep asking him to help us know God better.

Jodie.