Ministry Update: 2023

Looking Back on the Year

Thanks for your prayer and continued support through this turbulent season. Thanks to YOU I’ve been able to:

• Prepare for 2024 - this week our students voted in next year’s student executive committee and we received the joyous news that some who we thought were moving on have chosen further study and intend to still be present in some capacity to encourage the new students. Our Launch Conference at the beginning of the year is NOT to be missed by any Christian emerging adult in Tasmania.

• Teach seminars and workshops for students on the topics of prayer, evangelism and small group leading.

• Equip Fellowship Group Leaders to grow in personal areas of reading, prayer and Bible study. I shared several resources and bits of advice with each student and checked in with them during Semester 2.

• Design promotional material for print and online for our conferences, Islam and Christianity debate and concert.

• Preach at Women’s Winter Festival on the Hannah’s Song using her story to springboard to the broader story of God’s relationship with women throughout the Bible.

• Participate in feedback prior to a report being submitted to and approved by the General Assembly of Australia (Presbyterian) making recommendations for women participating at all levels of the church.

• Share news, resources and ideas with you in Christine: Behind the Scenes to benefit your own personal ministries.

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Engaging with Love: Building Bridges in Evangelism

a seminar written by Me and ChatGPT

This year I enjoyed teaching a seminar for our students at Mid Year Conference with the aid of ChatGPT to craft a script to demonstrate some of the approaches to making meaningful connections with people. Bizarre, I know! But the students enjoyed the exercise, even stating that the two characters in the script seemed extrremely “self-aware” … (it was only then that with a twinkle in my eye, I revealed that the script was written by AI and only a few strategic prompts by me).

Here’s my workshop outline and the script and some scenarios to work through. Enjoy!

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Teaching Art

At the end of last year, I received a surprise email asking me to consider teaching art at a local Christian school my daughter would be attending in 2023 for high school. I wasn’t looking for more work. I hadn’t given ANY thought to going back to the classroom for YEARS. It was a BIG ask that could potentially disrupt an enjoyable equilibrium we were experiencing as a family with a healthy balance of life/work/ministry.

I remember discussing the pros and cons with me husband and us settling on “No” as the answer. Immediately, my body felt a surge of emotion indicating that “No” was not the final word. It was the opposite of that rush of feeling one might feel after deciding that the special someone you were dating was indeed THE ONE you want to spend the rest of your life with. That body sensation confirming that your head decision was indeed the right one. But THIS was the opposite, communicating HOLD ON! So we discussed some more and created a list to bring back to the school leadership to see if they could accomodate some of our requests.

And they DID … respectfully and joyfully.

My prayer is that I can help bridge the experience of school leavers/graduates to adult life/faith and ministry by connecting many of them with campus ministries if they go on to university.

This year has been a blast, creating and learning alongside our Year 7-9 art students. They make me laugh. They stretch me and inspire me. I am their biggest fans. I’ve shared several of their projects over on my Facebook and Instagram.

Please pray for next year. I have been put forward by my supervisor to also teach Christian Studies classes next year.

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Gospel Giving

Please prayerfully consider partnering with my mission on campus to proclaim Jesus and raise up the next leaders of the church and world mission.

Your contribution to my ministry covers

• my pay,

• personal and family living expenses,

• ministry work expenses,

• and professional development, etc.

Monthly Target: $3098

Current Regular Giving: $2985

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Giving Back to You

Sharing resources is my way of giving back to you and supporting your own relationship with Jesus and your church family and your own ministry. All links have been shared in Christine: Behind the Scenes. Join us in the group to discuss how the content might affect our lives and gospel work.

[Watch] From Darkness to Light: I got to demonstrate how living in darkness is unsafe to ourselves and others. We feel trapped and insecure. Jesus, our rescuer, brings us into his light and we can follow him in the Way of the Kingdom of God. In Jesus, we are safe and free and can live boldly for him! He is Light and Love and LIFE!

[Watch] A Tip for Improving Bible Comprehension: Chad Bird shares a quick tip to help improve your Bible reading and comprehension.

[Listen] Dragons in the Bible: Bible Project’s latest series is all about dragons and their symbolism in the Scriptures.

[Read] Someone Else’s Deconversion : "I am so convinced of the Love that shaped and formed the universe that I believe we are held in that Love within our unbelief. I am here, I’m not going anywhere. Call yourself what you need to call yourself, pick up and put down labels, whatever. I love you just as you are right now. Tell me everything. I'm listening. And I’ll keep walking with you. And if you ever need it, you can borrow my faith to rest within for a while."

[Watch] My Testimony : I shared my testimony with my church this year during a Kids Talk segment. Someone watching the livestream sent an email thanking them for airing the testimony as she often watches at home with her autistic son and he found it helpful.

[Listen] Context Matters : Listen how a couple are passionate about creating visual resources for children that give them a true sense of the context of the Old and New Testaments.

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Upcoming Speaking Events

Bookings for speaking at your church, ministry, school or event are open for 2021 via Video or In Person.

Please contact me at christine@ufcutas.org to discuss your event.

23 and 30 September: Bishop’s Training Event elective: How to Help Teens Make the Jump to Young Adult Faith (with Mikey Lynch)

20-22 February: Launch Conference: Workshops

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Ministry Update: Start of 2022

Looking Back at the last half of 2021

Thanks for your prayer and continued support through 2021. Thanks to YOU I’ve been able to:

• Prompt a Big Shift in our approach to December’s local National Training Event (NTE). With numbers from Launceston and Hobart looking low, during a staff meeting we were discussing what might need to change to make the event of most benefit to those students attending. They get excellent teaching and training throughout the year. But one thing that NTE does REALLY well every year when we gather in Canberra is introduce students to world missions possibilitites. My recommendation to shift focus away from the usual teaching and training and simply go all-in with Missions was received with excitement from all staff. My favourite activity the students did was read all the way through Acts in small groups. Powerful stuff.

• Teach seminars at NTE on modern missionary activity in Germany and Western Europe, as wells as, The Hidden Heros of Missions: Local Women.

• Recruit Fellowship Group Student Leaders for 2022. M was a first year student integral in bringing students together and stepped up in big ways to help facilitate a Fellowship Group last year. S is a 2nd year Med student and is eager to help bring Christian med students together to pray for their classmates and opportunities to share Jesus with them.

• Train international students on how to introduce Australian/Western people to Jesus. I used InterVarsity USA’s training on the 5 Thresholds to explain the (often long) journey a person takes between first meeting a Christ-follower and becoming one themselves.

• Launch a YouTube video campaign helping our students to express their faith in meaningful ways to their peers. The evangelistic philanthropic initiative approved funding for my work in producing and editing and promoting these videos. There are already two up on the YouTube channel.

• Share resources and ideas with you in Christine: Behind the Scenes to benefit your own personal ministries.

Sitting on Q&A Panels alongside students, alumni and staff is one of my favourite parts about ministry. Here alumna, Damaris, is answering this question as a follower of Jesus who wants to use her life to bring both physical healing (as a doctor) and spiritual healing (as a follower of Jesus).

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Goals for 2022

• Teaching Three Workshops at Pre-Seasons Conference 2022 - Each year we put on a conference welcoming returning and new students to Uni Fellowship. To start the year off for these emerging adults, we do a series of workshops with first year students on 1. What Is Uni Fellowship and AFES? 2. What Is the Gospel? 3. Why You Should Join a Local Church. I’m delighted to lead these workshops this year.

• Connect in Person with students whenever possible and in meaningful ways.

• Give Space for emerging adults to figure out what if means for them to be an independent, adult follower of Jesus. Sometimes student leaders and staff of campus missions can be a bit too on-mission and forget that our new friends are still figuring out IF they want to follow Jesus and live for him. I’m committed to journeying with them and being a trusted person they can talk to and don’t have to worry that I’m just signing them up for the next big event or project or team. (The other staff and student leaders are on top of this, too. This is just a personal aspiration for me this year to be more in-tuned to this)

• Learn how to help emerging adults read the Bible well, understand it and be able to explain it well. A month ago I was listening to a great podcast series on reading the Bible well and I became burdened by a desire to want this very thing for our students. My Bible college/Seminary Hermeneutics class was 16 years ago. So as a refresher I purchased a stack of books that were published recently that I’ve heard and seen recommended over and over by various people I look up to. Here’s to a year of learning!

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If you would like to find out more about any of the above, send me a message any time. Or better yet we can meet up in person over a cuppa or chat on Zoom/Facetime, etc. Email: christine@ufcutas.org

I’d also love to visit with your church via video or in person to share about our work here in Tasmania.

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Mel: 2022 Ministry Apprentice

It’s been two years since I first met, Mel. She knew she’d only be here for a semester, but took the opportunity to dive in head first and get involved with our local student mission. As a student in Germany, she was already acquainted with university student mission and was quick to make new friends and volunteer whenever she could. Covid then changed everything but she persisted in making meaningful relationships and grew in her confidence in sharing Jesus as she travelled around Tasmania with her housemates and friends, waiting for it be safe to return home to Germany.

Uni Fellowship staff extended the invitation to her to consider returning the following year to undergo two years of on-the-job ministry training. She gladly accepted and returned home to prepare and share the news with friends and family. As her trainer, I checked in with her monthly. We prayed together and planned together as I coached her through the process for inviting people to partner with her in this work in encouragement, prayer and finances. We learned a lot together about how difficult this process is for an international citizen. In many ways, I wish we could turn back time and try again taking advantage of other local, German missions partnerships that could make sending her more simple.

In December, after much prayer and sensing God moving her in an exciting direction, Mel took a job in northern Germany as a child psychologist in the same village where her parents work as local missionaries. This is not the end of her ministry apprenticeship journey, however. During 2022, Mel will be working and continuing her work recruiting ministry partners so that she can return to Hobart to train with us here.

Please pray for Mel. It’s currently winter and the work of recruiting is long and sometimes discouraging. Praise God that he has provided good work near family and an opportunity to be freed up one day a week to continue her support-raising.

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Gospel Giving

Please prayerfully consider partnering with my mission on campus to proclaim Jesus and raise up the next leaders of the church and world mission.

Your contribution to my ministry covers

• my pay,

• personal and family living expenses,

• ministry work expenses,

• and professional development, etc.

Monthly Target: $3598 (2.5 days per week)

Current Regular Giving: $3259

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Family

We have become a foster fail! After fostering ten cats through Ten Lives Cat Centre, on Christmas Eve, our tenth foster, Puffin who came to us as a little freightened kitten, joined our family. All four of us think she’s the best.

Olivia begins high school next week. She’s a mixture of nervous and excited. A coping strategy she’s had from a very young age is to be organised and plan ahead. Any time new information dripped down to us about her new school, she added it to a document on our computer and slowly built up a to-do list and info booklet. She’s in a class with her two besties and is looking forward to trying new things (especially art classes) and meeting new people.

Ella loved performing in The Lion King Jr musical production alongside her new friends at Musical Theatre. This year they’ll be performing Into the Woods, a musical with a wide range of fairy tale characters all converging into one story. After a year of getting her feet wet, she’s ready to take on a role this year and is looking forward to auditions.

Mike and I have become members of St. Johns Presbyterian Church and have joined different ministry teams. Mike serves on the welcoming team and brings all of his marketing experience to helping a new person’s first experience at St. Johns be a good one. I’ve leapt into doing some kids talks during the service and always enjoy doing the public Bible reading. There was an older woman who did the public reading a few months ago and I could have sat there and listened to her just keep going. She was so clear and conveyed the meaning of the text through her voice and presentation in such compelling ways. I hope to emulate her in my own readings.

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Giving Back to You

Sharing resources is my way of giving back to you and supporting your own relationship with Jesus and your church family and your own ministry. All links have been shared in Christine: Behind the Scenes. Join us in the group to discuss how the content might affect our lives and gospel work.

[Listen] Paradigm: This Bible Project podcast series helps listeners understand the ins and outs of reading the Bible. Is it a devotional guide to life? Is it a reference book? Who put it together? Do I read it alone or with others? They explore some main pillars to set up readers for a lifetime of learning and delighting in God’s Word.

[Download] The Bible Project App: Speaking of Bible Project, they just launched an app with all of their video content and a learning experience that connects what you’re reading in the Bible with different skills to learn along the way. It’s excellent! Even if you’re just looking for a solid Bible app to use for daily reading.

[Watch] Psalm 63: Caitlin Carnaby, a music graduate, and a number of our students from the last two years have created this music video based on a psalm. It’s beautiful. (see below video)

[Read] Why Do We Assume Western Theology Is Superior? : “The song ‘Waymaker’ became a bit of an anthem for 2020, bringing hope in a global pandemic and becoming a prayer for breakthrough as the US grappled with racial violence. It’s an African song, penned and sung by Nigerian worship superstar Sinach. In 2020, it was African theology that people found they needed.”

[Read] Our Go-To Questions for Scripture Engagement: “This is reading for discipleship: someone can immediately begin interacting with Jesus and/or God regardless of their background or religious identity. It’s an approach that can be used by anyone with anyone who is interested.”

[Watch] The King Jesus Gospel: This is a gospel explanation snippet from Scot McKight’s book, The King Jesus Gospel published by Zondervan.

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Upcoming Speaking Events

Bookings for speaking at your church, ministry, school or event are open for 2021 via Video or In Person.

Please contact me at christine@ufcutas.org to discuss your event.

15-18 February: Pre-Season Conference: First Year Workshops

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Good Tips for Great Ministry Update Emails

A colleague asked me to help him set up a Mailchimp account and template for him this week to help him communicate with his ministry partners. It got me thinking about what my ministry partners like and dislike most about these sort of ministry email newsletter updates. So I asked them in Christine: Behind the Scenes

Here’s their top tips:

1. Bottom line up front : readers don’t want to scroll down a long length of content to get the important bits. Including financial support needs.

2. Prayer points at the top.

3. Use photos to help tell your story (3-5 is a good number).

4. No attachments : refrain from adding documents, pictures or slideshows

5. Add hyperlinks when you can so the reader doesn’t have to google it.

6. Keep it simple. 5-6 sentence paragraphs in each section.

7. Save long-form writing for a blog post you can send readers to.

8. Give church leaders notice of how to best share your news with their church. Include a 1-2 sentence blurb for their members email or upfront Sunday missions announcements.

9. Use headings and dot points and bold sentences at the beginning of paragraphs to help readers know what the content is they’re about to read. It actually helps them read more than just scan the content.

10. Don’t go into depth about the entire ministry in one email. Break up your ministry updates into topics you can dive into throughout the year.

11. Maintain a consistent design and get some helpful feedback on what looks good and help makes a newsletter readable. Messing around with fonts and colours is not ideal.

What would you add?

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Ministry Update: Mid Year Review 2021

During my seminar at Pre-Season Conference 2021 on Being Organised and Priorities, I introduced returning students and student leaders to the first year students and let them tell their own wisdom. I was delighted when so many of them stated that Fellowship Groups are worth arranging your week around!

1/2 Year in Review

Thanks for your prayer and continued support through 2021. Thanks to YOU I’ve been able to:

• Teach our students Jonah 3, Biblical Theology of Prayer, Being Organised and Priorities, how to evangelise westerners (international students) and The Big Story of the Gospel

• Meet up with new students at the beginning of the year to get to know them and invite them to consider themselves one of us at Uni Fellowship.

• Coordinate Fellowship Groups including a new City group in Semester 2, hopefully the first of many new City groups as the University moves out of Sandy Bay and into the City.

• Train local ministry apprentices and leaders on how ministry impacts our relationships, social media for church admin, and cultural engagement

• Coach an oversees potential apprentice on how to raise up a network of ministry partners to support her through prayer, encouragement and finances. Mel Henning will, Lord willing, join us in 2022 from Germany and I will oversee her 2 years of training.

• Plan a YouTube video content campaign helping our students to express their faith in meaningful ways to their peers. Pending grant approval.

• Lead a training seminar for Tasmanian Women’s Bible Conference on Deconstruction and Reconstruction.

• Work alongside local ministry leaders at a working retreat to develop a plan for a ministry leadership pipeline for local churches beginning with Sunday School. At Uni Fellowship, we see ourselves as an important part of that pipeline as there is a big gap between youth group/youth leading and ministry apprenticeship/Bible college. Uni Fellowship gives school leavers a broad range of ministry experience, participation, networking and leadership opportunities.

• Co-host a podcast debrief for local men and women in-person who have been listening to the podcast series The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It proved to be an important step to come together in person. We were no longer typing AT names on a screen. But we were in a room with real people, with real regrets, real hurts, real concerns and in the end real hope moving forward. I’m open to doing a similar online debrief if there is interested.

• Share resources and ideas with you in Christine: Behind the Scenes to benefit your own personal ministries.

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If you would like to find out more about any of the above, send me a message any time. Or better yet we can meet up in person over a cuppa or chat on Zoom/Facetime, etc. Email: christine@ufcutas.org

I’d also love to visit with your church via video or in person to share about our work here in Tasmania.

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Talking with Tasmanian ministry apprentices and church leaders about how ministry impacts our relationships at MTS Training Day in Ross, Tasmania.

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Mel Henning: 2022 Ministry Apprentice

In the beginning of 2020, Mel Henning joined us at Uni Fellowship doing a semester abroad from Germany for her Masters thesis. She immediately jumped right in and participated in our mission to help students at the University know Jesus. Before she returned home, we invited her to consider returning to Tasmania when her thesis was complete to train with us as a campus gospel worker. She said, “Yes!”

Over the past year, Mel and I have been catching up monthly so I could coach her on the process of raising up a network of ministry partners to support her in prayer, encouragement and finances. This week she sent out her first ministry email newsletter to let her friends and family know her plans and inviting them to prayerfully consider partnering with her. Please pray for people in Germany and abroad to enthusiastically partner with her. I’m so excited to be her supervisor next year. I’ve already begun collecting resources for us to work through as part of her training, like Peter Adam’s part 1 and part 2 Secret Sins article.

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Gospel Giving

Please prayerfully consider partnering with my mission on campus to proclaim Jesus and raise up the next leaders of the church and world mission.

Your contribution to my ministry covers

• my pay,

• personal and family living expenses,

• ministry work expenses,

• and professional development, etc.

Monthly Target: $3465 (2.5 days per week)

Current Regular Giving: $2712

Are you possibly one of the below?

• 1 new person giving $150/month

• 3 new people giving $100/month

• 4 new people giving $50/month

• 4 new people giving $25/month

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Family

This year we’ve really been fine tuning our interests and talents.

Altogether we’ve fostered 7 cats from the local cat shelter. We help rehabilitate them and get to know them so that they can be adopted. The shelter provides all the food and supplies we need. At the end of their stay, we share photos and a bio we’ve written to help Ten Lives Cat Centre place them in new homes. Mike’s favorite part of the whole process is making up terrible nicknames for the cats. My favourite one so far has to be “Millie”, a black and white “catten” who was funny and adventurous, loved “walkies” on the lead outside and purred on my neck overnight.

Olivia has really flourished with her drawing skills. She’s filled several sketchbooks this year and would like nothing more than an iPad with drawing stylus to create digital art. We’re keeping our eyes open for a used iPad she can buy with the money she’s saved. She shares her artwork on an online platform called DIY. She’s loved getting to know other creative kids around the world. Moderators even invited her to do a LIVE webinar on their platform to teach other kids how to make a Corgi plushy.

Ella has found her tribe, her peeps, her musical theatre crew. She can sing, dance and act. She’s the whole package. Late last year she convinced two besties to sign up to a musical theatre class but was then surprised by a scholarship to a drama class for Terms 1 and 2 this year. She did really well but wanted very much to join her friends at musical theatre (especially after binge watching High School Musical: the Musical: the Series). The first lesson was INTENSE. They’d already started rehearsals for the end of year performance of The Lion King and given out roles. But she practiced the choreography every day after school and nailed it the following week. She comes home each week absolutely beaming.

Mike and I have loved finding out where we fit with St Johns Presbyterian Church community and mission. We hope to become members in a few weeks time. St. John’s mission is:

The risen and ruling Lord Jesus has given us the mission of making disciples. We will do that by prayerfully going into all His world, declaring His gospel, in the power of His Spirit, so that we may reach and gather His people. Together, as His church we will lovingly teach one another to obey all of His commands so that we may grow to be more like Him, until His return, to the glory of God the Father.

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Giving Back to You

Sharing resources is my way of giving back to you and supporting your own relationship with Jesus and your church family and your own ministry. All links have been shared in Christine: Behind the Scenes. Join us in the group to discuss how the content might affect our lives and gospel work.

[Listen] What Is Abuse: An account of abuse, “double abuse“ from her Christian community, followed by a restored marriage after covert emotional abuse that led to complex post-traumatic stress. I’d never heard of such a restoration. themendproject.com

[Read] Why a Masculine Ministry Rose and Fell: For those of you listening along to the podcast series The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, David French’s article strikes home at what some of us found appealing at the time. But also where the ministry and methods and tone diverged from the person and work of Jesus.

[Read] The Bible Doesn’t Come with Instructions. But We Still Need Guidance to Handle It Well: This is the sort of work we do with our students.

[Watch] Reading Scripture in Public: Free online video course on the value, discipline and the craft of public Bible reading. I personally love this aspect of Word ministry.

[Read] Why I Stopped Calling Parts of the Bible “Boring”: “Perhaps our greatest Bible study tool is a rightly cultivated expectation, born of faith and sustained by practice, that even in the “boring” parts, there will be beauty and truth and goodness, because that is who God is.”

[Listen] The Goodness of Holiness: “"We were not made to run on our own. We were made to run and do our work on the power of God." In this classic talk, Dallas Willard recaptures the beauty and goodness of holiness, the power to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.”

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Upcoming Speaking Events

Bookings for speaking at your church, ministry, school or event are open for 2021 via Video or In Person.

Please contact me at christine@ufcutas.org to discuss your event.

11 September: Engage Conference

18 September: Bishop’s Training Event: #metoo, Women, Society, Church, Bible and Jesus

15-18 November: National Training Event (Hobart): strand content

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Big Story of Good News

Recording for Uni Fellowship’s Mid Year Conference 2021 training session. Listen to all of the talks here.

I (Christine) was recently at a day conference for local ministry leaders. And one of the speakers gave an analogy of how Jesus has done it all. He used Mark and Steve Waugh, the cricketers, and how back when they were in school and they were playing for their team, there was one game where they both opened to bat and they got all the runs. They didn't get bowled out. And then they were the two bowlers as well. And they got all of the other team out just between the two of them.

And so he said, "Like Jesus, Jesus has done it all. And isn't it great to be part of his team because we get the reward, even though it was them who did all the work, we get the reward at the end."

And my push back would be yes, but we're not all sitting on the bench. We're out in the field catching balls because by God's good design, He has decided to use His people to proclaim the Kingdom of God is at hand, made possible through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension.

Repent and believe and join Him in the work of deliverance and healing and salvation so that Jesus, when He returns, will ultimately make all things perfect. And we will get back to the design that was very good. When the city of God comes down to earth and we live in perfect harmony with God, one another and the world around us. That’s the story of the Bible. As you read the Bible and you find little bits different and tricky, come back to this and always see how Jesus impacts the Good News of the Bible for all people, for all time.

Listen to the full training.

Below are videos of James Choung’s illustrations demonstrating the Big Story of the Bible and the Good News of Jesus I used with the students in this training session. Intervarsity has created an app to help people use these illustrations in their own gospel conversations.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity, goodness and beauty has become the ethical standards.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Jonah 3: Bad and Good News

Recording for Uni Fellowship’s Pre-Season Conference 2021 second sermon in the series on Jonah. Listen to parts 1 and 3 here.

There’s a stat floating around that indicates that if something good has happened to us we’re likely to tell 3 people that good news. However, we’re more likely to tell 10 people if we have BAD news.

But when researchers asked Christians why they feel a bit shy to share the GOOD NEWS about Jesus with people, their response was that they were afraid that the good news about Jesus might come across as BAD NEWS.

Does that resonate with you?

I think a lot of us have felt that way.

How many of us have sat with that pit in our stomach of knowing friends and family who are under the judgement of God? In that moment, the message of the Bible feels like BAD NEWS.

In fact, who can relate to this cartoon I found recently?

There’s a mouse who says, “As a kid I was told about God, and how much he loved me. And how he’d send me to Hell forever if I made the wrong choices. For years my life felt like a trap door that could open at any moment into eternal suffering. The older I get the weirder I think it is to tell a kid something like that.”

Maybe this is you.

Maybe you have had that niggling feeling that maybe the message of the Bible is not good news for you or anyone you know.

Or maybe the people who told the mouse about God, didn’t get the whole story right.

Maybe, like we’ll see with Jonah today. They only told one part of the story and left out the good part.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity, goodness and beauty has become the ethical standards.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

A Story of Church-Uni Ministry-Church Partnership

This past weekend I talked to a recent graduate after the wedding of two of our student leaders. He reckons the missing piece of the puzzle to finally get him involved at Uni Fellowship after already being at Uni for two years and being heavily involved at a church, solid on Bible and ministry but not necessarily in parachurch partnership was ...

Drum roll ...

His girlfriend’s church sponsoring him to attend Pre-Season Conference during O Week in his third year.

Initially he thought he didn’t need Uni Fellowship because he got great Bible teaching and training at church. But at Pre-Season Conference, he realized that his personal missing piece of the puzzle was Fellowship, networking with other believers studying at Uni. All of a sudden, he didn’t feel so alone and he had a cohort of others around him passionate about living for Christ and speaking up for Jesus on Campus with their friends and classmates.

While his home church is wonderfully solid on God’s Word, his growth in knowledge and skills skyrocketed that year and beyond as he engaged with Uni Fellowship’s leadership development training and Uni-level biblical teaching, deepening and broadening his knowledge and experience beyond what his home church was able to provide at that scale.

When he graduated, he continued to learn and work and prepare to bring the good news of Jesus to a fairly un-reached suburb of Hobart, starting a Bible study in his home. Now he is a valuable member of a re-launch of an established, old Anglican congregation committed to reaching that same suburb.

I love his story! It’s such an excellent expression of local church partnership with Uni ministry that feeds back into the growth of local church (and beyond!).

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

A Story of Costly Expectations

Interesting chat with my old-school Anglican mother-in-law:

She told me of a church they were ministering in where the person who had previously taught the confirmation classes had told the children (now grown and elderly) that they only needed to come three times a year. Easter, Christmas and one other. And come three times they did, and no more ... religiously.

She and her husband were in an uphill struggle to shift this mentality.

For many it was a financial thing. When you came to church, what did you bring with you? An offering.

It was also a financial reason why some never received their confirmation, because they couldn’t afford a white dress. As a result they attended three times but never received communion for the rest of their life because they weren’t confirmed (although they’d done the classes).

Some of these churches were rural and some in attendance were illiterate at the time. One was here in an affluent part of Hobart.

But goodness! My heart broke.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Video: Digital Chaplaincy

Earlier this year I partook in an international online conference, encouraging Christians consider whether or not working in ministry is for them or how they might partner with and pray for those who do. My video was used alongside several others to demonstrate how versatile gospel ministry can be. The highlights of MTS Recruit 2020 for me were:

I enjoyed leading a peer group and discovering how despite the women living all over Australia they all had the similar concerns about stepping into ministry. There was a good mix of discussion in the group around the Bible, broken up with watching some videos and discussing the testimonies in the videos and how the Bible passage speaks to those situations as well as our own. Even if they never do an apprenticeship, they now have a greater appreciation for the hurdles and decisions of those who do and can encourage them and be a better support to them.

- Christine Jolly

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

1:1 Ministry

From Week 13, Leadership Development training for University Fellowship of Christians.

Would you commit to reading the Bible with one other person?

You may be thinking:

• “I’m not ready”

• “I’m not trained”

• “I don’t know enough”

• “No one did this with me”

Inside you may have so many excuses. Moses had FIVE when God asked him to lead his people out of Egypt.

But just like with Moses, God is longsuffering with us and our own reasons for not embarking on a fruitful discipling journey. 

Reading the Bible with one or two people is just one way we have of making disciples of Jesus. But it’s very effective.

Don’t forget. You’re not in this on your own. The Holy Spirit is with you. HE inspired the words of the Bible. He will illuminate these words and bring them to life for you and your friend. 

A few years ago Suzie Smith put together a training resource for Uni Fellowship to help students know how to get started with reading the Bible with someone. In this video we explore some of these ideas. 

First … Why you?

As a disciple of Jesus, you have been commissioned to make other disciples of Jesus, teaching them to obey everything he has command us. Love God. Love others. Love one another. 

Why you?

Because you want to see other people know the joy of everlasting life, turning away from a life of rebellion and destruction.

Why you?

Because you know the power of God’s Word to transform lives and you want to share that with others. 

So How do you get started?

Before you begin:

Pray

• Pray that God will prepare you.

• Pray that God will also prepare a person for you to read the Bible with. 

• Pray that he will open your eyes and heart to opportunities to read God’s Word with someone.

Invite

• If you’re considering asking a Non-Christian to read God’s Word with you, you might ask: “Would you be interested in reading the Bible with me for a few weeks?”

• Or maybe God has brought to mind a young Christian: “How about we meet up and learn from God’s word together?”

Before you meet: 

• Establish a timeframe to get started. Will you meet weekly for a semester? 8 weeks? Find an amount of time that sits well with what you are able to commit to. When this time is nearing the end you can decide to continue meeting or encourage THEM to find someone to meet up with and read God’s Word together. 

• Decide what you will focus on during your time together. Remember, this time together is for learning from God’s Word … together. YOU don’t have to have all of the answers. And you don’t have to spend a long time preparing a Bible study beforehand. You’ll be learning together. Choose a book of the Bible and journey through it together.

• Factor some time into your meeting when you can work on developing your relationship. You might commit to meeting for an hour and a half. Starting with 45 minutes to read God’s Word and then 45 minutes catching up on your lives. You’ll be surprised how your time in God’s Word together will shape your discussion afterwards.

When you meet:

Begin with prayer to help focus your minds and thoughts and give your time together over to the Lord as he guides and directs you to his truths.

Read the text out loud to each other. Read through a good solid chunk alternating readers frequently so you are both engaging with the reading of the text. You might choose to do it twice. Once at normal pace and once a bit slower picking up on some things you may have missed the first time through. 

After you have read through the text ask the following questions:

Summarise the reading in your own words.

• What questions did the reading raise for you?

What is the context?

• In the passage or chapter? (What has happened just before your passage?)

• In the Bible book? (What have we seen so far in the book?)

• In the Bible? (Where does this fit in God’s story?)

• Genre? (Is what we’re reading a gospel, letter, prophet, history, poetry, narrative etc? This will affect how you read it and understand it.)

What do we learn about God?

• Father, Son and Spirit?

What do we learn about people?

• Unredeemed humanity?

• Christians? Those who follow God and his ways?

• How did people respond to God? Did they change the way they thought or acted? Did it change their desires? 

As a result of reading this passage, how am I going to change:

• the way I think?

• the way I act?

• what I desire?

And finally Pray the passage. Use the words of the text to mold your prayers. 

Homework?

• It’s not necessary to have homework. Remember this time together is two disciples of Jesus coming together to learn together from God’s Word in this moment. If either of you are curious and have found a strong desire to read further or that questions pop up in reading together and you are excited to do some digging and research, do it and come back and share what you learned when you meet again.

Give it a go. 

Start with a new Christian. After your time period of a semester is up, you might like to suggest to meet for another semester but invite a curious and interested friend who has expressed interest in knowing more about Jesus or the Bible to join you. The three of you can be disciples together all while having the pleasure of introducing someone to Jesus for the first time. The person you originally met with is also being trained to learn and have experience in being a disciple who makes other disciples. 

It’s a grand, rewarding adventure to make new disciples of Jesus or to journey alongside another and learn to love God, love others and love one another. 

It might seem scary but if you are drawn to this or wish someone had done it with you, remember, start with prayer. God will begin to direct your path if you desire to read the Bible with another person.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Discovering Spiritual Gifts

From Week 10, Leadership Development training for University Fellowship of Christians.

It is far more accurate to say that you’ve been “had” by a gift from the Spirit rather than you possess a gift. You do not own it. It is not for you to decide how or when to use it. It is God who does his work in and through you to be a gift to others as he accomplishes his kingdom purposes for the common good of his church. 

In fact, a spiritual gift might only be available to you for a season and then removed as God wills. 

1 Corinthians 12:4-11

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Some corners of the church over the past 60 years have sought to create a formula for discovering your spiritual gifts. Much like one would do an online personality quiz to discover which Star Wars character you are, people are drawn to discovering their spiritual gifts in the same way.

If it were only so easy!

In fact, Scripture doesn’t speak of Spiritual Gifts in this way. Paul writes to different churches with a list of gifts and no two lists are exactly the same. Even Peter’s list of spiritual gifts is different. This leads one to assume that gifts are given by God to do his will for the common good of his church in a contextual way: different gifts for different people in different places. In fact we have records of missionaries like Amy Carmichael in India working with unreached communities who are gifted for only a season with gifts like physical healing that draw people to hear the good news of Jesus. And then God removes that gift but his work continues. 

By contrast, the fruits of the spirit … love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control ... are for everyone for all times. It is FAR better to grow in and devote yourself to developing these fruits of the spirit than aspiring to achieve a level of heightened spiritual performance. 

How many times have we heard of or seen a talented leader or teacher fall away due to festering sin in their lives?

So how do you know how God might gift or use you at any time?

Affinity: What do you feel drawn to in serving God’s kingdom? What energizes you? What are you passionate about? Do you feel the buzz of the joy of worship when you’ve taken a friend through the book of Mark showing her Jesus for the first time? 

Opportunity: Where is there a need at church? Could you help? Open yourself up to trying lots of different things! Whether you’re young OR old. It is God who gifts to achieve his work. Show up and join him. 

Ability: Talents are not the same as Spiritual GIfts but they can definitely be used by God and should be cultivated for the service of others and out of love for God’s community.

If you’re not sure where to start, talk to your minister or Bible study leader or any of the Uni Fellowship staff. They will be delighted to have that conversation with you and plug you in where they see God is at work and his spirit at work IN you. In fact, don’t be shocked if someone at Uni Fellowship or church taps you on the shoulder and asks you if you’d like to join a ministry team. They’ve seen the spirit at work in you and value you as a member of the body of Christ.

We all play a role in God’s kingdom whether great or small, each of immeasurable value to the body of Christ. You might be disappointed that this video didn’t help you unlock your personal Spiritual gift. But I hope that you have a renewed wonder about how God achieves his work in and through his people. I hope you continue cultivating those fruits of the Spirit and show up and say, God use me! 

“Use me where I am at the University to point my friends and classmates to Jesus. Gift me however you see fit. Here I am, use me.”

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Motivation for People Ministry

From Week 7, Leadership Development training for University Fellowship of Christians.

What would we be as Uni Fellowship if all we were was a monthly meeting of Christian students? Or all we were was a bunch of teaching videos on the internet? And did not have an increasing and overflowing love for the lost people GOD has put in our lives to share not only the gospel of God with them but to share our lives with them and love them. 

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.”

1 Thessalonians 1:3-8

While the people of Thessaloniki were still living in darkness, not yet illuminated by the truth and glory of the good news of Jesus, Paul and those with him modeled to them the gospel of our Lord Jesus with their lives. 

As they imitated Christ, the power of the truth of God become man to redeem to himself a chosen people, set apart to live for him and proclaim him as Lord with their words and their lives … these people living in darkness began imitating them and they were known in the whole region as what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

So as Christ is imitated by Paul and he is imitated by the Thessalonicans and THEY are imitated by others in their region … What does that look like? 

Paul reminds them that when he first came to them he didn’t try to trick them. He didn’t wear a mask to hide his true motivations. He wasn’t greedy or a people pleaser, telling them words they wanted to hear. No, it was only God that they set out to please. 

If anything Paul and those with him were motivated by love. He compares himself to a mother and father of young children and he sums up his hopes and desires for them in Chapter 3

“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”

1 Thessalonians 3:12

It’s a mark of maturity when you realise you have been loved, you have been discipled you have had the gospel modeled to you by so many godly, wonderful people in your life. Now it’s your turn. Your turn to model to others that same increasing and overflowing love.

It’s easy to sit back and let your pastor, Bible study leader, Uni Fellowship staff or student leaders do the people work of proclaiming Jesus and discipling others. To continue receiving that increasing and overwhelming love yourself. 

But what would we be as Uni Fellowship, a mission to reach the campus of University of Tasmania with the good news of Jesus, without our students themselves being filled with an increasing and overflowing love for their classmates and friends. So that those who are still living in darkness may know the love of God and live in the light of the truth of Jesus as saviour and Lord. 

Will you be able to say along with Paul:

“So we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives, as well.”

1 Thessalonians 2:8

Join us as we love people and minister to them, showing them Jesus and sharing our lives with them.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Works or Faith ... or Love?

Transcript from Women’s Winter Festival sermon, August 2020

John 14:15-31

Make a choice.

Tuna Mornay for dinner or Takeaway. Breastfeed or Bottle-feed. The Environment or the Economy. The right to life or the right to choose. Labor or Liberal. Black Lives Matter. All Lives Matter. Compassion or Conviction.

The world demands that we pick a side.

So what it is it going to be? How will you live out your salvation in Jesus? Works? or Faith?

Will you pray, be baptised, receive communion, attend church, give to charity and hope that it’s good enough to secure your ticket to heaven?

or

Will you merely believe that Jesus’ death was sufficient to rescue you from hell and judgment and THAT alone is your ticket to a perfect life after death?

What will it be? Faith? or Works?

or … Love.

There is so much in the two options I presented of Faith or Works that is foreign to the Good News of Jesus.

For example, both seem to focus on a perceived need for whatever happens after we die? Our whole view of “eternal life” becomes avoiding weeping and gnashing of teeth post-death and enjoying blissful paradise in the after life. This is not the full gospel of Jesus, nor is it the full Good News of the whole Bible. Both want to avoid misery and enjoy personal gain and comfort.

It’s a misunderstanding of Works and Faith. Pitting them against each other. Neither being quite enough. One is something I do. The other is something I mentally agree to even if I don’t fully understand it.

Both of these common approaches miss our LOVE for Jesus and the eternal life we enjoy NOW in the Spirit as well as NOT YET.

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(EDIT: First century followers of Jesus wrestled with these two categories of Faith and Works, too. In the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation we see churches that likely adhered to the pagan religions around them to live their “best life” now but also adhered to the sacraments of Christianity to secure their best life after death, as well. Their allegiance was divided. And the Ephesians were chided for knowing it all but lacking love. Jesus asks for both our allegiance and our active love. Peter, James, John and Paul all addressed these issues in their own letters to the churches.)

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In John 14, Jesus is about to leave his close followers. He will die a gruesome death and come back to life on the third day and shortly thereafter be exalted and return to heaven from whence he came and be glorified and rule as King.

His followers are confused and distressed as he gives them a long goodbye. Preparing them for his absence. Strangely, he tells them that it’s better for them if he goes.

It’s in this moment that he says, “If you love me, keep my commands.” He says it many times. If we don’t do as he commands, we don’t love him. If we love him, he loves us and God, the Father, loves us and they will dwell with us.

It’s at this point that our well trained Presbyterian brains flash with “What about works! Doesn’t Paul say ‘It is by grace you are saved, through faith, not of works.” Keeping commands sounds like an Old Testament attempt to get right with God.

But here’s the problem with memorising one or two verses to make a point. They’re not the whole story, are they?

Let’s look at the whole context for that faith and not works passage. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2:

”As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:1-10

Here is one of the many great summaries of the good news of Jesus.

Faith. Works. Grace. Mercy. Love. - they are all inextricably intertwined all beginning with God and his love for us through Jesus who freed us from death in our transgressions making us alive in Christ in order to show his incomparable grace and kindness.

Even the Old Testament links works to love. Over and over again in Israel’s law is the reminder: Love God and keep his commandments. They were to love him and be grateful to him for saving them from slavery in Egypt, setting them apart as His people to live as an example to the nations of God’s grace and mercy and great love.

So if we love him, we will do what he commands: What did Jesus command? Love God. Love others. Love one another. All of this bound up with loving Jesus.

It’s not faith OR works. It’s love and this love produces good works, what Paul often calls “obedience of faith”.

Have you heard the hymn “Trust and Obey”? Well it’s not either or. It’s not as if you can be better at one and not put much effort in the other. Evangelicals are notorious for this. On any given Sunday, you could ask for a show of hands in church asking how many people trust Jesus. PHOOM! All hands go up. How many obey his commands? Awkward.

If you thought things got messy with intertwining love and faith and works, wait till you see what happens next.

Jesus introduces us to the promise of the Holy Spirit, another advocate: he says that if they love/obey him, he will send them HIS spirit when he’s gone. If we love him, through his Spirit, Jesus will be in us and we in him and Jesus is in the Father and together they will dwell with us.

Here is why it’s better for Jesus to be in heaven now rather than with us here on earth. Confined in his human form he is limited. But ruling as glorified king from heaven now, sending us the Holy Spirit to dwell with all who love him is so much better as we see in the book of Acts and even to this day as the good news of Jesus spreads to all nations and people and languages.

Remember in June when Fiona spoke about Jesus going away to His Father’s house? Can you think of other times when Jesus talks about His Father’s house? What is he referring to? Yes, the temple in Jerusalem. Remember when he was twelve and his parents couldn’t find him? The Tabernacle and Temple were considered the place where heaven and earth meet. Where God dwells with humans.

And then in John 2, Jesus gives that famous provocative prophesy about tearing down the temple and building it back up in 3 days. John gives us a cheeky commentary and tells us that he’s talking about HIS body. Jesus’ body. The place where heaven and earth meet. Where God dwells with humans. Jesus.

And then after he dies, and rises on the 3rd day and is exalted in heaven and sends his Spirit on his people who love him/obey him by loving God, others and each other … where does God dwell now? In our bodies. In 1 Corinthians 6, we are told to stop sinning! Don’t you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? The place where heaven and earth meet. Where God dwells with humans.

Hundreds, thousands, millions of people who love Jesus around the world. Obeying him. Dwelling with God now … not WAITING, twiddling our thumbs hoping that one day we can enjoy living in one of the rooms he has gone to prepare for them because we got a ticket because we said a prayer or mentally agreed with the Bible.

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It was better for Jesus to go. Instead of one temple. One man. There are millions of people who act as the place where heaven and earth meet. Through whom the world can experience God’s grace and mercy.

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Eternal life does not start when you die. You have eternal life now if you love, have faith in, obey Jesus. Eternal life is living a full and abundant life, despite hardship and trials, because the Holy Spirit dwells in you and is working in you and through you doing good works he prepared ahead of time. Through you others will taste the goodness of the hope and life in Jesus. Remember in Ephesians 2? Paul says all this is “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

It was better for Jesus to go. Instead of one temple. One man. There are millions of people who act as the place where heaven and earth meet. Through whom the world can experience God’s grace and mercy.

Love Jesus. Obey his commands. You have been made alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. Don’t wait till you’re dead to enjoy eternal life. It’s yours now.

Love God. Love others. Love one another. Love Jesus. Trust him. Believe him. Obey him.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Practical Tips for Centering Your Life on God's Word

Transcript

Don’t get lost in reading Scripture just for the sake of reading it or because you think you should. Let God’s Word shape and mold your understanding and relationship with God, aligning your life to his revealed will. 

Hi, I’m Christine Jolly, overseer of our Fellowship Groups here at Uni Fellowship. In this week’s Leadership Development video I’m going to discuss some practical tips to help you centre your life in God’s Word.

Most Christians understand that it is good to read God’s Word. Many even try to do it daily, developing a discipline of reading the Bible every morning or night or during a break in the middle of the day. Have you tried to read the Bible straight through from beginning to end but get a bit lost in Numbers or alarmed in Judges?

I firmly believe that every follower of Jesus, if they can, would benefit from reading all of God’s Word. Every word, sentence, idea is precious and God-breathed for our benefit, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

But how? What? When? Where and for how long should I read it?

Well, I’m going to present to you some different ways we can consume God’s Word, how we then process it and apply it, and finally how we can centre ourselves in his Word throughout the day.

Read - Why not read along with the rest of your church the book of the Bible you may be focusing on that month? Some books you can easily read in one 15 minute sitting. Reading good chunks of Scripture is an excellent approach to getting at the big picture and main themes that are being communicated. Too often we confine ourselves to the man-made headings or chapters. Push beyond that. After reading it in one translation, why not read the same Scripture in a different translation the next day. There are many apps or free online tools to read a variety of translations. I even sometimes read it in German if the english meanings become too familiar and I need a fresh perspective.

Listen - Listening to audio of God’s Word is another great way of consuming Scripture. You can record yourself reading it or use an audio version or app to listen to on the way to Uni on the bus or walking to work in the morning. 

Write - For those who find it difficult to focus and are easily distracted when reading or listening, copying God’s Word by writing it out is a great way to zoom in and focus. You’ll pick up on things you didn’t notice before. 

Memorise - If you do the first 3, you are well on your way to memorising God’s Word making it accessible to you every day. Break out of memorising your favourite, feel-good verses and internalise whole passages that magnify Jesus as the centre of God’s story. Returning to these portions of Scripture over and over again throughout your life is a great gift.

Now one day you might read it, the next in another translation, another day you might listen to it, and yet another you might write and during all that be memorising it. There’s not one set method or technique. Find one or two that works for you or use them all.

Now when we read it, how do we process what we read?

I like to ask myself four questions when reading a passage of Scripture.

1. Can I summarise the passage and main ideas in my own words

2. Do I have any big questions I need to examine? It might be time to put the Bible down and do some research. Ask your pastor, church small group leader, or Uni Fellowship staff if they can point you to some good, trusted resources to help with your questions. 

3. How does this passage communicate the Bible’s message of good news in Jesus? Where does it fall on the timeline of God’s good news story? What does it tell me about God and how people respond to him? 

4. What actions, pattern of thinking or beliefs or motivations do I need to change because of these words I’ve just read and what they reveal about God’s good will for his creation? Should I be Thankful, repent, respond to God in awe and wonder at his power and majesty

After we’ve read God’s Word and processed it, how can we internalise and centre our life on it?

How to centre your life on God’s Word

Pray - reflect back to God the words that you’ve read and respond to him your desire to align your actions, thoughts, beliefs and motivations to his Word

Discuss - and because we’re in communion not just with God but with other Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ, let the word of God shape and influence our own speech. Process God’s word in community. Encourage one another in it. Keep each other accountable. 

Reflect - while you’re in line waiting for you your lunch or washing the dishes at the end of the day let your thought turn to God’s word again and again, praying, meditating, aligning yourself with God and his revealed will. 

All you need is access to a Bible, whether a printed copy or a free online version. However, if you want to dig deeper into this ancient collection of God-breathed texts, we can recommend a whole range of resources to help you understand what you’re reading so you can know God, know his story of good news and how you can respond to it with your life. 

There’s so much out there. We might recommend:

• Online videos

• Audio Apps

• Creeds

• Confessions

• Catechisms

• Commentaries

All can be useful tools to help you centre your life on God’s Word.

Why not begin this week:

• Read John 1:1-15

• Listen to it

• Write it

• Begin memorising it

• Pray it

• Discuss it with your Fellowship Group

• And Reflect on it

Next week, Andy is going to help us understand what prayer is. Join us then. In the meantime, you can watch past Leadership Development videos to catch up.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Humans of Uni Fellowship: Christine Jolly, ep. 1

Timestamps

1:01 - Andy: Christine, you are human number 1.

4:57 - How I became a follower of Jesus

6:32 - Around 10 years old, I remember listening to a visiting preacher

7:50 - If it is true, I need to surrender my life fully to Him.

9:30 - When we came back to Germany, I was a teenager at this point and very involved in our church planting ministry.

10:05 - I got a degree in Education.

12:15 - Do I really want to teach? Do I really want to be a high school teacher?

13:00 - Wouldn’t it be cool if I could be a diplomat and work in embassies in places where even missionaries couldn’t go!

13:33 - Or would you rather represent your Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ?

15:30 - (At Bible College) I had the opportunity to blog about what I was learning and the conversations I was having with other students.

15:50 - I married the guy who called me a Christian Feminazi on my blog.

17:00 - Andy: What was formative for you during your family’s church planting ministry?

18:27 - We were challenged as a family to tackle something in God’s Word that we hadn’t yet done as a family.

19:40 - It’s so hard as an American to accept God’s sovereignty.

20:55 - It was while at bible college, I was particularly interested in women working in ministry.

24:38 - If you don’t see it (a woman working in gospel ministry), it doesn’t exist.

25:30 - Men and women have been gifted in the body of Christ to serve his Kingdom.

28:22 - Strategic Evangelistic Prayer as a part of our regular Fellowship Groups

34:20 - The 12 year gap between arriving in Tasmania and beginning work at Uni Fellowship

40:40 - I’m really proud of what we accomplished in Christians and non-Christians doing good works together.

42:25 - I have a heart for the gospel. I want to present my life as a living sacrifice to work for the gospel. And when it comes to looking around for opportunities available for a woman like me to work in the gospel, it was a no-brainer to ring up Mikey Lynch and say, “I want in.”

46:19 - If you’re considering giving your life as a living sacrifice, to work in gospel ministry, know that it is rich, and it is fulfilling and you are always learning, and you’re always growing and being challenged and you’re always doing that for someone else in community.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Ministry Update: Mid Year Review

My design for our upcoming LIVE video series showcasing the stories of staff, students, alumni and local gospel workers influenced by our campus mission.

1/2 Year in Review

Thanks to your prayer and continued support through such a crazy first half to 2020. Thanks to YOU I’ve been able to:

• Create online social groups for our students based on their area of study

• Design new artwork as we moved online

• Deliver 2 online training modules to help our student leaders learn to effectively connect with our students and contacts as we move online. View our training videos.

• Oversee and Coach my team of Fellowship Group leaders on delivering engaging online groups focusing on time management and communication as they gather to strategically pray for the non-Christian peers through to our campus misson and global mission and study God’s Word together.

• 2 Facebook LIVE videos: One on Christian Symbols in Art throughout history and another on my birthday sharing a bit of my story and pathway to ministry. View our Facebook videos.

• Taught and uploaded 4 Bible teaching videos on topics relevant to Covid and Current Events. View our videos.

• Hosted 2 online book clubs for those interested in discussing a Christian memoir and a book on discipleship for men and women.

• Share resources and ideas with you in Christine: Behind the Scenes to benefit your own personal ministries.

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Co-Laborers in the Gospel Project

I’m really excited by this project I began in January. I’ve been researching historical accounts of women working alongside men together for the gospel of Jesus. This personal study has been complemented by some very encouraging conversations with colleagues, local and national ministry leaders and theology students here and overseas. If you want to be kept up-to-date with these discussions, join Christine: Behind the Scenes.

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Book Club

On 31 August, 7:45pm, join me and other ministry supporters like yourself as we discuss David deSilva’s latest in the A Week in the Life IVP series.

deSilva has placed his narrative at the end of the first century and follows the lives of various Christians of different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. While the historical context of Ephesus is helpful in reading and understanding John’s gospels (he was most likely writing them while based in Ephesus), John’s letters, Paul’s letters to Ephesus and to Timothy (a pastor there), deSilva especially wants us to understand how current events were understood and how the book of Revelation was written for these people.

To read along and join in, please head to Christine: Behind the Scenes and find the Facebook Room (like Zoom) we will use in August for our live discussion.

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Meet a Team Member

Josh Hughes joined my ministry team as a Fellowship Group leader for science students at the beginning of the year. Last year he worked as a ministry trainee at his local church and has jumped feet first into owning our campus mission. He describes himself as an introvert but the way he LOVES being around people makes us all think that he may not fully understand his own self-diagnosis. LOL

When the COVID-19 restrictions began to loosen up we put out an invitation for our student leaders to join staff in person for the first time in lock down for our weekly team meetings … he was the ONLY student leader to show up.

The week before he invited all the science students of Uni Fellowship to join him at a local beach for a day of social-distancing hanging out. Many came and even drove from longish distances to enjoy each other in person over 3-4 HOURS.

During the lockdown he’s been reading Tim Keller’s book on Prayer, one of the books I gave my students (with your financial help) at the beginning of the year. He’s said that the first half gave him a really helpful foundation and he really enjoyed the digging deep into the prayer practices of various historical church leaders. In particular, he found using the structure of the Lord’s Prayer the most useful edition to his private prayer practice.

Thank you financial partners for investing in Josh’s leadership and growth as a Christian.

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Gospel Giving

Financial Partnership Report: January - June 2020

Please prayerfully consider partnering with my mission on campus to proclaim Jesus and raise up the next leaders of the church and world mission.

Your contribution to my ministry covers my pay, personal and family living expenses, ministry work expenses, and professional development, etc.)

Monthly Target: $3450 (2.5 days per week)

Current Pay: $2760 (2 days per week)

June Regular Giving: $2618

June One Off Gifts: $700

Current Partnership Need: $832/month

Are you possibly one of the below?

• 1 new person giving $150/month

• 4 new people giving $100/month

• 5 new people giving $50/month

• 2 new people giving $25/month

Once I reach the 2.5 days target ... the next will be to reach 3 days a week. At that point, I can begin training ministry apprentices.

To do that, I will need your help to bring in friends that you know are passionate about supporting missions and women in ministry.

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Family

COVID-19 lockdown for us meant LEGO and lots of it.

My girls have been given several sets over the years. We have a lot to play with. So during the lockdown we took it as an opportunity to organise all the broken down sets so we can build and play with them.

This all coincided with Mike, me and Olivia and Ella enjoying watching the second season of Lego Masters Australia together … we had to re-watch Season 1, too, of course.

We also made a chalk obstacle course that turned out to be brutal on my thighs but absolutely a breeze for Ella (age 9). Before everything locked down we also rescued eleven stray kitties from our neighbourhood and surrendered them to our local cat shelter. We hope they found good homes.

Olivia (11) also honed her stop-animations skills and created a video of the intro to the show Bluey. Her video was scene by their social media people and they shared it and her video went viral.

We also made a mashup dance video using glowsticks. You have to watch it. So fun!

As you can see we kept busy and had fun together. (Yes, the girls coloured their hair Teal)

In the evenings we’ve been watching Bible Project videos together as a family and we started reading the book Empowered about women in church history who live courageously for Jesus.

Thank you for praying for me, Mike and the girls.

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Giving Back to You

Sharing resources is my way of giving back to you and supporting your own relationship with Jesus and your church family and your own ministry. All links have been shared in Christine: Behind the Scenes. Join us in the group to discuss how the content might affect our lives and gospel work.

The Most Important Book on Ministry I’ve Read: "Gospel-centered and trauma-informed, written by someone whose wisdom comes from decades of experience in the trenches of suffering, relationship with Christ, professional psychological care, and rich study of the Scriptures." A review by Eric Shumacher

Purity Matters Commercial: In the Christine: Behind the Scenes group we had a discussion on the use videos like this to teach a biblical sexual ethic than honours God. Most found it unhelpful. What do you think?

Do You Still Struggle to Discern God’s WIll?: God is always more concerned with the decision maker than he is with the decision itself. Video by Jen WIlkin

Faith and Mental Health: “Much of what I learned about faith while growing up emphasized the importance of intellectual certainty, unwavering confidence in God, and cheery evangelical fervor — things that were impossible for me to maintain with any consistency. I had no examples of faith as a clouded way of unknowing.”

Let Bible Reading Get Back to Basics: “When it comes to Bible reading, avoid overcomplicating the recipe. Rediscover basic literacy skills and read with renewed attention. Simple tools, employed faithfully, yield all manner of goodness.”

30 Tips and Tricks for Hosting a Successful Online Event: “Virtual events are a fun, effective way to reach people all over the world. Creating an online event takes strategic thinking, proper planning, and precise marketing — but with these tips, you’ll be well on your way to success.”

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Upcoming Speaking Events

Bookings for speaking at your church, ministry, school or event are open for 2020 via Video or In Person.

Please contact me at christine@ufcutas.org to discuss your event.

10 July: Engage Online (Elective - Dating)

10 July: Engage Online (Elective - Is Jesus the Only Way to God?)

16 July: Humans of Uni Fellowship (Featuring me LIVE on Zoom)

2021 March: Tasmanian Women’s Bible Conference (Sermon: Equipping Women to Teach God’s Word)

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Uh, You're Still on Mute!

Transcript

Sorry.

Can you hear me now?

Embarrassing.

Anyway, I was saying with the Covid19 restrictions loosening here in Tasmania it’s time to unmute ourselves and get back to being on mission to making disciples of Jesus.

Like any online lecture or tutorial, it’s easy to get slack and disconnect from the task at hand. When you’re called on to engage, don’t forget to unmute yourself.

If you’ve disconnected and been slack in making disciples during the lockdown, well, now is the time to engage, follower of Jesus. Let’s make disciples and show people that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Unmute your actions and your words and let’s get to it.

Unmute your actions

In the Old Testament, we are told to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. In the gospels, Jesus tells us that the sum of what God wants from us is to love God and love others. With physical distancing and online learning at Uni it’s been tough to love our friends in practical ways. Maybe you got comfortable in your jammies and ugg boots at home and the thought of opening yourself up to loving your friends, neighbours, families and classmates is a bit daunting.

If loving others like Jesus loved, means healing the sick, raising the dead and overthrowing a marketplace in a holy place seems a bit much. Why not start with other ways Jesus modelled loving your neighbour.

He forgave those who hated him.
He provided the basic needs of food but also offered people his living water.
He had time for those who asked hard questions.
He did not shun the undesirable.
He loved the person in front of him not looking for anyone better who might be around.
He had the big picture of self-sacrifice in mind.
He was a peacemaker but boldly spoke truth and held people accountable for their lack of love for God and others.

Are you ready to unmute your actions of love to make disciples?

Are you ready to make amends or reach out to someone who has become distant to you
Can you provide food, shelter, companionship to someone who is doing it tough financially or is lonely? Are your ready to stick it out and be there for the hard conversations. Are you ready to love the person that God puts in front of your to love? Are you self-giving?

Or are you a peacemaker but you’re still on silent?

Unmute your words

In the book Stay Salt, the author Rebecca Pippert who also wrote Out of the Saltshaker has noticed a shift in how we go about making disciples. She says we’ve become very good at making friends and developing relationships of mutual respect but rather than speaking the truth of the good news of Jesus to these friends, they are praying that God will send someone else to do it.

Why?

She says there are three internal barriers to us having gospel conversations with our friends.

1. We feel inadequate
2. We think we don’t know enough.
3. We lack confidence.

Does that resonate with you? If it does, sit with that feeling a bit. Evaluate it. Don’t just wash it away.

Why do you feel inadequate? What are you missing? Why do you not know enough? Maybe you became a Christian a year ago or ten years ago and you’ve forgotten the basic or thought that you were supposed to graduate from the gospel of Jesus and move onward and upward to more spiritual high levels of knowledge. Or maybe you’re just missing the HOW piece to the puzzle. How do you begin to communicate such an important, life-altering message of hope? How do we avoid pride and merely badgering someone with our philosophical wit, crushing a debate opponent?

Here’s my advice to you. Engage with Uni Fellowship. Our student leaders and staff are committed to helping you wrestle with these questions. Through our online and in person events and small groups, we hope to show you that when you feel inadequate to communicate Jesus as the way, God’s spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the same spirit that lives in you and works in you and through you to live and speak his message. If you don’t know or need a refresher, we are committed to helping you learn the truth of Jesus. If you lack confidence, we’ll point you to the one worth putting your confidence in. We’ll even do some training in how to have these disciple-making, life-giving conversations.

Engage with staff and student leaders as we prayerfully depend on God to proclaim Jesus and make disciples at University.

Join us next Thursday when we’ll be gathering online on Zoom for our Engage: Online Conference. Be sure to unmute yourselves and learn how to love God and others with both your actions and your words.

I’ll be leading an elective on Is Jesus the only way to God? I’ll see you there.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

How Should Christians Respond to Oppression?

Transcript

How do we live and respond to suffering and oppression as people of the Kingdom of God?

Especially when we aren’t the ones who are suffering.

Many of the New Testament early Christians would find this a perplexing paradox. A world where many Christians enjoy civic privelege and safety and protection and rights? The letters written to their churches were written by people suffering to people who were suffering. What would it mean to be a Christian living in privilege and safety? There are not New Testament letters written to us on this subject. There is no blueprint.

To find out what God expects of his people when they hold privelege and power we need to go right back to the Old Testament … before Jesus.

From the formation of the nation of Israel as they camped at the base of Mt. Sinai and God gave them their laws to live by as a society … we see written into their code a concern for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the traveler and the outsider. Over and over and over and over and over again.

And when they entered the promised land. Ruled intermittently with judges, within 1-2 generations God’s people threw the poor, the widow, the orphan, the traveler and the outsider under the proverbial bus.

God had warned them in no uncertain terms what would befall them if they turned away from his law that upheld justice and mercy and order. He lays it all out very specifically over several chapters painting a very clear picture of what life awaits them if they reject his law. Destruction. Plagues. Overcome by their enemies. They will become the ones oppressed. They will be sold into slavery but no one will want them. They will be dispersed.

And in a very sad, intimate moment, God speaks directly to Moses. When they walk over Jordan river into the promised land, they will forsake God and his law. And all these curses will come upon them. He gives him a song. He tells Moses to write it down and teach the people the song. So that they can remember the blessings and justice that come along with his law and be taught to remember the curses awaiting them if they don’t.

In the Old Testament, we have a picture of a society of a people who reject God’s law AND neglect the poor, the widow, the orphan, the traveler and the outsider. We see them fluctuate over and over again between turning to and away from God and ultimately being dispersed across the nations.

The prophets warned them over and over again. Repent! Not just from following other gods but to specifically repent about how they treated the vulnerable in the society.

Amos gets rather specific in his lament and call for repentance:

He calls them out on taxing the poor for their straw and their grain while they build stone mansions and vineyards. He says the accept bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. And in all of this they still celebrate the religious festivals that God gave them to remind them of their own oppression and the justice and mercy that God gave them when he brought them out of Egypt. And to them he says:

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
   

 your assemblies are a stench to me.


Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    

I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    

I will have no regard for them.


Away with the noise of your songs!
   

I will not listen to the music of your harps.


But let justice roll on like a river,
    

righteousness like a never-failing stream!

“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    

forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?


You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
    

the pedestal of your idols,
    

the star of your god

which you made for yourselves.


Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”
    

says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

The prophet Jeremiah called out the religious leaders. He said:

They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
    when there is no peace.

And then Jesus. Jesus comes in a moment of history where God’s people are living in oppression and he reveals that he is the fulfillment of this good law that God has given his people. To love God and love one another.

Jesus said “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

And when we look at the early church, the people drawn together by God’s spirit to live as prophets, priests and kings in this world representing Jesus the perfection of the law of God. We see the poor, the widow, the orphan, the traveler and the outsider leading the way.

It is not right for a people who have found mercy with their God to not extend mercy to their neighbour.

James warns Christians who are content with merely knowing their Bible and their theology and going about their religion. He warns them that it’s not enough. God’s people must not only identify with his kingdom. They must also BE his kingdom.

 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1: 27

We can learn from the people of Israel. If we ignore the mourning and the cries for justice of people who are oppressed and marginalised in our societies and we have the ability to use our privilege and power to bring them justice and mercy … we should vote. We should listen and understand. We should repent when we’ve got it wrong. And we should be a voice for the voiceless and do what we can to seek change.

We are kingdom people. We are prophets, priests and kings in this world representing Jesus to the nations. We must care for the oppressed.

Proverbs 31 begins with the wise words of King Lemuel’s mother to her son who held the highest place of privilege, power and comfort and safety:

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
    for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
    defend the rights of the poor and needy.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

Meaningless and Distraction in Lockdown

Transcript

Perhaps like me you had the best of intentions at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown. Bake a bit of bread. Re-visit that musical instrument sitting in your cupboard. Work on that side-hustle you dreamed would bring in some extra income.

And then reality strikes 6 weeks later. Your sourdough starter is dead. Your ukulele still sits unpaid in the cupboard. And the ABN application form still sits in your downloads folder on your computer.

There have been some good things.

You’ve done things you never dreamed you’d be able to do like watch a Broadway Musical or Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre. All for free in the comfort of your own home in your PJs.

But when all is accounted for, your ambition is shattered, your assignments are late and you feel busy and stressed but you know that it can’t be! There’s nothing else for your to do!

It’s all meaningless. It’s all distraction.

What’s the point!

Speaking of the bard … Shakespeare’s known for totally getting the human condition and painting a verbal picture of our despair and joy and hardship with both humour and sincerity. People of all stripes feel like he gets them.

And yet when it comes to meaninglessness and distraction, Shakespeare WISHES he’d been the one to pen the words of Ecclesiastes.

Solomon, the wise teacher, king, son of David, he gets us.

He tried it all: wisdom, pleasure, folly, work, wealth, relationships … it was all meaningless.

He says:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
 says the Teacher. 
“Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

What do people gain from all their labors
 at which they toil under the sun?


Generations come and generations go,
 but the earth remains forever.


The sun rises and the sun sets,
 and hurries back to where it rises. Ecclesiastes 1:1-5

Now here’s my play on if Solomon were writing Ecclesiastes during the Covid19 Lockdown:

“The eye never has enough of seeing, not the ear it’s fill of hearing.” Ecclesiastes 1:8

becomes “I’ve binge watched all the series on Netflix and there’s nothing new on Spotify to listen to.”

“I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly.” Ecclesiastes 2:3

becomes “Alcohol plus pranking the neighbours was not a good mix.”

“Acquiring a harem—the delights of a man’s heart” Ecclesiastes 2:8

becomes “Watching porn online to feel good in the moment.”

“I undertook great projects.” Ecclesiastes 2:4

becomes “Check out the new shed. I stood outside Bunnings for over an hour so I could get the supplies. Hear that tap dripping? No? Neither do I.”

“I amassed … the treasure of kings and provinces” Ecclesiastes 2:8

becomes “I’ve been using Online Retail Therapy to self-medicate for my quarantine.”

“I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone” Ecclesiastes 2:7

becomes “No one can beat me at Settlers of Catan.”

“I amassed silver and gold for myself.” Ecclesiastes 2:8

becomes “Nine weeks ago I bought stock in ZOOM. Just saying …”

“I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me.” Ecclesiastes 2:8

becomes “Yeah, my TikTok went viral last week.”

Solomon says:

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:17

Perhaps like Solomon, you, too feel a lack of purpose and dignity in life, particularly in lockdown.

You lack reason for getting out of bed in the morning. Your life is missing a sense of worthiness or self-respect.

What did Jesus have to say about Purpose and Dignity?

Jesus entered a world, our world, in a time where like us people were finding their purpose and worth in wisdom, pleasure, folly, work and relationships.

And to these people, to us, he said, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And “Follow me."

He asked for men and women to join him in his Kingdom work, to bring people into a right relationship with God. To love God and love others perfectly.

He showed us how the true wisdom of living found in loving God and loving others perfectly. He showed us how to feast and party with forgiven sinners. He showed us the foolishness of the world and its leaders in living for self. He showed us that to work was to lay down your life and pick up your cross daily, but the burden is not heavy for Jesus carries it with us. And to rest was to be found in him. And relationships are healed and restored when we love as he loved and serve as he did.

Our dignity comes from being agents of his Kingdom work. Spilling out in our COVID19, physically distant restrictions, the fruit of the Spirit of Christ: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

This is our purpose and dignity. To be as Christ. To love God and others perfectly.

This is our reason for getting up in the morning.

This is our “For what!”

Solomon concludes:

Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:12-14

Perhaps you would love to know for yourself what Jesus taught and how he lived. You can explore a biography written by a contemporary of Jesus, translated from Ancient Greek into English, included in the Bible. Send us a message and we’ll connect you with a student who can read this biography with you or join one of our online discussion groups.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.

The Gospel and Touch

During this season where we are physically removed, many of us are keenly aware of the lack of touch in our lives. This morning I watched a video with my daughter where YouTubers had the challenge of NOT touching 5 objects put in front of them … the first was one of those candy necklaces, another was a gift card of an unknown value and the last was a gorgeous large dog who got all up in their face, licking them. All of them struggled with each stage of the challenge.

During a global pandemic, all of us have had our ability to touch restricted. We can’t touch our own faces. We wear gloves. We cannot hug … I’ve already been warned by several friends that when all of this is over to expect the biggest, longest hugs ever.

You get a hug. The delivery man gets a hug. The green grocer gets a hug. The barista gets a hug.

This lack of touch has profoundly affected our lives.

When we look through the Bible we are reminded how powerful touch is.

The imagery in Genesis when God created humans is so tactile.

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah have similar imagery painting a picture of God as potter and his people as clay as he kneads and fashions and molds them.

Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8

He did the same for animals and birds of the air forming them from the earth and is said to have planted a garden for them all to live in and thrive.

But shortly after we read of God forming men and women, we read of the woman adding to God’s words. She responds to the one in the garden questioning God’s goodness by saying that TOUCHING the fruit would lead to death. The woman had set a boundary further from God’s actual command not to eat. But her boundary proved pointless as both man and woman touched, took and ate. Believing a lie that God was not in fact good and they could find their own way to know goodness.

The lying serpent was cursed by God but a promise of hope was given. A prophecy so early in God’s story of God’s people. The serpent will strike or bruise the heel of one of the woman’s offspring. But that offspring will ultimately crush his head. (Genesis 3:15)

Touch also led to deceit, when Jacob fooled his father Isaac into touching him and giving him a blessing instead of his twin brother.

Touch was forbidden over and over again in the law given to God’s people Israel. Do not touch the unclean thing.

David, a man after God’s own heart, touched and took and declared ownership over a woman’s body. A woman made in the image of God. Formed to be like him. Formed to be good and do good.

Touch is powerful for both good and evil.

There is something magnificent and awesome in being confronted with a Holy God through touch. Moses was commanded to remove his shoes and stand barefoot when in the presence of God’s spirit at the burning bush. A priest was instantly killed when he put his hand out and touched the ark of the covenant. Isaiah’s lips were touched in a vision by a burning coal, that emptied him of his uncleanness and filled him with the holiness of God.

“See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah 6:7

And then God becomes man and he in full humanity he touches those who were untouchable and atones for their sin. He touches the blind and they can see. On his way to tenderly touch and heal a young dying girl, a woman touches the hem of his coat and Jesus stops in the crowd and says “Who touched me?!” The power of this touch, this touch done in faith and hope for healing, flowed from his body into her unclean body and made her whole. 

While he was in a home with the sort of people who added to God’s command and said that you must wash your hands a particular way, a woman who’s soul had been healed, her sins forgiven, approached him in gratitude and worship:

As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

The Pharisees in the house sneered: 

“If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

Luke 7:39

Oh, he knew. He came to touch and be touched by people like her.

A man, a foreigner, healed by Jesus flung himself at this feet loudly glorifying God, physically touching and clinging to Jesus as the source of his very life.

Jesus, the king of heaven, God become man, lowered himself and served his friends, washing their feet. 

Even in his final hours, when confronted with his enemies, Jesus touched and restored a man’s ear when one of his closest friends had injured him.

The same liar in the garden, who questioned the goodness of God, was about to strike his heel but in Jesus’ suffering, the sensation of being spat on, beard plucked, thorns smashed into his scalp, flesh ripped from his back, forced to carry the weight of a tree, nails hammered through his hands and feet, body struggling with every breath, it was in fact he who was crushing the head of the enemy when on the third day he rose from the dead, victorious.

On this third day, his friend and faithful follower, Mary clung to his resurrected body.

“Do not cling to me,” he told her. Instead, he had a task for her to do.

Go and tell my friends that I am alive.

In his life, death and resurrection, Jesus redeemed touch by redeeming a people, making a way for them to be good and do good. To love God fully and love others fully. To use our touch not to deceive or selfishly take, but to love. Filling them with his spirit to be agents of his goodness in the world.

At this moment, not touching is the most loving thing we can do. Touching can kill. Not touching and being with each other in person can save lives. But that doesn’t stop us from loving God and others and the task given to Mary in the garden of his resurrection, the garden of a new creation, is ours, too, go and tell them that he is alive and our sin is atoned for and we are alive in him, new creations, to be good and do good for the glory of God, in our bodies, our touch, our words and our actions.

And when this is all over … by all means … touch, hug, high five, fist bump, physically hold the hand of someone others view as “untouchable. Give each other a holy kiss like the first followers of Jesus used to do. Let touch be redeemed. Let touch be good. Don’t be afraid of it. Don’t view every single touch through the lens of a sexual invitation to sin. We are brothers and sisters after all. Part of God’s family, agents of his goodness.

Do you know God intimately? Have you been touched by his story of restoring a people to his goodness?

David, the man who touched and took what was not his, was ultimately restored. His sin atoned for after. He wrote a beautiful song. A song full of the imagery of touch and vulnerability and intimate relationship. One that can be yours, too.

Psalm 139

You have searched me, Lord,

    and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

    you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

    you, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before,

    and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    too lofty for me to attain.

And at the end of his song an invitation to know him intimately:

Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting.

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At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.

Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.