Ministry Update

Since I last updated you I've had

• Senior Staff Conference for AFES on the mainland,

• Mid Year Conference for our students up in Launceston

• O Week Mission for Semester 2.

• Preacher's Workshop Masterclass

• Women's Winter Festival where I preached a sermon on Jesus Is Light to women in Hobart

Prayer meetings CAN be rather drab, no one's certain what they're meant to be praying for and everyone sits around waiting for someone to start. With clear direction and diversity it can actually be a gathering worth coming to and getting excited for. One thing I learned at Senior Staff Conference just from taking part in it with 200 other Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students staff from across Australia was how to do prayer well in big and small groups. As we prayed together through a list of items, at times we prayed in pairs, other times one person or a series of people represented us in prayer, and yet other times it was opened up to anyone to stand and pray. I've taken this all on board and have shared with my Fellowship Group leaders how they can use lead their groups through incorporating diversity to create a constructive prayer time.

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Women's Weekend Away

Registration Closes in TWO DAYS

I will be MCing this conference and delivering a workshop on "Women on Mission". Young women 13-18 years old are encouraged to come, too! (My daughters (8 and 10) are slipping in under MC privileges ;)

Kathy Thurston from Sydney/Brisbane will be speaking about how knowing God is what life is all about and we learn that by exploring how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for us in Jesus.

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Family

We're headed to California in September to visit family and hopefully connect make some new ministry prayer and financial partnerships with Christians there.

My grandmother lives in the high dessert north of Los Angeles, near where the space shuttle would land and where they tested top secret stealth jets (that weren't so secret to locals). My parents, who are missionaries in Germany, will be flying out to spend time with us there, too.

Olivia is looking forward to the possibility of a bus tour where we may get to visit San Francisco and some of the other major sites like Yosemite.

Ella is going to find it difficult to limit her special toys (erm, "friends") to just one for this trip.

Mike is getting his cycling grear ready and touching base with the local cycling store. He asked when their group ride was on. They mentioned that the group tends to go rather fast. Ha! Challenge accepted.

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Connecting and Investing

As you can see, I am extremely close to receiving my fully-funded goal of $3,283 per month through financial partnerships from people like you. Some months I will get a spike in a generous one-off gift and other months are sustained by the consistent weekly/fortnightly/monthly giving by generous, partnering Christians who are excited to be a part of God's work.

This week I've attempted to connect personally with 70 alumni from Uni Fellowship to invite them to join you and me, partnering to see how God is going to use us to equip our students to proclaim Jesus to their friends. Thanks to those who have responded, I've got to learn where they are at in their lives and how I can pray for them and support them, as well.

Please pray that some of these will get excited partner with us.

You can engage with others who are taking action through prayer or financial support in the Facebook group.

If you'd like to invest in my work through regular, ongoing financial support, please click on the SUPPORT button below.

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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.

Priscilla: Ben Witherington's historical fiction describes the early church through the eyes, experience and contacts with key players of a woman in the 1st Century. Historical events like the burning of Rome, destruction of Jerusalem's temple and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius are all included and help to create a timeline. When and why the gospels were written and key historical information about key people from Apollos, John Mark, Phoebe, Junia, etc. all make it a great read for any young or mature Christian. The historical context fleshed out about Corinth and why Paul delivered particular instructions to that church in two letters was also useful.

We Set Off to Reach a Remote Tribe in the Amazon. Turns Out They Were Waiting for Us. : Young Brazilian missionaries brought the gospel to a tribe, whose language was dying and were poor and under-educated. They had heard about a Creator on the radio and had set up a hut for when this Creator would send people to tell them more.

You're a Theologian. Become a Good One: "In one sense, all it takes to be a theologian is to have an opinion about God. That’s it. The moment you think or say anything about him or her or it or whatever “God” is to you, you’re doing theology. The real question, therefore, is not whether you are a theologian. It’s whether you are a good one."

3 Reflections After My First Year as a Christian: "When I was exploring faith and became a Christian, I read any and every Christian book I could get my hands on. The gospels helped me to understand the basics—don’t assume that your non-Christian friends won’t want to read the Bible."

Both Purity Culture and Hook Up Culture Failed Me: "True love comes in the Incarnation, when Jesus entered our suffering world to make all things new. As I look to the naked, bloodied man on the cross, I see someone who loved me so much that he died in order that he might call me daughter. He never promised me marriage. But as he calls me his child, he ushers me into a new family—the body of Christ—that loves me and meets me in my deepest loneliness."

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Upcoming Speaking Events

24-25 August: Bay Christian Church Camp: Women Using Their Gifts in Church
6-8 September: Women's Weekend Away MCing and Workshop (Women on Mission)
12 September: Engage Conference 2 x Workshops (EXvangelicals and Social Media, Part 2)
22 September: Summerleas Christian Church Missions Spot

Jesus Is Light: a biblical theology sermon

In the cold dark months of winter, the nation descends on Hobart as our city celebrates the darkness during Dark Mofo. Ironically, light plays a major role in these celebrations. Red lights everywhere. Sizzling red flares as the ogoh-ogoh burns and supposedly our fears with it. A favourite art feature has been the pillar of light shooting into space. A beacon. Crowds are drawn to it like moths. Our attention is distracted while driving on the roads as we look for the beacon during the night. But as the sun dawns, organisers flick the switch. The beacon is turned off. Because while the beacon of light is beautiful indeed in the night. It is overwhelmed in the atmosphere penetrating grandeur of our solar system’s sun.

Let me introduce you to the Light that penetrates the world’s darkness. The light that was promised and has come and has called you to shine forth in the world. Jesus Christ.

(Listen to my sermon at the August 2019, Women’s Winter Festival.)

Flair for the Dramatic: helping preachers move beyond reading a script

(Notes from my Masterclass at Preacher’s Workshop, 29 July 2019)

My first week of University, I marched straight out of my History of Civilization 101 lecture and to the registrar’s office and changed my major from History Education to Primary Education.

I was so intimidated by the lecturer’s knowledge and charisma and skill in communicating with passion and inspiration. With my limited amount of knowledge and experience there was NO way that I could fool a high school student into believing that I knew what I was talking about. But I MIGHT be able to hoodwink a 10 year old …

As I progressed in my study, I began to grow in confidence, my love for history and the skill of communicating and I did return to the registrar’s office and eventually graduated with a teaching degree in History and Art.

This level of confidence to share my knowledge and communicate well was largely due to the speech classes we were required to take. All disciplines were required to learn how to effectively communicate giving a 30 second elevator pitch, 3 minute impromptu speech, monologues and a 10 minute prepared speech. I loved it all.

And just for fun I took STORYTELLING because History is really just one long story.

In this class I performed the Acts narrative of the stoning of Stephen. I recited a fairy tale poem backwards and really learned to move around the room and make eye contact, moving beyond mere reciting of a script, a story, a sermon. And into performance to convey meaning and connection with my audience.

The Bible is the best story on earth. It’s a sweeping narrative full of emotion and consequences.

This evening I’m going to help you move beyond your sermon Script so you can

• connect with your audience authentically.

• engage them with every sentence you speak

• peak their curiosity

• grow their understanding

• help them empathise

• excite them

• convict them

• and spur your audience on to action

Let’s discuss the biggest concerns people have when it comes to public speaking and performance:

• Preparation: Do I read or memorise my sermon?

• Voice: I don’t like the sound of my voice.

• Movement: What do I do with my body?

• Dress: What should I wear?

Answering these concerns, I will help you communicate the meaning and passion behind the words of your sermon.

PREPARATION

Should you or shouldn’t you read from a manuscript of your sermon?

There’s a real difference between a parent picking up a picture book for the first time and reading it to the child and the AUTHOR of that book coming to a classroom and reading the story.

Both are enjoyable but the latter is a memorable experience! They are both reading from the same manuscript but the latter knows the material inside and out and can bring so much more meaning to the story by HOW she reads it.

Do you listen to podcasts?

I have two that I really enjoy.

One has a panel of 3 ministers who bounce ideas off each other back and forth and engage in delicious banter. I feel like I’m sitting at the table with them.

The other is another podcast where I love the ideas presented. But they are read. I know that the women reading their script are passionate about their ideas AND SO AM I! But I stick around for those treasured off-script moments when you can hear them shove the script away and they get real. “Do you know what I mean? Just last week someone said to me…” At this point, my distractions scatter and I lean in eager to hear more.

One podcast I feel like I’m part of a conversation. The other I feel like I’m being WRITTEN to.

Choose your words wisely, too. Sermons are spoken communication. You’re not writing AT your audience. We tend to use different language for speaking. It’s more simple and forthright. Whereas our eyes can easily dance across the page of a long Anne of Green Gables description of a sunset but our tongue would stumble across her descriptive words.

Reading a sermons is a bit like David Attenborough doing the voice over of what’s meant to be a LIVE sporting event full of emotion and passion and excitement. A bit underwhelming.

On the other hand, you don’t really want to recite a sermon, do you?

Remember when you had to memorise poems in school? I had to recite Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”:

“…Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Tick. Assignment complete. I said the words. No idea what it meant. But that didn’t matter.

Recite. Sermon delivered. But message received?

Sermon delivery is so much more than mere recitation of words. So no. We can’t just memorise.

Instead of merely reading or reciting, let’s choose connection.

Disconnection is head down, reading word for word with no emotion.

Disconnection is recitation. Disconnection is reading your child’s favourite story to them one more time. But this time you’ve memorised it all.

As the words come out of your mouth, your eyes glaze over, and your mind is thinking of that email you need to send.

As a parenting coach, here’s some free advice. Maybe it’s not one more story she’s asking for. Maybe she’s hoping that this time you will stop thinking about something else you’d rather be doing and just connect with her for a few minutes before she falls asleep.

So how can we can connect with our audience?

I recommend of combination of reading and reciting.

Memorise your introduction and your conclusion, the two very important book ends of your sermon. And then no the remainder of your content well enough that you only occasionally need to refer to your “script”.

Practice Practice Practice. I find that 6 times is the sweet spot. You’ve got your script. I want you to get up from your desk and stand and read it as you would to your audience, noting how you project with your voice and move your body.

Chris Anderson of TED Talks reminds us: “Practice doesn’t make perfect but it does make imperfection liveable.”

Know your content so well that you can live it. Remembering your words then becomes effortless. You’re then free to use your energy while on stage to communicate the meaning and passion behind your words.

Let your voice and body convey those deeper meanings for you.

VOICE AND BODY

Recording one of your final rehearsals will lift your public speaking game exponentially. All the verbal and written feedback in the world will not change how you perform until you SEE it for yourself. Take note of how you use your voice and your body.

VOICE

Prepare your voice. Many people do not like the sound of their own voice. One reason this might be is because they have a lot of built up energy forcing their voice to run at a higher octave. This TED talk towards the end runs through some of my favourite vocal exercises to relax your vocal chords and loosen your lips and facial muscles so that your facial expressions aren’t frozen in panic ;)

As you watch your rehearsal video, notice the following about your voice and your vocal style:

Does your voice contain the emotion in your sermon?

It’s like the advice given to people who work on phones. Smile. The person on the other end may not be able to see you but they will HEAR the smile on the other end of the line. A smile lifts the voice to a level that is desirable on the human ear.

Is your style conversational?

Does it sound like you’re meeting up with a friend?

Are you real, natural, unafraid to let rip

Is your pace and volume varied?

Unless you’re speaking in a cross-cultural context, don’t be afraid to speak rapidly if the words and meaning call for it. The human brain can keep up with a high speed of speech.

It’s the speaking too slowly that you need to be mindful of. That’s where you lose people.

BODY

Posture. Posture will not only help with your confidence and voice projection but it will also not distract from the meaning and passion of your message. Let me describe how you can find your natural posture.

• Begin finding a few strands of hair at the very top of your head.

• Pull them straight up and allow that to gently pull your spine straight.

• Now rock back and forth on your feet and settle in the middle.

• Rock your pelvis back and forth and settle in the middle.

• Push your shoulders down and rock them back and forth and settle in the middle.

Now you are in your neutral, relaxed posture.

If you are feeling particularly nervous, do what I tell parents to do with their toddler who is on the verge of a nervous tantrum. Release all that nervous tention by doing a tremendous jumping up and down or monstrous stamping of the feet a good 5 times. TRY IT. You feel wonderfully loose afterwards. Even better, follow this up with 3 amazing deep breaths letting them out in a long loud sigh. This invigorates your brain with oxygen that will help calm your amygdala (fight/flight/freeze) portion of your brain.

Now what to do with your body DURING the sermon delivery. Now that you are in the relaxed, neutral posture, keep your arms loose and by your side. Do not lean on the podium and avoid movements from your wrist (I call them fish-fins). Instead as you become very familiar with your talk and rehearse the delivery, the more relaxed you can be with your arm and body movements. You won’t be putting your energy towards remembering what word comes next but can instead genuinely make eye contact with your audience, noticing when they are engaged, moving to an area of the stage to a side of the room where you notice someone has zoned out and is now scrolling through their phone.

In fact, I want you to be so comfortable with your conclusion that you can bunch it up and throw it away, moving forward on the stage away from the podium, leaning in and nailing your final points.

WHAT TO WEAR

Wear what you feel most comfortable in that matches the occasion. Do not pull out that suit that fit you 10 years ago. Your movements will be restricted and your focus at readjusting your clothing when it gets uncomfortable will detract from your message.

Women be mindful of your choice of accessories. Avoid those fantastic tassled earrings that swing around and get stuck in the corner of your mouth. Your audience will forever remember your earrings and nothing about your talk.

(At this point, I pulled it all together and read from Mem Fox’s Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild! demonstrating presenting from a script, communicating emotion and holding the attention of my audience through eye contact, body movement and voice variations)

CONCLUSION

Connect with your audience. Prepare and communicate with passion and conviction and your audience will get the meaning of your message loud and clear.

Ministry Update

I'm 38 this week. As a 38 year old, I don't need much and my daughters are disappointed when I already went and bought new socks recently (so that crosses THAT off the list of possibilities!).

We are usually with my parents during my birthday which I love the best. Being with them. Watching my children enjoy them. Enjoying the Northern Hemisphere warmth of summer.

But this year, I'll settle for 2nd best. A missions conference in the morning where I'll get to share about my work and how local Presbyterians can be involved. Lunch with my family. And dinner with friends at the Emily's Voice Gala Dinner.

As students are studying for exams and then away over their winter break, I'm

• fine-tuning my seminar for Mid Year Conference on "Politics and the Cross",

• recruiting new student leaders to join my team for 2020,

• coaching our faculty clusters through organising their evangelistic events for Semester 2,

• thinking through leadership development for men and women in Christian organisations,

• and preparing my talk for the August Women's Winter Festival.

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Family

One of the great joys of my job is that it is flexible enough for me to take my girls to school in the morning and pick them up afterwards.

Olivia spends her time after school drawing and making up stories. Notebooks, pens and coloured pencils are her constant companions.

Ella spends a good hour+ in bed at night cracking up over another re-read of a Pheobe and Her Unicorn book. She's also recently developed a fascination with learning magic tricks.

In the above video, we had a go at the Mentos in Diet Coke challenge this past weekend. I feel we need to re-visit the Mythbusters episode where they get epic height out of the soda geyser.

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Connecting and Investing

Over the winter season I will give you short weekly prompts to help you connect with the inner workings of University Fellowship of Christians, including stories about people and invite you to act in different ways to engage with our mission.

Engage with others who are taking action this season in the Facebook group.

If you'd like to invest in my work through regular, ongoing financial support, please click on the SUPPORT button below.

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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.

Thorny Questions: [VIDEO Series] Speak Life has a series of pithy videos where they respond to frequently asked questions by skeptics. This is a great resource for our Uni Faculty Clusters as they plan to put on evangelistic events during Semester 2.

Can We Finally Break the Silence Around Tamar? and Let Tamar Be Silenced No Longer: Two great articles about Tamar, daughter of David, who was raped by her half brother. This passage is often not handled well, if at all, from the pulpit.

Preparing Talks and Sermons: Rory Shiner: For those curious about what's involved and how long a preacher dedicates to preparing a sermon, this is insightful. I'm particularly drawn to the practice of meeting with the church staff on Monday morning to discuss the passage and how the team sees it directly affecting the local body of Christ.

Tim Keller's Top 10 Tips for Personal Evangelism: #4 Share your problems with others – testify to how your faith helps you

Have We Made Bible Study Too Simple?: "Theology isn’t meant to be done in a vacuum. It takes community and practice. I very much believe that theology is a public practice, where we can discern the Spirit together, and strengthen each other through what we have studied in the Word and how we live it out. It takes away the blind spots and personal biases we may lay on top of Scripture and helps to make clear what God is saying through His Word."

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Upcoming Speaking Events:

15 June: Mission Possible (St. Johns Presbyterian Church) Event Missions Spot
10-13 July: Mid-Year Conference Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Politics)
29 July: Preachers Workshop (“Flair for the Dramatic”: helping preachers move beyond reading a script.)
11 August: Women's Winter Festival Sermon (Jesus Is ... Light of the World)
12 September: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 2)
22 September: Summerleas Christian Church Missions Spot

Review: Developing Female Leaders, part 6

Kadi Cole found that many ministers were baffled by the slow uptake of the new strategies to include women more. In Developing Female Leaders, she outlines ways church leaders can deliberately shift the culture so that the change does not shock or cause alarm or damage to the church body.

Best Practice #8: Take on Your Culture

Cole recommends the use of language, boundaries and symbols to make the shift towards inclusion.

Language - Whether it’s introducing a woman by her qualifications or achievements rather than her relationships or appearance, or recognising and communicating the importance of the voice and contributions of women in team meetings or the weekly church meeting, the way we talk about women and promote the voices of women to be heard is the first step.

Some churches making the shift can do this in a rather clunky way. It’s best to strategically plan the messaging, rehearsing and repeating so that the message is received loud and clear: “We value women.”

Boundaries - Many churches are rather clear on where women cannot serve. But when church leaders haven’t done the hard work of discerning what roles ARE open to both men AND women or women alone and actively communicated this and recruited women to fill these roles according to their gifting, the church suffers. One way of communicating is typically out of fear and self-protection. The other way is out of love and the urgency of equipping and empowering the body of Christ. Churches would do well at all levels to determine how they will treat one another with love and respect and enforce those convictions in their hiring and firing practices.

Symbols - The first woman to join the leadership team will always be a symbol. Recently, a local church has decided to develop ministry teams. The first team to form was for strategic planning and implementation. A friend of mine was the first woman to be recruited for the ministry team. Not as a mere token: see we’ve got a woman! But for the genuine value and connections and insights she brings to the team. Her involvement will pave the way for other women and young girls who will see the possibilities for their own gifts to be used for the kingdom of God.

Other symbols might be not avoiding the women in the Bible during preaching series. Rather, focusing on the roles the women play in the passage, not shying away from the difficult passages. Another symbol is to credit women in your congregation you have consulted with when preparing sermons on different topics or passages. Women may be invited to participate in the public reading of Scripture, prayer, announcements, MCing, panel discussions, interviews, etc. You might also showcase local women, women from church history or missions who have served the body of Christ. Intentionally pursuing women to fill vital roles, even as volunteers, giving them real jobs with real titles will also go a long way.

“Cast a vision for unity, support, embracing change, and serving one another for the sake of the kingdom and for the benefit of your church.”

All of three of these will go a long way in shifting the culture of a church or organisation to embracing women using their gifts in leadership roles.

Cole cautions church leaders to be mindful that as the leadership are hashing out the details and thinking through these shifts, the congregation will not have had the same level of time to process this change.

1. Listen and Talk with the men in leadership and discuss the practical changes that may take place by incorporating women into their workplace and team culture. Help them appreciate the ultimate good these changes will bring to the team and the congregation as a whole. (Some may mourn the loss of the usual team bonding activities that may not appeal to women joining the team.)

2. Listen and Talk with as many women as you can. Some may not agree with the shift. Show them where the you have drawn from Scripture to inform the shift towards inclusion. Some may be hurt that these changes did not happen sooner and old feelings may bubble up and need to be addressed and church leaders can ask for forgiveness.

The book continues with a series of actions the church and individuals, particularly male leaders, can take to implement the changes, questions for leadership teams to work through to make sure they are on track and even a section for recommended best practices for women leaders. These final sections is where this book really shines as a practical resource for churches and not just another book for women on ministry.

I’ll visit some of these final sections in the Facebook group.

AFES - I’ve personally witnessed our staff pay particular attention to the way we intentionally speak about our student leaders, create balanced ministry teams and actively recruit both men and women for all levels of student leadership. Giving our students this experience now will help shape the future of evangelical churches.

Best Practices:

1. Seek to Understand

2. Clearly Define What You Believe

3. Mine the Marketplace

4. Integrate Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development

5. Be an “Other”

6. Create an Environment of Safety

7. Upgrade Your People Practices

8. Take on Your Culture

Developing Female Leaders: Navigating the Minefields and Releasing the Potential of Women in Your Church, Kadi Cole, Thomas Nelson, 2019, 224pgs.

Review: Developing Female Leaders, part 5

Creating a workplace culture where everyone, men and women, thrive and everyone knows where they stand, who they answer to and what their entitlements are is the focus of the next two best practices.

In light of #metoo and #churchtoo, many church leaders are adopting the “Billy Graham Rule” (never eat, meet or ride in a car alone with a woman) as a way of keeping their ministry and their personal godliness in check.

Kadi Cole has personally benefitted from working under church leaders who lived these princples, however in her book Developing Female Leaders she recommends a 21st Century refresh of this principle.

Best Practice #6: Create an Environment of Safety

It’s not 1948 anymore. When a person wants to pursue inappropriate relationships, they will find ways. Inappropriate intimacy with colleagues has become an issue using 21st Century with blurred boundaries. Plus, it’s not only women, but young men interns and even children have been mistreated by their leaders.

Cole recommends several steps to develop clear relational boundaries in the workplace. The most dramatic step that creates the most change in workplace culture is her “take two” principle. Take two developing leaders out for a coffee meeting. Take two on a hospital visit. Take two to a conference with you, etc.

“Two men, two women, or one man and one woman plus you makes three, and there is safety in groups of three or more. By taking two leaders, you instantly double your development efforts and create a safe environment at the same time. It takes away the intimacy and one-on-one exclusive connection. It not only helps connect young leaders to you personally, but it also builds peer relationships between two people who are a lot more likely to be available and stay in relationship with each other over their lifetimes. In addition, you take any pressure off anything that might look inappropriate or that hints that you might be showing favoritism based on gender.”

This doesn’t meant that one to one conversations can’t still occur in the office. But why not take on this approach to create a safe and thriving workplace culture for both men and women?

Some churches have solved the “problem” of men and women working together by adopting “isolation” as the standard not realising that women are missing out on mentoring opportunities and overall growth. Other organisations may struggle to also include women in their workplace culture having set up a language, style of humour or staff bonding experience that often unintentionally exclude women. Measures taken to create a safe work place often leave women with the short end of the stick.

If organisations are serious about intentionally developing female leaders they must do the hard work to determine what guidelines help both men and women thrive. Men shouldn’t fear the woman they meet with 1 hour a month and yet freely meet and communicate with their female personal assistant at all hours. There should be no double standards and all should be able to benefit from safe workplaces.

Best Practice #7: Upgrade Your People Practices

The practices that Cole recommends organisations consider are not only good for women but for all involved and the ministry as a whole.

1. equal pay for equal work

2. accurate titles

3. family benefits

4. flexible schedules

5. education and development opportunities

6. work-life balance

7. honest performance reviews

“Taking a close look at our human resource practices, discussing these sensitive issues in an open and collaborative way, and holding ourselves accountable through metrics can ensure that we are truly leading in a way that aligns with our beliefs and values.”

In the Facebook group, I’ll share some examples from the “people practices” section that I thought were noteworthy.

AFES - Being a part of a national organisation rather than a stand-alone local church has its benefits. There are opportunitites and training that we adhere to in order to create a safe and thriving workplace. As staff we are mindful of the dynamic between ourselves and students, as well as our student leaders and those they are serving. Once or twice a year we review with our student leader team risks that might hinder our mission on campus, including interpersonal relationships. Adopting a “take two” approach is a great way of building up new leaders while not posing a risk to our mission on campus. Without making it into a “rule” we can encourage staff and students to benefit from being generous with our time and work and bringing two people along for the ride.

Best Practices:

1. Seek to Understand

2. Clearly Define What You Believe

3. Mine the Marketplace

4. Integrate Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development

5. Be an “Other”

6. Create an Environment of Safety

7. Upgrade Your People Practices

8. Take on Your Culture

Developing Female Leaders: Navigating the Minefields and Releasing the Potential of Women in Your Church, Kadi Cole, Thomas Nelson, 2019, 224pgs.

Review: Developing Female Leaders, part 4

Are ministers neglecting oversight and accountability in what discipleship and teaching occurs among 61% (the percentage of women to men in evangelical churches) of their congregation?

Kadi Cole, in her 4th Best Practice in her book Developing Female Leaders is advocating for

“the integration of leadership development into your discipleship environments, while paying special attention to those that are women-only or mixed gender to make sure they are getting the same resources and accountability you are giving your other ministries.”

Best Practice #4: Integrate Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development

Not only did the survey reveal that women in leadership were craving training in both leadership AND theology and godly living but there were also dynamics within leadership teams that made integrating women into leadership and spiritual training difficult. Cole delved into the need for women to explore and have their spiritual gifting affirmed and their identity in Christ grounded and explore their uniquely female qualities and how they can be used for God’s glory within a mixed-gender leadership team. Both men and women are left challenged to check their biases, control their emotions, listen and communicate well to both lead and connect, and love and pastor each other in community through spiritual and growth milestones.

One way of ensuring this integration doesn’t get neglected is to do the next Best Practice

Best Practice #5: Be an “Other”

Cole recommends that each woman in leadership have regular, ongoing access to three “Others” in her life. A woman will often be mentored by another woman, however, the following three “others” may not have been considered before.

Male Mentor: Women have traditionally mentored women … but this has led to women remaining in wome-led ministries rather than opening up additional doors of leadership. The experience of male mentors proved invaluable in developing women leaders in the following avenues of leadership:

“strategic planning, fund-raising, finance/budgets, vision casting, community relations, volunteer team building, biblical literacy, theological accuracy, and public speaking/preaching”

Male Sponsor: Men in ministry have broad, established networks that open opportunities to them and others in their circles. A male sponsor can potentially open doors to opportunities for a woman leader previously unavailable to her in her women-only networks.

Female Coach: A female coach benefits a woman as she navigates what makes her uniquely female in a male-dominated work place, balancing life and work.

AFES - I’m very much looking forward to our upcoming AFES Senior Staff Conference this month. I know not everyone enjoys conferences and the strain they can have on family, but I love them. What a great opportunity to bring men and women colleagues together to be on the same page, network, encourage and care for one another! We have a designated staff member who looks after female staff (not sure if the guys have this but I love it). I remembered nervously contacting Tracey when things got a little shakey for me in the early days of raising financial support. She generously gave her time, listened to me and wasn’t quick to give me solutions to my problems but helped me isolate the barriers and navigate a path forward. My first week on the job, she called me to follow up. Prior to staff conference, she gathers all the women together for an evening of fellowship and support. (Missing out this year so will make sure to schedule it in for next year.) I’ve also been grateful for my friends in ministry networks, colleagues and campus director, Mikey Lynch, for opening opportunities for me to use my gifting outside of campus ministry, whether it was an invitation to join the board of a national church IT ministry (New Front Door) or to present at various training sessions or conferences, this all helps to validate my gifting and opportunities to up-skill and create new connections to make new ministry partnerships.

Best Practices:

1. Seek to Understand

2. Clearly Define What You Believe

3. Mine the Marketplace

4. Integrate Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development

5. Be an “Other”

6. Create an Environment of Safety

7. Upgrade Your People Practices

8. Take on Your Culture

Developing Female Leaders: Navigating the Minefields and Releasing the Potential of Women in Your Church, Kadi Cole, Thomas Nelson, 2019, 224pgs.

Review: Developing Female Leaders, part 3

“Never assume that an established, professional female leader isn’t interested in working with or for you. Many incredible leaders would love the opportunity to use their marketplace skills in the kingdom.”

95% of the women surveyed for Kadi Cole’s book Developing Female Leaders had worked in a secular job and had developed skills and gleaned experience that their churches and ministries benefit from. The same can be said of men. Thus, her 3rd best practice is:

Best Practice #3: Mine the Marketplace

Cole recommends being aware of the following challenges to developing women in leadership:

1. Recruit only great leaders - not just those who are keen. Particularly with women in a male-dominated environment, our culture operates in such a way that if one woman on staff does something wrong it can sour the experience for and perception of all other women. However, if a man were to not perform well in his role, that has no impact on how others view the other men on staff, or even men in general. Check your bias.

2. Give women real jobs with real titles - Several women surveyed had been relegated to the role of church secretary or personal assistant when their giftings, training, education and experience were all suited to ministry leadership rather than administrative. Honour women’s level of ability and qualification with real ministry opportunities. Even if the title “pastor” is not available to her, Director, Team Leader, Manager, etc. are all acceptable. And pay her at that level (which leads to the next point).

3. Pay women fairly - Kadi, herself, had been paid unfairly in her first ministry role. After working for a year, she discovered that she’d not been given the full benefits (tax benefit, insurance, house, etc.) of other members of her team because the HR team had never processed a woman on staff before and had classified her role as clerical when it was in fact pastoral.

4. Give women time up the front - If we want the women in our churches to grow and become leaders, they need to see women leading (reading, praying, announcements, MCing, etc.). Some large churches in America have their leadership team simply sit at the front of the church facing the congregation during the meeting. Jenni Carlton, church leadership consultant sums it up this way: “We don’t realize the unintentional consequences of not making women visible in our churches. They lack that visibility because they lack the opportunities, and they lack the opportunities because they have not developed the necessary skills. It’s a self-fulfilling cycle that needs to change.”

5. Help women transition into ministry - Women surveyed experienced the following difficulties when transitioning into ministry: “Soul care, spiritual warfare, balancing weekend and evening hours, changes in friendships within the congregation, confidentiality, expectations on her family, increased attention to her looks and clothing (yes, it’s a thing), less direct contact with unbelievers, and questioning, How do I know if I’m doing a good job? …” Ministry leaders can help women transition well by coaching them through this shift.

6. Support their spouses and families - Ministry spouses and children are keenly aware that they are sharing their mum/dad/spouse with another “family”. It’s important that these families feel as connected as possible to this “spiritual family” without any additional burden expected of them. The church must serve and look after their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

7. Beware of the “glass cliff” - There are some roles that men have looked at and have put in the “too hard” category. The project is complicated and doomed to fail. But when the role is offered to a woman, she takes it on, giving her everything, because she is grateful to grasp any role that she can in this field. To perform well in her role she tears down boundaries in her personal life, risking burn out, so that the project succeeds. But at what cost? A cost no man was willing to pay. When the project succeeds and she is left burnt out, the role might then be passed on to a man to continue based on the success of her work.

AFES - Overall my experience over the past 6 months has been one of great support in my workplace for me and my husband and daughters, who are greeted warmly and thanked regularly for sharing their Mummy with the people I serve. They do struggle with my being away a bit more than they have been used to. I do my best to make it as easy as possible for them.

Women serving on senior staff or apprentices or student leader roles are given real titles and real job descriptions. Not just “women’s work”. For example, my title is “Fellowship Groups and Faculty Cluster Overseer”. Women are given ample time up front teaching seminars, MCing, directing events, leading groups, praying, reading the Bible, etc.

I have the same pay and benefits as my colleagues based fairly on my education and experience. As an institution, AFES is fair.

However, because I am tasked to raise my own wage by inviting individuals to partner with my work financially, there is a difference with our supporters.

My supporters are genuinely partnering with my gospel work. I have colleagues who are the primary bread-winners and work full-time and support their wife and children with their wage that they raise through supporters. Their supporters are aware that they are supporting not just the work but a family. However, I am working part time and my husband has a part time job. Potential supporters may be aware that if they did not financially support my work, I might not suffer financially, we’d still be able to pay our bills and my children will eat well and receive an education.

With your help, I can become fully funded to do my work.

AFES has determined that my role requires 2.5 days of work and has put a value on the hours I work based on the role I perform and on my experience and qualifications. To perform my job I have to raise a particular level of funding that is fair pay as senior staff. Currently, I am paid for 2 days and volunteer the rest of my hours while my colleagues receive their full fair pay. This is not an AFES issue. This is an uphill struggle I and many other part-time and full-time, married women have as we raise our own wage by building ministry partnerships. We must work that much harder at casting a vision of shared mission and creating an excellent partnership experience to gain the financial support for the work we do.

Best Practices:

1. Seek to Understand

2. Clearly Define What You Believe

3. Mine the Marketplace

4. Integrate Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development

5. Be an “Other”

6. Create an Environment of Safety

7. Upgrade Your People Practices

8. Take on Your Culture

Developing Female Leaders: Navigating the Minefields and Releasing the Potential of Women in Your Church, Kadi Cole, Thomas Nelson, 2019, 224pgs.

Review: Developing Female Leaders, part 2

Kadi Cole’s second best practice for opening doors for women to lead in the church is undoubtedly the most important one. The very same day that I reviewed this for our Hobart AFES staff, our University Fellowship of Christians staff listened to this podcast in which Village Church staff detailed the 18 month process, 60 page report and changes they implemented over the years based on their theological foundations. As a result of this this endeavour, Village Church’s outcomes exemplify why this hard work is fruitful for the church’s mission.

Best Practice #2: Clearly Define What You Believe

Cole communicates the two distinct theological assumptions that shape the two main approaches to gender leadership in the church. She fairly describes both the egalitarian and hierarchical view of the Trinity that divides people on the practical application of women serving at various roles in the church. (It’s very interesting that the Village Church rejects the hierarchical view of the Trinity and see it as the Complementarian camp shifting the Doctrine of God and allowing their Doctrine of Man to re-write the orthodox view of the Trinity per the Council of Nicea.). With those conclusions in mind she then maps out the spectrum of beliefs and practical outworking in the church, the world and the home.

Download your copy here.

Knowing that there is a spectrum to engage with helps us have conversations without immediately assuming that the “other” side is the fringe beliefs. But that’s not the point of this chapter. The point is that churches need to be crystal clear on their theology and communicate to both men and women how they may serve in their local church. Communicating this widely and in detail helps church leaders and members rise in leadership overall, no matter where they lie in the spectrum. Women are known to play it safe and stay well below the bar of leadership possibilities out of a desire to faithfully live by the scriptures and to lovingly not rock the boat. But this causes them to under-perform and second-guess their decisions as a leader.

Image from Chapter 2, Developing Female Leaders

An example Cole gives is a woman who has been given the task to coordinate the Welcoming Team. Both men and women serve on this team. But she’s unclear where the line is for her as a leader. Is she allowed to lead the group in prayer before their meetings or should she ask a man to? Is she permitted to give some form of teaching element to help the group perform well at their task? Or is it more appropriate for her to source a man to deliver that training? Is giving a devotional okay? Or is that overstepping the mark. As a result, many women in this position would tend to under-perform in their role because they are unclear. Not because the church leaders have explicitly said she’s not allowed to do any of those things.

Men can also be unclear. What about the expertise and experience of women outside the church? A woman congregation member is an expert in her secular field on a matter that the church needs particular help with. But the all-men Board of Management in the church are unwilling to engage her services as that may be overstepping the mark of a woman leading or teaching men in this matter. This Board of Management are likely unclear on their theology and practical implications of women serving the kingdom of God.

You can see that a lack of clarity can be both un-loving and counterproductive to the mission of the church.

As churches put in the hard work of determining where exactly they stand theologically and on the spectrum, they may find that doors become open to women where previously they were closed (whether formally through church teaching or standards or informally by self-doubt or local culture). It is loving and wise to be clear on this issue so that all church members are leading and performing to their potential for the kingdom of God and the mission of the church.

AFES - We need to constantly be stretched in this area as students from either no faith at all or all denominations engage with our misison and become student leaders and possibly future ministry leaders. We have a responsibility to teach clearly and apply what we believe about men and women serving God, using their gifts and shape them and prepare them for a lifetime of service to God. The AFES board have been studying this issue over many years and are working very hard to clarify how men and women work together to be on mission together.

Best Practices:

1. Seek to Understand

2. Clearly Define What You Believe

3. Mine the Marketplace

4. Integrate Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development

5. Be an “Other”

6. Create an Environment of Safety

7. Upgrade Your People Practices

8. Take on Your Culture

Developing Female Leaders: Navigating the Minefields and Releasing the Potential of Women in Your Church, Kadi Cole, Thomas Nelson, 2019, 224pgs.

Review: Developing Female Leaders, part 1

While many women at various stages of ministry leadership had sought out Kadi Cole to learn from her years of experience, Cole was struck with a rise in numbers over a few months of men seeking her out. They wanted to know how they could best help develop women in their churches and ministry teams to become better leaders. This prompted her to survey thousands of women from high ranking executive leaders in churches and Christian organisations to small congregation Sunday School volunteers and a handful of brave male church leaders. The results of this survey shape the framework of her book Developing Female Leaders.

This book is for church leaders of all church sizes and theological stances, young women looking for where they might fit, and current, longtime women leading in various roles in the church. It challenges all leaders and readers to take a look at their assumptions about women serving in the church, form their conclusions on sound theology and lays out a series of best practices to develop women leaders wherever you land on the theological and practical application spectrum.

While reading the book, I was greatly encouraged that we are excelling at many of the recommended best practices in our local AFES branch at University Fellowship of Christians.

In a series of blog posts, I will engage with the best practices Cole recommends and suggest areas where I believe that AFES Hobart is safe but may need to be stretched and where we may need to step up our development of female leaders. Below is the first best practice:

Best Practice #1: Seek to Understand

Why aren’t women leading in the church when there are so many areas open to them to serve? Cole urges men in leadership to ask these questions and intentionally listen. There are a variety of factors at play. There may be no clear role models for women to follow. Stereotypes keep her from seeing a place for her in church leadership. Even if there is no glass ceiling in a particular role, there may be a “sticky floor” where a woman’s own timid behaviour is keeping her from stepping up. Cole urges leaders to ask questions of women they’d like to see leading in the church and intentionally listen to find out what is blocking their path.

Here are a few she recommends:

• Have you ever tried to lead anything at our church?

• Do you enjoy leading here? Why?

• What opportunities do you think are available to you?

• What roadblocks have you come up against when you’ve tried to lead?

• How does your own internal thinking impact what you lead?

• How can we, as pastors and church leaders, support you in your leadership?”

AFES - It’s not enough for us to put out job descriptions for student leaders and staff and say that they are open to both men and women. We may need to actively pursue women and listen to them to learn what may be holding them back, whether within themselves or cultural/institutional barriers they have experienced.

Upcoming Best Practices:

2. Clearly Define What You Believe

3. Mine the Marketplace

4. Integrate Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development

5. Be an “Other”

6. Create an Environment of Safety

7. Upgrade Your People Practices

8. Take on Your Culture

Developing Female Leaders: Navigating the Minefields and Releasing the Potential of Women in Your Church, Kadi Cole, Thomas Nelson, 2019, 224pgs.

Connecting and Investing

Last week, I asked my prayer and financial partners three quick questions about how I could help them feel better connected and invested in my work, particularly my emails and Facebook group. I received 12 responses and am very grateful for their feedback.

Apart from those who are happy with how things are, I'm delighted to engage with some of your very welcome and constructive feedback and ideas.

1. FEWER EMAILS (1 response)

"I receive quite a few missionary emails. The fewer I get the more likely I am to read them."

When I first began in this role, I had my secular marketing hat on and knew that I needed to stay front-of-mind to keep my supporters connected and hopefully invested in my work. I quickly learned that building ministry partnerships is a long journey together with fellow Christians and is not meant to be a quick persistent marketing pitch. I learned that I need to be intentional about my communication and not flood email inboxes with appeal after appeal. As a result, my strategy shifted. You may expect a max of 1-2 emails from me a month and a seasonal financial investor's newsletter.

2. STAY ON TOPIC (2 responses)

"We are supporting your work with young adults and campus ministry not to be swayed by an agenda."

I hear you loud and clear. You are supporting my work, not an agenda. Thank you for raising this. I can see how my interest in the issues surrounding women in the church and serving in ministry can overpower the conversation and will attempt to strike a good balance.

And I hope you will bear with me when I do delve into this world as it is particularly relevant to my role in many ways. As the only senior staff member in a ministry who is a woman, I am aware that I am an example to our students and other men and women in our ministry networks. The student leaders I oversee in my department are both young women and men and I want them to be aware of the issues that will effect them should they move into leadership roles in the church or move on to theological college and ministry work.

3. STORIES AND IMAGES (7 responses)

"Stories of students coming to faith, Scripture you are working through with your students, accounts of student leading well."

Yes! You've spoken and I have listened. More stories. More images. I can do this. With increased investment and more hours available to me over the months and years of working in this space the more stories I will have to share.

4. VIDEOS (4 responses)

"30 seconds - 2 minutes videos are good to give us a view of what's happening on the ground. Featuring students and other staff, too."

I love it. I wasn't entirely sure that you were loving my videos I was posting but several of you wanted more shorter videos, feautring different people and day to day accounts. I can do this.

5. DON'T INVEST TOO MUCH TIME IN US (2 responses)

"I don’t want to see you invest too much time in supporters! Focus on the students."

When I was a girl I remember reading the biography of Lottie Moon, a 19th century American Southern Baptist missionary to China. I remember reading with dismay as she left her important work in China to return to the United States to raise the necessary financial investment to continue her work. Her letters back to churches in the United States pleading for their ongoing financial partnership and to not forget her and the work she was doing pre-internet and before air travel. She had to pack, take a ship across the Pacific Ocean, a train from San Francisco to the east coast to travel from church to church to re-ignite their passion for God's work overseas.

Southern Baptists since have shifted their funding model and all churches in the denomination contribute to the funding of missionaries, releasing the missionaries to just get on with the work. This is the church I grew up in. But now here I am, like Lottie Moon working at building connection to my work and making the appeal to financial investment to cover the woman-hours necessary to accomplish the work.

Lottie Moon, like the apostle Paul wrote letters to the saints abroad to connect them to her work, thank them for sending prayers, resources, funds and people to assist in her work.

My work in building you up in your faith, your ministry, your connection with God's work on campus, thanking you for your support is all a part of a long legacy of Christian missionary work. As I get on with my work and share more in-the-moment stories and videos, you will hopefully feel more connected, value the gospel work I do, and some may feel compelled to financially invest in my work, from the $10 a month from a stay at home mum to the $1000 tax return from a recent graduate.

6. VISIT CHURCHES (1 response)

"We often get visiting speakers come to our church from University Fellowship of Christians. I feel connected in this way."

I love being able to share with local churches and missions groups. Please, let your church leadership know that I am very happy to come and share and I am available to be used as a ministry resource to build up and encourage the women in their congregation.

One way that you can encourage me when I come to visit is to come and talk to me afterwards. Bring over a friend who may not know about my work to talk to me, too. I often don't know many people in the church and may be left awkwardly standing alone next to our University Fellowship of Christians display.

7. IN-PERSON CONNECTION (1 response)

"Have coffee with me!"

Yes, when are you free? This is an important part of our work. Connecting face to face and building partnerships in an intimate conversation. Within the next year I also aim to build face to face connections through partnership-building events.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Reply to ministry emails. Find 1-2 things that you really connected with. Pray about them and hit "Reply" and send me a quick message to let me know. Tell me your stories of ministry and mission so that I can be praying for you. My husband will let you know that each time a reply email comes through I am FLOATING on air.

2. Comment in the Facebook group Christine: Behind the Scenes

3. Consider if it's time to move from connecting to investing in my work. christinejolly.com/support

Ministry Update

As you know, my role is to oversee University Fellowship of Christian's Fellowship Groups and Faculty Cluster Events. Please keep these groups and events in your prayers and consider ways you might be able to support them.

Fellowship Groups
My team of student leaders have a had a strong start to the year. They consistently have an average of more than 4 students attend each of our 4 Fellowship Group based on faculty. One group in particular has requested to meet more than once a week! How could we say "No"?!

Our student leader team did brainstorm some cautions as they were concerned students may become over-burdened with commitments or choosing to attend the extra Bible study time over the Fellowship Group prayer time or any of our other official events. We were also concerned that students might opt for this Bible study over engaging with their local church's small group options. It turns out their churches didn't have Bible studies they could attend. In the end, this group has our blessing to go off-the-books, group members should feel no pressure to attend the extra meeting and their group leader has pointed them towards some great Bible study resources.

In all of this, my job is to coach the student leaders in their task to make wise decisions on behalf of their groups. I would usually only step in if I felt that our Vision/Mission was at risk. The leaders have really proven themselves capable of mature decision-making. We have a great team!

Faculty Cluster Events
At the beginning of Semester 1, students in Arts, Science and Health Faculty Clusters all hosted social events for their friends in their respective faculties. Now they are in the planning stages for the 3rd event and will be meeting together soon to plan for their big Evangelistic event at the beginning of Semester 2.

The Science Cluster hope to host an event where a panel of everyday Christians within Science, Engineering and Technology fields might come an answer some big life questions. Our students would then be hosts at tables and help shape the conversation over a light meal.

Please pray for their planning. Those who attend these events will be invited to take part in our Christianity 1A six-week course later in the semester.

Coming Soon
In the middle of June, all AFES senior staff will be attending a 5 day conference just outside Sydney. I'm looking forward to meeting my mainland colleagues. I'm one of those weirdos that genuinely loves conferences, the on-site accommodation, meals and networking.

We also have Mid Year Conference in July. Our Hobart and Launceston campuses will join together over 3 days for some deep theological teaching and practical workshops.

"There is no Christian camp quite like Mid Year Conference. Our vision is that MYC will give the Uni Fellowship great understanding, ownership and momentum going into Semester 2. We build an intensive program to help new Christians build new knowledge and disciplines into their lives. And more mature Christians will learn lots of new things and be inspired to make changes in their lives and ministries. We will be looking at the topic of The Cross in sermons, seminars and Speak the Word groups - along with a range of practical electives."

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Family

These are my cheeky girls Olivia (10) and Ella (8). This image says it all. Olivia is my sensible, animal and LEGO enthusiast. Ella is a warrior fairy superhero princess. They are both currently obsessed with the soundtrack to Lego Movie 2. Olivia always has one eye on the clock and has her things organised and ready to go. Ella stays up late reading and often arrives at school muesli bar in hand and sleep in her eyes just as the bell rings. Both enjoy dancing and singing in front of the mirror together.

Mike (my husband) is a hard-working Marketing Officer for Christian Schools Tasmania. He frequently rides his road bike to and from work and he takes it with him on our trips overseas. This bike is a serious aspect to our Family Health and Wellbeing Plan. His time dedicated to riding is good for all of us and precious as it gets him out of the office in the fresh air, exercising and socialising with his cycling mates which has led to some really great evangelistic conversations.

Prayer: My change in jobs this year has led to some changes in our family scheduling. One morning a week, I leave early in the morning for our Breakfast Sessions and Leadership Development for our students. One evening a month, I'm out late at our Citywide evangelistic event. And I have and will be attending a few conferences and be away from my family for a few days at a time. Some of these conferences have meant that we've had to shift our normal trip to visit family in June to later in the year.

This is a hard change on my family when everyone is used to mum/wife being 100% accessible all of the time. I am very grateful that this job allows me to still pick up my children from school every day of the week, relax together in the afternoons and make dinner and settle them in bed, reading from our chapter book almost every night. I've already been away for one conference and when I came back everyone seemed to have survived and still loved each other. I know we can do this but it's hard to hear a ministry kid declare "I hate your new job!"

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Financial Update

I still need to raise the remaining 40% of my monthly salary to be sustainable and work fully-funded for 2.5 days per week. That's approximately 30 people giving $50/month (more or less) to get me over the line.

Your overseas support goes a loooong way. $1AUD = $0.70USD or 0.50GBP
or
$50AUD/month = $35USD/month

You could give more or give less, as you feel led.

If you'd like to become a regular financial supporter, please click on the SUPPORT button below.

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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.

Jen Wilkin on What Pastors Need to Know About Women: [VIDEO] Jen speaks to a room of church leaders about understanding and serving more than 1/2 their congregation better.

Are Your Church Structures Undermining the Gospel?: When we were talking about this article in the office this week, Andy, our Events Coordinator who hadn't read the article, began practically quoting the content word for word. When he finally got around to reading it, turned out the article was written by his lead pastor in the church he was at in Sydney. Ah, that explains a lot.

Church Announcements: [PODCAST] Let's move beyond the boring and get excited about how our announcements fit in with the overall vision and mission of our church. Leave the dot points for the weekly email.

#readwomen: I'm excited to read some of these books from InterVarsity Press this year. Such a great range of experience that both men and women can learn from.

Developing Female Leaders: "One of the best practices churches can do for all their leaders, especially their female ones, is to make sure their theology is clear and to help their teams understand how this practically plays out in day to day ministry settings. In the book, I’m not looking to change anyone’s theology, but we are missing out on some excellent leaders because of miscommunication. The book provides language and tools to help you better articulate the theology you already have, and to communicate that with your team so everyone’s leadership potential is maximized.”

10 Habits of Discerning People: "8. They embrace goodness wherever they find it. In the chaos of the world, we tend to cluster in like-minded groups, believing our tribe will give us a sense of safety and security. Sadly, this “us vs. them” approach can blind us to the weaknesses within our group. It can also make us miss the good things that happen outside it. Discerning people know that both good and bad exist in every space.”

When Do You Know You Are Emotionally Mature?: Suggestion #21: "You get better at hearing feedback. Rather than assuming that anyone who criticises you is either trying to humiliate you or is making a mistake, you accept that maybe it would be an idea to take a few things on board. You start to see that you can listen to a criticism and survive it – without having to put on your armour and deny there was ever a problem." (great life hacks for Uni students ... or anyone!)

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Upcoming Speaking Events:

15 June: Mission Possible (St. Johns Presbyterian Church) Event Missions Spot
10-13 July: Mid-Year Conference Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Politics)
14 July: St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Missions Spot
29 July: Preachers Workshop (“Flair for the Dramatic”: helping preachers move beyond reading a script.)
11 August: Women's Winter Festival Sermon (Jesus Is ... Light of the World)
12 September: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 2)
22 September: Summerleas Christian Church Missions Spot

Ministry Update

The coffee catch-ups with students has been going really well. I've gone from ACK! (nervous/excited) to YAY! (that was so great!).

I'm off to Brisbane this week to lead a workshop at the national Presbyterian women's conference on "Thinking Theologically about Christian Self Help Literature". Thank you so much for those of you who helped me crowdsource different points of view on this very broad topic.

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Financial Update

UNITED STATES AND UK Financial Support: Tax Deductible Giving

I've got great news. Supporters in the US, CANDADA and UK can give to my work and get a tax deduction!

I still need to raise the remaining 40% of my monthly salary to be sustainable and work fully-funded for 2.5 days per week.

Your overseas support goes a loooong way. $1AUD = $0.70USD or 0.50GBP

That's $1386.33AUD/month of regular pledges.

If you'd like to become a regular financial supporter, please click on the SUPPORT button below.

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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.

Misbehaving in the Throne Room: "The abruptness with which David asks for things, and even the gall to demand action from God, confused me. This was misbehavior in God’s house if I had ever seen it. David, bow your head, fold your hands, appear meek. Always begin a prayer with “Dear Lord” and end it with “Amen.” All good children raised in church know these are the rules."

What We Can Learn from Early Christianity's Resistance to Infanticide and Exposure: "The early Christians, however, considered "conception, gestation, birth, and nurture as a continuous process" and therefore considered the termination of life at any point through this process as an act of murder."

Does Christ Speak in the Rape of Dinah: "When we witness Dinah’s violation and betrayal, watch revenge unfold in the name of justice, wrestle with the seeming silence of God, and search for answers, we hope for someone who will do better, someone who can save Dinah."

The Bible for All of Life: "The Bible recognizes this. It speaks pastorally to different circumstances—giving a rocket to the lukewarm in one passage, and sweet assurance to the tender conscience in another; requiring us to stand out as godly beacons of difference in one instance, and to give way in all-things-to-all-men flexibility in another; condemning the futility of works-based righteousness in one place, and the foolish presumption of faith-without-works in another."

New #SheToo Podcast Tackles Violence Against Women in the Bible: "I don’t want to defend the indefensible,” says Paynter. “I really believe in following truth where it leads. So I’m willing to ask hard questions of the text. What I’m not willing to do is to say that they should be ditched all together from our Bibles. And I’m not willing to say that God is not good in the end.”

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Upcoming Speaking Events:

30 March: Connecting Conference 2019 (Brisbane) Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Christian Self-Help Literature)
4 April: MTS Training Day Workshop (Engaging the Media)
7 April: Cornerstone Presbyterian Church Missions Spot
11 April: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 1)
28 April: Mt. Stuart Presbyterian Church Missions Spot
10-13 July: Mid-Year Conference Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Politics)
14 July: St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Missions Spot
11 August: Women's Winter Festival Sermon (Jesus Is ... Light of the World)
12 September: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 2)
22 September: Summerleas Christian Church Missions Spot

Ministry Update

Two big weeks of our Pre-Season Conference and our on-campus mission have wrapped up.

Now it's time to follow up with approximately 250 students who want to know more.

Learn how you can support our mission to proclaim Jesus and grow confident student leaders and young women who are committed to following Jesus through all seasons of their lives.

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Financial Update

My role is meant for 2.5 days a week. Currently I am funded to work 1.5. As a result 20% of my 1.5 days a week needs to be allocated to raising the remainder support needed to add the extra day required.

1.5 days a week is the bear minimum to do the basics of the role.

Your financial partnership means that I would be paid to:

1. meet up with young women 1:1 to read the Bible and pray

2. work on leadership development with my Fellowship Group team

3. study and prepare workshops and talks coming up in the year

4. lead an additional Fellowship Group or two myself so that no student is left without a weekly group to pray strategically for our mission on campus and grow in spiritual maturity

At the moment much of this is happening as unpaid work.

If you'd like to become a regular financial supporter, please click on the SUPPORT button below.

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.

How My View of Scripture Changed: A Tribute to My Local Pastor: "Because I did not know how to correctly study and interpret Scripture, I had no firm footing in it. I was easily swept away by lies born out of the misuse of God’s Word."

Falling in Love with God's Word: "When women grow increasingly lax in their pursuit of Bible literacy, everyone in their circle of influence is affected. Rather than acting as salt and light, we become bland contributions to the environments we inhabit and shape, indistinguishable from those who have never been changed by the gospel."

Women in Vocational Ministry: "One of the lessons we should learn from this #MeToo moment is that we need to have a leadership structure in place, no matter what institution (church, seminary, publishing house, parachurches), that allows for greater accountability and transparency, and women need to be part of that accountability structure..."

The Church Loved my Daughter to Jesus: "No doubt the hundreds of hours we spent teaching her the Bible and talking with her played a role in her coming to know Jesus. But what ultimately showed her the reality of the gospel was hearing it from people in addition to her parents. She was engulfed by people who loved and followed Jesus. Their love, prayers, and conversations bore fruit one moment on a Sunday night as she trusted in Jesus."

Finding Your Identity in Christ Looks Like Death: "[T]his pursuit of finding our identity in Christ looks like death. As in the classic moves of the Reformation, Butterfield says, we’re called to destroy idols and proclaim the Word of God—and this begins with us."

Encouraging Women in Ministry: "[T]he most significant encouragement for her is normal relationships. And this includes things like the real encouragement given and received in the midst of the really normal, the normal conversations about our weeks, the normal invitation to be part of our family dinners, remembering to ask about the thing that have been stressful, the follow up text to say thanks for small way I saw you serving on Sunday, the shared laugh at ourselves, the team dinner at a restaurant with no agenda but simply food on the table."

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Upcoming Speaking Events:

21 February: Pre-Season Conference 2019 (Esther 6:1-8:14)
22 February: Pre-Season Conference 2019 Seminar (John and the Synoptic Gospels - not recorded)
30 March: Connecting Conference 2019 (Brisbane) Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Christian Self-Help Literature)
4 April: MTS Training Day Workshop (Engaging the Media)
11 April: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 1)
10-13 July: Mid-Year Conference Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Politics)
11 August: Women's Winter Festival Sermon (Jesus Is ...)
12 September: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 2)

Revenge and Redemption: Part 4

But what happens when his people become the villain.

What happens when God’s people gnash their teeth at the righteous and plot his demise.

What happened when God’s people killed God’s own son, Jesus Christ.

He saves them.

Peter pleaded with the Jews not too long after Jesus, God’s son, had died, was raised back to life and had returned to His father in Heaven. They had just witnessed a man be healed in the name of Jesus.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, [ESTHER] the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

“Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’

What began as a plot for revenge by the Jewish leaders is reversed into a plot of redemption, extended to all people.

The Bible says you and I were God’s enemies.

We were against our righteous, Creator. We sought our own destiny pushing others down to lift up ourselves. We were proud in our spirit. For some of us, the existence of God angered us to no end. It wasn’t enough to ignore him. We shook our fists at him and wished he was dead.

Romans 5:10 states

For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Jesus extends salvation to us.

Jesus offers us salvation not just through his death, but more so through his life. We are not saved for some point in the distant future. We are saved to live a new life NOW through Jesus and His Spirit.

Peter says: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”

Christians, we are not off the hook. Do you claim to believe the good news of Jesus’ forgiveness and salvation but in your life you shrink back from living boldly in faith or live like maybe Jesus’ salvation isn’t enough or do you actively fight and suppress the work of God’s spirit in your life?

Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 29 warns:

How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Do not be content to simply wipe your brow and sigh, content in your own eternal safety. Like Esther and Mordecai and the Jews, go out and live and thrive and invite people to fear and love God through the gift of REDEMPTION offered to us by Jesus life, death and resurrection.

Elizabeth Elliot was a missionary to a South American tribe not far from where the Mayan were located 100s of years earlier. She tells us in her book Be Still My Soul that “according to the New Testament, saints are those who belong to Christ, in whom Christ lives. We are meant to be saints not only when we get to heaven, but right here in this world.”

For such a time as this, boldly speak to your classmate about your faith. For such a time as this, show patience, wisdom and compassion for the person who angrily dismisses your opinion just because you are a Christian. For such a time as this, use your time and your study and your privilege to best prepare for a life of serving God and loving your neighbour wherever God moves to position you in the world.

Jesus does not save us just for this one moment right now.

Jesus does not just save us FROM AN ETERNAL DEATH SEPARATED FROM GOD.

We are saved to LIVE.

We are saved to THRIVE.

We are saved to PERSEVERE.

We are saved to REJOICE and FEAST, enjoying the salvation given to us.

We are saved to bring other people to know the fear of God, his terrifying ability to move in the events of the world extending his salvation to THEM.

Let your own story of revenge against God be reversed. Repent and turn to God. Find redemption in Jesus. And live!

PRAYER:

Gracious Lord, humble us and lift up our hearts to live and thrive and persevere. Guard us from proud hearts. Guide us to repent and turn to you. Open our eyes and hearts to where you are moving so we can join you on your mission to save your people.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Revenge and Redemption: Part 3

God’s name is not mentioned in Esther. But HE is the main player. HE laughs at Haman’s attempts to control the chess board of life. HE knows the day of Haman’s demise. HE moves the players so that Haman’s own device of torture and death will be his own death.

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.

The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”

As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits[b] stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”

The king said, “Impale him on it!” So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

”But their swords will pierce their own hearts”

• The God of Esther moves to save his people.

• The God of Esther once moved so that a Hebrew prisoner was raised up in the midst of a natural disaster to save the nation of Egypt from a devastating famine and ultimately God’s people, the sons of Jacob.

• The God of Esther moved so that a Hebrew slave is raised as a prince and frees his people restoring them to their promised land.

• The God of Esther moved to save Mordecai and Esther’s lives … for now.

But don’t forget, the edict to eradicate the Jews is still at play.

The story goes on with Esther pleading for the life of her people. Haman’s edict is still at play and cannot be reversed as it has the king’s name and seal on it.

Esther once again at a later time returns to the king and finds favour with him and pleads for the lives of her people. If they’d been sold as slaves, she would have said nothing. But their lives are at risk. HER life is at risk.

King Xerxes issues a new decree permitting all Jews throughout his kingdom from India to Ethiopia to defend themselves.

Mordecai is elevated to become a trusted advisor to the king and oversees the safety of the Jewish people. The Jews successfully defend themselves and go on to thrive. Their neighbours all see the hand of God in their salvation and some even become followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob … and Esther.

When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

To this day, Jews around the world celebrate with feasting this very event.

• God’s people were not just SAVED FOR NOW or some distant date in the future.

• God’s people were saved to LIVE.

• God’s people were saved to THRIVE.

• God’s people were saved to PERSEVERE.

• God’s people were saved to REJOICE and FEAST, enjoying the salvation given to them.

• God’s people were saved to BRING OTHER PEOPLE to know the fear of God, his terrifying ability to move in the events of the world extending his salvation to THEM.

God saved his people.

God REDEEMS his people.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

Revenge and Redemption: Part 2

Queen Esther has hosted a dinner party for King Xerxes and his advisor Haman, mortal enemy of her cousin Mordecai. Haman, a man who in an effort to eradicate one man whose very existence taunts him, has enacted a law that ALL of Modecai’s race, the Jews, should be exterminated.

Haman goes home elated to have found favour with Queen Esther to be invited to not ONE but TWO dinner parties in a row and is flying high as all of his schemes for revenge are falling into place. Unknown to him, Esther is Mordecai’s cousin. Unknown to him, Esther is a Jew.

The king however is having difficulty sleeping.

That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

“What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked.

“Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered.

4 The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.

Although God is not mentioned at all in the book of Esther, he is present in the court of Xerxes. He is moving the actors around in this drama

Proverbs 19:21 delivers a chilling truth:

Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

Haman is planning revenge. The Lord moves to preserve his man. Let’s read on:

His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.”

“Bring him in,” the king ordered.

When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”

Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” 7 So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’”

“Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”

Haman plans to swiftly remove his enemy by running him through with a giant stake, the Lord proceeds to thoroughly unwind his twisted plans in a manner that completely devastates Haman’s evil heart.

This is TORTURE for Haman. We sense that God has moved in this particular way not to ultimately honour Mordecai, but because this unique task utterly humbles Haman’s proud heart. Take a moment and just IMAGINE Mordecai’s shock when Haman approaches him and carries out this parade of honour. WHAT IS GOING ON?!!!

So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”

Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.

His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

What can his wife and friends say beyond, “Mate, you’re doomed!” The man he seeks to destroy has the king’s favour! The man who has the king’s favour is a Jew. And with that gut wrenching knowledge, his fate is sealed.

There’s a knock on the door and Haman he is escorted to the Queen’s second dinner party and ultimately his own death.

So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”

Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.[a]”

King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

This is the moment. God’s reversal of Haman’s plan. Haman would seek revenge for his battered pride. God humbles him. Haman would seek to exterminate Mordecai and his people. God points the finger at him and he is destroyed.

Psalm 37:12-15

The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
  for he knows their day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword
 and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
 to slay those whose ways are upright.
 But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
 and their bows will be broken.

The God of the Bible moves against Haman. That is terrifying.

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

Revenge and Redemption: Part 1

There are two great plot twists when it comes to really great stories.

Revenge and Redemption.

Revenge plot twists show the absolute depths a person is willing to sink into their imagination of exacting the most excruciating and sin satisfying payback for wrongs done to them. In their mind, justice is served.

Redemption plot twists on the other hand soar above the heights of human ability to love and forgive. Our imaginations can rarely comprehend the heights of self-sacrifice and mercy and love that lift a fellow human out of the pits of their misery. Redemption moves beyond justice and into new life.

Humans plot revenge.

Humans rarely plot redemption.

Revenge stories are our guilty pleasure.

Redemption stories drive us to our knees in other-worldly, eternal yearning for our own redemption.

In Jane Austen’s Emma, we are brought to tears as Emma calculates her many flaws and failures as a daughter and a friend. She rises above and is resigned to suffer the consequences of her actions. But in the end, she is offered mercy and compassion and ultimately love. All of which she doesn’t deserve.

In Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the tale drags on of woe upon woe committed against Tess. The joys of this world are denied her over and over again. Finally, she exacts her revenge denying life to the man who has taken it from her time and time again. Justice. She experiences a flitting moment of ecstasy until justice is served and life snatched from her once and for all. The ending leaves us shaken. There is no hope. There is no redemption. Life is pain and misery.

But revenge is not simply a literary device used by novelists.

We have archeological records of ancient cultures inventing the most excruciating methods of torture as tools of revenge. The worst methods are reserved for those who commit treason.

The Mayan in South America were incredibly skilled in keeping their victim alive while they exacted their torture over months. Fingers would be dismembered and then healed fully and then the arms and then the legs. Flesh would be flayed off and fed to dogs, eaten in the presence of the tortured man.

Ancient Persians had a particular form of torture called “death by milk and honey”. Doesn’t sound so bad! Right? Just wait. Ancient Greek historian, Plutarch, included this episode about Persian emperor Artaxerxes:

[The king] decreed that Mithridates should be put to death in boats; which execution is after the following manner: Taking two boats framed exactly to fit and answer each other, they lay down in one of them the malefactor that suffers, upon his back; then, covering it with the other, and so setting them together that the head, hands, and feet of him are left outside, and the rest of his body lies shut up within, they offer him food, and if he refuse to eat it, they force him to do it by pricking his eyes; then, after he has eaten, they drench him with a mixture of milk and honey, pouring it not only into his mouth, but all over his face. They then keep his face continually turned towards the sun; and it becomes completely covered up and hidden by the multitude of flies that settle on it. And as within the boats he does what those that eat and drink must needs do, creeping things and vermin spring out of the corruption and rottenness of the excrement, and these entering into the bowels of him, his body is consumed. When the man is manifestly dead, the uppermost boat being taken off, they find his flesh devoured, and swarms of such noisome creatures preying upon and, as it were, growing to his inwards. In this way Mithridates, after suffering for seventeen days, at last expired.

In the book of Esther, an ancient Persian advisor to the emperor is plotting revenge. In the end, we find miraculous redemption.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Ministry Update

Yesterday was a big day for me. I said goodbye to Hobart Mums Network, The Haven and my job with Child Health Association Tasmania.

Today, I moved a stack of books from my theological library from home to my new workspace at the University Fellowship of Christians office. I'm currently working on a talk on Esther 6-8 and a workshop on John and the Synoptic Gospels.

Join me for a cup of tea during my work hours: TUES-WED-THURS 9:30am-2:30pm. I'll make you a brew of one of my German teas and we can just chat or I can listen or we can simply read the Bible and pray together.

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Eve, 1st Year Research Student

Eve’s Story

Wow, the MOST exciting thing, where do I begin? The joy of being introduced to God and getting to know him. Seeing how he has changed my heart, my direction and my actions. Finally beginning to understand lasting peace. Trusting in him and beginning to rely on his wisdom, and see that it is truly for my good. Having a purpose to life and no fear in death. Having the perfect role model: Jesus Christ. These are all quite exciting things that couldn't have happened without Uni Fellowship.

The University Fellowship of Christians provided a platform to meet people my own age and form great friendships. The environment was welcoming, and it provided me with a comfortable place when I was in a new city. The quality of the sermons was definitely a step up from everything I’ve heard in my high school days, and tailored specifically to university students, being challenging, relevant and engaging. There was a big encouragement to ask questions, especially the difficult ones, and if the staff couldn’t answer them they always had a range of books to give, lend or recommend to me.

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Financial Update

This month I am praying for 10 new people to give $50/month.

This will help me reach my 60% regular giving goal and I can begin working my full 2.5 days per week.

At the moment, I am paid 1.5 and I am volunteering the rest.

If you'd like to become a regular financial supporter, please click on the SUPPORT button below.

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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.

Missions and the Need for Deeper Women: Missions Podcast featured two women from The Pelican Project and asked: "How can we make sure that we are helping women deepen in their faith, their view of culture, and their heart for the local church—so that they can be more effective on mission?"

All Creation Is Groaning: "God's words in Romans 8 help me to live in this world and remind me that the sufferings of the present time (the sufferings we share with Jesus for his sake, but also the general suffering that we experience living in this world) are nothing compared to the glory that is coming when Jesus returns and brings the new creation." - Laura Haines

3 Ways to Pass on Faith to the Next Generation: "We [wrongly] assume that if we instruct our children in true doctrine, shelter them from immoral behavior, and involve them in church and religious organizations, then we have done all we can." - Tim Keller

When I Don't Desiring God ...: When humans draw a line in the sand where God himself has not. My heart is broken for young and old men who do not fit the mold of "uber-masculine" who feel that there is no place for them in the current cultural climate of Christianity. Who read articles that state that "soft men" will be barred from the Kingdom of Heaven. Who love God and their neighbour but cannot carry this extra burden. Who desire to emulate Jesus Christ, grateful for the work of the Spirit in his life. Trusting in the sacrifice Jesus made on his behalf allowing him to stand righteous before God in Christ. Thanks you, Nathan Campbell, for challenging those who are comfortable sitting in ivory towers.

Preaching Hard Stories: Last year I delivered a talk on the "hard story" of Tamar and Judah by the end the hearts and minds of the women present were lifted and rejoicing in the redemption available to us through Jesus Christ. Wendy Alsup says, "These passages aren't easy to teach. But they are worth the work to handle them well. There is profit to be found in them, buried treasure that points us to Christ, who was born of woman to save women and men, from the sins committed against them and the sins committed by them. Steward them well."

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Upcoming Speaking Events:

21 February: Pre-Season Conference 2019 (Esther 6:1-8:14)
22 February: Pre-Season Conference 2019 Seminar (John and the Synoptic Gospels)
30 March: Connecting Conference 2019 (Brisbane) Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Christian Self-Help Literature)
4 April: MTS Training Day Workshop (Engaging the Media)
11 April: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 1)
10-13 July: Mid-Year Conference Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Politics)
12 September: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 2)

Ministry Update

This month has been a delightful juggling act of school holiday relaxation, disorganised appointment making and slogging through new work systems. (see video above)

Join us as at the O Week Mission and New Branding Launch Night for more than just seeing what outfit I'm going to wear.

How can I serve you and your local church? Hit me up with your ideas. Email me: christine@ufcutas.org

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Financial Update

Thanks to the ongoing regular support of my financial supporters, I am very close to raising 60% of my financial target that must be on-going regular donations to my work. Once 60% is achieved I can increase my work hours to 2.5 days per week rather than the current 1.5 days.

How much do I need to get to 60%?
Just under $500/month.

Broken down, that might look like:

• 1 person giving $120/month

• 2 people giving $75/month

• 2 people giving $50/month

• 3 people giving $20/fortnight

The remainder will be one-off gifts or additional regular donations that will eventually help us as a team achieve full 100% funding.

I hope we can reach our 60% goal by 28 February. If you'd like to become a regular financial supporter, please click on the SUPPORT button below.

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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.

Teaching Women to Teach: I'm part of a Facebook group of women theologians called The Clutch by The Pelican Project. A woman shared a criticism she'd received about how she ran her church's Women's Ministry: "She runs it like a seminary (Bible college)." Best criticism she'd ever received.

Personal Ministry that Counts: How to Love and Serve Each Other: Our campus ministry gives opportunities (especially in Fellowship Groups) for Christian students to put these principles into practice empowering them to transfer those skills into the context of their church family.

Women of Weaton (feat. Dr. Emily McGowin): "If women are image-bearers of God, co-laborers in the Kingdom, and co-recipients of the one faith, one baptism, and one Spirit of Christ, then ‘their’ issues are our issues. Women’s issues are human issues. Women’s issues are body of Christ issues. And if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then all aspects of life are appropriate sites of theological reflection."

How Modesty Culture Has Hamstrung the Church (The Monstrous Regiment podcast): Kate Robinson tackles the Myths about Modesty in current Christian culture rooting her arguments in Scripture. This one will get you excited! Let me know if you want to organise a discussion on this topic with your local church. (call me)

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Upcoming Speaking Events:

27 January: Missions Spot at Christian Reformed Church of Kingston
3 February: Missions Spot at Bay Christian Church
21 February: Pre-Season Conference 2019 (Esther 6:1-8:14)
22 February: Pre-Season Conference 2019 Seminar (John and the Synoptic Gospels)
30 March: Connecting Conference 2019 (Brisbane) Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Christian Self-Help Literature)

Email me at christine@ufcutas.org if you’d like to arrange me to speak at your church’s or organisaiton’s event.