Category Archives: Bible

Don’t Assume That Where You Are Now Is Where God Wants You To Stay

Bible, Faith,

My church has been preaching through the book of Acts this year, and I was rostered on to preach a couple of weeks ago. The passage for the week was Acts 18:18-28. My first thought when I looked at it was, “What on earth am I going to get out of that?!”

It’s one of those parts of the Bible that I think many people would skim read or even skip completely: it’s a list of names and places that don’t mean much to most of us today. Paul travels a great deal throughout the book of Acts, but this passage is mostly a summary without many details about what happens. It also mentions Priscilla & Aquila and Apollos and where they came from and went to.

As I was praying and thinking about what I could speak on, this phrase came to me very clearly: “Don’t assume that where you are now is where God wants you to stay.” It’s a truth I’ve seen work out in my own life, but it is also something I see consistently reflected in the stories of the Bible. God is in the business of moving people. Whether physically or spiritually, He has places to take us that we have not yet been to.

These biblical stories are more than geography lessons; even though I do personally find the historical geography fascinating 🙂 Geography is here a reflection of mission. When these people became followers of Jesus they didn’t settle down to live comfortable and well-established lives. For them, it meant just the opposite! They were constantly moving, learning, growing, sharing, seeking, listening and travelling.

In our modern western culture it can often seem like the goal is to settle down and make our lives as comfortable as possible. But the basic call of discipleship is Jesus saying, “Follow me.” It seems pretty clear to me that this means a journey, an adventure, a risk. It means stepping out in faith into new places, unknown places, unfamiliar places, even uncomfortable places.

I’ve met with believers in Africa and Asia who seem to get this far better than I do. People for whom becoming a follower of Jesus automatically means a huge shift, whether that literally means packing up their few belongings and moving to the other side of the their country or it means changing their whole outlook and perspective on relationships, economics, power and society. I’ve been so challenged by people I’ve met who come from cultures who see the world so differently to me, and so who don’t automatically assume that being a Christian means living a boring, safe and risk-free life. I don’t want to be comfortable. I want to be willing to go wherever following Jesus takes me. I don’t want to assume that where I am right now is where God wants me to stay.

I finished my sermon with one of my favourite illustrations from Francis Chan. If you’re a follower of Jesus and you want to be challenged and inspired about what that might look like, have a look at this:

Junia Who?

Bible, Women, ,

I came across the Junia Project only recently but have been really impressed with the quality of their posts. For those who don’t know, Junia is the name of a woman from Rome in the first century and she is called an apostle in the New Testament. (Romans 16:7) However for the last hundred years or so most English translations gave her the masculine name Junias, hiding the fact that she was a woman in ministry.

Obviously I too am a woman in ministry. But the “issue” of women in ministry has been one I’ve sometimes been a bit reluctant to talk too loudly about. Partly because I hate the thought that my life and work is an “issue”! I don’t want to be defined by this debate, nor do I wish to be seen as pushing an agenda. I didn’t go into ministry to prove anything to anyone; I simply responded to God’s call on my life and listened to the affirmation of the family of churches He placed me in.

I have been privileged to have male friends, colleagues and pastors who have been and are incredible advocates for me and for all women serving in our churches. I am grateful to them because we all need to hear their voices. They can say things that I cannot and say them far more powerfully than I ever could.

But I have also been given opportunities to speak around this topic and others because of my still relatively rare circumstance. When I was ordained I was the only ordained woman in my denomination in my state. Now, ten years later, I am one of four. Our family of churches have been wonderfully supportive, but we still face challenges in really listening to women’s voices in all their diversity of ministry experiences.

I‘m still figuring out how best to use my voice on this topic. But the Junia Project is challenging and inspiring me. I found this article on How To Avoid Undermining Your Theology Of Gender  particularly helpful. Sometimes it is the more subtle things we do that risk undermining what we overtly say we believe. I would think nearly every Christian woman I know would have personal experiences of the kinds of things this article is talking about, and many of us have also done some of the things it challenges us to avoid. We’re all learning together how to navigate the implications of the gospel in a culture still heavily influenced by ‘gender wars.’

Without wanting to jump on any soapboxes, high-horses or bandwagons, because none of those sound like particularly fun places to be, I’m looking forward to listening and exploring more of what it means to use my voice and influence well when it comes to the challenges facing women in the church and in the world today.