Act Reflect Connect Tag

Thriving Church in China Part 3 – A Meeting of the Minds

“When friends come from afar, how could one not be happy?”

This Confucian saying captures the spirit of the third meeting between two presidents, one from the Australian Uniting Church, the other from the China Christian Council.

Chaired by Gen Sec Rev Kan, a team of 10 people from the CCC shared various ministries. The UCA President opened his conversation by reflecting the concept of Guanxi – relationship from the perspective of Trinitarian life, God’s relationship with the Creation, and Christ’s relationship with us.

“We are here to continue our relationship”, the President said.

For the ancient Chinese, a myriad of things derived from the interplay of two dynamic forces, Yin and Yang. Today the relationship between our two churches is underlined by a sharing – not only of joys, but also challenges – within the universal Body of Christ.

At the meeting three national leaders, Rob Floyd, Lin Hatfield-Dodds, and Andrew Glenn reflected two arms of this relationship: theological education and social service. Since 2010, there have been 7+7 mutual exchanges supported by the UW relational platform. In 2013, we jointly held a historic conference on Theology of Unity. In response to the ageing society we see in both countries, UnitingCare conducted two training conferences for 200 people. These two arms of engagement can be summarised as “unity in theology” and “unity in praxis”.

In 1984 when Bishop K. H. Ting visited WCC in Australia he requested a meeting with the UCA leaders. When he was asked why, he replied: “I have read your Basis of Union. We have a lot to learn from the Uniting Church in Australia about a theology of unity”. Stuart recalled this story in Rev Prof Andrew Dutney’s book. Indeed it has taken 30 years for us to recapture Bishop Ting’s foresight. Within this relationship, there is a core value overlapping two identities, namely God’s reconciliation in Christ Jesus. “Inner virtue enables outer ruling”. Our doing derives from our being.

Travelling to Nanjing was comfortable and quick. The 300km section is a part of 1400km railway built during the Global Financial Crisis. It took 3.5 years to complete and cost trillions of RMB. Although the tickets would never pay for the construction (A$30 to Nanjing), the network is designed to create a “same-city-effect”. It takes about the same time to Nanjing (65mins) as from one side of Shanghai to the other. The railway links an economic zone with a radius of 350km, and tax income pays for further development. China has a 16,000km high-speed railway network, and it will reach 30,000km by 2020.

In Nanjing we visited the Mausoleum of Dr Sun Yatsen(1866-1925). On the gate, there were two characters 博爱 – unbound love. When the last dynasty collapsed under the colonial powers, Dr Sun started the revolution in 1911 to replace the imperial system with a state of Republic. Married to a Methodist, one of three sisters of Song, he combined Christian love with Confucian morality and used the unbound love to heal the wondered nation. His “Three-People Principles 三民主义” – People’s Governance, People Livelihood, People’s Authority – replaced the idea of Son of Heaven, and moved politics from the One to the many. The job of a government is to “Serve Everyone Under Heaven 天下为公”. Forever he rests under the cosmic potency: “The Heaven and the Earth is set upright by Qi 天地正气”.

In the first week of Pentecost we came to Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. After a successful theological conference in 2013, we visited once again to speak about the practical implications of unity. Four speakers took the stage before 200 students. They spoke about their fields of leadership and also formulated four questions for further discussion.

1. The relationship between God and people enables the UCA to journey with the First Peoples. “How do you enable this God-people relationship to flourish in your context?”
2.  The story of UnitingCare is a bottom-up unity from the laity. “How do you identify the painful needs in the society and empower the congregation to respond to the brokenness of this world?”
3.  UCA international relationships derive from an outgoing spirit of unity to form specific relationships with our neighbours in Asia and the Pacific. “If you were a future leader, how do you shape unity in relationship with Asian church neighbours?”
4. The UCA is going through major change and requires ministers to facilitate these shifts. “How do you become a facilitator of spirit filled change in our locations?”

These questions invited students to form discussion groups. After 10 minutes of animated discussion, each group was invited to present their findings. The speakers were very surprised and encouraged by the answers: thoughtful, articulate, and targeted.

This week’s lectionary teaches us a biblical lesson: The Spirit’s renewal = God’s movement + people’s correspondence. Here among the students, it is evident that the Spirit is renewing the church. Where is God in all of these? God is moving in the margins. Missio Dei has called the church into being. We have been invited to participate in, and contribute to, people’s correspondence.

Why do you keep asking me for money?

“My letterbox is full of guide dogs and children in refugee camps and blind people and endangered orangutans and Royal lifesavers (complete with budgie smugglers) and still you keep coming.

 You keep asking me for money.

 Don’t get me wrong. I like your cause. I believe in what you’re doing. But seriously, why so clingy? Why so persistent? There’s only so much a person can take.”

I hear you, people.

In fact, I work for one of those causes you sometimes want to break up with because our never-ending requests for money, like some teenager with an online shopping addiction, are getting you down. You can’t quite bring yourself to cut us off because either you can’t find our phone number or you still believe in us. (I’m hoping it’s the latter.) Please keep believing in us. We want you to know that we really appreciate your gifts, we understand that you can’t always give and we don’t want you to feel guilty when you can’t donate.  

But here’s why we keep asking you for money.

1. We ask because your money is doing amazing things. You’re part of a community who are changing lives.

It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that your financial gift, combined with others, has genuinely saved the lives of thousands of people. I mean, seriously.  You should be quietly pretty chuffed with yourself!  It’s given hope to whole communities, changed the future for children, allowed mothers to hold their babies in their arms when they would otherwise have died. You don’t bear the needs and pains of the world on your shoulders alone, but together with others, you’re helping create a world where that suffering is lifted.    No matter the size of your gift, when you combine with others, it’s powerful. Thank you so much!

2. We ask because the people we work with really, seriously need it.

We are not messing around when we describe to you the needs of the people with whom we work. Compared to the way we live, our partners struggle with challenges impossible for us to comprehend. War. Filthy water. Systemic injustice and corrupt politics. Crushing poverty. Disability without health care. Sometimes, when we spend time in communities, we think to ourselves: if our supporters saw all this – both the grind and the sheer grit of our partners – we would never need to ask for money again. People would simply give. But sadly, it doesn’t work like that. We are not routinely as generous as we think we are and the world is ridiculously unequal. The latest stats show that the world’s 63 richest people own more wealth than 50% of the global population. We ask because if we didn’t, that stat would continue to grow. Even you and I, simply having a roof above our heads, running water in our homes, enough to eat and clothes to wear fall into the top 15% of the world’s wealthiest people.  Most of you know that already.  But some of us need reminding.

3. We ask because “if we don’t ask, we don’t get”.

Boil it right down and if we don’t repeatedly ask you to be generous, we simply don’t get the money we need. So we ask. And we ask again. Each time, our supporters open their hearts and give with a generosity that amazes us. And we are grateful beyond belief. Of course, we know that in continuing to ask, we risk tiring some of our supporters. But we continue to put needs before you because the needs are great, and miraculously, people continue to give. (FYI, all our financials are here.)

Here’s some tips to keep our relationship fresh (because everyone needs hot tips now and then!)

1. We hope you won’t see every request you get in the mail as an attempt to twist your arm for cash. We have no expectation that every person will give every time, but asking reminds those who are able to do what they can. When you can’t give, please use the material to get informed and inspired about the work. Pass it on to someone else or use it to pray for the people we’re writing to you about. We use environmentally friendly, recycled print materials, but we’d love you to recycle too and spread our material around rather than simply throwing it out – leave it in your church, your train station or your dentist’s waiting room!  We don’t send you things you don’t need like bags, pens or stickers, but we hope you’ll use what we do send to stay connected to the people you support in knowledge, prayer and advocacy.  This in itself is a great gift to our partners.

2. If you really prefer not to receive material from us in the mail, give us a quick call or email and let us know. But please stay in touch via email and through our newsletters.

3. Consider becoming a regular giver. This works best for our partners, who know they can rely on steady income instead of repeated requests for fundraising. And it works best for you, because you have the chance to develop some depth of understanding about the project and people you’re supporting. If you like, you can request only to receive material about special appeals and faithfully commit to one project as a Regular Giver.  But remember, receiving our material can also keep you up to date even if you’re not able to give.

4. Think about other ways you can connect with communities who are benefitting so much from your support. You could volunteer or visit them through our InSolidarity trips. We have so much to learn from being part of the lives of others. Giving is a two way street.

Thanks for sticking with us. We hope this honest answer to your question encourages you not to feel guilty about your giving, and explains why we continue to ask. Please know that we take great care with your gifts and appreciate your generosity. Most of all, the people to whom you give appreciate it more than we’ll ever know.

Right now, yes, we have an excellent opportunity for you to give!

When you give to our Community Development Programs, we’re able to make your gift go up to six times as far because it’s matched by Government Funding.  This makes your donation, whatever its size, much more powerful than usual.

Please consider making a gift before June 30 for the most impact.  Donate here. And thank you!

“We should look after our own first!”

Why should we send money overseas to look after others while some of our own homeless, indigenous people and elderly aren’t adequately cared for?

Great question.   “Charity begins at home” and there are still far too many people in Australia who live in poverty.

Most Australians agree that we should put our own people first and believe me: we do.

In our Federal Budget,  98.8% of all our spending is currently directed at looking after Aussies: Australian health care, education, welfare, defence spending and so on.

But what about the other *1.22%? Should we dedicate our entire budget exclusively to Australians until we all have a standard of living we find acceptable?

A couple of things to think about.

If 98.8% won’t fix it, 100% probably won’t either.

Unfortunately, we could probably spend every last cent of our budget domestically and at least some of these same problems would persist. Why? There are lots of reasons but in general, problems like intergenerational poverty and homelessness are highly complex. It’s possible that no amount of cash alone can solve them. While we can always do better, if directing 98.8% of the budget internally hasn’t completely solved the problem, it’s unlikely that 100% will fix it either. This means we need to work harder and smarter at addressing these complex issues, but the fact that they currently still exist may not be a good argument for withholding all assistance to other desperate people simply because not every Australian has the standard of living we’d like.

It’s an interesting fact that some of Australia’s most disadvantaged people are among its most generous when it comes to giving to others.  Maybe we really can spare that 1.22% for people living in truly desperate situations in other parts of the globe.

Hello, neighbour.

Gone are the days when we could think of ourselves as an island. These days the world is more like a street. So imagine this: you can get your own house in order, but if a couple of the neighbours are in trouble, it won’t be long before their situation has an impact.   If our neighbours are in conflict, there’s a chance our children will get caught up in it while walking home from school, and even if we try to avoid the area, our relative wealth isn’t going to un-noticed. The way we live – particularly if we flash it around while others are desperately struggling –  is likely to cause jealousy and tension in the ‘hood, possibly even thefts or break-ins if people are desperate enough.  And if our neighbours get seriously sick and we do nothing to help, we’ll almost certainly be caught up in the outbreak sooner or later. As our neighbours grow poorer, our real estate prices may fall and our own financial stability will suffer.

That’s how the globe operates too. Even from a purely selfish perspective, it’s to our benefit to live in a more stable world; one that helps countries develop peacefully and equally so that extreme ideas are less likely to get a foothold – the seed bed for terrorism. It’s to our benefit to keep working worldwide against easily communicated diseases; to help hose down conflicts so that they don’t swallow up whole regions; to work for peace and stability between nations so that the economy grows and trade benefits us all.

Aid in all forms – whether it’s assisting refugees, sending development experts, peacekeepers or cash – assists all this. Our world is becoming more and more inter-connected. It’s no longer an option to suggest none of this is our problem when it quite clearly has an impact on our wellbeing and the future wellbeing of our children.

How much bang for your buck?

In theory, most people would be reluctant to suggest that some lives matter more than others – white lives more than black, people in the west more than in other places. If we agree this is the case, we’ll want to save the most lives possible for our dollar, regardless of where they’re from.

Well, here are the facts. At home in Australia, the 1% of our budget “left over” might, for example, ‘buy’ us the lives of a hundred people.   That’s great, but in a developing nation it can save the lives of a thousand people. That’s because very simple, inexpensive changes can mean the difference between life and death for people living in developing countries.

The UK’s National Health Service considers it cost-effective to spend more than $30,000 for a single year of healthy life added to a person. By contrast, Against Malaria Foundation can distribute malaria nets and save a life at the cost of $3,340 per person. Or consider this one. It costs $40,000 to train a Guide Dog to help a blind person in the UK lead a ‘quality’ life. In the developing world, simple operations to cure trachoma induced blindness cost $20. One person with a Guide Dog vs 2000 people entirely cured. 30 lives completely saved or thirty years added to a single life.

It’s absolutely clear that spending money in the developing world is outstanding value in terms of saving lives. While our 1% may not go very far here in Australia, it goes a long, long way in other places.

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes…

I like to think that the question about people in need here in Australia being disadvantaged by sending aid out of the country is asked by people who genuinely care about others – perhaps someone who knows a homeless person or who regularly visits an elderly person.   You’re a person of genuine compassion, someone with a big heart for others. The last thing to take into consideration, therefore, is this: how would you feel if you were trying to care for a homeless, elderly person or child in a country completely without all the benefits of stability, good health and democracy that Australia offers? What would it be like to live, completely by the accident of your birth, in a country where bombs fall, you could be arrested because of your beliefs, you were separated from your children or rape was used as a weapon of war? If you find your situation difficult here in Australia, how much harder would it be in another country? These are the people we are turning away when we withhold our 1.2%.

It’s the right thing to do

For me, the most compelling reason to share our 1.22% (and personally, I think we could share a lot more) is because it’s the right thing to do. We have so much. Life may not be perfect for everyone here, but maybe I can share more of my own wealth, my own time or expertise to help make it happen. And if I believe that every single person on this planet matters equally, I can’t begrudge anyone a share of the enormous abundance I inherited when, through absolutely no merit of my own, I was lucky enough to be born Australian when others were not.  It’s not just my faith that calls me to share.  It’s my simple humanity.

Combine your personal gift to end poverty with an Australian Government Aid grant and make it go six times as far.  

(1.22% of the Australian budget is indeed spent on foreign aid. Most Australians hear big numbers trotted out when talking about assisting people overseas and assume the percentage must be huge. It isn’t. It’s 1.22% of the Annual Australian Budget.)

Source http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-20/tim-costell-correct-on-budget-foreign-aid-cuts/5452698

Budget http://www.budget.gov.au/2015-16/content/bp1/html/bp1_bs5-01.htm

Thriving Church in China – Part 2 Mountain of the East.

Taishan 泰山

Rev Ji Zhang continues the story of the UnitingWorld and Uniting Care Australia journey to China to engage with the Chinese Church, share training and further the partnership between our two communities.

“A thousand mile journey begins with simple steps”.

In rural areas, we began to encounter two virtues of this Chinese saying: simplicity and persistence.

A group of elderly people aged between 78 and 98 were singing a welcome song as we entered their facility. We were not strangers to them; this is the third visit we’ve made in the last two years. Stepping forward, we held their hands, saying “Nihao” (Hello – literary means “You are good” in Chinese). The UCA nurses quickly went into a room with female caretakers, and Geoff and I were left outside to talk to the ministers from the provincial church and the local government. When a dozen women came out of the room, they pronounced: “It worked. She is healed.”

They were speaking about a joint medical process that has been happening over the last few weeks. During our first visit, the UCA nurses were asked about how to care for those permanently in bed, and how to treat damaged skin caused by the body’s own pressure. This encounter deeply moved the UCA nurses. When they returned to Australia, they used WeChat (a popular social media app) to discuss best practice treatment. In the case of this woman, the size of the wound was big, and infection began, but the caretakers did not have medical training. Wesley Mission Brisbane came up with the simplest method – warm water – to clean the area, and then cover the wound with cream. With frequent turning to increase circulation, the body healed itself.

This story is a testimony. Community-to-community connection can be simple and effective. Through the internet, Wesley Mission Brisbane has helped the bed-ridden elderly in this remote facility. Moreover there is happiness on the face of the residents here when they received the gift made by hand by the elderly back in Brisbane.

This exchange is also learning for us, and capacity building for our staff. The CEO Geoff remarked, “They have taught us about passion and faith. I believe more of our facilities would be interested to form a sister-relationship with elderly homes in China”.

In Chinese there are 5 mountains named after 5 Phases (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) according to the Daoist theory of change. The Eastern Mountain Tai is home to the northern school called Comprehensive Teachings. To reach the temple 1500m above, the team took the cable car up and walked in the rain. For one thousand years, this mountain has been a place of pilgrimage and the summit has been the location of imperial worship and sacrifice to mark the beginning of a new dynasty. This is the place where the rising sun is first observed. On the day we visited, however, the mountain masked its image with its own mystery.

At the foot of the mountain we visited a local church built in1900 by American North Presbyterian Church. Rev Fu started his role in 2005, and built the congregation from 350 to a membership of 2000. What is the secret of this growth? Rev Fu attributes it to the witness of believers. Here evangelism is done through church members. Each year the church publishes about 40,000 introduction materials about Christian faith and the Gospel teachings. The members then take the material to their family members and friends in communities and villages. Each Christmas they will distribute most of them, inviting believers to share fellowship and witness. On Wednesday, the first choir will practice. Thursday, the ministers run a bible study, book-by-book and chapter-by-chapter. On Friday, the fellowship of young men takes place in evening. On Saturday, volunteers clean the church for Sunday and the second choir will practice.

The harvest is plenty, but the labourers are few. They put together limited human resources in the central church, and from here they travel to 52 gathering places for pastoral visits and delivering communion. These gathering places have membership ranging from 20 to 200. The method of feeding the flock is also simple – equipping the laity.

The training centre was an Anglican Church school built in 1876. It has been occupied by a local school until 2007. Due to lack of repair, the local government viewed its structure as too dangerous to be restored. The decision was made to demolish it. A group of elderly women from the church came to live in the damaged building. They lived on the ground floor but could see the sky above them. The church engaged a process of negotiation between 2007 and 2009. Eventually, the government agreed to accept the church’s proposal: return the property to the church, and the church would restore the site. Now this building has been enlisted as a provincial heritage building, and is permanently protected.

In a room upstairs, we met the training class. 40 lay people gathered here for 7 months. They have left their families behind, work behind, and live here as a community. The courses cover the bases of biblical and theological teachings, and pastoral care. When they return to those 52 gathering places, their job has one purpose only: feed the sheep. Throughout the year, the 5-people ministry team will visit and support them.

We shared together, and we prayed together. Before our departure, they blessed us with their singing: “The Lord bless you and keep you, and the Lord has his face to shine upon you…”

Our top picks of useful Christian and meditation apps

It’s all about apps isn’t it?

Here are a few we think are pretty useful!

Bible studies and prayer:

The Olive Tree Bible

Voice of the Martyrs Prayer

PrayerMate

Meditation:

Smiling Mind

Ethical shopping:

Shop Ethical

Media:

Common Sense Media (Reviews for children’s movies, books, TV shows, apps and games based on learning opportunities, not just conventional ratings)

Sabbath Rest – what is it and how can we apply it?

In our increasingly ‘always available’ 24/7 world there seems to be little time for rest. Whether by phone, email, text, Twitter or Facebook, we always seem to be switched on. For others, the incessant busyness of mind and heart about all manner of issues ranging from weekly shopping, work, health and the welfare of family keeps us constantly occupied.

When you hear the phrase ‘Sabbath rest’ you might think of the era when nothing was open on Sundays, when everyone wore their ‘Sunday best’ and spent most of the day attending church! A time when the pace of life was slower and less complicated and families still lived under the one roof. Surely this is a phrase disconnected from and not relevant in our busy modern world?

More than ever before, we need to re-discover the value and place of ‘Sabbath rest’ within our individual, family and community life, lest we become exhausted and overwhelmed by all that daily life contains.

Where does this phrase come from? It comes from the Hebrew word “shabat” for ‘rest’, and draws its origin and inspiration from Genesis 2 :2-3 And on the seventh day God…rested…from all the work that he had done (in creation). So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.

Genesis 1:31 also says that God rested on the seventh day because God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. “Very good” has a sense of enjoyment, satisfaction, wholeness and of completeness; and because of this no more work needed to be done!

Sabbath rest is not just about personal renewal but also includes time for renewal for all of creation, as reflected in Exodus 20: 10: But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

A world embracing Sabbath rest will then be a place where humanity lives as good and wise stewards of God’s creation and where consideration for all that lives and all who work on this Earth is also central.

The following are some examples of what a Sabbath rest might look like:

Sabbath rest is a break from the daily routine.

In the midst of our busyness & achieving, God calls us to rest, lay aside our to-do lists and let the Sabbath be different from the rest of your days. It allows us to ‘waste’ time just being with God.

Sabbath rest is a break from achieving and an opportunity to renew relationships.

Competition and work deadlines pervade much of our world, always pushing us to try a little harder, do a little more. On the Sabbath, we can be content just to participate in and enjoy the quality relationships we may have for their own sake. This is how our community life is built.

Sabbath rest is a break from buying.

We are often told by our political and business leaders that we must spend, spend, spend not just for our sake but for the sake of our economy and for our country!

Extensive retail sales held at Easter & Christmas don’t help us break free from such consumerism.

Sabbath rest is a break from being in control. If you carry heavy loads of responsibility at work or if you are fiercely independent, then trusting others may prove difficult! And when push comes to shove, can you trust God, or anyone else, to take care of things on your day off?

Sabbath rest brings spiritual and physical renewal. Where you include a deliberate time of worship, of prayer, of ‘being still’, a time when you focus your full attention on God in ‘wonder, love and praise’. It may mean allowing yourself for at least that day to listen to your body’s urging to take that nap or to visit a place that reminds you of Creation’s beauty and faithfulness.

This physical renewal can also involve activity and stimulation of all of our senses.

In Psalm 23 David says that God restores his soul. David’s language also reveals God ministering to him in a very physical way with his mention of ‘green pastures’, ‘quiet waters’, a ‘table prepared’ (feast), and ‘you anoint my head with oil’.

Some people may say, ‘But I don’t need a rest, I have lots of energy’, ‘I have important work to do’, or that ‘I am called by God to this work’ and that therefore ‘God will sustain me’.

However, God not only commanded the sabbath but also took the very first Sabbath rest.

Jesus also followed the general Sabbath practices of his day and also regularly took ‘time out.’

So, simply put, if God rested on the seventh day, then so should we!

In Hebrews 4: 9-11 it says “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest, also rests from his own work, just as God did from his”. What this passage is in effect saying is that Jesus IS our Sabbath rest!

If Jesus is our Sabbath rest, if all our daily striving to achieve, to be of value and worth has been won for us on the cross and through the empty tomb then life no longer needs to be ‘driven’.

If we ‘burn out’ it is ultimately because we do not trust or allow Christ to be Lord of our lives.

And in Matthew 11:28 Jesus says ‘come to me all who are weary and heavily burdened and I will give you rest’. This weariness is not just physical, but can also be emotional and spiritual; and the ‘rest’ Jesus offers is “easy and my burden is light” (verse 30).

Five minute Sabbath rests:

Because Sabbath rest in our risen Lord Jesus is not just restricted to one day a week, you can practice ‘mini rests’ at home or at work. This could include – a walk around the block, closing your eyes, praying, listening to music, reading a favourite passage of Scripture, turning off or placing on silent your mobile phone. Having computer and TV free times at home especially around meal time are also other ways for you to proclaim Jesus is Lord of your Sabbath.

Enjoy your Sabbath rest, may it transform and renew you and deepen your faith. It is part of God’s hope for us and for God’s world.

Rev Paul Bartlett, UnitingWorld.