Archive for the ‘Christian’ Category

YeahShow 2007

Sunday, May 6th, 2007

Another big Christian evangelical event, but it set a record as the largest ever Chinese evangelical event in Sydney with over 7000 attendees.

With a big event like this, there are obviously going to be a lot of questions asked, of which some are:

  • Do these actually work in turning people to a life of faith and dependence to God?
  • Is it appropriate to charge admission for an event like this?
  • What kind of impressions are non-Christians going to get on Christianity and what Christians are like?
  • Does comedy (or other forms of entertainment) dilute the gospel message, or does it improve it?
  • Is it appropriate to perform commercial enterprises (such as advertising, sponsorships, fundraising dinners etc) to fund a Christian organisation like this?
  • What about bringing out big stars who obviously have very little, if any, idea about what the gospel really means? Should they be given airtime just because they’re “famous” but yet what they say has nothing to do with the gospel at all?

Other questions (not specific to this show, but about ministry in general) include:

  • Why does song leading in the ‘Chinese world’ include actions, clapping, stomping, but yet say very little about Jesus?
  • Why is there such a strange dichotomy in Chinese Christian songs? They’re either “for old people” or “for young people”. There aren’t too many songs that fit both categories and so it’s hard for people of different age groups to worship wholeheartedly together. Is the answer linked to the evolution of the Hong Kong pop industry?
  • What is more important, talking about Jesus, or talking about our lives?
  • How do we get non-Christians interested in the Bible? It seems like we’re trying to “water down” the Bible to make it more attractive to non-Christians. Can we do that without watering down what the Bible says?

It is late, I’ll try to answer these at another time. Or if you have a comment, please leave one.

Posted in Christian, Ministry | 1 Comment »

Campers…

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Went to my church’s bi-annual church camp from last Friday to Sunday.

Whenever church camp happens, I just go expecting to play lots of basketball and spend a lot of time socialising with people – and every time my expectations were met.

This church camp seemed different. Is it because:

  • I only showed up Friday night and so I missed an entire day?
  • the talks were of a serious/philosophical nature (more on that later)?
  • I’ve started working full-time and my body isn’t as “tolerant” as before (I can’t stay up that late and function normally the next day anymore)?
  • I’ve been quite anti-social at church recently?

Probably a combination of these various reasons made me enjoy church camp less than before. Looking at the list, 3 of the items on the list are internal and not due to external factors.

I’ve had people say to me that I’ve been out of action (in ministry) for far too long. That I have to agree with. I really miss the feeling of working in ministry. I was given a shocking reminder when I led the Sunday service. The atmosphere and the literal “vibration” that I felt on stage when everyone in the congregation sings together cannot be described with words.

Talking with a few people about what they’re doing in their ministries has made me reminisce and think about the times that I had.

It was easy back then to identify with particular ministries at church. I was a student – so working in student ministry was obvious. I can lead worship services – so worship ministry was also obvious. It’s not so obvious anymore – and I haven’t been able to find the ministries that I “obviously” identify with.

So I sit here to rot, doing nothing apart from turning up every Sunday.

Someone asked me whether I felt that it is a “waste” for me to end up like this. I said at the time that I just felt “under-utilised”.

It is a waste. Time to stand up and be counted.

Posted in Christian | 1 Comment »

Worship workshop

Saturday, February 5th, 2005

So this blog has become a Christian resource library. Oh well.

Here is my powerpoint presentation for the worship talk I gave at fellowship.

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Christian growth

Thursday, January 13th, 2005

Back when when thesis was due, I wrote for Habakkuk’s annual “magazine”. Here is the article reproduced here.

What does it mean to grow as a Christian? A very loose definition is to improve our relationship with God. However, that isn’t very helpful as any sort of practical advice for anybody, so here is my attempt to give some advice (from my own personal experience) how one can grow in the Christian faith.

There are three aspects where a person can grow as a Christian (in practical terms), and they are: character, knowledge, and skills. Character is a person’s moral or ethical strength, or his ability to act according to God’s will; knowledge is a person’s understanding of biblical truth; and skills are practical things that a person can do to encourage both him/herself and others around him/her.

Many Christians see that growth is only defined as the building of character. While it is important to learn the important lessons of trusting God and communicating to Him through prayer, without the acquisition of knowledge and skills, these lessons can be unlearnt very quickly. Or, looking from another perspective, improving a person’s knowledge and developing a person’s skills can also help build character very quickly! You, as a Christian, cannot grow in character without the growth in knowledge. You cannot grow in character without first KNOWING what God wants from you, as written in the Bible. Praying to a God who you do not know will not help your spiritual life at all. However, growing in your character also assists in growth in the other two areas, as it provides a motivation for you to learn more about our God, and learn more about how to better serve others.

You can see that these three areas go together quite well, and that each one cannot stand on its own without the other two.

Whether you are reading this in Hong Kong, or in Australia, remember that these holidays are a perfect opportunity for you to grow as a Christian, in the areas of character, knowledge, and skills. Of course, the first place to start is to read the Bible, and if you want more, then go read a book that can either teach you something about the Bible, or teach you how to serve others in your fellowship. Afterall, that is what fellowship is about, helping each other grow in Christ.

Of course, this was written with the members of Habakkuk in mind, but I hope others may benefit from it.

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Disclaimer stickers, on textbooks and bibles?

Thursday, November 11th, 2004

Interesting blog post here from Boingboing. It talks about the attaching of disclaimer stickers on biology textbooks describing evolution as only a “theory”, and that anyone studying from those books should critically analyse it with an open mind.

So then this smartass suggests why we don’t do that with the bible?

I say, go for it! At least if people read the Bible with an open mind and still believe in it, then at least it has made them think about what they’re reading.

Posted in Bible | No Comments »