Child protection at church
I was recently involved in preparing a child protection policy for our church. We were given a template by our insurer which was really great as it prompted us to put a policy in place early. Even though our children's ministries are still small, we're now prepared to offer a safe environment and our people are trained so that in the case of a bad situation arising, our people know who to talk to and what to do about it. More than that, our leaders have it clearly spelled out what our obligations are. For independent churches, a child protection policy can easily get overlooked and even where it is not overlooked, developing such a policy can be quite a daunting task. So I wanted to share our policy with you. We have significantly upgraded the template that was given to us. You can downloa... Read more
What Christians must require of Malcolm Turnbull
When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took to the podium to speak on the night of the Federal election, there are a number of things he could have said that wouldn't have been surprising at all. What he did say was very surprising. I can report that based on the advice I have from the party officials we can have every confidence that we will form a Coalition majority government in the next parliament (source). This statement was clear. It was decisive. It was confident bordering on arrogance. At the time I wasn't sure whether it was a sign of madness or a stroke of genius. I'm still not sure. What is clear though, is that the PM took a bold gamble. And won. And this speaks to the kind of man he is I think. He didn't get caught up in the hype of the media analysis. He surrounded himself with... Read more
An elegant acquiescence: The Fault in Our Stars
The weight of a simple human emotion Weighs me down more than the tank ever did. Don't give it up just yet; Stay grand for one more minute. –Troye Sivan Star-crossed young lovers in an ill-fated battle with deadly forces. It's a story that has resonated with a hundreds of generations over dozens of centuries, but is written for this generation particularly, as the best stories must be. I watched the movie recently and have been thinking about it ever since. That's what good art does. And this is good art. It is worthy of consideration. But this is not a review of the The Fault in Our Stars itself as much as a critique of the generation for which The Fault in Our Stars was written. I like it. The story, I mean. And the generation. And I recognise that the movie is different from the book. H... Read more
Ten things every person should be able to affirm in the face of the Duggar family tragedy
I wanted to ignore this story. I really did. But it seems I'm the only one. For some reason, this story is resonating with people. Particularly Christians. Particularly conservative Christians. And the resulting public discourse has left me grieved, disturbed, and embarrassed. I don't know much about the details of the Josh Duggar case. I've picked up bits and pieces from here and there, much of it contradictory, and all of it third-hand, fourth-hand, fifth-hand, etc. So my goal is not to give some penetrating analysis of this particular case. I can't. Few, if any, can at this stage. The data is too limited. What I do want to do is establish some basic points that we should all be able to affirm, whether Christian or not, conservative or not, pro-Duggar or not. Here they are. 1) The... Read more
The Jesus who was and is
Resurrection! Life! He is risen! These are the joyous exclamations of the season. The realities we celebrate during the holy week are truly glorious. Stunning. Even staggering. So staggering, in fact, that we can easily sail straight past such stupendous outcrops without taking the mental energy to notice their sheer magnitude and grandeur. If you'll allow me, I'd like to point out a few of these landmarks we know so well we sometimes forget to see. First, Jesus was. Let that reality sink in for a moment. It hasn't even been two thousand years since Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem and slept and ate and breathed in our world. This isn't even debatable. No ancient history specialist could reasonably refute it. I know of none who even tries. If you want to know why, I outlined some of t... Read more
