In South Africa, one may need to take into account a little chaos in official matters. I discovered recently that my signature had been forged on some documents. I asked the police in Cape Town where I should report the crime. They told me to report it in Mowbray. I reported it in Mowbray. But the police in Mowbray transferred the case to Cape Town. Then the police in Cape Town transferred the case back to Mowbray. I tried to trace the case in Mowbray, but it was in Cape Town. I tried to trace it in Cape Town, but it was back in Mowbray. I was always a step behind. Today, four weeks after reporting the crime, it looks as though I caught up -- but I need to confirm that personally with the investigating officer.
Last week, my seminary informed me that I had passed my Master of Theology degree -- no more than that. Tonight my supervisor called me. He said he was so excited, he had to congratulate me in person. He said, "It was a good Master's. In fact, you have a Distinction." OBSERVATION: I knew I did thorough work, but I had no way of estimating how good it was. I would not have been surprised if I had obtained 50%. My final thesis does, however, still require "editorial changes". This is the second half of my Master's degree. I obtained 99.2% for the first half. And it wasn't at Mickey Mouse seminaries (FTS and SATS). Also see Master Of Theology.
I was in a meeting recently which dealt with a number of issues of “Christian living” (real situations with real implications, rather than mere theory). Afterwards, I asked a participant whether any issues had stood out for her. She said, “Homosexuality.” I said, “Anything else?” She said, “No. Nothing.” I said, “We dealt with bigamy, cohabitation, homosexuality, and touched on other issues, such as sexism. Why do you select homosexuality?” She said, “I hadn’t thought of it that way. As a continuum.”
For the first time this year, I polished my shoes -- with shoe-polish that a member gave me for Christmas (people can be so subtle). Yesterday I proudly showed a deaconess in the vestry. She said, “My mother taught me: if you have a suitor, look at his shoes, look at his fingernails, look at his hair, and look at how he handles a hymnbook.”
Even if I had all the time in the world, there are some people I would not (and do not) continue to counsel: 1. Those who will not submit to the counsel of the Word where nothing prevents them (which is, above all, attending Church), 2. Those who consistently refuse to heed the counsellor's advice where this is reasonable and sound (JR Clinton speaks of "obedience" as the bottom line), 3. Those who have an ulterior motive such as obtaining money or eliciting pity (counselling may be used as a pretext), 4. Those who become physically disruptive, or malicious, and 5. Those who are receiving similar counselling elsewhere. OBSERVATION: I'd be interested whether counsellors reading this blog would add to, or substract from, the above.
I went to see a minister in a neighbouring suburb. His wife welcomed me at the door. She said it was so nice to see me, because her husband could do with some encouragement. She went upstairs to call him. She came back down again, dropped onto a sofa, and said, “He won’t come out of his room.” Then she put her head in her hands and cried. OBSERVATION: Soon after, he quit the ministry. For those who may not be in the know, this is common. However, it need not be so. There are answers.
I was at a till this morning, in a high-class store. The cashier looked deeply upset. I said, "What's it like working in Sea Point [our suburb]?" She didn't answer. I said, "They say it's the most difficult place in Cape Town." She looked at me, and said: "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." OBSERVATION: It was very diificult for me, too, when I arrived, with all the ruthless people around. Now, wife M. claims that Sea Point is afraid of me! (Although I'm as harmless as a mouse -- almost -- as it were)! See Smacking Small-Fry for a more humorous exchange.
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Our Church garden is arguably the last private garden on our suburb's Main Road -- on a 2km (1¼mi) stretch. I checked it with Google Earth. The only thing that might otherwise qualify is a "forecourt" of one of the large blocks of flats. So here's part of our garden (pictured). OBSERVATION: This would seem to support an idea that we've had -- for a craft market in the garden.
In a section of my Master’s thesis, I demonstrate how the Christian leadership literature of the Global North habitually (though not always) strips out the Triune God from its exegesis. That is, it will quote a Bible text on leadership -- then, in explaining it, it will skip any references to God. I list many pages of examples. For example, the Bible says that Joshua divided up the Promised Land "just as the Lord had commanded", while the literature says that he did it "using wonderful tact". OBSERVATION: My academic supervisor studied the role of the Holy Spirit in such literature. He found that 84% of the literature provided no role for the Holy Spirit in Christian leadership. All this has a profound effect on how one leads (see Master Of Theology).
Some time ago, a member took on a major responsibility for the Church. This week I thanked her, and said I hoped she was enjoying it (which I think she is). To this she answered, “If the Lord assigns a task to you, you need to carry it out.” OBSERVATION: Notice that I myself was speaking the language of individualism (personal thanks, and personal enjoyment), while she was speaking the language of servanthood (sovereign assignment, and selfless obedience). With this in mind, individualism's alternative is, perhaps, surrender -- rather than community, as is so often said. See a similar dynamic with Dreams In The Church.
We have a rule in the Church: If you do something “on behalf of the Church” that isn’t authorised, you carry the can. It is surprising how often it happens -- say once or twice a year -- although many cases are minor, e.g. "I ordered a taxi for X., can the Church reimburse me?" Here’s the worst I came across in my present ministry. I walked into the Church garden one morning, to discover, to my surprise, that a huge scaffold had been erected outside our main hall, and labourers were up there beginning to paint it. OBSERVATION: In this particular case, the work was shut down, and the member who arranged it got off with a warning.
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Nieuwoudtville is a village which lies about 350km (220mi) north of Cape Town, up on the edge of the Southern African plateau. This is a photo of its most famous ruin, in 3-D. OBSERVATION: Here’s how to “see” the 3-D. Lazily squint your eyes until the two images overlap each other, then focus your eyes without losing that overlap. Most people are able to do this. You can enlarge the image by clicking on it, which will enhance the 3-D effect. For another Nieuwoudtville ruin in 3D, see Ruins In 3D.
Wife M. jokes, “If you want to know if you’re dying, call Thomas [me].” Here’s an example. C. was ill in hospital. The doctors said they had scheduled some tests in two week's time. But C. was talking about death. His wife said he should quit talking nonsense, she wasn’t going to listen to it, they wouldn’t be talking about tests if he were going to die. I went to see him. I said to her, “Those tests are not going to happen. Listen to him.” She listened. This gave them the chance to say goodbye to each other -- and it brought down that wall of denial, which was very hard for him. He died well before the scheduled tests. She was deeply grateful to me for years afterwards.
And the 10,000th visitor to this blog is ... a person in Singapore. According to Sitemeter, the 10,000th visitor was in the Singapore suburb where the famous Raffles Hotel is situated -- origin of the Singapore Sling (I have been to Raffles -- though not as an overnight guest)! OBSERVATION: However, Sitemeter didn’t start counting from the beginning of this blog’s existence. Also, amatomu.com shows nearly 20,000 hits (and 50,000 links from amatomu.com), although amatomu.com started counting much later. Counting blog hits seems a black art to me.
A well known Pentecostal minister came to visit our Church. Here’s what he thought. About the sanctuary: “Look at all these memorial plaques! This is a graveyard!” About my black gown, hanging on its hook: “You wear this? It's an anachronism! Throw it away!” About the lighting in the Church: “Yellow? You need pink! purple! green!” OBSERVATION: It's nice to know that, actually, all these things don't matter to a Church's success. Nor do many other things.
One of our members committed suicide. She had been heard to say that she would no longer be a burden to her husband if she were dead (a typical sign of depression, rather than a selfless ideal). Her husband said to me afterwards, “I would rather have battled it out with her.” OBSERVATION: It would seem to me always to be the case that suicide causes greater havoc than the alternative, no matter how hard the alternative may seem.
One of our younger members was held up at gunpoint last week, at a railway station (Du Toit Station). One man demanded her cell-phone, while another held a gun in her face. She said after the incident that she was fine. But when she got off a train at the same station later in the week, she suffered a panic attack. Her employers sent her for trauma counselling.
One of our members was two weeks in hospital this month. At first it was bronchitis -- however, they failed to note that she was diabetic, thus "activating" her diabetes -- and so she needed a double cure. I asked her today why she hadn’t let me know. She said, “Reverend, I know you are so busy!” OBSERVATION: There’s a joke along these lines. A faithful Catholic suffers concussion, and calls for a Protestant minister. His friends think that he’s lost his mind. But he explains: “I know how precious our dear Padré's time is!”
One of our members, a local, married an Englishman. They are a "delightful couple" -- with the husband providing an oddly English twist to the partnership. This month, she was brutally attacked by a man who accused her of being Coloured trash preying on White men. The man badly hurt her arm -- he had intended to hit her head. Then he took her hair in his grip, and intended to hit her again. She said, "He wanted to kill me." Her husband and her sister came to her rescue. She said, "I didn't know you still get people like that." She laid charges against her attacker, and intends to sue.
I received a call from a worried employer. He’d sold an employee’s living quarters. What would now happen to the employee? Could the Church help? So I spoke to the employee (who is a Church member). The employee said, with a happy smile: “Those people always panic! They said, ‘What are you going to do? Where are you going to live?’ I said, ‘I don’t know!’” (hearty laughter). OBSERVATION: Here’s the difference between faith and the absence of it.
It seems to me that, in some theologies, there is little to distinguish God from the man in the Bible who has faith but not works (Jas 2:15). God similarly says to people, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” yet He does nothing about their immediate physical needs. God has compassion for them in His heart. He assures them of His cosmic intentions. He provides them with an example to follow. He relies on co-workers in various places. But that is all. I could not minister with such a God.
There’s a strange burden on a minister -- in that confidential matters may impinge on the life of the Church, yet the minister is bound by silence. A well known example is public recommendations a minister may make on the basis of private information. As an example, a minister may oppose a nomination for Church Deacon where he is aware of details of abuse towards a spouse. A less common example is where public misbehaviour is driven by private crisis. As an example, someone may regale the minister in public, where the minister is aware that they are receiving psychological counselling for similar behaviour in private. OBSERVATION: In such situations, does the minister keep silent and carry the burden, or does he/she shift the burden by revealing private information? Usually, the information stays private. While a minister may feel free to share some such information with Elders, this then places the same burden on the Elders.
A young man came to see me in the vestry. He had been dismissed from work. He said, “My girlfriend ratted on me. She told them I was doing drugs.” I said, “Why did she go to your work?” He said, “She’d had an abortion, and I was furious with her.” I said, “What made you furious?” He said, “It was a vote of no confidence in me!” OBSERVATION: I sought to give him a picture of how life could be. I said, "Here's what's supposed to happen ..." He laughed. He said, “You belong to another age!”
Wikipedia states that “the overall percentage of Americans* identifying themselves as Christians is sliding”. Statistics are a jungle, but perhaps it wouldn’t be too far off the mark to say that, in the U.S. Protestant Church, there has been a 10% drop during the past ten years, and a 5% drop during the previous ten years. Two things make this particularly worrying. Firstly, notice the acceleration. Secondly, the drop is mainly among younger people. OBSERVATION: My Canadian assistant and I have had a few brief discussions about whether “the South” has the answers, or whether its “answers” would be transplantable to “the North”. Personally, I think the answers that the South has would mostly transplant -- if it were possible for Northerners to accept them. By and large, I consider the differences between North and South to be fundamental, and it is these differences that make the difference.
*NOTE: I avoid the term “American” on my blog, due to connotations in the Americas. In particular, it is not only Americans who are American.
A woman made an appointment to see me. She wanted to transfer her membership from another local Church to ours. I asked her why. She said, “Over there, it’s gossip, gossip, gossip. What people wear. What people do. In your Church, the Spirit is there.” OBSERVATION: I believe the gossip wouldn’t exist if the focus were truly on Jesus Christ, and on what the Spirit is doing. I myself deliberately seek to nurture such a focus, starting with the very first words I speak every Sunday.
Years ago, I had just bought a favourite music album. I buy very few -- one every few years. At the same time, a Church deacon, H., fell ill with cancer and was admitted to hospital. I went to see him. I was shocked by his precipitous decline. I could see immediately that he was close to death. I said (being at a loss for words), "H., you don’t look well." He said, "I don’t feel well." Then he added, "It’s all in the hands of the Lord." H. died within an hour. I was so upset about his death, I never listened to that album again. It’s still on a shelf behind me as I write.
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I took this photo yesterday of Woodbridge Island in Cape Town. Table Mountain is shrouded in cloud in the background, at the left. The island is named after the bridge on the immediate left, which is now closed, even to pedestrians. The concrete bridge behind it has replaced it. You may click on the photo to enlarge a little.
We have a continual stream of language students passing through our Church. I called one up last week. I said it was nice to see her in Church. She said, “Thank you for your hospitality. I enjoyed my visit.” I said, “Your English is coming on nicely.” She said, “Pardon?” I said, “You speak English well.” She said, “Pardon?” I said, “ENGLISH GOOD.” She said, “Ah, thank you!” OBSERVATION: Hmm, I have second thoughts about that English.
A man in our congregation, J., suffered thrombosis in a leg, and was admitted to hospital for a small operation. He was wheeled into a ward. Then came the night shift. The sister on duty decided that all was well, and went home. J. wanted to go to the bathroom. There was no one to assist. He stood up, and collapsed with a major stroke. He was on the floor for most of the night, and suffered permanent and extensive paralysis. His wife complained to the hospital. They immediately set an aggressive team of attorneys onto her, who belittled and intimidated her. At this point (telling me her story), she lost her composure, and cried. She decided not to seek redress. OBSERVATION: However, I should not omit the spiritual aspect here. J. said that God had turned this into the greatest blessing of their lives.
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For good measure, here's a photo I took from one of the wings of the Church this morning (we call them the transepts), before the service began. There were about a dozen people leading the pre-service singing -- all but the pianist and the worship leader having been called up impromptu. That's the way we do it.
Two posts ago, I mentioned the “enormous pressure” there is on the Church’s charitable funds. Besides the volume of people needing help, here are examples of some of the tactics people may use to (try to) obtain it. I have experienced all of the following more than once, if not many times: 1. Stubborn persistence. Confront the minister several times with the same request, no matter what he says. 2. Passive resistance. Flat refuse to get out until you have the sum you demand. 3. Threaten suicide. Swear that you’ll kill yourself within the hour if you don’t get what you want. 4. Throw a tantrum. Collapse on the floor, sob, and roll around. OBSERVATION: While these are more extreme examples of what people do for money, they nonetheless give some indication of the pressure in general.
At our last Church leadership meeting, we dealt with the issue of “repeat charity”, where the same persons ask us again and again for financial assistance. A deaconess said: “If people keep coming to Church because they receive charity, they will not come to hear the Word of God. It will be lost on them.” OBSERVATION: Apart from this, there is enormous pressure on our Church's charitable funds. But we try, even when we are out of funds, to give people strategic advice and spiritual encouragement.
Strange as it may seem, it is likely, if not inevitable, that a minister will receive untruthful or malicious opposition.* The same may apply to the Church as a whole. It is sensible, in such a situation, to keep calm, and to deal with matters of fact. However, one should not imagine that one can deal with such a situation only on the level of fact. This assumption could very well worsen a situation (the dynamics are beyond the scope of a single blog post). One needs to take on deeper spiritual issues, such as the spirit of the aggressor, and the reason for the Church's being. For that, one needs to pray for spiritual discernment, and the power of the Holy Spirit. In short, it is spiritual warfare.
*James C. Hunter claims that 10% of followers will seek to “sabotage” one's leadership. However, this seems a bit steep. I might say 2%, and not all of these will be in a position to have much effect.
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I took this panoramic photo in the Great Karoo, near Gannabos -- in the midwinter, after rains. The Great Karoo is described as “treeless shrubland” -- except of course for the curious kokerboom (quiver tree), here in full bloom. Quiver trees first flower at 20-30 years of age. You may click on the photo to enlarge (about 100k file size).
He’s been eight months with us, and last night I handed over our Church’s leadership meeting to our intern P. I encouraged him not merely to read his way through the agenda, but to be forward-thinking and proactive. This he was. I e-mailed him afterwards: “You did ... extraordinarily well.” OBSERVATION: It's part of the plan to "give him the steering wheel" in every area. I, on the other hand, walked into the meeting last night unprepared. Normally, I would be well prepared, and so I found myself (I thought) all wrong-footed -- on spiritual issues in particular. A lesson to remember for the future!
In general, Christian Churches are very good about not poaching from one another. It would seem to me that they often discourage “transfer growth”. On the other hand, there are, occasionally, deliberate poachers. In our area, one Church hired a venue next to a local Church (call it Church A), and started Sunday services fifteen minutes after the services at Church A ended. Then they sent envoys into Church A, inviting people over for a fuller spiritual experience.
There are some famous diagnostic questions, such as those used by Evangelism Explosion: "If you were to die today ..." In Christian counselling, one of the most useful diagnostic questions I have is this: "Does God have anything to do with this?" Alternatively, "What is God doing in this situation?" OBSERVATION: Once one has established the facts of a situation, it is a powerful question, and often reveals a very great deal. This one is worth memorising.
MK's are notorious -- particularly those of yesteryear. It may be neglect (ministers are so busy), or it may be the strictures, and so on. Here's one thing, I think, that plays into it, looking at my own son. A Minister's Kid goes to school or university for most of the day, and may have other interests besides -- and essentially MK does not have a good sense of what Dad or Mum ("Mad or Dum", I joke) is doing in ministry. MK does not have a good sense of how ministry plays into his or her parents' life. This means that MK has a truncated view of Dad or Mum, and therefore a skewed view -- like trying to judge an athlete by the five minutes before or after the race. OBSERVATION: Therefore I think it can make a big difference to share what happened today, how it was experienced, and what is going on.
I find that dreams play an important part in the Church in Southern Africa. This includes my own Church. Dreams are not seen merely as representations of the unconscious, but as messages from God or His envoys. Here is the most recent example I came across. A young(ish) wife and mother had been drinking very heavily, to the extent that she was very ill. Her doctor said to her, "Either you stop drinking, or it's the grave." At the same time, she had a dream. Her late mother and father appeared to her, both dressed in white. They said to her, "Take up your cross -- and carry it." From that day, she never drank again. I said, "Those were perfect words for you, weren't they." She said, "They were the words I received. I carried them out." See also Decisive Dream.
Last week I happened to come across a letter, sent to me five years ago by the Fuller Alumni Council, celebrating my acceptance at Fuller Theological Seminary. Five years later, I finally wrote them a reply. I quoted some famous lines of General Douglas MacArthur, as reflecting my own experience: "When I joined the army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished,..." I painted a picture of what I found at Fuller, as the only non-American student in my class. I quoted extracts from correspondence, describing a goldfish bowl where there was little desire for critial openness (despite a seminar on the same), close to no interest in the Church of the Global South (despite e.g. putting the word "Global" into the title of the degree programme), little desire to understand conditions beyond the borders of the USA, and then difficult cultural differences to negotiate. In a short post like this, it would be hard to describe my distress over the situation. OBSERVATION: I am still a registered student at Fuller, although I transferred my MA after I completed the "in residence" section there. The photo shows two of my fellow-alumni in conversation.
I conducted Holy Communion this morning. The deacons passed over a young boy, who was in Church with his granny (that is, they didn't serve him Communion). Maybe he was six years old. He was desperately upset. A member came to me afterwards, and said, “He’s sobbing his heart out at the Church steps. Give me some bread and ‘wine’, and I’ll take it to him.” OBSERVATION: Which I did. (I didn’t have the time to think theology)! And the member who did this decided on the spot, with his wife, to volunteer for Youth.
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I have become more aware recently, through conversations with churchgoers, that some have surprisingly little idea of how their faith should work itself out in practice. While morality needs to be set clearly in the wider context of a heart surrendered to Christ, one should have some idea of what it is. Therefore I am, at the moment, over four Sundays, printing a modified version of the Roman Catholic “Examination of Conscience” on the back of our Sermon Outline (see Sermon Outline). The original Examination of Conscience may be found in the The Sunday Missal under Prayers: Preparation for Mass.
I received an e-mail from a minister in the USA this week: “I hope you'll send me a final copy of your thesis ... Your thoughts on leadership and faith have significantly shaped what I'll be teaching in Serbia.” OBSERVATION: So my leadership theory is being tested on the Serbs first. It'll be interesting to hear the response. Actually, the minister concerned is on an interesting track himself -- he's not just borrowing from me. Both of us depart from the dominant theories in the USA today, which are vision-driven, values-driven. See also Church-Changing Blog.
Tomorrow our Church is to hold a Women’s Lunch (more like a Women’s Morning). We drew up a list to hold fifty names -- however, a week ago we were already over-subscribed. Wife M. said: “It’s beginning to reach crisis proportions!” OBSERVATION: Clearly our Women's Lunches are popular. The programme tomorrow is simple: 1. a testimony, 2. crafts, 3. a talk on how to pass on faith to children (these are all guest speakers), and then lunch. A creche is provided. The cost is R35 each ($4 / €3) -- or free of charge to poorer congregants.
