Comments to "In Defence of the Sermon - Part 2"

A fellow missionary working in Thailand wrote on his blog "In Defense of the Sermon - Part 2" dealing with 3 common objections to maintaining the sermon as a central part of the life of the Christian Church.

Objection #1 "Sermons are ineffective",

Objection #2 "People learn better in a participatory environment. Listening to a sermon is too passive.

Objection#3 “The sermon is a Western church tradition, rooted in culture and not the Bible. We should find more indigenous ways of teaching the Bible.”

To be honest, having graduated from a Bible College which is perhaps the only one in Australia to have a school of preaching, I had no doubt in my mind that it was the central and most important aspect of church. However, I now have a few questions which I expressed in my comments to my friend's post which follows:-

"Dear Karl,

In terms of objection #2, Frank Viola (Reimagining Church) argues that "In the first-century gathering [i.e church], neither the sermon nor "the preacher" was the center of attention. Instead, congregational participation was the divine rule" (p.53). So he is arguing that not in terms of participatory being better because of learning styles, but this was the biblical norm for the early church. He argues that there different types of meetings where preaching was central, i.e Apostolic Meetings where apostolic workers preached to an interactive audience with the goal to plant a church from scratch or to encourage an existing church one. Evangelistic meetings. These commonly occurred outside the regular meetings of the church (p.49-50). However, normal church meetings were participatory as described above.

I haven't had time to look into Viola's claims to be honest (hopefully I will find time one day), but he provides another view perspective which I was not aware of before.

I'll still thinking through this one. To be honest, I would have agreed completely with your comments upon leaving college and ministry in Australia. But being in Thailand and thinking over the role of the sermon, I'm wondering whether we can put too much emphasis on the sermon and that it becomes an idol of sorts (extreme example would be a pastor sending 30+ hours on his sermon to get it perfect while neglecting the congregation pastoraly) rather than emphasizing the Word of God . Is the sermon what is important or is it that people are receiving the Word of God. Can you even separate the two?"

Any thoughts?

The bhikkhuni question

Ajahn Brahm - Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Australia

I thought that the issue of the ordination of women was limited to the Anglican denomination (in the media anyway). Not so. I was surprised to read about the bhikkhumi issue in yesterday's Bangkok Post. Bhikkhuni is a fully-ordained Buddhist female monk. Apparently the practice Bhikkhuni died out many centuries ago and now it is not legally possible to become a fully-ordainted buddhist monk. Now there are people calling for it to be reinstated. A case of dejavu? Interesting what Ajahn Brahm states as reasons for reinstating bhikkumi: "It's often said that Thai people, both in Bangkok and the provinces, are moving away from Buddhism. Having bhikkhunis would be one very powerful, effective way to restore that confidence in Buddhism. It'll show that we're modern. And it'll show that we are a fair religion. How can we say that we are following reason and truth and fairness when we deny 50 percent of the population the same opportunities?

In a country like Australia, there is no choice. When other religions are introducing equal rights to women, if Buddhism doesn't we're not going to survive. It's culturally unacceptable to have a lack of equity for men and women in Western countries and it's becoming that way in Thailand.

Buddhism is also fading in Thailand because people aren't respecting monks so much. Get the women on board and they can help clean it up."

Hmmmm... Why do these arguments sound so familiar I wonder?

You can read the whole article here.

Lost in translation again

Last night I rung the Pastor of a church in Lampang who I heard was moving to Bangkok next month to do his Master of Divinity. I invited him for a meal together so that I could see him one more time before he left. I told him to come to my house at 1pm so that we could go an eat lunch together. I was very surprised when I came home at 12:30pm after teaching English at the Lighthouse to see his motorcycle parked outside our house. I was even more surprised when Lisa told me that he's been there since 11:45am. I was sure that I'd said to meet at 1pm. How was I misunderstood. Well, in Thai, the literal translation of the word Lunch is "food at midday". Obviously, I hadn't explained that I wanted to meet at 1pm clearly enough and when I mentioned having lunch he said that in Thai culture you arrive 15 minutes before noon to go eat together. Oh, well, I'll know for next time.

Above is a photo of what I had for lunch. I think it was chicken joints. That's what it tasted like anyway. It was o.k, a bit too sour and salty for my liking. Sorry I forgot to take the photo before I started eating.

Princess in town

The Crown Prince and his third wife, Princess Srirasmi

Yesterday, around midday when I went to Big C (a shopping centre) there were lots of police around and the outside car park was blocked off. I thought that maybe there had been a robbery or bomb threat. Late afternoon, I took the kids to Big C and there were even more police, not only at Big but on the road to Big C. When I asked someone who was coming, I gather it was someone in the royal family. I thought it was the daughter of the crown prince but my language teacher explained today that it was actually the 3rd wife of the Prince of Thailand. I was able to get a glimpse of her coming up the escalator. Probably the closest I've come to royalty. If Lisa was there with our baby maybe the Princess might have stopped to say something as the Princess stopped to briefly chat with a mother and her child at the top of the escalator.

Outreach wth Premier League Football

Going home from the Lighthouse tonight, a little discouraged as only one student turned up to the International Student Night, I had an idea. What if we got cable T.V at the Lighthouse and showed Premier League Football (Soccer) regularly. We have a data projector and screen already at the Lighthouse. Most Thai men love premier league football. Last week I saw a crowd men watching the big screen outside the entrance to the shopping centre watching a big premier league game. They had finished their shopping or about to go in and they just stopped to watch the game.

I know that Tai is really into Premier League Football, and even one of my year 10 girl students in my English class lit up when the discussion got on to which football team they followed. Apparently, our neighbour's son in law stayed up until 5 am to watch a premier league game recently.

One problem with the student night right now is that one or two students who come regularly aren't inviting their friends. I think it would also be easier for them to invite their guy friends to watch Premier League Football than to a Student evening.

Also, there is the Football World Cup next year in South Africa. We could be showing the World Cup games at the Lighthouse too. I don't know how much it would be to get cable T.V. 300-500 baht per month? I think we could trial it for a year and see how it goes. The premier league season finishes in 6 weeks I think so we could start the subscription for the start of next season so that it included the World Cup as well?

If you were a guy, wouldn't you want to come watch Premier League Football on a big screen. Maybe play some football on a Playstation first.

Anyway, I'm very excited about the possibility.

Would I become a Buddhist?

I have been a little bit discouraged recently that after two years in Thailand, we have yet to see anyone become a Christian as a result of our labour. Thailand is considered a “hard” field and over a 150 years of missionary effort has seen less than 1% of the population become Christian. Yet, you can’t help but have a bit of self doubt and start questioning whether you are doing things right.

I have been a little discouraged about my Thai too. After two years, I still find it a struggle conversing with people. Yes, the basic conversation we can handle but we want to have deeper conversations and that is not yet possible.

I thought, if a Buddhist monk came to Sydney and in his broken English tried to convert me to Buddhism, what is the likelihood of him converting me to Buddhism. I’d say next to nothing. Then what makes me think that I’d have any chance of converting any Buddhists here in Thailand?

It is then I remind myself that “Salvation comes from the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). This is the Bible verse we printed on the back of our prayer cards before we left for Thailand. Yes, humanly speaking it is near impossible through my efforts that a Buddhist will become a Christian. But ultimately people are saved through God’s power. It is God’s responsibility to save people not mine. That is not to be fatalistic though. I am still going to use every means and effort to help people become Christians. But as long as I am faithfully praying and labouring for the Gospel, then the results I can leave to God and I don’t need to beat myself up that no one has become a Christian.

That said, “The gospel ... is the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16) so if I am rightly presenting the gospel, then I should expect the power of God to be at work in saving people. If by the end of my 3rd term, with better language, cultural understanding and ministry experience, no one has become a Christian, I think I would need to reassess whether I am presenting the gospel in the right way or what we are doing wrong.

Increasing Tension in Thailand

Well its happening again in Thailand. The army has been called in to disperse "Red Shirt" protestors in Bangkok. About 70 people have been injured. Normally these protests don't affect us in Lampang but the highway from Lampang to Chiang Mai has been blockaded by the protestors. I have to go to Chiang Mai every Friday but this week the appointment was already cancelled so I don't need to worry.

A fellow missionary has written already about what is happening with links to video footage so go there for the latest (Bangkok Protests).

Please pray for the situation in Thailand. I don't think it will get to the stage where we will need to leave the country, but I'm thinking maybe I should have applied for my daughter's passport sooner. I hasn't been done yet because it means a trip to Bangkok and we don't go there very often. We need to be in Bangkok next month to renew visas and apply for our daughter's passport. Hopefully things will have settled down by then.

Another bad movie experience

I went to see a movie at the local cinema on my afternoon off yesterday. Part of the reason for doing this is for language learning.

There were only two movies showing, a very graphic horror movie or the movie pictured above. I didn't know what the Thai meant so I only had the picture to go by. So I bought a ticket and went in not knowing really what to expect.

Unfortunately it was another bad choice. The plot is that a girl's school wants to have a guys football team, so it's the first year that the school allows boys to enroll. But, there are only 16 boys who come to enroll and 7 of them turn out to be transsexual. Need I say anymore. I guess in Australia we had Priscilla Queen of the Desert. But that was a one off. In Thailand there are many movies with a transsexual bent. It is reflective of the society where it is acceptable to be transsexual. At Thai schools you'll see some male students with makeup and lipstick, in male uniform but acting very feminine.

This is the other poster for the movie. Now if I had seen this before I bought my ticket I would not have been fooled.

A scene from the movie to give you a bit of an idea.

Fortunately there were trailers for some movies coming up which looked much more promising. X-Men Wolverine; Terminator 4, The Shinjuku Incident.

Almost Forgot Easter!

Focus like me Dad!

In Lampang there are no Easter Eggs or bunnies in the shops. No other tell tale signs of Easter either. No public holiday. And since we are not going to a local church on Sundays, no reminders of Easter coming up either. So today, when I woke up I didn’t remember that it was Easter (didn’t help that our 4 month old daughter woke us up at 4:50am either and wouldn’t go back to sleep!). It was only later in the morning that it dawned on me. Today is Good Friday. It felt a but of embarrassment that I could forget Easter!

We were planning on having an Easter outreach for last weekend but our team didn’t have enough time or energy to organise it in the end. Unfortunately, Easter this year falls on the weekend of Thailand’s biggest festival, Songkran so we couldn’t have it this weekend.

The streets all around the Lighthouse have been closed off by police now and it is difficult to get in unless you walk. The Lighthouse is very close to where all the action is going to be for the Songkran Festival.

Songkran unfortunately is a time when many people let themselves loose getting drunk and driving dangerously on the road. There were almost 500 road fatalities last year. We are praying for safety on the roads for us and for others.

In Bangkok the political situation is worsening with increasing demonstrations by the “Red Shirts”. About 100 taxis blocked the entry and exists around the Victory Monument and turned one of the busiest transport areas of Bangkok into a car part.

We have to be in Bangkok in mid May to renew my work permit and apply for our daughter’s passport. Hopefully we won’t get stuck in the middle of it all.

I've been there

Our son LOVES "Lightening Mcqueen". This is the double garage he build for Lightening (with a little help from dad).

Without doubt one of the hardest things about being a missionary is when your children suffer as a result. Praise God that nothing major has happened to our children but we’ve heard enough stories from other missionaries to be wary.

I was reminded again today when Lisa recounted our eldest son saying that he didn’t want to go back to school because some kids were saying things to him. Apparent he gave them his “frown” in return. He’s usually happy to go to school the next day so we aren’t worried. If there are ever tears or real determination not to go then we’d be much more concerned.

We’ll never truly know what’s happening at school with our children. Not only because we are not there with them, but half the time we can’t understand what the teachers are telling us either. It’s another thing we let go of and place in God’s hands not because we are super spiritual or the like, but because we have no other choice.

I guess I have one leg up over some other missionaries, because I’ve been there - I’ve been in the situation which my son is in almost 30 years ago as a 5 y.o Korean child moving with my family from Korea to live in Sydney Australia. Backing in 1981, though unthinkable now, my brother and I were the only Asians at our school. We knew we were different, there was no mistaking that. In someways our kids blend in a lot better than I did. It would be worse if they were blond and blue-eyed. I saw our team leader with his kids the other day at the shopping centre and they get a lot more attention (cheek squeezing, stares, pointing) than ours do.

I also appreciate first hand now, what my parents must have gone through enrolling me in school with limited English and having to feel out forms and do all sorts of things they would have had no clue about. Will my kids have the new found respect that I have for my parents now in 30 years time I wonder?