What's Your Flavour?

So I've just done this test for the second time. And no surprise, I've ended up being Emergent/PostModern. What does surprise me, is that even though I've been involved in more Pentecostal/Charismatic experiences, it still doesn't rate very high on my theological experience table.

I think that the Church needs all types of Spirituality. I really believe that. So whilst this Emergent/Postmodern attitude states that "You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well", I don't entirely agree with that. I do feel alienated from many forms of Church, but that's not necessarily just the older forms. Actually, if I had my choice of going to a High Anglican church or a Pentecostal Charismatic church, I would choose the High Anglican church any day of the week, and twice on Sundays. I think in our desire to be "more modern, more trendy", we've actually lost a lot of the sacred traditions which ground us.

I actually think that a lot of the more modern churches have "missed the mark" in relation to what the modern culture needs or wants. Take my tradition for example - The Salvation Army has lost many of the traditions which have made us who we are today. Over the Red Shield weekend, I was given the opportunity to chat with many older people for whom The Salvation Army was incredibly significant. One couple recounted the days when they would follow The Salvation Army's band and timbrels through the streets of Richmond, back to the church, and end with a "pie floater" together in community. They told me they miss hearing the band, and questioned whether the timbrels still exist. I told them that they do, not in a lot of corps, but in a few around the traps. Their comment "That's a shame, it's the most distinctive thing about the Army, it's what we loved about them". But people tell me all the time, "oh but it's not relevant anymore!"... isn't it? Really? Why then is the first question any of my not-yet-christian friends ask me "Wow, the Salvos, do you wear a uniform? Do you play in the band? Do you play the tamborine?" when I tell them that yes I wear uniform, my dad plays in the band and I do play the Timbrel - they don't tease me - THEY LOVE IT! They ask more questions, they want to know more. Still in this day and age, people connect with us on that level. So why do we run from it? Why don't we do Open Air meetings anymore? Because some other tradition told us it was no longer relevant?

I guess what makes me "emergent/postmodern" is that I truly believe that being in relationship with people - from all walks of life - from all faith traditions is not something to shy away from, but something to embrace and use to enrich our own faith experience. It is through our relationships and our dialogue with people that we can truly connect with Christ in the now, in the today, in the moment.

Perhaps the most "Emergent" idea I have - is that if The Salvation Army is to truly walk in it's calling and anointing from God... it needs to go back and look at what we did really well pre-1980's, and try and regain some of that, yes in a modern setting, but to get back and do it!! It's time! I'm over trying to be like the other churches, we're not a church, we're a movement... so let's move!

So what's your flavour? What is your theological perspective? But more importantly - how can you use that to enrich The Salvation Army or your local church?

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 75% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 64% Modern Liberal 54% Classical Liberal 43% Roman Catholic 36% Charismatic/Pentecostal 32% Reformed Evangelical 29% Fundamentalist 25%

When I'm Old & Gray...

Over the past week, I've really stopped to think about how blessed we are to have older people in our lives. I've always really valued the older generation - my grandparents generation, for what they have to offer us, and for the service they have provided for many many years.

On Monday, I attended two funerals. The first was for a friend's grandfather. His name was Peter, and he was such an amazing God-fearing man. Peter attended our Community Dinners each month, and to be honest, although he was old, you would never have known it for his energy and passion he brought with him. Peter was not only an amazing God-fearing man, he was also a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. In a world where "real men" are hard to find, Peter modeled what a "real man" should be. I am better for knowing him. He will be greatly missed.

The other funeral was for a wonderful woman, Nan, from my parent's Corps - South Barwon. Nan was a faithful servant of God, and though she had lived a hard childhood, later in life, she became a humble servant at The Salvation Army South Barwon. Nan was one of the first people I spoke to at South Barwon, and always greeted me with a smile, and would hold my hands in hers as she spoke to me. She will be so greatly missed not just by me, but also by my mum and the Corps.

This week, I also got some pretty bad news about my grandfather. He's really not well at the moment. I've always been a bit of a Grandpa's girl, and was the only grandchild to ever work for him in his fruitshop. Our times together at the shop were not always fun, but they always started and ended with a kiss and a cuddle from Grandpa. That's the stuff I remember. Grandpa's really not well at the moment, and he probably will not be able to be operated on. It's so sad to see him this way. He's in a lot of pain, and the reality of "old age" has hit him physically - unfortunately for him, he's still young in his mind, so it frustrates him no end. On Wednesday, my sister, niece & I went to spend some time with Grandpa & Grandma, and boy did we have fun. I love hearing Grandpa's old stories. He told one in particular about my great-Grandfather which deserves a blog all of it's own.... so that's a to be continued... Suffice to say, I'm blessed to come from such a rich heritage of Salvationists & Salvation Army Officers, and that heritage has not only shaped who I am today, but also the type of Officer I hope to be.

So - what are we to do with our heritage? Will we continue it or will we change it for future generations? When I'm older, what stories will I tell my grandkids? What will I leave them that they'll tell their kids? I pray, that as I get older, I will draw on the experiences of those who have gone before me. I pray that I grow stronger in my faith, that I grow deeper in my love for God and for people. I'm going to lean on the promise of God that:



“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46:4

How about this week, you take the time to listen to a story from someone of the older generation? Let's start to draw on their experiences, and use them to help us grow.

To My Anon Friend...

I'd like to take a moment to thank the person, (I assume is the very same "Anon" who posted on my "Faith or Fear" blog), who sent me a package to work today warning me against the Jesus Christians.

I have read the information you both gave me and the website you posted, and I do appreciate your feedback and input. I would have preferred if you actually told me who you were, but I understand that perhaps you've had bad dealings with people in the past so probably don't want me to know who you are. If it is that you are a friend of mine and are concerned with how I would react if I knew it was you sending me this information, please know, I would have taken your guidance with much grace, love and appreciation.

I need to state that at no point am I promoting the Jesus Christians - I do not feel they are a movement people should necessarily get involved in - and they are certainly not a movement I'd care to get involved in. The point of the blog was not that we should all go out and join the Jesus Christians. For one thing, I don't actually like that they are not attached to a church - I believe that the only way to "fix" the Churches problems is from the inside, not the outside. I also do not support their donation of one of their kidneys to people on the waiting list as a way of true membership, or whatever their take on it is. My kidney will stay very much in place, unless one of two things happen - I die, and my organs are donated (my wish) or my mother may need it one day, in which case I will gladly hand it over.

The point of the blog was not at all about heading out and joining the Jesus Christians - or that they are a model I feel we should copy. Instead, I was commenting on two things:
1. How great it is to "break bread" with people from different faith beliefs and different theological backgrounds. That evening, there were many things we disagreed on, but the one thing we definately agreed on was that the world needs Jesus, and the message Jesus gives - a message of love, forgiveness, grace, and truth.
2. That spiritual warfare is happening everywhere, and that we have our choice - choose faith or choose fear. I'm still going to choose faith. I'm still not going to fear being "spiritually attacked" because I choose to sit with people of other faith backgrounds, or other socio economic backgrounds, or with mental illnesses or the likes - because I believe that I hold the light of Jesus in my heart and that the light will extinguish the darkness. I'm choosing faith. Every day.

So thank you for your concern. Thank you for taking the time to research and send me information. I'm assuming you're a Salvo since you sent it to my office and knew my job title, so I will say - I believe The Salvation Army is the only movement I'm going to ever want to be part of - fear not... I'm not going anywhere! :) I just enjoy meeting people from all over...and as far as I'm concerned, everyone is welcome at my house - regardless of their faith background! :)

Mother Mother...

So yesterday was Mothers Day... a day where you celebrate your Mum. I love that there is a day to celebrate everything that our Mothers do for us. And I'm really lucky, my Mum is a legend. She honestly is. She's one of the most beautiful women I know, and is so much more than my mum, she's my best friend and closest confidante. There's not a thing about me my Mum doesn't know, and she loves me anyway! :)

The only thing I think needs to be adjusted slightly (which is a concept interestingly, that my Mum introduced me to!), is that rather than just celebrating our earthly Mums, why don't we take time to celebrate our Spiritual Mothers. At South Barwon (and interestingly at every other Corps my parents have been in command of!) we celebrate 'Mothering Sunday', and church members are encouraged to not only celebrate their earthly mothers, but to take a moment to thank those women for whom take on an a "spiritual mother" role in our lives. I LOVE THAT CONCEPT.

I have some amazing women in my life, women who have taken the time to truly pour their time, their gifts and their love into my life. I am who I am because of these women. These are the women who will take me for coffee, have a laugh with me, pray for me, and be available for me when I need them. They open their hearts and their homes to me. Two of these women who instantly spring to mind - have never had their own children.

So, why not take a moment to thank the "spiritual" mothers in your life. The women who love you and support you and pray for you and are just "there" when you need them!?

I know I will be.

Something Beautiful

I’m finding it increasingly difficult to find people who truly speak words of truth into your life. I’ve got amazing friends, but sometimes it’s just really hard to not be the “strong” one or the “together” one, sometimes you just have to be broken, and not everyone can handle that, and nor should everyone.

Last night, I was sitting under the very very heavy burden of shame, and guilt, and condemnation, and pain, and the lies and words of death that had been sewn into my heart over the past few years. The thing is, I knew they were all lies, I knew what was going on, well it wasn’t of God basically. I knew that condemnation isn’t something God wants His children to feel, but I just couldn’t shake it. I didn’t have the strength to fight it on my own. I sent out a text message to some of my friends asking for prayer.

My housemate, my beautiful housemate Venita, who was supposed to be in Melbourne, wasn’t. She was home. And whilst I sat there in my brokenness, she spoke words of truth, and life into my heart. For every doubt I had about myself or what I had to offer this world, she had words of truth and love and grace and peace. Every time I said “I know but…” she would say “no, you’re this….”

Even throughout all the stuff going on for her, she sat there in my stuff right by my side. She sat there and was Jesus to me. She sat there and listened to all my junk, warts and all junk, and still loved me, even throughout all of that. We sat there bare, all our insecurities, all our vulnerabilities right there on the table, and you know what… there was no shame in sharing with her. There was only grace and love pouring out from her.

How I crave that sort of relationship. How I seek after it. How I seek to BE that sort of person to people – the person that, no matter what junk you put on the table, I’m right there speaking words of truth, and love and peace and grace. That’s what I’m praying for now…. Even in my brokenness and pain, that I might be the sort of person who is safe to be with, who speaks truth and love and life into your life.

It reminds me of that old chorus:

“Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion, He understood.
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife.
But He made something, beautiful of my life”

May that be true for each of us.

Faith or Fear?

Last night, we got home to find (in true Christian Community style!) that we would be joined for dinner by two guys from the "Jesus Christians" movement, Ross & Israel. What was going to be a rushed evening of a quick dinner followed by small group ended up being such an amazing night of "breaking bread" with fellow believers and a true edification of the spirit.

If you're interested, you should check out who the Jesus Christians are by visiting their website: I don't know a whole lot about who they are or what they do, except that they lead a nomadic life serving God in each community they find themselves in and that Ross (a fellow Melbournian) and Israel (from India)treated us to an evening of Christ-centred discussion, which of course, is what we all need more of! I love that even though we may not agree theologically, we can respect each other enough to stop and learn and share our journey. :)

So anyhow, further to what I wrote yesterday, I was able to speak with these guys about the whole "abuse of authority" pandemic in the church at the moment, and it was good to hear about a genuine community by which each person is accountable to each other. One of the things I didn't write yesterday, which we discussed at length last night - was the "Faith or Fear" mentality in the church, particularly in response to matters of Spiritual Warfare.

From my experience (and please note, I'm trying not to make broad statements here, merely speaking from my experience of church) there has been two different camps within the church - both of which I've been a part of. There is the justice camp - the one where we go out and be lights in the darkness that is trying to oppress people - or there is the heaven/hell fear camp. These are the people who fear the darkness, who blame spiritual warfare on all that is wrong with the world, and as a result hide away from other cultures, religions and "worldliness". Now, if you are in the justice camp - you have no way of denying there is evil in the world, that manifestations take place - you see them on almost a daily basis - the difference between that camp and the other - YOU DON'T FEAR IT! Someone once said to me "if you saw a true manifestation of a demon, you'd understand Sarah"... and you know what, I have... and I do understand... I understand that spiritual warfare is blatantly occurring in today's world. I get that, probably more than you realize. But I also know, that we fight the good fight, and we fight the battle that's already been won. I have FAITH that my God, my Jesus, is bigger than anything that the evil one can throw at me, and as a result I'm not scared of it. I don't fear "demons" or "evil" because I know that when the light comes into the darkness, the darkness flees.

For the life of me, I cannot understand Christians who fear the darkness. Who fear spiritual warfare, or who fear people from other faith traditions/other expressions of life or other cultures. I do not understand that fear that if you hang out with a friend who is into the New Age stuff, demons will attack you - because my God is bigger than that! I can't understand Christians who don't want to enter into conversations with Buddhists or Hindus out of fear that you may be attacked - because my God is bigger than that! If you, as a Christian, TRULY believe that Jesus is the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE, then why in goodness sake do you fear the darkness?!

So we were chatting about this and someone said "That's because Sarah, the church either preaches faith or fear... I choose faith, others choose fear". And I think that's it, I think I get it now... I choose faith not fear. You see, no matter what "manifestations" happen, no matter how bad the "evil" you are facing is, you have a choice - Faith that the God you serve is bigger than it and that you hold the light, or fear that the darkness will suck you in.

At the moment, I feel like I've had a real kick in the guts, I feel as though my armour is kinked and I'm battle weary - but I hold faith that the very worse that can happen in life is this:
1. Our reputation is left in tatters - in which case, God has a blank slate to start again with.... or
2. We die - in which case we spend the rest of our eternal life with Christ.

So if you are battle-weary like me... if you don't know how much longer you can stand... if you are struggling to stand...kneel with me. Let's be each others armour bearers. Let's take all our broken and kinked armour and share the load and burden together. Because if we have faith that we actually hold the truth, and that the light is within us...the darkness will be extinguished and we may feel like we've lost the battle but we will win the war.

Let's start choosing faith not fear.

Ouch - Sometimes Church Hurts

I’m growing in my concern at the abuse of power within the Church at the moment. I’m frequently and consistently seeing “leaders” exert control over their congregation, telling them how to worship, what to wear, what God is calling the individual to do and worse in some cases. I’d like to say this is happening in all the other churches, and not The Salvation Army, but sadly, there are corps that are just as bad as every other church. So, having experienced some level of control, and abuse of power, and now seeing it for what it is, I thought I’d share some insight into some warning bells I’ve learned to watch out for…

1. Your church leaders have a very clear vision for what the church is involved in, but you have a nagging feeling that they are more concerned with building their own kingdom, not genuinely turning people toward God’s Kingdom. How can you tell? Well if numbers and “stories” (as in something to use to prove what a good church you are) are more important to them than the pastoral care and spiritual development of their flock…there’s a problem. Naturally a healthy church is one that is constantly growing – but if the growth does not extend beyond conversion, and people start to drift away, chances are, you’re church is not healthy.

2. If you leave church on Sunday and you do not feel uplifted and ready to serve God in your every day life, then there is a problem. Naturally a good sermon challenges and convicts you, but if you feel condemned or burdened when you leave, then your church is failing in it’s calling to edify the spirit of the believers and encourage them to go out and serve God. Remember – Jesus calls us to come to Him when we are weak and burdened and He will give us rest. He says “Come to me all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light” (Matt 11:28-30)

3. When your leaders start dictating to you (a) what you should or should not wear on a day to day basis (b) how you should spend your personal time (c) how much finance or time to you should give to the church and finally (d) who you should and should not be friends with or cutting out family members from your life. This is a really tough one because this is often pretty subtle, and it’s not necessarily easy to measure whether the leaders have overstepped their boundaries and spiritual responsibility. Obviously there are times when we need to be challenged on some of this stuff. If we are deliberately dressing provocatively (and by that I mean, that we purposely choose outfits to entice the opposite sex) to worship, that’s a problem. But that does come down to the motive. Also, we should spend time in fellowship with our church friends, but when that is constantly and consistently at the expense of spending time doing other things we enjoy, that’s a problem. Also, naturally we are called to tithe to “God’s storehouses”…that doesn’t necessarily mean YOUR church. I know many people who tithe over 10% to missions and to ministry projects all around the world… but if your church is insisting on over 10% of your money, you need to question why. Also, no person has the right to tell you who you should allow into your life and who you should not. If you are being told to cut people out of your life because they “don’t get the mission”, and if your church feels that they are more important than the family God gave you…we have problems here.

4. When you are told who to marry or who not to marry – or if you are told to leave your husband/wife by your church pastors – not on the grounds of physical/emotional/sexual abuse, but because he/she is not who the church deem fit for you to marry… I think this is self-explanatory.

5. Your church preaches hate/dislike/prejudice from the pulpit. Jesus came to love the unlovable. Jesus showed grace. Any preacher/pastor/leader who tells you that it’s okay to hate anyone from any other faith/race/sex or anything else, is not preaching the grace of Jesus. It’s really quite as simple as that. Love the sinner hate the sin. Jesus says though “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2) Let’s face it, there are some things that are really hard not to get judgemental about. I think I’m almost a woman of grace…I say almost because my grace is given freely to my friends and family who do not know Jesus, but I struggle at times to show grace towards judgemental Christians – which is just as bad as what they are doing. In fact, just last night I was talking to somebody quite dear to me about the Westboro Baptist Church (incidentally did anyone watch that documentary last night…man I just couldn’t believe half the stuff I heard!) and how “my grace just does not extend that far”…thankfully, God’s does. Showing grace does not mean you are okay with the sin. It just means that you believe that the convicting, is God’s job. We are merely called to love God and Love others (hey 2Love – what a great name for a youth department, eh Dave?! haha)

6. Naturally – physical abuse of any sort should not be tolerated… if your pastor or leader has physically harmed you – GET OUT!

7. They preach that your church is “better” than others or that “other churches don’t have what we have” or that “God blesses our church more than others”…dangerous dangerous ground. You begin to believe it, you get caught up in the vision, and at the end of the day – it’s just a lie. The Church is the bride of Christ – nobody should diss Christ’s bride…that includes the church down the road, the other denominations, and even other Corps or churches of the same denomination. We are all called to be different, each denomination/church/corps is called to be unique in it’s outworkings of service to God. No two churches should be the same. But just because my church offers this, and that church offers that doesn’t mean either of us is “better” or “more blessed” than the other one.

8. Finally – if you have started to feel that little gut feeling that things in your church or things with your leaders are “just not right” and you start to look elsewhere for another church…and you get challenged about leaving… or if you are called to go elsewhere for whatever reason (ministry/job/marriage etc), and your church do not want to release you… you’ve got big problems. People stepping into their calling, or people finding a place where they are going to better serve and connect with God, is something to celebrate, not control.

There are probably a million other warning signs, these are just the ones I’ve either experienced or have spoken to friends who have experienced…many of our stories, though from different denominations and churches… have had many common elements in the outworkings of the abuse of authority and control put down upon us. All of us have bought into the lie that we either did something to deserve this, or that we were just not Godly enough, or that we had bought about spiritual warfare upon the place, or worse still – that God will punish us for going against the church. We’ve all left feeling as though it was our fault. The flip side of that is that many of us remain in our churches (not me - I got the heck out of there the second someone helped open my eyes to the reality of my situation!) because we “don’t want to jump ship” or “don’t want to lose our friends or community” or “can’t change something from the outside”. And we continue to fall deeper and deeper into a spiral of lies and are stripped further of our worth.
No finally – I need to say that yes the bible does say to respect those for whom have been given spiritual authority…we are to respect our leaders. But that does not mean that we need to stay somewhere we are going to be damaged and abused.

Within the last 2 years, I have met so many of you out there, who just like me have been abused by your church, your pastors or your elders. It strips you of your worth and that my friends is not biblical. The church is supposed to edify and strengthen you – to equip you for ministry in the world. If your church is not doing that, you need to find a church that will before it’s too late and you lose your faith…and that my friends, breaks God’s heart.

Do you really believe....

So I've been thinking a lot lately about some stuff...and been sharing it with a couple of trusted friends.

So here's what I've been thinking.

I've been thinking it's time that Christians stopped using lingo such as "got saved" or "get them saved"...I've been thinking that we're already saved. We've been saved since the day that Jesus died on that cross. We're saved people. The world is saved. What we need to start seeing our job as is not "saving people" but turning them to the cross...introducing them to Jesus. Always Jesus. He did the saving. They're already saved. We just need them to acknowledge that. To really understand that Jesus loves them. That God loved them so very much that He knew the only way to save them from a life of death and destruction was to send His only Son to die so that they may live. We can't save them, we are not the Saviour...the real Saviour the one who actually died for them...did that thousands of years ago. He came to earth and died for THE WORLD, not just for Christians, but for the whole world, then, in the past, in the future and of course now. So we need to shift our thinking a bit on what our purpose in life is... I think our purpose is not to "get them saved" but to turn them to Jesus so HE can show them they've been saved so that they may live both eternally and in the here and now!!

I've been thinking that Christians need to stop being so freaking arrogant all the time. You know what I mean, this goes for me as much as it goes for anyone else... We act as though we're better than everyone else, and it's not the truth. You see, my dear friend Ann spoke at the Forge Gathering, about how at the foot of the cross, we're all equal. And for the first time, I realize that yes, that's what I believe. That even though I acknowledge that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour, it doesn't make me any better than the person next to me who doesn't acknowledge that. It also doesn't make us any better than the homeless person, the drug addict, the prostitute or even the muslim. Because at the foot of the cross, we are all equal. Jesus died for all of us. When we start at that point, the point of sheer undeserved grace - it makes the whole task of evangelism very easy... because you stop judging people for what is wrong in their lives, and start from a point of grace - the point at which Jesus always always started from. Our arrogance doesn't help us, it hinders the cause...that is showing what an amazingly gracious and loving God we serve. Plus, you'll also miss out on the chance of learning something about yourself and your own faith... so many times the people I was trying to "help" or "serve" ended up helping and serving me more than I could ever imagine. I'm no better than anybody else... we are all created in the image of our God, and have all fallen short...at the foot of the cross we're all equal.

Finally, I've been thinking that it's really hard to find people who want to see the best in you...who see you for who you are, and who love that person. Just as you are, not how they want you to be. You see, I have a few people like that - they are more precious to me than any jewel I could ever own. They don't even know it - though I hope that they know that I love them and they're important to me. They probably have no idea that every time we speak, my soul and spirit is edified by them. I met a new friend like that last week. He's been such a blessing to me, and he has no idea. I hope that I can too, be that to some of my friends. That I'm the sort of person who looks at your heart and loves you for who you are. I want to strive to love you for who you are and who you can be...not who you try to be and who I want you to be. I'm seeking heart connections not shifting and changing fair-weather friendships.

So that's where my head is at currently - yes it's confusing and all over the place - I can't help it - as the Collingwood crew would playfully tease - I am a Four after all (check out the eneagram, you'll get it then). It's filled with melancholy and hope. It's filled with lack of belief in self but total belief in a Christ who believes in me... and finally.... It's ever broken but always hopeful.