The 21st anniversary edition

Well done on the latest Briefing! The ‘Tony and Garfunkel’-esque rendition of ‘Self-made man’ was especially worthy of applause. Happy Birthday!

Alexander Kochi of Cairns, QLD, AUS (08/04/2009)

I suspect I might be the ‘elderly relative’ referred to in the article by Tony Payne on ‘This is not real church’. But even I'm if not, I want to comment on the change of ‘doing church’ over the years and the cut-down New Testament church of today.

Tony wrote, “many of the elements that a previous generation would have closely associated with ‘real church’ had been stripped away or changed beyond recognition in our congregational gatherings”. How true! I well remember the shock-horror I felt when “Thee, Thou and Thine” were replaced in our church language by “you and your”. It felt so irreverent to speak to God in this way—almost as if we were becoming too familiar. But of course, taken slowly and constantly, this change slipped into our way of thinking.

Other changes, such as more informal clothing (no hats and gloves), no longer kneeling to pray unless you really want to or still can, and the advent of a crying room for young children have been easily absorbed. Liturgical changes are harder to introduce.

Church leaders in the Anglican church have gradually cut down and modernized the liturgy, and yet in the Diocese in which I live, there is still a loving acknowledgement of the needs of different age groups within the parish family. To embrace those different ages, three services are held each Sunday and one on Wednesday morning to cater for these needs.

I choose to attend the 9:30 am service on Sunday where I share an encouraging, refreshing and inspirational time with fellow Christians in the building we call ‘our church’. We sing together, praising God and acknowledging his Lordship and majesty accompanied by the Clavinova, a guitar and sometimes the flute and three singers. Old Testament and New Testament readings are given by members of the congregation, and prayers are offered also by parish family members. The gospel reading is expounded in such a way that I gain new food for thought and application in my life.

The children present gather around the chancel steps before the sermon, and are told a story taken from the gospel theme. This is done in a light-hearted, yet appropriate way. They then move to another large room for further instruction and craft, before rejoining us later to share in a time of communion in the taking of the bread and wine in remembrance of our Lord Jesus, who said, “Do this in remembrance of me”. All children are welcomed to the communion meal. The older ones can partake of the meal even if they haven't been confirmed. BIG CHANGE!

We follow the songs on an overhead data board, and have a service sheet—no prayer books or hymn books. The changes are significant, but I am grateful for the liturgy that has been retained. It contains a sense of reaffirmation, forgiveness and security. This feels like real church to me. I am grateful for the changes, but I can't imagine it being stripped down any further. Maybe the robing might go; our priest wears a long white cassock. Who knows!

At the 5:00 pm Discovery Church, the young families gather to the beat of drums, guitars and amplifiers, and the barefooted singers lead them with very different songs heard in the other two services of the day! No white cassocks are worn, needless to say. In contrast, the 7 am service is quite traditional, with a full prayer book service; remember the prayer book has been vastly updated too.

Just as in everyday life, new ideas and lifestyles infiltrate the way we ‘do home’, and, taken slowly and constantly, they become a familiar way of life. The main thing is to keep love in the picture, and to do that, we as parents know we have to be willing to take on board new ways. We don't always like these new ways; in fact, sometimes it goes against all we hold dear. But parental love is unconditional, and that says it all. The family know the guidelines and they know our love. So it is with God: we know his guidelines and love.

I recently attended the Wesley Uniting Church in Melbourne because it was directly opposite where I was staying. I knew no-one in the congregation, but I felt welcome, and was comfortable with the songs and prayers. It was quite traditional, but I was able to slip into the style and was blessed by the experience.

Churches have personalities. I'm sure God enjoys the contrast.

Helen Payne of Ballina, NSW, AUS (27/04/2009)

My comments on ‘Gospel Convictions’: easy to read, easy to understand, totally succinct. I very much like the ‘accordingly’ statements: they leave no-one in any doubt of where you are coming from. I have moved in some circles where I have been treated as a second-class Christian simply because I didn't speak in tongues and therefore was not ‘baptised in the spirit’. I agree wholeheartedly with all you say in Section 2.

I've only been a subscriber for around five years, but have enjoyed each edition. I find today that in many churches, one listens to wishy-washy teaching that does nothing for one's heartstrings or one's grey cells. The Briefing addresses these issues. It's a most stimulating read—thought-provoking and spiritually exercising.

Thank you and keep up the good work.

Shirley Mainstone of Spring Gully, VIC, AUS (27/04/2009)

Dear friends at Matthias Media,

A very happy birthday. You've certainly grown, but the family resemblance is still there:

• defending the gospel essentials and contending for the faith through the many waves of books, teachers and best fixes for the Christian life;
• calling us back to the basics of Christian living—reading our Bible, staying praying, walking us through godly living and warning us about losing our way;
• tools and tips for pastors and gospel workers.

I have just said goodbye to John and Karen Lavender who kindly came in the name of their church to encourage us to keep fulfilling Christ's mission in France. John was reading the birthday issue of The Briefing on our coffee table. He laughed out loud, and then said, “I remember now when I first read The Briefing. I read issue number 9—in 1988, I guess, because you gave me a copy to look at. It was then in loose-leaf form! Paul, you were the catechist at Mount Druitt, and I was a school teacher married to Karen, thinking about going into full-time pastoral ministry. After reading the excellent articles, I myself subscribed to The Briefing and bought the back issues I'd missed. I haven't stopped reading The Briefing since.”

Well, thank you for what I've received from your 21 years of service to gospel workers. Thanks to you, I could encourage another brother to join us in Christ's mission.

Paul King of Strasbourg, France (27/04/2009)

Hip hip hooray!!!

From all of the team at Crusaders, a BIG happy 21st birthday to The Briefing!

It has been wonderful being in partnership with you over the past five years. We look forward to many more years of working together in sharing the gospel.

Over the past 21 years, you have encouraged and challenged us through your articles, and have equipped countless others with knowledge and vigor to proclaim Christ's name.

May the next 21 years be just as fruitful and exciting for The Briefing and its many readers!!!

Crusaders of Eastwood, NSW, AUS (27/04/2009)

A friend recently told me that a good strategy when giving feedback is the ‘positive sandwich’—that is, give one piece of positive feedback, make you negative criticism and then conclude with a positive. (It should really be called the ‘negative sandwich’, but ‘positive sandwich’ sounded so much better).

Anywhere, here is my sandwich regarding your April issue (#367):

POSITIVE: Phillip Jensen's comment that “The raising of Christian children is an important evangelistic strategy” (‘The clarion call of the gospel’): What a way to value Christian children, as well as affirming the biblical lesson that a key place for Christian discipleship and training, and thus the growth of the church, is the family! Thanks, Phillip.

NEGATIVE: Tony Payne's article on the essence of church (‘This is not a real church’): This piece was a disappointment on so many levels. The biggest disappointment was Payne's whittle-down approach to doing theology, which proposed getting to the essence of church by stripping away all the non-essentials. Not only does such reductionism achieve very little, it is also dangerous, because it implicitly undermines Scripture. One example will suffice: Tony says that because certain things are not mentioned, this clearly means that they are not essential. But surely if we took this approach, then we would not hold to the doctrine of the Trinity because it is not explicitly mentioned. In other words, just because the Bible does not mention certain things does not mean they are not essential. Historically, Christian theology has not proceeded on the strip strip strip away approach; rather, in emulating Jesus' commission in Matthew 28:20, Christians down the ages have sought to know how all the Bible (both explicitly and by implication) informs our practice and faith. In fact, Tony's own examples betray the weakness of his position. By saying that the New Testament church heard God's word via “Bible reading, preaching/teaching, prophetic encouragement, etc.”, he shows that when considering an issue, we need to enquire after all that the Bible says on a subject, rather than trying to ‘lop off’ things that we think are not essential. As you can tell, Mr Payne, I was very disappointed with your piece.

POSITIVE: John Chapman's article on what to say when faced with someone complaining about graffiti: This was a simple, yet practical piece, and also easily applicable/adaptable. Thanks for the brilliant training, old man!

Kiprotich Chelashaw of London, UK (04/06/2009)

I've been on holidays, so have only just finished reading the April 21st birthday edition of The Briefing. I'm a relative newcomer to The Briefing (I've had a subscription for about four years or so), but generally I really enjoy it and find most of the articles helpful. Not only that, but God in his providence usually arranges for a topic to be covered in The Briefing that is relevant to something we are faced with in our current church or personal evangelism situation.

I found Tony Payne's ‘Looking back, looking forward’ article quite interesting, and my husband was able to use this to challenge a friend of ours. But I have a couple of observations about the content and tone of this article:

1. The editors of The Briefing are rightly pleased with their efforts to maintain biblical integrity as they address issues that Christians face up to on a regular basis. However, in my opinion, you didn't maintain this integrity when you addressed the Genesis debate in October 2006. Most of the articles in that particular issue deferred to human reasoning—that is, fitting the Christian viewpoint into scientific evidence as touted by ‘the world’, rather than using the Bible as the ultimate reference point.

2. The tone of this article—one I've noticed in a number of articles in The Briefing from time to time—degenerates into a kind of smug superiority about you being faithful to biblical teaching and authority. Perhaps you don't see this attitude in yourselves, and maybe the majority of your readers don't see it. Possibly the reason I notice it is because it is something I find I have to be very aware of in my own relationships with other Christians, Christian organizations, and even within my own church. Being blessed with wonderful teaching and a deeper understanding of God's word than others is a privilege, and we should never lose sight of this fact. So while highlighting error in teaching is necessary, we should always be ready to speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth is easy, but doing it in love can be much harder.

   Tony Payne mentions being “quite proud of our occasional negativity because it shows that The Briefing has managed to remain faithful to the Bible's authority”. This sounds like a minister friend of mine who, when pastoring a church in Brisbane, said he was glad that his church was small because it meant he was teaching the Bible faithfully. ‘Negativity’ and ‘remaining faithful to the Bible's authority’ don't necessarily stack up together. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 (a verse you know well, I'm sure!) that all Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. I don't see ‘negativity’ or ‘criticism’ in that list, nor do I get the impression that Paul was ‘critical’ when he wrote to the various churches about issues that they needed to address; always, he was “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”, but one never senses any kind of superiority in his attitude. Yet ‘critical’ and ‘criticize’ are both mentioned in Tony's article as being necessary from time to time.

I do enjoy The Briefing, and am frequently blessed by the articles that are written with dedication and care from month to month. I don't always agree; we wait for heaven to be in full agreement with one another. But I am very appreciative of the effort of the entire team in producing this wonderful magazine month by month. We are also very grateful to the Matthias Media team for the study guides, which we have used consistently for the past (almost) three years. They have been a blessing to us and to the members of our Bible study group—all of whom are new, young or not-quite Christians.

Kerri Norrie of Woodley, UK (04/06/2009)

The Briefing of Sydney, NSW, AUS (29/06/2009)