One Day Blog Silence

Posted on April 30, 2007
Filed Under mission and justice, blog, current affairs | 1 Comment

In memory of the victims at Virginia Tech, and all victims in our world - people who die needlessly everyday.

 

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Gods will

Posted on April 29, 2007
Filed Under God | 4 Comments

How would you define how God directs you in life? Do you think Gods will for us is something which he clearly shows us through scripture, words and visions/pictures? Or, do you think God gives us choices as to which paths we take? Do you seek Gods will for your life, or not? If you do, how often do you seek that you are in the right place, doing the right thing? And how often does God speak with you?

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Domestic Violence

Posted on April 27, 2007
Filed Under mission and justice, church, blog, current affairs | 4 Comments

I’ve had a couple of days where I have got upset by some Christian’s attitudes. A number of things have disturbed me - ministry pay, conservative Christian responses to women, and what has really upset me the most is a story Heidi shared yesterday on her blog. Heidi has been sharing her Christian journey over a number of posts, which I really urge you to read. Yesterday she posted how part of her journey consisted of a situation with her friend, which I’ve copied below in bold.

“My friend sought pastoral counselling to help her work through some of the issues from her past. She met once with the pastor, who said that since she was still formally on the membership roles at her previous church, that he’d like to meet with her and her former pastor to “resolve their differences” before proceeding into more in-depth counselling with her. I was invited along as an advocate for her and as someone who knew her story well. I had no idea what to expect.

I had no preparation for what happened in that counselling office during the 3+ hours that we sat there. I watched the pastor of her former church turn into a petulant child, viciously attacking her character, claimed that she’d never repented for her sin (though the church had forced her to publicly repent several times, and though she was no longer in any kind of lifestyle of sin), and laying the blame for the awful treatment she’d received squarely at her feet. The pastor of the new church maintained a more calm, more “pastoral” demeanor, yet he too loaded her down with burdens. What was it the Bible said (in reference to Christ) about “a bruised reed he does not break”? How I saw these two pastors treat this young, single mom was very much “breaking a bruised reed.” The pastor of the new church urged her to stay in her abusive home situation, boasting that he had sent abused wives back into a physically dangerous home situation to “reconcile” with their husbands. After all, he said, if they were beaten they could call the civil authorities, and if they died, they’d go to heaven! The heartlessness and lack of compassion for victims of domestic violence disturbed me, as did the fact that I’d researched shelters for abused women and only a small number were faith-based or affiliated with churches. The truth was ugly and stark: we were not doing a very good job at caring for the orphan and the widow.”


 Domestic violence in part is a sore subject for me, as my mother was a victim, and more recently my sister. What really distressed me about Heidi’s friends story was the spiritual abuse which took place by both pastors. No woman or man should be sent home to an abusive relationship if they have left it. The church should be supporting victims. I serve on a local domestic violence forum, and the stories I’ve heard would really make your heart break, and your toes curl. Victims need to be helped and supported as they move on with their life once they have come to the point when they say no more. It takes a lot of victims a number of years and a lot of beatings before they reach that point. It takes them a lot of courage to leave, as they literally walk away with nothing. Many have to change their own and their children’s names, and they get re-housed in a new area, miles away from where they have lived before. Please don’t slam the door in their face. Let’s take care of them. You can read Heidi’s full post here.

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deleted post

Posted on April 27, 2007
Filed Under blog | 2 Comments

I posted earlier today that I was disappointed  with comments I read on andrew jones blog that mark driscoll made at a conference this week in orlando.  I have removed the post, and apologise to anyone who read it.  I was not at the conference and it was wrong of me to post about something which was apparently said.

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Thoughts

Posted on April 26, 2007
Filed Under thoughts, family news | 19 Comments

As well as making ministry decisions right now, I’m also processing home schooling the kids.  Ben is 8 (next week!) and Grace is 6 (also next week!).  They been going to school since they were both just turned 4, 8.55 - 3.20 every day.  During this time they have also had homework every night  (reading Mon - Fri) then  literacy or numeracy  for 30 mins or so over the weekend.  I don’t think I got homework until I was about 9 or 10!

My main reason for thinking about home school is because Ben has special needs - his paediatrician thinks he is borderline on the Autistic Spectrum.  Ben doesn’t really get on well with school, and boy do we know about it when he gets home!  He is now at an age where children are starting to bully him, and he is noticing.  I know I can’t protect him forever, as it were, but I have a responsibility as his parent, and it really pains me to keep sending him back into school.  My other reason for home schooling is that Ben and Grace will receive so much more one to one.  We have some friends who are also thinking about homeschooling their girls.

I don’t really want to follow an overly Christian curriculum, because some I’ve seen are quite “religious”.  Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts or advice?  Do any of you  home school?

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