I found Claire Smith’s response clear and easy to read. But I thought it was just so helpful to start the book with the first article by Peter Tong, as it sets the response within the right framework for a thoughtful and thorough discussion… I now understand that a proposal to change the way a word had been understood by the church for two thousand years should be debated and tested in a more rigorous and academic manner than Facebook comments…

One question that a couple of people have raised with me is how WSB interacts with the two editions of Hearing Her Voice (HHV) that are in circulation. John Dickson himself has expressed disappointment on this issue in some public remarks, claiming that WSB is “deeply flawed” on account of it being “based on the 1st edition instead of the 2nd”. This is an unfortunate comment, not least because it gives the impression that WSB did not deal fairly with the most up-to-date version of John’s position, and so (presumably) has failed to come to terms with what he really thinks and argues.

This is by no means the case, and (for those who are interested) I’ve set out the facts below on exactly how WSB has dealt with the two editions of HHV. As readers of WSB will discover for themselves, the authors took quite some trouble to interact with John’s complete published argument about women and preaching, both in its first and second editions.

In the meantime, please keep praying that everyone involved in reading and discussing the book will be taught by the grace of God to live “self-controlled, upright and godly” lives (Titus 2:14-15).

A brief account of the two editions of HHV, and how WSB interacts with them.

1. The first edition of HHV was published worldwide by Zondervan as an ebook in Dec 2012 (alongside two other ebooks on women and ministry, by Michael Bird and Kathy Keller). HHV generated considerable discussion and controversy in the months immediately following. John Dickson sent a free black and white printout of the ebook to every rector in Sydney, and promoted the book extensively through social media, asking on numerous occasions for people to engage with his thesis and offer counter-arguments if such existed.

2. A few of us decided that this would be worth doing (the topic being of considerable importance) and set about writing. By June 2013 the essays were done. We then learnt of the imminent publication of a revised edition (the ‘second edition’) that John said did not change the argument in any significant way, but clarified and corrected at a few points, and added extra supportive material to the argument (about 30% more).

3. We asked John for a pre-publication copy so that we could deal fairly with any clarifications, corrections or new evidence presented in the second edition. He kindly sent us a printout of the second edition in the first week of August 2013.

4. A few weeks later, the second edition was released only in Australia and only as a print edition (with a full-colour cover). The second edition did not indicate that it was a second or revised edition, or that a first edition existed. This was somewhat confusing, especially since the first edition continued to be sold by Zondervan as an ebook in Australia and worldwide. (The first edition has recently been withdrawn from Amazon.com in advance of the release of the second edition as an ebook sometime in the coming weeks. However, as of today, the first edition is still for sale as an ebook through Koorong books.)

5. So the authors and editors of WSB had to consider the following:

• the first edition Zondervan ebook was a published work in its own right
• it had been widely distributed and discussed throughout Australia and the world
• it was the only edition of HHV that many Australian readers of WSB would ever read
• it was the only edition that readers outside Australia had access to (and that remains the case, as of today)
• it remained in circulation and for sale (and has remained so right up until today).

In response to these facts, we made what we still consider to be the only reasonable decision—that we would need to deal fairly with both editions of HHV in our response.

6. Accordingly, starting in August 2013, the WSB authors went back through all the essays and revised them, making sure that we noted and interacted with any significant points at which the second edition corrected or clarified the first, and interacted with additional arguments or evidence adduced in the second edition. (Readers of WSB will see for themselves that we have done this.) This procedure meant that the many readers of the first edition could read a critique of the edition they had in their hands, but also see any points of substance at which the second edition clarified or improved the argument. It also meant that readers of the second edition suffered no disadvantage (because new or clarified material in the second edition was carefully and clearly interacted with).

7. All of this of course took some months (it was painstaking, and we’re all busy people). The revised versions of essays were completed in late November. WSB then went through very thorough editing and checking to make sure everything was as accurate as possible, followed by design and ebook coding, and then further checking. In our process at Matthias Media, this all took slightly longer than the usual time (because of the size of the book, the nature of a multi-authored volume, the number of footnotes to be checked, the intervention of the Christmas holidays, and some staffing-related delays).

8. WSB was published as an ebook on 5 May 2014. For those who wish to read the arguments for themselves, you can purchase the WSB ebook from Matthias Media, Amazon and iTunes.

Location: Free Reformed Church of Baldivis (6 Outridge Rd, Baldivis WA).

Times: Fri 16 May at 7:30pm; Sat 17 May from 9am-12pm.

More info: Stephen Posthuma, posthumas@scbc.wa.edu.au, 0434 692 828 (mob).

And besides, what is the point of ministry conferences anyway—do they actually change anyone or anything?

There was a moment of awkward silence in the room when the question was asked.

Some friends and I were meeting to talk about launching Nexus as an annual Sydney-based ministry conference, and one of us had asked the key question. Given the time and resources involved in organising and running such a conference, not to mention the time  and resources invested by gospel ministers to attend, was it worth it? What would actually be achieved, apart from a bit of temporary uplift and a day off from the weekly grind? Would the Productivity Commission give it the thumbs up?

As we talked, we realised that this was a theological question, about what ministry was, and about how ministers change. In the end, we concluded that the answer was similar to the answer we would want to give about why we go to church. We  meet together in church because of who we are and who Christ is, because his plan for us is to become like him as his saved people, because the natural bent of our hearts is in the other direction, and because the means God has given us to repent and grow and change is his Word prayerfully spoken and explained, over and over again, in fellowship with one another. It’s the regular cumulative effect of this prayerful engagement with God in his word with one another that brings change, sometimes quickly, sometimes more gradually.

This is also why gospel workers need to get together—to be sharpened and challenged and changed in our ministries by the truth of the Bible, spoken clearly to one another in fellowship. And as my friends and I looked around the landscape here in our part of the world (in Sydney), we felt that there were in fact remarkably few effective, ongoing opportunities to do that.

And so we decided to launch Nexus—an annual evangelical ministry conference, where gospel ministers can gather around the Bible to sharpen and challenge one another theologically as gospel ministers (and trainee ministers), to talk through the practical implications together, and to build a fellowship of like-minded brothers and sisters for the long haul. (Hence the tagline: where theology, ministry and fellow workers meet.)

This first conference we hope will set the tone by going back to the ‘DNA’, to the essentials of what it means to minister the biblical gospel of Jesus in our churches and to the world. Here’s a quick overview of the program:

• Peter Jensen will open with an exposition of Acts 20 and Paul’s stirring charge to the Ephesian elders.
• Peter Orr (NT lecturer at Moore) will follow that with a paper on ‘Abounding in the work of the Lord: the eschatological priority of gospel work for every Christian’. This is a follow-up and expansion on his excellent recent article in Themelios on 1 Cor 15:58.
• After lunch, Archie Poulos (Ministry lecturer at Moore) will seek to ‘isolate’ the DNA; that is, to ask whether the New Testament has a ‘theology of ministry’ and (if so!) what it is.
• We’ll then be hearing snapshots from five gospel ministers (from Sydney, Geelong, the Central Coast and Mexico!) about what this DNA looks like in practice in their particular contexts.
• Richard Chin (National Director of AFES) will then talk to us about where and how we lose sight of these essentials, based on his experience of ministries all around Australia and overseas.
• Just before the dinner break, ‘Controversy Corner’ will feature a panel discussion about a current hot topic—the ‘portfolio’ approach to deploying pastors versus the ‘congregational’ model.
• And after dinner (which is provided), the day concludes with Carl Matthei (Senior Pastor at Unichurch/UNSW) and Phil Colgan (Senior Pastor, St George North) exploring the much-misunderstood concept of ‘training’—what it is, and why it’s so vital to growing gospel ministry.

It’s a high quality program, and we’d love you to join us. This year’s Nexus is on May 26 at the Village Church in Annandale (so now would be a good time to register!). And if you’re outside Sydney and would like to join us virtually, there will be a live-stream of the content.

We hope to see you there.

• in formats suitable for most computers and ebook readers at Matthias Media (purchase the ebook and access both the epub and mobi (kindle) files)
• on the Apple iBooks platform (by using the iBooks app on your iOS device)
• at Amazon.com for Kindle

The two Sydney events are:

A night with Tim Challies

A chance for pastors and other gospel workers to engage with Tim’s extensive thinking and writing on living and ministering in the digital age.

7-9 pm, Wed 14 May, Toongabbie Anglican Church ($20 at the door).

Should be a stimulating and interactive night, with plenty of opportunity for questions.

Parenting in the Digital Age

An opportunity for parents to be equipped with understanding and strategies for raising children in the ‘always on’ world.

7-9 pm, Thurs 15 May, Toongabbie Anglican Church ($10 at the door).

(Here are some fliers with more info that you can use to spread the news about these events.)

Tim will also be in Perth:

• Friday May 16 & Saturday May 17 – Free Reformed Church of Baldivis
• Sunday May 18 – Preaching at Rockingham Baptist Church (AM) and St. Matthew’s Unichurch (PM)

You can download:

• the introduction to the volume, explaining how the collection came about, what its aims are, and what the different contributions are seeking to achieve;
• Peter Tong’s excellent opening essay ‘Doing theology in a digital culture’.

We hope you enjoy these two appetisers in advance of the main course.

The collection not only responds to the main arguments of Hearing Her Voice (regarding whether women should give sermons in the regular Sunday gathering), but also bounces off this specific question to consider some larger issues, such as:

• how we should apply the Bible to church life now
• what part teaching/preaching plays in the shepherd-leadership of congregations
• what the Bible as a whole teaches about gender and ministry.

Women, Sermons and the Bible features contributions from (among others) Claire Smith, Peter Bolt, Mark Thompson and Lionel Windsor, and will be published initially as an ebook available for download at Matthias Media, as well as through the normal Kindle and iBook channels. Plans for a paper edition later this year are still in train.

The introduction and first chapter will be available for free download from the Matthias Media online store on Wednesday 30th April.

Table of contents:

Introduction: Ordinary and unusual

Part I: Setting the scene

1 Doing theology in a digital culture (Peter Tong)

2 One woman’s voice: some personal reflections on the realities of complementarian ministry (Dani Treweek)

Part II: Biblical and historical arguments

3 Unchanged ‘teaching’: The meaning of didaskō in 1 Timothy 2:12 (Claire Smith)

4 Can the Old Testament be ‘taught’? (Claire Smith)

5 Is the modern sermon an ‘exhortation’? (Claire Smith)

6 Reading God’s history as our good news (Peter G Bolt)

Part III: Reflections on method and theology

7 God’s word then and now (Tony Payne)

8 Preachers and leaders (Lionel Windsor)

9 The theological ground of evangelical complementarianism (Mark D Thompson)

Appendix: Observations from the second edition (Claire Smith)

Bibliography

But Paul’s main point was to ponder the strange business of Sydney’s imminent election of a new Archbishop. His perspective was that of a slightly bemused outsider, and I can hardly blame him for that. I sometimes find the culture of Sydney Anglican evangelicalism bemusing, and I’ve been here for all of my adult life. I thought it might be helpful for our many friends around Australia and overseas to provide an insider’s guide to the forthcoming election.

First, you must understand that the Archbishop is the chief denominational official and spokesman for the 300 or so local Anglican churches in Sydney. He has an important role in managing and leading what we do together as a fellowship, although his power over individual churches is limited. So for example, the Archbishop is involved in the process of choosing ministers for local congregations but does not dominate it. The local congregation itself drives the selection process.

Also, the Archbishop doesn’t make up the rules that govern the ministry and life of the churches in our fellowship. That authority resides in the annual synod (or assembly), made up of clergy and lay representatives from all the local congregations (about 800 or so people in all). The Archbishop chairs the synod, as well as the Standing Committee that carries on the work of the synod throughout the year. He also has a right of veto over synod legislation.

In many ways, the Archbishop’s real power is threefold: he can have a significant influence over direction and policy through his leadership of diocesan committees and processes; he can shape the direction of the diocese through the numerous key appointments that are in his power to make; and (perhaps most importantly) by his teaching of God’s Word  he flies the flag for what we stand for, both to lead the diocese forward in the gospel and to interact with the wider society (often through the media).

The Archbishop is elected by the synod, and must secure a majority of both clergy and lay representatives (referred to as the two ‘houses’). Candidates for the position are nominated a few months in advance, and do not attend the election synod. Given that it is a significant decision, often with long-term implications (most Archbishops continue in the role until they retire), the synod representatives usually take it upon themselves to do some homework in advance as to the merits of the various candidates.

And this in turn leads to the mini ‘election campaign’ that Paul Levy commented upon in his piece at Reformation21.

While it is perhaps inevitable that some silly things will be said and done during this ‘homework’ period, it is still a necessary and good process in my view. There has to be some means of weighing up the pros and cons of different candidates, and to do so openly and honestly in advance, in fellowship with another, seems both wise and necessary. The synod electors need to think carefully about the positive reasons for electing various candidates, as well as the factors that make one or other candidate less suitable—given the significant impact the appointment will have on our fellowship over the coming decade.

So far, two candidates have been nominated: Glenn Davies and Rick Smith. Both are godly evangelical men, and both are widely respected and supported around the diocese. Here is a quick summary of the discussion so far surrounding these two men.

Glenn Davies is a 62-year-old Westminster-trained former Moore College lecturer and pastor, who has been a local bishop for the past decade. The positive arguments for Glenn are that he is a very winsome, intelligent and able leader and speaker, with runs on the board as a bishop, and solid experience with the media and in relating to other Anglican leaders around the world. He is seen as a safe pair of hands while the longer-term future leadership of the diocese is worked out. The arguments against Glenn are that he would be perhaps less dynamic as a ‘mission leader’ for the diocese, and that his theology, while Reformed, is at various points less representative of majority Sydney Anglicanism.

Rick Smith is a 49-year-old pastor and church planter, theologically sharp and conservative, with an impressive record of evangelism, ministry and leadership. The positive arguments for Rick are that he matches Glenn for intellect, character and the ability to lead an organization—but is a younger man with a more creative, evangelistic mindset, has a theology somewhat more representative of the diocese as a whole, and would be more likely to build the momentum for mission that has begun under the leadership of Peter Jensen. He is seen by many as the leader for the future. The arguments against Rick are that he is younger, untested in denominational leadership, and could be in the role for a long time (up to 21 years if granted an extension)*. He also has less experience with the media and with international Anglican relations.

I have friends on both sides of the discussion, and can appreciate the good cases that are being made for Glenn and Rick. My own view is that Rick would be the wiser choice, given the current challenges we face to reach our city with the gospel.

The final thing to say is that all of us Sydney Anglicans would appreciate your prayers as we wrestle through this together. Pray that the synod reps would weigh up the issues in a godly and thoughtful way, and make a wise decision. Pray that we would argue and differ as Christians should—with honesty, graciousness and a desire for the common good. And pray that when the dust settles, we will work together on the really important task of taking the gospel to the lost millions all around us.

—

* Edits: Added and then adjusted this point about length of tenure. Also adjusted Glenn’s age to 62 (sorry for wrongly making you a year older Glenn!).

It’s there in Hebrews 3 and 4, that majestic passage about the piercing clarity and contemporaneity of God’s Word. The problem for the author of Hebrews is not that the word of God is somehow closed off to his readers, or shrouded by the mists of time or culture.

The problem they face is far more severe and insidious. It’s the problem that Israel succumbed to in the desert, and because of which they failed to enter God’s rest. It’s the problem that the first century readers of Hebrews faced, and that we face to the same extent today.

The problem is the deadening effect of unbelief and sin. “Take care, brothers”, says the author of Hebrews, “lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13).

There is a an interplay here between unbelief (that is, a lack of trust in God’s Word) and sin (rebellion against God and his Word) and hard-heartedness (the stubborn, irrational ignoring of God and his Word).

We fail to trust that what God says is really true and for our good, and fall for the deceitful proposition put forward by Sin—that we really know better, and that we should go our own way. And so we do, and then find that our heart starts to skin over and become steadily more resistant to God and his Word. And so we distrust his Word further, and rebel against him again, and so the cycle continues.

This is true in our experience—when we give up praying; or when we yield to the deceitful temptations of lust and pornography; or when we spend our time in the loveless pursuit of our own pastimes and pleasures. Whenever sin deceives us into distrusting the truth and goodness of God’s word, we find ourselves in a slow death spiral of unbelief, rebellion and increasing hardness. Sermons wash over us like musak in a department store. We open the Bible on our bedside table only to close it again after a few minutes, not really sure what we’re reading or why. We start to find reasons why we can’t make it to Bible Study this week. And on it goes.

The problem is not intellectual. We haven’t suddenly figured out some reason why the Bible is less trustworthy, or why the resurrection didn’t happen. Nor is the problem created by differences in language and culture between us and God’s Word.

The problem is sclerosis of the heart.

The antidote, in Hebrews 3, is to recognize the danger, to take care, and to keep up a daily diet of mutual exhortation and encouragement.

This is a common sentiment today, and I understand the truth it seeks to convey—that there are very noticeable cultural differences between 21st urban, pagan Australians and (say) nomadic Israelites, wandering the deserts of Sinai in the 14th century BC. This recognition of cultural difference leads many people to suffer a level of anxiety about whether and how to apply the teaching of the Bible to our world today. After all, if the Bible’s teaching is addressed to a world alien from our own, how are we to be sure exactly when and how that teaching is relevant to our own (very different) world?

It’s funny, though, that the apostles didn’t suffer from this anxiety. In his discussion of ministerial salaries in 1 Cor 9:9, Paul settles the matter by quoting the law about not muzzling the ox (from Deut 25)—and in so doing takes a word that was addressed to the aforesaid nomadic Israelites and applies it directly to a bunch of urban, pagan, Corinthians living 1500 years later. Paul undergoes no hermeneutical crisis as he does so because (like the rest of the apostolic authors) he operates on the assumption that the world of Deuteronomy is profoundly the same as his world. It was created with enduring coherence and moral order by the one true and living God, who reveals that moral order through his Word. And it is shaped and directed by God’s worldwide and history-wide purposes in Christ—so that Paul and his readers stand at the fulfillment of the ages, in which the word of Deuteronomy finds its ultimate purpose and meaning.

All of which leaves us with an intriguing proposition: If the ancient Bible in its distant alien world is true, then our view of the biblical world as a distant and alien is false.