Bishop Robinson
I once had the privilege of hearing Don Robbie, former Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and ex-EU’er from the 1940’s, speak about the significance of the EU’s ministry. “It’s all about muzzle velocity” was his assessment, referring to the heavy guns they saw used in WWII. A shell’s final landing place is entirely determined by it’s velocity (i.e. speed and direction) at the point at which it leaves the muzzle. The significance of the EU’s ministry lies in its formative role in setting Christians’ speed and direction as they head into the rest of life.
It’s a great analogy … and a great challenge. To set people up for a lifetime of Christian service. So here’s my third suggested value for the EU GradsFund ministry:
We believe that God gifts all his people that they might serve one another and build the body of Christ and that university ministry ought to equip Christians for a lifetime of Christian service through training and opportunities to serve.
But here are my questions:
- Have churches picked up the training baton such that the training and ministry opportunities uni-aged Christians are offered on campus are no longer unique? Is this value really a distinguishing feature of EU’s ministry?
- What’s your experience? How formative and effective has EU training been in equipping people in your church to serve?
June 9, 2009 at 11:51 pm |
q1 not wiht he smae intensity or intentionality that is needed
q2 I am not sure but one guy turns up every week to serve.
how about this to tweak the value statement
we value training and mobilising students as lifelong servants in the gospel community and in all the world
June 10, 2009 at 10:19 am |
Hi shane – appreciate your input.
I like ‘mobilising’ – that captures something important. Also ‘lifelong servants’ is nice … more personal than my ‘lifetime of service’ … mine sounds like one of those ‘gold watch’ awards for toiling for 60 years in a factory line!
June 10, 2009 at 12:05 am |
1. church has taught, and provided avenues for service. but in terms of training, it’s been more of a ‘learn as you serve’ approach… i think.
i reckon it’s the crusader and kcc camps that have offered the most tailored training for me, outside of uni.
2. more time to think needed.
June 10, 2009 at 12:40 am |
Q.1 Some churches have picked this up in recent years (particularly larger churches I suspect), but training would mainly come at KCC, on campus and at NTE. And I guess that most training in churches would come through youth group.
I think the EU is far better than many churches in deploying people in ministry to use their gifts (just my opinion).
June 10, 2009 at 10:30 am |
Thanks Steph & Matt.
Yes – this is my feeling too. I been in several large and several small churches over the last 18 years – and all of them have run ‘training’ programs at different times. So I think more churches are attempting to ‘equip the saints for works of service.’
However church training is often sporadic, disconnected to the actual ‘doing’ of ministry (i.e. it is not an integrated learning approach) and not on-going (i.e. it is a ‘pump-you-up-once-and-off-you-go’ approach rather than on-the-job feedback and input).
A friend (who shall remain nameless!) commented to me that the difference between our Pentecostal brethren and conservative evangelicals on this point is this: the Pentecostal message is ‘God wants to use you now’; the conservative evangelical message in Sydney is ‘come and be trained and then you’ll be useful’…
June 10, 2009 at 12:25 pm |
Yeah – training in church often feels ad hoc and often not integrated into the rest of church life.
Maybe in the EU it’s a case of ‘God wants to use you now, and here’s some training that will back it up.’
June 10, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I like the vibe of your last comment – it affirms that God really does gift every person for his service, and yet acknowledges that gifts often benefit from cultivation, extra input, etc. Nice.
July 9, 2009 at 3:06 pm |
I like Moff’s last comment there too. I think that works.
I think that when you leave Sydney you find a lot fewer churches with training of any kind (other than youth group, which I didn’t even think of as training when I was going). You also find a lot fewer large churches, so maybe there’s a correlation there. Anyway, training for those leaving Sydney is crucial, wherever they get it from. And given that you get a lot of people at uni who aren’t from Sydney, the EU’s in a great position to give it to them.
One thing the EU does that I don’t think many churches would do is to train young Christians in administration. I think that distinguishes us. The EU training experience is very much “learn as you serve” as well.
We’re pretty good at recruiting people for those training programs (small groups and committees). However, I think we’re so eager to do so that we can neglect a person’s needs, or the needs of their church, and be greedy for their time and energy. When thinking about “muzzle velocity”, is there a place for thinking about shell integrity before firing?
Even if this value isn’t unique, it’s still good. Even if every church was training its people, it would still be good for the EU to train them too. Every little bit counts… more to the point, God will use it all.
July 18, 2009 at 1:39 pm |
In my experience the EU’s training is unique; but, I’ve never been at a large church, and so the issue is usually one of resources (and demographics have also played a role – there aren’t many uni-age people in Gerringong!).
At the church I am at presently, current and ex-EUers are at the core of ordained and lay ministry involvement. Senior pastor: ex-EUer. Assistant paster: ex-EUer. Key lay people include two ex-VPs. Massive input into church life from current USyd & UNSW students, who have been heavily influenced by EU & CBS. These people wouldn’t be the same or contribute as fully if not for their EU/CBS experience. They’ve been given the gifts, and at uni they have had help in aiming them in the right directions.
Steve Chong said to me at AnCon that you somehow ‘click’ with EUers when you meet them outside the EU. That’s certainly been my experience at church. I think that’s because they are, to some extent, travelling on a similar trajectory at a similar speed.
July 29, 2009 at 11:40 am |
Iain: YES. I think it’s pretty damn important to consider ’shell integrity before firing’. It’s no good to burn them out before they leave the muzzle.