It's been a sad few years for Australian politics. Men of conviction (e.g. Rudd and Turnbull) had been deposed, instead replaced by puppet heads devoid of personaility (Kenneally, Gillard, Abbott).
Maxine McKew rightly assessed the sentiments (at least for her Bennalong electorate), namely indeed it is a strategic mistake. In her Chinese dominated electorate, the betrayal (the exact opposite of the virtue of loyalty esteemed by the Chinese) by the labor party in deposing a PM with fluent Mandarin has cost them the electorate, predicatbly.
However, she is also right in expressing the lack of policy and conviction expressed by either party, and the lack of hope or excitement in her electorate (which is also true of my feeling).
We have not been given any policies of note, and instead have been given just character assinations repeated over and over (i remember watching the train-wreck Ad - THREE TIMES - during ONE commercial break.)
Neither party in their speeches has said anything of note. (well, abbott has once again made a fool of himself , attacking Gillard and labor instead of doing anything positive to form government).
I personally would have hoped that either of them woudl have said the following:
'We have clearyl outlined (whatever our policies/action) is during this campaign, and respect the opinion of the public, etc. We will work with whichever indepedent/green and try to head towards this direction, etc, etc)
What saddens me most is that there is that both the upper and lower house may hang in the balance of the greens - one of the most openly anti-Christian policital party. I earnestly pray right now that either party (hopefully the coalition) can form a majority governemtn without involving a minor party.
It is right in 2 Timothy that we pray for a King (i.e. governemnt) that can govern in peace. In my personal opinion, a minority government that bows to the whims of independents and the greens would not achieve that result.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
reflection on andrew hong's post
here are 2 recent post by andrew hong
part 1:
Q. how interested are Asian bible college students in serving in a chinese church? A. http://bit.ly/9MMn4H
part 2:
Q. so what makes asian theological students worried about serving in a chinese church? A: http://bit.ly/bObnNA
and here's a summary from andrew hong's post:
part 1: theological graduates will consider (in order of decreasing desrability)
1) overseas mission
2) parachurch
3) working in non chinese church
4) working in chinese church
part 2:
The (chinese) church's leadership (deacons, elders, wardens) is the most concering factor for theological graduates.
here's my response (it appeared first on andrew hong's wall on FB):
it proves the saying/mentality: the grass is greener on the other side (this is the reflection of reading both your posts). People do like the adventure of o'seas mission and the perceived freedom from structures that one may envisage. but having experienced both sides of the coin, one should realise that accountability is benficial, and in fact, at times overseas mission is a much more difficult situation, with the missionary at times answerable to 4 sets of rules/authorities:
1) the agency's dominant authority (usually N american),
2) local leadership
3) sending leadership
4) ch leadership.
i am writing this not to downplay the importance of mission. (The fame of God amongst the nations, ala Piper cf Ps 67, is a personal driving force). However, i am writing this to show the importance of the right motive in going to mission (or indeed any ministry). Overseas mission will not avoid leadership structures. it exists in all parts of the world. in fact, interpersonal issues are the #1 factor in missionary attrition. as mentioned by the following (excellent) book:
* Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition
By William David Taylor
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=S_lOJ5tZdoIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=too+valuable+to+lose+missionary+attrition&source=bl&ots=QCLJS5BcIP&sig=gIXwDIGk15HTGVGbW7weD4vKUnI&hl=en&ei=sahhTO6hA9ivcOnyxK4J&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
i believe the key, as explained in my second entry on AH's wall:
"also, while many ppl are willing to be cross cultural students in a mission environment, usually most ppl fail to do so working in a chinese church."
If interpersonal conflict is a main issue, surely one would do well to do that and treat working in any ministry as a cross cultural environmnet.
one of the best courses i have done @ SMBC (amongst many) is cross cultural communication by Richard Hibbert.
The course teaches one to analyse culture from various aspects (e.g. power distance, etc, etc) and what i have learnt is to ask questions of the culture before passing judgement.
I guess if we use the same set of (tinted/untinted) glasses (as well as, obviously, Christian, grace, love and forbearance) to look at local and overseas ministry, it would solve many of the interpsonal isue problems.
part 1:
Q. how interested are Asian bible college students in serving in a chinese church? A. http://bit.ly/9MMn4H
part 2:
Q. so what makes asian theological students worried about serving in a chinese church? A: http://bit.ly/bObnNA
and here's a summary from andrew hong's post:
part 1: theological graduates will consider (in order of decreasing desrability)
1) overseas mission
2) parachurch
3) working in non chinese church
4) working in chinese church
part 2:
The (chinese) church's leadership (deacons, elders, wardens) is the most concering factor for theological graduates.
here's my response (it appeared first on andrew hong's wall on FB):
it proves the saying/mentality: the grass is greener on the other side (this is the reflection of reading both your posts). People do like the adventure of o'seas mission and the perceived freedom from structures that one may envisage. but having experienced both sides of the coin, one should realise that accountability is benficial, and in fact, at times overseas mission is a much more difficult situation, with the missionary at times answerable to 4 sets of rules/authorities:
1) the agency's dominant authority (usually N american),
2) local leadership
3) sending leadership
4) ch leadership.
i am writing this not to downplay the importance of mission. (The fame of God amongst the nations, ala Piper cf Ps 67, is a personal driving force). However, i am writing this to show the importance of the right motive in going to mission (or indeed any ministry). Overseas mission will not avoid leadership structures. it exists in all parts of the world. in fact, interpersonal issues are the #1 factor in missionary attrition. as mentioned by the following (excellent) book:
* Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition
By William David Taylor
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=S_lOJ5tZdoIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=too+valuable+to+lose+missionary+attrition&source=bl&ots=QCLJS5BcIP&sig=gIXwDIGk15HTGVGbW7weD4vKUnI&hl=en&ei=sahhTO6hA9ivcOnyxK4J&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
i believe the key, as explained in my second entry on AH's wall:
"also, while many ppl are willing to be cross cultural students in a mission environment, usually most ppl fail to do so working in a chinese church."
If interpersonal conflict is a main issue, surely one would do well to do that and treat working in any ministry as a cross cultural environmnet.
one of the best courses i have done @ SMBC (amongst many) is cross cultural communication by Richard Hibbert.
The course teaches one to analyse culture from various aspects (e.g. power distance, etc, etc) and what i have learnt is to ask questions of the culture before passing judgement.
I guess if we use the same set of (tinted/untinted) glasses (as well as, obviously, Christian, grace, love and forbearance) to look at local and overseas ministry, it would solve many of the interpsonal isue problems.
reno blog - finished
man - it shows how much i blog:
summary of reno:
may - remove everything carpet, wall board, foam ceiling (the last two items combined gave the house the feeling of the house from the castle... yuck!), yucky built in wardrobes, small cupbards (they even have a cupboard built from asbestos!). Also, removing foam ceiling is back breaking work, i have to lift a heavy scraper (5kg+) to do the ceiling. eventually i gave up a little and got someone else to finish scraping the ceiling.
we also removed kitchen & bathroom. On council clean up day, our pile of rubbish was so high that it became a spectacle for all those who drove past on galston road (i distinctly remember one family who all turned to look at our rubbish).
june: lots of shopping - looking for kitchen, bathroom, tiles. then it was tradesmen madness:
1) gyprockers
2) electrician
3) tiler
4) floor board person
5) carpenter
july: as well as wedding prep, we needed to move in/add finishing touches/prepare accomdation (i.e. getting enough quilts/beds/heaters), organize itinerary for relos. it was probably the most stressful month in my life.
june:
summary of reno:
may - remove everything carpet, wall board, foam ceiling (the last two items combined gave the house the feeling of the house from the castle... yuck!), yucky built in wardrobes, small cupbards (they even have a cupboard built from asbestos!). Also, removing foam ceiling is back breaking work, i have to lift a heavy scraper (5kg+) to do the ceiling. eventually i gave up a little and got someone else to finish scraping the ceiling.
we also removed kitchen & bathroom. On council clean up day, our pile of rubbish was so high that it became a spectacle for all those who drove past on galston road (i distinctly remember one family who all turned to look at our rubbish).
june: lots of shopping - looking for kitchen, bathroom, tiles. then it was tradesmen madness:
1) gyprockers
2) electrician
3) tiler
4) floor board person
5) carpenter
july: as well as wedding prep, we needed to move in/add finishing touches/prepare accomdation (i.e. getting enough quilts/beds/heaters), organize itinerary for relos. it was probably the most stressful month in my life.
june:
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