Education

DEEP AND WIDE

by Dr Ian Payne Ph.D., MTh (SAIACS), BD

Principal - Pathways Bible & Mission College

Rivers are Fascinating

They can be deep. One day, my missionary parents were taking us to boarding school and we came to a wide palm-fringed Indian river. There was no bridge, only a ferry. We drove on and the ferrymen poled the barge across. After they tied up at the opposite bank, we got in to drive off. But, halfway off, a rope came loose and the barge jerked outwards - leaving our car stranded with front wheels on shore and the rear still on the barge. Pandemonium broke out! We were whisked to shore and, rather bemused, watched all manner of strenuous rescue efforts. The river was deep - I remember because one man in a dugout canoe, trying to be helpful, paddled into the gap and tried to push the car up but he only succeeded in sinking his canoe!

Rivers can be powerful. Two years ago while we were in Bangalore teaching at a seminary, our family took a trekking holiday to Nepal. We constantly wondered at the huge mountains, being slowly eaten away by ravenous rivers running in the valleys. At one place, called New Bridge, the bridge had been washed away recently. In its place over the still raging torrent was a new bridge - nothing but a bunch of bamboo sticks tied together, which we had to creep over.

Rivers can be vast. Down on the plains, we were travelling by train and came to the Godavari river. The bridge has about 40 spans, and seemed to take about five minutes to cross. Most of the huge distance between the banks was dry, but I could imagine it in flood. Irrigation from the river was the key to the local economy. The water brought life.

There is a river in the Bible: the River of God's Blessing

Writing to encourage the Israelite exiles far away in Babylon, Ezekiel has described the restored nation, especially the new temple. Now, in chapter 47:1ff., he describes how, starting from the very presence of God, a river flows out.
Mysteriously it gets wider and deeper as it goes.
Wherever it goes it brings life, vitality, fruit, and healing.

What can we learn?

Ezekiel's vision of a restored nation centres on something new in their history: a heart for obedience to God. (36: 26 ‘A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.')

The huge emphasis (chapters 40:48) on the new temple makes sense only if it is used by obedient spiritual worshippers. It's the new centre. God's presence is there again. God's blessing flows outwards to touch the whole country.

* * * * *

As I thought about whether God was calling me to work at Pathways College, I thought about the NZ church scene. It struck me that the church is like a river, like the Waimakariri - a braided river. The Brethren movement too is like a braided river. Huge potential for flow, but sluggishly divided up into multiple channels. We think we can afford to divide and go our separate ways.

Compare this with Ezekiel's river. We do not find Ezekiel saying, ‘The angel led me through the water
and it was knee-deep, then he led me up over a sandbank and then it was ankle-deep, another sandbank, then knee-deep again…'

We think we can afford to divide and go our separate ways. The churches that think they're progressive say: ‘We'll be innovative. We'll go independent. Ignore the rest. They'll never change.' The more conservative churches think: ‘We'll stay with tradition. If people differ from us, we'll divide from them.'

The danger is we'll silt up. The river of God's blessing is dammed. Pride in being independent; pride in staying true; pride in welcoming change; pride in keeping the truth. It's all the same-and it's silting the river up.

My plea is: Don't build the sandbanks that divide.
Dig deeper. Dig wider. An obedient church will dig deeper and wider.
Dig deeper? I mean deep repentance for our careless pride; radical obedience to the Bible; fervent loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dig wider? I mean we need to reassert what unites us, not what divides. It means commitment to radical fellowship; commitment to staying with believers that are hard to put up with, because God does.

It means commitment to working with other assemblies, because God is. We've got to stop treating church as if all that mattered was whether it suits me. That's consumerism. What happens on Sundays is not ‘for me'–it's ‘for God.' We're in this together for God's sake.

I'm not making the old demand for denominational loyalty, based on thinking we have everything right. I'm asking for a post-modern loyalty that recognises we're a community; these people are my family; this history is my history. We may not have everything right, but we've been a huge channel of blessing and we can be again. We may not be perfect, but we're going to make much more impact for God by co-operating than going our separate ways. There's strength in unity.

This is my vision for Pathways College of Bible and Mission. It exists to serve the evangelical church in NZ, especially the Brethren movement. It stands for digging deeper, being wider. It stands for what unites us. Pathways College is strategic for us. It can do for the Brethren what Carey College is doing for the Baptists. Like Global Connections in Mission, The Treasury and the Strength and Unity conferences, Pathways College is a symbol of our unity. And without such symbols, our movement will fragment and fade. The river will silt up; the river of God will flow elsewhere. Pathways College exists to serve churches and individuals that want to dig deeper and wider for God's blessing on NZ and beyond.
We've got to provide excellent Christian education for people
that want to make our movement deeper and wider.

We're all going to have to dig deeper and wider.

In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channel, threatening him with her fist if he didn't.
"What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.
"These five fingers," says Lucy.
"Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."
"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus.
Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says,
"Why can't you guys get organized like that?"

We must dig deeper and dig wider.
Then the blessing of God will flow.
God's blessing comes through obedient communities.

But also ...

The river of God is mentioned in the New Testament also.

‘On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water." Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive…' (John 7:37–39a.)

The festival was a reminder of God's provision during the Israelites' journey through the desert-hence the ‘booths.' Each of the first seven days, a flagon of water from the Pool of Siloam was carried in procession to the Temple by the high priest. It was then poured out ceremonially before the Lord. This was to remind them of God's provision of water from the rock Moses hit (Ex 17:6; Nu 20). On the last day, this was not done. This was the moment Jesus said: ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.' Jesus is the ‘rock' that provides water! When we believe in Jesus he satisfies our inner thirst. He gives our life meaning. We receive God's blessing, but it overflows to others. He is the one provides the Spirit in the church age. God's river of blessing flows through obedient believers.

Do you want to grow, to be a channel of blessing? How? To do that, you've got to dig deep and wide. Dig deeper. If you're thirsty, Jesus says ‘Come to me….' Deepen your spiritual passion for Jesus. Allow his Spirit's fruit to develop in your relationships. Continue digging in the Bible; love it. Obey the Lord whatever the cost.

Dig wider. Involve yourself in a church fellowship. Co-operate with anyone who is loyal to Jesus. Trust God's blessing will flow through you by his Spirit. Dare to try new ways to witness and work for him. Passion. Fruit. People. That sums it up. People who are channels of blessing are alive to passion, fruit and people for God's sake.

Deep and wide. My prayer is that we will all grow deep and wide. As we all set aside differences and reaffirm our loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ, the river of God's blessing will flow through us again and again. Don't silt up the river.

Dig deeper and wider.

* * * * *

Maori Postal

Tena koutou katoa - Welcome to you all!

Maori Postal began in 1945 in Northland, New Zealand. It was called the Maori Postal Sunday School and focused on sending out Bible lessons to Maori children in the area. It rapidly grew and by 1948 had branches across the country and several thousand students.

In 1950 the headquarters were shifted from Dargaville to Wanganui to be more central. The work continued to grow and over the next few years, with the help of volunteers, MPSS published not only lessons but magazines, calendars and study books.

In 1977 MPSS became incorporated as a charitable trust. By this time there were over 6000 students on the roll and around 50 leaders who distributed lessons and visited Maori.

Today Maori Postal has over 7500 students enrolled for Bible lessons and has a fully self-contained printery and around the country, many faithful people volunteer their time and energy.

Maori Postal operates financially by support from Churches and individuals; from profits through its commercial printing division and also from some of the products which it sells.

As much as they can, they give these away - free!

Here are some of the materials they supply:
KARAKIA POSTERS - Attractive posters with favourite scripture.

BILINGUAL BIBLE LESSONS - For tamariki aged 5 - teen.

CALENDAR - Very popular in full colour with pictures from around Aotearoa and Scripture verses in Maori & English.

TE REO CALENDAR - All in Maori. Features lunar days & meanings.

COLOURING PICTURES - Useful for Kohanga Reo or keeping mokopuna busy!
A3 sized pictures with short scripture in Maori & English.

STICKERS - In Maori with English translation on packet.
Designed for use in Kohanga / Kura / Bible-In-Schools.

(Click on Maori Postal to go to their web site for more info.)