The Church and the Media

What are your thoughts on the letter below? We would love to hear from you.

 

LETTER TO EDITOR

 Dear Editor,

 I am concerned about the level of representation in the local media from our Baptist ministers and other thinkers. In an age in which the print and electronic media have unprecedented reach, it is not uncommon to see and hear ministers from various denominations rightly, and incorrectly, dividing the word of truth. The advent of the worldwide web has made the transmission of intellectual content easier. Avenues such as twitter, facebook, blogspot and youtube allows easy sharing of sermons, devotions and articles on current topics.

In recent times, it has been heart warming to see some of our local ministers being consulted on national issues. To see the JBU General Secretary representing the voice of the church in a recent outcry against the Prime Minister’s dilemma must have helped local Baptists to form their own opinion on the matter. Seeing, on local news, a former JBU president comforting and praying for flood victims communicated to many Christians across the island that care and concern. As our members struggle to cope with the harsh economic times, as they seek to form a biblical understanding of ethical issues and as they grapple with the application of the principles of a Christlike life, it can only help to have the input of the wider clergy.

Sunday after Sunday, weeknight after weeknight, biblical insight is offered from Baptist pulpits across the island. In addition to sermons and Bible studies, several laypersons often speak at seminars and write articles on topics of interest to a wider audience. In addition, our ministerial candidates have written and addressed many topics of interest not only to their seminary audience but also to persons outside of the seminary. Therein lies a rich repository of information, which could benefit many persons who are hungry for sound doctrinal content.

The call is not to suggest that the existing avenues available to us do not have their place. Many local Baptists, those in the Diaspora and those accessing the Internet, tune in weekly for the our “Christ for Today” broadcast. The articles in The Jamaica Baptist Reporter are consumed with eager anticipation, and some of us browse the JBU website for sermons and articles.

A cursory glance of the local cable channels or a turn of the radio dial, no doubt, will yield a plethora of religious content. Unfortunately, in many cases, they lack biblical accuracy or correct interpretation and application. The Internet is used by many denominations to stream weekly services and provide articles and dialogue on many topics.

I believe that as one of the leaders in the provision of sound theological and Christian Education, the local Baptist community should be better represented in the local media. Through a revived and empowered media commission, multimedia content from churches equipped to record and upload clips could be made available for download from a central location. Our website could be a database for video and audio clips, journals, blogs and other interactive media which can help to enhance our congregants. The responsible and properly controlled use of technology in this manner could help to edify our members and sharpen their consciences, thereby adding a new dimension to the Scripture, which compels us to “go out into the highways and hedges” (Luke 14:23).

I am, etc a concerned Baptist.

JBU Believers Convention & 161st General Assembly – February 23-27 2011

Friends,

 Advent Greetings!

 Register Now for our upcoming Convention and Assembly scheduled for February 23-26, 2011 in Ocho Rios, St. Ann and February 27 at the National Arena.

 Join us for the nightly worship services at the Ocho Rios Baptist Church and the stimulating workshops at the Sunset Jamaica Grande. It promises to be a wonderful experience as we explore the theme “Living in Hope”. Remember that this is the Assembly where we implore and encourage as many persons and not just the delegates to attend.

 Attached please find three documents namely Newsletter #1 and the Registration and Accommodation Booking forms.

 Please note that the first deposit for Accommodation was due November 24, 2010 and early registration is due before December 30, 2010. Please urge those planning to be a part of this special event to return the forms by the deadlines stated therein.

 For further details and to register contact the JBU Office or visit our website at www.jbu.org.jm.

Coming Soon!

What? JBU Assembly, When? February 23-27, 2011, Where? Ocho Rios & National Arena, Theme:Living Hope!

Think

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Phil 4:8

A Tale of Hope and Transformation

The current JBU theme of Living in Hope was chosen as an antidote to the sense of hopelessness that pervades Jamaica at this time.

As I was reflecting on this I came to think of my own experience growing up in Northern Ireland during what we call ‘the Troubles’.  Most of the daily news would be full of paramilitary groups on either side of the political and religious divide, bombing or shooting members of the security forces, each other and sometimes innocent civilians.  We lived in a time when police check-points were a regular occurrence, bomb scares were not an unusual disruption and areas of tension could easily flare up into violence.  Now Jamaica and Northern Ireland are very different places, and most of the issues are not the same.  However I was thinking of what it was like to grow up in a land that seemed so entirely defined by its problems.  Those problems were so huge, so complex and reached so far back into our history that there seemed no way things would ever change.

As Christians across Northern Ireland we prayed and prayed, and claimed the promises of scripture, but if you’d asked me if I could really envisage it being different I would probably have said no.  This was all I had ever known, and although I longed for it to be different it was so far out of the realm of my experience that I couldn’t imagine things any different than what they were.  Thankfully we don’t have to be able to envisage it – because we have a big God.  And that’s not what faith is about.  Hebrews 11 v 1 tells us that ‘faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’

It doesn’t matter if we can’t imagine what it would be like for God to heal our land.  It doesn’t matter that we can’t imagine what it would be for God to transform our personal circumstances. Ephesians 3 v 20 speaks of our God as one who can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”  We have a big God and when we call on his name in faith he can transform even the most hopeless of situations regardless of how we see them.

When Northern Ireland finally had a power-sharing government of its own, the two men who first shared the governing duties were the embodiment of either side of the divide.  As they were pictured together, shoulder to shoulder on that historic day, the front page of the Belfast Telegraph newspaper carried the picture with the headline ‘Miracle of Belfast’-and it really was, because we believe in a God of miracles.

So let us not be concerned with how hopeless the situation may look – for Jamaica, or in our own personal circumstances.  We don’t have to be able to imagine what it would look like if things were different.  We just have to keep asking, in faith, for God to change things, and then leave the mountain moving to him.

Easter reflections – Resurrection !

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”

Matthew 28 : 8 (NIV)

“Joy to the world”, the words we sing as we celebrate the birth of the Saviour.  For the women who first knew the fulfilment of this joy at the scene of the resurrection, their compulsion was to go and tell others.  We can see the urgency in this verse as we’re told that they ‘hurried’ and ‘ran’.  

Did they know that the news they had heard would change the course of history ?  What they knew for certain was that Jesus, who they loved, was dead and now alive, and this fact was to be shared!

How many of us feel that same need to share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection with those we know ?  Do we sense the unbridled excitement that comes from having a piece of news so valuable that we simply must tell it to someone else ?

As a Union our sub-theme for the next two years is ‘Living in Hope’.   On Easter Day we celebrate an event that brought us freedom from the sting of death, and hope of life everlasting.  Is that not news worth sharing, worth shouting from the roof-tops ?

At  this time of year we often sing the following words:

 “He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, Salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.”

This Easter, ask God to give you the opportunity to share the life-changing news of our Saviour with someone who needs to hear it.

Easter Reflections – Holy Week

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

Luke 9 v 51 (NIV)

Resolutely : firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose.

Jesus knew what was coming.

Humanity’s rescue plan was in operation and the crucial moment was imminent.  To fulfil his destiny Jesus would sacrifice everything.  He would experience betrayal, loneliness, humiliation and pain beyond imagining.  He would be separated from his heavenly Father and the dominion of darkness would have its way with him.

Jesus could have called a halt to this plan at any time.  How many times must he have felt the power and possibility of that temptation ?  Yet he was resolved to do his Father’s will.

As he knelt to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane he told his disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”  He grappled in prayer three times, desperate not to be subjected to the horrors ahead, but each time resolving to be committed to the task ahead.

All so that you and I can be forgiven and free.

The cost of the cross wasn’t felt by Jesus only on Good Friday.  He counted the cost long before that.  He counted the cost and deemed us worthy of the sacrifice.

As we go through this Holy Week, let us look again at the price Jesus paid for us.  Then let us worship him with renewed adoration and devotion.

Easter reflections – Lent

 ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

 ⁴Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’^[a]”

Luke 4 v 3 & 4 (NIV)

None of us are exempt from temptation. The enemy is out to get us each and every day, wanting us to stumble over doubt, willing us to wander from the path of righteous living, coaxing us to give up hope and give in to despair.

Some days being a Christian can feel like walking a tightrope, trying not to fall off. Pressures and temptations threaten our balance. Advertisers try to convince us to spend what we do not have. Our peers at school or university cajole us into choices that undermine God’s holy standards. Long term unemployment tempts us to doubt God’s hand of provision.

While Jesus was in the desert he faced the harsh reality of temptation. As his stomach rumbled with hunger, the devil tempted him to make bread. How he must have longed to taste a warm baked loaf of bread, to feel the comfort of that nourishment in his body. 

How does Jesus combat the enemy? With the bread of life. Each time Satan comes to Jesus holding out a new offer, the temptation is rebuffed with Scripture.

 The word of God is powerful. As 2 Timothy 3: 16 & 17 reminds us, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” It is also the only offensive piece of equipment in the Armour of God, outlined in Ephesians 6.

Many of us have learned Scripture in Sunday School and can quote it along with the pastor in the sermon each week.  Do we also use it as a weapon to rebuke the enemy when he comes to tempt us? Do we use it to encourage a friend when they are tempted to despair? In a moment of weakness do we use it as a reminder to ourselves about how God wants us to live?

In this time of Lent let us follow the example of Jesus and use the scripture we have learned to aid us in our battles. Let us equip ourselves, as people of God, for every good work.

Assembly moments 1

The 160^th General Assembly is now in full swing! Hundreds of delegates have packed into Boulevard Baptist Church to worship together, fellowship with one another and hear the Word of God shared with us.  We have been ministered to by the choir and our heart have been moved by liturgical dance.

After the business of the Wednesday was dealt with in our plenary session we were able to look forward to the main event of the opening service! The church was full to bursting with delegates, visitors and distinguished guests.

The service saw us being addressed by our outgoing President, Rev. Dr. Stephen Jennings.  He told us that we are called to trust in God for our hope; that God can and is making things better. However he also reminded us that hope doesn’t come overnight, but rather comes when we cultivate a trust in God.

He then went on to lay down a challenge about how we as a church need to engage with and take on the issues that surround us in culture, to speak up regardless of the consequences.

 Indeed this theme was picked up again last night by Rev. Karen Kirlew, who passionately pleaded with us not to let what others think of us to hold us back from reaching others for Christ. She exhorted us as church to find a place with the dancehall culture, the homeless, the prostitute and the incarcerated. She told us that we need to bring the hope of Jesus Christ into those situations, even if it makes us the object of ridicule and hostility. Her closing words came from  the hymn of response, “God of the poor, friend of the weak, give us compassion we pray, melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain, come change our love from a spark to a flame.”

We left with our hearts on fire, determined to renew our efforts in engaging with our communities with the hope of Christ.

Further ‘assembly moments’ will be posted on the blog in the days to come.

General Assembly Workshops

We hope that, by now, you are looking forward to our upcoming General Assembly taking place from 24-28 February in Boulevard Baptist Church and the National Arena.

One of the aspects of assembly that we’re sure will be a highlight for many are the workshops, which take place on Friday morning. The overall theme for the session will be ‘Why Hope?’ and the six presenters will cover the following range of topics:

1. If not hope, what else?

In its absence what substitutes? Fear? Anger? Frustration? Despair? Optimism? Really… if not hope, what else?

2. It’s in our nature.

If spirituality suggests hope as intrinsic then doesn’t Caribbean spirituality suggest it as inevitable? Linking our history, identity, formation and faith with hope.

3. The Mission: Premised and purposed on Hope… as well!

Borne out of hope, motivated by hope, filled with hope. Hope as a key ingredient for mission.

4. Hope – Giving Power to Potential!

It’s not size or age or resources that matter. Hope elevates potential by giving it a place in God’s Kingdom.

5.  Fuel for the journey.

Part of what keeps us doing what we are doing when the doing becomes burdensome, bothersome or difficult. Living the vision of hope.

6. The Stewardship of Hope.

Our stewardship of God’s resources (financial, physical, natural or otherwise), are really stewardships of hope. It may not be to our benefit, but doesn’t the future depend on our stewardship of hope today?

If these titles have whet your appetite then you can book for assembly by going to our website www.jbu.org.jm or call the office on 969 6268.

We look forward to seeing you there.