Month: March 2013

Bridge Query


From: Ian Teh <>
Date: (recently)
Subject: Visitor Query
To: contact@bridgechurch.org.au

Good morning

My wife and I attended the East Campus service the last 2 Sundays and on each of those visits, David’s message resonated with us and made us think about our church life and commitment to both the church and the community.

We were Malaysians and moved to Melbourne in 2004. We attended a church in Glen Waverley from 2004 till Nov last year, when we decided to move on. Partly due to our travels (summer holidays and to Canberra where our daughter goes to Uni) we have not been able to settle into a new church. My wife’s colleague mentioned the commencement of the East Campus so we went there and like I said, David’s message connected with us like no Sunday sermons have for a while now.

We are inclined to ask to be part of East Campus going forward. My background however, is as follows:

  • I grew up in a Methodist church in Malaysia
  • I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was 14
  • I went to uni in Sydney and was a regular at the Campus Bible Study taught by Phillip Jensen who was at St Matthias in Sydney and is now the Dean of the Cathedral in Sydney
  • I consider the formative years of my Christian education to be when I was in uni, at Phillip’s classes
  • While in uni in Sydney, I also attended meetings relating to John Wimber’s visit and heard and read his teachings
  • I have done minor studies and read a bit on John Wimber’s work, the Vineyard work generally and I particularly learned a lot from Wayne Grudem’s work
  • At this moment, I believe the following:

o   Speaking in tongues is one of many gifts and is not required as evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit (second limb of 6th item in Bridge’s statement of Beliefs)

o   Healing and prosperity is part of the “now and not yet” phenomenon and so is not a given in this lifetime (Item 8 of Beliefs)

o   The power of the supernatural which is the work of God through the Holy Spirit is principally borned out in conviction of sin and acknowledgement and acceptance of the person, deity and work of Jesus. I believe this is a different slant from that inferred in the Vision and Mission statements of Bridge

My wife and I share the same background and beliefs.

I will be grateful if you can share your thoughts with me, on whether I will be able to share in fellowship with Bridge Church and be planted at the church to be part of your community, work and mission, instead of visiting “as a potted plant”.

Many thanks for taking time to read this, and my apologies if this has been a bit long.

Regards Ian

Consumer Me


Tress and I were at the “East Bridge” again this morning. We were actually headed for Edge again when we decided to go to Bridge instead. We were a little late as a result but I was thinking that as long as we were going to be at a consumer stage of our church life, we might as well go where we can get more out of the experience.

Going to Edge must mean we can participate a bit more than just being there on a Sunday morning but with a near non-existent small group space, that is going to be a hard slog and we’re just not up to it at this stage.

Bridge at Doncaster however, had all the elements that consumer approach to church life can offfer. As long as we see church as a brand of consumer products, it ticked every box and had all the right elements in a menu. In fact it ticked the right boxes much more convincingly and passionately than most other churches we’ve been to, including ICC or now known as LifeGate.

 

Tid Bits


Adieu Baillieu.

Ted Baillieu, the state premier for the past 2+ years, resigned last night. Tress and I were home watching tv as we’ve done on most evenings lately, when the news flashed across the screen. It was reminiscent of when Kevin Rudd was removed. In that case however, he didnt resign as Ted did. It also wasnt precipitated by what appears to be the cause here, which was a combination of the resignation of a LIberal MP in a very tight majority and some inappropriate dealings in the course of removing a controversial police chief commissioner. Rudd on the other hand, was stabbed in the back by an ambitious Gillard who were pushed along by members of factions in the Labor Party who are not elected members of parliament.

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Other than that piece of news last night and this morning, Victoria is also generating news for it bad economy and horrendous weather.

We’ve had 30+ temperature for so many days now and on some nights it gets up to high 20’s as well. Last night for example, we slept with t he cooler on and I think Tress got up around 3am to turn it off. I feel as though I have been in a dreamy state lately because the nights have been hot and restless. It has really meant I have been feeling other than my usual self – restless I guess.

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So United goes out once more. Champions League is the one unsatisfactory arena for Sir Alex. 2 titles in his long reign are far too inadequate and close as it was yesterday, it often feels like a bridge too far. Certainly the twerp of a referee who unintelligbly flashed a red card at Nani, didnt help one bit. A commentator rmarked that that ref was probably the only one in a stadium of close to 80,000 who thought it was a red card and I couldnt agree more. Maybe this means we have a better shot at getting a double – something we havent done for a while now.

 

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Short end of the bargain


I was at another CPD session yesterday but this time it was out of a work driven requirement. The ever growing need to reconcile corporate drivers (profit, margins, market share) with the equally increasing volume in terms of noises made, from the community perspectives. So a corporate entity seeks to report on its corporate social responsibility which was all the rage where I was some 5-6 years ago.

Apparently this has evolved and corporations are now required to report not just how it discharges its CSR, but also how its vision, mission, objectives, strategies, activities etc creates value not just for the corporation but also for its shareholders and all stakeholders at large.

That was why I rocked up to the session yesterday but as is often the case, the delivery was something else.

It was partly my bad however – while the promotional literature talked about “Global Reporting Initiative” and “Integrated Reporting” framework, the workshop was targeted at people who had to produce the report as a whole – albeit incorporating aspects of GRI and possibly, into the future, IR. Maybe the letters GRI and IR jumped out because I was looking for such material. I was possibly misled because of my own agenda and priorities.

Sometimes however, one is misled not because of undisclosed agenda or expectations. One is often misled because counter-party misled you. Tham Fuan Yee proclaims you are his first team, he publicly says things like it would be crazy for him to forge ahead without board support – it would be suicidal even, for him to proceed in this manner – yet actions and day-to-day words suggest to be his first team and to support him means no questions are to be asked. Any questions asked are interpreted as lack of support. That then gets communicated to everyone working for him. The Board is prevented from communicating to the same persons and so that miscommunication is never given a different perspective. Over time, the board is made to appear to be obstructive and unreasonable.

One feels betrayed and short changed. To be treated this way by a pastor hurts immeasurably. The damage is far more destructive than a day lost in mismatched training. To this day, our church life suffers and I feel like a homeless potted plant seeking to be part of a productive plot. Thanks Tham Fuan, for the continuing damage you wrought. Thanks to your harsh words and inexplicable nonchalance for so long, I continue to wander. Instead of gathering like a godly man would, you have succeeded in scattering. Tham Fuan, do you know how that is?

Hurting and searching


I was away (Sydney) for a work conference the second half of last week. The weather in Sydney was poor and the stormy conditions on Friday night meant many flights were delayed, including mine. I was grateful for my kindle which kept me from being restless till I landed back at Tullamarine, just after 10pm.

I got back home just after 11pm, and after about an hour with a really good scotch, crashed out – in my own bed.

Sat was a bit of a blur – after my usual laundry round, I had a dental appointment in the morning, which confirmed for me my mouth is a dental bombsite. Tress and I went for lunch at the Hakka tea-house and then went home to do some work in the garden. It was a beautiful day and we were just glad to be outdoor, tending to the garden.

That night we had dinner with Jason and Mel at their home, together with the Hii’s. Tress and I did a baked prawns dish and it’s good to be doing regular cooking again – after doing almost all of our cooking on the Weber Q through the summer.

We talked about all sorts of things at dinner but the conversation somehow gravitated towards LifeGate Church and its leadership. It wasn’t something I wanted to talk about because it still hurt to be away from that church. But they were our friends and in many ways, their hurt was greater and more raw and fresh, so I listened and took part in the conversation.

Incidentally last night Tress and I were watching the Masterchef on telly and when one of the contestants botched a job (he was eventually eliminated) and apologised, one of the judges said it wasn’t about an apology. It was about delivering what was right and learning about the wrong delivery. In other words, processing and understanding and application is what’s required. If after all that the issue of apology arises then maybe then – one considers the how, who, etc of that.

Tham Fuan Yee – If you come into my house and tell me I am dishonest and I take issue with that, and I eventually leave my house as a result of what you said and also so your stay in the house becomes easier for you, I need to understand what you are about. I don’t need an apology at the first instance. Especially when my past dealings with you suggest you are prone to saying things quickly without being accountable for them. I need to understand, process and apply that interaction because for the both of us to remain in the house, I need to understand you a bit more because otherwise your hurting words will continue to hurt. Tham Fuan, if you can’t understand that then you are such a long way from becoming an effective pastor. You may be a youth pastor Tham Fuan but to engage an adult requires deeper engagement and you have proven incapable of that.

Now my friend is bearing the brunt of it, just as I have all these months.

Families have left the church, and he doesn’t seem to care. Tham Fuan continues to be an enigmatic disgrace.

Anyway, the next day we had to deal with the consequences of Tham Fuan’s action yet again and decide where to have fellowship on the Lord’s day. Tress’ colleague had invited her to the inauguration of the Doncaster branch of the Bridge Church at Richmond so we decided to give that a go.

The usual light and sound shows were there. Even when we walked towards the cinema complex where the church was meeting, dozens of people were lining the approach and greeting us. Visitors were warmly welcomed, given packs, invited to the gold lounge for coffee and given cards to indicate their levels of interests. They even gave out nice chocolates. All very slick.

The message was a well-worn Pentecostal one. 1 of their 3 declared core values is the expectation of the supernatural and one has little doubt that this did not refer to grand miracles like the virgin birth or the resurrection – they were instead, little veiled references to acts of healings, demon chasing, tongue speaking class of supernaturals. In other words, John Wimber signs and wonders stuff.

On the way home, Tress and I talked about the visit and I wondered out loud, that if I subscribed to 2 out of the 3 core values, would they accept me as an active member?

You see – the other tenets of the church are actually very good and absolutely resonated with my thinking, especially recently. More of that later perhaps – I first need to consider whether to write to this church and ask that question. Until then, the need to deal with the consequences of Tham Fuan’s toxic actions remain…

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