Don’t miss our Campus Church Camp (12-14th March)!

For more details and to register, click here.

We understand what a daunting time starting university can be, and all the changes which come with that. One thing we believe should be top of the priority list when you’re settling in is finding a local church to become part of.

We’d love to welcome and meet you, and the sooner the better!

Please join us this Sunday for a barbecue on the Ilam school field (66 Ilam Rd) from 6pm. Dinner will be provided by the Campus Church regulars, so all you need to bring is yourself.

The Campus Church service will be as normal, in the school hall at 7pm. Supper will also be provided following the service, a time where you will be able to continue conversations and meet new people.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you

6pm, Sunday 21 February, 66 Ilam Rd (Ilam Primary School)

Campus Church is eager to pray as a group on a regular basis, as a whole church. At present, that means once a term. Please take this opportunity to join with us to pray for the year ahead. This is a particularly crucial time as we look forward to the arrival of many new students.

Dinner will be provided and we will pray for an hour together – finished by 6:30pm.
RSVP would be GREATLY appreciated, so that we can make sure you’re all feed!

Please bring $5 to cover dinner.

Sunday 14th February, 5pm

Costa writes:

On Sunday we began to think about how God desires some things but wills other things.  I would like to amplify what I said to try to bring some biblical clarity to this, and in particular to show that God is totally sovereign and wonderfully compassionate but does not suffer from divine schizophrenia.

It is clear from the Scriptures that “God does not desire the death of the wicked but that they turn from their ways and live” (Ezek 33:11).  In some sense – that of His desire – we may therefore say that God wills all people be saved.

But it is also clear – from the unconditional election of only some  (Eph 1:4) and the destruction of the ungodly (Rev 14:9-11) – that not all will be saved.

This implies that God decrees one state of affairs (‘what He wants’) while also willing and teaching that a different state of affairs should actually come to pass (‘what He wills’).

Let us note some illustrations of the two wills in God:

a)   the death of Christ.  The most compelling example of God’s willing for sin to come to pass while at the same time disapproving the sin is His willing the death of His perfect Son.  Herod’s contempt for Jesus (Luke 23:11), Pilate’s spineless expediency (Luke 23:24), the Jews’ baying for his blood (Luke 23:21) the Gentiles’ mockery (Luke 23:36) and Satan’s inspiration behind it (Luke 22:3) were all sinful attitudes and deeds.

But in Acts 2:23 Luke says “this Jesus was delivered up according to the divine plan and foreknowledge of God”, and in Acts 4:27-28 Luke records the prayer of the Christians who knew that what had been done had been done because “your power and will had decided beforehand what should happen.”  It was both sinful (and therefore against God’s will) and decreed by God to take place.

b)   Other examples of the same might include the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 5-11, or the war against the lamb in Rev 17:16-17, or the raising up of the Assyrian army to crush the disobedient Israelites in Isaiah 10:5.

In each case it is God who is stated as having caused it to happen while being against it happening for other reasons.  This means that God brings about events that involve things he forbids.

Regarding our original example, we know that God does not delight in the death of the wicked; yet in Dt 28:63 Moses warns that “the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.”  Therefore in some sense he does not, and in some sense he does!  The question is – how are we to relate these two different aspects of God’s will?

Let us note the things of which we can be sure because Scripture explicitly affirms them:

i)   God does not sin.  Never.  Not remotely or nearly.  He is Holy, Holy, Holy.

ii)  God is sovereign.  Totally.  Always.  Over everything.  All the details of life (ours and everyone else’s).  But not in such a way that makes him culpable for sin.

iii) God is love.  It is His nature.  Shown ultimately in the giving of His Son.  More loving than we can grasp.

How does it fit together that God desires to save all but wills that not all be saved?  It seems (as best we can understand) that He does so by considering the two situations and in His divine wisdom allowing one view to override the other.  It is as if viewing events through a narrow lens He has compassion and will; but viewing the same events through a wide angle lens He knows it is better not to do it for the sake of greater principles.

We can imagine a judge who takes pity on a criminal, and has compassion upon him – yet because of greater principles, say those of duty, wisdom, moral indignation, chooses to sign the sentencing document.  God loves all people and longs for each to turn from sin and live – yet has not decreed it be so.

The illustration makes a point – there can, in a noble and great heart, sincere compassion for a criminal who is nevertheless not set free.  In the end “we may rest that His infinite wisdom regulates his whole will and guides and harmonises (not suppresses) all its active principles.” (RA Dabney).

Therefore we may say that God loves the world with a deep compassion that desires the salvation of all men, but that God has chosen whom he will save.  Since not all are saved we must choose whether we believe that God’s will to save all people is restrained by his commitment to human self-determination (as Arminians believe) or whether God’s will is restrained by his commitment to glorifying his sovereign grace (Eph 1:6, 12,14).

This means:

-       we are in awe of God’s sovereign election of us to believe – praise Him!

-       we take comfort in his sovereign ruling of all things for our good – praise Him!

-       we rejoice in his sovereign and infinite wisdom to glorify His grace – praise Him!

We’re spending four weeks thinking about our prayer life as a church.

We thought working our way through the Lord’s Prayer would be a good base to work from.  We’re probably more familiar with the term – ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, but perhaps a better title would be ‘The Child’s Prayer’.  It’s from the Lord, but FOR children. It is the prayer that Jesus invites us to pray because we have the unique position as adopted children of God – brothers and sisters of Jesus.

Jesus invites us I think to consider how prayer to a caring heavenly Father will be different to the prayers of the religious showman and the religious pagans.

The showman loves to be seen as both prayerful and theologically profound.  He prays in order to be seen.  Jesus says they have been rewarded – by the applause of the crowd.  They have their reward – and nothing more.

The pagans of Jesus’ day thought that their gods heard them because of techniques and repetition.  Jesus contrasts that with the God of the Bible, who both knows all and is a Father who cares for His children.  He does not have to be spurred into action on their behalf.  Rather, he longs for them to come and lay their needs before Him.

So prayer in Jesus’ terms is neither a duty nor a show.  It is a privilege to be enjoyed.  So let’s spend four weeks reflecting on how we can individually and corporately delight in God in prayer.  If you missed the first talk, you might like to download it here.

In Christ,

Nick

Please join us for a Campus Church social night as we celebrate the end of the year. This will be semi-formal occasion with decadent dessert to conclude.

Don’t miss this chance to relax with fellow Campus Church-ers!

Please RSVP here (even to tell us that you can’t come)

The E100 Bible Reading Challenge comes from a partnership between Bible Society New Zealand, Scripture Union and Wycliffe Bible Translators. It’s a great tool to help churches get Kiwi Christians back into reading their Bibles.

Check out their brand new video!

More details here

Last week, we saw a review of Dan Brown’s new book ‘The Lost Symbol’.

Greg Clarke gave an excellent overview and also challenged the concepts put forward by the book. It was interesting to be reminded that a lot of what was written in this book reflects the views of our culture towards religion. Though I’m not much of a reader myself, I’m almost considering reading ‘The Lost Symbol’ in order to engage in conversations with non-Christians who may be reading it. It appears to be such a great opportunity to bring the truth of Jesus Christ to those around us.

Check out the review here.

Just looking through the photos from the Saturday Stroll, looks like it was amazing!

Nathan Rich says:

“The Saturday stroll was another great outing! After a bleak start with clouds rolling in, the sun broke through and left some people feeling a wee bit too warm. The walk itself wasn’t very strenuous, only taking about one hour each way.  At the gun emplacement we stopped to take a look around and have lunch. There were many dark and scary-looking tunnels to explore and with Matt Price leading the charge, a brave few went creeping through the unknown! Soon afterwards the NZ army turned up looking ready for any sign of invasion! As it happened they were just doing a little exploring of their own, and with a sweet smile from Rachel Reed, they decided to unlock the top secret parts of the battlement so that we could look around. The top secret parts included a trip into the room the furthest underground which was used as the main ammunition chamber and supposedly wouldn’t collapse or blow up even if the ground above was fired upon by the enemy! After a scrumptious shared lunch spent basking in the sun we slowly meandered back to the real world….”

Here’s a selection of photos, more can be found on Facebook

An open discussion evening investigating the reliability of the New Testament and the claims made about Jesus Christ.

Canta in the third term raised some controversial issues regarding the reliablity of the accounts of Jesus.

This discussion evening will provide you with an opportunity to address some of the claims which have been made by Christians, both at the time of Christ, and throughout history.

After a brief introduction, the evening will be open for you to put forward any questions you have.

Dessert will be provided.

Friday 25th September 8pm

3 Rountree St

Please RSVP to admin@campuschurch.org.nz or via Facebook