St Barnabas THE MAGAZINE OF ST BARNABAS ANGLICAN CHURCH STOKE

St Barnabas focus THE MAGAZINE OF ST BARNABAS ANGLICAN CHURCH STOKE OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2011 The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Greatest Archaeological Discov...
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St Barnabas focus

THE MAGAZINE OF ST BARNABAS ANGLICAN CHURCH STOKE OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2011

The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Greatest Archaeological Discovery of Our Time As we continue our journey through the Bible in the E100 challenge, we continue to look at the events and manuscripts that confirm the authenticity of scripture. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948 led to famed archaeologist and leading Biblical scholar William Albright making the extraordinary claim that the Dead Sea Scrolls were “the greatest archaeological find of the 20 th century.” The scrolls in general have provided many new readings that confirm the accuracy of the history of the Old Testament. On 28 September 2011, the Dead Sea Scrolls, so ancient and fragile that direct light cannot shine on them, were made available to search and read online in a project launched by the Israel Museum and Google Inc. Dr Peter Flint, Professor of Religious Studies and Co-Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada provides an overview of the importance of the scrolls.

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his amazing discovery was made in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds in a cave near Khirbet Qumran, about one mile inland from the western shore of the Dead Sea. By 1956, a total of eleven caves had been found at Qumran, about one mile inland from the western shore of the Dead Sea. By 1956, a total of eleven caves had been found at Qumran. The caves yielded various artifacts, especially pottery. The most important find was scrolls written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the three languages of the Bible. Almost 900 were found in the Qumran caves in about 25,000-50,000 pieces. While a few scrolls are well-preserved, almost all are damaged and most are very

In this issue: ▪ The Dead Sea Scrolls An examination of the scrolls ▪ Round and Round... The Judges and Ruth ▪ The Peasants Rockquest win Winning Music

fragmentary. The earliest scrolls found at Qumran date from about 250 B.C. or a little earlier; the latest were copied shortly before the destruction of the Qumran site by the Romans in 68 A.D. Further scrolls were discovered at other locations in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, especially Wadi Murabba‘ât (1951-52), Nahal Hever (1951-61), and Masada (1963-65). Scholars divide the 950 or so scrolls found in the Judean desert into two general categories of writings: the “Biblical” scrolls, which constitute our earliest witnesses to the text of Scripture, and the “NonBiblical” scrolls, which anticipate or confirm numerous ideas and

▪ Financial Results to August The challenge continues ▪ The Holy Roller Church on the Big Screen ▪ St Barnabas Online Detailed website guide.

▪ Mission Tanzania Msloto Mission Update ▪ Two Months of Sundays October/November Events and Sunday Services

1 1. One of the more complete scrolls, The Great Isaiah Scroll 1BC from Qumran Cave 1. This scroll disappeared for 6 years and was recovered following a small advertisement surfacing in The Wall Street Journal under the category “Miscellaneous for Sale” (June1, 1954): “The Four Dead Sea Scrolls” Biblical Manuscripts, dating back to at least 200 B.C., are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group. Box F 206. Haggling took many weeks, including secret meetings to authenticate the scrolls. The parties finally agreed on a $250,000 purchase price and the scrolls were shipped quietly to Jerusalem to avoid claims by Jordan for the scrolls.

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2. Cave 4 .This most famous of the Dead Sea Scroll caves is also the most significant in terms of finds. More than 15,000 fragments from over 200 books were found in this cave, nearly all by Bedouin thieves. 122 biblical scrolls (or fragments) were found in this cave. From all 11 Qumran caves, every Old Testament book is represented except Esther

teachings found in the New Testament and in later Rabbinic writings (the Mishnah and Talmud). With respect to the 230 or so Biblical Scrolls (about 25% of the total), there are four reasons for Albright’s claim that the scrolls are the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. The first reason is the Scrolls were Found in the Land of Israel Itself. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, virtually no writings dated to the Second Temple Period (that is, when the Temple stood from 516 B.C. to 70 A.D.) had been found in Israel. Now we have hundreds of documents from the time of Jesus and earlier that were written or produced near Jerusalem and other Biblical sites. The second is that the Scrolls are written in the three languages of scripture. For Biblical scholars, the most important manuscripts are written in the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The Scrolls include ancient Biblical manuscripts in Hebrew and Aramaic (portions of Daniel), and parts of the Septuagint in the original Greek. The third is the Scrolls Include our oldest biblical manuscripts. The antiquity of the Biblical Scrolls is of supreme importance for Biblical scholars. Virtually all copies of the Hebrew Bible used today are based on medieval manuscripts; the oldest Hebrew manuscript fragment known before the discovery of the scrolls was the Nash Papyrus, which is dated at 150-100 B.C. In contrast, all the scrolls found at Qumran are dated within the Second Temple Period, from 250 B.C. or a little earlier to just before the destruction of the Qumran site in 68 A.D. The fourth is some biblical scrolls preserve lost readings with messianic Implications. One example is at Psalm 22:16. This Psalm (which begins with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) is significant in both Jewish and Christian exegesis, and is quoted several times by Jesus in relation to his sufferings and death. A difficult reading is found in verse 16

3. Map showing location of the The Dead Sea Scrolls discovery in 11 caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea in Israel.

(Hebrew v. 17) of the traditional Masoretic text, which reads “For dogs have surrounded me: the assembly of the wicked have encompassed me: like a lion are my hands and my feet.” The King James Bible, following the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) reads “They have pierced my hands and feet.” It has been suggested that the Septuagint reading here represents a modification of the Hebrew “like a lion” in order to make better sense of the verse, or that early Christian editors changed the Greek text in order to find evidence for Jesus’ crucifixion in the Hebrew Bible. The passage is preserved in the Psalms scroll from Nahal Hever, which reads “They have pierced my hands and feet.” Also supported by the Septuagint and a few Masoretic manuscripts from the Middle Ages, this reading has been adopted by many modern English Bibles, including the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, the New American Bible, the New American Standard Bible, the New International Version, the English Standard Version, and the Holman Christian Bible. The 650 or so Non-Biblical Scrolls contain a wealth of writings, most of them previously unknown to scholars. These can be divided into are five categories: Rules and Regulations (e.g., the Community Rule); Poetic and Wisdom Texts (e.g., the Thanksgiving Psalms); Reworked or Rewritten Scripture (e.g., the Genesis Apocryphon); Commentaries or Pesharim (e.g., the Commentary on Habakkuk); and Miscellaneous Writings (e.g., the Copper Scroll). These documents provide two additional reasons why the Dead Sea Scrolls comprise the greatest archaeological find of our times: Firstly they contain new information on second temple Judaism. Several non-Biblical Scrolls record the ideas and outlook of the Qumran Community, whom most scholars identify with the Essenes. We already knew a good deal about the Pharisees and

the Sadducees, the two main Jewish groups in the days of Jesus Christ. Some scrolls provide further information on these groups, but also contain fascinating insights on the intense competition among various Jewish groups in ancient times to be the legitimate and chosen people of God. One such document, from Cave 4 at Qumran, is called Some of the Works of the Law, in which the Essenes or their predecessors spell out the rules and observances that make a person acceptable in the sight of God, in contrast to the incorrect observances promoted by their opponents, the Pharisees. Secondly, they contain new information on the New Testament and Christian origins. The scrolls were not written by Christian authors and never mention any Christian individuals by name, and thus have no direct relationship with Jesus and early Christianity. How-ever, some manuscripts are important for understanding Jesus’ life and teaching, while others anticipate several New Testament doctrines. More specifically, these ancient documents throw welcome light on the Gospels by providing helpful information about Jewish society, groups, practices, and beliefs at the time of Jesus and the early Christians. They also increase our knowledge about Early Judaism, which makes it clear that many aspects of the Gospel message are indebted to the mother religion. They also help us see in sharper outline some of the basic differences between the message of Jesus and other Jewish groups. The scrolls have also provided new texts with similarities to certain Gospel passages, which indicates that some of Jesus’ teaching and other information was anticipated in earlier texts, rather than being the product of the later Church. A few documents, in fact, contain wording that is very close or identical to passages found in the Gospels, which shows that this material was known to some or many Jews in the first century B.C., and thus confirms the authenticity of certain New Testament passages. One example is the Son of God Text or Apocryphon of Daniel (4Q246). Written in Aramaic and copied in the late first century B.C., this scroll apparently describes a messianic figure at the end times (although some scholars see him as an historical king or angelic figure). There are interesting parallels with the Annunciation of Jesus’ birth to Mary in Luke 1:30-35: the coming figure “will be called great” (cf. col. 1:9 with Luke 1:32); “‘Son of God’ he shall be called” (cf. col. 2:1 with Luke 1:35); and “they will name him ‘Son of the Most High’” (cf. col. 2:1 with Luke 1:32). It thus seems reasonable to see connections, whether direct or indirect, between the Son of God Text and passages in Luke. For more information on this fascinating topic, see Dr. Peter Flint’s website: www.deadseascrolls.org

Peter W. Flint received his Ph.D. (1993) in Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism from the University of Notre Dame and is Professor of Religious Studies and Co-Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University in British Columbia. He currently holds the Canada Research Chair in Dead Sea Scrolls studies and actively promotes Scrolls studies through sponsored symposia, teaching, writing and delivering public lectures. He regularly participates in seminars and academic meetings on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical topics, and the Christian faith in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia and Israel.

Foyer @4 is an annual concert series held at St Barnabas on Sunday afternoon at 4.00pm. The series includes classical and contemporary music from both New Zealand and overseas performers .

Sunday 23 October La Vida Quartet String Quartet Sunday 30th October Miles Jackson Spanish Concert Sunday 13 November Black Orpheus Roger Buckton flute Kim Rockell Guitar

Entry $10 @ the door. St Barnabas Foyer, 423 Main Road, Stoke.

Round and Round We Go… Some of the E100 Bible Challenge readings make depressing reading. None illustrates the struggles of God’s people and the human inability to remain true to God contrasted with the ever present forgiving grace of God, than in the books of Judges and Ruth. Mairion Goodman looks into Judges and Ruth.

two things happen. The Israelites turn away more and more quickly, the quality of the leadership degenerates (Samson is seriously flawed to say the least) and the things that the Israelites do become worse and worse. The E100 selectors spared us the end of Judges, but it is filled with the kind of atrocities that make your stomach churn. The Israelites lurch from one disastrous decision that forces them into another equally horrific decision. And at the end, the writer sums it up this way. ‘In those days Israel had no king. Everyone did as he saw fit’. And, as I’ve said, what they saw fit to do really wasn’t.

Depressing reading. And what do we do with it? Except avoid it? But this is a horribly vivid picture of life when people turn their backs on the source of goodness, righteousness and purity. I don’t mean its as simple as Christians are nice and everyone else isn’t, of course not. But it echoes all the things we see around fter the triumphant entry into the promised land, the the world that horrify and mystify us. I, as you can imagine, have wheels come off pretty quickly. One generation later been particularly shocked by the riots in London. Coming from and the promises made before Joshua just before his there, I like to think of it as a fairly civilized place, not the sort of death to serve the Lord always are gone and forgotten. As we heard in the reading, this cycle begins of abandoning God for the place where people riot. And suddenly, for no true reason that I can discover, people are just thinking well, if they’re doing it, I local gods of Baal and Ashtoreth, of losing God’s protection against their enemies, of being oppressed and becoming desper- will, I fancy a new TV, so let’s set fire to the place and take what ate enough to cry out to God. God’s infinite love means that he we want. I find their thinking crazy, but it’s no crazier than some of the decisions the Israelites make in Judges. We too live in a rescues them, and gives them a leader, a judge, but as soon as world where people recognise no king and do as they see fit. that leader dies, the cycle begins again. And a lot of the time this does not go well. And I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s not just that the cycle repeats, but as it goes on, it’s more of a downward spiral. All the I don’t know about you, but I look around and often think, leaders are unlikely: take Gideon for example: the terrified, least where is God in all this. Why doesn’t he do more? Why does he let the Israelites keep turning away? What is going on? Why important member of the least important family of the least important clan and so on. But as you go on, it seems to me that doesn’t he intervene more? And I am also tempted to think,

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And I think we need to not ignore those questions. We need to bring them to God because pretending that everything’s fine is going to convince no-one, least of all ourselves. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos of Judges is the story of Ruth. It opens in a time of famine, probably one of the cycles of oppression by enemies, with crops destroyed. It’s pretty desperate and one family decides enough is enough. Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons head to Moab. Now this is an interesting decision. They leave the promised land, and go to live with their enemies. It’s as if Elimelech, along with many others has lost his faith in God, and in God’s ability to provide. The two boys take local wives, again something God has forbidden. So far, the story’s not going well. And it gets worse. Both husband and sons die there. Naomi is left in a faraway land, with nothing, no way of providing for herself. Its no wonder she describes herself as bitter. I wonder if sometimes we feel that life has gone so far off track, that there is no hope. Maybe Naomi regrets their decision to leave. Maybe we sometimes look back and think I’ve messed up so much, there’s no way to redeem this. But Naomi can’t have fully lost her faith in God, because over the time that her daughter-in-law has lived with her, Ruth has come to her own faith in Yahweh, the God of the Israelites. But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

risks. She could be at risk of being attacked or raped. She finds herself in the fields of a kind and godly man. And they fall for each other, and get married, and have a baby. Not an original tale. One that is repeated and repeated all over the world. So what does this have to do with Judges? With the big picture of what is going on in their world (and ours) and what God is doing about it. God uses ordinary people who are willing to trust him. Ruth wasn’t a princess, she wasn’t famous (not to begin with anyway). She wasn’t even part of the covenant people of God. She was just a girl who chose to follow the God she had



God uses ordinary people who are willing to trust him



what can I do? I’m a small, insignificant person. I don’t have huge influence. What difference can I actually make to the mess in the world?

discovered through her in-laws. Boaz wasn’t a heart throb, a poster boy. He says himself that he’s not one of the younger man. He’s a farmer, doing his best to make a living. But he is a kind and generous man. The law of Israel said you shouldn’t pick up ears of corn that fell during harvesting, to allow the poor to collect some for themselves. Boaz, because he knows what Ruth is doing for Naomi tells his workers to pull out extra corn to drop for her. And God uses them. He uses them to restore a bereaved and traumatised woman.

Naomi is given a second family, a baby to hold and love. Ruth sees Boaz’s prayer for And in this girl, this nobody from Moab, is her come true. Boaz says ‘May you be a chink of hope. Ruth insists on going back richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of to Israel with Naomi, even though, as Israel, under whose wings you have come Naomi points out, she is risking a lot. Two to take refuge.” And she is, and so is he. women, with no male protection, no way This they would have seen. But they of making money, no prospect of a husband, which was really Ruth’s only option probably didn’t live to see what more God would do through them. for a secure future. So they return. And this really lovely, very That last, despairing line of Judges: Israel domestic story unfolds. Ruth does all she had no king. Well, Ruth became the greatcan to provide for them. She goes to pick grandmother of David, arguably the greatest human king Israel ever had. up stray ears of corn left behind by the harvesters. Which was not without its

The time of Judges was messy and painful,

and in many ways hideous. But God was working, in ways that couldn’t be seen at the time, in unexpected ways, and through unexpected people. And the world we see today is messy and painful, and hideous at times, and we feel powerless to do anything. Well, maybe we can’t change the big things (maybe we will, who knows: the Jubilee 2000 campaign, which ended up convincing several western governments to cancel large chunks of 3rd World debt started with just a few individuals) but we can choose to be a Ruth or a Boaz. To put our trust in God, and live life his way. We may not become the great grandparents of someone famous, or we may. We may not see fully in this life all that God was doing in and through us. But whether or not other people see what we do, God notices us. He rejoices over us, and when we trust him and live for him, he will use us, even if it’s not how we expect. I don’t think Ruth had any idea what would happen to her in Israel, she just knew she should go and look after Naomi. As I draw to a close, I just want to think about this idea of a king for a moment. The truly tragic thing about Israel during the time of the Judges is that they did have a king. Yahweh, their God who rescued them from Egypt and brought them safely to the land he promised them. He was their King, they just didn’t recognise it. And we have a King. Others may not recognise him, [but in that reading from revelation we see a picture of Jesus: the rider on the white horse, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.] The world is still a messy and, at times, dreadful place, and I don’t make light of that. But in the midst of our questions and sadness at it all, we have a king. A king who gave up everything for our sake, even to the point of dying for him. Ruth and Boaz lived in messy, confusing, difficult times, and chose to put their trust in the Lord. We have much more to go on than they did. We have Jesus, our King, We need to put our trust in him, continue to do our best to follow him, and ask him to use us, in small or big ways, as HE sees fit. Mairion Goodman is married to James, children: Sophie, Owen and Rhys. Grew up in London, but moved to Bristol 15 years ago. Met James there, was called to ordination, trained at Trinity College Bristol, and then for the last five years was part-time curate in a lively church. Responsibilities included Marriage Prep, prayer and young families. Been in Stoke for 12 months, attending and serving in St Barnabas and we feel very at home. Weird fact: nickname is Mars and has been since she was five.

The Peasants-from left, Rupert Wockner, Abbey Phillips, Clark Hinton, Georgia Nott, Chris Phillips, Holly Tippler and Joseph Corban-Banks

Peasants win Rockquest Some of the members of the St Barnabas worship team are in the Nelson band The Peasants. Students of Garin College, they won the Smokefreerockquest on Saturday 17 September 2011. a year after they took second place as an earlier incarnation of the band The Peasants of Eden. Naomi Arnold of the Nelson Mail reports…

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mokefreerockquest champions The Peasants were greeted by cheers and a haka from Garin College friends when they made their triumphant return to Nelson.

performance was "really impressive", Garin College music teacher Kyle Proffit said.

"Georgia was exceptional in front. She sung those songs really It has been almost 20 years since a Nelson band won the Smoke- well and from the heart, which really came through. "The band freerockquest, but on Saturday night the indie pop-rock group worked together really well up there, and their performance as took the country's biggest youth music prize at Hamilton's a group was really cohesive. The whole band was so tight and Claudelands Arena. really professional." Six bands played off on Saturday after being selected from 800 The Peasants are Georgia (vocals and percussion), her cousins, entrants at regional finals held throughout the country earlier in siblings Abbey Phillips (vocals and keyboards) and Chris Phillips the year. (drums), Joseph Corban-Banks (bass), Rupert Wockner (rhythm guitar), Holly Tippler (vocals Yesterday afternoon about 50 and keyboards) and Clark family members, teachers and Hinton (guitar). friends greeted the band at



It was amazing. It was so humbling to have everybody there supporting us and to know that they're super proud.

"We were not expecting that at all," lead singer Georgia Nott said. "It was amazing. It was so humbling to have everybody there supporting us and to know that they're super proud." The Peasants finished second in the final last year, when they were known as The Peasants of Eden. Since then they have become regulars at gigs around Nelson. They had developed their performance, and Saturday's

The judging panel, made up of Matt Barthow from TV channel Four, Tania Dean from New Zealand on Air, Joel Little from Dryden Street (and Kids of 88 co-writer), Sam Collins from Kiwi FM, Sharyn Wakefield from The Edge, and OpShop's Bobby Kennedy, said The Peasants had a presence far beyond their years. Georgia was singled out for particular praise.



Nelson Airport, waving signs and cheering.

"Her voice is totally different from any other New Zealand singer," Ms Dean said. "It is powerful, emotional and dynamic – she actually left me speechless."

St Barnabas Financial Report for the eight Months to 30 August 2011

Hamilton Saturday Night Winners

More recently the European and United States financial market have dominated World News. The United States credit rating has been downgraded from AAA to AA+ by Standard & Poor’s while New Zealand has temporarily remained at AA+. Fortunately St Barnabas Church has avoided the media limelight and kept under the media radar. Notwithstanding this, eight months through this financial year, it’s timely to let you know how we are managing. At the end of July the operating deficit i.e. the shortfall between income and outgoings exceeded $15,000. August proved to be an answer to prayer and through your response to our appeal, providing a positive contribution of more than $5,000 for the month, reducing the year to date shortfall to $10,010.

Nelson Airport Welcome

Tabled below are the actual versus budgeted financial results through to 31 August. Y e a r to D a te Actua l

Bud g e t

110,115

119,197

V a ria nce

Inco me Parish Giving Other Giving

Georgia said the band were on a huge high after their win, having done "heaps of practice" to perfect their act, and it was probably their best performance. "Conveniently, seeing it was a competition."

Diocesan Contribution

She said the band members were nervous but managed to put all this aside before they went on stage. "As the night progressed and we were about to go on, I was chilling myself out, and everybody was channelling all their energy and concentrating a lot on the performance and doing a good job up there."

E xp e nd iture

The band, who range in age from 15 to 18, intend to continue playing together. Only one other Nelson band had won Smokefreerockquest before – the Exploding Poppies, from Waimea College, in 1992. They later disbanded, but the band members are still working in the music industry. The Peasants' prize package includes a NZ on Air new recording and music video grant worth $10,000, a place on the NZ On Air Kiwi Hit Disc, $10,000 worth of musical equipment from NZ Rockshops, and recording time and radio promotional support for a single. Second place went to singer-songwriter Massad from Sacred Heart College in Auckland, and third place to Attic Sky's from Whakatane High School. See the peasants perform “Giants” on our website: www.stbarnabas.co.nz/news Photos: Nelson Mail/FAIRFAX

Other Grants Other Revenue T otal Income

Clergy /Staff Ministry Expenses

6,089

7,667

26,708

20,000

0

2,000

7,945

10,133

150,858

158,997

108,873

104,369

(8,139)

4,626

7,934

13,639

12,350

Missions

7,999

10,067

Diocesan Charges

6,295

6,295

Property Expenses

19,437

22,327

T otal Expenses

160,868

163,341

2,473

S urp lus/ (D e ficit)

(10,010)

(4,344)

(5,666)

Office Expenses

To achieve or even better the budgeted forecast, a number of new initiatives have recently commenced. These include the “coffee cup” small change collection, collected on the first Sunday of each month. Another is having regular Church working bees to perform essential church maintenance. A big thank you to those of you who have supported us, either through pledges, the coffee cup donation, or the Church working bees. The giving of one’s time is of great help and benefit ensuring things are done while reducing Church costs. The challenge remains to lift our income, over the next three months. Positive progress has been made and with your collective help and God’s will, this will be achieved. Doug Johns—Convener St Barnabas Finance Committee.

Reproduced from The War Cry — Salvation Army New Zealand

St Barnabas Goes Online

Clicking on The St Barnabas logo from any page will take you back to the homepage. Clicking on the homepage slider will take you to more information about that event. The Search box in the footer enables you to type in a topic to search the site. Clicking on photos will open an enlarged image. So let’s take a look around the site, page by page. Starting from the homepage, click on About Us in the navigation area. 5

The launch of the St Barnabas Website in September is another step forward in our growth and development as a community focussed church. Website builder Jane Cowdrey, provides a guide to the site and its contents.

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he addition of a website as part of the St Barnabas Vision Team communication strategy was viewed as an important information tool to be developed. A plan for the site was completed, providing the framework for the website content. The ‘look and feel’ of 3 the site proved difficult to define and 3. About Us eventually evolved from elements of our This page contains details about St St Barnabas ‘Wheatfield’ branding. Barnabas. Our Church is an overview of the church, its functions and beliefs. Our People contains details of those involved in the day-to day running of the church. Our Place outlines the history of St Barnabas Church. You will notice that news and events appear on the detail pages under each topic.

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2. Navigation Navigation to other pages of the website is located above the slider. Clicking on About Us, News, Connect, Events or Contact Us will lead to those pages.

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6. Events Events contains a calendar of services and upcoming events. This section of the website is fully searchable for events. Still under construction, this page is due to be completed by the end of October 2011.

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1. The Homepage The homepage is the first page you will land on and contains a ‘slider’ slide show featuring current and upcoming events at St Barnabas. The content of the slider will be updated regularly. Our vision and a short overview of the church is in the panel below the slider. At the foot of the homepage are church service details and contact information including a location map.

5. Connect The Connect section is all about the life of St Barnabas. Home Groups has details of our Home Groups. Courses contains information about the courses (marriage Course, Alpha, etc.) we run at St Barnabas. Community contains details of the many activity groups at St Barnabas, as well as information about community events.

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4. News Click on News to take you to the page of news from the parish and parishioners, the Inside Column from the weekly pew sheet , St Barnabas Focus magazine and other newsletters or items of interest.

7. Contact Us Contact Us contains a contact email form, contact details at the foot of the page and news and events in the side bar. Check it out! The St Barnabas website address is: www.stbarnabas.co.nz

Dodoma Market

Mission Tanzania Charles and Mary Worsley report on their mission to Tanzania in this their seventh week of mission service at Msalato Theological College, near the Capital city Dodoma.

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ello from Tanzania – again. Thank you for your encouraging emails and best wishes. It's lovely to hear from you.

were also guests of honour! Yeehah! Nobody told us to get 'flossied up', so we simply wore the gear we'd had on all day. Everyone else looked very smart … not to worry. The meal was The past week has been pretty much a roller-coaster ride. We've yummee (typically Tanzanian). The Americans were farewelled either set and marked exam papers for the English Department and they were extremely gracious in their response. or written exam questions for the classes we teach in the When it came to us, the students performed a sort of 'haka' Theology Department. Thank goodness that's all done and we though peaceful and with much amusement. We loved the can go off tomorrow for a week's safari with the Canadian dancing and the lyrics. They also gave us gifts – a wooden couple on the staff - Jeannie and Rob from Toronto. 'Karibu' (welcome) sign for our house and a magnificent pair of beautifully carved, ebony candlesticks. Very impressive! Instead The big excitement for us last week was the farewell dinner given by the students for the American contingent. Three retired of shaking hands respectfully, we gave the student a big hug. The next thing, all the students … and staff lined up in a great teachers from Georgia and Wyoming, visited the college for crocodile to hug us! Well, it was a lovely night to remember. We about three weeks, popping into classes and generally encouraging everyone. They're also very generous givers, representing still have three weeks left in Msalato before we start packing our bags. I'm sure you'll recognise that the whole time has been their churches and associated organisations. Together they an enormous challenge for us and we've loved it. sponsor around half the students in the college. That's tremendous because sponsoring includes fees, clothing, books, family needs, health – just about everything anyone might need. Other countries – UK, Canada, Australia and NZ also sponsor students.

Teaching finished yesterday and now it's mid-term break. The Msalato Girls' College nearby is still operating though, and my pastoral care group is responsible for the Sunday services. One of our degree students was leader, another read the epistle and I'd been invited to preach. Several of the Msalato staff came Charles and I went along to the dinner, tired and worn out by the exam stuff we'd been involved with, only to find out that we along as well. I preached on 1 John 3, “Love One Another” and it seemed to hit the right spot … so happy days and PTL. Every

week our staff go out to different churches and take services, if they're invited, for the locals.

At the end, they all beat their desks, cheered, clapped and thanked God.

Two more African students in our classes have caught Malaria. The weather is warming (30 deg max and 20 deg min.) but some of the students still wear jackets even in the heat of the day. Fortunately, medication is available for those who test positively, then it's just a matter of rest and sleep for a few days. The downside is that Malaria recurs … and it's not nice to have.

I said I thought that God had just answered their prayers. When they go back to their home church, they go with Jesus' authority and power to heal. God wants to show that his power is infinitely greater than Satan's. The students were 'on fire'. I told the Dean of Academic Studies what had happened. He's quite a dour man, so I didn't know what his reaction might be. He was 'over the moon' and said it was just what they needed, particularly as Charles and I pray for the students or staff whenever they ask I had allowed the students to do it themselves. He said that us. Most of the time it's in a quiet place after class time. The some time ago they did teach healing as part of the second year good thing is that God hears those prayers and he acts. Both typhoid cases have almost completely recovered now, thanks to syllabus. It was so successful that the students didn't want to do anything else, so the staff decided to 'cut back a bit.' When anmedication and prayer, and the lady with multiple sclerosis in other teacher took over, the subject was dropped. the unit next to ours is delighted with the huge healing she's received. She went to town with a group of us yesterday and she We had a visit from one of the Year Three degree students last bounced in and out of the van like a spring chicken. Her comevening. (He is not one of my students.) He said that all the stument was, “Last year I certainly wouldn't be hopping in and out dents at the college were talking about what had happened in of a van like this!” the class and were excited. They are well aware that the power is from God and not me. What a great time … and it's very nice Just as we were driving out of the city we passed a spectacular to be used by God in this way. mosque. “That's Gaddaffi's mosque,” someone said. “His aim was to build a huge mosque in every African capital city … then he'd have friends to call on when he needed them.” (Hmmm. I reckon he's busy calling a few friends now!) Time for Charles to write …

Time to pack for the safari beginning tomorrow. Whoopee! Lots of love and heaps of blessings Charles & Mary

Well, the power is off … again … no lunch yet, so I'll write on! We might complain about the electricity supply, but at least we Reverend„s Charles and Mary Worsley are assisting Clergy at St do have it most of the time. Only 14% of Tanzanians have Barnabas Stoke. They run a home group and assist with Wednesday, electricity in their homes and only 2% in rural areas. No wonder Sunday and Rest Home services in the parish. they cook on charcoal fires – and no wonder the trees are slowly disappearing, as wood is their primary fuel. Last week I mentioned how students said that often people ask, 'How much power has God got? We pray for rain or healing and nothing happens. Others go to the witch doctor and, at least sometimes, something does happen. Who has the power? How can we answer these people?' This week they raised it again and it was obviously troubling them, so I diverted from the syllabus and took them through parts of the Bible to show that God has immense power. I suggested that if there is no power in our church, we should look at what we are doing and how we are doing it. We looked at how Jesus healed and how he taught the twelve, then the 72 of his followers, to heal etc. They were to do as Jesus did. Jesus gave them power and authority, then said to his disciples, 'Now you go and heal them.' Jesus didn't say, 'Go and ask my Father to heal.' He said, 'You do it.' We found that after Jesus' resurrection, the disciples continued this direct approach and with great success. In the Great Commission, Jesus told his followers to make disciples and 'Teach them everything I have taught you.' That seems to mean that we are to pray in the same way, because Jesus has also given us the power and authority. The next period, one of the class asked if I would pray for his very sore back. I invited anyone who would like to pray, to come to the front. They all came up! I asked a student to start the prayer. He spoke in Swahili, so I have no idea what he said, but he was enthusiastic and he meant it. The first student's back was largely healed. Someone else prayed and the back was totally healed! Another asked for prayer on a sore left arm – another for a headache – another and another etc. I lost count, but the students prayed for either seven or eight people and God completely healed the lot. Different students prayed each time.

Msalato Theological College

2 October

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

30 October

8.30am

Morning Worship

Edrick Corban-Banks Kingdom People

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks To boldly go

9.45am

945 Communion

9.45am

945 Celebration

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks Kingdom People

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks To boldly go

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

Philip Greenwood Living as the people of God 945 Communion

6 November

Two Months of Sundays

9.45am

9 October

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

Eric Sears The King is Here

9.45am

945 Celebration

Preacher: Theme:

Philip Greenwood The King is Here

13 November

20 November

16 October

23 October

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks The glory of The King

9.45am Preacher: Theme:

945 Celebration Edrick Corban-Banks The glory of The King

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

Philip Greenwood Growing Church

9.45am

945 Communion

Preacher: Theme:

Philip Greenwood Growing Church

27 November

Preacher: Theme:

Philip Greenwood Living as the people of God

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks Good leaders wanted

9.45am

945 Celebration

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks Good leaders wanted

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

Mairion Goodman Living in the world

9.45am

945 Communion

Preacher: Theme:

Mairion Goodman Living in the world

8.30am

Morning Worship

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks Future Perfect

9.45am

945 Celebration

Preacher: Theme:

Edrick Corban-Banks Future Perfect

July - November 2011

23 October La Vida 30 October Miles Jackson 13 November Black Orpheus

St Barnabas Office 9.00am - 3.30pm Monday to Friday Phone 547 5631 Fax 547 0592

email: [email protected] St. Barnabas Anglican Church 523 Main Road Stoke Nelson 7011 website: www.stbarnabas.co.nz