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Chiang-Mai Thailand Workers-on-a-bamboo-scaffolding-01

I live in Asia, a far from safe place. One night, I was walking down the footpath of a main road in Yangon, when I fell into the drain-sewer underneath. I had missed the broken concrete slab of footpath. My sandal was washed away, leg cut and later infected, and my legs were covered in filth and grime. From Vietnam to Nepal, from unmarked potholes in footpaths and roads, to seven people without helmets on one motorbike, to rickety bamboo scaffolding on building works, to hand-drawn pulleys to lift window washers in cane baskets up multi-story buildings, I am constantly shocked at the low safety standards.

In Australia, safety is almost an idol. We were among the first countries in the world to make seatbelt-wearing compulsory in cars. (Not even Sweden got in ahead of us on that one!) When people were poisoned by food at a church fair some years ago, the laws changed promptly with rigorous food-handling procedures and requirements. We slip slop slap to be safe from the sun; we cannot bring most food items into Australia from other countries and the child protection laws, which affect every pastor and church, are stringent. All of this is rightly so. It seems every accident leads to some new law, from locked cockpits in planes to now having two people in the cockpit at any time in a flight. I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains. Her beauty and her safety, the wide brown land for me. Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and safe.

The problem with safety is that it is ultimately a futile goal. Life is, and never can be, fully safe. All the laws in the world cannot prevent all accidents.

As Christians, the issue of safety engages us also. We pray for safety of loved ones as they travel, but how do we interpret a plane crash killing many Christians off Surabaya or an earthquake in Nepal at the very time of church services, killing a disproportionate number of believers? Has God failed to keep them safe?

What then really is safety?

As Paul writes from prison to the Philippians, his priorities challenge our views of safety and safe ministry. Even facing potential death for his faith, Paul does not show concern for his physical safety. More important, firstly, is the spread of the gospel (Phil 1:12-14), which is spreading despite his own imprisonment. Even when Paul expresses hope for deliverance (1:19-20), his main thought appears to be not release but that he will not be put to shame and will be found vindicated on the day of Christ.

In Philippians, Paul is concerned for the spread of the gospel, for stopping and resisting heresy (eg 3:2ff), for the potential divisions in the church (2:1-4), for more humility and unity (2:5-11), for less selfishness (2:4), for perseverance in the faith (2:16) and for rejecting worldliness (3:18-19). But he is not concerned for safety.

Even more, Paul does not consider his physical life of ultimate importance. For him, famously, to live is Christ and to die is gain. In a world that does everything it possibly can to preserve life and prevent accidents, Paul’s words are subversive.

Herein lies the key to safety. The only true safe place is not staying alive. It is being in Christ. Life is not ever fully safe.

What does this mean for safe ministry?

There are two points in conclusion. First, unless ministry focuses on the glorious Lord Jesus, it is unsafe ministry. Unless it leads people to Christ crucified, risen and returning, it is unsafe ministry. Unless ministry leads to the grace of sins forgiven, it is unsafe ministry. For if ministry does not lead people to safety in Christ, it is dangerous ministry. For without Christ, God is a consuming fire and there is nowhere other than in Christ to hide from him.

Second, if our ministry is in Jesus then we need not fear anything or any place in our world. We need not be intimidated by opponents. Indeed Paul called suffering a privilege or gift in Phil 1:27-30. We need not shrink from death because death is gain in Christ. So we are not be constrained by physical safety.

So when Christians perished in Nepal’s earthquake, had God let them down? When Christians died in the Air Asia plane crash, were they unsafe? When one of my former students was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan for his Christian ministry, was his ministry in Karachi unsafe? No, not at all. For those in Christ are always safe in him.

Safe ministry is Jesus ministry, driven by the gospel, preparing people to meet Jesus, safely standing on a firm foundation of grace. Safe ministry ministers that gospel anywhere, regardless of physical risk, secure and safe in Christ himself. For Jesus has overcome the world. To live is Christ and to die is gain.

* This is an abbreviated form of the graduation address at Ridley College Melbourne in April 2015.


 Paul Barker is Regional Coordinator for Asia for Langham Preaching, a Visiting Lecturer at Myanmar Evangelical Graduate School of Theology and teaches in a variety of other Asian seminaries. He is the author of The Triumph of Grace in Deuteronomy, a book of expositions on Amos and other articles and short books. Formerly he was Senior Minister of Holy Trinity Anglican Church Doncaster, Melbourne.

Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas

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