The shift, or “turn” as they say, affects many things: the way we see Jesus, the way we read the bible, the way we teach from the bible, and the way we do church and ministry, but perhaps the issue where it is most urgent is how we read our bibles.

Once one has realized the challenge, the next problem is where to start. There is a plethora of books coming out all the time. That is why the topic for the month of February will be on Biblical Interpretation in a Postmodern World. Derek Morphew has chosen two books that are being widely recognized as particularly helpful. He will be doing a book review on these two as well as having a webinar on Feb 22nd. Leaders and scholars from all around the globe will be helping in this discussion.

The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, by Scot McKnight, is simple, tells stories and uses illustrations, and does not attempt to grapple with French deconstructionist philosophers. However, one can see that the author is fully aware of the issues. This is a book that deliberately simplifies a rather complicated shift in thought.

Is there a meaning in this text? by Kevin Vanhoozer, does really grapple, thoroughly, with French deconstructionist philosophers and all the issues that have to be addressed. It uses the classic model of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but applies it to the author, the text, and the reader. With the writer we are “deconstructed” to the point of death, but then we are carefully and skillfully put back together again.

The two together tell the story from the “top end” and the “bottom end.”

Our whole aim at the Vineyard Theological Consultants from Vineyard Bible Institue is to equip those who are called to understand, believe and communicate the word of God into our changing society.

Last year Gary Best, who heads up AVC Canada, facilitated a seminar at his retreat centre attended by a number of Canadian pastors and two faculty members of St. Steven’s University. I gave five presenations on Hermeneutics as the Issue of our Era, which analysed the nature of postmodern thought and its implications for the way we view Jesus, read the bible, write theology and do church/ministry.

This year Gary and I plan to repeat the seminar, but we will assume the first three sessions are “done” and take the last two as the basis for enlarging on the subject. We want to move much more towards the implications for praxis.

A key figure here is Frank Emanuel, one of our associate consultants, because Frank did his Masters thesis in this field, and is currently doing his PhD in the same field.

This new service is a monthly membership and if you sign up this month you will also have access to last month’s webinar, book and book review as an added bonus. The topic was on revivals and revivalism in the world today and how the Vineyard movement has interacted with it. Did John Wimber respond to what he saw God doing or did he lead and focus in that direction, or did he do both? A membership will give you access to this presentation along with a free book download and a book review from Derek Morphew.

Another great benefit is that if you join this new service, you will have the chance to interact with theological consultants from around the globe during the webinar and discussion forums. We will be adding more over the next month:

Introducing Theological Consultants

These are listed first in alphabetical order, where their details are shown, and then in the Forums they have an interest in.

Associate Consultants By Name

Wayne Bouwer
Johannesburg, South Africa
Honours in Greek (University of Johannesburg Classics Department)
Lectured in New Testament Greek for four years there.
Senior Pastor, Hillside Vineyard, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Facilitates weekly exegesis workshop with local pastors (Reformed and other churches).
Frank Emanuel
Saint Paul, Canada
MA Saint Paul University

David Hendrix
Georgia, USA
LaGrange College (B.A. in Religion), EmoryUniversity (M.Div) and Vanderbilt University (Doctor of Ministry)

Derek Morphew
Cape Town, South Africa
BA Rhodes University (majors in Biblical Studies and Systematic Theology)
PhD University of Cape Town, dissertation in field of New Testament Studies

Glen Taylor
Tajikistan
PhD in Old Testament Studies, University of Gloucestershire

Andrew Wallis
BA in Theology from the University of Wales (St. David’s University College), his dissertation was on Paul and Israel.
Andrew is the Senior Pastor of Bristol Vineyard, an Area Leader and Council Member for Vineyard Churches UK, and has a background in Retail Senior Management, Project Management and Business Analysis.
His areas of interest are Social Justice, the environment, and the “de-westernisation” of the gospel. He has studied Liberation Theology, Black Theology (S Africa and USA) and New Religious Movements. He has founded a charity to combat human traffiking called Unseen UK.
Unseen UK

Associate Consultants by Forums

The Kingdom and Jesus Research
Derek Morphew
Andrew Wallis

The Kingdom and Socal Justice
Andrew Wallis

The Kingdom and the Old Testament
Glen Taylor

Biblical Exegesis and Preaching
David Hendrix
Wayne Bouwer

Postmodernism, Emerging and Emergent Churches
Frank Emanuel

To sign up for this service, please go to our website at: www.vineyardbibleinstitute.org

Alexander Venter is a Vineyard pastor in South Africa. He is the author of three companion books, Doing Church, Doing Reconciliation and Doing Healing. Alexander also oversees a number of Vineyard churches in his region; and is on the national leadership of the Association of Vineyard Churches in South Africa. Since 1975, he has pastored churches in Zimbabwe, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Soweto.

Doing Reconciliation by Alexander Venter is a comprehensive study (406 pages) about the urgent need to dismantle racism and work for reconciliation in both the church and world. It is about making peace between people, groups and structures, and building an environment of mutual respect, human rights and Shalom (the Hebrew concept for God’s societal harmony, order, blessing and prosperity).

The book has come out of Alexander Venter and Trevor Ntlhola’s journey in dealing with their own racism and seeking reconciliation through the 1980s and 1990s in apartheid South Africa, through a community called åJohweto’s the symbolic reconciliation of Johannesburg and Soweto. They begin with their stories, and then Alexander addresses the apartheid history with its legacy of pain, and our need to deal with it in order to capitalize on the miracle that we have lived through (the 1994 elections).

The main body of the book is a Biblical understanding of racism, reconciliation and transformation, and it presents practical models of how to do one-on-one, group and structural reconciliation. This includes 19 suggested actions and programs for both individuals and churches to bring healing and reconciliation in society. Alexander also gives guidance on how Christians can think about and respond to 4 international social-ethical issues, and 7 more South African based social challenges the latter are the 7 SACLA giants (the South African Christian Leadership Assembly, that met in July 2003, identified 7 giants that we must defeat in South Africa in order to have a meaningful future together).

Dr Derek Morphew concludes the book with an excellent exposition of Christians and Human Rights, and how we can work to create a societal culture of basic human rights. Although the book comes from the South African context, it clearly addresses a theology and confronts challenges that are internationally applicable, for all churches in all nations. Doing Reconciliation is intended for all who concerned about the church?s integrity and witness in society for those who want to make the world a better place to live in.

Doing Church: Building From the Bottom Up by Alexander Venter will help you determine or discover vision, values, priorities and practical principles for developing a Church. The book is written in a style that helps one reflect instead of feeling coerced into thinking in a certain way. The concepts in Alexander’s book will encourage you and motivate you to build in a positive, directed and value-driven way.

If you want to be healed, and especially if you want God to use you to heal others, this book is a must-read!

Trillions of dollars are spent annually in the health industry, in our daily battle with sickness. In Doing Healing, Alexander Venter gives us an awesome vision of God’s healing power by sharing his story of brokenness and healing, and addressing incisively and provocatively the questions of:

* how we understand sickness and healing
* how our view of reality affects this understanding
* what the Bible says about it
* how Jesus healed people

Please check out our 50 other practical, Biblical and Theological courses on the VBI website. These courses can be used for small groups, discipleship training programs as well as individual learning.

Blessings,

Jeff Augustine
Vineyard Bible Institute

Alexander Venter

VBI offers comprehensive multi-level programs which can be used in home Bible studies, the mission field, and training for church leadership, as well as degree completion. The VBI program taken at the degree level requires additional reading, essays, senior seminar and undergraduate thesis preparation (or directed student project). The BCS degree will then allow the student to continue toward a Master of Ministry (M Min) degree from SSU.

The beauty of the VBI-SSU arrangement is that students may do all their work from home to achieve the BCS. Then the Masters program is delivered by Module, allowing students to study from home and attend three two-week modules in St Stephen plus one two-week Module in Greece and Turkey, or in Israel. It is an ideal arrangement for pastors and missionaries wanting to deepen their ministries with Kingdom-based biblical and theological education. It is also ideal for lay people wanting to prepare for ministries in the church or the life places to which they have been called.

In addition, SSU will provide 30 credit hours of transfer credit to graduates of Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI) toward completion of the BCS degree through Vineyard Bible Institute.

Sincerely,

Peter Fitch Bob Cheatley
Dean of Ministry Studies President
St. Stephen’s University St. Stephen’s University
pfitch@nbnet.nb.ca rcheatley@ssu.ca

November 23, 2009

St. Stephen’s University is a private Christian university authorized to grant Bachelors and Masters degrees by the Government of New Brunswick, Canada. SSU offers degrees in Liberal Arts, International Studies, and Ministry.

For more information about VBI contact

Jeff Augustine
Director of Operations
Vineyard Bible Institute
jeffaugustine@mac.com

“I am totally sold out on VBI as the primary means of theological education and ministry training for our pastors, planters, leaders and church members, in our Vineyard churches. Derek Morphew and his team have worked hard and long, over many years now, to establish a fantastic curriculum. The courses are on the cutting edge of theological development, yet fully faithful to the Vineyard foundation of Kingdom Theology. It is difficult to find a better balance–that VBI–of cutting edge theology, academically respected, relevant to our changing culture, and accessible to all our people and leaders at whatever level they want to study. I’m a fan!” Alexander Venter, the author of Doing Church, Doing Healing and Doing Reconciliation

To learn more about Vineyard Bible Institute: www.vineyardbibleinstitute.org

Getting started is simple…
Register today online at www.vbivc.org. Select
the Partner Church that is closest to you
geographically. That church will be available
to assist you if needed.
Once registered, login using your username
and password and begin selecting your
courses.
For individuals:
• Select your level of study
• Select a course you wish to study
• Make your purchase and follow the
download instructions
• Download your course text and begin
studying (see multimedia resources)
• Complete your online assessment when
you’re ready to earn VBI credit
For churches:
• Select a course you wish to offer at the
School of Ministry or Diploma Level
• Have the lead teacher/facilitator
complete a course at the Diploma Level
(or upper levels).
• Ask students to register themselves for
the course at the School of Ministry or
Diploma Level (paying via credit card)
• Use the DVD resources or teach the
School of Ministry materials to students
• Contact your Partner Church for help

General Questions:
Penny Moisson (217)493-3796 or
penny@vineyardbi.org
BCS Degree Program Questions:
Doug Erickson (262)384-1015 or
doug@vineyardbi.org