February 24, 2007 In this issue TRY-athlon series up and running Award for veteran communicator The power of a united eff ort The “Circle of courage” team as they prepare to leave Bluff on their 23-town tour of New Zealand. “Circle of courage” begins in NZ BLUFF, NEW ZEALAND n the morning of February 11, eight to equip these towns with the resources to cyclists embarked on the 2229-kilo- help young people.” metre “Circle of courage” New The “Circle of courage” is a model that O Zealand cycle tour from “where focuses on four main areas—belonging, the journey began” in Bluff. mastery, independence and generosity. They are currently halfway through a 23- Reading materials, information packs, radio town tour of New Zealand spanning four spots and newspaper articles are some of weeks, speaking about strategies to address the resources that are being made available Weet-Bix issues of “at-risk” behaviour among young to towns visited by the “Circle of courage” people in small, rural communities. cyclists. “The ‘Circle of courage’ model helps The “Circle of courage” New Zealand gets healthy build resilience and self-esteem among cycle tour has been organised by Adventist our young people,” says Jonathan Duffy, health in the New Zealand Pacifi c Union director of Adventist health for the South Conference (NZPUC). choice nod Pacifi c Division. “We’re doing all we can (Continued on page 4) ISSN 0819-5633 0066 ccover.inddover.indd 1 113/2/073/2/07 88:00:58:00:58 AAMM editorial What I had read and what she had heard were two diff erent things. “God’s people. Amen.” omehow we got to talking about both genders, that message is repeated. place.” But, urges writer Charlie Peacock, famous and favourite opening lines And it is not that our church doesn’t have “the fact that these verses and others from to books. And as the conversation a tradition of women in leadership. In The 1 Timothy have caused women, in particu- S evolved, this was pared back to com- Silent Church, Zdravko Plantak charts the lar, so much pain is a sad commentary on paring the fi rst three words of literary works. decline of women’s involvement in leader- our failure to be the people of God. The Eventually we got to the Bible and, despite ship roles. The number of women in con- whole assembly of followers has suffered her lack of religious background, she was ference leadership positions reached a high as well, and God and his Word have been proud to tell me she knew the fi rst three point about 1915—notably the year of Ellen maligned” (New Way to Be Human). words of the Bible, “In the beginning . .” White’s death—then fell away to almost If we consider that Paul was urging But then she asked, “So, what are the zero by 1950 with only slight recovery since Christians to conduct their public meetings last three words?” that time. While we have never as a church and family relations in a manner appropri- As I retrieved a New International Ver- had this issue settled—despite the promi- ate to their culture, these texts might be best sion from a nearby bookshelf, I had to nent role of women among our church pio- read as endorsing equality of opportunity, admit I didn’t know. I fl icked to the last neers—it seems incongruous that we seem voice and standing for women in churches page and unwittingly read: “God’s people. to be doing worse in more recent times than in societies where this is culturally appropri- Amen” (Revelation 22:21). we may have done in the past. ate—and even culturally demanded. This “What?” she almost exploded, hearing Unfortunately, the perception of the role makes even more sense when we consider four words in place of the three I had read. of Women’s Ministries has not always been other statements from Paul calling for a It took me just a moment to fi gure out what helpful in this regard. While a specialised more egalitarian social organisation within she had heard. ministry by women for women as a safe the kingdom of God in light of the unify- “How can it say that?” she continued, her place for addressing specifi c issues of wom- ing reality of salvation: “There is no longer outrage belying her lack of belief. en’s experiences and faith is important, the Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. After a few moments, I was able to pla- continued marginalisation of women into For you are all Christians—you are one in cate her indignation with assurances that such a specialised ministry can be a frus- Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, NLT). what I had read and what she had heard trating distraction and, at best, a temporary As we write new chapters of the story were two different things and that the Bible stop-gap measure. If women had more voic- of our church, we need to focus on the was not as misogynist as it appeared. es and greater leadership opportunities in unifying and inclusive reality of “God’s But as I did, I was wondering how often the wider church, there would be less need people” and stop misreading, mishearing we—either intentionally or unintention- to create these artifi cial distinctions. and misstating the “Amen.” The church ally, individually and corporately—send the The diffi culty is that this is largely a as a whole, the experiences of many faith- message: “God’s people are men.” When- cultural issue and that the relevant bibli- ful women and our witness to the society ever women are under-represented in our cal references are open to such divergent in which we work will be stronger and church’s decision-making processes, when- readings. Various—generally male—voices healthier for it. ever they are denied opportunities and rec- rely on a superfi cial reading of texts such as ognition in ministry roles and whenever the 1 Corinthians 14:34 and Ephesians 5:21-33 language we use as a church fails to include to argue women should be kept “in their Nathan Brown Offi cial Paper of the South Editor Nathan Brown Mail: Signs Publishing Company Pacifi c Division Seventh-day Associate editor David Edgren 3485 Warburton Highway Adventist Church Editorial assistant Adele Nash Warburton, Vic 3799, Australia ABN 59 093 117 689 Editorial assistant Scott Wegener Phone: (03) 5965 6300 Fax: (03) 5966 9019 www.adventist.org.au Copyeditor Graeme Brown Email Letters: [email protected] Editorial secretary Meryl McDonald-Gough Email Newsfront: [email protected] Vol 112 No 6 Layout Nathan Chee Email Noticeboard: [email protected] Cover: Melody Tan Senior consulting editor Barry Oliver Subscriptions: South Pacifi c Division mailed within Australia and to New Zealand, $A43.80 $NZ73.00. www.record.net.au Other prices on application. Printed weekly. 2 February 24, 2007 0066 EEditorial.inddditorial.indd SSec1:2ec1:2 113/2/073/2/07 88:01:35:01:35 AAMM news TRY-athlon series up and running BERKELEY VALE, NEW SOUTH WALES rewards your input with a volunteers bag including he Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRY- event shirt and hat.” athlon 2007 series commenced on The events in both coun- February 4 at the beautiful Catani tries are supported by a list TGardens in Melbourne, attracting the of elite sports professionals. largest participant numbers in the event’s The February 4 event in nine-year history, while the New Zealand Melbourne was attended by TRY-athlon series commenced in Hamilton offi cial Melbourne ambas- on February 11. sador and Olympic swim- This year the Australian series travels mer Matt Welsh, who spent across eight locations in Australia, visiting much of the day meet- capital cities and prominent regional areas ing kids at the fi nish line between February and April 2007, with with congratulations and exciting new events to be held in Geelong a medallion. Australian Olympic swimmer Matt Welsh with one of the (February 25) and Newcastle (April 22) In New Zealand, Ol- hundreds of children who attended the boosting predicted participation to 16,000. ympic triathlete Hamish TRY-athlon event in Melbourne on February 4. The New Zealand series, celebrating its Carter is returning as the ambassador for and encompasses an every-child-is-a-win- 15th year, continues in 2007 with a total of the Weet-Bix TRY-athlon and is attend- ner attitude. nine events across the country, where a total ing events. The remaining events in Australia are: of 20,000 kids are expected to participate. Sanitarium TRY-athlons are challeng- Geelong, February 25; Sydney, March 11; With six more events to come in Aus- ing events that combine swimming, cy- Adelaide, April 1; Brisbane, April 15; New- tralia and New Zealand, group product cling and running, and encourage kids castle, April 22; and Perth, April 29. manager–cereals Andrew Hewson says, to give a healthy, active lifestyle a go. The The events to come in New Zealand are: “The season is just getting started and we event emphasises participation and allows Tauranga, February 25, with a new loca- encourage you to come out and witness this all kids aged seven to 15 the chance to be- tion at Memorial Park; Mosgiel, March 4; great and inspiring community event. You come a champion, with all participating Nelson, March 11; Christchurch, March 18; also still have the opportunity to enter your TRY-athletes receiving a medallion and Wellington, March 25; and North Shore, children as participants or assist as a volun- certifi cate.