SCHOOL OF FAITH
ASSEMBLY OF CONFESSING CONGREGATIONS
OF THE UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA
REV ROD JAMES
Rod James began his working life as a farmer and shearer. After hearing God's call he became a Methodist and then Uniting Church minister and served for 25 years as a parish minister in Port Lincoln, Ardrossan, Coromandel Valley and Port Augusta in South Australia. In 2000 he began an itinerant ministry visiting, encouraging and resourcing congregations and leaders in all states of Australia. During these latter years, Rod has visited about 200 congregations around Australia. Part of the ministry God has given him is to write topical leaflets and booklets which are accessible to ordinary people. He has distributed hundreds of thousands of these on themes such as evangelism, family relationships, worship and congregational renewal. Rod has been a strong advocate of traditional marriage and family. He was a member of the National Council of ACC for ten years and was National Secretary for the last three. Rod is married to Shirley, and they have four married children and ten grandchildren.
Teachings by Rev Rod James
2005
After 2000 years of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ Christians may feel that the
content of the message is pretty straight forward, and that the main issues of evangelism
have to do with the way we go about sharing the gospel. However, many Christians who
would regard their understanding as biblical may be surprised to learn that two of their
most frequently used words and concepts in proclaiming the Gospel of God are actually
not used by Jesus or the apostles, and for very good reason. Those two words are
‘challenge’ and ‘commitment’.
2006
When Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified (Galatians 3:1) we were able to see
the character of God. While suffering on the cross he prayed for those who crucified him
saying, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). On the cross he
ministered to the penitent thief and said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with
me in Paradise.’ (Luke 23:43). The character of God so shone through Jesus in his death
that when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he
said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39)
From New Testament times there has been the tendency for individuals and groups in the
Christian Church to veer away from the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints
(Jude 1:3, 1 Corinthians 11:2,23, 15:3). The New Testament word for this veering away is
aphistémi, ‘to draw away from’, or ‘to depart from’ (Hebrews 3:12). In English this word
is apostasy.
The history of God’s people over the last four thousand years has been characterized by
the ‘loss’ and ‘rediscovery’ of the great truths that define our human existence. Each
rediscovery of them (sometimes called a reformation) has come from reading the
testimony of God’s prophets and apostles in the Scriptures. Later generations have also
read the writings of previous Christians who themselves have been reawakened. So
Luther and Calvin read Augustine; and Wesley and Whitefield and their friends read
Luther and Calvin, and so on.
False worship narrows our perspective down to one myopic focus—it’s all about me. Such worship is nothing more than a religious expression of the spirit of our age which strengthens our prejudices rather than breaking them down. By contrast true worship opens believers to the whole vista of God’s glory—His holiness,
goodness and mercy, and the whole spectre of His action: His creation, providence and redemption of each of us, of His church, of the nations, and of His whole creation.
4000 years of Apostasy, Confessing and Reformation
September 2007
Throughout the nearly 4000 years since Abraham, God’s people have been prone to veering away from the will, the word and the way of God. This veering away is called ‘apostasy’. Whenever apostasy has occurred God has raised up confessors who have boldly and bravely confessed the will, word and way of the Lord. In each case God’s people have, in retrospect repented of that apostasy and affirmed the confession of the confessors.
Completed in Christ, Completely by Christ Col. 2:6-15 (ESV)
February 2017
It’s great when one of the plants or shrubs in your garden gets established—rooted and built up. And it is even greater when we become ‘rooted and built up in (Christ)’, established in the faith. And just as an established shrub begins to flower and bear fruit, so the established believer abounds in thanksgiving.
Early Methodism —what was it all about? and what is that to us today?
June 2012
A fundamental reason why early Methodism was so impressive and grew so massively was that those who became Christians were soundly and lastingly converted or changed. In a huge number of cases repentance, faith and new birth in the Holy Spirit meant radical and lasting changes in the character, speech and works of the converts.
Fire in the belly: the Holy Spirit in the Basis of Union
August 2016
To undertake the task of giving an account of the Holy Spirit in the Basis of Union one has to choose between being exhaustively competent or being strategically helpful. For reasons related to the nature of my topic I have
chosen to do the latter, i.e. to try to be strategically helpful.
God’s great family plan: Mum, Dad and the kids
October 2015
Have you ever seen something so splendid that to gaze upon it is painful? To look at the splendour of marriage and family as God intended is painful for each of us because the splendour reminds us that we have all ‘fallen short of the glory of God’. But that should not prevent us from gazing because at the centre of the splendour is Christ and his Bride of redeemed sinners. Marriage and family in the Scriptures are a vision not only of things at ‘the beginning of creation’ but also a vision of grace and redemption. So let us gaze and get drunk in the joy of the splendour!
Standing firm together on Gender
November 2016
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
A few years ago all of this was taken for granted, but today the binary nature of gender (‘male and female created he them’) is under serious and concerted attack. New terms like transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid, gender-neutral, agender, non-gendered, and gender non-conforming have emerged to describe those who
identify somewhere other than in the designations of male and female. One website lists 112 genders and 70 sexual orientations
The joy, faith and excitement of Christian giving
June 2017
Today I am full of joy, faith and excitement because I have an opportunity to share with you about Christian giving. Far from this being a “Come on, guys; we had better do this” thing, Christian giving is full of joy, faith and excitement. Indeed, the New Testament says that ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (2 Corinthians 9:7). The Greek word for ‘cheerful’ is hilarion from which we get our word, ‘hilarious’. The Macquarie Dictionary defines hilarity as ‘boisterous gaiety’ and ‘cheerfulness’. God loves a hilarious giver!
What is Salvation?
June 2016
Salvation is perhaps the central theme and vital message of the Bible, and it is an urgent matter for Christians and indeed for all people. It is the more significant today simply because, even in Christian preaching, it has been largely laid aside in favour of more congenial, comfortable themes
Why ‘gay marriage’ is not good for Australia
24-11-11
The advocates of „gay marriage‟ know that their case is an exercise in special pleading which flies in
the face of the ontological matrix of human life. They therefore seek to avoid the obvious by
launching a concerted personal attack on their opponents. Only courageous people who are willing to
risk getting mud on their reputation will dare to oppose them. At such a time it becomes necessary to
restate the obvious.