KEITH SKILLICORN,
was an electrician serving in the R.A.A.F. in 1944, when he first came into touch with Churches of Christ. During a Mission conducted by the late E. O. Hinrichsen at Bentleigh (Vic.), he accepted Christ. Immediately afterwards, he was transferred to Adelaide, where he attended Grote St. Church.

      In 1945 he married Ruth Morrall of Brighton (Vic.). Upon his discharge from the R.A.A.F. he took the Correspondence Course conducted by the Federal College of the Bible. In 1945, he entered the College to study full time for the ministry.

      He was keenly interested in the Overseas Missions of the Australian Churches of Christ and would have given himself to this work, had the opportunity presented itself.

      In order to ascertain information for a paper on "The British Churches of Christ Mission in India," he contacted Mr. and Mrs. Percy Pittman who pioneered the British Mission in India, and who were then living in retirement in Parkdale (Vic.). Just at that time the British Committee had written to Mr. and Mrs. Pittman asking whether they could recommend someone from Australia, who could fill a vacancy on the British field in India. Mr. and Mrs. Pittman, knowing of Keith Skillicorn's quickened interest in the British work, referred his name to the British Missionary Committee. While still in College, he was invited by this Committee to go to their Indian field.

      In January 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Skillicorn sailed for the Mission Station at Daltonganj, Bihar, India, taking with them their two sons, Robert (4½ years) and Paul (8 months). A third son, Bruce was born in India.

      After serving the Mission for 6½ years, Mr. and Mrs. Skillicorn went to England in 1957 and met the British Committee for the first time. They then travelled, via the United States, to Australia, where they spent their furlough with their home-church in Brighton (Vic.). In 1958 they returned to India for a term of five years. Robert, their eldest son, remained with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Morrall, in Brighton, to pursue his Secondary Education.

      This year (1959) the British Mission at Daltonganj celebrates its fiftieth anniversary and Churches of Christ in Australia tender their hearty congratulations and fraternal greetings.

S. H. Wilson.      

1. CHRIST--THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER.

      Let us reassure ourselves that the Gospel is still the Power of God unto Salvation to every one who believes (Rom. 1:16) and that the most dynamic force the world can know is not Nuclear Energy but the Power of Christ-centred Suffering love--the spontaneous expression of Divine Life in the believer under the control of the Holy Spirit. Christ is still the unique and complete revelation of who fills all in all (Ephes. 1:23; Col. 2:9). Despite the resurgence of non-Christian religions in more ethical forms, with confidence we can still present Christ as the "Only Name" whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12) for though these "other gods" utter pious platitudes in the sinner's ear, none but Christ has stooped to lift him up. The problem for many of us is one of "Communication"; how are we to present this unique Christ, this "Only Name" with such authority that even cultured non-Christians will be compelled to yield to Him?

2. CHRIST--STILL THE HOPE OF ALL THE WORLD.

      Present international relationships in a modern world demand a fresh approach to non-Christian religions, not such as issues in a syncretistic hotch-potch but that which recognises the intrinsic worth of all religions as expressions of Man's soul through the ages to find some Ultimate beyond itself. Too often we have treated with disrespect and even contempt the idol of the Hindu and others, failing to realise that it is "only natural" for Man to express in some tangible form, his conception of Deity. Perhaps we have been influenced too much by the King James version's rendering of Acts 17:22 as "I perceive that--YOU ARE VERY SUPERSTITIOUS." In the 17th century the word "superstitious" meant "religious". While Paul may not have been praising the devotion of the Athenians, he certainly was not referring to their religion in any derogatory manner. It does seem rather that he was commending them for an objective faith even in an "Unknown God" of stone. That which they worshipped unknowingly (not "ignorantly" as in K.J.V.) Paul presented to them in terms of Christ. So far as was possible for Paul, he identified himself with their measure of faith; he met them at their point of need. Such an approach calls for a sympathetic understanding of these religions and cultures and a vital concern that these same heart-yearnings might come to fruition--in Christ, who came "not to destroy but to fulfil." That latter promise may be taken to apply not only to the Law but to religion in whatever form it may be found. Many are not inclined to attribute to non-Christian religions any indirect Divine origin because so much of them appears to be "of the Devil." Satan will surely appropriate any yearnings of the heart after the Ultimate (God in unconscious thought), as he has used for his own purpose even certain forms of "Christianity" which, ceasing to live for others in the stream of human suffering, have

lost touch with the Lord, the Source of' Life. We who have lived in the East are forced to admit that God has been at work in an indirect way even in some non-Christian religions through that "light" which comes upon all men (John 1:9). However, God has been at work in the Christian Church in a direct and unique way. If we are not prepared to accept this fact that despite the filthiness of Man's nature, he is not totally depraved, what is there in Man which, in spit e of the Fall, gives him the capacity to reach out for and appreciate Truth when challenged by it? John 1:9 is slightly ambiguous and this "light" is not to be confused with the "Holy Spirit," God's gift of Himself by Grace through faith; rather is it more akin to the "conscience" or the "spirit of Man" by virtue of which, throughout all ages and peoples, God has never left himself without witness. (Rom. 2:15; Acts 14:17). In creation God so constituted the nature of Man as to make it dependent upon Him, the Source of Life. Though by Man's wilful self-centredness he has severed his relationships with the Creator, nevertheless that dependency remains. By God's Grace, that "spirit of Man which is the Lamp of the Lord" (Prov. 20:27) has not been entirely extinguished; it remains but a mere "spark" of the Divine, a "Smoking wick" (Isaiah 42:3; Matt. 12:20) to light our way. In our unregenerate state we grope for even a straw; we find a "bruised reed". Such is the "spirit of Man" which has given rise to so many different creeds. That which makes Man unique in the whole realm of God's creation is not that he has a soul but that he has both soul and spirit and Christ's ministry through His present Body, the Church, is directed towards the WHOLE man-his spirit (pneuma), soul (psukhe) and body (soma) (1 Thess. 5:23). For unique creatures, the Gospel is a unique religion, for, while in non-Christian religions we see man groping after the Ultimate, Satisfaction and Completeness, in the Christian faith we see the Father reaching out for the undeserving sinner. (Luke 15). The former is "natural" religion while the latter is "revealed" religion. The very word "natural" as applied to man in 1 Cor. 2:14 is "psukikos", the adjectival form of "psukhe" (soul); its Anglicised form is "psychical". In James 3:15 the word is translated "sensual" but "soulish" or "soulical" would be more accurate renderings. The "soul" often translated "life" pertains to man in his own conscious life on earth. One commentator says it pertains to his "reason, emotion and volition and has its immediate relationship not with God, though it can be affected by and be responsive to Him." The spirit of man is that by which, given the necessary renewal by faith and the New Birth, brings man into an intimate saving relationship with God. Then "the Spirit of God Himself bears witness WITH OUR SPIRITS that we are the children of God--if so be that we suffer with Him" (Rom. 8:16-17). Suffering is intrinsically bound up with this spiritual relationship. Suffering is the medium by which His Spirit meets our spirits. We must admit that the sinner, unless he wilfully and habitually rejects the inner promptings of the human spirit, thus quenching it, has the capacity to respond to Suffering Love when communicated to him--the Suffering Love that we find only in Christ. The soul of man is intensely responsive to such Love (Agape). "I, if I be lifted up will draw," said Jesus. Unless man deliberately fights God, he cannot resist the wooings of such unmerited compassion. In the "natural" man his spirit is actually a prisoner. Often the "real self" the spirit life, desires to do good, but cannot because of its bondage to the egotistic soul life (Rom. 7:14-20). It is the Word of God that can set the prisoner

free; it is only He who can break through the hard outer soulish shell of human pride to bring renewal of Life to our spirits. The union of these two Spirits (germs or seeds), if given the right "climatic" conditions issues in a spontaneous growth which ultimately absorbs the soul life and brings our whole being into captivity unto Him. It is then that we can say with the Apostle, "I (the soul life) am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I (spirit) live, yet not I, but Christ lives within me" (Gal. 2:20).

      The Word of God is He who, sharper than a two-edged sword, "pierces to the division of SOUL AND SPIRIT." (Heb. 4:12). It is He who can release our true personalities to be united with His own.

Consciously or unconsciously all men long for such release. Non-Christian religions fail to meet that need--only Christ can, and His Cross is the means.

3. CHRIST--INCARNATE, CRUCIFIED AND RISEN TODAY.

      We turn to the most vital question in theological circles today: how can we communicate Christ to others that he may be taken into the human spirit to convict of sin, righteousness and judgment? The fact is that WE do not present Christ at all!!! "I, if I be lifted up will draw men", said Jesus (John 12:32). WE, do not draw; HE draws--through us. HE appeals through us as His ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20). In John 12:32 Jesus had in view not only His own impending crucifixion nor even a future eloquent sermon on John 3:16; he was thinking of the spiritual outworking of the Cross in the lives of that great company of Believers who were to know the Fellowship (sharing, communion from "Koinonia") of His sufferings and hence the Power of His Resurrection (Phil. 3:10). When we as "channels or stewards" of God's Grace lift up the crucified Christ in a Father-forgive-them relationship of love for those who, from a "natural" point of view, do not merit our concern, there is a dynamic attraction between God's Spirit and the spirit of Man--the "coals of fire" of which Paul speaks in Rom. 12:20. Christ Himself is the testimony; we are only the yielded vessels or open channels of His Grace (charis) which is God's unmerited and self-giving love poured out that an unworthy one may live (Rom. 5:8). He who is such a channel "Has the testimony in Himself" (1 John 5:10). In other words, in such humble and committed believers there is a spontaneous expression of the Life of Christ Himself. What is being communicated, therefore, is not a creed, doctrine, theology or religion but a LIFE--His Life given to us at New Birth.

      The position to which we have arrived in relationship with the non-Christian calls for identification with him on his highest moral level, necessitating a "becoming all things to all men" (1 Cor. 9:22) within the limits of the Christian moral life; however, if suffering love be not the motive, our identification may be no more than mere strategy or technique, void of spiritual power. There must be a "gracious" love for the sinner and such a desire for his redemption that we feel that his sins are ours and the consequences of such sins, a burden we must share. This spirit is exemplified in Christ's "becoming sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21); in Moses' willingness to be "blotted out" for the sake of his people (Ex. 32:30-32); in the prophet's feeling that like those of his people, his lips too were unclean (Isaiah 6:5); in the ministry of Paul who wished he could be "cut off from Christ" for the sake of Israel (Rom. 9:3). Such "gracious" relationships give God's Spirit opportunities of access to the spirit of sinful man and regeneration is thus made possible. No amount of human effort, technique,

propaganda, business acumen or organisation can substitute for this spontaneous communication of LIFE in the stream of human suffering.

(a) The Incarnation in Christian Experience:

      All of us are prepared to admit that the Church is the BODY OF CHRIST (Ephes. 1:23)--the Incarnate "Word" in our age. By this we mean that the Incarnation has become for us not merely a doctrine but an experience; we have "no creed but Christ!' The same God of "yesterday, today and forever" who was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself has come to dwell in the church to make each of us ambassadors or partakers of the same ministry, i. e. "not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Cor. 5:18-21). That is, as Christ forgave to the uttermost, even his executioners, the church is to perform the same ministry in every believer. The "Word become flesh" in Jesus, for our age must be "the Word become flesh in us." The Living "Word" was never meant to be confined to the pages of the Bible; that which we call the "Word" is really only the written record of the Word. We are to be "Living Epistles." In our Christian witness the "preaching of the Word" must not be merely confined to orations from the Book; however evangelical may be our preaching unless it is the spontaneous expression of the Incarnate Word in our experience, it is ineffectual. Human nature is such that the inevitable consequence of the Word incarnate in Jesus was the Cross. The same applies today; human nature has not changed since Calvary and "all who today live righteously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution"--of some form or another. (2 Tim. 3:12). Christ did not shrink from the Cross; He set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem knowing that it was the culmination of His earthly ministry. Death had to be "swallowed up in victory" and he has left us this ministry to fulfil.

(b) The Cross in Christian Experience.

      It seems that there is a two-fold working of the Cross in Christian experience. There is the crucifixion of the "old man", the self-life or the ego, an experience which is bound up with our sins. But the Lord wants us to be not merely the "redeemed people" but "redeeming people." His purpose when incarnate in Jesus is the same today when incarnate in us. That purpose is revealed in, his Gethsemane prayer. At the end of his long ordeal in the garden he could pray, "For this purpose have I come to this hour" (John 12:27). We too are exhorted to have this same purpose or "mind" (Phil. 2:5-8) as the One who emptied Himself unto death. This brings yet another doctrine from the realm of theology into experience. The LIFE we have received is not for our own enjoyment--it is not for us at all; this is LIFE that THEY might know God (John 17:3). We are given this Treasure in "earthen vessels" which must be broken to enrich the world. Paul in his exhortation on the ministry (2 Cor. 4:1-10) sums up our ministry as "Bearing in the body the DYING of the Lord Jesus that the LIFE, of Jesus may be manifest in our bodies" (verse 10). Moffatt renders it "may come out of our bodies." The Treasure comes out for the world to behold His Glory when the earthen vessel is broken, humbled before God and men. The fragrance of Mary's jar of precious ointment filled the house (John 12:3) only when the jar was broken at the feet of Jesus (Mark 14:3); the perfume of His knowledge is spread abroad through us only as we are "led in triumph" (as bond slaves in a Roman triumphal procession) and thus "caused to triumph" (compare A.R.S. and K.J.V. on 2 Cor. 2:14-16). There

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can be no harvest until the seed loses itself in the darkness of the earth (John 12:24). So Paul could say, "Death is at work in us but life in you" (2 Cor. 4:12). The Incarnate Christ in us means that we too, in an indirect sense become the Bread of Life for a hungry world; but what Christ gave to the world, symbolised in the Last Supper, was BROKEN bread. We are to be broken and consumed by the sin of the world before the world may see Him. Ignatius testified to the Christians who tried to hinder his martyrdom, "I am the wheat-corn of God; let me be ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may become the pure bread of Christ."

4. CHRIST'S UNIQUENESS IN THE CROSS.

      It is just this above emphasis and this alone which can preserve our witness to distinctive Christian witness to Christ as the "Only Name." Without the deepest meaning of the Cross faith will soon become "just another religion." From the point of view of mere ethics, other religions are rapidly catching up to us. Modern Hindu friends can quote from their scriptures such beautiful passages as, "You must be like the sandalwood tree which spreads perfume upon the axe that smites it." This they interpret to mean, "when suffering comes upon you you must suffer; there should be no trace of vindictiveness, no thought of retaliation--only pacivity." Rightly they tell us that Jesus made no attempt to defend Himself and though Paul did appeal to Caesar, he certainly was not vindictive. What are we to say to this? In this respect alone Modern ethical Hinduism may be said to have surpassed much of our Western religion, at least in theory. Is the ground being taken from under our feet? In adversely criticising Christianity they tell us that Christ was a pacifist and that should be a heartsearching statement for us in this time of cold war. Has our Gospel lost its uniqueness? No. As of old, the Cross is still the stumbling block. Christ was more than a pacifist; he did not suffer only when suffering came upon Him; He did not merely allow men to kill him; "HE STEADFASTLY SET HIS FACE TO GO TOWARDS JERUSALEM" (Luke 9:51). He was far more than a pacifist for He WILLED TO SUFFER--He WILLED to love His enemies. THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRIST IS IN THIS VERY POINT. Christ's testimony is communicated to the world when we "will-to-suffer" for the unlovely. How can we make known to the world such suffering and redemptive Love. Though the Lord walked with His disciples on the Emmaus Road, He was not made known to them until He "broke the Bread" (Luke 24:30-35). By faith in Christ we share His nature (2 Peter 1:4); we therefore become as "bread" for a hungry world--one Bread, one Body--incarnate, crucified and risen, yesterday and day by day.

5. COMMUNICATING THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM.

      In our "gracious" relationships with the sinner He also reveals more of Himself to us and we grow in the "Knowledge" of Him as we "will to do His will" (John 7:17). This opens up, a whole new field of study but suffice to say here that if we are to "Know" Christ in His fulness we must seek him in the stream of human suffering. This "knowledge" is not that which depends entirely upon the intellect; it is that which surpasses mere human knowledge for it is "Spiritual understanding" (Col. 1:9)--a "Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Ephes. 1:17). This is not revelation apart from the Word of God; rather is it a spiritual illumination of what has already been revealed in the Bible. The written Word of God

becomes the Incarnate Word of God in experience as we grow in this "knowledge" which is gained in intimate relationships of suffering Love with the Lord and with those for whom He died. "My sheep hear My voice and I KNOW (Ginosko) them" (John 10:27). The Lord knows His own because he is intimately concerned about each of us. Following Christ's gracious washing of the disciples' feet and Peter's protest against the same, the Lord used two significant Greek words for "know" but the final implication in John 13:7 is that though Peter did not at that time know the suffering love which motivated the deed, Peter would later in similar relationships with others "understand" (spiritually). It is interesting to note that "Grace" (charis) and "knowledge" (Ginosko) are vitally related and interdependent in Christian growth (2 Peter 3:18).

      By God's Grace this sacrificial living for others is real WORSHIP of which all other forms are but the outward, symbolical and corporate expressions (Rom. 12:1). Even the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and Baptism which we call "means of Grace" are meaningful only if experienced in their TOTALITY. Too often in the symbolical bread and cup of the Communion we lose sight of the reality of that Life broken and poured out for others--a Life we are to appropriate only to pour it out ourselves for others. This is the "cup" of which Jesus speaks in Mark 10:38 and the "fellowship" (Gr. "Koinonia"--Communion) of which Paul speaks in Phil. 3:10. Similarly Baptism in its totality is something more than immersion in mere water; that is but the outward and symbolical expression of the "baptism into Christ" (Rom. 6:3-4)--into His Life sufferings, death and resurrection--the "baptism," mentioned in Mark 10:38. This is not to imply that the ordinances have no purpose in the plan of salvation but rather to express the hope that they may be understood in the full context of the New Testament and experienced in their TOTALITY--reality as well as symbolism.

      Many may feel that this emphasis on Communication in Missions, whether home or foreign, is a ministry beyond that of the average Christian, but God's Word teaches clearly that every disciple must bear his cross (Matthew 10:38-39) and only by so doing become eligible for the Priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5) to offer spiritual sacrifices--"living sacrifices" (Rom. 12:1) of that which is "alive from the dead" (Rom. 6:13). Apart from God's Grace we have nothing of ourselves which may be called "living." The nature of Christ (in us) is such that He must be continually offering Himself for others. God is LOVE (agape) and "agape" is SELF-GIVING, SUFFERING LOVE.

      T. E. Trench sums up these thoughts beautifully in verse:--

      These observations on "Communication" are not the fruits of meditation alone but have been confirmed in experience in fellowship with a small group of consecrated Indian Christians who have known bitter persecution. These thoughts are dedicated to them.