Tag: church

An interview with Dr Jonathan Foye on communications in the church

Over the past decade or so, I have been interviewed a number of times by Jonathan Foye, in his journalistic role with the Uniting Church Synod Communications Team. As Jonathan has recently concluded his time as Editor of Insights, our news magazine, I thought I would turn the tables on him and interview him on his experiences over the years.

He has graciously agreed to being interviewed by this journalistic novice. I’ve always enjoyed my interviews with Jonathan, and appreciated the care and respect that he has shown in the questions he posed and the writeup that eventuated. So I have tried to show that same care and respect towards him in this interview.

Jonathan began working in communications as an intern with the church in early 2007. Later that year he started freelancing, providing articles on assorted issues, and then he did some studies in journalism and communications at Western Sydney University. He has written many articles for Insights over the 17 years since then.

During those years, Jonathan experienced a number of significant life events. In 2012, he was married, and in 2019 he and his wife became parents. “I was lucky enough to have parental leave shortly before the pandemic”, he reports, “so there was plenty of time with my son in his earliest years”.

At the same time, whilst initially writing for Insights as a freelancer, he completed a PhD in Communications (2011–2016) at Western Sydney University. The PhD included a significant element of theological analysis, blended with a distinctive form of literary analysis known as discourse analysis. I’ve read the thesis and thoroughly enjoyed it; I have learnt much from Dr Foye about discourse analysis as well as benefiting from his theological analysis of Sydney Anglicanism in the period 2001–2013.

Jonathan noted that while he was freelancing for Insights, in 2013 the comms team at the time was made redundant. “It was a very controversial time, and very sad to see a talented team almost all leave”, he said. “Stephen Webb and Marjorie Lewis Jones are heroes of mine. Adrian Drayton did a lot of work to reestablish Insights and I got a bunch of opportunities.” Out of that transition period, eventually, Jonathan was appointed as Editor of Insights in October 2017. “It was on Halloween”, he noted; “that might have been an omen”. 

The first question I put to Jonathan was, What have you most enjoyed about the job? He replied that there was a lot that he enjoyed. “The opportunity to write for a living, to explore aspects of the faith that I found under-covered, getting to the occasional event and covering them. Above all though was the chance to give young writers the platform and opportunity to get published and to edit their work (usually a matter of small tweaks).”

He particularly noted a recent article on “Jesus within Islam” by Aditee Vora; “that was my favourite piece from Insights this year”, he commented, before continuing, “There was also a sense of comradery in the Comms team and with some members of the wider church that was amazing”. 

What is the most unexpected story that you have covered? was my next question. He immediately a story in 2019 about “technology that helps people deal with grief, and the ethics of how we represent the deceased. It sent me down a rabbit hole and I learnt a lot about things that I didn’t know about grief and loss.” Jonathan also noted that at the start of the pandemic in 2020, the team started covering what church congregations were doing at the start of the pandemic, and they had no idea how long that line of reporting would turn out to be.  

Then, my question Who is the most interesting person you have interviewed? drew the following response. “I interviewed a lot of amazing people. One was a Palestinian activist who has worked to get stories out there. Another was Mark Russell, an American comic book writer who wrote a satirical comic called Second Coming. There were countless Uniting Church ministers, lay preachers, and people doing big things in their communities. There were also theologians whose work was of interest to me.”

 On another note, I asked, What is the most difficult story that you have reported on? Jonathan observed that “there were a few stories where I had to write about people who had passed away who had contributed to the life of our church.” The hardest for him to write was a piece about his friend Chris Hargraves, who died at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. Jonathan says, “Chris is never too far from my thoughts and I’m not sure if I nailed that piece or not. Ultimately, I would have been happier to have never had to write it.” That’s quite understandable.

So next I asked Jonathan, What are you looking forward to in the next few years? He says that he is teaching some courses at UNSW, diving back into freelance writing, and working on some academic journal articles. “I’ve also got two books to finish”, he commented, “so there’s a lot that I’m looking forward to”. He has already published some books on a rather niche subject area, All-Japan Pro Wrestling (Ganbaru, 2021, and The Muto Years, 2022).

As Jonathan has always done in his interviews with me—and with many others, judging from those articles—I concluded by asking him, Is there anything else you would like to say? His succinct reply: “I’ve finished as Insights’ Editor but I’m far from done with the magazine, or the church for that matter. I’m worshipping at Glenbrook Uniting Church nowadays”. So although Dr Foye will no longer serve as Editor of Insights—and I for one will miss his regular contributions—we will undoubtedly be able to read more of his insights on various subjects in the months and years to come.

John Squires, 30 Sept 2024

For an interview with Jonathan relating to Ganbaru, see

https://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/7654335/blaxland-resident-brings-wrestling-underdog-story-to-life-in-new-book/

and on The Muto Years, see

https://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2023/10/02/vow-book-review-the-muto-years-by-jonathan-foye/

IDAHoBiT – the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

May 17 is IDAHoBiT, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. IDAHoBiT is a day to draw attention to the discrimination experienced by LGBTQI+ people internationally.

The day is marked worldwide in over 130 countries, including 37 countries where same-sex acts are still illegal. The first day was held in 2004 to raise awareness of the violence and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including all people who have diverse gender identities or sexual expressions.

The date of 17 May was chosen for IDAHoBiT as this was the date in 1990 when the World Health Organisation finally removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Despite this, LGBTQI+ people across the world continue to face hate, discrimination and violence.

The theme for IDAHoBiT 2022, adopted after consultation with LGBTQI+ organisations worldwide, is Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights.

The theme claims the rights of sexually- and gender-diverse people to live their sexual identity and to express their gender freely. It also signals a desire for such people to be free from physical violence, free from conversion practices (mislabelled as “therapies”), able to access transition services for Trans people, and free from the forced sterilisation of Intersex people.

The website for this day (https://may17.org/) states that the theme provides a reminder that “many of us around the world live LGBTQI-phobias in their very flesh every day and that our bodies are being abused, ruining our lives. Our bodies are our lives. And we have a right to live free and in dignity!”

For myself, I do not identify with any of the letters in the LGBTIQA+ acronym. I have lived my life as a male who is heterosexual (experiencing sexual attraction to people of the opposite gender) and cis-gender (the gender assigned to me at my birth correlates with my sense of personal identity and gender)—in short, I am what is referred to as heteronormative. And, as a white male in the Western world, my life experience has certainly been privileged and sheltered from internal or external disturbances and challenges related to my sexuality or gender identity.

So I have no personal experience of the gender dysmorphia that others experience in their lives; nor have I had any experience of the prejudice or persecution experienced by people identifying as a member of the LGBTIQA+ community. My understanding of what such people have experienced has come through relationships, conversations, readings, and personal thinking through of the issues. It has required empathy and understanding, and I think that it’s clear that I haven’t done this perfectly; but hopefully I have done so at least adequately.

I’m also a person of faith, and thus embedded within a community that, sadly, has demonstrated a collection of failures in the way that sexually and gender diverse people have been seen and treated. The Christian Church has shown a persistent lack of understanding, a continual marginalising (or “othering”), an aggressive assertion about the sinfulness of the particular identity or lifestyle, and undertaking attempts to “change the protestation” or “reverse the gender” of some people. All of these attitudes and actions have been unloving, uncaring, and indeed (in my view) unChristian.

Recent events in a number of churches have indicated that these attitudes and actions remain, tragically, alive and well in churches today. The United Methodist Church has become the Untied Methodist Church, as the so-called Global Methodist Church splits off in schismatic separation from the UMC because of differences of opinion about sexuality issues.

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, this week, has been debating the definition of marriage, and has shown a continuing need by many within its ranks to condemn (once again) all manner of people living outside the narrow norms that are set up, by some, as being “biblical” requirements.

My own denomination, the Uniting Church in Australia, has struggled with these issues over decades; more intensely, and intentionally, in the last decade, addressing matters relating to gender identity and sexual attraction. Recently the National Assembly agreed to a proposal “that sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE) are harmful to people’s mental health and wellbeing”. The proposal cited the Uniting Church Statement, Dignity in Humanity, which states that “every person is precious and entitled to live with dignity because they are God’s children”.

See https://www.unitingjustice.org.au/human-rights/uca-statements/item/484-dignity-in-humanity-a-uniting-church-statement-on-human-rights

How are privileged, cis-gender heterosexual people like myself to respond to a day like IDAHoBiT? I think we need to cultivate empathy and develop understanding. I think we need to seek out and develop respectful relationships in which we can hear stories, learn of experiences, articulate our own inadequacies and sorrow for how we have acted or interacted with people in the past. Most importantly, I believe we need to learn ways by which we can support survivors of gender identity change efforts and help prevent harm from the ideology and practices of such gender identity change efforts.

Underlying this is my own firm commitment to an understanding of human beings as intentionally created by God, exactly as we are, to be exactly who we are, without qualification or change. The “doctrine of sin” that the church has promulgated has impressed on us that we are all “fall short of the glory of God”, that we all do wrong things—and who would argue with that?

But this doctrine has also been used to identify and persecute specific sinfulness on the part of identifiable minority groups—gays, lesbians, bisexuals, intersex, and transgender people in particular—not recognising the nuances of differences that actually do exist across the spectrum of humanity. That’s a misuse of the doctrine, in my opinion. It should not be used to persecute someone on the basis of differences that are perceived.

What gender a person believes that they are, and what attraction an individual has to other people, is built into the very DNA of them as a person, wanting to force change in either of those matters is, to my mind, one of the greatest sins. I think it’s important for “allies” such as myself to remind others of this truth, and to stand in solidarity with “rainbow people” each and every day.

On this International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, let us ensure that each and every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual, or otherwise identifying people knows that we accept them, value them, and love them, exactly as they are!

And let us be strong in calling out any sign of homophobia, biphobia, or transphobia, when we hear it expressed or see it enacted.

For information about IDAHoBiT in Australia, go to https://www.idahobit.org.au/

I close with a short prayer written by the Rev. Josephine Inkpin, for IDAHoBiT Day

Pastoral Letter to Canberra Region Presbytery, October 2021

“Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Heb 10:25). That’s a verse that has often been quoted when discussing the importance of worship—and, in the past 20 months, when thinking about whether we can worship together in the church building.

As we consider a return to in-person worship and fellowship, let us hold the exhortation to “encourage one another” alongside of the importance of “meeting together”. There are a few guiding principles that would be good for us to hold in mind.

1. We have all experienced stress and anxiety for the past few months—indeed, for the past 20 months. Let us be gentle with each other. Let us remember, in each interaction that we have, that we are all bruised. Some might feel close to being broken. Some might feel traumatised by news from the past period of time. Some might feel that they have been very lonely for some time now. Some might have been ill, or known people that became very ill, during the lockdown. Some might be grieving or remembering past losses.

Let’s try to bear all of this in mind, with each conversation that we have with others, as we seek to encourage one another.

2. Each person returns to in-person worship and fellowship with different expectations. Some might be incredibly excited. Some might be cautious and hopeful. Some might be wary, very worried about being back in a larger group of people. Some might be resenting the decision to return while there is still significant community transmission of the virus. Some might be angry about not having been able to see their friends for the past few months.

Let’s try to bear all of this in mind, with each conversation we have, with each step that we take to ensure that we can worship together safely.

3. Not everybody will be returning to in-person worship and fellowship. Just as we have found ways to remain connected online while in lockdown, so we need to remember such people and continue practices that ensure that they know that they are still an integral part of the community of faith within your Congregation.

Let’s make sure that in leading worship, people online are acknowledged and encouraged as well as people gathering in the building.

4. If you have a Minister or a Pastor who leads your community, please remember that they have been working incredibly hard in the most recent lockdown, and indeed over the whole of the past 20 months. Holding a community together, providing clear-headed leadership, offering inspiration and encouragement in the regular weekly sermons, all in a different situation that none of us have experienced before—this is testing, draining, exhausting.

Let’s be patient with our ministry leaders, pray for them, care for them, and hold them in supportive ways.

5. For each person who serves on Church Council—and especially for the Chairperson and Secretary of your Church Council and the Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer of your Congregation—this has been an equally difficult and challenging period. Making decisions about when to regather in person, completing the COVID Safety Plans, explaining the decisions to members of the Congregation, all of this is difficult.

Let’s continue to hold our lay leaders and office bearers in prayer, and let’s remember to thank them for all the difficult discussions they have had and all the hard decisions that they have made during this pandemic. They, too, need encouragement.

6. Remember that your community of faith is more than just the people that you would see, most weeks, on a Sunday morning. There are people “on the fringes” and people “in the community” who look to your Congregation and identify that as the church for them. You may not have seen them for many months. They are most likely still around.

Let’s remember such people and work on rekindling contact with them, developing deeper relationships with them, showing them that the way that we “love each other” is exactly how we really do “love them” as well.

7. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, or saying, something like, “it’s great to be back to normal now”. For a start, we can never “go back”; we always are “moving on”. And then, we have adapted our routines and adopted new practices over the past 20 months, and we shouldn’t—and cannot—simply drop all of them, all of a sudden.

We have taken up some new things that will stand us in good stead into the future. We don’t yet know that the pandemic is over; we may well have more lockdowns, there may well be drastic rises in infections and hospitalisations, and even deaths. We all hope not. But we do not know.

So let us hold on to hope for the future, without throwing away the lessons and learnings of the recent past. That’s the encouragement we need to give each other.

Ross Kingham and Judy McKinlay, Presbytery Co-Chairs; Andrew Smith and John Squires, Presbytery Ministers