sustain:if:able kiwi

youth ministry in the pacific rim

Great post from Mark Ostriecher on the Asian future of youth ministry.

I appreciate the humility of his opening: let’s face it: the united states hasn’t been leading most international youth trends for many years

Question 1: If US is not at the leading edge, then why is NZ youth ministry still so shaped by American models?

Question 2: What could it mean for New Zealand youth ministry to engage with Asian youth trends?

missional church and missional agencies part 2

Hi. I’m on the run, needing to be in the lecture room in a few hours, all made worse by my flight from Rotorua to Christchurch being cancelled. I hope to post some further reflections, but in the meantime, the following worked really well.

As part of my presentation I wanted to engage with Scripture. So my partner made up 4 postcards with the words: “I am learning that mission is ….”. The first postcard had to be written at Luke 10:4; the second postcard at Luke 10:7; the third at Acts 10:23; the fourth at Acts 10:47. I got people in groups around each postcard. (The postcards are here)

It seemed to work really well in terms of helping people enter the text and think about mission. Which of course sets up The Question: so where is the mission agency in Luke 10 and Acts 10?

And at that point, there was a quiet silence in the room, because the answer is …

missional church and missional agencies

Further to my post last week, today I am off to Rotorua to talk to about 100 gathered Kiwi mission agencies about how they might relate to missional church.

I have arranged my thoughts as such:
1. Define missional church
2.Define missional agency
3. Biblical understanding of missional church
4. A possible future
– Agency as myspace
– Agency as abbott
– Agency as global worship resourcer

I have really appreciated the comments and discussion by people on the blog and just wish I had more time, as I don’t feel I’ve read enough to do the invitation and topic justice. If you are really keen, here are my slides: download file (650K)

a workers communion

As we move to communion, you will notice that it is being served on 3 working communion tables: a kitchen sink, a work bench and an office desk.

And so this table is not a Baptist table.
It’s a workers table. It’s for anyone who wants to remember.

So come Holy Spirit,
Help us remember that God is a worker,
Help us remember that Jesus was a carpenter,
Help us remember that when the bread was broken,
When Jesus said “This is my body, Take, eat, do this in memory of me, This cup means a new covenant in my blood, whenever you drink it, all of you”

Help us to remember that this meal of memory, this first communion, did not happen on a special table with a white lacey tablecloth.

But it happened on a kitchen table in an everyday house,

So come let’s eat and drink, in memory of God the worker, at work in our lives, and at our everyday worktables.

trinity sunday worship

Christians worship God as Trinity. It’s not an easy concept to ground. This has been made in preparation for our Sunday worship:

3 different Trinity art images;
accompanied by a brief explanation;
and a black band running continuously around the bottom.

Printed on a sheet of A4, on Sunday we will give them out and invite people to reflect on which one of the three images most connects them with the Trinity.

This will take some time, so we will add in some layers; including the images in colour rotating on PPT and music in the background (an upbeat version of Holy, Holy, Holy from Eucharist CD). Plus we will hand around biscuits – a cracker, a piece of cheese and a gerkin. (Idea sourced from our good friends, Tony and Jan). So if people have trouble getting your head around the Trinity, or interpreting the art images, well they can always just taste the trio, for 3 distinct, but together as one, is better than three alone.

Finally, the A4 sheet has a little tab at the end. So it can serve as a takehome – sellotaped together and can sit on a mantelpiece or desk top for the next few weeks, helping people continue to reflect on the Trinity.