sustain:if:able kiwi

consumerism or discipleship?

I am just about to head out the door to engage with a group of local ministers around consumerism, discipleship and church. I am taking my Fair Trade T-shirt, my copy of Tom Beaudoin’s Consuming faith and a range of breakfast cereals. If the discussion goes anywhere I might blog my notes.

Update: OK, it certainly seemed to generate lots of discussion. So here are the 5 questions I asked;

1. Aren’t we all consumers?
2. Do we need fair trade church?
3. What do we do with church hopers?
4. Are we selling Christianity Lite or Discipleship Extreme?
5. Do seekers respond to Extreme discipleship?

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I disagree with half of what you say

This is one of the best conversation starters I’ve ever come across. I often have strangers email wanting to see me. So I met up with one yesterday and this was one of the opening lines:

I read your blog and I disagree with half of what you say.

I never got told which half! And this person has never availed themselves of my comments. A silent dissenter, never allowing me the opportunity to grow! But it turned into a very stimulating conversation. I came away with 2 questions that I am enjoying pondering:

Here is the first one: We talked about the challenges that Christians face on campus. We wondered how local churches prepare their young people for work, and most especially for university?

So blog readers; what is your church doing to prepare your people for a tertiary study campus?

centres and edges

I had lunch yesterday with a group of leaders from New Song Church. It was a good time. Over tacos and huevos rancheros and “soda,” we batted around some ideas. One of the things that struck me was the following irony: that so much of the postmodern debate emerges from the edges and welcomes the voices of the Other, the marginalised, the non-Western.

So it is quite ironic to be talking about post-modern mission in a country that is very much a centre, a centre of Christianity, a centre of global control and marketing. Just an interesting twist for me as I digested my Mexican beans.

(Of course, one of the ethical questions is whether this conversation with the edge is in fact yet another colonisation by the centre – and for more on this try Ziauddhin Sardar’s book, Postmodernism and the Other.) I’m not convinced by Sardar, based on the cultural work of Michel de Certeau, but Sardar’s is a voice that won’t go away.)

And of course, all the more sad that emerging churches are struggling with the role of women in leadership.

In memorandum

I ate fish tacos with Stan Grenz in San Diego last month. I, the young theologian, had emailed, seeking lunch, keen to stir the older theologian about the contrast between his post-foundationalist theology of community and his individual writing projects.

Stan was gracious enough to humour my impudence. The conversation quickly shifted. I, the young stirring academic, began to appreciate a depth of spirituality. We shared career call stories; for me a white rabbit to Christchurch, for Stan a cold snap and ice roads back to Vancouver. This was no academic theologian. This was a humble and passionate follower of Jesus.

Stan Grenz
Called home 12 March 2005.

Leaving behind the inspiration
To love God with all our minds
And live our careers with all our humility
And our spirituality with all our passion.

world:views

:: the hoiho (yellow-eyed) penguin

Christians must work to create conditions in which human beings and the whole created world live as God intended.
:: NT Wright, Colossians and Philemon, IVP, Leicester, Eedmans, 1986, 80.

flaming the chaff

I was flamed by Mr Wheat yesterday – using the definition here of – A public post or email message that expresses a strong opinion or criticism. Flames can be fun when they allow people to vent their feelings, then return to the topic at hand. Others are simply insulting and can lead to flame wars

I was flamed in regard to the emerging church. At the risk of starting a flame war, I will pick up on specific things said in relation to my site, my theology and my writings.

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