sustain:if:able kiwi

reshaping missional life among baptist churches in urban centres

On Thursday I got down on one knee and “proposed”. It was at the end of our church meeting, in which we’d spent an hour talking and praying with our neighbouring Baptist church. Both churches are nearly 100 years old, yet only 2.3 km apart. They’ve been struggling for a while and so I’ve spent quite some time in recent months sitting with their leaders. (This might explain some rather oblique recent posts, including help my church is dying and chopping down the Sunday tree.) Here is the proposal, which is being made public in both churches this Sunday morning.

INTRODUCTION: For over a year, conversations have been happening with regard to the future of Beckenham Baptist. On Thursday night, the Beckenham leaders were welcomed to an Opawa Baptist Church meeting and an hour together we listened, talked and prayed.

PROPOSAL: Beckenham and Opawa talk about what it means to be one church, in two physical locations, with multiple congregations.

QUESTION: If our Baptist forebears were starting Christian mission today, what would they do in our area?

FRAMEWORK: The goal must be mission and God’s Kingdom and not the survival of a church.

ETHOS: for Opawa, we want to make clear that
– This is family and families walk together. This must not be a takeover
– In Romans 12, Paul reminds us we are a church body, called to work toward unity. This comes in the power of God’s spirit and as we respect the unique value of each different part.
– While Opawa is already really busy, we are excited about the mission and Kingdom possibilities that could emerge as we consider the area between Colombo Street and Brougham Street.

ONE CONCRETE WAY FORWARD:
1. Continue Beckenham ministries.
2. Opawa ministries (eg. children, intermediate, youth, discipleship, Bible days) offered to Beckenham at Opawa.
3. Place Opawa’s Side Door arts congregation at Beckenham.
4. Locate a missional leader to run a new form of church at Beckenham on Sunday mornings. This would involve closing Beckenham’s Sunday morning service in its current format but keep doors open on Sunday morning to serve coffee and muffins, read Scripture and find concrete ways to serve the Beckenham community.
5. Those at Beckenham who might struggle with this new form of church join one of Opawa’s existing congregations : hymn service or 10:30 am service.
6. Richard Smith (current pastor) become part of an “overall” combined church pastoral team, to provide pastoral care of all existing Beckenham people and possible involvement with existing Opawa people.

A SUGGESTED PROCESS:
1.Start in worship and fellowship. Opawa worship at Beckenham on Good Friday, and Beckenham worship at Opawa on Easter Sunday.
2. Form a combined taskforce to explore the idea and consider what this would look like in terms of leadership, buildings, congregations, ministries and church name. Involve Baptist Union leaders.
3. Both congregations discuss the taskforce proposal.
4. If agreement, hold a party to launch the changes and celebrate this new form of life.

In God’s timing, may the death and resurrection of Easter, be our comfort, guide, hope and courage.

Steve Taylor for Opawa Baptist

harvest festival

Sunday was so much fun, as in our morning congregation we brought back an ancient Opawa tradition, the harvest festival. It was nice to bring back to life something that had been lying dormant in the church for years and the display looked fantastic.

I preached from Ruth 2, an ancient harvest festival during a credit crunch, and the need to celebrate production and the challenge to consider distribution. What would gleaning look like in over-developed Western economies?

We offered 3 practical ways for people to live the Ruth text.
1 – Join twoshirts and start sharing our extra stuff (and we’ve set Opawa Baptist up as a group)
2 – We printed off “thanks for making your garden look so great” postcards and people were invited to take them and post them in the letterboxes of gardens they admired.

3 – We made soup. And more soup. And more soup. Over 150 litres of homemade vegetable soup to replenish our foodbank. About 20 people cut and chopped most of the afternoon and had a thoroughly rich experience of community for mission.

And a question to ponder. And so a harvest festival challenges us to think about distribution. How on earth do we care for the unemployed and the migrant in New Zealand? How on earth could we do business, so that any struggling migrant could find work?

This food will go toward our foodbank. This afternoon we’re having a soup-working-bee. It would be easy for us as a church to stop there. To feel good about ourselves. Wow, we had a harvest festival and we’ve replenished Opawa’s foodbank with some nourishing vegetable soup. What a practical thing for a church to do in a credit crunch. But that’s not harvest according Ruth 2. In Ruth 2 we’re asked some much more fundamental questions. How we live, so that the unemployed can find meaningful work?

discipling: update on Lifeshapes

It was the 6th week of Lifeshapes (an 8 week discipling course we’re trying at Opawa) last night. The topic was how to pray. Which is not a new question, but asked by Jesus disciples in the Gospels. Jesus response to “How do we pray” was to offer the Lords Prayer. So that makes a great place to explore how to pray.

We started the evening sharing what makes prayer a challenge and what makes it a joy. We had some teaching about the Lords Prayer, followed by three practical suggestions of ways to use the Lords Prayer to pray. We then had 10 minutes to “try” before a final feedback – what was helpful/unhelpful. The homework was set: try praying the Lords Prayer daily. Until we gather again next week.

And after the evening ended, members of the group remained. They gathered around the Lords Prayer (projected on the screen) and just kept talking. About what it means, how it challenges us, shapes us, relates to our life. It was great to sit and watch and be part of.

This is the power of the block course teaching we’ve been slowly developing at Opawa over the last 2 years. As a church we want people to grow, yet we are a multi-congregational church, with people old in faith and new in faith. So amid that diversity, we’ve employed a number of strategies to encourage next steps in growth. One is block course Wednesday evening teaching during Term time. And last nite was fruit of that. People from different congregations, staying on, to talk about how praying the Bible can form them spiritually.

(still) needing a church manager

A few weeks ago, Opawa Baptist started looking for a Church Manager. We have had some good interest. But a number of applicants have suddenly withdrawn, so in order to strengthen our interview pool, we are continuing to advertise the position. If you know of someone who is good with people, with systems and resources and wants to help shape future mission among our present people, we’d love to hear from them ASAP.

Specifically, can
– create and implement processes and systems necessary for efficient operation of the administrative functions of the church.
– take responsiblity for the daily operation of the church office.
– ensure a “staffed” office, both during the week and on Sunday mornings
– ensure café and hospitality ministry
– deal with administration of meetings, annual reports, membership and belonging
– ensure communication, including website, newsletters, promotion and signage
– ensure buildings are cleaned, used and maintained in accordance with mission and ethos of the church.

for more …

Do baptists have a communion liturgy?

“Do baptists have a way of doing communion?” I was asked in passing this morning. A few weeks ago, I spent time with the children in the church, talking with them about communion. It was part of a church wide process, in which we took time to explore communion, it’s why’s and wherefore’s. Hence the question, as to whether baptists have a way of doing communion.

My answer is yes, Baptist’s do have a communion liturgy. Each church is different, but there are some repeated patterns. Here’s my take on the “liturgy.”

explain – an explanation, often more devotional in format, in which the meaning of communion is explained.

pray – often 2 people, one for the bread, and one for the cup, pray.

invite – some indication is given of who can participate.

distribute – the elements are passed around. This tends to be individualistic and passive, with bread on trays and juice in little cups.

eat and drink – time is spent, usually individually, thinking upon the meaning of the cup.

thank – often a prayer of thanks.

A Baptist liturgy is not based on a whole lot of words. But the above is based on a clear theology. The explanation tends to focus on the events of the Last supper. This does make it “thin” (too thin in my opinion, missing Incarnation, resurrection, Spirit and eschatology), but it is a way of telling the story. The two people who pray are rarely clergy, because the priesthood of all believers is encouraged. Equally, going forward is viewed with suspicion, because of the danger of affirming a “priest” as essential in what is an equal table.

My journey has pushed me toward what I would call a bapti-can liturgy. It seeks to honour the richness of being baptist: a theology of community, a unease with ritual and words for the sake of words, an expectation of “communion” with God. But it adds in a greater theological breadth (weaving in themes of Incarnation, resurrection, Spirit and eschatology) in the explanation, ensures the prayer invokes the Spirit to make Jesus real, encourages people to come forward to receive from each other to enhance participation and community contact, distribution which includes the breaking of one loaf and the placing of pieces of that loaf on the trays alongside those small squares, visuals and creativity to provide multiple layers as people eat and drink, a final thanks which often includes the Lords Prayer as a way of expressing our unity with each other and the church world wide.

So yes, Baptists do have a communion liturgy.

leadership in (external) change

God help us to change.
To change ourselves and to change our world.
To know the need of it. To deal with the pain of it. To feel the joy of it. To undertake the journey without understanding the destination.
The art of gentle revolution. Amen

Change can come from internal factors, it can also come from external factors. Opawa is in the midst of external change at the moment, enjoying new faces as local community folk find us a place to call home. It’s a great privilege, but given that our community is lower-socio economic, it also brings its challenges. It’s church, but not as some used to know it.

In the midst of this, the prayer by Michael Leunig (When I Talk to You a Cartoonist Talks to) caught by eye. It became our benediction on Sunday morning. It formed the basis of our staff prayers on Tuesday, while change in various ways occupied much of the Board meeting on Tuesday evening.

Reflecting on change, someone pointed me to Jesus. And how often in the Gospels Jesus seemed to be saying, “I’m moving on. Will you come with? It will change you. It will change your world? Will you join me in living the Kingdom?”

What is challenging is the fact that often, if people said no to change, Jesus simply moved on. Which is an important thing for us as a church to hear. In God’s grace, we are being changed. It’s not easy. It never is. It never has been. Such is the call of Jesus. “Will you join me in living the Kingdom?”

I find this hard. I like to please people and I’d love to bring everyone with me on the change journey. I am wary of a leadership style which sounds like God’s way=my way; or the highway. But at times, Jesus demanded change and kept moving, even as people struggled. How, as leader, does one know when recognise this time?

a snapshot of local ministry

Driving home a few weeks ago, a question was asked from the back seat of the car, about why we collected money at church and what happens to it and where does it go?

Later that week, I was due to attend a prayer and planning meeting for Soak, our first Sunday of the month evening congregation. It was a lovely, balmy evening, so I decided to walk. It’s a great privilige to be able to walk the streets of the community. A different pace, a different rythym. As I walked past the church, one of our pastoral team, drove past. He was on his way to a planning meeting, to talk about the possibilities for seeding a new local gathering.

As we chatted on the side of the road, another Opawa punter drove past. He was on his way to the Thursday evening worship practice, preparing for our 10:30 am Sunday service. They tooted and we waved and as we did, a young girl wearing a local school uniform, was watching us. She called out, “Was that man who tooted the man with and special ice cream making machine?”

And I was walked on, she biked along beside me, chatting about how cool that ice machine was and how much she was enjoying our Tuesday evening Girls Brigade. It was a great pastoral moment, hearing her excitement and gladness and listening to the relational connections she was making with local folk.

Those few minutes are in fact a wonderful snapshot of our current life as a church here at Opawa – the work that goes into our multiple congregations which bring such rich diversity to our life, our pastoral team that walk and serve our community, our growing ministry among the local community, our programs which provide community contact.

And those few minutes nicely answer that question asked from the back seat: of what happens to the offering, and of how it reflects Opawa’s heart and direction and current momentum.

shifting espresso

espresso is our Tuesday evening congregation at Opawa. No sermon or singing. Instead opening prayer and closing “creative ending”; in between a free for all conversation about questions that are making people itch.

We had our “annual evaluation” a few weeks ago, an attempt to look at our life and how we were doing. One of the real strengths of a multi-congregational model is how it empowers each congregation to shape and shift their life, as the signs of the time shape and shift. As a result we’re making some changes at espresso.

First in time. We are moving from 7:47-9:15 pm to 6:30-8 pm, in order to be more children friendly.

Second, in format. We are going to try a once a month storytelling time. We’ll place some colours in the “espresso bowl”, from which our questions are placed. We’ll pick a colour and invite people to bring a story about that colour. It’s an attempt to build community and offer new ways to approach the task of learning and growing. It is something I’ve dreamed about at Opawa since I arrived over 5 years ago and it will be fascinating to see how it shapes us.

So, Tuesday March 17: everyone to bring a favourite story of a “yellow” (ginger crunch yellow) moment – from their life or from life in general, when they felt “yellow”; when they saw “yellow.” And food for you in a sharable format, 6:30-8 pm,

communion and the family

One of the change processes I’m working with at the moment that might be of interest to blog readers is around communion here at Opawa. For a while I’ve been concerned about how we pass on the importance of communion to our children and what it means for children and adults to gather around the communion table.

So this week I am leaving our 10:30 am Sunday service with the kids, to talk with them about what communion means. I will be doing godly play, first with the passover narrative, then inviting the kids to make connections with the Christian practice of communion. Then I’m bringing the kids back with me into the service to celebrate communion together. In the Bible, Passover was a Jewish family ritual, while for the early church, communion occurred in households. So practically, I want to see our children be part of our worship when communion is celebrated.

To help them with this, we have made flip cards for each child, 6 cards that list the 6 parts of the Baptist communion liturgy: (explain/invite/pray/break bread/eat and drink/thank). These have been laminated and put on metal rings, so that kids can flip through, picking their way through the service.

Bringing our kids back into church has big implications, so the “big people” are starting a series of sermons – Passover (March 1), gospels meals with Jesus (April 5), eating and drinking in Corinth (May 3), a long farewell in John 17 (May 31) that make sense of communion. (Ben Witherington’s book, Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord’s Supper has been very helpful).

In order to try and capture these 4 Biblical passages, in order to set an agenda for the change process and in order to provide information for visitors and new people, I have tried to compile a set of guidelines. (called something like “Making a meal of it: Where communion at Opawa is…”) This is being introduced as draft in March. We then preach the key Scriptures, then invite feedback on the guidelines.

I’m nervous, but excited. For some, this will be a big change and I worry that I am introducing to much change. On the other hand, it’s an issue important for our life as a church family.

For those interested, here is my first draft of the guidelines: Making a meal of it: Where communion at Opawa is ….
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spiritual resourcing or church as kings seeds

I blogged a few days ago about my vegetable garden. I contrasted the limited range of vegetables on offer at the local supermarket with the fantastic range of vegetable seeds on offer from Kings seeds. A blog comment also noted the Kings catalogue, and the way it stimulated teenage students they were working with.

A few hours later, I dropped a Lenten spiritual resource into a letterbox. For a joke, I wrote on the back “Opawa Baptist Spiritual resourcing centre” (or words to that effect). As I drove back, I thought about the different ways we at Opawa are resourcing people for Lent this year.
– a individual, at home resource, upon request
– Bible days, offering resources to encourage lectionary reading
– Life shapes, an evening course during Lent.
– flax spirituality, (still under development but we are tossing around a creative idea that takes us from Lent, through Easter, to Pentecost.)
– a number of emails, from churches in Wellington and Minneapolis, asking us for our Lenten (07) spirituality resources.

I wonder if some churches are like supermarkets – they offer a limited number of items, come to us, attractively presented, gently misted.

Then I look at Kings seeds – pick your own, grow your own, get your hands dirty, enjoy the catalogue in your time and space. I’d like Opawa to be more and more of the later – that there is not one way, one time, one place, come to us – but there are multiple ways for people to grow their own, and that our energy goes into being a producer of spiritual resource. I think we’re making progress and it’s a great joy to see so many different types of people taking advantage of our range of resources over the last few weeks. I also realise that it’s probably not either/or, although I suspect that generally, more church energy goes into the come-to-us models than the resource-from-us models. (This is another way of getting at some stuff in my (2005) Out of Bounds Church? book, in which I talked about the church as a “funder” of spiritual tourists.) Buy it here

church manager needed:updated

With two impending staff retirements, Opawa Baptist Church is now seeking a church manager, 30 hours a week, starting ASAP. The role includes
– managing people;
– managing systems and resources;
– helping shape our future mission among our present people.

Updated: A position description, along with our generic recruitment process is attached. We are seeking applicants by Thursday, 12 March.

For more information, or if you think you know someone who might be suitable, please contact steve at emergentkiwi dot org dot nz

the grapejuice sparkled

A real celebration at Opawa this morning, with the baptism of T. She wanted it to be a party. So as T. came up out of the water, a bottle of sparkling was opened. As the cork was popped, arcing over the piano, there were cheers of celebration, followed by a community toast “to life.” It was a great expression of God’s goodness and life.

T. first stepped into the Opawa building when she joined us for our annual Spring clean day. (Annually we combine with local community groups, sharing in community projects, enjoying food together. I initiated the Spring Clean when I arrived at Opawa 5 years ago, and it has grown and strengthened ever year since).

Before that, Opawa’s relational involvement with the local community cottage, meant some relational bridges with T. had naturally formed. (This includes one of our pastoral staff, whose role includes hanging out in the community). Following the Spring Clean day, T. checked out church and has continued to grow.

A tear leaked from my eyes as we toasted life. T. is the second baptism in the last few months of an adult, a local, with little previous church involvement. It’s not always been easy being the minister at Opawa, and leading major change in a historic and conservative church. Today just makes it all worth it.

It caps off a great week for the church – excellent annual meeting, a new discipling group in the form of Life Shapes begun, a successful first Bible day, gathering around the Gospel of John. It just feels like the Kingdom – harmony in a diverse body, intentional growth structures, deepening of Biblical engagement, new life being celebrated.

bible days kickoff

Gospel of John, this Saturday 21 February, 3:30-5:30pm, Opawa Baptist. In just two hours you will get a helicopter overview of the gospel of John, skills in how to apply it to life today and tools to encourage ongoing reading. Open to anyone (with a $5 cost for those outside Opawa).

Why Bible Days? Last year the Bible Society surveyed over 3,300 Kiwis about their Bible reading habits. They found that only 11% of Christians read the Bible daily and only 23% of New Zealanders regularly discuss the teachings of the Bible with others. Not the best stats.

At the same time, I had been reading the history of the Bible Reading Fellowship. It started from one local church, keen to encourage Bible reading, who began to offer monthly Bible teaching, linked to daily Bible reading. I was struck by the way this would deepen reading by applying scholarship, the way that one-off evenings in fact allow continual promotion of what is a regular practice and the potential to blend the individual and the corporate.

Hence Bible days. Seven times in 2009 we have asked some excellent Kiwi Bible teachers for two hours of their best on their favourite Bible book. The books are chosen based on the daily Bible reading plan published in the church newsletter. In other words, in the week the Bible reading plan switches to the gospel of John, so comes the Bible day – Saturday, 21 February.

Previously we have provided overview courses – how to read the Old Testament and New Testament for all it’s worth. Well worth doing. But once the course, is done, what next? With Bible days, we are freed by the lectionary calendar, able to offer short 2 hour bursts that sync with our existing practices around Bible reading.

As the project builds (it won’t all happen the first day) we hope to
– make the 2 hours podcastable, so anyone can access it.
– place in the 24/7 room resources to allow further study
– provide ways online and offline to encourage ongoing daily discussion.

I’m quietly excited. It feels simple, yet allows multiple access points to different generations. And maybe, in the process and through the mix of 2 hour teaching, daily reading, internet technologies and multiple discussion options, Opawa might actually become better Bible readers. (more explanation here).

lifeshapes for discipleship: updated

In the last few months of last year, I discovered Mike Breen’s The Passionate Church and the use of lifeshapes. There are 8 of them, things like semicircles for work/life balance, circles for discipleship, triangles for purpose, hexagons for prayer. (More resources here).

Mike had given me a copy of the book in Los Angeles in 2006. I’d said thanks, but never read it. Browsing my bookshelf last year, I re-found the book and a number of things clicked. I shared one lifeshape at church that Sunday, using the semi-circle and the need for work/life balance in a pendulum to frame my sabbatical. I was surprised by how widespread across the church the positive feedback was, connecting with people new and old in the faith. So I preached the triangle – a Christian life going up to God, in to people and out to the world – and again got widespread positive feedback.

The upshot is that we’re experimenting with the lifeshapes as a discipleship course. Starting this Wednesday evening, for the next 8 weeks, we’re using a shape a week to reflect on the art of life-changing discipleship. We hope to provide it as post-Alpha next step while also a learning experience for any in the church.

What I like is that the shapes are visual, they are something people see. (We’ve got shapes hanging around church and in the foyer). The shapes are also practical, they provide a way to life and seem appreciated no matter what stage of people’s journey. (Which makes sense, since discipleship is lifelong, not at the beginning). So in terms of learning styles, it engages visual and tactile learners, while much discipleship stuff is more focused on learners who read and talk. What this means is that discipleship is being framed fundamentally not as stuff you need to know, but discipleship as living life to the full.

So, the nervous wait begins. We’ve discerned energy and in response have prayed, advertised and invited and now we wait for kick-off … Update: One of the best opening nites I’ve been part of. Partly based on those in the room – thoughtful, honest. But again based on the material. There is this uncanny ability to talk to a huge breadth of human experience, making an excellent conversation starters and there is Biblical and theological depth (and I can’t say that about a lot of discipleship stuff I see). On nites like this, I remember why I wanted to be a minister – to engage life and the Bible with real people across the diversity of life’s spectrum.