e~mergent kiwi

sorry to those of you who comment here

It appears that on Friday I made a mistake and blacklisted "http." Duh! Which has meant that anyone trying to comment and leaving their full URL has been denied by my spam filters. My apologies to you. No of course I don't consider your website full of "objectionable comment."

Why the missional church leaves me cold

In 1 sentence, it urges "too many oughts." Click on the indicators of what a missional church will look like and there are so many things one ought to be doing. There are ideals and lofty hopes and plenty of "not yet rhetoric." All of them I love and none of them I disagree with. It's simply that there are so many "oughts."

In contrast, let me quote from Euguene Peterson;
God's great love and purposes for us are all worked out in messes in our kitchens and backyards, in storms and sins, blue skies, the daily work and dreams of our common loves. God works with us as we are and not as we should be or think we should be. God deals with us where we are and not where we would like to be. (Christ plays in ten thousand places, 75);

That's not "oughts" but reality. This surely is the meaning of Christmas, that God is found in shit and straw, under oppressive tax regime and mis-spent dreams.

Abstractions and ideals leave my cold. Lofty dreams paralyze me. I'm not sure the gospel is a set of ideals. Rather it is the reality of people, honest in their inadequacies, not trying to be something or someone, but searching, seeking for the unique whisper of what God is doing within their unique set of circumstances. It is concrete practices expressed among real people.

Oh, what are the missional "oughts"? For the complete set, go here, but in summary ...

1. The missional church proclaims the Gospel.
What it looks like: The story of God's salvation is faithfully repeated in a multitude of different ways.

2. The missional church is a community where all members are involved in learning to become disciples of Jesus.
What it looks like: The disciple identity is held by all; growth in discipleship is expected of all.

3. The Bible is normative in this church's life.
What it looks like: The church is reading the Bible together to learn what it can learn no where else - God's good and gracious intent for all creation, the salvation mystery, and the identity and purpose of life together.

4. The church understands itself as different from the world because of its participation in the life, death, and resurrection of its Lord.
What it looks like: In its corporate life and public witness, the church is consciously seeking to conform to its Lord instead of the multitude of cultures in which it finds itself.

5. The church seeks to discern God's specific missional vocation for the entire community and for all of its members.
What it looks like: The church has made its 'mission' its priority, and in overt and communal ways is seeking to be and do 'what God is calling us to know, be, and do.'

6. A missional community is indicated by how Christians behave toward one another.
What it looks like: Acts of self-sacrifice on behalf of one another both in the church and in the locale characterize the generosity of the community.

7. It is a community that practices reconciliation.
What it looks like: The church community is moving beyond homogeneity, toward a more heterogeneous community in its racial, ethnic, age, gender and socio-economic make-up.

8. People within the community hold themselves accountable to one another in love.
What it looks like: Substantial time is spent with one another for the purpose of watching over one another in love.

9. The church practices hospitality.
What it looks like: Welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community plays a central role.

10. Worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God's presence and God's promised future.
What it looks like: There is significant and meaningful engagement in communal worship of God, reflecting appropriately and addressing the culture of those who worship together.

11. This community has a vital public witness.
What it looks like: The church makes an observable impact that contributes to the transformation of life, society, and human relationships.

12. There is a recognition that the church itself is an incomplete expression of the reign of God.
What it looks like: There is a widely held perception that this church is going somewhere-and that somewhere is more faithfully lived life in the reign of God.

u2 coming to New Zealand

I'm a fairly simple sort of being. I have good and bad days. And I love U2. And this week was the news that U2 are coming to New Zealand March 17. For St Patrick's Day. How good is that? So it seemed appropriate to kick off Advent 2005 mixing together a bad week for me with some Bono lyrics and Bono thoughts.

This week has been a very dark week for me.

Last weekend, the open home, open year, was a big up, and after a person has a big up there’s often a down.

I really needed to take a week off. Instead I was caught into a tread wheel of activity; some pastoral issues, meetings on Tuesday and Thursday, a wedding on Saturday, preaching twice today. A busy week for an already tired Steve Taylor.

I'm not after sympathy. You're week has probably been the same. Full of busyness and work. The Christmas rush. Are you starting to feel it yet?

All through my week I've stared at the start of Advent.
1st Sunday in Advent Steve. Today, Sunday 27 November
Four weeks for the church to start to prepare for Christmas, Steve.

Stared at Advent knowing that I have a choice.
To get caught in my big down, the despair of my week, or to hope.

Each year Advent and Christmas roll around. Each year I feel like I have the same choice. Whether personal or societal, to get caught in despair or to hope.

This year there's been
A tsunami in Asia
Hurricane in New Orleans,
Earthquake in Pakistan
Suicide bombers in take your pick … Baghdad or Bali or London or Jerusalem or Syria.

Each year, each Advent and Christmas, all of us faced with the same choice. To despair or to hope.

U2 have a song called; Peace on earth. The song starts;
Heaven on Earth
We need it now
I'm sick of all of this
Hanging around

Sick of sorrow
I'm sick of the pain

They're singing about this choice
Each year, to despair or to hope.

The choice is not new. Advent pre-Jesus, Advent 2000 years ago offered the same choice; despair or hope.

Listen, for instance, to the words of a wise old man called Simeon.
In Luke 2:25 we're told he’s waiting "for the consolation of Israel."

Simeon's living in a land under Roman rule, living with high taxation and military government. His choice is despair or hope.

Take for instance an old woman called Anna. She's a widow. She's faced personal loss, the death of her husband, the hardship of being single in a culture with no welfare system. Her words are in Luke 2:38. We find her hoping for the "redemption of Jerusalem."

When you've seen it all,
When you're in the middle of a big down
When the Christmas rush stretches out in front of you
When you hear news of yet another disaster
Do you despair or do you hope?

Pete introduced us to this beautiful art piece. Madonna Del Parto, 1467.
Two angels are pulling back the curtain. Revealing hope of the world. Drum roll, Curtain raised, dada. The hope of the world is a pregnant woman.

Almost ridiculous. Who is this woman? Is she famous? What if she's a bad mother? What will she do when she's tired and exhausted and the little Lord Jesus won't sleep cos he's got wind?

I mean, lets get real. What would you really think if I got someone like Rebecca Tomlinson up here, and told you that she carried the hope of the world, a baby that would give me hope in dark weeks, and offer peace to war-torn Iraq.

What would you really think of a young teenage girl, say Lydia Stewart or Adele Dixon sharing next week that she'd seen an angel. But wait there's more, the angel says she's pregnant. And no boy was involved, honest, cos the Holy Spirit's come.

Which takes us right back to that Advent choice again. Despair or hope.

As Bono, from U2, writes in a recent book, of going to a cathedral in Dublin. He's just flown back from singing in Tokyo and he's sitting there and it's a Christmas Eve Service and tears start rolling down his face …. Because it really sank in: the Christmas story. The idea that … there's .. a force of love and logic behind the universe … a creator who would choose to express such … power as a child born in "straw poverty." It's so brilliant. That this scale of creation, and the unfathomable universe, should describe itself in such vulnerability, as a child. That is mind-blowing to me …There must be an Incarnation. Love must be made flesh. (Quotes from Bono on Bono, Hodder and Stoughton, 2005, p. 126 and www.rollingstone.com/news/story).

Bono's facing that choice again. And choosing to hope; To Believe in a Creator God who is a vulnerable baby, To Confess that we as humans need the love and logic of this Creator God, To Decide to plant hope this Advent.
This is our choice. To look at ourselves and our world and get depressed. Or to hope in Incarnation, that Creator Love can be flesh.
And three practical ways to plant hope this Advent.

I have a gift for you at the end of the service. An envelope. Inside that envelope are 4 cards, with art, Bible reading and an action. Take them hope and use them to pray and think and plant hope in your Christmas. Take an extra set and give them to a friend who needs hope this Advent.

Second, sign up with Pete and Joyce Majendie for the Christmas journey. Take 3 hours of your Christmas rush, be an usher in the Christmas Journey and plant hope in Cathedral Square this Christmas.

Thirdly, and this is sort of wierd. But plant a sunflower seed somewhere random, in a park or sneak it into someone else’s garden. Plant a flower of hope in an unexpected place this Advent. Just don’t get arrested.

It's been a dark week for me. Every day I've faced the same choice. Despair or plant hope. That's the Advent choice. I am going to invite us to sing. As we do that, I'm going to pass around trays with a sunflower seed. Take it as a reminder to plant hope in unexpected places.

layering advent journals

The good thing about pastoral ministry is the chance to build layers. You do something one year knowing that a year later you can perhaps re-do it, building, layering, deepening. This week the Opawa Advent Journals start to circulate in the community.

The concept is simple;
1. Locate 8 blank journals.
2. Place some Advent "resources" (art pics, Bible verses) in the front.
3. Hand them out to people in the community, telling them to keep them for 3 days and to journal what Advent means for them. After 3 days they are to pass it to someone else in the community. If they have it on Sunday, bring it along so that people can flip through.
4. And so quietly, simply, I as pastor encourage people to engage with the Christmas story, in their time, in their space.

I introduced this last year and it worked well. So this year, a second time around, their is a 2004 "layer" of Advent art, a 2004 "layer" of people's reflections a year ago. To this I have added a 2005 fresh "layer" of art and will be offering them into the community this week.

For information on the first appearance of the Advent Journals last year, go here.

And for those interested, these are the Guidelines typed in the front of each Advent Journal ...

The Overview:
Christmas is a hectic season and each year we are faced with the challenge, the opportunity, the question - how to wait, how to prepare spiritually, amid the end of year rush? The Advent Journal is an attempt to encourage personal preparation for Christmas.

The concept:
Advent is a time of waiting. Four weeks, four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent offers us the chance to prepare ourselves to greet the Christmas child. It invites us to be alert to the signs of the times in nature, in Scripture, in newspaper, in our families, to greet the Christ wherever he appears. This alertness, this hope, should be shared. My hope is that the journal encourages a shared personal preparation.

How to proceed?
1. Once you have received the journal, you have 3 days to spend with it.
2. During those three days, put whatever you like in the journal - thoughts, ideas, drawings, photos, recipes, reflections - anything that captures how you are preparing for Christmas and where you are seeing the Christ. Be creative. Write in your own language.
3. After three days, please pass it on to someone else in the church.
4. If you have an Advent Journal on a Sunday, bring it to church to lay on the Advent table.

Who gets a journal?
I have prepared 8 journals, including an initial image and text. Each journal is numbered and is different. These will be released into the church community for the first week of Advent. After the initial release, who knows where the journals will go. This is the point of Advent; we wait, we wonder, we watch.

How is it shared?
Each Sunday the journals will be brought to church and laid on the "Advent table." Others in the community can browse, and be inspired in their Advent preparation. We hope to be able to scan journal pages and use them in worship and on the Opawa website. So please be aware that by participating in this project, your work will be shared with others.

the church year down under

Sometimes the Church Year feels like a Northern Hemisphere colonisation of downunder Christianity. Just like so much other baggage, the missionaries arrived in New Zealand carrying a Spring Easter celebration of new life. But it's autumn here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Eggs are absent and bulbs are dormant.

And how to celebrate Christmas light into darkness when summer days are long and all you want is a cold drink rather than a warm candle. Yet imperialistically the coloniser swept on. I mean, what would happen on a UK Anglican synod floor if it was suggested that given Downunder has lived according to Northern Hemisphere church year rules for 200 years, that Easter will now be in August until 2205.

Last week here at Opawa we celebrated the end of the church year. In a matter of weeks the Southern Hemisphere is heading into holidays and it actually makes a lot of sense, come late November to look back over a year. We turned the entire church into a walk through journey featuring all the church ministries and activities. We pulled out the bouncy castle and turned some sausages.

What's more, at Opawa we have our Annual General Meeting in February. And it actually makes a lot of sense to think and dream, for the Southern Hemispere is heading into a new year, refreshed and ready to go.

In between we have Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Which has felt this week like a great, big theological pause between church year ending and annual church year beginning. And in this ceasing from activity, there is a reminder that the energy of our church is found and formed in Christ. It is Incarnation and theology and God that will generate momentum and movement, life and resource.

So maybe this Northern Hemisphere liturgical colonisation enforced on the South, might, in the subversive grace of God, be enriching a down-under theology.

Note: some parts of this post are hyperbolic in intent.

worlds fastest indian film review

I've just added the worlds fastest indian (my latest film review) to the blog.

On the 13th of October, 2005, Invercargill rolled out their red carpet for the world premiere of "The World’s Fastest Indian." The movie is based on the true story of local man, Burt Munro, whose love of speed is expressed in a dream of testing his classic 1920 Indian motorcycle on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA .... For the full review click here.

For the world's fastest indian movie trailer click here. For more of my reviews; here's September's review for Sedition, a New Zealand film about the fate of conscientious objectors in World War 2. Download film review and here's October's review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Download film review

Further film resources:
Film as a point of gospel engagement (PDF).
Film and spirituality web resources.
Why gospel and film?

entering the biblical text or godly play in larger settings

Godly play is a wonderful way of engaging the Scriptures. It uses imaginative storytelling, pauses and offers space to "wonder" around the text, then concludes the story. I am still wrestling with how it can be used in larger congregational settings. How do groups of more than 40 people all have space to "wonder" together.

This following variant worked well on Sunday morning. I was working with the crossing the Jordan narrative. I printed up three wondering questions on different coloured cards;
I wonder what it felt like to face the Jordan?
I wonder what it felt like to cross the Jordan?
I wonder what it felt like to stand on other side?

(Download PPT file of 3 questions)

The story was read. I then divided the congregation into three sections and invited them to "wonder" in groups, and to write their wonderings on the relevant coloured cards. The kids got involved, carrying the cards to and the various groups, and then collecting the cards from the groups to lay on an "altar" at the front of the building.

In about 7 minutes, 180 people of all ages and stages, entered/wondered their way deeper into a Biblical narrative. (The service then moved into a dialogue sermon, two people applying the text to our life as a congregation.) Here are the congregational "wonderings"; which shows quite some depth of congregational engagement/wondering with the text.

I wonder what it felt like to face the Jordan?
• Came so far & now will God really do this? ---sense of fear –wishing they hadn’t come --- a barrier—so close, but so far away --- children would sense fear of their parents.
• Faith testing --- Daunting --- Trust --- Terrifying --- Overwhelming --- Imposing --- Unvanguishable--- Faith challenge --- Last obstacle --- Final test of Faith/Courage --- Spiritual strength (test)
• Apprehension/Fearfull --- Faith --- Hope --- Excitement --- Relief --- Trust --- Obedience
Frightening --- unsure --- panic --- scream yell run --- try to swim --- Yell at Moses --- Yell for help
• Apprehension --- This is the last straw! --- Maybe there’s safety in numbers --- Why are we here? --- Can we build a bridge?
• Fear of the unknown --- How deep is the river? What enemies will I face on the other side? Will it be better there than here?
• Petrified? How deep is it? Can’t swim --- How cold? --- Where is the Lord? --- Be swept away from family

I wonder what if felt like to cross the Jordan
• Scared --- excited feeling of exaltation --- in Awe --- Look for all your family to come with you.
• Don’t hesitate – could loose faith --- frightening --- uncertain & tentative ---scared --- Awesome (to be part of such a miracle) --- expectant --- Exciting --- Spontaneity – just step out --- first step hardest then OK.
• Daunting --- sense of history --- excitement --- anticipation --- fear --- haste --- Praying that the water won’t come back till we get across. Amazement --- Praising God for what they were going to.
• Scary --- want to go back --- Exciting --- Speed up to get to other side --- apprehensive --- awe
• Fearful --- trusting --- full of anticipation --- heart in your mouth --- boost of faith --- refreshing
• Scary --- Gratitude that God had given them a 2nd chance --- God was with them. --- It wasn’t muddy because it was dried up --- Wasn’t God good holding the water back. --- Uncertainty about what the future held. --- A real challenge.
• Nervous Anticipation --- Awe struck --- Thankful that God fulfilled his promise. --- Hope for the future --- wonderful --- Sense of the past, excitement of the future. Trusting in God to help me. --- humility.

I wonder what it felt like to stand on the other side?
• Thoughts for those that didn’t make it --- Now what? --- After 40years --- Wow how did that happen? --- The occupants said where have you been? --- Why so long --- Lets open a deli
• Relief --- Rejoice --- Disbelief --- Anxiety --- Amazement --- Trepidation about the future
• Tremendous relief, ---joy --- satisfaction --- thankfulness --- shame for may doubts --- excitement for future possibilities knowing what God has done this time.
• Encouraging --- unbelievable --- Reliving --- Faith building --- Dry --- Stunned
• Amazed --- Wow! --- No turning back now --- Relieved --- Blown away --- Sense of anticipation wondering what God will do next.
• Wow! Satisfaction – we’re here! Amazed. Regret over what they left behind. Thankful that the promise had finally been fulfilled. Grateful & sense of peace after experiencing God’s power. What now? Can’t go back. Sense of humility – may have been doubting God but he pulled through for them.
• Elation --- relief – Joyful --- "Cool"--- Elation – Wow! --- Astonished --- Praiseworthy to God --- Amazing

planting advent hope

I'm tired. I'm cynical. I need this as my advent prayer;

the thing about babies unborn
is that their only task
is to prepare for the life to come

this advent, put me back into your womb, God
so every cell in me finds that single-minded longing
for life
again
Cheryl Lawrie

open home open year

At our church meeting in February, I presented the Annual Report to our church. 28 pages with written reports from all different parts of our church passed without comment. Hours of work and not a question. I came away, wondering if we needed a better way for the church to engage with the life of the church.

In the church year, tomorrow is the last Sunday. We've turned the building into a journey. People will be invited to wander through the building, on the way out to a barbeque lunch, taking the time to engage with the many facets of the church. So much has happened in the church this year.

They'll walk through the newly painted foyer, past the recently purchased coffee machine, through the 24/7 prayer room and the newly painted Sunday School classrooms.

Displays of various ministries are located throughout the building. There are photos of various events and comments from participants in various church ministries. There are videos and TV's going. There are (the recently purchased) sofas to sit and talk to the leadership about concerns and dream.

There is a coffee machine and a bouncy castle. There is a free barbeque for lunch and tea. Jason, our Community Development Pastor has done a great job of getting people involved.

We've called it open home, open year and so we've also letterboxed, inviting the community and local groups. The weather forecast is good and it's shaping up to be a great way to celebrate the life of the church over the year.

the chasm continues?

Just doing some surfing and noticed that EmergentUS have announced a deal with Abingdon to publish a Theology for the Emerging Church line. This follows a deal with Baker to publish a line of books for pastors and church leaders.

Thus the chasm of modernity continues. On my left, in the Abingdon corner, serious theology and theory. On my right, the Baker corner, practioners and church.

Ken Archer's insightful review of Carson's Becoming Conversant with Emergent (which I still have not got around to reading) makes the following comment:
In fact, most of those involved in the Emerging Church are pastors, not professors of philosophy or theology ... A refined art of pastoral writing as I hope is being initiated by McLaren would then achieve its own legitimacy separate from theological writing, as a writing that is particularly attuned to the consequences of theological ideas.
It is a perceptive comment but it worries me. It makes it easier for the emerging church to thus dodge the theologically hard questions. "We are practioners, not theologians."

A strange drift, given the fact that:
a) Contemporary practical theology suggests that the practices of the people of God are valid place for theological reflection. (see my PhD New Ways of Being Church and the occasional blogs of Tony Jones)
b) One of the chief urgings of much emerging thought is the priority of community as the place for theological reflection. (I'm thinking hear of Grenz and Franke's Beyond Foundationalism)

Such approaches refuse to accept the chasm of theology and theory on one hand and ministry practise on the other. I worry that emerging book deals could continue to perpetuate the chasms of modernity.

the spiritual gift of scavenging

I grew up thinking that you had to have the spiritual gift of singing to lead worship. I have no idea where this came from. Certainly I can find no Biblical links between worship leading and needing to sing.

Today I saw the spiritual gift of scavenging in preparation for worship.

The biblical text is Joshua 3 and I want some rocks to make a praise altar for Sunday. The office staff checked out various theatre groups. A chance conversation and we discovered a theatre group throwing out 4 (polystrene) rocks 2 metre by 1 metre. Ideal for making an altar. We offered to take the rocks away for them.

Done. Ideal for Sunday worship. Free. Spiritual gift of scavenging at work in worship preparation. Now is that gift in the Bible anywhere?

Youth facility manager wanted

The Youth Facility has got
• Three Offices
• Four meeting rooms
• Large Foyer
• Chill out area
• Music Room and recording studio
• Craft Room
• Climbing Wall
• Hall Area
• Video Editing Room

It's a $1.1 Million Project with all the bells and whistles. This ground breaking innovation located in Papanui Christchurch will be built early next year (2006). We have been searching for over six months to find the person called to the task of managing this amazing facility, but haven’t found our person yet!!! We (The Papanui Youth Development Trust) are based at Papanui Baptist Church and are a blatantly Christian trust who will run the facility as a community youth centre. It is in a great part of Christchurch (Ranfurly Shield Country and all that!!!) and everyone is hanging out for it to be built and up and running.

The person we are looking for is no ordinary person, they will be someone who is a history maker, who isn’t happy with the world as it is and wants to make a change for the better. They will love God and have a heart for kids, a crazy sense of humour and a personality to match, will put a face on the Youth Facility.
For the person we are after we will pay well, make you part of a great team, look after you (Laptop, Car and training budget etc) and help you be all God wants you to be.

INTERESTED????? Then contact rossb at papbap dot org dot nz

Dreamers only need apply!!!!!

family surprise

You can't chose your family. At times they sadden you. And every now and again they surprise you and do something TOTALLY unexpected.

I look upon my Baptist denomination as my family. At times they have saddened my and I've wondered if I still fit. At our annual Baptist denominational gathering over the weekend, they TOTALLY surprised me. The focus was mission. We explored Acts 15 and Acts 17. The edges were affirmed an new mission was considered. I got so excited, that I moved the following 4 motions on the Baptist Assembly floor. 500 people burst into applause. Our Baptist denomination agreed to the following;

That our (Baptist) assemblies
continue to welcome stories from the edge

That this assembly
ask Consultancy to gather necessary people around the [mission challenges],
with findings sent to all Baptist churches and placed on www.baptist.org.nz

I am marking today; students had to write a journal as part of the assessment of my emerging church course. I've just made the following comment on a student's work. It captures for me what the emerging church conversation could be about.

Marking comment: This is a profound shift; from style (music) to theology, relationships and content. It makes all your [training] worthwhile, because ministry is no longer a Parachute/Koorong catalogue of the latest trendy music, but a Biblical, relational, ministry lifestyle.

how do you sustain a workplace spirituality

On Sunday, I preached on the Bible as a resource for our workplace. I looked at Esther as beauty queen, Nehemiah as urban developer and Lydia as a business women. All were found in hard ethical places and yet sustained a missional spirituality. I suggested the church should be encouraging our young people to be ministers of the gospel in government and politics and business. Halfway through my sermon I thought; "Steve, it would have been really useful and practical if you had some practical tips on how to sustain a workplace spirituality." But by then it was too late.

So I am on a mission this week to collect resources that would help sustain a workplace spirituality. Here's my start. What else do you know of?

Books:
A theology as big as the city, Ray Bakke,
The Monday Connection, William Diehl
Where's God on Monday, Alistair McKenzie and Wayne Kirkland

Websites:
Ways to pray at your computer;
Prayers for various occupations;
An example of peer work mentoring;
Practical suggestions and resources here and here;

contemporary atonement images

Arab parents donate son's kidney to Israeli

The family of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, killed by Israeli soldiers, this weekend donated his kidney to an Israeli boy who desperately needed a transplant. "It doesn't matter," they said, "whether the recipient was a Jew or an Arab." Ahmed Khatib was shot in the head and pelvis on Thursday during a firefight in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Link

This has hints of atonement; a body given that others might live, a body broken to remove barriers between the alienated, the Jew and Gentile.

It is a similar approach to atonement as taken by the movie Jesus of Montreal, in which the body of the actor Daniel becomes eyes for the blind and a new heart for the diseased.

Did anyone get a video tape of this on the news? I'm thinking about using it for communion on Sunday nite.

so, how pragmatic are we all?

The event: A 10 minute sermon on workplace evangelism, followed by a 15 minute interview with a panel of 5 workers. What challenges them; What encourages them; in being a light for Christ in their workplace.

Feedback from Person A: I loved that. Really, really helpful.

Feedback from Person B: I didn't like that. Those panel's don't really work for me.

Now, person A is new to the church, is working in a professional job, has children and has recently brought friends along.

Person B is a long-timer, retired, who'se children have left home.

The pragmatist says; Take heed of Person A. They are much better for the future of the church.

Which leaves me wondering; What do the values of the Kingdom say? Who does the Kingdom listen to?

a big sunday

10:30 am -- preach at Opawa on "The Bible as a workplace book"
12:45 pm -- input on preaching to Primal Youth leadership team
1:45 pm -- drive for an hour to Hororata.
3:00 pm -- preach at Te Waiora Annual Thanksgiving Service

then drive back for

7:00 pm -- be part of Opawa Digestion evening service

and I am so looking forward to a day off tomorrow!

retreating

As a church leadership we're away on a day of retreat today, taking some time to reflect back and look forward. We've invited some "boat rockers" or "out of the box" thinkers to join us; people in the church who we sense will provoke and challenge us and help us avoid group think.

We are also going to be trying an idea from Stephen Said, using de Bono's 6 hats to aid our reflection and critical thinking. The programme for our day is here; the left column is the days tasks, the right column is reflection material including our aim, values, multi-congregational model.

communitas is only useful if you want to keep the emerging church adolescent

I made this blog comment on signposts. It's noted here, sort of like a gravestone! Fire away:)

The notion of communitas as applied to church is a nonsense. It was first used by Turner to describe initiation rites in tribal cultures. Communitas is that in-between stage, between childhood and maturity. It is an artificially induced transitional stage. But you don't live there. You can't. That's its whole point. It's a transition stage.

I think applying communitas to the emerging church will only serve to keep us in our juvenile adolesence. Isn't it time the emerging church got beyond it's adolesence and got on with the task of mature Christian discipleship and living.

Update:

I read Turner for my PhD, specifically the following;
Turner, Victor Witter. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co., 1969.
Turner, Victor, Witter. "The Centre out There: Pilgrim's Goal." History of Religions 12 (1973): 191-230.

The idea of communitas had some initial appeal for me. In the end I felt it could be applied most profitably to some ritual practices of the emerging church. Turner describes pilgrimage as an a liminal experience which produces communitas. This has parrallels in the use of labyrinths in the emerging church. But as Turner notes, pilgrims generally return home. They don't stay in communitas.

Turner's use of it is helpfully explained in his book structure and anti-structure, with liminality and communitas as an in-between phase. In the end, I felt that the most accurate terms to describe the emerging church was not a one-off liminality but more of an ongoing experience of being "de-centred" (both by postmodern culture and from existing ways of being church). And that this was leading to the development of "soteriological entrepreneurs"; innovative practioners.

A further point is that the experience of communitas is highly manipulative. Men take boys from their parents into the bush. They manipulate the environments and often deliberately frighten them. I don't think manipulation should have much to do with creation of healthy communities.

For those who like PhD thinking; here are the excerpts. Download

stories of emergence

Updated:

Stories of emergence. The recent history of Opawa Baptist is one of the decline, transition and growth. Steve Taylor will reflect on the missional thinking that has underpinned the development of growth coaching, café church, 24/7 prayer roms and "Take a Kid to Faith services."

I'm doing 2 workshops at Baptist Assembly next Saturday (12th November) in Hamilton. I've been asked to share something of the Opawa story, around the title stories of emergence. I am going to try to frame it up around the out of bounds church? book. Because I've been reflecting on the Opawa journey and I actually think those postcards from the book:
:midwiving
:creativity
:journey/spiritual tourism
:community
have actually been at play at Opawa. From church plant to 96 year old church, from cafe style to established auditorium, it's been the same underlying missiology. So I'm going to try to link
:midwiving with the planting of the espresso congregation and Take a Kid to Faith services
:creativity with 24/7 prayer room
:journey/spiritual tourism with evangelism-as-process and growth coaching
:community with leadership.

More links and ideas to follow. Might actually be a good 10th postcard for a reprint of the out of bounds church? book. (Or at least a page on the out of bounds church? book blogsite:)

healing and wholeness in a postcolonial theology

I'm preaching on Sunday, November 6th, 3.00 p.m, St John's Church, Hororata;

Annual Te Waiora Thanksgiving Service
Title: A healing community
Text: Genesis 28:10-17
Spiritual takeaway: sprigs of rosemary

I'm wrestling with text and topic at the moment. I'm thinking about how some of our contemporary movies are a cry for wholeness and healing -Whale Rider and the pain of a search for identity, In My Father's Den and the pain of household memories. And reflecting on Jacob, who in Genesis is fleeing the pain of household memories and is searching for identity. And how in the Biblical narrative, God becomes present, through sleep, as an ancestral God. And then there is John 1:51 and Jesus as the new Jacob.

Somehow in here are the seeds of a post-colonial theology -- journey, past wounds, ancestoral identity, land issues. But the task for today is accessibility and a 15 minute "spiritual reflection."

transition packs

(Been meaning to blog this for a while).

A guiding verse for us as a church this year has been John 10:10; Jesus coming to give us life to the full. This has raised for us as church ministry staff the questions;
• How do we resource people to live Christian life to the full?
• What would it mean for us as church staff to offer pastoral support to people in life's many transitions?

A conversational comment made by Olive Drane has kept stirring away. She noted her son getting a new job and the job placement agency sending in a morning tea on the first day of the new job. And the question, "What could it mean for churches to be engaged in honouring these transitions?"

Outcome …
This year we have started "transition packs." For example;
• new seeds to people moving house
• new nappies to families with new-borns
• cycling gloves for the loss of a drivers licence

Purpose …
• To provide a God-presence for all of life.
• To show our pastoral support for people.
• Allows us to connect with people both inside and outside the church.

Process …
With the staff and with our ministry leader we brainstormed together transitions and potential gifts.
• What are the life transitions people go through?
• What could go into a "transition pack" which we give, along with a card, to people going through a life transition?
Ideally gifts would be creatively low-cost. Ideally gifts would be unique to allow freshness and avoid the legalism of expectations. This brainstorming process made us more alert to "whole-of-life" transitions and turned up creative suggestions.

Possible transitions and gifts could include…

Expectant fathers
Foreigners
New parents
Newcomers to church
First job
Drivers license
Family and marriage difficulties
Death and anniversary of death
Child dedications
Gaining a qualification
Marriage
Surgery
Boyfriend and girlfriend breakups

Transition packs could include...
Maps for city, for church, for local area
Information pack about the church inc toilet, 24/7 prayer room
Monthly calendar
Vouchers for a local café, for meal, for babysitter
Candle
Journal for during the transition, with some input
Treat yourself to "walk in the park" … "good cry" .. etc
Chewing gum
Specific verses
Nuts
Aloe vera face wash
And a nice box to put all this in