e~mergent kiwi

community demographics roadshow

The better half of the emergentkiwi partnership kicked off the community demographics roadshow in Christchurch today. A pleasing turnout of church leaders and it was great to see groups of people huddled together engaging around the needs of their neighbourhoods.

"What a gift" commented a church leader afterward.

AngelWings Research (that's the business that Lynne and I run) and the Baptist National Resource Centre, in association with the Vision Network of NZ, are taking a punt and offering these Community Demographics Seminar. In the space of three hours you get
- a presentation on the composition of your city
- a detailed profile on your local community
- tools to help you get the most out of that profile
- time to work through your community profile, using those tools, with others from your church and with input from the researcher
- good time to network with like minded leaders
- ending with (creative) prayer for your city.

With Christchurch done, next up is ....
AUCKLAND: Thursday 26 June, Carey Baptist College, 473 Great South Road, Penrose, Auckland, 9:30-12:30 pm, and then

WELLINGTON: Wednesday 2 July, Miramar Baptist Church, 33 Park Road, Miramar, Wellington, 1:30-4:30 pm

Who is it for?
- Church leaders keen to better understand their local contexts
- Churches that are wondering what ministries they could effectively and usefully run into their local communities
- Anyone who wants further fuel for prayer for or engagement into their local communities.

Cost: $150 for demography profile (if not already purchased).
$20 for first person from church, $10 subsequent people from church, max $60 per church (up to 10 people). (No charge for Baptist Churches…)

vantage point student

from my leadership class today, a student cell phone pic.

the picture says a lot: in the foreground inductive learning with the class invited to use a type of lego to "build" their church. a way of allowing them to name their leadership values. leading into an excellent discussion around leadership and leader as builder in 1 Corinthians 3:10-17. in the background lecturer, white board marker in hand, waiting to capture student feedback. in so doing I am questioning, making links to pre-set class reading and earthing through practices and storytelling.

emerging, Kiwi and anglican

Today was a day in preparation for my time with the Anglican priests-to-be at St Johns Theological College, Auckland on February 26 and 27. As part of their Anglican Studies Programme they are looking at Anglican Ministry: Contemporary Models and Challenges. They have chosen to focus on the emerging church and to invite a Baptist to help them. Very gracious.

The learning outcomes include:
• Describe the mission context of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and some of the challenges this raises for the Anglican Church.
• Describe and evaluate the emerging church as one model of ministry developed to respond.

I thought these 2 videos will be particularly appropriate: Rowan Williams on what Anglicans think of emerging church and how he would evaluate the emerging church.

Over the two days I will be addressing the following:
Tuesday 9.30 - 12.30
Lecture 1 - New soil = new plants = new church shapes
Lecture 2 - What is the new "soil" that is "postmodern cultures"?
Lecture 3 - A missiology for a postmodern soil

Tuesday 1.30 - 4.00
Lecture 4 - Identifying with the life of Jesus
Lecture 5 – Transforming secular space
Lecture 6 - Living as a community

Wednesday 9.30-11.00
Lecture 7 - The mixed economy that is emerging churches
Lecture 8 - Discussion and evaluation of the emerging church

And for those interested, here is my list of key Kiwi emerging church writings.

Jamieson, Alan. "A Churchless Faith: Faith Outside the Evangelical Pentecostal/Charismatic Church of New Zealand." PhD thesis, University of Canterbury, 1998.

Jamieson, Alan. A Churchless Faith. Faith Journeys Beyond Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches. Wellington: Philip Garside Pub Ltd, 2000.

Riddell, Mike, Mark Pierson, and Cathy Kirkpatrick. The Prodigal Project. Journey into the Emerging Church. London: SPCK, 2000.

Riddell, Mike. Threshold of the Future. Reforming the Church in the Post-Christian West. London: SPCK, 1998.

Steve Taylor, "A Kiwi emerging church. Yeah Right!", chapter in the New Vision New Zealand Congress book, (forthcoming March 2008).

Taylor, Steve, The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change. Zondervan, 2005.

Taylor, Steve, A New Way of Being Church? A Case Study Approach to Cityside Baptist Church as Christian Faith "making do" in a Postmodern World, PhD thesis, University of Otago, 2004.

onramps and fastlanes

Missional and emerging church is so much more than candles and coffee. It's a conversation about participating in God's Kingdom come on earth today. Our world is changing and in this changing world it is tempting to seek certainty in our historic understandings and in our charismatic leaders.

Luke 10 offers us a different type of seeking. It reminds us that God is active in our world, in the tables and cafes of our culture. It tells the story of a sending God who invites us to seek God's future in the ordinary and everyday. It is an affirmation that 70 no-name disciples were trusted with God's missionary purposes. It is an anticipation that as we accept the hospitality of the stranger, God's healing and redemptive purposes can be discerned.

Since much of this is counter-intuitive and requires new patterns and practice, we need onramps, ways for people to enter into the conversation. We've got a few onramps for white boy ministers with their tech toys. We've got a few onramps in the forms of books and academic courses. But the onramps are few and the harvest is plentiful and more construction is needed.

Alongside onramps we continue to need fastlanes; places where those already in the conversation, those immersed in the mess of table fellowship, can talk and gripe and dream and plan. Last week's Masters class teaching in Auckland was for me, a fastlane, in which taking the time to do a case study of an emerging church then allowed us to talk much about mission, theology and discipleship.

learning

Tuesday was one of my best teaching days ever. I define best because I got an intuitive sense, based on the class engagement and questions, that lots of learning was happening about mission in Western culture. And since discipleship is about learning, and mission in Western culture is my passion, when things go well, I like to ask why. What processes help people learn?

1. It was our second week together. So relationships had been built and that sense of trust is essential.
2. The students came to the class having completed a 3,000 word case study. So they had an existing body of knowledge. More importantly I think, this knowledge was grounded knowledge. They had been asked to study an existing emerging church and it's worshipping life. So these students have been thinking life and reality and not abstract theories.
3. A regular part of class had been dwelling in the Word, in Luke 10:1-12. As a class, we have read and re-read this text and in doing so, have been deeply challenged by Scripture.
4. Since our first week of class was in April, to allow integration and reinforcement, I started the class by asking the students to work on 4 questions that might help integrate lecture material with the case study work.
What were some of the practices shaping this emerging church?
What were the sources generating imagination at this emerging church?
What gospel/culture questions arose for you as you read about this emerging church?
What struck you as you "read theology" from a living community in contrast to reading theology from a book?
5. As the students gave feedback, I went into "devils advocate" mode. I forced them to consider Luke 10 and the case study. I pushed them to consider what this meant for their real and living communities of faith.

In so doing, in the conversation between Biblical text and case study, a whole lot of learning was triggered about worship and discipleship and conversion today. (Rather than providing answers to these questions, I have spent the last few days providing resources for the students to continue their journey: opening Biblical text, reading other mission case studies, bringing in dialogue partners to keep teasing out questions.)

So how did learning happen? Out of relationships, around case studies, in conversation with Scripture, aided by good questions. I checked this with the class before I posted it here and they nodded their heads.

Now can I take this to our teaching and discipling in churches? How like Sunday, how much of our discipling material, has this pattern: of relationships, case studies, Scripture and good questions?

blessed are the peacemakers

Howard Zehr, speaking in Christchurch on restorative justice 10 – 11.30 a.m., Thursday 13 September, Wheki 302, 3rd floor, University of Canterbury’s Dovedale Avenue site.

Howard is the Co-Director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, Virginia, and is the author of many books including Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice and The Little Book of Restorative Justice.

key missional phrases emerging from waikato diocese

I'm back from Waikato Diocese. (This is my 3rd Anglican clergy conference I've spoken at in the last few months (leaving Dunedin in November and Wellington in April next year)). There were about 130 leaders, apparently their best attendance for a long time. I'm very tired: two 90 minute sessions on the Tuesday, followed by four 90 minute sessions on the Wednesday .... slot in the after speaking people interaction, along with getting the powerpoints and video files ready for the next session ... has left me quite fried.

There were a number of really nicely phrased understandings of mission, that emerged from the first session's interaction with Luke 10:1-12: Firstly, get into their culture and secondly, centred on everyday.

Thirdly, in response to my asking where church was in Luke 10, came the phrase meeting where people are at. I turned this into a question back: Where do people meet in your diocese? and very quickly, from around the room came the answers: malls, cafes, schools, workplaces, RSA, bus stops, internet, stock sales, hospitals. A very grounded understanding of the missional movement of going, rather than expecting a coming to a building.

On the Wednesday two potential research projects began to bounce around the room. Firstly, the need for a gathering for storytelling and brainstorming around emerging and rural ministry, which I think needs to include developing a website of ideas and resources.

Secondly, a "green zone" gathering, a NZ wide Anglican gathering of pioneering leaders, to tell their stories, listened to by a few Bishops and key leaders, around two questions - how to sustain existing pioneering leaders and how to train pioneering leaders.

I am not sure what my place in these projects needs to be, but I wonder if they are some next steps in the mission journey.

In the meantime, both Auckland and Waikato Dioceses have expressed interest in my Missional Church Leadership year long coaching program. This will involve me flying to Auckland and Waikato monthly (starting late September 07 and ending August 08) to work with a group of people who want to take missional leadership learning further, integrated with on-line learning and coaching around developing mission projects in one's local context. There are some spaces available, and I'd quite like some non-Anglicans in the mix, so let me know if you'd like to join. Here are some more details: Download file.

a take away ending

We sat in an open circle on the floor. In the centre I had placed a stack of takeaway coffee cup lids. People were invited, one at a time, to take a lid and name to the group one thing they would take away from the week long intensive - it might be something sweet, something raw, something stirred, something to chew on.

For me it would be the gift of a unique group who had worked hard, listened well and thought deeply, and the gift of a question.

And then I blessed them;
To take their take aways, their stories of nurture and growth and change,
their treasure, for which they, and Jesus, have paid a great price.
And now to go in the name and the power of the Giver of our stories
Go into Gods world. Go in peace.

And so ended the Fuller Living the text in a postmodern text class of 2007 (apart from assignments and marking :)). Rich memories for me to take away as I board the plane for the third, and final, leg of my journey, to Portland and a gathering of the Allelon Mission in Western Culture Project.

I am down to present on Sunday for about 20 minutes and on Monday for about 35 minutes, followed by Q & A. I am deeply tired and quite homesick.

new experiences

I spent 2 hours today being videod. Professional video, with lights and microphones and cutaways and me driving my car into the church car park and walking in the door, me on wide angle shot and me on closeup. Heaps of fun.

It's not a normal Sunday afternoon activity, but arising because I am trialling a new course this year on Missional Church Leadership. I have designed it thinking about pastors in ministry, wanting to help them grapple with missional church skills and capacities, within their context.

The course has attracted the interest of a number of denominational groupings. So today was about, with the help of a video expert, shooting a 6 minute introduction to the course, wanting to explain the course simply and clearly. Allowing me to explain the course in a DVD format so that those interested can use it to explain the course to their leadership groups, or their bishops, or their oversight groups. I define words like church and leadership in the context of missional and talk about the structural shape of the course, and tell a few stories of missional at Opawa.

It is now on the editing floor and I hope to be able to display the finished product a months end.

july comings and goings

Here are my travel plans for July.

MONDAY July 2 Taylor family fly to Auckland.

TUESDAY - THURSDAY July 3-5 Speaker at Auckland Anglican Clergy Conference. Theme - Learning to create a community of faith in a culture of change

Session 1, Tuesday 9:45-11am Mission with a Kiwi accent: introducing a range of metaphors and visual images by which to interpret cultural change and new forms of church.

Session 2, Tuesday 11:30-12:30 pm Learning from an ancient text: engaging with Luke 10:1-12 and exploring its challenges for mission today.

TUESDAY evening Anyone welcome to join the Taylor family at Cock and Bull, Ellerslie

Session 3, Wednesday 9:45-11 am Creating a community with a missional imagination: telling some stories of Kiwi mission today, grounding the work of Tuesday and serving as a learning exercise, inviting reflection on skills and capacities required of missional leaders today.

Session 4, 11:30-12:30 pm Creating a community of faith around spiritual practices: an exploration of what it might mean to create communities of spiritual formation, using images of apprentice, origami maker and tourist. It will offer 19 practical examples of contemporary practices of community formation.

Session 5, Thursday 9:45-11 am Leader as change agent: exploring a range of skills and capacities required in the processes of change, drawing on Steve's experiences as a change agent pastor in a 96 year old Baptist Church.

FRIDAY JULY 6 Taylor girls fly to Sydney for fun weekend, Taylor guy (me) fly to Los Angeles.

An LA WEEKEND to recover from jetlag, so I'm open to any offers of human conversation.

MONDAY July 9- FRIDAY July 13 Living the text in a postmodern context block course at Fuller. Recent email from Fuller: Steve, I just looked up your enrollment. We have 21 MA students to date. That's an amazing enrollment these days! So that's sweet. I really enjoyed teaching this block course last year and with one year's experience of navigating the Fuller-burbs under my belt, I'm really looking forward to it.

SATURDAY July 14- WEDNESDAY July 19. Allelon Mission to Western Culture Project. I have to provide a brief paper. I'm also looking forward to hearing a fellow Kiwi accent.

missional church learning is on the road

One of my key tasks this year is teaching a new course, Missional Church Leadership.

Define missional church Steve? Missional church is about the future of God among the people of God.

So what Steve? Well, since course design should follow course theology, that means you can never teach missional church as a theory or set of ideas. Rather, you must allow learners to pay attention to the work of God among the people of God.

Practically this has included quite a number of innovations. One of my hopes was that we would be able to push the learning envelope by moving out of the classroom and going to a students' context, to hear them, in context, talk about their context. Well, today is the first attempt.

I have just written the following for the lecture notes:
Welcome to Phil's space. Being here reminds us that
1. Missional church is about real, living communities, and being present in their narratives NOT classroom learning of intellectual ideas.

2. Spaces shape learning. Be alert to how our interaction and your learning changes in new places. In Luke 10, Jesus sends us to other people's spaces. A key skill of missional leaders will be the ability to create learning communities in other people's spaces.

As part of the class Phil will talk about his local context. The class will be asked to reflect back to him the narratives they are hearing. We will then dwell in Scripture together. And so together I hope we will be increasing our skills around the cultivation of a missional imagination among real, living contexts.

so how did it go in Australia?

I always struggle to answer such a question, when asked how a speaking assignment goes. I'd much rather have a listeners perspective than a speakers perspective. So it was nice to stumble across this writeup of my May trip to Adelaide.

"Steve invited us to consider the leadership practices displayed in the sending out of the seventy-two in Luke 10. He told stories of fostering new faith communities on the fringe of his older, conservative congregation. We heard about leaders who listen to their people and build on their hopes and dreams - a bottom up, not top down approach, involving active listening [and] communal discernment. We were invited to question whether our models of leadership are formed by culture or the gospel. And we saw and heard the images and sounds of multi-sensory, participatory, creative worship.

We appreciated hearing from someone with a 'southern hemisphere accent' and someone who could 'practice what they teach'. Steve managed to open up people's preconceptions of mission and church by not fitting many of our categories for such things. His Opawa journey connected very well with what many folk here are facing. Through his stories, metaphors, insights and analysis he communicated with us at a range of levels. Leaders from across the synod have commented on how they have been encourage and challenged. We acknowledge Steve's generosity of spirit and great leadership over the week."

In, other words, from a listeners perspective, it went well. I do enjoy jumping out of people's mission boxes. I do enjoy using a range of media and mediums to communicate. I do think it's way past time we in Australasia told our own mission stories rather than looking northward. I continue to be grateful for the way the story of what God is doing at Opawa encourages and challenges.

code-sharing emerging church

Today was the first day of a 2 day block course I teach at BCNZ introducing the emerging church. It involved 3 groups: BCNZ students; Praxis (community youth orientated training programme) and 4 visiting Americans interested in the emerging church as it applies to their Church of the Brethren Denomination.

Each of these 3 groups wanted to have time with me and so I suggested we all meet together, rather than me repeat myself 3 times. It certainly made for a much richer classroom interaction.

It was great to see a visiting American returning from having lunch with some of the BCNZ students, proudly showing off his L&P (iconic Kiwi) drink bottle.

(The course finishes at 12:30 tomorrow and I have to be at the International Airport at 1:30 pm to catch my flight to Melbourne.)

australia details

A fair bit of time in the last few months has gone into planning for a 7 day stint in Australia. Here are the current details.

MELBOURNE

Saturday 5 May
Morning "Take no sandals (a missional leader); Unfreezing imagination (a missional church); Practices for the table (a missional spirituality); When the Kingdom of God is near, is that far? (a missional intentionality)." A conversation between life, mission and Scripture, all in grounded life among a 96-year old church.

Afternoon (provisional) "Spirituality2go. A workshop on resourcing Christ followers outside gathered church"

Sunday 6 May
Preaching twice at Doncaster Church of Christ

ADELAIDE
Tuesday 8 May
10.00 am - 3.00 pm "Leadership in The Emerging Church" - seminar for ministers and lay leaders at Adelaide West UC
7.00 - 9.30 pm "Alternative Worship" session at Parkin-Wesley

Wednesday 9 May
12.15 - 1.00 pm Chapel Service at Parkin-Wesley
2.15 - 3.30 pm Colloquium on "The Emerging Church" at Parkin-Wesley
7.30 - 9.30 pm "Alternative Worship" session at Parkin-Wesley (repeat of Tues. evening)

Thursday 10 May
6.30 - 9.00 pm [re]generate pub conversation about fostering new and fringe faith communities.

Saturday 12 May
9.00 am -12.45 pm Keynote Speaker at Presbytery meeting.

More details on Adelaide here

Theological education 2.0

There is a lot of talk about Web 2.0; that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. I have just written the following for the Course Outline of a new course I am pioneering this year: Missional Church Leadership:

This is designed to keep you in context. In other words, you read not for class, but for your missional context. At the same time, the use of on-line community and tutor engagement is designed to encourage you and give you a sense of being part of a learning community even while engaged locally.

Missional church is about the future of God among the people of God. And since course design must follow course theology, that means you can never teach missional church as a theory or set of ideas. Rather, you must allow learners to pay attention to the work of God among the people of God.

The missional church leadership course also arose because I had pastors saying to me: "Steve, how do we put these missional ideas into practice." So the first draft of the course, starting next week, is as follows:

a : name a context: (defined broadly as a place that a person can regularly return to, listen among and start to imagine God's future). This could include a work place, a community ministry, a local café or regular social gathering. It could equally include existing student fieldwork or recognized church ministry

b : gather monthly: we will gather around a set of practices, to hear what each other are learning, and to receive input and coaching. This places people in an accountability group and ensures we learn from each other and the gathering is shaped by what we each bring and contribute. This is not a conference or lecture, but a year of habit building. We will physically move these gatherings out of the classroom and around each participant's context.

c : read in context: people will read in their context and name their learning using e-technology. Reading is thus grounded, yet a person remains in a collaborative learning relationship as the lecturer/tutor gives them feedback. (The next step will involve making this learning public and allowing other groups, on the same journey, to interact together. So my dream would be run this course in say Christchurch, Melbourne and South Auckland at the same time. Participants are in context, yet part of a collobarative enviroment.)

d : projects : two major projects include firstly, listening in context, asking students to identify the narratives of God at work and secondly, to name an action project that cultivates the missional imagination in their context. These projects will be shared with the group, for feedback and learning.

So I wondered as I worked and typed, is this a step toward Theological Education 2.0?

discipleship material

I am playing around with discipling options for next year. We already have 1-1 options around growth coaching. But we've been playing with adding in block course based options. My underlying principle is: multiple options for multiple learning styles.

So I am considering 3 options
1 : a visual option, using the Nooma videos
2 : a storytelling option, (more on this as it develops cos it is something that is being Opawa designed.
3 : a content based option. I am quite drawn to Living Faith by Tom Wright, because I like the breadth of topics (including 5 on the Bible plus Christian history).

Just wondering if anyone out there has used either Tom Wright stuff or the Nooma videos in discipleship? If so, what was helpful? what was not? Only answer if you've used them small group and discipling contexts (compared to in a worship service context).

Tutorial Reading for Gospel in a Post-Christian Society

A Generous Orthodoxy chapters 10 and 12.

ANKC Ch 7 might also be useful revision, but is optional

Come as your favourite Christian stereotype.

kiwi in US

Booked for some June and July US trips last week. All groups are keen for the word to be spread about these gigs, so please spread the web-word if you can. Here are the details;

June 19-22; Ministry in the Postmodern. Tutoring at the Allelon Summer School. Details here (and note; they are using my book, -tee he).

June 25-29. International Think Tank on Mission to Western Culture. First step in a 10 year project seeking to re-focus the missiology of Leslie Newbigin, with a particular emphasis on congregational practices. Details of the project here. This mix of missiologists and congregational practioners is really exciting, as is the intentionality and long term commitment.

July 17-21. MP541 Living the Text in a Postmodern Context.

Lecturing a one week intensive at Fuller Theological Seminary (not 2 weeks as I first indicated here). This is the course description I have put together (download file).

Leading through change

Effective leaders understand that change is a reality of life and ministry. Leading through change is a one day seminar led by Dr Steve Taylor. It will explore the dynamics of leading change, grounded in Biblical and theological understandings, contemporary leadership insights and Steve’s experiences of transition and change at Opawa Baptist Church.

Details: Friday April 7, 9:30-12:30; 2-5 pm, Bible College of New Zealand, 70 Condell Ave, Christchurch. To register phone 3544270 or chch at bcnz dot ac dot nz

Wanting some short, sharp leadership focus?

Mark Strom is speaking for a day on Wise Leadership, Friday, March 24 at the Bible College of New Zealand (Christchurch). Mark combines a passion for Jesus, a PhD knowledge of the Bible, church ministry miles and years of leadership consultancy among business and educational spheres. It is a unique blend not be missed.

Details: Friday March 24, 9:30-12:30; 2-5 pm, Bible College of New Zealand, 70 Condell Ave, Christchurch. To register phone 3544270, chch at bcnz dot ac dot nz.

For overseas punters (included North Islanders :) ), I might see if I can do a podcast with him on "leadership challenges for the New Zealand church."

using blogs for on-line seminary learning

leadership-bcnz blog;

I've just set up the blog home page for a course I am teaching this semester; Pastoral Leadership and Management. As part of the assessment, every student will be expected to set up a blog in which they record their weekly readings and reflections. Some students assessment will also include offering comments (critical engagement) with their peers. Here's the methodology blurb:

Using on-line blogs is designed to enhance the student learning experience, by allowing them to interact with each other outside the classroom. It means that critical student reading is no longer a conversation between lecturer and student, but becomes a class conversation. Using blogs has the further benefit of introducing students to new technologies and enhancing their communication options, an essential leadership skill.

It's new for all of us, so it will be interesting to see how it develops and what students make of it come "Lecturer evaluation" time at the end of June.

For the course outline download here

mission health conversation

Looks like I'll be in Dunedin Thursday 9th March as part of Mission Health Conversation (Baptist Union gig).

4:00 - 5:30 Telling the Opawa story as part of a panel.
5:30 - 6:30 meal
6:30 - 7:45 4 Options; 1 of which is me on "Thinking missionally"
7:45 - 8:00 coffee/tea
8:00 - 9:15 4 Options repeated.

It's a great topic, that will force me to articulate not only the Opawa story but the underlying missiology and theology.

Venue: Valley Baptist.

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.

interactive learning

I am very pleased with this. If you go here, you can download your own online snakes and ladders game. The download comes complete with a separate questions file. So, change the questions and you have a great way of doing review and learning.

Tomorrow is the last day of my being kiwi, being Christian class. So we will divide into two teams and have a computer game of snakes and ladders, with teams answering the review questions I have set, and so reflecting on what they have learnt during the course.

(I tried to upload our game for you to play, but couldn't get the file paths right and have run out of time. Sorry. Anyhow, the questions the teams will answer are here.)

What were two negative elements of Kiwi culture you identified either in week one or in this course?

Name one positive theological or contextual learning from Week 2 Early missionaries?

Describe the major influence of the Treaty of Waitangi on being Kiwi?

Name one positive theological or contextual learning from Week 3: Waitangi?

Name either one positive or one negative theological or contextual learning from Baxter's The Maori Jesus?

Describe the major influence of Anzac Day on being Kiwi?

Name one positive theological or contextual learning from Week 5 Anzac Day?

Name one thing you have learnt about how being Christian could apply to how Kiwis vote?

Describe the major influence of migration on being Kiwi?

Name one positive theological or contextual learning from the theme of voyaging? From the theme of OE?

How does place (Week 8) affect your Christianity?

Name one positive theological or contextual learning from Week 9 gardening?

emerging church course content

I'm teaching a two day block course on contemporary ways of being church (September 23, 24) at BCNZ (Christchurch). I've spent today finalising course content and now the BCNZ office staff are busy pricing laptop hirage for on-line experiences and banquet costs. What this means is that the course is starting to click and starting to look like a seriously fun multi-sensory learning experience.

Day one morning
Storytelling (Bodge plants a seed). What are the new plants emerging in our new soil?

Romeo and Juliet as a visual lens on our new cultural soil

Mobile in life and mobile in faith. Group work using cell phones as metaphor for our contemporary soil.

Day one afternoon
www.labyrinth.org.uk as a case study of mobile spirituality. What does this mean for church and mission and leadership?

Church furniture: What can new environments (sofas and cafes) mean for church and mission and leadership? (Or is this just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic?)

Day two morning
God flows; God births; God images; God dances: the resources of a missionary theology

Spiritual practices as a case study of new possibilities.

The Incarnational ethics of a consuming Christianity

Day two afternoon
Grounded in real life: stories from practioners

Grounded in your life: the lonely planet banquet

What's Going On Out There?

The church around the world is changing. From the way people meet, to the way people worship (multimedia, art, storytelling, neo-liturgy), it’s clear that this is not your mum’s or dad’s church anymore. So what’s happening on the edges of the church? What’s on the horizon and how fast is it closing in?

Contemporary Ways of Being the People of God (Taught D/M445C.505)

This course takes trips to the edge of the church envelope and sends back what Steve Taylor has found inside the emerging church around the globe. Topics include: Internet church, Christian festivals, resourcing spiritual seekers and selling worship. The course includes optional practical workshops on spirituality, worship and community. From the revival of ancient spiritual practices to the rise of multimedia, this course will explore the implications for being the people of God today.

Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24, 2005, 9 -12 am, 2 – 5 pm.

Cost $50 for interest. To enrol or for more information contact Kathy or Steve, BCNZ, 70 Condell Avenue, Papanui, Christchurch, 643 354 4270

the DNA of mission

Getting Mission into the DNA of the Church – a discussion hosted by Lindsay Jones and Steve Taylor, with input from Chris Chamberlain, Fraser Campbell and you…

Opawa Baptist Church, Christchurch

Wed July 13th, 6-9pm aimed at church leaders and interested persons

Thurs 14, 9-11am aimed at pastors

Note: I certainly don't feel that Opawa fully has mission in its DNA, but there are some stories of beginnings to tell.

Note: I love the fact that we are talking about mission in relation to an Opawa church that is 97 years old. Re-emerging is a word I find increasingly helpful.

first ever nz emerging church course?

Friday and Saturday, 23-24 September, I'm teaching what I think will be New Zealand's first ever course on the emerging church, set within the context of cultural change and discipleship.

I will specific examples of current emerging trends; including online religion, Christian festivals, spiritual direction, social justice - and explore how they are affected by culture and what it means for discipleship today.

Anyhow, the reason I post this is ... have you read any good books on on-line religion, cos I have a bit of hole in this area of my bibliography?

crossing cultures

I spoke to a group from Eastern Mennonite University. As part of their study, they have to go overseas - and so a group of 35 of them are here. I like that. A deliberate attempt to subvert being US/us[centric].

They asked me to talk with them about the emerging church in New Zealand. The whole conversation seriously disorientated me. I'm just back from stuff in the US, just back from having a funny accent and having to make cross cultural links.

Suddenly here I am, back in my home church, surrounded by American accents, suddenly having the same accent problems and having to make the cross cultural links. Talking "accented" mission, but now in my home patch! Categories of edge and centre; home and away; in flux.

teaching this semester

spirituality and film web resources

www.hollywoodjesus.com
http://movieguide.crosswalk.com
www.gospelcom.net/preview
www.damaris.org.uk
www.ntgateway.com/film
www.nzfilm.co.nz
http://www.nzvideos.org
www.shootthemessenger.com.au
www.textweek.com

Spirituality and film

At the movies we cry and laugh and see ourselves culturally. In 2004 the Academy laid out the red carpet of welcome to the New Zealand film industry, through films such as Whale Rider and Lord of the Rings. In 2004 we saw the release of Mel Gibson’s The Passion.

What was the impact? What other ways might Christians connect with film? In Acts 17, Paul stands in Athens and cites contemporary poets. If Paul wanted to connect with contemporary culture today, might he start with the latest blockbuster? How would he watch movies and think on what is true, noble, pure?

The BCNZ course Spirituality and film takes the movies that make us laugh and cry, and, with eyes wide open, chases a "reel" Christian spirituality.

Wednesday evenings, semester 1, 2005.

essential missiology

I'm busy marking student assignments. This is a complex task, that reflects both on me and my abilities as a lecturer, and students, and there abilities as students.

The Gospel and post-Christian assignments have, to date, been underpinned by missiology. Not reaction, not relevance , not cool but the awareness of mission, of being a language learner.

It's a joy to read, because they have potentially grasped their lecturer's passion - the gospel in post-Christian culture, the emerging church, as missionary engagement with the world that God loves.

O~day

Thursday 26th. The flights are booked. My PhD thesis on the emerging church goes under the microscope. I submitted it November 26 last year. It has now been read by 3 examiners, 2 in New Zealand and 1 overseas. They have given their opinion (which I don't yet know), have written their reports and have prepared their questions. Thursday 26th I meet them face to face and find out who they are (identity is meant to be kept a secret). Then after the handshakes, they fire questions at me about my thesis and my 100,000 words, normally for about 2 hours.

After that, they tell me the result.
- Pass
- Pass with a few minor changes
- Rework and resubmit
- It would make a good Masters thesis rather than a PhD.
- Fail

I am looking forward to O-day. I am generally quick on my feet and I learn best by talking (one of the reasons I have a blog), so I am looking forward to significant growth on O-day as keen and trained academic minds probe my work.

Blogging from the bach

Wine glass full (Gisborne Chardonnay) and fresh garden salad open. I am at Auckland airport, at the bach café.

Bach . n. colloquial New Zealand term referring to secondary abode/beach house/temporary escape/sanctuary/

It has been an excellent week with the Church and Society class. However, 3 days lecturing 4 hours a day, and I am stuffed. Glad to be coming home.

Owen Marshall's South Island Prayer
God
Don’t let me die in Auckland
Rotting in the heat before your
eyes are closed: a greasy take
away after the soul is gone.
Jesus, no.

From Spirit in a Strange Land: A Selection of New Zealand Spiritual Verse, edited by Paul Morris, Harry Ricketts and Mike Grimshaw..

The last hour of class today we went to Borders.
1. To explore Borders as a contemporary shopping experience – the creation of ways for people to interact, the multiplicity of choice, the democratisation of information – and its implications for both church and society.

2. For coffee, and to give space for students to interact with me in a different setting. Increasingly I am convinced that it is around informal settings that students really process material and that my task as lecturer is to both give material to process and create spaces for that processing to happen. Again today, as in my lectures last year, café space allowed far deeper learning and interaction to occur.

Ello comes to church and society

Ello-opolis

Ello-opolis came to class at summer school today. We were exploring various Bible texts; 1 Kings 4; Deuteronomy 19; 1 Sammuel 2; Hosea 2 - and how they present very diverse ways of engaging church with society. I then gave the students packs of Ello and invited them to represent these texts using Ello. A very tactile exploration of text. Students then placed their "text" on the document camera and we got these huge, blown-up, images of "text".

It went really, really well. I guess its another way of doing godly play.

Last week I offered a prize to anyone who could guess the link between Ello and Church and Society.

Entries included the following;
1. Against gender stereotyping - the blurb for the toy says "Ello pieces are easy to connect and the sets come in fun themes geared for girls."
2. Pick-and-mix spirituality - "The pieces are extremely versatile, providing endless options for all types of imaginations and moods. Bead, build and be brilliant!"
3. Unleash you creativity - "With the Ello-opolis Character Builder Set, create totally different people, places and jewelry with an assortment of exclusive character builder set pieces."
4. Building character - see above.
5. Liberation theology - Build a set of people and then remove arms and legs etc. to show the oppressive forces within society and religion.
6. Having fun with stuff.
7. Shopping for identity among the smogasboard of possibilities. There is an implicit rejection of the grand narrative and false homogenity of Barbie.
8. Identity, reality and meaning are constructs and are particular to the user. The user is able not only to construct their own reality, they are able to affirm themselves and their reality through construction (as opposed to Barbie and her singlar narrative). The dolls take on a reality that looks very similar to the users or what they would like their own reality to look like. 'a stand-alone creation system' with 110 pieces.

These are all very creative and imaginative guesses. In true postmodern spirit, this is a self-judging competition. If the contestants feel they did guess correctly and warrant a free book, then can they just email.

Church and Society Summer schooling

First day of my lecturing Church and Society at the University of Auckland Summer School; 33 students, good cultural and gender and age mix. It is really nice to be doing it in the heart of Auckland; High Court just down the street, Old Parliament buildings across the street.

Today was introductions and learning styles; then how we can find God, not only in the Bible, but also in society and church communities. After lunch we explored the various ways that church has responded to society.
complete with a few case studies including Faithless, God is a DJ and this fascinating comment on contemporary attitudes to church;

It's a pity their [church] withdrawal from society at large has become so complete they sought out a solution without communicating with society.

God is a DJ

Does anyone out there have a video of Faithless's God is a DJ, from their Sunday 8 pm album? I need it for next Wednesday, when I start a 3 week intensive on Church and Society.

I spent today doing some shopping for the course, including buying Ello-opolis.

I will give a free book with an article I wrote on Douglas Coupland, community and church to the person who can tell me how Ello-opolis will be used as a multi-media learning tool in a Church and Society lecture.

PS This generous giveaway offer does not apply to those who have heard me lecture before, especially recent Mission to the Western Mind students!