March 14, 2006

Presbyterians don't clap

I spent this evening with about 60 Presbyterians from around Christchurch. A very enjoyable evening. I was asked to provide some stimulus in terms of mission. So I talked about:
: the diversity of our contemporary cultures
: the diversity of response to Jesus at the resurrection (Peter ran, Mary loved, Thomas questioned and experienced, John thought)
: which raised the question; if Jesus met these people at their point of experience; what does it mean for us to be part of communities and spaces that similarly meet people at their point of experience?
: i then talked about the multi-congregational model we've developed at Opawa

and concluded with two concrete examples:
: espresso and
: take a kid to faith services.

Afterward they all clapped. I was then informed over a pleasant cup of tea that Presbyterians very rarely clap. So a good sign of an evening well spent.

Resources I used tonight, for those interested include:
: the multi-congregational model
: spoken words from the Lenten 40 visual resource.
: take a kid to faith services.
: espresso
: my out of bounds church? book.

(The above is quite similar to what I did with about 35 Baptists in Dunedin on Thursday evening.)

Posted by steve at March 14, 2006 10:53 PM
Comments

That's awesome :) Denominational/organizational interaction and cooperation is a huge issue on our hearts in ministry. It's a difficult thing here in the US...not sure how it is there in NZ but it's like pulling teeth here. Praise God that you are answering the call :)

Posted by: Makeesha at March 15, 2006 05:18 AM

But did the baptists clap?

Posted by: lynne at March 15, 2006 09:27 AM

I know some Presbyterians who clap. Really!

Posted by: Call Me Ishmael at March 15, 2006 11:47 AM

Of course we clap. I've clapped vigorously when someone's finished after speaking for too long :-)

Now, if they'd danced then I'd be surprised.

Posted by: Stephen at March 15, 2006 04:51 PM