Tuesday, 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.)
)
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 🙂
Comment by Makeesha — March 15, 2006 @ 5:18 am
But did the baptists clap?
Comment by lynne — March 15, 2006 @ 9:27 am
I know some Presbyterians who clap. Really!
Comment by Call Me Ishmael — 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.
Comment by Stephen — March 15, 2006 @ 4:51 pm