emergent
kiwi
In Liquid Church, Pete Ward takes a deep swim in postmodern waters. While many are just trying to dog paddle, Ward explores ways for the church to incarnationally flourish in our contemporary culture. At times the theologian in me wonders if Ward’s theology is so liquid he ignores Divine person, and thus the importance of gathering. At times the practitioner in me wonders who will fund Pete’s dreams. But the insights around spiritual desire and the creative and missional possibilities around shopping for meaning are worth the price alone. It is a provocative book in which the missionary heartbeat is undeniable. The book is well written. It is concise. It handles well. If you’re serious about being church in the postmodern world, it is worth taking the plunge.
liquid church
Coming:
Olive Drane, creativity and the image of God
Christchurch, January 04
Going:
Taylor's to Chch, Jan04
Church and Society, Auckland, Feb04
Stuff I've written:
Celebrating a Postmodern Pentecost
Sketching a postmodern missiology
Romeo/Juliet/altworship
DJing salvation
Piglet reads the Bible in a postmodern world
Coupland/community
cultural
wildflowers
1 Peter:mysogynist
or feminist
New generation/new
millenium
Church
in a global world
My further reading
art and spirituality
church ministry
postmodernity
Generation X
popular culture
gospel and culture
faith in aotearoa new zealand
Conversations that enhance me:
andrew jones up close
small ritual
douglas rushkoff
jonny baker
God-n-
club culture
paul fromont
darren rowse
Christian greenie
God-n-club culture-2
human in london
intellectually gritty
rachel cunliffe
jordon cooper (mentioned my blog 3x)
mark barkaway
Interview with:
Archives:
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
Friday, October 31, 2003
Over me head
I am speaking about this today
A postmodern monastery: the catalytic earthing of an "open-source" spirituality.
Correction. I am meant to be speaking about this today.
It was a good idea a month ago. It was a nice thought a week ago. Today I have to say something.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:25 PM
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Neutral space
Graceway meets in a public, community hall. We wanted to be public and neutral when we started. But it’s got wooden floors, all the better for toddler and two year old to make noise upon. And it’s got a high ceiling, all the better for making adult feel cold and uncomfortable. And after 8 years of pack up, pack down, of every Sunday creating ambient environments and every Sunday having to take them down, we're tired.
So we talked about moving on Sunday. Brainstormed and tossed around various ideas. Then one of our people pointed out that public space = neutral space.
And explained why this was important. They were quite skeptical of church. And it made it a whole lot easier for them to come to a church that meet in a public space. Less threatening somehow to be with a group who met on a public space, a space that no-one owned.
Which puts a dampener on having a building called church. Which puts a dampener on opening a funky café in your church. Because, like it or not, its still church to the outsider.
Which really got us thinking. (That’s the value of great questions).
Graceway wants to be flexible and relational and creative. What flexible and relational and creative “neutral space” options are open to us?
posted by spirit2go team at 5:20 PM
Re-baptism: a pastoral pondering
I’ve been pondering this case study over the week;
So you got baptised as a teenager. It meant something. But come on, a teenager. Lot of water under the bridge since then. Lots of decisions about life, sexuality, career, marriage since then.
Faith is deeper now. Much more vibrant and meaningful. Much more adult. Now would be a good time to be baptised. Now would be a real marker of an adult, life-long commitment
But its been done.
Can I be re-baptised?
Or are there other rituals the church could create to better mark the journey of faith?
posted by spirit2go team at 5:13 PM
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
To print or post?
I have had lots of requests for my PhD thesis – a critical exploration of the practices of the emerging church – complete with pictures. (Reminder – it can take 3-6 months to get from where I am today – almost ready to submit - to being examined and passed). Thankyou. I am surprised and flattered by every single expression of interest.
I am a Christian. I believe in a Triune God- life lived for the world. Part of me wants to respond to every email of interest with an attachment of my thesis. Part of me wants to place my thesis as a free download on my blog. I want people to be able to access my work.
I am a human. In the last 3 months I have twice seen stuff that I write appear credited to another author. Once was on-line. An article I wrote was quoted on a blog, and the credit both in name and link given to another “steve”. Once was off-line, when lecture notes of mine were copyrighted by another person to their book company. I am worried that the same might happen to my thesis if it is distributed on-line or via email.
I don’t know what to do. Options I have thought of include;
1. Supply it on-line and via email and trust the world.
2. Self-publish in written form- passing on the costs of photocopying and binding to you – (it would be a base price of around $10 US plus postage and handling) – but would take me time.
3. Dan Hughes suggested cafepress.com to me. I supply the thesis to them, they publish it and you can order from them from anywhere around the world. They set a base price (it would be around $15US including postage and handling).
Any other ideas? Can I self-publish on CD in a way that means people can't cut and paste from it?
posted by spirit2go team at 8:28 PM
Spirituality of a postmodern baptism
A postmodern baptism, as a child prepares to throw a rose petal into the candle-laced water.
Sunday Graceway celebrated a double baptism, husband and wife. We DJed together a range of spiritual “samples”.
We met under a looping, projected art piece called The Crossing, by Bill Viola.
It spoke of journey, of the grace of the unexpected, and the generosity of full immersion. We referenced the Didache, the ancient wisdom of those close to Jesus, their commitment to the memory of Jesus and their flexibility in ritual. We all threw rose petals into the pool (to Dave Dobbyn's Just Add Water), a sign that baptism is sacred as the body of God is gathered. We heard the story of life transformation. We anointed with oil, assuring of God’s acceptance and liberation into new life.
After the baptism, the corks flew across the church. The wet couple shared sparkling grape-juice, the first-fruits of the Kingdom. The first fruits were then passed around those gathered and the peace of God, the physical embrace of the community, offered in acceptance and joy.
It was wonderful - a foretaste of heaven in so many ways; communal, celebratory, spiritual, wholistic.
posted by spirit2go team at 3:58 PM
Monday, October 27, 2003
Live the dream
I slipped into my black “Live the Dream” T-shirt today. It was a deliberate choice in what is a very special, a very joyous day for me.
Today I cleared my desk at Carey Baptist Colleges - boxes and boxes of PhD notes, boxes and boxes of lecture notes. I am moving in the New Year to a new city, to a new training institution, to a new church ministry. Today I physically left Carey. I took down the pictures from my kids, the semester timetable and my PhD goals.
I started as a student at Carey in 1993, training for pastoral ministry. 10 years later I am finally leaving. (I am the genuine slow learner). I was lecturing (always part-time) at Carey before I had finished my pastoral training. The first essays I marked were from students who had sat beside me in class the previous year. It was not an easy transition.
It is a place I have always felt marginal in. My personal insecurities - about being young, about being so early in ministry, about lecturing my peers - were magnified in a whole range of ways.
I spent a day on retreat a few weeks ago. I took the time to “pray my goodbyes,” using a resource by Joyce Rupp. It was a fantastic experience. I leave Carey with huge joy. It would have been easy to stay, to sit with my insecurities and marginality. It took courage to leave. Today marks the end of something. Today marks the life of a new dream.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:42 PM
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Totally helpful
So I am blogging about blogging. I am changing my mind. I am re-mind-ing myself that I blog to think out-loud. I blog for myself. Others might be different. I need to respect that.
This is how good weblogs work. For the writers, for the readers, "blogging is about making and changing minds." Sure, weblogs are good for making statements, big and small. But they also force re-statement. Yes, they're opinion forming. But they are equally good at unforming opinion, breaking it down, stretching it out, re-building it around new stuff.
from here.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:41 PM
Is blogging ego-centric?
There is a lot of blogging about blogging. There is software like blogshares that I struggle to understand. There are a lot of boring blogs - mine included at the moment. There is a lot of talk about keeping blog-readers longer on your blog.
It all seems self-referencing and somehow against what attracted me to blogging - that desire for community and networks.
Or am I just tired?
posted by spirit2go team at 2:31 PM
[us]-centric or ...
the Vicar of Saint Luke's Anglican Church (and of course the founding drinker at Holy Joe's) still has something to say--even to us yanks. From a review here.
The phrase "even to us yanks" sounds a touch [us]-centric to me. Or is language being used in a different way at this point?
posted by spirit2go team at 2:25 PM
Friday, October 24, 2003
It is finished
Dear Steve,
As promised, I've now finished reading through your thesis. It has been a pleasure to see how it hangs together as a whole. And the writing style is much more accessible - your father in law's influence?
Congratulations. You started off with a mammoth task, one which constantly threatened to get away on you. And now you have marshalled all that exploration into a coherent whole. It remains to be seen what examiners will think of it, but from my perspective as one of the supervisors, it is definitely ready for submission. This is an important piece of work, masterfully handled.
Mike Riddell
posted by spirit2go team at 2:40 PM
Thursday, October 23, 2003
First draft: postmodern baptism
This is my first go at a postmodern baptismal ritual for Sunday - seeking to be connective, tactile and communal. Feedback welcomed.
Central image: Bill Viola– The Crossing, 1996
Introduction
Some words about water - life-giving- cleansing - connective with God’s Christian tribe
Blessing of water
Everyone throw into baptistery handful of rose petals or bath salts
(music: Just add water by Dave Dobbyn)
The telling
Mark and Phillipa’s journey to this point
Signing of the Cross
The sign of the cross is made on their forehead:
Christ embraces you: receive the sign of his cross.
Always remember that
you are beautiful in the sight of God;
the mark of Christ is upon you:
walk free and open your heart to life,
for the Spirit journeys with you into each new day.
Words into baptistery:
Question for each step down into baptistery. Candles on each step
Do you follow Christ? I follow Christ.
Do you repent of your sins? I repent of my sins.
Do you renounce evil? I renounce evil.
On confession of your faith
I baptise you in the name of Jesus
in the name of the Father who is Creator, and of the Son who is Redeemer
and of the Spirit who is Sustainer. Amen.
Gift given Welcome to the community of faith
(music: Racing Away 1 Giant Leap)
Peace Having welcomed the newly baptised into the church of
Christ, let us share with him/her/them a sign of peace:
The peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
The people share the peace with the newly baptised and
with one another.
posted by spirit2go team at 6:18 PM
New Book of the month feature
One of the gifts of my PhD was a lot of time to read. As a way of passing on that gift, I have included for a number of months book lists on the lefthand side of the blog, title "My further reading". As a way of further sharing that gift-of-reading-time, I have added a "book of the month feature" and I will offer a short opinion on various books. There is a link to Amazon, and yes, if it works, Amazon will "tip" me for the link.
First book - Wards Liquid Church. In Liquid Church, Pete Ward takes a deep swim in postmodern waters. While many are just trying to dog paddle, Ward explores ways for the church to incarnationally flourish in our contemporary culture. At times the theologian in me wonders if Ward’s theology is so liquid he ignores Divine person, and thus the importance of gathering. At times the practitioner in me wonders who will fund Pete’s dreams. But the insights around spiritual desire and the creative and missional possibilities around shopping for meaning are worth the price alone. It is a provocative book in which the missionary heartbeat is undeniable. The book is well written. It is concise. It handles well. If you’re serious about being church in the postmodern world, it is worth taking the plunge.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:13 AM
A Church Salary cap?This is a playful piece I did on the radio this week. I have been wondering if the church in New Zealand needs a salary cap. I explore what it would mean to think Kingdom in relation to church; large and small. For more go here
posted by spirit2go team at 1:07 AM
Lost posts
I seem to have lost on my blog my archives of posts from May on. Any idea where beloved blogger might have stuck them?
posted by spirit2go team at 12:58 AM
>> the labour weekend >> road journey >> Sunday, 26th >> October
4:00 pm >> meet outside Ellerslie War Memorial Hall
Take time to thank God for Hall. Collect road pack and car pool.
(road music, road food, road resources. If you can’t make the Hall, and still want the road pack, contact me)
4:15-4:45 pm >> pleasant country drive
Get off at Pukekohe/Drury offramp. Turn right. Travel for about 5 km. The church is on the right hand side. It is called Karaka Family church. If you find a Caltex Service Station, you have gone too far.
5:00-6:00 pm >> kick “small, white, wooden” church tires # 1
Enjoy bring and share picnic tea. Worship, Biblical reflection on road journey.
6:00-6:45 pm >> drive to Balmoral
Get off at Greenlane offramp. Travel along Greenlane West. Turn left into Dominion Road. Balmoral Baptist is on the left (corner of Queens and Dominion). Turn left into Queens Road for parking.
6:45-7:15 pm >> kick “another” church tires # 2
Baptism of Mark and Phillipa. Coffee, cake and discussion
Why the road journey? Well it is Labour Weekend - time for fun. Christians often go “walking, following, on pilgrimage.” And at various times over the last year Graceway has talked about doing church in other places. But is the grass greener on the other side? The road journey is a chance to explore other spaces.
Why would you think about other spaces? The Hall does have some disadvantages; it is a transitional space, it is echoey and noisey; it is “big” and tends to work against our desire to be relational; it can be difficult to book and pay for extra things – like Enliven, Soulstice, Ambient space, art exhibitions, spirituality2go. It would be great to have a place that was warm, communal and allowed us to run things during the week.
So what are our options? Well, Carey Baptist College have offered us free land, if we could find a historical feeling church – “small, white and wooden”. This would require money, but would give us a permanent home close to the motorway and Ellerslie. And then Balmoral Baptist (where the church has an office for storage and for our pastoral people to work from) has offered to share their premises with us. This would take us out of Ellerslie, mean more travel for some, could cause us to lose our distinct identity, but would be cheaper and allow us to do more during the week.
So is Graceway moving? No. We merely want to contrast what we have now with other options. Then we can have a more informed discussion.
posted by spirit2go team at 12:38 AM
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Last week
This is a week I have been looking forward to for a LONG time. It is my last week of lecturing at Carey Baptist College. I have been teaching 3 papers this semester (a normal full-time workload is 2 papers). Plus I have been finishing my thesis, and various church stuff. It has been a hell period. In about 3 hours I take my last class out for coffee and it is done.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:37 PM
Globalisation
According to my tracking stats, I have visitors from 15 of the 24 timezones in the world; US, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
I don't think I'll ever nail Greenland, but I am missing punters in South America and Eurasia.
Do any of you know of emerging church interest in South America and Eurasia (I am aware of post-Pentecostal groups in Brazil that are highly art and cultural focused)?
posted by spirit2go team at 2:31 PM
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
My 6 year old got it
On Sunday we offered a workshop – Spiritual journeying with kids.
We offered an hour of praying with kids, about 20 activities scattered round the room, adults and childs praying together.
Peeling and eating manderins and thanking God
Pegging paper T-shirts to the washing line and praying
Lego, seeds, felts - scattered over the floor.
We then fired up the bouncy castle and while the kids let off steam, the adults discussed together the highs and lows of walking with children in their spiritual journey.
Today I drove my 6 year old to school. She was full of how great Sunday church was,
“It was good cos it wasn’t everyone gathered listening to you daddy. We were all off doing the fun things we wanted to do. But you had still organised everything”.
My 6 old has captured the rhythm of a de-centred spirituality; The church funding people to experience God individually.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:46 PM
Emergent tattooed on the butt:
but please don't turn the other cheek
You know the feeling. You rant on the blog, hoping you’re wrong. You spout you’re piece, hoping you won’t ever see it.
Last week I blogged about my fears- my fears that the emerging church will be the emperor that can’t find its new clothes.
That God’s finger beckons in a new world, offering us a more imaged, communal, participatory, juxtaposed way of loving Jesus. But I get worried we won't follow. We'll just take the same old good time religion and dress it up on powerpoint. Call ourselves postmodern in style only, and miss the new moves, the new sonic resonnaces with ancient wisdom. I fear, but I was hope-ful.
Today I read this.
They had an icon on the screen during the sermon which was really neat. I found myself staring at it a lot. Especially when the pastor wandered off into some kind of "I don't know theology but I need to pretend I do" thing. He spoke for an HOUR AND A HALF … He went off on a pretty heavy evangelical rant which pretty much turned us all off … It was very early 80's calvary chapel … He asked the dreaded "Did you read your Bible today?" question and had no patience for Questions or Journeying or exploration … Then they had communion, which he gave no introduction to.…. It is so much the same old thing. They dress it up with candles and cool slides and icons but it's the same old thing. The Emporer is still butt naked underneath.
Emergent church, iconic, sexy enough to have emergent tattooed on the butt – in Helvetice neuro font no less. Emergent church, stands in all its glory, and preaches for 90 minutes. And it’s not just the length (of time), it’s the sheer repetition of boot-lace, un-gracious, modernity.
Last week I fear and hoped. Today, I just fear.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:36 PM
Monday, October 20, 2003
German link
My warehouse dream - has been applauded in Australia, in UK, and now in Hamburg, Germany. I sense a new gobal emerging form: warehouse church.
I also sense we all need big financial backers!
posted by spirit2go team at 3:05 PM
This blog is tired
I had over 540 visitors last week, nearly 80/day. That's a lot of interest, mainly around my Emerging churches don't save post. Thanks for all your interest.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:07 PM
Re-mixing gospel and postmodern culture # 1 - Fragmentation
Fragmentation. It’s an essential feature of postmodernism. Whether its ever-decreasing soundbites, video montage, Derrida’s deconstruction or Lyotard’s “incredulity toward metanarratives” if you’re thinking postmodernity, think fragmentation.
Psalm 40
Don’t hold back pieces of love and truth
The missional task of God
To offer fragments, pieces of God
God re-mixed
Enculturated
through our lives and our communities.
To relinquish our claims to know the big picture
and humbly offer what we have experienced.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:04 PM
Postmodern baptism
Graceway is holding a double baptism this Sunday. (Even if emerging churches don't save people!)
Any ideas or resources that you'd like to suggest - music or symbols that might help my worship "DJing"?
posted by spirit2go team at 11:23 AM
Sunday, October 19, 2003
Looking good
View on Friday from Skytower in Auckland (the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere).
posted by spirit2go team at 4:06 PM
Friday, October 17, 2003
The dream
A warehouse
I live on the 2nd floor
And on the first - coffee, library, art work-spaces (low rent in exchange for doing combined community art projects)
art exhibition space as prayer chapel for "spirituality2go"
posted by spirit2go team at 4:30 PM
neo-penty-logue
Intuition
Creativity in chaos
Integrating fragmentation
In culture,
enculturated
"You have a well-developed pneumatology (theology of the Spirit)" the stranger announced.
I am thinking a lot about the Spirit at the moment. Not revival Spirit stuff, but what a theology of Spirit will mean for postmodern mission.
What have you found helpful that you suggest I should read?
posted by spirit2go team at 4:27 PM
Thursday, October 16, 2003
New name for blog
Def : Dribble - the gap between dream and reality
posted by spirit2go team at 6:23 PM
retro-penty-logue
every now and then when reading one of your entries.. I find myself punching the air - n going -- YUS!!! - it must be my early pentecostal dookin returning!
Paul thomson - wee pict dancing in Edinburgh
posted by spirit2go team at 6:21 PM
Note to self
- A postmodern monastery:
the catalytic earthing of an "open-source" spirituality
posted by spirit2go team at 2:23 PM
Journey music :: Road worship
I need suggestions of road music, and of favourite things you like to do on the road!
Next weekend (Sunday 26) Graceway are making a road journey. We are going on a church crawl. We are going to worship in 2 different churches, checking out their suitability as another worship venue.
We meet in a community hall currently. There have been some critical comments - that its echoey and noisy, that its "cold" and works against our relational values. So we are going to be try-before-we-buy as it were, to be church in another place and see if the upsides outweigh downsides.
I want to give each car a road pack - things to listen to and enjoy as we drive - fun - shared - etc. Any ideas?
posted by spirit2go team at 1:56 PM
Learning opportunity
Church and society :: A critical examination of the relationship between church and society in Aotearoa New Zealand today.
I am teaching this course as a block-course at Auckland University over the summer. Wednesday/Thursday/Friday for 3 weeks in early February.
The best thing is, the Head of School has waived pre-requisites. So any of you blog readers who want to spend the late summer thinking, visiting art galleries and inner-city churches and shopping malls, reading New Zealand poetry, critically responding to Pete Ward's Liquid Church, watching videos and bouncing around God and society ...
... well, you can.
Contact University of Auckland, School of Theology, for enrolment details.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:51 PM
Any Wellington readers out there?
I'm in Wellington weekend of November 6-9. I am after a bed, close to city centre. You'll have to be able to prove to my wife you're not a wierdo. Any takers?
posted by spirit2go team at 2:50 AM
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Clearly now
Icon/Ikon
Window/Screen
Mirror/Glass
Shades/Reflector
To enter Kingdom
Become like child
They blinked
Returned to Caputo
Drank vodka
Wiped beaded condensation
Off clear glass
" What the “ferk”," said the large man, laughing, slapping his fleshy thigh, as his Guinness shook and slopped on the floor of the Irish local.
I wrote this after surfing this.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:27 PM
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Does the emperor have any new clothes?
One of the things that worries me about the emerging church is that we will never find our new clothes.
One of the insights essential to postmodernity is that new technologies will change the way people think. The man who coined the term, postmodern, was Jean-Francis Lyotard. His book, The Postmodern Condition, studied the impact of computer technology on how people think. I’ll repeat that. He studied the impact of technology on how people think. His conclusion was; the postmodern human condition, an incredulity toward big stories (metanarratives).
The danger is that the emerging church is a re-run of evangelicalism, but with powerpoint. We’ll keep trotting out the same words, without thoughtful reflection on our faith in light of new technology. We’ll remain caught up with our words and our retro-theologues. We’ll never consider image, community and chaos in our theology; what Christ as the Image of God might mean (Colossians 1:15), on the impact of revelation in community (Emmaus Road), on the power of chaos to invite new ways of being (Genesis 1).
And so the emerging church will be the emperor with no new clothes. Sure some new visuals. Sure a coffee machine in the foyer. Sure a few more loose community gatherings. But underneath the same jaded offerings of modernity.
(Mind you, power point and coffee can be subversive. If technology does change the way we think, a church that moves to powerpoint and roaster might well be on the slippery slope to a more relational and image-based theology.)
I am not keen on novelty for novelty’s sake, newness for newness sake. I just believe that a brave new world brings us some gifts. The Spirit is at work outside the church. The Spirit is at work in the culture. Postmodernity will bring gifts, new ways to see, understand, theologise, talk about God. The ancient resources of Scripture and tradition will resonate in new ways.
A theology with new clothes. Not for novelty’s sake. Not for technology’s sake. But for the sake of obedience to the beckoning finger of God.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:41 PM
Monday, October 13, 2003
Lotsa traffic
Lots of traffic and comments re my rant on Emerging Church not seeing people saved. I have a few thoughts, well a lot of thoughts actually, on what "evangelism" will look like in the emerging church, which I might get around to posting some time (being reconstructive as well as deconstructive you know). If the topic burns you, you might also like to read a post I did last week on spam evangelism.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:05 PM
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Fellow sojourner
Rosemary Neave, sometimes seen across table from me at my local cafe, has a blog.
Good stuff
Some of the best club culture spiritual community I saw in the UK was done by Paul. I really admire him. He's blogging here.
posted by spirit2go team at 6:02 AM
Emerging churches are not seeing people saved
I’ve seen this comment on a number of blogs and heard it on a number of lips. It really makes me mad.
1. Why are we playing modernist games? Modernists tend to values numbers. So counting churches, salvations etc is part of the deal. Postmodernists, well, we like to nourish community and authenticity. How do you count those values?
2. Honey, who shrunk the gospel? Jesus died so that all the broken and dislocated pieces of the Universe might be put back together (Colossians 1:18). I refuse to be part of reducing that to individual salvation.
3. History. It took the New Zealand Baptists over 100 years to see fruit in some foreign mission fields. Now church growth is rampant. Why are people in such a hurry to judge the emerging church?
4. Context. We live in this strange period of time when the bottom has just fallen out of the Western church. Thousands leave every day. Decline is the norm. In the meantime, some of us have smelt the air of cultural change. Like a dog aware of a storm, we are pacing the room, hair on end, growling. Most people would just thank the dog for the warning. Not so the emerging church. We are also meant to be growing while the rest of the Western church is in decline.
I have been shamed this year. For years I have beaten myself up over the statement “Emerging churches are not seeing people saved.” I have agonised and searched for fruit. In the meantime, God has been quietly at work in the hearts of unchurched postmoderns around me. They have gently come to me, asking to be baptised. I have stood beside them at that moment, shamed by my lack of patience in the grace of God.
Having said this, the emerging church does have some missiological problems. We have not fully shaken off modern theology and modern ways of constructing church. Some of us are not yet fully healed from our experiences amid the so-called spiritual wells of the modern, evangelical church. Many of us are too busy blogging or reading to drink a red wine with our unchurched neighbour. But I trust in God for the future of the emerging church. In time, God will work.
For today, I wish to reject the urban myth “Emerging churches are not seeing people saved.” It’s unfair, sub-theological and it is way past time modernity went to bed.
posted by spirit2go team at 5:24 AM
Prophet
I met a prophet
not a - flowerly God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life - prophet
not a - Thus Saith the Lord in ridiculously oldfashioned language - prophet
not a - revival will come tomorrow - prophet
but a - real live
truth
justice
holding a black and white mirror to your actions
denouncing profit
- prophet
posted by spirit2go team at 1:43 AM
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Seriously
A father was at the beach with his children when the four-year old son ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore, where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
"Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked.
"He died and went to Heaven," the dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
"Did God throw him back down?"
posted by spirit2go team at 6:12 PM
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Building a Kiwi Spirituality
Reflections on Natures Best No 2 - Crowded House, Don't Dream It's Over.
Sunday, Graceway, 6:16 pm.
posted by spirit2go team at 9:45 PM
Vision statements
Been doing some research on the band Crowded House. I read this about their final concert.
“That ocean of humanity said more about Crowded House than perhaps they even realised. It said that here was a band that bridged gaps, that unified – not separated, that said it was okay to be human, that we all have our foibles and our dark sides. That love and life are grand.”
Which would make quite a good vision statement for a church.
"Church bridges gaps, unifies, not separates, says it’s okay to be human, that we all have our foibles and our dark sides. That love and life are grand.”
posted by spirit2go team at 9:44 PM
Monasticism: old or new?
They kept their mouths shut, for the most part, because people were constantly seeking them out for their wisdom accumulated from lives of unceasing prayer. They ate little and loved a lot and were known for their charity toward everyone.
My hunch is that they have something to teach those of us who have refused to abandon ship, who are still bailing water and patching holes and looking for God in the gorgeous wrecks of our cities.
:: Quote from Looking for God in the City, by Barbara Taylor
posted by spirit2go team at 1:37 PM
Spiritual journeying with Children
Be better equipped to nourish children’s spirituality
Gain practical ideas on how to pray with kids
Gather resources to help children treasure nature, relationships, questions and God.
October 19th, 3:30-5:30 pm, Ellerslie War Memorial Hall
With Caroline Gamman ... parent, teacher, children’s author, pastor
Session 1 - Spiritual journeying with children – Interactive
This session will allow us to experience the spiritual journey with children. Different ways to pray with children will be offered. Adults and children, or adults alone, can journey through the different activities. Everything used would be accessible to a regular family…. Things from the kitchen, the garage, the toybox, the recycle rubbish.
Session 2 -Spiritual journeying with children – Understanding
This session will explore the principles of how we journey spiritually with our children. It will draw on the metaphor of a physical journey with children and will include exploration of the place relationships, stories, creation, giving in a global world, questioning, praying. During this session, kids will be catered for separately.
Enquiries to Steve Taylor, 6222437, info@graceway.org.nz. Cost $5.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:41 AM
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
With a whimper
On September 9th I posted my PhD thesis off to my father-in-law for a final editorial read. He returned it last week. I have been correcting a lot of punctuation since then. Last nite at 10:30 pm the thesis slid off the printer and today it is being sent to my PhD Supervisors for their final tick of approval.
This has occurred in the midst of lecturing 3 times this week, plus various church responsibilities, and the builders working on our bathroom. I barely have time to think, let alone celebrate this milestone. With barely a whimper, the PhD (mission and worship in postmodern culture - a critical examination of the practices of the emerging church) has jumped another hurdle and is now poised for examination.
This is not good. Life is for celebrating, not whimpering. Christians, particularly Evangelical Christians, are damned good at doing, at working, and very poor at enjoying. They are good at following Jesus to the cross, but very hesitant about joining Jesus at a good party, especially where the wine is free and made by the Gift of Life.
The only consolation is that my partner brought home a bottle of pinot noir on Sunday. It is poised, panting for a free night. It is burbling, hissing, speaking mysteries, teasing of time to relax and truly appreciate life's whimpers.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:24 PM
Spam Evangelism
My name is Spam.
Spam I Am.
I have some stuff I'd like to sell.
Take a look! It's really swell!
I do not want your worthless spam.
I do not want it, Spam I Am.
Spam I Am:
$500 software that really rocks!
Just 20 bucks--still in the box!
You are really full of bunk.
I do not want your bootleg junk!
I do not want your worthless Spam.
I do not want it Spam I Am.
Spam I Am:
How about some fast cash?
Fifty Thousand in a flash!!!
How stupid do you think I am?
I won't join your shady scam.
You are a sucker, you silly gitch.
If it worked, we'd all be rich!
I do not want your worthless spam.
I do not want it Spam I Am.
Stop it Spam. Enough's enough.
I do not want your trashy stuff!
I do not want your damn spam!
I do not want it Spam I Am!
That’s a little piece of Doctor Suess I found on here
Spam. Do you get a lot of it?
Spam. It clogs up our in-boxes. It’s taken all the joy out of email.
We now go on-line with dread,
wondering how many organ extensions and sexual enhancements we’ll get offered.
Sit with those Spam feelings for the rest of my soapbox. Sit with those feelings of rage at spammers.
Now think about evangelism. I am wondering how often our Christian attempts at evangelism actually feel like spam.
Leaflets stuck in a letterbox
Little black books
Words shouted on a street corner
We as Christians claim that these are the words of eternal life. And they are. But how often do we communicate them in a way that feels like spam to those who receive them.
Any spammer will swear they are
Just offering a service
Just giving us a chance to say no
It’s really important so they just have to tell everyone.
That for every million emails they send, if just one makes a sale, it’s been worth it.
All these reasons sound familiar. All these are reasons I’ve heard in evangelism seminars.
That people need to hear
That it’s really important
That God’s word never returns void
So on the one hand we have the words of eternal life. On the other, we don’t like spam. And we never want people to feel rage at receiving the words of eternal life
So are there any positive internet evangelism images?
Well, personally I like the idea of evangelism as open source code.
Open source code offers free software. Rather than pay hundreds of dollars to Microsoft, open source code lets you download software for free.
People find open source code because they hear about it by word of mouth. “Hey, have you heard about open source. It’s free, it works and it’s good value.”
Further, open source gives you a chance to participate in making more free software. As a way of saying thanks, you can join the open source community. You can write software, check new versions, answer other people’s queries, write instruction manuals; a range of tasks to suit a range of skills and gifts.
Open source code.
It’s free,
You hear about it by word of mouth
And it includes a chance to participate.
In John 4, Jesus meets a woman at the well. It’s often used as the standard model for evangelism.
Is this spam or open source?
Well, its certainly not spam. Jesus asks for help, for some water, rather than offer a sale. Jesus starts with were the woman is at. And the woman ends up feeling joyfully empowerment rather than frustrated in rage. So Jesus is not into unwanted spam evangelism.
Open source?
Well Jesus offers living water bubbling up for eternal life.
And there’s a lot of talk about word of mouth reputations in John 4.
And Jesus offers her the chance to participate, to worship in spirit and in truth.
Less Christian spam evangelism.
More open, participatory communities of Christian faith.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:33 AM
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Colours of the Incarnation
I took a retreat day late last weekend. As part of the day, I coloured the Incarnation. I used colours, pastels, to express Luke 1.
Luke 1 has always been a very significant text for me - I just love the interplay of barrenness and birth; faith and despair.
Artist I ain't, but it was a very helpful exercise to constrain myself to use colour only to express Life. It was also great to use pastels; to get fingers dirty as I tactiley engaged with Incarnation.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:33 PM
Monday, October 06, 2003
Spirituality en-culture
Today the University class I lecture (Mission to the Western Mind) is exploring spirituality.
We will go to a cafe together (coffees on me) and will read Douglas Coupland. We will enjoy the ending to Life after God; when the transcendent is found in nature. We will celebrate Christmas in Generation X, when candles are lit all over the house.
I have set them 2 questions:
What are the pathways by which meaning is found?
What might this mean for mission and worship?
posted by spirit2go team at 4:15 PM
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Gender and the emerging church
The lack of women in the emerging church has been a discussion at the ooze, at living room and at Rachel's blog. I have spent the weekend pondering this issue, in between putting sick kids to bed. Having now done the ironing, let me add my two cents worth.
It is a fact that women are under-represented in the emerging church. So who to blame?
The SEXist church. An easy target, nameless, big enough to hit, and with a fine history of exclusion. However, I always thought the point of the emerging church was to move beyond the church as it exists in modernity. In fact, most of the best emerging churches I know owe very little loyalty to the established church. It is courageous individuals who have started something alone, independent of a modern mother church gifting life and finance. (In fact, Steve’s first law of entreprenurialism says that the further you are away from the institution, the more likely you are to be postmodernly sustainable and effective in mission.) As Robert Webber says, start your own. So the modern mother church can’t be blocking women from ministry if we’re all starting up.
What about the culture? After all, that is who the emerging church is trying to reach. That mass of postmoderns; spiritual, consumptive, tolerant, diverse. Hmmm. Would they ignore someone’s gifts because she was a woman? The words, the acts, the visuals of eternal life denied in postmodern culture because of gender. I doubt it.
So who else to blame? The Sexist ooze moderators. Yes, Spencer Burke and Jordon Cooper, who have so much spare time, they plot ways to exclude women on this blog? I doubt it, and they are welcome to clarify the issue.
What about the deeper issue, the emerging church linked with white, middle-class technology. Boys with their wi-fi and flash! Boys attracting boys with their lastest piece of technology? Perhaps. I’d love to know of the gender ratio of web-designers and video animators in the culture. Can anyone tell me?
Let me finish with a conversation. A number of emerging church leaders in New Zealand gathered in August to discuss Pete Ward’s Liquid Church.
>>”Does Liquid Church further the male zone because it prizes entrepreneurs and they are often male”, asked a female EC pastor.
>> “Does Liquid Church exclude men because the future is a relational, networked, and men are often more task focused”, asked a male EC pastor.
>> “I have found a rare degree of acceptance in this forum, and far greater opportunities on the edge of the church anyhow”, replied a young female leader.
And this is my point. Anyone can start a blog. Anyone can plant a church. Emerging church is all about the new, about living in the culture, about stepping into the tomorrow. It is opportunity.
If there is a gender imbalance, perhaps the best people to fix it are those who feel excluded, stepping up to offer the words of eternal life.
Enough. I must go and feed my children.
posted by spirit2go team at 5:14 PM
Telling stories
“The identity of the narrative self is, consequently, one that cannot be taken for granted. It must be ceaselessly reinterpreted by imagination. To reply to the question ‘who?’, is to tell one’s story to the other. And the story is always one which narrates a relation to the other, a tale of creation and obligation that never comes to an end.” Richard Kearney, The Wake of the Imagination. 395.
The flicker of being human
[V]ideo can help us gain new slants on the world, new ways of seeing. It can capture more of the tumult and confusions of contemporary life than tend to fit in lines of type. Through its ability to step back from scenes and jump easily between scenes, video can also facilitate new, or at least previously underused, ways of thinking … I believe video too will prove “a recipe” for new kinds of “wisdom. Stephens, The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word, 18, 19
Video=more knowing
“We frequently bemoan the shrinking of attention spans; we almost never celebrate its corollary, which is the expansion in the amount of information or impressions that can be taken in in a short span of time.” Stephens, The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word, 154.
“Much of the potential of the new video as an artistic and intellectual tool lies in these … juxtapositions. And the ease and frequency with which they arrive in fast-cut moving images opens up the possibility that more profound concepts might arise and longer arguments might be assembled. It opens up the possibility of … “intellectual” video.” Stephens, The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word, 182.
posted by spirit2go team at 3:26 AM
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Via
theyblinked
a field or a fountain or a statue that gets nothing from the space they open to others
This is a nice metaphor for Incarnation, a space open to others. Jesus comes to earth and in so doing, opens a space for humanity, in God.
posted by spirit2go team at 4:43 PM
Friday, October 03, 2003
Downloading spiritual product
I've blogged off and on about the missional task of the church today, in a postmodern world, being to distribute spiritual product.
Myargument is that if society today has become individualised, and if consumption is now a primary way by which people confer meaning, then part of Incarnational mission is to co-operate with these routes of meaning by entreprenuerially offering what nourishes us inside the church for the world.
I've had a variety of reactions; from selling out to,
well, to selling out.
Every now and again I see an example of what I dream of. Two New Zealanders have just released a free download on the internet. With a budget of $800 they created a movie for the internet. It's 15 minutes long. It was shot on a Sony Handycam. It is a 170 or 135 megabyte download. It has been downloaded 70,000 times, over 3.3 terabytes of data.
This makes it New Zealand's most successful film. For $800, for doing a good job, being creative and offering it on the net. That's our future people. That's offering creative product to the world.
So when is the emerging church going to stop accusing me of selling out, and start thinking about what creative spiritual product we can offer the world.
When are we going to create good enough video loops, that 70,000 people will download them for free.
For more read here.
posted by spirit2go team at 3:27 PM
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Graceway front page
Graceway's Easter is front page on the new emerging church info site. The full article is here. And if you want all the pictures, try here.
Question: With the appearance of a UK based emerging church info site; does this mean a significant cultural shift from alt.worship to emerging? How does www.alternativeworship.org feel about all this?
posted by spirit2go team at 11:15 PM
Loyal
Last week I argued that it is Biblical to not always use the Bible.
Jesus uses the stuff of life; parables about weddings and parties and investments.
So should we.
I got a range of responses, from mad heretic to madly helpful.
But its one thing talking about the way of Jesus.
It’s another thing acting in the way of Jesus.
So I have challenged myself; can I use the stuff of life; the stuff of our Kiwi life to talk about God.
Turn with me to our text for today; Loyal, by Dave Dobbyn.
Voted NZ’s 3rd best song ever.
The first question is which version of Loyal are we talking about.
The 1988 orginal version of Loyal, from Loyal album?
Dobbyn wrote of this version of Loyal:
people get married to this one - some get buried to it - either way loyalty's a noble virtue -
A song about loyalty in relationships.
Or are we talking about the 2003 version, Loyal?
The “Forever Loyal: The Official Team NZ Album” ; re-recorded and released, to present Team NZ as young, contemporary and fresh.. according to their press release
The song that was even described as 'New Zealand's new national anthem'.
Loyal. It’s no longer a song about relationships, but an advertising plea for national identity.
An interesting notion isn’t it; advertising loyal national identity.
A number of postmodern thinkers are very cynical, very arms-folded, about the impact of a loyal national identity.
Look at Rwanda – one constructed nation, deeply divided on tribal lines.
A loyal national identity is so often an external colonial imposition.
A loyal national identity is so often used to seek loyalty in a higher cause; to send people to war.
And we know. We don’t need postmodern thinkers to express our dates about advertising a loyal national identity.
This year, this summer, this Americas Cup, we’ve experienced commercial nationalism and commercial advertising PR. Loyal national identity for what, - a boat race.
This is the problem with loyal national identity. It PR wallpapers the cracks. It masks dissent. It turns questions, concerns, into dis-loyalty. When is it disloyal to say we don't agree with something?
National loyalty that wall papers the cracks.
We don’t need to read the postmodern books. We know. We’ve experienced the imposition of national loyalty.
Loyal. As Dobbyn sings “Out in the battle, gunfire anew, Where does allegiance lie?"
Loyal. But not in nationalism.
Where to for loyalty,
post-2003 America’s Cup Loyal campaign?
I’ve been reading a French thinker called Nancy recently. Rather an unfortunate name, Nancy, that hides a very good brain.
Nancy writes about community in postmodern world. He is very dismissive of modern, national imposed community. He points out the way it wallpapers the cracks. It masks dissent. It turns questions, concerns, into dis-loyalty.
So instead, Nancy argues for community as a shared experience of brokenness. What he calls a being-in-common.
Nancy argues that the essential task of being human is to realise our limitations.
To realise that we are finite, that we will die, that we will stuff things up, that we will hurt people.
This awareness of our brokenness is then shared with others who also realise that they are broken. Community, loyalty, in shared human brokenness.
Take, eat, this is my body broken for you. Famous words from a last meal Jesus is sharing with friends. Jesus is about to leave. Loyalty will be at a premium.
Was Jesus tempted to impose loyalty?
to seek to a vision statement, to construct a wee advertising jingle.
A fishing boat, painted black, with 12 sailors, Jesus wearing red socks.
Images of kids in Galilee waving flags.
Take eat, this is my body broken for you.
Judas you might betray me. Peter you might betray me.
So rather than seek for national advertising loyalty, lets share our brokenness.
My body. Take, Eat. As you do, remember we are broken.
We are finite. We will die. We will stuff things up.
Loyalty.
National or broken?
Loyal is the song that big business stole from us kiwis.
maybe its time Christians stole it back.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:00 PM