Category Archives: Zzzz … Old Stuff

Is emerging church painting over the cracks??

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Since Off the Beaten Track was published I have been having some interesting conversations around emerging church and redefining church. I am in the process of putting something together around the issue. I asked Jonny Baker for his thoughts about my thoughts of the need for a more radical rethinking of church and how this fits into what is currently going on. His reply was “There is no emerging church take on church… It is a range from trying to transition existing churches to a complete reimaginging of church. It’s a series of conversations people are having. If you don’t think it goes far enough you just join in the conversationâ€?

I guess my feeling coming from a missionary minded perspective is that a lot of the “reimagingingâ€? if far more about what is DONE in church (which a friend described as rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic) than a true reimagining of WHAT IS CHURCH. There is very little evidence of a wholesale paradigm shift rooted in theology that is “reimaginingâ€? what church is. Off the Beaten Track led to more of this reimagining and the metaphor – “church is both the city on hill and the journey to that cityâ€? So to get me in on the conversation and to get a broader view I have taken the first story from the book and posed a question.

A highly skilled draughtsman decided to try to turn his hand to portraits. After all he was able to reproduce technical drawings in minute detail, and he reasoned that if he applied the same skills to his painting, the likeness would be accurate and exact. He started with his family and sure enough the reproductions were exact, as good as a photograph and yet he and all who saw them knew there was something missing. On meeting a famous painter one day he explained the problem and was advised that he needed to start with the soul not the image. “What do I paint then� asked the draughtsman.

“Forget the rules and the reproduction, remember the past, embrace the present but realise and paint the future� replied the artist.

What do we need to paint in relation to church?
Is the emerging church just painting over the cracks?

D3parture

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Check out a mate of mine’s site today with a great a post of some retro Christian merchandising http://www.d3parture.blogspot.com/
Ben is a great mate and having just discovered his blog and his comment on my last post about labels, it reminds me how much we need to stay in touch with the people who matter to us, but how easy it is to let things slip. Some years ago I was chatting with a female friend how different friendship is for men and women, and how men can not see each other for years but still pick up where they left off. Her experience was very different Venus and Mars I think!

Label shorthand

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Labels are just short hand to save time in description. The trouble is when we start living up to the stereotype of that label. I have also posted a link to Georginas blog take “a dip in the deepend” you might label her a feminist, but that would just be lazy shorthand.

Constructive Deconstruction

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Bill Vaunghan said “if there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it’s another nonconformist who doesn’t conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity”. I have been thinking about my journey and how much easier it is to deconstruct ideas, situations and concepts than offer alternatives. I can be hard on people who don’t offer suggestions or new approaches. Maybe critism is just that and constructive critism is when suggestions for change are offered. Disillusionment and dissatisfaction are powerful tools for change, but can easily promote inertia. Time for more constructive deconstruction, me thinks!

…..afflict the comfortable

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Today I went to a conference on Funding in the South West. It was generally very good and amongst other things we heard from the CEO of the Big Lottery Fund, which has replaced the New Opportunities Fund and Community Fund. The new young people’s fund has been launched £200million to be distributed – priorities on Disadvantage, Proven young peoples involvement at all levels, Innovation, Demand led. Although some big questions raised on how much may be top sliced from the overall Big Lottery Fund (£600million) if London wins it bid to host the Olympics.

There was also a really good introduction to fundraising session by Jonathan Farnhill who used to work at the Salmon Centre. I also went to a session on income generation which had some good inputs. We were told that the slides from the workshops would be going up on web at www.creatingexcellence.org.uk but I haven’t seen them there yet. Two great quotes Jonathan used:- “Art is not a mirror to reflect reality but a hammer with which to smash it� Brecht. Secondly from Gilbran “If you cant comfort the afflicted – afflict the comfortable�

This worked surprisingly well

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I ran this session at a group in Bristol recently as was surprised it went down so well. It was quite risky as I didn’t know the group well. Hearing God in the world.doc

I am off to do a session at the Youthwork conference tomorrow and came across the following image. It has been a fairly mixed up process in preping for the conference and still unsure how I feel so thought the image quite apt.

Heresy understood

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I came across a quote by Soren Kierkegaard who said “life is lived forward but understood backward�. On one hand it could be just hindsight, but I like the intentionality of living your life forward, rather than just passing through. I have posted up the info about The FaSt Game which we developed over 5 years ago. At the time I was getting loads of stick for wanting to call it a form of church. It is interesting reading the reviews it got at the time and how there was nothing else like it around. In some ways they still isn’t, but to call it what it was designed to be is no longer heresy. Or have I just got thicker skin than all those years ago?
The Fast Game.doc