I am interested in what it means to translate or map the concept that, Innovation is different to adaption, to the idea that church seeks a paradigm shift. adaptation tweaks what is already present, it is part of series is of evolutionary moves. innovation goes back to the drawing without pre subscribed ideas. I have written before on the need for revolution over evolution but I wonder if all the emerging churches talk of paradigm shifts are really just adaptations as still haven’t gone back to the drawing board of who or what is G-d and then really innovated from there.

I came across this poem via a friend of a friend that may help you get where I am coming from

Have you considered the possibility
that everything you believe is wrong,
not merely off a bit, but totally wrong,
nothing like things as they really are?
If you’ve done this, you know how durably fragile
those phantoms we hold in our heads are,
those wisps of thought that people die and kill for,
betray lovers for, give up lifelong friendships for.
If you’ve not done this, you probably don’t understand this poem,
or think it’s not even a poem, but a bit of opaque nonsense,
occupying too much of your day’s time,
so you probably should stop reading it here, now.
But if you’ve arrived at this line,
maybe, just maybe, you’re open to that possibility,
the possibility of being absolutely completely wrong,
about everything that matters.
How different the world seems then:
everyone who was your enemy is your friend,
everything you hated, you now love,
and everything you love slips through your fingers like sand.
(Federico Moramarco)

Last week a I wrote the final report to a brilliant trust that has funded StreetSpace for the last few years, and was simply astounded at all we achieved going from 3 to 62 projects in under four years. I sent the trust pictures from the amazing StreetSpace projects working day in day out in with brilliant young people who really need us.
This week I did our budget for the coming year. As the trusts support is ending and I never let money stop me supporting a potential StreetSpace project, helping young people, we are facing a shortfall and I want to raise some funding to directly support my post and the core work to keep StreetSpace going.
So I am asking friends to help and I am setting the target of raising £2000 a month through regular donations, This might seem like a lot of money but if just half my FB friends donated £10 a month we would hit the target… if every FB friend donated we would smash it and I could spend less time on budgets and more time making work on the ground happen.
I know some of you already support the work, or are committed to local projects, or youth workers themselves but those of you who know me well know I want to change the world, lets do this….please consider a monthly donation – please download and use our response form: HERE

http://www.fyt.org.uk/…/wp-co…/uploads/FYT_Response-Form.pdf

This horizon scanning paper on the social attitudes of young people is interesting. Looking at how social attitudes have changed it explores several key areas including
Values and personal autonomy
Aspirations
Attitudes to society and government
Wellbeing

Last week I was speaking in Holland at their YFC conference. Whilst they certianly do things differently (ask me sometime about angels massaging volunteers) they were a great bunch of people to be around and share with.

Over meals and conversation it quickly became clear there was a distinct difference in how people were approaching the edgy topics around mission I was teaching. In the uk I am often pinned down by people wanting to argue the theological toss, or perhaps I should say nuances but in holland there a different conversation. It was about how does this connect, how does it help me serve the young people I work with. I think it is in part a cultural openness and difference but more I think it is precipated by their closeness to the edge, their connection on the streets and in the community, where they know things have to be done differently. I was humbled by how even the younger volunteers wanted to grapple with the how the talks should change their practice and structures, how it build community in their context, deep specific and searching questions, that I simply rarly get in the UK.

My post grad work was around how Christian workers/ missionaries responded to the emerging missiology I was developing. one of the interesting things was a link between how open a person is to new ideas that push our orthodoxy around church and how experienced they were in relational based mission. The more embedded people were in the culture they were serving, the more they recognised that old ways of thinking and working werent cutting it and were more open to new ideas around eccelesiology. Yet somehow in the Netherlands even those less experienced recognised and had the desire for change. It was an honour to sit around with so many young people under 20 who are willing to grapple with the real stuff and such a contrast to my experience of similar age groups in the church in the uk.