Jordon Cooper posted this comment on Barky's blog in reference to the post mentioned below,
Thanks for this. I have felt the same over the years. Talk, talk, and more talk and what has it brought us.
Posted by: Jordon Cooper | October 25, 2005 at 05:56 PM
I posted a follow up comment which I want to post here, because although I agree with the sentiment behind Mark (Barky's) original post the negativity beginning to appear (particularly in Jordons comment) could be unhelpful to any ongoing conversation and make those who are just beginning to reflect themselves on mission and spirituality feel it is all a waste of time!
Just a brief (sorry... I planned it to be brief :-) ) response to Jordon... As someone who has read your Blogs for a number of years... the context in the UK has radically changed over the last 5 years, noteably the Church of Englands report Mission Shaped Church and the responses to it through various forums e.g. Fresh Expressions, indeed were it not for the conversation we would be in a very different place. I say this not to criticise but to show gratitude and to encourage. As I have said on my Blog I agree with alot of what Mark is saying... particularly in reference to the explosion of the blogosphere and the increasing noise that goes with it, however just because many of us have been talking and listening for a long time does not mean we have got nowhere. Perhaps the medium (blogs) have become the message a bit too much and it has become hard to carry on an open source conversation, perhaps some of the "originals" have become too elitist and begun to behave as the Bishops of emerging church, perhaps many are simply tired of the conversation... but for many of us it is going somewhere, or maybe it has led us somewhere new and we value it's inspiration. All this doesn't mean it should continue in the same form, but there is still a long way to go, perhaps we may even have to take steps backwards, correct some of our mistakes and spend some time readiscovering the dna. I for one am grateful for the conversation up to this point but am only too aware of the dangers of concentric conversations.
I personally feel that the lifestyle question is another issue, is it more responsible for us to converse on-line than to rely on publishers proliferating the same few voices? Is it better to share globally than to be nation/culture-centric? Yes we need to be more acountable in terms of how we live our principles and reflect our beliefs... I am totally with Mark on this, but we can ask exactly the same questions about every aspect of our life, which of course we need to but this is no reason to me to stop the conversation... maybe to change it to reflect how it is outlived in real situations rather than allowing the "experts" to dominate? Maybe we need to find ways that are less middle class, that require less attendence at global gatherings and conferences... mind you I might want to argue that in the UK the internet is not necesarily a middle class bastion, indeed many schools require students to have access at home and there are grants available for equipment.
In some ways it saddens me to read your (Jordons) comment here... could we say the same sort of thing for the books of Donovan, Ryle, Bosch, Caputo etc. etc. has the impact been worth it? For me YES! With hindsight would I have wanted them not to have bothered? NO! PLease do not underestimate the mustard seeds/yeast grains that have been planted/hidden in the global church by this conversation!
Perhaps it is the time to look again at the nature of the conversation... but I want to say thankyou to all those who have inspired and challenged me... many whom I simply would not have encountered if it were not for their blogs!
Great comment!
Posted by: graham | 31/10/2005 at 16:17
Good comment Mark,
Posted by: Michael | 03/11/2005 at 08:22