More goings on up the Creek!

In a previous post I linked to Willows response to the research they have been doing... I won't go over that again... but I think I also mentioned that although I  , like others have really struggled with their mega-church preoccupation with success by numbers and programme participation etc. etc. I have always had a lot of respect for them; their passion for seekers and their heart for the good news.  I know this will do me no favours with the fundy brigade... but I think I lost that one years ago ;-) ... I found myself today reading their on-line magazine... in it there is an article about spiritual formation, with considerable input from Scott McKnight, references to Richard Rohr and Lecto Divinia, another about an initiative they call "The Table", where they encouraged several families to start monthly dinner "parties" in their homes.  They say they are...

designed to be the catalyst for all that God is seeking to do in neighborhoods and beyond.  The Table became the vehicle for doing church in the community rather than bringing the community into a church building... it was a radical concept because in our society sharing a meal has become a lost art... part of the table experience is about intentionally creating an environment - a sacred space

There is also a piece which identifies seven shifts in small group ministry

1. From a program to an environment
2. From having meetings to building community
3. From small groups as a church system that delivers church programs to groups practising a lifestyle
4. From content to process
5. From an optional ministry to an essential practise of the church
6. From training leaders to training groups
7. From an institutional approach to an incarnational approach

Ok, so there is other stuff that is not my cup of tea as it where and what you might expect (Like the article which is headlined by a big 65,000 - the number that attended some leadership summit or other and the good news that more may come next year... the strange idea of "courageous leadership awards"???... and the way Bo Boshers writes about "Youth Ministry 2.0 as if they have just invented relational Youth Ministry!), but I honestly found a lot of encouraging thought and practice, not hugely radical for us maybe, but in their culture perhaps!  Of course they are already getting flak (if being accused of embracing a false Gospel can be called Flak ;-) in the blogosphere from some of the usual suspects) and there is talk of some leaving WC because of it's embrace of Catholic Mysticism (LOL)!    Anyway, you get the idea!  I am increasingly encouraged by the direction Willow Creek seems to be heading... I await the news they have sold the buildings and moved wholesale to "Community Tables" ;-)  Go read if you are not too busy reading Caputo's latest (another on my never diminishing pile!)

Willow on-line magazine Fall 2007 "Ministry Shifts"

Technorati Tags: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Mission: Missional: new-moansticism: Willow Creek: Religion: Spirituality: theology