way out west

Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church

A "Bible Study/course" from Ed Stetzer on living the Missional Nature of the Church... Link

Download a pdf of the book/leaders guide from here

Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church

Throughout history, God has always been a sender. After all, He sent us His son, who in turn sends us. With Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church, Ed Stetzer issues a call to a new kind of missional living, one that engages culture, enables Christians to live in the world while not being of the world, and motivates the purposeful sharing of the story of Christ. Uncover the meaning of missional and explore where you fit into the overall purpose of the church.

Study Sessions:

• Introduction—Recovering the meaning of missional
• Session 1 God the Sender—Discovering the root of the mission
• Session 2 Kingdom Come—Living in the already, but not yet
• Session 3 The Church and the Yo-Yo—Looking out versus looking in
• Session 4 Culture Clash—Being in but not of the world
• Session 5 Living Sent—Taking steps in the right direction

Technorati Tags: Bible: Books: Mission: Missional: theology

Medicine Man or Chief?

Are you a Medicine Man or a Chief?  Mike Frost (Small Boat Big Sea - Forge) spent some time yesterday talking about a theory known as "Medicine Man Chief"... I was going to explain it, but then whilst Googling I found a blog post from Tash McGill that puts it nice and succinctly!

The Chief

Tribes arrange themselves around chiefs. The stronger the chief, the bigger the tribe. Chiefs have mini-chiefs. They are found at the centre of the tribe - the Chieftains house is always in the centre - the focal point of the tribe's direction and leadership. Tribespeople need a chief, and chiefs need tribespeople in order to be a chief at all. The loyalty is chief to tribe, tribe to chief. They are dependant on one another for security.

The Medicine Man

The medicine man never lives within the tribe. He lives on the outskirts, outside the city gates or simply travels in a nomadic fashion between tribes that require his services.  The medicine man isn't loyal to the tribe or to the chief. He's loyal to the Higher Truth. His is the business of healing. Of bringing truth to the tribe. As such, he has great influence and power. He can be magnetic and charismatic, just like a chief, but his loyalty to truth (which is ultimately for the sake and care of the tribespeople) will always be his highest priority.

Go and read Tash's Post for more on the "story"... Mike's perspective was that we need to be aware of the role and significance of both... and of who we are... a Chief on their own means the community quickly becomes institutionalised; pragmatic, following good practice but unable to improvise or take creative risks... a Medicine (wo)man on their own leads to chaos and confusion, a constant state of reinvention and restlessness.  The Medicine man can be a thorn in the side of the Chief, never allowing the community to become too self-satisfied, to become petrified or institutionalised... most Pioneers are Medicine men Mike suggests... but there comes a time in the life of a new community that Chiefs have to emerge to begin to stabilise living conditions and practice.  The question becomes then, does the Medicine man move on to start new things leaving the Chief to build the structures (to move the community from the Storming and Forming toward the Norming) or should the Medicine man hang around, be part of the "leadership" preventing the community from entering the first stages of decline by becoming unresponsive and inflexible, losing its creativity and dynamism?  But the Medicine man is not a "moaner" who always sees the grass on the other side as more lush and fulsome, they are more idealistic, more visionary than that.

As ever with "models" it seems somewhat simplistic, but there also seems to be some use in the narrative... I can see that my role has elements of both, but I guess most I am a Medicine man, a pioneer who gets excited by challenging institution etc. but needs to find the Chief, the do-er, the pragmatist in the community... I do live within the tribe and therefore I want to question the story (above) of the itinerant Medicine man, I see much more of a complimentary dynamic where different elements/people come into play in leadership in a fluid but mutually involved way - for me the Medicine man needs to be part of the community, feeling, listening, learning from the community in it's every day life, not someone who reflects from the outside.  It occurred to me that we are perhaps blind to the Medicine men, that when we think of leadership we think of the Chief?  When one looks at the attitude of modern writers/bloggers etc. to the likes of Brian McLaren, they see a Chief - when perhaps he is a Medicine man, someone who does not want to run the village, but does want to ask the awkward questions, prompt new thinking etc.?  Perhaps "our" model of leadership has become defined by Chiefdom, we expect to see a leader who leads, who demands loyalty, who manages life and business, etc. perhaps we have marginalised and even exiled the Medicine men, the Apostles, Prophets etc.  the "Awkward Squad"?  Do we cripple Chiefs by putting all the weight of leadership on their shoulders, fine when things are going well but what when challenges to change or rethink arise?

I also began to wonder whether there are communities themselves that manifest as Medicine men for the wider community?  Communities who perhaps do not seem loyal to the Chief, communities that are prepared to be a thorn in the side, idealistic, who live to be creative and to ask difficult questions?  And yet do see themselves as a part of the wider community, related to it but living on its edge... Perhaps communities of exiled Medicine men are gathering together because they have no place to live?  If so we shouldn't necessarily worry about sustainability etc. those are Chief issues, we should talk about the impact that they have on the wider community - do they bring new thinking, do they challenge structures and institutions that have themselves become idols?  Do they stir up petrified communities to re-examine purpose, vision and mission?  How do we make space for Medicine men and Medicine man communities in the Chief's world?

Technorati Tags: Leadership: Blogging: Books: Missional

The Great Emergence - Part 1

It seems I am taking part in a global, organic synchro-read of "The Great Emergence"  by Phyllis Tickle

I'm intrigued by, if a little dubious of, the central premise of the first part of the book... that every 500 years or so there happens a "Great" moment in cultural shift (in this case related to the Abramic Religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam)... let me clarify, I'm not actually dubious of Tickle's observations of either the paradigm shift, it's causes or the cycle she writes of, simply that I'm not convinced by a sense that because there have been important shifts roughly every 500 years, the timing is significant & not coincidental... I guess one can get into the argument of scientific verification - that patterns observed can only truly be seen as universal when they become predictable - i.e. if we are experiencing a semi-millenial shift now and therefore we predict that one will occur 500 years hence, and it does, then "we" can begin to be more sure of the significance of the timing (yeah I know none of us will be around then ;-) ) So, I guess to begin with I'm happy to say, yes, we can see "Great" shifts happening at almost regular intervals in history, but I'm not yet convinced that there is a mechanistic and predictable rhythm to them.

Back to the plot... Tickle uses the analogy of a cable... with three sections - a protective (waterproof) covering, a mesh sleeve and a Core (consisting of three intertwined threads)...

The Covering = The Story of community - the shared history of the "social unity" or the "ethos"

The Mesh = The world view - the common agreement or interpretation of the Story - the consensus of how the world works

The Core =

1) Spirituality - the experiences and values of the individual

2) Corporeality - the evidence - outward signs -  of the existence of the community/religion/society

3) Morality - the objective enactment or application of the values

Tickle suggests that every 500 years or so the Covering - the story comes under such stress that not only is it ruptured but so is the Mesh - the world view - when she says they "take a simultaneous blow"... this reminds me of the relationship between meaning and perspective transformation  - in relation to the work of Jack Mezirow "Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning") that we often have to reflect on and transform our awareness of meaning (schema) i.e. we look at how we live and realise it doesn't work, so we reform our meaning structures to form new schemes - but, there comes a point when our reflection not only challenges the way we respond to our perspective - the way we believe the world exists - but the perspectives themselves.  In these terms one could say that the Covering takes blows on a regular basis - the story we tell/share gets challenged and reformed - but significantly less regularly does the impact affect not only the story about how we live in the world, but also our common understanding of the world itself... when this happens we get thrown into a "Great" shift... and we have to explore deeper the factors through which our Perspectives take shape i.e. our spirituality - the experiences and values that emerge in our individual lives and in our relationships with each other and our context.

What is clear is that we are undergoing some/several major shifts which are seriously challenging our perspectives of life... one thing we should be careful of is assuming that a global perspective transformation will necessarily lead to a global meaning consensus... each culture/context/country may well experience the perspective shift - the "Great Emergence" but even a common shift will cause a different scheme for living to emerge in a different context/community... if there's one thing post-modernity (for want of a better label) should teach us it is a respect for contextual schema!

More to come.

Technorati Tags: Books: Culture: Emerging Church: Great Emergence: Post-Modernity: theology

Re-imagining Church Discussion

There is a discussion underway on Ben Witherington's Blog between himself and Frank Viola re. Franks book "Re-imagining Church"... Ben has been writing a detailed and lengthy review of the book and Frank has agreed to respond to the critique... for the most part the discussion has centered around; What exactly *is* the Body of Christ - with Witherington concerned that Viola takes what he believes to be a metaphor and reads too much into it and Viola arguing that it is a much more mystical reality than Witherington credits... What is the nature of the Trinity - Witherington takes a fairly strong Subordinationist interpretation whereas Viola has an understanding of Perichoresis as  much more of a mutual self surrender and co-participation... Church governance flowing from both the different understanding of the Trinity and from Witherington's insistence that a Hierarchical, traditional model, building focussed and with Preaching and singing as central is explicit in the NT and that "house Churches" are a later development...  There are other questions that arise e.g. Witherington seems to suggest that Christ doesn't speak through/in the Church and argues for a sytematic/historical approach to reading scripture that can not "read back" the NT into the OT... on both issues Viola generally disagrees... It is a respectful and friendly discussion and well worth the reading (though there is lots of it!)... Thanks both!

My one real disappointment is that Witherington continually points out and critiques Viola's "assertions", but too often he uses his own "assertions" to do so... therefore it fails in being a balanced and comprehensive review and critique of the book and more an argument against it from Witherington's own traditions, assertions etc.  as such it reads as a defence of Witherington's tradition rather than a genuine examination of Viola's case for re-imagining.

Frank Violas Reimagining Church Part 1

Frank Violas Reimagining Church Part 2

A Frank Response Part 1 (to BWs Parts 1 and 2)

Frank Violas Reimagining Church Part  3

A Frank Response Part 2 (to BWs Part 3)

Frank Violas Reimagining Church Part 4

Witherington's Epilogue

Viola's Coda

Technorati Tags: Blogging: Books: Emerging Church: Leadership: Missional: Organic: theology

Blue Dark and Aoradh

Just ordered Blue Dark "A book of poems, stories and meditations charting a spiritual journey." by Chris Goan of Aoradh in Dunoon, Argyll, Scotland. There's more from Chris and others from Aoradh on their web-site... including a poem by Chris connected to some Irish saint who seems somewhat familiar ;-) ...

St Brendan

Lord stain me with salt

Brine me with the badge of the deep sea sailor

I have spent too long

On concrete ground.

If hope raises up these tattered sails

Will you send for me

A fair and steady wind?

Technorati Tags: alt.worship: Art: Blogging: Books: Emerging Church: new-monasticism: Poetry: Prayer: Spirituality: St Brendan: Worship

Girl Growing

They say everything needs a good balance of Sunshine and Rain to grow... well Juli Allen from Texas gets plenty of Sun at home, so while she's visiting us here in Telford we thought we ought to provide the Rain!

Julie blogs at "Girl Growing", she writes/improvises incredible blessings which grown from the stories of community and the gatherings themselves... Proost have published a book of the Blessings (and Jonny has one she wrote at Greenbelt)

Technorati Tags: alt.worship: Blogging: Books: Emerging Church: Photographs: Spirituality: Worship

The Seeds of Exclusion

The Salvation Army have published a new report on Homelessness this month, called "The Seeds of Exclusion"...

A new generation of children risks becoming socially excluded and even homeless unless urgent action is taken to tackle poor and abusive parenting head on, a report warns.  This stark warning comes in The Seeds of Exclusion, a new report by The Salvation Army based on in-depth interviews with nearly 450 people currently receiving help in its homeless centres across the UK.

The report found that a very high proportion of homeless people surveyed had a disruptive childhood, and suffered abuse and problematic relationships with their family and friends both now and in the past.  Nearly 30 per cent were homeless before they were 18, some on more than one occasion. Those who had poor relationships with their parents were more likely to be have been homeless as children.  Traumatic experiences and poor childhood relationships with parents are key. Poor relationships with one's father as a child were common among homeless people charged with criminal behaviour as an adult. A poor relationship with one's mother was linked specifically to antisocial behaviour throughout life.

The Seeds of Exclusion study also discovered that homeless people have a much higher level of severe and untreated mental health problems than has been previously documented. Two thirds (65 per cent) screened positive for two or more psychological problems such as personality disorders, a range of mental illnesses, drug and alcohol abuse.  Only one in ten (11 per cent) of those surveyed had access to mental health care.

The study by The Salvation Army found that the gap between leaving 'controlled' environments such as prison is not being effectively bridged. A quarter of interviewees had come almost directly from places like prison or a mental health unit.

The full report is available to download on the Salvation Army Website - Here

Technorati Tags: Church: Culture: Mission: Missional: News

navigatio

Our liturgies have been used all over the world and in all sorts of situations... but there's something about the way Matt used them on his holiday on a barge that makes me feel great!  Thanks Matt :)

Technorati Tags: Blogging: Spirituality: St Brendan: Worship

Finding our way again...

Just received Brian Maclaren's latest book Finding our way again - part of "The Ancient Practices" Series from Thomas Nelson -  which seems a bit of a new direction for Brian itself!  It is a book about discipline and  disciplines.  Brian, it seems has been looking at the rising tide of new-monastic communities and the spiritual practices of ancient monastic spirituality.  The book begins to unpack a way to live a holistic, contemplative, communal and missional spirituality... Mclaren calls for a deeper spirituality that is neither vague "new-age" pick'n'mix or legalistic fundamentalism, nor is it arrogantly active or self-indulgent soaking.  The book is easy to read and each chapter has a selection of simple spiritual exercises to help reflect on the text.  First impressions are very good and I think it sits nicely on the bookshelf with Abbot Christopher Jamison's (of "The Monastery" fame) book on personal spiritual growth "Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life" as a practical but not superficial exploration of spiritual practices for life in missional community.  I will be getting a few copies for the safespace community and I look forward to hearing more from Brian at Greenbelt this year.

Technorati Tags: alt.worship: Books: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Missional: new-monasticism: Pilgrimage: Prayer: Spirituality: theology: Worship

Trinity Sunday etc.

It was Trinity Sunday yesterday... I'm convinced that as we explore a deep sense of community, we are encountering a yearning to delve into the great mystery of the archetypal community - the Trinity -  the mutual indwelling of the original and eternal communion... the community of creation and re-creation... as we dwell together we find ourselves in-dwelling, as we live in our gifts, they become manifest in others, each of us in giving ourselves to the community and to the God community discovers a part of ourselves in each of the other parts of the community.  I wonder if we can ever be more than a collective if individuals if we do not embrace the mystery of the Trinity... there can be no words without an imagination to form them and without a breath to carry them... and if we don't allow each other in, if we don't give a part of ourselves to the others... for us it is beginning to feel like we are truly ourselves unless we are with each other in spirit... probably part of the reason we don't want to leave each others company... hence our get-togethers go on and on into the early hours of the next day more often than not... we know we're all different but at the same time we are becoming so deeply knitted together... for a bigger purpose and with a big vision for this Town.

On the same theme Ian Mobsby has his second book out... through Lulu... The Becoming of G-d... described thus...

Trinitarian ecclesiology is often neglected in the West. An understanding of it is crucial if the Church is to engage with its new context of spiritual tourism. This book explores a phenomenological understanding of the Trinity and its implications for building community.

Incidentally, we keep hearing the same words spoken about the community... and about people in it... different people from different "traditions" seem to be speaking the same words about me/us/the community... I won't go into it in detail yet, but it all adds up at the moment... simply put for me people are speaking a deep discernment of people and community, the ability to see and read the inner spirit of people, to lead, to change lives and communities (I was even told that when I speak Demons will flee!!! gulp!) and for the community as a whole that we are here for the town and we will be agents of God's kingdom in a very significant and powerful way... some who have know next to nothing about what is going on at the core of safe space have so accurately described it and gone on to prophecy incredible things... locally and globally... it does feel somewhat "weird" and we don't understand it completely... so those of you who pray for us (and those who haven't yet please do!) please continue and particularly pray for a fulfilling of the words and for the peace of our Town... Thanks.

Technorati Tags: Books: Community: Emerging Church: Missional: Prayer: Telford: Trinity