way out west

Taking another step together?

A letter to existing and future (?) safespace members....

Dear all,

As you are probably aware Safespace is five years old this Autumn, we have seen many things happen over the years both in terms of growing community and our mission/calling to the town of Telford. There have been many things to be proud of and many lessons learned. We have stepped out into parts of the community where no-one has gone before and I can personally testify to meeting God in new ways through each of you and through the people we have spent time with in the Mind*Body*Spirit fairs, the Football Club, the Young Families and the Nightclub community.

Over the last few months I have had a sense of a new moment arriving for Safespace. This has taken several forms and voices, some positive some from struggles. I’d like to begin though by going back to the beginning. No long after coming to Telford, Jem and I undertook a pilgrimage to Ireland, first to the site of St. Brendan’s vision and departure on the Dingle peninsula and secondly to Nendrum Abbey near Belfast. On that trip we began to hear a number of words from God about the future.

1. That we were to embark on a journey to an unknown destination trusting in God
2. That we were to take big risks with God
3. That we were to struggle to be a community that is exposed and visible
4. That we were to reflect the Monastic call to 24/7 Spiritual and Missional living
5. That we should be open in hospitality to all
6. That we were to find ourselves having a global impact in ways we could not yet see

I believe we have been true to these and that God has been true to them too.

For about a year I have felt a growing sense that a change is coming and others have said similar. Partly because the community has begun to feel pulled apart - with some feeling a deepening need for community and others feeling/being disconnected, both have been for good reasons and natural. Partly because our mission focus has been perhaps overly on Sank•tuary (again for good reasons) to the detriment of other things especially the 24/7 everyday missional living we emphasize. But most of all because we have lost a sense of our community rhythm and relationship, we have in some ways lost our spark. As the “Guardian” I have felt a need to call us to consider this. For my part I felt I had two options; 1, to draw a line under Safespace and bring it to a healthy end or 2, to return to the values and move into a new phase.

Over the summer I had several conversations/situations which have begun to force me to think hard about who we are and what I feel is the challenge ahead. I participated in a gathering in the early summer at CMS, the intention was to draw people from various traditions together to explore the future of Monasticism in the UK. I found myself in conversation with the Bishop of Repton (head of the group in the Anglican Church which looks after Monastic communities), Abbot Samuel (Fransiscan - Hillfield) and Abbot Stuart (Benedictine - Mucknell), feeling somewhat out of place! However it became clear that those of us exploring New-Monasticism were not only respected but needed by the more traditional communities and structures. It was felt that we needed to work at developing relationships where the “new “can lead the “old” in the post-church/modern world and the “old” can lead the “new” in living the spirit and values of community. On several occasions I have been told that Safespace has and continues to be very important for this conversation.

Sitting in the Abbey at Nendrum Keith from Belfast prophesied that we would have a Global impact. At the time I had no idea what that would mean but conversations over the last 3 months have shown that despite our lack of size we do already have a Global impact - both in print and in person. We are included in several books pending release and as Ryan discovered considered “leading lights” in the monastic movement! Bishop Michael Perham, one of the Authors of the above books and who visited us at The Table, told me that Safespace was (pretty much) unique in a British context as a Fresh Expression/Emerging community in our distinct and clear calling to a location, to our town and that we were significant for the future of the Church here in the UK. You can imagine how strange this all felt! And as you know we have had conversations with and visits from folk from all over the world who perhaps see us in ways that we cannot!

This all leads me to the question of what next? I do not feel it is right to bring Safespace to an end at this time because I still have a sense that God has a purpose for us, however I believe that the time is right for some major changes and refocussing. I am proposing that we take the remaining two months of 2010 to reflect individually about the future. To refocus ourselves on the values we set out at the beginning :-

• to actively take great risks with God (setting sail with God in our own faith, letting go of our comfort theologies and structures
• to nurture a missional dna (the 'missio dei' not the mission of church – joining with God on Gods mission in Gods world
• to model ourselves as a monastic core
• living out in the community (reflecting on the narrative of scripture, living by a spiritual rhythm and rule, living sharing life with others)
• to be visible and exposed (incarnate with Christ in culture, in heartfelt love for people and community)
• to be creative and dynamic (creating with Christ, in worship, theology, missiology and community)
• to think and act global & local (recognising both our insignificance and our significance - the majesty and the intimacy of God)
• to be servants of shalom (kingdom of God – recreating with Christ, being a community of peace and hospitality : challenging oppression and injustice)

And our DNA of community, pilgrimage and mission.

I believe that there is a strong calling to more fully pursue a form of new-monasticism - to be Friars for Telford, Friars don’t live a cloistered life but live simplicity (poverty), faithfulness (chastity), community (obedience) and commitment (stability) in service to a community. This will a new sense of commitment and community which moves beyond The Table, it will mean taking shared responsibility for developing a rhythm of life and of soul-friendship, being accountable to each other beyond meeting once a week. In fact it may mean we put less emphasis on attendance at The Table as we work together to build structures for support and spirituality. But it will mean a far stronger sense of commitment and a deeper need for honest struggle, openness and tolerance and to prayer and mission for Telford. I am aware that not everyone who is currently part of Safespace will feel able to take up this challenge and indeed some who cannot at this time come to The Table may feel they need to be part of this move forward. Both are ok as I see it. I am convinced this is not about re-organisation but about stepping into the clothes that God has laid out for us, which it seems others can see but perhaps we have not been able to!

NB. The Table will continue being open over the next two months. I am happy that we talk about this in as many ways as people need/want but that everyone takes the whole time to reflect and pray about the future. In the New Year I propose that those who feel called to commit come together to begin to formulate the rhythms etc. for the way ahead. I envisage that part of that will be an act of commitment. I also sense God has begun to forge relationships to help us which I believe we need to honour, specifically with certain traditional and new Monastic communities.

Shalom

Mark

Church of England, Community, Emerging Church, Fresh Expressions, Missional, new-monasticism, Rhythm, safespace, Spirituality, St Brendan, Telford, Ubuntu

Pentecost Meditation (for MSM Gathering)

I led a meditation/worship last night for the MSM Gathering in Northampton... here's the info/liturgy as promised...

• Visualisation from "Navigatio - Safespace Pocket Liturgy" pg 39 + "Candle Hand" Video (both available from www.proost.co.uk - video from "VJLoops2")

• Poem/Liturgy...

Waiting, Waited,

Flame Breather, Life Teaser,
Sweet Essence, Hard Presence,
Pulsing Blood, Sweeping Flood
Storm Force, Water Source,
Deepest Kiss, Draining Bliss,
Motivator, Love Creator,
Hearts Gripped, Conventions Ripped,
Fire Poured, Winds Roar,

Whisper, Whisper,

Blown Upon, Blown Away,
Burning Up, Burning Out,

Baraka, Ruach, Shanti, Shalom,
Life Spirit, Holy Spirit, Spirit.

+ "Fire Breather" Video ("VJLoops2") + Music Track "I Feel It" - Urban Myth Club

• Pentecost Movie (made by Safespace also available from Proost)

• Prayer

Kindle in us a love for the wild beauty of the creation of God.
Fan the flame of passion for community.
Heat us to white hot with yearning for culture to be transformed
And people to know the God who breathed life into them and the world they walk upon.
Spark in us a fire which rages with all consuming heat against injustice, oppression and evil.
Bright flame, for whom Aidan of Lindisfarne was named,
Passed on from generation to generation,
From winter to winter,
From day to day,
Set alight in us the love of the Christ who walks in the world,
Blow on us with the wind which filled the sails of the Perigrinati and spread the Gospel throughout the world.

+ "Sky Lanterns" Video ("VJLoops2")

• Closing Prayer

my dearest lord, you are a bright flame before me, a guiding star above me, a smooth path beneath me, a kindly shepherd behind me, today and evermore, amen st columba - abbot of iona

Technorati Tags: alt.worship: Celtic: Christianity: Emerging Church: Fresh Expressions: new-monasticism: Pentecost: Prayer: Proost: Rhythm: safespace: Spirituality: Worship

When does a symbol cease to be a symbol?

Today is Maundy Thursday, today is the day when many rituals take place supposedly pointing back in time to the festival of Pesach (passover), the seven day Jewish festival.  Of course for many of us it points to a specific years celebration, the last Pesach celebrated by Jesus. 

On the news today there is much coverage of the Queen performing the traditional symbolic service... well some of it!  Historically this would have included the Monarch washing the feet of her subjects - a sign of her service to them - but of course this has been abandoned.  One has to question then if this symbol (A symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention.) has been abandoned, why has it?  Of course there will be voices crying "Security" etc. etc. but has it been abandoned because in our world it's message is simply unpalatable?  The idea of the Monarch (or anyone else in power) so visibly declaring an attitude of humility may simply be so counter cultural that it is impossible to even symbolise!?  Our society has been so infected with individualism and ideas about personal security - looking after number 1! - that washing feet is deeply uncomfortable for all of us, not just those with visible power! 
There is one symbol the Queen will do, she will give 84 (her age) bags of money to pensioners - the purpose of the money is of course intended to be 'symbolic' and not to be spent by the recipients, but is it really symbolic?  I'm not sure it is, it is an act which has replaced a real act - the Monarch giving real help to the poorest in society - and as such it represents something which no longer happens, one could even say it assuages tradition but enables the removal of real responsibility to act!  It makes one feel secure in the believe that the act is/has been done but in reality it hasn't.  So in effect it becomes an excuse for the avoidance of the real meaning, not a symbolic representation of an actual truth.  A symbol is not a tradition it is a representation of something real, it points to something bigger, marks it's reality, communicates it.  A symbol ceases to be a symbol when it replaces the thing it is intended to represent, when it becomes the act itself.

Note, though I am not a monarchist this is not specifically a dig at the Royals, it is more a reflection of how we all can use the language of symbolism to hide our avoidance of uncomfortable reality.  Easter is full of symbols, many of them make uncomfortable demands on us; for sacrifice, for humility, for forgiveness, to allow God to do God's work as God intends not as we want, to become imitators of Christ - living for others and giving our life for others, becoming a servant - a living sacrifice!  Not simply making symbolic representations of the above, excusing us from real change, but actually living the reality of Easter.  Referring to my previous post, it seems that the last supper was a far more public act than I previously thought, it wasn't a private, personal act, likewise "religion" is not a private affair, nor simply a weekly symbolic celebration, Easter calls us to live our faith & hope in a certain way but it also calls us to live it openly and in public and for it to make a real and radical difference to the world we live in.

Technorati Tags: Bible: Christianity: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Fresh Expressions: Mission: Missional: new-monasticism: Spirituality: theology

Liturgy after the Liturgy... some words for tonights "table"

This is part of our worship tonight - along with using our labyrinth and St Patrick's Breastplate.

Liturgy (The Eucharist) is always the entrance into the presence of the triune God and always ends with the community being sent forth in God's name to transform the world in God's image... Mission is concieved, in other words, as the "the liturgy after the liturgy," the natural consequence of entering into the divine presence in worship. - Bevans and Schoeder “Constants in Context”

The liturgy after the liturgy.
There is no breathing out without breathing in,
There is no flow without ebb,
There is no outpouring without drinking deep of life.

We cannot be love for the community without being drawn deeper ourselves into God,
We cannot bring change to the world without our lives being realigned,
We cannot forgive each other without knowing the freedom of forgiveness ourselves.

We ache for the loneliness of the world and are known by a God who is family,
We cry for a world trapped in greed and are loved by a God who gave up everything,
We fight against a world with little justice and are embraced by a God of mercy.

Forgive us Lord for not taking the time to know you more,
Forgive us Lord for not taking the time to know each other more,
Forgive us Lord for not taking the time to know your world more.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.  Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are worshiped.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

You welcome us back with simple open arms, forgiven, restored ready to begin work again
You stand naked, mocked and bleeding with the love of a proud parent on your face,
You move in and amongst us with un-ignorable force, yet tenderly,

This moment is a not the end of the road, it is the beginning of a new stage of the journey,
A party is being prepared to send us back into the world in joy, let’s eat and drink!

Sharing the Bread and the Wine

For God so loved the world - may we naturally follow suit,
That he gave his only son - may we learn the wonder of sacrifice,
That all who believe - may our love for one another be the crucial evidence,
May not perish - may we work to halt the collapse of lives, of communities and of creation,
But have eternal life - may we point to the hope you bring now and for the future.

It is time to walk on, this time we walk together, with each other and with God.
We are one body because we share in one bread and drink from one cup.

Technorati Tags: alt.worship: Christianity: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Fresh Expressions: Labyrinth: Mission: Missional: new-monasticism: Pilgrimage: Prayer: Rhythm: safespace: Spirituality: St Patrick: theology: Trinity: Worship

Who is your Priest?

That man who called the community together and held it together; he would not be the one who knew the most theology, the theologian.  He would not be the preacher or the evangelist of the community.  He would not be the prophet.  He would not be the most important member in the community, in the sense of being the one who was to make the most important contributions, of which the community might someday be capable.
But he would be the focal point of the whole community, the one who would enable the community to act, whether in worship or in service.  He would be the animator of the individual members of the community, enabling them to make their various contributions, enabling the preacher to preach and the teacher to teach and the prayer to pray and the prophet to prophesy.  He would be the necessary sign of the power that is in all of them.  He would be the sign of unity that exists among them.  He would be their link with the outside, the sign of their union with the outside, the universal church.  He would be their priest.

Vincent Donovan - Christianity Rediscovered

Technorati Tags: Books: Christianity: Church: Church of England: Community: Leadership: Missional: Ordination: theology

The Liturgy after the Liturgy

For a while we've been talking about the two-fold vitality of the communion meal for us (when we use the word vital, we mean both senses i.e. essential  and life-giving)  - vital in drawing and binding us a communion/community before and with God/each other (a process in which we are adopted into a God who is community) and vital in drawing and binding us into mission (a process in which we are adopted into a God who is incarnate and dynamic).  This is something which has arisen for us from our experience as a community rather than some applied theos-knowledge... it is not a strategy we have adopted but a reality we have experienced.  These experiences have moved me to fall in love with the Trinity in a new way, a way which now shapes my glimpses of God and my instinct for Church... the mutuality and the mystery, the love and the living, the forgiveness and the fruitfulness, the compassion and the connections... (this is one of the things I loved about "the Shack", the way God is most glimpse-able in relationship, the way the focus of each person of God wants to direct the eye to the wonder of the other persons etc. and what makes me uncomfortable when we sing things like "It's all about you Jesus")  The communion draws our eye to God incarnate and sacramental, to a sent God and a sacrificial God (was it any harder for the Son to be separated from the Parent than it was for the Parent to be separated from the Son?) A God who creates in community, who redeems in community and who sustains in community - source, word and breath...  I guess then that it is no surprise that I find myself deepest in God when I am in community, when I find myself loving others, forgiving others, seeing God in others, giving myself in surrender to others and significantly (and I guess mystically) breaking bread with others [we are one body because we all share in one bread].  Recently reading Bevans and Schroeder's "Constants in Context" I encountered the Orthodox idea of "The Liturgy after the Liturgy".  Most of us no doubt are familiar with the definition of "Liturgy" as "the works of the people", Bevans and Schroeder reference Orthodox Theologians Stamoolis and Ion Bria when they say,

Liturgy (The Eucharist) is always the entrance into the presence of the triune God and always ends with the community being sent forth in God's name to transform the world in God's image... Mission is concieved, in other words, as the "the liturgy after the liturgy," the natural consequence of entering into the divine presence in worship.

Bria (http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/Bria_en.htm) writes of "the Liturgy after the liturgy" as having four aspects,

1. An ongoing re-affirming of the true Christian identity, fulness and integrity which have to be constantly renewed by the eucharistic communion.

2. To enlarge the space for witness by creating a new Christian milieu, each in his own environment: family, society, office, factory, etc., is not a simple matter of converting the non-Christians in the vicinity of the parishes, but also a concern for finding room where the Christians live and work and where they can publicly exercise their witness and worship.

3. The liturgical life has to nourish the Christian life not only in its private sphere, but also in its public and political realm.  Therefore, the installation in history of a visible Christian fellowship which overcomes human barriers against justice, freedom and unity is a part of that liturgy after the Liturgy.

4. Liturgy means public and collective action and therefore there is a sense in which the Christian is a creator of community; this particular charisma has crucial importance today with the increasing lack of human fellowship in the society. The Christian has to be a continual builder of a true koinonia of love and peace even if he is politically marginal and lives in a hostile surrounding.

I am beginning to think that what these Orthodox Theologians are saying is what we have and are experiencing when we have found ourselves shaping our ecclesiology around the hospitality of the Trinity made manifest in the Communion/Eucharist.  Ian Mobsby introduced me to the phrase "Missio Trinitatis" yesterday.  We have been talking for some years about "Missio Dei" - the idea that Mission is an "attribute of God not an activity of the Church" i.e. God has a/is mission in which we are privileged to participate - but if we then say that if the nature of God is Mission and Community *AND* as Andrew Kirk says that that identity of Church is itself defined by it's participation in God's Mission ("If the Church ceases to be missionary it has not just failed one of it's tasks; it has ceased to being church"!) then how can we not see both our ecclesiology and our missiology as being rooted in community?  We can therefore say that Missio Dei *IS* Missio Trinitatis... God's mission is born and lives in community.  Or as Bevans and Schroeder say of Kirk,

[He] explains that God's mission is based on the very nature of God as such - a community of love and mutuality that overflows into the world in a presence that calls humanity to equality, mercy, mutuality, compassion and justice.

They continue,

The image of the church that resonates most closely with its trinitarian foundation would most likely be that of the people of God.  The church community, participating in God's life, is God's special people, a people living God's life of communion in a covenant of relation and love, a people convinced of it's fundamental equality through it's common baptism in the name of the triune God.  But as communion-in-mission, this image takes on a dynamic meaning as God's people on pilgrimage, God's people chosen not for themselves but for God's purposes, God;s people respectful of the Spirit's workings outside their own boundaries but committed to sharing the full implications of God's covenant with all humanity.

... the sacrament/liturgy of communion, we have found, draws us deeper in to community with each other, in to the God community, and in to community with/for all creation.  I can't help but smile when someone puts into words what we have found through our imperfect practise!

..............................

[update] I found this document from the Reformed Eccumenical Council which says...

A significant shift in theology is the new emphasis on a consistent “trinitarianism” – some even call it a “trinitarian renaissance”: All theological reflection should flow from this basic doctrine on the very being of God. As three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – from all eternity, in his own being, God is relational. This has very important practical implications for our life before God, with one another and in the world. It has implications for the understanding of our participation in the mission of the triune God. To specifically and consistently understand Missio Dei as Missio Trinitatis Dei is to point to the nature of the very life of the triune God, life that is characterized by ecstasies, self-communication, mutuality, relationship, unity and love. The God whose mission is at stake is a God of love and of communion. Mission is the invitation to churches to enter into koinonia with the triune God, constantly inviting others to join and to share in this communion (koinonia). Paramount in the understanding of church and mission is thus the notion of relationality, mutuality, ever sharing in the koinonia with the triune God who once promised “I will be with you always,” and thus sharing a continued koinonia with one another (Venter 2004:5).

Technorati Tags: Christianity: Emerging Church: Mission: Missional: new-monasticism: Pilgrimage: Pioneer Ministry: safespace: Spirituality: theology

How Deep?

I have a post currently on the Fresh Expressions - Share Blog - Here

Graham Cray told General Synod last week that a crucial factor in the spread of fresh expressions has been 'a new imagination about the form or shape of church'. He is right. We have seen over the last half decade an exploration emerge which concerns not just the stylistic aspects of our gatherings - music, dress, structure, location, etc - but concerns the very substance of what it is to be church. The question is, if this is good, how deep are we willing to go?

At the heart of the matter is how we have sought to be community and how this journey has led us into a new romance with the God who is by nature community. We have had a new encounter with God as Trinity, not a hierarchical Trinity with God the Father as the CEO, Jesus as middle management and the Spirit on the factory floor, but with the Trinity as the root of radically mutual community ... of the meal table, not the boardroom table!

This is changing how we see and do leadership within communities, where we put the emphasis on the flow of gifting rather than the authority of a title or position. Each of us surrenders our gifts to the community and so each of our gifts, rather than being lost becomes animated from use and spreads through the community. When a prophet is willing to give their insight then all our eyes are opened in new ways; when the artist creates, we all find new ways to express ourselves.

So, how deep are we willing to let this change affect us? How much of our systems and structures are we able to challenge? Can we let a 'ground up' shift impact how we think about every part? Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures? Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures?

A colleague of mine from Lichfield Diocese, Revd Richard Moy, challenged Synod why it 'locked its trainee clergy away for three years in a place full of other Christians'. I agree. We need to reflect on how we train our leaders, but have we got to go deeper? In this changing world, which will force our church to change, is it time to release leadership, to give it back to communities, to create a new way for sustainability which does not rely on a professional body but on equipping and resourcing communities to lead themselves?

After a recent visit from our new bishop, one member of safespace said how great it was to share with him as he was not at all 'bishopy'! Is it time to reflect the shift from hierarchy to community, not only on the ground but can we as a church become a community of communities, where we rely on each other, where we support each other and allow the quietest voices to be as significant as the most powerful ones?

Technorati Tags: Blogging: Christianity: Church: Church of England: Community: Emerging Church: Fresh Expressions: Leadership: Missional: Pioneer Ministry

+Mark visits safespace!

Great to have our new Bishop, +Mark Rylands, with us last night at our community meal/worship - The Table.  It was a good night, I think some were surprised at his openness and relaxed nature.  We were reflecting on 2 Samuel 6 and the idea of what it means to be undignified in a way which does not draw attention to ourselves but rather points to God, how humility could be a strong act of proclamation...  +Mark seemed to enjoy the evening and was a great encouragement to us all and left us with some challenges for our mission.  Some words from his first "pastoral letter"...

In the face of such a challenge what are we to do? The Gospel and example of Jesus compels us not to turn our backs on the poor and vulnerable. So, redouble our efforts, strengthen our cooperation and solidarity. Yes. And as part of that effort what about a new start with an old habit? Prayer.  Many of us struggle to keep a daily discipline of prayer and quiet when we are open to God and the direction of the Holy Spirit. However, if individually and corporately our relationship with God is weak, what do we have to share with the world? I have a feeling that to be better pray-ers we need to learn to be more natural – to simply plonk ourselves down before God and be ourselves; to come as we are with our concerns and those of others on our heart and mind. Somehow we get the idea that to do it properly, we must screw ourselves up and be so neat like the first page in those books. And because we don’t think we can really do it, we don’t try!  God loves his world and his people and the Bible tells us that he has a special place for the marginalised in his affections. Part of our apathy may be that we feel useless faced with so much need and our own weakness and lack of resources. However, as some wise person said: ‘God is not concerned with our ability or our inability but only with our availability’.  The lesson of the feeding of the 5000 is that God can make a lot out of a little. He longs to work through us for his good. So, like the small boy with his picnic by the lake, offer what little you have to God and ask him to make a miracle of it.”

Technorati Tags: Church of England: Community: Fresh Expressions: Mission: Missional: safespace

Ubuntu and community

For a while I've been thinking about the effect individualism has had on western culture - e.g. we have becomes a rights based culture rather than a responsibility based one - and particularly the impact it has had on Western Christianity - e.g. the singular focus on "personal salvation" and the loss of a trinitarian and "kingdom" theology.  Sunday I was lying in bed feeling crap and I found myself watching an interview with ++Desmond Tutu (by Fearn Britten!?) and very good it was too!  The Archbishop spent some time talking about Ubuntu theology...

One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

I am a human because I belong. I participate. I share.

Or as he put it on the programme...

I am because you are

I found myself thinking how fundamentally Trinitarian this idea is and how radical, even revolutionary this seems to Western culture... and specifically western Christianity!  It rocks the foundations of the Existentialism and Individualism, indeed the Modernism which still forms the foundation on which our evaluation and culture is built.  In Politics it seems the measure is still "how does it affect my wallet" or "my choices" , no doubt with a budget looming we will see a panel made up of different social groups assessing whether it is a "good" budget for them based on what difference it will make to their take home pay.  In the Church we find the same tools being used, we talk about "fitting in", we talk about "my Church", we measure our "success" not by impact on culture and communities but on statistics and attendance at our meetings, on the quality of our meetings - the music, the sermons etc... on how many individuals are "saved" out of the world.

As Bill Clinton put it,

If we were the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the most wealthy, the most powerful person - and then found all of a sudden that we were alone on the planet, it wouldn't amount to a hill of beans.

Ubuntu was born in a culture of hospitality. Nelson Mandela said,

A traveler through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?

Can we reshape Western Christianity along the principles of Ubuntu - of community transformation, of real community and of hospitality?  I hope we can, but it does seem it means being counter cultural in 3 dimensions - world AND church!

Technorati Tags: Desmond Tutu: Fresh Expressions: Community: Pioneer Ministry: Ubuntu: Mission: Missional: Emerging Church: safespace: theology: Church: new-monasticism: Christianity: Spirituality

New Monasticism and Spiritual Seekers - Paper

As this paper is to be published as a chapter in a book I have removed the link. I will post details of the book as soon as I have them.

Technorati Tags: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Missional: new-monasticism: safespace: Telford: theology