don’t be disapointed

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Ian Mobsby has been speaking this week at the Episcopal Village event in Boston. He writes today about one of the frustrations I and many others experience in reaching those disillusioned with church when we are attempting to reach those outside the church.

Ian ends with these words: ‘don’t be disappointed that what you are doing seems to attract the dechurched and not the unchurched, just maybe this is the starting place to build community to be able to reach out to the churched effectively.’

read more here.

so … this is what all the fuss is about

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Following on from my last post this is what all the fuss is about – Rob Bell’s introduction / questioning from his latest book, Love Wins.
Via the comments Helen linked to Fred’s blog which is worth a read too – as is the full paper from NT Wright here.

What are people so afraid of here?

don’t they ever learn?!!

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There is one type of Christian that winds me up ….. those that are always ready to jump on a band wagon and condemn something before they have even seen it or experienced it.

In my youth there were those who campaigned against the Life of Brian saying it was ‘blasphemous’. I remember talking to some in school (it was a long time ago!) asking if they had seen it ‘no!’, they said, ‘we’ve been told its blasphemous and so we won’t … and neither should you!’. Well I did and it is still one of my very favourite films.

More recently we saw those campaigning against the Harry Potter stories with a local church school actually banning the book in schools because it was ‘evil’. Again I asked ‘have you actually read any of the stories?’ ‘No!’, they responded ‘it’s evil so we are not going to put ourselves at risk and read that …. and neither should you!’ Well, I did, and watched the films and they are excellent. And … all along these were ‘resurrection’ stories.

In the last few days the lates thing for such people to campaign against is Rob Bell’s latest book ‘Love Wins’. Apparently it’s heretical. Rob Bell has become a heretic. It’s dangerous to read. Yuu can find some comments here, whereas Maggi talks sense here.

But back to those people complaining about the book and saying it should not be read – don’t even bother asking them if they have actually read it or know what’s in it ….. they can’t … it’s not even released until March 31st!

words or bubbles or spirals?

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It has been a different couple of days for me.

Yesterday I returned to the head office of YFC in Halesowen. Walking through the door after 2 and a half years was kinda weird but it was great to see old faces and catch up with a few people. I was invited to join the board of YFC a little while back and yesterday at the AGM I was voted on. I am not sure what I can contribute – but I hope I can be helpful from a local centre point of view after being director at Gillingham YFC for around 10 years.

At the board meeting I was excited to hear about the changes in YFC, particularly the greater emphasis on local incarnational ministry along with a vision to work with others to see young people experiencing faith rather than just hearing about it. This is a challenge …. but I am convinced experience is really the only way!

Today I have been at the university all day as part of my ongoing curate training. Today we were looking at legal issues associated with weddings and funerals. This was led by the Archdeacon of Tonbride, Clive Mansell, in a good interactive day which I found quite useful (despite being sceptical before the start of the day!)

This evening we have just met as a small group (called the imagination guild) to plan our next gathering looking at the theme of ‘birthing a church’ and using Acts 2 as our bible text. This was a good creative time after we initially struggled with what we thought the passage and the theme was all about. I was quite excited with the outcome of the guild and we think we will be able to link this into our easter gathering which will happend at sunrise on Easter Morning.

So … and exciting couple of days … tomorrow is back to a normal kind of routine which I am really looking forward to. But … looking back it does make me smile … a lot of the time I feel that I seem to have to try to co-exist in different worlds, or, as someone pointed out today, different bubbles ….I wonder though whether I am slowly starting to see that everything I am involved in is connected in a spiral type way. By that I think i mean that the stuff I do does not immediately seem to fit together, but as I visit the same area over and over again from a slightly different perspective I start to see the connections all over the place.

CMS pioneer training

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The CMS prospectus for the Pioneer Mission Leadership training are published as it the website.

Jonny was able to give a few of these out at the tautoko weekend and it looks very good – I wish there had been a course like this available when I had been training as I would definitely have applied.

So – if you are looking for training here – check this out! If you are quick you could also get to one of the open days today or tomorrow to check it our further.

pub theo select few

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Pub Theology happened last night …. a smaller select gathering of 5 who had a varied discussion on a few things starting with the equal opportunities stuff that has been in the news and moving on to other various things.

A bunch of people chatting over a beer or two is just quite great thing to be able to do … shame it’s a whole month to the next one!

so … start thinking about what to discuss next time.

where to now?

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The Tautoko weekend was amazing. Great people, great food, great location, great discussions, great wine, great whisky …. and amazing cocktails!

The conversations and networking are always the best part of any get together – and that is what this weekend was full of; no sessions with ‘experts’ or ‘specialists’ telling us what we should think. Instead, a series of conversations around the questions that we brought with us as a result of who we are, where we are and what we are doing.

There were so many great group and 1:1 conversations that I still need to think more about but I guess I was particularly caused to think in the first group conversation I took part in which was something like ‘where do we go next missionally and how do we encourage each other. Someone suggested that Liberation Theology has something to offer us here. Liberation Theology makes an assumption that there is something in need of liberating in every situation, and so asks the question of each context, ‘what needs liberating here?’

So … I have started to think, in the situations I am working in, what is there that needs liberating …. and what does it need liberating from? If I am called to serve the people and within the situations I come across then asking ‘what here needs liberating’ is probably a good question to be asking. It certainly helps me with that ‘what now/next?’ question that seems to keep propping up in a world where I increasingly see less of what is coming just around the corner. The upside of that is that there are lots of surprises!

There is more to come … but I am off for coffee to think a little more on this liberation stuff …

… but before I do I want to say THANKS to everyone that was there …. this is by far one of the best Christian gatherings I have ever been to … simply due to its relevance, its openness and everyones acceptance that we are all in this together and all learning together …. thanks for being such a great bunch of people!

photo Friday

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This weeks entry for open at photo Friday

sudden turn of the wheel

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Yesterday we went to the Titanic Exhibition at the O2. We were looking for something to do and Beth found it. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

The exhibition has a very personal edge to it. There are some amazing artefacts – such as the poignancy of Crows Nest bell that was rung once they new the ship was sinking, or the order of the perfectly preserved and ordered au gratin dishes. What seems to make this a fascinating exhibition is, however, the personal stories. Each visitor is given a boarding pass with the name and story of a particular passenger and at the end of the exhibition you can read the names of those ‘lost’ and those ‘saved’.

The stories of the people were fascinating but I was struck more by the situations which resulted in them being on the Titanic – for many it was not a choice …. more an accident of circumstances. My character, Joseph Laroche, was leaving France due to racism and was booked on another ship. They transferred to the Titanic because their original ship would not let children dine with adults, and the parents did not want to leave their children eating without them. The father was ‘lost’ while the wife and two daughters were ‘saved’.

Through such stories the magnitude of the sadness seemed to be grasped by us all, along with the real fragility and unpredictability of human life.

A good thought provoking exhibition to visit.

a time to celebrate

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Ruth Gledhill interviews Canon Giles Fraser here who outlines why he thinks the church should celebrate gay marriage.

It’s a good interview that’s worth listening to.

Personally it saddens me that we even need to be discussing this … this is about love and of course love is something to be celebrated!