sustain:if:able kiwi

Presbyterians don’t clap

I spent this evening with about 60 Presbyterians from around Christchurch. A very enjoyable evening. I was asked to provide some stimulus in terms of mission. So I talked about:
: the diversity of our contemporary cultures
: the diversity of response to Jesus at the resurrection (Peter ran, Mary loved, Thomas questioned and experienced, John thought)
: which raised the question; if Jesus met these people at their point of experience; what does it mean for us to be part of communities and spaces that similarly meet people at their point of experience?
: i then talked about the multi-congregational model we’ve developed at Opawa

and concluded with two concrete examples:
: espresso and
: take a kid to faith services.

Afterward they all clapped. I was then informed over a pleasant cup of tea that Presbyterians very rarely clap. So a good sign of an evening well spent.

Resources I used tonight, for those interested include:
: the multi-congregational model
: spoken words from the Lenten 40 visual resource.
: take a kid to faith services.
: espresso
: my out of bounds church? book.

(The above is quite similar to what I did with about 35 Baptists in Dunedin on Thursday evening.)

This is 40

I waited patiently for the band
In time they heard my cry.
I set my fingers to the net,
and made my bookings firm.

I will sing, sing a new song,
Not long to sing this song.

Vertigo to rock our land,
we’ll cheer our favourite band
Many Kiwis to see and hear
Thousands to sing and cheer

I will sing, sing a new song,
Not long to sing this song.

Now we light a flame for the Edge
And pray for all that’s dear

And we’ll sing, sing an old song.
How long to sing this song?

Link: U2 concert postponement

comment denial

Sorry if you have been trying to leave a comment anytime in the last 4 days. I have been overzealous in my despamming settings. I trust it is fixed now.

podcast: women, the emerging church and male cultures

Here is a podcast I did with Jenny McIntosh . In a first podcast Jenny describes the ministry of Spirited Exchanges as a ministry to those outside the church. Download file: ethos of Spirited Exchanges: 2 mins : 600K

In a second podcast Jenny and I talk about women and the emerging church. We identify three ways in which the emerging church can exclude women;
– in the way the Bible is used
– in not seeking representation in speaking and in leadership
– in continuing a “culture”, patterns of being and talking, that are male in nature.
Jenny and I then discuss one thing men could do and one thing women could do to increase the place of women in the emerging church. I’m biased but I think it’s one of the most helpful and challenging conversations I’ve had in a long time and I think anyone serious about the future of the emerging church needs to listen and ponder. Download file : women and the emerging church : 9 mins : 2.5 MB

Today is Saturday 11 March

Today is Saturday 11 March. There are people from Opawa Baptist;
: meeting in the foyer training in youth leadership
: meeting at the Christchurch Polytech to learn how to make coffee in the church coffee machine
: meeting in my office talking about global mission and prayer
: sleeping in over at the church tonight because they are fasting and raising money for mission through the 40 hour famine.

Photo via Jas

It’s a snapshot of our life as a church; diverse, caring, outward.

a day to be organised: UPDATE

Today is a day to be organised.

9-10 am; Pastoral leadeship and management lecture.

11-12:20 am: Working with a local community trust on leadership.

1:20 pm: Flying to Dunedin, where I spend the evening working with local churches in the area of mission (and doing 2 potential Letters from a dying church).

So today involves speaking among 3 different groups in 2 different cities. I learnt a word over last weekend “alignment”; the looking to make different parts of my life work together. Today feels a bit like “alignment;”
: what God is doing at Opawa; working into my speaking; working into a writing project
: the same content from my leadership lectures being spoken in two contexts.

UPDATE: I managed to meet all the deadlines and there seemed to be some good connection in various contexts. Peace to all the people I met!

passionate practices in Next Wave Magazine

The latest edition of Next Wave magazine includes an article based on a blog post I did back in February, on how we are applying passionate practices here at Opawa, on how we are trying to make the doing of our faith a community activity around which we shape our worship.

The Next Wave article is here.

Lenten practices: using 40 as a worship resource

Here’s a Lenten DJed worship resource, that morphs into a spiritual takeway. It’s from my weekend, where I used it three times; as a call to worship at the start of Brian McLaren, as an introduction to communion on Sunday morning and to focus our evening service on passionate practices during Lent.

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podcast: emerging church scene in New Zealand06

Here are some “voices” commenting on the emerging church scene here in New Zealand, recorded as part of the Brian McLaren weekend.

Here is Grace McLaren giving her impressions of the emerging church scene in New Zealand. Download Grace McLaren: (2 mins; 700K)

Here is Jason King, part of the team at Opawa, reflecting on the challenges of the weekend; Download Jason King: (1 min; 270K)

brian is preaching

Opawa Baptist has wifi. So these are notes, what I heard Brian say, [with a few editorial comments by me], as Brian preached. It will be interesting to see the difference between seminar mode and working with the text mode.

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workshops

All afternoon people have been cruising around various workshops. I believe in contextual theology and so I worked hard so that Brian’s input could be surrounded by “coal face” New Zealander’s working on the issues, not as experts but as storytellers.

Do the workshop topics indicate who my friends are?

Or could they perhaps give some idea of the unique “charism” of the emerging church in New Zealand; in worship and art as mission, transitioning existing churches through multi-congregations, workplace spirituality, ministry among church leavers?

Or could the workshops also show the new edges of a movement? 10 years ago the emerging church in New Zealand was under heavy criticism and the practioners tended to be bunkered down and concentrating on survival. Are we seeing a move toward greater dialogue among denominations and a focus on mission, justice and the margins?

Workshop topics included;

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brian mclaren session 3: spiritual formation in practice

Opawa Baptist has wifi. So these are notes, what I heard Brian say, [with a few editorial comments by me], as Brian spoke for a day on the topic of spiritual formation.

He is offering 16 practical ways for embrace spiritual formation. I have added in some practical examples which I think are happenning at Opawa.

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brian mclaren session 2: forming disciples : panel

Panel 2: Lyn Campbell, Alan Jamieson, Kathy Mayes. They are not experts. They are helping us contextualise and process what Brian is saying and what it means for us.

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brian mclaren session 2: forming disciples

Opawa Baptist has wifi. So these are notes, what I heard Brian say, [with a few editorial comments by me], as Brian spoke for a day on the topic of spiritual formation. These are notes on the art of forming disciples.

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