sustain:if:able kiwi

Ritual to mark new beginnings

This is a family ritual to mark a new beginning and to pray for fresh life.

Take a packet of seeds, preferably fast growing flowers, especially if you have young children. Remind the kids of the new beginnings they are experiencing.

Together clear the earth, ideally in a place that you will pass often as a family. Give seeds to everyone in the family. Plant them together as an act of prayer, that new life will emerge and that fresh colour will spring forth.

a moving Sunday

It was my first Sunday at Opawa.

At the door everyone got given 2 pieces of Ello opolis; a type of lego. The Bible text was 1 Corinthians 12; each body unique. As a response at the end of the service, I invited everyone to join their Ello to the person beside them. These were handed from person and person down the rows, and then brought to the front, where about 5 people built “the new Opawa; each body part unique” – while we sung “Be Thou My Vision.”

It was a very moving to see this uniquely new creation emerge.

(I wanted to grab a digital photo for you, but the kids arrived first!)

PS A number of people commented on how having something tactile to play with during the service enhanced their attention span. This is at the heart of creativity; if we treat people as whole people, they are more likely to learn and grow as whole followers of Jesus.

Daddy, what good does a doctor do? Most doctors you know help make people better. I will only be a thinking doctor – good for nothing else!

Email to Andrew Jones

Andrew you are probably being drowned under a mountain of words. I pray wisdom and generous grace for you as you attempt to hear God and ponder the way forward. For what’s its worth;

1. One of the key insights of postmodern thought is that language is power. The words we use to name are very easily words to control. The emerging church has lived, has been birthed on the edge of the modern church. We know what it’s like to be named as
“alternative” when our motivation was hearing the heartbeat of God
“emerging” when our motivation is following God
“small” when our motivation is communal
“pagan” when our motivation is Biblical.
“liberal” when our motivation is missionary.
We know what its like to feel language used in ways that define us unhelpfully. It is time we took our experiences and used then to listen to those who currently feel marginalized in the emerging church. If they say the name is unhelpful, then it is up to us to change, out of respect for their voice, their gifts, their insights.

2. One of the key insights of postmodern thought is that context is essential. The experience of females in the church in China is a very different context from that of females in the emerging church in the West.

3. One of the key insights of the postmodern thought is the power of a story. A seeking woman walked into a worship experience. She left, never to return, saying “I’m not interested in being part of an experience in which one man tells people what to think.” The missionary listens attentively, not for the sake of political correctedness, but so that by all means we may win some.

Taylors commissioning

My welcoming and commissioning today. Friends are flying down from Graceway to hand us over to Opawa. That is a great honour and it will be neat to catch up.

Other guests are meant to include local MP’s like Tim Barnett (best known in New Zealand for this) and also Ruth Dyson.

I’ve shaped the service which will include writing heart prayers and a big communal welcome.

I’m nervous.

this quote goes out to my auckland church and society class

Engage with communities and the new generation of consumers or risk losing market share. Full BBC article here.

do you speak German?

Found this link to my A-Z of emerging church;
Darf ich hier mal eine kleine Frage stellen? Wer weiß eine gute Übersetzung für den Begriff ’emerging church’ und alles, was dahinter steckt?
Wer sich darunter noch nichts vorstellen kann, dem sei der verlinkte Artikel empfohlen, bei dem versucht wird mit Hilfe eines ABCs den Begriff näher zu definieren.

Can anyone translate it for me?

flaming the chaff

I was flamed by Mr Wheat yesterday – using the definition here of – A public post or email message that expresses a strong opinion or criticism. Flames can be fun when they allow people to vent their feelings, then return to the topic at hand. Others are simply insulting and can lead to flame wars

I was flamed in regard to the emerging church. At the risk of starting a flame war, I will pick up on specific things said in relation to my site, my theology and my writings.

(more…)

superb

this is great. it has just become my home page.

saturday evening party

Taylor’s welcomed and commissioned;
Opawa Baptist Church
Saturday, 21st February 7:30 pm
All welcome

whats the internet point 2

NB. The post is not designed to induce guilt in any readers.

As an academic, I make my mark by writing and publishing. It’s called publish or perish. As a blogger, I live in an instant world, where yesterday’s post is old news. It’s called publish or persish. Academic publishing takes months and years. Blogging is instant.

(I am also a pastor, parent, partner, coffee drinker, but I will stick with the academic and blogger at the moment.)

Sometimes these values clash. For instance, late last year I delivered a paper on a postmodern monastery. It would shape up nicely into a journal article, but that might not be released until the end of 2004. Yet I mention on my blog that I had given the paper – on postmodern monasteries – and there are LOTS of requests for the paper. So do I go academic or go blogging? Academic writer vs blogger are in tension.

So I decide to make the paper I delivered a PDF, surround it by creative commons copyright and blog it. I decided to ask that if people downloaded it, they would offer some comments, sort of like tossing me a bone, sort of like fair trade. I wondered it this would resolve the tension between writer and blogger, because I can blog it, but if people give me feedback, that might improve the academic paper.

So I put the paper on postmodern monasteries on my blog, and asked for feedback.

My web stats tell me that over 120 people downloaded that PDF, while only 9 people commented.

Which sort of leaves me back at the drawing board. How to manage the book writing and the blogger instant demand? Which leaves me very unsure over what to do with my PhD on the emerging church once it is passed. There is a book there, but people want it instant.

I am yet to be convinced I can do both.

whats the internet point

I have wandered into another evangelical canon, over here. I am “pandering to pagans”, and “driven by culture”, and “same as the Catholics.” [Quite a mix really!]

So a complete stranger has got something off their chest by flaming me. It is so bizarre reading someone else’s interpretation of your website and realising how little you have in common. If there was some common ground we could probably start a dialogue and I could do some learning and growing. Instead, flaming the chaff results in a scorched earthed policy. Oh well, I hope they are feeling better.

holding eggs

It was my 1st day at my new church (Opawa) today. I asked the 4 other paid staff to gather.

I gave them all an egg – fragile, yet hopeful. I talked about the church as the bride of Christ … beautiful … hopeful … yet fragile and nervous.

I said that I felt a bit nervous and fragile in this new role. I said I thought people at Opawa were probably a bit nervous and fragile about having a new young minister on board. I said I wondered if the staff were a bit nervous and fragile, wondering how they would fit with this new young minister.

And so we prayed for each other, that in our fragility new life would emerge.

ask me tomorrow but not today

It has just taken us 22 hours to do the 1 hour flight from Auckland to Christchurch – one cancelled flight – one overbooked flight – two attempts at standby flights – and finally home.