sustain:if:able kiwi

coffee and a community grounded around Scripture

When I arrived at Opawa, morning tea during the week was 3 staff gathered inside an inner office. It felt huddled and insular.

– 24 months ago we painted the foyer in warm colours and brought 7 sofas.
– 20 months ago we brought a coffee machine.
– 15 months ago I invited the staff to gather, using lectio divino, around the lectionary readings. No need for preparation. Instead we simply read the Scriptures and listen to it and each other.

Today 11 people sat in the foyer drinking coffee at morning tea. P + B were dropping by to test the coffee machine. R + J were being thanked for their voluntary IT role with us. J works for a local community trust and drops in for morning tea. L staggered in, having walked a long way to bring his money for our annual Pentecost festival. 5 paid staff are regular. The sun streamed in. The coffee was good, the conversation was warm. The lectionary reading (Ezekiel 37) prompted good discussion and excellent insights about life, hope, church, Christian living.

It felt open, real and Scripture focused. I like what Opawa is becoming. I like the sense of hospitality. I like the way that coffee and couches draw us together as a community. I like the way that Scripture is a seamless part of our life.

pentecost festival

Next weekend (May 25, 26) is Pentecost, which, along with Easter and Christmas, are The Big 3 in the life of the church. So here at Opawa we’ve got a Festival happening.

Friday we kick off with a family film and quiz show; then on Saturday evening we’ve got a NZ musical concert, with Shooting Stars, Sunburn and Amy Hay. Doors open at 7 pm and there’s a $10 cover charge. Just a chance to enjoy the gifts of God and the community of God.

During the Saturday, it’s Pentecost teaching; mixing head and hand.

9:30 am Bible + art + interaction:
Topic: Who is God as the Son ascends,
catching the human body into God
followed by hands on workshops including Kiz musical or art or videomaking. Considering for example: What visual images would you use to portray humans at Pentecost?

1:30 pm Bible + art + interaction:
Topic: Who are humans, as the Spirit drops down, like fire,
to enliven the body of God; by action, in communion, through community

followed by hands on workshops including adult musical or model airplane making or videomaking. Considering for example: How would you make and paint a model airplane to reflect what God is doing in the world at Pentecost?

This is the 3rd year we’ve done it. Every year registrations are slow and people at Opawa seem disinterested in the Pentecost teaching and the mixing of head and hand. I struggle to understand why people don’t get into it more. I just love the idea of doing something hands on, with others, playing, creating, coffeeing together.

Do we not advertise properly? Is the Sunday teaching considered enough? Are people too busy? Is the head to hand challenge too out there? Is the topic of the Spirit a bit too scarey?

a missional church?

I arrived home at midnight Saturday, after 8 days speaking in Melbourne and Adelaide, looking forward to being with family. I was also looking forward to being with my Opawa church family, just sitting among them, enjoying others lead and preach.

Sunday was Mothers Day here in New Zealand. In today’s world of widely varied family shapes and experiences, it’s a service that needs to be handled with care. Part of the Sunday service included this wonderful prayer written by my partner, plus the giving of flowers to all the women in the congregation, as a way of acknowledging the fact that mothering is as much an action as a title, that we can all mother in a variety of ways.

Just before the sermon, 2 men walked down toward the front and grabbed the remaining flowers. It was so well co-ordinated that at first I thought it was a scheduled part of the service. But no. On the way back, past me, one of the men stopped.

“Are these flowers going to be used for anything else? If not, can we take them and give them out to the homes around us.”

And off they headed, to knock on doors, and give a flower to people in our local and surrounding community, in the name of the church. They returned with stories of welcome and of relationships that will be followed up.

After the service, the person who secured the flowers was ecstatic. She had felt really strongly that rather than get 100 flowers, this year she should get 150 flowers. “That’s the Spirit of God,” she exclaimed, as we told her what had happened.

I am honoured to be part of a community where worship flows so spontaneously and naturally into mission, where the future of the people of God is indeed among the people of God.

an easter journey

My latest radio viewpoint, going live today.

… The church has killed the Christian gospel with words. Blah blah blah from pulpits every single Sunday. It’s time we started truly following Jesus. It’s time we embraced all the 5 senses that God gave us… for more:

(more…)

UK applause

I wrote an article (3,000 words) last year, titled “Emerging, established or re-emerging?; which explored some theological and ecclesiological themes around the story of our move to Opawa Baptist, and the change processes around the planting of emerging church congregations, using a multi-congregation model, in an established church. It is a mix of storytelling and reflection on the Trinity. It has now published in the UK journal Ministry Today (Edition 38, [Northern Hemisphere] Winter 2006). (You can subscribe on-line to the journal).

They also carried the following review of my Out of Bounds Church? book

The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to Create a community of faith in a culture of change by New Zealand Baptist minister, Steve Taylor, should be essential reading for any one wanting to understand ’emerging church’ for four reasons: first, this is a book by a practioner, who currently runs three forms of ’emerging church’ while pastoring a traditional church in Christchurch. Second, it is a book by a theologian, who has applied academic rigour to doing mission. Third, it is a book by a person very much in touch with the cutting edge of today’s youth culture(s). Fourth, it is by a New Zealander, and, in this reviewer’s opinion, the New Zealand churches are very often ahead of their Western counterparts. Steve Taylor is an extra-ordinarily creative individual, and this is reflected in this book. I found this an unsettling book, for it makes me realise how much my church, along with most churches, is out of touch with contemporary culture … One question which this book leaves me with is this: is ’emerging church’ dependent upon creative individuals such as Steve Taylor?”

What do you think? Is the New Zealand church often ahead of the game? How important are creative individuals for emerging churches? Would this be a good thing, or a bad thing?

digestion with choice

di•ges•tion n.
1. The process by which food is converted into substances that can be absorbed and assimilated by the body. It is accomplished in the alimentary canal by the mechanical and enzymatic breakdown of food.
2. Assimilation of ideas or information; understanding.
and;
3. The name of our Sunday evening church service, where we try to “digest/assimilate” following Jesus today.

On Sunday we made a number of changes; and offered Digestion with choice. It involved tightening up what we consider the core tasks of worship; making them shorter and sharper; and then offering options, allowing people to choose the most helpful form of “digestion” for them. In other words…

We start, all together, for about 40 minutes to …
GATHER as a people of God
GIVE in offerings and prayer for the world
HEAR the HOT TEXT of someone’s favourite Bible verse and how it fits into God’s big story
LISTEN to a Scriptural passage – short – sharp – ending with 2 questions (for talkback – see below).
CONNECT through notices

People were then offered a choice: over about 40 minutes they could choose. So on Sunday we offered 3 choices:
TALKBACK; to discuss the Biblical text with preacher, on the sofas in the foyer; a chance to address either of the 2 discussion questions, or any other, in a relaxed setting. Requires no preparation from the preacher (other than usual exegesis), just a willingness to dialogue and some ability to keep a discussion on track. The image is that of radio talkback.
WORSHIP in song: in the auditorium
REFLECTIVE SPACE: for this Sunday the reflective space involved a computer; with continous looping visuals and a 6 minute meditation (words and ambient track). The use of headphones allowed a person to be alone with God.

(Other options we have brainstormed as possible CHOICES for other evenings include communion, serving practically in the community, creative response, labyrinth).

Finishing with supper round 8:15pm. A person walks around each option; offering a benediction to those gathered, and informing them of the location for supper.

Why? After 3 years of Digestion we are recognising that it attracts children, young teens, teenagers, students, workers. So rather than force all ages into a discussion, or a creative response, or singing, why not give them some choice? It also recognises that people digest in different ways and in different rates. It also possibly invites people to be more adult about what they need to digest.

I will keep you updated on how it goes.

workplace spirituality

This worked well.

We printed a map of Christchurch city onto brown paper bags and people were invited to mark where they ate their lunch and 3 words to describe what they did. (Work can be viewed as a term that excludes the retired and homemakers, so we hoped that a focus on where you eat your lunch would prove more inclusive).

I then preached on Ephesians 4:1-16 as a workplace text, a challenge to use our gifts and ability for the sake of the Kingdom come where we eat our lunch during the week.

By way of response, people brought their paper bags to the front of the church and pegged them up. We will make these into a banner, and perhaps even a prayer mat for people to walk and pray over, with the words from Ephesians 4:16; when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows.

the good old days

We all have memories of the good old days. Which means that any change process challenges the past. Take on a missional church leadership challenge and you face the history of a church and the values and habits of it’s members.

But don’t think this post is irrelevant if you are part of a flash, new, emerging startup. We planted Graceway Baptist Church, aged 25, thinking we were the newest thing on the church block. We had gathered a team, workshopped our core values, prayed, listened in the local community. I was washing clothes at the local laundromat, incarnating myself in the local narratives.

Week 2 and I left a message, asking one of our team to lead worship. He rang back, “So what’s the pattern, Steve.” Bright, young, one week into a church plant and he is searching for memories.

Every person that enters your church has memories and carries notions of what church should look like. They might get it from Mr Bean or a priest on TV. They might get it from previous church participation. But we all have memories of the good old days and change challenges these memories.

What to do with the good old days?

Visit one on one. Shows you are a listener, but takes time.

Ignore them. This can make things look good on the surface and serene in your office, but you might just be corking an explosion.

Shout louder by using the pulpit, or your knowledge, or your use of the Bible, to maximise your own voice. Again, this can make you feel good, but you might just be corking an explosion.

Our staff team has a pattern of gathering around Scripture. We are all part-time, committed to living and working not only in the church but in other forms of work. So we need a way to be gathered and scattered. Our current pattern is to share a common set of lectionary readings, to pray on Tuesday and every second Friday we gather to drink coffee, read the lectionary text and engage in some form of lectio divino.

Hence a 4th idea: New and old listen around Scripture. This Friday I invited some our older members, with long memories to join us. We read Scripture together. I then invited those with long memories to share one memory of one time when the church had come close to living out the Scripture that had just been read. The new on the block pastoral team listened. And then we prayed for each other.

How might this help a change process? For a start, the Scriptures, rather than the good old days, or a shiny new emerging idea, start our conversation. New and old are sharing time and text together. The work of God in the past is honoured. The voices of those often marginalised in a change process are heard, but in a context of Scripture and affirmation, rather than complaint. And if the new staff listen carefully, they might just begin to sense more clearly the historic pathways by which the God who began a good work in the good old days might carry it on to completion into the changing world that is our tomorrow.

7 practices, 7 images, 7 texts = Lenten 7-pack

Lent is coming fast, with Ash Wednesday February 21. Here at Opawa we are developing a Lenten 7-pack. These are being offered across our 5.4 congregations, giving us a way to talk about the practices we share as one church in many congregations.

The Lenten 7-pack will include;
: 7 spiritual practices (for the 7 weeks leading up to Easter),
: 7 hand drawn art images (in the Si Smith 40 genre. Here is a sample image

: 7 Biblical texts (drawing from the gospel of Luke and the journey of Jesus toward Jerusalem),
: 7 questions.

The 7-pack will be supported by study guide questions, so that groups and congregations can engage around text, image, practice. The 7-pack will also be supported by Si Smith’s 40 as a worship aid.

We are planning to print the 7-pack business card size, so that people can carry around the practice of the week in their wallet. We go to the printer on Monday February 12. If any groups want to partner with us (sharing costs), get in touch or leave your details by Sunday February 11.

i have never been in a church with so much life

This was a comment made to me at the door, after the service, this Sunday morning.

Signs of life could have included;
– the kids praying the pastoral prayer with me up the front of the church;
– reflection on our 4th Advent art piece. (We focus on an art piece each Sunday in Advent by giving them out as postcards at the beginning of Advent, by having an artist speak to each art piece Sunday by Sunday, accompanied by a piece of live music). The actual art piece was present in church this morning;
– celebration of an Opawa sermon being published;
– a story of God at work touching a person’s life in the Christmas Journey;
– commissioning 2 people on overseas mission: 1 short term to Cambodia, 1 for a year to Puerto Rico;
– the energy in the room; kids anticipating Christmas, a great musical mix of carols and contemporary chorus, lots of visitors …

spirituality in public spaces

So I am having a go at offering spirituality at my local cafe. More precisely, I am running a journalling course for 4 weeks. 17 people turned up for the 1st night.

What’s hot about a cafe:
– public space means neutral space. the dialogue feels less churchy. the prayers need to be more real.
– the social rules are already written and understood. this is great for those not used to church.
– the set up is easier as someone else does it.
– the vibe is relax, chill, coffee, cake. if that’s your medium, then it’s a great message.
– cafes have tables which people naturally sit around. instantly you can operate at a number of relational levels – whole group and table group. great for working with groups larger than 10 in size.
– when you pop back for a coffee the next day, you remember the God interaction. you are walking back into a space that has been spiritual. that’s surprisingly good.

What’s not as hot about a cafe:
– it is noisier. all those hard surfaces. especially when the milk is frothing. so everyone needs to talk louder. that’s harder for introverts.
– there are economic realities to negotiate.
– what do you do with the walk-in crowd, the “Oh the lights are on, let’s pop in.” and they walk into an existing group. that takes a bit of relational skill to process.

But on balance, for what I am trying to do – offer spirituality in a public space – the positives far outweigh the negatives.

church as having your cake and eating it too

The All Blacks are playing France this Sunday Morning, kicking off at 9am. We have it here live… at Opawa Baptist!

Even if you want to watch the first half at home, come along and see the second half at the conclusion of the morning service!

a greatly missional week

It’s been a great week for me.
– Community family film night last Friday, and the joy of offering hospitality to numbers of young people in our surrounding community, while helping them think Christianly about film
– Spring clean day on Saturday and the joy of practically serving as a church community and in partnership with other community groups, in cleaning our surrounding community
– Light party on Tuesday and having 60 kids – mixing of church, children’s ministry and community kids – dressing up in non-scarey costumes, eating sausages, scavenger hunting, thinking about the Christian echoes around Halloween.
– I am have been working on a missional project for about 6 weeks, something that I think has huge potential to influence our culture/s. I can’t say what it is at the moment, but it has been such a joy to work HARD with a few new friends, and to test the project with various groups over the week and to see connectivity.
– I have been exploring the place of spirituality in our culture by offering a spiritual journalling course. Over this week 18 people have signed up and the local cafe has said yes. So something that was a dream a month ago is a goer.

Most weeks for me feel a bit of a grind, with little to show for it. So it’s important for me to name the above. As I reflect on the joy within me, I am reminded again of what makes my heart sing. In God’s good humour, I am wired with a dimension of creativity that just loves offering spirituality outside church walls.

I need to name this joy, and nurture this part of my identity. It is too easy for me, in a growing church and with significant teaching responsibilities, to get locked into administration, planning and detail, and to run the risk of neglecting what gives me deep, deep joy.

spring clean day

When I arrived at Opawa I suggested an Annual Spring Clean Day. Simply an invitation to spend half a day either (a) spring cleaning around the church; (b) pick up rubbish around our community; (c) offer to clean (pre-arranged) houses in our community. I simply wanted to get us into our community as a community. I wanted to offer a wide range of jobs – cleaning, lifting, fixing, painting – so that lots of skills and competencies could be involved.

It was a new concept and I got some pretty blank looks at first. But each year it has grown and developed. The 3rd Spring Clean Day rolled around on Saturday. New features this year included the following: A strong partnership with a local community group. We offered a barbeque at lunch time and about a dozen locals joined us for lunch. Great stuff. As part of our worship through the month of October we have also been offering spiritual resources around spring cleaning (our relationships, our lives, our time). These have helped to integrate body, mind and soul.

The day was outstanding. About 60 people turned up to help. We filled three Skip bins and visited about 15 community homes. We enjoyed being a community eating and working in the community.