sustain:if:able kiwi

retreating

As a church leadership we’re away on a day of retreat today, taking some time to reflect back and look forward. We’ve invited some “boat rockers” or “out of the box” thinkers to join us; people in the church who we sense will provoke and challenge us and help us avoid group think.

We are also going to be trying an idea from Stephen Said, using de Bono’s 6 hats to aid our reflection and critical thinking. The programme for our day is here; the left column is the days tasks, the right column is reflection material including our aim, values, multi-congregational model.

transition packs

(Been meaning to blog this for a while).

A guiding verse for us as a church this year has been John 10:10; Jesus coming to give us life to the full. This has raised for us as church ministry staff the questions;

• How do we resource people to live Christian life to the full?
• What would it mean for us as church staff to offer pastoral support to people in life’s many transitions?

A conversational comment made by Olive Drane has kept stirring away. She noted her son getting a new job and the job placement agency sending in a morning tea on the first day of the new job. And the question, “What could it mean for churches to be engaged in honouring these transitions?”

Outcome …
This year we have started “transition packs.” For example;

• new seeds to people moving house
• new nappies to families with new-borns
• cycling gloves for the loss of a drivers licence

Purpose …

• To provide a God-presence for all of life.
• To show our pastoral support for people.
• Allows us to connect with people both inside and outside the church.

Process …
With the staff and with our ministry leader we brainstormed together transitions and potential gifts.

• What are the life transitions people go through?
• What could go into a “transition pack” which we give, along with a card, to people going through a life transition?

Ideally gifts would be creatively low-cost. Ideally gifts would be unique to allow freshness and avoid the legalism of expectations. This brainstorming process made us more alert to “whole-of-life” transitions and turned up creative suggestions.

Possible transitions and gifts could include…

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christmas in the square

This year the Christmas Journey (an artistic exploration of the Christmas story) is moving from the outside the church to the city square for 14 days leading up to Christmas. (More photos here and more info here.) This is the fruit of months of negotiations and paper work on the part of Peter and Joyce Majendie.

It is a bold move that will place the Christmas message in the heart of our city. Very exciting. Very demanding. Practicalities of financing, of security and of staffing are major.

I was doing some work on workplace spirituality today and ran across that fact that St Francis of Assissi, back in the 12th century, ran an outdoor Christmas art installation. Three years before he died, he decided to hold Christmas outdoors and outside the church. He found a niche in the rock near the town square. He borrowed an ox and a donkey from a farmer and set up a manger; sculptures of Joseph and Mary, a little baby doll Jesus. There was lights and music, the first ever outdoor Christmas art installation.

Which got me thinking about how Peter and Joyce taking the Christmas Journey to the square this year. And how they are just following in the footsteps of St Francis; Preach the Gospel at all times, use art and the outdoors and the public spaces. Go to people. Use lights and music. And if necessary, use words.

espresso ending

For our “ending” ritual at espresso last nite; we were offered crayons and one blank sheet of paper and all invited, together, to draw. It somehow captured the values of espresso; community and the value of each other in order to bring colour and meaning.

food and mission

Espresso, our Tuesday evening discussion-in-community congregation, was EXCELLENT last nite. The opening question was: Why do Christians eat meat? If they can justify that, surely they can justify anything? It’s a question that I have faced from a number of spiritual seekers.

To kick off the discussion, I used the following rant from circle of pneuma. Lot of laughter around this quote:
Your neighbourhood new ager and neo-pagan is likely a vegan or vegetarian (just participate in a new age festival and you won’t find a hamburger in sight)? And consider that in their eyes the [barbeque] just might look a bit like food offered unto idols (i.e. the repugnant idols of intensive factory farming and consumerist capitalism), and so they will be repulsed at the outset from even feeling “welcome”?

It was such a rich discussion: food, hospitality, Biblical ethics, Pharisaical and fundamentalist vegetarians. I just wish I had “podcasted” it. It has prompted me to add another verse to my bread liturgy.

Give us today our daily bread.
Matthew 6:11

ALL: You are the bread of life
Yet in a world where many lack daily bread
Help us eat justly, consume wisely for our world
Bread for all our journey.

i’m not creative, but

Most people tell you they are not creative. Back in May, I tried out a creativity and spirituality festival here at Opawa. We had live music and coffee. We offered kite making and metal tile working, and artists to guide and encourage. The theme was nor’west people – what does it mean for us to be blown by the Spirit. People at Opawa told me they were not creative, but we mounted the tiles together last weekend and this is the result. Not creative my foot!

For an article I co-authored with Lynne on creativity as a pathway to spiritual growth, see here.

To those who are itching to have a go, “Play!” Get out your wax crayons, your pastels, your paints, your angle grinder and enjoy. Go cook a meal, dig your garden, sing, dance. Weld metal, glue stones, take photos, weave grasses, quilt, cross-stitch, make cards. Design websites, write stories, tell stories, arrange flowers. And as you do, be aware of Creator God, who created you. Allow your spiritual journey to come through in what you do, let your work be a prayer, a blessing to others. Enjoy!

And to all who have the privilege of seeing someone else’s vulnerable, humble efforts at creativity — treat those efforts as gift, as treasure. Be careful not to inadvertently snuff out the creative confidence of those who would express themselves in this way. Encourage, support, and affirm.

Pentecost 2006 is a long weekend. We are already working on a second NorWest Festival. This will include a Spirit art installation, alongside live music and art workshops. Put a ring around it and make plans to have a holiday weekend immersed in Christchurch creativity and Christian spirituality.

espresso ending tonite

Well, the sound sample is “When the rain comes down, where will you be” (from Fat Freddy’s Drop Live from the Matterhorn album)

If you’re coming tonight bring either snow boots or an umbrella. See ya.

PS The ending (provided) will also involve tent, candles, projected images.

mission cards

What is church? At Opawa we have been exploring the idea that church exists to develop community, extend Jesus love and grow in Christian life. This understanding has laid the groundwork for a multi-congregational model and allowed the planting of Espresso, a Tuesday evening congregation.

Espresso is experimenting with the mission part, with extending Jesus love, in the following way. Once a month a person describes their work. This is followed by the playing of 3 cards;
Creator card
Redeeemer card
Sustainer card.

Each card offers a Scripture and some questions based on understanding God as Creator; Redeemer; Sustainer. Questions like; What in this person’s work takes responsibility for God’s creation? What in this person’s work enhances life to the full? What in this work breathes God’s peace and forgiveness?

Those gathered answer the cards. In so doing, they provide feedback, offering insights into how a person’s work is an extension of Jesus love.

The evening then concludes with a storytelling time. The story of a saint is shared, ideally a saint that has some linkage with the person’s work.

So on Tuesday a scientist working in the micro-biology field shared and the evening ended with the story of St.Francis of Assissi. For a positive comment, see here.

texting communion

Further to my post on mobile worship, we had a go at texting communion tonite.

Context: Younger demographic, so high users of cell phones. Also a demographic with potential for giggle factor.

Planning: We broke communion up into bits;
Welcome
Bread Scriptures
Grape juice Scriptures
Lords Prayer
Serving bread
Serving grape juice
Benediction

Actual liturgy: We texted people, who came to the front to read the various words. These were up on the powerpoint to make it easier and also to include those who didn’t have cell phones.

We then texted more people with the invitation to serve bread and grape juice among us.

We then texted everyone the Lord’s prayer, which we all said together. We ended by texting a couple of people the Benediction and asking them to pass it on among each other.

Analysis: It took about 20 minutes, longer than I thought. This was OK, but if we did it again, I’d like to give people more visual input.

If we did it again, I’d also like the lights darker, so that we could see the glow of all our cell phones lighting up as we recieved the Lord’s Prayer.

Oh, I texted the benediction to the wrong person, someone said. I like the fact that the Lord’s Prayer and a benediction is flying around cell~space.

It had the potential to become a giggle fest, but didn’t. It certainly made commmunion more participatory and helped tune people in. I loved the randomness of it all, not knowing who would do what or when a text would arrive.

Why do it? I hope it wasn’t to try and be cool. For me, it was part of reflecting on the Word made flesh, God who so loved this world. What does it mean for the Word to become text? How does God connect with cellphone users?

Ponder this: Who was the first person to invest in global roaming technology?

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yeah, but is it church?

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espresso, our new Tuesday nite “discussion in community” congregation went rock climbing on Tuesday. A great nite; sharing communion, building community, pushing ourselves into new ways, integrating body and soul. Is it church?

missional discipleship

I just had an email asking me what Opawa was doing in the way of missional discipleship. Over the last year I have developed a programme called Growth coaching; which offers one on one; whole of life coaching. A person meets with a coach, together they set a programme, and the coach holds them accountable.

This was what started the idea , and the realisation that most discipling programmes are content based, not people based. They impart information and have set starting and ending points. How to be more flexible?

It was also important to see growth as whole of life and at all life stage, not just for “new” Christians. So this is some research I did as part of a sermon series.

This is our finished publicity product, which is given out to interested people. And this is an article from a New Zealand Christian newspaper about the concept.

We trained 10 growth coaches toward the end of last year. They met last week for support and prayer and feedback. They are quietly working away, behind the scenes, connecting with people, quietly changing lives.

baptism resources

Shannon, who was with us for some months recently as an art intern, was asked to design a postcard – fresh and appealing – that we could give to people being baptised, to pass onto their friends. Just something physical that if you’re being baptised, you can give to friends and say “hey, this is special to me, please come along.” All part of us at Opawa trying to make connections easier between life and faith. Here’s the result. What do you think?

post-it prayers

This has worked well the last two Sunday evenings. Invite two people to stand with their backs to the audience. Give out post-it stickers and invite the rest of the congregation to write “thanks God for” prayers on the post-it’s, and place them on people’s backs.

Its a fun and interactive way to pray. It uses gifts of encouragement (which, according to the apostle Barnabas, are at the heart of the missional church). For it’s impact, on Amy, (who is part of the ministry team at Opawa) read here.

slow learner

How to talk about church membership in our contemporary world? How to raise the bar around participation and values, while being open-handed and hospitable? I’m learning. Slowly.

I’m learning
1 … every few months to offer a newcomers cafe …. nothing structured, just a time to eat and a few get to know you questions.
2 … every few months to offer a membership evening.
3 …. to start by asking people what they are praying for about the church. You see, membership evenings can be “sales” evenings. But Opawa is actually a very human church. We’ve got lots of warts. Asking people what they’re praying for about the church gives me feedback on some warts, and reduces the “sales” pitch factor.
4 … to talk about the journey we’re on, including our Denominational past. I mean, we as humans, we’re all shaped deeply by our parents habits. Apply that to church and we have lots of strange corporate habits. So talking about our past might make it easier to understand our strangeness.
5 … offer concrete ways to participate. I give people a participation survey form. I try to keep it to one page, but offer lots of ways to get involved. This goes into a database. And it can be given back to them annually, to allow them change and flex and growth.
6 …. finish with Ello, kids lego. Invite people to use Ello to make their prayer for the church. People talk, people laugh, people explain, and it’s a spiritually real way to end.

(Context. I ran a membership evening last nite.)