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Fresh Expressions: Changing the Landscape 6th May 2011 (part ii)

Watching the twitter stream from the Conference live as we came together and the presenters spoke.

One particular interview made a big impression on me. I was aware of some of the things going on at St George's in Deal, so good to see that the creative fire still burns.

They closed their Church (building, that is - some of the vocabulary here got a bit confusing) so that they could focus on networks.

They use a building block of between 20 and 50 people (the size of an extended family). Within this extended family there was a Cell Church pattern, with the associated large scale celebrations. Each of these networks needed to raise up between 3 and 6 lay leaders as they sought to become Missional Communities.

Twice per annum a Learning Community event was held where all together in leadership joined together. Phew - that doesn't sound much! Having just presented here on the need to build each other up, with values such as being intergenerational, this sounds like a step in the other direction, but you can't deny an edginess of the Kingdom in this either.

They also reported an interesting dynamic whereby the values seemed to have been set "from the front", as it were, and then a process of watching to see who came up with the vision, and then who was able to gather around them as vision-holders. In complex social situations (like most places, I guess) this allows each network to have its own vision for those it is seeking to serve, but the joinedness with the other networks comes from the DNA of the values being consistent.

People are taking responsibility and exercising gifts, not creating multiple unaccountable groups

Church - a community of faith taking action.

Fresh Expressions: Changing the Landscape 6th May 2011

A great day conference on Friday. I made some notes, although I was trying to get more of a feel of a mood of where things are going, and what I can learn.

We are in a mixed economy - living partnership within the Mission of God

There were several interviews with some really interesting projects during the course of the day. I thought Bart Woodhouse from The Beacon in Dartford raised some really challenging questions for us.

Creating community with simple steps

++Rowan gave the morning's keynote, and started with a question

Where does the Church start in the New Testament?

Each step we might identify, Pentecost for example, can only really have happened because of some preceding work by God,thus leading Rowan to ask whether the Church, in one sense, didn't begin at the moment of creation because

the Church is about what God wanted from the beginning of the world

which ties in with Paul's reliance on the purposes of God in his arguments in the letter to the Ephesians. People's journey's, he went on to discuss, are complex and varied.

The Church begins with where Jesus is with others

and the Gospel accounts describe a whole spectrum of meetings and responses. Rowan went on to argue that, for the Church

Mission is about being the sorts of communities where people see things differently

and to describe Fresh Expressions as

enterprises of vision

both of which demand that we pay close attention to timescale.

Sometimes Jesus says 'now is the time...' but at other times he has long, meandering discussions

He described the way in which the early Church saw Baptism and Holy Communion as

having strong connections with illumination. John Jewel, the 16th Century Bishop of Salisbury, said that 'in Holy Communion we see rocks splitting and the dead rising'

For me, though, the far more challenging part of his address was the permission he gave in the statement

we are moving towards a far less homogenous version of Church

and then described a possible future with smaller congregations creating trusting friendships and tapping into the willingness in society to goto a big event or festival by joining these smaller congregations  together in large scale celebrations.

Being rational

Joel has left an interesting comment on an old post about Anti-Emergent Feelings over a year ago. He says

In the attempt to argue for post-modern emergent churches, you are using modern rationalism to do so.

Hmmmm, intersting.

having said that I have also spoken with people who claim that post-Modernity is hogwash precisely because it does NOT use modern rationalism to work through arguments. I am not sure how to move forward on this one and argue (as I did in the original post) for some conservatives to accept the enculturation of their own theology and ecclesiology without using "modern rationalism", perhaps there is an degree of sarcasm in Joel's comment which is fair enough. Speaking for myself I think I was using modern rationalistic tools (quoting proof texts for example) in an ironic way to try to point out the slippery slope upon which modernity has placed conservative theological views. It is not the rock that Jesus spoke about.

There's good news and bad news...

The good news is very good news indeed. After years of jealously reading of others and their Clergy residentials, doing something with relevance for post-Modernity and its interface with the Established Church it appears that Salisbury Diocese is going to include a worskshop on post-Modern culutre as it effects spirituality this summer. This is GOOD NEWS indeed. Big HURRAHs all round.

The bad news, though, is as bad as the good news is good. Guess who they have got to do a workshop!

Me

Doh!

Play away (part ii)

Lorna asked in a comment for more info on the local clergy over-nighter to think about Mission Shaped Church. Was it what I was expecting?

No. I was expecting a rather bland series of sessions displaying (as I see too often) a misunderstanding of the basic values of MSC, as if they can just be bolted on to a traditional form of Church and away you go.

Instead we got some really good input from John Holbrook from Wimborne Minster, and talked about the relationship between traditional and emerging forms of Church. Thank goodness we talked about some other things as well!!

A note of caution. We spent quite some time trying to find a decent pub in Warminster. In the end we gave up and went to the least dive-like one we could find.

Play away

About to depart for 24 hours play away with a group of local clergy, being led on the theme of Mission Shaped Church. Looking forward to getting to know some more people living around here, and the chance to talk and share.

My last experience of a clergy discussion about MSC was less than encouraging.

Mission Shaped Church

At the recent Clergy Day I opted for the seminar on the subject of Mission Shaped Church.

Emerging Church and Spiritual Opposition

I am thinking about Spiritual Opposition...not engaging in it (although I am sure I do my fair share), but why I read so very little about it on blogs and in writing about post-Modernism and faith.

It would certainly be easy to nominate a few candidates. There is nothing that some traditional form of Church love more than an enemy they can demonise. I am not saying that everybody who writes against fresh expressions of Church is the spawn of Satan.

What can we learn from a vodka and tonic?

Its amazing what you can glean from a simple experiment.

Take this one for example! ("Oh, thanks - don't mind if I do!").

Sin and judgement

Something I read repeatedly in the rather uninformed criticisms of Emerging Church is the lack of emphasis on SIN. We are, according to our accusers, relativists and therefore SOFT ON SIN.

I had a moment of semi-panic earlier. I was talking to somebody who made a comment about a sermon I did some months ago. The reading was Genesis 6:9-22, Noah being told by God to build a boat because of the wickedness of the world. The person I was speaking graciously expressed surprise that I had not mentioned judgement during the sermon...