Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

Persuading Gamaliel: a Reflection by Steven Croft

Paul writes – Anglican Bishop Steven Croft  has some useful things to say in his little essay “Persuading Gamaliel: Helping the Anglo-Catholic Tradition Engage with Fresh Expressions of Church”. The essay was amongst the excellent collection of essays Ancient Faith Future Mission: Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Tradition published in May this year. Other essay’s that I really benefited from were Rowan Williams’ lecture (here as a PDF); Karen Ward’s chapter (copy of a creative liturgy that accompanies her chapter on COTA can be found here as a PDF), Sue Wallace’s reflection on Visions, Ian Adams and Ian Mobsby’s chapter on New Monasticism, and in particular, Jonathan Clark’s Postmodernism and Sacramentalism. I haven’t had a chance to read the two chapters on Feig and Contemplative Fire.  Jonny Baker offers a little reflection on the book here.

Get yourself a copy of the book. It’s excellent, particularly if you find yourself more at home in the Anglo-Catholic-Sacramental tradition.

Meantime, here are a couple of excerpts from Croft’s chapter:

“...The incarnational pattern, whereby missionaries go first of all to bless and serve a particular section of society, is emerging as the most authentic and helpful model for the development of fresh expressions of church. The blessing and service of the missionary first of all builds community, which in turn creates the opportunities to make disciples. As disciples are made, so the church begins and grows... today there is a need to see the gospel inculturated in appropriate ways for changing contexts...  communities are vital places of formation and witness – an insight drawn from the broader catholic tradition down the centuries...” (p.44)

That churches grow at all “is but the culmination of thousands of small endeavours; the result of local congregations being prepared to begin new communities by going where people are and shaping church in imaginative ways according to the context... (p.47)

I really appreciated Croft’s use of the letters of Pope Gregory to Augustine of Canterbury, preserved in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The letters paint a fascinating picture of the formation of new communities.

“... [1] A fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture established primarily for the benefits of people who are not yet members of any church; [2] It will come into being through principles of listening, service, incarnational mission and making disciples; [3] It will have the potential to become a mature expression of church shaped by the gospel and the enduring marks of the church and for its cultural context...” (p.49)

These last three points, particularly point # 1 are so important to any discussion around potential new expressions of church. They cannot be lost sight of.

Love After Love

 

Paul writes - The title of this post is also the title of a beautiful little poem I recently heard Jon Kabat-Zinn recite.

 

The time will come

when, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror,

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

 

and say, sit here.  Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine.  Give bread.  Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

 

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

 

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit.  Feast on your life.

Derek Walcott is the author of the poem and is a Nobel laureate from the island of St. Lucia, a Nobel laureate in literature.

Dave Tomlinson @ the 2009 Waikato Anglican Diocese Ministry School

Paul writes - The Waikato Anglican Diocese have their Ministry School @ Findlay Park at the end of August beginning the 31^st August and running on into the first couple of days September (1^st and 2^nd).

 

I’m also exploring organising a workshop with Dave like three of us did with Ian Mobsby earlier in the year. The two options as I see them are: (1) a public workshop hosted by a supportive congregation or at the Diocesan Campus; or (2) An Anglican Parish in Hamilton or the outlying towns might want to engage Dave as part of a parish working group (that’s considering questions of mission, ecclesiological shape, creating hospitable spaces for “spiritual seekers” etc) for 2-3 hours and make a financial contribution to help cover the costs of bringing him to NZ. I’m open to being persuaded with respect to which is the best option. Perhaps too there is a third option...?  I also have a number of topics that Dave could work with and feed into the conversation or workshop for you. Let me know and I can send these to you.

 

Dave is a fascinating guy. He organised one of the early Alt.Worship groups in London – The Holy Joes – and like our own Mark Pierson and Mike Riddell has been a significant influence on a good number of younger leaders who’ve emerged into the Alt-Worship scene in the UK over the years.

He is now the Anglican vicar of a creative and thriving parish in London, and is a regular speaker at Greenbelt (UK). This year he is doing some workshops in conjunction with Kiwi Jenny McIntosh (now living in London, and who, along with Alan Jamieson, was a founder of Spirited Exchanges in NZ). Dave and Jenny will be addressing the following theme at this year’s Greenbelt Gathering, before Dave jumps on a plane and heads south.

Friday evening (28^th August) at 6pm Jenny [McIntosh] will be doing a joint session with Dave Tomlinson - So, what the hell should we believe? There is increasing debate and controversy surrounding the ‘right’ tenets of belief for evangelical Christians. Many people find their integrity challenged when expected to believe in a more literal interpretation of Scripture. Many of these interpretations seem more about keeping people ‘out’ than welcoming people ‘in’. We propose to explore issues around ‘right’ believing …

 

Dave has also written a number of books, the most significant of which was his (at the time) controversial (for all the right reasons – creating needful debate and space for new conversations an experiments) book The Post-Evangelical (pub. 1995). This book still has legs and names well the experience of a great many people who felt uncomfortable with British Evangelicalism of the early 90’s, and maybe feel uncomfortable with the trajectory that evangelicalism has taken since then. Dave’s book still resonates strongly, and although the context has changed markedly, I found, and continue to find it an excellent book and well worth reading for the first time, or reading it again. It spawned the interesting and generally useful collection of essays by a number of people including Bishop Graham Cray and Maggi Dawn (Maggi’s essay was the standout one for me, and Dave picks up on it's theme in his latest book - see below). It was titled: The Post-Evangelical Debate. As an aside, blogging friend Jason Clark is asking some interesting questions of Evangelicalism. See his PhD outline here.  

 

This book was followed up last year by his Re-Enchanting Christianity: Faith in an Emerging Culture (pub. 2008). Like its predecessor I think this one reads well the signs of the times and again offers Dave as a useful conversation partner for those grappling with (Christian) faith and wondering if there is more to this tradition than has been on display for a number of decades. Is there a richer deeper vein and a way of “re-enchanting Christianity” so that it again speaks words of life, transformation and hope in a culture asking some fascinating questions? This is a very useful and thought-provoking book. I again highly recommend it. It's good for the imagination.

 

From my point of view Dave’s time Cambridge and the Waikato will build upon earlier work done, and questions asked, in this diocese by Alan Jamieson (the 2005 Houchen Lecture and the Houchen workshop); Steve Taylor in 2007 (mission in Western Culture, the Opawa story and the multi-congregational model); Ian Mobsby in April 2009 (church and mission beyond the edge of the typical parish congregation, and now Dave who will be focusing on the creative and imaginative ways that parishes can engage with culture, spiritual seekers, and changing times. Clearly the key-note addresses will have broader appeal and congregations of other denominations would benefit from interacting with Dave and his thinking... For example, I can think of a creative open Bretheren congregation doing some interesting things and asking some very interesting questions.

 

Details of his three keynote talks at Ministry School are as follows:

CHANGING CHURCH IN AN EMERGING CULTURE

What sorts of churches are required for the 21st century? And how can we produce them? Are traditional churches capable of making the necessary changes? Where can we begin?

 

IDENTITY AND CHANGE IN AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY

How do we listen and respond to what is happening in the world, whilst continuing to listen, and remain faithful, to our tradition? What do we let go of, and what do we hold on to? And how can our traditions be reconfigured and re-spirited to meet new needs?

 

NOURISHING COMMUNITY IN A FRAGMENTED WORLD

How can church communities provide vital sustenance for 21st century spiritual pilgrims? How can we connect with the rising wave of churchless spirituality? Can we regenerate a sense of belonging in a ‘homeless’, disjointed world?

Some Thoughts on the Church in Decline

Paul writes – Diana Butler-Bass has made a number of 'appearances' on this blog over the years. Typically these ‘appearances’ are references to her books (which more than repay the time to read them. The last one I added to my library was this one. Interesting to read it in parallel with this one by former Dean of the often termed “liberal” Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Alan Jones. Both authors in their own way ask us to re-imagine the church). On Monday 20^th July (2009) Butler-Bass offered a little reflection under the title, “The Real Decline of Churches”. You can read the whole reflection here.

I was particularly struck by her closing paragraphs (quoted, in part, below), probably because I’m a very irregular church-goer and it names at least a couple of my own observations:

“...What is causing the erosion of Christianity in North America?  Most North Americans look at Christianity--especially as embodied in religious institutions--and find it wanting.  I suspect that Christianity is in decline because it appears both hypocritical and boring.  Although young North Americans express deep longings for a loving, just, and peaceful world, they don't find an equal passion for transforming society in meaningful ways in most congregations.  And, sadly, many churches simply lack the imagination and passion that many spiritual people are searching for.  Folks aren't looking for answers nearly as much as they are trying to clarify their questions and are hungry for accepting communities in which to ask them.

If you think about it, mainline liberal churches embody a theological vision of God's reign that resonates with contemporary hopes for social transformation.  But they often lack passion, acting on God's dream for the world in business-as-usual ways.  Conservative churches are chock-full of passion.  But they are often passionate about all the wrong stuff--like excluding people and supporting the military-and-economic status quo that is destroying the planet. 

...we are looking for congregations, communities and denominations that put the pieces together--passionate, imaginative, open, justice-seeking, inclusive, and loving gatherings of faith that actually live, as Jimmy Carter put it, "the teachings of Jesus Christ."  If progressive faith communities can be both--transformative and passionate--we may be better poised to reach a new generation...”

MERTON ON GOD’S LOVE

Paul writes – Simon Holt has posted a great Thomas Merton quote on his blog (16^th July 09). It’s from Merton’s excellent little book Life and Holiness. It’s a good reminder; one we often seem to need, that God’s love is ever present; his loving actions working for our good in all circumstances. We are held by that love.

 “If I were looking for God, every event and every moment would sow, in my will, grains of God’s life, that would spring up one day in a tremendous harvest. For it is God’s love that warms me in the sun and God’s love that sends the cold rain. It is God’s love that feeds me in the bread I eat and God that feeds me also by hunger and fasting. It is the love of God that sends the winter days when I am cold and sick, and the hot summer when I labor and my clothes are full of sweat: but it is God who breathes on me with light winds off the river and in the breezes out of the wood.”

 

“God’s love spreads the shade by the sycamore over my head and sends the water-boy along the edge of the wheat field with a bucket from the spring, while the laborers are resting and the mules stand under the tree. It is God’s love that speaks to me in the birds and streams but also behind the clamor of the city God speaks to me in God’s judgments, and all these things are seeds sent to me from God’s will. If they would take root in my liberty, and if God’s will would grow from my freedom, I would become the love that God is, and my harvest would be God’s glory and my own joy. And I would grow together with thousands and millions of other freedoms into the gold of one huge field praising God, loaded with increase, loaded with increase, loaded with corn.”

Encouraging exploration of the growing edges of believing, trusting…

Paul writes – The latest issue (winter (Southern Hemisphere) 2009) of Spiritual Growth Ministries (NZ) journal REFRESH: A Journal of Contemplative Spirituality is now out. Its theme is “faith”. Andrew Dunn, the editor writes:

 

“…For those of us who are spiritual directors, ministers, priests and pastors, what sort of questions and reflective words can we use with people who come to talk over their deepest issues? How do we aid reflection upon faith itself? How do we encourage exploration of the growing edges of believing, trusting, experiencing the love of God in each person?”

 

“…We hope this issue will help all our readers to enjoy expansive images of faith and faithing, nurturing and nourishing faith and to encourage them also in those we serve…”

 

You can read the whole issue (as a PDF) online here. You can find our more about Spiritual Growth Ministries here.

Conflict and Consensus: A General Theory of Collective Decisions and its Implications for Churches and other Organisations

Paul writes – I highlighted a very thoughtful and useful 22^nd July 09 reflection by Ephraim Radner reflecting post-Anaheim. My highlighting of this reflection was however an indirect one via a comment I left on this post.

 

“…But it is a complicated overlap that merits some reflection.  This is what I want to offer now.  I have been doing some reading of late on the matter of how church councils “decide” things.  And inevitably I have had to delve into some of the social scientific literature on related topics. There are two writers in particular who, I think, have something to say about this particular council we call the General Convention that has just met. And applying some of their broad insights can indeed, I suggest, help us to map the future a little bit. 

Here, then, are some of the major elements of their thinking that may be pertinent, which I can lay out in the most generalized of ways.

 

The first thinker in question is Serge Moscovici, a well-known French social psychologist, who did some important experimental and theoretical work from the 1960’s through the 1980’s on “consensus” in organizations both small and large.  (I am thinking here of his 1992/1994 book, written with Willem Doise, called Conflict and Consensus:  A General Theory of Collective Decisions).

 

One of Moscovici’s goals was to counter the then (and still) widespread presupposition that healthy group decision-making tends to “converge” towards the middle, leaving the extreme views of participants aside as the majority moves through discussion and compromise to a more central outlook.  But one of the consequences of this postulate of moderated convergence, Moscovici argued, has been the tendency of group leadership to drive out extreme views, wary of their power to upset things.  This can be done in many ways, through discouragement, disenfranchisement, shame, manipulation and so on.  But it happens rather forcefully in many groups…

 

Moscovici himself, along with others, did experiments and collected data that demonstrated that the postulate of moderated convergence is in fact not the freest, and in his view healthiest, way of reaching consensus.  Given relatively un-coerced or un-manipulated parameters of action, groups tend to reach consensus, not through lopping off extreme views and inching towards the middle through compromise.  Rather, a relatively free decision-making process will engage in vital wrestling with extreme views, and that engagement will often end by coalescing around some version of an extreme view itself!  In other words, as extreme and divergent views are permitted and deliberately engaged over time with freedom from constraint, people actually learn things and change their minds, and a more creative consensus emerges that tends to be more decisive, yet also more aware, in its understanding of what is at stake and what the risks and opportunities actually are.  One of the main issues that come from this kind of research is this:  how [to] organize decision-making so as to encourage this form of creative consensus?  Leaving aside the theological aspects of this matter, the question is surely timely for churches!...”

 

You can read the rest of Radner’s very useful reflection here. Clearly it has wider implications than simply the Anglican Communion.

 

I read Radner’s reflection with Parker Palmers, likewise very helpful, reflections on paradox in the back of my mind, and the important place of tension that holds divergence (both/and) and seeming contradiction together for the sake of growth, development, and change.  It’s the important place on a continuum in-between the extremes of both ends. It’s a needful and edgy place.

 

In that light, and as one who finds himself on the edge, I appreciated this sentence from Mark Harris (we share an appreciation of William Stringfellow):

 

“…Unless we are always on the edge of leaving the [Anglican Communion, a local church, or any “body” for that matter] we will not ever become new. And some of us think that is one of the great promises. "Behold, I make all things new."  

 

Anglicanism Post-Anaheim 09

Paul writes – I haven’t had a specifically Anglican post for a while, so for Anglican’s following the recent Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim and the resultant fall out, Peter Carrell, an Anglican Priest in my old home city offers some useful links (which offer perspective(s) following the General Convention) and his own thoughts on what responses he’d offer if he was the Archbishop of Canterbury for a day, and had the autonomy to make binding decisions without all the hours of work, negotiation and political compromise required if those (same) decisions were made by way of standing committees etc. Out of interest, Peter articulates nicely what I would do as well. Below is what he would do. To read his whole post and to follow the links he puts up, please go here.

“...I would propose that the Communion is indeed a flexible community of mutual regard rather than a fixed moral community, and thus it is an organic body, capable of adapting to changing circumstances. In particular, I would remind all and sundry of the following changing circumstances: the potential of D025 and C056 to not restrain TEC from further non-compliance with Windsor, and the existence of ACNA. I would accept Bob Duncan's analysis that within the life of world Anglicanism 'Jerusalem' and 'Babylon' are firmly present, but I would refrain from accepting his equation of TEC with Babylon, proposing instead that judgement be suspended on which city is which church. I would refuse to countenance the expulsion or suspension of TEC from the Communion, but solely on the grounds that doing so would be to expel Windsor compliant Anglicans. Then, on the grounds that the Communion is an organic body capable of adaptation, I would welcome ACNA into the Communion as a full member of the Communion. I would then ask that we all get on with our respective missions according to the gospel as we understand it, and meet together in one giant Anglican Congress in 2028 (2018 Lambeth having been skipped, and the funds saved put towards the cost of 2028)...”

Keeping the Missional Conversation to the Fore

Paul writes – When sitting with conversations about church, it’s important (as Alan Roxburgh reminded us here; and as the likes of Steve Taylor and Ian Mobsby have reinforced in the part of the world that I live in) to keep the missional conversation at the forefront (not to not talk about church) BUT to insist that conversations around what God is up to beyond the walls of church, and the discerning of God’s invitations to missionally innovate and experiment are at the fore.

 

These are the kinds of conversations that grapple with, as Al says, an unthinkable world, that has changed markedly from the ‘worlds’ and times when many of our churches were first gathered / planted (some as far back as 1865 & 1873 – which is a long time for NZ). They grapple, in conversation with Scripture, history, tradition and culture, with (discernment) questions like:

 

 “What is God up to in _______________ [your town, city etc]…?”

 

“Where is God at work amongst his people – where are the green edges and longings and (where and how) is God @ work in these?

 

“What might mission and a new expression of church look like at the intersection of God’s present activity and God’s future…?”

 

After reflecting on our stories, we need to intentionally listen for and discern the missional implications and possibilities as part of "next steps". God's mission in Christ is always concerned about the other (think here of Jesus' parable about leaving the 99-sheep and going off to search for the 1).

 

Here are a few thoughts from Al Roxburgh on why we’re up against some very new challenges regards mission and change:

“...We’re convinced our churches and their leaders need something far more radical than the business as usual programs and resources now on offer.  It’s quite striking how many resources out there assume that if we take the same categories we’ve been using for years (change worship, develop evangelism programs, improve youth and children programs, etc) we’ll be able to address the rapidly changing environments in which our churches now find themselves.  We don’t believe this is true!  We’ve seen lots of churches that have gone this route only to be disappointed.  Our conviction is that we’re in one of those times when most of our commonly accepted predictive and measuring devises can only misguide us.  This is why we call it the world of the unthinkable - we no longer live in a world we can simply measure, analyze and improve on what we are already doing.

If this is true then we are no longer in the world of the expert or professional who comes with the answers.  What, then, do we do?  As we have said, the Spirit of God is among the people of God.  What this means is that all the answers to the questions of how to be God’s people in a particular time and place are among the ordinary people of God in our local churches.  This means mission-shaped leaders don’t go about creating bold visions or painting big dreams based on their convictions about some Biblical text; instead, they develop the skills to call forth what the Spirit is up to among the ordinary people of God and in the neighborhoods where they live...”

 

As a helpful aside, friend Len Hjalmarson offers some reflections on the leadership task with specific reference to Al Roxburgh's thinking. You can read Len's reflection here on leadership and missional orders. 

A Helpful Way into Thinking about Mission and Church

Paul writes – Steve Taylor offers some thoughts about his recent visit to Australia and in particular a visit to Heronswood:

“We have Australia's largest range of heirloom vegetables, cottage flowers and fruit plants that can be delivered direct to your door.
You may not have heard of us because we don't sell the ordinary sort of plants you'd find at Bunnings, nurseries or supermarkets. We offer seeds and plants in 6 mail order catalogues. We pack your order at our nursery and Australia Post delivers direct to your garden, whether it's in Darwin or Hobart. It's cheaper that way and saves you driving hundreds of miles to pick up our sort of plants, that aren't available at your local nursery.
We have specialised in growing hard to find, non-mainstream seeds and plants for mail order customers, who are passionate gardeners, for over 30 years...”

As Steve discovered, I think an experience like this invites so very interesting discussion, reflection and experimentation around how we are church and how others might find a way of belonging, participating and enriching a congregation/church community with their life experiences, skills etc. Here’s an excerpt from Steve’s post:

“As part of my weekend, my hosts took me to Heronswood. It was interesting to wander the place, thinking about how mission and church life. You see, here I was an outsider. I’m not a convert, not an “organo-freak” and I’m a tourist, visiting Australia, just passing through. As I wandered, asking myself: how many entry pathways do communities of faith offer? How many types of learning do we encourage? How many “give-it-a-go,” beginners type resources do communities of faith offer?

Here is what Heronswood offered:

1.       A space: a historic house and established gardens, around which one could wander, free of charge, absorbing the peace, or pay a small entry fee to wander another part of the garden.

2.       A cafe: selling a range of food, a real ‘try before you buy’ experience [the kind of thinking that brings Steve’s reflection into conversation with mission and church - belong before (necessarily) believing] of new vegetables and imaginative possibilities.

3.       A demonstration garden: in which new vegetable varieties were grown, stretching the imagination, offering possibilities. Tied to this was a demonstration plot showing “the size of garden needed to feed 3 people for a year.”

Continue reading Steve’s post here. See if it gets you thinking about your own church context. See if it stirs your imagination and creativity…