Well, as my wife keeps reminding me Christmas is coming ... ! I think it is the open fire being used again that sets her off. But still I saw this and agreed with her.........
Yesterday, my friend Ben sent me an essay he's written on "A Kingdom Counter culture - Following Jesus in a world of Global capitalism". It's excellent, well worth a read. Jason Clark has put it on the Emergent resources site so you can download it there (see the folder entitled 'Ben Pattison').
Here's a small quote to wet your appetite:
"God's story continues today. Our lives are the next chapter in the unfolding drama. So in the same way that He has called our predecessors, God is calling us to be an alternative community. As he has always done, God is building a kingdom counterculture that will demonstrate His reality. This leaves us with some important questions. Not least, what is he calling us to be an alternative to? What is the dominant reality that we live in and what are the unspoken assumptions that make the world work today?"There is also a good introduction to the Trade Justice movement. Download it now! .Posted by: jonny_norridge | 9/30/2003 09:11:00 am |
I hope to spend some time at Church of the Saviour when I finish uni. Ever since hearing an explanation of the centred set and bounded set 'models' of church I have been somewhat engrossed in the question:
"how do we plant churches of people that are both spiritually deep (i.e. where people's characters actually change) and yet inclusive (i.e. that the demands of 'membership' are not so high as to push people away)?"
I'd love to hear some of your stories!
(for those of you scratching your heads and thinking "I'm sure he blogged on this subject back in February," apologies - I just keep coming back to it)
As I continue this journey of faith in our emerging context there is one question I continue to ask;“how do we treat the bible?” And after many late night debates with various friends, I’m still not completely sure of that answer... But in light of that Dave Tomlinson chapter in Post-Evangelical on “Is the Bible the Word of God?” has been really helpful and in particularly the whole issue of inerrancy. As Tomlinson puts it “Inerrancy – A Monumental Waste of Time!” I was intrigued to find out that the actual notion that the Bible is inerrant comes out of the fundamentalist-modernist conflict of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact before such time the very question lay untouched simply because the criticisms it attempts to answer also did not really exist!
I really like John Stott’s approach, he openly says that he dislikes the term inerrancy, and prefers to talk about the “trustworthiness” of the bible. Stott also goes on to say that passages which are, for example clearly poetic should not be judged on scientific grounds.
I think the best point Tomlinson made was the fact that the bible itself never claims to be inerrant. For sure there are a number of passages that talk about divine inspiration, but none seem to imply inerrancy? James Barr says “Inerrancy is a (believing) rationalist response to (an un-believing) rationalist threat… it is rationalist in that it is based on the reasoning that scripture cannot be inspired unless it is historically inerrant”
Now the big one, is the bible the word of God? Well I love Tomlinson’s response to this question. “The inerrantist argument is that the bible can be the Word of God only if it is entirely without error. So if we accept that the Bible does contain errors, mistakes and discrepancies, in what sense can it continue to be the word of God? Is it not best simply to conclude that it is an interesting ancient text, which gives us a record of the background to Christianity and the way early Christians interpreted their faith? I do not think so…” Tomlinson goes on to say “The bible can be both a human book, with all the consequent limitations, and a contemporary medium for divine revelation” I like that idea!
Finally Karl Barth understanding of the term Word of God is really helpful… he says “the Word of God has a threefold form: the primary form is the living Word expressed in Jesus Christ; the secondary form is the written word of scripture, which testifies to the living Word; and the third form is the proclaimed word, which is the church’s proclamation of Christ the living Word… The Bible therefore, according to Barth, is not in itself revelation; instead it testifies to the revelation of God in Christ…. But he also goes on to say “it is equally wrong to say (like the liberals) that the Bible merely includes the revelation of God... the whole of the Bible is pregnant with revelation”, though in itself it only a collection of human documents which people have written in the language of human beings, at a definite time and in a definite situation.
I finally got chance to finish Brian McLaren's 'The Story We Find Ourselves In' last week. A great book I recommend to everyone. As Graham mention last month, it doesn't have quite the same impact as 'A New Kind of Christian' had. 'A New Kind of Christian' seemed to be largely in the process of deconstructing, and for me had the result of scaring me at times, and at others of reassuring me that I wasn't a total fool, and I was still a Christian. 'The Story We Find Ourselves In' beautifully starts the process of reconstruction with a fantastic retelling of the story (although the book takes a while to really get going).
It's amazing to look back on what I've picked up over the last couple of years. So here's a bit below of me processing some of my thoughts in regards to this issue of the importance of story. Not many original thoughts here, but rather an amalgamation of stuff from Brian McLaren, Todd Hunter and the Allelon crew, Bruggermann, Fee, Wright, Willard and Coupland (had to fit him in there somehow).
Anyway here's a little snippet:
People have lost there sense of story, they are living in an eternal present, with no connection to the past and no hope for the future. Because of this people have lost their connection to each other, to the world around them and to God.
The eternal present numbs people to life, and encourages an outlook of life that is mealy 'a collection of isolated cool moments'. Incidentally, this is reflected in popular culture, many recent Hollywood films ignore plot, and instead entertain (or 'sedate') people with a collection of loosely connected action sequences, dances, love scenes. These isolated moment become the only way people can have a conversation about the film: "I liked the bit when..." The surface is celebrated but the depths are ignored.
People can only be saved from the numbness with a story that ties all humanity together, not an exclusive meta-narrative, but a story that encompasses the whole universe, including its beginning, end and all that occupies it. A story simply giving people an end to wish for is not enough, because until that moment they will be stuck in the eternal present that stops them from really living. As people give up their own personal stories (which is no real story at all - starting with themselves and ending with themselves), they can then find themselves in God's story, which starts with God and ends with God and has God running right through the middle of it.
I don't know if any of you have ever tried to use Lord of the Rings in a preach or discussion. There is a lot to be provoked by it seems to me. When I used one quote from it it didn't quite work!! When I asked who had watched it hardly any hands went up and in fact I noticed that a number of hands stayed rathe firmly down!! Doh!! So instead I share the quote with you - you lucky people!!
Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me, I wish none of this had happened to me"
Gandalf: "So do all who see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time given to you"
That has some echos deep inside...
That Steve Gee gets around: How did he get a link on this website to the "Central Vineyard, Northampton UK bookshop"!! Sweet! It's a great list though. How do I set one up for my church website [when Jonny helps me with it of course]??
.Posted by: Mark | 9/20/2003 10:20:00 am |
Ok, big trauma. No, not the kitchen, although it is not yet finished, not even the fact that I electrocuted myself for the third time at the weekend [Mark.... KNOW YOUR LIMITS!]. No, I have a 10 pound book token!! Aaaahhhh! What shall I get. Here are some options and I need your help:
1) Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context by Stanley J. Grenz, John R. Franke. It's been recommended to me. Grenz was the guy who did post-modernism using Star Trek - nice!
2) Theology for the Community of God by Stanley J. Grenz. I quite like the idea of this one, but not heard about it.
3) More Ready Than You Realize by Brian D. McLaren. Despite the duff sub-title this has been recommended again recently [even Mark Mumford of CCD is reading it!]. And it is the only one in the price range, but I have forgotten about that already!
4) The Provocative Church by Graham Tomlin. I saw a Regents/Wycliffe Hall summer school course on this and was very tempted to sign up - it looked great...
5) Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World
by Robert E. Webber. Alwasy fancied this one, but have heard mixed reviews.
6) The Resurrection of the Son of God by N. T. Wright. This will one day join NT&PoG and J&VoG on my bookshelf, but is now the time!?
Votes and alternates welcome....
Multi-housing anybody?
Is there anybody out there hear about multi-housing church planting? I was amazed by this resource when I came across it. My wife and I live in a manufactured housing community and we have been praying for resources on how to minister in new, organic ways within this mission field. BTW, check out this website... Ed Stetzer initiated a great networking ministry called New Churches. It's a great resource! Peace!
I bit of toilet humour for a Thursday afternoon... The Farting Preacher (need sound)
.Posted by: Central Vineyard | 9/11/2003 05:15:00 pm |
I forgot to mention a new blog from St Nick of Coventry!
.Posted by: Central Vineyard | 9/10/2003 10:14:00 am |
Just finished reading Dave Tomlinson's book "The Post-Evangelical" this morning. It's one of those books that I've kind of avoided reading for sometime - but after reading it I'm really glad I did... Is it cynical? well no more than I can be at times ;o) With chapters like "Woolly Liberals?" and "Is the Bible the Word of God?" It made some very interesting reading.
At the close of the book he quotes Rudplph Bahro the German ecologist:
"When the forms of an old culture are dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure"
So my fellow organic church bloggers are you up for that or what?
... from the mouths of babes ...
I'm sure some of you can post some similar childish song lyrics - we were very amused the other day to discover Abbie (4) singing "We want to see Jesus left behind ..."
Just thought that might make you all smile!
... in case anyone doesn't know the song, the correct words are "We want to see Jesus lifted high!"
Rantin' and Ravin'
Recently I was with a group of "professional pastors." And in our mixin' and minglin', I found myself answering this common Christianeese question, "So, what church do you pastor?" I have found that the best way to answer this question among clergy is, "We live in Sacramento where God has called us to plant the Gospel in our neighborhood, work place, and family (extended)." This answer always causes face tweekage and furrowed brows. "Yeah, but do you pastor a church" is usually the next comment I get almost 100% of the time. In fact I was just faced with this last night. I usually answer the latter comment like this, "Well, you see my wife and I are 'housechurching' and really thinking outside the box in regards to churching." This then begins the dialogue.
My rantin' and ravin' is, "When will we (me included) just simply lay down the name associations that we 'associate' ourselves with, i.e.. 'I attend the So and So Church of...' OR 'I am the pastor of So and So Church...' OR 'I have a network of simple churches called The So and So..')?? Will we just associate ourselves with being Christ Followers, Disciples of Jesus Christ, Followers of The Way..." Maybe because it's too radical, too risky, too out of the box, too uncomfortable, maybe it's too simple. If we want to see Christ glorified and raised up in the midst of what He is obviously doing around us, we have to lay it down and keep dying to ourselves!
A New Look - Next Wave with a new editor?
