encouraging news today.... last year one of the best weeks of the labyrinth tour was at feltham young offenders institute (a prison for young offenders). the lads there seemed to get loads out of it. the chaplain was delighted. anyway to cut a long story short, the prison raised some funds and arranged that YFC would make them a labyrinth cloth with all the necessary bits (TVs, bucket, stones etc...) so that they can run it regularly themselves in the prison. the kit was delivered yesterday. good eh?!

Lord Holy Spirit
You blow like the wind in a thousand paddocks
Inside and outside the fences
You blow where you wish to blow
JK Baxter

I met for lunch with Paul yesterday. It’s a growing relationship that started in blogosphere. One of the recurring threads of our conversation was how our lives are enriched by the blog world. It’s part of the Spirit’s good gift to us. We are enriched by each other and by a new range of conversations we are part of and we listen to.

To rephrase Baxter
Lord Holy Spirit
You blow like the wind in a thousand blogs
Inside and outside our virtual world

Thanks be to God, and to each of you.

emergent soCal?

Had a nice talk today with a woman named Shannon who is interested in things that Emergent Village is up to. We are talking about gathering folks in the Southern California to talk about emerging culture, beyond fundamentalism types of things.

refill in denmark

had a wonderful time at refill in denmark this weekend. great to meet with 400 crazy danish youth leaders and see what they are up to! there were a few things that were particularly good. one was that on the saturday morning they had invited a business school (secular) called the kaos pilots (a school training people in creative and innovative approaches to business) to work with them to think about how the church needs to change to connect with youth in denmark. about 30 people came from the business school and worked in small groups. the ideas arising from this are being written up for everyone. then in the evening they had a collection to set up a fund so that people could apply for money to kickstart their new ideas! i thought this was some really out of the box thinking on the part of the planning group. the labyrinth was also set up and running. there was a club approach to worship being tried in the evening by some people looking to start a church in the techno scene in copenhagen. i was doing some training on alternative/creative approaches to worship that seemed to go down well. there are some guys in denmark who have realy pioneeered for youth miistry there - they are doing research in social trends amongst youth, running a youth ministry course and at the weekend unveiled the 'reflektorium' which is the first danish youth ministry journal. this is going to come out twice a year. so lots to be encouraged about. i felt very hopeful.....

one curious thing happened to me that is probably worth recounting. i had a train tciket from odense to copenhagen to return to the airport and it was a resreved numbered seat. it turned out that a danish pastor, dan was on the same train as me. he also had a resrved seat number. when we looked to see where each other were sitting it turned out that we were next to each other. that was a really nice moment of feeling god was with me even in the small detail....

Spencer Burke is a great guy....
I had a great time having lunch with Spencer Burke today. Most of you know that Spencer and Dave Trotter co-founded the ooze. They met with Next-Wave's founding editor, Rogier Bos, in 1999 when we were all beginning our adventures in cyberspace....As Next-Wave and the ooze begin their 5th year, Spencer has been busy doing some great stuff, Soularize, Soularize worship CDs. the ooze community with nearly 10,000 registered users, and about 75,000 visitors a month, Seed Stories, Etrek and much more to come....When I got the idea to start Next-Wave I was discouraged, thinking that not much was being done to foster missional churches to reach the emerging culture...It didn't take long to figure out that there was nothing to be discouraged about, God was busy raising up leaders and building his church....It's been fun to see Him at work and it will be fun to watch what He does in the years ahead....

Amaze
I met with Jackie Sewell yesterday. After many years working with Anglican Youth ministry, she’s pursuing a new dream.

She wants to start Amaze, an arts and spirituality space for teenagers. It will have safe prayer space, workshops to enhance creativity and spirituality and offer referral services as need me. A focused prayer space for teenagers.

We dreamed together and explored how our dreams overlap in terms of art and spirituality and monastic movements, and how they differ in terms of her focus on youth, while Graceway started out as 20-30’s and as people grow and join us, as proved to nourish people across the spectrum.

Pray for Jackie. Its a cool dream and a lot needs to happen for her. I offered to build her a simple website. When that happens, you’ll be able to drop in and say Hi and encourage her.

American missionary shot and killed in Lebanon

American missionary shot and killed in Lebanon

Bonnie Weatherall, 31, was shot and killed this morning as she opened a Christian prenatal health clinic in Sidon, Lebanon. The story here is from ABC News. Here is the Christian and Missionary Alliance site report.

Tall Skinny Kiwi

Tall Skinny Kiwi is the self appointed blog site for the NATO Summit in Prague.
Pray for Prague, that through the decisions made here this week, the King of all the earth will be able to do right, to establish peace, to enable equity, to allow justice, to soften hearts towards what is pure, to turn opinions towards the true, to silence lies, to stop the flow of fear, to transform pride into humility and a nation by nation calling of God's favour.

Living in the Margins

I find the following subject a fascinating dimension of thinking and reflecting on Church and mission in a 21st century Aotearoa New Zealand context…what are Christian authentic communities? Where do they live out their communal existence? How do they live that ‘existence’ out in terms of the missional challenge of the “gospel”? And, how do they contextualise and communicate that gospel? New Zealand is a mission field with very real challenges for Jesus-followers. Both challenging and exciting!

"Ah, who will ever count the centuries examined in the margins of our books?”
This is a quote from the Jewish poet/writer, Edmond Jabes, and it forms the central inspiration of my book, “Living in the Margins” (appears to be out of print).

“…To live in the margins of tradition is to live in a vital space of interpretive activity that keeps the "book" living, growing, expanding with new commentary and enlivening questions. Many small Christian communities occupy this marginal space, living on the edge of tradition -- in the margins -- attending both to the claims of the tradition to which they belong and to the claims of new, unexpected situations. In a sense, marginal Christian communities are both "inside" the book and "outside" the book, with the margins of interpretation mediating between these two spaces…”

Terry A. Veling (Aussies and Kiwi’s will find an essay distillation of the above book in his essay – “Margin Writing and Marginal Communities: Between Belonging and Non-Belonging” – Published in Pacifica 9 / February 1996.)

Not an easy read, but who knows who reads this, and what they like reading, so, for an on-line example of his writing see: "Levinas and the Other Side of Theology." He has some good things to say.

(In academic circles, Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) is recognised as one of the most important philosophers and religious thinkers of this century. His work has significantly influenced many "postmodern" thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Maurice Blanchot, Luce Irigaray, Paul Ricoeur. He has also influenced Jewish and Christian leaders and educators, including Pope John Paul II. However, his
thinking is not generally well known to a broader audience.)

refill in denmark

am off to join the danes reflecting on church, youth ministry, mission and all that this weekend - see refill for more info (though you'll have to speak danish). about 400 are expected so should be good fun! the title is 'out of road'....

Thanks to those who prayed

We kicked off Xpressions last night. It was a great night of creativity and community through storytelling. Great to have some fellow theo-blogians turn up - rachel and paul although it should be noted that neither told a yarn.

I've had a first draft go at a theology of storytelling on my blogspot and the possibilities of storytelling as a communal and mission tool amongst the emerging culture. I'd appreciate any feedback. The other thing I still have to get my head around is the link between local narrative and God's big narrative, but there's always tomorrow. Thanks for all the prayers. Continue to pray for the non-christians who turned up.

"...If we do as our Fathers did
we do not do as our Fathers did...." (Johann Hinrich Wichern).

Japanese philosopher Kirtaro Nishida said that religion is a raft that sails on the endless sea. If so, then we must be vigilant that we don't allow our preoccupation with the business on the raft to displace God's business. I like Meister Eckhart's prayer. "I pray God to rid me of god," which is a prayer to the ocean of God to rid us of the gods of the raft.

Bit of a stink
When the church becomes an end to itself, it acts pious and begins to turn sour. Anyone with a sensitive nose will smell that and find it dreadful.
- Karl Barth

hear a great story today on npr about how the democrats lost texas and in turn the whole thing, yet the republicans better take heed, to much pandering to one group will destroy your connection with the other. link to story Commentator Ruben Navarrette is a Texan who says his state's African-American and Hispanic politicians should pay less attention to wooing white voters, and more attention to demographics that predict a Hispanic majority in coming years.

Kingdom Professionals - An Old Idea In New Wineskins by Gary Ginter

Gary Ginter chairs a cool organization called Intent that seeks to network professionals who are already working or who desire to work throughout the world in their field of expertise as conduits for Kingdom blessing.

THE COMING MERGER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: An article in Wired magazine titled The New Convergence describes how scientists - the atheist, agnostic, coldly-rational types - are increasingly examining and/or considering religion in their hypotheses and speculations. Special thanks to blogger Jason Johnson for pointing out that the art for the article is the bomb. To wit:

targeting 13-19 years-olds with a church plant: Marvin Jacobo of Modesto, California, USA has announced plans to plant a new church called Tapestry. It will begin by targeting 13 to 19 year olds, with the specific thought that these young people will then bring their families and friends. This strategy should prove effective in the Hispanic/Latino communities in the United States. I'm excited for Marvin and team, and I look forward to visiting. Marvin is a pioneer in the area of breaking your high school group down into small groups - he was one of the first to do so years ago (there is a term for that, but I don't remember it).

jonnybaker and jordon

Blogging news. Talked to Jonny Baker in England for a long time today and read that Jordon Cooper resigned from his pastorate - we are trying to talk him into coming to Prague but dont have any money to pay him. Maybe he and his family will come anyway.

Newsday.com - Bishops Insist Abuse Cleanup on Track

Tomorrow - Bishops vote The bishops are expected to vote on the revised policy Wednesday near the end of a four-day meeting. They seem likely to approve the plan, which they hope will help re-establish their badly damaged credibility among the Catholic faithful at the end of a

Storytelling



Connecting our stories with God's story is an essential postmodern way of being. We ran a storytelling workshop here in Aotearoa New Zealand in September. 3 churches, linking together. Thursday we go public. We've hired a bar, sent out the invites. We're telling stories, of life, of love, of God, casting them to the wind.

Pray for us.

8 mile and eminem

the music of eminem has caputerd more than the imagination of out culture. i listen to it and it grabs most of me. kids love it and their parents hate it won't let them listen etc and once again we push them away. maybe its the pain, the honesty, the beat, but his music hooks me. its narrative, its powerful and its teaching us about who we really are, hate filled and fearful. is it that a mild and invisible kid has made it so big rapping about his pain filled life, it makes me wonder if he were black would we be so concerned, it might be expected of a kid from the inner city. not trying to incite anything just a question, does it scare us so much becuz he was so every kid growing up and any of our kids or even us for that matter could be where he is. it is a great opportunity to talk to kids about it, i have already had several conversations about it with my two oldest boys 17 & 14, they love the music yet are concerned what it tells their peers to be and act out. just some thoughts

something to talk about

Teen boys in my neighborhood were overly excited about the new Eminem movie, 8 Mile, just released. The movie has exploded. I didn't want them to see it, but then realized that they were going to see it and all of their friends were going to see it - it's the event of the month. So I spent some good time the next day asking them about the movie, deconstructing it with them. But clearly this guy has captured the collective imagination of a nation of restless youth: "8 Mile" opened at $50 million+ this weekend. I'm praying for opportunities to reflect on biblical values and perspective and to share the Gospel with the many who identify Em's story.




Photo at right is of Eminem in middle school




Update: It was a bunch of little Mexican guys who were really excited about the movie. I gotta go figure that one out. Especially as the film distributors estimate that 20% of the audience was Latino.

Unity
At the time of Jesus unity prayer in John 17, not one of his disciples had a NT bound between two pieces of leather…it would be years later when Peter, Paul and John, Mark, etc would write their epistles and gospel stories. There was no NT. Jesus wasn’t praying that all believers would unify around a position but it was a prayer and call to unify around a Person.

The Gospel is clearly delineated for us in 1 Cor 15:1-4. When Paul said, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- “ Paul was directing his thoughts at the Jewish legalist who were aggressively teaching and binding the old rituals and laws of a by gone era. This was a different gospel; it was a Jesus PLUS religion (Jesus + circumcision = salvation). Paul condemns them for such! (Gal 1:6)

Our denominational party lines (fences) have spawned more denominations than they have united. There’s an interesting passage in 1 Cor 1:10-12 where Paul encourages us “to speak the same thing” as opposed to shouting our different party slogans from across the fence. The phrase “speak the same thing” is a political term describing “unity of allegiance.” Our allegiance is not to a thought or a doctrine. These are the materials that build fences. Our allegiance should be to the Person of Jesus Christ. He’s the rally pole. He’s the One unity is built upon. It’s only right that Xians “speak the same” slogans of allegiance to Jesus alone. Jesus was crucified for all believers. He’s not divided. He is the common bond and He alone deserves our undivided allegiance. I thank God I am not saved by my logic or my hermeneutic, I am saved by Jesus’ perfect living and dying.

Have you ever noticed that when someone attempts to dismantle any section of the fence, he is either vilified or venerated?

REsearch

Research on USA church
" . . . Americans are less likely to attend religious services than 10 years ago but that the remaining faithful are turning to conservative Protestant, Catholic and Mormon churches.
Nationwide, Catholics remain the largest religious group in the country, with more than 62 million "ahderents" -- a category devised to reconcile differences in the way denominations count members.
The Southern Baptist Convention is second with 19.8 million adherents, followed by the United Methodist Church, with 10.3 million; an estimated 6.1 million Jews, observant and non-observant; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 5.1 million; Mormons, 4.2 million; the Presbyterian Church (USA), 3.1 million; and the Assemblies of God, 2.5 million."

thanks for the invire and hi

andrew and all thanks for the invite to the blog, i look forward to participating with you all. lately i have found it hard to find to post let alone read other people's blogs. this last week though i found some time and was saddened by the general level of stress and down i felt around the web. lots of people struggling with deep issue this invite was a bright spot. i continue to enjoy how the internet connects and enlivens our conversations and relationships. anyway i publish a internet rag called seven and blog at life with kids and god i have eight kids soon to be twelve now, we are adopting four kids from ethiopia and that has us pretty wrapped its been a long and eventful process this time. i am also interviewing for a student ministry position in cincinnati, ohio my hometown, (we are the place with the worst team in the nfl and a pension for riots of the racial variety). the church i am interviewing with is very modern traditional worship but open to a broad theological discussion and may be ripe for a little postmodern missionary work. i will know by the end of the week about it. so thanks again and i will actually try to read and post with regularity.

blessings
john

Welcome to the relaunching weekend of A Kingdom Space. These are the changes for this weekend (so far):

1. Christmas colours to celebrate the season. Thanks to Jim for his great painting

2. New bloggers. You will read their entries and will see links to their blogs in the right column next week.

2. I dumped the archives and opened up the entire history of the site, all the way back to the first blog entry in April. You can now read the whole conversation and watch it develop. Where we're going, we dont need . . archives!

3. I added a Google search engine.

4. I added a comments section, on the advice of Jonny B who got it from Paul Prodigal Fromont.

- Can someone please help me out. Go to comments and donate $14 to entation.co.uk - Pay Pal will not let me pay at the moment because they do not recognize Czech Republic - which means all my Pay Pal money (and I do have some) is locked up in their system and making them all rich off the interest - all because I happen to be in Prague and not Portland or Preoria. If one of you does this, all our readers will not be hit up for a donation - and I do want to keep the site commercial free. Thanks.

As you read through the site, please feel welcome to add comments and links.This way we can extend the conversation out into other countries, contexts, narratives, etc. Lets build out this site laterally as well as chronologically, or synchronically as well as diachronically (to apply Saussurean linguistitic theory) . . .or . . . in other words . . .
AM I MAKING ANY SENSE?
OK . . how 'bout . . . . just go ahead and enjoy the site. Yeah!

Scandal Is Stirring Lay Catholics to Push Church for More Power

New York Times - Scandal Is Stirring Lay Catholics to Push Church for More Power "As the nation's Roman Catholic bishops prepare to meet in Washington on Nov. 11 to complete their policy on sexual abuse by priests, they are confronting the most organized and widespread challenge to their power from the laity in the church's modern history."

Some Good books I've read lately


I've read some good books in the last month or so: Steve Sjogren's The Perfectly Imperfect Church, Bill Hybel's Courageous Leadership, and Michael Slaughter's Unlearning Church.

I always like to read Steve Sjogren's stuff. Steve is the launching pastor of Vineyard Community Church. His efforts at "servant evangelism" and his willingness to share his ideas, have given a number of church leaders a simple way to express the love of Christ in their communities. A few years ago, when I was really having a tough time personally I heard Steve speak at a conference. His topic "Six things I learned when I almost died." I can't remember the six things right this second, but I do remember that I was impacted by the idea that we should do the tasks that God has put in front of us. For me, at that time, my ministry tasks were to be the defense attorney for the skating ministry at the Ranch, and Next-Wave web magazine. Steve's book is refreshingly simple and practical, a must read for church planters.



One of the things I read between the lines of Bill Hybels' book is that leading a megachurch and an association of churches can do some damage to a person's psyche and family life. I guess that's why Hybels writes about "courageous" leadership, the kind that comes with a price. For a guy who's mission in life has been "to turn atheists into missionaries", he has survived the journey long enough to have some important things to say on the subject of leadership.



I first heard Michael Slaughter at a seminar on breaking the 800 barrier in church growth about ten years ago. He is an engaging speaker. At this stage of his life and ministry he has set aside the discussion of church growth barriers to address the changes that face church leaders in the light of the postmodern cultural shift. I was challenged to renew some individual spiritual practices. I was challenged to think about what church might be like 10 years down the road.



What's interesting about each of these books is the vantage point of the authors. All "successful" pastors who have done well. All who have wisdom to share about the journey for church leaders. There is a lot to learn from these writers.

thanks for the invitation
This is my first chance to use blogger. I appreciate the invitation to interact.
Blessings,
Charlie Wear

discipleship in a postmodern age

i will be heading to arizona this weekend to speak and teach at the "upstairs leadersip conf" - it should be fun, i get to hangout with some people i got to know over the internet - a face to face, interation on the personal level. i will fill you in on what's happening on this side of the planet -

pax
john o'keefe

teen girls doing video, dance

Florence was born in Ghana, raised in London, and now lives in SunnyCalifornia. Her crew of teen girls has been studying Scripture and performing dance. Last night they did a few numbers at the CCDA conference (an annual U.S. urban ministry event - it's not over yet; Vinay Samuel speaks this morning). Florence hosted a Spoken Life, spoken-word type event inside the CCDA CyberCafe. The photo below is of some of the girls, post-event, checking their email at the CybeCafe. These are some of the same girls who are featured in the "Kings Daughters in Training" video at the Navarro Avenue Film School.

Isn't life better with a Mac?

Kitchens

Hey. Welcome to new bloggers this weekend. Make yourself at home. Like the new graphic on top???
A thought from my blog:
God is using kitchens. "Fellowship Bread" for the ladies in Australia and "Kitchen Table Training" in Russia. More info at Tall Skinny Kiwi

www.joelnews.nl

Did you know that Marc, one of our bloggers, runs a news site called joel news?

a new blog

we are putting the finishing touches on a new blog called "postmodern_theology" and it is connected with the yahoo egroup "postmodern theology." the idea behind the blog is not set in stone and we would like for the community that forms around it to truly define it in detail. the "goal" is for the blog to be a place where people can "author" ideas on theology and ministry dealing with the emerging church. the idea is for it to be open to anyone who wants to get connected. while invites will be sent out based on the egroup, all are welcomed to join and voice opinions - consider it a "breeding ground" for the mind of the emerging church.

pax
john

Christ, Yesu, Messiah, Jesu, Master, Teacher, Son of God, Radical

Just stumbled on a new web site.Scary name but good resources. Radical Christ was launched to serve a community of "alt evangelicals."

Soularize in Minneapolis, Minnesota -- Not my first choice for a great learning party but people from all over North America converged here for TheOOZE's Soularize. I can only compare it Seattle but this for me was far better. Jason Evans, Wendy, Dan Hughes, and myself all have post-Soularize posts on our thoughts.

Howler's Update

Message from Wolfgang Fernandez, one of our bloggers and one of the key people behind this site on Howler's Update
"Friends, it's been over a month since I have come here...it has been a real hard month for me and my family.
I have resigned from my role in Dawn Ministries, the organization that serves the movement that I have promoted for the last 20 years.
I will take a six months sabbatical.
I have left Egypt (the place of refuge) and I'm now in the desert. It will be a tough time but I expect to meet God in a way that I have never known Him before.
I plan to share here my journey towards my land of promise.

What is Church?

Another house party worth talking about at What is Church? "The event was held at the Rickard's house - a cool, 60's style Florida home complete with terrazzo floors. . . Imagine a dim candle-lit room, Enya playing in the background, the light from the visualizations dancing off the walls, minds full of God. Remember, the context for the experience was John 6 - Jesus as the lifeblood and food - a huge feast of him. So we're sitting there and I'm imaging that this is how the disciples felt after the last supper."

House Party

One account of the house party last week in Switzerland that we attended from Derek and Amy's blog.
"House party in Lausanne extravagant! The mansion-the Mercy Ship Y-Wam base- surrounded by vast fields of whispering cow bells...Bryce had filmed the front of the house and was projecting it onto the house at the same angle he filmed it, creating an eerie virtual effect which you walked through and into. Into a house with many bands, VJs and DJs doing their thing in an electrically alive manner, and all the while the Presence of The Almighty hovering. Truly a blast-and we all felt like stars! Seeing Andrew's house in Prague being sampled from, and our lives being mixed as part of the international celebration of being Christ followers transnational, transdenominational, transcendant-in short, it rocked! Isn't it just good to line up in this great and funky army of The Almighty! " A longer report is at Tallskinnykiwi