jonnybaker

pioneer ministry and innovation

the latest issue of anvil journal is out today and themed on pioneer ministry and innovation. paul bradbury is the guest editor and has done a great job. i am loving being an editor of anvil together with cathy ross because we have worked out it is more fun and less work if we invite other people to edit issues (though we do edit some ourselves!). it also makes for a richer journal overall. it has honestly surpassed my expectations for what we would do with it.

innovation has become a live topic in missions at the moment - it's certainly an area i love instinctively and i have blogged about innovation a few times (scroll down here see four pieces on innovation). mike moynagh's latest book explored innovation so it's great to have him contributing an article on the six processes of innovation. paul bradbury's article is a taster of his forthcoming book - i have had a sneak preview of the book which is fantastic. he considers the old testament prophet ezekiel as an example of the kind of leadership which might spark our imagination - leadership in exile from a place of relinquishment. i have seen some discussions this week about ordained pioneer ministry and think paul's thinking really offers some clues for people puzzling that out. richard passmore, whose thinking is always so interesting, talks about the growth of fresh expressions in third spaces in cumbria and how cultivating newness can be helped by a second operating system. i confess to a vested interest as we are working with richard to help develop it  - watch this space. i also loved the quote "i may not be doing anything as mad as richard but i'll give this a go"! then there are some reflections on practice from lucy moore and katrina moss and an article on the role of enabling or advocacy to support pioneers and innovators. all topped up with the usual book reviews and it is free, downloadable as articles or as a whole and nicely put together by the comms team at cms. anyway enjoy and massive thanks to paul who is becoming one of our best reflectors on pioneer ministry (as well as being a practitioner of course) in this country i think.

grace silver

we had a wonderful celebration of 25 years of grace last night.

projections - fairy lights - tunes - 4 course feast - communion shared at the table - memories - toasts - stories - laughter - an amazing cake - 25 year old whisky - nostalgia - hope - gratefulness - friends - church - alternative worship - zine - late night

here's a few photos

grace xxv - the zine

steve collins has put together a 64 page zine for grace's 25th celebration. it's free to download as a pdf - we'll probably do a limited edition print run but haven't got oprganised for that yet. but it's a great collection of photos and memories - largely visual - and organised into sections on worship, people, technology, greenbelt, labyrinths, music and ethos. mike and i had fun selecting a few tunes from each year that have been on the grace playlist. who would have thought - two zines in a year?!

#gracesilverservice

on imagination and mission - a chapter in missional conversations out today

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,there is a field. I'll meet you there. Rumi

it was this quote by rumi that sparked ric stott and i to have a conversation about imagination and creativity in mission. that conversation is published in missional conversations: a dialogue between theory and praxis in world missions which comes out today. i am very excited to be part of this book which has been pulled together by two of my friends and colleagues at cms - cathy ross and colin smith. the book takes nine contemporary contexts for mission such as the environment or migration and two writers explore that theme, one from a theoretical and one from a practice based approach. in our case ric and i couldn't work out which was which so we went for a slightly different approach going to and fro between us in conversation.

there is a book launch on nov 27 at cms in oxford at 4pm - see invite below. if you're anywhere near oxford do come along. it's currently reduced price on scm web site i noticed.

steve bevans gives it a lovely endorsement:

Cathy Ross and Colin Smith have put together an amazing collection of essays in these pages. Not only does their conversational method match their understanding of mission. Their content is fresh, exciting, imaginative, and in some cases groundbreaking. This is a pioneering book in every sense of the word. It's certainly the best collection of essays in missiology that I have read in a long time.

download the invite to the book launch here

 

they kickstarted - and what difference a card makes!

congratulations to jen and the out of the box team on reaching their kickstarter target in a week - amazing! can't wait to see how the business develops and it will be exciting when the first cards land. 

i loved this blog post from jen on what difference a card can make

the patriarchy is not going to smash itself. But that change needs to happen at lots of different levels – macro, micro and everything in between. We need change within structures, communities and individuals. We need legislation that protects equality for everyone, we need women and men who are modelling healthy lives and we need the transformation of hearts and minds. If we ignore the small things because we can’t influence the big things then we are missing out on being part of the story of change

out of the box cards kickstarts

out of the box is kickstarting today. go visit to read about it and watch a video which explains all. in a nutshell it's a new company designing greeting cards you would be proud to give your daughter, niece, friend's daughter with playful and positive messages rather than the clichés and stereotypes that seem to dominate. i am quadrupley excited because 

• i love the idea
• jen (my wife that is) had the idea and i am her no 1 fan
• grace my duaghter in law is part of the team
• it was first brought as an idea 3 years ago to make good, the missional entrepreneurship week we run and is the latest project to turn from idea to reality

 

pioneer hub starting in london

i'm pretty excited about this new partnership as two of my passions collide (london and pioneering!)

pioneer hub to start in london

grace - 25th anniversary!!!

it's hard to believe but november will see the 25th anniversary of grace. i wasn't there when it started but jen and i got involved when we moved to london in 1995. it has been an amazingly creative group of people with whom to share life and faith as we have sought to follow christ together in today's world. i'll save a longer post for nearer the time but i am so thankful to be part of it.

to celebrate we are having a meal/banquet. unusually we would like to know numbers in advance for the catering side of it so if you plan to come please can you let us know - email or leave a comment. if you have been part of grace's life over the 25 years do see if you could make it along - we'd love it to be a sharing of stories and memories, of thanks as well as hopes for the future as we are not done yet! 

(there is of course a grace service before that in october too)

prospect wood - the journey begins

it was a pretty exciting day today as for the first time jen and i visited prospect wood as joint owners with friends pete and julie. i hinted at this a while back which was when we had contacted the owners to say we'd like to buy it but it has finally gone through and we unlocked the gate for the first time today. for me this slightly leftfield venture began on a silent retreat when i can only say the idea of a woodland emerged out of the silence fully formed in my head. when i got back jen was very open to it, and subsequently we found out friends were also on a similar quest so teamed up together and way quicker than expected we find ourselves with 6 acres of woodland. it's in sussex and is peaceful, magical and beautiful. everyone i tell about it asks 'what are you going to do with it?' - we don't exactly know yet - it's an adventure to be explored but it will be woodland and we'll look after it. we hope it will become a special place for family and friends to hang out, share stories, light fires, camp, put hammocks in trees. we will have plenty of wood for woodburners! our friends run mindfulness courses and will take visitors to the wood but beyond that we'll see. you can see the kinds of things people do with small woods if you scout around this site. i am now a member of the small woods association!

i have started a category on the blog for woodland. i realise my bloggging is a bit sparse these days but i hope to record a few of our adventures and discoveries. and there will be photos galore no doubt in the prospect wood album on flickr. 

we wanted to mark today as a special day. whilst it poured with rain all morning by the time we got to the wood it was glorious sunshine. we felt we wanted to ask the wood to welcome us and had some words and reflections at the gate as we unlocked it, on the track up to the wood and at the edge of the wood itself. then we had the first fire, ribolita, bubbly, more reflections from basil the great, lord of the rings, and a poem (which i hope i'll get and add here). jen whittled a spoon and we all planted an acorn in soil as a sign of the future that might come from this seed of an idea which has already become a wonderful thing.

jen and i are going on a managing woodland course in october to get a bit more knowledge and experience and skills as we step into this new sideproject - fun times!

here are the words/reflections which were my contribution to today (along with sourdough). i have no idea what other people do to mark such occasions but this seemed fitting to us and it was magical afternoon and evening. i think magical is going to be a much used word when it comes to the wood.

 

At the gate…

The journey begins
We stand at the threshold of prospect wood
Ready to begin an adventure together

The journey begins
What began as a childhood dream
What emerged as an idea in the Presence of Silence

The journey begins
Pete, Jenny, Julie, Jonny - what a team
We can’t wait to see what unfolds

The journey begins
Our hearts are full of hope, joy and thanks
Our spirits are full of wonder and offering

The journey begins
We offer it to the one whose wood it is
We offer it with open hands to all family and friends who will journey here too

The journey begins
It’s hard to believe this day has arrived
The key to the gate is in our hands
The key to a new future is in our hands
Let us enter it now!

 

On the path…

Walk slowly
Breathe out
Let go
Relax
Look
Be thankful
Be
At Home
In the world
Breathe in
Peace
Fresh air!
All
Is
Gift

 

At the entrance to Prospect Wood…

To be spoken to the woodland, its trees and creatures
We come as friends
We have been given the keys to your wood
We have been entrusted with caring for you
We come as lovers of God and lovers of the world
We find you to be a magical and peaceful woodland
We come in peace
Will you welcome us?

We will do our best to help you flourish
To maintain your peace and beauty
To learn the skills we need
And to manage the woodland motivated by love and respect
For the One whose wood it is
And all of you creatures whose home it is.
Will you welcome us?

Stand in silence, go and place a hand on a tree at the edge of the woodland and listen for the woodland’s answer. If the answer is no we sell the woodland! If the answer is yes we respond together by bowing and saying…

Thank you!
We have arrived

I am pleased to say on the last point as far as we can tell the answer was yes!

harry and chris save the world tour

harry and chris are on tour soon - see here for dates. oxford which is early on has sold out and i have booked in for leicester square even though it is december as that seemed to be selling fast. so check out their dates and go see them if you can. they played greenbelt mainstage this year off the back of a sold out run at edinburgh festival and it was an incredible show to be at. they always seem to have so much fun but what was striking at greenbelt was how many people knew them and knew the words to songs and poems. it was a proud parent moment for sure! i am happy to have contributed some photography for harry and chris publicity and this year's tour poster photo is one of mine again (though the making it snazzy through photoshop is someone else's work).

what to maintain

this was my photo that was part of the oblique strategies exhibition. the oblique strategy i was given was 'what to maintain'. see this gallery for all the photos that were exhibited

give me eyes to see like a photographer

i spoke at st mary's ealing on sunday in the context of oblique strategies, a photography exhibition, hanging in the church. i found it a good challenge last year to combine thoughts about photography with spirituality - i guess it is doing a sort of local theology for photographers. this year i used some of the ideas and practices from last year with different photos and passage (of course) and penned a couple of photography inspired prayers. i am guessing the sermon will be recorded and i'll link to it if so because the interviews with sean and edmond were really good. anyway here it is...

In the Guardian last week there was an article on what was termed ‘peoples innovation’ which referred to park run as like church - park run is a weekly run organised by volunteers. But it was likened to church because it is a space in which people find community and friendship in the city in what can be an isolated space. Community groups in cities are really important spaces. I am part of a photography group which is is one such group.

I have invited two members of the group, Sean and Edmond, who were part of the team curating the exhibition that is hanging in the church, to come along this morning and I’d like to begin by asking then a few questions about the exhibition and indeed about photography.

Sean: Tell us about the photography group - what do you do? Why do you go?
Edmond: The exhibition is called Oblique Strategies - what does that mean? What is it about?
Sean and Edmond: Which is your photo? Tell us about it.
Sean: What do you like about photography?
Edmond: I am going to explore in a minute the idea of photography as a spiritual practice. Is there any connection for you between photography and spirituality?

(For the reader - Oblique Strategies is a series of playing cards that Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt designed in 1975. The idea is that a creative person who got stuck in the creative process could draw a card at random and use it as an oblique strategy to spark their imagination in new directions. So for the exhibition each of the nineteen photographer’s received a card drawn at random and had to take a photograph provoked by that oblique strategy. And on the photos you see each strategy written.)

For me photography is a connected with contemplative spirituality because it helps me to pay attention, to see, to really look. I won’t say much about this as I spoke about it last year but there is a tradition of photographers who use words like transcendent for their approach because they recognise that there is something beyond the immediate, a presence that they connect with as they slow down and learn to see - much like people experience in silence, a walk in a forest, or gazing at the horizon on a beach. Today people might call it mindful. Paul Hill, much loved of London Independent Photography describes photography as ‘learning to see’. Here’s two quotes from a book on the contemplative Thomas Merton and his photography that I used last year but can’t really better:

“To become a contemplative one must develop the spiritual eye of attention and what in modern life symbolises more fully and exactly what the life of a contemplative life entails than the camera.” and…

“Solitude and silence are the sine qua non of being a contemplative. In fact a photographer is a contemplative in his/her own right: he/she too must become a master of attention”

I have been thinking about what we can learn from photographers way of looking at the world. You can try this later but I began to write some lines of prayer that begin ‘give me eyes to see like a photographer…’

give me eyes to see like a photographer
that the whole world is shining
to notice how your light falls

give me eyes to see like a photographer
that beauty is in the ordinary and everyday
not in a quest to capture the perfect sunset

give me eyes to see like a photographer
that the world is broken in grief
longing for healing

give me eyes to see like a photographer
that all is gift
and you are the one who draws with light
amen

(the word photo graph means light drawing by the way photo-light graph-draw)

Last year I developed two practices that related to photography and I thought it would be good to engage them as ways of learning to see together

a) visio divina
Lectio divina is a way of reading the bible which has four stages formally known as lectio, meditatio, oratio, contemplatio. These stages can be applied to reading or looking at photographs. I have renamed these four stages as follows:
Look
Reflect
Talk/pray
Ponder

Pick one of the photographs that catches your attention and look at it, then reflect on what it evokes for you, how does it connect with you and your story, where does it take you, then talk to the person next to you about what you see (in lectio this would also be a space for prayer to talk to God about it which you can do later), then sit for a moment and ponder what gift is in this that you will take from the experience.

[Space to do this and discuss]

b) Imaginative reading where you are the photographer
We heard a story about Jesus earlier (Mark 7:24-30). I will read it for you again in a moment. A practice that is really helpful for reflecting on a story like this is to use your imagination to picture the scene and explore it with all your senses and then watch the scene unfold in your mind’s eye. Be playful with it. It often helps to be a character in the scene - a member of the crowd or the person in the story. But the twist is that i want you to be a photographer in the story noticing it unfold and thinking as it does what photos you are inspired to take. It might be worth saying a couple of things to help frame the story - Jews did not view Gentiles as included in God’s story. They are outsiders and from this passage we see they were commonly described as dogs. Jews would not eat with them or go into their homes for example. And Jesus is in Tyre which is Gentile (Phonecia) trying to keep his head down.

[Read passage and then get a few people to share what they imagined.]

Thank you for your seeing of this intriguing story and of course we don’t know what Jesus intentions were. But I have come to see the courage and strength of this woman not taking the script and place given to her in the ordering of the world - she won’t stay in her place and I love that. To even take the risk of finding Jesus and get a hearing which was unlikely in the culture required her to get beyond the voice in her own head saying ‘who do you think you are?’ Many women have this script by the way. I also love that in terms of learning to see, she as the person who is an outsider and of another faith than Jesus is the one who help him to learn to see. What an extraordinary reversal. I really hope we have the same openness to receive the gifts of other faiths and their insights and wisdom as Christianity has its blind spots for sure. That seeing is this - that where God has been viewed as God of the Jews, a tribal God only, God is actually the God of all peoples, the God of the whole world. In Mark’s story Jesus goes on from here to the Decapolis which is Gentile and mainly on the East side of the Jordan (he has been there once in Gadara already - see Mark 5). He heals a deaf man and ministers there and it is followed by the feeding of the 4000. Earlier he has recorded the feeding of the 5000 for Jews and 12 baskets were left over signalling provision presumably for the twelve tribes of Israel. But this time 7 baskets are left over - 7 being the number for wholeness or completeness. So God is the God of the whole world the God of all peoples and Jesus mission is beyond the limits of the Jewish people. Jesus learns to see this through the oblique strategy of a foreign outsider from another faith who presses in with ‘courage’ and banter when she was being turned away. Flipping brilliant - I love her!

Thank you to you the people of St Mary’s so much for letting the Ealing photography group which is a satellite of London Independent Photography use your beautiful church to exhibit Oblique Strategies. It is part of BEAT - the Borough of Ealing Art Trail - over 100 artists are exhibiting in homes, studios and other venues in Ealing this weekend and next. I encourage you to go and visit.

I’d like to end with another prayer I was writing last night whilst thinking about photography. It’s slightly photography nerd territory. But let’s pray

open the shutter of my heart to let the light in
bring out your image in me like film in the dark room
hold me steady like a tripod with my aperture wide
give me a neutral density filter so i can have a long exposure to your love
help me learn to see
amen

 

exhibition opening

Oblique Strategies from Edmond Terakopian on Vimeo.

the opening night of Oblique Strategies exhibition was wonderful. the video above was put together by edmond terakopian and gives a really good feel of the photos, how they are hung and the space. about 150 people came along to the opening - thank you all so much! 

there is a gallery of the photos here where you can also purchase prints in a range of sizes and types of paper.

proost finds a new lease of life

it was so great at greenbelt to see proost in action. a while back aad, jon and i who dreamed up and ran proost, a small publishing company for grassroots alt worship resources, felt it was time to let it go and pass it on to someone or some people who could bring fresh vision and energy to it. it took a while to find but that person turned out to be andy freeman. it has proved a really cracking decision as he has done exactly that.

this year at greenbelt proost were running several events, a stand, and have a revamped web site. they also have published future present which i am involved in and which you can now order through the web site. and on top of that there is a new poetry colletion reaching for mercy. as with the first, learning to love, there are loads of poets.

the book is organised into themes and there is quite a community of proost poets growing now. i picked up the book at greenbelt and t looks great. i also have a poem in the book - it's possibly the only poem i have written (though i have written loads of songs over the years). and it amuses me to be able to say to harry now that he is not the only published poet in the family!

we didn't shout about the change in proost when it happened - it seemed better to just let it happen but it's great now to see it gaining momentum and being carried forward - way to go andy and the team involved in reaching for mercy.

the name proost came about because when we set it up we were in a pub drinking beer and aad (who is dutch) said 'proost' which means cheers and we decided that was a good name. so andy 'proost'!

 

oblique strategies - i am taking part in an exhibition in ealing

if you are anywhere near ealing do come along to oblique strategies, our latest group exhibtion. it is part of the wonderful local art trail BEAT. each photographer had to respond to an oblique strategy drawn at random from brian eno's card deck of that name. it's fun! if you would like to come to the opening that is next weds night - here's an invite - i'd love to see you there. 

as with last year's exhibition grace on the saturday night 8 sept will incorporate the exhibition and on sunday 9th i will be preaching at st mary's on oblique strategies using the images which could be a challenge!

austria photos

i have added a photo album from a holiday jen and i had in austria earlier in august - at a place called fieberbrunn. we'd never been to austria before but loved it - the combination of mountains, lakes, cycling, and simply stunning scenery. jen has blogged about all the lakes we swam in. if you follow me on instagram you will have seen several of these already and a lot more woodpiles! it's funny how technology changes things - i do really like instagram but i still use flickr partly because i know if i ever lost my photos at home i'd have a good backup i could access...

greenbelt coming up! hope to see you there...

i love greenbelt - i must have been to about 40 festivals now i reckon which is quite a scary thought. but it always evolves and changes and moves with the times and questions in the wider culture. i always tend to be working at it one way or another but it's also a great time for catching up with friends and family (and camping with grandkids which will be a highlight). 

the last few years it has been really good to meet and chat with people around pioneering mission - and i have contributed various seminars, conversations and even had a book launch of the pioneer gift there a few years back. here's a couple of things i am involved in this year - 

alt worship fri evening 6:30 - grace and proost are combining to lead an alt worship service riffing on greenbelt's theme of acts of imagination. this will be a great way to kick off the festival. that's in the shelter venue

future present - really excited that future present is now out and we are seeing greenbelt as it's public launch in that it will be available in the bookshop. and we have a panel at 9:30am on monday in the leaves venue which i will be chairing and steve collins, anna ruddick, and rachel griffiths who have contributed to it will be joining me to explore the ideas

then if you are a pioneer or interested in talking about pioneering and if you are interested in finding out about the pioneer training at cms then i'd love to meet you. go to the cms stand and they can get hold of me or come along to one of the following:

jesus arms pub 8pm fri night i.e. after the alt worship service above

tiny tea tent saturday 4pm

jesus arms pub 8pm sunday night

tiny tea tent 11am monday i.e. after the future present panel we'll head over there

greenbelt has a free app which has all the programme on it which if you haven't looked at is really worth downloading. hope to bump into you there. i'll also be proudly cheering on joel baker in the silent disco as he is djing and cheering on harry baker who will doing spoken word and harry and chris show stuff. 

and the weather is looking pretty reasonable - maybe a shower fri night but dry pretty much all weekend - yay!

pioneer youth ministry training

if you are involved in youth ministry and would like to do some training we run a certificate at cms through durham university which has a route through it for youth ministry (and one for children and family ministry). we put together a video with john who helped us shape it and teaches on it. he works with frontier youth trust and through that and the streetspace network is connected with and networking youthworkers who are working with young people beyond where the church is currently focused. in my view the church has taken it's eye off the ball of this one - there is less training around, less posts and where people do create posts it's harder to find people who are experienced to take them up. this is our small part of trying to help see that change. it's not too late to sign up for september but get in touch soon!

future present is here!

good news - following the crowdfunding future present has been printed and has landed at proost hq - i have yet to see a copy but it exists. i can't wait! those of you who have ordered copies they will soon be winging their way to you...

the next level

eight years ago i set up pioneer ministry training at cms which has been a blast. each year it's grown a bit and we have gradually added in new things. it feels like the year ahead is going to be one of growth and change which means it will be busy but exciting. but all that to say that our latest addition is that we are adding in a bundle of new modules at oxford at level 6 in university speak. what that means is degree level so you can now do a BA with us rather than a diploma. because it is in common awards. this means if you have done a diploma in durham university through another college you could come and continue to BA as long as it is within 5 years. we are waiting to hear for definite but we expect that you can also do level 6 as a stand alone award - a grad dip. or as with all modules you can simply audit any module of interest. we have deliberately added in modules that are covering new themes. 

sarah clarke who leads the undergraduate programmes in oxford has blogged about what they are here. get in touch a.s.a.p. if that's of interest as we'll be kicking those off from september and of course you can still do certificate, diploma, post grad certificate, post grad diploma and MA. just doctoral work to go i guess!!!