jonnybaker

art [pioneering] matters

i love artists - the way they see, think and make. so much so that i am happy to say 'yes' if anyone asks me if i am an artist. i have blogged before about books about artists - notably think like an artist, and the creative stance. as you probably know if you read this blog regularly i train pioneers people who have ideas for making the world a better place, people who see possibilities and then build things out of their seeing, people who imagine and can gather communities of people who follow christ which don’t require them to leave their culture behind. whenever i read a book about artists or art i find myself replacing the word art with mission or pioneering. it’s quite a fun game to play. for christmas this year my son harry gave me a book art matters which has four essays or reflections by neil gaiman illustrated by chris riddell. one off the pieces is called make good art and is the text of a speech neil made in 2012 at the university off the arts - the text and video are here. it’s absolutely brilliant - do digest it in full its own right. but i have taken the liberty of taking a few of his quotes and switching the words the arts or art for pioneering or pioneer. i have placed them in brackets so it’s obvious. anyway see what you think…

When you start out in [pioneering] you have no idea what you are doing. This is great. People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not.. If you don't know it's impossible it's easier to do. And because nobody's done it before, they haven't made up rules to stop anyone doing that again, yet.

If you have an idea of what you want to make, what you were put here to do, then just go and do that.

When you start off, you have to deal with the problems of failure. You need to be thickskinned, to learn that not every project will survive.

I decided that I would do my best in future not to [pioneer] just for the money. If you didn't get the money, then you didn't have anything. If I did work I was proud of, and I didn't get the money, at least I'd have the work. Every now and again, I forget that rule, and whenever I do, the universe kicks me hard and reminds me. The things I did because I was excited, and wanted to see them exist in reality have never let me down, and I've never regretted the time I spent on any of them.

I hope you'll make mistakes. If you're making mistakes, it means you're out there doing something.

Do the stuff that only you can do. The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that's not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we've sounded like a lot of other people. But the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So [pioneer] as only you can.

Where would be the fun in making something you knew was going to work?

People keep working, in a freelance world, and more and more of today's world is freelance, because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don't even need all three. Two out of three is fine. 

That was the hardest lesson for me, I think: to let go and enjoy the ride, because the ride takes you to some remarkable and unexpected places.

The rules, the assumptions, the now-we're supposed to's of how you [pioneer], and what you do then, are breaking down. The gatekeepers are leaving their gates. You can be as creative as you need to be. The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules.

And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. [Pioneer]

[united] kingdom come - grace this saturday

grace this saturday exploring our responses to brexit. glad to be part of a community that doesn't shy away from what's going on around us and difficult conversation. the blurb says

Why are we so divided and angry? What are we going to do about it?

All are welcome. After the service you can either Remain for the café, or Leave to look for a better deal elsewhere.

nomad - happy ten years!

happy ten year anniversary to nomad podcast - it's wonderful and a massive achievement to have produced such an interesting and dynamic conversation, communication and community. 

it explores christian faith in today's world. their strapline is stumbling through the post-christendom wilderness, looking for signs of hope. it's honest, searching, and on a genuine quest. each episode carries an in depth conversation with someone for about an hour and is topped and tailed by the hosts chatting about it. typically the people interviewed have published a book though not always. i have by no means listened to all the episodes but every so often catch up with it and dive in. sometimes i might listen to a big hitter like walter brueggemann but another time i stumble across someone i have never heard of because the theme grabs my attention. one of the recent ones i listened to was edwina gateley on missionaries, mystics and mother god which you have to listen to if you haven't. i loved her and her story - she is a northwestern english saint for sure. she probably wouldn't use the term but she is an incredible  pioneer with some classic elements of a pioneer's journey in her story. i noticed she has a poetry collection called there was no path so i trod one! because they are not bound by the constraints of pleasing a political church environment or denomination there is a great freedom in exploring issues fearlessly and honestly - the interview with vicky beeching was one example of that. i have also had the honour of being interviewed a couple of times which i have enjoyed.

but rather than going through my favourite episodes to celbrate, i have been reflecting how people are interacting with it and how it is becoming quite a thing...

at one level it is just a podcast and because the content is consistently good it's growing followers. it helps that tom wright has been interviewed and drawn in listeners as is explained in their epic 10th anniversary edition of 3 hours and 37 minutes (i was driving to cumbria so found myself listening to the whole thing!).

at another level it is part of a changing environment in which people are working out how to follow christ and connect with others. there are huge numbers of people who follow christ but do not engage with traditional patterns of church attendance but they do meet with friends to discuss faith over coffee or the meal table, they listen to podcasts, they attend festivals and read books and chat online. the podcast interview with steve aisthorpe, the author of 'invisible church' really lifts the lid off this area of a new kind of practising of christian faith. the stats are huge on this in both the uk and america - there are a lot more followers of christ not in church on a sunday, not because they have given up but they are making faith in other ways and often because church as they have known it is not working for them any more. i have written elsewhere that this is one of the current mission movements that not many people are paying attention to. 

for some of those people nomad and things like it are so helpful - people in that space identify with it and feel they are not alone or mad. nomad have developed a listener map so that you can add your postcode and then be connected with other listeners and there have been meet ups and gatherings. there is also now a listener lounge and a book club online. 

it is also interesting to me that tim nash who is one of the key players and who puts energy into this full time (i think) was part of an experiment in the methodist church called venture fx who invested in around a dozen pioneers to go and experiment with new forms of church and mission over 5-10 years. this has allowed tim the space to invest in this which has been a great gift and i hope the methodists have taken note and are feeling good about it. in a year or two that money will run out so nomad have been developing a business model whereby people can donate and in exchange for that get access to the listener lounge and other content. i have no idea of the scale of that but it is an enterprise model along with some merch they are selling. 

on monday we are hosting a conversation/research day on mission and church at cms which i am looking forward to (it's sold out so if you're not booked in there are now no spaces - sorry). i am looking forward to the day very much and it will be great to catch up with pete ward who is a good friend but now lives a long way away so i don't get to see enough! it seems to me that this is a great example of what he has called liquid ecclesiology. he has developed a way of thinking about christian community that takes seriously the fluid nature of culture. church is always constructed in relation to culture and must remake itself in every age. pete draws on missiologist lamin sanneh to suggest that the church tends to absolutise its own way of doing things and resists the call to translate afresh. but if the church is to move forward it must engage in that translation and needs prophets to lead her there. 

anyway all that is to say that as best i can tell as i pay attention it seems to me that christ is present in what is spinning in and out of nomad. it is a kind of liquid ecclesiology as far as i can see, a translating afresh. on their tenth anniversary podcast a listener asks if it is church and they say it is just a podcast. i think that's a wise answer but it's not really true or at least there is a lot more going on! in parts of the church huge sums are being spent on big churches - we're talking millions of pounds on city centre buildings, staff, sound systems and so on. the rationale is that these churches will grow fast and reach new people and they will also then plant out other churches. i don't really want to get into a debate about that here. but i would imagine nomad is resourcing thousands of christians and seekers and it costs peanuts - well a salary. 

anyway happy tenth anniversary nomad! thank you for what you do and make. i agree with a quote on the web site - flippin love nomad!

a day off!

had a wonderful day off yesterday - the weather is amazing at the moment - sadly probably global warming! but i visited two exhibtions and went to see massive attack in concert in the evening. one of the exhibitions was life death rebirth with bill viola video installations and michael angelo drawings. i'd actualluy seen a lot of the viola installations at various exhibitions over the years but it is amazing. i am convinced my heart rate was slower when i came out - i think we took getting on for a couple of hours going round. his work is very spiritual drawing on religious themes. i found the curators comments next to some pieces quite annoying though! one of things that was strange was how the view of spirituality seemed to buy into a negative view of the world and the notion of getting the soul out - it's kind of a platonic view of the world that has informed some bad what i call escaplogy theology over the years. the worst case of it was next to a drawing by michael angelo of the resurrected christ which was a really great drawing of a body bursting out with energy and the curator had sai something like a suprising embodied drawing of the resurrected christ - duh! what exactly did you think the resurrection is if not a body???!!! anyway that aside it is a fantastic exhibition. this photo is of the piece fire woman which is amazing - possibly my favourite piece. of course there are no photos allowed by i took this photo years back at an exhibition where i got thrown out for taking photos which is the only time that has ever happend to me.

massive attack were great as ever - i have no idea how many times i have seen them - a lot! but just as in the manchester international festival adam curtis was doing the visuals. it was a wide ranging set of visuals of life in our crazy world - once again he was opening up the idea that we are stuck in our own past rather than able to imagine a different future as we are fed things based on feedback llops - you like this so you'll love that. one memorable sequence was a series of projected slogans from politicians that sounded great in their own right but when projected together came across as hollow slogans which is what we have got used to. it was pretty bleak... but i found it also woke me up - it's so easy to be numb.

it's so great living in london!

out of the box cards live today

congratulations to jenny, grace and daisy on the launch of out of the box cards today - the web site is now live and you can go order cards. i love the strapline creating intelligent and playful cards that expand horizons. the cards look great (and are currently filling our lounge!). the official launch is tonight. i have chipped in photography - the photo above for example - and will no doubt be taking some photos at the launch party. 

people often associate me with the word pioneer for obvious reasons seeing as i have written and teach in that area. but in an interview the other day jenny was described as a pioneer and she really is - she makes things happen! i always love it when ideas that have been brought to our make good week and developed as ideas come to birth often a few years later. this is the latest! 

lifelines [for the table]

several years back our friend lynda asked if we could meet up once a week to talk about life and at that time parenting as she was taking custody of her grandson. so we began meeting round a meal. it came up in conversation with a couple of other friends and they joined in and over the years various others have joined in and come and go. there are some occasional visitors who feel like they are part of the extended table family. sometimes there are three of us and sometimes it can get into double figures. the format is simple - jen or i cook food, others bring contributions and we sit and eat and drink and catch up on life. as well as a meal there is usually something to spark conversation - a poem, a thought, a prayer, a reading. and there is always space to share joys and sorrows and to pray together. the prayer is usually informal - it might involve lighting a candle, or sometimes a simple liturgy as we remember christ in sharing bread and wine in the meal, or sometimes it is enough to be held in silence for a moment. it's not really religious and we have tried to make it open and welcoming to anyone - as long as they are happy for food, conversation and prayer (whatever way they interpret that) all is well.

it is so simple. from the start jen and i agreed we wouldn't put effort into content so the thought/reflection is last minute. it's not about that really. but it has been and is a gift to have a group of friends who care for one another and hold one another in life. we are part of grace which is a wider church community but this group is also just as much our community of faith. i recommend it as a habit to get going in your life...

our latest conversation starter has been a wonderful find - lifelines by martin wroe and malcolm doney - a book with colour photographs and 99 reflections. they are spiritual themes but made very accessible for people of faith and none. so we have taken to simply asking someone round the table to take the book away, pick a theme they like and come back and share it with us and we talk about it. as well as being delightful provocations, what it has done which has been lovely is to share out facilitating the conversation starting. the themes are wide ranging - community, silence, waking up, kindness, creating a clearing, grief, activism, prayer... and of course friends round the table is the real lifeline.

i know i hardly blog worship tricks these days but i am going to add it to the list... 

space

everyone is welcome to join us at grace on 9th february for a service of meditation and silences, followed of course by a less silent café! this year our february service falls in a space between church seasons - christmas and epiphany are past, lent does not begin until march, so we find ourselves in an in-between place, a place to pause for quiet reflection.

that old chestnut - church?

since we began the pioneer training we have hosted a day each year where we explore a question or theme in relation to pioneering mission. these have led to various publications. this year we landed on mission and church as the theme to explore which in some ways is an old chestnut but anyone pioneering inevitably comes up with all sorts of questions navigating church. for example, yesterday with students we had a day with sue steer (who is taking part in this day) who is two and a half years in to building community relations and networks in a new housing area and she was sharing the questions and challenges around church, what's naturally occuring, timescales, what it could look like and other peoples expectations and imagination. it's always a rich packed day and the line up this year is great. do come along! my advice is book early because it will probably sell out. there's more info here and you can book here.

a worship trick - flash paper

 

flash paper from jonny baker on Vimeo.

grace last night was a rather beautiful evening with a magical labyrinth and stations on themes of gold, frankincense and myrrh. i can't remember where i read about it but i came across flash paper which is a kind of paper magicians use in tricks - when you light it, it flares up and goes up in smoke in a flash. i took a very short video of it on my phone. so if magicians use it i guess it is probably as close to a worship trick as is possible! we used it at the myrrh station where people reflected on things to bury or get rid of or put to death in their life and then they went up in a flash!

grace new year labyrinth

another year of grace begins this next weekend - join us to walk a labyrinth

bath and wells holy rumpus

i went to university in bath and lived there until i was 30 during which time we did a load of youth work and mission. i have a big soft spot for it and many fond memories and indeed many friends there. so i am doubly pleased to let you know that a holy rumpus is taking place as a partnership between bath and wells diocese and church mission society (who i work for). this will be a pioneer hub that initially will run a year's training over weekends and evenings i.e. will be good for those working full time. it all kicks off in may - more details are here. go sign up!

tunes

every new year i tend to go through music from the previous year and compile a playlist or two. here's my 2018 selection. it probably tries to do too much or has too many kinds of music though i've tried to give it a flow. i found it pretty interesting how political it is this year - art alway has something to say and is like the nerve endings in feeling what's happening in the culture i guess. anyway see what you think...

2018 selection:

• Fingers of Thought - CV & JAB
• Forever Changeless - Nils Frahm
• This Is America - Childish Gambino
• Shot Gun Shack - Neneh Cherry
• If Only - Kojey Radical
• No White God - Oscar #Worldpeace
• Understand What Black Is - The Last Poets
• Blaxploitation - Noname
• Struggle Sounds - Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
• Abusey Junction - Kokoroko
• A Metallick Taste (feat. Jonah Levine Collective) - Daedelus
• Street Fighter Mas - Kamasi Washington
• Gabriel - Jono McCleery
• Allocate - Damien Jurado
• Now That I'm a River - Charles Watson
• The Soul Searchers - Paul Weller
• A Trick of the Light - Villagers
• Runnin’ (feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow) - Blood Orange
• Ottolenghi - Loyle Carner & Jordan Rakei
• Pass Me the Ashtray (feat. IAMDDB) - The Mouse Outfit
• Last Last Fall - Jonwayne Last Last Fall
• I'll Be on Your Mind - Skinny Pelembe
• Carry Me (feat. Obongjayar & Yazz Ahmed) - Everything Is Recorded
• Energy (feat. Nadeem Din-Gabisi) - Sampa the Great Energy (feat. Nadeem Din-Gabisi)
• Water - Kojey Radical, Mahalia & Swindle
• Somehow Somewhere Someway (feat. Umar Bin Hassan) - Ty
• Flyby Vfr - Skee Mask
• Con Moto - String Theory
• Bad Bad News - Leon Bridges
• Judge Not (Ray Mang Disco Mix) - Phenomenal Handclap Band
• Natural Sci-Fi - Steve Spacek
• Unmade - Thom Yorke
• Echo Dissolve - Jon Hopkins
• Life, Life (Andy Stott Remodel) - Ryuichi Sakamoto
• nyepi - Ólafur Arnalds

2018 horizontal:

and then i found going through that i had discovered a lot of instrumental music i loved so also have done a 2018 horizontal playlist. i have not particularly ordered this one so put it on random and see what happens. both run over a couple of hours or so. i am on apple music so you can find the lists there as i think i have made them public. if not i can send you a link if interested.

• Colorado - Aukai
• Fingers of Thought - CV & JAB
• Fundamental Values - Nils Frahm
• Some Limited and Waning Memory (feat. Echo Collective)- Christina Vantzou
• Forever Changeless - Nils Frahm
• Sunson - Nils Frahm
• Another Long Evening - Kronos Quartet & Laurie Anderson
• This Trip - Nightports & Matthew Bourne
• Virtues - Dedekind Cut
• Long May It Sustain - A Winged Victory For The Sullen
• Quebec (Climber)- Bing & Ruth Quebec (Climber)
• A Catalogue of Afternoons - Max Richter
• Circle - Goldmund
• Life, Life (Andy Stott Remodel) - Ryuichi Sakamoto
• Ringing - Nils Frahm
• Feel First Life - Jon Hopkins
• Recovery - Jon Hopkins
• Echo Dissolve - Jon Hopkins
• Dreaming - Jon Hassell
• Solan Goose - Erland Cooper
• saman - Ólafur Arnalds
• Whaup - Erland Cooper
• Circle (Reprise)Phil France
• Selva Oscura 1.1 - William Basinski & Lawrence English
• Below - Lapalux
• La Joya - Aukai
• Unblocked - Djrum
• nyepi - Ólafur Arnalds
• momentary - Ólafur Arnalds
• brot - Ólafur Arnalds
• In a Remote Place - Craig Armstrong

a huge thanks to bbc 6 music where i have heard many of the tracks. and i have seen some amazing gigs this year including kendrick lamar, seun kuti, nils frahm, olafur arnalds, lauryn hill, flying lotus - i love music! and it was also the end of an era with mary anne hobbs moving on from the weekend breakfast shows on 6 music after six years (sigh).

 

 

tender

i love this photo of kat and flo which i took over christmas where we were hosted in margate by harry and grace which was a treat. kat is an incredible mum - i have loved seeing her and joel being parents to flo and thea with so much tenderness, patience and love. it's not easy raising kids! it's hard to say what makes a good photo and i can't remember if flo is strangling kat or it is actually a tender moment but let's go with the latter :) 

the art of advent

this advent i am going to read through this lovely little book the art of advent by jane williams which has a painting for each day of advent with a short reflection. it's full colour and less than ten pounds! i was delighted to see meg wroe's reworked rublev's icon is in the book.

where will god be born? - advent coming up...

i always love the season of advent. love this flyer from steve for our grace advent service this year which will consist of a series of reflections, prayers, meditations, songs brought by whoever comes. if you plan to come do bring something to share in that way. it will all be followed by mulled wine and stollen. 

and i am not sure i should confess to this but if you look on the grace web site there is a link to a video from 1996 of grace on channel 4 which we dug out for the 25th celebration - it is fairly amusing/embarrassing!

after dark

go and see after dark at chiswick house gardens which is a series of light installations in the grounds - on until christmas

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