jonnybaker

swarm theory

you may remember me posting about the wisdom of the crowds. a friend ed sent me a link to this article on swarm theory which is in the same kind of area of self organising systems and complexity. it got me thinking about church communities and networks... here's a couple of quotes

That's the wonderful appeal of swarm intelligence. Whether we're talking about ants, bees, pigeons, or caribou, the ingredients of smart group behavior—decentralized control, response to local cues, simple rules of thumb—add up to a shrewd strategy to cope with complexity.

Crowds tend to be wise only if individual members act responsibly and make their own decisions. A group won't be smart if its members imitate one another, slavishly follow fads, or wait for someone to tell them what to do. When a group is being intelligent, whether it's made up of ants or attorneys, it relies on its members to do their own part.

coming up in june...

brian walsh and sylvia keesmaat are over from canada and doing three days for blah... don't miss this chance to meet them. their book colossians remixed is wonderful (i reviewed it here). manchester is not far away now. please book in if you are coming so we know numbers etc., especially in oxford where we have to order catering in advance.

Manchester June 5
Birmingham June 17
Oxford June 18

i have also been contacted by mark roques, a good friend who is hosting them for two days in leeds on 6 and 7 june with WYSOCS - details are here

melbourne and tasmania

heading out of the door to go and join the uniting church in australia for several days of training. it will be my first visit to australia and am looking forward to it. the schedule is something like

30 may - 1 june - tasmania conversation and workshop
2 june - workshop melbourne and upper room in evening
3 june - visit cms
4 june - continuing education day for ministers on alt worship + pub conversation
6-9 june - nosh alt worship gathering

cheryl is hosting so contact her if you want more info...

aerotone - worship trick 35

well i'm a bit slow on the uptake but josh lyon blogged a post this one's for jonny with a link to aerotone, an e-label in germany producing very ambient music. and the big plus is it's nearly all free! le mepris is the album josh recommends which i like too - it's all piano based... and yes josh i will make it a worship trick - thanks! no 35, series 3

you are my angel

guardian angel, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

'guardian angel', a sculpture by nick mynheer at the pulse exhibition in oxford. i have three photos in this exhibition so it was good to be able to visit last night. this was my favourite piece...

creative prayer

i picked this up via steve...

creative prayer is a simple site and idea - recording prayer station ideas. a prayer station is a creative space that people visit and interact with either as part of a service or just as a stand alone installation type thing. often it incorporates a ritual idea, thoughts or scriptures or questions to reflect on and is generally visual. there are lots on the site and there is an invitation to add or send in your own ideas. it's a great idea and a site i'm sure lots of people will bookmark.

i am making it worship trick 34 series 3 . i haven't picked out any individual stations - i'll leave that to you...

the sorting room opens today

the sorting room opens today. andrew and debbie have been working crazy hours in the last few weeks to be ready. it's a co-orerative of several businesses - comunity business initiative i think is the term. it's very exciting. it relates a bit to the sustainability post before - a very different approach. andrew has written a piece i have referenced before on mission and the fourth sector

come and worship

come and worship, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

this sign is in a shop in manchester just round the corner from nexus cafe where sanctus 1 meet. i was with ben who said that they have used a photo of the sign in their worship...

it's only a game

that's what i am trying to tell myself - absolutely gutted

sustainability

sustainability is one of the challenges people face pioneering new things. this is as true of emerging churches as it is of business. a pattern that has occurred in a number of situations is that a group gets money for three years to start a church plant/project/emerging church. after three years it is going really well. a community has been born. but the funds that have gone on a full time salary for the person employed to kick start it run out after three years. the community might (and should) give to support that person but the community is often too small.

i do wonder if this need reflecting on - either make the kick start time longer (for example we have 7 years for the telford project with mark berry); funtion more as a supported mission leader so there is ongoing support; or start part time and expand as the community grows. one of the challenges of grace has been that we have never employed anyone, but actually it is also one of the things i have come to really like about it...

anyway some of the people who have been caught in this sustainability issue are getting creative and doing bi-vocational stuff...

matt rees is launching a small graphic design business - amplified design. sign him up to do design work.

ian adams is spinning a number of things - consulting, spiritual direction...

ian mobsby as part of his entrepreneurial stuff to sustain moot is off on another tour of the US and has published a new book on the trinity. the trinity is a hot area in theology - the dynamic particpation in the life of god. so i'm sure it is good though i haven't got hold of it yet. if you are in the US do visit ian on his tour.

the long road

we went to see the long road last night, the play commissioned and directed by my sister. it's amazing. go and se it if you get the chance. it's the story of a family trying to deal with the aftermath of the youngest son, 18 years old, being stabbed in a random act of violence. it's very powerful... one shock was that there is a photo on the table of the son which is a photo esther has used of joel. and he is also larger than life in a huge backdrop to the set...

chrysalis

following on from the post about spirited exchanges a couple of posts back, chrysalis arrived in the post. this is the latest book by alan jamieson (who blogs here with paul). (i think i mentioned it before when i got the manuscript?). alan has written several books offering commentary on and research on church leavers. he has made the case that the journey they are on is valid and in some cases leaving church may even be essential to move on in their growth. i think his work has been very important both to help people in that space and to help churches understand the different journies people can be on.

chrysalis is in the same area but it is a book aimed at the individual in that space of transformation on the journey of faith. it is a thin book (always a plus as far as i am concerned) and is absolutely wonderful. when i originally had the manuscript i immediately gave it away to some people who i could see were exactly in the space it was talking about.

i don't quite know why but i have become an endorser of books - i'm really not sure what value it has or what it means but anyway i am usually glad to oblige particularly if it is someone i know and a book i am enthusiastic about. i gave rather a long endorsement of this one so here it is by way of a review...

chrysalis is a wonderful book that will help many people on their journey of faith. there are many who come to a stage of christian faith where what once sustained them has grown dry and lifeless. no amount of trying harder seems to improve things. this can be a confusing lonely experience and resources to help people in that space are hard to find. chrysalis is a gift to the person in this place offering some signposts or a roadmap and encouragement for the difficult journey. this is a process many travellers have been on before, is normal and leads to transformation into a different kind of experience of faith. it's a book that many church leaders will find helpful to understand those seemingly restless souls in their communities, and to help imagine christian communities that can create spaces for people at different stages of faith.

towards the end of the book alan outlines ten characteristics of this journey which sort of summarise it as a journey...

from black and white to an embrace of black and white and greys
from dependence to interdependence
from answers to mystery and childlike wonder
from doing to being (a deep sense of being accepted by god)
from playing a role to a new giving of self for others
from trust in external authorities to an integration of internal and external voices
from effortful faith to resting faith
from martha's faith to faith that expresses mary's heart and martha's hands
from needing leaders to co-discerning with others
from external truth to communal and paradoxical truth

reading that list makes me think it's about maturing, growing up, taking responsibility. whilst it looks easy actually the journey through those things is anything but. the mystics have referred to it as the dark night of the soul or chrysalis with good reason. but if you are on that journey, this book will be a good friend.

if God is a DJ...

if God is a DJ... joel's latest doodle

leeds street mural

leeds graf, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

i was in leeds this weekend for the last of this year's ReSource course (which has gone really well - i'll blog about next year's course shortly). en route i passed this graffiti outside holy trinity church in the city centre. artist phil hunter had worked with young people from a pupil referral unit to connect their art with the iconic tradition of the church. can anyone enighten me to what the writing says?

spirited exchanges uk set to go up a few gears...

this is no longer a shocking headline but church isn't working for a ton of people in the uk. any statistics on church attendance show that lots of people have left. whilst it used to be assumed that those people had 'backslidden' or given up on faith, it's increasingly recognised that actually faith is very much alive for those people.

in new zealand spirited exchanges was set up by jenny mcintosh and alan jamieson in response to this realisation (following the findings of alan's churchless faith research). spirited exchanges simply made available resources for people on that journey or in that space, and created environments in which people could talk honestly and process their stuff, as well as trying to flag up to churches what the issues were for people who were leaving (where they had ears to hear it).

jenny spoke at greenbelt a few years ago (2005). a few of us in the uk met with jenny in 2005 and spirited exchanges uk was born. it's ticked along, led seminars at greenbelt and had a small database and web site, and facilitated a a few groups. the exciting news is that it's about to go up a few gears. jenny macintosh has come over from new zealand to help develop it here. this really is an astonishing gift to the uk. jenny will be at greenbelt this year and have a stand in g-source. hopefully there will be a couple of seminars in the programme as well. we had a meeting in manchester on friday to dream a little about the way forward...

if this grabs you (you have left church or have a passion for those who are in that space) we could do with a few more people involved in the co-ordinating group. and we want to raise some funds to help develop this work. i'll blog about this again once we're a bit more organised. but if you have access to anyone/grant making trusts that might be interested in supporting this kind of work then do let me know...

back at london mind body spirit festival next week

we're back at the london mind body spirit festival next week.

as dekhomai we will have a stand in the marketplace - booth 43. we will be offering spiritual resources from the christian tradition to visitors. we often get asked what dekhomai means - it means the welcoming place. we want to provide a space of welcome in the busyness of the festival, a listening ear and a space for prayer.

at our stand everything is free...

be listened to and prayed for
receive prayer for healing with the anointing of oil and laying on of hands
make a dekhomai prayer cord to help you pray
have a go on the Jesus deck to see how Christ's story connects with your life
sit down, chill and have a foot or hand massage
receive a blessing (we will be using john o donaue's book benedictus)

our popular dekhomai postcards will be back with two additions to the set - see the photo album for the images and text from the cards...

we'll also be leading two meditations in the meditation room on wednesday and sunday at 2pm. tess ward is leading one on celtic mdeitation and peter rundell an igantian meditation.

the image above is of one of the cards which you may recognise from my foggy photos...

ascent

ascent, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

gift

the garden in brighton are a very creative group. they have done various installations and alternative worship experiences at greenbelt over the last few years. the good news is they have started a wiki site to share the resources from the services they have done. each one seems to have a script you can download...

i liked the gift and am making that worship trick 33 series 3 . keep it tucked away until valentines day next year.

the influence of deconstruction, caputo, and rollins seeps through the liturgies! i like their words/comments on who they are on the vision page - poetic | contemporary | provisional | ecstatic | rooted | transformative | inclusive | collaborative | influential

mark who is one of the key people making the garden happen also takes great photos

[i just noticed that that is two posts in a row unrelated with lovehearts in - mmmmm]

oxford art exhibition - pulse

pulse opens this friday. it's a new art exhibition at st aldates in oxford of work by oxford artists. as i now work in oxford (two days a week) i am eligible to enter and have had three photos accepted for the exhibition which i am pleased about. 

it runs from may 16-31 but check the opening times as it varies when the exhibition is open. but the main gig seems to be several open evenings - fri 16, sat 17, weds 21, and fri 23 at which you get a glass of wine and serenaded by a jazz band (in true oxford style)... apparently 400 people are showing up to the private view. sadly i'm going to miss it as i am in leeds for the last of this year's ReSource weekends.

a friend jono has been working like mad to get this together - looks like it should be good. 30% of sales go to support the oxford charity ACT.

the long road - a new play about forgiveness

the forgiveness project is an amazing collection of stories of forgiveness. it has been exhibited as a series of portrait photos with the accompanying stories. i first saw it in london at the oxo tower back in 2004 and it has also been to greenbelt... since then the stories have multiplied. norman kember's is one of the more recent ones.

my sister esther (you may remember me blogging about her film) and her charity synergy theatre have been working with the forgiveness project and she is directing a new play the long road about forgiveness from 19 may to 5 june at soho theatre. i chatted to her today about it and she is really excited. the long road evolved out of stories and research with prisoners with whom she has worked now for over a decade in one way or another. its debut appropriately was in a prison yesterday. esther is the founder and artistic director of synergy.

i'm looking forward to it. if you are in london go and see it...