jonnybaker

spiritual paths in a missionary church

yesterday i was given a grove booklet - the road to growth less travelled by david runcorn. tim dakin, general secretary of cms was giving them away as he thought it was so good. tim is always enthusing about books and i've found several gems through his recommendations. the subtitle is spiritual paths in a missionary church. and yes it is a gem.

it's a real surprise, almost a relief, to find a book on the spirituality of mission that doesn't exhaust you in its ehthusiasm and hype. he suggests that the sea changes in culture have left the church bewildered and that the language and theme of exile might give some clues in the quest for a sustaining spirituality. how do we find depth when the temptation is for quick fixes or relevance? i loved this quote he writes from henri nouwen - i am deeply convinced that the christian leader of the future is called to be completely irelevant.

his five marks of spiritual growing are:
a way of loss
a way of darkness
a way of not knowing
a way of waiting
a way of the least

that gets real. he then draws on the work of mark yaconelli (whose work i have enthused about at length before) to suggest a contemplative way will help us recover a deep love for the world in which we live which is at the heart of mission.

that' a hasty sketch. i was struck last week by a conversation i had with a friend who is retired - he is in his sixties. he is a loyal, committed, faithful, evangelical (and fairly conservative at that), church going christian and has been for decades. he is the kind of person who is a backbone of a local church. he told me he was bored with church and quite a few of his friends were too. we're more at sea than we admit. i'll lend him this book. it may offer some clues...

if you haven't come across them grove books are shortish booklets (around 8000 words) turned round pretty quick on theology in a number of themed series - bible, ethics, spirituality, worship, evangelism, pastoral, renewal, youth.

stone sculpture

iain cotton has a new web site. he is a sculptor who works in stone. many years ago he used to use our basement in bath to do his sculptures (back then in wood) so we've known iain and his work for a long time. if you are any where near bath over the summer he has some work in an exhibition at chapel row gallery.

this piece was one of my favourite ever piece in a stations of the cross exhibition

flow

blue veil, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

cadburys fair trade

good news

another tour over

congrats to mark cavendish on a brilliant sprint on the champs elysee yesterday in the final stage of the tour de france. winning 6 stages in a tour is incredible! he simply seems to be the fastest sprinter on the planet winning by a margin i can't remember ever seeing! and who would have thought that bradley wiggins could make fourth?! again a brilliant ride. i thought it was a great tour. what am i going to do each night at 7pm now?

the stranger

the stranger, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

in the thick of it

rene padilla hung out with cms for a few months earlier this year as a missiologist in residence. one of the phrases i picked up from him which is the title of one of his books is the church as an agent of transformation. his basic point is that the church doesn't exist in and for itself but to help transform the local community in response to whatever social or spiritual or physical needs there are. i was reminded of this today when i read tearfund's report in the thick of it. there is lots of stuff around (and i contribute to it from time to time) on the challenges the church faces in relation to the cultural changes often finding herself stuck in a world that is passing. it can end up in a bit of a negative spin. those challenges are real and i am not wanting to deny or minimise them but it was good to read a very different kind of critique of the local church that is saying what good news it is!

the local church is uniquely placed, in the thick of it, around the world in local communities acting as an agent of change in relation to HIV, poverty, education, environmental challenges, justice and advocacy to name a few issues. in many ways the local church has a reach and connection to the local community that ngos find much harder and more expensive to gain. this is the opening to the report...

A dramatic untold story is unfolding in some of the poorest places on our planet. Here, at the heart of HIV epidemics, at the epicentre of disasters, the church is bringing transformation to some of the most vulnerable and remote communities on earth – sometimes singlehandedly. Often the church is reaching these places in a way that other institutions do not – and cannot. Its long reach and presence extends even into war zones, refugee camps and mountain hamlets. Crucially, it is tackling poor people’s material and spiritual poverty to bring development that is truly sustainable.

gospel means good news of course so it's good to hear the church can be good news in this way. and of course it raises the question for any of us in a christian community/church how we are bringing transformation in our own local communities?

you still can't hold back the light

you still can't hold back the lght, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

see you can't hold back the light

another pic from the slot festival taken in poland in the old monastery

beach labyrinth

got to love how dream's beach labyrinth turned out. the perfect setting with anthony gormley's figures at crosby... see lots of photos here

on lifestyle - after mcdonaldization

john drane is one of the most thoughtful mission thinkers in the uk. i always enjoy hearing him speak and/or reading his books. i finally got round to reading his latest book after mcdonaldization which is an excellent follow on to the mcdonaldization of the church. 5 chapters touch on the themes of mission, culture, ministry (or leadership), community and theology and the challenges and opportunities they present in a changing world. one of the sections in his first book that caught people attention was his breakdown of society into 7 categories of people. somehow it caught the moment. he builds on that here by reflecting further on the spirituality and mission that might connect wit the different groups. it's a really helpful piece of work. in particular i was struck by the shift to lifestyle as a main theme for spirituality and mission. rather than asking credal questions, many people are more interested in how to live life - in a way that has integrity, treads lightly on the earth, lives with difference and so on. does christianity have any wisdom to offer on lifestyle? does it make sense in this way? i think this could be a key insight. i need to chew over it a bit more.

i have also been thinking and reading a lot on theological education recently as it's an area i'm likely to be doing more in with cms (well mission education) and i found the chapter on theology really helpful. john succintly spells out some of the challenges in theology and then offers a holistic, relational, creative way of learning. drane admits this appeals to the group he calls cultural creatives the most. being one i liked it a lot!

this is a very short review but if i wait around to write an in depth review it will probably never happen... a welcome addition to the books on mission and church in the emerging culture.

presence

presence, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

i'm still sorting through photos from slot and gradually adding them to flickr. i love this photo. not sure why i like seats and benches?! maybe something about the stillness...

i tweeted on friday that i was doing my first ever photo shoot as official wedding photographer. this was for friends of a friend. a few people have asked how it went. it couldn't have been more challenging! the vicar didn't allow photos in the church until signing of the register, it poured with rain so i couldn't do photos outside. the church was fairly dully lit. so if i survive that wedding i can do any! anyway i've been editing over the weekend and there are plenty of good photos but not the easiest start!

btw loving le tour though you've got to feel gutted for mark cavendish being docked points - seemed pretty harsh and ended the green jersey contest. bradley wiggins was amazing on the mountain stage yesterday. could we see him get second on the podium in paris next weekend?! i've never seen him so animated as in his interview yesterday.

sparkle

i have added 3 movies to vimeo...

sparkle from jonny baker on Vimeo.

redemption of the overhead projector? worship trick 68 series 3

at slot festival one of the most fun things i saw was fluidacje - a guy who creates extraordinary visuals using an overhead projector. just when you thought they were a relic of the past eh!? somewhat embarrassingly i have forgotten the guy's name.

the set up as you can see was pretty elaborate. a bottle is rigged up to drop water into a see through tray placed on the ohp. then a mix of shower gel (to create bubbles), and coloured inks are used to drop into the mix. he then has a series of see through plates with various patterns on that he moves around and squishes together to create patterns, bubbles and ambience. it was the most creative wacky visual projection i have seen for some time. a video projector was also there projecting images in the middle of the visual wallpaper created by fluidacje. once a sequence has finished he cleans the tray, changes the plates and starts again...

a mistake lots of people make around worship or anything else for that matter is to think you need a lot of slick equipment and technology to do new stuff. but it's all about ideas and sometimes limitations actually make you more creative. if you can redeem the overhead projector anything is possible right?

this is the first polish worship trick in my list - no 68 in series 3

le tour

in life's madness at the moment i haven't yet mentioned the tour de france. but as ever when around we watch itv's hour summary every night of each stage. it's been a pretty exciting year so far with lance armstrong back aged 38 and currently only 2 seconds off the lead - surely he can't win?! mark cavendish equalled the most stage wins ever by a british rider with his fourth stage win this tour and i'm sure he'll win more. he is simply brilliant. let's hope he makes it through the alps next week to win on the champs d'elysée. it's also been great to see bradley wiggins giving it a real go this year and sticking with the elite riders in the mountains. he is currently in 5th. watching the alpe d'huez in the alps last year is still a wonderful family memory though it seems a while back now...

skating in monastic corridors

skater-5, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

the corridors of the derelict monastery that hosts slot festival were a great space for skaters who set up impromptu ramps. the corridors were fairly low lit so i had to crank up the iso to get anything like a decent picture. i have added a bundle to flickr - if you are one of the skaters (who i gave the url to) nice job! help yourselves to any of the photos of yourselves...

alternative worship - offering clues for renewing worship

alternative worship offering clues for renewing worship has been posted on musicademy. you may have read it on here before. it was originally written for anglican renewal magazine resource

slot

so just back from slot festival in poland. it's held in an amazing location - an old derelict monastery and its grounds. it's sad to say but health and safety would probably never allow such a creative space in the uk! around 5000 teens and early twenties descend for 5 days of festival mayhem. it's an alcohol and drugs free site but that doesn't stop the partying. it's a festival run by christians but over half of the punters are not and they love it. there is the usual mix of arts and music and seminar and cafes and circus and club. the main music stage was in a great setting surrounded by the old buildings. there is also the most fun workshop programme with 140 workshops to choose from - everything from animation, medieval sword fighting, photography, through to making armour out of recycled items and then war!!! these workshops are scattered through the monastery building. the cathderal space is used for arts stuff - a wonderful space...

i was there for a global roundtable hosted by andrew jones (well actually i was there to catch up with andrew as he is n the team i lead at cms and with olga from belarus who came down but it made sense to co-incide it with this wider event). around 50 people from all round the world though mainly europe (brazil, germany, sweden, holand, poland, czech repubilc, england, macedonia, portugal, greece, belarus, ukraine, latvia, USA, switzerland, france, indonesia, india etc....) gathered in the festival to meet and share stories. the common factor was that they were doing mission or planting churches or organic communities in alternative cultures. i felt seriously under tattoed and pierced and it certainly wasn't your usual church network! it was amazing to see the jones on the road. not only do they manage to live in their overlander, but they had thrown an extra ten tents in so we could stay and then provided food for 30 or so people at a time. amazing hospitality on the road...

the workshop programme is genius. it's run by punters who just send in ideas of what they would like to run and they are then picked out. i think these workshops gave the festival a less serious feel than greenbelt which definitely appeals to younger punters. could be an idea for greenbelt? whilst making a comparison, the club programme is much better than greenbelt - dub step, bashment, dnb, funk n breakbeat nights plus three spaces in which it happens including a chillout space. i personally loved to see that there... but it's smaller and newer so gb has lots in place that slot doesn't. but i recommend a trek over if you fancy something different... i could have done without the polish karaoke still blasting out at 5am on the last night but hey it is a festival!

a surprise encounter was meeting a girl doing a creative worship workshop who had somehow got hold of the alternative worship book by me and doug. she was shocked to bump into me! she was wonderfully creative and we hung out sharing stories a bit. i look forward to seeing the polish contribution to alt worship - maybe we can bring it to greenbelt next year?!

blog of the year is...

jenny baker!!!!! yes congrats jenny on winning the church blog site of the year for sophianetwork . this was the surefish blog awards. some of us have been blogging for years but then jen lands on the scene and whizzes by ;-) seriously though it's thoroughly deserved. i'm also secretly chuffed not just because i'm proud of jenny but because i designed the site at the beginning of the year - jen came up with the layout and then i made it happen in typepad. in particular the animated gif of the woman walking took much longer than planned!

things are going really well here in poland at slot festival. more about that another time as i have borrowed a laptop to blog this...

go and congratulate sophia!

a quiet week...

the tautoko network weekend went fantastically well. thanks so much to everyone who came...

i am in oxford tday then heading off to the slot festival in poland to take part in a roundtable for mission leaders round europe hosted by andrew jones. it will be a good chance to catch up with him. i've decided to leave the laptop at home. no idea if there will be an internet cafe there so may be offline for a week. anyway - the blog will be quiet!

meantime i'll leave you with a piece of new york grafitti to muse on...

fractured broken and beautiful - dubh

dubh (pronounced "duv") is irish for dark (and a bit dubby). it's also the guise for ikon's own jonny mcewen who has recorded his first solo album fractured broken and beautiful. you couldn't get a more honest title - it sums up the music perfectly. made on a laptop, a couple of synths, a kaos pad and samples this instrumental electronica is dubbed out, trippy, warm, mellow, chilled, gorgeous, ambient, almost dub step in places. it's hard to know what to compare it to. it's a very unique sound with a real edge, an instant proost favourite!

somewhat confusingly the title of ikon's album was
dubh but this time round the artist is dubh!! and just to confuse you a little more we also have an album coming out on proost shortly by dubb :-)

there is a dubh facebook group you can join and listen to a few tracks online. go say hi to jonny and become a fan! this is the sort of release that reminds me why proost exists. it's hard to imagine any christian record label releasing anything like this!

it's currently available just as a download on the site though a physical product is in the pipeline in time for greenbelt in a cardboard recycled sleeve as proost gets eco friendly. (if you subscribe you get access to it in the downloads area as part of your subscription).