jonnybaker

smallfire

smallfire is a wonderful site - a collection of photographs with short narratives on alternative worship services phtographed by steve collins over more than a decade now. i am sure many of you have seen it before but i noticed a new beyond section was a dded before christmas along with a couple of reflections from steve - one is wisdom or tips for those photographing worship and the other is a more personal reflection from steve that makes for a really good read. here's a quote...

The emerging church too has a 'global conversation', in which ideas and moves are passed between groups, adapting and extending as they go. Photographs play an active part in that process, by documenting the adaptations and innovations and provoking new ones.

They also show examples that can be identified with and acted on, for people who thought they were alone or isolated in how they feel about church. I used to be in that position myself, and it would have helped to have found a 'Small Fire' back then. Photographs can be a beacon for those who search.

long reach

added a few colour photos to the walk in the chilterns set...

pioneer course open days

if you are interested in the cms pioneer training - whether modules or the whole thing - we have an open day coming up on february 23 and then another on april 26. do let anyone know who you think may be interested

scottish wilderness retreats

last year i went on a retreat to the mccormaig islands off the west coast of scotland with some pioneers from cms course hosted by chris goan and the aoradh community in dunoon. it was a wonderful experience - amazing location, retreat with silence and space for reflection, and as a bonus i missed the royal wedding!

chris and others are now running two trips in 2012 that you could go on - in june and august. contact them direct if you are interested. lots of photos and details are here

random acts - spoken word on channel 4

random acts is a series of very short films on channel 4 - 3 minutes. tonight spoken word is in the mix with polarbear at 11:05pm. set your series to record. it looks like the people behind this in some way are the wonderful bang said the gun crew who know how to make a night of poetry in south london hit the two poles of raucous and poignant. i have no idea but am guessing this may be the first of several spoken word acts as channel four recorded a night with an impressive line up at bang said the gun before christmas...

this way to the sun

from a walk in the chilterns

1000 fresh expressions

in the latest survey of church attendance, questions were asked for the first time about fresh expressions. the results of the whole survey are here. the paragraph below summarises the story on fresh expressions

The first ever statistical analysis of the Fresh Expressions movement has concluded that there are at least 1,000 CofE fresh expressions of church or new congregations across the country. These aim to provide new forms of church which are different in ethos and style from the church which planted them because they are designed to reach a different group of people than those already attending the original church. The emphasis is on planting something which is appropriate to its context rather than cloning something which works elsewhere.

Around 30,000 people attend fresh expressions each month who don’t attend traditional regular services, equating to an average of around 40 people per participating parish exploring new forms of church - the statistical equivalent of an additional diocese. These 30,000 are included in the average weekly and monthly statistics. Almost all dioceses have reported fresh expressions or new congregations with over half of these initiatives aimed at families with young children. More information on fresh expressions of church is available on the Church of England website as a Powerpoint presentation.

latest pioneer newsletter

download the latest quarterly pioneer newsletter here...

it's a yes - approval given for cms training pioneer ordinands

forgive me a little excitement but we have heard that cms have been given approval to train those selected for ordained pioneer ministry in the church of england in a partnership with cuddesdon.

it's been about two and a half years since our first invitation from the c of e to see if cms with her experience in pioneering mission might be able to help train pioneers. we said yes straight away at the time and wanted to be able to train both ordained and not ordained ministers. we were able to get training those not getting ordained quite quickly which has been wonderful. it's been quite a journey though to seek approval for training those getting ordained with lots of meetings, reflecting, paperwork, rewrites and so on - we won't worry you with the details. but the important news is that IT'S A YES! here are a few more details from the press release.

For the first time, candidates for ordained pioneer ministry in the Church of England will be able to train on a course that has been designed entirely for pioneer leaders by Church Mission Society, one of the country's leading mission agencies, in partnership with Cuddesdon. The Church of England's ministry division has given the CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Training course its official seal of approval as a training pathway. C of E mission leaders and pioneers alike have expressed delight at the news. Rachel Jordan, National Adviser for Mission and Evangelism for the Church of England, said CMS was "uniquely qualified" to train pioneer ordinands. Jordan said:

The roots of pioneering ministry are in the missionary movement and therefore CMS is uniquely qualified to train Church of England pioneer ordinands for the urgent missionary task in the UK. CMS pioneer ordinands will benefit from the years of experience in cross-cultural mission that is CMS's expertise and the Church of England will gain many well equipped and specifically trained individuals for 21st century mission."

Pioneer ordinand Johnny Sertin, who leads Earlsfield Friary in southwest London, said he was "overjoyed"

It is a watershed moment, from which many will benefit as we re-imagine the future together

The Rt Rev Colin Fletcher, Bishop of Dorchester and a co-chair of the South Central  Regional Training Partnership, said,

I am delighted. It is great for Pioneers and for God's mission in this country.

CMS has teamed up with Cuddesdon to make the course available to those training to be ordained pioneer ministers. Students  preparing for ordination will be involved in pioneering mission and learn 'on the job'. They will attend a day a week and two     residential weeks with CMS pioneers and six weekends a year and two residential weeks with Oxford Ministry Course students, who are training for parish ministry. Rev Canon Prof Martyn Percy, principal of Cuddesdon said

This is a unique partnership between a major mission society and a leading Anglican     theological college. In offering this new training route for pioneer ministers, CMS and Cuddesdon will be able to combine their resources together, making this venture one of the most innovative, rich and ground-breaking courses in the country.

Canon Tim Dakin, the executive leader of CMS, who is soon to become Bishop of   Winchester, saw the approval of the course as significant for CMS and for the wider church.

Through the training and deploying of  pioneers, ordained and lay, CMS will continue to offer prophetic mission in partnership with the wider church both locally and globally.

so if you are selected for ordained pioneer ministry or in the process come and talk to us.  and if you are not getting ordained, that is the case with the vast majority of pioneers who train with us. we are training both!  i didn't add a quote for the press release but it's been a lot of work to get to this point so I just want to add a quote from jonny baker -

OH  YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

the stranger's arrival

grace tomorrow night

the first grace of 2012 is on sat night with a focus on prayer

stories of empowerment

sophia network are currently running a good series of stories of empowerment

uneven cuts

i love richard passmore's embodied enactment of protest at the uneven cuts. not sure how long he will be sporting the new look?!

quote of the morning

george monbiot in today's guardian

When governments seek to protect the rich from the poor, they act swiftly and decisively. When they undertake to protect the poor from the rich, they fanny about for years until the moment has passed.

explorations - stream of consciousness

this months release on proost is explorations by ned lunn. it's a poem/prayer in the pocket size book format. ned is part of the rough edge collective in durham who did the beat eucharist if you came across that on proost or at greenbelt. so this is very much in the same genre of the beat poets. as ever it's available as a pdf or physical book. if you are outside the uk you can order it from lulu. In the contemplative tradition there are two schools of though about prayer or two paths of spirituality. one - the via negativa - is that in the presence of god what can be said - words cannot begin to express so best say nothing or very little. the via positiva is equally in awe in god's presence but responds with an abundance, an overflow of speech. so the stream of consciousness is very much in that latter tradition. ned says why it suits him

In any sentence I want to reference or expand on individual aspects of one concept or idea and everything soon becomes interconnected. The stream of consciousness style of writing helps me to journey along the many trains of thought, to detour and find my way around the network of my inner life. It makes the act of writing a process of discovery and, in reading it, you’re invited to journey with me and, as much as we can in the static product, we discover together.

and...

The overuse of vocabulary captures, I hope, the beautiful tension between reverent silence and the drive to speak constantly about the wonder and amazement aware at all times of the limitation of our own language.

it's devotional, and quite unique.

what time is it?

walter brueggemann suggests that prophets know what time it is. at christmas jen's parents invited all the family to make a decoration/bauble for the tree. this was mine - i was still obsessed with and in many ways still am captivated by the phrase from occupy - another world is possible.

i thought it was entirely appropriate for advent and had visions of a whole tree decorated like this - maybe next year?! but i definitely managed to confuse my mother in law and at least half the family even after an explanation of advent and what it might be about (to be fair i got half way through my explanation before a few people glazed over and i gave up).

right next year back to fluff and tinsel!

9 reasons not to plant a church

andrew jones (who i haven't seen for sooooo long!) has written an excellent post - 9 reasons not to plant a church in 2012... which i am sure is meant to spark conversation and it certainly has in the comments with people (like peter dominey) making some good case for suggesting why some intentionality about starting a church might not be such a bad thing. i guess as ever it all depends what you mean but go have a read and join in.

i confess i have a busy few days ahead so book reviews are going on hold but i do intend to add a few more within the next week. onme a day was perhaps a bit optimistic to keep going for long...

nelson

day 5 of catching up on reviewing books...

in case you think i only read books on mission here's something completely different that i read over christmas

nelson is a graphic novel with a twist - it's created by 54 uk artists/comic creators following the journey of nel from 1968 to the present with snapshots of days each year. if you are a similar age to me all the references will be very familiar. the range of styles of illustrations is amazing and even though there are so many contributors it flows and really works. i originally bought it as a birthday gift for joel earlier in the year but couldn't resist getting a copy myself! it's published by blank slate books and all proceeds go to the charity shelter.

if you are in london and like graphic novels there is an amazing new bookshop that opened last summer in soho goshlondon where you can go and have a browse of books like this.

prophetic dialogue

day 4 of reviewing a book a day!

bevans and schroeder's latest book prophetic dialogue is wonderful. steve bevans articulates for me better than anyone else i have ever come across what my sensibilities are about both mission and theology in a global context. with no disrespect to the previous books i have reviewed it's a step up a few gears academically in that he is someone who is so immersed in the community and literature of missiology and theology that there is an inevitable depth, and it's a depth that is fresh and engaging rather than dry.

constants in context is a very fat book by bevans and schroeder on mission - it's brilliant but fat. the last section in it looks at mission in today's world and suggests (from memory at least) three ways of thinking about that - as particpation in the life and mission of the trinity, proclamation of the kingdom of god, and prophetic dialgue. in many ways the last was the most original though the other two are equally good. and that section provoked lots of conversation and feedback. bevans and schroeder found themselves reflecting further and responding since to that conversation that was opened up. these reflections have been condensed into this (much smaller and more easily readable) book - prophetic dialogue. it's about what it says - dialogue - essential in today's global and multi religious and multi cultural context, but also dialogue that is prophetic - speaking out of the tradition and imagination of the prophetic gospel. they suggest (rightly in my veiw) that if you have just dialogue or just prophecy you have a much weaker sense of mission.

here's a quote on dialogue

When we speak of mission as dialogue we are about as far away from imagining mission as 'conquering the world for Christ' as we probably can get. There has indeed been a radical shift, both in the world in which the church does mission and within the church's own consciousness of the goodness and even holiness of that world…
… But the deepest reason for mission as dialogue is because of the nature of God as such, and because mission is participation in that divine dialogical nature.

and on mission as prophecy they make this amazing statement (which is actually a quote from michael amaladoss)

Prophecy might be the best single word to describe the reality of mission in today's world

that takes a little bit of thinking about but in cms it's what tim dakin (the community leader) has been encouraging us to reflect on for some time and i find it a very exciting notion. in fact i'm gripped by it. i articulated my sense of this in my talks at breakout if you are interested. and i intend to review another book or two on this theme if i find the time.

the standout chapter for me is on on the spirituality of inculturation. inculturation is a term for describing the process of embodying the gospel in a particular cultural context. this is how they describe what they mean

When we speak of a spirituality of inculturation we mean a whole complex of ideas and practices that can open people up to the Spirit in such a way that there emerges an understanding and expression of Christianity that takes its form in a loving, creative, and sometimes critical dialogue with a particular social or cultural context.

they then go on to explore how that spirituality will take very different postures for outsiders to a context and to insiders and this is a brilliant insight that everyone involved in crossing cultures in mission would do well to chew over. the challenge for the outsider is letting go

Outsiders need to let go of their certainties regarding the content of the gospel. They need to let go of cherished practices and ideas that have nourished and sustained them in their own journeys towards christian maturity. They need to let go of the symbols that anchor them in their human and christian identity and let go of the order that makes them comfortable…. One of the hardest and yet spiritually enriching tasks of the outsider is 'taking leave of the gospel' so to speak for the sake of the gospel - so that the gospel can be understood in a radically new and meaningful way among new peoples and in new circumstances.

but for the insider it is speaking out and being bold, almost the opposite

Insiders need to focus on God's immanence, God's nearness, God's presence in normal everyday realities.. One needs to look for God in places where one might not look ordinarily. God is in the cracks, the corners, the neglected places - the very warp and woof of a context…
… courage to risk, to experiment, to test new formulas, try new rituals, explore new symbols, be willing to come under suspicion from those in power…
… to have pride in their culture, and their self identity, to practice the difficult task of articulating that identity proudly, to risk going too far in terms of the resources their culture or social location can bring to christian identity…
'the positive discernment of the presence of grace'.

both are important as is the dynamic relationship between the two. as ever with these guys it's eloquent, offered humbly as a gift to the church and it really is a gift - simply wonderful!

practicing the way of jesus

continuing on books that explore what it means to be missional i really loved mark scandrette's latest practicing the way of jesus: life together in the kingdom of love. mark is an inspiring artist-mission-poet-theologian - my description not his. based in san fransisco together with his family he has consistently oriented his life around mission locating in a poorer district to share christ in the community. [his last book soul grafitti was excellent - two things still linger in my mind from it a few years on - his take on jesus as artist, healer, mystic and companion; and the amazing story of emperor arcadia as an example of an experiment in truth]

the basic deal in mark's take on being missional in the book is that it's no good just thinking, theorising and talking about it. it needs to be lived, embodied or practiced.

What if, instead of talking about prayer, we actually prayed; or what if, in addition to studying about God’s heart for justice, we took action to care for needs? Or, what if, instead of just telling each other about our struggles, we committed to a path for change? It seemed like the missing ingredient was a context that would encourage honesty, invite us into community and move us from information into shared actions and practices.

the metaphor he uses is the jesus dojo, an environment of active participation and contribution together...

In Japanese the word dojo means “place of the way” and is used to describe a school or practice space for martial arts or meditation. Theoretically, a dojo could be created for any skill or discipline. You could have a knitting dojo, a cooking dojo, a karate dojo—or a Jesus dojo. The important distinction is an active learning environment, where participation is invited and expected.

he then nails exactly what is involved in a jesus dojo as follows - it is (1) an experiment, (2) inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus, (3) in which a group of people commit time and energy to a set of practices, (4) in conversation with real needs in our society and within themselves, (5) and reflect on how these experiences can shape the ongoing rhythms of life. simple eh?!

he then goes on to share inspiring examples, outlines how to go about setting up such experiments in truth, and suggests in a way that is imossible to argue with that leaders should clearly be practitioners in tis way who are able to invite others into a common journey and that this might be the best way to help grow disciples. he suggests five areas in which jesus focused and suggests these as areas for developing practices - identity, purpose, security, community, freedom and peace. it's intensely practical and hard to resist.

mark has a new website devoted to the jesusdojo. and on that is the first chapter as a taster along with a movie of mark talking about it and a section to add experiments which i think is a great idea and hope it strirs people to acton and to then share those experiments with mark to add to his site.

compared with the other books on missional i reviewed over the last two days this is the most practical. if you want to transition a regular church go for al roxburgh - this is probably a bit too scary! though he says the kinds of people who engage with them in their experiements are church goers wanting something deeper, post church people, and people who are starting new communities so you never know. i really recommend this and think again it's a book that would do well to be read and discussed by a community or group of friends to then put some experimentation into practice!

to be honest get any of these books and get people reading and talking about them and then refelct on what to do - you surely can't go too far wrong... i am hopeful that these books are signs - signs that there is something fresh in what has been deconstructing and reconstructing faith as alt worship, emerging, emergent, missional community and so on - a recallibration around living out a life of mission amongst neighbours and in communities in creative and risky ways to follow in the way of jesus.