jonnybaker

pioneer youth ministry - final article in the series

the november issue of youthwork magazine has just landed on my doormat (actually we don't have a dorrmat come to think of it so i suppose it's the floorboards!). in it i have the third and final installment i have written on pioneer youth ministry which looks at some steps to starting something new. i really enjoyed writing the series. it's probably the most distilled version of my thoughts on pioneering that i have written. i wanted to out it in youthwork because youth ministry is where i learned i was a pioneer, discovered cross cultural mission, and was given amazing leadership opportunities quite quickly. it's also essential, and the back door for renewing the whole church. and many pioneers who train with us at cms began in youth ministry! love to hear from anyone who has read them...

how to be an urban cyclist

jen's talk from greenbelt on how to be an urban cyclist is online

communion prayer addressing shame

i have a list of things i mean to blog about and the list stays there for a long time. i added this communion prayer from andrea on to that list ages ago and am finally making it a worship trick - that must be no 41 in series 4 - my body broken for you. she explains...

much of the liturgy and practice of the church actually re-enforces shame and that it has been used as an effective means of control by religious hierarchies. So how might I compose a prayer that expresses the liberation from shame that Christ won for us and avoid words that compound our sense of unworthiness to know love and belonging? Well here is my attempt!

i am a big fan of writing of liturgy to articulate local theology and wish more people would do it.

this piece unholy three is also amazing in its vulnerability to name and then weave together framented parts of the soul

marginal losses

wonderful article from jenny baker on marginal losses . she has just finished a book on equality between men and women that will be out in the new year. i have had a sneak preview and it's excellent... you can feel the passion behind the book in this piece.

grace@XX - yes that's twenty!

grace will be twenty in november - yes grace@XX!

we'll be celebrating around the table on saturday november 9. do join us if you are able to (though it would help to know numbers ahead of time so ideally let us know). i'm not on the planning group so not sure what is lined up but if grace has been part of your journey in some way i'd love to hear - either post us a message in the grace facebook page or leave a comment here or something...

reflecting on mission

i stumbled across an article by graham cray on not knowing the end at the beginning which i rather liked. it probably didn't tell me a lot i didn't know but there is so much anxiety in the church about wanting to know outcomes and results (often in a short space of time) that this sense of not having a blueprint as people pioneer into the future really needs re-iterating. i also like the naming of the tension between contextual approaches to mission and being rooted in a living tradition. see what you think... 

it's from the journal of mission practice which has had two issues so far online. this article by babatunde adedibu and this response on mission and black majority churches opens up some extremely interesting themes in mission in britain today. 

your grace is enough

last night at grace we were exploring the them of enough riffing on 1 kings 17-19 and elijah the prophet. here's a piece of liturgy i wrote for it which i wil in due course add to the list of worship tricks...

You made a wonderful world which contained the possibility of bread
with seeds, water, yeast, wheat and chemical reaction.
Your grace is enough

You led your people out of slavery in Egypt
and they made unleavened bread in haste for the journey ahead
Your grace is enough

You gave manna from heaven morning and night
to nourish your people in their wilderness years
Your grace is enough

You sent ravens with bread to Elijah the prophet
when famine ravaged the land
Your grace is enough

You ensured that the widow’s oil and flour never ran out
but kept making bread
Your grace is enough

You gave the prophet bread from angels
when he was exhausted and depressed
Your grace is enough

You said your kingdom is like yeast
that affects the whole batch of dough
Your grace is enough

You fed 4000 and 5000 people
with a few loaves and fish
Your grace is enough

You are the bread of life
whoever comes to you shall not hunger
Your grace is enough

You shared bread and wine with friends
a meal to remember you by
Your grace is enough

You will eat bread with us in your kingdom
when all things are made new
Your grace is enough

Today...
We entrust ourselves to you
We place Grace in your hands
We offer you our oil and flour knowing that
Your grace is enough and
Your power is made perfect in weakness. Amen

there is also a related piece here - the elijah complex

serpentine pavilion

loved this year's serpentine pavilion. it's there for one more week. a couple more photos here

surviving at 16

richard passmore offers a very moving reflection on memories of being 16 and that he wouldn't survive today with the latest government proposals on young people which demonstrate

a society that has lost its way, a society of selfishness, greed and power

summer's last gasp

come and see

not sure where the time goes but september's upload on proost was a wonderful resource which i meant to blog at the time but it's now october and i haven't got round to it until now! how did that happen? anyway...

come and see is a guide for beginning and sustaining a missional venture downloadable as a pdf. it's written by ian adams and contains 20 steps, all restricted to one page alongside ian's photography. it's simple, clear and you feel when you read it that anyone could start one. it's the kind of thing that's ideal to discuss round the meal table for a newly formed group distilling down what it is they are about and how to function together as a community. pick a step a week...

proost willbe creating a collection of resources for pioneers - last month's news was in praise of pioneers

morning

enough [take 2] - next up at grace

ok so the flyer has landed - next grace is october 12 8pm st marys. hope to see you there!