jonnybaker

worship for an outward facing church

today i am heading to church house to be one of the presenters at an annual gathering organised by the liturgical commission of the church of england for those involved in creating and leading worship in dioceses round the country. i am looking forward to it and doing a double act with nicholas henshall around the theme of worship for an outward facing church. we have decided to pitch the day as much as possible as a conversation around questions and themes that we have been reflecting on. these are the questions people will be discussing - let me know your thoughts if you want to join in. i don't know if there's a hashtag for the day but perhaps if you want to send a thought i'll check twitter on #worshipforanoutwardfacingchurch 

• What is the relationship between worship and mission?
• How do you negotiate the gifts of tradition in a particular cultural and/or local and/or missional context?
• If we loosen up the rubrics around worship what happens to Anglican identity? 
• How do we encourage creativity and experimentation in liturgy?
• Might participation in the creative production of worship be a way to encourage discipleship? If so, how do we move away from a culture of provider/client expert/ignorant in worship?
• What would happen if the assumed culture of the church around leading liturgy was based on trust of leaders rather than fear/control (of the liturgical thought police) ? Put another way what are we afraid of?
• In practice what might a centred set rather than a bounded set approach look like? 
• If canon law is changed through practice and experimentation how can we encourage a shift of emphasis towards permission giving?
• Which presents the greater challenge in terms of worship and mission - the rubrics of the church or the culture of the church?
• What training of worship leaders, liturgists, presidents… etc might be required to enable worship that is in and out of the tradition but able to improvise creatively?
• How might the notion of mixed economy be applied to worship and mission?
• Has cut and paste technology changed everything anyway?

reading the signs

five years have whizzed by - time to celebrate!

milestones keep coming on the cms pioneer training. this week’s was having the first MA dissertation handed in – congrats kim! it is now 5 years since we launched - five years has whizzed by! i am looking forward to this year’s end of year celebration where we will celebrate 4 people graduating, 4 people completing (they have done a series of modules or years with us but not accredited), 8 people finishing (they have finished attending all modules but yet to hand in final work), 5 people getting ordained, 5 people being admitted as lay pioneers into cms and thereby the church of england. info here if you want to come along

 

new editions - julian opie

i am a huge julian opie fan - if you're in london call in to see his exhibition which is on until july 18. i really love his work on lenticular - has an amazing depth to it...

pioneer training?

we have an open day next week on tuesday for the cms pioneer training - it's not too late to book in and come and have a look at what we are doing. we offer a series of modules and university awards (through durham university) - certificate, diploma, MA. they are all focused through the lens of mission. this last year we have had around 50 new people sign up and do at least a module with us and about 20 who have signed up for something substantial (a university award). it's designed for on the job training - our teaching days are tuesdays. 

do you have to be a pioneer? and indeed what is a pioneer? we are focused around people who want to do something mission focused, usually seeing something beyond the edge of business as usual in the church. but having said that it is a metaphor that is ambiguous and can be opened up in many ways. so if you are into mission but not sure about being 'a pioneer' that's fine - come along!