jonnybaker

booklaunch update - livestream added

we will now be livestreaming the book launch for imagining mission at 8pm on thurs night on youtube for those who were disappointed not to get a place for the zoom version - click on this link on the night. it will be pretty much the same. the truth is it had not occurred to cathy and i that we would have 100 people sign up - thanks so much to everyone for your support and interest and we will do our best to be scintillating! we are excited about the book.

10 year birthday of cms pioneer training

10 years ago today was the first teaching day of pioneer mission leadership training at cms! i honestly can't believe it has been ten years. i was asked by cms to set training up in response to an invitation from the church of england. i knew lots about mission practice and not a lot about theological education but i like a challenge and so dived in.

we began with 9 students on 25 sept 2010. it was a steep learning curve but has been a wonderful adventure. little by little we have grown what we do so that now there is a wonderful network/community of pioneers around the country doing amazing things and some really great training to help support them in our oxford centre and in hubs round the country. we have published books, articles, journals to keep the conversation moving forward. 

there are a few videos, messages and a poem from some of those in the first year intake here.

and there is a story about 10 years of pioneers here.

thank you to everyone who has been part of that journey - team, pioneer students, cms, friends who have cheered us on. it has been good. i am very happy about what we have been able to create, and our contribution to the wider mission of the church. cms is such a great home for pioneers.

#pioneer10th

what drives the missionary is what they don't know [ #ImaginingMission 4]

cathy writes:

Imagine this. I wish this idea were reality for all of us. I remember an elderly NZCMS mission partner telling me after more than 30 years living in Pakistan that she knew so much less now than when she had arrived there. This nugget by John Taylor encourages a spirit of listening, learning, curiosity and humility. How differently mission might have been - and still could be - experienced if we adopted this posture.

you can order imagining mission here

i am amazed and delighted that next week's book launch has sold out (i say sold - it's free!) - who knew that would happen?! we have a maximum of 100 places. if yo were hoping to come we'll try and work out if we can stream it at the same time...

#ImaginingMission

reframing the pigeon

this mural is on water lane in E15 london. we cycled over from ealing and it was totally worth it. it's been painted as part of london mural festival. what a great idea for a festival during the pandemic - outdoors and socially distanced. it's painted by adele renault who loves painting pigeons. i found it a good flip in my own mind, a reframing of the pigeon. pigeons are often thought of as dirty, but here they are elevated to something beautiful in the landscape of city life. i looked up the meaning of pigeons and they are signs of love as apparently they mate for life. they are also of course signs of peace through their better loved family member the dove!

it was fun to get a map of the murals and follow the trail - ended up cycling 41 miles and only saw a small amount so could be a good rason to get on the bike for some exercise in the next few weeks. 

a good place to start is with whoever is at home [#ImaginingMission 3]

one of the parts of writing imagining mission that i really enjoyed were the sections at the end of each chapter on creativity and imagination. counter intuitively creativity can be helped by having limits within which to work. i was reminded of the quote above from john taylor when the rule of six was introduced. this is a limit but it calls for creative responses. taking church as an example how can church work, grow and be if limited to homes and groups of six? when you stop and think about it there have been loads of times and places where the church has only been able to meet in homes and has flourished. i think i would go so far as to say that households is the most natural habitat for communities of disciples. i realise the photo above is six people plus a foot if you look closely and it's not a home but you get the idea!!

if you'd like to find out a bit more about the book we have a book launch on october 1 which is online and free - register here - love to see you there.

#ImaginingMission

 

london mural festival

i love street art and was delighted to see there is a london mural festival - there are around 50 artists taking part. one of the great things about festivals like this is that you get some really big pieces and of course they will stay around for years most likely. it seems a particularly genius idea to have it at the moment as it's outside. there's a map on the website - i hope to get on my bike at some stage and find some of the pieces - no doubt photos to follow...

book launch october 1

we are having an online book launch on october 1 to celebrate imagining mission being published - you'll have to bring your own bubbly or other drink (sorry!). there are 100 places - click here to register and you will be emailed the link. john taylor's thinking is so relevant for now. in the book we soak ourselves in his mission thinking and respin it for today. we're delighted john's daughter joanna will be joining us. love to see you there.

pirate ship

well today i have a granddaughter who is 5! don't know how that happened. over the summer i made a play area in the woods for the granddaughters and nephew which they have decided is a pirate ship... happy birthday flo!

cherish the weakness of limited means [#ImaginingMission 2]

cathy writes

"Cherish the weakness of limited means" is one of my favourite John Taylor quotations that we reflect on in the book with Jonny Baker. Taylor used it in the context as to how an institution could recapture its dynamism to become a movement again. This seems a word for our times. Let's cherish weakness and vulnerability, uncertainty and inability to fix things. This will put us in line with most of the rest of the world. Let's also use our imaginations instead of relying on assumed ways of doing things. Cherish weakness and we may be surprised what lies ahead.

you can order imagining mission here

grace community night this saturday

grace this saturday online again - details on the grace web site

fire log

Fire log from jonny baker on Vimeo.

this weekend we celebrated two years of prospect wood. it's been a crazy adventure and we have learned a whole load of new skills in the process. it's been a beautiful space to be especially during coronavirus because it is so socially distanced. 

anyway for the celebration i wanted to try out my first ever swedish fire log. i first saw one at the big chill festival years ago and thought it was amazing. i won't try and explain it - just watch the video. i filmed it on the phone vertically which was probably a stupid idea but too late (though it looks alright on a phone if you enlarge it a bit)! but it worked an absolute treat and was so much fun. there'll be a lot more fire logs to come. it's dead easy - you should try it. the wood i used was norwegian spruce which is sparky and burns quickly and is what we have plenty of. i imagine it might be a bit slower getting it going with a hard wood but have no idea.

 

an adventure of the imagination [#ImaginingMission 1]

it was a lot of of fun working on the book imagining mission. one of the things i did earlier this year when i was working on it was lift out some phrases that i really liked and put them with some of my photos. i think of taylor's phrases a bit like marshall mcluhan - provocations or discussion starters to ponder - that were ahead of their time and seem as poignant now as they were 50 years ago. it's also i hope a fun or creative way to give a flavour of the book. cathy and i will take turns in reflecting on those - probably twenty or so. i will add them to a photo album on flickr which you are welcome to downlaod photos from and use. i have made them into a set of moo cards for myself which make good discussion starters (though the fonts are a bit small on some - they work better on a full screen). if anyone is interested in a set of those let me know and i can order a few - they aren't that cheap but you can have them cost price. message me if that's of interest and i'll compile a list.

first up then: an adventure of the imagination. 

this comes from a reflection on an extended time he spent in africa living in villages. taylor is thinking about how different the culture of paganism is on the african plains and he wonders if christ came into the world of africans in an african way whether the rest of the church would recognise him? he says that any attempt to look upon the world through african eyes must involve an adventure of the imagination. i absolutely love this way of conceiving of mission. as we are all too painfully aware the sharing of faith has often gone with the sharing of culture because we mistake the good news of jesus christ with the cultural clothes that the church expresses faith in. the challenge should be to simply share the story and let insiders to a culture respond to that in their way. that is essentially an imaginative act. and i do like the thought that it should be pushed to the degree that we might not even recognise it. 

it's no longer news to say that the west is a context for mission. and we have exactly the kind of question taylor was pondering in africa here. church is foreign to many people - they way things are done is just different, strange, inaccessible - and that's the case whether it is pentecostal, liturgical, or contemporary. things need to be done in a way that is as close as possible to peoples natural way of being and doing life - it's obvious isn't it!? the adventure of the imagination is to let go of our way of doing things, our religious sweet tooth and simply go on an adventure of the imagination to see what emerges. the last 30 years or so in england and other western contexts have seen a wave of experimentation and a loosening of wider church structures with emerging churches, fresh expressions, alternative worship and so on but there is so much more possibility, so much more adventuring that could be done. and sad to say there is still way too much fear, anxiety, defendedness and control in the structures that make the simple error of confusing the gospel with the way we do things round here.

[i have some books and happy to sell you one if you are nearby but with coronavirus that is unlikely i guess but you can order here from the publisher or any other bookstore online i imagine]