jonnybaker

faultlines in mission: reflections on race and colonialism

the latest issue of anvil journal (which is free online) is on faultlines in mission reflections on race and colonialism - sctroll to the bottom of the page to download the complete issue. in the wake of george floyd's murder as with other areas of society it seemed a good chance to shine a light on the area of mission and ponder it's history and practices and the degree to which they are framed and shaped by empire and colonialism. it's guest edited by harvey kwiyani, lusa nsenga-ngoy, and shemil matthew - huge thanks to them! it's powerful and hard hitting. there's a lot to digest.

i read harvey and lusa's articles at breakfast today. harvey says that mission as we think of it today is a european construct out of an era of empire and colonialism so it's logic and imagination are tied in to narratives of superiority. for example he says

In a nutshell then, the very concept of mission as we understand it today has racism and white supremacy in its DNA.

i love mission as a way of framing so this is a jolt but as paul thaxter reflects in his afterword i am definitely guilty of telling inspiring stories of those who have done mission on the inside of cultures well and resisted empire but i am sure that in doing so i have been blinder to and not told other equally true and real stories. i was wrestling with this issue in my visit to new zealand. harvey recounts the story of mission in malawi as one example. his article begs the question of what mission might look like after george floyd. this piece reminded me that i have not yet written the last blog post in the series of reflections on mission after my visit to new zealand which is due to be on post colonial mission and whether such a thing is possible... i'll get back to it before long - life took over!

lusa's article is wonderful. he explores how imagining a different kind of world and future is essential for there to be change. it's actually a piece that would have been perfect for the book future present. he suggest that imagination is a tool for resistance and has powered radical changes in history. our imagination is easily colonised by the iconography of the world around us but needs freeing and maybe it is artists and prophets and dreamers of a better world who will interrupt our imagining to reframe it. afrofuturism is just such a kind of imagining - think black panther for example.

i have plenty more articles to read... 

do download it (or read it online). and we hope it sparks conversation, reflection, awareness, new imaginings of what world and future is possible for the church, christianity and mission and what changes might be required as steps towards that new world..

the future of church - tune in to a webinar conversation between me and rick lawrence tomorrow

i am on a one hour webinar tomorrow (thurs june 4) exploring the future of the church and creativity in that regard. it's hosted by friend rick lawrence at group publishing and it will be great to catch up with him. it's free, is at 5pm uk time and 10am mountain time in the usa and canada. the link to sign up is here 

half way and more than half way!

fifteen days gone fifteen to go in the kickstarter campaign. i make that half way. the good good news is that we are now over 70% of the way to the total which is more than halfway :) . in fact right this moment there is £839 left to raise to reach our total. so we're feeling pretty good about it so far but we're not there yet and it's all or nothing. so as we start week three please back the project. if you have already big thanks! if you have meant to but haven't got round to it then please get round to it this week. and of course being the internet we all live in our own echochambers so please bounce it around your friends' echo chambers and beyond.

even though i feel we have talked about it quite a bit people have still asked me questions so here are a few FAQ

1. what is it? a zine
2. what's a zine - maga-zine but it will be more chunky, like a book but not a book, full colour, cool design
3. what's it about? dreaming of a better world in lots of areas of life - we asked contributors to imagine a different future and then think what we can do now to help that future arrive.
4. who are the contributors? - see the list in the image to the right
5. what does it look like? ah follow this link to see some spreads from the inside
6. how much do i have to give to back it? £10 is the price of a copy pre-ordered so it's a great deal for you
7. what if i am overseas? yes you can still order and back it only postage gets added. there's a great deal for 10 copies overseas btw
8. who is publishing it? proost - see their latest news update about it here
9. when will it be out? - assuming we reach our target we'll print straightaway so july
10. are you at greenbelt? good question - yes! we are seeing greenbelt as the official launch of it. greenbelt's theme is acts of imagination - a kind of perfect fit. so there should be a panel there on future present, and some kind of launch party 
11. where did you say i could go to back it? now you're talking - future present kickstarter

hope that helps!

one week three steps twenty two days

so we're one week into our first ever kickstarter campaign to raise money for the print run of future present - a zine that has 14 contributions exploring a better world. it's going to be full colour and look and feel great. i'm excited about it. it turns out the kickstarter thing is fun, addictive and nerve racking in equal measue.

the fun part is simply seeing what happens - knowing you are putting something out there and hoping this will enable it to become something real.

the addictive part is the temptation to keep looking to see if anyone else has pledged to buy one or more - i've had to shut the page down in my browser!

the nerve racking part is whether we will make it - it's all or nothing in that if we raise the money we're good to go. if not zilch!

the good news is we are on the eight day of 30, now have over 100 backers and are more than halfway to the target which feels amazing. but we want to keep it moving forwards and need your help.

i have three hunches - 

• that there are loads of people who have seen it and think i'll do that and haven't yet got round to it - if that's you then please get round to it!
• that lots of people think that the campaign is asking for a gift - it isn't. it's asking for you to pre-order a copy. plus it's postage free and as good a price as you'll get. the larger pledges are really good deals especially if you are not in the uk. so why wait?
• the third is that there are lots of people who haven't yet heard about it because we all live in small worlds. we're shouting about it in our small world but please let people know in your world too and spread the word

thank you if you've read this far! if you want a simple take on what future present is about it is these three steps above...

future present kickstarter goes live

i have been working on a side project with a few friends - future present. it's a full colour zine that seeks to imagine a different kind of world. we're running a kickstarter campaign to fund the print run through pre-orders! the simplest pledge is only £10 which preorders you a copy of the full colour zine. or there are some fairly sweet deals for 10 copies which you might like to think about especially if you are outside the uk. i have never done one of these before so looking forward to the next 30 days to see what happens. reminds me of blue peter and the totalisers if you are old enough to remember that! steve collins has done an amazing job on the design - go visit the future present kickstarter page here

big thanks to proost for partnering with cms pioneer on this project.

stir

i love stir magazine. there are very few magazines i subscribe to but after seeing a couple of issues of stir i decided it is essential reading and i normally read it cover to cover.

it's a magazine about community economic development and transformation. what i love about it is its energy for change and alternative thinking. it's a great example of future present thinking (watch this space for news on that theme on june 4th!) or the kind of thinking that believes another world is possible. but i also love that it is informed by a very different body of knowledge and skills to what i was taught working in charities in the christian sector. the approaches and instincts fit really well and i think pioneers who get stuck into community change would find it really helpful. you can get a flavour of what it is about through the web site where lots of articles are available free. there is also a toolkit for working with your local community which has some great stuff in it. and they connect to all sorts of ideas and inspiration. for example the blog introduced me to this incredible commons transition primer. the recovery of commons in local communities is a key to the way forward in our society i think.

this area of engagement is something churches have great opportunity to be involved in. one really interesting project that i mentioned before is that stir have seen churches and their communities as assets and have piloted with some churches around helping them set up community enterprises - see here for the process. there is likely to be a conference about it in the autumn once the results of the pilot are published. this process is so similar to what we encourage pioneers to do at cms - listening, mapping the community, discerning opportunities, building stuff together with the community around it and so on - being good news. and if you are near bristol, oxford or london watch this space for a series of workshops you could get involved in. they are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to raise the money for them.

rethinking churches - a wonderful example of future present thinking

i loved this article by simon jenkins at the weekend. because it was easter i wasn't online much so i have no idea if it caught many peoples attention. but this is exactly the kind of imagination i love - creatively thinking about a different set of possibilities and then redesigning the present on that basis. i have blogged about the idea of future present before, we held a day on it, and i am happy to say we are working on a zine/book future present that will come out this summer - watch this space.

i fear simon jenkins article may be received negatively by church goers as his motivation is not so much about the church (as the followers of christ) but the church (as building). he loves churches as heritage, places to visit and wants them to be places that anyone in the community feels is theirs so suggests nationalising them. the way this might work is that a local trust could be set up in a village say with a small tax or its own means of fundraising. it would be important to have some places on the board reserved for christians in the community and the right to use the church for worship on a sunday or whatever was deemed appropriate in the context. and given the small numbers in so many villages that might be use of the chancel or something. then the building can be kept, visited and used for community purposes as the trust agree together. in quite a lot of places there aren't that many community spaces. so churches could be really useful in that regard. stir magazine currently have a pilot project exploring the use of churches in relation to community enterprise and initiative. 

why is this a good idea? i think it would be a huge relief to many groups of christ followers to reimagine their task as following christ and not managing a building. there's nothing wrong with buildings of course but they are a burden when communities become older and small which is true in many spaces. pete ward in his book liquid church suggested that church as heritage is an unhelpful mutation we would do well to be freed up from. secondly this helps churches reconnect with their community which is a key part of being the church. it's so ironic that the situation is so bad in some places now that those outside the church are saying - come on connect with the community! the church is way too withdrawn in lots of places so this would be a great move to build relationships and share community work together.

how could this happen? i think the best way would be to get some pilot test cases - spaces where there is an openness and willingness to give something like this a try. what is there to lose? this could be a fresh expression of church (as building) and a fresh expression of church (as communities of disciples).

[update - since posting someone sent me a link to an article published on the same day about a government pilot scheme to help churches think about use and community engagement]