jonnybaker

northern lights over st beunos

what a treat to be in north wales at st beuno's and to see the northern lights in the night sky. i am here doing a course on spiritual conversations.

sunflower triptych

we were issued a challenge of making a triptych for the photography group. this was mine.

acts 11 project launched!

yesterday was the first day of the first acts 11 project conference. at it's heart it is a centre focused on human migration and global witness. we took a moment to celebrate the launch by cutting a cake. it was an exciting moment. more to follow...

the lost art of getting lost

this week i had the absolute joy of catching up with friend lowell sheppard who was in london for a book awards ceremony as his book dare to dream was one of the books in the final selection. he was giving a workshop at the royal geographic society.

i have never been there before and we got a tour as part of it. it's a place with millions of maps, paintings of colonial explorers and their artefacts and so on. we were shown the lecture theatre and this slide was up for a lecture that was happening that evening called 'the lost art of getting lost' which was celebrating 50 years of the bradt guides. hilary bradt is a female explorer.

that of course made me think of getsidetracked as we had the same thought and one of the prompts is GET LOST . it's one of my favourite illustrations and would love it as a t-shirt if and when we get round to doing that (there's another idea for a GET!)

GET LOST says

It’s really hard to get lost these days. So switch off your phone or even better leave it behind. Set yourself a challenge of genuinely getting somewhere where you have no idea where you are. This will sharpen your senses no end. See what you find! It’s worth practicing lostness with low risk so you’re prepared for really being lost. You lose a friend, a job, a home, your health. Whilst you wouldn’t wish these bigger displacements on anyone people often find things they would never have discovered if things had followed the path they had planned. So whether you choose it or it just happens embrace it.

GET SIDETRACKED is an app on creativity with 54 promts - shake your phone for a random GET. search getsidetracked in the apple or android app stores. 

get lost!

grace

we kicked off a news season of grace last night revisiting the liturgy from wounded in all the right places. this time we all contributed some broken pieces to make 'grace', a sign that our own brokenness can become something when we come together with others who are broken. westill have the communion table we made from broken pieces in 2008 which we used last night. we topped and tailed it with a couple of nick cave tunes - joy and as the waters cover the sea. my playlist is here if you are on apple music. 

grace new season gets underway sat evening

grace is back sat night 8pm st mary's ealing. it will a communion service with a cafe afterwards. for us it always feels like the start of a new year. do come along.

shake it!

thanks to those of you who have bought the getsidetracked app. we have just updated to version 1.02 so the shake feature is now working properly. it's a fun way to use the app. shake the phone and you get a random prompt. 

sunflowers

last week as i drove to the wood through sussex these sunflowers were all greeting the morning sun. i loved that they weren't a farmer's crop but simply in a wide verge. i had nick cave's album wild god on in the car, it was a glorious morning and i felt full of joy! i had to stop the car for a few photos...

get heretical

the getsidetracked app has a get of the day and i noticed today's is get heretical. this reminded me that iain cotton gave jon (one of the team behind the getsidetracked app who did the illustrations) a gift for his birthday of the get heretical image and prompt carved into slate. it's gorgeous. every line of work or business has an orthodoxy, a usual way of doing things. getting heretical is about suspending that and seeing what happens, what opens up. 

thanks everyone who has downloaded the app - just search getsidetracked on apple or android to find it. love to here how you are using it and especially any stories of how a prompt has worked out. we also have no idea how to promote an app so do tell people about it! thanks to nick who included it in a church of england mailing today which made me smile when i received it. it also made me smile because it arrived on a day when the prompt of the day is get heretical!!!

acts 11 launch - 26-27 Sept

when we refocused our work and team in post christian britain we retained our mission focus at the edges encouraging pioneers and pioneering churches. that is what we have done well and are passionate about. but we also discerned three particular areas to prioritise and encourage - younger people, people experiencing poverty and diasporas. 

i am excited to let you know about a new piece of work that has grown out that third focus of our cms team in britain - acts 11. acts 11 is a centre for global witness and human migration. harvey kwiyani is one of our team leaders and is the visionary who has developed the idea. we have a launch event over two days - 26-27 september. the first day is a conference aimed at anyone interested. the second day is a conversation for those involved in theological education or missions organisations. all the details and how to book are here. you can book into one or other or both days. you can also sign up virtually too.

at cms we often say the gifts of the world church are already here and celebrate that. but we then don't seem to quite know how to make the most of that. it's been my friendship with harvey that has helped me work out how to practically put some legs on that. the fruit of that has been adding in an african and asian pathway to our training (and we hope latin american in the future too), and now this acts 11 centre which will be involved in resources, research, training, gatherings, networking and so on. we hope the fruit is also new understandings of collaboration, decolonised mission and so on.

we had lined this up before the riots in the uk in august. but now this seems more timely and more important than ever. please do come. and do spread the word about it. you can book here

 

 

balloon ride

over two years ago jen gave me a hot air balloon ride. since then i have booked a ride lots of times but each time the weather was too windy but finally this week we got to go on a beautiful morning. we took off in petworth in west sussex and landed near billingshurst. if the wind had been slightly different we might have flown over prospect wood. it was such a beautiful experience - peaceful, gently floating over the world. i have added some photos to flickr - balloon ride

take up a challenge

at greenbelt we were inviting people to take up one of 6 challenges. lots of people signed up but we thought why not offer it to people who weren't at greenbelt?! so click here and take up a challenge. for each one you will get a series of 3 emails written by someone on our team and an invitation into a webinar one of us will lead. i'd pick one only or you'll start getting annoyed by emails. we're keeping it open until friday this week.

greenbelt this weekend

if you are at greenbelt this weekend i hope i'll see you there. i'll be with cms running a stand for most of the weekend - we're the last in the line down towards the hot house venue. we are inviting people to take one of six challenges and hosting various pop up conversations there - do come and hang out. for what we are up to with cms see this page here

i am also on a panel discussion whatever happened to alternative worship

jenny is interviewing the founder of parkrun which is she is very chuffed about. and harry is coming along to do his show wonderful, and host woken spurred too.

i haven't quite recovered from we out here last weekend but here we go again...

a sample GET from the app

someone asked to see a bit more of the GETSIDETRACKED app or what exactly is going on there. there are 54 GETS. think if it as a digital deck of cards with 2 jokers. each one is a prompt to help the creative process. each GET has an illustration, a short spiel, a quotation, and an example/story.

here's one by way of example, the title track if you like, GET SIDETRACKED. if you search for books using the word 'sidetracked' they tend to be on how to stop being side tracked and get focused as though it is a problem. whereas counterintuitively for creativity getting sidetracked is something to welcome.

this is the illustration and spiel

here's the quotation and story (which of course in the app simply flows down)

you tap or shake the phone to get a random one of 54 of these but also you can browse the list and find one that connects. or pick the one of the day (see below for some of the GETS and the look and feel of the app). in the about of the app we suggest a few ways it could be used. i have used it in discussion with people about ideas they want to develop for example. it wasn't planned that way but it's a useful coaching tool as well as good for individual or group use. 

the content is short deliberately - it's a phone app so you don't want long spiels but having said that it is distilled from reading multiple books on creativity and the creative process over the years. the thinking behind it is that lots of people assume creativity is a gift you have or don't but we think it's more like a muscle that can grow with use and that there are ways of helping people engage and develop that muscle. the prompts are hopefully that and will help get the creative juices flowing. we'd love to hear how it sparks or develops any ideas if you use it. hope that helps.

 

getsidetracked app is live

i have made an app together with jon birch and joel baker, partners in getsidtracked. it's a practical and fun app for creative thinking. tap or shake your phone and get a prompt to spark you. this is the blurb

This app is designed to help you think creatively with a series of 54 prompts. Tap, hold or shake for a random “GET” or browse through them to find the one that catches the moment. Many people see creative thinking as the preserve of a minority of ‘creatives’ or artists. They think you either have the gift or you don’t. They don’t imagine they have it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Creativity is for everyone. It’s a muscle everyone can exercise and it strengthens with use. There are quite simple processes and creative-thinking techniques that anyone can use. Then the process of creative thinking invariably encounters blocks on the way. It’s common to get stuck. But there are methods you can use to overcome them. The 54 prompts in this app are a mix of those processes, techniques and methods distilled down into a fun and user-friendly format.

Creativity is a way of being, a way of relating to your life. Thinking creatively can transform your life. We hope the Getsidetracked app helps you do just that.

you may remember it was due to be launched a year ago at greenbelt festival. well better late than never!

i am very into creativity and have a whole shelf of books on it. the app is simple. each card is a 'get' with an image, spiel, quote and story of about 200 words in total. there is a lot of thinking distilled into it. it is available for both apple and android and it will cost you £1.99 .

if you do download it and even better use it we'd love to hear what you think and any stories of how it might have helped your creative process. we have never done an app before so also have no idea how to promote one so do telly your friends and any influencers you know!

here's a few screens from it to give you the idea.

and as i say each prompt is a 'get...' this one is 'get interrupted for example which i love so much i want it on a t-shirt. watch this space as we may actually do that in due course.

tourists

jen and i spent a couple of weeks staying in a yurt in siskon, switzerland. it was such a great location. this photo is i think my favourite from the holiday. it's taken on the stoosbahn funicular railway which is the steepest in the world at 47 degrees which is 110% incline! but the way it works is incredible. each pod rolls so you stay horizontal. this is a shot inside the pod we were in of everyone wowed and/or trying to photograph the moment.

i have added an album sisikon switzerland to flickr if you want to see my holiday snaps (and the amazing alpine landscape round there!)

asian christianity route through MA

i am so delighted to be able to let you know we have added an asian christianity route through the masters degree at cms. nuam hatzaw has joined our team to lead it. we have 6 bursary places offering 3k each towards it (which is half the fees or thereabouts). read more about it here where you can see more info, watch an interview with nuam and find out how to apply. word of mouth is our absolute best means of letting people know so please spread the word. we'd love to fill those places for september.

there is an open evening on august 6 - see page for info

accents of greatness

amazing to see harry commissioned to write a poem for team gb!

music is sacred

this room is in the vinyl factory reverb exhibition at 180 studios. take your shoes off - a sure sign this is holy ground. sit in quiet in what feels like a sacred space and an album takes centre stage to be played for everyone to listen to. music is spiritual or can be. my own experience is that i find music has played an important part in the soundtrack of my life. It can speak to me, inspire me, help me express emotion, touch me, put into words what i don't know how to, be a prayer, accompany a prayer. i loved it - so simple, one to do at grace at some point. it got me wondering what a playlist would be of spiritual tunes. i may come back to that...

jonny by frankie

following my post of frankie and photos i took of her in our photography group portrait challenge here are a selection of frankie's photos of me. see here for the album jonny by frankie