Renewal and Release - Part 2

(From Part: 1) ... So, what might be the cultural shifts we need to consider if we are to see renewal? Here are some to think about. What would you add? What would you subtract from the list?

Theology rather than Tradition: It is encouraging to note the shift in emphasis from traditions and rituals, to a focus on our beliefs and practices. Grappling with the core elements of the story of the faith seems to be becoming key. This is important because our beliefs and attitudes will shape our actions into the future. Rediscovering and retelling the 'Story' for this age is key to becoming a living movement of the Spirit

Renewal rather than Reminiscing: This emphasis is necessary because it recognises two elements: (1) The Church of the day can never return to the form of the first century church. The New Testament does not function as a template or Church Growth manual to imitate; rather it is a living narrative that inspires.  (2) Our hope is in the reviving power of the living Spirit! Truly churches need to become a renewal movement more than a reminiscing or a resistance movement. Often we talk about going back to the good old days,'but the New Testament story is not a moment of truth frozen in time, but God’s quicksilver shaking the powers of this world!  We are the people of Jesus who are sent proclaiming a radical message that challenges the trends and patterns of the current age! We should be the least conservative of all people.

Interdependence ahead of Independence: At one end of the continuum are independent Christians and congregations with little collaboration and shared ministry. At the other end are ‘dependent’ churches locked into hierarchical systems that can strip the church of its creativity and spontaneity. We need to learn interdependence. Different shapes and emphases collaborating at a growing level of relationship to learn what God is up to. If the idea of 'covenant' expresses this idea of mutuality. There’s something about the messy dialogical, synergy that comes from discovering new ways forward together.

Says Ori Brafman (Spider and the Starfish):  “Cut off a spider’s leg, and you’ll have a seven-legged cripple[sic]. Cut off its head, and you’ll kill the spider. But cut off the starfish’s arm, and not only will it regenerate, but the severed arm will actually grow an entirely new body. Starfish can achieve this remarkable feat because, unlike spiders, they lack central control—their organs are replicated across each arm. Starfish are decentralized. Starfish forces don’t have a leader, clear structure, or defined hierarchy. These seemingly chaotic qualities make Starfish unexpectedly resilient.”

Unity rather than Uniqueness:  I recall sometime ago, hearing a group discussing whether a new attendee to their church shared the “DNA of their tribe.” It got me thinking about both of those words in regards to churches we are familiar with.  What is the non-negotiable DNA? The temptation for any faith movement or Church that has gone through many decades of evolution is to collect heroes, pioneers, traditions and practices that are of themselves admirable – but that append to the core DNA. A group that was once inclusive, bit by bit becomes exclusive, as fewer and fewer outsiders quite share “our DNA.” Subconsciously, as mores and shibboleths increase, the conservation of all this extra DNA brings inertia. 

For followers of Jesus – the DNA is the person and body of Jesus Christ! Time and again the Holy Spirit needs to renew us, and the New Testament needs to align us with what Jesus is doing in such a time us this. We gather humbly around the table in surrender, unity and love with all and any believers and to go out into the whole world extending the compassion and hope of the gospel. 

It means we serve and labour across creedal and cultural boundaries, we celebrate that: “in non-essentials there is liberty”. The aim is not for ‘them’ to become like 'us', but for the DNA of Jesus to bring all the tribes together in: “... complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:23). 

What would it look like to reframe our faith-tribes as an incubators or a mission agencies of this DNA for the whole Church, rather than one tribe amongst the many? Similarly, descriptors like ‘tribe’ may need reconsideration. 

Our language defines us. A ‘tribe’ is at the opposite end of the social continuum to a ‘movement’. Tribes are highly conservative. They live to their tightly defined rights of passage and rituals – they are creedal. Gatekeepers ensure that foreigners to the tribe do not enter and bring their DNA.  How can we ensure that we do not fall into the trap of celebrating our own perceived ‘uniqueness’ rather than the overwhelming imperative to ‘unity’ and renewal in Christ for all God’s people?

Multiplication rather than Management: Church multiplication has been declining. Over the last few decades the emphasis seems to have been more on strengthening existing congregations rather than multiplying new communities. The Australian population is growing. New and creative church initiatives have the added effect of inspiring Christians to be creative; evangelise courageously; and create fresh ways of understanding faith. Denominations have been closing down more churches than they have planted. We need a culture that gives permission to new and diverse mission projects, even if some of them fail.

Formation ahead of Function: Where there is an emphasis on equipping and supporting and releasing people, the ministry take care of itself. As we develop mature Christians and leaders, they will discover for themselves the ways of Christ. Deep discipleship based on solid pedagogy and a living spirituality are vital. We have not done discipleship and leadership formation very well over the last two generations. Our emphasis must be on the culture and attitude-shapers not the behaviour or program-shapers. 

- As a wise old friend of mine used to say: “The role of a leader is not to change people or their behaviours, but to change attitudes. People with changed attitudes will change themselves and their courses of conduct.”

I wonder how the Spirit will do it? I wonder what we will learn?

Managing Complex Change

Could this be the future of Church as we know it?

The Western church still puts a huge amount of effort into its central programmes, particularly the Sunday Worship Service. Yet the question needs to be asked why we do that. If our calling is to go and live out the good news, sharing our lives in our neighbourhoods building friendships, being community -  then why do we expect that in a post-Christian world, that bringing people to a big event in a building is the 'core' activity?

What does it mean to live as 'families' on mission? To be communities of disciples that connect deeply with the many who have a spiritual hunger but are deeply suspicious of 'religion.'

This is a cool video - the story of a worship leader who began asking deep questions ... 



Source:  http://www.thedesertbloomsproject.com

29 Predictions of the Year 2000 from December 1900

Sometime we imagine that we are the first generation to hurtle through times of rapid change. But I wonder how our great grandparents pictured the new industrial, confident, 20th century panning out. As steel, electricity, radio-waves and motor engines began to appear, and the European powers hold on colonies that spanned the globe began to waver - what might life look like in the unbelievably distant 2000AD?

The Ladies Home Journal from December 1900 contained a fascinating article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”. Mr. Watkins wrote: “These prophecies will seem strange, almost impossible. Yet, they have come from the most learned and conservative minds in America. To the wisest and most careful men [sic] in our greatest institutions of science and learning I have gone, asking each in his turn to forecast for me what, in his opinion, will have been wrought in his own field of investigation before the dawn of 2001 - a century from now. These opinions I have carefully transcribed.”

Prediction #1: There will probably be from 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people in America and its possessions by the lapse of another century. Nicaragua will ask for admission to our Union after the completion of the great canal. Mexico will be next. Europe, seeking more territory to the south of us, will cause many of the South and Central American republics to be voted into the Union by their own people.”

THRIVING CHURCHES | PART 5 | INGREDIENTS

Q 4 | HAVE WE GOT THE INGREDIENTS FOR THE RECIPE?
 When my kids were little, one of the fun things to do was to gather in the kitchen on a Saturday afternoon and cook something together - usually a chocolate cake or chocolate brownies or chocolate chip cookies or chocolate .... something! You get the idea!

Trouble was as we read through the recipe, unpopular ingredients were downsized and  more yummy ones were increased. 

    "Two cups of plain flour"
        "Eww! I hate flour, let's just add one cup."
    "Teaspoon of cooking soda."
        "Yuck! That tastes totally gross! Leave it out!
    " Two tablespoons of cocoa."
        " No! Double that! We want it to be really chocolately."

...And so on.

Of course the result would end up a rock hard, bitter slab of inedibility!

We realised that to get the magnificent, shiny succulent results promised in the accompanying photos, we had to sort of, follow the recipe and include all the listed ingredients in roughly the proportions suggested.

To use a terrible metaphor, there is a metaphor here for us baking a 'church cake.' There are vital ingredients that need to be folded into the mix if we are to be effective.

21st Century Ministers

A few weeks ago, I stood at the back of the little village church in Grasmere in the Lakes District. This is surely one of the most quintessential of little English villages! The poet William Wordsworth who lived in here for fourteen years, described it as "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found."

The little stone church has been there since 642. It’s one of the oldest chapels in England. With its high wooden pews, stained glass windows, pulpits, organ, fading hymn books and other pieces of typical church paraphernalia  it looked and felt and even smelt “Churchy.” I had the sense of being whisked back in my imagination to every archetypal memory of childhood associated with being in “Church.”

The Writing's on the Wall

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A MOVEMENT?

Introduction

One of the things that younger Christian groups like to assert about themselves in contrast to the older, maybe more institutional groups is that their group is a ‘movement.’ “We are a movement not a denomination!”

I believe that the need to self-identify in this way demonstrates that a group is actually no longer a movement with a future orientation but an institution looking back over its shoulder. Like most of the religious movements spawned out of the industrial revolution around 200 years ago, the ‘moving’ has been done and the descendants are now a mainstream denomination.

The past can be a terrible burden for a group who’s predecessors have distinguished themselves by prophetically and courageously leading out of a dysfunctional paradigm to a new and healthier paradigm. The descendants of pioneers will tend to preserve and then institutionalize their glorious past and so become unable to let go of it. They become paradigm-settlers who self-identify by their founders actions. Ironically, these children of ‘movement-makers’ tend to be somewhat resistant to change! Truly, movements become machines which become monuments.

This tendency needs to be acknowledged if we are to engage our current context and once again ‘move’ forward as we discover where God is leading us.

What makes a Movement?

The well known ‘Dancing guy video’ encapsulates the essence of a movement. A lone guy in a park stands and dances with rapt enthusiasm to toe-tapping music amidst the crowd of lethargic picnickers sprawled across the lawns. At first there is amused indifference to the loner. Then another brave soul joins in followed by another who drags a couple of mates with him. Soon there is a small merry band whooping like there is no tomorrow! More faces to to gaze longingly at them wondering if they dare jump up too. A few more dart sheepishly into the fray. Suddenly a tipping point is reached and masses of picnickers catch on that dancing rather than lazing is the accepted behaviour. Soon those remaining prone are hurrying to join in and avoid looking out of touch. The paradigm has shifted totally from resting to moving!

A social (or religious or scientific) movement happens when social behaviour shifts from a prevailing and dominant paradigm towards an emerging paradigm. 

Steve Addison says: “A movement is a group of people pursuing a common cause. Movements are characterized by discontent, vision, and action. For good or for evil, movements change the world.”

The birth of a new paradigm is always chaotic. There will resistance by entrenched interests. There is no guarantee whether any of the fledgling ideas jostling to emerge will grow into the new paradigm. 

Those early movement leaders are non-conformists or prophets who lead from the margins. It takes great courage to follow them. It takes significant energy and sacrifice to follow in their footsteps because the new paradigm is not yet fully formed - it may still fail.

Often there are competing or diverging factions or camps who will struggle fiercely amongst themselves for primacy. There will be others at the movements’s margins in a loose coalition, but with differing trajectories one to the other.

Says Seth Godin: “An organization uses structure and resources and power to make things happen. Organizations hire people, issue policies, buy things, erect buildings, earn market share and get things done. Your company is probably an organization.

A movement has an emotional heart. A movement might use an organization, but it can replace systems and people if they disappear. Movements are more likely to cause widespread change, and they require leaders, not managers. The internet, it turns out, is a movement, and every time someone tries to own it, they fail. ... The trouble kicks in when you think you have one and you actually have the other.”

The British abolitionist movement beginning in the late 1700s was probably one of the first modern examples of a movement. The most famous movement was probably the American Civil Rights Movement propelled by the courage of Martin Luther King. Other social movements include women’s rights, peace, civil rights, anti-nuclear and environmental movements. More recently there has been the feminist movement, pro-choice movement, right-to-life movement, gay rights movement, animal rights movement, anti-globalization movement.

There are a common characteristics to modern and historical movements. Here are a few questions to ask which may indicate whether you are part of a movement: