Tall Skinny Kiwi

Blog World Expo 2008 - I am going!

Blog World Expo is the worlds largest Blogging conference. There will be about 2000 people there in Las Vegas, Sep 20-21 and I will be one of them because i am speaking at GodblogCon 2008, a smaller conference inside the larger that i will tell you more about in a few days. But since I was going to be there anyway, i also inquired about speaking at BlogWorldExpo as well as Godblogcon. Today is the last day for speakers applications and I sent my one in yesterday. I suggested a talk on the history of a decade of religious blogging and where it is headed, something similar to what i taught at Greenbelt Arts Festival. Lets see what they say.

Hey - if you are considering attending GodblogCon and BlogWorldExpo, please buy your ticket through me because I will get ten percent commission and that will help me pay for my Gospel Brunch on Sunday. Just wait a few days for me to get my affiliate program worked out. THANKS!. Watch this space.

Technorati Tags: 2008, blog world expo 2008, blogworldexpo

June banner is from . . .

Like the banner for June? Its pottery my wife just made and is selling at the Sorting Room. The image above is from two of her bowls.The name of her business is Gone2Pot. I need to put up a website for her pretty soon. Her best selling items are "comfort mugs" which are thicker and do not have a handle so they keep you warm on a blustery winters night.

A bunch of stuff and links at the end of the week.

Stuff: John Crowder turns up Mike Morrell's blog and shows that he really does have a brain. A new blog for Aussie Geoff Westlake called WWWestlake. Seth Godin gives good advice on non-profits and philanthropy. I wont even mention the white trash pastor who got arrested for solicitation in a Wal-Mart parking lot . . . ahh . . forget i said that . . and forget i mentioned Mark Driscoll's message on masturbation and men that churn their own butter, encouraging John Bloom to coin the word "Masturbergent". Oh . . I didnt say that in the first place . . good. Ten reasons why the Emerger didn't cross the road, and why the Reformed guy didn't do any better. And lastly, my friend Cybersoc, currently in Amsterdam teaching on social media, insists on showing off his phone video streaming through qik.com which apparently converges with Twitter, and rubbing my nose in the sore fact that my 3 year old Motorola cant handle the new technology. And that sucks! But one day God will judge the Qik and the Dead. Have a nice weekend everyone.

The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing And Why, by Phyllis Tickle

"While no observer is willing to say emphatically just how many North American Christians are definitely emergent at the moment, it is not unreasonable to assume that by the time the Great Emergence has reached maturity, about 60 percent of practising American Christians will be emergent or some clear variant thereof."
Phyllis Tickle, manuscript for The Great Emergence, How Christianity is Changing and Why, by Phyllis Tickle. Comes out October 2008 so don't take that quote as gospel . . just yet.

This blurb of mine is a little premature . . . but i cant wait.The manuscript arrived last week and I dropped everything to read it. It didnt take long to read - its not a long book - but its a GREAT book and perhaps book of the year, If N.T Wright's Surprised by Hope doesnt beat it. I was asked for a quote for the book (I'm not worthy!) and so . . .

I cannot speak highly enough of this new book by Phyllis Tickle. Astonishing, in its panoramic scope, cultural insight and lucid brevity, 'The Great Emergence' pinpoints the global emerging church movement within the greater drama of Christianity in a new world. Finding her bearings from previous revolutions and locating our present upheaval within the rhythms of human history, Tickle shows us why The Great Emergence will not die away but will instead inaugurate and define the next epoch of Christianity. This book will raise eyebrows and expectations.

Right. Enough with the official blurb. Its a damn good book. Buy it! It will be on my Top 10 Emerging Church book list.

I should also say that Phyllis's book made me uncomfortable in a few sections with some of her future scenarios but I took these as predictive rather than prescriptive. And her link between the charismatic movement and the emerging church movement made me squirm a little but its a fair observation and one that history will no doubt shed more light.
The book is an amazing work of both artful prose and scholarly accomplishment and I would recommend, as I do with all of Phyllis's books, to buy the hard cover version and show it some respect.

Read on for two more juicy quotes. (Hope the publishers wont mind -Hi Chad! Just these two and I promise i wont spill any more beans . . .)

Technorati Tags: emerging church, phyllis tickle, the great emergence

Sorting Room in the newspaper yesterday

Our Sorting Room opening last week made the Orcadian, the local weekly newspaper.

Technorati Tags: orkney, tag

Technorati Tags: orkney, tag

SLOT Festival in Poland - Your Invitation to Join Me and 5000 Other Weirdos

Last year at SLOT Festival we had a blast. This year will be even better PLUS there will be a roundtable for emerging church leaders running throughout the program. This is your invitation to join me and about 5000 others in Lubiaz, Poland, July 9-13, 2008.
Yeah . . . BRING IT ON!!!!!!!

Here are some images from our time last year at Slot which takes place on the grounds of an old monastery. From left to right, (1) our Teepee in front of the monastery - THATS WIERD! (2) some friends with Debbie - thats Gaby (center, from Hungary - see her photostream from 2006) and her friend from Bulgaria, (3) Some very cool people who have started their own festival in Ukraine and (4) and the Kiwi Cafe where I hope to be teaching my session in July and probably where DJ Kenny Mitchell from New York might be spinning at 3 in the morning. . oh . . and (5) is my kids learning some skills.

My friends Florian and Marc from Connect Europe have sent out an invitation this week. Here is the skinny . ..
"At SLOT every summer for about a week more than 5000 people gather for the biggest alternative youth-culture festival run by Christians…..a meeting-point of the christian and secular culture with a lot of significant consequences for both sides…all informations about the vision, style and focus of the festival you find on their website - www.slot.art.pl

Everywhere all over Europe people have been starting a journey to find new ways of expression of Gods love for our western society and culture – new forms of church and community are springing up out of nothing and more and more it is important to network with each other to inspire, encourage, connect and learn from each other. The SLOT-ArtFestival is an inspiration in itself for this whole process and journey we are at right now….an ideal place to gather together to think, pray and get new impulses and find new friends who are on the same journey…

This year we are offering a ROUND-TABLE during the whole festival – a platform to gather, network, think and pray together…..main focus will be the subject of how can we live a relevant christian life-style together in community, the building of missional communities and how these can look like…we will have a room during the whole festival to meet, hang out, discuss, and pray together…we want to present our ideas, thoughts, needs, questions and create an environment for expression of our vision and desires what we would like to see develop in the near future…the JesusFreaks will be there with a coffee-tent – an ideal place to hang out and meet new friends…The Round-Table-Gathering will be embedded into the whole Festival-Programme….and we will have a chance to meet a lot of creative people from all over Europe during this time…you can stay the whole time but also only some days…..depends on your time and availability…." Florian.

Invitation and more details here. Flying into Wroclaw is best and Ryan Air is cheapest.
EUROPEAN GATHERING @ SLOT englisch-1.doc

Some vids . . .

SLOT by Day (btw - the voice saying "Toy Est Slot Art Festival" is mine.)

More Slot by Day

SLOT by Night - A band called 2 Tim 2,3 give some evening devotional comtemplation

Surprise hit for our family was Me Myself and I, a fantastic Polish band. Hey - check out their Myspace and somebody invite them overseas. They rock and i am not just saying that because they gave us their CD AND our kids and the neighbours here in Scotland play it all the time.

Last one. Tthats me in the black hat and that guy is not really Bono, despite what VJ Spir says.

Technorati Tags: festival, poland, slot, slot arts festival

10 Worst Movies About Jesus

The Wittenburg Door lists the 10 worst movies about Jesus. I think Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter takes first prize. HT: Becky

Technorati Tags: jesus, movies, wittenburg door

David Pierce on Tall Skinny Kiwi

David Pierce, director of Steiger International and No Longer Music is my guest today. You can interact with him in the comments section if you want to ask him anything. Great guy. Amazing ministry. From a barge in Amsterdam to the ends of the earth, taking its message of hope to "some of the darkest places imaginable, including closed Islamic countries, terrorist clubs, squatter villages, anarchy festivals, brothels, junkie joints, punk & goth music festivals, Satanist clubs and New Age gatherings."

David, it was great to have you at our roundtable in Germany. I have a video of you encouraging us all to be courageous and not wimpy. You are pretty hard core. Do you get accused of being rude?

Yes, unfortunately sometimes I have been accused of being rude. I think it’s because I am going deaf from being in so many clubs and so now I don't realize that I am shouting all the time. I also have the habit of spitting when I speak, which has also been a problem.

You end up in some dark places with your band. Tell us the hairiest experience you have had recently.

I could give many examples, but the most dramatic one that I can think of is when we played for the second time at a hard-core satanic club called the House of Satan in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In spite of the fact that you could taste the darkness when we went there the first time, we knew that Jesus wanted us to go back. The club was packed with a mixture of Gothic kids, Satanists and speed freaks. We played in a cellar that looked like a cave. The cement walls were all painted black and there was only one slow pulsating strobe light, which made you feel like you were on a bad acid trip.

Paul says in I Corinthians 2:1-5 that he preached Christ and Him crucified so that people will not be convinced by human wisdom but by God's power. I knew that it would be stupid to go in the House of Satan in my own power; I desperately need to see the power of God. That’s why we lift up the cross.

A lot of postmodern ministries and groups working with today's youth get criticized for not being confrontational enough. You seem to be out on the other spectrum with your hard hitting, full frontal evangelistic ministry. Is that because of the type of people God has called you to?

I don’t think so. I think everyone today is sick of hearing lies all day long and are desperate to hear the truth. Sadly, they are not hearing the truth because often those of us who know the truth remain silent. This seems especially true in the Christian music and art scene.

It seems that when Christians do enter the art scene, they only perform for other Christians. Those who do dare to go before a secular audience often hide their message by speaking in such an obscure code that only Christians recognize it. Or maybe they dare to speak, but they do it in a way that sounds like a bunch of slogans and clichés.

[HEY - KEEP ON READING - ITS JUST GETTING GOOD!]

Technorati Tags: david pierce, no longer music

Carson or Keller at an Emerging Church Festival?

Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago today. Hey, if anyone there chats to D.A. Carson or Tim Keller, please invite them on my behalf to one of the many emerging church festivals this summer in Europe. People of their calibre don't usually make it to the festivals here, despite thousands of young people who really appreciate some good Bible teaching. There is no honorarium and you have to pay for your own flight, and you might end up in tent and lining up for port-a-loo access but then so do the other speakers - which of course limits the kinds of speakers who choose to come to these events.

I got asked to speak at SLOT Festival in Poland today and said i would do one session - hopefully in the Kiwi Cafe. Its a fantastic festival. About 5000-6000 young people. Unfortunately I can only be there for 2 days and they need teachers who can give a good 5 day series like Sy Rogers did last year. Now that would be a good one for Carson. He could not only teach for hours each day but he could also meet a lot of emerging church leaders from all over Europe. In fact, we are having a roundtable at SLOT this year for leaders and he could speak to us all and pray over us. Good idea?

Charismania and Emergent Snobbery

Just when the Christian blogosphere was quietening down,
just when the EC critics were running out of things to say,
just when EC promoters were rehashing and remashing old posts,
just when the blog-dust was settling,
all of a sudden . . .
there came a man named John.

Mike Morrell joins the gazillions of others bloggers posting about John Crowder in what he calls his most ambitious blog post to date called Charismatic Chaos or (Holy) Spirited Deconstruction? in which he suggests there is a little "emergent snobbery". You will find the post right under his incredibly long lists of tags including "glory realm" "sloshed in the spirt" and "gold dust".

Also relevant: I just read the manuscript for Phyllis Tickles book 'The Great Emergence'. FANTASTIC book! Comes out later this year. What's interesting is that she ties the emerging church movement directly to the charismatic movement (as Luke Walker did in "Remembering Our Future") and points to John Wimber as proto-emergent. Uhmmmm . . try squirming out of that one!
TSK: PostCharismatic? and New Charismatics

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, john crowder

Emerging House Church Movement

Update: I just saw an excellent video of Reggie McNeal addressing the Reformed Church of America. He gives a good update on the house church movement. At least watch the first ten minutes to get a global view. Stay longer to hear why it will be really tough to go through this shift.

Original:

"They're [the house churches] based on small-circle organizing, have little to no authoritative control, and rely on the innovation of distributed social movements. It's this same type of organizational structure that is the secret to the success of Wikipedia and craigslist."
Rob Mackay and Ori Brafman (The Spider and the Starfish) in an article for the Huffington Post called "Small Is the New Big in Progressive Politics" HT: Homebrewed Christianity

I said something very similar a few years ago when i discussed emergent theory and the house church movement in a post called Tiny is the New Small. Speaking of small churches, I just finished cooking a pile of crepes for the 50 people that attend our small church so we can have breakfast together early Sunday morning. Try doing that with a bigger church.

Related on Tallskinnykiwi: Tiny is the New Small, House Churches Have No Sex Appeal. Yeast and Bud Emergence, Emergent Theory and the Emergent Church

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, house church, reggie mcneal, reformed

Tom Kent photo of Stromness

I bought a photo today from the Orkney Library - Tom Kent's 1910 photo of Victoria Street, where we live and where the Sorting Room is now located.

Indian Blogging Scene

Trak.in has the skinny on the blogging scene in India.

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, india

Campi Roars

Steve Camp is giving the Pyros some competition for cool graphics with a blog post called WAAWAAWAA@RUNTOMOMMY.COM ...when Christian bloggers act like cry babies. If you are going to criticize the state of the church, at least do it with pictures.

I have never seen Mark Driscoll in a suit before.

Technorati Tags: emerging church

The Sorting Room Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony for The Sorting Room went really well. Councillor James Stockan cut the ribbon and Rev. Fiona Lille gave a blessing and prayed for God's favour. We had hundreds of helium balloons and hot chai on the Rayburn solid fuel stove that we just installed yesterday (pheeeeew!)

Thanks everyone for coming and making it a success. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen. Some of us have put in very long hours painting and sealing up the roof and nailing floor boards. This room, formerly the Sorting Room of the Post Office, has been derelict for a decade and is no longer a horrible moist damp storage room.

The Sorting Room is our social enterprise. This opening marks the launch of a dozen micro-businesses, some of them from the small islands around Orkney. We are artists and artisans who want our creativity to inspire and we want our business to help transform society around us. The Sorting Room offers Orkney's first free WiFi zone, a small performance space, a reading area with a small arts library, printing equipment, free coffee and tea, and classes in things ranging from pottery to blogging. And you can also buy products directly from the artists who make them.

Here's a 2 minute video of the opening ceremony.

Technorati Tags: cic, community interest company, cooperative, puppy, social enterprise

Evangelical Manifesto

"Evangelicalism should be distinguished from two opposite tendencies to which Protestantism has been prone: liberal revisionism and conservative fundamentalism."
From An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment, written and published this month. PDF is here. Dan Wallace has the skinny and why he signed it. An Evangelical Response to the Evangelical Manifesto was written by Big Al. I wonder who will be the first to write a Post-evangelical Response to the Evangelical Manifesto?
Others: Evangelical Outpost, Justin Taylor. [oh yeah . . . and Scot McKnight]

Technorati Tags: evangelical manifesto

Dont you guys know your Bible? Bible Apps Quiz

Somebody finally beat me at Bible Quiz. Congrats to Stingfly - I hope you are part of the emerging church. God forbid a fundamentalist knocks me off my perch on Bible Quiz.

[hint hint - thats a challenge]

Opening Tomorrow

Big day is tomorrow. We have been working really hard. Lots of painting and scrubbing. We got the big sign today and put up the small sign yesterday. At 5pm tomorrow Councillor James Stockan will officially open our Cooperative-studio-retail space called The Sorting Room. Very exciting.

The Emerging Church Gathering in Latin America

"I am having a great time here . . . plus Freddi from Paraquay is here as well."
Trevor McPherson (Vancouver, BC) from Underground Railroad who is in Brazil this weekend for the Tribal Generation event.

He is talking about Freddi who was at our Roundtable in Freakstock Festival, Germany in 2006. Thats Freddi on the left with some others from Lebanon, Brazil and Hajo and Rebecca from Germany whose blog i just visited to grab this photo. Oh - that guy in the middle with the big smile is the legendary Pastor Bob from Tennesee.

Original Post: Every two years, leaders from many emerging church networks around Latin America get together in Brazil for Encontro/Tribal Generation. This year its happening again - May 21-24. I was invited to speak, again, but alas, we are launching our Cooperative space the same weekend so I cant come. [My aplogies, Olgavaro]. Details at Tribal Generation website.

Tribal Generation call themselves a "movement aimed at stimulating the implementation of new churches focused on the emergent generation known as the urban tribes." I have talked about them in my post "I go to Rio". I also have a blog post with the famous Olgavaro Bastos Jnr. from Brazil who has been with me for roundtables and training events in various places including Tokyo, Colombia, Prague and Sheffield Austin but alas, the videos on his site seem to have moved. Someone please let me know where they are?

Technorati Tags: tribal generation

Edinburgh 1910 - 2010

UPDATED and reposted in case you missed it. 2010 marks one hundred years since the mother of all modern mission conferences, the International Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, 1910. Needless to say, many of us have been working towards it and this blog post should update you.

LATEST NEWS: The lectures from Edinburgh 1910 have been digitized and are now available online. This is a HUGE gift to the mission scholars and historians of the world. Special thanks to Prof Masuzawa and to the librarians at the University of Michigan who have pursued this through the Google project.

ALSO: David Hesselgrave released his lecture notes on the "Edinburgh Error". Download it at the end of this post, and if you feel up to it, write some comments and send it back to me.

June 6-10, 2010 is the date given by WCC for the Missions conference in Edinburgh. I have mentioned it before. Some of us have been preparing for a number of missions conferences in 2010 to mark the anniversary of the Edinburgh event, a conference that sparked the incredible missions movement of the last century and eventually the modern ecumenical movement. Jacques Matthey, of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, challenged us at the 2001 Great Commission Roundtable (Malaysia) to put aside time for the events in 2010. I met with him in Geneva last year for a pizza and chat about 2010 and he said it was quite open source but he was hoping for some good cooperation among organisations for the various initiatives that will take place in Edinburgh and around the world.

These initiatives include, but are not limited to, Lausanne III in Cape Town South Africa, which I have blogged, and Ediinburgh's Towards 2010, spearheaded by the Scottish and led by Ken Ross. And of course whatever we do in and around the events in Edinburgh. A number of us have been working towards a roundtable event in 2010 that we hope will compliment what is already going on. In cooperation with other mission agencies and denominations, we have been hosting a number of global roundtables for leaders of emerging church movements since 1999. We see this culminating in 2010 with a gathering and presentation of resources to help the global church in this time of transition and opportunity. Towards 2010 will have info on the Edinburgh event and subscribing to the TallSkinnyKiwi blog will help you stay updated as 2010 draws near. Button in the top left corner. DO IT!

Technorati Tags: edinburgh 1910, edinburgh 2010, mission

The Shack

The Shack, by William-P-Young. Its an Amazon best seller and someone in your church has probably already read it.

I hardly ever read books that are hugely popular, especially when they are hugely popular among the Christian population. But The Shack caught my interest. A few months ago in California I saw my friend Elbert glued to "The Shack" and figured the book was probably a good read. When the controversies started on the blogosphere, I decided to buy it. Before I could order it, I found it on my bookshelf along with the other books sent to me for my blog review.I guess I am a little behind on that pile of books to be reviewed.

Anyway, I started reading it and got halfway. Its a good book. It reminded me of the frenzy around Frank Perretti's "This Present Darkness" 20 years ago. We were living in Portland, Oregon at the time. I was a Bible College student and Debbie was a nurse and were among the people absolutely hooked on Perretti's book. Since The Shack is based in Oregon, my old stomping ground for 5 years, it struck a chord and got my attention.

Technorati Tags: the shack

The Message of Prince Caspian

UPDATE: Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost calls Caspian the best ever war movie made for kids. He likes it more than the book and the previous movie.

Bob Beltz is a Narnia Geek. This is the back of car - the wheel cover was custom made for him.
Bob is also a pastor of a church and, like many pastors and ministers, sees spiritual truths in terms of potential messages.
After previewing Prince Caspian (see below) Bob comes up with 4 messages:
Message One: The return to faith.
Message Two: We walk by faith, not by sight.
Message Three: Three kinds of "people."
Message Four: Fight the good fight.
Read his blog post to see the details. Just don't forget to give Bob credit if you steal his message this Sunday.

ORIGINAL POST:
Thats what the guest pass looked like for the preview of Prince Caspian. Obviously . . . you and I did not receive one. My friends Bob and Allison Beltz did, and Bob has posted the world's first blog review. He also challenges the churches to get creative and figure out how to use it. In his words . . . .
"The release of Prince Caspian provides another opportunity for churches and ministries to utilize a resource that cost nearly $200 million dollars to produce. The awareness of the general public about the film is at the 95% level, which means almost anyone you talk to knows about the film. Go use it for the kingdom!"

Related: IMDB, trailer, Wikipedia, NarniaWeb

Technorati Tags: prince caspian

Church Basement Road Show: A Rollin' Gospel Revival

I dont know these guys . . . REALLY!!!

"Taking a page out of the Billy Sunday playbook, the authors will spread the emergent message of a generous, hope-filled Christian faith in the style and cadence of the tent revival preachers of a hundred years ago. They plan to have fun with it, wearing frock suits and selling “healing balm,” but the goal is, as in the revivals of yore, to preach the good news.
. . . The tour featuring Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Mark Scandrette will hit thirty-two cities across the U.S., with a message that combines old time revival flair with a 21st century gospel. They’ll preach, sing and sell healing balm in church basements from San Diego to New York."

Its corny and stupid and its also brilliant. I cant believe they are doing this without me! Just because I am out of the country . . . Anyway, make sure you see these three crazy friends of mine when they come through your town on The Church Basement Roadshow: A Rollin' Gospel Revival.

Speaking of corny and stupid . . . without being brilliant . . . check out Our Tribal Piercing Ceremony where Doug Pagitt and Mark Scandrette come to Orkney to visit me, along with uberGeek Michael Toy, and we attempt to pierce our ears against the standing stones of the ancient Ring of Brogar.

Church of Scotland and Emerging Ministries Fund

"The Emerging Ministries Fund will be supporting projects that engage with people outside inherited formal structures and at grassroots. In many cases this may mean less of a dependence on buildings and getting people to 'come to church' and a greater emphasis on taking church to the people." Source: Ekklesia

Well done Church of Scotland! News released today that they will give £1.5 million to launch an Emerging Ministries Funds that will start in 2009. Emerging church entrepreneurs will be encouraged to raise matching funds from other sources.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church

A Century of Missional Thinking in the West

Mission used to be something our Western Christian countries did for the non-Western "heathen" lands that we called the Third World. Talking like that now will get your email boxed flamed. Times have changed. Now the global south and east has more Christians than we do. They even send their missionaries to our countries. Our own Western lands have become mission fields in themselves. Missions is now multi-directional and, like a donut, lacks a definite centre.

There has been a lot of talk in the past few decades about what mission to our post-Christian Western world might look like, especially since the 1970's when Bishop Lesslie Newbigin came home from India to a post-Christian Britain. But the idea that we need to be missionaries in our own western countries has been discussed for a century. Wilbert Shenk tells of the Canon Rev. Walter Hobhouse, who spoke some prophetic words during the Brampton Lectures in 1909.

“ . . . the church of the future is destined more and more to return to a condition of things somewhat like that which prevailed in the Ante-Nicene church: that is to say, instead of pretending to be co-extensive with the World, it will confess itself the Church of a minority, will accept a position involving a more conscious antagonism with the World, and will, in return, regain in some measure its former coherence.”

The Church, argued Hobhouse, in an era no longer defined by the Constantinian era, should recognize more and more that "she is in reality a missionary church, not only in heathen lands and among races which we are pleased to call ‘inferior’ but in every country, and there is much in which she might learn from the methods of the Mission Field”

Now, almost century on, Hobhouse’s words ring true and aptly describe the new emerging missional communities that are starting, growing and multiplying in the post-modern post-Christian West.

Related: The Missional Church: Reformed Heritage?

Technorati Tags: emerging church, missio dei, mission

Iraqi Christians

From the good people at DeMossNewsPond: Approximately 400,000 of Iraqi Christians have fled the country since 2003. Most of those who remain in Iraq are internally displaced. Check out Help Iraqi Christians and find out what to do.

Technorati Tags: demoss, iraq

Post Charismatic?

"Many are Post-Charismatic. . . after 20 years, they would rather shoot themselves than sing another chorus."
Stuart Murray-Williams talking with us in Paris, 2003.

Just picking up on yesterday's post on The New Charismatics that Steve K started and trying to land it. If you watched the video on Steve's site, you know what i am talkin' bout. Robby Mac has some good well balanced advice [quite funny as well] as does Bro Maynard and Grace and Ed. Robby [Rob McAlpine] is the author of a new book called Post Charismatic.

Apparently Bill Kinnon approves.

I first heard Gerald Coates talking about being "post-charismatic" at the Emerge event in Frankfurt, 2001. Since then, I have used "post-charismatic" to refer to the kind of worshippers who are freed from the addiction to novelty, newness and freshness, open to older, non-spontaneous, pre-used liturgical prayers, and who no longer believe that every service must be commenced by 45 minutes of singing. Of course its a lot more than that and its a lot more than just trading purple banners for purple candles.

And the post in 'post-charismatic' means "after' rather than "anti". A lot of people were greatly helped by the charismatic movement and they [we] are grateful. But as Stuart Murray Williams once said, " . . . after 20 years, they would rather shoot themselves than sing another chorus."

If you liked this post, please stand up, turn to the person on your left and gently hold their hand. Now shout in their ear . . . "PRAAAAISE-ALLULAH!!!" Dont forget to squeeze their hand right before you let go.

Technorati Tags: post-charismatic

Zilok launches today - Rent anything

Gary Cage from Zilok just let me know that their big project in UK launches today. Its a peer-to-peer renting site. Reminds me of a church in Australia that had a rental ministry - members could donate lawn-mowers and trailers and whatever into a pool and the community could borrow them and return them. This sounds like the same thing only much bigger and all done online. Hope they do well.

Technorati Tags: puppy

Pentecost Festival London

Things went really well last weekend in London for Pentecost Festival. They have some internships available for next year - you get free accommodation in London. Think about it!
Pentecost in the news.

Bible App - A Bible Quiz

Bible App is a Bible verse quiz and its pretty good. But its really lonely here at the top. Anyone want to challenge me?

UPDATE: Actually - its too easy. I am giving up because its nearly midnight and i am getting delirious.

Technorati Tags: bible study tools

China Earthquake

Earthquake in China. I am been shooting up some prayers but thought a blog post would be in order. I found out about the earthquake through Twitter. So did a lot of other people. One blog reports that Twitter has now come of age.

Once again, if you know worthy groups to donate to, or local communities who can help, please leave a comment or link.

Technorati Tags: china

Steve Knight on The New Charismatics

While the post-charismatic movement gathers steam, its interesting to see hyper-charismatic movements still popping up.

HT: Steve Knight who is also a little befuddled by "The New Charismatics" and their spirit-drunken, moon-howling, slosh-till-u-drop “postmodern prophetic ministry". Its not exactly Steve's cup of tea either but he does point to some good outreach efforts by this group.

New words for your vocabularly, courtesy of John Crowder, author of The New Mystics:
- "Tokin’ the Ghost,”
- "Smokin' the “Jehovah-juana"
- "Sloshed" [in the Spirit]
- "Wasted on Jesus"

What-the-Heck Would Adrian Do?

Missional Church: Where is the fruit?

The theme this week is missional church. I am kicking it off by pointing to a hot blog post from last week. David Fitch hosts a very important conversation, having picked up from Bro. Maynard. I wish it wasn't so personal - ie - Mark Driscoll and mega church attractional model vs. emerging/missional/monastic/house-church model ala Allelon (USA) and Forge (Australia) but at the heart of the conversation is a few key questions:

Obviously the cost factor ratio favors emerging/missional startups (inherited churches cost between 100k and 1 million to start) but how do these new organic communities sustain themselves financially?
How do we measure their success without resorting to the old systems of measurement (bigger is always better)?
How long do they need to start bearing fruit? And what does that fruit look like?
Do mega-churches attract primarily de-churched people?

Have a read and join the comments over there. If you are new to the conversation, remember the emerging church world is now a vast world with models still very traditional in structure (paid professionals, buildings, attractional-based sunday service) and much of it very organic, centrifugual, embedded, and missional.

Related: Andrew Hamilton (Forge National Director) on Incarnational vs Attractional

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church

Pentecost Poem: The Sound of Dust

Note: I updated this poem from when I wrote it in 2005 with a few changes and greater commitment to the rhythm and meter. I am writing it from the point of view of some older Jewish men sitting in a courtyard in Jerusalem that Pentecost morning, watching and listening to the chaotic events around them, asking themselves what it all means. The theme of judgement through the tongues of foreigners (Dt. 28 and Isaiah 28) runs behind my thoughts. I will be reading this as part of my message at Stromness Baptist Church this Pentecost morning.

The Sound of Dust
by Andrew Jones

what does it mean?
this howling wind?
this sound of dust?
this courtyard scene of rushing men?
this rude awakening from rest
and memories of God?

what does it mean?
these laughing men
with shining face
and weakened knee?

will they tell our stories now?
will they don the robes of priests?
will they tell our stories now
from the lips of foreigners?

what does it mean?
this language game?
this teenage stunt?
this sound of blowing
life and death?

how dare they tell our stories well?
how dare they speak our language well?
how can they speak our language well?
how dare they tell our stories as theirs?

Something has ended and begun
and the dust will not settle today.

Technorati Tags: pentecost

Whitsunday and Pentecost

"This day is called Wytsonday because the Holy Ghost brought wytte and wisdom into Christis disciples … and filled them full of ghostly wytte." — In die Pentecostis

Happy Whitsunday! In the UK, Pentecost is often referred to as Whitsunday which is a reference to the wisdom given to us by the Holy Spirit. I like the word "wit" - it speaks to me of a smart quick wisdom with an edge of humor. Some countries call it White Sunday (like Iceland) but since red was the traditional ecclesiastic colour for the Holy Spirit, I dont think the argument that the believers wore white is a strong one in determining the origin of "Whitsunday". Wisdom makes more sense to me.

This morning I am speaking at Stromness Baptist Church. My Pentecostal message will look at what Pentecost meant to Israel and the church that was born that day - themes of judgement, companionship, community, ecumencism (the whole earth as the scope of God's love and mission) and of course, wisdom and wit.

Interesting to note that the Italians sometimes sprinkle red rose petals to symbolize the tongues of fire, thus calling this day Pasqua rosatum.

I am wearing my red Copyleft t-shirt to church. It symbolizes not only the gift economy of the internet but on this occasion, the giving freely of the Holy Spirit despite the desire of the religious leaders to keep God for themselves.

Technorati Tags: pentecost, whitsunday

1608 - Evangelical Union

This year marks 400 years since the Evangelical Union (also called the "Protestant Union") was formed in Germany in 1608. It listed among its goals that "the council would be ecumenical and universal". The council would have the task of determining which articles were fundamental and the test would be the Word of God.
These quotes are from David Pareus (1548 - 1622) "Irenicum, sive de unione et synodo evangelicorum concilianda", Heidelberg, 1614, found in A History of the Ecumenical Movement, by Neill and Rouse.

Lee Behar and Fundraising

Conversations on the finer points of theology and emerging forms of church come and go . .. . but the subject of how to raise money for your ministry is a perennial issue.

I didn't mention my good friend Lee Behar last week in my series on philanthropy, even though he was at PIGS, an informal gathering of faith-based Foundations. But I am linking to him now. Why? Because he mentioned yours truly today and my uber-bulging blogger's EGO cannot resist a back-link to those who acknowledge my contribution to the cyber-knowledge that is beginning to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea . . . AND . . . [just joking] . . . because last weeks posts would not be complete without Lee Behar, an evangelical ambassador of qualm, a Blogger and a Twitterer on the inside of the philanthropic world who is committed to the Great Commission and to help emerging-missional projects be equipped with every good thing. Check it out. It's got the skinny on fundraising for American based [501c-3] Christian ministries and its called Taking It For Granted: Thoughts on grantmaking and giving.

Now please do me a favor and don't hound Lee. I mean like dont camp out on his front lawn . . and don't send him emails asking for money. He doesn't have any [you can tell by the way he dresses]. Rather, he works for The Maclellan Foundation that has been supporting Christian ministries for about . . oh . . 6 decades . . and have an online grant appication system and that is what Lee will point you to. But before you start the online application process, check out what Lee has to say and check out my previous post called