Tall Skinny Kiwi

Emerging Downunder

A book gets released next month in Melbourne by Brent Lyons Lee and Ray Simpson who is also one of my co-speakers at the Grassroots Festival. Looks like a wicked cool book. HT: Matt Stone who gives the blurb for the book:

"Emerging Downunder: Creating Celtic New Monastic Villages of God" taps into the current hunger for spirituality, the death pains of obsolete church forms, and the rising tide of hope felt by many Christians. It suggests ways the fragmented church may reconnect both with its roots and the contemporary environment, providing practical examples of church that bring praying, eating, learning and hospitality together in one place."

Technorati Tags: monastic

Church Politics and Chess

From Dave Walker at The Cartoon Church Blog

Tim Keller on Newsweek

Tim Keller, New York reformed pastor at Redeemer Pres. and occasional commenter at TallSkinnyKiwi [the latter being a worthier qualification] finds himself in Newsweek.

The headline reads "The Smart Shepherd: A New York pastor who says he thinks too much wants to bring his Christian message to the world." Actually, being smart is mandatory in a world where general IQ has silently increased decade after decade [read Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good for You] but Keller also has the humility and openness to other opinions that makes him accessible and winsome.

Tim is one of the few leaders in USA who commands respect from both the emerging church and its critics. Its always an honor to have him give some wise counsel when this blog needs it. He has a new book out this week, thus the media attention, and its called "The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism". I havent read it yet but its sure to be good, despite what Newsweek said.

Further:
- There was some talk of Newsweek's misrepresentation on Keller's evolutionary views in the article but Ed Stetzer clears the air.
- DJChuang has a hall-of-fame post for Dr Keller
- Steve McCoy collects Keller resources like some people collect old records. Sorry Tim. No connection to old records intended . . .

Technorati Tags: christian, presbyterian, redeemer, tim keller

5 Models of Emerging Church from 1999

DJ Chuang is collecting various models of emerging churches that are often quoted and referred to. That includes models given by Ed Stetzer, Scot McKnight, Justin Taylor, Mark Driscoll, and more recently from C. Wess Daniels and Darren Patrick and others.

No one has ever quoted mine because no one has ever read it, at least not in the last 8 years. It was never published online, only in a Leadership Network magazine called Next Generation. I post it here, introducing it to the internet audience as a blast from the past and also as way for Creatives to understand the various models of emerging church without resorting to reductionist labels or alliterated cheese. I have added some images but left the text intact, despite the choppy writing and embarrassingly sarcastic flavor.

Disclaimer: Back in 1999 when this was written, I had just traveled for two years in a Winnebago with my family around the USA. We had left our home in San Francisco in 1998 to hit the road and I shifted my employment from the California Baptist Association to becoming a Consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. They let us travel as missionaries to the emerging culture and some of that time was hosting conferences with a group called Young Leaders (which later became Emergent, after we had left for Europe). But in the two years of travel around USA, we went to every state (except North and South Dakota) to identify and support new church movements among the emerging postmodern subculture. Not just Baptist churches, but all stripes and colors. In 2000 we shifted our base of operation to Europe. So these models are from our American experience. I would NOT use them to describe the European emerging church scene.

"Postmodern" was the word we were using back then and obviously, I would not choose this word in 2008. Nor would I be so annoyingly ironic. I think over the past 8 years, and through many toils and snares, I have matured from a sarcastic smart-alec punk to a much more refined smart-alec punk. So please give me a break when you read this. Also, Jason from Young Leaders asked me to write a particularly provocative article for the magazine Next Generation. Thus, my overview of the American scene with some very sharp rib-pokes towards "posers" and a deconstruction of the deconstruction we were suggesting.

Anyway, its tongue in cheek and not to be taken too seriously. What I find interesting, however, is how similar other models from today's emerging church measure up to these five categories. And without further ado, dear bloggers and emerging church critics, I give you a blast from the past.

-----------------------------------------------

Postmodern Church Time Capsule,
by Andrew Jones. Dec 31, 1999. San Francisco

Is your church postmodern? This was The Question evangelical churches were asking themselves as the 1990s came to a close. Included in this time capsule is my brief snapshot of 5 models of churches going under the postmodern label at the turn of the new Century. I have likened them to gardens because . . . well, it's fun.

1. Big like a Miracle-Gro Garden

ntimidation through size is a great deterrent to criticism. Yet there are some steroid-ridden youth churches whose mandate is "Xtreme growth" and a head count that matches the Midian army, even at the expense of other churches.

a highly-strung, well-financed youth group becomes a stage production that becomes their fathers' church.

Are they
Not really. More like hypermodern with candles. They are unwilling to topple the pillars of modernity lest the whole building collapse on their head, as it did with Samson.

Technorati Tags: darrin patrick, emergent, emerging church, mission

Emergent Church India

Jan 13-18 - "The International Symposium on Dalit Theology in the 21st Century sets out to initiate a collaborative discourse among younger theologians committed to Dalit emancipation in the Indian church and society at large. It provides a platform for emerging voices and a showcase for the resources of Dalit theology as a theology of life for all." Link

Wish I could be a fly on the wall for this gathering next week in India. I am fascinated by Dalit Theology, Christian Ashrams, and the Indian understanding of Emergent Church. I saw the Indians were using the term "emergent church" in a missions publication in the 1970's. Anyone going to this event???

Also, I would like to purchase a copy of The Emergent Church in a New India, by Felix Wilfred, if anyone has one. [PLEASE]

Technorati Tags: dalit theology

Christmas Day

So its Christmas Day, the day we remember the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This one is the biggie of the year for us. My wife is making raspberry turnovers and sausage souffle for breakfast as her family has done since she can remember.

Last night we did a Polish tradition for Christmas Eve. No Polish here. It was Teresa Kwon, a Korean-American from Texas that brought it along. Its called Oplatek and its a wafer that gets broken and eaten piece by piece as it goes around and the final piece gets sent off to absent friends. She said a blessing also. Nice touch to an English Christmas that is welcoming Polish and Lithuanian immigrants to a new land. After that, we ate a southern BBQ meal with brisket and beans and potato salad and chicken.

Later on today we will drive down to Chichester to be with friends for the day. Our families are scattered in America and Australia [Merry Christmas everyone] and beyond so we are forming some temporary family for the day.

Technorati Tags: christmas

Christianity in Britain

I write this from London on Christmas Eve. The Christmas spirit of Dickens is strong here and there is no shortage of Christmas events. We attended a Christmas Carol service at Trafalgar Square (I would not have chosen 'Shine Jesus Shine' to kick off the singing) and we might attend St Paul's Cathedral this evening. Which is unusual for the group of people we are with - all of them are believers in Christ but none of them attend a regular church service weekly. They are part of a growing segment of Christianity that don't appear on the radar and don't show up on surveys. Like this one just released [click to enlarge]:

Interesting to see in these numbers:
- the rise of Pentecostals, in part due to the number of African immigrants to Britain, and
- The numbers show that Britain now has, for the first time, more Catholic attenders than Anglican, thanks to the large wave of immigrants from Poland and Lithuania.
"The statistics show that attendance at Anglican Sunday services has dropped by 20 per cent since 2000. A survey of 37,000 churches, to be published in the new year, shows the number of people going to Sunday Mass in England last year averaged 861,000, compared with 852,000 Anglicans ­worshipping". Telegraph
I think we need to take into consideration that many Anglicans and many Protestants of all stripes are finding alternative expressions of church and worship, some of which do not include attending a service in a parish church. It would be an exaggeration to say, as did the Telegraph, that Britain has become a Catholic country.

Technorati Tags: christian, christmas, religion

New Baptist Covenant, Atlanta

There is talk of 20,000 people coming to the New Baptist Covenant celebration [see BLOG] next January but i don't know if that is hopeful dreaming or Baptist big talk. It has been suspected of having a strong political agenda but there are some fine upstanding Baptist groups who are supporting it for other reasons. Suzii Paynter, of my home church back in Austin, says that Baptists are coming "together to reconcile racial divisions, and speak in unity about priorities of the gospel" [ link]. I am considering coming and a few weeks ago I asked about some help in getting there. Sooooo . .. who else is going and do you think it is worth me turning up?

UPDATE: OK _ thanks. I decided not to go.

Technorati Tags: new baptist covenant

Advent Conspiracy

"Advent Conspiracy is an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption." The conspirators behind this include my friends Chris Seay and Rick McKinley. Rick says "A lot of churches are participating in taking back Christmas by telling a better story with our Worship." Check it out and get involved.

Technorati Tags: advent, christmas, religion

St Andrew's Day

Today is St Andrews Day, a day to remember St Andrew, one of Jesus' disciples. St Andrew's feast has been celebrated with various kinds of food in Scotland over the years ranging from wild hare, singed sheep' head, haggis, and fish because Andrew was a fisherman when Jesus called him to follow. Some say any good Scottish food will do.
I have always been attracted to St Andrew because we share the same name, and because his first impulse when Jesus called him was to go and find his brother.

Technorati Tags: religion, st andrews day

Ravenna Document - RCC and Orthodox

I doubt that 950 years of separation will be healed this easy but it will be interesting to watch it unfold. It looks like if the current plans prevail, the Orthodox will come under the Pope but the Pope's power will be diluted. Or in other words . . .

the POPE gets more SCOPE but less ROPE.

Would he cope? And do the Orthodox hope to elope?

The Ravenna Document, that formed the basis of last month's unification talks between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, is available online here or a comment-open version here. Its full title is "Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church. Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority", adopted by the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in Ravenna on 14 October 2007. Here it is on the official Vatican site.

More info at Int, Herald and Times Online which claims that the original rift happened . . . " largely because of three words: The Nicene Creed of the Roman Church says that the Holy Ghost “proceeds from the Father and the Son”; the Orthodox Church claims the Holy Ghost originates with the Father alone."

What do you think? Should the Orthodox and the RCC unite?

Technorati Tags: ravenna, ravenna document document

Happy Hour: Virtual Monastery, House Churches, Emerging Church UK and USA, and Emerging Church Bloggers/Christianity 2.0

My Happy Hour is this coming Monday, 12th November at 5pm GMT (London time) on Shapevine.com. That's midday in New York. Come with questions for my very special guests who are turning up through video cam. They include:

Bob Beltz, an author of numerous books and creator of the world's first virtual monastery. He is also the guy behind Walden Media which is releasing the DVD of Amazing Grace the following day with a 5 week course for churches and small groups. I want to ask him about what happened with the blogger/Hollywood partnership that we experienced earlier in the year and if it is a good way forward.

Wolfgang Simson is author of Houses that Change the World (download PDF here) and a new book on the global house church movement that is awaiting release. Wolfgang, in my opinion, is the most knowlegable guy anywhere regarding whats going on with house churches globally. Actually, he will be in my house for a few days so his video cast will be coming from another room in our house. I want him to talk about web, cyberchurch and how it ties in to house church.

Becky Garrison, Senior Editor for The Wittenburg Door, is releasing a book a few days later called "Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church". Becky has just done some research looking at emerging church in both UK and USA and is able to draw some interesting comparisons. And she is NEVER lost for words. Believe me! See Becky on Wikipeida. She is also putting out a book on new atheism.

And a special guest to talk about cyberchurch and Church 2.0. I have just asked Paul Teusner from Australia but am awaiting his response. His PhD work on emerging bloggers and cyberspace (read some of it here - "Emerging church bloggers in Australia: Prophets, priests and rulers in God’s virtual world") is really fascinating.

And I will make some special announcements about some changes in our ministry and plans for 2008. You might even meet my wife, Debbie, who is starting an artists cooperative called The Sorting Room, which is paving the way for a new kind of social enterprise in UK

.

Technorati Tags: christian, emergent, emerging church, web 2.0

Harvest Festival

The Baptist church down the road from us is having a Harvest Festival which is popular among Protestants, although the timing is unsure. Harvest Festival usually at the end of the farming year and it is similar to the Jewish Feast of Ingathering. Its a time to bring in the food produced on our land and symbolically offer it to God. And, of course, eat a little of it. Some churches, like the Baptist churches I grew up with, had a table in the front of the church which would fill up with all kinds of bread. Nothing else, really, just bread . . but then it was an urban church and there were no farmers around.

This Sunday, the church is having a potluck dinner to celebrate Harvest Festival and we are bringing along food to add to it. That way we all get to eat together.

In USA and Canada, this is a national holiday and its called Thanksgiving. It occurs at the end of November and we always celebrate it because my wife is American and so are our kids. I am traveling this Thanksgiving and will not be at home so what we are doing this morning is making a COMPLETE THANKSGIVING FEAST, including turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato and brown sugar dish, etc, and bringing it along to the potluck at this little unsuspecting Scottish Baptist Church. It might freak them out a little, but not as much as when i brought a rare EYE-FILLET STEAK on a bed of garlic potatoes to the potluck last year.

Some history from Wikipedia

"The modern British tradition of celebrating Harvest Festival in churches began in 1843, when the Reverend Robert Hawker invited parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at his church at Morwenstow in Cornwall. Victorian hymns such as "We plough the fields and scatter", "Come ye thankful people, come" and "All things bright and beautiful" helped popularise his idea of harvest festival and spread the annual custom of decorating churches with home-grown produce for the Harvest Festival service."

Not sure what we will do or what you will do but I am thinking today is a good day to think about God's provision from the earth for our needs. Here are some prayers.

Technorati Tags: harvest festival

In God's Name: Economist on Global Religion

Interesting article on Global Religion in the Economist this week by John Micklethwait. Its called In God's Name and it deals with tension in religion and politics around the world.

EXCERPT: "Part of that secular fury, especially in Europe, comes from exasperation. After all, it has been a canon of progressive thought since the Enlightenment that modernity—that heady combination of science, learning and democracy—would kill religion. Plainly, this has not happened. Numbers about religious observance are notoriously untrustworthy, but most of them seem to indicate that any drift towards secularism has been halted, and some show religion to be on the increase. The proportion of people attached to the world's four biggest religions—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism—rose from 67% in 1900 to 73% in 2005 and may reach 80% by 2050 (see chart 2)." In God's Name.

Related: I read Philip Jenkin's new book God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis. I read it on the plane from Seattle to London. A good read but quite of lot of NUMBERS and STATISTICS - unlike Karen Armstrong's new book The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions, which I read on the journey from London to Seattle, a book which takes a much more narrative and therefore readable approach to history and religion. But Jenkin's book is a worthwhile read if you are interested in the new Europe that is coming to grips with its Muslim immigrants. It was recommended to me by CMS General Secretary Tim Dakin, who gave it a very high and strong THUMBS UP. And since I work for CMS, I felt compelled to buy it. I will give a review of the book soon.

Technorati Tags: christian, fundamentalism, religion

"Evangelical" - What does it mean today

Great discussion today with some heavy hitters on Café Theology. Its called A Symposium: Six Evangelicals Assess Their Movement The emerging church gets a mention by Denny Burk, as does Steve Chalke who continues to be mistakenly connected with the emerging church, despite his protests and the protests of others. Good to hear from John Franke.

Technorati Tags: christian, emerging church, evangelical, emergent

A New Year and New Season Starts Nov 1

This blog will be under some construction and redecoration today.

I am doing something different. I am about to track the Christian year and align with it as much as possible. My preaching in churches will be linked in with the seasons of the Christian calendar and this blog will be a place for me to jot thoughts and post images of the feasts, celebrations, historical occasions, etc. I have been in transition for a while and I think this is a time to make some changes and make some changes official. Time for my blog to get some new life as well.

The Celtic Year starts tomorrow so I will jump into the Christian calendar with All Saints Day. Want to track with me?

Facebook and new churches

LifeChurch.tv are attempting to start a church through the Facebook platform, or at least help create new aggregations through leveraging the Facebook API. More about it here from Bobby Gruenewald.

As for me, I find Facebook annoying, especially the zillion friend requests I get each day. However, I should really ask:
1. Anyone else doing this?
2. Pros and cons?

Technorati Tags: church, church planting, facebook, web 2.0

Relaunch of Anglican Cell Church UK

Its looks great. Anglican Cell Church UK has totally updated the web site [and blog] and is back in action for popping up small cells and connecting networks all over UK. Richard White has been working on this, along with Phil Potter and others. My handsome face appears in the list of consultants and they have posted the photo I submitted - its me fixing the roof on our back shed, with a dirty face and unkept hair and looking NOTHING AT ALL like what a consultant normally looks like.

Inside I am smiling!

Technorati Tags: anglican, cell church

Lego Church

Submitted by Cathryn Thomas

LEGO CHURCH made by Amy Hughes
1.5 years to build.
75,000 Lego pieces
1,372 Lego congregants
3,976 windows

Technorati Tags: church

Jerry Falwell remembered in the blogosphere

Rev. Jerry Falwell passed away at 73 years old and his death is one of the blogosphere's hot topics today. I never met him but I heard him speak once at a South Baptist Convention Annual Meeting.

He had been hospitalized before for heart congestion problems and it seems he died of heart failure. He is remembered for TV ministry, money issues (did he really receive 3.5 million from the Moonies), fundamentalism, politics, Moral Majority, Religious Right, Liberty University, welcoming Catholics, lawsuits with Penthouse and Hustler, overplaying his cards at 911, strong views against homosexuality and abortion . . and tele-tubbies.

What sticks in my mind about Jerry Falwell?

Technorati Tags: baptist, falwell, jerry falwell

Emergent and Anglican

Ian Mobsby of Moot has been a good friend of mine and he's one of the guys in UK who always seems to be thinking ahead of the pack. He has good instincts and I like the stuff he comes up with. His dissertation has now become a book called Emerging & Fresh Expressions of Church.How are they authentically Church & Anglican? Buy it or download the PDF here. It confirms my suspicion that when denominationally [oops - I accidentally typed 'demoninationally' ] committed churches intentionally focus their efforts on the emerging culture, the emerging churches that spring up carry the same denominational DNA and do not necessarily deviate from core convictions or identity. Read it yourself and decide.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church

Internet "Smelly Vision" by 2015

News story says Korean tech experts predict computers will transmit scent through the internet by 2015. This will be very good news for the alt. worship communities and cyberchurches. Maybe even bloggers. Expect my recipes to have accompanying smells. I wonder how others will use it?

Coffee smells for emerging church conversations?
Incense for cyberchurch services?
Old leather for classic book reviews?
Sulphur for online gospel tracts?

Amazing Grace Sunday - Feb 18 (USA)

This Sunday (today) is Amazing Grace Sunday. About 4000 churches [so far] all over USA are singing this song and looking into how they can put a stop to modern day slavery. Erik Lokkesmoe is the Director behind this project and he has been kind enough to keep me updated on its progress all the way through. I have even offered some people his way to help the process along. I really like this whole thing - good people, good heart, worthy cause, nobody out to make a buck.
Details on what we are doing this Sunday and on the 25th coming up . . But in the mean time check out the resources for you (especially you worship leaders) if you want to be part of this movement to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.

Register your church here

Technorati Tags: amazing grace

Pastors Tool Box online

New resource out there for pastors. Its called Pastors Toolbox and they must be OK because they refer to my blog. But why am I always boxed up as "emerging church"?

Technorati Tags: church, emerging church

Covenant for the Church of England

Cartoon from Dave Walker.

On Dec 12th a "Covenant for the Church of England" was presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was signed by the CEEC President. Bishop Tom Wright is not impressed. He doesn't think it is really a covenant and quite a number of groups (including Alpha) were not involved. But it looks to me like the beginning of a conversation. Maybe "covenant" is too strong a word to use at this stage in the process?

HT: Richard White, who says that CMS have not signed the Covenant
Others on the subject: BigBulkyAnglican, Dave, Paul Roberts

Technorati Tags: anglican, church of england

Orcadian Newspaper Today

The visit of the German 'cult' to a number of Orkney's churches made the front page in the Orcadian paper. It was good to hear other accounts and see unity emerge among Orkney's various churches and denominations.

Technorati Tags: orcadian

EuroChurch Conference

Details are online here. Switzerland April 17-19, 2007. I will be there and I think they are going to let me speak on the web/cyberspace/blogging and its relation to the new church planting movements. Subject not confirmed yet but the theme for the conference is . . .

Technorati Tags: church, dawn, mission

Cults: We Gonna Expose Yo Ass!

"These people are grumblers and fault finders who go wherever their desires lead them, and they give bombastic speeches, enchanting folks for their own gain." [Jude 1:16, Net Bible]

Its Tuesday and the cult members are heading home to Germany. They tried really hard to hijack the church services this weekend to deliver their BOMBASTIC speeches and bring disunity but it backfired - the churches all pulled together, warned each other, turned up to protect each other, did some serious Kung Fu in the spirit realm, and kicked some CULT-ASS! I dont think we will be seeing the followers of Horst Shaffranek again for a long time. Off they go . . uh uh . .

Yeah . . .. YOU BETTER RUN!!!!!

And as for other cult members and wackos out there who might be thinking of coming to Orkney to prey on the lambs of God, please know that we will EXPOSE YO ASS WIT LOTSA BRITE JESUS LIGHT and we will put your sorry faces on youtube like we did this weekend and we will not be intimidated. What is whispered in secret rooms will be shouted from virtual rooftops and aggregated by Google.

"Always two there are, a master and an apprectice." Yoda

But what about you? Is your new emerging church a cult? Or a sect?

Is there something suspicious happening in your religious group? Is there a spiritual residue of divisiveness or confusion? Do conversations with these people leave you feeling bewildered? Bewitched? Hynotized? Cloudy? Bullied? Unempowered?
Deception can be a spiritual battle more than an intellectual one. And maybe that whole spiritual realm is unfamiliar to you. Read on.

Technorati Tags: cult, sect

Ecclesiastic Terrorism

[Video was taken by Brian Standerfer and is posted on his blog as "Schaffranek'd" and on YouTube.]

It happened! The church I was preaching at this morning got Schaffraneked. Horst Shaffranek's German cult that I told you about yesterday, sent followers around the UK to infiltrate churches and create a disturbance in order to deliver their prophecies. Two German ladies, followers of Horst, turned up right at the end of my sermon and as soon as I had finished, they launched into their routine . . . the same routine that has got Horst's followers kicked out of churches and events [and even a funeral] all over Europe.

Once, or so I read, they had to be escorted by police. I had thought of warning the police before the service but decided we could handle it ourselves.

Honestly . . its quite traumatic. People were really shaken up. One lady was in tears. But we were half expecting them to turn up and God had prepared us for them. As you will see in the video, I had some overhead slides on Keynote that I projected during their outburst. I didn't want to compete in a shouting contest and figured i might as well give people something to read while the ladies gave their word. I used some info from Evangelical Times as well as 4 accounts from yesterday's comments.

Here is my first slide:

One of the ladies complained that we cannot trust the internet and that this document was 2003 . .. as if being a cult in 2003 is not relevant anymore . . . but i then showed the comments that came in last night and this morning. The two German ladies were quite taken back that information about their sect/cult was displayed on the overhead. They tried handing out their literature to the church people but no one really wanted it.

I offer these same resources here in case your church gets a visit and you need some reading material for your congregation. The movies are self-playing and change slides every 20 seconds. Set them on a loop. If you are preaching, you may want to add them to the end of your presentation just in case they visit your church.

[PDF] Download horst.pdf
[Powerpoint] Download horst.ppt
[Quicktime movie] Download horst.mov
[AVI movie] Download horst.avi

The 3 elders of Stromness Baptist church were great. They had already talked to the ladies and told them they could speak after the service IF they came before the service and passed on their "prophecy" to them beforehand - something that they decided NOT to do - which actually was not a surprise to anyone here.

What really shut the ladies up was the worship leaders (Mark Shiner the harp maker and his wife Kate) starting up some vigorous singing. Mark said later that he had never heard them sing so LOUDLY!!!

Anyway, take a look at the video taken by Brian Standerfer who happened to be standing right behind them. As far as I know, this is the first video anyone has ever caught of this group's ecclesiastic terrorism in 20 years.

I spoke to them afterwards. This German lady told me I was full of sin and needed to break it in my own life. I agreed and told her I do this daily. But then she said we should be sinless, without sin because of Jesus. I asked her if she was without sin about 4 times but she never answered my question. I guess 'sinless perfection" is another of their beliefs.

Eventually they left. And when they were gone, James asked me to get up and talk to the church. Which I did, sharing what i had learned the previous day, complimenting them on the excellent way they handled themselves, and leading them in a prayer. This was quite a healing and completing kind of experience and was much needed.

Anyway, we are guessing they will hit Kirkwall Baptist tonight. Angus, the German teacher who was in our service this morning, will be at Kirkwall tonight and i am sure will be perfectly equipped to deal with them if they come and if they do their thing. And other church members have gone out to warn the other local churches. I guess the whole incident has caused us to work together as one body . .. which of course we are.

Technorati Tags: cult, orkney, schaffranek

Strategic Conference at Copenhagen, Denmark

I've gone to Copenhagen, land of the Danes who are famous for their humor. Wonderful, wonderful, Copenhagen, friendly old girl of a town, as Danny Kaye once put it so . . . HANS-somely . .. thank you very much. I''ll be here 'til Friday . . try the veal! And why not let good ol' Danny lay down some audio carpet to help you enter into the spirit of this blog post? Here we go . .

Leith Anderson in the Search Engines

Mark Driscoll's latest blog post on how churches should respond to pastoral crises of falling leaders (ie . . Haggard) has made me think about how churches and their web sites should also be geared to BLESS their rising leaders (ie . . . Anderson).

Yesterday I did a search for NAE Interim President Leith Anderson, not because i don't know who he is - i do and have eaten with the man - but I wanted to see what the world would find when they typed "Leith Anderson" in their search engines.

And guess who was first? An adversarial site [Lighthouse Trails] that does not appreciate the gift that is Leith Anderson. The same site that slams the emerging church for being six degrees from Dallas Willard and slams prayer movements for being contemplative.

HELLO?
he he he he
HELLO?
EARTH TO LIGHTHOUSE????
Has there EVER been a prayer ministry that has not been contemplative?

[Having said that about Lighthouse, I should add that LighthouseTrails has a very personal message regarding Haggard that is worth reading and made me second guess the site. I might even order Catherine's book called Laughter Calls Me]

Anyway, where was I? I took another shot today at finding Leith and looky what happened. Lighthouse has gone to number 3 and Wooddale Church has moved to first place. My guess is that the folk at Google jumped in, expecting the rush, and added some human insight because the system was not going to work right for Leith Anderson. Yahoo is kinder to Leith and points to his books before landing at his church [No. 7]

Have you tried linking to Leith Anderson? Almost impossible. The only place on his church site is a group photo with frames. Here is why Leith gets no respect in Googleland . . . his church web site is flash driven and there is no static anchor text for Leith so he doesn't get the necessary permanent links he needs to control his own story.

Which causes me to say . .. hey . . . church webmasters . . instead of forking out the big bucks for fancy graphics and morphing flash icons, go out and buy a $10 book on SEO (search engine optimization) and let your pastor take his/her rightful place in the rankings. And if you cant do that, be honest and tell them to get their own blog and start laying down some history and some ranking cred because the day may come . . and indeed is now upon Leith Anderson . . . when the myriads and the masses will come looking.
Blessed is he who is found ready.

Technorati Tags: church, haggard, leith anderson, mark driscoll

Leith Anderson Chosen as Interim President of NEA

After the resignation of Ted Haggard, Dr Leith Anderson has been chosen to be Interim President of the National Association of Evangelicals. [Press Release - PDF]

I respect Leith Anderson a great deal. His books have been been an inspiration for a long time and I once heard him give a hugely memorable talk on consumerism and the gods of our age. Leith Anderson, Doug Pagitt and a number of us from Young Leaders had a enjoyable lunch together in Minnesota a few years back and I got to throw a few questions at him.

Cant remember what they were, dangitt . . . [LAME!]

Technorati Tags: haggard, leith anderson, nae, nation association evangelicals, ted haggard

A Look Back at Wolfgang Simson's 15 Theses

Wolfgang Simson is releasing a new book on November 10 that I think will shake up the church in many areas. I have read the manuscript and I think it is the most substantial, remarkable, prophetic, stirring, upsetting, revolutionary book I have read all year, or, in fact, for a long time. I am looking forward to the discussion and I predict there will be MUCH of it.

In the meantime, there are two things that you might want to read before the book is launched in its Free PDF format. Those documents are 15 Theses and Houses that Change the World.

The 15 Theses were first sent to me in an email by Brad Sargent back (I think) in 1998. It was like . .. . WOW!. Really WOW. Soooooo . .. WOW. Just . .. . wooooowwwww! And you can quote me on that.

I am posting the 15 Theses here for you to read again and, if you like, leave a comment. It will be interesting to see what has changed and what hasnt in these past 6 years. I know that when his Theses came out, I had something concrete to help me articulate why i was not holding regular services and why we chose to meet in houses. We were a small minority back then. Today there are thousands of us. Anyhoo, enjoy the read.

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15 Theses by Wolfgang Simson (1998)

God is changing the Church, and that, in turn, will change the world. Millions of Christians around the world are aware of an imminent reformation of global proportions. They say, in effect: "Church as we know it is preventing Church as God wants it." A growing number of them are surprisingly hearing God say the very same things. There is a collective new awareness of age-old revelations, a corporate spiritual echo. In the following "15 Theses" I will summarize a part of this, and I am convinced that it reflects a part of what the Spirit of God is saying to the Church today. For some, it might be the proverbial fist-sized cloud on Elijah's sky. Others already feel the pouring rain.

1. Church is a Way of Life, not a series of religious meetings

Before they where called Christians, followers of Christ have been called "The Way". One of the reasons was, that they have literally found "the way to live." The nature of Church is not reflected in a constant series of religious meetings lead by professional clergy in holy rooms specially reserved to experience Jesus, but in the prophetic way followers of Christ live their everyday life in spiritually extended families as a vivid answer to the questions society faces, at the place where it counts most: in their homes.

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Reformation Day: A little Scottish Oats With Your Bratwurst?

Today is Reformation Day - Oct 31 - the day we think of Martin Luther fastening his 95 Theses on the gate in Wittenburg. And we think of Protestant Reformers around the world, before and after Luther, including ourselves, those of us who are still involved in the ongoing process to refine the church into what she should be.

I write this from Scotland, a land that also experienced Reformation and exported many of those reformation memories to the colonies. Those memories are usually good, sometimes bad and on occasion, a little ugly. But we have much to be thankful for. Here are some images that the Scottish Reformation brings to my mind.

This painting [link] is a strong image to me. It depicts James Renwick, the last of the Scottish covenanters to be martyred for his beliefs, being taken up to the scaffolding. Before his execution, he sung Psalm 103 (interestingly, part of today's Bible reading on One Year Bible Blog) and read from Revelation 19. He declared his stance against "popery, prelacy and erastianism"and went bravely to be with his Lord.

Quick Translation:
Popery -  Refers to Roman Catholicism and the institution of the Pope as Christ's representative on earth but deeper than than, it often referred to the baroque opulence of Catholic worship and decoration. More on Wikipedia
Prelacy - Def - "one receiving preferrment, an ecclesiastic (as a bishop or abbot) of superior rank".  Often connected with supremacy, or kingcraft. The reformers were against the Crown appointed bishops, the kind of episcopacy set up by Constantine. Many bishops had authority over areas where they did not even live. And these privilege could be bought at a price. Many emerging church voices are still trying to see reform in this area.
Erastianism - assigning an "undue subservience of the Church to the State." like, giving politicans the power to excommunicate or arrest church worshippers . . . or worse . . execute them for heresy. Reformers preached in the fields and often had guns to protect themselves - thus the bloody squrmishes.  One of Renwicks charges was of allowing guns in church services for defence. I share a Sep 7th birthday with Thomas Lieber, who was born in Baden and later latinized his name to 'Erastus', from which we get Erastianism.

Covenanters Memorial, Orkney. This one is close to home. In 1679, towards the very end of the 50 Years Struggle), over 200 covenanters lost their lives in a ship at Deerness, Orkney. They were the last of the 1200 prisoners arrested in Edinburgh and were the Covenanters who had not died or recanted in custody. They were on their way to work the plantations of America when their ship was dashed on the rocks. The captain decided to let them drown in the lockup below, probably so he could claim compensation for his "cargo". 200 is also the estimate of Covenanters that were executed for their beliefs - thousands more died in battle and from cold and disease, of course.
About 47 covenanters escaped, ending up in Stromness (my town), and eventually went to to work in Jamaica or New Jersey. Tradition says a few stayed in Orkney.

St Andrews Cathedral. When i visited the ruins of this once great building, i noticed a sign that explained how the reformers demolished it [I call it the "Crowbar Crusade"] and I was thinking . . .  what a waste! . . . was this where the Scottish sport of hammer throwing began?Probably not but here's what really  happened.

"On 11 June 1559 John Knox preached a sermon in St Andrews parish church that so aroused the congregation they immediately went to the cathedral and destroyed the splendid fittings and furnishings associated by the reformers with "popery". link

Sorry if these images are depressing. The next one is better . .

My daughter Tamara smells the flowers at St Boniface church during a recent trip to the monastic island of Papa Westry. This 8th Century church is one of the very few pre-reformation churches in Scotland. Orkney only has two churches that survived the Reformation and stay in current use - this one and St Magnus Cathedral. I guess it was too difficult to sail all the way out there to demolish it.

This is how the restored church now looks. Actually, you see those tables and benches? They were originally all over the church and apparently were used for eating [Lord's Supper]. The original church looked more like a coffee shop with a pulpit. The style of churches after the Reformation was just pew seating and a pulpit in the front. No tables, no eating in family groups. Church was not as much fun but at least there were no dishes to wash after the service.

Our post-reformation Christmas last year in Scotland. Christmas was banned by the Reformers [those GRINCHES!] for being such a papist display of pagan exuberance, and was only made a "holiday" [ie, give people a day off work] in the 1960's. Thank God for that. There needs to be space for celebration in our life . .  and in our theology. And, like the Reformers, we need to watch out for the influence of Babylon [the ungodly global market system that stands against God's mission and rule] But as we approach our third Christmas here in Scotland, I don't take our freedom lightly. Instead I remember the Reformers insistence that the church be pure and spotless and i try to bring that message into today's context. But there are still many believers who do not celebrate Christmas and we need to respect that.

Anyway, there are some images that come to mind. I would love to see yours.

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Massive is the New Big

If you have just read “Tiny is the New Small” then read this. Its the other half.

The other side to being tiny is being part of something that is massive. This takes some getting used to. The scale is huge and out of proportion. But when Jesus described the Kingdom, he told parables of tiny things that became massive. A small piece of yeast that caused the whole lump of dough to rise. A tiny mustard seed that became the largest of the trees, so large the wild birds could see it and nest in it. Not the tame farmed birds - they only see the coop or cage or boundary marked out for them by their farmer. Sometimes you have to move away from the farm in or