TallSkinnyKiwi

Emerging Church in the News

Congrats to Hamo (Andrew Hamilton) for making the West Australian newspaper. HT: Scot
Also take a look at Hamo's big hitting blog posts.

Out of Bounds Church Gets Blogged

The Out of Bounds Church by Steve Taylor, says Pernell Goodyear, is the best book on the emerging church to date. He has just blogged his way through the book which means, if you were too stingy to buy it, you might be able to partake of its fruit. Chapter One is a free read.

I would say it is in the top 5 of the 50+ books that sit on my emerging church shelf. (more like 70 now)

HT: Anthony Stiff who has released his 52 page essay on the Missiology of the Emerging Church as a PDF AND (update) his PDF on the Jesus movement and Emerging Church.

Technorati Tags: blog, books, emergent, emerging church

Mark Driscoll Responds (Updated)

UPDATE: Protest is OFF
UPDATE: Mark meets with critics.
UPDATE: The Seattle protest for Dec 3 is still on, but People Against Fundamentalism organizers say they will stop it if their goals are met.

"Our goals for this protest are:
1. To expose to the city of Seattle to Reverend Driscoll’s anti-women diatribe.
2. To see Mark Driscoll removed as a religion columnist for The Seattle Times.
3. To extract a sincere apology from Reverend Driscoll for his comments and a pledge to cease demeaning women in the future.
If these goals are met prior to December 3, People Against Fundamentalism will call off this proposed rally for women’s rights in Seattle." [link]

Heres what I think:
1. The city of Seattle has already been sufficiently exposed to this discussion.
2. Let Seattle Times make up their own mind who they want to write for them.
3. Mark would do well to write a more sincere apology. If he can do that, the protest would have accomplished a lot, without going to the point of public embarrassment for the church.

Related:
Mark Driscoll: The Skinny
Mark Driscoll Responds
The fat lazy blog-post that has let itself go.
Is the Blogosphere Ready for Mark Driscoll?

ORIGINAL: Mark responds to critics on his blog regarding the explosion last week. I re-post here because comments on Mark's blog are limited to attendees of his conference.

"Thank You, Critics
A blog I recently posted has exploded into quite a furor in some quarters of blogdom. Sadly, my intent has been widely misunderstood and/or misrepresented. Therefore, it seemed prudent that I provide some context and clarification.

Technorati Tags: mark driscoll

Oxford: A Church called hOME

Update: Really good time last night. Gill Poole and I went to hOME and then pizza afterwards with the hOMe commuity. The worship service at hOME was mainly younger people and students. Similar liturgy to Burford Priory this morning but with video projection and music from this century. Matt Rees is the Abbot and Jim is the Warden. Actually, Jim is also the VJ and was running Arkaos on one computer and MediaShout on the other. I am not sure if video jockeying is a requirement for Wardens today or not but its sure helpful.

Gill Poole has posted lots of photos from the weekend, including this.

They asked me to speak for 15 minutes and i talked about my afternoon with Roland Allen's grandson, and Allen's journey of discovering the way of Jesus and his disciples. And how that has impacted the global emerging church a hundred years later.
btw - Roland Allen was a VJ in his own right. While a missionary in China in the 1890, he mixed his own developing fluid for his photos and used the magic lantern to project them on the wall. He used these images for teaching and training. I think he would have enjoyed the service last night at hOME.

The reading from the bible is accompanied by two candle bearers.

Having a pizza with Abbot Matt Rees (left) after church. Image from Gill

Original: Tonight I am at a spiritual community called hOME in Oxford, with Jim Barker. I stay with Jim tonight. I think its another monastic emerging church type thing [if you know what i mean] but will have to wait and see.

Related: Matt Rees on emergingchurch.info
Matt's blog
Jim and Gill on missional community

Technorati Tags: emerging church, hOME, matt rees

Cup of Tea with the Grandson of Roland Allen

I had a cup of tea yesterday with Hubert Allen, the grandson of Roland Allen ["the prophet'"]. A very warm and humble man who is delighted that a new generation is reading his Granfer's book almost a century later. Roland Allen predicted his writings would be ignored for many years and he was right. Hubert signed my copy of his book "Roland Allen: Pioneer, Priest, and Prophet and showed me some new editions of his 'Granfer's' books, including the classic Missionary Methods: St Pauls or Ours and The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church.There are some other writings and snippets and thoughts that have never been published. Hubert said I can come over next time and view some of those documents. COOOOOL!!!!

Hubert's lecture on his Granddad given in 2003 worth a read. Heres the PDF:
The Continuing Relevance of Roland Allen
by Hubert Allen, [PDF 225kb]

Related: My thoughts on Roland Allen and Mega-churches in cyberspace

Technorati Tags: roland allen

Burford Priory

Went to Burford Priory (Benedictine) this morning with Gil Poole and Jim Barker. Had a great time, Nice quiet service and then lunch with Brother Stuart who is the Abbot. Very gracious man who is happy and wise and patient.We chatted for quite a while about his thoughts on nu monasticism and the emerging church. In fact, we stayed for None at 2pm and had a walk in their gardens.
Home now at Gill's place where Hubert Allen is popping over for a cuppa. His granddad was Roland Allen the "Prophet" and famous missionary.

Technorati Tags: monastery

Fusion National Weekend Today

Today I am speaking to university students at Fusion National Weekend in Oxford. Look forward to hooking up with some of you there. My seminar is called "The Skinny on Being Missional". I will be representing Church Mission Society and its 200 year history of figuring out what it means to bring missional concepts to our local context - and in this case, in the context of the university, the internet, and the neighborhood. The other seminars at the same time as mine should be avoided. Really.
And if you are interested in a short term mission overseas, come see me at the booth or check out this site.

Technorati Tags: fusion, missio dei, mission, missional

Family Blah Tonight in Oxford

It will be a small gathering tonight for families in Oxford. We will meet at 5pm in a building that is about to be the home for a new monastic community. There will be games for kids and food and wine and a really really really good looking skinny guy [me] talking about monastic rhythms and cooking and mission and business and internet. Let me know if you can make it.

Key Thoughts on Church Planting

Various leaders have responded to Martin Robinson's excellent talk this morning. Here are the highlights of their responses in which i see an immediate connection with emerging church;

Mattias Martinson (EFS Sweden):
As the Father has sent me, so I send you
- Need to be "mission-shaped" or "missional"
- Tell stories
- Be postmodern to reach postmoderns.

Emerging Generation and Church Planting

In Copenhagen. Marc and I are teaching this afternoon on emerging generation and the kinds of church movements they are starting, or not starting . . .. The event is sponsored by DAWN Scandinavia in cooperation with SALT (Scandinavian Academy of Leadership and Theology). SALT is led by Anders Michael Hansen, who is picture above kicking off the conference.

Had dinner last night with the DAWN team and their guests - Peter, the Latvian Baptist Bishop and also with the President of the Evangelical Alliance of Latvia. Nice guys.