TallSkinnyKiwi

Graham Cray on Fresh Expressions

The subject of Fresh Expressions came up yesterday in the classroom. Cliff is a Methodist college and the Methodists have joined hands with the Anglicans in this project. We talked about the full spectrum of emerging church, with Fresh Expressions being on the more structurally conservative side - with many Fresh Expressions still having paid positions and using church buildings for services. Although even in the Fresh Expressions world, there is a lot of variety as this presentation by Graham Cray at Wycliffe will show. HT: Shane Tucker

Fresh Expressions Of Church Wycliffe

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Technorati Tags: fresh expressions, graham cray

Cliff Lectures: The Emerging Church Movement is a Sustainable Church Movement

Hey - thanks to all the students for a fun time and for being so nice. One person said it was the best lecture EVER! Thanks. I will put that on my business card . . . if I ever get one.

Heres a link to some of the emerging church stuff i was talking about - and it has quite a number of links to other people I mentioned that have tried their best to summarize the emerging church. Some doing a much better job than me because I am quite subjective and get bored easily and always want to move on to the next thing. Sorry. What was I saying? Ron and I are debriefing right now at the Devonshire Arms and we just read an old blog post of mine that weaves the Princess Bride movie with a defense of postmodernism. Thanks for turning up and asking good questions. Love to keep in touch with you and hear what you get up to in your efforts to serve what God is doing in the emerging culture. Blessings.

One thing from the talks - The emerging church movement is a sustainable church movement and as the country enters recession, as budgets tighten, and as creativity is ignited, the emerging churches have already learned to start off without a budget, without buildings, without paid professionals and can offer the wider church the gift of their experience - which means that the mission of Christ can still go forward and even thrive, despite the economic woes around us.

The Emerging Church As Best As I Remember it

Today I am speaking twice at Cliff College. My two lectures are [and yes, i changed the names]:

1. The Emerging Church, as best as I remember it
2. The Emerging Church: What were we thinking?

. . . or something like that. Should be a good day. Please say hello if you see me there. Thanks to my friend Ron Willoughby (Contemporary Christian Studies Tutor) for the invitation and for twisting arms to get me there. Emerging Church is one of the seven streams of Cliff College's postgraduate study and integrated into the undergraduate program. I love the way they describe the Cliff experience:

Being at Cliff is:
* not quite the same as being at a regular university
* different from being at other Bible Colleges
* sometimes similar to living in a monastery
It's about community, and being centred on a common goal, on seeking to live a holy life, sharing our faith and encouraging one another to be the people God wants us to be.

Technorati Tags: cliff college, emerging church

Female Christian Bloggers

I just had a peek at the top ten UK Christian female bloggers in the previous post and noticed a few things:
- half of these blogs are PINK!
- most of them deal with theology
- most are creative in the comments section - one uses French language and a few of them have hacked into the instructions for a more personal touch.
- most use the blogger platform
- most come from a conservative evangelical background.

Maggi Dawn should probably be there somewhere. Maybe next time around. Her blog is really popular and full of good content, esp. regarding worship.

A few months ago at GodBlogCon, I met La Shawn Barber who has a fantastic blog and is really one of the best female Christian bloggers I have met. She doesnt consider herself a political blogger but her blog does seem to focus on politics, at least recently. Politics in the USA is a hot topic for the blogosphere and the audience is massive - much bigger than "religion" or "theology" or "mission". Helps with the blog traffic, doesn't it La Shawn?

And there are plenty of other killer bloggers out there who are not male.
- Cynthia Ware (American) at The Digital Sanctuary rocks the blogosphere.
- Becky Garrison [also American - yeah - the Americans are finally catching up] is all over the web but never on her own page.
- Cathryn Thomas [the Texas 'pomo charismystic'] blogs at Love Fiercely. She is an absolute scream and I visit her blog a lot.
- Kerstin Hack from Berlin - everyone should know Kerstin.
- Gabi Ngaboca from Hungary has an exciting life following God and her blog reflects that. Some blogs are boring because the blogger's lives are boring. Not Gabi!
- Barbara from Portugal is an blast. She lives off-grid in a Christian community and blogs at Shantii Pilgrim. Baba recommends Lisa's blog from Tanzania.
- Wendy Cooper from Canada has been blogging as long as any other woman I know. Her husband Jordon has been a blog superstar since last century but Wendy is a great blogger in her own right.
- Rachel Cunliffe [yeah New Zealand!] is an award winning blogger and blog designer.
- Amy Chapman is a gifted writer and blogs with her crazy husband Derek at The Bearable Light.
- My wife Debbie had a well known blog on motherhood called MumJones but gave blogging a break for a few years as an attempt to reign in her husband's blogging addiction. I could probably mention a new blog that she and my four daughters have started called A Van Down By The River but then you would discover some secrets about our family plans that i have not revealed yet.

I could go on, and talk about Whitney, Bea, Jen, Kristin, Juli, Maggie, Cindy, Shannon [when she feels like blogging] and obviously, i have ignored many many more who will no doubt give me a hard time in the comments. But what about you? Which female Christian bloggers do you read?

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, christian, christianity, female christian

Top Ten UK Female Christian Bloggers

Thanks to Dave Bish again. Having reminded us that the current top 10 is all male, he figured he would highlight the top ten female Christian bloggers in the UK for November, 2008. Go check our their blogs.
1. Titus 2 Talk
2. Ros Clarke
3. Emily Woods
4. Lindsay Langdon
5. Libbie
6. Rosemary Grier
7. Carla Harding - hey - I know Carla from 24/7 Prayer
8. Jude Smith
9. Cat Hare
10. A path less followed

Technorati Tags: blog, christian, religious, religion

Hope For Europe Roundtable

HPE Roundtable starts tomorrow in Basel, Switzerland. I should really be there but am not - I am home, working on a secret project, then off to teach at Cliff College on Wednesday. My apologies. Is anyone blogging the Hope for Europe Roundtable?

Technorati Tags: hpe roundtable, hope for europe

Making Pizzas and Starting Sustainable Churches

I made pizza again last night and they turned out great. Every Friday for the last 8 years, we have made pizza.

Guess what? Somebody took a video of me in New Mexico a few years ago making pizza at the Emergent Gathering. I only just found it. Thanks Randy for uploading.
The video is basically me and my wife Debbie (with the dreads) making pizza dough, showing how to make a sauce, teaching on the yeast of the Kingdom, the theory of bud emergence, and encouraging the starting of simple sustainable churches in people's homes. I think the idea of financially SUSTAINABLE churches should be back on the agenda in the midst of financial hardship. Emerging churches need to thrive in homes and not become too dependent on the restaurants and coffee shops for church events in case they exclude the poor and those with families who cant afford the menu.

We fed 100 people that day with very little cost, and lots of fun. It took about 5 ovens and we had to leave the dough on top of cars outside for the sun to rise it. You will also notice my mullet was only a month from perfection.

Technorati Tags: pizza

Pete Rollins and The Fidelity of Betrayal

My Irish mate Pete Rollins is doing a USA tour right now. Pete is an original and provocative thinker and you won't be disappointed if you go out to hear him speak. He was one of the favorites at Greenbelt this year. There are moments when he sees things from a completely unique perspective and comes up with unpredictably brilliant thoughts. And there are other times when his occasionally predictable subverting of phrases reminds me of The Sphinx from Mystery Men.

Pete's first book was called How (Not) To Speak of God. I reviewed it and loved it so much that I went over to Belfast and crashed at Pete's house for a few days and let Pete feed me and talk about his book. While I was there, I photographed parts of his extensive library so we could all see the books that inspired him - mainly philosophy and phenomenology and books by obscure French people. Photos are here.

More recently, Pete published an excellent book called The Fidelity of Betrayal. Its really good. Its NOT a book that explores postmodern thinking about faith. Thank God - we have far too many of them already. Instead, its a book about faith written by a postmodern thinker and that makes it worth reading.

Anyway, download a sample of the book and check it out yourself. I don't believe that everyone should write a book. These days there are FAR TOO MANY LAME AND INSIPID BOOKS coming out every month, especially from the Christian publishing world. But Pete should write. And Pete should keep on writing. One day soon he will write a masterpeice and when he does, I will remind you that I predicted it here. But in the meantime, go and hear him speak. And don't make fun of his height.

Technorati Tags: pete rollins

Missional Primer

A Primer on Today's Missional Church. Wondering what all the fuss is about with this word "missional"? No, I didn't think so . . . but if you were, JR Woodward has uploaded a whopper post with a gizillion links to all things missional. Worth a link and perhaps a bookmark.

My posts on the subject, none worthy of making JR's list but worth reading anyway, include "What I mean when I say "emerging-missional church", "Whatever and Missio Dei", and "Missional Synchroblog: The Skinny on Missional" which traces the history of the word back to 1883.

Technorati Tags: mission, missional

USA Election: Shaking Up The Church

My wife is the only member of our household voting today in the USA election and she sent her absentee vote in a long time ago. And NO, she is not saying which way she voted. All our kids are too young to vote and I am only a resident alien and cannot therefore cast my lot. But this election has been quite an interesting one for me to watch, especially in relation to the American church. The question of having an African American in the white house has not been a big deal. At least it shouldn't be in church circles. But there have been two other scenarios that brought some food for thought:

Firstly, would an evangelical vote for a Mormon?
[No longer relevant but interesting when it was an issue]

Secondly, would a non-charismatic evangelical vote for a charismatic?
And what does that say about them?

All good stuff. The church needs a shake up every once in a while.

Technorati Tags: election