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Evoca has had a relaunch, and is getting more and more useful for voice integration with blogs. You can now leave me voice comments, see link at top and example below.
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Revolutions Conference
I am taking a seminar at the Off-The-Map ‘Revolution’ conference, and will be a panelist responding to the plenary session speakers. I have quite a few questions I hope to get to put to George Barna.
I’ve been asked to talk in my seminar on a european perspective and how it differs and correlates with the conference theme in the USA. As I have been mulling over ideas, one I am probably going to suggest is that I don’t buy the premise of George Barna’s book. It’s one thing to statistically note there are millions of de-churched christians as a number, but I think quite another to suggest that it represents a revolution by God.
The Sticky Wicket of Sociology
It highlights the difficulties of sociology. So we can be quantitative in tracking numbers of church leavers, but when we move from the numbers to ask why, things become more murky. There are many approaches we can take, ethnographic being qualitative and getting down and inhabiting the context of people who have left and what is happening with them in their culture, the process of description. I think a large section of the emerging church blog world is an ethnographic biography in that sense. Or maybe we stay with the numbers and get less personal and map data and trends and offer empirical ideas that fit the data, and suggest explanations.
And I suppose it seems to me like the prevailing trend for analysis and explanation is to say all these people leaving is a revolution and a post-church move of God taking people from the church into mission on the world. In some places I am sure that is the case, and many of you reading this have experienced that, or seen it first hand, but I want to suggest that maybe it is also something else, a ‘migration’ rather than a revolution.
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Well after my summer orientation at Oxford, for a P.hD through the Graduate Theological Foudnation with supervision provided by Oxford University, faculty at Oxford suggested I look to transfer to a full D.Phil in Oxford, but I couldn’t meet the residency requirements. Whilst I was in Oxford I got to spend some time with Prof Andrew Walker of Kings College and he suggested I move to Kings.
So after thinking I would find it impossible to meet UK university residency requirements (I am staying in my full time pastoral role), I had my interview at Kings College London today, and have been accepted. My primary superviser will be Luke Bretherton, and secondary will be Andrew Walker.
It feels like the research opportunity of a lifetime. Whilst I enjoyed the vigor of my doctor of ministry, I am looking forward to the rigor of a P.hD. Having surfaced from my D.Min feeling on top of my game so to speak, the pre-induction reading list from my superviser (see below), has me feeling like I did on my first day at school, overwhelmed, and out of my depth. Still gives me something else to blog about for the next 6 years!
My intitial research proposal is here. I’d love feedback from any of you on the topic and suggestions for my reading.
I also need help with sponsorship and funding for the programme, more information is here
Initial Reading…
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Elusive Consumption: by Karin M. Ekstrom (Editor), Helene Brembeck (Editor)
UK – £16.14, USA – $26.95A few weeks ago I was talking over my P.hD research with Graham Cray, and he recommended this book to me. I have finally gotten around to start reading it, and have to rave about it here.
It takes a multidisciplinary approach in exploring consumerism, from neuro-linguistics, economics, social anthropology, metaphysical philosophy, semiotics etc. One of the most standout chapters for me is Chapter 2, “I shop therefore I know I am”, exploring the security and meaning consumerism provides (ontological and epistemological analysis).
If your looking for a readable and serious read on consumerism, you might enjoy this book, especially as a follow on to “The Rebel Sell”.
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You may have noticed a new link on my posts, near to the comments link in each post, that says ‘Digg This’.
If you like a post I make and think it would be great for others to read, then click the Digg This link, and people reading the Digg site will see the link and can then read the post.
From the Digg about page:
What are the benefits of using Digg?
From About Computing
For casual users, Digg is a goldmine of great stories, hard to find tutorials, practical tips, you name it. From Technology to Sports, there’s a plethora of categories to choose from. For website owners or bloggers, Digg can be your new best friend. Stories that are submitted to Digg and actually make it to the front page can cause what has become known as the “Digg Effect”, a huge influx of traffic from Digg to your site or blog. It’s a great way to invite more people to your spot on the Web.
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Back in April I recommded the Mars Hill Audio journal. I have been pestering them by email, requesting they move to MP3 downloads, as well as tape and CD. Seems lots of people have and over the summer they began a downloadable version of their resources.
From their site: “MARS HILL AUDIO is committed to assisting Christians who desire to move from thoughtless consumption of contemporary culture to a vantage point of thoughtful engagement.”
If you’re looking for something thoughful and enaging for your ipod, give them a visit, this ranks as one of the best audio resources I have ever come across. If you want a taster there is a free 30 minute monthly podcast.
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Living in sin/living in love: the both/and reality of cultural accommodating Christians?
21 Sep 2006
It seems to me that in a Christian mud throwing contest, right after the one-two of “not preaching/believing a full gospel and not believing the bible” the final knock out punch comes in the form of “you’re just accomodating/acepting/aping culture” (in its worldy christian sense not the bacterial one)… ouch the subject of christians playing dirty and punching each other out like some cross between an Old Testament prophet/ess and Mike Tyson/Sumya Anani is something for another post (ok my summary view: no one wins, not even on points, in the long run but quite a few people do get knocked out of the faith). Back to the charge of cultural accomodation which is what I want to explore a bit today – some great thoughts that I have come across recently by blind beggar, Makeesha Fisher and Conrad Gempf are well worth a read for the way they unpack this issue from different perspectives. These posts certainly have helped me engage my mind with starting to think about the question of the impact/influence that me as a Christian has on culture and the impact/influence that culture in turn has on me. And this is something I would like your help in exploring/clarifying my thinking, of which I have begun to set out below…
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Dear Church: Letters from a disillusioned Generation, by Sarah Cunningham
UK – £6.13 USA – $ 7.95Conrad Gempf sent me this book (BTW his blog is one of my all time favourites, and if you haven’t visited him please do). Just scanning it has imapcted me greatly. The first part of the book explores why so many young people are disillusioned with church. This part wasn’t new or surpring for me, but the second part was.
An exploration of not just what is wrong with church, but the unrealistic expectations of people of the church. That is not just about the church changing, but us changing too, and seeing what we do that contributes to the problem.
I wrote here once a post called What’s wrong with Christians?, acknowledging the vital need for the church to face up to how it needs to reform, but what about the Christians leaving and giving up, asking is it all the churches fault?
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I am in Zurich again, same as this time last year. I’m teaching at an international missions school, on gospel, culture and evangelism. Like last time, I am looking forward to meeting the students on this course and learning from their contexts and experiences. They are doing an intensive 15 week programme, and I am here for three days at the start of their time.
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Back in December 2004, I wrote a post ‘Where is God?’, in response the to Asian Tsunami. As church community, we spent a sunday together, lamenting, praying and giving voice to our questions, and doubts. As a community we asked what would it be like if we did more than just take up an offering. What if we as a church found one place however small to support in prayer, finance, and mission, for the long haul, to share in the rebuilding over a lifetime, and to keep the memory of what had happened alive, and see it transformed in some way.
After almost two years of research, prayer, exploration, making sure we didn’t overlap NGO’s and government aid unnecessarily, trying to find christians to parter with, and work with churches in the UK, we saw the first team from our church go to Sri Lanka last thursday.
They take with them, money (thousands of pounds from our community), skills to work on projects practically, and their shared faith, to worship, break bread, and show the body of Christ together. Thanks to modern technology we have video clips, photos and stories from the team on a daily basis.
It has been wonderful to see what God has been doing, as we have begun to learn about prayer as a community, to open our finances to more giving. One of the team said the thing he was looking forward to the most was the chance to be away for 10 days and not to be pre-oocupired with himself and his needs, like he usually is.
And we look forward to their return, and what things of the Kingdom they will have received and bring back to leaven us as a community. And we have a simple hope and aspiration that in our community, in addition to regular local community mission, people will undertake an international mission once in their lives, and each year new and different people will go to renew, strengthen and share this process.
