Becoming

When I first starting working for the Binningup church I had a few goals. One of them was to catalyse a movement of the church away from the fringes of the local community in both the minds of the members and the community itself.

Back in 2005 we published a flyer with information on the church. Yep, the thinking behind was probably a little more attractional in focus than we would like to admit now, but it included the slogan "A part of your community". This was the first outward expression of this goal. Even though the majority of the members and most of the leadership at the time had no idea how that would work.

The front of our original brochure

This week I feel like that goal has been achieved, that the church has corporately managed the move from an irrelevant institution to an active (and even proactive) member of the town.

Around 3 weeks ago the church was asked by a community group (one that in the past has been quite openly antagonistic towards the church) to organise the Australia Day Breakfast for the town. What eventuated was a coming together of 4 different community groups in a great effort to serve and raise funds for the community.

The church was joined by members of the Surf Club, the Watersports Club, the Tennis Club (and some of the Alternate[Or] Crew from Bunbury to fill a few gaps) in setting up, serving and making the breakfast happen. More than 200 people turned up and well over $1000 dollars was raised to put towards cricket practice nets and new tennis courts for the town.

The community in action at the 2009 Aussie Day BBQ

While there will always be those who will want the church to stay on the fringe, for the most part things are changing and the church is now really begining to be seen as a part of the local community, caring about many of the same things the rest of the community cares about and wanting to make a real difference in the town in positive ways.

Way back in 2005 when I first started talking about this kind of thing, someone called me an idealist. Well, maybe I am, but I think this is proof that having ideals isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Are our attitudes to alcohol killing our kids?

The West Australian Newspaper published the results of a joint study between the paper and HBF (a health insurance organisation) in WA where more than 650 people between the ages of 15 and 30 were questioned on their attitudes toward alcohol, drugs and binge drinking.

76% of those polled admitted to regularly binge drinking*.

This afternoon (after reading the survey results in the paper) I was told a 16 year old boy died on the weekend after "sculling" (rapidly consuming) a bottle of whisky on Saturday night. This boy was a part of the extended network of young people we work with through Alternat[Or] and his death has hit hard. But not hard enough to change young peoples drinking habits.

Our attitude to alcohol is killing our kids.

This is something we need to take incredibly seriously.

Through my work professionally, and informally, in working with, mentoring and diverting young people involved in problem drug and alcohol use, I have found the number one most effective way of achieving positive change is via meaningful, genuine, ongoing relationship.

I have seen many young people completely change their attitudes and behaviour to drug and alcohol use through an ongoing process of engagement and mentoring/discipleship.

Unfortunately, there are not many of us willing to invite young people into our lives, and even fewer willing to critically assess their own liberty - their own social use of drugs - and they way it impinges on the development of the next generation of Australian adults.

What are you prepared to do? What are your answers and/or experiences in dealing with the cultural of heavy drinking that exists in our society?

*Just a quick disclaimer! I'm working from memory. If this isn't the exact figure, it's pretty bloody close. I can't find the results online and don't have a copy of the paper as I read it while having a cuppa in the cafe this morning.

God's still in the hot seat on UK buses

English blogger, Chris Goan, posted this yesterday on the current atheist advertising campaign on UK buses. I posted on this back in October last year, when the campaign was first announced.

Chris draws a couple of interesting conclusions at the end of his post, including pointing out the unfortunate way aspects of Britain's evangelical right seem to be dealing with it - adding fuel to the atheist's fire in the process. Chris also links to an interesting story on the BBC website about a Christian bus driver who refused to drive the buses featuring the atheist'
s bill boards.

I wonder how long it will be before the same campaign is run somewhere in Australia? How would you react if it did run in your home town? Should Christian's hold the monopoly on use of the media for evangelistic purposes?

Picture nicked from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7832647.stm

Israel, the innocent victim?

Those with a Facebook account, check out this photo album from Michael Prysner.

Hamas are in the wrong. They should not be firing rockets into Israel or attempting to provoke war. But, Israel is so, so incredibly wrong in retaliating in the way they have. So much devastation, so many deaths. The cycle of violence and hatred is perpetuated.

I can not even begin to understand the blind, biased attitude of those who support Israel in this action. Look at these photographs and then tell me that Israel is doing God's will!

Not feeling guilty?

These videos will soon change that!



And



Thanks to Blind Beggar

New Moves in Mission

Yesterday arvo Alternate[Or] met for the first time in 2009. We are changing the way we are doing things a little this year.

Last year we met on Thursday afternoons in an office in Bunbury. This was ok, and meant that we were easily accessible to some of the younger crew we are involved with, but it also meant that, for those of us with families (which was just Lyss and I for most of the year) we couldn't all meet together regularly at the same time and with the kids.

This year we have a new family, with kids (yeah!) joining us and so we are moving things around a bit. We will now be meeting alternate Sunday afternoons in team members homes. The format is going to be similar to our Thursday arvo gatherings, but we are also going to share some tucker and incorporate communion into this.

Social Sunday's will continue every second Sunday as a purely endeavour and as a means of introducing people to our community and offering support and engagement in healthy aspects of community for those on we are invloved with, the youth and some of the families that are now starting to join us for our fortnightly BBQs.

"Action" continues to be an important part of our community and we will kick off the year in this regard on Australia Day. We have volunteered to help out Binningup Beach Christian Fellowship (where I am currently employed in a pastoral role) cook and dish out the Aussie Day breakfast for the town. Should be fun with anywhere between 150 and 250 people expected to attend!

The mentoring I've been doing for the past 18 months or so will also continue, although a number of the young blokes I have been involved with have found their feet and are working and doing ok at the moment. This will change the way this side of things operates, with less of the street work and probably more time spent socially. Although there are still a couple of guys needing ongoing support and advocacy with court cases coming up, and with alcohol and drug issues, trying to get straight and find work.

So that, I think, has most of our bases, as a Community Development/Urban Mission project covered. Here's to what should be an interesting and, hopefully, fruitful year!

New African Self Help Group Video

I've just uploaded a new mini-doc showcasing Day 4 Community Aid & Development Inc's Self Help Group networks in Rwanda.

These groups are amazing in what they achieve for their members. We are trying to replicate these networks and the sustainable business projects that have come out of our experiences with these networks elsewhere in Africa (we are currently working with a community in Bungoma, Kenya and in Kampala Uganda on similar development projects).

So, check out the video!

The future of the "established" church

I haven't posted directly on this topic for quite a while. There have been a number of reasons for this. In one sense it has all been a little too close to home. I am employed by a local church with a traditional, denominational history, and I began to see that many of my posts on this subject where just a little too close to home. I also have been trying to sort through my own convictions and the motivation behind them.

But I was asked the question again today, "what do I see as the future of the church?" And so I thought I would think "out loud" and post some of my thoughts here.

In a nutshell, I think the established church is dying. Not dead yet, but well on its way.

The main indicators of church's demise, as I see them, come from the church's role in contemporary culture - Christianity is increasingly becoming marginalised and established, traditional-denominational expressions of church now exist on the fringe of the local (and increasingly secular) community.

Community action for most churches involves marketing of religious goods and services (handing out balloons with the church's website address on it in the local shopping centre for instance) to a shrinking sympathetic demographic, in forms borrowed from and perfected by MacDonald's and Coke et al. Social action comes with press releases and self aggrandisement.

Even though all these things point towards the death of the established church in its current incarnation, I don't necessarily think the local church has to die. I think there is a hope of rebirth. But it means change. It means converting from business-inspired marketing, to Jesus inspired living. It means reconsidering leadership models and practice, it means reconsidering the role of the church and what it means to be the church in and for our world. It means understanding that being missional has very little to do with going on an overseas mission trip, planning an "outreach" event in your suburb, or participating in the next you-beaut mass media evangelistic project.

Despite the whining of some local church pastors that EMC practitioners or commentators don't have a right to comment on the local church, I think it is important to point out that most of the criticisms being leveled at the established church are coming from people with extensive experience within established, traditional-denominational, settings. They aren't people standing on the outside, looking in and pointing fingers.

But change isn't easy, and in most places is almost impossible. If the leadership isn't in the picture it's unlikely the church will adapt - those members who want to see things change will eventually leave when it simply becomes to hard to keep working within a structure in which they don't fit. If the members don't see the need to do things differently, then leadership will find it very hard to make things move. So, I think we are probably about a generation away from the large-scale demise of the local church in its current form. Those that come to grips with the changing environment and adapt accordingly will make it (it's going to be tough!), those that just keep on doing what they've always done (or at least what Hillsong or Saddleback or whatever whoever is the flavour of the month this month did!) will go the way of the dinosaur.

This isn't a simple subject (you've seen the number of books on the topic!), but it's a subject worth getting real about. This involves established churches taking a serious look at themselves and being willing to take the pruners to the dead wood while putting "history and tradition" to one side for the sake of the future. It also involves proponents of the EMC being willing to build bridges into established churches wanting to make changes, recognising the role that does exist in the neighbourhood of the future for long-established (yet significantly modified) expressions of church.

If you're wondering if you're church is really missional - check out this post from Brackish Faith and this post from newly commissioned "Senior Pastor", Hamo, at Backyard Missionary.

Christmas Spider

I found this little beauty with a brood of youngsters (several hundred) in the shed this morning. The off-white bits of fluff around it are it's egg sacks. I should have photographed it with a coin to show the size, it was about the size of an Australian 5 cent bit.

For the uniformed (or the un-Australian) it is a redback spider, probably the most venomous spider we have in WA and one of the most venomous in the world.

In its nest I also found the mummified remains of a 7 or 8 cm long 4 toed skink - left overs of a rather hearty spider meal!

We seem to have a lot of spiders around here - wolf spiders and daddy long legs are the most common. After nearly 16 years together Alyssa is finally giving up on getting me to kill or remove these little lovelies. They are great natural insecticides and help keep the mossies under control in summer.

My general rule with the redback is, if they are not around where the kids play then they get to live. Otherwise they are just too dangerous - a small one can easily kill a child of Ashleigh's age with one bite. One this size could probably even make an adult critically ill. Unfortunately I had to dispatch this one and it's babies to spiders heaven. Not worth the risk to the kids or the dog.

Anyway, from the Rigg family (and their spiders), Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Benediction

A Franciscan Benediction:

May God bless you with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger,
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

My God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their
pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness,
to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

From - http://www.toddhiestand.com/a-christmas-benediction/12/

A Christmas Thought

A few years ago, as I planned a Christmas Eve message, it struck me how we tend to want to leave Jesus, as a baby, in the manger at Christmas, and then jump forward to Easter and fix him as a thirty-something man to the cross, while forgetting about the life he lived in between these two, important, events.

Even when we describe the gospel we tend to still focus on the nativity and the crucifixion. So often I hear the gospel described in too-simple terms as the Father sending the Son to die for us. Of course, this is true, but it is not the whole truth.

Jesus did enter time and space as a baby. But he didn't stay that way. He grew into an adult and he lived a life that serves as an example to those who claim to follow him, today.

In this light then, Christmas is not so much about the "Christchild" as it is about the incarnation. About a life that was lived among humans as an example for humans of the way God intends us to live.

Instead of thinking and talking about a baby in a manger this Christmas, I am going to be concentrating on celebrating the life that was lived (the gospel in its fullness) between the manger and the cross.

Saving Christians

I finished reading Rob Bell and Don Golden's book "Jesus wants to save Christians" about a week ago. It takes, what the authors call, a new exodus perspective on the biblical story. In a nutshell this means the first exodus forms a basis for understanding the mission and ministry of Jesus - a mission that had firmly in its sights the alleviation of the suffering and the hardship of the least. Of those enslaved.

The New Exodus is one perspective, taken from the side of the weak and marginal and the God who cares about them. We're interested in the big story because that's what the Bible is—a story that unfolds across history. Who are the major characters, what's the plot, how do we take part in it? Perhaps this is why Jesus can be hard to understand. It’s hard to understand the later parts if you haven't been brought up to speed on where the story has been so far*.

I'm a fan of Rob's and read this book hot on the heels of his other new book, "Sex God", and found it drew together many of the themes concerning kingdom and gospel and the link between being the body of Christ and caring for the least in our world - in other words, social justice.

I recommend it as an easy, introductory read on what is really quite a deep subject.

Here's an interview with Rob from Relevent Magazine, in which he discusses the book. Out of Ur also posted a 2 part review of the book which you can read HERE (Pt 1.) and HERE (Pt 2).

*Bell - Online: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7569

Understanding love

Surely, exiles need to recover a more biblical understanding of the nature of Christian love for God. If loving God is not just about singing love songs, what more is involved ... Love, then, in the Christian framework, is an action. It is a verb, not a noun. To love is to do something for others, not neccessarily to feel something for them. It is to desire their spiritual growth, so that they might blossom and grow and become everything that God intended them to be in the first place. And, interestingly, this is also how we love God, by serving God's creation.

This is not to suggest that there won't be feelings attached to our love of God and others. (Exiles, Frost, M. pp. 308, 310)

Rwandan child choir to perform at UN

The message of Forgiveness coming from the mouth of babes! These young orphans and vulnerable children from the beautiful country of Rwanda in Africa between the ages of 11 to 18 years of age will delight and inspire their audiences in song, drumming and dancing! December 2008, USA – In December, a group of Rwandan children will arrive in the U.S. as young cultural and peace ambassadors to take audiences on a journey into the lives of the Rwandan people through music, dance, costumes and drumming. They are known as the MIZERO Children of Rwanda which in Kinyarwanda, the language of their home land, means "HOPE." MIZERO EPK video

While many organizations are helping Rwanda recover from the 1994 genocide, few have addressed the issue of cultural brokenness. "My vision for MIZERO is to build, bring and to spread hope to Rwandan children through our vibrant music and dance traditions. It is my goal to mentor them to help them discover the power of forgiveness as I have, to help these young ones grow up free from hatred, bitterness and the spirit of revenge. This use of the arts combined with the message of forgiveness can help these children heal their wounds from the past and put a stop to violence and any future genocide through this next generation of young leaders" says MIZERO founder and CEO, Jean Paul Samputu

The UN has declared the year 2009 as the Year of Reconciliation. Samputu and MIZERO have embarked on an impassioned 2009 schedule filled with activities that focus on 'Forgiveness as a Step to Reconciliation'. This includes the 'Forgiveness Tour', various conferences and concerts, and global conferences called 'Gathering of Forgiveness: A Step to Reconciliation'to be held in
Rwanda in February and July which will also commemorate the 15^th year of the Rwandan genocide.

This inspirational tour's highlight will be the children's performance at the UN at theGlobal South-South Development Expo, in conjunction with the Fifth United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation on Dec. 19^th http://ssc.undp.org. They have been invited to perform at the conference: Advancing Cooperation between the United Nations and World's Religion. which will take place in New York on December 16^th 2008 at UNICEF Labouisse Hall. In addition, the MIZERO children are looking forward to exchanging with children from various schools in the Greenwich, Connecticut area. They will be 'jamming' with the Djole Drum and Dance Company from South Carolina who will be making a special trip to New York City to meet with the MIZERO children. The MIZERO children will experience Christmas with the gracious hosts from Foxhill Bruderhof Community in Walden, NY.

The MIZERO foundation welcomes financial donations, donation of Christmas gifts for the children, or if you can make available a van or bus for transportation needs while in NY and the tri-state area. If your group, organization or church would like information about having the children perform at your event, anytime from December 27^th through to January 23^rd, please contact us at (438) 275-5147 or (828) 507-1848 or email us at mizerofoundation@gmail.com MIZERO Children of Rwanda believes that through music and arts, youth receive self-confidence, life skills and creative expression to help them heal and go forward. These children are sharing their gift of music and performance while raising awareness about the 1 million other orphans of Rwanda.

Congo Appeal - Every cent helps

Day 4 Community Aid & Development Inc. have just launched an appeal to raise funds for the purchase of food, blankets and clothing for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Goma, north eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

They are working in with a local church organisation recommended by Claude Nikondeha of Amahoro Africa.

The appeal is only running for a short time - the aid is required urgently so we are trying to raise as much as we can by the 15th of December.

No matter where you are in the world, you can donate online via Day 4's secure credit card gateway - http://www.day4.org.au/donate.htm.

If you are in Australia, please contact me (Andrew) via the Day 4 website and I can give you bank account details for direct deposits into our account.

If you do use the credit card gateway, please make sure you put "Congo" in the "Order or Item Number" field.

We also have flyers which I can email to you if you are willing to advocate for this appeal within your faith community, workplace or among family and friends.

Thanks in anticipation of your prayers and support.

Questions for Brian

When I first started exploring what the Emerging Church really was all about, one of the first figures I came across was Brian McLaren. He appeared as a much debated, controversial and rather enigmatic figure that I found difficult to draw any hard conclusions about.

Most of the stuff I read on the net about Brian was polarised. People seemed to love him and lift him up in an apostolic manner, or hate him; demonising him and branding him a heretic.

Since I first raised my questions on this blog about Brian almost 2 years ago to the day, I have had the opportunity to read several of his books and the privilege of meeting him and hearing him speak on several occasions. I even spent 3 days sitting next to him at a conference in Uganda last year.

Between the polemics offered by those who adore and those who demonise, I have found a man who is inspiring, unassuming and deeply committed to drawing others into a life centred on and lived out of the way of Jesus Christ.

Brian's two most recent books - Secret Message of Jesus and Everything Must Change have probably had the greatest influence on me, inspiring me to take seriously the way I live my life as a follower of Christ.

In an article published on the Christianity Today website back in September, Scott McKnight looks at some of the central themes of McLaren's work and the way in which they've influenced the emerging/emergent movement and challenged the standard, two dimensional evangelical understanding of the gospel and in particular Jesus' own emphasis on the kingdom of God.

McLaren tells us that he could only see this kingdom vision of Jesus when he came to a "place of cynically doubting much of what I had been told about Jesus." To use the words of fellow emergent thinker Peter Rollins, the Northern Irish philosopher at Ikon community, McLaren experienced the "fidelity of betrayal." He had to betray the Jesus and the gospel and the church that nurtured him to become faithful to the Jesus of this kingdom vision.

But rather than simply critique the positive aspects of McLaren's influence, he goes further and poses, what he says, are some necessary questions.

McLaren grew up among evangelicals; we'd like him to show the generosity he is known for to those who ask theological questions of him. The spirit of conversation that drives much of his own pastoral work urges each of us to answer the questions we are asked, and the Bible encourages those who ask those questions to listen patiently and to respond graciously. The lack of the latter has so far inhibited the former. This can be taken as a plea on behalf of all concerned to enter into a more robust, honest conversation.

McKnights questions for McLaren centre on his (McLaren's) theology of the cross - which, according to McKnight, is nowhere near broad enough; And the relationship between the kingdom and the church - while McLaren has dealt extensively with the kingdom, he has not gone far enough, says McKnight, in thoroughly defining the kingdom and in describing or developing an appropriate ecclesiology.

The whole things is well worth a read - McKnight gives a good overview of both the books in question as well as providing something for the fans, and detractors, of McLaren to think about. Hopefully, if he hasn't already, Brian will also respond.

Child Slavery - Still no action from the chocolate makers

Back in March I posted on an "action opportunity" a few of us from Alternate[Or] Community in Bunbury were involved in - helping raise public awareness of the child cocoa slaves in West Africa.

We ended up with around 80 letters urging action from the big chocolate manufacturers, signed by Easter shoppers at one of Bunbury's main shopping centres.

Yesterday, World Vision, which is behind the "Don't Trade Lives" campaign, released a new video on YouTube, calling the big chocolate manufacturers to get their act together and put a stop to the use of slave labour in cocoa farming in West Africa.



Mark Newnham from World Vision said yesterday; "The chocolate industry has repeatedly failed to adequately tackle labour exploitation in West African cocoa fields... bubbles of nothing. Big Chocolate, just say YES and stop using child labour in cocoa production."

You can find out more about the unconscionable actions of the chocolate manufacturers at www.donttradelives.com.au, there is also an online petition and ideas for action that can be taken to help raise awareness of slavery on "Abolish Slavery" day of action on the 2nd of December.

Doh

I've been running my little "tent making" business (doing basic software fix-ups and troubleshooting computers with problems) for around 3 weeks now. Generally it's been going well.

On average I've been getting about 2 or 3 jobs a week, which is about the level I had hoped for.

Today, though, I met my first hiccup. I was checking out a laptop computer that had been malfunctioning. I disabled the usual dozen or so nuisance start-up processes - all the software that runs unnecessarily when you first boot up your computer, slowing everything down- and did a re-start. That's where the trouble started.

The computer proceeded to log on to Windows, showing the desktop wallpaper and then, automatically, log itself off. I tried booting into Safe Mode, booting from a Windows boot disk and everything else I could think of, all to no avail.

So I fessed up. I told the customer what had happened and that I was unable to go any further with fixing the problem. As the problem I was now experiencing was similar to that experienced by the customer in the first place (the machine sporadically shutting itself down) I thought it could be related.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I now have one, extremely dissatisfied customer (fair enough too!) who has opted to take their computer elsewhere. I've spent the last two hours researching the problem on the net and think I have found an answer. I've also spent the last two hours ruminating over the fact that I think, I caused the problem in the first place!

In the end I called the customer back and told them what I thought had happened. At least that way they can pass this on to the new guy and he can, hopefully, go straight to the root of this most recent problem and rectify it. I also offered to cover whatever it costs to rectify this issue, if indeed it was I who caused it in the first place.

Sometimes I think I should have concentrated more on finding work marrying and burying people - much easier in the long term.

Christians live no differently to non-Christians

Rick Meigs has posted another challenging gem.

His claim, based on the research of the Barna Institute, is that;

Simple observation confirmed by numerous studies have found that how American Christians live and their basic beliefs about life are no different than those of the non-Christians.

He says the majority of American Christians operate out of the credo - "live your life, share your faith", but contends the missional imperative is to "live your faith, share your life".

I think the Australian church is in pretty much the same place.

You can read the whole thing HERE.

Congo Trouble

The situation in the Congo is desperate for thousands of people now flooding the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in and around the city of Goma in the north east of the country (the North Kivu region).

I have managed to make contact, through Claude Nikondeha of Amahoro Africa, with a church in Goma that is dealing directly with the thousands of people (including many children separated from their families and at the mercy of unscrupulous predators). I am currently working with my colleagues in Rwanda to find a way of getting humanitarian aid (blankets, clothing and food) accross the border into Goma and will post more details of this, and ways you can help support this effort, in the very near future.

In the meantime, and as you read the excerpts from my communication with a Congolese pastor, please continue to pray for the situation and those affected.

Dear Andrew,

Shalom from Goma. How encouraging and how good to be in the family of God's people! ... Your email is a relief in itself. It gives me joy to serve our IDPs who come desperately from the fighting areas. Praised be the name of our living and comforting God. We are fine in the Lord, my family and I. We are in the town of Goma even though the threat is big, the Lord has assured us of His presence and protection.

We are safe and serving our people in the town of Goma and around Goma. We are doing the little He enables us to do. Some times we feel discouraged, sometimes you find low spiritually when you see Innocent people, created at God's image suffer such a kind of injustice. But yours prayers have lifted us.

... since the first day, our church have been active in active ministry to the IDPs. We are collecting clothes, food for them and then our church building and schools hosted them. In the day they are outside... But with time we have been overwhelmed as the war continues to take other dimensions. For hospitality sake many are hosted in families

As a church, we are using our church medical centers to care for them when they are sick. As a church we are also involved in trauma healing and peace building especially at this time when hatred can arouse from the hurting innocent people. My church has appointed a Crisis committee at this time and I am heading the committee. We meet every day to see what is happening and what is needed to be done and where. Pray for us.

The problem we are facing is that all the supplies are becoming expensive that almost all the families are suffering the consequences because rebels have cut Goma from most of the centers we get most of the items from.The needs are as follows: Food, medecines, blankets, clothes.

As for us as a family, it is only food that we need.

But above all, pray for us, for the country, for the international community that seems for close the eye on what is happening in East Congo. The just judge will bring justice and light to this suffering. Send messages of courage and comfort. We need them

I love you even though we have never met. I also bless you. Shalom. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow

Yours in His love

More soon.