James Henley

Lent

Was thinking today about maybe giving up meat for Lent... seems like something that I tend to rely on / take for granted quite a lot. Hmm...

Used to be quite skeptical of the whole "giving up stuff for Lent" thing - was of the opinion that it was about where your heart was, and that giving stuff up didn't matter as long as you "took up" God... but then the realisation came on me that actually it's a spiritual discipline, and so the symbolic, physical process of giving something up as part of "turning towards God" for Lent is actually quite cool.

Plus, I think that going veggie is actually a historic, sustainable way of fasting?

The relational missional event

Thinking a lot at the moment about our Lab event, Explosion, and what direction we should take it this year. Think that the format of the event should change, and hopefully the name too as we launch something fresh. Working with an established family church, Bethel, will a large student group so there's also an element of finding something that works for both of us. Trying to stay positive and flexible, and not be too stubborn with what I want (which is difficult as it seems to be a family trait on both sides of my family ;-).

Anyway, so it got me thinking about how an "evangelistic" or missional event fits in and works with my extremely relational approach to church. How can we create an event which invites people to join in community, to interact, to belong - rather than one which just "sells" the gospel?

This means we need to go right back and look at our whole approach and philosophy towards mission and evangelism...

• If we want to give out tickets into heaven - then we plan an event which is punchy and flashy. We plan a sales pitch.

• If we want people to come to a place of believing what we believe - then we plan out a concise way of presenting our beliefs. We present our proofs, our reasoning for those beliefs.

• If we want people to change their opinions of the church and Christianity, if we want them to think Christianity is cool - then we come up with an event with dumbs down the elements of church which are perceived as "uncool" and plays up the good stuff. We market our Christianity to a consumer generation - but we run the risk of producing consumer Christians.

On the other hand...

• If our longing is to build relationships, if the loving the person is more important than what they believe - then our events will be based around conversation and interaction. They will be opportunities for relationships to grow.

• If we long to enable people to belong, then we create events which are inclusive, rather than elite ("are you a Christian yet?") and where the conversation is in two directions. Why should we force people to listen to what we believe, if we have no interest in what they actually think and believe themselves?

• If our aim is to enable people in their own spiritual growth, rather than to educate them in our way of thinking - then the events we run will be build around helpful interaction and discussion. They will be about asking the right questions to provoke people to think - rather than presenting what we think are the right answers without allowing an opportunity for discussion.

Phew, that felt a little like a mind-dump - me trying to clear up my own thoughts a little, but hopefully it's useful.

Church: Networks and Hubs

Was browsing my del.icio.us, and was reminded of this slide show on Urban Church by Steve Collins.

I guess this is really the way I see the Lab working - more than a service or a slightly edgy way of worshipping, but as a network of relationships. And I long for those relationships to just stretch out across the town centre - into different friendship groups - students, young adults - and into even the most unexpected places like the Newport covered market.

And so I guess we would then at the moment have these three "hubs" which are focus points and bases of operations - St Pauls, the Pen & Wig, and the university campus.

So next year with our community house project hopefully there will be another Hub - not so much a "place of worship" in the conventional sense, but more a place for relationships to grow, for connections to be made, and for the network to expand and multiply.

I love this idea of Hub-based church - I just have this dream of a church building which isn't a huge theatre or empty hall - but like a Cafe with sofas and comfy chairs and stuff, and is open all day just for people to hang out... awesome... gives me a fuzzy feeling inside... :-)

Laserzzz

Had an awesome time Quasar-ing last night to celebrate Priya's birthday. It was insane - best thing ever. Above is Mr Matt Way, the new Newport CU President, in the midst of a firefight looking very cool.

Facilitators and leaders

On Saturday, Charlie (Justin's brother) led a worship workshop for the musical guys in St Pauls and The Lab which went pretty well I think. What got me thinking was a discussion at one point about the role "worship leader", when someone suggested the term "worship facilitator" would be a better one - which raised all the usual questions along those lines about leadership and authority.

The whole "facilitator" vs "leader" thing was something that came up before in a Lab team meeting last week when we talked about it a little - and so this concept of a "facilitator" is something I'd thought a little about and then today suddenly went into a kind-of reflective overdrive after that short discussion.

So, in trying to pursue the role of a new kind of church leader whose mission is to grow a more organic church community should we be looking to through out the term leader altogether and use a less forceful term like "facilitator"?

I 've talked a little before about how I believe a new breed of leader needs to be much more about pursuing conversation, rather than trying to maintain control - so this concept of a facilitator is really important - but that doesn't necessarily mean that in order to pursue this we have to give up a leadership role altogether.

I believe that there will always be some people called to give the majority of their time to serving the community of God. People who have the time to do all the admin work, and to sit in meetings and talk about future and direction - that leadership role will probably always be a part of church and of the way the world works. But the nature of that role I think needs to change and is changing from providing direction and managing, to provoking conversation, listening and facilitating.

So the role of a facilitator is a vital part of what the leader should be doing - but does not limit him/herself to that single role in itself.

As "leaders", we need to be friends - brothers and sisters to those we are serving, counsellors to an extent, discussion provokers and facilitators, challengers, subverters, and also guides. The difference between this and a conventional concept of a leader is that this kind of leader will be about constantly trying to discern through conversation with the whole community the direction they should take next and then be about guiding the process of bringing that into action - instead of choosing a direction and pulling the church after us in that direction.

So at leadership meetings and in the Lab, I try to facilitate rather than to lead in the conventional sense - to draw out common goals and aims, and to ask difficult questions and test ideas - and to play devil's advocate when needed, even if the idea I am criticizing is one I'm fully behind.

The Sacrificial God - Guest blog on Sunday Papers

http://www.sundaypapers.org.uk/?p=428

Richard Passmore, one of my CYM tutors, asked me to do put some thoughts down as a guest post on his blog, Sunday Papers, after an interesting discussion about universalism over lunch.

It's quite edgy stuff, but I'm convinced that they are important questions that we need to be asking as the people of God ;-)

The post is here. You can join the discussion with your own thoughts by adding a comment on Richard's site.

The Revolution of God 3: Depth

Felt like it was about time to get another post done in this little experiment to try a blog series - been a little quiet over the last week trying to get to grips again with the Lab and college and everything, but I think everything is beginning to sort itself out now.

The aim was to reflect a little on some of the values that should be represented by the Kingdom of God, using Brian McLaren's imagery of a revolution. So following on from contrasting Brokenness in my first post and, last time, Wholeness, this time I wanted to think about Depth.

Authenticity, being real and being genuine is something that I've been reflecting on a lot recently, and a little on the blog. So, for this post, I wanted to come at it from a different angle and try and explore the whole concept in terms of depth.

We seem to live in a bizarre world which on one hand is pursuing something deep and meaningful, but at the same time strangely embraces shallowness. And so we hold up this ideal of pursuing the deepness of relationship and existence, but at the same time are obsessed with paddling around in the shallows. We find ourselves struggling on one hand between the genuine and genuine reliability - and all the shallow images of perfect looking men and women, and Western consumerism.

And so this God revolution needs to pursue the hidden depths. We need to pursue depth in the world around us - to be committed to looking not just at the obvious but also below the surface. We need to pursue deep, real relationships with the people around us - relationships which are without agenda. And we need to allow others to see our hidden depths and not to hide them below the surface of what we want people to see.

Having a depth that stands up to examination doesn't mean being perfect. It means being real - and to move away from the shame that stops us from revealing what lies within. It's about being open - and allowing ourselves to be accountable.

Hope that makes some sense...

Prayer Stations on Authentic Community

Here's the stuff I used last Sunday at the Lab for the Introduction to our Authentic Community series. Used four different prayer/worship/reflection stations based on the directions I see a community should/could be looking in: inwards, outwards, upwards and downwards.

Overview of some of my little speaky bit and what each direction means to me is here on the Lab website.

Outwards
Needed: Candles/tealights and lighter/matches.

“In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it."

Take a moment to read this passage, and then—if you want to commit to shining your own light, then light a candle of your own as a symbol of your commitment.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Inwards
Needed: Some mask outlines on paper, and a paper shredder (this is really cool!) or bin to get rid of them in.

“There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.”

Think for a moment about any barriers you might put up to stop yourself being vulnerable - or to make yourself look good to others. Draw or write them onto the mask outline—and then when you are finished, dispose of it.

Lord, help me to let others see me as You see me, and help them to love me despite my weaknesses.

Upwards
Needed: Laptop/PC with the words to Psalm 66 in a word processing program.

Rewrite a couple of the verses from Psalm 66 on the computer. Think about how you could make them personal to you and to us.

Downwards
Needed: MegaBlocks or Lego or something...

What role do you think you fulfil in the group? What skills and gifts do you have that you could bring?

Take a moment to think about the gifts that you have and whether you are sharing them with others—and whether you would like to.

Place a building block in the wall as a symbol of your commitment to be part of the rest of the group.

There we go...

Abolishing the Blasphemy Laws

http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/002847.html

When was the last time the blasphemy laws were even used anyway?

The Art of Language

This came up on my RSS reader - made me think of a discussion we had in our Lab team meeting last night about language.

Last night, we were talking specifically about financial giving, but this idea of language is something that I've been talking about for a while to the couple of people who'd listen. I encountered the concept first in one of Dan Kimball's books about the Emerging Church.

Kimball talked about how our language of church will go on to define our attitudes towards church, and so as church leaders the way we speak about church will go a long way to determine how our congregation views it. So, if we consistantly talk about church as a thing that happens, if we talk about services which people come to enjoy and consume - then this attitude will spill over into the attitudes of our church members. On the other hand, if we talk about church as a community, as something we are all a part of and contribute to, as a network of relationships rather than in terms of service provision, then that positive attitude to church should spill over into our congregations (or I should really say church communities).

Perhaps this explains a little about the place Willow Creek now find themselves in - church as a programme of activities rather than a community.

In terms of the Lab, I think that our change in language has been at least part of the reason for our increased sense of belonging and community. I won't get all philosophical and psychological, but language is really the "verbal filter" or "verbal lens" through which we experience the world - surely the language we surround ourselves with must affect our worldview and our perceptions.

So our challenge with the Lab is now to let our "community language" settle and to consolidate it, and now to really think about bringing giving into our vocabulary - especially in the language of our worship. We need to bring giving out from the locked filing cabinet where we keep all the utility bills and other things we don't especially like and reconnect it with our worship vocabulary.

So if you hear us talking about giving a lot at the Lab this term then you know the reasoning behind it ;-) We need to bring it back from just a way of paying the bills to its rightful place in the context of our worship as a community and as a church. Hope that made sense.