blah, London

just arrived in London for a one day conference hosted by 'blah' tomorrow.
blah is 'a series of conversations hosted by CMS on mission, worship, church and Christianity in today's rapidly changing culture.'
Tomorrow's blah is on board HMS President on the Thames. cool eh?
A guy called Bill Bolton will be leading it. the day's called: The Entrepreneur Imperative.

Bill's written a grove booklet called: 'The Entrepreneur and the Church', and I've nicked this off the back by way of explanation:

'All through scripture we can see God using the talents of entrepreneurs, not least in the rapid spread of the early church.
But the tendency of all organizations is to become fixed and settled and forget their entrepreneurial heritage, and the church is no exception.
In an age of change and uncertainty the church needs to rediscover its original dynamic by releasing the entrepreneurial talent in its midst. This is the greatest task facing the church today.'

So there you go. there might be hope...

I'll blog about how it goes when I get home.

open mics and drum circles

I legged it out of a Deanery Synod meeting half way through to get to the pub to support Dan. (who was hosting the first open mic night at a new venue.)
I reckon I'd be hard pressed to inhabit two more distant worlds in one evening.
It took me until almost last orders to make the transition into feeling like a genuine member of the world that many 'real' people inhabit.
nothing inherently wrong with deanery synod. just different...

anyway, the open mic went well, I thought - but then I'm not a musician so what do I know. (well done Dan, you did a good job!)
There was a really good turn out, lots of acts, a good vibe and a keen dude with dreads on the sound desk. all good.

I spent some time chatting to George, of recording studio fame, and we agreed to start a drum circle.
If you're in the area and up for it, get in touch.

I'd love to see us pull off a (midnight?) drumming session in the cathedral nave.
It's definitely a possibility...

creative hub?

this afternoon I hunted out Sabre Art, a gallery space in an industrial unit on the edge of Gloucester.
Dave and Jackie, who run the place, come along to the Warehouse on Monday's, so we've been getting to know them a bit.

It was inspiring to see what they've done with the space: Lots of work by local artists, and a new show opening tomorrow night.
good to know that things like this are happening in the city, even if they are thin on the ground.

I worked with a set up like this years ago, in Reading, when I finished my degree.
A small collective of artists had got hold of a town-centre building where they could have studio and exhibition space.
It was exciting being part of it for a time - an energetic community of creative people, trying to respond to life through their work and pay the bills at the same time.
The best thing is that (in Reading) it's gone from strength to strength and, after moving through other venues, they've currently got a prime site in the massive Oracle shopping centre. They run a whole bunch of workshops, kids stuff etc etc, and are a focus for artists, craftspeople, poets and dreamers for miles around.

It would be great to see Sabre Art develop along similar lines and become an established hub for creative people in the city.
Gloucester is embarking on a huge regeneration project and in many ways, it looks very similar to Reading fifteen years ago.
There is so much potential for positive growth and change in Gloucester - it really is a blank canvass - but in order for this potential to be realised, creative people have to come together to dream and work and even pray.
If there is a creative hub, it will have an impact. If there are only creative individuals, they'll be ignored and be left moaning about all the missed opportunities once the money is spent and Gloucester is awash with brand new, soul-less malls full of cheap sports shops and there's not an independent gallery, bookshop, record store or coffee place to be found.

open mic

Dan - all round good man and founding member of our community - is hosting the first of what could be a regular open mic session at a pub in the city centre.
He was approached at the night he runs at the guildhall and agreed to do this one on a 'let's see how it goes' basis.
I'm going to go along to 'help'. I can't play anything or sing, so my help may be of the more passive kind.
Anyhow, it'll be good to see how it pans out, and also to see if it opens up new possibilties for the emerging community to be something positive in the city.

the photo is a member of the band Enter Shikari, I'm not sure if they'll show up this evening, but you might want to check out their website. If you are aged between 30ish and 40ish, or just really into music, you'll dig all the references to rave culture, indie bands, punk, hardcore etc etc that these guys have cherry-picked and re-presented.

passing on the torch

church last night was a good time.
it's becoming clear that if a couple more people roll along our living room is going to look pretty tight.
a good issue to have to think about, but a serious one.

Lynne brought us this candle a while back.
When a local Anglican church was closed last year, they melted down all the candles and made new ones from the wax.
This is one of the new ones.
I find it moving to think about a light being passed from one expression of church to the next.

the crazy and insane?

I was at a Fresh Expressions forum yesterday. It's a regular thing, chaired by Bishop John, which gathers a few people interested in promoting new thinking about church locally.
Great to meet Tamsin (chaplain at the uni) and Steve (student pastor at Trinity, Cheltenham). I'm looking forward to exploring potential ways of working with students based in Gloucester.

Good also to meet Chris Neil again. Chris works for CMS in London. We chatted after the main talking had ended (why is it that so often the most useful talking happens as everyone is leaving?). Anyhow, we spoke about a few things but particularly about this:

If you are a home-based, emerging church, and you meet someone who seems interested etc etc, but you're not quite sure you feel entirely comfortable about them (they are mentally ill for example), how do you proceed wisely?
Remember, this is your home, with your kids in it.
I'm not talking about people who might be 'awkward' or 'different', This is about someone that you genuinely feel uncomfortable with but who, for their part, seems interested in becoming involved in a deeper way with your community.

I know our values involved being genuinely 'open' and existing for the 'marginalised' blah, blah. But in reality, how do you proceed?
I guess one possibilty is to keep meeting with them in the context in which you first met - i.e. the pub, and to hang back on inviting them along to home-based stuff until you have more of a sense of who they are.
Prayer is also pretty important.
Anyone out there got direct experience of this?

As a PS, it was good to be back at the Warehouse on Monday night.
If you're the praying kind, please keep praying for Carley, who works behind the bar.
She's got serious arthritis that doctors are baffled by. She's got a young daughter and is pretty young herself so aching constantly all over is a bit crap.

will the 'British Jesus followers' please stand up...

I've ripped part of a comment Andrew Jones made this week on a discussion forum because it made me smile, and then it made me think:

"...we will have to catch up another time and talk about church for
the other half [that is, the other half of British Jesus followers who
dont turn up at a worship service]"

interesting eh?

you can always go to Tesco...

I went into this independent record store in Newquay on Wednesday and bought a couple of CDs.
I queued up behind a woman who was asking the owner's advice about cleaning vinyl and I have to say, it warmed my heart to hear this guy take the time to explain a few tricks.
When it was my turn to pay, I told him how excited I was to unexpectedly find such a cool little shop. I banged on about the importance of independent ventures and how it was in such places that the soul of a town or city existed (true, wouldn't you say?), I even asked if I could come back and take a photo to post on my blog.

The guy nodded but didn't seem too enthusiastic. As I left, he mumbled something about 'the last of the independents...'

I went back two days later to take the photo and found a disturbing notice in the window.

No problem though, eh? I can always get cheap CDs in Tesco...

ha. not very funny.
we gotta support independent stuff where we find it.

Eden

whilst we were in Cornwall we re-visited the Eden Project. I was so inspired. the place is truly amazing - even better than last time!
I was struck by some of the things Eden says about itself in its brochure and couldn't help noticing parallels with things we've been saying about the emerging church:

(here are 2 examples)

'We are still young and evolving. Please celebrate with us any successes you may find and don't cringe too much if we expose our feet of clay. We believe you only make mistakes if you're really trying!'

'...we aim to create a momentum for change - positive change. There's no point spouting on about it unless you stick your head above the parapet and have a go...'

We are off to Cornwall for a week.

Family holiday.

No more blogging, e-mailing, reading theology, meetings, making phone calls etc etc until next Tuesday.

I arrived home from Glastonbury this afternoon.
what an odd place.
so, so, so many shops selling things to help you practice various aspects of folk religion.
consumer culture reigns even here...

the leadership stuff we did was good. Like I said below, it was about being an 'undefended' leader - or, leading out of who you really are. all good.
I missed my family but managed to slip into a town centre pub during saturday afternoon to watch England being smashed by the Welsh.

Just got the below in a mail to those who gathered last weekend.
During our time we looked at who and what the network is.
These notes came out of that discussion and I found the list really helpful so I thought I'd post it.

"Who are we?"
'A network of mission practitioners and communities who are restlessly
trying to follow Jesus in the midst of a changing contemporary
culture.

Open set – Want to be inclusive but that does not mean we
embrace everything. Edges but no boundaries.
Spin Free Zone
Resource sharing, gift giving.
Supportive.
Discerning more of God together.
Cultural engagement.
Questioning, risk-taking.
Helping us to be missional.
Synthesis – Bringing things together from many places.
Vulnerability'

I'm off to the Abbey House (see pic) in Glastonbury until Sunday for a curate's training weekend.
there's a guy coming to do something with us on the theme of 'the undefended leader'
sounds interesting.

I am thinking that being 'undefended' has to involve being able to laugh at yourself.

The chief rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, was on the radio this morning talking about the importance of humor.
He spoke about a friend of his who was in a concentration camp. This guy knew that if he let himself despair, even for a moment, it would all be over.
So, he decided, with a friend, to find one thing to laugh at each day.
They managed it and survived the camp.

imagine that.

Sacks went on to say that humour highlights the difference between righteousness and self-righteouness.
There's plenty of humour in righteousness because it understands itself in relation to God, but self-righteouness is given away by its lack of humour, which is a result of taking ourselves too seriously.

One of my favorite things is being around people who know how to laugh. To me, laughing with friends is when life is at it's richest - it's the time I say to God in my soul 'thanks for thinking me up, and giving me life, and bringing me to this day,
and putting me amongst these people.'

Anyway, I guess that the 'undefended' leader is someone comfortable with laughter - particularly laughter directed at themselves.

somewhere in this building is George's recording studio where we gathered last night to watch An Inconvenient Truth.
it was good fun to shift drum kits and set up the projector amongst the mic-leads and sound-absorbtion boards.

the film was challenging and, in parts, pretty shocking (as you'd expect).
it is mostly filmed in a lecture theatre, and has Al Gore presenting stats and showing images of the consequences of increasing temperatures. it deviates from the stats at points to show us images of Al's personal life - these give an insight into his motivation for raising awareness on this issue.
it struck me that personal tragedy is (ironically) a massive postive force in our world, as it seems to prompt individuals to radically reasses their lives, what's important etc etc, and to stop living in a day dream.
perhaps personal tradedy is the key motivator of altruistic behaviour?

the website is: www.climatecrisis.net

(sorry to everyone who has tried to help me weave hyperlinks into the text. it is still evading me and you must therefore type, not click.)

we're hosting a film night this evening in a recording studio in the city.
(thanks for the lend George)

we're going to watch An Inconvenient Truth, which will hopefully spark a bit of discussion.

wine, crisps and olives...
all very nice.

the location of the studio is top secret so, in recollection of the hey-day of the rave scene when the location of the party was announced by mobile phone at the last minute, we're meeting in another venue first.

if this works out, we'll do some more.

starting to talk about 'values'

Redcliffe went well. It was good to participate in the community there for the morning, and to talk about our little corner of the emerging church.
People seemed to be supportive, although I'm never quite sure that everyone understands what the 'emerging' thing is really about. (having said that, I'm not sure I totally understand it either...)
Someone suggested after my talk that I might think about a mums and toddlers group.

It's an idea.

other than that, it was a cool time.

Church in the evening was a valuable time. after eating and spending a bit of time praying (during which time the background music rolled into Air's 'Sexy Boy'), we talked long and hard about our values.

it was a really important conversation.
we usually try to avoid wrestling with loads of ideas when we gather on a wednesday evening - we're trying to be deliberate in worship etc etc , but every now and then I reckon we have to take the time we're all gathered to assess where we're at and where we want to get to.
So we came up with some values and had a think about how we can involve our children and the others we know who have children and who would like to be involved in this emerging community.

The children thing has to be well thought through.
having kids at our wednesday night thing would completely change it in a way that none of us are happy about.
BUT, we want our kids to be part of this too. And for others to get involved who have kids.
So, we thought we'd start by sorting out a one-off thing on a weekend that the kids can be part of and going from there.

We're making it up as we go. (within certain parameters obviously)

(it's true Laura!)

We're certainly experimenting.
And we're learning as we go.

meetings and presentations...
off to Redcliffe Bible college this morning to speak at their weekly 'devotions'.
I'm going to speak about what we're doing in relation to Acts 10 - where Peter realises that God is free to do a new thing.
Surprise, surprise!

and that God is at work outside the church and our understanding.

wow.

and that mission is always 'GO' - away from ourselves and towards others.

yes.

and that evangelism is a long, long, long process that involves learning and recieving as well as teaching and giving.

true.

and that the whole thing, from start to finish, is God's work.

indeed.

and then we have church this evening. we'll be thinking about the Kingdom of God. should be good.

I'm just preparing a paper on Fresh Expressions / Emerging church / what we're doing here in Gloucester.
I've been invited to speak to a room full of 'area Deans' later this morning.
If you're not familiar with the good old CofE, area deans are people who represent a 'deanery' (or gathering) of parish churches.
As the bishops are trying to encourage deans to encourage parishes to encourage Fresh Expressions, it seemed like a good idea for me to be a catalyst for a little bit of Q&A at their bash today.

not sure what I'm going to say exactly...
maybe something about Fresh Expressions seeming to have become anything at all.
I had a guy leave a message on my answer phone recently who said he ran a choir that was a Fresh Expression of church.
I might be way off here, but surely a choir is just a choir?

I stumbled across this sculpture in the forest of Dean today.
I love it because a) it's pretty random to find a flight of 'aircraft-style' steps going nowhere in particular in the middle of the woods (and finding things you don't expect makes life more interesting), and b) because from the top you get a completely different sense of the place you are in (which is always important).

The piece works on a couple of levels (literally and mentally) to help viewers look at their surroundings in new ways.
I reckon anything that makes us look at our surroundings in new ways is not only worthwhile, but crucial if we're not going to stagnate.
In the woods seeing things in new ways is fun, but in life and work and relationships, things that allow new vantage points are lifeblood and should (in my tiny opinion) be hunted out every day if possible.

Someone gave me a copy of last weekend's Telegraph because it had an article about Gloucester in it.

It said:
"Gloucester, at the end of Britain's longest river, was once an influential metropolis with a host of fine buildings. It has a Norman cathedral that was described as northern Europe's sixth most beautiful building by Sir John Betjeman... (get ready for the punch line) ...Gloucester has become a beggarly dowager in an ill-fitting tracksuit. There are not even any tourists to speak of. The city's most famous residents are the serial killer Fred West and the shoe-bomber Richard Reid. It's local newspaper has even moved its main office to neighbouring Cheltenham."

It doesn't get much worse.

Just as well then, that those of us that live here and are forming community with artists and musicians, have a vision for Gloucester becoming something a bit better.
There's a bunch of regeneration money about to be spent, but without creative people coming together and working on stuff at grass-roots levels, the spirit of the city won't change.
Dan, a founding member of our community, has just set up a web-based forum for networking creative people in the city.
It's called 'Gloucester-moves' and is already proving a worthwhile venture. It's in the vision and energy behind initiatives like this that hope for Gloucester lies. If you're in the area and want to add yourself to the network e-mail me.

having got back from the EC gathering, we decided to go along to 'Acoustica'
(Gloucester's one and only monthly live music night). Its's run by Al, who comes along to pubspace on Monday nights, and is a top quality evening.
The first two singers were OK, but the last guys - a five piece folk band - were chin-grippingly good.
They were really tight, very talented and sang great songs about love and life.
The only problem was their name:

Piefinger.

What is that about?
It sounds a bit smelly to me...

Anyway, a rose by any other name and all that.

In their penultimate song they sang a line that went something like: 'I'd have a drink with a Christian but I don't think they're allowed to drink with me.'
I took small issue with this and as soon as they were done, I took myself off to their CD stand, pint of Stella in hand, and bought their album whilst explaining that I was a Christian and I'd certainly have a drink with any of them, any time.

Dan and I got back from the 24 hour gathering yesterday. To be honest, my head is still in a bit of a spin.
Roughly 30 men and woman from across the UK who are involved in emerging communities gathered at a conference centre to share, talk, encourage and worship. I found it massively useful - it was excellent to spend some decent time hearing the stories of others involved in the same thing as us. Some are 10, or even more years in, and others have started something new in the last couple of weeks.
There were no outside speakers - it was considered that the relevant expertise was within the network itself. A good move I reckon - I guess there's a time and a place for calling in an 'expert' but this wasn't it. Who would the expert be? No one's been here before. Everyone gathered was God-focused, theologically savvy, with high levels of creative energy and a desire to see the gospel message being lived out relevantly and with integrity in our emerging culture. What else do you need?

We had sessions looking at Fresh Expressions and the Emerging Church, Leadership in the Emerging Church, and the network itself. Lots of useful stuff was said - I need time to sit in silence in a dark room on my own to absorb it all.
As ever, some of the most useful times were simply talking over meals and coffee.

Dan and I led worship on Friday morning. it was daunting but seemed to work for those gathered.
The chapel was an amazing space - as you can see from the image.

Dan and Joe and I didn't prayer-walk in the city today. Instead we met early to eat toast and pray for each other and the work we're involved in.
It was an encouraging time. Good to have such excellent companions on the journey.

After this I had an assembly at the local primary school. I love doing assemblies. Today the theme was 'hope' - a great theme for this city.
I guess I see serving the local school in this way as our emerging church serving the school.
Each member of our little community has different gifts and different areas of interest or concern (one of mine is the school). So if, by coming together, we energise and encourage each other to get stuck into the areas that we are concerned about, I think we are being and doing what God has in mind in this city.

Right now I'm working on the liturgy for an act of worship Dan and I have been asked to lead at an emerging church leader's gathering. Thirty leaders from across the UK are meeting for 24 hours from tomorrow lunchtime.
I'm looking forward to it. Should be a special time.

Dan and I are going to 'dry-run' the worship at 'church' in our home tonight. The theme is 'growth' and is divided into three areas:
1) reflecting on the Source of all growth
2) reflecting on our own spiritual growth
3) reflecting on the growth of the worshipping communities that nurture us.

I'll post about how we get on when we get back on Friday evening...

Cambridge is such a great place. I love it.
I took this picture of a guy in the market place offering free hugs. Whilst I was watching he had five takers.
Feel the love...

It was good to see Ridley (where I trained) again, but it definitely felt like time had moved on.
I did a standard 'theology for ministry' two year course and ended up doing the pioneer ministry thing because that's what came up when I was about to leave (even though that's what I was hoping would come up the whole time!).
This academic year saw the first intake of specially picked and trained pioneer ministers.

I'm yet to speak to anyone doing the training. I'm sure it's excellent, and it's certainly good that the CofE have got switched on to the need for leaders operating creatively in uncharted territory, but there are a whole raft of things to be worked out in terms of how pioneers work alongside the establishment.

In my case this is being worked out via my link with the cathedral and deanery. This link has been really important. If we are truly seeking 'mixed-economy' church, where you have both pioneers and those who operate in a more 'standard' setting, we need to ensure that there is mutual respect and genuine dialogue between the two.

no more blogging till tuesday as we're going to cambridge.
nostalgia...

We met in our home last night as usual for food and worship.
I found myself speaking about 'why' we meet together week by week.
Being deliberate about worshipping God with each other seemed the obvious answer.
Over the coming months, as we develop and evolve as a community we will find a rhythm.
Sometimes we will find the going tough or uninspiring and at other times there will be bursts of creativity and excitement.
I guess what we are doing is committing ourselves to sticking this journey out together.
There's nothing particularly special about meeting each week on a wednesday for food, worship and prayer, but it is an effort - and act of the will - on the part of each of us to create space where we can encounter God together.

last night we used some celtic liturgy. I've been thinking a lot about litugy recently.
On Tuesday I bought a book about liturgy written by my very own Bishop (Michael Perham).
I like this:

'Liturgy is that subtle blend of word, song, movement, gesture and silence that enables the people of God to worship together. Liturgy is, at a certain level, always about compromise, for it is about finding the forms that will enable people to experience something satisfying collectively.'