andygoodliff

More than entertainers?

Are church youth workers merely entertainers, who dazzle their young people with good effects and simple messages? Is the goal of youth work to hold on to young people at whatever cost? Do we plumb the depths of Christianity with young people or keep them paddling in safe waters? Do we challenge their thinking or lifestyle or do we try and copy them to stay in touch? In short, do we entertain or do we disciple? Probably we do a bit of both, but so often youth work seems to be about the entertainment rather than discipleship.

I was congratulated last week on getting one of the groups of young people I work with to join in the church prayer week. The real story is I didn't tell them why we were going to the church until we were at the doors. Now many of them actually engaged with the prayer time, but I had dazzled them with words (and a bbq beforehand). This seems the perfect example of entertainment with a little discipleship thrown in on the side.

I was watching Spirituality Shopper on Monday night and was struck by the Muslim inman, who was claiming that 'Islam is life', that for a Muslim there was no sacred/secular divide. Now as Christians we claim the same thing theologically, but so often in practice we seem to encourage that sacred/secular divide; to split life in two - wednesdays are the fun social nights and sunday mornings is the time for discipleship.

I want to discovers approaches to youth work that take discipleship more seriously, that actually provide young people with the tools to plumb the depths of Christianity. To question theology - whether it be theirs, their parents or the church's. To see the effects of Christian belief on lifestyle, that some things are ruled out, because to be in Christ is to not be in sin.  With this of course, our young people will bring a challenge to the wider church, who so often practise shallow Christianity.  I think in part its about giving young people  the alternative practices which enable them to recognise that following Jesus implies transformation. Our job as youth workers is to help young people narrate their lives theologically, that is, in the context of God's story. Perhaps also this means stronger leadership,  which does not allow the philosophy of the age to go unchallenged. Are we too accepting? Are we simply accompanying young people on their spiritual journey, or are we leading them somewhere? How can we discover that balance between authority and freedom - the question Paul is facing in 1 Corinthians. Behind all this, are Paul's letters, especially 1 Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians, where Paul takes no prisoners. Are Paul's letters a good model for how we do youth work or do we live in a different age and culture, which means we cannot be as strong-minded. (If you haven't noticed I am thinking out loud and allowing my train of thought to wander!)

Gunton (viii) on The One, the Three and the Many

The One, the Three and the Many is arguably Gunton's most important book. It's perceptive and theological analysis of the ills of modernity and its suggested response found in doctrines of the Trinity and Creation is brilliantly argued. Its a book I've revisited many times over the last few years to listen to its wisdom and richness of thought.

It is a book of two halves. The first four chapters each 'take a sounding in different aspects of the ideology and practice of modernity', which enable or provide the 'framework for the second and constructive phase of the project' (4).  The shape of the book is 'chiastic, because the reconstruction takes its orientation from the final chapter of the first part' (5) and so on.

PART ONE     THE DISPLACEMENT OF GOD
I     From Heraclitus to havel. The problem of the one and the many in modern life and thought
2    The disappearing other. The problem of the particular in modern life and thought
3    A plea for the present. The problem of relatedness in modern life and thought
4    The rootless will. The problem of meaning and truth in modern life and thought

PART TWO    RETHINKING CREATEDNESS
5    The universal and the particular. Towards a theology of meaning and truth
6    'Through whom and in whom ...' Towards a theology of relatedness
7    The Lord who is the Spirit. Towards a theology of the particular
8    The triune Lord. Towards a theology of the one and the many

This book is hard to summarize because it's argument is densely described, although with great clarity of expression. What I'm trying to say is it is difficult to do it justice - in other words get a copy and read it.  A short attempt at summary would say that modernity is a reaction against Christianity - partly because Christian theologians failed to articulate a properly trinitarian doctrine of God and doctrine of creation - and has resulted in the disengagement from, and displacement of, God, the destruction of the particular in favour of homogeneity, a loss of time which is ultimately alienating and disruptive to our humanity, and lastly a loss of meaning and truth - resulting in fragmentation (this is postmodernism, what Gunton defines as 'modernity come home to roost', 124).

In face of modernity Gunton argues for a rehabiliation and reinvoigoration of the concept of truth, that avoids the foundationalism of modernity and also non-foundationalism, and instead favours 'non-foundationalist foundations: to find moments of truth in both of the contentions, namely that particularity and universality each have their place in a reasoned approach to truth' (134). This is to be found in the rediscovery of 'transcendentals' (defined as 'those notions which we may suppose to embody "the necessary notes of being" ... which have their being in the fact that God has created the world in such a way that it bears the marks of its maker', 136) and how they 'emerge from the doctrine of the Trinity' (149). The transcendentals that Gunton suggests, trinitarianly developed, are three: perichoresis, substantiality, and  relationality. Perichoresis 'offers a way of articulating the oneness of things without derogating from their plurality' (212). Perichoresis 'envisages close relatedness' but not to 'the detriment of particularity' (169), so 'everything in the universe is what it is by virtue of its relatedness to everything else' (172).  Perichoresis thus is the antithesis of homogeneity.  Substantiality helps us give due weight to the status of particulars.  That is, Gunton claims, 'everyone and everthing is what it uniquely is as a hypostatic being; as we are often told, no two blades of grass are alike' (203). This is about holding on to the many without being consumed by the one. Substantiality, that is developed from the doctrine of the Trinity, offers a way of speaking of particulars relationally: 'people and things ... are [..] to be understood as substantial beings, having their own distinct and particular existence, by virtue of and not in face of their relationality to the other' (193-194). Finally relationality speaks of our 'free relation-in-otherness' (229), by which Gunton means, as God is, we are 'beings-in-relation'.

I say again this is a book well worth reading. You can find a review of the book here.

Books, books, books

Jason @ gowerstreet has tagged me (here) about books. I should be marking books! I'm sure I did something similar to this a while back, but it's a bit of fun.

How many books do you own? More than 100 less than a 1000, but it grows at a rate of about a book a month (much to my wife's despair!)

Last book I bought? The Quest for Paul's Gospel by Douglas Campbell - ever since I studied Paul with Douglas at King's I've been fascinated by the letters of Paul. Other recent purchases have been Atonement for a Sinless Society by Alan Mann; Scripture and the Authority of God by N.T. Wright; Theology of the Old Testament by Walter Brueggemann (in hardback in the bargin section of Blackwells of Oxford!); and Worshipping Trinity by Robin Parry.

Last book I read? Well all of the above have been nearly completed. I tend to buy books, skim read them for the really good bits and then will revisit them over the next few months in more depth. I also re-read Duncton Wood and sequels by William Horwood.

Which books that mean a lot to me? Too many to name, some perhaps obvious to those who regularly read my blog:

1) The One, the Three and the Many - Colin Gunton (Colin at his very best, see also almost anything he's written)
2) Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics - Samuel Wells (this is a recent book I read, but it was so good, see also anything by Stanley Hauerwas. My theology was forever changed when I started reading Hauerwas last year)
3) Living the Christian Story - John Colwell (I'm not sure how well known this book is, but it was very important to my devleoping interest and recognition of the importance of ethics to theology)
4) Jesus and the Victory of God - N.T. Wright (this book sat on my shelf for about a year, when I finally started dipping into it, I discovered the gospels in a fresh way)
5) The Quest for Paul's Gospel - Douglas Campbell (this book is important because it contains all the essays I read while at King's, which allowed me to discover how to read the letters of Paul)

Some other great books:
Anything by Walter Brueggemann; Mass Culture, ed. Pete Ward; Evangelicals in Exile by Alistair Ross; Being as Communion by John Zizioulas; anything by Richard B. Hays; and Holy Scripture by John Webster

Fiction: I enjoy the novels of Nick Hornby, Philip Pullman, John Le Carre, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Sebastian Faulks, Douglas Coupland, John O'Farrell, and William Horwood.

Becoming Like Your Dad

I've realised I'm becoming like my dad more and more. (I'm not sure he will appreciate the picture or not).  He was a secondary school teacher - I'm teacher-in-training. He's studied theology at King's - so have I. He works for the church - so do I. He likes driving (pretty fast) - so do I. Theologically we're not far off from each other, although, at least recently, I spend more time reading. The past year has seen me get very familiar with the work of Tom Wright, Walter Brueggemann and Stanley Hauerwas - having said that, his library is bigger than mine. The place I think where we've ost grown closer is ecclesiologically. Although my dad works for the Baptist Union, he was brought up in an Anglican church in Patcham, Brighton and parts of the anglican tradition are still important to him, perhaps mostly in their approach to the eucharist and their liturgy. Baptists have never been as strong liturgically, which I'm learning is only to our detriment.  The last few years have seen me become more anglican and in some areas gone beyond the usual boundaries of baptist theology and belief - I think there is an argument for infant baptism, or at least I want to be more open to those who take a different journey. I also would love to be in a church that follows the lectionary and celebrates the church calendar, this would only nuture a different rhythm and timing to life.  I'm a baptist with some anglican leanings.  It does seem to me that there needs to be a lot more openness to different church traditions at a more grassroots level. At a national level the different denominations get together and right reports on this and that, but there often seems to be a wariness about losing one's identity.  This is not suggest I'm adovocating an ecumenism that avoids the issues of baptism, eucharist, church government, etc - this would only take us away from what makes us Christian.

At Odds With Discipleship

Were Christian young people and youth groups more Christian in previous generations? Did they know more about what it means to be a Christian disciple? Does the more lax atmosphere that is present in most youth groups today undermine Christian distinctiveness? Was it better when alcohol was frowned upon? When was the cinema was considered too worldly? When the last thing you did was play football or go shopping on a Sunday? Has Christian discipleship become harder today and if so what can we do about it?

A lot of questions I know. They arise out of a conversation I had with some of the young people I have the joy of working with about computer games. I believe that nearly all popular computer games are too violent - at the extreme see Grand Theft Auto - and they are at odds with discipleship. That is the playing of violent computer games and being a Christian are antithetical. Now my young people didn't see the problem - 'they're just games' was the reply I received many times. It's just something to do, it has no effect on our thinking or behaviour. As you might guess, I'm not so sure. In a world which is pervaded by violent images and violence everywhere - between countries, in classrooms, in homes, on the big screen and the small screen - violence becomes normative or at least not something we can avoid.

Stanley Hauerwas writes, 'Have you ever known anyone, yourself included, who would rush out to see a movie or a play about peace? We say we want peace, but in fact we know we love conflict and even war ... on the whole peace just does not seem very interesting to most people ... We simply have to admit that for most of us peace is boring' (Christian Existence Today, 90-91)

In other words, violence is an escape from boredom and computer games are an escape from boredom.  We live in a society that is afraid of being bored. So we spend our spare time, trying to kill others - whether it be the enemy, or in the case of Grand Theft Auto a policeman or bystander. How do we disciple Christian young people who enjoy playing violent video games and violent films? - 'the fight scenes were rubbish/brilliant' is a common comment we hear.  How do we confront this enjoyment of violence? Does it matter? Is it okay, that is, is it at odds with discipleship? How can we avoid the divorce of what we believe from how we act?

A lot of questions without too many answers. Any thoughts out there?

The Usefulness of the Lectionary

Chris Erdman has written a good post on the usefulness of the Christian calender and lectionary for forming missionary congregations. He writes,

To preach through whole books of the Bible while ignoring the way those who are listening are still being powerfully and unwittingly shaped by the time narratives (calendars) of the nonchristian or pseudo-Christian world may well be a dangerous blindspot in today's church . . .

Catechesis, forming congregations according to Jesus Christ, requires (especially in this post-Christian, postmodern setting) particular attention to all the ways we can immerse the disciple-community in the Story. Practicing the Christian Year seems to me to be a pretty powerful way not only to reclaim our sacred texts, but also to form a genuinely alternative community. There are very few disciples, who when asked when the Christian Year begins, will answer, "Somewhere around the end of November." The fact that most will say, "September" or "January 1" is clear evidence that there is another, and very powerful, narrative at work among our people that forms them in ways alternative to the gospel.

Click here for full post.

The Quest for Paul's Gospel: A Suggested Strategy

The Quest for Paul's Gospel is a new book of essays by Douglas Campbell, my Paul teacher from King's (Douglas is now at Duke).  The describes Campbell's own description of Paul's gospel, which is snappily titled PPME (Pneumatologically Participatory Martyrological Eschatology) and the reasons why he rejects the Justification by Faith (JF) model and Salvation Historical (SH) model.  This is an important contribution to Pauline scholarship and the church in general.

The book includes chapters on PPME, the place of Judaism, the problems of the JF model, the meaning of that contested word 'faith', the interpretation of faith in Gal 3 and Campbell's rereading of Rom 1:18-3:20.

Campbell writes 'Paul is a critical theatre of operations for the Christian and the church. He is an area, as the genuine strategists would say, of "vital interest". To lose him is potentially to lose everything' (p.3).  In other words, if we get Paul wrong, we get most of our theology wrong.

I am going to be interested in Tom Wright and Campbell interact. Wright's description of Paul's gospel is not I think ultimately vastly different from Campbell, however, Wright prior commitment to a salvation history model means I think he mis-reads passages like Romans 3-8 as relating to the Exodus. Whereas Campbell argues we must 'resist the SH approach as a fully fledged model of soteriology', he does claim that 'many of the central concerns of the SH model can be assimilated within the PPME model' (p.51).

Father, Son & Holy Spirit: Reflections

Yesterday was a busy day with "youth worship" in the morning and then the service in the evening. The morning was brilliant the children and young people created some amazing pieces of artwork. See photo album for a few examples. It was great to see them being creative (and incidently also theological!).

The evening service went well, although the numbers were slightly disappointing. This is what we did:

WELCOME
READING: 3’s the magic number (by Steve Collins, put to music by Steve Goodliff)

1. LED BY THE SPIRIT
HYMN: Spirit we love you
REFLECTION: The Spirit in Scripture - this was walkabout tour through references to the Spirit in scripture, we also displayed the children and young people's work from the morning.

2. JOINING WITH THE SON
Hymn: Jesus we love you
REFLECTION: “In Jesus name” (something I wrote, Download in_jesus_name.doc) 
READINGS:  Eph 1:3-14, 2:4-22 - I choose this reading because of Paul's abundant christos language
HYMN: O Jesus Son of God

3. COMING TO THE FATHER
HYMN: Father we love you
READING John 1:18, 5:19b-20a; 14:6b-7a, 9b-10; 1 John 4:13-16
HYMN: Father, Father

4. TABLE WORSHIP
Credo (this was borrowed via Jonny Baker from the recent home service)
As we read together this prayer and share bread and wine with one another, let us be mindful that we worship and pray to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.
Prayer D from Common Worship
Communion
HYMN: Come let us sing

5. GRACE

Towards Becoming a Creative Church

creative adj 1 inventive and imaginative 2 creating or able to create

Recently I've been painting big pictures in my head on what it would like to see the children and young people of Bunyan Baptist be encouraged to be creative and expressive in their faith; to locate God’s story in their own medium and language. So much of children and youth work is leader-led, the children are constantly on the receiving end. I want to see “craft activities” that are child-led and meaningful - a space for them to create and not the regular "paint-by-numbers" stuff. ‘Too often activities that are labelled as creative … are about filling time, learning a set of techniques or decoration rather than being truly creative, intellectual activities. Pre-printed, adult-directed and mass-produced art work does not lead to creativity. The images that children create using these methods are not their own’ (Duffy, 1998).  Back at Easter the art work produced by some of my young people was so fantastic and powerful. It was something more powerful (or perhaps just different) than the medium of words or music.

John De Gruchy,a South African theologian, says 'there is an urgent need for the visual arts to find their rightful place within the life and witness of the church.'   I like that. We need a theology of art (see the work of Jeremy Begbie and his gang at the divinity school at St. Andrew's for more). We need “art” which is appreciated and welcomed by the whole church. Another quote says this:

“In opposition to the many destructive images that surround us, art, like theology, may yet offer something different, something life-giving and life-affirming, a critical view of our existence, a call to change, a glimmer of hope, an anticipation of what may be and could be” (Gesa E. Thiessen)

Creative arts which encourage and give expression to a Christian imagination which enable our children and young people to build vision and virtue outside that which is given them.

Pete Ward says 'Where artistic creations are to be used in worship the desire is that God will become present to the whole community through them' (Youth Work and the Mission of God).

This post represents some sketchy theological theory of something I want to read up on more and develop at a greater depth.

Father, Son & Holy Spirit

I'm busy putting together (with the help of Hannah) two services for sunday. In the morning I'm doing our first youth worship at bunyan - getting every child and young person aged 3-18 together! We're going to do a creative worship time on God: Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The idea is to get them writing, painting, dancing, singing trinitarianly.  I'm hoping Irenaeus concept of God's 'two hands' - the Son and the Spirit - will be helpful and songs like 'He's got the whole world in his hands' will take on new meaning.

In the evening I'm planning a service 4-part service on the trinity: 1. Led by the Spirit; 2. Joining with the Son; 3. Coming to the Father; and climaxing with 4. Table Worship (in other words communion). A mixture of readings, music and reflections. (I've been helped by reading Worshipping Trinity by Robin Parry and Jonny Baker's worship trick 27 [second series]).

I'll blog on monday on how it all goes and what we did.