andygoodliff

Leadership and the Church 1.1

Maggi has responded to Kester's post on leadership and the church with her usual wisdom and Richard Sudsworth has likewise followed suit. See my post here. I'm waiting to read John Colwell's new book Promise and Presence before I write again, although I think Maggi makes a lot of sense. John has written elsewhere (with echoes of Maggi's post):

‘[t]he rise of an ‘anyone can’ culture has been accompanied by a shift of focus from a ministry of Word and sacrament towards an understanding of ministry in terms of leadership and counselling.  If a generation is abandoning the Church in droves (and it is), could it not partly be because the Church has been forgetful of what, through its ministry, it is called to deliver?’ (‘The Sacramental Nature of Ordination: An Attempt to Re-engage a
Catholic Understanding and Practice’ in Baptist Sacramentalism, 2003, 246). 

Leeds

We're in Leeds again on half-term. We paid a visit into the centre. I went looking for Wesley Owen only to find it had moved. No longer did it have its upstairs section with doctrine and theology or its downstairs bargain basement. No Wesley Owen Leeds is now only stocking that which is guarranteed to sell.

What's happening to Christian bookshops more and more is that only sell a small selection of books written by 4 or 5 authors with a particular thoelogical slant. So unless you want to be purpose-driven or left behind you won't find much.

I used to love spending 30 minutes browsing the bargain section, picking up some great books for next to nothing. Oh well, there's still Galloway & Porter in Cambridge.

eat now. understand later - or agreeing with Maggi

Maggi's blog the last few weeks has been an unmissable place to visit. Today's she has blogged again on the eucharist and children. I really like the title: eat now. understand later. The whole issue of eucharist and children has been one with being discussing as a church leadership. We've reached a good compromise (see Maggi's post on disagreement), although in all honesty I still veered to Maggi's way of thinking.  Oh to be an Anglican and have infant baptism. I'm a Baptist heretic on this one. I struggle theologically to find a place for children, especially those who grow up in the church family, in baptist ecclesiology. We can't help but exclude them or perhaps ironically de-position baptism. Theologically baptism should come prior to eucharist, but it all gets confused in baptist churches. Eucharist should be a place for anyone who wants to encounter God.

the unteachables?

Had a long day in school because of year eight parent's evening. I came home in time to watch the last episode of the channel 4 series The Unteachables. A fantastic series which looked at ways in keeping excluded - unteachable - young people in the education system. The outcome saw 9 young people get stuck into learning and enjoy being in the classroom. The secret in part was a high dose of kinaesthetic learning - active out of your seat surprising interesting activities. Watching these students discover self-confidence, manage their behaviour in ways appropriate to their personality was very moving. The series is a wake up call to the government to not just invest in education, but invest particularly in developing the kind of teachers and the kind of schools that will help our unteachable students learn. The current school system fails to educate, fails to help every student learn, because it fails to recognise their individual learning needs - you can't do it with the size of classes and the kind of teachers we have. We do not have enough kinaesthetic teachers, who base their lessons not primarily on auditory or visual learning, but in getting young people really active. Is any young person unteachable? This series suggests perhaps still yes, but many who end up excluded, and therefore considered unteachable, are not adverse to wanting to and being able to learn. We need more youthworkers and more specialist teachers in our schools. We need to allow students to learn at their own space in their own way.

theology for children

I met up for coffee with Maggi on Friday and we shared an enjoyable hour or so talking emerging church, children and other stuff. One thing she told me about was a blog she had written and posted early today called theology for seven-year-olds. It's a fantastic account of how her son has been grasping the basics of trinitarian doctrine. So often we simplify what we believe or simply avoid mentioning certain bits of belief because we think it will be too hard for the children to understand. Maggi shows, and I've also got some similar stories, that children can grasp ideas and meaning about God, beyond some adults.  We must nuture and encourage this sense of wonder to know God more. Take the opportunity to explore theology in all its wonder with the children in your church; help them get excited about who God is and what he has done and is doing. Don't simplify bible stories, but them let stand in all their complexity  and richness. Of course, has Maggi says, we will have to find different words and pictures to explain certain things.  With this is a willingness to see our children as teachers too, as those who are able to communicate the truth of God to us. (See my previous posts here and here).

Wouldn't it be great to see a generation of children who know God as Father, Son and Spirit.

Leadership and the Church

Kester at The Complex Christ has been posting some great stuff on leadership. His latest post is especially worth a read. It's important because he is one of the few people who is actually discussing the place and role of leadership in the emerging church. One of my questions of Pete Ward's Liquid Church is what does this mean for church leadership? This is some of what Kester says:

This will call for distributed leadership in which different people take a lead as their gifting requires.

Leadership is not communciation. It is facilitating communication.

Leaders have huge power-potential, but, as servants, constantly devolve and distribute it.

Leaders in the current model of church have been seen as 'do it all' people. Multi-gifted people who can preach, teach, pray, minister, pastor, lead forward, visit sick people, chair meetings, organize services, plan committes, arrange flowers, conduct weddings ... And thus have had an easy time arranging an aura of power and authority. Leaders in the new model should be seen as having one gift: the ability to facilitate other people's gifts ... And thus will be dis-interested in power.

Some of this I really like and think yes. Part of me wonders whether it is too idealistic, but then as Brueggemann might say, when we imagining some different we are giving it space to become reality. Some of this still leaves huge questions concerning where this leaves the ordained minister of word and sacrament.  I wonder whether this is something which works in emerging church because they are smaller, how would it work on a larger scale. I can give testimony that not every leader I know is interested in 'arranging an aura of power and authority'. Is this a Baptist thing, where leadership in many places (although not exclusively) is more shared among elders and deacons? And also, it is in the church meeting where decisions are made - although these can be easily manipulated.  I'm looking forward to reading John Colwell's new book Promise and Presence (out in November), which has a chapter of ministry as sacrament. I wonder also whether the language of church as organization and leader as facilitator describes the church as we should. On my mind is also the idea of leader/minister as theologian who's task is to narrate the church's story theologically (see my post here).

Elusive Peace

Tonight I watched a new BBC2 series called Elusive Peace about the peace process between Israel and Palestine. It's been in the press, because in a later episode Bush tells someone (can't remember who) that he believed God told him to invade Aghastian, Iraq and everything else. Tonight's episode was about Clinton's failed attempt to broker peace between Barak and Arafat in 1999-2000. It was really interesting hearing what was going on behind scenes and how things got close and then someone got cold feet or intervened (e.g. first Sharon and then later Chirac) to ruin chances. After Christmas I'm looking at the whole question on Jerusalem with my year 8 class. So this is good preparation.

I wonder if the title 'elusive peace' will always be true about the situation or whether things will change and peace will be achieved. I'm not sure if it does whether it will be a real peace - a reconciliation between two enemies. I do wonder if everyone took their religion - whether it is Jewish, Islamic or Chrisitan - more seriously and found a way beyond buildings, peace could be made and Jerusalem could be light to the world in how to live with difference.

How can we read Gen 4?

Last week I asked the question how do we read Gen 3. I want to continue and this week ask the question how do we read Gen 4: the story of Cain and Abel? I think Gen 1-11 is a fascinating read, especially when you read it in the light of the rest of scripture - echoes of Cain and Abel can be found through so much that comes later - Jacob and Easu, Israel and Judah. I'm looking forward to unpacking this passage later this week. I'll update the post when I do, but any comments are welcomed.

using space

What do you do when there is a lack of space? Richard Giles point at this year's Greenbelt about how the use of space reflect the kind of community we are or at least trying to be has continued to resonate with me because in our church building we don't have enough space and so how we use our space does not reflect the kind of community the church should be. We have 200 chairs all facing one direction. So unless you are on the front row all you see is the back of a head. There is no empty space, so there can be a feeling of being tightly packed in. In this situation how do you create more space? What do you do when the amount of people can appear to be a hinderance to the kind of community you want to be. It's a difficult one to think around. We've tried removing all the chairs (apart from a few). We've tried putting the chairs in a round. These have met with some success. The change in the use of space definitely reflected a different kind of community.

How can we read Gen 3?

With our young people we're working through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. We're onto Genesis 3. Has anyone got any ideas how to tackle this story in an interesting way? What can we draw out? I don't want to do the usual evangelical reading.