Archive for May, 2005
Friday, May 20th, 2005
I’ve spent the last two days at a Mission Advisory Forum for the Uniting Church in Australia Queensland Synod. We hold it four times a year. It’s a chance for Presbytery ministers, mission consultants (like myself), Agency Mission Directors (Health etc.) and Moderator to get together and work through how we lead the Church into a mission paradigm. Some of our conversation goes round in circles. But occasionally we get somewhere.
These last two days we’ve been looking at growth and change areas in Queensland, looking at Frost and Hirsch’s The Shaping of Things to Come.
Today we worked through the Synod Leadership Team’s Draft Strategic Vision. It’s been a work in progress, leading on from previous work on re-imagining the church of the future. This document is basically outlining a framework in which we can invest resources and time in fresh missional initiatives. I’ve heard a bit of cynicism from the front lines. But what they don’t know is that this is leading us to unleashing millions of dollars in new ways. We looked at a couple of seemingly desperate scenarios with mission eyes today - wondering what might happen if we didn’t have to worry about resource limits when it comes to starting new initiatives.
Today the Synod Leadership Team agreed to change the name from ’strategic vision’ to ‘Missional Vision’ or ‘Vision for Mission’. It’s not just another strategy, plan or program. It’s about reframing our mandate in missional terms.
The three core questions we’re asking at every level of the church:
- What kind of world is God calling us into, as bearers of God’s Good News?
- How do we engage with God in this world, in obedience to God’s call?
- What resources will we need in order to respond to God’s call?
I’m wondering if these questions could be used at a local level when we prepare individuals for mission membership/partnership .
The Missional Vision (in its third draft) is available to download at the Queensland Synod web site. No doubt the new draft will be uploaded soon, with the work from these last two days.
Update - the plan is now the Vision for Mission, in implementation. See www.visionformission.org.au
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Tuesday, May 17th, 2005
The Other Omission in Matthew 28: 16-20
Jesus’ eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted.
Jesus came to them and said: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth!
Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples.
Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.
I’ve asked people to complete the verse… “baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” People continue with “… and teach them everything I have told you.”
What’s missing?
“To Do”
We’ve too often fallen into the trap of framing discipleship in terms of acquiring knowledge. “Know more. Remember more. It’s the banking method. Invest information and make withdrawals of knowledge.”
But here Jesus wants people TO DO everything he’s told his disciples.
The good news is that we get to have a go at embodying the kingdom of God, just like Jesus did. We get to be involved in the healing of people, the healing of communities. We can take part in the resistance movement started by Jesus, challenging the powers of evil in us and around us. We are invited to share in the relationship with God modelled by Jesus.
The difficult news is that we get to share in the suffering, misunderstanding, sacrifice that Jesus endured for the sake of a new world coming into being.
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Tuesday, May 17th, 2005
An article I’m publishing this month reviewing David Tacey’s appearance at a recent conference, and anticipating the release of Star Wars III tomorrow. I’d be interested in your comments. Ask me if you’d like references for the George Lucas interview or David Tacey material.
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Ask me about myths and I’d probably be thinking of Greek or Roman mythology. Perhaps some of the myths of the Maori and Aboriginal cultures. Perhaps some of the creation stories from ethnic groups around the world. On another level I might be thinking about some of the myths surrounding AIDS. And then there’d Myth busters - a Discovery Channel television program dedicated to testing urban legends.
So when David Tacey, writer on Australian spirituality, says that we need to move towards a non-mythological faith, I’m wondering what he’s talking about.
David Tacey explains.
“The central myths and stories of the Christian religion, the Virgin Birth, the physical resurrection, the second coming, the idea of God as loving father, will have to be treated not as external objects and literal events, but as internal events in our own souls. The emphasis has to shift from, Did they happen, to the new question, What do they mean?
Tacey warns Christians that they face two dangers at opposite ends of a spectrum. From the conservative end, we face the danger of reactionary fundamentalism, which is obsessed with literal truth. From the liberal end of the spectrum we face the danger of incomplete enlightenment in which empty or cynical reason slips into virtual atheism.
Tacey is an advocate for what he calls symbolic or mystical faith that focuses on an internal experience, equipping each of us to embark on our spiritual journey. Faith for Tacey means connection with God, no matter how unknowable God appears to our minds. He says we need a new understanding of transcendence, one that is not couched in mythological language, or dependent on archaic supernatural ideas.
As I sit with this approach, I’m excited, and disturbed.
I’m excited about a spirituality that deepens our engagement with God and our environment. It is time to explore alternatives to a propositional approach to faith that ties up heaven-bound salvation with assent to a set of doctrines and events. Yes we need experiences of faith marked by humility, quiet hope, calm and compassion. We do need fresh language that expresses something of our grounded, earthy God-connected spirituality.
At the same time, I am disturbed by a call to strip our faith clean from mythology. I am not keen to pass on a sterile scientific form of spirituality that leaves us in poverty, hungering for the provisions of tradition, imagery, poetry and shared practice.
In my research on generational change I’ve noticed that many movements started by Baby Boomers have focused on pragmatism. Does it work? There’s been a reaction against symbolic ritual. But movements initiated by Xers and Millennials have thrived on the power of story and image. Is it wonderful.
George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars series, is probably the one most responsible for the rediscovery of imagination in the post-Boomer generations. In an interview in 1999, published in TIME, George said:
“I put the Force into the movie in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people - more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system. I wanted to make it so that young people would begin to ask questions about the mystery. Not having enough interest in the mysteries of life to ask the question, Is there a God or is there not a God? - that is for me the worst thing that can happen. I think you should have an opinion about that. Or you should be saying, “I’m looking. I’m very curious about this, and I am going to continue to look until I can find an answer, and if I can’t find an answer, then I’ll die trying.” I think it’s important to have a belief system and to have faith.”
George Lucas carefully crafted the stories of Anakin/Darth Vader, Luke and Leia, to provide us with a common language to explore corruption and redemption. The third episode of Star Wars, in the cinemas at the moment, helps us face the staggering impact of evil choices. The fourth to sixth episodes call us to the journey of overcoming evil with the choice to love, trusting in the mystical power that is beyond us.
The popularity of science fiction and fantasy has led people to become less focused on the ”Could that happen” question, and more interested in ”What might it mean for me and for my word”.
The other change I’ve seen in emerging generations is the move away from individualist introspection toward a shared spirituality. Fewer people are even thinking about heaven or hell, let alone whether they are going there when they die. Younger people are now wondering about how they relate to their family, their tribe or peer group, to their environment. In that context spiritual journey starts to take on meaning.
We do need alternatives to rigid ‘must believe this’ conservatism and cynical ‘cannot believe this’ progressivism. But as we work out those alternatives, let’s remember the power of myth to spark the imagination, to give us stories to share and insights into the way we live together.
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Monday, May 16th, 2005
Darren Rowse at the Living Room mentions an online quiz that informed him he was a ‘cultural creative’. I took the same quiz and found I’m in the same category. Hmm. Cultural Creative. What might that be? Where’s this term coming from?
It turns out there’s a book behind the quiz. And a web site or two. Not to mention a company. And perhaps an emerging network and movement.
Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson are the authors of
“The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World“, 2000 (hardcover), 2001 (paperback). Through years of research with focus groups and wider surveys, Ray and Anderson started to see a hidden group of Americans who did not fit inside the categeories of political agenda (limited choice of Republican/Democrat), or generation or ethnicity or religion. These people were dissatisfied with the limitations of secularism but did not fully buy into the fixed approaches of organised religion. In fact, these people were emerging as creators of culture.
A description of Cultural Creatives from the editorial review of the book at Amazon:
“They like to get a synoptic view [and] see all the parts spread out side by side and trace the interconnections. They have strong concerns about the well-being of families. They have a well-developed social consciousness and a “guarded optimism for the future”. They are disenchanted with “owning more stuff… materialism… status display and the glaring social inequities of race” and are critical of almost every big institution of modern society, including corporations and government. This cultural group, drawn from all classes, races, education and income levels and social backgrounds, has emerged only during the past 50 years and, according to the authors, forms a coherent subculture, only “missing a self-awareness as a whole people.”
Ray and Anderson have formed a company that provides support for people starting new ‘culturally creative’ initiatives. They have a Cultural Creatives website, and have sparked off a Cultural Creatives Network - networking Cultural Creatives in Business, as well as Cultural Creative Web Rings - through Yahoo and RingSurf .
So…
Are you a cultural creative?
Have you read the book?
What do you think about the connections between this phenomenon and other creative movments such as the emerging church conversation or social venture/local neighbourhood movements?
What is Your Worldview quiz at QuizFarm
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Sunday, May 15th, 2005
We played Ungame this afternoon. I first came across this boardgame back in 1980 when we used it as a conversation starter at a Scripture Union high school camp I was helping to run.
Ungame has a start but no particular finish point. It’s not a race. It’s an opportunity to talk and listen. When you land on the ‘Ungame’ square you pick up a card, and answer in your own way without anyone being able to provide cues or make comment. When you land on a ‘comment’ square you then have the opportunity to ask a question or make a comment. At first it seems artificial. But after a while people get used to the idea that listening is as much fun as talking.
Our version of the game has three levels of ‘Ungame’ cards. Easy conversation, Deep and Meaningful, and Christian. We started off talking about childhood memories, went through to concerns and dreams for the future, and finished talking about spiritual experiences.
The game was devised by a woman called Rhea Zakich in Southern California. As a social activist she damaged her voice - developing nodules in her throat. Fearing she might lose the capacity of speech she started thinking about the power of self-expression. And so the game was born. It was published by Talicor. Rhea has written a review of the game at Amazon.com
We play Ungame a few times a year. It certainly helps to bring out the voices of the quieter members of the family or group. And people who talk a lot, find they’re talking about new things they may not have thought about for a long time.
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Sunday, May 15th, 2005
Just spent the weekend celebrating my daughter’s 16th birthday. As a family we shopped for a Wacom Graphire digital tablet, hair straightening tongs, Douglas Coupland’s novel, Microserfs, and a foot massaging cushion. We went to Chinatown in Brisbane for a banquet. Had friends round today. Went to church in the evening. And followed that up with a second bite at Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In all that time, I didn’t get any time to do any writing. Or reading. I might have read a couple of pages of the Courier Mail, and a few articles from Time Magazine before dropping off to sleep but that was it!
It’s been good.
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Friday, May 13th, 2005
Rob McAlpine, from Winnipeg, Canada, wrote an article for Next Wave a couple of years ago, “Clique Maintenance: Dividing the Generations”.
He started off with Douglas Coupland’s wry definition:
Clique Maintenance: The need of one generation to see the next generation as deficient so as to bolster its own collective ego.
Rob rewrote that definition to describe the cliquey behaviour he’s seen at conferences:
Clique Maintenance: The need of one generation to see the next generation as deficient so as to bolster its own collective ego.
I’m sure both definitions are at work all the time.
Part of Rob’s concern was the conference speaker or writer who tells young people that they are the ones who will bring in the new revival. I’ve heard it too. “It is your generation who will enter the promised land. You will bring revival”. “The previous generation missed the boat. Now it’s your turn”.
Winkie Pratney takes this line in his book, “Fire on the Horizon: How the Revival Generation Will Change the World“, published in 1999. Winkie’s a New Zealander living in the States. I’ve heard Winkie talk and I can tell you he’s one inspiring guy. He tells great stories. He helps people feel passionately in response to the heart cries of their peers. He does a great job at mobilising and motivating young adults. But there is something worrying when a generation is set aside as the messiah generation.
What worries me is the messiah complex that develops, usually associated with polarisation. Twenty something young adults being fed the dream of a widespread revival sweeping the land, and being told “This is not your father’s revival”. And with that, the challenge to see the world and the church with clear black and white thinking. The problem with ‘black and white’ is that it leads to ‘in and out’, ‘right and wrong’, ‘us and them’, and ‘winners and losers’.
I’d be happy if each generational cohort and generational unit were given the challenge of making a difference in their society, making a difference in their church, and making a difference to the environment. But with that they need a technicolor vision - in which they see the role of the previous generations, and the generations to come. This is the challenge given by Peter in his message to the crowd during the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, some two thousand years ago. The Spirit is empowering old and young, and will be poured out on our children and their children too.
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Thursday, May 12th, 2005
I’m wondering about people born on the cusp of new generations, who take a lead in developing their younger siblings.
Bob Hunter, one of the original founders of Greenpeace, died a few days ago. He was born in Canada in 1941, which makes him a bit older than the oldest Baby Boomers. This backs up comments from people I know who were born around the time of the second world war. They remember very clearly spearheading the movements that are attributed to the Baby Boomers. It was this group who were sharing the ideals that inspired a generation.
Germaine Greer, feminist leader, was born in 1939. John Lennon was born in 1940, Bob Dylan in 1941, Paul McCartney in 1942, Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger in 1943. There will a few others that come to mind…
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Thursday, May 12th, 2005
Reading through Acts 2 with a group yesterday, we were given Walter Wink’s challenging question, “Was this a miracle of the tongue or a miracle of the ear?” The answer for most of us was ‘Both’. Communication with people from different cultural contexts requires both capacity to speak and capacity to listen.
So I’m wondering if the Holy Spirit might have been poured out on the followers of Jesus, AND poured out on the crowd as they listened and watched.
I’m even wondering if the mockers were inspired by the Spirit. “These people are drunk - filled with new wine!” In some ways this was true. The euphoria and lack of inhibition that comes with drinking the right amount of alcohol - that was what these disciples were experiencing with an experience of God’s Spirit being poured out over and in and through them.
I wonder if anyone’s painted the Pentecost scene - with the multicultural crowd experiencing the same flames and wind and wonder as the people in the upper room?
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Thursday, May 12th, 2005
The third ‘aha’ moment at Eric Law’s diversity workshop yesterday was engagement in low context and high context communication styles. This is based on Edward T. Hall’s book, Beyond Culture, written from the perspectives of anthropology and psychology.
People working with low context are individual-oriented, rely on explicit coding of information being communicated, are less aware of contexts, use linear logic, adjust to their new situation quickly (no need for contextualisation). Conflict may occur because of violations of individual expectations create conflict potentials. These people deal with conflict by revealing their dissatisfaction with a direct confrontational attitude. They focus on fact finding, action, solution and open, direct strategies.
People working with high context are group oriented. They rely heavily on the physical context or the share context of the transmitter and receiver. Very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message. They use spiral logic. They take time for contexting in the new situation. Conflict may occur because of violations of collective expectations. They deal with conflict by concealing. They use indirect, non-confrontational atttidue, focusing on face-saving, relationship, ambiguous, indirect strategies.
As I worked with this material I realised that I am closer to high context than low context. I get annoyed by people who don’t bother to listen. But I’m equally annoyed by people who take ages to get to the point. And I probably get under the skin of both.
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