Archive for May, 2005
Thursday, May 12th, 2005
I spent the day yesterday at a workshop led by Eric Law, a Chinese American Episcopalian priest from Los Angeles. The workshop focused on dealing respectfully with diversity. There were a few aha moments. I’ll post them separately tonight.
Respectful communication
We looked at a covenant that could be used to help people deal with difficult topics. People agree to:
R - take RESPONSIBILITY for what you say and feel without blaming others
E - use EMPATHETIC listening
S - be SENSITIVE to differences in communication styles
P - PONDER what you hear and feel before you speak
E - EXAMINE your own assumptions and perceptions
C - Keep CONFIDENTIALITY
T - TRUST ambiguity because we are NOT here to debate who is right or wrong.
It was the last commitment that could provide difficulty for some. Some people attend meetings to let other people know they’re wrong. Eric pointed out that there’s no point in turning up with that attitude.
I’m thinking I might use this covenant at the beginning of the Queensland Synod gathering in September . I’m looking after 30 small groups of eight).
To back up this concept of respectful communication, Eric gave us the small group model of ‘mutual invitation’. The leader shares first and then invites another to share. After that person has passed or spoken he or she invites another to share. This continues until everyone has spoken, and everyone has had an opportunity to invite someone else to share. An empowering model for the shy. A restraining model for the verbose.
Posted in Worth Reading | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, May 10th, 2005
Dawson McAllister’s 1999 book on the Millennial generation is aimed at parents and youth leaders. The title tells us quickly that those parents and leaders are concerned about the emerging generation and culture:
Saving the Millennial Generation: New Ways to Reach the Kids You Care About in Uncertain Times
Dawson came from Peoria, Illionois. He graduated from Bethel College in Minnesota and then studied at Talbot Theological Seminary. While in seminary, McAllister worked as a youth pastor and began a coffee house ministry in the late 1960’s to runaways who had come to Southern California. He founded Shepherd Productions in 1973 to market the manuals he was using alongside his public speaking in schools and conferences. In 1991 he started his talk show, Dawson McAllister Live. He is still active as a radio host.
Dawson starts his book writing about his experience of talking with high school students over time, witnessing changes in youth culture. He introduces his readers to the Millennials, the generation that comes next on the chart outlined by Tim Celek and Dieter Zander in their 1996 book, Inside the Soul of a New Generation. (see chart on right) The Millennials, (born 1982 on) would be the high school graduation class of 2000. From his experience Dawson identifies emerging traits of this generation: plugged in, passionately tolerant, spiritual, but without focus, not quick to trust adults, and hard to shock.
Continental Shifts
McAllister goes beyond the generational culture to explore what he calls “continental shifts”. In particular he explores the move toward postmodern and post-Christian perceptions. The Millennials are growing up in a new environment. Parents being more attentive. Education, he observes, has become marked by both “back to basics” and political correctness. Government programs have become more “pro children”.
Dawson explains the growing weakness of institutions by drawing on Strauss and Howe’s “period of unravelling”. The period of unraveling is highlighted in high levels of abortion, growing drug abuse, divorce, teen pregnancy, deepening anger, and an anti-USA feeling in world. This was two years before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. As a citizen of New Zealand, I found the reference to the anti-USA feeling a little disturbing. I grew up with a distrust of American imperialism, a distrust made even deeper by the United States’ refusal to dialogue with New Zealand over its nuclear free policy.
Adolescent Development
Having identified a number of major shifts in societal attitudes, McAllister reminds us that adolescent development is still basically the same. Early adolescents - thirteen to fifteen year olds - still tend towards concrete thinking, black & white, all-or-nothing, have difficulty with ‘why questions’, are self absorbed, and see God in terms of transaction. Older adolescents tend to be less tied to self and derive their identity from affiliation with a peer group. Their thinking is becoming more abstract and reflective. They are more comfortable with ‘why questions’ and are prepared to explore nuances of meaning, looking for a richer and deeper spirituality. God is seen more as approachable.
Youth Culture
McAllister takes us on a tour of youth culture, giving us examples of the corroded values found in music, television, movies, sexual activity, drug use, technology and education. He tells us that trust has been eroded for the Millennial generation. There is a lack of a clear defining purpose that can be picked up by young people. Their role models are all fallen. McAllister’s approach here tends to be alarmist and “glass half empty”. He comes across as someone standing on the outside of a strange and dangerous culture.
McAllister is conerned that online culture is exposing young people to more and more options without developing wisdom. Young people are growing up playing online games, accessing dangerous information, being corrupted by “smut”. The increasing speed of internet connection is leading ironically to prevalent attitudes of impatience and isolationism.
Corrosion of Truth
McAllister at this point expresses his deep anxiety at the corrosion of truth in the emerging generational culture. He sees young people growing up believing that experience is the ultimate measure of meaning. Evangelical, Bible-believing Christians are being regarded as “anti-progress, reactionary, stupid and dangerous”. As an Evangelical, Bible-believing talkback host, he tries to model being a real representative of God who loves passionately, is reasonable and compassionate, but doesn’t shrink back from drawing lines in the sand. Dawson here outlines what he sees as the contemporary battle lines for truth.
McAllister gives his readers three choices in how we respond to Millennials
- Condemnation, which turns people off
- Accommodation, which is not respected
- Empathy - the model of Jesus.
We need to be straight, be real, McAllister says. Young people value experience more than propositional truth. They respond to interviews and encounters rather than lecturing. They need the opportunity to apply scripture in everyday life. The traditional model of youth ministry, focusing on knowledge, communicates content, entertaining and teaching, with a youth minister as hub. The spiritual formation model focuses on intimacy with God and facilitates experience, equipping people to notice, name and nurture God’s hand at work. It’s led by a team of mentors.
Theological Colors
At this point, McAllister reveals his theological approach, “Hold fast to the truth”. He outlines Paul’s experience at Athens in which he engages with a clearly misguided culture. Christ’s resurrection, he says, is the watershed issue. Apologetics are required for a new generation that had little regard for the inerrancy of the Bible. If young people could hear about Jesus and his death on the cross, the Holy Spirit would follow up with the work of truth telling.
McAllister writes on the challenges of discipling the Millennial Generation, helping young people find a meaning that goes beyond entertainment. He cites the mentoring approach modeled by Jesus and Paul. We need competent volunteers who are appropriately vulnerable, experts in affirmation, and actively involved in meeting the needs of young people. We need new heroes for the emerging generation.
Church for Millennials
In his section on church for Millennials, Dawson cites the wisdom of Don Richardson on cross cultural mission. We need to keep to the core truth of the gospel. We should recognise three stages in cross-cultural mission experience: initial enthusiasm, discouragement and adjustment. We need to perservere so that we can find common ground with the Millennials.
Parenting Millennials
McAllister finishes with a chapter for parents of Millennials. Parents need to be more attentive than before, keeping in touch with a wider youth culture, affirming, and avoiding the extremes of control and permissiveness. They would need to practice active listening skills, practicing spiritual formation at home.
Millennials, Dawson reminds us, need adults to model spiritual authenticity, demonstrate intentional direction, and live as genuine mentors and heroes.
Posted in Generations, Worth Reading | No Comments »
Monday, May 9th, 2005
Dave Walker from Essex, UK, has just launched www.cartoonchurch.com, with a blog, worksheets, and greeting cards. He’s very kindly started off with this Pentecost worksheet, available in pdf and word documents, available for use with a modest license fee.
View the worksheet here
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Monday, May 9th, 2005
A few years ago I was leading a camp for teenagers. Over the weekend we had a look at the promise Jesus gave his disciples, “I will send you the Holy Spirit, who will be your encourager, your helper, your strengthener.” We looked at the fruit of the Spirit. “God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.”
When I asked one group of boys what they would like the Holy Spirit to help them with, they didn’t have to think too long. The night before two of them had competed in a pizza eating competition - one eating 26 pieces, the other 27. Their stomachs were ready to learn about self control. Another boy was thinking about the way he related to his sisters at home. He needed to learn about gentleness, and self control. One talked about the struggle he faced as he tried to focus on getting his homework done each day. The last boy talked about his struggle with ADD - he wanted to stop hitting out at people and talking at inappropriate times. I talked about needing to spend less time on the computer and more time with people. I needed self control as well.
And so we prayed for one another, that God’s Holy Spirit would help us where it really mattered. Did it work? Not overnight. But it did start to happen. That group of young people started to demonstrate the character of Jesus in their life together. Parents commented on the changes as well. God’s Spirit made it possible for those boys to change for the good.
This Sunday, May 15, is celebrated as Pentecost Sunday in churches around the world. The day when an unruly group of Jesus followers experienced the life-changing arrival of God’s Holy Spirit. Pentecost was the Greek word for the festival that came 50 days after Passover. A group of men and women, children and youth, were gathered together in Jerusalem, wondering what Jesus had meant when he promised the Spirit. And then something happened. They had a spiritual experience that seemed like flames of fire.
Did the experience change them? Yes! Over time they started to take on the character of God - fearless, loving, taking initiative, looking for opportunities to serve and connect with their community. They also learnt how to forgive when they were mistreated, and how to persevere in hard times. God was working inside them and among them to move them from being self-centred people to being life-loving people.
What would you like the Holy Spirit to help you with?
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Monday, May 9th, 2005
Tonight (East Australia Time) a number of bloggers have started conversations with Brian McLaren, touching on the issues raised in Brian’s most recent book, The Last Word and The Word After That. It’s not often an author takes the opportunity to dialogue with his readers in this way. (The image to the right by the way has been doctored to include Brian’s photo and a hint of hell.)
At Tall Skinny Kiwi, for example, Brian asks two questions:
#1 For you personally, is the gospel primarily information on how to avoid hell, largely but not exclusively for hell avoidance, partially but not mostly for it, peripherally for it, or not at all for it? (Not sure if you could make this a poll?)
#2 And if the primary purpose for the good news of Jesus is not to get individual souls out of hell after this life, what is its primary purpose?
Head on over to Tall Skinny Kiwi’s blog, vote in the ‘Skinny Poll’ and put your two cents worth in the comments.
At Jen Lemen’s site Brian talks about some of the personal background to the book. How he developed his thinking and so on.
At Pomo Musings (Adam Cleaveland) Brian comments:
“One of the sub-themes of the book is that our understanding or misunderstanding of hell, judgment, the purpose of God, and the character of God has huge ramifications in how we live - including how we treat other humans, other living creatures, and the planet itself.”
At Jordon Cooper’s site the action is yet to start.
At Dwight Friesen’s site, Brian writes:
“I have felt for a long time that Western Christian theology (in its Catholic and Protestant forms) had somewhere become preoccupied with getting individual souls out of hell after death, and had too often lost a sense of God’s continuing love for all creation in this life - in other words, we had substituted something else for the gospel of the kingdom of God, which was at the heart of Jesus’ message.”
And at Chris Monro’s Paradoxology blog Brian’s just getting into the conversation.
Posted in Emerging Church, Theology, Worth Reading | No Comments »
Sunday, May 8th, 2005
Matt Stone, at Eclectic Itchings, (recently Circle of Dionysius) raises the question, “Is it helpful to characterise the postmodern / modern cultural shift as a generational gap?”
He goes on… “Should ministers view churched youth as postmodern simply by virtue of their age? Should they assume there is no postmodern / modern gap between people of the same generation? Should they delegate responsibility for postmodern ministry to youth pastors? Or is the “generational gap” interpretation too simplistic an analysis? Could it be that many churched youth live in a semi-permeable modernist bubble, and that postmodern ministry which uses churched youth as a benchmark is way off base? Could it also be that treating postmodern ministry as a youth phenomenon leaves many adults adrift?”
I’m sure there’s a story behind this helpful set of questions. Here’s one of my stories.
At the Queensland Synod meeting in 2003 (Uniting Church) Craig Mitchell led us in an interactive multimedia exploration of potential connections with young adult subcultures, including body-related spirituality, rave community, beach life and hospitality. Afterwards I was talking to a fairly conservative Evangelical minister - who was fuming. “My daughter would not be interested in any of this. She’s never gone near the sub cultures Craig’s talking about. Why didn’t we talk about Jesus tonight? Because that’s what she would be interested in.”
Yes - there lies the challenge. Some of the people in those subcultures outlined by Craig were members of my church. Many other church members were disgusted at having to hear music from a rave party, especially with the ‘blasphemous words’ of “Tonight God is my DJ”. When we talk about the church struggling to engage with postmodern culture, that includes young people.
Postmodernists don’t usually grow into modernists. Often it’s the other way round. We’re more likely to consciously engage with the challenges of postmodernity when we get to the point of synthesizing and integrating our beliefs and values, in early adulthood or later in life when we’re stretching our boundaries. There’s a developmental factor happening here. I’ve noticed that the most conservative people around are often people between the ages of 14 and 20. They’re dead certain that the model they’ve inherited is the way to go. It’s not until they’ve had the freedom to synthesise and integrate their own faith and values that they become more open to seeing things more laterally.
However, we’re all, no matter what age we are, living and breathing the air of a world that has modernity and postmodernity mixed up together. Modernism is alive and well in the education system my teenage children are in (Christian school teaching Queensland State curriculum). Success is measured in terms of getting assignments in on time, with the correct learning outcomes fulfilled. They’re told what to learn and how to present that learning. Original thinking is not encouraged. At the same time the English classes are engaging with discourse analysis of film as text. What’s coming through for my kids is that modernism provides containers for measurement and precision. Postmodernist critiques help them recognise that their lives do not fit neatly in those boxes. It’s a case of ‘This, and more’.
The 12/25 Challenge
Matt’s questions are in response to “The 12/25 Challenge: Reaching the Youth Generation”, a paper presented to the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization hosted in Thailand by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization last year. The lead writer of the article was Roland Werner from Germany (pictured left).
In the paper Roland’s team says:
“In general, there are four cultural barriers facing the church in ministry with youth. Firstly, there is a church versus unchurched barrier. The vast majority of youth in the world are unchurched and do not readily understand or care about the church’s message.
In the Western world there is a modern versus postmodern divide. Much of the church continues to hold to formulations of doctrine that were a response to modern issues. They served their time well. Today’s youth has a postmodern sensibility and traditional ways of explaining the gospel message typically do not answer the questions that many youth have.
Thirdly, there is a technological gap. The advent of computers and the internet have changed the way people communicate and think. The church often lags behind.
Fourthly, there is an age or generational gap. The result of this is a cultural divide. We have a missiological task before us. As with any other missional work, we must employ the forms of the culture in order to communicate the meaning of the gospel.”
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Sunday, May 8th, 2005
After yesterday’s passion and purpose workshop I met my daughter in Brisbane for coffee at Gloria Jean’s Coffee House, on the ground floor of Borders. It was an excellent spinach and pumpkin lasagna and a decent latte. Only two purchases to go before I get my free regular coffee.
When I first came across Gloria Jean’s at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast my first reaction was, What’s another American brand doing here? As it turns out, Gloria Jean’s Coffee is owned in Australia by Nabi Selah and Peter Irvine, Sydney businessmen who are members of Hillsong Church, Australia’s most well known mega church. Does that make it any better? The food’s usually over priced, just like Starbucks. But the coffee’s good.
At the end of last year Gloria Jean’s Australia arranged to buy the international operations wing off their USA parent company. Coffee roasted in Castle Hill, Sydney, will be exported to all Gloria Jean’s coffee shops in other countries. And it looks as though they’re doing fine. Imperialism is OK if it starts here!
Gloria Jean’s made the news last month (see SMH article) by building a cafe in the visitor’s section inside Dillwynia Correctional Centre, in Sydney’s west, where female inmates will sell coffee to visitors and staff. Gloria Jeans tells us they’re not making any money out of it. The prisoners behind the counter get paid something like 85 cents an hour on top of their usual allowance. I wonder if they’ll get paid extra for public holidays? I guess this could become a trend - a trend befitting Australia’s history as a collection of prison colonies.
In the meantime, the real Gloria Jean is doing fine. Gloria Jean Kvetko set up shop in Long Grove, Illinois, in 1979. She sold the gourmet coffee business in 1993. Since then she’s experienced marriage break up, the death of a close friend, and breast cancer. She’s written a book, Journey to Prayer, outlining her experience of God’s love in the tough times.
One of the quotes on her web site caught my eye:
There is even sexual division in coffee, believe it or not. Men want real coffee, masculine coffee. Women love flavored coffee. Hey, maybe we can learn something from that (laughs). When men have a little more flavor, they are more desirable to women!
Posted in Worth Reading | 2 Comments »
Friday, May 6th, 2005
Tomorrow morning I’m working with a group of youth leaders in what we’re calling ‘Passion and Purpose.” The brief is to work on motivation. We’ll be starting with personal mission statements.
As a mission consultant I’m often invited to help congregations develop their mission statements, along with strategic plans for the future. Occasionally it becomes obvious that everyone expects someone else to be carrying out their goals.
“We’d like to have more effective youth ministry. But don’t expect us to be doing it! We’ve had our day! We’ll keep the committees of the church going, but we don’t have time for connecting with people outside the church.”
So I’ve learnt that right at the start we have to work on personal mission statements with personal strategic plans. Once we’ve got a clear idea of where people’s passions and energy lies, we can construct a realistic approach to shared mission.
I encourage people (of all ages) to see membership of the Christian Community as based on (in this order):
- Relationship with God (expressed in 2,3,4,5)
- Primary relationships - family, flatmates
- Community involvement - work, play, neighbourhood
- Participation in worshiping community
- Support shared mission of the church
I’ve had this model of mission membership going for a while but didn’t really get it clear in my head until spending a week with Gus Nelson, of Project 21 in Des Moines, Iowa. We disagree on some of the ways in which this model is worked out. But we do agree that the purpose of the Christian is not to become more and more involved in running ‘Church World’ or to fulfil the mission statement of the senior pastor.
Of course a personal mission statement is flexible - it can change as life changes. Right now mine is :
- Consistently explore and express the good news of Jesus Christ for me and others.
- Grow in my relationship with Ennis, my wife, and mentor my three children.
- Provide effective leadership in my role as mission consultant.
Build friendships with the neighbours in my street.
Engage in a worldwide community involved in developing generation-related resources.
- Work out where I’m going to worship regularly.
- Support chaplaincy in the local public high schools in my role as Local Chaplaincy Committee Chair. Continue regular planned giving to my local church.
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Friday, May 6th, 2005
For the last two weeks I’ve been on study leave, taking time out to write up a course on generational change I’m teaching in August through to November. These were the only two weeks I could find without any work commitments. Unfortunately they included two public holidays. It’s taken a while to build up momentum.
People reading the PostKiwi blog must wonder where I’m finding the time to post two book reviews a day. The truth is, what I’m doing at the moment is going back over notes I’ve taken over the last two years and writing them up.
I must admit (to my anti-Powerpoint friends) that I’ve written all my reading notes up in PowerPoint presentations, including photographs, imagery and hyperlinks. What I’m doing now is turning the notes into prose (via blog), corresponding with the authors, and finally putting it all into a course manual (paper and CD). I’ve also been able to access some of the video clips referred to by authors such as Tom Beaudoin.
My theory is that many people don’t learn well by hearing ideas from disembodied people. Using photographs of authors is one way to help us realise that we’re in conversation with real people. Using email introduces the idea of interactive conversation. Live conversation is even better. I will never forget the opportunity to meet with theologian Lloyd Geering during a class on responses to secularization in New Zealand.
Hopefully what I’ll end up with here is a useful resource for colleagues teaching this material elsewhere. More importantly, I’m working on process for my colleagues to use as they engage people from a number of generations in theologically reflective conversation.
Posted in Blogging, Generations, Worth Reading | No Comments »
Friday, May 6th, 2005
Kristoffer Cox published his book, Gen X and God, in 1998. At the time of writing he was 30 years old, a former Air Force officer in his final year at Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota. His goal in writing was to present an outline of the basic gifts of the Christian faith in manner understandable and inviting to Gen Xers. (see Jeff Favre’s story at The Lutheran at the time of publication.
This is not primarily a book about Gen X, as much as an exploration of Lutheran understandings of Christian good news for Gen Xers. Cox lays his material together in a way that allows for personal reflection, discussion and perhaps even feedback.
Having said that, Cox does start off with a description of the context in which his generation are finding their way. Part of that reality is the need to express the gospel in ways that connect with current concerns and aspiration.
He quotes Robert George, writing in “Stuck in the Shadows with You: Observations on Post-Boomer Culture”, Generations Apart: Xers vs Boomers vs The Elderly:
“The problem Boomers have with the generation that came right after them is what anyone would have upon suddenly noticing that their shadow was talking back to them.The attitude that typifies our generation is resistance to, independence from, and a rejection of Boomer cultural ‘values’. Our generation is the one that will utter the truths that Boomers don’t want to hear.”
And now on to the truths that Gen Xers need to express and hear…
Meaning and Purpose
Cox starts by exploring the answer to the life, the universe and everything. “What’s the question?” “Why are we here?” He takes us through the work of Ernest Becker who wrote that we develop ‘projects’ to seek diversion from ourselves. The development of extreme sports, Cox writes, is an example of the Boomers’ death-denying projects of careerism and American dream being replaced by death-defying projects. Either way, we’re still left with the questions that we’ve been trying to avoid.
Cox writes that we’ve been trying to find a sense of transcendence, running from our present reality in favour of another, by looking to a circle of projects: sexuality, spirituality, career personal fulfilment and relationships. It’s like a yacht sailing around in a pond, never likely to get to the open water.
Religion/Spirituality a Distracting Project?
I like Cox’s invitation to regard religion and spirituality with a healthy cynicism. In the discussion questions he asks: “Why is the supernatural or spirituality a sexy escape from one’s circle of projects? How might religion simply be an easy way for people to hide from their reality?” And yet I am uneasy about where he heads with this. The reader is led to give up attempts to engage with the divine and focus more on the human realm. This might fit a Lutheran sensibility but it doesn’t engage well with current interest in a spirituality that is both immanent and transcendent. Cox points out that we should be God’s project - rather than God being our project. It’s at this point that I would be exploring being God and humanity both involved in relationship as subject.
Relevance of Jesus
Kristoffer draws parallels between the experience of Gen Xers and the experience of Jesus. We feel discounted by those in control. Jesus was not taken seriously and was eventually mocked, tortured & executed. We’ve obviously inherited a terribly imperfect world. Our imperfect world is foundational to Christian understanding. We want relationships with depth and meaning. Jesus sought ‘real’ relationships, accepting people as they were. We are tired of prejudice and injustice against us and others. Jesus reached out to the unacceptable and desired equality for all.
Sacrificial Death
Cox takes us to the heart of Lutheran understanding of the gospel with a story told by Gerhard Forde in “The Work of Christ”, Christian Dogmatics.” A child is playing in the street. A truck is bearing down on the child. A man casts himself in the path of the truck, saves the child but is himself killed in the process. It is an accident. The man gave his life FOR the child, not to appease or make payment to driver of truck. Forde argues that we are like the driver of the truck. In the sacrifice of Jesus, God has saved us from ourselves. The one splattered against the front of our truck comes back to say ‘Shalom’, peace.
Dealing with bad stuff
A theology for Generation X does need to engage with the problems of pain, suffering, injustice and radical evil. In this context Cox introduces us to Ted Peters, whose book, “Sin - Radical Evil in Soul and Society” came out in 1994. Peters, a lecturer at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, explores seven steps toward radical evil: anxiety, unfaith, pride, concupiscence, self-justification, cruelty, and blasphemy, before going on to unpack the power of forgiveness.
Cox explores the social sin that develops when intergenerational rage is not dealt with. Here he draws on the work of James Gambone whose workshops help develop better relationships between generations. Gambone’s 1998 book, All Are Welcome: A Primer for Intentional Intergenerational Ministry and Dialogue, is out of print but can be bought secondhand at Amazon. Here’s a quote from James:
“The idea of promoting intergenerational respect, caring and cooperation offers a real alternative to the current secular self-interest, “we-they” attitudes. Wouldn’t our national dialogue on race, welfare reform and morality be significantly different if we first agreed to have the interests of all generations laid out clearly on the table?”
Cox goes on to explore the significance of baptism, the process of character development, dealing with ‘the old Adam’ and working through hypocrisy.
Usefulness
So how does GenX and God fare? I’d be fascinated to hear from people who have used this book as an entry point into Christian faith. Cox helps GenX readers access a variety of thinkers, mostly from the Lutheran tradition. He provides continual opportunities for discussion, though I must say some of the questions are didactic in nature - twisting the reader around to the author’s point of view.
In terms of theological reflection Cox has grappled with the issues he sees being raised for members of his generation. He attempts to line those issues up with the resources of the Lutheran tradition. He continually invites people to work through their own experience -finding new ways of expressing the call to be ’saved by grace alone’.
The photo to the right was taken back in 1999. I wonder if Cox would be writing any differently now, after spending time as an Airforce Chaplain? He’s part of the Emerging Leaders Network, an organic missional friendship among native postmodern Lutheran leaders and other leaders open to “gettin’ busy with what God is doing in the postmodern world and emerging church”.
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Postkiwi Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
