Over the weekend I joined up with a freeze flash mob raising awareness of the sex trafficking trade and calling for an end to the practice.
The protest was organised by Adrian Greenwood from the More Praxis network, an expression of the Uniting Church in Australia, Victoria/Tasmania Synod. Many of the participants were attending the Forge Grassroots Festival. The idea was for a group to freeze on cue for five minutes, while pedestrians walked past, stopped and stared, or took brochures. It’s designed to be a non violent, viral kind of exercise that invites others to engage in their own way.
Interestingly enough the photograph here shows a freeze flash mob outside The Body Shop. Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, was a strong advocate for the introduction of a new European convention against the trafficking of human beings.
This YouTube clip was prepared by Darren Wright, who while freezing in Bourke St had his camera on rapid photography mode.
I spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons of the Forge Grassroots Festival based at the UCA Hub in Little Collins Street, Melbourne. Cheryl Lawrie (of [hold :: this space]) (right below), Sam Charlesworth (middle) and Blythe Toll (left below) worked with a team to transform a corporate car park into Holy Ground : : Holy City. I was there to talk with interested people about alternatives to standard models of worship - a conversation deeply enhanced by the environment in which we met.
The burning bush/sacred ground experience of Moses was juxtaposed with the glimpses of God’s redeeming, transforming, hope-giving presence in the cities. iPods hanging from the ceiling showed video clips of the Tianenmen Square protester, the monks protests in Burma, and the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Around the walls and ceilings were projected films and photographs of pedestrian traffic in Melbourne. This was an invitation to explore the small clues to life, including the nature of concrete, cigarette butts and shoes.
In the middle was a space surrounded by security tape, with the words “Do Not Enter”, alongside phrases connecting the sacred ground experience of Moses with our experience.
Out on the wall outside was a chalk outline of the cityscape, with the words “New Earth”, and the invitation to dream of a future life for the city.
Andrew Jones, known online as Tall Skinny Kiwi (after his blogging identity of ten years), was the guest speaker at tonight’s Forge Grassroots Festival in Melbourne, Australia.
Andrew grew up in Orewa, New Zealand, before moving to Perth in Western Australia. Tonight we heard about Andrew’s early fundamentalist street evangelism days - the importance of having a go and having encouragement to try things out. Since those days in the early 1980s Andrew has spent time working in and out of the United States, in Prague, in a campervan travelling around continental Europe, and now living in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.
Andrew is one of those guys who has you on the edge of your seat, wondering how it’s all going to turn out. He’s self-deprecating (as Kiwis know how), witty, and insightful, sometimes appearing to be surprised by the gems of understanding he passes on to us.
Tonight’s gems came from an exploration of what church planting looks like from a rhizome framework rather than multiplication model. He talked about the diversity of rhizomes, and the spreading wide rather than building high approach to sharing ideas, values, beliefs and action. We heard about the connection Gilles Deleuze made with the rhizome biology and philosophy, and how that inspired the World Wide Web framework.
Andrew’s thoughts on being prepared to risk reputation and associate with weirdos was a timely reminder to the Australian missional church movement not to be afraid to associate with those American Emergents who have been slated for their sloppy theology. Not that Andrew said that directly. But the message was there loud and clear in his own experience of moving from the position of a fundamentalist Baptist to a more relaxed Baptist who is available to work with whoever God places him with.
Sally Morgenthaler spoke this morning at the Forge Grassroots Mission conference in Melbourne. Known largely for her work in the contemporary worship scene, she’s moved in new directions in the last two years. She took down her web site, sacramentis.com, when she realised that the focus on bigger and better worship experiences was not helping ordinary people connect with ordinary people with the Christian gospel.
This morning Sally emerged with curly hair (blame it on the humidity she said), a few humorous stories about dealing with blunt Australian curiosity, and a down-to-earth exploration of what it’s really all about - the recovery of soul, integrity, being who we are called to be. Sally challenged us not to give in to the pressure to project ourselves as successful effective leaders. The emerging church scene, of the ‘missional’ variety, may be just as prone as any other subculture to the sentiment expressed in the bumper sticker, “Back off! You’re standing in my aura”.
Sally’s sessions this afternoon included a candid discussion of gender and leadership. Sadly, even here in Australia, people like Sally are challenged occasionally about their right to speak about issues beyond children and women’s ministry. Makes my blood boil.
I’m looking forward to seeing, hearing and reading more from Sally, as she develops new resources in the integration of humility, leadership and spiritual discernment. And, hopefully, a fresh approach to how we resource the worshipping life of the church.
Michael Frost, author of Exiles, and co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, was the opening keynote speaker at the Forge Grassroots Festival. Describing himself as the grumpy guy at the start, he set about challenging the festivalgoers to aspire to action rather than mere insight.
Mike talked about the discovery that Yellow Fever was spread by mosquitos, a cause overlooked by the medical field for many years. Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay made the connection 100 years ago but was ignored. The same thing happens today when we overlook the impact of ‘dullness of understanding’ on the church. When people provide intellectual assent to missional concepts but do nothing with them, it’s like that mosquito. Epidemic uselessness.
It’s now Day Two for the Forge Grassroots Mission Festival in Melbourne. Somewhere around 350 to 400 people have gathered from around Australia to catch up with each other and keep the cutting edge of the missional church movement sharp.
Al Hirsch was in full swing on Thursday, providing a bonus day of input for Forge interns and other interested visitors, talking through his book, The Forgotten Ways. Inspired by the early New Testament church experience, and that of the persecuted churches in China, Al talked about hallmarks of strong vital missional movements. Al spent a fair amount of time in the morning setting the scene for why the church needs to get its act together as incarnational and missional (being sent beyond itself). The afternoon was focused on developing common values, beliefs and practices expressed in practical ways.
Al reflected on the dangers of hierarchical approaches to church expressed in high views of ordination, and attempts to reproduce the Old Testament temple approach to worship. At the same time he expressed concern that ‘house church’ models were limited because they lacked the broadness of community found in the extended household models of the New Testament.
Al has spent the last year in the United States, on a speaking tour and working with leaders there. It was interesting to note his concern about the tendency of some emerging church leaders to lose a sense of confidence in the gospel. Moving past faith into doubt, Al suggested, would put the brakes on any sense of healthy movement. I’m not sure I agree with Al here. Yes, when we stop standing for anything positive we often stop looking beyond ourselves. But there is a season for reassessing and deconstructing before redeveloping expressions of faith that can be held with integrity and passion.
More to Come
It’s not too late to turn up at the Forge conference - at 488 Swanston Street, Carlton, Melbourne. I’ll be taking workshops in the afternoon on ‘post liturgical, post charismatic, post alt worship’, working with Cheryl Lawrie in the basement car park of the Uniting Church Centre, 380 Little Collins Street, 1.30 - 4.30 pm, Saturday and Sunday. Cheryl and team have set up a ’sacred space’ art installation with a focus on life in the city. In the same space Adrian Greenwood and the Praxis team have set up a cafe and exhibit focusing on ending sex traffic.
Forge Missional Training Network Queensland held the second half of its intensive on sustainable spirituality, discipleship, sustainability in a consumerist culture in Brisbane this last weekend.
Steve Said, on loan from Tear Fund in Melbourne, provided some helpful models for development of faith practices related to just lifestyle. He provocatively suggested that many approaches to prayer are more pagan than Christian, treating God as a source of goodies that can be manipulated through magic formulas (my words). He finished Friday with a session on the art of critical contextualization.
My sessions on Saturday focused on generational values and the ways in which we embed the gospel, connecting the Biblical narrative, the context we find ourselves in, and motifs. One of the interesting reflections was the way in which models of church reflect the generational values of those who start and promote them. We contrasted the early Baby Boomer large regional churches with the small alternative communities being started by Gen Xers.
One of the resources that got us talking was John Driver’s Gates to the Cross model, explored earlier here at Gospel Notes.
A highlight for each Forge gathering is the telling of stories from alternative approaches to church. We heard from Joshua Tree on the Sunshine Coast (Steve & Felicity Turner, Kelly Edington) and Pathway (Steve Drinkall). That’s Steve Drinkall on the left below, and Steve Turner on the right.
Forge Mission Training Network held its second national Australian summit this last weekend.
I flew in to Melbourne from Brisbane on Friday night, so only got into The Factory (Mitcham Baptist) in time to hear Sons of Korah performing. I missed Alan Hirsch introducing the conference and Mike Frost’s keynote address on dirt and soil. Alan and Deb are off to the western coast of the United States for a few years, sponsored by CRM to resource the missional church scene there.
More on Mike’s book, Exiles, and Alan’s book, The Forgotten Ways, in later posts…
Brian McLaren provided an inspiring and gracious challenge to the churches of the 21st Century, helping us recognise the key narratives found in humanity, such as domination, victim, shame, economic bargaining and withdrawal. Each of these approaches, Brian explained, can be found in the setting in which Jesus operated. So what does the alternative look like? Brian gave us the beautiful story of an outdoor jazz concert in Sydney in which a young boy is joined by others as they celebrate life in music.
I was able to attend sessions led by Wolfgang Simson (hyperbolic metaphoric storyteller enthusiastic about small and effective missional communities), and Geoff Westlake (community developer in WA focusing on the concept of ‘ecclesia’ as community development council).
I enjoyed the session on theological issues for the ‘emerging church’ led by Stephen Said and Randy Edwards.
Stephen Said provided a challenging analysis of the theological strengths and flaws found in the renewal of missional church in Australia. Key themes (strengths) coming through are the connection of Missio Dei (the other-focused nature of God) with the local context, bridging the secular and sacred, recovery of kingdom ecclesiology, and the reminder that mission is integral to Christian community. Holes identified by Steven were in some ways about the same themes. We can too easily separate missional and incarnational. With our ‘can-do’ focus on method we’re still missing out on the Spirit’s role in mission. The Holy Spirit’s work was rediscovered by many churches during the charismatic renewal days but for many there’s not much awareness of the Holy Spirit working outside the worship service. We’re still separating evangelism from social justice. In Australia we tend to have a suspicion of philosophy. We’re too easily caught up in the prevailing consumerist metanarrative of our time - addiction to the collection of experiences.
Another helpful observation in the theology elective, made by Randy Edwards I think, was that we have been over-valuing leadership. It’s almost as if everyone must be in a leadership position of some sort. “You’re not fulfilling your potential unless you’re influencing someone else.”
Here’s another quote from Randy Edwards that stuck with me…. “Protestants don’t know how to give. They only know how to invest”. This was in response to the observation that experimental groups are jettisoned when it appears as though they are not producing high numbers of church members. Permission to achieve is not the same as permission to try and fail.
I attended an all-too-brief interactive panel focusing on consumerism and faith. We could have spent the whole weekend unpacking this subject. Unfortunately we had less than an hour. I was reminded by Dave Andrews (earthy radical discipleship sage) that bold claims to be bucking the trend are revealed as posturing when we compare our incomes and lifestyles with those living in the seventy percent of the world’s population.
Darryl Gardiner, fellow Kiwi bald guy from Wellington, lightened up the atmosphere with his humorous but gritty introduction of the “Dirty Christ”, the one who was born in an earthy stable. Darryl’s carrying on the tradition of Barry Crump, NZ author, with his exploration of “bastards I have met”.
Saturday evening finished with the delightful comedic and insightful poetry of Cameron Semmens, the author of 26 Tales from the Testaments - alliterated Bible passages in every letter of the alphabet.
I must admit I spent most of Sunday in conversation with various people, missing many of the sessions and workshops. I did get to Brian McLaren’s reflections on what we can learn from Emerging Church movement in the United States. This wasn’t one of those “it’s all happening in America” workshops. It was helpful to hear about what other people are learning through trial and error, bitter criticism and collaboration across denominations.
It’s always interesting to hear the the Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian and United Church of Christ described as the ‘liberal’ denominations. I heard one of the presenters at Forge introduce himself as the pastor of an “Evangelical Uniting” church. Clearly for some it is really important to be known and regarded as “Evangelical”. It helps people know what you believe, I guess. The problem is that people who see things differently just become “liberal”. I think we need to upskill in our capacity to relate to Christians who come from different places.
I must say it was refreshing to be part of, and on the edge of, a movement that is morphing. Social justice, concern for the environment, and an honest re-exploration of the Christian gospel, were all included in an agenda in which there was room for ranters, story tellers, poets, evangelists, coffee-makers, conversationalists, multi-media artists and musicians. Forge, like the rest of the Australian church, continues to struggle with the gender balance of its speakers and facilitators. Speaking of facilitators, we could have done with less content and more time to process in small groups.
As with the first Forge Dangerous Stories summit, we didn’t start each session with a time of ‘praise and worship’. I wasn’t sorry about that, though I do enjoy the occasional bit of God-focused “Christian karaoke”. I’d like to see the re-emergence of corporate singing in this kind of environment, modelling some of the broad missional themes being explored by Forge. Another time, another place…
Forge Queensland is hosting a missional training intensive in July, focusing on radical discipleship, the Spirit and sustainability.
July Thursday 7 - Friday 8 will focus on ’simple church’, and will be led by Tony and Felicity Dale from House2House Ministries. 9.30 - 5 pm at Hercules Rd State Primary School, Kippa-Ring. There will be an open evening program on Thursday night. Contact Bruce Moore: hopecommunity at netspace.net.au or mobile 0409 545 063 for more details.
July 8, Friday evening will feature Peter Breen speaking on ‘Christ the emergent artist in the emergent culture’. 7.15 pm at Jugglers Art Space, 103 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley.
July 10 - 11 will feature Stephen Said and Dave Andrews from TEAR Australia. 9.30 am - 5 pm at Gateway Baptist, 1052 Mt Gravatt Capalaba Rd, Mackenzie, Brisbane.
To register conctact Kelly Edington: kellyedington at aapt.net.au or mobile 0422 407 859. Registration forms can be downloaded from the Seeds of Hope web site, www.seedsofhope.unitingchurch.org.au.
I spent some time with Darryl Gardiner recently while he was visiting Queenland with Forge. Darryl was the featured conversation artist at the Forge Intensive held at North Lakes, focusing on entrepreneurial leadership. It was good to catch up with Darryl years on after our first connections through Te Hou Ora (now Te Ora Hou) and Youth For Christ.
Darryl helped us think about the models of mission we were using, providing a critique of the foray approach in which Christians make trips out of the compound and invite people back in to the fold. The problem with this approach, Darryl explained, is the level of control involved in the compound. Even though the foray approach has worked over the centuries, that doesn’t mean that God has endorsed it.
Darryl gave us the alternative, the immersion/emersion approach, using Hudson Taylor as a model. Taylor grew his hair long and learnt the local language of China, using methods not approved by head office. We looked at a few examples of indigenous Christian movements in New Zealand that had taken the route of immersion. Of course this approach has its problems as well: the risk of syncretism and isolationism in which people believe their own publicity.
Darryl reflected on his experience of developing a youth ministry network, Te Hou Ora, aimed at discipling young people from Maori and Pacific Island backgrounds. With hindsight he could see that much of what was called discipleship was in fact socialisation into the mainstream Christian culture of the time.
On the Friday evening Darryl spoke at the Lions Den Cafe, providing us with an alternative to the over-hyped inspirational event in which young adults are urged to achieve something ‘big’ for God. Darryl reflected on the significant incarnational movements in Australia and New Zealand - usually unseen and small. Likewise the ministry of Jesus.
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.
I flew in to Melbourne from Brisbane on Friday night, so only got into The Factory (
