TwentyTen: I am released!

OK.

This is a biggie.

During all of the time I’ve been blogging, using Facebook and Twitter etc I’ve been very careful with my online presence to say very little about my previous day to day working life in the electronic music, audio & video product industry…concentrating rather on my life as a follower of Jesus trying to live as authentically as I can.

This was not some secular/sacred issue. I made that online separation simply because I wanted to be defined not by what I “do” in my career, but rather by what I “am”. In fact over the years I have become ever more convicted that it is this attempt at walking the way of Jesus that defines me; weak, faltering and broken as I am.

Now that maxim will apply more than ever:

Here at the beginning of 2010 I become a free agent.

I am released!

My employment came to an end just before Christmas, due to a merger within the corporate group I have been a part of for many years.

Together with my family – and with a lot of prayer – we’ve just been trying to discern where we go from here.

We feel this is gift of God (perhaps more accurately a hefty kick) to make myself more available to Jesus stuff in whatever form that takes. Expecting that there will perhaps be more time than before, I’ve already stepped out and started to take the initiative to get involved in a few things that I have a passion for, and are close to my heart.

It’s time to recalibrate.

Early signs seem to be focussed towards authentic missional discipleship, connection and some kind of increased & enhanced online activity - influenced in part because I have been inspired by those over the last little while who by their living, writing, sharing, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, grace and love have impacted me more than they will ever realize.

JD, Thomas and Stewart are among that number with the Something Beautiful Podcast and JD’s book, St Peter's Brewery - Chris with Geek-Speak - Sam Radford with his Awaken stuff, Duncan McFadzean with his Seven Men projects, Chris and Dana at Blue Door TV, the remarkable transitional journey of Chick and Margaret Yuill...the list could go on and on!

I've never been much of a bread head, so it will be my passion that will drive this thing. In many ways I want it to be a vehicle to help others, as much as help myself. I'm excited to see how it evolves.

Also, I guess I've been recently quite inspired by former pastor, Problogger and friend of Tall Skinny Kiwi, Darren Rowse, and although I don't expect to be earning 6 figures anytime soon(!!), I am interested to explore just a little of what might be achieved. Over the longer haul, though, I've really been taken by how many of my buddies have just gotten off their butts, and taken leaps of faith...

If we’ve connected in any way since I started blogging YOU are part of my story, for that I thank you.

There’s a phrase that I picked up from renowned missiologist Mike Frost that has real resonance for me and my family at the moment. We are

“Following the Missio Dei into Strange Places”

I am excited about what God has in store for us!

If you want to join me on the journey or think I can in some small way support you on yours, feel free to get in touch with me on Facebook or Twitter

We would ask for your prayers.

Much love...in his dust

TransFORM

I kinda already heard a little bit of a buzz about these guys on the web, and Chris’ post at This Fragile Tent drew my attention to them with a little more fine focus.

TransFORM: Missional Community Formation from TransFORM on Vimeo.

There are some good people here, and I like what they are saying…

From web to face-to-face

I’m looking forward to hooking up with This Fragile Tent’s Chris and Michaela Goan in Dunoon later in the month.

It’ll be a long drive for us from Oxted, but Chris’ description of the weekend makes it sound so exciting:

The next of the years meetings will be at Chris and Michaela’s house in Dunoon.

They live in a big old house with great views over the Clyde, lots of corners to chat/be quiet/pray/debate, and open fire, good company and a warm welcome… Posh it ain’t, but it is at it’s best when full of people.

Hopefully this will be a chance to meet up with new and old friends, share some ideas and to find out some specific stuff about what has been happening in Dunoon.

We will also use some of this time for prayer and retreat- setting up some prayer and worship stuff.

Depending on how things go, we might watch a film about new church stuff in Canada, do some music- who knows?

You are invited to come for as long as you like- an afternoon, a day or stay over for the weekend- we have quite a bit of space, and other members of Aoradh have more…

Personally, we believe that time spent sharing and making community is beautiful, and we hope you will not rush away.

Perhaps as we celebrate the Kingdom, we also build it.

Two Chris’

Let me point you in the direction of this excellent & fascinating post from Chris Goan at This Fragile Tent, where he wrestles with the concept of friendship and the internet.

I found Chris’ great piece hot on the heels of spending a wonderful day with another Chris on Saturday.

Chris & Dana Byers and their fantastic kids spent a good part of the day with us…feasting on a sumptuous breakfast at Casa Laird, walking around our pretty little home town in the sunshine (yes! It’s back…or at least it was…periodically), fizzing around ideas & sharing our stories together. We had a really great time.

I mention this because our relationship is one that started entirely online, and has quite quickly moved to being an actual face-to-face flesh & blood friendship.



In his blog post, Chris Goan says this, drawing his conclusions about a study he references in the post:

“So, what can we make of all of this? The study clearly takes the view that on-line contact is not enough, and indeed may be problematic.
I still hope however, that when used well and purposefully, on-line connections might facilitate community building. This is where I still place my energy……..
…..It is almost as if we humans were made to find our highest expression in community. As if we were wired and plumbed for this.”

I was so glad to move from online to real community with Dana & Chris Byers, but am glad I can stay so closely and regularly connected with them via the internet.

Here’s to the next big breakfast, guys!

Pernell

Glad to see that Pernell Goodyear is blogging again after quite a long hiatus.

Visit Pernell for perceptive stuff about the way of Jesus, mission, stories about his tribe, The FRWY, and all kinds of other good stuff.

Following the Missio Dei into strange places…with Mike Frost

Since I spent a couple of days last week immersed in the teaching of Mike Frost at two different events run by the Evangelical Alliance, I’ve made a few scribbles, as much for my own benefit as anyone else’s, to try and unpack the thoughts & ideas that grabbbed my attention.There was so much to take in that these notes should not be regarded as comprehensive or definitive in any way….it’s just a note of some of the things that impacted me.

It was good too to hook up with top fellah, Krish Kandiah.

First off, I guess it’s important to understand that I came to hear Mike having read a two of his books at least a couple of times each, and also having heard his friend and missional compadre Alan Hirsch earlier in the year. Essentially, I’ve already bought into the notion that MISSION needs to be the first organizing principal of Church……

Mike posed three big questions:

1. To whom shall I go?
2. Who will go with me?
3. Where will we meet them?

It was clear from the get go that Mike was not pushing a model (“I don’t have a model!”) or template for missional Churches to plug into, but rather was exploring the bigger picture of the reasons for Mission (Theologica, Cultural/historical and I guess what I would call the ethos of the Church) drawing on his conviction that God is a “sent” and “sending” God. Although Mike has an amazing head-knowledge about being missional, and is quick to acknowledge the influence of folks like Lesslie Newbigin and David Bosch, for me it’s his experience as a practictioner in his own smallboatbigsea community there in Manly, Sydney that is the most telling. (note to self: If I ever get to Oz, must visit smallboatbigsea!) If you want to get more of a feel of the Manly vibe, you might want to check out this post from my bloggin’ buddy Hamo at Backyard Missionary.

Frosty is completely sold out on Jesus and a master story teller who’s passionate and emotive retelling of Scripture would be well worth listening to alone, even without all the great stuff he outlined about mission over the two days. I don’t think I can effectively summarize everything he said – I’m just not that good a writer, but I can recommend, once again, the books I’ve written about on this blog. (Search "FROST" in the blog search window, top left). Neither can I do justice to capture in a few clicks of my keyboard how moved I was when Mike was recounting tales of people’s responses when he’d asked them “so….you’ve never had a religious experience?”. To hear of the supposedly non-believing mother ponder the meaning of life, and where it comes from when – for the very first time – she draws her new born daughter to her chest, or the surfer who – feeling the huge undulating swell of the mighty Pacific before he caught that amazing wave – bristles with a knowledge that somehow, somewhere there is a force so much bigger than he can really grasp...is that not a religious experience?

I liked a powerful phrase Mike used about Jesus followers marinating ourselves in the Gospels, and the notion that we should be trying to be ever more like Jesus. Good advice.

Although Mike kept most of the stuff about smallboatbigsea on the back burner, it was good to hear little snippets about some of the stuff they did there in their own context and community. He talked about being more of an “infiltrating” Church than an “inviting” Church, so clearly they are more about seeping into the cracks and crevices of that particular stomping ground than simply setting up their Church stall and expecting people to come to them….inspirational. It was fascinating to hear that during the early days of smallboatbigsea they identified two hangouts - The Artichoke and the Ivanhoe Hotel – as somewhere where they could live out their “sentness”, not with an agenda somehow targetting unsuspecting non-Churched folks, but rather simply as part of this calling to a missional lifestyle…following the Missio Dei into strange places.

In fact, the third place - as identified in Ray Oldenburg’s The Great Good Place – features often in Mike’s stories of the missional Church, with references to Pittsburg Hot Dog Restaurant Hot Dogma (which I understand eventually changed its name to the equally imaginative and witty “Franktuary”), the Four Olives Deli, again in Manly where Mike regularly breakfasts with two other guys who together form their Discipleship, Nurture and Accountability group, or DNA, to the kids life saver club, where parents sit on the decks drinking coffee chatting about their kids, life and the universe.

It’s this whole , expansive, and very rich life that makes the incarnational Church so…….attractive. Hope you catch the playful, subtle irony of that sentence! If the Missional is about “going”, then the Incarnational is about “going deep”.

I was also interested in the challenge to the notion that busyness in Church somehow equates with effectiveness. I loved Mike’s little illustration of the Pastors who’s dialog is often preceded with the greeting “How are you? Busy?”
Mike’s reply has become “Busy…I’m not busy, I’ve got all the time in the world…what do you want to do?”

This just goes to illustrate the power of the maxim “No time for relationships – no time for mission”…something important for me to bear in mind. In my local context we’ve been wrestling with this, so it was good to be reminded that if you release people from Church commitments – as we have done to some small extent - you must also model and provide missional opportunities….. stirring up latent missional potential.

“God is already at work in the places where you have been sent”

For much clearer and more eloquent unpacking of Mike’s talks, try here and here.

Alan Hirsch in UK

Next Tuesday I’ll be popping down to the West Country to hear Alan Hirsch speak at a West of England Baptist Association event at Clevedon Baptist Church

…looking forward to hooking up with Alan, whose books The Forgotten Ways and The Shaping of Things to Come (with Michael Frost), have had such a profound effect on my view of mission.

HT to Willow Creek for the Hirshy pic

Communitas New Orleans

Isn’t the web a wonderful thing?


A few clicks – a comment here and there – a polite acknowledgement, and a budding relationship forms.


Thanks, Mike, for passing by, and if anyone else is reading, check out Communitas New Orleans’ site.