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

Time for spontaneity

I love this piece by my good buddy Duncan, which has just appeared in The Salvation Army’s UK in-house magazine “Salvationist”:

A few stand out phrases:

In our heavily structured lives, do you find yourself not having room to be spontaneous – that if it’s not in the diary a month (or two or three) beforehand, it’s probably not going to happen? It’s not just meals, either; hooking up with friends or spending time with someone who wants to chat with you just gets more and more difficult.

…and…

I often speculate that had Jesus and his disciples just sat and ate their packed lunch and not shared it with the people who had just heard him – no doubt teaching about loving their neighbour, how to live in community with God and each other, and how to live justly – they wouldn’t have had much credibility.

…and…

Time for spontaneity

I struggle to find good quality time to eat with friends and family on a regular basis, and guess this could be true for others…….some of us are so busy trying to do, that we forget just to be. There are many people that need me just to be present and attentive, so that we can both work in each other’s lives – even over a simple meal. Jesus shows us very clearly that sitting down together is central to his work.

Duncan & his wife Anita are co-ordinators of our Fellowship Team at church

Booth & Bono

I’m looking forward to seeing an article that Randy Bohlender says he’s been working on for RELEVANT.

Randy had Twittered the thought

"I'd like to see a cage match between Bono and William Booth",

which put together two of my big heroes in one intriguing sentence, and captured my imagination.

I wonder what’s coming?

…should be a good read when it comes out.

BTW, I first came across Randy a year or two ago by some random Googling of "Burning Man" and "Christian". Check out this fascinating & uplifting piece about his experiences at Burning Man

Punk Monk

On Saturday I took the opportunity to take up the recommendation of Keith, and picked up a copy of 24/7 Prayer guys Andy Freeman & Pete Greig’s Punk Monk book at my local Wesley Owen.

Unusally, I was wearing full on Sally Army uniform because the stop off at the book store was squeezed into a little time slot I had on the way to a gig with the Salvation Army Band I play in.

Now, I have to confess, there are times I struggle with wearing my uniform. It’s not that I have a problem with being identified as a member of The Salvation Army – it’s just that the style of uniform that I don’t like. It’s too close to a generic traffic warden /prison officer/security guard – whatever; white shirt, dark blue serge and smacks far too much of the conservative, conventional and buttoned-down for my liking. Also, it’s not exactly the most comfortable piece of clothing in my wardrobe.

The uniform is certainly not as readily identifiable as it used to be when The Salvation Army was more of a known quantity for people in British society, so maybe today if it was a bit more striking and individual it may, in turn, become more recognizable?

On top of that, I have a concern that a building full of people looking very similar in their uniforms may be a little overpowering or overwhelming for anyone who had chosen to drop in to one of our gatherings. (someone else might want to comment on this – this is only my perception)

Having said all that…….there are times when the uniform is great as a signal to people, saying “you can talk to me!”. In these circumstances it’s good…and on Saturday it was good because as I walked back from buying the Punk Monk, I bumped into a punk – mohican, studded jacket, tattoos, piercings…the works, who was taking a little time out outside a pub enjoying a drink with some friends. Now, because I had my uniform on, and because he was a decent guy, we were able to get into a conversation for a good 10-15 minutes. His opening gambit was

“I hurt people for a living”.

I asked him to explain, so he told me that he was one of the tattoo artists in the shop across the road. We talked, laughed, had a look at my newly purchased Punk Monk together – a little quizzical about the synchronicity of it all - and shared stories about tattood Pastors like Pernell & Carlos.

The funny thing is, I pass a couple of tattoo shops at least twice a week, as they are both close to The Salvation Army Hall. Something has been eating away at me for weeks saying I’d like to find a way to make contact. - not necessarily because I want to have a tatt, but because these people are real…authentic…our neighbours. We’re fortunate because our Salvation Army building is in a densely populated area, very close to the centre of our town, within stepping distance of a bustling and historic market where life is happening…and our presence there should be a tangible, authentic and positive thing.

I’m looking forward to reading Punk Monk!


The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood

John 1:14 (The Message)

Thanks to Sayconnect for the pic of the non-traditional Sally Army uniform

Sparkers!

I've nicked this picture from Lloyd, just it's because it's a great shot of two of my greatest friends, Duncan and Anita, who I love very dearly...

2020

CNN currently have a fascinating feature called "JUST IMAGINE…what will life be like in 2020?” on their site.

It includes a feature on the inspiring Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx, who I first learned about though Duncan McFadzean’s What’s your point caller? blog at this post. Thanks for the heads up on this, Duncan!

There’s also piece on Community from Worldchanging’s Alex Steffen.

…a lot of good stuff to dig into in this feature, which means you may need to keep going back to revisit it.

If this kind of eco and urban renewal stuff floats your boat, you might also be interested in The High Line in NYC – an initiative to turn the historic High Line rail structure into a one-of-a-kind recreational amenity: an elevated public park cutting though a district in the city, above street level. I’m all for greening the city – makes sense to me.

The High Line blog
The High Line site
The High Line portraits

Pic straight from CNN

Little shuffle

…not really due for an overhaul, but I did want to make a few small tweaks in to the johnnylaird blogroll

• ABC Pastor goes in (I blogged about Lawrence Tom here)
• I’ve added Lard’s family site too
• Scott was posted about here, and makes the blogroll
• Ian’s In the Belly of the Big Fish blog and Pace Bene site go on
• Stuart Watson’s Speirer blog is an interesting one for Salvationists. It’s early days for this one, so I’m not sure what themes will be covered over time, but Stuart has posted on subjects that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately namely Duty and Sabbath. My guess is this one will be an interesting one to watch as later in the month, Stuart & his wife Marjory leave the UK to begin a new life in California. Stuart will be working as the Music Education Director and Marjory as the Creative Ministries Director for The Salvation Army on the US West Coast, based in LA.
• …been finding a few things on MOOT’s blog that have grabbed my attention, so it’s going on the ‘roll
• Matt Ingram – How could I possibly not? Matt’s Hawaiian adventure is going to be great to read about because it will bring back so many memories of that beautiful place

I also wanted to include some sites of various good people I hooked up with when I spent a day with Eric Bryant and the guys from the Mosaic Alliance UK, so in go the following:

• Keith Ayling
• Sam Radford of Mosaic Sheffield blogs at The Sixth Sense
• Not strictly a blog, but a funky little Church site from ICF London

RELEVANT makes the mags, partly because it’s so relevant, and also as a sign of my support for the mighty Lard

Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to my blogging buddies Thomas and JB, who’ve just started a new podcast at Something Beautiful.Stop by if you can.

When I do one of these periodic jigs of my blogroll, I’m hoping whoever is reading this blog finds a few things that might interest them and that the various strands of my own little cyberworld might gently collide with each other and find some common ground.


(There's a lot of linkage to sort now, but I'll get to it!)

Books and stuff and Haruki Murakami

When I left school – way way back in the early 80s, there was a period of time when I simply did not read. I had abandoned reading for pleasure, probably as a result of delving deeply into all kinds of stuff which I had been directed to as part of my studies. I had dutifully worked through the usual English syllabus of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Hardy, EM Forster, Beckett, Joyce and the rest of the usual suspects. After that, it all came to a grinding halt for a few years.

My reading after school was almost entirely made up of editions of Downbeat and Guitar Player magazines, which I read, re-read and read again. I never did master the guitar, but I could talk the talk, and fool anyone into thinking I knew what I was talking about when it came to guitars! I’ve forgotten most of it now, so don’t test me.

Then, on one specific day – and I can’t remember what the catalyst was to encourage such a focused response – I made a conscious decision that it was time to read again, so I went to a book store and made some purchases:

• To Kill a Mocking Bird – Harper Lee
• Lake Wobegon Days – Garrison Keillor
• On the Road – Jack Kerouac
• The Catcher in the Rye – J D Salinger
• Neuromancer – William Gibson

These books started a journey that has never stopped, and I suppose if I really sat down and took the time to analyze it, the day when I bought those five books would have been the kick off point for a daisy chain of a reading pattern that would find me searching out a book that had some kind of connection (which was sometimes deliberate, and sometimes subconscious) to the one I had just read. I would settle on an author any read several of their titles, or I would by a biography of the author that would open up another world for me – I rattled around the works of the Beats for a year or two, and racked up a whole collection of William Gibson cyberpunk novels. Eventually, the whole thing blossomed into a reasonably wide portfolio of reading stuff.

The reason I’ve remembered all this, is one of those authors I focused on for a while was Haruki Murakami. I love his surreal, contemporary Chandler-esque tales, written in a clipped, sparse way that leaves enough space for your imagination to fill in the gaps.

Murakami featured in a really interesting piece in the Saturday edition of The Guardian, where we talks mostly about the other passion in his life, apart from his writing – running. Murakami, I now realize, is a dedicated long distance runner, with many marathons under his belt, and talks about the similar discipline he applies to his writing and his running.

For more stuff on Haruki Murakami and running, there’s a Runners World interview here.

I’m kinda hoping the inspiration I initially got from reading a few books, might work for me in getting me off my backside, and doing a little better than the periodic mile and a half stagger across the field and around the local park. There’s something appealing about running that is somehow at odds with my normal preference for sitting around and drinking coffee!

Hat tip to Naxos Audio Books for the image

Currently reading NT Wright’s Surprised by Hope

Say Aloha to Matt!

...wanted to give a shout out to the baby-faced and frighteningly talented Matt Ingram, who's just arrived in beautiful Hawaii for the summer, and will be blogging about his experiences here

Matt's a lovely fellah, top musician and all round good bloke

FRWY

For a long time I’ve been an admirer of the ministry of The Freeway in Hamilton ON, and regularly visit their website, as well as the blog of their pastor Pernell Goodyear, but somehow this quite beautiful outline of their story had dipped under my radar.

I love the way they describe the early days of The Salvation Army, and smoothly move into their vision of their new and current expression of Christian love in their community.

Praying Pete

As is so often the case, I’m late to the party on this news.

24/7 Prayer head honcho Pete Greig has become “Director of Prayer” for Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London.

24/7 Announcement
HTB Announcement

It’s an interesting appointment in all kinds of ways, not least because 24/7 has quite recently grown rapidly as a prayer movement from a humble, organic little huddle of people to something of a global phenomenon seemingly overnight, whereas HTB has been around since the 1800s, and is the home of the hugely successful Alpha Course.

My own tribe have had a long and happy relationship with the 24/7 guys and have a department focused on 24/7 prayer, so I’m glad to see 24-7 Prayer’s continuing impact on Church communities and the wider society. The story about that relationship between 24/7 and The Salvation Army is outlined here. It really is worth the read.

Pete has written a number of books, but the two that I particularly found helpful are Red Moon Rising and God On Mute. If you’re not familiar with them, they are worth checking out.

Scott’s tips for “Keeping a pulse on culture”

I’ve been reading Scott Hodge’s blog probably as long as any other. It’s a regular stop off for me, for all kinds of reasons. First off, Scott’s a funny guy, who often posts stuff that makes me laugh. Secondly, he periodically comes up with a little gem that will set my mind thinking about the things of faith, mission or ministry; and finally I like to listen in to his radar about other good stuff that is going on around the web.

One of Scott’s recent posts is a response to an e-mail he received asking questions about how people in ministry keep up with “culture”.

1. Here’s the question…

I’m in the process of reading through tons of blogs, which incidentally, is how I happened on yours. I’m a 45-year-old white guy who is the “minister of music” at a 50-year-old church. Our church is in the beginnings of what is going to be a painful change in terms of trying to become more “relevant.” My question for you is how do I “catch up” culturally on a personal level? I have a 19-year-old son who has done a pretty good job of keeping me from fossilizing (I have a Facebook, do Twitter, and I’m about to be blogging myself) but I was wondering if there are some books you could suggest, some activities to engage in, or some other magical pill that would aid me in the process. Any thoughts you can give me would be most appreciated

The hugely interesting 11-point response is well thought through and is full of points of reference that are worth exploring. It set off a train of thought in my own mind.

2. Here’s the post called “Keeping a pulse on culture”

3. ….and here’s my ramble, which I left as a response…

“Great post, Scott! Really interesting stuff. The thing I’ve been rolling around in my head, though, is so much of the stuff you mention is such familiar territory to me - kinda my lingua franca, if you will: stuff that stimulates me, excites me, encourages me and forms the basis of much of my thought about BEING Church…. BUT, if I transplant it to my local Church situation, does it get lost in translation for those who I spend my waking days with, off of the cyber-grid I spend so much of my existence hooked in to?

Am I an early adopter because I read the blogs and the mags…and the books, or am I inhabiting a world that is foreign those folks I serve & minister with and to?

This is not in any way meant as a criticism of your post, but rather I’m just rolling out a little bit of self analysis it has stimulated.

I’m going to answer my own questions to a degree, with the upbeat conclusion that all this stuff DOES help me, because – at least in my own little world – people are sharing the stuff, networking, breaking down denominational and cultural barriers, learning from each other’s experiences…the list goes on….”

Any thoughts of your own, people?

Thanks to Scott for the pic

Good question, Jason

I’m glad Jason Clark , Pastor at Vineyard Church Sutton, coordinator for Emergent UK , and all round good fellah - asked the question

“Where have all the UK bloggers gone?”,

and in the process managed - through the responses provide – to hook me up with a bunch of interesting UK blogs, most of which have some kind of emerging vibe.

Check out the responses to Jason’s question:

I was particularly interested to discover the Ian Adams’ wonderfully-named In the Belly of the Big Fish blog and Pace Bene website - a neat little bit of synchronicity which took me back to the site where Ian is the founding Pastor – mayBe in Oxford. A year or two back, I used to bounce over to the mayBe site very regularly, having become captivated by their creative, authentic and elemental community’s web presence.

Thanks for the pic, Jason!

It's that man again!

At the risk of having so many blog posts about Michael Frost that I could be branded some kind of weird fanboy, I’ve posted a YouTube ad for Mike’s visit to England later in the year.

Mike, you’re gonna have to stop writing books that have such a big impact on me, mate!

Red Rock

I’m a sucker for the coffee shop/Church initiative double whammy. (FRWY, Q Café, Sutton Sally Army are other examples of these Third Places)

The Highway Community’s Red Rock Coffee looks like it would be well worth a visit if you are ever in the Mountain View CA area.

I like what The Highway say in response to the question “Why does a Church own a Café?”

The church has long asked people to come through its doors to experience what we have to offer, whether it’s teaching, music, counseling, help, food, community, or support. It’s a good idea, in theory, and one that the church has operated on for the last two centuries or so.

However, in the work culture of the Silicon Valley, it grows more and more difficult to serve our community as we’re increasingly over-busy, over-networked, and over-loaded with information.

Even before the inception of Highway, we had long dreamed of a public place where ideas, lives, music, art, food, dialogue, and relationships could collide in an open, community setting. Since the café has turned into the postmodern intersection of public life, it seemed the perfect environment to evolve into ‘the place.’

Red Rock is our attempt at a new expression of Christ’s challenge to spread his love and message to the world. As a non-profit we hope to live out the example of service through our business, and by giving back to the community that sustains us.

BTW, if you need really good video resources for Church, you really should check their Highway Video site too. It’s amongst the best stuff available.

The Elders

Having quoted heroic chuckling Church man, Desmond Tutu in a previous post, I’ve been prompted to reacquaint myself with the work of The Elders, the group of seminal global statesmen and women brought together as part of an initiative envisioned by Peter Gabriel to act as elders to our global village – guiding & supporting us through the major challenges the world faces today.

This is not new news, but I’m glad to revisit it again, and would urge you to check it out if you’re not already familiar with it.

The pic is borrowed from the quite beautiful Elders site…Thank you

Made from girders!

Thanks, Thomas, for letting me know about the new Irn Bru ad!

Makes you proud to be Scottish!

Go!

HT to Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch’s “Shaping of things to come” for introducing me to this little poem:

Go to the people
Live with them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build with what they have
But with the best leaders,
When the work is done,
The task accomplished
The people will say 'We have done this ourselves!'

-Lao Tsu (700 BC)

Scott of The Rock

…wanted to give a little shout out to Scott Harris who contacted me this week via Facebook.

Check out his blog and the site of The Rock, where Scott is lead Pastor.

He’s a friendly guy – go say “hello”, and tell him Johnny sent you!

Thanks to The Rock family for the pic

Identity

Watching the Rangers game this week – and perhaps most especially the fans* – made me wonder about identity, and how mixed up and muddy it can get. Quite reasonably, an English buddy of mine asked why the resolutely Scottish Rangers supporters waved the Union Jack. Now, you’d imagine that a reasonable simple question deserves a reasonable simple answer, but it’s WAY more complicated than that, and I’m not even sure I can explain it correctly.

Firstly, there’s the red, white and blue which the kits & flags share; then there’s the supposed loyalty to “the union”, which with Scottish Parliament and a SNP first minister is as fragile now as it has ever been. On top of that, what is the Britishness that such loyalty is directed towards? Is it the amazing rainbow-hued multi-ethnic society that I’m glad to experience every day in London, or something else that existed in the past but has long been consigned to history?

The waters are further muddied, because those supporters are likely to whistle raucously with the rest of the Tartan Army in protest at the playing of the British National Anthem, “God Save The Queen” for the England team on the now rare occasions when Scotland and England meet on the football field.

Also, in Scotland there’s in a growing interest in and affinity for all things celtic, not to be confused with Rangers’ bitter rivals Celtic!

No wonder it’s confusing.

For me – and I say this as someone who’s loyalty as an armchair supporter has been with Rangers since I was old enough to utter the word – I do struggle a little with seeing the Union Jack waved. Having moved to England from Scotland in mid 70s, and being of a generation when the flag was hi-jacked by the far right when my sympathies were more in line with Rock Against Racism and the upbeat joy of 2-Tone it still creates a kind of uncomfortable feeling when I see it flown.

• I’m hugely proud to be a Scot (with an English accent)
• I baulk at describing myself as “British”
• I’m probably a Londoner as much as anything else
• I feel like a Celt, not an Anglo
• I’m still a Rangers supporter, but I renounce bigotry
• I’ve never met an Irishman I haven’t gotten on with famously
• My family is a glorious mix of the celtic, anglo and Caribbean, but when Scotland are playing there’s only one team for us
• I agree with those eminent theologians at Hard Rock, and would wish to Love All, Serve All
• Ultimately, my identity is bound up in my saviour Jesus

There’s a quote attributed to Desmond Tutu that I’m finding increasing resonance with:

Jesus said, 'If I be lifted up I will draw all, all, all, all, all. Black, white, yellow, rich, poor, clever, not so clever, beautiful, not so beautiful. It's one of the most radical things. All, all, all, all, all, all, all, all. All belong. Gay, lesbian, so-called straight. All, all are meant to be held in this incredible embrace that will not let us go. All.

*If you’re reading this outside of the UK you may not realize that somewhere around 100,000 football (soccer) fans effectively invaded the city of Manchester to support their team in a major European soccer final.

attempting abandonment

Interested to read Lucy's latest blog post.

Lucy is going to go authetically incarnational in the heart of London. It will be really interesting to read how the adventure goes right from the off.

Good on you for taking the brave step. Lucy! (and big thanks for the pic to illustrate this post)

Peace & blessings

J

Roots - thoughts

OK – just a few thoughts – not definitive, not comprehensive, not particularly well written….just a few scribbles…..

If Roots & The Salvation Army are familiar territory for whoever might be reading this, my ramblings should make some kind of sense. If, on the other hand, you’re reading this without that background, hopefully there will be a few things that might be interesting and useful.

As always, Roots was a great weekend – everything I hoped for – and more.

More challenging – scarily so – confronting poverty up-front & square between the eyes is never comfortable, especially when you live in relative comfort & wealth.

More life changing – again scarily so. Hearing some of the things we heard over the weekend, my guess would be that many of us will have to confront big questions about our own personal circumstances and situations.


Speakers

We had some really excellent speakers with us, notably the Simple Way’s Shane Claiborne, who was on top form. Radical, authentic, engaging and soaked in Scripture, Shane is a guy who clearly takes the teaching of Jesus wholly seriously. His powerful story telling certainly had me checking myself.

In the smaller seminar venues, Shane always impressed me because in each of the Q&A sessions every answer he gave came with Biblical back-up…every time, as if it was as natural as breathing for him. This was really telling during the late night debate session on pacifism. For me he scored high, simply because it was hard to argue with clear teaching from Scripture….certainly made me think hard.

Jeff Lucas was very good in the AM Bible Studies as usual. His humo(u)r and passion as evident as ever. Somehow, listening to Jeff in that first slot of the day that is really uplifting. He did look sickeningly tanned though! He’s clearly been somewhere a lot more exotic than Southport on a wet weekend!

Nims Obunge of the Peace Alliance spoke too, and was on fire! Anyone who can utter “religion sucks!” in what was essentially a Salvation Army meeting and get away with it deserves a round of applause! I’m glad our tribe is slowly coming to terms with the difference between religious legalism and real authentic faith. Nims’ exploration of the Biblical premise for peace was on the nail.
So good to hear Chick in one of the late night sessions…and sorry to have missed my good buddy, Duncan.

Resources

As I usually do I spent a good amount of time in the Resources tent and picked up a raft of books to work through over the next few weeks.

· Chick Yuill – A Terrible Beauty
· Tony Jones – The Sacred Way
· Shane Claiborne - Jesus for President
· NT Wright – Surprised by Hope

I’ve already devoured Chick Yuill’s A Terrible Beauty in much the same way as I did last year’s Others. There’s something really captivating about reading an author who you actually know…someone who is part of your life, part of your journey. As Russ Rook says in his forward to the book, it’s like reading the book, having watched the movie… A Terrible Beauty is authentic, personal and occasionally raw exploration of the central mystery and mixture of agony and ecstasy which is most sharply focused in the Crucifixion. Chick's writing is heartfelt and real - highly recommended.

This week’s reading as I commute to the office on the train has been Jesus for President, and I’ll get to the others books in due course. Man, I love to read.

Bloggers

Good to see fellow bloggers Chris, Dan, Matt, Mel, mrsparker, Heather and Kevin.
Richard
Ann

(Hope I didn’t miss anybody)

Wish you’d been there Thomas – thanks for the txts, Twitters & Facebook stuff!

Rootsy

Thankfully, much of what God has done through Roots is now happening effectively at a local level in The Salvation Army, so the need for the big event could be questionable. Now it has been announced that there will be a break from the event in 2009

Much as I love Roots as an event in itself, for the reasons I outlined in this & previous posts, I am kind of pleased that the guys at the hub of all this made the decision. I’m sure it was a tough call, and a heck of a lot of prayer was involved -– but much of what was once thought to be cutting edge and radical has moved into the mainstream of our tribe’s activity in the UK. Maybe the time is coming when we need to be pushed even further.

Because of next year’s gap, I guess I’ve been made to look backwards a little, to try and get a better understanding of the things God has blessed through the amazing initiative that is Roots, which had birthed so much that is good about The Salvation Army in the early 21st Century

I’m glad that Roots has broadened the world view of Salvationists….opened our doors to outstanding speakers who have enriched our view of mission – Tony & Bart Campolo, Steve Chalke, Jeff Lucas, Tim Costello….amongst many many others

…helped move mission back to the forefront of the thinking of many Salvationists

…encouraged a wider participation in social action amongst UK Salvationist

…challenged people to radical incarnational living

…just freed us up a little to be a little less buttoned up, a little less reserved and a lot more like we were birthed to be

…made us face up to what authentic Salvationism means

Big big thanks to those early Roots pioneers – I’m not sure precisely who they all were, but Phil Wall and Russ Rook have to be in there – and I know there are others.

If you know more about the early days of Roots, I’d like to know more.

Roots 08 is here!

…later today Janet, the kids & I start the trek north to attend the Roots conference in Southport.

I’m really looking forward to it - as ever.

It’s a weekend to get re-energize, to listen even more closely to what God is saying to the Church, our movement and us as individuals, to meet up with friends I just don’t see enough of, to re-connect with inspirational people who have impacted me in ways they don’t even know, to laugh, to hang out with my wife, to make new friends, to hear Shane Claiborne…..to go public!

What a weekend!

I’ve just had a really interesting and inspiring long weekend, which has left me feeling energized and buzzed

Friday night, I headed over to New Addington to walk around the area and pray late into the night with a group of people who are trying to discern what it is God wants to do with the ministry of The Salvation Army in that area. It was so good to share with friends in a few hours of deep impassioned prayer, really calling out to God for his guidance. One of the most encouraging parts for me was the participation of leaders – and prospective leaders – of Salvation Army Churches across the whole spread of the Croydon conurbation – from our own centrally positioned Croydon Citadel, to Forestdale and New Addington themselves. We’re really blessed with what we have, and I’m excited about the possibility of sharing some of our resources and working more closely than ever on Kingdom stuff. On top of that, those people who regularly at that small Salvation Army centre were inspirational in themselves.

Sunday evening was slightly different as I led Café Church at The Salvation Army, Croydon Citadel. We focused on a little phrase I picked out of Acts 13 in The Message…

Friends, do you have anything you want to say? A word of encouragement, perhaps?

and also took some time to consider again the benefits of small groups for our Church Community.

On Monday, I had taken a day off to travel up to City Church Preston to meet with Eric Bryant, who was joined with his colleague Adrian Koehler from hugely innovative community of Jesus followers at Mosaic in California for a meeting of the Mosaic Alliance in the UK. We shared time learning some of the stories of Mosaic, talked at length about mission, relationship, authenticity, transition and reaching the unchurched. Having read Eric’s awesome little book, Peppermint Filled Pinatas, (if you haven’t read it, you really should!) as well as communicated via blog and Facebook, it was very cool to chat in the flesh. It’s such a small small world these days.

Eric is one of the good guys. Great to finally catch up, bud!

Also, the day presented an excellent opportunity to meet and talk to others in the UK who are connected in some shape or form with the Mosaic Alliance – cool people one and all.

…looking forward to keeping the dialog going once I hunt down everyone’s e-mail address.

Good too, to hook up with Keith Ayling on relatively new - and excellent - publication Core Magazine, which I was hugely impressed with, and will be championing wherever I go.

What a weekend!

Next weekend, ROOTS!

Fifty Days of Prayer

If you are a pray-er, you might want to consider giving your prayer support to one of The Salvation Army’s NEOs (New Expression of Church) in Leeds, England.

Check out the Fifty Days of Prayer blog

CSW

It was great last night to have the visit of Stuart Windsor of Christian Solidarity Worldwide to our Church at The Salvation Army in Croydon.

Stuart left us with a humbling reminder of our brothers & sisters around the world who are being persecuted - today - because of their Christian faith.

Check out the site for further information.

...easy as 123...

I’ve been glad this week - by the power of the mighty internet – to hook up with Laurence Tom AKA abcpastor.

As I was checking on what bloggers were saying about the Fermi Project’s Q convention, I found Laurence’s blog, and just got drawn in – it’s an aesthetically pleasing site with lots of interesting things to say about Church, mission & general life stuff.

It’s been good to talk, LT! (BIG THANKS to you, for the pic.)

Definitely worth checking out folks!

Minty

…looking forward to hooking up Peppermint Filled Pinatas author , Eric Bryant at Mosaic Alliance’s UK event at the end of the month, way up in Preston.

Should be an interesting day.

Sally Army Flash Mob

I stumbled across this blog post at A Minor Technicality, which piqued my interest:

Check the vid out…



…and the accompanying comment…

I have no idea why, but the Salvation Army brass band turned up, played a few tunes on the green (positioning themselves quite symmetrically, I must point out), then vanished. It was close to a military exercise in guerilla band playing.

I couldn’t resist offering my own comment to add to the dialog:

"On one level this is hilarious. Your bemused comment shows that the Sally’s attempt to communicate with the people who live in their community through music has spectacularly failed to hit the spot!

On the other hand, there’s a sadness about the fact that their sincere efforts are so culturally at odds with regular people’s lives that they soldier on (excuse the pun) regardless of how big the disconnect is…”

Any thoughts?

Exilio

Having read through Michael Frost’s EXILES: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture last year, and re-visited again a few times this, it’s been really good to start a little bit of a dialog with Mike (thanks to the wonderful web), who’s proved to be a very gracious bloke indeed.

I’m glad to have received in the mail a copy of EXILIO - the newly developed small group resource based on EXILES – from Mike and Pete Horsley at Forge in Australia.

First off, in terms of presentation the material is excellent – aesthetically pleasing Facilitator’s Manual & accompanying Ignition Bible Study (12 week study on the book of Acts), well packaged DVD all bound together in “box-set” packaging which is attractive & practical.

Even more significantly the content itself is really good stuff – Scripturally sound and presented in an engaging & inspiring way by Michael, it explores in depth the themes of missional living outlined in Mike’s EXILES book, which has been having a huge impact in Christian communities in the West for a couple of years now. He uses an exilic metaphor for those “who wish to live expansive, confident Christian lives in this world without having to abandon themselves to the values of contemporary society”. While EXILIO understands and acknowledges that that today the West is no longer a primarily Christian society, it does not see that reality in defeatist terms, but rather informs & equips in a way that makes this scenario a huge adventurous challenge, with parallels in Old Testament exiles, and the accounts of the Early Church in the New Testament.

This study resource, though, is not simply an academic exercise (it’s important to know that although Frost lectures in a seminary, he has also been intimately involved in planting/leading a Jesus following community smallboatbigsea in the Manly district of Sydney, Australia – he’s a practitioner), and I think it demands quite a lot from the participants. Understand, though, that I say this not as a criticism, but rather as a commendation. As Mike says in the opening Orientation portion of the DVD, “the stakes are high”, and I find it hard to imagine a participating group not being extremely challenged - even changed – if they were to follow the recommendations of this course in terms of the material studied, the “big ideas” grappled with and the real tangible action to participate in. EXILIO is strong stuff.

On top of that, if you are deeply entrenched in Church culture, prepare to be shaken out of it. There are areas that might catch you unawares.

Cleary I haven’t really unpacked the core teaching contained in the course, so check out the site here (which I think is still under development) to learn more about EXILIO, or even read the book anyhow. It’s a great read – hugely stimulating. I’ve become convinced that it is a significant piece that anyone interested in the mission of the Church in the 21st can find helpful.

At some point soon - when I can assemble a group with the guts to handle it – I’ll try and run EXILIO.

Time for a spring clean!

It doesn’t seem like long since the last jig, or shuffle of the blog roll, but spring is in the air, so it’s time for a spring clean!

First – the outies:

• Ali – slips away quietly..

• Anita - I’m so tempted! Get blogging again, girl! You stay in by the skin of your
teeth, and the likely threat of physical violence if I remove you!

• Jon-Mark – no posts since November, so I think J-M’s run out of steam on the blogging front.

• Not that Stratford goes back even further, so Nick’s gonna get swept!

• Randy Elrod. Good blog – I just don’t find myself going back that often these days.

All of the above have been good value, and will go straight back on the ‘roll if and when they start blogging again. Why not pay them a visit, leave an encouraging comment, and see if it stirs them back to life.

Next – the innies:

• Grumpy Old Git goes straight in on account of him being a top fellah who I’ve known from way back who’s battling cancer like a good ‘un! Powerful stuff.

• The Forgotten Ways because Alan Hirsch has either been author or co-author on my two favo(u)rite reads of 2008, so far: The Forgotten Ways and The Shaping of Things to Come. (with my new buddy Michael Frost). Top missional stuff.

• Out on a limb….because I’ve been meaning to show this communitas from the Big Easy them some link love for ages now.


Likewise – bounce over to the innies, see what you think – leave a comment, and tell ‘em Johnny sent you.

Finally, the tweaks!

• Eric Bryant moves slightly – almost inperceptibly - to Eric Bryant

• Chris Council of War shifts to the infinitely more post modern Coffee’n’Cake

• Vicki Adams is now at Bounces & Cartwheels

….and I think that’s it.

…apart from the addition of Worldchanging and Trailrunner to the mags:

Oxted update

HT to the guys at Oxted & Limpsfield Residents Group, who's site has alerted me to the fact that the news about potential over-development of green field land in Oxted made the BBC website today.

After having heard about this initially last week, on Sunday afternoon I took a run - more like a stagger really - across one of the beautiful fields in question, and it really would be criminal if it were to be built over.

Oxted Green Field Development?

I haven’t had time to check my facts, so I’m only expressing a gut reaction, but I had a slip of paper arrive through my door last night advising me, and other local residents of some worrying news about possible building developments by Village Developments plc on green field sites in our beautiful little semi-rural home town of Oxted.

Knowing the sites in question, they are exactly the kinds of spaces that people who choose to live in the town value….precisely because they are green, and offer us some space! The notion that they would be built upon is quite upsetting to say the least.

I’ll be watching out on this site for any further news.

Check it out if you have a local interest.

...on that cross as Jesus died

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

HT to Matt Stone at Journeys In Between for the African Jesus image

Brian McLaren: UK Visit June 08

Hat tip to Jason Clarke, who has altered me to the visit of Brian McLaren to the UK in June at the RUN conference .

Jason will also be speaking at some of the seminars.

Gotta check my diary, but it's definitely very interesting.

Peace & blessings

J

3rd in a row

This Sunday was the 3rd Sunday in a row I’ve not attended my home Church at The Salvation Army in Croydon…which at this time of year is something of a record.

On each of the last 3 Sundays I’ve been in a different place:

Sunday # 1:

This was a planned weekend off. Although we had initially planned to travel somewhere away from home for that Sunday, we ended up staying at the house and chillin’. The beauty of it all, was that our next door neighbor(u)rs came ‘round on the off chance, so we were able (unusually for a Sunday morning) invite them in for a coffee and a chat around the kitchen table for about an hour….and it was just bliss. We were so glad to not be rushing around, and have the time available just to be with our good friends.

Sunday # 2:

See this post

Sunday # 3:
Noah had been unwell, so I stayed behind to look after him, while Janet went to Church with Mia.

Hooking myself up with a coupla cups of strong coffee, I managed to catch an episode of Faithworks’ Intelligent Church DVD and a NOOMA vid, in preparation for our Home Group, which I bounced over to after Jan returned home, and we swapped baby-sitting duties. As ever, the Home Group was a really relaxed, encouraging time, when we could eat, pray, study Scripture, and consider how we can apply it to our day-to-day lives.

Increasing, I’m becoming aware of the value of really observing the Shabbat or Sabbath.

It’s quite a time since I posted here, on the subject, but the quote from Southern California Church, Rockharbor’s site bears repeating:

Sabbath is a weekly day of rest in which we cease from our weekly tasks and pressures in order to rest and be refilled. In fact, the term Sabbath comes from the Hebrew term shabbat, which means “to cease or rest.” Exodus 20:11 states “in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” God felt so strongly about the need for a weekly day of rest that He called all of Israel to observe a Sabbath rest once a week.

On the Sabbath, we’re called not only to cease from working, but also to empty ourselves of our need to accomplish, produce, and worry about our lives for one day so that we can be refreshed and refilled. It’s a day for us to stop working towards becoming and simply focus on being. One great benefit of Sabbath keeping is that we learn to let God take care of us – not by becoming passive and lazy, but by giving up our feeble attempts to control our own lives and simply resting in His provision.

The Passion

This Easter, the BBC are screening an interpretation of The Passion.

The Beeb's recent track record on this kind of thing has been pretty good of late, so I'll be watching with interest.

The Forgotten Ways

Those lovely folks at Amazon were kind enough to send me a copy of Alan Hirsch’s The Forgotten Ways + reactivating the missional church, so I’m looking forward to getting on and reading it. Alan’s buddy and writing partner Michael Frost’s work has featured heavily on johnnylaird lately, as Michael’s book EXILES has had a profound – and even unsettling - effect on the way I look at being/doing Church. It’s always a good sign when a book is so good you want to share it with someone else, so I’ve passed my copy of EXILES over to my buddy in Sheffield.

If The Forgotten Ways hits the spot like EXILES, it will be a good read.

I’d also ordered Alan & Michael’s collaborative effort - The Shaping of Things to Come - at the same time as The Forgotten Ways, so that should be pitching up shortly.

For more on Alan Hirch and The Forgotten Ways check out the new(ish) blog

Sheffield

At the weekend, Jan the kids and I shared a great weekend with some good friends in Sheffield. It was fantastic just to hang out in their beautiful home with their wonderful family and just ….chill. Thanks for your hospitality, guys!

On top of that, we were able to bounce around some thoughts about mission, Kingdom, community and what is means to be Church.

Also, it was interesting to hear about St Thomas Church Sheffield, and the way things are done there.

Check our their site to get a perspective, and the vid’s worth a watch to see how they are connecting with the student population in the city.

J

Grumpy Old Git

A really good friend of mine from back in the day when we were kids sitting next to each other in the Sally Army Band in Bedford, England is really pretty unwell at the moment.

If you are a pray-er, check out his blog, and learn more about his story.

Like many of you out there, Andy is a major Mac head

Thanks, Andy, for your cool pic.

Richard Rogers

I’ve been occasionally enjoying Alan Yentob’s current IMAGINE series of documentaries on the BBC lately, and last night’s show on architectural superstar Richard Rogers was a real highlight for me. I’m not sure why buildings and created environments get me so pumped, but I’ve always enjoyed looking at them and learning something of the vision that brought them into being, and this Mr Rogers is a king in this area.

If nothing else, it was worth watching for the spectacular views from his house in Tuscany.

There is a list of incredible and significant projects as long as your arm, but a couple of my favo(u)rites are the National Assembly of Wales and Madrid’s Barajas Airport. If you check out some of the links, to see that RR and his colleagues at the various firms he has been involved with for about 50 years, you’ll see that very many of the iconic buildings of the 2nd ½ of the 20th Century and into the 21st have the Rogers stamp all over them.

…must try and catch the Richard Rogers event at The Design Museum later in the year.

Gordon

Back in October, I posted about the journey my Church is on, and talked about some of the new Mission Team that was coming together.

One member of that team is Gordon, who tells the story of his involvement with The Salvation Army in Iraq, as part of an Iraq special currently on The Salvation Army's international site.

It's a challenging and humbling read

Hobbits

Mia and Noah warming up for their Hobbit auditions!

Croydon Citadel Salvation Army Band: Handel's Messiah

Just using my blog to promote an upcoming concert at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of The Salvation Army Band that I play in:

I'm going to quote a letter that is being sent to all interested parties.

You might be interested to check it out:

Handel's Messiah with a ‘touch of brass’!

The Messiah, although very well known, is rarely performed with Brass accompaniment. Yet Croydon Citadel Band had the wonderful privilege of doing so with the Dudley Birder Chorale in Wisconsin, USA in May 2005. As part of their 125th Anniversary celebrations this year the Band will be performing this great work again in collaboration with Wimbledon Choral Society and the Croydon Philharmonic Choir at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon on Easter Saturday 22nd March

Attending this special performance will surely be remembered as a unique experience .

There can hardly be a better way of commencing an Easter Week End than by hearing once again that magnificent music and those wonderful promises

Typical Sunday?

How typical is a Sunday when you find yourself physically embracing a devout Muslim man in the street at the end of a Salvation Army Open Air Service, or walking the streets of Croydon in the pitch black with another Salvationist trying to sort a means of transport for a man worse the wear for drink who wanted to get to another part of London; or listening enraptured to true life stories of dear friends which took in brushes with the Gestapo, a re-opening of ministry and mission in Russia, the beauty of Norway, or gathering with a small huddle of friends in the kitchen at a place of worship long after most people had left, and sharing a special few minutes focusing in on the reality of what it is we are called to do?

That was my Sunday.

la famille Kinsley

Design dude, top buddy, brother of Mrs Parker RELEVANT’s king of web and new dad (again), Lloyd Kinsley has set up a new site that’s worth a look to get the low down on la famille Kinsley.

Go visit!

Croydon Overhaul

The town where I go to Church is in the process of a major overhaul over the next few years, which will radically alter the whole area – there are a number of significant developments affecting residential, retail, office and leisure spaces in a way that will cause demographic and societal shifts that will change the face of Croydon, in one or another. It looks like more and more people will be living in the centre of the urban space.

Check out this list of development hyper-activity:

The Exchange Croydon
Ruskin Square
Croydon Gateway
New South Quarter

On top of all this are superstar architect Will Alsop's proposals for Croydon. You can check the site, but it's one of those over the top Flash heavy sites that take some patience to navigate. You might have neither the time or the inclination to find it!

It’s making me wonder how these changes will affect the mission and ministry of The Salvation Army in Croydon? Something for us to watch closely.

Roots 2008: The last Roots ever?

Salvation Army-centric post coming!

I got this enigmatic e-mail in my In Box this week, so I wanted to share it, just to do my bit to encourage folks to go along to Roots later in the year:

Subject: The last ROOTS ever?


With the countdown to ROOTS '08 well and truly begun and the team busy preparing for what we hope will be the best event yet, people keep coming up to me and asking whether it's going to be the last.

Before I answer that question, let me tell you where we are. With over a decade of ROOTS events past, we know that Salvationists are more passionate than ever to see their corps renewed and their communities transformed by the gospel. To this end, ROOTS needs to do more than ever before to envision, encourage and equip our The Salvation Army for ministry and mission. In 2007 we commissioned a review to explore how we might do this

In answer to the question, far from the end of the ROOTS movement, ROOTS 2008 will mark a new beginning. From this moment on we want to push and propel, prime and prepare tens of thousands of Salvationists to deepen their faith and widen their impact.

All this begins with ROOTS 2008, Going Public. This life changing weekend will feature world renowned bible teacher Jeff Lucas, Shane Claiborne, founder of The Simple Way community and the inspirational Nims Obunge, leader of the Peace Alliance.

An event for all the family ROOTS 2008 is jam packed with great worship, artists, celebrations, seminars, childrens and youth work. Culminating with our Sunday afternoon 'Going Public Open Air Festival' ROOTS 2008 will equip you and your corps to go public with the gospel.

For more info, visit our web site www.rootsonline.org/uk and you will see all the exciting programmes we have planned.

With our online booking discount now is the time to book and pay less to come to ROOTS. My top tip is to book your accommodation now while there is the best range of options available for your family.

ROOTS is Going Public, I look forward to seeing you in Southport.

Russell Rook
Event Leader