I had my last Assembly Project Team meeting yesterday. After five years of running Prism, I have hung up my flip flops and made way for someone else to take the Assembly's alternative to new heights.
It's been a great ride from the first Assembly planning meeting I attended where I suggested giving the Assembly a multi-focal feel by offering an alternative way of accessing its themes. Many large Christian gatherings already offered an alternative programme and hundreds of churches across the country had been moving away from the one-size fits-all approach to events for more than a decade.
So Prism was a response to those trends and an attempt to help the Assembly appeal to those who are sceptical about the well-managed set piece celebration event so beloved of evangelicals over the past generation.
And I reckon that it has offered a fresh and worthwhile alternative to what's happening in the other place at the Assembly, giving delegates a chance to explore our faith in a more interactive, participatory and, let's face it, more personal because smaller, space.
There's no doubt that The Assembly needs this kind of fresh thinking if it's going to attract the large - and growing - numbers of Baptists who are not attending our annual gathering. In particular, we have to address the fact that the under 50s aren't turning up in the numbers we'd hope and the under 30s are conspicuous by their almost total absence from the event.
I don't think Prism is the whole answer. But I do think that it embodies an approach to gathering that could be attractive to people who currently don't make the annual pilgrimage to the seaside. So, I wish whoever takes it on every success and will be praying that they bring fresh thinking and boldness to making Prism (or whatever it will be called) better and better.
Showing posts with label baptist assembly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baptist assembly. Show all posts
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Unpacking the Prism offer
Well, Glen has created a new compound noun - Prism-Style-Worship (I'm not sure I'd go for capitals there, Glen; sounds like you're shouting!) - and raised two really interesting points (see the comments on the previous post).
I think prism-style-worship taps into Christian tradition and practice through story telling and ritual acts. The Sunday morning communion is a case in point. our celebration of the Eucharist happened in three parts. The first involved cake with individual wine glasses stuck in it and as we sat around the tables we told stories of when Jesus partied, when he was guest at a dinner or host; what he did and what he said on those occasions.
So people spontaneously told the story of the wedding at Cana, the feeding of the five thousand, the tea with Zacchaeus, the bread breaking at Emmaus and many more. We shared how we felt when we heard such stories, what they meant to us, what they revealed to us about Jesus and why we want to follow him.
Then we produced a French loaf nailed to a plank of wood and invited people to share stories of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, from Palm Sunday, through Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, stories of adulation and rejection, bonhomie and betrayal, friendship and fearful denial; and ultimately stories of the lonely death of the one who more than any other revealed God to us.
The contrast between the cake and the loaf caused a sharp intake of breath among a number of people around the table, even some tears. It was a stark reminder of the meaning of the meal. The stories of Jesus' suffering seem to be given context by the ritual, something tactile and visual, even visceral, was entered into our memory and story telling. And it was powerful.
In the course of these two sections - lasting about an hour, probably slightly less - worshippers were exposed to more scripture than the average church goer gets in a month. Not only that, there was opportunity to reflect on that scripture and extract reactions and responses to it.
This is just a single example of how this approach to constructing a gathering enables people to interact with one another and the Christian story at quite a deep level.
Because prismstyleworship (see I've now made a single word of it) is interactive and participatory, those engaging in it are able to ask questions, seek clarification, add insights, unwrap, probe and explore a single thought at length, write something down, draw or paint a response or reflection. The learning that happens in such a context is likely to be more lasting than that gained from just listening.
I think it ought to be an essential part of the mix of activities we offer in church but probably not the only way of teaching and learning, engaging with God and encouraging one another because one size does not fit all.
I think prism-style-worship taps into Christian tradition and practice through story telling and ritual acts. The Sunday morning communion is a case in point. our celebration of the Eucharist happened in three parts. The first involved cake with individual wine glasses stuck in it and as we sat around the tables we told stories of when Jesus partied, when he was guest at a dinner or host; what he did and what he said on those occasions.
So people spontaneously told the story of the wedding at Cana, the feeding of the five thousand, the tea with Zacchaeus, the bread breaking at Emmaus and many more. We shared how we felt when we heard such stories, what they meant to us, what they revealed to us about Jesus and why we want to follow him.
Then we produced a French loaf nailed to a plank of wood and invited people to share stories of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, from Palm Sunday, through Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, stories of adulation and rejection, bonhomie and betrayal, friendship and fearful denial; and ultimately stories of the lonely death of the one who more than any other revealed God to us.
The contrast between the cake and the loaf caused a sharp intake of breath among a number of people around the table, even some tears. It was a stark reminder of the meaning of the meal. The stories of Jesus' suffering seem to be given context by the ritual, something tactile and visual, even visceral, was entered into our memory and story telling. And it was powerful.
In the course of these two sections - lasting about an hour, probably slightly less - worshippers were exposed to more scripture than the average church goer gets in a month. Not only that, there was opportunity to reflect on that scripture and extract reactions and responses to it.
This is just a single example of how this approach to constructing a gathering enables people to interact with one another and the Christian story at quite a deep level.
Because prismstyleworship (see I've now made a single word of it) is interactive and participatory, those engaging in it are able to ask questions, seek clarification, add insights, unwrap, probe and explore a single thought at length, write something down, draw or paint a response or reflection. The learning that happens in such a context is likely to be more lasting than that gained from just listening.
I think it ought to be an essential part of the mix of activities we offer in church but probably not the only way of teaching and learning, engaging with God and encouraging one another because one size does not fit all.
What in the world are we doing?
A final thought on the Baptist Assembly. Glen (here) has raised an interesting question in his reflections about the style of what we do at Prism that I want to muse on. I think alt worship is actually a bad name for what we do because it implies that we are merely seeking a replacement for the more traditional activities that the church calls ‘worship’ (wrongly in my view – but that’s for another post) such as singing and listening to sermons. Rather, I think we are seeking to do a number of things simultaneously.
The first is to help people see the world differently, from a strange, even obtuse angle with unexpected shafts of light falling on it. We were helped in this by the theme of the Assembly – One World, One Mission – but it is one of the key considerations I always have uppermost when planning an event – be it, a church Sunday gathering or home group. This is because we gather to engage with God who calls us to embody his values in the world in which we live and work. So having an understanding of that world is important.
It means that we need to hear what the world is saying about itself and not only what we want to say about it. Now, I appreciate that the world speaks with many voices and we will inevitably be selective in what we turn our ears and eyes to. But it seems to me that it’s essential that we hear voices from the world as clearly as we can.
The second is to suggest that God is to be found already working in this world and that if we look carefully we’ll see his shadow falling across it, notice his finger print on all we’re seeing. So, we listen to a Patty Smith album and become aware that she talks more and more intelligently about God than the average ‘worship’ album; or we see a movement working justice that inspires us even though its motivation is avowedly not religious; or we see vital theological issues being played out in a movie or the plot of a novel.
This helps us in the key task of bridging the gap that Christians are often guilty of maintaining between the world we live in day-by-day and the faith we express in our worship; the gap we express when we say ‘I come to church to focus on God without being distracted by all the awful things in the news’ or ‘we are going into the world to take the presence of God with us.’
The third is to help us see ourselves in a different way as a result of the first two. In focusing on what’s going on the world, we see that God is bigger and that our lives are more significant than we thought. We find ourselves caught up in the story of God, the creating, covenant-making, coming King; and we see that God has given us a key role in how that story unfolds in our world.
My hope is that people leave an event like Prism, with a fresh way of living in the world. I guess this is the hope of traditional gatherings, but I wonder if the traditional model tends to focus on me and God and take the world for granted as a fixed entity from which we’ve withdrawn in order to worship before we go back into the world with a changed view of ourselves and perhaps a better take on God.
The trouble is that it tends to treat the world as a given on which we will act rather than something which acts on us as we seek to identify the shape that God wants us to take on to effectively embody his values in that world.
After the first Prism – which seems like a lifetime ago in Brighton in 2005 – I wrote a series of articles for the Baptist Times on ‘alt worship’. It’s my intention to dust those off over the next few days and re-post them here.
Finally got round to listening to the Mumford & Sons album - a fascinating and rather wonderful example of hearing God in the unlikeliest of places!
The first is to help people see the world differently, from a strange, even obtuse angle with unexpected shafts of light falling on it. We were helped in this by the theme of the Assembly – One World, One Mission – but it is one of the key considerations I always have uppermost when planning an event – be it, a church Sunday gathering or home group. This is because we gather to engage with God who calls us to embody his values in the world in which we live and work. So having an understanding of that world is important.
It means that we need to hear what the world is saying about itself and not only what we want to say about it. Now, I appreciate that the world speaks with many voices and we will inevitably be selective in what we turn our ears and eyes to. But it seems to me that it’s essential that we hear voices from the world as clearly as we can.
The second is to suggest that God is to be found already working in this world and that if we look carefully we’ll see his shadow falling across it, notice his finger print on all we’re seeing. So, we listen to a Patty Smith album and become aware that she talks more and more intelligently about God than the average ‘worship’ album; or we see a movement working justice that inspires us even though its motivation is avowedly not religious; or we see vital theological issues being played out in a movie or the plot of a novel.
This helps us in the key task of bridging the gap that Christians are often guilty of maintaining between the world we live in day-by-day and the faith we express in our worship; the gap we express when we say ‘I come to church to focus on God without being distracted by all the awful things in the news’ or ‘we are going into the world to take the presence of God with us.’
The third is to help us see ourselves in a different way as a result of the first two. In focusing on what’s going on the world, we see that God is bigger and that our lives are more significant than we thought. We find ourselves caught up in the story of God, the creating, covenant-making, coming King; and we see that God has given us a key role in how that story unfolds in our world.
My hope is that people leave an event like Prism, with a fresh way of living in the world. I guess this is the hope of traditional gatherings, but I wonder if the traditional model tends to focus on me and God and take the world for granted as a fixed entity from which we’ve withdrawn in order to worship before we go back into the world with a changed view of ourselves and perhaps a better take on God.
The trouble is that it tends to treat the world as a given on which we will act rather than something which acts on us as we seek to identify the shape that God wants us to take on to effectively embody his values in that world.
After the first Prism – which seems like a lifetime ago in Brighton in 2005 – I wrote a series of articles for the Baptist Times on ‘alt worship’. It’s my intention to dust those off over the next few days and re-post them here.
Finally got round to listening to the Mumford & Sons album - a fascinating and rather wonderful example of hearing God in the unlikeliest of places!
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
From the Assembly to the real world
Back from the Assembly and beginning to recover. I had to hurry off yesterday morning to get back from Plymouth to chair an election hustings meeting last night (200+ people on bank holiday Monday evening, not bad!).
I can only comment on Prism at the Assembly because it's all I got to - five sessions plus a double seminar slot. I gather from the blogs that the Assembly overall was better than it's been in recent years which is good to hear.
Prism went really well. The final session on Sunday evening where we welcomed the ministers about to have their hands shaken on the stage in the other place, looked at how we communicate the good news, interacting with Billy Graham, Rob Bell and Where the hell is Matt? The fact that we shared deeply with one another and ended up dancing probably means that something gelled!
The team were great and worked really hard to make the whole event go really well. It almost makes me want to do it all again, but....
Meanwhile, back in the real world, I have a leaders meeting tonight that I'm really looking forward to. With our newly elected team of nine trustees, we will be starting the journey into the future that God is inviting us on. Let's hope we catch the right wave!
And the spell checker button has reappeared - thank you blogger!
I can only comment on Prism at the Assembly because it's all I got to - five sessions plus a double seminar slot. I gather from the blogs that the Assembly overall was better than it's been in recent years which is good to hear.
Prism went really well. The final session on Sunday evening where we welcomed the ministers about to have their hands shaken on the stage in the other place, looked at how we communicate the good news, interacting with Billy Graham, Rob Bell and Where the hell is Matt? The fact that we shared deeply with one another and ended up dancing probably means that something gelled!
The team were great and worked really hard to make the whole event go really well. It almost makes me want to do it all again, but....
Meanwhile, back in the real world, I have a leaders meeting tonight that I'm really looking forward to. With our newly elected team of nine trustees, we will be starting the journey into the future that God is inviting us on. Let's hope we catch the right wave!
And the spell checker button has reappeared - thank you blogger!
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Baptist Assembly update
Day three in the Baptist Assembly house and all is well. Four sessions in, it's possibly the best Prism ever - good numbers, excellent atmosphere, real engagement with the issues and a tangible sense of the presence of God in unexpected and rather wonderful ways.
We had a particularly good communion this morning - but Prism communions have been special from the first. But all the sessions have gone well and, possibly for the first time, I think we have created a trajectory through the weekend and are taking delegates on a journey.
The cost of all this is that I'm totally wiped out, we've one session to go, then we've got to de-rig the space and I've got to get back to Bromley to chair a hustings meeting tomorrow night. Ah well! Tuesday I shall sleep - until the leaders' meeting in the evening.
We had a particularly good communion this morning - but Prism communions have been special from the first. But all the sessions have gone well and, possibly for the first time, I think we have created a trajectory through the weekend and are taking delegates on a journey.
The cost of all this is that I'm totally wiped out, we've one session to go, then we've got to de-rig the space and I've got to get back to Bromley to chair a hustings meeting tomorrow night. Ah well! Tuesday I shall sleep - until the leaders' meeting in the evening.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Finishing touches all round
Having planned the framework for Prism, I've been spending the day sorting out running orders, shopping for a good deal of the stuff we need in the zones and listening to copious quantities of dance and chill out tracks to serve as background and fill-in music when people are gathering and in zones. The bar will be open in our venue from 7pm, so we need to ensure a suitable atmosphere is created as delegates arrive.
We've had trouble sourcing 200ml cartons of red grape juice (any suggestions? we need 150 of them) but apart from that we've got everything we need to ensure the event goes with a swing.
The plaster is drying nicely in our bathroom ready for the tiler to come tomorrow and make it look fabulous. So hopefully we're on track for a Friday tea-time finish. I'll be in Plymouth, but the rest of the family will be able to spend the weekend moving between the shower and the bath, washing off a fortnight's accumulated grime.
We've had trouble sourcing 200ml cartons of red grape juice (any suggestions? we need 150 of them) but apart from that we've got everything we need to ensure the event goes with a swing.
The plaster is drying nicely in our bathroom ready for the tiler to come tomorrow and make it look fabulous. So hopefully we're on track for a Friday tea-time finish. I'll be in Plymouth, but the rest of the family will be able to spend the weekend moving between the shower and the bath, washing off a fortnight's accumulated grime.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Bathrooms, music and the nature of reality
We have a bath and a towel rail, shower tray and many holes in walls; the electrician has arrived to do the wiring for the down-lighters and tomorrow the plasterer will come. It's like a convention of the skilled here! And we're on track for a completion at the end of next week.
I've been listening to the debut album by John Grant. Queen of Denmark is simply gorgeous. I've been eagerly awaiting this release since I heard the first single, Marz, which you can download for free at his record label's site (here). On first listen, it seems to be a list of ice cream flavours, but it slowly reveals itself to be a lovely meditation on memory and simpler times.
I've been working on the opening session for this year's Prism. So far we're kicking off with Gorillaz Glitter Freeze, moving into the Grace section of the second 1 Giant Leap DVD, possibily taking a peek at Christian Falk & Robyn's Dream On before moving into the zones for story telling and conversation. The aim is to create uncertainty - even a sense of disorientation - about whether there really is 'one world' and even more uncertainty about the reliability of our perceptions of that world.
I will also be using some of Alan Roxburgh's insights on maps and the growing sense that the maps we use to tell us how the world is and therefore how we do 'one mission' in it are no longer in tune with reality - and basing it all on Epeshians 2:1-10.
It will all make sense when it happens (maybe)! Of course, it'll all change over the next week. We have a final team meeting on Monday at which I hope we'll nail down the framework for the five sessions.
I've been listening to the debut album by John Grant. Queen of Denmark is simply gorgeous. I've been eagerly awaiting this release since I heard the first single, Marz, which you can download for free at his record label's site (here). On first listen, it seems to be a list of ice cream flavours, but it slowly reveals itself to be a lovely meditation on memory and simpler times.
I've been working on the opening session for this year's Prism. So far we're kicking off with Gorillaz Glitter Freeze, moving into the Grace section of the second 1 Giant Leap DVD, possibily taking a peek at Christian Falk & Robyn's Dream On before moving into the zones for story telling and conversation. The aim is to create uncertainty - even a sense of disorientation - about whether there really is 'one world' and even more uncertainty about the reliability of our perceptions of that world.
I will also be using some of Alan Roxburgh's insights on maps and the growing sense that the maps we use to tell us how the world is and therefore how we do 'one mission' in it are no longer in tune with reality - and basing it all on Epeshians 2:1-10.
It will all make sense when it happens (maybe)! Of course, it'll all change over the next week. We have a final team meeting on Monday at which I hope we'll nail down the framework for the five sessions.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
working in Limehouse's premier chilled space
I'm sitting in one of my favourite cafes in London - Departure in Limehouse - listening to Soulsavers' Broken, stunning new music that I discovered through Word Magazine, They're a British production and remix duo, Rich Machin and Ian Glover, who work a lot with singer Mark Lanegan. Wonderful downtempo, bluesy, gospelly electronica with rock overtones.
Departure is run by London City Mission and is one of the most intriguing new mission projects I've encountered. It's a great cafe and art space located squarely in the racially mixed community around Limehouse. It offers art classes, space for hire and a great chilled environment for meetings. So, I'll be here for the best part of the day meeting Urban Expression folk and doing some Baptist Assembly planning.
The other new music I've been listening to today is Laura Veirs truly lovely new album, July Flame. Something of a departure (see the link there...?!) for the US former geologist; a much more stripped down sound that showcases her voice and lyrical flair. And it's only a fiver this week from Amazon as a download. How's that for a new release?
Departure is run by London City Mission and is one of the most intriguing new mission projects I've encountered. It's a great cafe and art space located squarely in the racially mixed community around Limehouse. It offers art classes, space for hire and a great chilled environment for meetings. So, I'll be here for the best part of the day meeting Urban Expression folk and doing some Baptist Assembly planning.
The other new music I've been listening to today is Laura Veirs truly lovely new album, July Flame. Something of a departure (see the link there...?!) for the US former geologist; a much more stripped down sound that showcases her voice and lyrical flair. And it's only a fiver this week from Amazon as a download. How's that for a new release?
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Next year's Assembly takes shape
Just back from an Assembly Project Team meeting in a very sunny Plymouth.
The excellent news is that next year's Assembly will run from Friday to Monday (that's four days). This has happened because the Assembly organisers have listened to Assembly goers which in these days is a good thing to hear.
Themes are being worked on and there'll be news about that ahead of the summer lay-off.
So, now I have to put a team together to run Prism. Because we want the Assembly to be more deliberative, I am keen to have a smaller crew, so that delegates have more involvement in creating the programme as we travel through the weekend, with lots of space for people to be working together discerning what God is saying to us about our mission where we are and across the world.
I'm also minded to have no sung worship but rather a liturgist, a poet and a solo musician (who don't necessarily have to be three separate people) gathering our thoughts and reflecting back to us where our journey is taking us.
What do people think?
The excellent news is that next year's Assembly will run from Friday to Monday (that's four days). This has happened because the Assembly organisers have listened to Assembly goers which in these days is a good thing to hear.
Themes are being worked on and there'll be news about that ahead of the summer lay-off.
So, now I have to put a team together to run Prism. Because we want the Assembly to be more deliberative, I am keen to have a smaller crew, so that delegates have more involvement in creating the programme as we travel through the weekend, with lots of space for people to be working together discerning what God is saying to us about our mission where we are and across the world.
I'm also minded to have no sung worship but rather a liturgist, a poet and a solo musician (who don't necessarily have to be three separate people) gathering our thoughts and reflecting back to us where our journey is taking us.
What do people think?
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Random thoughts about this and that
Getting ready for Sunday has been like pulling teeth this week. Finally finished the morning sermon half an hour ago (that's 7pm on Saturday - I'm usually done by close of play on Friday!) Not sure what that's about - hopefully they're both blinders!
Assembly discussion shaping up nicely but it'd be good to have more voices. There'll be something coming from Baptist House about the timing of next year's Assembly. I think there is a genuine desire to make the experience as positive as possible.
Otherwise, I've been listening to the live Leonard Cohen album, Foals Antidotes and the new Dylan, Together Through Life - all lovely. The Cohen in particular is one of the most life-affirming, uplifting live albums I've ever heard.
And I'm reading lots of stuff for my Sri Lanka trip and new writing project
Assembly discussion shaping up nicely but it'd be good to have more voices. There'll be something coming from Baptist House about the timing of next year's Assembly. I think there is a genuine desire to make the experience as positive as possible.
Otherwise, I've been listening to the live Leonard Cohen album, Foals Antidotes and the new Dylan, Together Through Life - all lovely. The Cohen in particular is one of the most life-affirming, uplifting live albums I've ever heard.
And I'm reading lots of stuff for my Sri Lanka trip and new writing project
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
More thoughts on the Baptist Assembly
We had a good meeting yesterday with a full and frank exchange of views on issues relating to the Assembly. More will be said about that in due course.
I was I think on reflection fairly called to account for expecting too much of David and Jonathan. So I apologise (publicly as my whinge was public) to them for being unfair. I think they have an almost impossible job balancing all the competing demands and expectations surrounding the Assembly. So let's pray for them and their respective teams.
Andy's comment to yesterday's post is interesting. I think we have three sessions at the assembly that could be described as business - the BUGB and BMS AGMs and the public resolutions session. Now these might not be what Andy means by deliberation but I can't see there being a huge vote among delegates for more of the same. indeed, I spoke to a number of this year's delegates who were asking for less of the same. 'Why can't we have one morning devoted to the AGMs,' said one mate; 'two short ones with coffee in the middle.'
I think this comment and Andy's throws up the need for a debate about what the Assembly is for. At the moment only a tiny proportion of Baptists come - 2,000 out of our 200,000 (not sure about that last figure; no doubt someone will correct me). Given the venues and style of assembly we hold, only a small proportion can come. So that does raise questions about the kind of deliberation we could undertake at an Assembly and what its status would be among the majority of baptists not present to deliberate.
I have long thought the public resolutions session is an exercise in motherhood and apple pie and that no one except the tiny proportion of attendees who take part actually think what we're talking about matters or will change anything. Editors around the country are not holding the front page ahead of Baptists expressing their view on the use of 'mosquitoes' to disperse young people!
So, I'm not sure what kind of deliberation we would sensibly undertake. But let's talk about it.
I think there is probably some value in encouraging the troops for another year. I can only speak about Prism in this regard but I reckon those who came to this year's programme were encouraged to think about their Baptist identity - loosely hung on the five core values - and challenged to think about how knowing who they are will help them to live as disciples of Jesus in their day-to-day contexts. I don't think that's a bad aim and if the outcome is that more churches grasp what it is to be missional communities, then that's a result.
There are limits to what can be achieved in a weekend (does that mean we should have a debate about the length of the gathering), so we need to cut our cloth accordingly and focus on the things that really matter. So, what are they?
I was I think on reflection fairly called to account for expecting too much of David and Jonathan. So I apologise (publicly as my whinge was public) to them for being unfair. I think they have an almost impossible job balancing all the competing demands and expectations surrounding the Assembly. So let's pray for them and their respective teams.
Andy's comment to yesterday's post is interesting. I think we have three sessions at the assembly that could be described as business - the BUGB and BMS AGMs and the public resolutions session. Now these might not be what Andy means by deliberation but I can't see there being a huge vote among delegates for more of the same. indeed, I spoke to a number of this year's delegates who were asking for less of the same. 'Why can't we have one morning devoted to the AGMs,' said one mate; 'two short ones with coffee in the middle.'
I think this comment and Andy's throws up the need for a debate about what the Assembly is for. At the moment only a tiny proportion of Baptists come - 2,000 out of our 200,000 (not sure about that last figure; no doubt someone will correct me). Given the venues and style of assembly we hold, only a small proportion can come. So that does raise questions about the kind of deliberation we could undertake at an Assembly and what its status would be among the majority of baptists not present to deliberate.
I have long thought the public resolutions session is an exercise in motherhood and apple pie and that no one except the tiny proportion of attendees who take part actually think what we're talking about matters or will change anything. Editors around the country are not holding the front page ahead of Baptists expressing their view on the use of 'mosquitoes' to disperse young people!
So, I'm not sure what kind of deliberation we would sensibly undertake. But let's talk about it.
I think there is probably some value in encouraging the troops for another year. I can only speak about Prism in this regard but I reckon those who came to this year's programme were encouraged to think about their Baptist identity - loosely hung on the five core values - and challenged to think about how knowing who they are will help them to live as disciples of Jesus in their day-to-day contexts. I don't think that's a bad aim and if the outcome is that more churches grasp what it is to be missional communities, then that's a result.
There are limits to what can be achieved in a weekend (does that mean we should have a debate about the length of the gathering), so we need to cut our cloth accordingly and focus on the things that really matter. So, what are they?
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Does the future have a Baptist Assembly
I'm off to Didcot for a meeting to talk about the Baptist Assembly. Nothing new there. I've done this on odd days for the past five years. But this promises to be something different.
I think the Assembly is at a cross-roads and possibly doesn't have a future in its current form. The suggestion for next year is an assembly that lasts from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon in Plymouth. Will people from Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, even Leicester, Birmingham and London spend upwards of £250 and risk the weekend traffic jams on the M5 for barely 48 hours worth of Assembling?
I doubt it.
But there's a deeper issue. Why are we inviting people to come at all? The shorter the event, the more dominated it is by business meetings. And my admittedly completely unscientific straw poll among delegates this year and friends who haven't been to the Assembly for a while suggests no one will be travelling great distances for such fare.
And then there's the reason why I'm invited along - Prism, the alternative strand of the Assembly. The question is: can you have an alternative to an assembly that barely lasts two days and is dominated by the business meetings for which we do not offer an alternative (perhaps we should)?
So, I think Baptists need to have a proper debate about the Assembly - what it is, how long it should it be, where we should meet. I wonder if anyone has the energy for such a debate. I wonder if we are really up for a change that will breathe fresh life into this annual gathering of English Baptists.
I think the Assembly is at a cross-roads and possibly doesn't have a future in its current form. The suggestion for next year is an assembly that lasts from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon in Plymouth. Will people from Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, even Leicester, Birmingham and London spend upwards of £250 and risk the weekend traffic jams on the M5 for barely 48 hours worth of Assembling?
I doubt it.
But there's a deeper issue. Why are we inviting people to come at all? The shorter the event, the more dominated it is by business meetings. And my admittedly completely unscientific straw poll among delegates this year and friends who haven't been to the Assembly for a while suggests no one will be travelling great distances for such fare.
And then there's the reason why I'm invited along - Prism, the alternative strand of the Assembly. The question is: can you have an alternative to an assembly that barely lasts two days and is dominated by the business meetings for which we do not offer an alternative (perhaps we should)?
So, I think Baptists need to have a proper debate about the Assembly - what it is, how long it should it be, where we should meet. I wonder if anyone has the energy for such a debate. I wonder if we are really up for a change that will breathe fresh life into this annual gathering of English Baptists.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Assembly moments
There were lots of highlights for me at the Baptist Assembly this year.
I think chief among them was the way the team that led Prism, who hadn't really worked together in this way before, gelled and produced some really good sessions. It's been gratifying to have some positive feedback as well.
Another highlight was undoubtedly Keith Judson, regional minister in the Midlands, and his two boys playing Keith's song The White Slaves of England. In rehearsal it pretty much moved me to tears; it's a cracking song - it ought to be on a CD and soon (hope you're reading this, Keith).
It was also wonderful to meet and work - as well as dance - with Luran Bethel. She's a thoroughly lovely person, with a great ministry.
One of the curious things about leading Prism is that I have no real sense of what else happened in the BIC over the weekend. I heard snippets about how sessions were going from friends I bumped into and at the 7am ELT breakfast (not one of the highlights!).
I wonder if there still has to be more iuntegration between Prism and what happens in the other place in terms of guests. One thing that disappoints me still is that Jonathan and David didn't just drop in, didn't make it a priority to be at one Prism session. But, I appreciate, Assembly's a busy tiome for them. And perhaps we are not gathering by the seaside to see them.
It was great to catch up with people between sessions, share a beer or lunch with old friends and see how their lives and ministries are going.
All in all, it was a great weekend - one of the best Assemblies I've been to. Now, the question is, will we do it all again next year? Let's sleep on that one for a while...
I think chief among them was the way the team that led Prism, who hadn't really worked together in this way before, gelled and produced some really good sessions. It's been gratifying to have some positive feedback as well.
Another highlight was undoubtedly Keith Judson, regional minister in the Midlands, and his two boys playing Keith's song The White Slaves of England. In rehearsal it pretty much moved me to tears; it's a cracking song - it ought to be on a CD and soon (hope you're reading this, Keith).
It was also wonderful to meet and work - as well as dance - with Luran Bethel. She's a thoroughly lovely person, with a great ministry.
One of the curious things about leading Prism is that I have no real sense of what else happened in the BIC over the weekend. I heard snippets about how sessions were going from friends I bumped into and at the 7am ELT breakfast (not one of the highlights!).
I wonder if there still has to be more iuntegration between Prism and what happens in the other place in terms of guests. One thing that disappoints me still is that Jonathan and David didn't just drop in, didn't make it a priority to be at one Prism session. But, I appreciate, Assembly's a busy tiome for them. And perhaps we are not gathering by the seaside to see them.
It was great to catch up with people between sessions, share a beer or lunch with old friends and see how their lives and ministries are going.
All in all, it was a great weekend - one of the best Assemblies I've been to. Now, the question is, will we do it all again next year? Let's sleep on that one for a while...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
More than a name on a yoghurt carton
Those of you who thought that Oncken was just the name on a rather posh yoghurt, should check out Johann Oncken. There's a whole chapter on him in Ian Randall's excellent history of European Baptists that's being launched at the assembly. So buy the book and be amazed!
Johan Oncken, born at the start of the Nineteenth Century, was a German pastor. But he can lay claim to being every bit as significant as Spurgeon - if not more so. Countless European Baptist groups owe their origins to this tireless disciple-maker.
Starting out in Hamburg in the teeth of much opposition from the locals, Oncken preached and planted churches among the urban poor and working population and especially the migrants who came through that great port city. Three quarters of his first baptised converts in the 1830s went off to start churches and preach the gospel somewhere else.
His motto was 'jeder baptist ein missionar' (every baptist a missionary) and all his teaching and discipling was geared towards moulding missionary disciples. And his efforts seem to have paid off. By the time of his death, the German Baptist movement had grown from virtually nothing to 16,000 members in 96 churches. But even more significantly, many of those had planted churches and begun Baptist associations in Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark, the Baltic States, Austria, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, France and Poland. Even further afield Oncken-inspired disciples went to Australia and west Africa and through his American partners, started ministries in Brazil.
What a guy! We'll be telling his story in Prism (at this weekend's Baptist Assembly in Bournemouth) as he's one of our heroes from our past who inspires our mission in the present.
Johan Oncken, born at the start of the Nineteenth Century, was a German pastor. But he can lay claim to being every bit as significant as Spurgeon - if not more so. Countless European Baptist groups owe their origins to this tireless disciple-maker.
Starting out in Hamburg in the teeth of much opposition from the locals, Oncken preached and planted churches among the urban poor and working population and especially the migrants who came through that great port city. Three quarters of his first baptised converts in the 1830s went off to start churches and preach the gospel somewhere else.
His motto was 'jeder baptist ein missionar' (every baptist a missionary) and all his teaching and discipling was geared towards moulding missionary disciples. And his efforts seem to have paid off. By the time of his death, the German Baptist movement had grown from virtually nothing to 16,000 members in 96 churches. But even more significantly, many of those had planted churches and begun Baptist associations in Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark, the Baltic States, Austria, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, France and Poland. Even further afield Oncken-inspired disciples went to Australia and west Africa and through his American partners, started ministries in Brazil.
What a guy! We'll be telling his story in Prism (at this weekend's Baptist Assembly in Bournemouth) as he's one of our heroes from our past who inspires our mission in the present.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Getting ready for Bournemouth
The Baptist assembly is looming - three days away and still quite a bit to prepare. But I'm sure it'll all go well - we've a really good team involved in Prism this year, so I have every confidence that it'll be all right on the night.
I've been preparing stuff for our history zone on John Bunyan and William Carey - great baptists who represent something about the core values we're exploring, Bunyan on sacrifice and Carey on inclusion.
Writing the stuff on Bunyan made me want to dust off my copy of The Pilgrim's Progress and read it again. I had not realised just how much he had written in later life or what a sacrifice he had made - he spent a third of his life in prison because he refused to tell the court that he wouldn't preach the gospel.
I hope his and other stories from our Baptist past inspire us over the weekend to live up to their example.
I've been preparing stuff for our history zone on John Bunyan and William Carey - great baptists who represent something about the core values we're exploring, Bunyan on sacrifice and Carey on inclusion.
Writing the stuff on Bunyan made me want to dust off my copy of The Pilgrim's Progress and read it again. I had not realised just how much he had written in later life or what a sacrifice he had made - he spent a third of his life in prison because he refused to tell the court that he wouldn't preach the gospel.
I hope his and other stories from our Baptist past inspire us over the weekend to live up to their example.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Prism pictures
Here's a handful of pictures from Prism...
Production supremo James ensuring he's up-to-speed on all the other things happening around the Assembly - so he can tell us what's going on.
The band and Hannah (nearest the camera on the right of the pic) relax before the evening's exertions.
Production supremo James ensuring he's up-to-speed on all the other things happening around the Assembly - so he can tell us what's going on.
This is our set dressed for the Saturday evening celebration. Sam and Hannah had created this figure using loads of pictures of Jesus from all over the world. The aim was that our NAMs would gather around the installation as a symbol of putting Jesus at the heart of their ministries.
You see, I'm still managing to avoid packing - and we're going next door for a BBQ in a little while!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Reflecting on Blackpool
There are some good reflections on the assembly from Catriona here and here. I agree wholeheartedly with her comment in support of those who lead worship in flip-flops (there should be more of us!). Andy Goodliff has commented here; and Geoff Colmer here
I'm also really pleased that she enjoyed our Bible study with Vinoth Ramachandra. It was pretty brilliant. He asked me five minutes before we were due to start whether it was normal for British Christians to turn up at a Bible study 
without Bibles! I answered that, sadly, that it was...
without Bibles! I answered that, sadly, that it was...Our venue this year was a challenge. They were due to be serving in it up to 9:30am, despite the fact that our morning session actually started at 9:15! It was so light - being a conservatory - that the data projector, so carefully hung on the Friday afternoon, cast an invisible image on the screen and had to be taken down and replaced with a 42 inch plasma screen - as pictured (thanks to Jonathan Somerville for the image) - and by Saturday afternoon, two 42 inch plasmas.
It enabled us to become not only the alternative celebration but also a retro one - so that everyone who turned up could see what we were singing and saying, we produced printed song sheets and sheets with Bible passages and liturgy on them!
Numbers were very encouraging - though sometimes difficult to calculate. Some 300 listened to Vinoth, 200+ broke bread at our celebratory communion, and around 120 gathered each evening to celebrate and chat, learn and share and sing.
I guess the big difference with Prism this year was the music. Sam Hargreaves led a wonderful band, modelled on the Cinematic Orchestra, and using songs from around the world as well as many of his own. They produced a great sound and his sensitivity to where the Spirit was as we gathered was excellent. You can track him down here and access some of his music.
I think we struggled with the venue to begin with and that made Friday evening (pictured above) tricky. But Juliet Kilpin, who shared the teaching with me, was brilliant and the band got us off to a good start.
We anointed the Newly Accredited Ministers with oil on Saturday Evening. Well, I say we did; in fact the congregation did. The gathered body acknowledged that God had called these women and men to serve in ministry in our churches by anointing them as symbol that the Spirit would touch and animate their ministry among us. It was very moving.
On Sunday evening, we had the BMS personnel heading off in the next few weeks to various parts of the world. We were able to speak to each one before praying a commissioning liturgy for them based on Titus 2:11-15. Elaine Storkey spoke really well that evening .
The highlight for me was our communion service on the Sunday morning. Ruth Neve created an outstanding liturgy out of Isaiah 25 that emphasised joy and celebration, in anticipation of the great banquet God invites us to. It was truly joyous and completely rooted in the cross.
So, it all went well. Let's do it all again next year in Bournemouth - only in a slightly better venue!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Assembly thought
Just back from the baptist assembly. I'll blog about it later in the week. In the meantime you can check out pictures of my hands at the assembly here
Monday, May 14, 2007
Bringing Prism to Bromley
I shall be trying a version of Prism's take on Romans 8 this Sunday at our monthly cafe-style service. The three groans of the passage cry out out for a zone each that will help us express the agony of creation, the church and God in creative ways.
I'm pondering smashing a pile of tiles and fixing them to something (not sure what yet) and would quite like to fine a life-size Russian doll (do not willfully misunderstand that - I am, of course referring to a wooden construction consisting of a doll within a doll within a doll and nothing else that you can acquire over the Internet). I'm also going to do the coffee bean and chocolate ritual. Somehow in my mind this all seems to fit. We'll see.
We also kick off Galatians this week (in the mornings until the end of August), so I am finding Sean Winter's Bible study (available at his blog http://seanthebaptist.typepad.com/ along with a host of other good things) very helpful. I am going away to ponder what he says about baptism preparation - partly because it's a really good thought and mainly because I begin a series of baptismal preparation sessions with at least two people tomorrow evening (very exciting!).
What I am most struck by is Sean's suggestion that Galatians 3:26-29 offers those being baptised a theological vision of their identity and mission, the start of a new reality we are called to live in day-by-day. It's not only an individual identity, either, but an identity that is focused on joining a community of similarly renewed people who together are working for the redemption of creation (which, of course, takes me back to the bottomless theological lake that is Romans 8...)
So, thanks to Sean for giving my baptismal preparation classes a much-needed make over.
I'll probably also try to read Alan Kreider's essay in the new Andrew Walker/Luke Bretherton collection Remembering our Future: Explorations in Deep Church. Unfortunately, use of the word 'deep' in this context keeps reminding me of the jazz critic on the Fast Show! But I'm sure Alan's piece - 'Baptism and Catecheses as Spiritual Formation - will be stimulating and Godly as his stuff invariably is.
I'm pondering smashing a pile of tiles and fixing them to something (not sure what yet) and would quite like to fine a life-size Russian doll (do not willfully misunderstand that - I am, of course referring to a wooden construction consisting of a doll within a doll within a doll and nothing else that you can acquire over the Internet). I'm also going to do the coffee bean and chocolate ritual. Somehow in my mind this all seems to fit. We'll see.
We also kick off Galatians this week (in the mornings until the end of August), so I am finding Sean Winter's Bible study (available at his blog http://seanthebaptist.typepad.com/ along with a host of other good things) very helpful. I am going away to ponder what he says about baptism preparation - partly because it's a really good thought and mainly because I begin a series of baptismal preparation sessions with at least two people tomorrow evening (very exciting!).
What I am most struck by is Sean's suggestion that Galatians 3:26-29 offers those being baptised a theological vision of their identity and mission, the start of a new reality we are called to live in day-by-day. It's not only an individual identity, either, but an identity that is focused on joining a community of similarly renewed people who together are working for the redemption of creation (which, of course, takes me back to the bottomless theological lake that is Romans 8...)
So, thanks to Sean for giving my baptismal preparation classes a much-needed make over.
I'll probably also try to read Alan Kreider's essay in the new Andrew Walker/Luke Bretherton collection Remembering our Future: Explorations in Deep Church. Unfortunately, use of the word 'deep' in this context keeps reminding me of the jazz critic on the Fast Show! But I'm sure Alan's piece - 'Baptism and Catecheses as Spiritual Formation - will be stimulating and Godly as his stuff invariably is.
Friday, May 11, 2007
More Prism reflections
It seems like a good number of people enjoyed Prism - judging by the response I've had in various forms.
My mature reflections after a couple of days in rain-swept Devon relaxing with good friends are that I thought the Bible studies went well - the right mixture of input from the front (ten minutes of me - plenty for everyone!) and discussion with facilitators where people wrestled with how the text applies to some pressing issues facing us today; I thought the evening with the Newly accredited Ministers was just wonderful - it was great to see their faces as they came into applause and were sang over by our gospel singer; and the communion was pretty special - it was deeply moving to see friends and strangers offering each other bread and wine, sharing in the words of institution and in many locations, praying for one another.
The age mix was great. Lots of people see Prism as appealing to the under 40s (and I hope it does). But what we found was that at each session the retired and the student sat shoulder to shoulder. And a lot of the glowing comments I've had have come from people in their 50s and 60s for whom the format was a breath of fresh air. One such grabbed my hand at the end of one evening and thanked me, saying that it was the most 'authentic' thing he'd been to at the Assembly for years.
The two workshops we ran in the afternoons were also pretty special. The first was packed and full of ideas about how to do things more creatively in our churches; the second was more select and focused on the links between alt. worship and emerging church and asked really searching questions about where the church in the UK was going. They were supposed to be identical!
Over the next few weeks conversations will take place about whether and how it will happen when the Assembly caravan lands in Blackpool next year.
My mature reflections after a couple of days in rain-swept Devon relaxing with good friends are that I thought the Bible studies went well - the right mixture of input from the front (ten minutes of me - plenty for everyone!) and discussion with facilitators where people wrestled with how the text applies to some pressing issues facing us today; I thought the evening with the Newly accredited Ministers was just wonderful - it was great to see their faces as they came into applause and were sang over by our gospel singer; and the communion was pretty special - it was deeply moving to see friends and strangers offering each other bread and wine, sharing in the words of institution and in many locations, praying for one another.
The age mix was great. Lots of people see Prism as appealing to the under 40s (and I hope it does). But what we found was that at each session the retired and the student sat shoulder to shoulder. And a lot of the glowing comments I've had have come from people in their 50s and 60s for whom the format was a breath of fresh air. One such grabbed my hand at the end of one evening and thanked me, saying that it was the most 'authentic' thing he'd been to at the Assembly for years.
The two workshops we ran in the afternoons were also pretty special. The first was packed and full of ideas about how to do things more creatively in our churches; the second was more select and focused on the links between alt. worship and emerging church and asked really searching questions about where the church in the UK was going. They were supposed to be identical!
Over the next few weeks conversations will take place about whether and how it will happen when the Assembly caravan lands in Blackpool next year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
