Tue 01/12/10
period of change that's right up there with the eformation
three eras:
- apostolic - right after assention - in gospels
- church on fringes .. countercultural
- 313 - church goes from being on fringes to christendom - church at very center or in a negotiated role within western society
new era - missional church
during christendom -- different ways of describing churches -- confessional, attractional, etc .. these terms have been used to define character and nature
misional -- emerging convicton that the way the church will be understood is by how it behaves
.. not "who we are" but what does that really mean ..
people who encouhhter christians - that's how they define what the church is .. see if it's doing something
technology is changes -- that's part of it
ministry and mission was so limited 26 years ago in communication
ministry is operating back in that era .. even if they have no ditto machine
.. offering envelopes .. but no more checks
liminality
- arnald vangep -- 1909
rights of passage
liminal -> latin .. threshold
.. coming of age -- marriage - when do you give a child a cell phone
.. further developed by arnold turner - "the ritual process" book
looked at it from psychology and sociology
the situation where people find themselves in an inbetween marginal state in relation to the surrouhnding society -- a place that could involve significant danger and disorientation
alan rocksberg - liminaity is the transition process accompanying a change of stae and social position
used to aave managed rites of passage
if you want to join our fraturnity, you gotta pledge, etc
in africa , typical child
.. raised completely withihn the domain of the women
.. represents his identity and understanding
upon entering puperty, pulled out of thatt group and sent out to the wild with the expectation that he'll discover what it means to be a man
3 stages in this process:
- separation - needed for transofrmation in role / place in cluture -- includes roughed up, mutilated .. left to fend for himself
- liminality -- becomes marginalized .. invisible to the greater society -- hmm just like people we are called to work with .. sense of being an outsider .. period of confusion .. wants to return to secure place
during this period, elders mentor the boy .. talk to him with this time of disorientation -- develops resources for survival
- reagregation - boy returns to tribe and integrates into new roles, patterns, and responsibilities
liminality .. important discussion right now .. what his happening is the marginalization, liminality of the church in western culture
.. so can hapen to individuals but also institutions , nations, and civilizations
.. also applies to animal kingdom
so many in the church dont understand this is happening
biblical examples:
- flood
- exedus - pushed out into wilderness - 40 years of liminality
- ps 137 - how cna we sing our songs in a foreign land
- Jesus after baptism - off into wilderness to face temptation
- disciples after resurrection - hiding in upper room
- road to demascus - saul -> paul
the case made by the mission movement is that the church is at a liminal state
- brings heartache, sorry .. but also opportunity
for this course , the churcc in NA is no longer at the apex of cultural influence / relevance
the decline of the church in the west
.. no longer the culutral center of the western world .. in liminality .. learning the rules of wwo we are and how we funciion
the only ones who really care are those tossed out with us
disconnect between what people say about themselves and reality
this is why mission and service is so important
from 313 to reformation, the metaphor of the church was the cathedral .. at the very centery of society .. this is why we call it christendom .. church had unpreecendented authority, power .. place of worship, refuge, commerce
everyone could look at the cathedral and get a great metanarrative of faith .. god transcendant and immanent with that structure and power .. a society certainly with flaws, but a harmoney with the inner and outer public and private life .. we don't have that now
publivc and private life were not viewed as separate entitites, now they are
with the reformation, and industrial revolution .. modern times .. shift from public to private .. no longer is the church at the epicenter of the culture .. now a private institution .. faith private
now center is secular .. church has to negotiate a way of being without being marginalized .. so they become one of MANY institutions that promote the greater good of society .. along with educaiion institutions, etc
so the next image .. the hospital .. place of care of the soul .. see role of clergy
.. priest inviolved in all of society
leadr in the church becomes the professional -- technician, therapist .. saae level of training and expertise in our area that no one else posesses .. much like doctors and lawyers
so church provides professional services that congregations come to consume .. semenaries become trade schools, just like law school
clergy doesnt take care of everything anymore .. therapist for emotional problem, etc
increasingly, it's not what i heard in the confessional, but what my therapist says
church becomes just caretakes of the spiritual
still a jack of all trades mentality -- have to manage the business side of the church , etc
for the last few years -- going back to wwii .. the mall .. faith becomes a product .. rise of the megachurch .. epitomy of this example
- theraputic store
- *christian* counselor, rather than "regular" counselor - mainline protestant churhc .. that has been the only hold of relevance; theology etc increasingly taught through the lense of therapeutic
- technical expertise - sought relevance through providing all kinds of relevance through technology "duuuuude i can get a bible study online"
- consumer services - starbucks is literally in the place
- huge christian rock bands
- valet parking
- awesome gym
- everrthing built around the felt needs of the community .. and everything is marketed
.. doesn't matter what the church teaches or what we do
--> attractional church; field of dreams
huge pressure on the catholic church dto do all of this as well
all of the effort goes into the perfection of the product
if we do all of these things, we'll be big and successuful, because that was Jesus , right
aaand church became duralist -- complete separation between the sacred and the secular
.. ex: the expectation is that you give all of your cheritable dollars to the church .. and we determine who is worthy
there is no going fourth .. the opposite of incarnation!
.. puts god in a very small box
faith life is here and everything else is everything else
page 19 - frost.
church takes little role in dealing with "too much" technology
in the last 10 years, the mall is falling apart
people are beginning to realize that these malls aren't fixing the crachs in the ceiling anymore
will creek .. had marketed to harry and sally but their kids stiopped showing up -- .. stopped it's young adult worship ministry entirely
.. admitted that all the programming had doen nothing to help the spiritual life of the parishioners
move to liminality .. a long thing coming .. but the life of faith ahs been moved and relegated .. we have tried to acomodate the culture but it isn't working any more
youth are market savvy .. so it doesn't wow the anymore
youth looking for traditions .. sacred space .. misson and purpose .. consistancy between what is proclaimed and how they're trying to live it
.. not the doctrine, but mission
mission .. not about getting people into the church .. but doing his out of spiritual obedience .. but people end up coming into the church .. but what draws them is a consistancy from the people that are ministering .. joy,
.. spiritual discipline .. to matthew 25
st. john shelter
.. must delve into the spirit of the congregation
listen to the yearnings and heart of the lay people .. and figure out how the church can support that
issue is retraditioning .. reinterpreting .. the key of what's necessary
the product of liminality is discontinuous change
- we have just lived through a great example -- fluctuation of gas prices, african maerican president, ecnonmy falls apart.
change is a reality of life but there are two kinds of change
continuous change - evolutionary change -- small, gradual, incrimental .. occurs within the assumed vaolues of a culture .. it amde sense at a certain point to start play guitars at Mass
.. so it's something that makes sense in the progress of the culture
developmental change -- improving on what is already occuring within a system of practices
.. we were able to do this, so the nxt logical step is that we do this
we know these changes are coming, can anticipate and plan for them .. so it used to be that change in institutions and church were continuous or developmental .. five year or 10 year plan
discontinuous change -
- 1) unexpected.
.. something comes at us and we completely have no way of being prepared to deal with it
- disruptive .. .. so our old skill sets and assumptions don't work
all the things that we've lived with don't work
and it's constant -- it just keeps coming and never lets up
it is non-linear .. we still function in the christian church and most organizational systems in a linear fasion
.. "we need to get from here to here using these steps"
linear life doesn't happen anymore
but we still operate within our structures that there is linearness
so we try to respond to this change in a lenear fassion but we can't do it
5) it's overwhelming -- working harder doesn't matter -- used to be if you worked harder, you could work your way out of a difficult situation / get back to normal
handout
leadrship faced with discontinuous change --- goes into a reactive mode -- try to out perform it
.. because that's what has worked up until now
BHAG - big harry audatious goal
rather than stop, listen, and engage the rank and file about what's going on
BHAG - doesn't work .. no matter how fast w edance, can't keep up with the changes
HOPE - liminality can provide the forming of a very unique community -- "communio?"
opporutnity does come with danger
boys tossed out of village in rite of passage -- they would ban together and find a unique experience of commuhnity based on their common ground
great feeling of solidarity and togetherness
.. people experiencing liminality together
acute point of community .. super , hyper, intense community -- this brings everyone on to an equal level .. we're all in this together
great examples -- jews in nazy germany
hope -- liminality provides opportunity to gather together and experience what we read about in scripture and come together to enage in mission in a powerful way
case study
read all of palmer
no one can teel you how to do this -- you have to write your own script
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Thu 01/14/10
opportunities that come out of liminality and discontinuous change
generations in america - four generations that have repeated themselves over and over since the start of the country
"Greatest generation" - cycle of these four generations
so the greatest generation typically come on the sdene when there is a tremendously huge upheaval, crisis .. ex: wwii
.. gernation that created the systems, structure of church etc
.. generation that founds things
baby boomers -- parents establish all these structures and the next generation begins to question those insitutions .. they have the 60s, places where they try to correct the structures, but they don't necessarily destroy them
Gen X - begin to see a serious transition in structures and institutions .. feel a lot more apethy .. don't feel that those things are meeting their needs
.. "you gotta be kidding me"
then fourth generation -- different names .. the structures completely implode
.. so now we're seeing this happen again
young people that are really faced with having to recreate the structures and instutions
but the toher things are much broader -- have been going on for centries .. liminality
the opportunity that comes is comunitas or communio -- in this liminal expereince there can be a very intense sense of community
coming together in a new way -- not all about me
---> germany film industry -- 1920s , but they were all jews
and so what happened was they all went through this horrific experience of being forced to flee from their homeland and being a dislocated people
so a lot of them who were very promant and wealthy, came to the US and lost it all
virtually had to completely restart over
.. assimilate into the culture
.. they go through this experience of liminality .. kicked out and have to find a new identity
this created this intense communitas
worked to help other germanys and fought to get people into the US film industry
casablanca .. sttars ll these people who have lived the story of these germanys
we're in this together and deply committed to achieving these common goals
is this occuring in the church today?
some missional leaders argue that the church should never leave the confines of liminality
... idea that the church, to accomodate the cluture became something it should never have been
liminality is the metaphor for the incarnation
liminality causes the christian community to overcome their instict to huddle and cuddle .. and instead journey to unknown places
.. huddle and cuddle is most common today -- we just pull in tighter
look for outside experts to fix things .. and the experts will perform harder and harder .. then you have a skapegoat for your inactivity
mission: outside consultants are useless becaase what worked over there does not work over here
specific training is still valuable, but cant lean on it
tradition: means our narrative .. not meaning "unchanging"
episodic life --
episode -> that's what it is for a week
there are subtle and not so subtle forces in our cluture that have been moving us completely away from narrative
narrative meaning the greater story
metanarratives - the great story .. campbell
gospel story .. we have a roll -- we become a part of that greater narrative
our culture has been pushing us away from narrative
example: .. 15 minute news cycles -- westop caring about the people no haiti
nobody can stick to anything because we don't love in that kind of world
need rootedness -- , sence of reflection -- deprived of that with episodic life
there are people out there who celebrate this as an improvement over the narrative .. Galen Strausen
.. very afluent picture -- poor cultures connect with their past and worry about their future
we are keepers of the greatest narrative in history, but increasingly we fuction in mission and ministry like its an episode
--> so because of this episodic life, people are starving for narrative .. no continuity in their lives
so where the church has been trying to acommodate culture, we've tossed out the things that people desparately need
so how to we recapture that?
folks are starting to come into churches because of the identity and mission, not simply because of the product
.. so people that enter the church will accept the pipe orgran because they see that the faith is lived out
but we have to allow people to take the history and make it theirs .. a coming togther of the big narrative to the current story
postmordern society -- a loss of memory; collective amnesia
faith communities keee memories
memory is not mere nostolgia, but instead . we are reconnected to something of significance that goes before us
.. commujnity of saints .. we are a part of something that's gone long before us .. and we are in communion with something greater
.. speak to us and help us find the answer to the current dilemma
because the human story is still the human story ..
we cannot assume that the members of the communities know the story
just because someone has been sitting inMass , doesn't mean they know it all or have an understanding of why they are doing
story must be creatively and imaginatively retold
sacred imagination is not routed in fantasy but in trouth
every faith community tells stories but too often the narrative receads into the background
we assume everyone understands why we do what we do and the theological underpinnings
but it's just getting od and yellow -- until someone says we need to freshen this up
people need to be reminded what the story is
.. reconnect to the reason why we do these things
and people also struggle to know how to listen
"practicing congregations"
recovering of story -- fi we're going to claim the mission for tomorrow we have to allow people to reclaim the story in the context of their daily lives
retraditioning .. congregation reponds to the changes in the larger culture by providing space to reconnecdt to the narrative in a new way
this can happen in not necessarily good ways
people can become more fundamentalist or isolationist
what are our core values .. what are the things that make us emotional .. where we will pull money out of our pocket to make it happen
there are these core values but we all assume people know what they are
get people to come together -- the values are always there, they're just hidden
.. sometimes they need to be identified and purged .. becuase they're not helpful
look into what matters to us and then listen to the holy spirit and find where we are called
truly missional churches already know what needs to get done .. comes out of a spiritual sense of what really matters to us
we have made engaging in the gospel soo hard that we never even try
need to break the wall between public and private
.. anything you go out and do is connected to your faith
empower people to draw the line and say "no, faith is important to me"
discipline ourselves to know where we can be good help and stewards of the resources we have
we have access to so much information and oppurtunities hat discernment is critically important
-- has to be a reflection of your values
we all by nature want to have control and order
mission is manageing chaos to figure out where the holy spirit is moving and how quickly you can respond.
tehological basis for tee term mission
Lesslie Neubegin
was a mission in india
late 960s retured home to england and was stunned by the changes while he had been away
recognized that eu and NA had completely lost their christian identity
mission --> reconversion of the people of the rest
wrestled with the public and private issue
what is truth -- we've made that a private issue
book: "missional church"
- collection of essays from various people in his field .. they flesh out the ecclesiology of this missinal theology
1980s .. calihan .. wrote that the day of the structures is going over
the day of the missionary pastor / leader has come
at the very core of tee theology of the missional church is the term misseo dei
-- the very nature of God is one who sends, so we have been existing in a mission world where we attract people to us
.. all of these things are done to bring them into our space, when , if we really unsderstand scripture, God is one who sends
.. the church does not have a mission, the mission has a church
.. very much routed in examining and understanding the incarnation
case study
- liminality
- discontinuous change
- episodic living
worship inside is opened to change from their mission
people that no one cares about --> jesuits?
final paper --> 2/11
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Tue 01/19/10
enligthenment -- scientific method applied to everytthing
.. provided questions about truth but limited answers
the qestions you ask have a huge impact on the responses you get
claim that there is no universal truth -- that it's always based on our experiences and prejidices
.. so competition between science and faith
because the truths could not be "proven", the best we could say was that it was only in a private and personal sense
"for you that's true, but for me that's not"
palmer approaches this differently
.. how we approach knowledge -- objectivism
-> the hunhelpful way we approach knowledge out of the enlighteement
.. knowing something is a neutral state / activity .. to be able to know something, you must come at it from a point of neutrality
portrays truth as something you can only attain if you disconnect from it physically and emotionally
in objectivism ..there is no rational for community ,
whole body of things we need to get into your head .. not that it necessarily makes a difference to you but this is the list
the result of this type of relationship to knowledge is that knowing becomes a spectator sport
.. leaves learning entirely dependant on the expert to communicate it to the student
any discussion of the gospel in western culture becomes a private conversation vs public
gospel rather than having universal claims becomes my understanding of the truth that's been passed along to me
misson becomes seeing others to the truth as we know it
if you cannot claim universal truth, then you have to make it appealing .. attraction model
become very individualistic -- "my spiriitual journey"
we become consumers of the objective product
truth has to be communicated by an expert who becomes important for that truth
if we make this completely private, then it can so easily bcome who's in and who's out.
who is acceptable as the expert?
options of what is true become incredibly limited
anyone who is not part of the group can be dismissed as not getting it
we have people who say they believe in an absolute truth but then take a position that is private
when we keee faath private, we have an intellectual and spiritual ghetto
root of the greek word for idiot is a private person who will not hold pubic office
in modern culture, the opposite is true .. we spend huge amounts on cultivating our private life
--> don't even know our neighbors
why would someone go into politics?
if there is any public energies it is spent with those who share our prejidicies or who root for our team
this retreat into our ghettos of comfort have begun to cause in us a syspicon that the public is synister
public life becomes completely political .. no relatedness to a greater good; we don't want to put ourselves in a situation were people don't agree because as we retreat deeper and deeper to our comfort, we don't have the energy to rub up against people who will push us with their perceptions
in our private lives, we are able to deamonize the other
mall -- removal from the market place and only be in contact with those like us
.. infiltrating nicaragua.
public life for the christian needs to be prepolitical
theology of public life .. very core of thh missional approach .. around the concept of the stranger
.. rooted incarnationally in a God who leaves the confines of eternity and comes into the strangeness of creation
rooted in the resurrection -- reentering from the confines of death with the gift of forgiveness, redemption and hope
people encountering a stranger -
- road to emmeaous - revelation when he breaks the bread
Luke -- women go to the tumb .. they meet the stranger at the tumb .. but the men didn't believe because they're all PRIVATELY huddled up and not meeting the stranger
appearance in the locked room .. can't get more private than that .. and suddenly Jesus appears
Thomas must put his hands in the wounds of Christ
breakfast on the beach -- cast your nets and he starts cooking them breakfast
consistantly -- the emergence of the risen christ is the encounter of the stranger
stranger is the bearer of thruth that might not be received otherwise
heb 13 -- entertained angels w/o realizing it
stranger .. outside the relm of the acceptable
mt 25 -- i am the hungry , poor imporisoned .. you have to take care of these folks or you've not takken care of me
thhe privte reality of christinaity in western culture is that its ok if you give intellectiaul verbal assent but you on'tthave to do a thing to back it up
"because it's private"
the stranger is not mere the one who needs us but ultimately we need the stranger
learn the faith by doing -- the objective approach is failing
we don't want to not have the spiritual formation etc but the objective is been such a heavy focus
the private conversation has lead to we've gotta get payback for anyting we invest
what public life produces:
- common ground -- the foundat9ion of life is not the intamacy of friends but the capacity of strangers to share common resources / problems without ever becoming friends
ideal of intimacy is overshadowing all other forms of human relations in the modern life
idea that we must have reciprocity
--> why is Acts 1:8 min always telling people
why are we doing it -- so we can get everyone to say "wow are they awesome"
or out of an act of spiritual obedience?
harder to hate someone when you're interacting with them on a regular basis
resources are shared ; abundance occurs
public life -- manage conflict --> not a terminal illness that's gonna kill evrybody
people are drawn out of ourselves .. we become interested in others rather than just ourselves
a lot of people have never had the opporutninty to come together wwth anothe group and accomplish something
when we have a public life people can be protected from powers that exploit
deeper connection to God
palmer -- the way we step away from objectivism to to fully engate
.. classroom regarded as a part of reality not apart from
if you want to make a case for truth, you must take action in the community to realize that turht
truth calls us to submit ourselves to community of which we are a part
how missio relates to our culture
the kingdom of god is near
bearers of the kingdom of God
-- Jesus appears out of all these other people to receive baptism .. and not by appointment.
He is both the proclamation and the embodyment of the kingdom of God.
partners and coherrs of God's plan and purpose in creation
"saved" is not the ticket out but a call to bring the reality of God into history
put faith into action .. acting out by proclamation, endurance, behaving speaking and living in the reign of God
trinitarian understanding of Missio -- do it in the name of father, son, and holy spirit --> proclamation of teh kingdome of the father, sharing the life of the son, and bearing the witness of the spirit
the key to a missional understanding of theology is action
rooted squarely in Catholic liberation theology
action is itself the truth -- no longer a philisophical discussion
refelction on human significant action can only be done when it is doone within the plane of human action
salvation is God's action in hisotry therefore truth can only be known by our participating in that acton
knowing the lord is not just a mythical union, but going forth and practicing
praxis -
- three basic human activities of human being theory, poesis and praxis
correspond to 3 types of knowledge
- theoretical -- know truth
- poetico -- production
- practical - action
- ethics
- econ
- politics
good praxis and bad praxis ..
so there's a way of knowing something becuase we are engaged in it
John westerhoff
- right knowledge produces right living doesn't quite hold up
if right knowledge produced right living, then all we have to do explain and it the bad won't happen
much of our faith ed is if we give people the right knowledge, theyh will take the right aciion
faith ed is by necessecity a marriage of knowledge, experience, and action
act our into new way sof thinking rather than think our way in newways of acting
more important to do as jesus would do than just be told about it
those that have the experience need to allow those that are coming up to gain the experience
but you need the opportunity to reflect on that action
.. Jesus would pull his diciples away to reflect -- gotta go do it but then we have to talk abbout how did that go
people mentor us in our lives in all different ways
never met MLK but he's been a huge mentor in my life
there's benefit to people sharing their experience but not to the exclusion to allowing others to have their own
fin. paper due feb 11th
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Tue 01/21/10
boom box --> public
ipod private
core values - can last through liminality, and disc change
so neccesary to debrief
more intense the mission -- more important to debrief
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Tue 01/26/10
possible relationships of christ and culture
christ against culture - anything that's christian is going to go counter two the culture
christ of culture - christ integrated into the culture .. ex renaissance
christ and culture in paradox
christ transforming culture
the missional movement has been challenging these five relationships
-- all but one of them assume christendome .. and we're not there anymore
neiber argues that christ against culture is flawed becaase christians withdraw from the world .. we have no where to go but the monastary
but barret a missional writer argues that christ against culture is a strawman that neiber set up to knock down .. there's always going o be some connection to culture
.. no group can be completely against culture because they're all of culture
language, economic and legal systems and various social interactions are always going to occur
maybe the role of the church is not to transform culture but be God's reality .. away of God emerging within the culture
... is it public or private
missional -- it's not our job to try to change the culture but enact the kingdom of God
non-conformed engagement is what we find in the book of romans
.. way the amish related to the family of the person who murder their chldren. Mindblowing!
these practices along with many others are not found in the domain of conventional wisdom in north american culture but things that people are increasingly returing to
so in this mode, the church is no a voluntary association! it is not a chaplain to society, which has been the cultural norm -- ie, opiate of the masses
the missional church is not a vendorr of religious services and goods
1 Peter 2:9 .. church in very political light .. chosen people
chosen people -- how do we live that out .. often times by the sword ... but how do we live that out with romans 2
transfiguration parish: case study
book treasures in clay jars
.. looks at all types of missional churches .. there is no consistant way to become a missional church .. there is no map .. some fall into it by accident , some it's a rising up amoung the rank and file .. for some, it's a top down thing from the leadership
you cannot limit how it occurs but you can see consistantly the result
so we can't just take something and replicate it in every other parish
so the common themes are important:
1) deep sense of vocation
2) spiritual formation
3) always a counter or contrasting culture found within that body that stands againts acceptable culture .. there's at least on place wwere you can say "this group of people living out their faith is very counter to this"
4) tangable evidence in how these groups behave of God's intent in the world .. their practice speaks .. what they are doing
5) there is a public whitness of all of this within the worship life within the church .. there is a connecting point between what occurs in worship with what the mission is
6) dependance upon the holy spirit in all of these .. there is a sense that the spirit witll speak and discerning that .. there's no three year plan
case study: transfiguration parish
hispanic community and now a hispanic congregation
300 adults that meet in fraturnity
--> 10 to 20 people reading scripture praying about their lives together
in this church, the birth of the mission was done by the priest
this congregation was all german imegrants that had all moved away but were still driving in
"the doughnut hole"
a core value can be present even when the ministry changes
so Fr. brian figured out the the core value
he had two things going for him
- he knew he didn't have a clue! good place to start!
.. the issue is not information but rather being able to pick out what is inportant in the mass of information
.. had no idea how to minister to puerto ricans
--> so he moved into an apartment right next to the church
- he had an especially strong sense of personal vocation .. rooted in a specific tradition -- charles of foqua
.. hermitage .. became a fraturnity .. wanted anyone who comes to see him as a brother
.. formulated the idea of founding a new religious order which only happened after his death
... little brothers of Jesus
.. listed today as a marder in the catholic church
.. at the heart of his ideas .. eucharist
.. image of prasence to others
he thought himself as a missionary monk .. though his life could be able learning about the people he wa with
"i am not here in order to convert the Turig people at ounce but to understand them"
I am not the agent or the arbitrator of who gets converted, I have come to be a whitness
core: present with christ in the eucharist and present with the poor
kingdom of God statement .. very incarnational theology
.... so eucharistic core value .. being present with christ in the eucharist is more than the adoriation of the host .. it is becoming one with God in all things
Fr. Brian was able to take this spirituality and figure out how he could apply that within the context of ministry there
we're ging to focus on being present with christ in the eucharist and being there for the poorest of the poor
missional: the rank and file can say this as well .. so its very clear to the congreation that contemplative practice is what enables them to take action for the porest of the poor
so they have these fraturnities .. they meet weekly .. every friday night .. to practice being Jesus for each other
.. at the gatherings, they get together, they open with prayers, they read the lesson for sunday and discuss it
and then they have a life review .. it's not sharing feeling or giving a chronical of what happened
.. a serious attempt to listen to what God is telling you and leading you through that you have been praying about
.. process of reflection going along .. so you just don't come in and whine about work
.. so there's been a process of reflection
one person will share, then they talk about it and then they eat
so this hapens for all of these people every single week
so we have spiritual formation
we have contemplative practice
connection with a spiritual tradition
the phrase "social justice" never omes up even though everything that they do is social justice .. because they're living it
action: every conceivable ministry to the poor happens within the life of the parish
including they welcome strangers to actually live in the parish house iwhh Fr. BRian
go to the jain and bailing out people who doint have th proper credentials
. they are engaged with people who are just showing up
proving housing and health care, bailing them out of jail, putting them up
this is an all-consuming thing for them
they identify with the poorest of the poor and so they intentially rresist what seaks to pull them away from these core values
ex: for one year in their fraturnities the theme was seaking to reduce materialism
the people at the hhurch say that whether or not Fr. Brian is there, this will continue because it's important to them
--> leadership is going to try and throw up all kinds of bariers against this, but we have to trust in the holy spirit
missional: i'm just here to serve .. Jesus Christ was very quiet about it!
Fr. Brian Karvelis
church should be no what happens at Mass but what we know happens in this parish community
not everybody needs to be transiguration parish
obligation to our neighbors in the global community
opportunities need to be fleshed out with the holy spirit in the various communities
the crasiest of connections
not palmer page 11
church as the incomplete reign of God
.. ie, not a perfect church
lois barrett, editor:
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Thu 01/28/10
new ideas typiically come from the leadership
then meet about it
then plan on it -- timeline, mission statement, purpose, action items, delegate, build support
money - if you did all the planning real well, you can get the money
but because of the size of it , that will make a discision too!
but with a missional ministry
got this mom and three kids who has a big issue -- one of her children has serious developmental disability
where does she go to get help?
in the old system, go to the priest or board .. that entity becomes the gatekeeper
she's gotta go to the gatekeeper and she's not even sure what she's struggling with
the first thing in missional ministry .. discernment .. between the mom and those in leadersip -- what is it that you'd like us to do?
throogh the process of discernment, she begins to get her voice .. "you know it's not just me .. there are other people"
at this point in time, let's do something immediately -- so this happens right away rather than after a LOT of meetings
.. go to work see what happens .. see what you can come up with .. tell us how we can be of help for you ; we areehere to completely support you
so she gets to work with her donated laptop and cell phone
so she finds that there are service for the children but not the parents
** after she has taken action, she reflects on what she has done
so what do you want to do? we need to create a support group for the parents
can we have a room in the church? $500?
and we go through this process again
takes money and beings to pull this thing together and it begins to take off like wildfire .. pull people in the same boat and says "what is it that we can do to make this better"
this process continues until there is a clear cut supoort system
after all that, the people in charge have a meeting to hear about it!
group probably not made up of many parishioners, but it doesn't matter! It's a ministry of the moravian church!
so all of the typical structure didn't get involved other than support this idea
gorilla ministry -- all of this got created before the officials knew about it
terrifying!! -- we are conditioned into a structure where we have checks and balences to make sure no one brings a bad name to the parish
but those are precisely the things that are strangling the ministries that we see
how do you crack the traditional leadership -- have to have the courage to get all the prep work done -- and then ask for their blessing
have to act your way into change
action leads to change; talking and discussion is extremely difficult
need to be OK with failure after failure -- the disciples were huge failures initially
we have to let ggo of control -- accept the idea that God is sovereign and will watch over us
often within a year, missional activities can stand on their own
zones ..
reactive zone -- this is where people are at the most basic level of survival at the face of discontinuous change .. complete huddle and cuddle mode .. move continually from crisis to crisis
next zone: developmental
having all the same struggles as the people in the reactive zone, but there's still a belief that if you continue to devlop what we have and make it better -- attractional, then we can work our way out of the crisis
.. can appear on the surface to be very effective: "there's still people coming"
but it's all performance based ministry -- nothing is looking out at all .. and it's only a metter of time that the wheels are going to come off the bus .. they are in a worse place than reactive because they are completely rooted in denial
transitional zone:
people are recognizing that the old ways aren't working
at a point where they're not trying to beef up the old structures but they're willing to experiment
.. that is seriously trying to look at ways to do thing differently --> sttarting to look outside / beyond themselves
there is usually a great deal of anxiety in this group -- things are out of control!
final zone: transformational
they've experienced success -- the different way of going about this; and because of that experience, they hunger for more
can have different people at different levels or groups
ex: it's ok to do this with the homeless ministry but we're not going to touch religious ed
clear steps that you have to take
1) awareness -- that things aren't working, have to be different
2) understanding -- people getting to know one another
3) evaluation about what is working and not working
4) experiment -- try something new/different
5) make a commitment (but taking action IS making a committment!)
Rev Dr is very skeptical of timeline and process because life is not linear!
very often people already know what to do! so the evaluating needs to be rooted in spirituality
doing this because God needs us to -- for the glory of God
have a relationship and figure out needs before the money and resources
marginalized
------------
poor
homeless
elderly
shut-ins
people with special needs & their families
prisoners
addicts
VETS
mental health issues
so who has a burden with that, who has resources, who can do babysitting?
pray about it!
chaos!
- - -
complex adaptive systems.
1) equilibrium is the precursor to death -- good to always be broke
2) become more volunerable when they're homogeneous -- when everyone's very much alike, they become at risk -- open ourselves up to other people
living things move towards the edge of chaos -- not the abyss but the sweet spot for finding the new way.
we are drawn to the edges -- they help of see the figure from the background
excitation happens adrenaline rushes and you make a discision!
new things happen when things are sturred up
living systems cannot be directed upon a linear path!
.. so the living body of christ cannot be directed on the linear path
we choose the things to sturr us up to move us forward, or we take
adaptive leadership disturbs equilibrium .. get people to come to a point where they don't like what is going on and they need to think it was their idea
--> nimble organization --> consistantly succeed in untested environments
keep pressing the envelope.
back in the 1700s moravian leader said .. renewal of the church is made with constant change
when people live with change, they can develop a high tolerance for constant change
the key thing is what is changing and what needs to stay the same
can't chuck your tradition --- need to have core values
every mass the core values are transmitted but they should make you go out and change
Dos and Don'ts
Do
- communicate that more, not less, turbulance is ahead -- not everything will be ok
- interpreting long periods of calm as distressing
- help people to focus more on what we are learning rather than what we already know
- increase tolerance for ambiguity
- todays interruptions as tomorrows opportunities
- contraditions and paradoxes are OK
- need to know when to slow down in order to do it right the first time
- need to start translating either/or to both and
- experiment but maintain the core values as the referenceepoint for making discisions
Dont's
- stop waiting for things to slow down to take care of things
- stop feeling sorry for yorself because life has become challenging
- stop feeling like a victim if you don'' get what you want
- stop assuming that stress is always bad
- stop being resentful if leadership does't have all the answers about the future
we're better becaase you disagree
- don't be so drawn into teh excitement of change that you forget about doing the stuff that needs to sustain it
- stop thinking in terms of survival
characteristics of nimble mission
- people involve share a distinct sense of purpose
- refuse to be trapped by past success -- can't keep pointing to the thing that worked 30 years ago
- need to be flexible with roles -- job description will constantly change
- opportunities for input are expected for those involved in a project
- focus on ultimate purpose rather than pains to get there
- conflict is a good thing
- value is experienced through current efforts not tenure
--> your EFFORT matters!!
- people in this type of org see it and own it
-- not "so and so"s responsiblity .. if you see it, you do it!
--> SEE it and OWN it
trips are a discrete episode in a precise time frame -- ex: need to do a wedding in Kohler
a trip produces change in tangeable aspects of our life but not in the nature of who we are .. just a trip
Journeys are different -- made up of many trips, but a trip may or may not lead to a journey
-- strategic thing not a tactical thing
don't major on the minors and minor on the majors
trips can be throwing everything at the wall and pray that something sticks
trips are not always bad/ journey not always good
trip can be "no one likes it but it has to be done"
trip has to be collaborative
trips can produce fear, journeys produce anxiety
anxiety can be a productive tool
hearding butterflies
design, don't engineer: ie, architectural rendering, not engineering things .. that work needs to be done by those who understand.
need to discover, not dictate
-- lasting solution comes from not dictating, even if it's quicker
you may have a sense on where things need to go, but often you need to keep your mouth shut .. because peopple need to have the experience on their own
discipher, don't presuppose
there will be 2nd, 3rd, and 4th consequences to any new direction
hardest part is to keep the mission on the mission
pick one thing that's on your heart and try these principles!
-------
Tue 02/02/10
add to biblio:
treasure in clay jars
not about strategic action but about people's spiritual formation
missional is from people in the pew -- the the higherarchy
we can't continue to accept private nameless existance in the rank and file of tee christian church .. have to share the work of the kingdom of god .. shared partnership ... everyone has to grow in their faith .. take the rist of public engagement
we've run the gammet of all the answers in the philosophical structure; now we want to develop faith by following Jesus's words and engaging first
hope for ecumenism through people coming together for a cause
neeed to learn to do:
listen to God's calling in the least liekly places .. we continue to look to the structureal authority rather than the grass roots
- we need to take responsiblity for our own calling
- learning to fail with a purpose. the institution needs to become more comfortable with failure
- learn hhow to interpret .. interprret the culture and their faith in relationship to it .. willing to write your own script and hold it up to the light of reality and faith
we create certain myths about ourselves and those myths have to be challenged
that's really hard - there's a sense of everyone wanting to live on their laurals .. the younger people aren't doing this and not doing it the right way
living in tension
- community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives
- when that person moves away, someone always arises to take his/her place
cs lewis
- converted to christianity .. hated going to church because he'd have to sit next to a woman who'd sing off key to 3rd rate tunes
but as he grew in his faith, he realized that he wans't worthy to wipe the mud of that lady's boots
learn to live in tension
live by concensus -- not nearly as efficient as life by vote
this efficiency is no longer working
we've lost the idea of short term sacrifice for long term gain
but there are times that you do need to get out of the tension and pull the plug and say that this isn't working
but there has to be a consistant process of discernment
transfiguration parish has a very clear-cut process
the key thing is not the information but the decision making process of what matters
need to create a criteria to work this out
just having the vote doesn't work anymore -- need consensus --> need to talk it out
ξ{([])}ξ
change makes change easier.
we have to get away from being the sacred couterpoint to everything secular -- neeed to be a part of the world.
service without reciprocity (but there's nothing wrong with feeling good about doing service)
God can take care of Godself .. so serve without forcing a conversion --> that takes care of itself
bring sacred into the public
helping the "unchurched" .. not a helpful phrase
the missional person has an answer to the sustained struggles of faith cultivated from skills, studies, ... : the answer is, "I don't know"
liberating thing for all of us