1. The loss of church as public

    My first location for this post is as a church planter, trying to grow a church in the post Christian, secular materialist, and post church context of Europe. What does it mean within this context to try to establish a vibrant church community that enables Christian’s formation and grow in faith, and for people in our local community to convert to that form of life, as Christians, in and through our church plant?

    Alastair MacIntyre has demonstrated how practices are prior to institutions, and yet good practices are only sustained over time by institutions. However those very institutions over time corrupt and undermine the good practices they were set in place for.

    In referencing MacIntyre, I betray my second locations for this post, of being within ‘emerging church’ discussions and conversations (whether others consider me legitimately located within this context is another question).

    Within my context the protestant church has seemingly retreated into the subjective private gnosis of ‘relevance’ with it’s myriad progressions of worship aesthetics, be that charismatic revivalism, purpose driveness, or alternative worship, whilst on the other hand it has turned to a reified and objectified faith around some form of biblical fundamentalism.
    Read on…

  2. Book idea..?

    silence-by-tijo-on-flickr.jpgPaul writes…Jason and I have been talking about writing a book about deep church. One of the practical difficulties of deep church so far is that it is:

    a) primarily academic/rooted in the academy at present

    b) dense

    c) hard to imagine what this looks/feels/tastes like in practice and therefore why bother/get excited about it.

    My own feeling would be to take a book idea like Doug Paggitt’s book on Church re-imagined and adapt it to write practically about what we are doing around the values of deep church that we have in our own church community/context. Not that I’m saying that we are the example of deep church in action just an example that people may find helpful.
    Read on…

  3. DEEP CHURCH SEMINAR

    hula-halo-by-pbo31-on-flickrdotcom.jpgBy Rev Dr Steve Croft. Director, Fresh Expressions

    Prior to taking up his post with Fresh Expressions, Steve was Warden of Cranmer Hall in Durham and before that a Vicar in Halifax. His books include:

    -Ministry in Three Dimensions: ordination and leadership in the local church
    -Transforming Communities: Re-imagining the Church for the 21st Century
    (both published by DLT).

    He will be giving a paper discussing emerging churches.

    27 Feb, 11.15-12.30, Waterloo Bridge Building, King’s College London. (There will be a sign with the room number on the door)

    Map link: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/campuses/waterloo-det.html

    Do bring a sandwich or stay for lunch afterwards in the canteen.

  4. Exploring new monasticism - conference

    The Northumbria Community and the Anabaptist Network will be exploring ‘new monasticism’ in a day conference in Coventry on 3 May 2008. Through plenary sessions, discussion, worship, workshops and conversations with a wide range of resource people, we will assess its potential for the church in exile.

    See here for more details and a booking form.

  5. Reconstructing worship…

    libre-by-thealieness-giselagairdino-on-flickr.jpgThere has been some really interesting pieces written on worship of late.

    Please do check out this really awesome article by Dan Wilt on the rise of the worship artisan

    Jason wrote a great article on recovering liturgy and ritual in the emerging church

    I’ve written about exploring worship (including the singing) and the emerging church

    And for a practical/experiental example of deep church practised in the community of our church: Vineyard Sutton: Marc has posted the ash wednesday service that we participated in last night and Jason and I have posted our reactions/experiences/actions as a result of that service

  1. Innovative returns to tradition…

  2. What is Deep Church? : In Outline

  3. Listen to the Deep church lectures

  4. Loving tolerance…

  5. Lament…

  6. What does deep church mean to you?

  7. WTC: Deep church conversations…

  8. New series of deep church seminars…

  9. ENGAGING IN BILINGUAL THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION

  10. Deep hope

  11. We need a story…

  12. A deep church curriculum…

  13. Iglésia Profúndo

  14. Deepening our story…

  15. The Absence and Presence of God - Meditations for Deep Church

  16. Is there still a need for church - true, deep or otherwise?

  17. The Will to Action: Deconstruction and Reconstruction in Church

  18. Listening to Deep Church Conversations: hosted by WTC

  19. ‘Reading Scripture in Congregations: Towards an Ordinary Hermeneutics’

  20. Real life Deep church conversation…

  21. Deep chuch: looking behind the charismatic curtain?

  22. Immediacy and Mediation

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