Deep Church

So Deep Church has been migrated over to a posterous site for hosting.  All the old content is here, but all the old comments will not be viewable sorry.

Dear Friends & Deep Church readers, My Deep Church blog is moving location, back to www.jasonclark.ws.  Starting 1st June, all my blogging will be re-locating to www.jasonclark.ws instead of Deep Church. The weekly newsletter you receive will still come out to you, with a summary of all the new posts at www.jasonclark.ws. If you want to read more about the reasons for moving my blogging, see this post. If you are tracking my blogging in a web browser or RSS reader, make sure you update your bookmarks to www.jasonclark.ws Thank you again for your interest in my writing, your interaction and comments.  The Deep Church site will stay live, but is being migrated and archived to a new home over the next month.  All details about changes will be made at www.jasonclark.ws. See you over at www.jasonclark.ws. Jason

So as promised I am moving my main blogging over to www.jasonclark,.ws. Deep Church will still being posted too but with fewer items, and more of a magazine format.  We'll have guest authors and be taking on series and topics related to Deep Church. One series that will be taking place is 're-imagining evangelicalism'. Some of the initial questions I am asking as we plan that series are below.  What ones would you want to add, ask? 1.  What is evangelicalism? 2.  Why would anyone still want to be evangelical? 3.  Does evangelicalism have its own tradition to draw on for renewal? 4.  What might be being lost in the post-evangelical move? 5.  What has gone wrong with Evangelicalism? 6.  Is Evangelicalism just a passing fad of the last 200 years? 7.  Is Evangelicalism inimical to capitalism? 8.  Can Evangelicalism be renewed, should it be renewed? 9.  What understanding does Evangelicalism have of being 'Church?' 10. How might Evangelicalism be connected to the 'Great Tradition' of the Church?

"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

Abraham Kuyper (Dutch Prime Minister 1901-1905) Introduction There are many ways to serve Jesus Christ and in this essay we will be thinking about our talents, gifts and callings. How can we serve the Lord with imagination, flair and courage? How can we invest our lives in God’s kingdom? Too often Christians focus exclusively upon church and church programmes and this stops Christian people thinking outside the church box. Of course some people are called to serve God inside the local church community and this is important and not to be neglected and all Christians are called to worship together. Preachers, pastors, evangelists, youth workers and other church workers are busy doing God’s work. But there are significant and influential Christian callings that go beyond the local church gathering. This essay will help to address this issue and in our conclusion we will turn to you and help you to think through your calling to follow Christ in every area of life. First a story. The Shay Cullen Story Father Shay Cullen is a Missionary priest from Ireland and a member of the Missionary Society of St. Columban. He has devoted his life to rescuing and ministering to child prostitutes in the Philippines since 1969.

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If you are looking for a great resource on getting into the bible, do check out Bible Fresh. Bible Fresh is an initiative by the EA UK.  I was part of the road show launch to support this, and you can see the video of my talk, 'Connecting the Bible with Everyday Life'. There is a new book of resources, titled 'Bible Fresh', that really is one of the best resources for getting into the bible that I have seen for a long time.  I wrote the recommendation below that went out on the press release for the book. "Our imaginations for who we are, are shaped by so many things in our increasingly complex world and culture. Biblefresh brings a host of stunningly supportive resources into contact with that world. This book is a must read for anyone wanting the Bible to shape their imagination and identity in today’s world.”

As a wrap up to our series on vineyard values we are pleased to have this posting from Josh Hopping... I had the pleasure of talking to Tri Robinson (senior pastor of the Vineyard Boise) last week and he mentioned that he recently wrote a position paper about the future of the Vineyard Movement. Seeing that this paper is connected to the recent blogsphere conversation - and seeing that Tri has been in the Vineyard for over 30 years and has served as regional overseer and national board member – I think it is important to read and discuss the concepts in his paper. See “TAKE THE BEST AND GO” Part 1 and “TAKE THE BEST AND GO” Part 2 In a nutshell, it seems to me that Tri is feeling like the Vineyard is becoming more and more "bound" (as in a bounded set) with various doctrinal and organizational mandates (examples: the ruling a few years ago about women leadership; requirements and process for planting churches; etc).

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Back in February, I talked about the possibility of moving my blogging and with the help of your feedback have made some decisions. By the end of May, I am moving my blogging back over the www.jasonclark.ws.  I'll also be moving that site from a wordpress install to posterous. Deep Church will also be migrated into my posterous account, keeping the www.deepchurch.org.uk URL, and become an occasional magazine for theological and ecclesial conversations. My reasons for all the changes have coalesced around: 1.  Life Streams: With facebook, and twitter in particular, the integration within Posterous seems too good not to use for my workflow 2.  Blogging:  The move back to www.jasonclark.ws allows me to blog about a lot more than ecclesiology and theology.  I want to get back to church leadership, church planting, christians and mental health issues amongst other topics.  I'll have  broader base to write from over there. 3.  Maintenance: The hungry monster that two wordpress installations has become needs taming, and I'm hoping posterous will sate that. 4.  Deep Church: will continue as a less frequent place of posting, with guest authors around topics.  In particular once the migration process is complete we'll kick off with a series on the possible re-imgainings of evangelicalism.

I remember hearing the aphorism at a Vineyard conference some 22 years ago, 'never trust a leader without a limp'.  It was one of those values that immediately impacted me and has stayed with me. Back then I took it to mean, and it was often bracketed as being about leaders who don't have all the answers, who need others around them to move forwards.  Leaders who are able to admit their struggles, and ask for help. I took some time to mull this one over, and distilled as best as I can for now, what that value looks like for me over the last 22 years as a series of limps: 1.  Doubts: Leaders don't have all the answers, and don't act like they do.  Leaders are learners, and learning takes questions and doubts. 2. Apologising: Man is this the rarest of limps.  Leaders get so caught up in mission and their identity in that.  In the face of mistakes they are unable to acknowledge those and apologise. And more importantly they are unable to call some mistakes what they are, sin.  I don't mean just the obvious ones, of blowing your top, and bad decisions.  I mean the more invidious issues of character. I wish I could remember where I hear (probably in a movie), someone say that you being right doesn't diminish me. It's a rare leader who says, it's probably me not you, and is willing to listen to how they made things difficult.  I do try, and want to embrace this practice.  That when faced with someone's pain, I don't retreat behind my mask of being right, but at least pause and say  Jesus what have I done here that I shouldn't have? 3. Brokeness:  How on earth did we equate leadership with success?  A short read of the New Testament should reveal that even Paul was quick to place his brokeness before Jesus and need of others, front and centre.  Those who inspire me the most live a life where their weaknesses are on their sleeves, and the need for Jesus close to their actions and life story. What limps do you think leaders need?  Which ones impact you the most?

One of the advantages of not ‘growing up’ in a Vineyard context lies in approaching any discussion of its core values free of presuppositions. ‘Re-imagining’ Vineyard values is therefore perhaps something of an overstatement. A corresponding disadvantage, though, lies in having only a second-hand understanding – and that a limited one – of the significance of those values in their original context, of how and why each one came into being, and what they meant to those who authored and inculcated them within the early Vineyard movement. The opportunity to be an original thinker therefore sits alongside the threat of being wrong. The strength of objectivity is undermined by the weakness of ignorance. This gives rise to a particular risk when one is ‘leading the conversation’ by posting a blog. My hope is that those with a more historically informed perspective will be both liberal in correcting the shortcomings in this posting, and generous in recognising that my aim is to add value to Vineyard values, in conversation with the community, not to devalue or reject those values in criticism of the community. ‘Leaders who limp’ is a clear reference to the experience of Jacob, recited in Genesis 32. What we read here is an extraordinary story, that seems to just drop into the narrative from nowhere, of Jacob wrestling with a man. They wrestle all night. Morning comes, and finding himself unable to overpower Jacob (we are not told why), the man touches Jacob’s hip and injures him, causing him to walk with a limp the next day (and perhaps permanently, though the text does not tell us this). However, Jacob will still not let the man go, “unless you bless me.” The man tells Jacob he is hereafter to be named Israel, “because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” Jacob asks the name of the man but is not told. He calls the place Peniel, “because I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared.”

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We are very pleased to announce that the second annual Society of Vineyard Scholars conference will be held February 3-5, 2011 in Seattle, Washington, USA. The theme of the conference is: "By The Renewal Of Your Mind: Imagining, Describing, and Enacting the Kingdom of God." Our plenary speaker will be acclaimed Christian philosopher, theologian, and cultural critic, Professor James K. A. Smith of Calvin College. A friend of the Vineyard, his astute insight into education, worship, postmodernity, orthodoxy, and the Kingdom of God has much of value to say to the Society of Vineyard Scholars. Six panel sessions spread over Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday morning will feature presentations of and responses to papers written by SVS participants, focusing on aspects of the conference’s larger theme. This intellectual interaction around the work of SVS members forms the heart of what we will do together. Alongside our regular panel sessions, we will also have special opportunities to hear from Professor Bo Karen Lee (Princeton Theological Seminary), Dr. Bob Ekblad (Tierra Nueva/Mars Hill Graduate School; author ofReading The Bible With The Damned and A New Christian Manifesto), Bert Waggoner (National Director, VineyardUSA), and others to be announced. We will make time for prayer, worship, and prophetic ministry, as well as allowing plenty of time for people to interact and form relationships. There will be a wine and cheese reception, lunchtime breakouts for people with particular shared interests, and more. Mark your calendars! Book your flights! You won't want to miss this conference! For more details, see the SVS Events website.

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SUBMIT A PAPER TO SVS 2011 (THIS MEANS YOU!) (click here to download the Call For Papers) All who are working on or have earned a graduate degree in any field are encouraged to submit a paper for consideration that has general relevance to the conference theme. There are also four specific areas under the general rubric of the conference theme in which submissions are particularly encouraged. They are: Imagining Discipleship, Doctrines of Justification, Epistemology and the Kingdom, and the Formation of Orthodoxy. SVS highly values an interdisciplinary approach; in order to adequately address these themes and questions, it is necessary to hear theologically-reflective perspectives from a wide variety of fields in the humanities, social sciences, and even the natural sciences. No disciplinary perspective is out of bounds. We particularly welcome papers from women and non-white men,  voices which have been historically underrepresented in theological dialogues to the detriment of the conversation in general. This is of course in no way to discourage the participation of white men(!) but rather to encourage the full participation of all who believe in the mission of the Society of Vineyard Scholars. For a full description of the general theme and specific foci of this conference, as well as for technical details on how to submit your work, click here to download the 2011 Call For Papers. We hope that you are as thrilled about the establishment of the Society of Vineyard Scholars as we are, and we look forward to developing this nascent community of theological discourse with you. As always, if you have any further questions, please email the SVS at societyofvineyardscholars@gmail.com. Follow SVS on Twitter! http://twitter.com/vineyardsvs Join the SVS Facebook Group!