Bridging the gap between the church of today and the world of tomorrow in an African Urban context
Fri, 2008-07-04 08:55 — Peter Veysie
It seems that we have the unique opportunity of working within the creative and vibrant arena of Africa, with its mash of history and its full of beauty. It is within this context that I'm exploring the enormous challenge of bridge building between what we have always done as church and what will take us into the future world. What will bridge that gap is the question and what does that gap look like ? We have so many interesting recourses at our disposal and I would enjoy some conversation on the topic if anyone is interested in this ?
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Peter, tell us more
Peter - I'd be gald to to.
Can you tell us what your vision for the future is?
What aspects of church do you think are outmoded?
What resources do you think we currently have at our disposal in order to do something new?
Telling more
I would like to think that the journey towards the future has to do with some good questions and conversations. We are often so busy looking for the solution, that we may find we don't celebrate the journey. I am thinking that outmoded church is a top heavy church and that most of what we do could be termed "Pagan Christianity" Barna and Viola. It would be great to explore what people are thinking is outmoded and what is not. In an African Urban context, how do we move forward ? What is unique to us.
I am exploring what I call "4dimensionalfaith" which is inspired by Len Sweet's book Quantum Spirituality where he looks at Logos - Word - what connects us to God; Pathos - flesh - what conects us to each other ? Ethos - context - How we realte to our own situations. and Theos - Glory - What we need to be doing to improve community - trying to find spaces where God is at work and then getting into them - (partial misquote from Bono).
You might want to read Len Sweet's book - Quantum Spirituality which is free on his site as an ebook. Cheers pete
more indeed
Hi Pete - thanks. There are a few interesting threads there, which I find myself responding to:
- Journey vs Solution. I do think the West has become obsessed with Solutions, which stem in my mind from the Myth of the Ideal, a belief that there is some set state of being, and it involves an obsession with absolutes. It makes much more sense to me to view Life and Truth as journey.
- Voilas "Pagan" - I would want to qualify Franks use of this word, because I think he is very perjorative - he makes the assumption (in the first version of the book anyway) that pagan is bad, without a) defining what it means or b) taking anything potentially positive from it. For me, pagan is good, and means "of the country", that is of nature, closer to the created order. And of course Africa has much to offer here.
- Quantum Spirituality certainly looks worth a read - thanks. I almost feel like diving into the topic quite ignorently, but I will resist the urge.
But all I will say is the universe is a whole lot different to what I was ever taught, and this excites me - the ever present complexity, no matter how small you go. That resonates more strongly with how I imagine G-d's great world than the idea that everything is explainable, and all problems are reducable.
I intuit that they are not, and it requires faith to face such a world of infinite possibility.
Absolutely or is it obsolutely ?
I am looking forward to a bit of a journey with your brain. What is inside is what frees us or holds us back. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. What does this mean to us in Africa today ? I like the thinking behind the word "Pagan" - "of the country" - it needs to be contextualized in Africa. My doctorate is a little on this very issue.
da, iz obsolute.
Peter
I hire my brain out for daytrips at very reasonable rates.
Take a look at these 2 reflections: a pagan conversation and ecclesia as sacred tribe.
Urban ministry conference in Pretoria this week
Why don't you join us this week at the Institute for Urban Ministry conference in Pretoria, Peter? We'll be looking at all this stuff and more! Plus you'll get to hang out with some cool people ;)
I am down in Ramsgate
Heh Roger - I am on Vac in Ramsgate - would love to hear the thoughts from this time when I get back. Thanks Pete
Great conference
Hi Peter - it was a great conference. Good atmosphere, good content, good connections. Some of my friends have blogged it.
who's the "we"
Who is the "we"? The we who have always done church in a certain way in Africa? Because in Africa you find very diverse pictures of church.
who's the "we"?
This is such an important question, because it allows us to understand that as much as the picture is very diverse, and sometimes seriously screwed up or beautifully embroidered , "we are the church". If we could only discover the power of learning from each other and growing in the uniqueness of Jesus who is at the beginning and end of all things. It is about time that we are just more open and honest as to how we have messed up, not so as to beat ourselves up, but rather so as to grow in a grace given again and again by our Creator. We need to find ways not only to bridge the gap between the church of today and the world of tomorrow, but also seriously think of ways to bridge the gaps between the churches of today !!!
we 2
Peter - welcome back!
I assume the "we" is from the original post: "We have so many interesting recourses at our disposal ... "
In this last thread you are defining "we" as the church or churches. Does your notion of "we" extend beyond those "in the church"?
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