Emerging Africa

Heh all you special people. I am wondering as to whether the time has come to set this space up in a place where it is more accesible - like facebook - although there may be some or many who find that quite invasive. I am struggling to keep up with all the conversations and wonder whether there is worth in combining it a bit into something we all open daily. What do you all think ?

I am encouraged always by the fact that we live in the beauty of a rhythm starting and ending with our Creator who has invited us into a space of living and dying with him - continual life. It is this powerful relationship that enables us to see a partnership that links us to LOGOS - WORD - CHRIST - and enables some of the life lessons to make sense. I am busy working through a study of what the early writers were actually saying when they said "In the beginning was the Word" and am fascinated by how cheeky this actually was, or rather how tongue in cheek it was. A substantial power had been given to the word - both spoken and written and then to have defined this as GOD was a mind bend for early theologians. It should be the same for us. How do we define Logos - Word ?

Having been off the wavelengths of this great conversation, it is good to be back. I have been diving into my proposal for a D.Th and have found my radar antennas being drawn back again to the sweet winds of change that are coming. Len Sweet calls it "The Church of the Perfect Storm" and encourages us to go out and find a way to fish in the spots where everyone else is running for cover. Is it not possible to change challenges into opportunities of a lifetime?
We are heading into one of the most perfect storms in SA and hopefully the church is shifting and adjusting it's sails so that it can be ready and equipped to handle the shifting winds.

It seems that we are in the process of a shift in how we define church once again and as Phyllis Tickle so clearly shows in The Great Emergence - this is a phenomena which occurs every 500 years. Does it have to take that long for us to work out that we need to change ?
How do we find ways to reexamine our faith and explore again the ways in which we do things and then adjust if necessary and if not we'll need to open up to opportunities?

It is always interesting to see the conversations developing at this time around our purpose as a people. What is encouraging is that we are at last talking to each other and that creates sparks of opportunity.

When Jesus came and instituted the church as a part of His body, it was clear that He saw an emergency and hence what I would like to call the "Emergency church" as opposed to just emergent, although I am thrilled and exstatic, that "emergent" and "emerging" are part of our time.

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 ?

When identifying yourself as a Christian it may well be that you need to get into the context of Antioch and the first time that people were called "Christians" Acts 11:26. It was a little like "jerk"or "methodist" or "nerd". Heh what a pleasure to begin to identify with this glorious title of humility.

It's great when you hear stories of people being jerks for Jesus in a way that the world would think they are crazy but heh the good Lord just smiles. I have a person like this in our church who has planted a vegie garden near Diepsloot for children who don't have a square meal every day. She just does it 'cause she is compelled by God to be a jerk. Others will watch and say why ? And she will say WHY NOT???