Emerging Communities

Worship Resources

John Power — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:54:39 +0000

For those of you who are trying out emerging worship there are a number of helpful sites. The first is an Australian Anglican site we have set up for sharing of emerging worship ideas at http://kailo.net/worshipideas/- its a good spot to upload your ideas for others to use and there are also helpful links. One of the major contributors to this site is Rev’d Chelle Wade; Chelle is a creative worship curator who also has a site reviewing books about the emerging church and theology which you can find at http://reddresstheology.wordpress.com/.

There are also a number of books around: Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball is good as is The Art of Curating Worship by Mark Pierson. I will also be leading an Emerging Worship Stream at the NSTM ministry skills days this year if you want to join in a learning lab experience. Details are here.

You may also be interested in this innovative fresh expression in San Francisco called Reimagine.

Happy exploring!

Emerging Communities

John Power — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 00:52:32 +0000

As you can see the site has a new name. This desire to change the name of the game comes from a variety of factors that have all come together for me recently. They include:

The realisation that in our diocese some congregations that already exist want to make the journey into becoming emerging communities … some of them have been going for a while and may not even fit the description of “fresh expression of church”. There are two ways of forming emerging churches. One is to start from scratch, the other is to move a current congregation toward emerging principles.

the word “emerging” is already part of our diocesan vision. It is one of our six strategic directions.
Emerging is a great word to sum up what we are on about because it speaks to
- Emerging from the local context
- Emerging from the tradition of the church
- The creation of church as a divine process rather than our pre-conceived outcome
- Doing theology rather than learning theology
- Worship that emerges from the creativity of the gathered community
the need to link in with what is happening in the U.S. In the States the term fresh expression is hardly used and its important to realise that this is a movement across the world. Despite some predictions to the opposite I think that the emerging church movement is still growing there.
To fit in with this name change I have changed my job description to “emerging communities networker” and my hope is that this networking of emerging Anglican communities can strengthen with the sharing of worship resources, ideas, workshops and workers.

Pax, John

Networking church

John Power — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 02:45:25 +0000

I think you may find Steve Collins article Network church on the networked nature of emerging churches interesting reading. I was in Melbourne last week and found that the emerging church movement is alive and well and increasingly networked across groups and individuals and not just parish focused. It reminded me a bit of what we are trying to achieve with the Kailo centres.

For those of you interested in Alt worship we will be running monthly gatherings to model and experience Alternative worship at Islington next year. You can find more about Alt worship here.

Kailo Centres

John Power — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:21:50 +0000

We have named our outreach spirituality/ministry centres “Kailo” after the old Indo-European word for wholeness. You can find the sites at http://kailo.net Each individual centre has its own sub-site and can be found as a link on the right hand side of the front page. The emphasis of the Kailo centres is on the living Christian faith in our everyday lives and so includes opportunities to express faith in moving meditations, art, science and ecology. Have fun exploring the sites! The Kailo centres will be looking to run a joint weekend exploring living our spirituality in March next year – details to follow.

Ministry & Spirituality Centres

John Power — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:44:23 +0000

Ministry centres have been a part of the life of our diocese in various forms over the years and we currently have number of centres from those open full time with staff, such as St Alban’s ministry Centre in Muswellbrook, op shops to church halls open for coffee mornings once a week. The parish of MICA is also looking at opening a spirituality centre soon in partnership with Samaritans and the diocese.

All these ministry centres provide great contacts with the community that we can continue to build on to provide a base for fresh expressions of church. In order to help all our centres and potential centres to grow we are forming a network of ministry centres in the diocese with the following aims:

to encourage, develop and find specialist staff who will run programs in the spirituality of physical fitness, art, music, ecology and personal development
to share ideas and provide prayerful support to one another
to build community as a base for courses Introducing Christianity and for forming local fresh expressions of church
to develop links so that people can be involved in a connected ministry centre when they move around the diocese

If you would like to add engaging programs to a ministry centre in your parish or establish one then please post a comment. Or you may be interested in being part of a networking team.

I will develop a new page on this web site to list the exciting new workshops that are being developed which you may like to see run in your area.

Merewether eco-spirituality program

John Power — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:44:10 +0000

Merewether eco – spirituality group will now be continuing on meeting monthly on the second Sunday of the month. You can find the ongoing program on the new website ecospiritual.org.

An interesting review of a fresh expression

John Power — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:39:43 +0000

You may find this Spectator review of Grace church in the UK interesting. I know I did.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/6025843/in-search-of-disorganised-religion.thtml

BBQ Church At Glen Oak on 12th June – Gospel with a twist ?

clarencetownanglicanblogger — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:46:56 +0000

So here’s a how de do … to misquote G&S …

You turn up at 4pm and after a greeting, and a name tag, you are immediately handed 5000 Glen Oak Silver Dollars.

You are told to spend spend spend. You gleefully says thanks very much. BUT, there is a catch. Now you owe the banker for the afternoon what you have just received.

So, next you have a cuppa and a chat. All rather nice and cosy, with the cold outside. Let the games begin.

So there is a choice of game options. Each game costs an entry fee of 5000 Glen Oak Silver dollars. For the young … Jigsaw puzzles, Twister, and for the adults Poker, Blackjack (21) (we will even teach you how to play). (The idea is to learn something new, play some games we can all feel comfortable with, and also to get wildly into debt really quickly … to make much deeper point later in the thematic service)

Wow, and this is church ?

Anyway. After some time you quickly realise you have run out of Glen Oak Silver Dollars and need to go to the banker and ask for some more cash. And then some more and then some more. And deeper and deeper into debt that is going to need settling.

Before you know it you now owe lots of Glen Oak Silver Dollars to the banker, and have no way of paying him back. Hmmm. What to do next.

Cut to the next part of the program, a reflective Audio Visual of Ps 5:1-8. Very interesting reflection. At least no more games to loose money on.

Then stuff starts getting really serious. The Gospel is read. Luke 7:36-50. The sinful woman and the parable of the debtors. Double hmmmm. Whats going on here ?

Then this guy gets up and does a little talk about this Luke reading. Then, before you know it, Bam-pow-kazaam, right through the ears and the brain. A message starts to ring out to me. I owe a lot and I cannot pay up. What to do ? Ask for forgiveness of my debt. And it can and will be granted. Which debt ? The Glen Oak Silver Dollars ? Or my own deeper stuff … my sins ?

But wait there is more … not only can my sins be forgiven, but I can also be SAVED … from what I ask ? Perhaps I deep down know that answer … SAVED from eternal death and hell and separation from God ? SAVED unto LIFE ? In ALL its fullness ?

Well, maybe I will come again next time and get some more answers. Its really bugging me.

Then, we say thanks and share a meal of lovely home made soup. And a BBQ.

And then its time to say good bye.

What a pity its only every so often that this happens.

Don’t tell me this is called church ? Fresh Expressions ?

What will they think of next time ?

PS: Just before I go, after visiting the banker, I am told, that my debt of Glen Oak Dollars has been freely cancelled by him, just because I asked. Man oh man, what a punch line. Now then, this thing called sin. I think I get where these dudes are coming from. I better get a real good handle on it. I need some peace and I reckon this needs some serious considerations.

BBQ Church At Glen Oak – Sat 15th May

clarencetownanglicanblogger — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:47:32 +0000

BBQ Church at Glen Oak Hall

Saturday 15th May 2010 – 4pm to 6pm

YOU are invited!

Click HERE for BBQ at Glen Oak Flyer

Want to come and try something refreshingly new for the whole family ?
Perhaps you are a bit time poor in our busy world ?

Well, this might be just the thing for you, your family and friends!

Why not come along for some community, some family time, with friends, food, fun, caring and sharing, and yes – a little worship time with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

BBQ Church at Glen Oak Hall

Saturday 15th May 2010 – 4pm to 6pm

Free BBQ and food provided.
Outdoor & indoor games, themed activities, refreshments, a time to chat, time to play, time to relate, time to learn, listen and relax.
Live music as well !
No need to bring anything except yourselves &/or family & friends

BBQ Church at Glen Oak is a joint initiative of the Anglican Parish of Clarence Town and the Uniting Church of Australia Grahamstown Linked Congregations.

Inquiries: Bruce Lyon on (02) 4017 7110

Update on Eco-spirituality on Tap

John Power — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:19:15 +0000

Over the last two Thursday nights just under twenty of us have been meeting at the Beach Hotel in Merewether to talk and hear about eco-spirituality. We’ve chatted about African culture and ecology, examined permaculture and discussed what it means to make our own homes and backyards sacred places. The evenings have provided some great talks and fellowship and are a wonderul start for us as we look at forming a eco-spirituality church community. We found networking to be a key to involving people and were reminded how important it is to get around the community and chat about what is important to our spirituality. The series will conclude with a planning session at Glenrock to discern our future, followed by an eco-spirituality retreat.