Tag: missional

Wind Chimes: 2 Feb 2013

Justin Welby in Prayer
Bishop Welby is joined by his wife, Caroline, as members of the Vineyard movement ‘lay hands’ on them as they prepare to move to Lambeth Palace. Photo: Trent Vineyard

The wind picks up. There is change in the air. What do you hear?

The (almost) new Archbishop of Canterbury

This Monday, February 4, 2013, Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, will become the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury in a ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. In January, speaking to an audience at Trent Vineyard near Nottingham, Bishop Welby said,

Quote . . .I think we are in the greatest moment of opportunity for the Church since the Second World War, … In 2008 we had the most significant financial collapse in this country, in terms of the banking system, since the mid-19th century. One of the reasons the recession has been so deep and may be going into a triple dip is because there has been such a loss of confidence. … But the side effect of that has been that the state has run out of the capacity to do the things it had taken over since 1945. All the idols on which our society was based have fallen, they have been toppled. They have been toppled by the financial crisis, by scandal. Trust has broken down.

As reported in The Telegraph, 1 Jan 2013: The Church must fill void left by failing state, says new archbishop Justin Welby

Please keep Justin Welby and the entire Anglican Communion in your prayers.

More information about the (almost) new Archbishop of Canterbury

Image: The Telegraph

Wind Chimes: 1 Feb 2013

The chimes were down for a time, for rest and repair. With the wind blowing and the chimes up again, what do you hear?

Missional

The Acts of the Apostles was the subject matter for a recent teaching series presented by Brian D. McLaren.

Quote . . .I was at Claremont Seminary last week with a vigorous and energetic group of Methodist leaders (along with a standing-room-only public panel with my friends Philip Clayton, Diana Butler Bass, and Mark Whitlock). I concluded my time at Claremont leading a study from the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. From childhood, I was taught to read Acts as a manual for ecclesiology … to prove that our denomination was the only true and biblical one, of course (a common theme in Protestant Bible reading). But now I read Acts as a missional account of how Jesus continued his work – his Spirit alive in the bodies of growing numbers of his followers who constitute – quite literally – his body on earth.

And the message is the same – the message of the kingdom (or reign, or commonwealth, or sacred ecosystem, or new love economy, or regeneration network, or creative community, or …) of God. You could think of it like this …

Acts 1: The risen Christ teaches the apostles, as he always has, about the kingdom of God. The apostles learn to stop waiting for the kingdom to appear in the future, and instead, wait for the Spirit who will empower them to live in the kingdom here and now.

Acts 2: The Spirit comes – and demonstrates that God is not monocultural and monolingual, but that God speaks all languages, and God is concerned with the poor and rich alike, everywhere … a profound, revolutionary discovery!

Acts 3: Peter demonstrates how the Kingdom begins with those who have been marginalized and excluded (kept outside the gate) by conventional religion – starting with the physically handicapped.

Read the rest of his post here: I love the Bible

In our Prayers of the People, Form III we petition God:

“Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake; [so] that our works may find favor in your sight.” BCP, p. 387. May it be so, even as it was for the Apostles and the early Church.

Read more about the Book of Acts:

Books by Brian D. McLaren

Image: Amazon.com Book Cover for Dust off their feet

Lessons learned at St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic

Lessons learned at St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic

Here is a real-life example of what it means to be a “missional” church. This is posted by the Episcopal News Service.

Lessons learned at St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic

Here is a real-life example of what it means to be a “missional” church. This is posted by the Episcopal News Service.

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