Life in postmodern Europe

ECPN - St Thomas, Sheffield, UK

The last three days I have been in Barcelona at the first gathering of the ECPN, the "European Church Planters Network". This learning community is initiated by "Leadership Network", an US-based organization that tries to gather innovative church planters in providing an environment where exchange of thought and learning from each other can happen in intense ways. It is good so far, though I miss some people who, IMHO, should be here, cause of what they bring to the table.

A church that captured my attention is St. Thomas Church in Philadelphia, Sheffield, UK. As I learned from Paul Maconochie, one of the leaders, they are organized decentral and function on different levels. Individuals meet in small group. Small groups +individuals meet in clusters. Clusters +individuals meet in several celebrations accross the city. You choose your thing or to be involved in all of these opportunities.

Hearing this and seeing their chart (see picture with Paul explaining the model; picture taken by Rogier Bos) I was reminded about Joseph Myers book "The Search to Belong", in which he quite convincingly argues for community on at least three, if not four levels. It is simply how we humans are wired, namely, to have community on different levels: 2-3 - 12 - 144 - unlimited. There is much more to community and doing church than only simple, small, life-transforming, organic small groups.

In addition to this meeting structure St.Thomas has loose groups being engaged in new missional endeavors all the time (R&D groups). Also I need to point out the so called "huddles", being leadership development and accountability groups. Though there is a Staff group facilitating much of this, there seems to be a fluidity and bottom-up spirit to it. What I appreciate most, though, is there  now discovered focus  on multiplying, starting  missional communities elsewhere.

I like the freedom people have in this quite big church (1200 people). Community on different levels. Decentralized and organic, as well as structured and shaped. Missional but also attractive. Sounds good to me.

work in progress - Die ID-Reise

Wer bin ich?
Wie bin ich zu dem geworden, der ich bin?
Wie stellt Gott sich meine Persönlichkeit vor?
Wie kann ich als Persönlichkeit reifen, wachsen, mich weiterentwickeln?

Wichtige Fragen, die irgendwie irgendwann jeden von uns beschäftigen.

Derzeit arbeite ich an einer langfristig angelegten Entdeckungsreise (manche mögen Kurs oder Seminar dazu sagen), die zu wesentlichen Orten  der eigenen Identität führt.
Bisher gibt es 6 Etappen, die einige mutige Reisende aus EPIC bereits bereist haben. Weitere Etappen sind in der Mache. Über Feedback würde ich mich freuen: ID-Reise.

Die Persönlichkeitsentwicklung, so habe ich den Eindruck, ist in unserer europäischen Kultur ein weit unterbelichteter Wert. Man spricht von Fähigkeiten, Skills und einen möglichst klarem Lebenslauf. Dass das Leben aber oft nicht linear ist und sich daraus vielfältige Chancen, Herausforderungen und Probleme ergeben, wird meines Erachtens viel zu sehr vernachlässigt. Manchmal hat man den Eindruck unsere Gesellschaft hat nur Platz für Typen die (scheinbar) alles unter Kontrolle haben. Beim Streben möglichst gut darzustehen - vor anderen wie vor sich selbst - wird der gründliche, tiefer gehenden Blick in den Spiegel als nur auf die Frisur dann vermieden. Verständlich, schließlich ist es nicht nur angenehm sich mit sich selbst zu beschäftigen, je nachdem wie die eigene Geschichte bisher verlief. Die meisten schauen bei ihrem Auto vermutlich häufiger unter die Motorhaube als auf die eigene Persönlichkeit, die Prägungen und den Charakter. Falls dem so ist muss sich was ändern. Zum Wohle eines selbst und aller anderen, die es mit einem aushalten müssen ...

The starfish and the spider -- book recommendation

Here is an interesting book about how organizations (my interest reading it has been on church) can function without centralized leadership.
There is much talking about church as an organic entity these days. And though I dislike how some argue for the pure extremes of it, as if this would be the solution and by that almost raising it up as a new model (THE Organic Chuch with a big letter "O"), I indeed am convinced that over the past hundreds of years church sadly has become more an institution then an (organic) body, as described in the Bible. Though I think the church robbed itself from some key characteristic by becoming modern and with that central structured, I do not see it entirely negative. Modernity forced and requested the church to adapt. We call this contextualization! However, with a rapidly changing world, becoming more fluent and decentralized, church needs to find a decentralized way to be the church again.

Brafman's and Beckstrom's book helps a great deal in this endeavor. Basically, from the first till the last page their book is  a description of examples of centralized and decentralized organizations in our times. Among others they look at organizsations like Napster, Kazaa, and emule and how these more or less open, decentralized players revolutionized the music industry with the big, centralized music labels. With many more examples they show the difference of a starfish and a spider:

In short: The spider is centralized (it has a head), while the starfish is decentralized: Each arm carries everything needed to survive. Thus, a starfish would survive if you cut it in half. Actually, each half would survive and could very well grow new arms. A starfish is not depending on one central part of the body, as the spider is depending on the central head.

Building on this basic assumption Brafman and Beckstrom identify 8 major principles   of decentralization:
1) When attacked, a decentralized organization tends to become even more open and decentralized.
2) It is easy to mistake starfish for spiders.
3) An open system doesn't have central intelligence; the intelligence is spread throughout the system.
4) Open systems cab easily mutate.
5) The decentralized organization sneaks up on you.
6) as industries become decentralized, overall profit decrease.
7) Put people into an open system and they'll automatically want to contribute.
8) When attacked, centralized organizations tend to become even more centralized.

More then with principles or rational arguments, the authors argue their case with many stories of how decentralized, more organic kind of organizations indeed thrive in our world of today. This is the real benefit of the book: It displays the power of leaderless organizations.

This is especially encouraging for the church as there have been discussions (and sometime critique) that organic systems can not grow big. Others intentionally argue  for smallness. With "The Starfish and the Spider" we are shown many examples of more organic but enormously big organizations with much  impact. It is not the size that matters. Small is not beautiful in itself.

I like this balancing tone in the book. In the first chapters one thinks that this book, as so many, sets out to argue for one direction and this philosophy to be 100% put in practice. Not with this one. Somewhat surprisingly Brafman and Beckstrom at the end encourage "the combo special: the hybrid organization", combining centralized features with decentralized. They see it more important to identify the "sweet spot", a place and mixture of both ends.

Though the book is at times quite lengthy because one story follows another, it is always interesting. For all who are interested in how church (any organization, for this matter) can become more decentralized and thrive, this is a good and inspiring read.

* * * *
(four stars out of five)

TREK - Theological Resourcing for an Emerging Kultur

"Good theology is measured by healthy mission; healthy mission is empowered by good theology"

This is one of the core believes of TREK, a brand new, small-scale initiative to help churches and other communities of faith in Europe reflect theologically on their life and mission as community. I think this is very high on the list what the innovative church communities in Europe need.

Often you have either good (theological) thinking but it is happening in a non-practical sphere or even some form of an ivory tower. Actually, this is one thing that bothers me quite often: Many awesome gifted thinkers in the Christian scene - among them several quite widely read bloggers - are barely involved in the dirty, messy reality of a long-term ministry situation.
Or you find amazingly creative new expressions of mission, but it is put in practice only because of reasons of practicality. Many awesome gifted practitioners in the Christian scene - among them several quite widely read bloggers - are barely involved in the sweaty, long-lasting endeavor of digging deeper in order to excavate clear models.
To combine both, the thorough theological reflection and the hands-on practical application in real life, that is something very rich and powerful. Though I push hard towards that goal, I wish I would be able to say I do a good job in balancing the two. I often feel I don't.

So, this initiative called TREK is here to help all of us to do a better job in this. As I know the people behind TREK quite well, I am totally convinced that this initiative will be of enormous help to many of the emerging innovative church communities. Take a look at the TREK website.

Brian McLaren: Die geheime Botschaft von Jesus

Gute Nachrichten aus dem Verlag c&p: Die deutsche Übersetzung des Buches "The secret Message of Jesus", welches ich in meinem blog vor kurzem vorgestellt habe, kommt im Januar auf deutsch heraus. Es heißt: DIE GEHEIME BOTSCHAFT VON JESUS. DIE WAHRHEIT DIE ALLES VERÄNDERN KÖNNTE. Vorbestellen kann man es hier.

Ich kann das Buch nur empfehlen. Es ist das richtige Buch zur richtigen Zeit weil es uns Christen zum Kern zurückführt: Jesus, Und dieser Jesus ist anders als was wir aus ihm gemacht haben.

Somewhere I belong - Linkin Park

The last EPIC pub gathering was about Identity. Who am I? And how did I become that person?

Among many other inspirational bits and pieces I used in my 'medley sermon' was the song "Somewhere I Belong" from Linkin Park, accompanied by a Powerpoint presentation. Since some requested this presentation I post it here:

linkin_park_somwhere_i_belong.ppt herunterladen (1,3MB)

This song from Link Park captures one of our deepest desires, namely, to belong. Yet we struggle. We feel lost, disconnected. We, sometimes, are confused. We are stuck in the process of finding our place in this world, our role in this enormously complex play.

We want to heal. We want to feel what we thought was never real. We want to know ourselves. And in order to do so we long to belong.

Feel free to download the presentation and use it as you see fit. However, you need to get the song from Linkin Park somehow yourselfe. I do not have the rights to post it. And the Powerpoint is not scheduled. You need to klick through it parallel to the song.

[Speaking about rights: All pictures used in the presentation come from photocase.com]

Postmoderner Glauben und postmoderne Gemeinde?!? 3 der Grundlagenbücher

Vielen Christen (und Gemeinden), die den traditionellen, sicheren Raum verlassen haben, und sich auf die Reise gemacht haben zu entdecken wie Glaube und Gemeinde in der heutigen Zeit, der Postmoderne, aussehen kann, erleben ähnliches: Ein Verlorensein. Ein Gefühl sich verlaufen zu haben. Being lost. Lost in nowhere. Lost in unknown territory,

Glaube - und daraus folgend (!) Gemeinde - in der Postmoderne ist nicht nur ein altes Konstrukt etwas aufgepeppt oder mit Make-up verschönert. Leider glauben aber viele Christen und Gemeinde an die Theorie: Alles wird gut, wenn wir es nur ein bißchen besser, ein bißchen moderner machen (und deshalb Gottesdienste für Suchende anbieten, Theater und andere kreative Künste integrieren, und der Predigt ein peppiges Thema verpassen). in meinen Augen ist das ein fataler, im Alten stecken gebliebener Denkansatz.

Und dann geistert da das neue Schlagwort durch die Christenlandschaft: Postmoderne. Die muss man verstehen, so wird uns gesagt. Falsch! Die Postmoderne kann man nicht wirklich verstehen. Man kann sie nur inhalieren und erleben, und sich von ihr verändern lassen - falls man sie an sich ranlässt. Aber kaum einer hat sich wirklich damit beschäftigt was Postmoderne eigentlich ist, und welche Auswirkungen sich für mein Denken, Fühlen, und Handeln ergeben.

Meine Überzeugung: Wir befinden uns mitten in einem Sturm, der die Welt tiefgreifend verändert. Dieser Sturm läuft aber in Zeitlupe ab und ist daher nicht für jeden offensichtlich. Allerdings wird die Welt nach diesem Orkan anders aussehen, als vorher. Und wenn wir immer noch in dieser Welt leben, dann bleibt uns die Wahl entweder ein Relikt der Vergangenheit zu sein, oder das Neue anzunehmen und uns verändern zu lassen.

In EPIC, meiner Gemeinde, sind dies gerade brennende Fragen: Wie finden wir uns in einem neuen, unbekannten, noch nicht kartographierten Terrain zurecht?

Dazu werden wir in der nächsten Zeit drei Bücher lesen, die in meinen Augen elementare Landmakrs sind:

new book and blog: Alan Hirsch, the fogotten ways

Alan Hirch has a new book coming out on the first of January 2007: The forgotten ways.

Along with it comes an already active new blog by Alan. I suggest to read the book and to visit the blog frequently.

download youtube video - Techcrunch

Do you know this situation? You found a great video on youtube and would like to download it? Yeah, bummer, youtube does not provide a download service.

Well, here it is: Techcrunch is doing it for you!

Brian McLaren: The secret message of Jesus - - - Buchempfehlung

In der EPIC-community in Münster, derer ich Teil bin, läuft derzeit eine interessante Aktion mit dem Titel "Ich liebe diese Buch", initiiert von meinem Freund Traui: Bis Weihnachten stellt jeden Montag ein EPICler ein Buch vor, dass ihn bewegt und verändert hat.

10 Montage, 10 Menschen 10 Bücher

Letzten Montag war ich mit der Buchvorstellung Nr. 2 dran. Ich habe Brian McLaren's aktuellstes Werk "The Secret Message of Jesus" gewählt. Es ist das "Buch meines Sommers", da es doch mit einigen verstaubten, per DNA an mich weitergegebenen Sichtweisen über Jesus aufgeräumt hat.

Mir scheint ich habe so vieles über Jesus noch nicht verstanden. Aber da bin ich ja in guter Gesellschaft. Jesus sagte mal - und damit beginnt meine Buchvorstellung: