URBANarmy

It is my observation that Christian people often try to keep their distance from their surrounding locality, in an attempt to remain pure, and uncorrupted by the world.... In contrast, the people in the Waiters’ Union take a compassionate stance. They interact with the locality as much as they can, hoping that by getting involved, they will be able to serve those in the place where they live. (Mike Crudge) "they simply seek to do justice to the people in the inner city of Brisbane, for whom the love of Christ ought to be good news" Prodigal Kiwi (s) pointed a little while ago to Mike Crudge and his paper "Location, Relationships and Incarnational Evangelism as Concepts in Urban Mission". I just found it languishing in my drafts folder... Reflecting on incarnational ministry, particularly that of a commumnity (the Waiter's Union) in the West End of Brisbane he makes some points worth mulling over. The story he tells is founded on the above definition of incarna...

Interested to see your blog themes? Snapshirts does this for you. (thanks to Sunday Papers ).

Proclaiming a gospel about Christ that is not shaped by the gospel Jesus preached distorts the gospel by proclaiming only part of its meaning. The absence of the gospel Jesus preached in the gospel the church has preached has woefully impoverished the churches sense of missional identity. Guder, D.L (ed) (1998) Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America Now that is something to get 'aggressive' about, unless we are comfortable with a partial and distorted gospel!! (grrr!)

Bram has an account of Victor's latest court case here Good news!

I did whatever any loving Dad would do - I lied. Getting up from the sofa there was a blur of brown, a scurrying exit. A mouse! I shout up to Kate to tell her, then remember for Eryn this will be a new experience and one that no doubt will cause psychological tumult. So I gently mouth the word 'mouse' to Kate as she comes down the stairs and roll my eyes to indicate where.... "MOUSE!" it wasn't the kind of sensitivity that I was hoping for and it certainly had the effect on Eryn that I was trying to avoid. "Well - I guess I could be wrong!" I try and build a case of stupidity to deflect the panic, I lied - "It must have been my imagination ... silly old Dad!" . "For all the talk I wonder if em. church is content to hide away out of sight. Safe behind slick html code, flash, soundbytes. Comfortable with its own pre-occupation with self and its mouthwatering franchises and brands" "Ha ha ha! Silly old Dad, fancy imagining that...

I had a thought today. I wondered how many churches would today be charging a car battery for someone who lives in a car? "...He was drunk enough to make the air intoxicating...." I met Marcus on the walk to church this morning. He seemed pleased to see me and he came along to the service. He'd had too much to drink but he wasn't so drunk as not to remember that we had his car battery and that we'd promised to charge it up for him. He was drunk enough to give a an edge of uncertainty to the service. He was drunk enough to make the air intoxicating. Passive intoxication might not be on the political agenda but it was for us this morning, with two guys from the local detox centre we had to carefully police who sat where! The service ended. Marcus made himself at home and people made him feel at home as he took many opportunities to tell people that he has been booked into a detox tomorrow. All the time his battery is charging. The two guys from Grieg House Detox are...

Here's what Jim Wallis says on the false dichotomy of mission that we have become so comfortable with... Those who would limit Jesus to the saving of souls and those who see him merely as introducing new ethical principles are both wrong. The purpose of God in Christ is neither simply to redeem individuals nor merely to teach the world some new thoughts. Gods purpose in Christ is to establish a new community that points to the plan of God for the world...the living witness of the Chritian community is intended both to demonstrate and to anticipate the future of the world that has arrived in the person of Jesus Christ. (Wallis) I wonder how well the church has done in pointing to the plan of God? Perhaps it is time to identify that the way church largely encounters society amounts really to a diversion to God's plan rather than pointing to it.

This appointment should also signal my serious intention to advance women in leadership and wider ministry Shaw Clifton (General Elect) on appointing the first female Chief of the Staff That's great but when will it ever be a married woman officer? This quiet injustice needs some noise. It's time that this quiet injustice was an issue that at least is considered beyond that which is patronising. Certainly this quiet injustice should be a resolved issue by the time the next high council comes around. There is something wrong because even if it were resolved you could bet that when it happens the response would be "ooooh a married woman, I wonder what her husband thinks!" "We have a problem. When two officers marry, by some strange mistake in our organization, the woman doesn’t count" (William Booth 1888). Why should it be left to my wife to make an issue? Why should she be labeled as rocking the boat? Why should she be the one that is seen as being a rabid fe...

This is a funny football link - here

I caught Victor as he was leaving. We haven't had the greatest of relationships recently and I have had to say 'no' several times. So I thought it was time for a 'non-moany' chat. Victor moved into a new housing trust last year and it isn't going well. He feels that his neighbour upstairs has a vendetta on him. Victor's response has been to sleep on the streets. It's cold right now - he has a warm flat but his solution is to sleep in the doorway of the church. "I'm pretty warm you know..!" ... "But Victor you have a flat..?" Then he shows me a letter. I sigh as I read how he is in arrears with his rent. I sigh as I read the terse letter telling him to sort himself out or he will be evicted. I sigh as I project Victor six months and know he will be joining the vast army of street homeless with mental health problems. I sigh as I know I will have to make a phone call. "Wait here Vic..." I take the letter and call the numb...

I've been thinking. We announced the appointment of the new General to our church and I wasn't really sure who was that bothered. It would kind of fit. "...does my face look bothered..?" Several years ago General John Gowans popped in unannouced one Sunday and the vast majority of people in our congregation hadn't a clue who he was. I remember over hearing one member making him feel at home "so where do you work...?" Also memorable that morning was alcoholics Debbie and Tommy coming in for some clothes but sitting through the service next to John Gowans. After the meeting I was mopping the inevitable 'accident' from Debbie's chair while Tommy was explaining to Kate that the stab scars all over his chest and back were from a drunken rage from Debbie! (more on Tommy here ). I'm not sure they were that bothered who the guy with the golden trimmings was. Then one year General John Larrson spent Christmas Day with us. The folk that day rem...

When we broke the news about moving to the girls Bethan's first response? "I'm going to miss the graffiti...!" Bethan has just started to blog about her 10 year old life. She likes writing and I am looking forward to learning from her! BETZYonSITE

Time has been called on our stint at Poplar. 8 years of ministry that has given me far more than I have been able to give. 8 years of ministry that have shaped me and moulded me. 8 years of ministry that have formed the foundations of my officership. 8 years that sometimes have been hard, sometimes painful, but mostly joyous 8 years that in the highs and lows have always been nothing but fulfilling. 8 years of being part of a fragmented community being used to try and bring cohesion. 8 years of this view from our bedroom - it is going to be tough to move. It's going to be tough to not be involved in local church ministry as we are now. Tough to let go. "...I love this place, our community, our church but now it is time for something new..." I love this place, our community, our church but now it is time for something new. A new chapter. In July we're to be responsible for the Spiritual Programme together with the teaching of Missiology at the Training College for SA o...

I couldn't make it. I would have done anything to be there but I couldn't. Kate was teaching and I was on the school run. 9 am is early for a funeral - but that's when the council gets funerals like Ralph's out of the way. Have you ever known anyone who would have no one at their funeral? Have you ever known anyone who would have no one at their funeral? No one? The minister and the coffin and that is it? I remembered being at Mr Hopgoods funeral ( here ), I remembered being part a congregation of 3. I knew that Ralph would have no-one to see him off - that's why I wanted to be at Ralph's funeral, but I couldn't make it. I was pleased that my friend and colleague Bram was able to officiate and be there. Conversations today were about Ralph - he most definately will be remembered. Read more about Ralph here .

"...grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets,..." (Bono) This is floating around the world of blog but I want it to stick here. Read ( here ). "God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them....It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good n...

as one great but intermittent SA blogger once said :o) . I've added a new box to my sidebar because Chris has created an SA blogring - so if you want to add your site to sally bloggers just hit Sally Bloggers . Let people know - its a good way of connecting!

Steve Wiseman raises some interesting questions ( here ). One of my students a couple weeks ago in a similar discussion said if "she was right about heaven .... great! If she was wrong about heaven ... great! Either way her life has been worth it!" (sounds like Pascal's Wager ). Anyway it got me to think should it all be a hoax - would it stop me doing anything that I am doing now? Would we pull the plug on all we do as a church in our community? Would my life take on another direction? I don't think it would! "...Jesus' desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth..." (Rob Bell) Rob Bell makes interesting observations in his book Velvet Elvis: "Eternal life is... a kind of life I am living more and more now and will go on forever. I am living more and more in connection with God, and I will live connected with God forever." pp143 "...When we choose God's vision of who we are, we are livi...

Natural Church Development I'm afraid all my fears were confirmed. It annoyed me that the process is trying to measure what is immeasurable. That it identified me as trouble and boxed me as a NCD infidel in that my thinking was closed due to not willing to engage progressive NCD thinking! Basically NCD is about 8 qualities that churches must have in order to achieve growth: "...Where is the concern for the kingdom of God..?" empowering leadership passionate spirituality gift orientated lay ministry functional structures inspiring worship services holistic small groups need orientated evangelism loving relationships Score over 65 on a questionnaire and you have a church that God must be pleased with because growth (sorry health) will ensue (sorry develop). This has to be recognised as old stuff and while a good means to diagnose what your church is about I find it woefully limited. Its understanding of salvation is narrow and so mission remains a euphemism for getting mo...