My story

Know how to see Seeing in a New Way

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust “ To look at something as though we have never seen it before requires great courage.” Henri Matisse Henri Matisse “ Our whole business in this life, is to restore to health the eyes of the heart, whereby God may be seen.” Augustine Augustine

Seeing in Johns gospel And the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory. John 1: 14 John 1: 14 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son…….. who has made him known. John 1: 18 See, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. John 1: 29 John 4: 35 John 6: 36,40 John 12: 45 John 14: 9,19

Acts 10 Peter & Cornelius Seeing afresh 1.What do we see/learn about God? 2.What do we see/learn about Peter? 3.What do we see/learn about mission?

‘Are there structures and patterns which let that basic event of encounter happen again and again? Because if not, the church has become something very different from where it started; it’s become a community which says once there was an encounter with Jesus and we like to remember that. We have to ask much more radically, how do we structure a community in which it goes on being possible,even likely,that people will meet Jesus and in meeting Jesus will want more people to meet Jesus.’ Rowan Williams

Six basic principles “From Safety nets to Fishing nets”

There is no return address 1

‘ The defining aspect of this change of epoch is that things are no longer in their place…… we cannot simply wait for what we are experiencing to pass under the illusion that things will return to being how they were before.’ Pope Francis.

In working with young people... do not try to call them back to where they were, and do not try to call them to where you are, as beautiful as that place might seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither you nor they have ever been before. Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the Masai (1978)

This is not only ‘Good missionary advice’, ‘a beautiful description of the unpredictable process of evangelization, a process leading to that new place where none of us has ever been before.’ Christianity Rediscovered (1982) Vincent Donovan

Ends of the Earth Samaria Judea Half the picture Jerusalem

The ends of the earth Samaria The eccentric effects… Judea The centre and the Acts story shift Samaria is not a return ticket story moves from a focus on Peter to Paul the Church goes west church is done differently among Gentiles

Public worship services probably are not the best starting point 2

LoveRelate Create Create Prayer Prayer

Who is church for? 3

The church is Gods gift to the world. Why are you here?

‘ the church is missionary by it’s very nature……. the church does not have a mission but the mission has a church.’ Prophetic Dialogue. Bevans and Scroeder "The church is not the sender but the one sent. Its mission (its "being sent") is not secondary to its being; the church exists in being sent and in building up itself for the sake of its mission.“ David Bosch, Transforming Mission David Bosch, Transforming Mission.

Church as a place where certain things take place to a body of people sent on a mission ‘ Either we are defined by mission, or we reduce the scope of the gospel and the mandate of the church.’ scope of the gospel and the mandate of the church.’ p6 Darrell Guder, Missional Church

1. There is no return address 2. Public worship services probably are not the best starting point 3. Who is church for? How might these principles work out in your context?

Disciples of Jesus rather than discipleship or simply attendance 4

What kind of people are we called to be in following Jesus? What kind of community is capable of raising people like that? Dallas Willard

How we see God How we see ourselves and others How we see our community How we see creation and society

instructioninstruction imitationimitation participationparticipation

Church is multi level 5

“every expression of the church is, in it’s own way, another worked example of what the encounter with Christ looks like in the life of a particular community.”

“ the theological doctrine of the church cannot be simply expressed in abstract terms about the churches timeless nature. It will have to provide points of departure for reforming the church, for giving it a more authentic form. Faithfulness and the fresh start are not antitheses in the history of the Spirit.” Jurgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit

Church as four sets of relationships. Moynagh, Church for Every Context p 106. of up in out

‘not leaving the tradition but driving to it’s heart’ Gerald Arbuckle, Refounding the Church

‘ If you want to preserve tradition don’t wear your grandfathers hat, have grandchildren.’ Pablo Picasso

This might change US 6

Dying to live “ I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12; 23-6

YOU CAN’T PREDICT THE OUTCOME Control to chaos Answers to questions Certainty to risk

6. This might change US 5. Church is multi level 4. Disciples of Jesus rather than discipleship or simply attendance How might these principles work out in your context?

Seeing what is to come! The power of imagination

“We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

Think without a banister

Three pieces of advice about imagination 1. 1.Forget everything you know 2. 2.Remember everything you know 3. 3.Re-arrange everything you know

‘how did the Spirit lead them to respond creatively & continually in new and surprising situations as they preached the gospel.’ Stephen Bevans & Roger Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue

‘ Imagination must be formed and understood from the inside of its experience and confession of faith and not by borrowing from external sources.’ Walter Bruggemann, Prophetic Imagination

How might you foster seeing the future in your context ?

“ we understood mission one way and organised life to accomplish it. We have awakened to find out the mission moved on us. To keep focusing on mission, we have to turn the furniture around and face a different direction. We may even have to move into another room.” Loren Mead. The Once and Future Church

Disturb us Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Sir Francis Drake