 |
Welcome |
 |
More about us |
 |
Diary & Information |
 |
Community Café |
|
Clubs |
|
Contact Us |
|
Movie pages |
BlogHere are the thoughts and news of the people in our community. Leave a comment as you wish. If you want to join the blogging ask Mark.
Monday, April 26, 2004Collectormania Wow! What an outing for you sci-fi enthusiasts!!! Look even Sherry Palmer from 24, there's a twisted character. Jake Lloyd, the youngest kid to fancy Natalie Portman. Lots of ugly blokes - are they really gonna look like that? Chewbacca - and I thought he was just a dressed up bloke. Obviously most exciting of all is little Mark of Gentle Ben, oooooohhh to have his autograph [he seems to have a little less hair now...]. Looks a bit mad. But maybe its your thing!! See you there... Posted by: Mark | 1:30 pm |
Thursday, April 22, 2004Stanley Grenz I have recently enjoyed a couple of articles by Stanley Grenz. "Community and Relationships: A Theological Take" and "Nurturing the Soul, Informing the Mind". Gotta be honest the second is only for the brave amongst you!! The first, however, is an interview and great read! Might even make up for what Aled would have shared had he been healthy!! So for a quote from the first: "Actually, today the chief rival to ministering from a theological base is engaging in the practice of "church" by means of a pragmatic outlook, that makes decisions largely if not solely on the basis of a consideration of what "works". In the long run, however, the pragmatic approach is self-defeating, simply because it transforms the community of faith into an institution whose chief end is not the glory of God and the fulfillment of a divinely-given mandate, but survival. The long-term health and viability of the church demands that its leaders and people return again and again to the forming and informing vision of what the community of Christ is called, mandated, and empowered to be by the Lord of the church. Above all, I would add, we are called to be a people who embody in our life together and in our relationships to all humans and even to all creation the great narrative of the biblical God, the one who has come to us in Christ and now empowers us through the Holy Spirit poured out in our hearts and in our fellowship" Posted by: Mark | 1:01 pm |
Wednesday, April 21, 2004Reflections on cricket... I thought you might enjoy/laugh at this from LICC!! "The Bible remains resolutely quiet about cricket's googlies and gullies, but in a fast-forward consumerist culture, the game might just help to reflect something of an alternative perspective. In its purest form, whether playing or watching, it slows us right down. It does not always demand a result, but frequently produces an honourable draw - reinforcing the idea (at a local level, at least) that it's not always the winning, but the taking part that counts. And it reminds us to play with a straight bat through life itself. We can sometimes underestimate the true value of sport. This particular one helps us to remember what it's all about. It's only a game, of course; but somehow, it's not just cricket." Posted by: Mark | 11:08 am |
Wednesday, April 14, 2004A few questions... I have been asked by a KBCTC student to answer a couple of questions as part of his research for his final major assignment. I thought I would post the answers in case you are interested. Tell me if I am making no sense... "Frank Hope the following is something like you had in mind... Que 1: What is the purpose of my local church [what are my objectives]? The purpose of my local church is to embody the reality of the gospel for the sake of the world. This is achieved by being a community of Jesus' followers, living out the realities of kingdom living in every day life. The disciples are called both individually and corporately to live intentionally missional lives - living out the gospel for the sake of others. This mission can be summed up by: Reaching in love, non-preferentially and unconditionally, and including in openness and invitation. The 6 purposes of the local church I have summed up as follows: Live lives of worship; Create community; make disciples; reach in love; include in openness and invitation; reproduce. Each of these function as 'church' challenges and as 'missional' challenges, i.e. an authentic Christian life is a missional life. Que 2: What do you perceive to be the needs of the local community? This question can be taken at a number of levels - felt needs, perceived needs, spiritual needs, physical needs, emotional needs etc. Most people I think would put their basic need as 'how can I be happy', 'where can I get my next buzz from'. This is a 'perceived' need that the church needs to be aware of, but probably not meet head-on. Maybe that all hides an underlying emptiness and dissatisfaction. I think one of the biggest issues there is one of loneliness and isolation. Communities are breaking down; technology reduces real people contact and makes communication less personal and shallow, even if more frequent. Most people complain of the 'busyness' of life and increasing stress. It is hard to say what any one direct cause might be of that - but it is there across the social spectrum it seems to me. People would benefit from church creating community and creating 'Space for life'. Que 3: How do you think that changes in culture have affected the approach that your church connects with the community? Cultural changes: post-christendom - most people are aware of Christianity, even if their own contact with it was very minimal or non-existent, and they think they know what it is all about, and don't like it very much. Church has to change from being a meeting that people visit to being a community that people encounter in their streets and workplaces. It must be action based not talk based. Christianity must be presented as something that transforms life and equips people to live wisely. Commitment changes - people don't commit to big organizations much any more [across the board]. Church needs to be a community of people who value each other and where each person makes a difference. Relativism - in a tolerant society the only thing that is not tolerated is intolerance. Christianity is seen as intolerant, Christianity has to move from being judgmental and on its high horse to making real differences in people's lives. In a relativist society the winner is the one that produces the results ["results" - that really needs to be unpacked...]. Post-modern - increasingly society is not dominated by 'reason' but by 'what works for me', what feels right/makes me happy and by reality defined by community. Much more could be said here. Church needs to be a place that allows exploration in a safe community context, not that seeks get people to believe some reasoned truth statements, but that allows people to encounter the Truth - Jesus and experience his transforming and empowering work in their lives. That'll do for now. Frank, hope that helps. A few random thoughts really. Could expand on them if you want. Mark" Posted by: Mark | 3:40 pm |
Monday, April 12, 2004Resurrection I heartily recommend that you watch this tonight at 6:25pm: Tom Wright on the Resurrection. It should be really worth a watch. If you can't then maybe you want to borrow the CD's of the Leaders Conference. Who has them at the mo? Si? Hey, in your relaxing momnet of Easter Monday ;o) why not read 1 Corinthians 15. Really worth some thought!! Later Posted by: Mark | 2:38 pm |
Wednesday, April 07, 2004Rethinking Church This is just a little article, but an enjoyable read. Can't think why... Posted by: Mark | 3:58 pm |
Monday, April 05, 2004Newsmap Been looking at this recently and have decided it is kinda cool enough to blog!! Take a look. It triggers off all sorts of thoughts in my mind about internet media. What is deemed as important [the boxes for each news item are bigger depending on how many related articles]. Instant access to the whole world [can our minds really cope? does it increase stress in our lives]. Immediate and very very fast [news items are graded on last 10 minutes and the after an hour they are 'old news']. Fascinating, but actually very useful!! Posted by: Mark | 3:19 pm |
Thursday, April 01, 2004Ecce Homo What it is to be creative. Try this offering from my bro... 
[Jonny, hope you don't mind ;o)] Update: Here is a flash version that continuously loops images to music. [See Jonny's fuller explanation here.] Posted by: Mark | 8:48 am |
The Lord's Prayer If you have 10 minutes today to pray the Lord's Prayer [and a relatively fast internet connection!] you may want to do it here. It is a great audio-visual meditation prayer. Plus if you get through it there are rewards the other side!! Posted by: Mark | 8:24 am |
What a Joke! I have told a couple of people this story now, so I had better admit where it came from. Check out "Jo the waitress's" story here at the Living Room. It is such a powerful story of the reality of people's perception of the church in this now Post-Christendom world. Let me know what you think. Posted by: Mark | 8:19 am |
|
