Posted by Dyfed on Monday, February 6, 2012,
In :
Pagan influences
As they embarked on their
quest to find where many of our church practices have originated, Viola and
Barna speak for many when they say in Pagan
Christianity that they ‘ardently want their relationship with the Lord to
be their top priority in life. They are tired of the institutions,
denominations, and routines getting in the way of a resonant connection with
Him’. If you’re mumbling to yourself right now, ‘That’s exactly how I feel’;
then welcome on the journey. You are most de...
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, January 30, 2012,
In :
Pagan influences
Pagan
Christianity. The title says it all, does it not? And if
you had any doubts about the contents of Frank Viola and George Barna’s book
then their sub-title makes it even clearer – Exploring the roots of our church practices. Their central theme is
that practices not ordained by God in Jesus have entered church life; practices
first devised by pagans and introduced into the church and over the centuries have
become the accepted way of doing things.
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, January 18, 2012,
In :
Post-Christendom
How is creation to be
restored and how will peace – in all its manifestations and consequences – be
effected within it and between it and God? Roger Mitchell understands the
gospel way of doing this as a ‘kenotic gift’, a giving away by God of himself
and his power for the good of creation. But it is the opposite of this that he
sees in the church as it was subsumed by the ‘imperial sovereignty’ of the
Roman Empire in the fourth century.
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, January 11, 2012,
In :
Post-Christendom
‘How is it that the best of
church experience in both traditional and radical expressions tends to relapse
to hierarchical domination and control?’ This is Roger Hadon Mitchell’s
chilling question in his introduction to his newly published PhD thesis, Church, Gospel & Empire (Eugene, OR,
2011.) It isn’t the only question posed but for the purpose of this blog it is
possibly the most important.
And it includes within it
some vital clues as to how Roger Mitchell intends to answer his own...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, January 4, 2012,
In :
Random
I’m hoping to be a bit more
focussed in my blogging this year so regular readers will notice some changes.
The first change will be fewer posts. Rather than the five posts a week I will
only aim to fill three slots – though if I feel I have something to say about
an issue then you may well see additional posts. These three slots (Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays) will have a particular focus each week and will
reflect my current reading, research and thinking.
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, December 9, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
Tom Wright on the Temple in 1st
century Jerusalem:
“It wasn’t, as sacred
buildings have been in some other traditions, a retreat from the world. It was
a bridgehead into the world. It was
the sign that the creator God was claiming the whole world, claiming it back
for himself, establishing his domain in the middle of it.”
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, December 6, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
Nobody likes the taxman. But
don’t let that be a sufficient analogy as you read the account of Jesus calling
Matthew as a disciple. Think instead of losing the Battle of Britain, of a Nazi
occupation of the UK, and of your hard-earned money going off to pay for the
Third Reich’s ever increasing empire. Taxmen now wear jackboots and have armed
guards accompanying them. A little different to our current situation.
Just what was Jesus thinking
when he called this most despised of men into his...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, November 30, 2011,
In :
Post-Christendom
So Christians in the UK feel
marginalised. So says the latest opinion poll conducted by ComRes on behalf of
Premier Christian Media Trust. The full details of the poll can be found at BRIN here –
but basically 544 Christians were asked whether they thought ‘the
marginalisation of Christianity in British public life was increasing,
decreasing, or staying the same in public, the media, the government and the
workplace’. Some two thirds thought the process was increasing overall – with
7...
Brian
McLaren’s seventh question has the power to be very explosive for it is here
that he addresses the issue of sexuality. And he certainly does not shy away
from the controversy in this chapter. ‘No group can exist without a devil,’ he
says, suggesting that homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered people have
become the focus of much Christian fundamentalist anxiety and anger. However,
the question he poses is not ‘should homosexual people be included in church’
or ‘is homosexua...
The
conclusion to Brian McLaren’s first five questions was that God in Jesus has
come to transform creation through the restoring power of the resurrection. His
sixth question, almost inevitably, turns to the church and what we do about it
in response to the answers offered to the first five. His first point is one
that all of us have been witnessing in the West – for many who have been asking
similar questions and issues of faith, their response to the church question is
to leave, with t...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, October 4, 2011,
In :
Post-Christendom
Great Britain is a Christian country and our government should govern
based on Christian principles especially when it comes to defending godly
marriage. That pretty much sums up a story that appeared on the Christian Institute’s website last week.
Many of you will agree with that sentiment but let me invite you to consider
what the Institute premise their
assertion of Britain’s religious attachment upon.
Majority is Christian
They laud the results of the ‘Integrated Household Survey’ (...
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, September 29, 2011,
In :
Random
Retribution, restoration,
rehabilitation, punishment. How are we to deal with crime and criminals in a
time when our prisons are full to capacity? One American town has come up with
a very innovative idea – instead of sending the criminal to jail, send him to
church. Have a look at this short clip (found at Jesus Needs New PR) which
gives some of the detail.
Interesting, isn’t it? But
is it a good idea? As you heard, the intention is to offer those who would be
sentenced to short term impr...
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, September 16, 2011,
In :
Random
The church’s explosive
growth in China is truly a phenomenon worth beholding. The price some
Christians are paying for their faith is also remarkable – a persecution that
should make some who use the word to describe events in the UK blush. The BBC
have a piece on their website this week about the Chinese church that is well
worth reading.
European comparison
One sentence in the piece that
does need to be put into some kind of context, however, is this: ‘More people
go to church on Sund...
‘Emerging
church’ is a term that is currently in vogue in the developed, western world.
It is a broad term covering a wide variety of beliefs and practices but it is
at its heart a movement of reform within the church. As with any reform
movement within any organisation no one knows where it will all end up or how
much reform will really take place. Those who find themselves walking with this
movement often appear theologically rudderless and, therefore, lacking in direction.
All they fee...
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Friday, August 26, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
Bishop Tom Wright’s book Surprised by Hope seems to be proving
popular among a younger generation of Christians. I read it two or three years
ago and was deeply challenged. Not that there’s anything new in it, of course,
but it was for me quite a revelation and was the starting point for the
theological reassessment that I am on.
Resurrection
For those of you who haven’t
read it, it’s a book about resurrection – for you, me, and the whole creation.
Wright builds his thesis on the foun...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, August 23, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
Going to church doesn’t make
you a Christian. Or so the saying goes. Well actually, it does. In a survey
published some years ago on how people became Christians, it was found that the
involvement, contact and, most importantly, the friendship of other Christians
was vital in their journey towards God.
Church involvement
Some 86% of those who had
become followers of Jesus in adulthood had had some contact with a church in
their childhood and 90% said that the involvement of a church – inclu...
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, August 19, 2011,
In :
1859 revival
Everything happens within a
context and so it was with Humphrey Jones. Leaving Wales for America a
disappointed man he had already experienced a blessing on his preaching but he
knew little of what it was to be a revival preacher. It was in America that this
experience came to him. Before we can make sense of his time there, however, it
would be beneficial to understand the context he found himself in.
A
changing church
By the time Jones had arrived
in America the church there had been change...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, June 22, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
Let the circle be wide. So sang Tommy Sands in an evening of Celtic music at Bangor Cathedral last night. Though the evening as a whole was an expression of Celtic Christian spirituality, this particular song was probably not specifically Christian. But … there is something really powerful in the words about including others in the circle of our belonging.
Church – maybe church in general and certainly conservative church – has a tendency to exclude and pull the circle in, making very l...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, November 3, 2010,
In :
Emerging church
A link to
another blog for you today. Over at NewReformation Len Sweet is always
challenging in his writing on the issue of reforming the church and especially
on leadership issues. In this post he has a parody of the Good Samaritan. Hope
you like it. Come back with any comments – I’d love to hear your thoughts on
this one.
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, August 23, 2010,
In :
Random
It’s ‘Back to Church Sunday’ on 26
September – an initiative that aims to get those of us who are regulars in
Sunday services to invite a friend who has not been to ‘church’ for a while to
return to the fold. On the face of it, it’s an excellent idea.
I was present at a congregation
yesterday where one of the resources prepared for the initiative was handed out
to the regulars and there is no doubting the genui...
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, July 9, 2010,
In :
Random
Depending on what your poison may be,
the Church of England’s General Synod starting today could the most interesting
or the most boring event in York this weekend. If you’re an Anglican
you’ll probably be following quite closely because the whole thorny issue of
women bishops is to be discussed and the meetings are held in the context of
the gay priest, Jeffrey John, once again being rejected as a potential bishop.
T...
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, May 24, 2010,
In :
Random
I spent the weekend with some of the
men from Pioneer People, Pensby, on their weekend away in the ConwyValley. With the sun scorching hot and
great landscape looking its best there was no doubt that we would have a very
relaxing time together, and so it proved to be. What a great bunch of people
they are and really going for something different as a church.
I was invited to join them in order
to offer some teac...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, May 19, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
John ‘the rottweiler’ Humphreys
showed how difficult it is to break out of the mould this morning as he
interviewed the new Home Secretary, Theresa May, on the Today programme.
He was pressing her about the Tories’ attitude towards the Human Rights Act
and the very different approach they have to it compared to their partners in
government, the Lib Dems. Apparently the Tories are very anti while the Lib
Dem...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, May 18, 2010,
In :
Apostolic
My first post on the apostolic (read
it here) drew some good responses from Ben, Mark, and James – thanks, guys. In
this topic I really am trying to grapple with a subject that I don’t have any
answers to – and yet feel that the answers so often given in church life today
do not quite reflect what the NT says about being an apostle. Ben makes a very
valid point that the apostles were called to plant the gos...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, April 7, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
The church shaped by the Roman Empire gave us an institution that bears
little resemblance to the vision of the body of Christ in the New Testament.
Before going on to look at the principles for finding a new shape suggested by
Stuart Murray in his Post-Christendom, let’s recap on what he has been
saying so far in chapters 1 to 7. How has the church been shaped by empire?
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, March 31, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
We often look at what one church or
even a whole church movement is doing and get excited about their success. They
start an Alpha course in a run down estate and see some young single mums start
following Jesus, and we think, ‘Great. This is what God is doing these days’.
Well, maybe. But what if we – just for a moment – take our eyes off the micro
and look at the macro? What if we were to look back acro...
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, March 29, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
What model of church do you follow
in your church? There are two basic types which I can think of: there’s the ‘church
as bus’ model and then there’s the ‘church as body’. Now we know which the New
Testament model is – it is ‘church as body’. Paul in his first letter to
Corinthians makes this very clear and gives a lengthy teaching on it. We would
all probably claim that this is also the model w...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, March 23, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
Responding to the Roman Catholic
Church’s deeply troubling problems over the abuse of children is
difficult. I do not want to be stirring waters that are not mine to stir.
Neither do I want to say anything that causes more pain to those who have been
hurt. However there is a lesson for all churches to learn from this most
disturbing of episodes and it is to do with power and how it used and abused by
church.
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, March 18, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
Yesterday I was down in Llanelli for
a meeting with the German prophet, Michael Schiffmann, and the leadership of Antioch along with a couple from Cardiff. I suppose we’re all very much fellow
travellers along the emerging church route, though at different stages – with me
some distance behind!
Michael shared some his own journey
and thoughts about emerging church and about where church in general has not
been fulfilling her...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, March 9, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
[if !mso]
Did the Reformation change
Christendom? Surprisingly not is Stuart Murray’s answer in chapter 5 of
Post-Christendom. Though the Protestant Reformation brought about much needed
change to doctrine and many church practices, very little was done as far as
the church’s connection to the state is concerned. ‘They refined it, fractured
it and shifted the balance of power within it towards the secular a...
The House of Lords last night passed an amendment to the Equality Bill currently before them allowing a religious element to civil partnership ceremonies. For more information see this. For my own reaction see previous post.
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, March 2, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
Stuart Murray’s
description of Christendom in the late Medieval period is scathing: it was
‘monolithic, totalitarian and seemingly impervious to critique’ (Post-Christendom,
page 132). And yet there were dissenting voices to be heard all over Europe at this time. That those
dissenters faced the wrath of Christendom through suppression and persecution
tells us a great deal about what a threat they were deeme...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, February 24, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
Under
Christendom the church became the dominant force in society. Indeed by the 12th
century the church was able to exercise power over countries and their rulers
in Western Europe. ‘No secular ruler could rival papal wealth or
authority,’ says Stuart Murray in Post-Christendom as he paints a picture of a
totalitarian church in the late medieval period (page 110). Dissent was not
welcomed at all by this time...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, February 23, 2010,
In :
Politics
Bullying
and politics seem to go together. Gordon Brown should not feel isolated in his
current situation of being fingered as a work-place bully – he is in good
company in the Palace of Westminster. The stories about his
rage towards colleagues have been around for a long time and those of us who
enjoy the political blogoshpere have not been surprised by the latest
revelations. Stories about his loyal lieutena...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, February 16, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
So how was
the church shaped by being at the heart of Empire? What effects did imperial
patronage have upon its mission? In his fourth chapter of Post-Christendom,
Stuart Murray examines some of these issues. He begins by outlining how
significant to this was one particular theologian and thinker. For if the
church was to accept what the Empire wanted then someone had to come up with
the theology that made it all...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, February 10, 2010,
In :
Random
I
see the Church of England is getting into a bit of a stew over gender issues
again – the gender of its leaders that is, and whether women should be
consecrated as bishops. Years have now passed since women were accepted into
the ordained priesthood in the C of E – something I disagreed with then, since
I don’t think men should be ordained into the priesthood either. We’re all
priests in God’s eyes –...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, February 2, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
The first step in trying to shape the future is to understand the past, and Stuart Murray’s volume Post-Christendom uses many chapters to detail the history of how the church became dominant in Western Europe.
He begins by taking us back to the fourth century AD when an emperor from the eastern half of the Roman Empire, Constantine, supposedly became a Christian in 312 as he was attempting to wrest control of the whole empire. He succeeded in his quest and was sole emperor until his...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, January 26, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
Can we continue to ‘do church’ in the same that we have done it for the past 1600 years? Or has the landscape we now occupy in Western Europe changed so much that we have to look again at our practices and change? My answer to the first question is ‘no’ and to the second ‘yes’. Christian faith and culture has become marginalised; far from being a dominant force able to shape society in our own image, we have become one minority group among many. And we have to respond to this chan... Continue reading ...
Posts on my Tumblr site willI now appear here. Tumblr's ability to post by text and email will help me blog even when away from my desk!
Some thoughts following my visit to Occupy London.
October 27th 2011
Ok so there’s plenty to disagree with but this is such a good song.
October 12th 2011
There are so many draining things we can focus on during the day: how we appear to others, how much others do or don’t respect us, how we can get people to do what we want. But once we become aware of the negative impact of these areas of focus, we can get clear on - even excited about - who we really want to be … We can shift our focus toward qualities like mercy, gentleness, courage, and the many others that bring true joy in our lives and in the lives of others.
