I always find it interesting when people ask me if we are connecting with a bigger church, or when people from nearby churches suggest we should just come and join them.

My response is increasingly ‘why don’t you come and join us?’ which only receives puzzled looks, as if to say ‘Why on earth would we do that?!…’ (exactly how I feel when asked that question)

Over a year ago we actually made a decision to connect with another church, but it was not at all to legitimise what we are doing or salve some conscience about the need to attend somewhere on Sunday.

The experiences I have only serve to remind me how strongly the christendom mindset is entrenched in us.

I know no-one means any ill will by these statements, but they do often annoy me because they continue to remind me that what we do is generally still seen as not ‘real’ church.

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Geoff and Sherry have written some great thoughts on the value of stability in a transient world.

As a lover of change the challenge of stability is something I wrestle with constantly. And at times like these when I feel quite tired and de-energised the appeal of a new place looms large.

They write:

“Will has suggested that one of the most daring things we can do as missionaries is to tell our neighbors that we are going to be living next to them “till death do us part”. A powerful challenge.”

Indeed! They linked to a really interesting in the New York Times called The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors, which looks at the degree to which we are conditioned to keep options open. Its worth a read to see just how much we fear missing out by ‘closing a door’.

And yet the point of the story is that maybe we live better, more fulfilled lives by closing some doors and having fewer options open.

In some ways its analogous to having a shed full of accumulated crap but refusing to throw anything out just in case we might need it. Having just had a clean the shed day, I have realised that I am well able to close some doors…

And I may need to close some others that drain emotional energy but give nothing in return.

In our world as it is today maybe we need to hear this and act on it?…

Ok, I’m back to doing some reflecting on God Next Door. Chapter 3 looks at the impact of mobility on neighbourhoods – the ability people have and the associated practice of regularly moving house and not staying anywhere for the longer term.

We certainly are a very mobile lot these days, hence Alvin Tofflers’ reference to ‘nomad’s or Fiona Allen’s ‘geographically promiscuous’ definitely ring true. Danelle and I moved 6 times in the first 7 years of our marriage, before settling in the hills for 8 years and then where are now for 4 ½ years.

Until I started reflecting on the idea of neighbourhood mission I had never paid a lot of attention to the value of staying put. In fact the thought of staying somewhere for a long time has always been somewhat abhorrent to me. I like change and enjoy new experiences so the notion of moving house regularly runs thru my head.

I would like to live in the country for a while, I’d like to live overseas for a while. I’d like to try the inner city, another Australian city… you get the idea… I think I will run out of life before I accomplish these things.

As we look at our own small street of 12 houses we see that after nearly 5 years only 3 original families remain and 23 different families have lived in the street. Those who move on generally do so to bigger homes and/or closer to the city. As they have moved investors have bought the houses and now there are more rental properties in the street than before. Its always harder to find motivation to build relationships with short termers.

One of the consequences of this constant mobility is a distinct lack of genuine connection. It takes a long time to get to know people well enough to call them friends or to trust them with your kids. Nomads are people who don’t have baby-sitters for when they want to head out to dinner, or people who don’t have anyone to drop them at the airport when their flight leaves at an odd time. The absence of these simple friendship type links must be difficult. For those of us in churches we tend to have a ready made support network that often makes life somewhat different.

When Geoff & Sherry visited we spoke a lot about the importance of stability in mission – of the need for people to bed down for a very long time if we were going to have influence and effect in neighbourhoods. They used the phrase ‘staying is the new going’, an interesting thought for those of us who would prefer to move regularly.

As one who reads the real estate section each week and surfs property websites, the idea of staying put is both invigorating and disturbing. It is invigorating in that if we around for long enough, we may actually get to see some of the things we dream of start to happen. In my darker days I often want to just leave and move on to more fertile soil, but then I wonder if the seeds we have planted aren’t actually slowly germinating and to move would be an act of impatience?

Staying put is disturbing because I tend to associate that kind of permanence with a settling down generally – a move away from adventure and risk and towards the kind of comfort and predictability that would make life boring.

The arrival of kids – especially kids who attend school has also thrown a new ball in the air for us. Now, to move is not just to unsettle our own relational network, it is to do it to the kids as well. I know they adapt etc, but it is another reason to be more circumspect in these kinds of ruminations.

When we first moved to Brighton I had 5 years notionally in my head as the time we would stay before moving on and starting over. Of course one of the assumptions that sat alongside that was the existence of a good sized Christian community that would no longer require the kind of leadership we would offer.

The journey to this point has been so unlike what I expected that I am unsure what the future may hold also. I regularly vacillate between choosing to live here long term and choosing to be geographically promiscuous because that opens the door to new experiences and satisfies my inner lusts.

Whatever the deal, I am a strong believer in the sense of God’s leading and responding to that. However life so far has taught me not to predict the future as God often surprises me.free night at the museum 2 battle of the smithsonian movie download

This is a gem – 15 minutes of quality input from David Fitch on ‘missional orders in the suburbs’. (And this post explains it also)

Thanks to Mike

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for the tip.

I confess that I like preaching.

I think I’m pretty gifted at it and can do a decent job. I enjoy the experience of communicating with a crowd and seeing people get inspired. In fact its quite an adrenalin rush when its really going well.

But I wonder if it is a help or a hindrance to discipleship in the church. Mark has written a provocative post here special dead movie download about this subject. Check it out and offer your thoughts.

I am still chewing on it.

Is there a place for a monologue in church? Should learning always be dialogical? Recently as I have been preaching I intentionally stopped during the sermon to allow people a chance to respond. I am aware that I ‘have the floor’ and its generally perceived as inappropriate and maybe even bad manners to chip in. I try to encourage it, but I’m still aware that the genre is intended to be that of ‘shut up and listen’, and if you do want to contribute or disagree be aware that you are up against the expert.

I also have people say to me that they find preaching inspires them more than discussion or interaction. Is that a reason to continue it?

As a preacher when you get kudos for speaking its inevitable that you would want to do it again. But what does the average punter (who doesn’t get to preach) think?

I have often said that I don’t mind going to church so long as I am the one preaching but if I had to sit there each week and listen to someone drone on for 30 minutes then I’d probably give up altogether. Fortunately my regular experience of a stock standard church involves very good preaching so I don’t struggle with that.

But what if your primary preacher is a bit boring?…or even a lot boring?… And I’m guessing there are very few gifted orators out there…

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Ok, so I’m continuing my reflections here…

Chapter one is somewhat of an analysis of the current urban/suburban setting with 3 possible scenarios considered:

Community Lost – the basic idea is that the impact of urban environment on relationships is negative (when compared to rural community life). The causes are a more segmented life with fewer opportunities for connections,a more densely populated area causing people to withdraw into themselves to survive, the diversity of the setting heightens suspicion of people ‘not like me’, and finally the commericalised nature of the city means that most relationships are transactional. As Simon states, this is a pretty negative take on urban relationships and is probably an idealising of rural environments!

Simon quotes Claude Fischer who says that the two norms govering neighbourhood relationships are “the neighbour should be ready to help in a time of genuine emergency and secondly at all other times the neighbour should keep his or her distance”, the same kind of relationship you have with a person on a train.

Its a pretty low bar for relationships when it comes to neighbours and while I think there is some truth in Fischer’s statement, I also tend to think most people want more from a community than that. Some stumble clumsily towards it while others prefer to avoid the ‘danger’ of broken relationships by not even going there at all.

As I have observed some of our own local relationships I have seen neighbours deeply embedded in each others lives – to a point that I could not deal with, but I have also seen neighbours fight and simply stop speaking to each other. Conflict resolution around here is not brilliant – easier to just ‘move on’.

I must admit I am wary of having my neighbours so much a part of my life that they feel free to drop in at any time and stay for as long as they like. There is a part of me that warms to the thought of such connected lives, but then a part of me that also values the privacy of my home and the ability to confidently retreat.

Having seen the way some neighbours can come and never leave I have probably swayed to a safer position. In some ways this is out of kilter with what I hope to see develop and yet if I am to survive in this setting for the long term then it is just common sense.

Community Found – Simon writes of the way different groups ‘find’ each other in the bigger city – often ethnic or common interest groups and there is a genuine experience of community that goes on here.

I live in a suburb that is marketed as ‘what a community should be’ but ultimately that comes down to us to make the slogan a reality. The ‘commonality’ for our family around here is pretty much stage of life and not much else. I imagine the POMs and South Africans may connect because of common heritage, but for the Aussies its less of a draw.

These groups have been seen as a ‘survival mechanism’ for people living in the suburbs – again pretty bleak in its outlook and probably not true of my own experience. Many people survive just fine with minimal local connectivity, but they do find community in other places.

Community Liberated – This is the community that is not bound by place but is operative in various networks around the whole city. Community liberated does not mourn the loss of ‘place’ as the component of community but chooses to celebrate community in other forms.

Simon goes on to say “The neighbourhood’s role in daily life has changed. If ever it was a place of primary community, its not now… Neighbourhood communities are now optional”

For those of us who draw our missional energy from the motif of incarnation and the embodiment/expression of the gospel locally this does present challenges – because it is true.

There’s no question community is much more diverse than the local area. There’s no question that even for myself some of my best connections are well beyond my backyard, yet at the same time I feel a compelling desire to try and re-invigorate the richness of local relationships. At times this has been very frustrating because others do not share this dream or if they do, the time available for creating community is limited because of work/commuting requirements. And then there are my own limitations – wanting to get involved, but at a level that suits me.

This post was interrupted as I opened the door for the local area co-ordinator for disability services who was dropping by to pick up a young boy who was playing with Sam this morning. She tells me Brighton is an exceptional community for connectedness and people helping each other out. I find myself intrigued by her observations and wondering what other communities must be like…

So I guess the question that percolates for me from these thoughts is, to what extent ought we try to create community locally and to what extent should we just take it as it comes?

Should ‘local churches’ be focused on their own area or should we be about empowering people to be salt and light in their workplaces and other ‘liberated’ communities?

Its a tough tension because many ‘local churches’ are full of busy people, doing good things with their lives outside of the suburb the church is in. Does this matter?other boleyn girl the divx download

I was flicking thru some of Scottie’s pics from his northwest trip and came across this one.

Its the gravesite of Danelle’s grandparents. You can’t really make it out on the image but they were missionaries in the northwest from 1935-1987, 52 years…

52 years of being salt and light and loving aboriginal people… is it just me or is that a loooong time?

The statement at the bottom of the plaque sums it up well. “Tell our people we love them and will be waiting for them”. I was in Melbourne at the first Forge National Summit when Nana died. I went to visit her before I left and spent a little time with her – who ever looks forward to death?… This woman did because she had some incredible confidence in her God, that the best was yet to come.

Danelle was with her shortly before she died and told me that her words in respect to the aboriginal people she lived amongst were ‘tell my people that I love them’.

I have been inspired by these two ‘nobodies’ who never spoke at conferences, never wrote a book and for the most part lived their lives unnoticed.

But who did everything that was asked of them and more.

Heroes.

Couldn’t we do with a few more Erns and Alices in today’s self centred world?