One of these days I will update my blogroll and add all those people I have recently discovered and enjoy reading, as well as those old friends who have been around a while.

Until then…

Grendel who is a regular commenter here and a good mate of mine from Brighton sent me this article today entitled The Challenge of Building Community.

It is a more sociological approach to the dynamics of different sized groups and how humans function, but its got some great stuff to say. Here are a few quotes:

But creating community is not easy. In Creating a Life Together Diana Leafe Christian describes some of the challenges of intentional communities — finding members, creating honest consensus, resolving disputes, finding the right place to live, keeping it sustainable. This is tough work, and most intentional communities that do work are, well, rather pathetically small. It almost seems as if, as soon as you put more than a certain number of people into one interdependent group, you need hierarchy to keep things in order. Why might this be?

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I’ve read everything I can get my hands on on intentional communities, and what strikes me most is that their failure, just like the failure of so many new-age business models, is a failure of imagination. The intentions are good. They invest a lot of time and energy in research, and in trying to make it work. But when they run into difficulties, they keep falling back on ‘conventional wisdom’: we need a council, and committees, and voting and non-voting shares, and strategic plans, and legal agreements, and to borrow lots of money; we need to work harder, and to wait until conditions are exactly right. I appreciate that creating a new community is scary, but the social, political and economic failings of the old system are exactly what got us into this mess, and incorporating them into the new models is just asking for the same terrible results.

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The history of our civilization has been largely one of pioneers fleeing the ghastly tyranny of the hierarchical corporation/state, slaughtering gatherer-hunter societies in the ‘unincorporated’ lands they fled to, and then, as their numbers grew, replicating the hierarchical corporation/state themselves, and then constantly warring with other corporation/states.

Got you interested yet?…

The ‘failure of imagination’ rings big bells for me. Its way too easy to default to the old and familiar when we get in a pickle and aren’t sure which way to experiment next. I like his call to keep experimenting!

I have to say its a little ironic to me that the blog ‘How to Save the World’ is written by someone who wouldn’t claim to be a Jesus follower!

Its not to say people of ‘no fixed abode’ in regard to faith don’t have anything to say to us – not at all. But given the centrality of Jesus life, death and resurrection in my own worldview and the significance of the biblical teaching on the kingdom of God I genuinely find it hard to see a world saved in the absence of God’s redemptive love and Jesus’ death on the cross.

Thanks Grendel!

I am thinking of starting a blog dedicated to my other love – surfing… It seems there aren’t too many out there, but most of the more obvious domain names have been taken.

So just for fun I have been pondering possible domain names…

Here are some of my options. Let me know what you would choose!

drilledagain.com

ratherbesurfing.com

ratherbesurfin.com

thicklipsdeeppits.com

bignurries.com

thesurfnazi.com

latetakeoff.com

swell-lines.com

greenroomblog.com

6ftoffshorenooneout.com

surfarizone.com

If you have any crash hot ideas then you can test their availability here. (I am only looking at dot.com addresses.)

My good mate Kim Hammond has got his blogging butt into gear over here. Here’s a quote from his first post on developing missional communities:

As Maria and I come into 2006 we are asking ourselves again, what do we need to do to grow deeper in our love for God and what kind of consistent disciplined life do we need to live. I know it is only in accountable loving community can I truly grow and experience real accountability and mentoring. Whether we go to the Pub is irrelevant if we aren’t hearing from God, being obedient to His calling and developing the kind of disciplined lives that have a healthy rhythm of play and pray. I don’t want to sit in a pew staring at the back of someone’s head, but neither do I want to hang out at a Pub thinking I am better than pew sitters. I want to be Jesus wherever He asks, whether that’s a Pub or a Park.

Say ‘g’day’ over at his site (when he gets his comments working!)

Ok… here they are folks my top 5 reads for 2005… My favourite ‘most read’ blogs:

At No.1 No Guarantees – Scott Vawser – fellow coach to youth pastors and also my own ministry/life coach. I like Scott as a bloke so naturally I enjoy reading his stuff. He is also on a very similar trajectory to us so its been great to share that journey.

No. 2 Radical Congruency – Justin Baeder – a bloke who is also walking a similar path, has a good sense of humour and a decent theological mind. Justin also hosts this blog very cheaply. Contact him if you need good blog hosting!

No. 3 Jesus Creed – Scott McKnight isn’t a bad theologian either (aussie understatement) and I have really appreciated his take on what is happening around the place as a professor who can explain things in terms ordinary people can grasp.

No. 4 His Method – Bruce Chant – a local church planter doing his thing about 6 kms down the road from us. Bruce is the pastor of the local AOG church in Mindarie (Northshore). Its been really good to meet up face to face a few times and share some similar passions.

No. 5 The Rev – my good friend John Jensen just pips Phil Baker for no.5! John doesn’t write as often as he should – probably cause he’s lazy. But when he does he can tell a good story and invent some great heresies. Any American who can bowl leg spinners is worth an honourable mention!

So there you have my reading preferences. Congratulations Scott Vawser on your incredible status as Hamo’s no 1 fan. It will undoubtedly lead to numerous speaking and writing engagements in the future 🙂 Or it might mean nothing at all…

Other blogs I have been browing and enjoying lately just as a bit of a nosy bugger include:

Ryan Bolger – I really like what this bloke writes – great resonance in the ideas.

Bro Maynard – another very interesting read – and someone who has linked to me a few times and thus is a valued friend!

Barro – Aussie bloke doing the same stuff as we are only in Melbourne. We met up at the Forge Summit and clicked pretty well. I like earthy people like Barro!

Barro is a top bloke doing the same kind of stuff as us only in the badlands (Melbourne)

I met up with Steve at the Forge Dangerous Stories conference earlier in the year and connected really well. An earthy Oz bloke who is doing a great job in his local community.

There aren’t many of us here in WA.

Not that anyone reall cares… 🙂

However as of about a week ago another friend and Baptist pastor has started his own blog. Mark Edwards is another ex Scarborough High School boy who is now at Bedford Baptist Church.

His most recent post is about the whole incarnational v attractional thing. You may remember he got fairly engage with the discussion this blog a few weeks back

What do these two terms mean anyway? I have a number of friends and aquaintances who are heavily involved in the Emerging Church movement. I respect greatly what most of them are doing.

However I do have an issue with what it might seem is an “exclusive” style of Philosophy and methodology in what they are doing. I struggle with some who seem to have thrown out the expression of the church as it is now, while still relying on it for support. It has been really encouraging though to see some, who are embarking on such works, also working alongside with and encouraging the work of more ‘regular’ expressions of Church.

Drop over and welcome him to the blogosphere.

Here’s a link to a great new blog I discovered when Ash Barker sent thru his prayer news today.

Its the writings of some of our contemporary prophets from down under.

With names like Darryl Gardiner, Ash & Anji Barker, Mick Duncan and Steve Barrington writing it has the potential to be pretty bloody potent!

All of these guys are regulars at our FORGE intensives and are people who know what it means to live a wild life. Drop by. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Nice job Mike Lane of the Rivertribe crew for pullin it off.

On a similar note, recent commenter here John Owen, also of the UNOH crew has started a blog of his own also. John’s another bloke who doesn’t mess around when it comes to discipleship. You can find him here.

I have been wondering for a while now about this and my wise old friend who is almost as good looking as me has beaten me to the draw.

TSK looks at various ways in which spirituality is expressed thru blogging. In particular I am interested in his perception of blogging as a spiritual discipline. Read on for TSK’s thoughts…

I will simply do a cut and paste here:

Here is the skinny on what I said. Blogging is a spiritual discipline because to blog is to find oneself in a place of:

1. Praise (public acknowledgement) – “publish glad tidings daily”

There was also another one: Watchfulness (“watch and pray”).

I reckon he’s done a great job in summarising what some of us may feel about the whole blog experience.

Some people ask me how I get time to write most days, and the simple truth is that I find it a valuable experience so I make time.

* I love being able to cast my ideas out before people who are willing to interact. It causes me to be both bold and thoughtful with what I write. People commenting on blogs often tell you when you are full of crap.

* I simply enjoy expressing things in words and I find that I think well when I write. It helps me come to grips with the questions I am facing. If you trace my blog you trace my life. I rarely write about stuff that isn’t of relevance to my situation at present. This is me.

* To steal from Eric Liddell (‘Chariots of Fire’ for all you younger readers!) ‘when I write I feel his pleasure’. Sometimes writing is an experiencing God thing for me. As I write I meet God.

* I find that I can’t write about something I am not living or attempting to live so in a sense blogging keeps me honest. If I come to write about something that I am not living it reminds me that I need to write about as a struggle – not a win.

* I have valued the friendships that I have made this way. It is definitely very weird to have ‘friends’ I have never met and it almost seems a little seedy when I tell people I met Phil & Dan

over the internet!

But… Is it a spiritual discipline?

As I see spiritual disciplines they are practices that shape us more into the image of Christ. So when that is said I would imagine that blogging can be a fun way to kill a bit of time, or… it may actually be a discipline. Sadly it doesn’t feel arduous enough to me for it to be called a discipline…

I would say that for me it is something that shapes my character and grows me into the image of Christ to some degree, so in that maybe it is a discipline for me, but… I have trouble imagining Dallas Willard or Richard Foster including it in their books 🙂

Thanks TSK – great job!

I made my first post here today.

Darryl invited me to be a co-author and I haven’t had much to say yet. But last night was a great game – even if we did lose.

Check this blog out for some great up to date insights into the world of Australia v England cricket