Over recent weeks, my blog has been humming with people offering insights and ideas about membership. The debate has been lively and pretty well informed. You can catch it all at http://bromleyboy.blogspot.com (note that many blog sites do NOT have www in their address). I have many blogs logged in my Windows Explorer favourites and my morning ritual – after picking up my emails – is to pay a brief visit to see what people have been talking about overnight. I always start with Mark Goodacre’s unceasingly stimulating New Testament Gateway blog (www.ntgateway.com/weblog). I often check the links he has to other NT bogglers down the left-hand side of his blog page. Among my favourites are The Stuff of the Earth, written by Canadian evangelical NT scholar Michael Pahl. He blogs a lot about Thessalonians, including a sort of blogged commentary which is worth checking out (http://michaelpahl.blogspot.com/) and Euangelion, managed by highland-based red-headed Baptist scholar, Michael Bird (http://euangelizomai.blogspot.com/). Then I check out the Baptists. Sean Winter, NT tutor at Northern and current convener of the BUGB Council can be found at http://seanthebaptist.blogspirit.com. Andy Goodliff can be found musing on life, culture, music, theology, books and youth ministry at http://andygoodliff.typepad.com. and Stuart Blythe of the Scottish Baptist College in Glasgow is found intelligently ruminating on politics, theology and faith at www.thewordatthebarricades.typepad.com/ The Bible Reading Fellowship has launched a new web-based discipleship programme called Foundations 21 (www.foundations21.org.uk). It looks pretty lavish and extensive but it costs £9.99 a month, so you’d hope it is. You can buy a starter DVD and 45 day sub for £7.99. Free stuff – not as good and certainly not as systematic – can be found on the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America site www.elca.org/evangelism/dailydiscipleship/index.html. It consists of a series of pdf files for each week of a given period with biblical material, prayers and thoughts. Also from ECLA, by the way, is an excellent portal www.transformingchurch.com which has a huge number of articles on emerging church and making disciples in the modern world. The United Methodist Church also has a good downloads section with some useful resources on discipleship (www.discipleshipresources.org/downloads.asp). And there’s a whole book called Transformational Discipleship written by a couple of Americans available at: www.lifeway.com/lwc/files/lwcF_pdf_TransformationalDiscipleship.pdf. It looks quite helpful. www.churchnext.net takes you to the world of Tribal Generation. Aimed at the emerging generation (whatever that is), it’s full of practical, intriguing, imaginative resources that aid your walk with God. And www.sttoms.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=26 will take you to the place on the St Thom’s website where they talk about Life Shapes. You can also go to the US site that supports Mike Breen and Walt Kallestad’s Passionate Life and Passionate Church books: www.lifeshapes.com. The books are also a good introduction to Life Shapes. There is a tendency to think of discipleship only in terms of personal spirituality. But a key part of discipleship is how we live in the world of work, politics, the media and business. A good place to have your thinking stimulated in these areas is Ekklesia, a Christian think tank voted one of the twenty most influential think tanks in the country. A host of good things can be found at www.ekklesia.co.uk/. Ekklesia is a close friend of our own Anabaptist network. A host of really great stuff on following Jesus in a complex world can be accessed at www.anabaptistnetwork.com/. The world wide wait could be a massive distraction from actually getting on and doing what we’re called to. But there are people out there doing interesting, innovative and inspiring things and cyberspace is one place to find them talked about and debated. If you’re still in the dark about what people mean when they talk about emerging church check out www.emergingchurch.org and www.emergentvillage.org. Also worth a look is www.vintagefaith.com – which seeks to root emerging church in ancient life of the NT and early church. Then try www.opensourcetheology.net. It’s packed full of stimulating papers, forums, debates and discussions about all manner of practical theological and mission topics. Start with the rules of engagement (clicking the link on the right hand side of the home page) where webmaster Andrew Perriman outlines how the site works and how you can join in. And then follow the threads that take your interest. A similar site but not as broad is www.eternalpurpose.org.uk. There are good articles on the cultural context in which we do mission, the chance to engage in debate and useful links to follow up. www.sttoms.net outlines the St Thomas Crookes model of clustering people around a vision. Lifeshapes also has its own web site (www.lifeshapes.com) where you’ll find a description of the course, testimonials and the chance to buy it on DVD to run in your small groups. www.purposedriven.com is the website that keeps you up to date with developments in the purpose driven church movement. Another model that many people are talking about is G12. This is not without controversy, but it has a website that explains the model and contains testimonials from those who’ve used it. You can find them at www.g12harvest.org. Many churches are trying café style services (ours included). The Salvation Army in central London was one of the pioneers. Their philosophy can be found at www.regenthall.co.uk/cafechurch. You can see the topics we’ve tackled so far at Bromley and join in the conversation at www.bromleybaptist.com (click the links on its home page). www.zacsplace.org is part of a ministry in Swansea that’s having a significant impact on people on the margins of church and society. As well as outlining the philosophy of the gathering, the site contains some background information and helpful reflections on the ministry. Another Welsh church – Cardiff this time – is behind www.pubchurch.com. Again as well as outlining the meetings, there some good stuff here on the whys and wherefores. www.emergingchurch.info is a huge site that gathers up stories, reflections and blogs from all over the place. All kinds of practitioners in the field share their experiences, detail their events and exchange ideas. Visit and tell your story. There are new papers posted every month, so the site is worth bookmarking and returning to from time to time. Many feel that the great leap forward will come from intentional communities, gatherings of people committed to some kind of common life, living by a rule. St Thomas Crookes has the order of mission (see www.sttoms.net). Other places worth checking out in the same vein are www.jacobswell.org.uk and www.northumbriacommunity.org www.sabeel.org is a Palestinian Christian site that seeks to bring an alternative Christian view to events in the Middle East. Mark Stibbe’s book on Prophetic Evangelism put me on to www.dougaddison.com. There’s a host of interesting, short articles on aspects of prophetic ministry. Also worth checking out is www.isaalmasih.net which is a site aimed at followers of Islam, seeking to explain the Christian faith. It’s of relevance here because of the numbers of people having dreams about Jesus, the ‘man in white’ and coming to faith in him as a result. Just click on the dreams and vision tab on the welcome page. A good place to begin a study of prophecy and prophetic ministry is with the Bible and the web boasts a number of great sites to do this. www.ntgateway.com is my home page – Mark Goodacre’s weblog is required reading for keeping abreast of developments in the field. www.otgateway.com is a sort of companion site but nothing like as richly attired as its New Testament cousin. Both will offer great help in getting to grips with what the scholars are saying about the subject. On the practice of prophetic ministry, especially in evangelism – as well as some reflection on it – www.extremeprophetic.com is worth checking out. This is a Vancouver-based outfit but they have done courses in the UK – the son of one my leaders attended one and was blown away by it. The restoration movement of Australia has a huge website of pamphlets and articles that invites hours of browsing – so be warned! Prophetic Ministry, a 1963 pamphlet by Allan B Clark can be found at www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/pp/PP102.HTM. More and more churches want to get involved in community-changing social action. Praise God. But faced with a barrel-load of need and meager resources, where do you start? Surprisingly, the web has quite a good deal to offer. There are a lot of people already gaining great experience in the dos and don'ts, whys and wherefores of setting up and managing social ministries. So let's not re-invent the wheel – something we Christians seem prone to do. Greg Smith's extensive site of social and mission research can be found at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/credoconsultancy/urbmiss.htm. It's quite brilliant. Originally based in the east End, Greg is now in Preston. He is a true pioneer, an original thinker and tireless worker for the Kingdom of God. You cannot seriously engage in this kind of work without having Greg's wisdom at your finger tips. He'll save you from some pretty basic errors as well as inspire you with what can be achieved with a bit of persistence and bucket-loads of energy! http://www.jesus4preston.co.uk/pcan/ is devoted to linking churches in Preston engaging in and exploring social action. There's lots of good stuff on this site and it could serve as a model for groups of churches in other places to copy. As well as checking out www.resourcebristol.org, information on what's happening in Bristol can be found at http://www.bcan.org.uk/ I found their document on a homelessness forum very interesting – as we're about to be involved in one in Bromley. This kind of information sharing I like! Lots of news and information about Pecan, the ground-breaking social action project in based in Peckham can be found at http://www.pecan.org.uk/. I declare a vested interest here – I was once chair of the trustees and my wife is human resources manager – but the organisation is a great lesson in how faith and a truckload of hard work can grow a Christian project that impacts the lives of everyone in its community. Pecan now turns over £3.5m and delivers high quality training and assistance to a large number of people across South London. Bethany Christian Trust is another project work checking out. It's at http://www.bethanychristiantrust.com/ Led by the wonderfully energetic and inspiring former BMS World Mission worker in Nepal, Iain Gordon, Bethany provides care for the homeless and support for those at risk of being homeless in Edinburgh. Check out a UK-based news service at http://www.christiantoday.com. It's a clear and easily navigated website covering a whole of Christian news from the UK and around the world. Worth keeping an eye on to see how good it is over the long haul. There are lots of good articles on-line these days. These two in particular caught my eye. http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1961/v18-2-article3.htm is a link to an article on forms of Christian social action in the journal Theology Today by James Gustafson. It offers a good overview of recent theological thinking in the area http://12.106.150.196/justice/index.asp?WhatWeOfferMenu is the website of the Office for Social Justice and Hunger Action of the Christian Reformed Church of North America and it's full of good stuff – theology, liturgy and links. And Prism is an American evangelical organisation with a distinctly Ronald Sider bent. Check out their extensive website at http://esa-online.org/prism. Please note: inclusion here does not imply Mainstream endorsement of the content of any site! top
The Bible Reading Fellowship has launched a new web-based discipleship programme called Foundations 21 (www.foundations21.org.uk). It looks pretty lavish and extensive but it costs £9.99 a month, so you’d hope it is. You can buy a starter DVD and 45 day sub for £7.99.
Free stuff – not as good and certainly not as systematic – can be found on the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America site www.elca.org/evangelism/dailydiscipleship/index.html. It consists of a series of pdf files for each week of a given period with biblical material, prayers and thoughts.
Also from ECLA, by the way, is an excellent portal www.transformingchurch.com which has a huge number of articles on emerging church and making disciples in the modern world.
The United Methodist Church also has a good downloads section with some useful resources on discipleship (www.discipleshipresources.org/downloads.asp). And there’s a whole book called Transformational Discipleship written by a couple of Americans available at: www.lifeway.com/lwc/files/lwcF_pdf_TransformationalDiscipleship.pdf. It looks quite helpful.
www.churchnext.net takes you to the world of Tribal Generation. Aimed at the emerging generation (whatever that is), it’s full of practical, intriguing, imaginative resources that aid your walk with God. And www.sttoms.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=26 will take you to the place on the St Thom’s website where they talk about Life Shapes. You can also go to the US site that supports Mike Breen and Walt Kallestad’s Passionate Life and Passionate Church books: www.lifeshapes.com. The books are also a good introduction to Life Shapes.
There is a tendency to think of discipleship only in terms of personal spirituality. But a key part of discipleship is how we live in the world of work, politics, the media and business. A good place to have your thinking stimulated in these areas is Ekklesia, a Christian think tank voted one of the twenty most influential think tanks in the country. A host of good things can be found at www.ekklesia.co.uk/. Ekklesia is a close friend of our own Anabaptist network. A host of really great stuff on following Jesus in a complex world can be accessed at www.anabaptistnetwork.com/.
The world wide wait could be a massive distraction from actually getting on and doing what we’re called to. But there are people out there doing interesting, innovative and inspiring things and cyberspace is one place to find them talked about and debated.
If you’re still in the dark about what people mean when they talk about emerging church check out www.emergingchurch.org and www.emergentvillage.org. Also worth a look is www.vintagefaith.com – which seeks to root emerging church in ancient life of the NT and early church.
Then try www.opensourcetheology.net. It’s packed full of stimulating papers, forums, debates and discussions about all manner of practical theological and mission topics. Start with the rules of engagement (clicking the link on the right hand side of the home page) where webmaster Andrew Perriman outlines how the site works and how you can join in. And then follow the threads that take your interest.
A similar site but not as broad is www.eternalpurpose.org.uk. There are good articles on the cultural context in which we do mission, the chance to engage in debate and useful links to follow up.
www.sttoms.net outlines the St Thomas Crookes model of clustering people around a vision. Lifeshapes also has its own web site (www.lifeshapes.com) where you’ll find a description of the course, testimonials and the chance to buy it on DVD to run in your small groups.
www.purposedriven.com is the website that keeps you up to date with developments in the purpose driven church movement.
Another model that many people are talking about is G12. This is not without controversy, but it has a website that explains the model and contains testimonials from those who’ve used it. You can find them at www.g12harvest.org.
Many churches are trying café style services (ours included). The Salvation Army in central London was one of the pioneers. Their philosophy can be found at www.regenthall.co.uk/cafechurch. You can see the topics we’ve tackled so far at Bromley and join in the conversation at www.bromleybaptist.com (click the links on its home page).
www.zacsplace.org is part of a ministry in Swansea that’s having a significant impact on people on the margins of church and society. As well as outlining the philosophy of the gathering, the site contains some background information and helpful reflections on the ministry. Another Welsh church – Cardiff this time – is behind www.pubchurch.com. Again as well as outlining the meetings, there some good stuff here on the whys and wherefores.
www.emergingchurch.info is a huge site that gathers up stories, reflections and blogs from all over the place. All kinds of practitioners in the field share their experiences, detail their events and exchange ideas. Visit and tell your story. There are new papers posted every month, so the site is worth bookmarking and returning to from time to time.
Many feel that the great leap forward will come from intentional communities, gatherings of people committed to some kind of common life, living by a rule. St Thomas Crookes has the order of mission (see www.sttoms.net). Other places worth checking out in the same vein are www.jacobswell.org.uk and www.northumbriacommunity.org
www.sabeel.org is a Palestinian Christian site that seeks to bring an alternative Christian view to events in the Middle East.
Mark Stibbe’s book on Prophetic Evangelism put me on to www.dougaddison.com. There’s a host of interesting, short articles on aspects of prophetic ministry. Also worth checking out is www.isaalmasih.net which is a site aimed at followers of Islam, seeking to explain the Christian faith. It’s of relevance here because of the numbers of people having dreams about Jesus, the ‘man in white’ and coming to faith in him as a result. Just click on the dreams and vision tab on the welcome page.
A good place to begin a study of prophecy and prophetic ministry is with the Bible and the web boasts a number of great sites to do this. www.ntgateway.com is my home page – Mark Goodacre’s weblog is required reading for keeping abreast of developments in the field. www.otgateway.com is a sort of companion site but nothing like as richly attired as its New Testament cousin. Both will offer great help in getting to grips with what the scholars are saying about the subject.
On the practice of prophetic ministry, especially in evangelism – as well as some reflection on it – www.extremeprophetic.com is worth checking out. This is a Vancouver-based outfit but they have done courses in the UK – the son of one my leaders attended one and was blown away by it.
The restoration movement of Australia has a huge website of pamphlets and articles that invites hours of browsing – so be warned! Prophetic Ministry, a 1963 pamphlet by Allan B Clark can be found at www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/pp/PP102.HTM.
More and more churches want to get involved in community-changing social action. Praise God. But faced with a barrel-load of need and meager resources, where do you start? Surprisingly, the web has quite a good deal to offer.
There are a lot of people already gaining great experience in the dos and don'ts, whys and wherefores of setting up and managing social ministries. So let's not re-invent the wheel – something we Christians seem prone to do.
Greg Smith's extensive site of social and mission research can be found at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/credoconsultancy/urbmiss.htm. It's quite brilliant. Originally based in the east End, Greg is now in Preston. He is a true pioneer, an original thinker and tireless worker for the Kingdom of God. You cannot seriously engage in this kind of work without having Greg's wisdom at your finger tips. He'll save you from some pretty basic errors as well as inspire you with what can be achieved with a bit of persistence and bucket-loads of energy!
http://www.jesus4preston.co.uk/pcan/ is devoted to linking churches in Preston engaging in and exploring social action. There's lots of good stuff on this site and it could serve as a model for groups of churches in other places to copy.
As well as checking out www.resourcebristol.org, information on what's happening in Bristol can be found at http://www.bcan.org.uk/ I found their document on a homelessness forum very interesting – as we're about to be involved in one in Bromley. This kind of information sharing I like!
Lots of news and information about Pecan, the ground-breaking social action project in based in Peckham can be found at http://www.pecan.org.uk/. I declare a vested interest here – I was once chair of the trustees and my wife is human resources manager – but the organisation is a great lesson in how faith and a truckload of hard work can grow a Christian project that impacts the lives of everyone in its community. Pecan now turns over £3.5m and delivers high quality training and assistance to a large number of people across South London.
Bethany Christian Trust is another project work checking out. It's at http://www.bethanychristiantrust.com/ Led by the wonderfully energetic and inspiring former BMS World Mission worker in Nepal, Iain Gordon, Bethany provides care for the homeless and support for those at risk of being homeless in Edinburgh.
Check out a UK-based news service at http://www.christiantoday.com. It's a clear and easily navigated website covering a whole of Christian news from the UK and around the world. Worth keeping an eye on to see how good it is over the long haul.
There are lots of good articles on-line these days. These two in particular caught my eye. http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1961/v18-2-article3.htm is a link to an article on forms of Christian social action in the journal Theology Today by James Gustafson. It offers a good overview of recent theological thinking in the area
http://12.106.150.196/justice/index.asp?WhatWeOfferMenu is the website of the Office for Social Justice and Hunger Action of the Christian Reformed Church of North America and it's full of good stuff – theology, liturgy and links. And Prism is an American evangelical organisation with a distinctly Ronald Sider bent. Check out their extensive website at http://esa-online.org/prism.
