As I prepare to begin my MA in Mission (Celtic Mission and Spirituality) course in the autumn of this year, I’m starting to think towards the big D….the dissertation. Although I haven’t had any formal conversation with the college yet, my current thoughts are to make a study of Celtic New Monasticism…in particular, what role … More Renewal of the Church?
10. Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economics. The first part of this ‘mark’ is, I guess, one that would only be making an appearance in lists like this very recently. Gradually, more and more Christian communities are discovering the important of stewardship of the … More 12 Marks of New Monasticism: 10-12
The next three: 7. Nurturing common life among members of intentional community. Community happens either intentionally or unintentionally where people are. We’re relational beings, so community is gonna happen. However, you can have static community (read OAPs in a rest home) or an active community (an Army, a football team etc). What happens in active … More 12 Marks of New Monasticism: 7-9
Straight into ‘mark’ number 4:- 4. Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation. These set of 12 marks have their context in the US, that melting pot of nationalities and races. I don’t claim to be up on the scene over there, but … More 12 Marks of New Monasticism: 4-6
I mentioned at the end of the last post the 12 Marks of New Monasticism. Now, let me start by saying that one of the reasons this thing fires me up is because I think that Primive Salvationism had the whole New Monastic thing going on long before Bonhoeffer coined the phrase and before people … More 12 Marks of New Monasticism: 1-3
Funny, I was watching Ugly Betty last night. I don’t know if you watch it, but basically one of Betty’s ex-boyfriends confronts her about the fact that she’s working in a fashion mag when she wanted to be a serious journalist. She’d forgotten her vision. Like I said, the Army stuff is difficult mainly because … More Looking to the years to come
For those of you who might want to ‘brush up’ on the thinking that accompanies how we might respond as a church after Christendom, Stuart Murray has a book called ‘Church Afer Christendom’ and one called ‘Post-Christendom’. They are weighty books, although very good. There are also others in the ‘After Christendom’ series. However, if … More After Christendom Summary
Now, I’ve gotten into trouble writing about this before (not that its going to stop me reiterating what is, I believe, a fundamental Christian truth). The fact is this: the Kingdom of God is a classless race of people. The divide between clergy and laity is a Christendom creation. Laity, and indeed ‘clergy’ , is … More Classless
Every church, in essence, wants to do things ‘by the book’ (meaning the Bible). Yet, it is surprising that many of the ‘sacred cows’ we have in the church have little foundation in the New Testament at all. Here is a list (with help from Frank Viola and George Barna) of some of the post-biblical, … More Doing it by the Book?
One of the things I get asked incessantly these days is “are you settling in?” I guess I hear it so often because I’m part of a big collection of people here at Trinity. When I hear it I need to remember that it’s very likely that this person probably hasn’t asked me before and … More Settled?
Andrew S M Clark 