Palm Sunday service on "ecoute Dieu nous parle"

It's not every Sunday that you go to church and are welcomed by a photographer. This morning outside the Temple de Divonne, Jean-Jacques Bauswein took everyone's portrait photo before we went into church. And church was packed - by the time we got there - not quite late but very nearly - there were only seats left right at the every front! The service for Palm Sunday was prepared by the people who teach the young people and children. We were surrounded by the large posters of the EELF and ERF "à visage découvert" evangelisation campaign. Each of these is a picture of the face of a member of one of the Lutheran parishes in Paris together with the Bible verse they have chosen. The photos are also used on postcards and on a calendar. At the end of the service the wholoe congregation left the church in silence and went to the Alain Blancy parish hall to find printouts of our photos and to choose a Bible verse to put beneath our photos. Then we all stuck our photos on the large panel on the wall. Our choice of Bible text revealing a little bit more about ourselves than just our faces. I was impressed by how both adults and children managed to keep silent as we chose our verses and crowded around the tables in the parish room. You can find out more about the campaign here and here.
The Lutherans and the Reformed in France are on the way to becoming a united church in 2013. Although there are legal texts and votes that need to take place, the essence of the union is to bear witness to Jesus Christ today. This creative campaign is part of that. What is great about it is that it builds confidence and offers people reticent about talking about faith simple ways of affirming what is important for them. I'm proud of my church.

Robben Island, the Lausanne Movement and telling stories

Several of my colleagues are attending the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism in Cape Town at the moment. One is John Baxter Brown who's blogging about it in his occasional spare moments over on his blog Evangelism is in you Comfort Zone. JBB (as he is affectionately known) was fortunate enough to be able to visit Robben Island as part of his travels.

John writes about how the WCC helped to sponsor learning and teaching for some of the prisoners on Robben Island once restrictions were lifted in 1967. Although this knowledge makes him proud he also reflects while attending the evangelism conference:

But it was also the time that the perception changed of the WCC’s understanding of mission and evangelism, particularly within some evangelical circles. In ’68, at the WCC Assembly in Uppsala, controversial things were said which led some evangelical missiologists to question the WCC’s understanding of evangelism. Mutual mistrust set in, the echoes of which can still be heard today by those with ears to hear. In recent years, however, relationships have started to grow again and there is the potential, in my view at least, for there to be a renewed engagement between the ecumenical and evangelical wings of the Christian community. This engagement must be established primarily by working together in mission for the sake of a loving God and to serve a desperately needy world.

His post has triggered an interesting comment by Ian Chisnall which includes this:

However evangelicalism based on my understanding is intended to enrich and strengthen the whole church, even the parts which do not do things like evangelicals. So to the parts of the church which are not evangelical in definition. It is fantastic that the WCC today has many evangelicals at its heart (although some evangelicals today would not be aware of this).

Meanwhile the WCC's general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit has also been in Cape Town - in itself quite historic, the first time a WCC GS has been invited. In bringing greetings, Tveit made his evengelical and ecumenical background clear, and spoke clearly about the need for reconciliation as part of our unity and mission:

Ever since I read the Lausanne covenant for the first time when I was 15 years old, I was struck by the clarity of its vision: We are called to share the gospel of reconciliation with all. I have seen how this is exactly what happens in all our member churches every Sunday.

No regular reader of this blog needs to be told that I'm not an evangelical. Yet I do believe essentially in the power of the story of Jesus to change people's lives and to continually change and challenge my life. And of course the word "évangélique" has several tones of meaning in French - it can simply mean gospel-like but it can also mean evangelical. I've been thinking about this very much today after speaking with a fellow interpreter currently working in Guatemala. As I was interviewing her Karla Koll kept on saying that her theological work with pastors and lay people in the church was how to respond to being followers of Jesus in the continuing atmosphere of violence in that country.

One of the liberations and transformations the whole church needs to experience is surely to learn to follow Jesus more surely and not to suspect and accuse our fellow Christian brothers and sisters of doing it so much more imperfectly than we are. There is a not very Christian knee-jerk reaction against the "other" on the so-called liberal and the so-called evangelical "wings". We all need to really rediscover that ministry of reconciliation for ourselves, part of which will be to confess that we have not always loved our Christian neighbours as ourselves. The way forwards calls for some humility and some real translation and interpretation skills.

"That they may all be one."

With Christ we continue to pray ...

You can read Karla's letters from Guatemala here. And you can follow the Cape Town conference on their great twitter feed here.

Travelling ...

So today the stranzblog is travelling back to Geneva in order on Saturday to travel once more though this time by plane to the USA for the first time in my life.
More about that soon. For now my head is full of ideas about mission, evangelism, missionaires, clergy, the gospel and how to authentically witness to Christ today. As I come down to earth after a chaotic and tiring time of interpreting and communications work I might even get around to writing something, we'll see!

Meanwhile this post is being written from the champagne bar at London St Pancras - which may explain the dodgey typing!

Spanish is the first mother tongue of Christians world wide

One of the things that happens to you in any job is that you pick up random facts and one of the great things about blogging is that you can bore other people with them!
In the session presenting the Atlas of global Christianity yesterday there was a fascinating slide on the languages of Christianity and the shifts in those languages since the 1910 Edinburgh conference. So in 2010 Spanish is the most spoken mother tongue of Christians worldwide.
It so happens that here in the press room at Edinburgh 2010 we have a great Spanish writer Manuel Lopez, who has just launched a really great newspaper for his church in Spain. It looks great - not churchy at all - and makes me wish I understood more Spanish and could really enjoy reading it.
To find out more go to Puert A bierta.

Laying down stones which are younger than God

One of the things about the worship at Edinburgh 20110 I've particularly appreciated so far has been the blending of bagpipes and drums to call people to worship and to welcome people from around the world to the conference. It's been a great use of the external spaces and a wonderful way of blending cultures.
I've also appreciated the way that there has been sensitivity to language on the part of those leading worship and the way in which sermons have been allowed and talking and walking with the biblical themes has been encouraged. It's a blend of styles that may not work for everyone but which I've appreciated so far.
So yesterday morning stones which folk had brought from around the world were handed out to us and we held them and lay them down on the Celtic cross made out of cloth on the floor of the inside worship space. Blending the outside and inside spaces for teh worship has also worked well - mainly because the Scottish weather has been treating us with sunshine and mild weather.

Here's part of the opening liturgy, following bagpipes and the singing of Praise tot eh Lord the Almighty in four languages.

What I hold in my hand
is older than me ...
and older

What I hold in my hand is older than my name, my language, my culture ...
and older

It is as old a s the soil
as old as the sea ...
and older

It is as old as the earth
but younger than God

Wacky palm fronds and powerful worship

Now some people might fear that this photo is part of my feminist plot to prove that the meeting here is overfilled with balding men but a) the Edinburgh 2010 meeting in more diverse than this picture shows b) your attention is supposed to be drawn to the totally wacky palm trees in the background - I'm hoping there will be some rather better photos of them on the Edinburgh 2010 site. I am not sure why but I really love these wacky cloth palm trees which looked blown by the wind. Standing up amongst them is the wonderful and equally colourful John Bell of the Iona community. This picture is from last night's welcoming songs and words, which was like the palm fronds a wonderfully joyful, colourful and tuneful time.
Scattered around the Pollock Halls conference venue the palm trees decorate special entrances and halls. But in colourful and yet discreet ways there are also coloured cloth leaves scattered in the gardens, often with the word peace, paz, pace embroidered on them.
Anyway I am already trying to work out if they will auction the palms off at the end of the meeting and whether I could carry one back on the eurostar. Wonder if I can convince a colleague to take the interpretation equipment for me so I can carry a wacky cloth palm home. More photos of them soon - they are lovely but somehow impossible to photo.

At Edinburgh 2010 and still learning more about global Christianity

The Stranzblog took the train from Geneva to Edinburgh - yes all my colleagues thought I was crazy - to attend the Edinburgh 2010 event. The journey was fabulous and easy - and took about 13 hours. Three capital cities - Paris, London, Edinburgh - and four countries - Switzerland, France, England and Scotland - in one day. It was fun, though I was carrying the interpretation equipment which is a bit bulky.
I'm here to interpret into French and until this morning I was not sure whether I would be needed but in the end, despite several participants from Western Africa having their visas refused, I will be needed for the plenary sessions. This morning's session was an interesting one with a keynote address from professor Dana Robert on the need to find an eschatological vision for mission in 2010. Her speech will be online in a few moments. Keep checking the Edinburgh 2010 website.

This afternoon I was in one of the "tracks" which received a very interesting presentation on the Atlas of Global Christianity pictured here.
It was fascinating to see visuals of changes between 1910 and 2010 in how religions and Christianity in particular in spread around the world. I'm off to another meeting now so that will have to do for now.

Ten marks of leadership - more from Prodigal Kiwis

I have lots and lots I want to actually write and blog about - hypermobilitiy, the improbability of the good Christmas sermon, the role of design in building up community and relationships, lots of books and more thoughts about Venice - but for the moment I'm just using my blog as a way to keep track of some of the things I've been reading on leadership. Below is yet more from Paul Fromont at Prodigal Kiwis on the book pictured here. I find it partiuclarly interesting that much of the thinking around leadership in the churches is coming from those thinking about mission.
Developing Change Leaders: The principles and practices of change leadership development ~ Paul Aitken (Author), Malcolm Higgs

Here's what Paul Fromont wrote:

Mike Crowl, writing from “the mainland”, recently pointed me to what sounds like a fascinating "leadership" read – Developing Change Leaders (US: Nov. 2009 / 318 pages / pb.) written by Paul Aitken and Malcolm Higgs.

Mike writes:

“...In the latest NZ Institute of Management newsletter there's a short piece on some master classes held by visiting speaker, Paul Aitken (the author of Developing Change Leaders). Aitken calls the following ten points the 'dynamic capabilities' needed by change leaders.

1. Dealing with ambivalence – having the capacities to “wait and see”, keep an open mind and be comfortable with contradiction;
   
2. Accessing the diverse range of capabilities across the leadership team;
   
3. Creating a learning environment;
   
4. Future sense-making combined with strategic thinking which requires a strong external focus;
   
5. “Total” or authentic leadership – i.e., an ability to continually walk the talk;
   
6. Trans-cultural competence – an awareness that one size doesn’t fit all;
   
7. Relational skills – the ability to coach;
   
8. Dialogue skills – or process consulting;
   
9. Emotional intelligence;
   
10. The ability to manage the high quality performance challenge, culture and dialogue.

Aitken says, “If people can’t relate well or have quality conversations with people, then they’re not going to be leading anyone.” Church leaders, take note!”

Thanks Mike; that was a useful distillation of some key themes in relation to leadership at this point of time and on into the future.

You can find a 15 minute radio interview (can be listened to online or downloaded as an Mp3) here. Gill South offered a few thoughts on Aitken’s understanding of leadership here in a NZ Herald story (14/12/09).

Can the west be converted?

This morning at prayers Theodore Gill read an extended passage from Lesslie Newbigin's essay "Can the West be converted?". Earlier in the week our general secretary Samuel Kobia in his valedictory sermon remembered Newbigin who would have been 100 on 8 December.
I was fortunate to have been taught mission by Lesslie - though as is the way of youth I was not entirely convinced that this was a privilege at the time! I was very sure about the church's role in politics (this was in the midst of Thatcherism), I was also not at all convinced by the anti-enlightenment agenda that Newbigin seemed to pushing at the time - we used to have quite animated discussions about this at West Midlands Synod meetings. He was always polite, errudite and attentive - and very good company as well as being much more left wing than I expected! (His son was writing speeches at the time for Neil Kinnock the then leader of the labour party.) He found it a bit surprising that most of those interested in his ideas in those days were on the evangelical wing of the church.
Having been "away" from what might be termed home for nearly 20 years now I can sympathise better with some of his displacement problems. Missionaries go home and find neither the church they had left behind - yet taken with them in their heart and memory - nor do they find the vibrancy of the church they discovered and served in the mission field. Lesslie served in retirement at Winson Green URC - an urban priority area with a very multicultural population and quite extreme poverty. That humbles me - that was the sort of area I was intending to serve in and somehow I seem to have ended up in one of the richest parts of the world talking alot about poverty and justice ...
When he moved back to the UK Lesslie began his retirement by reading the whole of Barth's Dogmatics - something for Dr B to look forward to perhaps (however, Barth will not be the book on my desert island!).
Listening to what was read this morning I was struck by how very reasonable what he said seemed - and doubtless how wrong I had been ... 25 years on the tectonic plates in the church in the west have really moved and the resonance of the need to take the gospel outside the institutions is felt all the more keenly. Perhaps the churches as institutions - denominations in particular - are killing off the gospel rather than bearing witness to it.
So the question remains - can the west be converted?
Over on Open Source Ecumenism Dr B has also been remembering Lesslie Newbigin and there are some good links to further articles there. Like many missionaries he was also an excellent linguist, using those skills to serve, translate, listen and understand. Dr B has also posted Newbigin's hilarious account of writing the final message of the WCC's first assembly in 1948. Very funny in whichever language you read it.

I go to morning prayer to pray, have my horizons widened and learn new things

This week through the ecumenical prayer cycle we are praying for Canada and the United States. This morning the focus was on Canada. We listened to a recording of the wonderful Huron carol translated by Jean de Brébeuf, prayed some wonderful and very funny words by Karl Barth, listened to verses from John's gospel. In preparation for the gospel reading we listened to an extract from Stephen Neill's, A History of Christian Missions, The Penguin History of the Church 2nd edition (US printing), Penguin, New York and London, 1986, p.171

A veil of romance has concealed from the world what life among the Indians was really like. With noble courage they combined unbelievable squalor, treachery, and bestial cruelty. Conditions of life for the missionaries were miserable; communications were so difficult that at one time the rule had to be made that no more than three drops of wine could be allowed for each Mass. The constant wars between the Indians threatened the peace of the mission. In 1642 Father Isaac Jogues was captured by the Iroquois and brutally tortured. He managed to escape, but in 1646 returned among them, saying Ibo et non redibo, “I shall go but not return”. His prophecy was true; on 18 October 1646 he was murdered, to be followed the next day by the young layman, Jean de la Lande, who was his companion. Worse was to follow. In 1649-40 the Iroquois fell on the Hurons and practically exterminated them; the three Jesuit missionaries Brébeuf, Lalemant, and Garnier were tortured and burned alive. This was practically the end of the mission. Various further attempts at missionary work were made throughout the area which is now Canada and the United States, but with little lasting success. The missionaries were, in fact, watching the tragedy of the red man. Neither Britain, France, nor Holland comes well out of this.
The inhuman cynicism with which the white man engaged the Indian in his own
quarrels, setting Indian against Indian and Indian against European, makes one of the most shameful passages of colonial history. To make things worse, “drink and the devil had done for the rest”; the Indian could not resist the temptation of the white man’s fire-water, and here as elsewhere the supply of alcohol to a primitive people was almost tantamount to deliberate murder.

Find the ful order of morning prayer here, recommended for Barth's prayer if nothing else which includes the inimitable lines:

Be the Lord of the well-fed and of the underfed,
and also of those who are called to speak and write,
whether they produce creations that are good or not so good.

If tonight I learn how to transfer the audio files from my Nokia we might even be able to offer podcasts of morning prayer soon. However, I susupect this may require technological skill I do not yet have ...