From Gareth

By now you've probably heard, viewed, read or been told about the "Make Kony Famous" campaign. If not you've probably recently re-entered Earth's orbit. After reading various Facebook comments from friends (and friends of friends, news commentator's and other pundits I thought I'd add my two cents worth.
As of 8:05pm tonight the video has over 49 and a half million views on YouTube and another 14+ million on Vimeo. Wow! For a viral campaign those numbers are staggering. 
From the outset I'll say that the campaign is not perfect. The interview with his son is contrived and some of the facts are either obscured or out of date (which given the timeframe involved in producing the film is understandable). There is a strong sense that American Christians are out to save the poor Ugandan's victimised by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army. Whilst the numbers of child soldiers (30,000 over 20 years) is terrible the Ugandan population is over 34 million, meaning we cannot categorise all Ugandan boys as child soldiers or the girls as sex slaves. Uganda is one of the few African nations to see AIDS and HIV rates drop. This film is not a way to categorise Uganda, merely a grisly part of it's history and present.One of the current discussions within the development field is how aid from "western" countries is given and whether outside "experts" are required. It is a colonial legacy whereby the recipients of aid are not involved in decision making or aid provision. However the notion of participatory development whereby those on the receiving end are involved in the process is becoming more of a factor. Roughly a third of income is spent on African projects which at a cursory glance seem to follow this model.It is very easy to view a movie, put up a banner, wear a T-shirt or bracelet or give some money without thinking the process through. So it is vital that we take note of the issues raised and research them in order to seek truth. Invisible Children have received strong criticism for their methods, expenses and governance but have come out openly and answered them on their website which is to be commended.  What IC have done incredibly well is raise this issue in a clear manner with simple means of action. They excel at using social media and the attention span of mainly young people to spread the message. Yes, it's been an ongoing problem, and is probably a declining one (Foreign Policy magazine numbers the LRA in the hundreds) but Kony is still out there and wanted by the International Criminal Court. When caught will we view the millions raised and spent by IC as a solid investment? 
Furthermore the campaign leads to other and currently deeper issues in Uganda. Nodding disease "grips children by seizures in which their heads move up and down. The ailment prevents them from eating properly and many afflicted children become stunted physically and mentally." (From www.globalpost.com) How many of us would know about this on our own.
As I write earlier, the campaign is not perfect, but no such program is. If we waited until they were perfect nothing would be happening. It is easy to criticise, but IC have put themselves out there in order to see one problem dealt with. The question for me is, "would we rather IC have not bothered with it?" My answer is no. This campaign has created a wider, enormous global audience which can be further transferred into other issues in Uganda and other African regions.
So watch, research, pray and then act. Give money if you want, write letters, wear bracelets and T-shirts, put up signs but most importantly don't be ignorant. Every day human rights ranging from the unborn to the elderly are violated across the globe (including your city and perhaps even your street). By doing something we can change the world. 

Wynnum Church of Christ will host the “Land is Life” display produced by Oxfam Australia. 
It follows the latest United Nations climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa from November 28 to December 9, documenting the stories of people from the Western Cape of South Africa and the small Pacific Island nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu – showing communities on the frontline of climate change.

The exhibition will also be open on the following days:
Monday December 12 9-3pm
Tuesday December 13 7-9pm
Wednesday December 14 9am-3pm 
Thursday December 15 7-9pm

http://www.oxfam.org.au/act/events/land-is-life

www.wynnumcoc.org.au

This Sunday, November 20, we have two opportunities.

Visiting two of the ladies from church who are in nursing homes.

Doing some cleaning of some outdoor furniture at one of BABI's properties.

September 19, 2011
Skye Jethani: Recipe for Church-365 (Part 1)
What if a church embraced the idea of institutional impermanence?

by Skye Jethani


A few weeks ago I had lunch with Darren Whitehead from Willow Creek. Darren is a great bloke (I can say that because he’s an Aussie), and we talked candidly about our experiences in the church, in leadership, and the way we see church adapting to the shifting culture. Toward the end of our lunch he asked me if I’d ever considering working on a church staff again. “I’ve learned never to say never,” I replied, “but it would have to be a very different kind of church.”

“Like what?” he asked. I rattled off some half-baked answer, but his question has lingered in my mind. What kind of church would I want to help lead?

As I’ve ruminated on that question, I’ve gone back and read a number of articles, blog posts, and editorials I’ve written in the past few years–pieces about the church’s narrow definition of mission, the tendency to over-institutionalize church, the false-belief that perpetuity equal success, rediscovering a theology of vocation, and the danger of making mission an idol at the expense of communion with God.

With all of these ingredients now in the mixing bowl of my mind, I’ve decided to give a more than half-baked answer to Darren’s question. What follows is not a complete recipe but an experiment. It’s my way of welcoming other cooks into my mental kitchen. I want your thoughts and feedback. Am I on to something, or am I completely out to lunch? And please don’t take these ideas as a criticism of other models of church. God has used, and will continue to use, many different churches to accomplish his purposes.

I am calling this experiment Church365, and so far I've outlined 5 ingredients. Here's the first:

Ingredient One: Institutional Impermanence

Elsewhere I’ve written about the “perpetuity problem”–the belief that if something lasts it’s a success. This cultural bias leads us to believe that an institution must endure, and too often churches allow this assumption to dictate decisions that may be contrary to the Spirit’s leading and unhelpful to God’s mission.

Similarly, some church leaders can fall into the trap of believing their calling is to perpetuate a 501c3 organization we call “the church,” rather than to empower and equip the people of God (a.k.a., the church) to bless the world. Originally we established buildings, budgets, staffs, structures, and programs to serve and empower people, but somehow the tail starts wagging the dog and people come to serve and empower the organization.

But how do we avoid this trap? Some believe the answer is to jettison the organization altogether. The organic church movement rejects these structures as a hindrance to mission and authentic community. But I don’t fully subscribe to this belief. I think structure is important, and depending on one’s setting a building, or programs, or staff may be entirely prudent. But how do we properly employ organizational structure while avoiding the slippery slope into institutionalism?

My time last year with Bob Goff gave me an idea. Bob is utterly crazy, wonderful, and inspiring. He told me about the difficulty early in his legal career of practicing law while keeping his family his priority. When it proved impossible, Bob quit the firm he had been working for and started is own. But he knew the danger. Law firms, like churches, feel the insatiable need to expand institutionally. And before long he would exist to serve his firm rather than his family. His solution? Shut down the firm every year.

Everyone at Bob’s firm understands that at the end of each year the organization will close up shop. Bob then decides whether or not he wants to keep the firm going. If he does, and there is no guarantee, he literally gets down on one knee and proposes to each of his employees by saying, “Will you practice law with me for one more year?” Like Bob, they are each free to say yes or no. This one-year-at-a-time approach keeps the perpetuity problem in check.

What if a church operated that way? What if leaders gathered to prayerfully discern whether it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to them to continue the church for one more year? If the answer is yes, then they commit to one another for another 365 days. If the answer is no, they celebrate what God has done, reallocate people and resources, and anticipate a new call trusting the mission will continue even if this organization does not.

This 365-days-at-a-time approach would put significant boundaries in place to keep organizational creep from occurring. It’s pretty hard to secure a mortgage, incur debt, or rehab a facility in one year. And good luck hiring a large number of full-time employees when job security isn’t part of the package. But this approach also honors the Holy Spirit by holding our institutional structures with open hands, knowing that when the wind of the Spirit shifts we are ready and willing to shift with it. And this model honors church members by keeping them from becoming too dependent, both temporally and spiritually, upon the institution. It forces everyone to remember that church structures are a transient means to an end, not an end in themselves.

But what about those good and necessary programs and structures that require a more permanent organization? I’m thinking about church-based community programs, shelters, food banks, etc. I’ll address some in later posts, but if God does lead some within the church to begin these kinds of programs they can be launched as independent 501c3 organizations linked to, but not technically part of, the church.

Another objection I've heard is that institutional impermanence will fuel church-shopping and perpetuate the lack of commitment that plagues Christian communities. But I'm not sure that's the case. After all, it's entirely possible that a Church365 could exist for 20 or more years...if leaders discern that's God's leading. They just wouldn't assume this is God's will.

Stay tuned for ingredient two of Skye's recipe for Church365

Skye Jethani (@skye_jethani) is senior editor of Leadership Journal, Out of Ur, and Catalyst Leadership. He also serves as the senior producer of This is Our City, a new project for Christianity Today. He blogs regularly atThe Huffington Post and SkyeJethani.com. 

September 26, 2011
Skye Jethani: Recipe for Church-365 (Part 2)
Reaffirming a theology of vocation and cultural flourishing in the church.

by Skye Jethani


Read part 1 of "Recipe for Church365.

Ingredient Two: Cultural Flourishing

As I discussed in my first book, The Divine Commodity, when church institutionalism grows out of control, we come to believe that programs rather than people are the vessels of God’s Spirit and mission in the world. When this occurs we begin to honor people for their involvement in, or service for, the church. But what they do with the remainder of their time gets little attention. When this assumption is reinforced over decades, a hierarchy of importance is established with church leaders (pastors and missionaries) at the top. Others are then only celebrated when they behave like pastors or missionaries, or when they leave their “worldly” professions to devote themselves to “full-time Christian service.”

What I’m describing is the contemporary Western church’s abandonment of a theology of vocation. During the Reformation church leaders began to apply the term “vocation” (Latin for “calling”) to all believers and not simply the clergy. It was understood that all callings were valid before God, and each glorified him and provided a critical service in the world. In other words, the life of the painter, politician, or podiatrist is just as God-honoring as that of the priest when done in communion with Christ and for the benefit of others.

Effort has been underway to recapture this theology for the American church. Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making has helped us re-engage the cultural mandate in Genesis 1, and Gabe Lyons’ has articulated the “7 channels of cultural influence” through the Q Gatherings and website. But what would this look like if embraced by a local church?

It would mean embracing the conviction that the Gospel is about God redeeming all things through Jesus Christ. While the redemption of people is of paramount importance, too often this is all the church values when Scripture reveals a God interested in the entirety of his creation. As John Stott so wonderfully put it in the Lausanne Covenant, it’s about “the whole church, taking the whole gospel, to the whole world.” It’s about revealing the reign of Jesus Christ as a present reality over all parts of the cosmos.

In this spirit, Church365 would honor each person’s calling no matter which sector of the culture he or she is engaged in. And it would reinforce the idea that we are the church 365 days a year in each part of the community. Rather than cajoling people out of the culture to participate more in weekly church activities, and thereby establishing an implicit competition between the church and other sectors of the culture for a person’s time and energy, Church365 would see it’s role as convening people from each cultural sector once a week to share about God’s good work in the world and find encouragement, equipping, and edification.

It would also mean ordaining believers for the good work God has called them to in business, education, government, arts & entertainment, media, the social sector, or the household. And celebrating the good things they produce in each of these areas–not simply when they behave like a pastor or missionary in them. By blessing and equipping the saints to God’s work, (remember God is in the universe business, not just the church business), and affirming his particular calling for each of them, the people of Church365 would be seeking the flourishing of the entire community by deconstructing the clergy-laity hierarchy evangelicalism has rebuilt since the Reformation.

Stay tuned for ingredient three of Skye's recipe for Church365

Skye Jethani (@skye_jethani) is senior editor of Leadership Journal, Out of Ur, and Catalyst Leadership. He also serves as the senior producer of This is Our City, a new project for Christianity Today. He blogs regularly atThe Huffington Post and SkyeJethani.com. 

From Tall Skinny Kiwi.http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2011/09/hey-children.html#tpe-action-posted-6a00d8341c5bb353ef014e8bce83c1970d
We are camped about 15kms from Ephesus, Turkey. So this morning, being Sunday, we passed the Bible around the family and each of us read a chapter of Ephesians.

What stuck out to me was when Paul addresses the children directly:

"Children, obey your parents." 6:1

This letter would have been read out to family groups  - fathers, mothers, children all sitting together, like we were this morning. Paul did not say  "Parents, when you go home, tell your children to obey you". The children were there. Church had not become a boring meeting designed for parents and no longer endurable by children.

I wonder how many church services today are geared for the whole family and how many have slipped into the assumption that church is a boring meeting for older people, a meeting that children could not possibly sit through without leaving right before the message for a more child-friendly experience.

Its been encouraging to see children integrated into family-oriented church events, and more than just having a children's talk in the middle. We have see art supplies, paints, toys, areas for kids to play around and be kids during the service without being told to sit still or shut up. Sometimes the kids even get to respond to the message.

Kids are kids. Their involvement is vital. Lets learn to make space for them.

RELATED:

- Kids in church and the dumb things they say - like the 3 year old who prayed

"Our Father, Who does art in heaven, Harold is His name. Amen."

- Special needs kids in church

This Sunday we'll be doing some work at the BABI office, 34 Bay Tce, Wynnum. Come along from 10:30am for some gardening, painting and cleaning.
Bring any tools you've got.

Afterwards we'll share lunch at the Man's house. Bring something to share.

Saturday July 23 1-4pm at the church.

Ever feel like life's getting too much? 
Stressed and can't relax?

The church will be open for you to come and take some time out from normal life to reflect, pray or meditate. There's free coffee, tea and food. Plus if you want to talk to someone, you can.