Praxis Communities | Category Archives: Reflections

Reflections

Every event & activity should have a harvest. You can find them here: articles, how-tos, and learnings gleaned from our life together.

I have been sitting with death these past few weeks. My uncle died two weeks ago, our family gathered around his bedside and said prayers and told stories and wept. We honored him and said goodbye and had a service and a celebration. And yet, grief is a strange creature. It seems to wind its way into your heart and take up residence, and then it overflows in the most unlikely moments. I have found myself weeping in the shower and oversharing in front of colleagues – I’m noticing how my own family story plays out in other relationships at work and at home, and the things I’m mourning are more than one person but layers and layers of unexpressed emotions and frustrations with myself, my family, the church, and our society at large.

A week after my uncle died, I attended a Dia de los Muertos service at the Latino Ministry Center in Forest Park. Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead is a time of joy to celebrate the lives of our loved ones who are no longer here with us but to remember them as part of that ‘great cloud of witnesses’ who surround us in prayer and community throughout time. I loved the opportunity to gather with more than 75 people and to pray in Spanish prayers of remembrance. My friend, Maggie, asked us to share stories of loved ones and a few people did, but mostly there was an awkward silence – one woman just shook her head and said “I can’t, it’s too sad.” I found beauty and holiness there that night. Praying those prayers in Spanish, trying to sing and respond in a foreign language reminded me that grief is a foreign language. It feels awkward and vulnerable and hard. You feel like you are saying and doing everything wrong. And yet, it’s all we have – we show up and speak words that can’t be fully formed because we don’t know the words, we laugh awkwardly because we don’t know what to say, we sit in silence and hope that our presence and leaky eyes somehow give honor to what our jumbled words and emotions can’t adequately express.

Something else has happened during these weeks of grief, as I think through endings not just of physical life, but death in all forms – shifting collegial relationships, our dog is living out his final days, and this election season has for me been a reminder of the dying of systems of influence and power that all too often the church has been complicit in creating and re-creating instead of transcending. I have been wondering what we leave behind when things die. What is our inheritance – what seeds will fall to the earth, the hope of a future re-birth not yet seen? I have been afraid that our inheritance is fear and anxiety. That we care more about preserving ourselves, our money, and power, and egos than we do about our common humanity. What if we care more about self-preservation than about love poured out for others?

But I am realizing that it is all bound up together – this grief and fear and anxiety is mixed in with joy and hope and beauty. We are our best, when we stand together in our grief. In the moments after my uncle died, my dad and aunt and cousins and my cousin’s three year old son were sitting in my uncle’s hospital room. My uncle had always loved tennis, so they had put tennis balls under his hands as he lay dying. My aunt handed her grandson, one of the balls and asked if he would like to have it. He nodded and with a big smile stretching over his face – he took the ball and raised it over his head and sent it bouncing across the slick floors of the hospital room and his laughter rang out – we couldn’t help ourselves, we laughed with him and began bouncing balls back and forth over and under my uncle’s body – life lived in the midst of death. Our tears and laughter, life and death these things cannot be unwound or compartmentalized.

At Dia de los Muertos, the very best part for me, was the abundance of children, coloring, playing, talking, singing, praying, and making lots of noise. As a mother and a priest, it was so refreshing to see children welcomed with their exuberance and life into the midst of a service remembering and honoring those who have died. I think we want to protect young children (and maybe more ourselves) from realizing just how thin the veil is between life and death, that we are one body, one church, and that the saints here on earth and the saints at rest are united together both now and in the time to come.

Part of the Eucharistic Prayer that night was translated, “In the fullness of time, you sent your own Son, who emigrated from heaven to earth, and he who was in communion with you made himself one with us.” We are one. With God, with one another, with the living, and the dead. We are one. Which means if we are to live together, we have to be willing to die together.

On this morning after the election, when so many are feeling all is lost, my dear friend, Karl Stevens, gave me hope in posting this: “Giving up power is what Christians are called to do. There is no resurrection without death…it feels like something is dying. I can only hope and pray that this feeling of death will bear fruit, that there will be a resurrection which will, like all resurrections, be utterly surprising.”

May we learn to live with such hope, and may we let each other and the things of this world die with grace. And may we search out the seeds of joy that will bear fruit now and in the time to come! May it be so.

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October 27, 2016 by Jane Gerdsen

Praxis School of Mission: Our Newest Experiment

We are officially announcing our newest experiment! We are inviting you to join us in what we are calling Praxis School of Mission. The idea for this emerged during our pilgrimage to England last year as we noticed a series of learning hubs spring up around England to explore fresh expressions of church. We were inspired by these communities and got to spend some time with the students/pioneers/missioners while we were there. Our Praxis “School of Mission” is birthed out of a longing we have to have a more regular way to gather together, to deepen our learning, and to support each other in our various communities. We hope to provide a place of co-learning and a community of practice for missioners and spiritual entrepreneurs. It is our goal to help generative leaders (like you!) imagine new ways to engage God’s mission in the neighborhood and create a place to reflect together on what we are learning and doing to deepen our experiences.

Who is this for?
We are seeking people who can commit to meet one Saturday a month. Each session, we use half of the time for a speaker or an in depth study discussion on a book or other resource and half of the time is to be a cohort gathering where we might share case studies and practical applications for what we learned together. We plan to explore a theology of mission, learning about our contexts through topics such as asset based community development, ethnography and listening to non-dominant cultures, and ways of starting and sustaining missional endeavors. We hope to hear from practitioners who have done this in other places and to do some immersions in our own communities and even co-host these gatherings with you.

When?
This year’s cohort has already launched. The dates for 2016-2017 are: September 17, October 8, November 19, December 10, January 7, February 11, March 4, April 8, May 6, June 2-3. We know not everyone will be able to attend each session but we hope you will commit to attend regularly. This will help us build a cohort community and support each other in our missional endeavors. This year is a pilot program, but we intend to open the School of Mission up more broadly in 2017-2018.

Apply

If you are interested in being part of the Praxis School of Mission or are beginning a new missional initiative, we invite you to fill out the registration form we have created. Register Here! It is our expectation that participants in the Praxis School of Mission will be actively leading or engaged in the formation of a community or missional context. We expect that in order to fully engage in this work you will be an active practitioner. Filling out the registration form also helps us to know more about what you hope to learn or what you are working on in your own context.

Join us in following Jesus into the Neighborhood!
Will you join us in creating a community of practitioners who will support, affirm, challenge and hold each other accountable to living out God’s dream together? Please feel free to call or email me, Jane, (or my co-conspirators, Aaron, Jed, and Karl) with any questions or suggestions about the School of Mission. I pray this dream speaks to your own hopes for what God is doing in your neighborhood and in your heart!

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June 7, 2016 by Jed Dearing

A Whisper of Something Else

By Anna Berger

No one in the world knows you’re here,

Atop this ridge with your rose-flushed face and the dirt smudges up and down your faintly aching legs,

you are alone.

But God is no one because God is the One and the world is God’s and there’s a whisper of something else in this place amongst the silence.

Someone else?

It takes the solitude to realize that the solitude is not absolute,

To realize that you are you anywhere and everywhere,

Under the din and the clamor and the glare from the sun that reflects and distracts and detracts from the thing itself.

To realize that life is life everywhere,

That true faith and true life are in the little moments, the sticky moments, the ones that the writers and the filmmakers conveniently pass over.

You are here,

and the other creatures in these woods, they too are here,

and you are all here together and that is important.

In mid-May, the Confluence Service Corps members spent a contemplative weekend in silence at the Abbey of Getsemani in Bardstown, Kentucky, taking the time to reflect on their year of service, justice, and community, further engaging in discernment through prayer, journaling, and meditation. Follow the link for other selected reflections from their time.

https://confluenceyear.org/2016/06/02/reflections-from-the-monastery/

Confluence is accepting applications for the 2016-17 Episcopal Service Corps Year. College grads between the ages of 21 – 30 are encouraged to apply today! https://esc.hiretouch.com/

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May 6, 2016 by Praxis

How can we respond to the climate change crisis from disciplines that aren’t in the sciences?

Climate change is both a wicked problem and a grand challenge. These are OSU Dance Professor Norah Zuniga Shaw’s words, and, as she pointed out to the Ministerium a few weeks ago, most people don’t feel personally equipped to do anything about wicked problems and grand challenges. We all know that climate change is a reality, but, beyond recycling and watching our energy footprint, most of us feel that there’s very little that we, personally, can do about it. Particularly at a time when we are overwhelmed by change. New technologies, new social behaviors, and the collapse of old institutions can leave us feeling lost at sea. But for Norah, this means that it’s time to take stock of our gifts, abilities, and choices, rather than to despair.

“What do you do to respond to uncertainty and change?” She asked us, and then asked us to list out some answers to that question. This was what she calls a “priming process,” in which a problem is stated (we live in a time of great change) and people are invited to name the agency they already have (list the responses). As a pedagogical method, these priming processes come out of the world of dance, and especially out of the work of one of Norah’s mentors, the West Coast dancer Simone Forti. They allow groups to have a certain kind of conversation and then see what kinds of associations arise from those conversations.

Having been primed in this way, we were then asked to think about that huge, overwhelming question of climate change, and relate it to our own disciplines. Since most of us in the Ministerium are clergy, lay religious leaders, and theologians, it came as no surprise that many of our disciplines had to do with God and community. But Norah pushed us to think beyond our work and consider our practices and our identities as well. She handed out a worksheet that had three simple questions, and space to answer them.

How do we confront ecological crisis through __________? (Make a quick list of your disciplines, working methods, experience you bring, and who taught you.)

What are your practices of taking action/making/doing and what role might your practices play in activating alternative futures? (List your practices and where you learned them, try not to edit yourself, just write what comes.)

What do you know already about climate change as a _____________ and who else can you turn to for answers? (List your relevant identities, relevant geographies, disciplinary groundings, relationships, and what you already know from these positions.)

Norah used these methods with dance students to create the piece “Let’s Make Climate Change.” She found that bringing the topic of climate change into the studio helped students engage with it. Suddenly a wicked problem was scaled to a size where they could respond to it by using their gifts, not just as dancers but as students, young people, women and men, children, romantic partners, and everything else that comprised their identities. And the things that they already did, those daily practices that we all have, could be brought to bear on the problem.

We’re all in the position of those dancers. We have gifts and positions within our wider culture that help us address any problem. We have daily practices that have great power. Solutions to any problem arise when a great number of people bring their diverse abilities to bear on it, when they name their personal responses and bring these responses together into grand collaborations.

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May 3, 2016 by Aaron Wright

The Real Reason We Are Here

There was still a lot to do when I woke up early that rainy gray Saturday morning in March. In just a couple of hours I was to be at Gabriel’s Place setting up for a potluck and conversation with gardeners, farmers and foodies to connect and share our passion of growing, sharing and eating food. I felt my anxiety rise as I stared at the task list I had scribbled down the night before. One of the tasks “Make chicken and rice,” made me say aloud, “What was I thinking? I don’t have time for this.”

As I began chopping shallots that Leslie had planted in our Brendan’s Crossing garden last spring, I noticed it was quiet enough to hear my own thoughts and more importantly the words of Wendell Berry and Brian Andreas that I would later share with the group. This morning silence is a rare luxury afforded to me by the fact that my three boys had spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and my wife, Brooke, was still sound asleep. I took a deep breath, slowed down and chose to focus intently on this task and the gift of this quiet morning.

Though we had dried herbs in the cabinet, I decided a potluck for gardeners and farmers required a walk out back to the backyard of the Riddle House to see what other gifts might find their way into the pot. I pulled on a jacket and my mud boots and headed out into the drizzle and a rare moment of greater awareness.

I walked past the old garden the Mennonites tended for nearly a century before us.

I picked two of this spring’s first asparagus spears that Jason and Emily helped plant over 6 years ago.

I walked past the chicken that Chad gave us and that Johnna nursed back to health (Don’t worry! He stayed in the coop – for now.)

I crossed the bridge that Te helped build.

I picked some sage that Jane gave us.

I opened the garden gate that Riley built as part of the fence that Darrell built to keep out the pesky deer.

I picked the marjoram that Brianna planted from the soil that Carl and Paul helped her shovel.

I picked the kale that Oliver loves to eat fresh each time he visits the garden.

I picked the thyme that Mac planted.

I brought it all back and threw it in the pot that was a gift from my parents.

I added the stock that Brooke made.

And most importantly – I sipped the coffee that Les, Ryan, Adam and Courtney roasted on Greg and Mary’s farm.

On this one quiet morning, in this one dish, in this one moment of awareness, all these gifts and all these connections came together for me in this one pot.

I thought about the words of Brian Andreas that we painted on the wall of the community house kitchen over a decade ago. They’ve remained a constant truth as eating together has been the one consistent act through all the “fits and starts” of community life.

“There are things you do because they just feel right and they may make no sense and they may make no money and it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other’s cooking and say it was good.”

And on this morning in this dish I would add, “…to eat each other’s cooking and say it was good and realize it’s all connected.”

My wife Brooke often “comments” on the fact that I can never recreate a dish because while I may reference a combination of recipes, I tend to make it up as I go. I’m pretty certain this dish will never be recreated, but here are the ingredients if you want to try:

This story was originally published in the Diocese of Southern Ohio’s latest issue of Connections all about food and farming initiatives in our diocese. Find it and other stories about food and faith here!

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April 7, 2016 by Aaron Wright

To Hull and Back

To Hull and Back

Throughout our pilgrimage people would ask where all we planned to visit during our time in England.

We’d happily answer, “Oxford, London, Nottingham and Hull.”

“Hull?!” the questioning response came with faces that ranged from contorted disgust to sincere concern for our mental well being.

Some of our favorite responses were:

“That’s only one letter away from Hell.”

“Why on Earth would you go to Hull?!”

…and my personal favorite from an iconic older proper British woman,

“Hull?!… Well you’ll have a lovely time in Oxford.”

For all who expressed concern about our plans, I’m happy to report we’ve lived through Hull.

I must say (now that I’ve lived through Hull), I’d encourage all of the naysayers to simply, “Go to Hull!”

(To her credit we did find one enthusiastic Hull advocate. Lois, a well-spoken primary school girl, had taken a field trip to the Aquarium in Hull and was a particular fan of the large bridge which she assured us would remind us of the Titanic – this wasn’t exactly a selling point as we’d need to use said, “Titanic Bridge” to cross a large body of water and enter Hull – “from the mouth of babes”).

From all these reactions, we were bracing ourselves to enter one of the “cities we’ll never see on screen” Lorde sings about. A few clicks online told us that it had a long history as a working class, military, and fishing city. The fishing industry had tanked and was followed by the signs of generational poverty and addiction.

As we drove in, Lois, Hull’s sole advocate, was right – the Bridge is striking! The water too! Then came the less striking signs of suburbia – Staples, Fast Food, big boxes of all kinds… But with one turn off the main road we seemed to step back in time as we entered the Old Town to meet our friend and Pioneer Missioner, Ben Norton. We walked through a side door and were immediately greeted with a vibrant community meeting in the vast beautiful relic of Holy Trinity Hull, England’s largest parish church building. It’s full of beautiful history but is currently undergoing a major and thoughtful renovation to not only preserve its history but more importantly to engage and serve the community of Hull today in relevant ways by adding a café and outdoor concert area and throw open the doors to become a cultural hub as well as a place of worship.

Holy Trinity Hull was just the beginning. We spent three days in Hull and were surprised and delighted at every turn. We witnessed hope, passion, creativity, a variety of Fresh Expressions and many times the undeniable signature of the Holy Spirit.

My fellow pilgrims were so impressed that we decided to join Lois and become advocates for Hull upon our return to the U.S. We experimented with many hashtags to encourage visiting Hull. Ultimately my favourite was #HullYes. It’s the perfect answer to many of the questions you may have while planning your upcoming visit.

I’ve put some of those questions into call and response form below. We’ll start with an easy one for practice:

Hull Advocate: Would I go to Hull again?

People: #HullYes

Will I be able to find “American Style” stuffed crust pizza and an all you can eat sundae bar with sprinkles?

#HullYes

Will I see Jesus?

#HullYes

Will I find the most amazing and innovative school run by the Church of England focusing on the whole child?

#HullYes

Can I see the largest parish church in England?

#HullYes

Is that also the church that contains the baptismal font used on William Wilberforce?

#HullYes it is

Will I see that same church turning outward and creatively reimagining its use for the benefit if the whole community?

#HullYes

Can I find faithful people living deeply into a challenging neighborhood for 20 years, learning how to love their neighbors, consistently feeding children, and demonstrating Christ to the community after the church building has closed and sits empty?

#HullYes

Can I find Christian anarchists occupying an abandoned vicarage with Brazilian artists who paint things like “The Last Cuppa” (Jesus having his last tea with his disciples)?

#HullYes

Will I see families finding a fresh opportunity to experience church in a way that makes sense to them?

#HullYes

What more can I say? Hull was certainly a highlight of our pilgrimage. We were warmly welcomed and inspired over and over again. I could tell story after story to encourage you, but I’ll simply offer one last recommendation:

Go to Hull!

Shortly after our return Hull made the news for an upcoming cultural event. If you’re looking for an excuse to go, maybe this is it

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April 6, 2016 by Jed Dearing

Path Finders in the UK

I stood outside in the vacant abandoned lot at the corner of Central Ave and West Broad, where St. John’s Franklinton hosts Street Church. As worship was about to begin a congregant doubled over in pain, and had trouble standing in the circle, even with her walker. At this time, two of our street church members walked across the lot to West Broad St and tipped over a newspaper stand. Picking it up, they carried it back towards the circle. People started to mutter, wondering if they were stealing it, when they took it over to the congregant and set it behind her on its side, giving her a place to sit in this sea of asphalt. The perfect pew for street church.

I’m not sure if I’ve seen a more fitting picture of what’s needed in the church today. People willing to break the rules and imagine new possibilities to make room for someone that couldn’t otherwise participate in the community. While meeting with Jonny Baker of the Church Mission Society in Oxford, he labeled these folks, Path Finding Dissenters. Those willing to bend the rules, live outside the walls, hack the canons and show the church a new way forward.

We visited three Fresh Expressions of faith in the UK that were getting on with path finding, and creating new avenues for people to engage in Christian community.

Moot, located in financial district of London literally turned the pews of St. Mary Aldermary around. A lot has changed in London in the 900 years since St. Mary Aldermary was built and Moot, the intentional community now guiding the church wasn’t blind to the changes. The location in the financial district means many people are present in the neighborhood from Monday – Friday, but no longer on Sunday. Moot opened its doors to the white collar community by facing the pews at one another, creating a café style space where anyone could enter and share in community over a packed or purchased lunch or a cup of coffee from the café stand. Regular prayer, Taize chants, mediation sessions, and yoga litter the schedule from Monday to Friday as the side chapel remains quiet and a place for reflection and refreshment in the middle of a busy workday. Moot has become the church the community needs, instead of forcing the parish to attend to its schedules, traditions, and desires.

Kahaila Café began its Fresh Expression ministry as a café with a conscious. All profits from the café are poured into supporting local charities, which holds great appeal in the young hipster neighborhood of Brick Lane that longs for value in its purchases. The walls are open for local artists to display and sell their work. As community began to form in conversations in the café and partnerships emerged with local arts groups and charities, a church began to meet on Wednesday evenings in the café itself. The commitment to social good, the arts, and the community created around coffee led to the formation of a worshipping group. This community that formed was able to name the further need for job training and employment opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged women, and has started Luminary Bakery which offers courses, work experience, and employment as bakers, providing a new way forward in life for the women involved. The shared space of Kahaila Café has become both invitational and generative.

Don’t Forget You Cornflakes! No really, don’t forget your cornflakes. This innovative family service is held at All Hallows in Lady Bay, Nottingham. It is the church’s second service and is designed as a Bring & Share service. Families are invited to bring and share their breakfast with one another during a playful and engaging worship service designed for the participation of the entire family. Simple prayers, interactive songs and sermons bring the Gospel to life and create accessibility for families to enter together into worship. Rev. Mark and Barbara Rodel model participatory leadership beyond the liturgical form of the service. They and a team of five seminarians share in the leadership of the church. The seminarians and their families live in the parish while in the formation process. They have created an intentional community that meets together and walks the street, inviting young families that live in the neighborhood to visit All Hallows to experience the good news of Jesus in a new way.

I wonder how we can reimagine the use of our buildings, church planting, and our liturgy here in the Diocese of Southern Ohio to create avenues for those outside of our circle to discover our God of love? May we make room for the Path Finding Dissenters in our communities whose imagination might just be our saving grace.

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April 5, 2016 by Praxis

Does God play dice with the universe?

The study of physics has had an indelible effect on human affairs and philosophical thinking. The 20th century was no exception as physics experienced two revolutions: Einstein’s theory of relativity and the revolution in our understanding of atoms and other elementary particles. This latter topic is usually called quantum mechanics and the subject is the source of much discussion in philosophical and theological circles since it involves a variety of truly mysterious and paradoxical phenomena.

Chris Orban, who is an assistant professor of physics at OSU, gave us an overview the physical and philosophical thinking that came prior to the advent of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century. As Chris discussed, after Newton and Laplace, the earth and the cosmos were understood to be a kind of “world machine” or “clockwork universe” that operates in a highly predictable way according to the laws of physics. This understanding led many church-goers in the 18th and 19th centuries to an idea of God as a kind of watch maker who created the world and set it into motion, but who may or may not need to intervene as this universe takes the course it was designed to take.

Chris argues that this idea has had a profound effect. By creating a detached and distant picture of God, this would have helped lay the groundwork for the Enlightenment. The “clockwork universe” idea may also have had a strong effect on the past and present reluctance of American audiences to accept evolution as fact. The first American interlocutor of Darwin’s theory of evolution was a Harvard botanist and protestant church member named Asa Gray. In defending Darwin’s theory to religious audiences, he had the unenviable job of explaining that this clockwork universe must have been designed by God from the very beginning to use scarcity and competition as a means for producing biodiversity. “Nature, red in tooth and claw” as Tennyson would say.

Although Einstein was not an especially religious man, he too had an idea that God (or whatever God is) determined the laws of physics at the beginning of time and set the universe in motion. Einstein’s goal was to understand the symmetries of nature so well that he could understand whether God could have made the laws of physics in any other way than they currently are.

The phrase “God does not play dice!” is attributed to Einstein in a series of discussions he had with the physicist Neils Bohr over the way that quantum mechanics introduces a degree of randomness into the world. Quantum mechanics removes the absolute predictability of the “world machine”. Einstein once said that he found quantum mechanics to be so strange that he spent more time thinking about it than his own theory of relativity. Chris drew from a chapter on Niels Bohr in Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb to explain that although Bohr too was not an especially religious man, he dismissed Einstein’s assertion. He argued that the universe can operate however it operates. Decades of subsequent investigation have continued to confirm the notion that the affairs of atoms are intrinsically unpredictable on the smallest scales, which was the scientific basis of Bohr’s response.

The ramifications for this understanding of the world are as far reaching as the clockwork universe idea that came before it and Bohr spent time considering a renewed understanding of free will and other concepts in the light of quantum mechanics. Bohr once said that “[Philosophy] was, in a way, my life”, which is a reference both to his contributions to quantum mechanics and to the philosophical discussions he experienced growing up as a child of a biology professor at the University of Copehagen. A collection of Bohr’s speeches and writing can be found in his book Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge.

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April 3, 2016 by Jane Gerdsen

What We Learned on our UK Pilgrimage

Several of us traveled to England in February, 2016. While we are each reflecting in our own words what this experience meant to us and how it might be integrated back into our lives and ministry, we wanted to share some of the themes and most important learnings in one place. So here are the highlights:

We need two kinds of dissenters to create change:

Path finding dissenters – those who will find a new path and have the courage to follow it. These are the people who propose alternatives and inspire creative innovation.
Authority dissenters – those who spot path finding dissenters and encourage and protect them from the critique of those who like the status quo. – Jonny Baker (via Gerald Arbuckle)

“Real change and newness has a much better chance of taking root if it has this interplay between the two.” (Jonny Baker)

The new belongs elsewhere. Let practices happen along the edge of the church, then shine a light on it and begin to share stories and connect people together. – Jonny Baker

“If the dreamers are put in an environment with guardians of the status quo, the chances are they will put a lot of their energies into justifying themselves, and be under constant critique…which can sap a lot of energy. That energy would be better served in mission.” (Jonny Baker)

Crack the code of the church – hack the canons when necessary, find a way to make church language and rules fit what’s actually needed on the ground. – Jonny Baker
Allow yourself to be taken into other people’s worlds – In a multi-faith and multi-cultural world, we must enter fully into other cultures and find God seekers.“I am looking for God seekers so that we can journey together toward Christ who is the fullest expression of God….I need to present a Jesus who does not belong exclusively to Christianity.” – Andrew Jones
The Church is gift and should be freely given away to others as gift. The church is a way to draw people into community with Christ and to transform the world – it is a sign and a foretaste of God’s kingdom. – Michael Moynagh

“Just as you might share a stick of French bread with someone by breaking a piece off, so the church breaks off of piece of itself and offers it to others as a new expression of church. Similarly, just as you might share a bottle of wine by pouring it into glasses for other people to drink, so the church pours itself out in new expressions of church for others to enjoy. As the church does this, it passes itself on sacramentally. It gives part of its own body away in a way that other people are able to receive. Far from being diminished in this giving, just as Jesus is not diminished when he gives himself in the Eucharist, the church is enriched by this sharing of its body because others are drawn into its communal life.” (Michael Moynagh)

God’s mission comes first. God is out ahead of us doing new things and the Holy Spirit is at work in the church at the same time. “God’s missional grace is active both in the cosmos and in the church.” – Michael Moynagh
“Just get on with it” – spend less time talking about what you are going to do and more time doing it. Understanding and integration normally come after engaging in ministry. If you don’t, you will be 90 before you live out your calling. – Michael Moynagh
Contextual Ministry Matters – pioneers understand the importance of context. Knowing your context, understanding it, and even being able to critique means that you have spent enough time in your context AND that you are willing to be changed by your context. You will change if you enter fully into the context to which you are called. Theologically, this is Jesus entering fully into the Jewish world in which he found himself, becoming not just fully human, but fully part of the culture – eating foods, praying, sharing life in such a way that he became one of them.“The turn to context in global Christianity is massive. To make sense of the context will involve, for example, exploring notions of identity, reading, cultures, economics, religion, locale, myths, texts, symbols, power relations, gender, ethnicity.” (Jonny Baker)
God’s people gathered is more important than the rules. A deep commitment to sacramental life undergirds everything. – Mark Berry
Graciousness leads to unity. There is treasure everywhere, in the inherited church and in the new. Polite disagreement and a generous sense of catholicity means that we can disagree on the details and still see ourselves as part of God’s missional work. – Jonny Baker and Michael Moynagh and all
Pioneers stand outside the doors. Pioneers are most comfortable outside the walls of the church and will stand by the door and show people how to draw close to God. – Ben Norton
What is good news? If this no longer sounds like good news to this community, find out what is and learn to share the gospel with different words and actions. – Chris Hembury
Be bold – overcome your fear. Share yourself, your values, and your love of God even if you are afraid. – Chris Hembury
Feed your soul – Remember to play, do what you love, unleash your imagination, experience life even if it doesn’t connect to your ministry at all. Paint, ride a bike, make music, listen to your soul’s deep longing. – Sam Donaldson
Training works best if you develop modules or classes that meet the needs of the pioneer. Allow the pioneer to remain in their context, to fill in the gaps of their knowledge, and to learn how to seek wisdom from the inherited church. One size doesn’t fit all.

We will be digging into these ideas a bit more in future blog posts. Stay tuned!

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April 3, 2016 by Jane Gerdsen

Pilgrim Path: A Fresh Expressions Pilgrimage

In February, a group of us traveled to England to explore fresh expressions of church and learn from some of the innovative leaders and pioneers of the fresh expressions movement. We set out as pilgrims. We were not simply travelers. We were not wandering, although the path sometimes led us to unexpected places. We were pilgrims with an intention to draw closer to God, to learn about ourselves, to be changed through the journey.

This journey was in many ways sacramental – an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. And thus, we expected to return transformed or changed or converted even from the people we were when we began our journey. Pilgrims often return from their journey with a “boon”something good that will enrich their lives in the everyday world back at home. We hoped to see something of how God was moving in a new place. And thus to learn to see the world and our communities anew upon our return. T.S. Eliot in the Four Quartets put it this way:

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

will be to arrive where we started

and to know the place for the first time.”

I think in some ways that’s why St. Brendan the Navigator has been such a powerful story in our work with Praxis Communities. For when we set off into the unknown with a clear intention,[1] it is in the navigating of unknown places that we discover God guiding us through the outward journey ever deeper in our spiritual journey.

Part of our real life navigation was learning the language of roundabouts, and a GPS that seemingly pointed one way but was actually pointing to the next turn up ahead. We found ourselves missing turns and heading the wrong way down a road more than once. We had to orient ourselves and begin to see not just where we were but where we were heading. And as we learned the driving cues, I realized that it is in this process of finding our way that we discover our own voice, our own true North as our friend Jonny Baker calls it. By discovering a clear intention for our lives, our work, our call, we notice that all of life begins to orient around this guiding point.

As we find ourselves back where we started, we now know more about the direction we are headed and have a deeper understanding of ourselves and our response to God’s call to mission in the place we call home. Here are some of the things, we learned while we were in England. In the coming weeks we will be sharing more reflections and musings on our pilgrimage. We invite you to follow along here.

Our Pilgrims:

Brianna Coey, Melanie Williams, Ben Norton, Becky Norton, Aaron Wright, Jane Gerdsen, and Jed Dearing

Our pilgrim group included members of a variety of Praxis Communities. I, (Jane), serve as Missioner for Fresh Expressions and Praxis Communities. I have been dreaming of taking such a journey for the last 4 years. I was honored to have with me core team members Aaron Wright who serves as program director for Brendan’s Crossing and Jed Dearing, program director for Confluence and member of the Franklinton community. We also had with us Brianna Coey, who is the Missioner for Northside Abbey and Melanie Williams who is one of the founding members of the Near East House in Columbus. Each of our pilgrims brought their own questions and experience to this pilgrimage. One of the gifts of our time was the bonding of our team and deepening of our call to this work.

Our Path:

We started in Oxford where we met with Jonny Baker and pioneer students at the Church Mission Society. While in Oxford, we also met with Michael Moynagh, Tutor for Pioneer Ministry at Wycliff Hall and the Director of Network Development for Fresh Expressions. We also enjoyed an evensong at Magdalene College in Oxford and visited Christ Church College for a tour.

We then traveled down to London. In London, we met Andy Matheson to learn about Oasis. We had the good fortune to connect with Mark Berry of Safe Space in Telford who happened to be in London for the day. We met with the Community of St. George in the East including members of their intentional community and their vicar, Canon Dr. Angus Ritchie. We also visited two fresh expressions coffee shop communities – Host Café at Moot (St. Mary Alderbury) and Kahaila Café.

On Sunday, we made our way north to Nottingam where we met with the Rev. Mark Rodel and Lady Bay Mission Community. We joined them for their family worship gathering (called Don’t Forget the Cornflakes) and enjoyed sharing breakfast and meeting members of the community. Later, we had lunch at the vicarage with pioneer students and their families who were part of the Lady Bay team.

From there we made our way to Hull – we stopped by Holy Trinity Hull, where the Rev. Ben Norton is helping curate a new worship service and fellowship. The next morning, we made a quick visit to York to meet the Rev. Christian Silveratnam, who planted G2, a growing fresh expression of church and is part of mentoring young leaders. We also got to see Yorkminster while we were there. We returned to Hull and visited Archbishop Sentamu Academy – a secondary school started by the Church of England in an inner city area of Hull. We met the Rev. Anne Richards the chaplain and some of the staff. Our final stop, was to meet with Chris Hembury who has lived in community in Hull for 20 years. He now works with CMS and is heading up an intentional community in an old vicarage. We shared lunch and a beautiful and inspiring conversation with Ben, Chris and some of their community before heading back to London to fly home.

[1] Brendan was sent by God on a mission to discover the Land of Promise

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