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Mission magazine published by Church Mission Society.
Citation preview
Speak only if you can improve on silence...
God isn’t looking for people of
great faith, but for individuals
ready to follow him.
Hudson Taylor
mission involves the discovery
that our faith and theology
have been conditioned by
culture to a far greater extent
than we had ever realised.
cultural conditioning is not
something that happens only
to other people, we too carry
cultural baggage which needs
to be declared ‘excess’ and left
behind when we seek to share
christ with others.
David Smith
it is not in our choice to spread
the gospel or not. it is our
death if we do not.
Peter Taylor Forsyth
not, how much of my money
will i give to God, but how
much of God’s money will i
keep for myself.
John Wesley
it is the duty of every christian
to be christ to his neighbour.
Martin Luther
evangelisation is a process of
bringing the gospel to people
where they are, not where you
would like them to be… When
the gospel reaches a people
where they are, their response
to the gospel is the church in a
new place.
Vincent Donovan
The world can do almost
anything as well as or better
than the church. you need not
be a christian to build houses,
feed the hungry, or heal the
sick. There is only one thing
the world can not do. it can
not offer grace.
Gordon MacDonald
“The history of missions is the
history of answered prayer.”
Samuel Zwemer
“it is not my ability, but my
response to God’s ability, that
counts.”
Corrie Ten Boom
co
nTe
nTs
yes advent edition. published by cms. General secretary: canon Tim Dakin editor: John martin Designer: seth crewe printers: cpo
printed on a sustainable paper that is elementary chlorine free and can be traced to bona fide sources.
cms is a community of mission service: living a mission lifestyle; equipping people in mission; sharing resources for mission work.
views expressed in yes are not necessarily those of cms.
cms works in 70 countries, supporting in various ways over 800 people in mission and over 100 projects.
church mission society, Watlington road, oxford, oX4 6BZ registered charity number 220297
04 from our correspondents
07 mission and postmodern europe
08 mission frontiers: drug ministry by alison Giblett
10 The return of the Zombies by Tim Dakin
11 in search of the spirit of truth by Tom Wright
13 visualising hope by sarah Dunlop
16 Hungary’s House of Horrors by rene padilla
18 Greenbelt, look out by andrew Jones
20 crowther centre news
22 networks change the world by Jonny Baker
23 notebook by John martin
John [email protected]
3 yes advent 2008
Faith in postmodern europe“europe,” writes philip Jenkins, “has long been
a malarial swamp for any traditional or orthodox
faith. compared with the rest of the world, religious
adherence in europe is painfully weak.” Travellers
quickly see signs of the decay of institutional religion
everywhere: abandoned churches or buildings with
so few worshippers that they are little more than
museums. it’s not a new thing. some years ago, while attending a seminar about how the rome-
based catholic curia works, i learnt that in the previous year the roman catholic Diocese of rome
had produced just one trainee priest and he’d died of old age while doing his course.
at another level europe is experiencing a mounting climate of fear. There is fear of a possible
return to cold War attitudes. There is fear of islamisation and europe’s possible transformation into
“eurabia” – to use a term coined by the Harvard academic niall ferguson. Then there is the fear
of meaninglessness. clifford longley, the donnish former Times religion correspondent has put
it well: “Western civilisation suffers from a strong sense of moral and spiritual exhaustion. Having
constructed a society of unprecedented sophistication, convenience and prosperity, nobody can
remember what it was supposed to be for.” yes, europe – once the heartland of world christianity
– has become a mission field again.
This, however, is only one side of the picture. Despite the corroding effects of postmodernity,
faith in europe is not by any means nearing extinction. christianity is not giving ground to islam.
people no longer go to church out of compulsion or for social advantage so in consequence the
churches are being freed to be the church, small vigorous cells of mission creativity and spiritual
enterprise. faith is flowering among people who lived for generations with the aridity of socialist
materialism. young people are expressing faith through music and the arts. refugee settlements
are challenging the churches and the churches are responding with imagination and flair. The drug
endemic is prompting churches to reach out in unprecedented ways and connecting them with
their neighbourhoods with surprising outcomes.
We offer analysis and snapshots of initiatives in which cms is engaged with its many europe-
based partnerships. To use words of Jesus, “i tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They
are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35)
4 yes advent 2008
Felipe yanez tells about his work among migrants at el centro cultural
Building bridges in Malagayou’ve probably heard the chinese proverb, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Did you know that some feel a more accurate translation reads: “The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet”? or, “even the longest journey must begin where you stand.”
fifteen years ago, felipe yanez “stood” at attention, in military uniform. While serving in the chilean army he began following Jesus. shortly thereafter, at a world mission conference in santiago, felipe began to feel a deep concern for muslim people. in 1997, as part of a short-term mission team, he visited st John’s, sparkhill, situated in a mostly-muslim area of Birmingham. The following year, he moved to the uK and began serving at the church as a youth worker.
sarah norris was living in sparkhill, working as an occupational therapist. Having spent her early years in pakistan, where her parents were missionaries, she understood what it was like to live in a majority-muslim community. felipe and sarah married in october 2000.
for six years, felipe continued working with youth in the community, pioneering several initiatives while sarah worked as an oT and led worship and a home group at st John’s. “living in an area which is predominantly muslim can be draining, yet rewarding,” felipe recalled. “learning to sing the lord’s song in a strange land is part of the cost of being a disciple of christ.”
While in Birmingham, the yanezes got to know several asylum seekers and refugees. “We were touched by the difficulties they face: having to leave their homes, friends, families and belongings to seek safety and freedom.”
as felipe and sarah pondered their future, they began to feel more and more that they wanted to be involved in ministry to refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers…in malaga, spain.
every week, immigrants – often muslims from north africa – arrive on the spanish coast, seeking refuge and a better life. What they often find instead is appalling treatment. immigration, as in other parts of europe, raises many issues with the local spanish community. There are problems of racism, leading to discrimination and ghettoisation.
The yanezes felt their time in Birmingham, coupled with felipe’s spanish language skills, had prepared them for another step in their journey. last summer, jointly supported by cms and south american mission society, they moved to malaga to work with el centro cultural (The cultural centre), which helps immigrants adapt to life in spain. as part of their work, they build bridges with local churches, encouraging them to show love to “the stranger.”
“The people we work with are more than immigrants or asylum seekers; they’re mothers, sisters, brothers, husbands and fathers – ordinary people whom God longs to touch with his love, peace and hope,” says sarah.
obin is a muslim from West africa. He travelled with 130 men by boat, spending three perilous weeks at sea. His journey to a “better” life cost him 2,000 euros, but after a few months in spain, his asylum claim was refused. if he finds a job, he may be able to stay, but not knowing much spanish, his chances are limited.
Through el centro cultural, people like obin learn the language as well as computer skills, handicrafts and cookery. practical support is given through providing food, clothes and furniture. When needed, centre volunteers accompany people to appointments.
When opportunity arises, felipe and sarah share the love and hope of christ. Those interested are invited to attend church services and events. some from other faiths, or no faith, have been regular attendees and ongoing discipleship is provided as people encounter christ.
“We are aware that we cannot change the world”, says felipe, “but we are sure that God can bring restoration to many broken lives through us. We take comfort in the fact that Jesus doesn’t ask us to be perfect before he can use us…he wants to use us even now, warts and all.”
..from our correspondents...
Merab Bolkvadze gives a graphic account of life during russia’s invasion
eyewitness: GeorgiaJust three days after russian tanks rolled into Georgia, one cms partner was heading into the conflict zone: merab Bolkvadze of Zarebi, an orthodox humanitarian charity. He reports here in his own words the frustration and fear of the Georgian people and his own personal view of the situation.
in the early morning of 11 august merab arrived in the bombed out city of Gori. Though outside the contested region of south ossetia, many of the buildings were burned and ruined.
most of the population had fled but merab met the local bishop, andrew Gvazava, himself a refugee from Georgia’s other breakaway region, abkhazia, since 1993.
merab takes up the story:
“Bishop andrew told us how much the situation was hard as the city had been bombarded since 9 august, several times a day. There were too many wounded and many dead among the civilians.
“The bishop directed us to help the hospital personnel who were working in the most difficult conditions and provided first aid to the wounded.
“When we arrived to Gori hospital, we saw the dreadful picture…We began to help the hospital personnel in carrying the dead or wounded that had been brought every minute by vehicles. The priests were reading prayers and putting crosses with Holy oil on wounded people and medical personnel.
“Though the city was under bombs, we still were planning to stay in and provide necessary help, but by nine o’clock in the evening we were informed that the russian regular army and hired boyeviks (fighters or mercenaries) were entering the city with heavy artillery and we’d better leave.
“in a rush we managed to evacuate the wounded, but as the situation was escalating too rapidly we failed to look after the corpses, leaving them in the morgue.”
merab and his companions returned to Tbilisi, the capital, with heavy hearts.
“it seemed that russian tanks were about to attack Tbilisi that night. The suburbs had been under shells everyday since the invasion. all this mess was known to me from the war in abkhazia and i could not make out whether it will ever stop. The only thing i knew was that i didn’t want to go back to the soviet period. The danger of it was real.
“as i knew nothing about my family: my wife and seven kids, who were in West Georgia in the village 20km away from poti city, which was also under russian shells and with artillery in there, i was too nervous. We could not even phone each other.
“With the blessing of the patriarch of Georgia there were held long prayers for peace in every active church.
“next day in the church of my district i saw more than 500 internally displaced people (iDps) gathered and requesting aid, as they failed to take anything from homes, except the clothes they were dressed in.
“first of all they had to be sheltered somewhere. Zarebi was not ready for this occasion. We had no financial means. But we managed to do mobilisation of volunteers. We got the permission from the local government to place the refugees in the school building. currently Georgian students are on holidays.
“We asked the parish to provide the refugees with any kind of help. mattresses, blankets and food were needed. The food problem we managed, but providing with living conditions was too difficult. There were many women and kids among refugees and they needed beds. most of them sleep on chairs, tables, or on the floor.
“a few days later international humanitarian aid was delivered. it made our job easier, though the aid is not enough. The iDps still are living in the heavy conditions, although the hardest period is over.
“We meet the refugees every day, help them, encourage them, and pray together with them. There were many among the refugees not been baptised. on sunday we organized a baptising event and many turned christians.
“currently there are more than 100,800 iDps from Tkhinvali, and surrounding villages and cities.
“Today Georgia in no longer shelled, but its infrastructure, in east or West, is badly destroyed by russian regular army. in the tourism destinations they threw fire bombs and burnt the most valuable forests. The central road that connects West Georgia to east Georgia is blocked by the russian army.
“We are very much hoping for the aid from the international organisations and hope the peace will come.”
5 yes advent 2008
To find out more and keep in touch with all our mission partners, log on to www.cms-uk.org/missionletters for the latest reports
6 yes advent 2008
a continent of change and complexity, says Darrell Jackson
It’s all change in europeeurope is a continent in motion. There are poles in poole, romanians in rome, Brits in Barcelona, and somalis in sunderland. in london, paris, stockholm, and Kiev the frequent headlines that stigmatise immigrants are depressingly similar. making an informed christian response to migration in europe requires a multi-level approach.
mission societies such as cms can offer cross-cultural expertise in responding to migrants and, through its partnership with the nova research centre, based at redcliffe college in Gloucester, it has been taking a keen interest in nova’s first major research report, mapping migration in europe: mapping churches’ responses. The report was simultaneously launched in april at events in palermo, sicily, and melbourne, australia, thus underlining the global significance of migration.
effective and considered responses to migrants require careful collection and analysis of statistical and other information. mapping migration in europe offers 140 pages of unique analysis and insight plus detailed country-level information for each country in europe.
The report takes up some of the concerns that lay behind the original involvement of cms in the Welcome project, which was set up to welcome migrant christian workers to europe. as cms and other mission agencies think about where, when, and how to work with migrants, its partnership with nova puts it in a privileged position from where it can benefit from the research. nova’s partnership with cms will continue as cms encourages further research in this vital area.
europe is a continent in transition. The historic christian churches and denominations are being forced to renegotiate the public places that they have traditionally held in europe. Dwindling church attendances threaten their long-term viability. charismatic, evangelical, migrant and ethnic minority churches are contributing to a creative mix of new and emerging churches.
alongside these are emerging a number of new mission movements in europe. This has been a common interest for both cms and nova and a european consultation in December 2008 will see them working together. cms, through its innovative work with the orthodox churches of europe, has been a key resource for nova as it issues invitations to a number of orthodox mission movements. This exciting event will bring together 25 practitioners with extensive involvement in their emerging mission movements and will lead to a key publication mapping this new phenomenon.
europe is a continent of complexity. Developing a european studies programme at redcliffe has seen cms and other mission agencies consulting with nova and redcliffe staff to streamline the teaching content and its delivery. Teaching is a natural outlet for the research centre staff and allows continuous exploration of europe’s complexity.
cms is one of several mission societies that are sending mission partners who are preparing for mission in service in europe to redcliffe where they are expected to attend the european studies short course. mission partners felipe and sarah yanez, currently working malaga, were the first to benefit from this partnership activity of cms and nova.
at the heart of the partnership between nova and cms is a shared commitment to evangelistic mission in europe. research and action need each other and cms and nova have begun to demonstrate the vital relationship of these two activities. Through its partnership with the nova research centre, i sense that cms is becoming more effective at meeting the challenges of the dynamic and shifting cultural and social patterns that can be found in europe.
The Rev Darrell Jackson, Director, Nova Research Centre and Lecturer in European Studies, Redcliffe College, Gloucester. [email protected] [email protected]
To find out more and keep in touch with all our mission partners, log on to www.cms-uk.org/missionletters for the latest reports
7 yes advent 2008
If we are to share Jesus and see lives changed
in our neighbourhoods and networks and within
europe we need to come to terms with a mighty
shift in mindset that’s changed everything. it’s the
shift from modernity to postmodernity. it’s the
biggest change that christians have had to face in
300-plus years.
To begin, what do we mean ‘modern’?
The english thinker arnold Toynbee (who coined
the term ‘postmodern’) proposed in 1939 that the
‘modern’ era ended around 1850–75. ‘modern’
grew out of the enlightenment, dating from the 17th
century. it put a premium on rationality and became
known as the age of reason. it proposed that
science could produce laws (truths). With it came the
idea of ‘progress’. The age of reason subjected faith
to serious scrutiny and criticism, eg immanuel Kant’s
refutation of traditional arguments for the existence
of God. in many ways, however, modernity served
christianity well. it was foundational for the christian
contribution to medicine. The idea of ‘progress’
meshed with a post-millennial vision for a better
world that helped energise the modern missionary
movement.
So, what’s ‘postmodern’?
essentially its foundation, as lois shawver put it,
is “a loss of faith in the dreams of modernism.”
Jean-francois lyotard summed it up in the
soundbite “incredulity towards metanarratives.”
To put it another way, postmodernity is fuelled by
innate scepticism. it’s profoundly suspicious about
any big-picture explanation about anything. Dale
spender the feminist thinker put it this way: “Truth
is what we invent, not what we discover.” more
popularly it’s expressed in the title of a manic street
preachers album: This is my Truth Tell me yours. so
postmodernity emphasises personal choice over
against shared values or creeds.
Is europe a postmodern continent?
yes and no. postmodernity has had a big impact in
Western europe and parts of scandinavia. in contrast
the eastern orthodox churches never embraced the
enlightenment so the picture is somewhat different
in russia and eastern europe with premodernity and
modernity (applied marxism) both strong elements. But
the globalisation of business and youth culture is powerful.
So what are some of the implications for Christian mission?
1. apologetics has a hugely important role. christians need to be confident in their faith and able to make the case for believing, including being bold enough to “relativise the relativisers.” art, music and symbolism come to the fore.
2. style is important. it begins with becoming confident with forms of communication that are open to questions and allow for disagreement. The blogosphere with its rules of engagement and discourse is both a place for witness and for self-education.
3. community is important: while attendance at conventional church may reduce even further, expect the cell group, large-scale festivals and experiments with community living to grow in importance. There are huge opportunities for churches who can understand how to be community and offer it to people who are disconnected by migration and other forces of postmodernity.
4. The Bible’s Big story as an alternate world view. it’s vital that christians rediscover the Bible, the grand narrative of God’s plan and purpose for the world he made.
5. The ultimate significance of Jesus of nazareth. Towering above everything else is Jesus. He is attractive to the postmodern mindset. our task is not merely to talk about him but to show him.
FaCTBoX 1Main features of modernity• Economic Production: industrial and capitalist society served by a system of social classes• Urbanisation: growth of cities• The Bureaucratic State: emergence of powerful central government and administration• Knowledge: derived from scientific and rational thought, not faith, magic or superstition• Belief in Progress: based on confidence in science and technology.
Main features of postmodernity• Growth of the service sector: decline in manufacturing, growth in flexible and home working, rise in unemployment• Spread of Globalisation: business and culture spread across national boundaries• Fragmentation: diversity, a pick and mix attitude• Loss of faith in science: “people no longer believe in the myth of truth” (Lyotard)• Scepticism about metanarratives: no big story• Abandonment of Enlightenment optimismMain source Hewett-Norfolk
FaCTBoX 2Religion in europe: some facts and figureschurch attendance13% at least once a week10% once a month12% at christmas etc8% once a year56% never
Belief in the Uk71% God 30% devil64% soul 25% hell44% life after death 68% sin53% heaven 32% resurrectionInformation from the European Values Survey 2002
Mission and postmodern europe
8 yes advent 2008
Christian rehab centres in Russia and Ukraine
are achieving spectacular results. What’s more
a high proportion of former addicts find faith
along the way. alison Giblett is a consultant to
some of these ministries
in the story of Jonah, a reluctant prophet was left
with a sense of having no choice but do the lord’s
bidding. alison Giblett’s story has some of the same
hallmarks. “God unexpectedly but clearly brought me
into drug rehab ministry in the summer of 2000 by
sending me to russia then closing all opportunities
for service for three months, until i was desperate
and told him i was willing to do anything.
“i then received an invitation to work as a Bible
teacher in a newly opened rehab centre called izhod
(exodus). This enabled me to see the amazing work
of transformation that God provided addicts who
turned to him in repentance. Drug rehab has been
the focus of my life, work and research ever since.”
We asked alison about her involvement in what’s
emerged as one of the most effective fields of
mission work in europe.
Firstly, how big a problem is addiction in the
former Soviet Union?
it was identified by former president putin as russia’s
number one problem. it is affecting one in three
families in the former soviet union. some 40 per
cent of working age men have serious alcohol
problems. This has led to a male life expectancy
of 58 which is three years lower than any other
in europe; women’s is 63. outside africa it’s the
fourth lowest in the world. in russia and ukraine
becoming addicted to drugs is the biggest danger for
young people, linked to the rapid cultural changes
where norms are being re-evaluated. There are an
estimated 1.5 million addicts in russia, that’s one in
100, or one per cent of the population. The primary
drug is heroin due to its high availability. some is
grown locally and much brought in from central
asia. russia and ukraine are also on the northern
trafficking route to europe.
So what is the strategy for the work you do?
i currently work with isaac (international substance
abuse and addiction coalition). They are a key partner
with cms for drug rehab ministry around the world.
isaac’s strategy is to connect, encourage and equip
christians working in drug rehabilitation. The leaders
of the drug rehab centres often work in very isolated
situations under lots of pressure. There are large
spiritual, psychological and financial demands on the
workers so they really appreciate the opportunity to
share and learn with others who are fighting similar
battles. it is a ministry that has been misunderstood
by many churches and there can be a lot of pressure
from local government ministers. up to now there
have been limited opportunities for the leaders to
get formal training. isaac investigates the needs
of ministries for a particular region and brings in
trainers with the needed skills and holds local training
conferences. i am particularly involved in the regional
networks in ukraine, moldova, and parts of russia.
Can you tell us what a typical day
might look like?
The majority of my time is spent working from
home, networking and facilitating communication
between local russian and ukrainian organisations
and western groups and preparing for the wide-scale
events such as training conferences. it means lots of
alison Giblett
Mission frontiers: drug ministry
9 yes advent 2008
inclined to do so. Helping to set a person addicted to
drugs free of bondage brings a blessing to everyone
around them and can be seen as a demonstration of
God’s power and mercy. it’s often mothers of addicts
who first seek help. Through the church or rehab
support groups for co-dependents, they receive
healing for their own pain, wise counsel and strength
to pray for their son or daughter. it’s still a struggle
but through the sometimes long and painful process
before and during rehab, God touches the heart of
the addict. rehab centres provide structured support
to help them learn to hear and follow God. The work
of God’s spirit affects all areas of their life, leads to
visible transformation and often leads to other family
members discovering faith in God.
Do you offer a distinctive
Christian approach to drug rehab?
yes. christian rehab centres see addiction of any
form as primarily a spiritual problem, which results
from a person’s separation from God. They therefore
focus on the heart of addicts, not their behaviour.
even so, only God can change the human heart
though his forgiveness on the cross. addicts are
attracted to the love and acceptance they receive
through the outreach workers and in the christian
rehab centres. most have very little understanding
or belief in God but they are offered prayer for
their healing and invited to give God a try – to
repent and follow him. life in rehab is a process
of intensive discipleship with 24 hour support and
training to live a new healthy way of life. no drugs
are used so many residents are surprised at how
light their withdrawal is. The results are remarkable.
The president of the russian coalition of citizens’
initiatives has said that christian rehabilitation
centres in russia and ukraine achieve on average
a recovery rate between 50 and 75 per cent. That
compares with professional secular and government
programmes which, on best record, yield a 10 per
cent recovery rate.
emails and skype internet phone calls. in 2007 there
were seven events, so that meant lots of travelling. i
visit rehab centres to build relationships, investigate
needs and bring leaders of ministries together.
each trip is different but typical components
include meeting with leaders, prayer, Bible teaching,
community chores and hanging out with residents.
sometimes i am a sounding board. i’m often a
confidant, often a friend and encourager but despite
my best efforts i think i’m always a novelty factor.
previously while based in a rehab centres i taught
a foundational christianity course and international
communication. once a year i teach a module on
drug addiction ministry on the social work track of
the moldovan college of Theology and education.
So is there some measure as to
how effective this work is?
The effective work of christian drug rehab ministries
in the region of the former soviet union means there
are now thousands of christian ex-addicts, many of
whom are now providing prevention education and
running rehab centres. although there are hundreds
of christian drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation
centres in russian and ukraine, together they only
have capacity to accommodate one in 100 or one
per cent of their country’s drug addicts. There is
less help for alcoholics. so the role of these people
in the community can be vital. regional networks
in ukraine, moldova, the urals, siberia, and around
samara in russia are now providing mutual support
networks. ministries are starting to work together in
central asia and north-western russia. The training
facilitated by isaac has significantly increased the
ability of rehab centres to support people with
Hiv and aiDs. mildmay, the first uK aiDs hospice,
recently provided a series of detailed training weeks
(facilitated by isaac) to prepare rehab centres to
care for aiDs sufferers. a resource manual called life
continues was developed and printed by isaac and
has been very well received. it is being printed in four
different countries in the region. The varied training
and identification with the international network of
isaac has provided the rehab leaders with a defence
from local authorities who attempt to hinder their
access or even shut them down with accusations of
being unprofessional or illegal.
Is drug ministry an effective route
to evangelism?
Drug and alcohol rehab ministry in russia and
ukraine is the strongest determining factor of church
growth. as a result many other churches have started
a drug rehab ministry who were previously not
“Christian rehabilitation
centres in Russian and Ukraine
achieve on average a recovery rate
between 50 and 75 per cent.
professional secular and government
programmes yield 10 per cent”
The return of the ZombiesBy CMS general secretary Tim Dakin
phases of modernity, heralding the radical change
we are witnessing. in the first stage of modernity, the
emergence of the nation-state reshaped some of
the social collectives that held society together and
transmitted values. With it came the expectation of
full employment even if meant exploitation and the
ruination of the environment.
in the second phase, postmodernity, a phase we
are currently experiencing, there are four forces
at work, reminiscent i think of the four Horses of
the apocalypse: individualisation, globalisation,
underemployment and the ecology crisis. They are
turning what were previously familiar realities into
zombies. ‘church’ and ‘parish’ are candidates for the
zombie list. so too may be ‘community’, ‘mission’ and
‘service’.
The challenge for me is whether we should simply go
with the flow, accept that these valuable categories
have no continuing use, or whether we should work
hard to bring them back to life. as Beck says, in the
second modernity:
“We are heading for not only minor changes in, for
example, personal relationships, but for a different
form of capitalism, a new global order, a different type
of everyday life. We have to begin again by asking very
basic questions about how we live, how we respond
to these changes…” (my emphasis)
i believe christians need to urgently explore the
implications of this deeper individualisation. as cms,
our community of mission service needs to offer a
way of life that addresses this. We will need to use
stories and models from the past to help us. like
the phase in the history of the church where people,
faced with perplexing social change, went out into the
desert. There they discovered ‘individuation’ – they
recovered what it meant to be persons in relation to
others, not just individuals.
Basing their life on prayer these desert fathers and
mothers triggered a mission that profoundly changed
their world and its effects penetrated even as far as
Britain. our search in cms to become a community
of mission service is a small contribution to this
great experiment of history. We can all be part of it,
contribute to it, and believe that through it all things
will be united in christ for the glory of God.
I’m not a huge fan of horror films. Too much of
real life sometimes seems like a “night of the living
dead.” The spectre of individualism is killing off a lot of
what was best in our lives, pushing what were once
regarded as good things to becoming what the German
sociologist ulrich Beck has called “zombie categories.”
it has an impact on offices, tasks, roles or kinds of
persons, leaving them in a state in which they “are dead
and still alive.” Beck’s ideas have provoked me to think
about how this applies to mission in our times.
What are some of our zombie categories? What
bits of life have gone the way of the Dodo but still
remain and refuse to lie down? We have, for example,
stopped using the word ‘missionary’. There’s been a
consensus that ‘missionary’ no longer works for us, so
we’ve buried it. our name ‘cms’ has been affected by
zombie-esque tendencies. We initialise ‘cms’ so we
don’t have to be explicit about either ‘church’, ‘mission’,
‘society’ or ‘service’.
Beck, among other thinkers, has identified two
“We are heading for not only minor changes in personal relationships, but for a different form of capitalism, a new global order, a different type of everyday life”
10 yes advent 2008
11 yes advent 2008
We live in a world – the western world,
but increasingly the global community –
where truth is at a discount. Relativism is
everywhere; there is only ‘your truth’ and ‘my
truth’. Facts don’t matter, spin is all
that counts.
likewise, and deeply worrying for the church,
because we easily get sucked into this, argument and
reason are set aside, and instead of debate we have
the shrill swapping of hurt emotions. ‘i am a victim;
you are prejudiced; end of conversation’. or, in one
of those worrying irregular verbs, ‘i am speaking from
the heart, you are prejudiced, he or she is a bigot.’
This entire way of thinking – a world where the
only apparent moral argument is the volume of the
victim’s scream – is an affront to the biblical world, to
the anglican world, to the world of scripture, tradition
and reason.
reason is not the same as emotion or indeed
experience. Genuine screams of genuine victims
matter enormously, of course, and are all taken up
into the cry of dereliction from the cross. But they
are to be addressed, not with more screams, still less
competing ones, but with healing, biblical wisdom.
The reaction against scripture within postmodern
christianity is no worse than the reaction against
reason itself. and ‘experience’, which for John Wesley
when he elevated it alongside scripture, tradition
and reason meant ‘the experience of God the spirit
at work transforming my life’, has come to mean
‘whatever i feel’ – which is no more a safe guide
to anything than a glance at the english sky in the
morning is a safe guide to the weather later in the day.
postmodernity doesn’t stop with the deconstruction
of truth. it deconstructs the self as well. at this
point the Gnostic would do well to hide, because in
postmodernity there is no such thing as the inner
spark, the true inward reality. That’s why, for instance,
in today’s debates among the gay community, the
essentialist position (‘this is who i am’) is increasingly
discounted by the constructivists (‘this is what i
choose to be today’) – though you wouldn’t know
that from the way the church still talks about the
matter. But the greatest deconstruction of all is of
course that of the overarching narrative, the great
stories. Big stories, like truth-claims, declares the
postmodernist, are claims to power. live within the
modernist story and the modernists will end up
running the show. That’s how the world has worked
for long enough.
In search of the spirit of truthBishop Tom Wright asks if the Bible can help us with the challenges of postmodernity
12 yes advent 2008
and of course that presents quite a challenge to
the christian; because the Bible is precisely a great
narrative, the huge, sprawling story of creation and
new creation, of covenant and new covenant, with
Jesus in the middle of it. That is why many christians
today shrink their mission to the mere attempt to
give some people, here and there, a spiritual life and
a hope out beyond, rather than taking the mission
where it needs to go, into every corner of God’s
world and its systems and structures. But please
note: the deconstruction of power-stories is itself
a claim to power. pontius pilate asked Jesus ‘what
is truth’, because for him the only truth was what
came out of the scabbard of a sword. indeed, the
conversation between Jesus and pilate in John 18
and 19 stands near the heart of a biblical theology of
mission. in other words, though the postmodernist
sneers at empire and its grandiose dreams, in the
final analysis it colludes with it. it can scoff, but it
cannot subvert. all those years of Jacques Derrida,
and we still got George Bush. and Tony Blair.
so what does the Bible itself have to say on the
matter? How can the great story i’ve been speaking
of respond to the postmodern challenge – because
make no mistake, if it doesn’t, our mission will shrink
into a sad little parody of its true self. The answer is
that the story of scripture is not a story of power, but
a story of love – genuine love, overflowing love for
the world God made. note carefully what happens at
this point.
i said postmodernity had one moral value only, the
scream of the victim. That isn’t quite true. it has
one other: the duty to, as is often said ‘embrace
the other’. This has come from various sources and
it’s sometimes joined up, though i have to say with
minimal justification, with some elements of the
work of Jesus. This is at the heart of the appeal that
we ‘live with difference’, and so on. i have spoken
about that elsewhere; it all depends on a decision
as to which differences you can and should live
with and which you shouldn’t and can’t. There is an
enormous amount of begging the question currently
on this matter. But when we consider the biblical
narrative we discover that here again postmodernity
has produced a parody of the reality. in scripture,
God makes a world that is other than himself,
and that is full of complementarities: heaven and
earth, night and day, sea and land, vegetation
and animals, and ultimately humans, with the
complementarity of male and female growing more
evident within that world until it is finally affirmed,
producing a picture of a world of radical differences
with the differences made for one another.
Within the biblical narrative, of course, this reaches
its great conclusion when heaven and earth finally
come together, with the new Jerusalem as the bride
of christ. This is the biblical story of love: the love of
God for his world, the love within that world for that
which is radically different from me, from us, the love
which really does ‘embrace the other’, not in a casual
and floppy sense of ‘anyone who’s a bit different
from me’, but in the deep ontological sense of a love
which goes out into a different country altogether
to affirm the goodness of God’s creation there and
to discover, in that affirmation, the greatest delight
which mirrors the delight of God the creator, the
delight of christ the lover.
What we desperately need, if we are to pursue a
biblical, christian and indeed anglican mission in the
postmodern world, is the spirit of Truth. There is no
space to develop this further, but it is vital to say this
one thing. We have got so used to the postmodern
sneer that any truth-claim is instantly suspect. and at
that point many christians have lurched back to the
apparent safety of a modernist claim: conservative
modernists claim that they can simply look up truth
in the Bible, without realising what sort of book it
is, while radical modernists claim they find truth in
today’s science, without realising what sort of a thing
that is either. But we cannot go back; we have to go
on; and the spirit of Truth, often invoked in favour of
any and every innovation in the church, is actually
at work when we live within the great story, the love
story, God’s love-story, and become in turn agents,
missional agents, of that story in the world. Truth is
not something we possess and put in our pockets,
because truth is grounded in the goodness of creation,
the promise of redemption for that creation, and the
vocation of human beings to speak God’s word both
of naming the original creation and of working for new
creation – the word, in other words, of mission. The
spirit of Truth is given so that, living within the great
biblical story, we can engage in those tasks.
The Rev Dr NT Wright is bishop of Durham and a
prolific author in New Testament topics. Extracted
from a presentation at the 2008 Lambeth
Conference. The complete address will appear
shortly as a Crowther Centre Monograph.
“The answer is that the story of scripture is not a story of power, but a story of love – genuine love, overflowing love”
Central and eastern europe has seen massive
change in the last two decades. Working with
a team of researchers and partnering with an
organisation in slovakia, the work involved time
listening to more than 70 students talk about their
search for meaning, hopes for the future and what
is significant to them in life. students from slovakia,
poland, Bucharest, romania, ukraine and russia took
part. alongside the conversation sarah and her team
used photography and publish some of the fruits of
this work here.
“Working with images means that the young people
can respond to our questions about spirituality on an
emotional as well as cognitive level,” sarah explains.
“When you ask someone a personal
question such as, ‘What are your greatest hopes for
the future?’ then it’s really helpful to use pictures to
draw out responses.”
after the fall of the soviet union, people talked about
a ‘spiritual vacuum’ and how many in post-soviet
countries were eager to find some sort of religious
meaning. yet, 20 years on, this project revealed that
young people have very little interest in practising
christianity. moreover, although they may have an
interest in exotic spiritualities such as Buddhism,
Hinduism, astrology and other beliefs, very few practise
these as a religion. instead, this study found that young
people are simply creating their own worldview by
taking on various beliefs that are appealing.
Visualising hopeSarah Dunlop was commissioned by CMS to run a unique listening project involving 70 students from the former eastern bloc.
Here’s what she found out
far right: research assistants analysing visual data in Bratislava, photo taken by marsh moyle
right: Kinga Dabrowska (poland) and anna maiorova (russia), research assistants, photo taken by andrew Dunlop
above: sarah Dunlop (on the right) hard at work in russia with translator, alona Dengacheva
Top: visualising Hope available from:visualisinghope.wordpress.com
13 yes advent 2008
The young people spoke about their dreams for
the future: how they hope to travel abroad, have a
family of their own, be in a romantic relationship,
have a network of supportive friends and live in a
better world (without wars, poverty, disasters and
injustice). for the most part, their thoughts about the
future were focused on life lived here and now. They
believed that as long as they try hard, they could
achieve their life goal of being happy.
additionally, the young people who took part in
the project were invited to spend a week taking
photographs of what is significant to them in life.
as they spoke about these photos, their values
emerged. They said that opportunities for self-
expression and creativity were very
important to them. a slovakian
student took a
photograph of her shoes and said, “i had a moment
of creativity – i was painting my exercise shoes, i
made them quite crazy…i enjoy it a lot, to create
something, to give energy out of myself…”
The concept of freedom was highly significant for
these young people. a russian girl from nizhny
novgorod took a photo of a person in a hang glider.
she explained what this meant to her: “for me it
primarily signifies freedom. i mean i have always
dreamed of taking off the ground this way – to feel
that i am flying high in the sky, above the earth. i
mean, this is great, these extreme, new feelings…it
is also the embodiment of freedom from something
in society.”
above: Team photo
many of the young people feel the pressures of work,
studies and family and spoke about how much they
value opportunities to have fun. a female student in
nizhny novgorod summed it up with a photo of an
ad featuring a large yellow smiley face: “This is fun,
laughing, entertainment. naturally, it is important for
me. one can’t live without fun at any age, especially
at my age.”
When asked about their attitudes toward church the
young people gave a mixed response. some were
positive, talking about the church as a place to meet
with God or as a symbol of their country’s religious
heritage. others were ambivalent, not seeing it
having relevance to their life. a large number said
negative things about the church. many believed that
churches are for uneducated, unthinking people. a
romanian student said, “i don’t have anything to do
with churches… Because orthodox religion cannot
offer me the key to understanding things, i consider
this religion to be simply a way of gathering common
people, stupid people.”
many felt that church was a place where they would
14 yes advent 2008
be told that they were wearing the wrong clothes
or not following the rituals in the proper manner.
essentially, they said, when they were in church they
lost their ability to express themselves. The students
valued self-expression, freedom and fun and saw
the church as an institution that would force them
to conform to its rules for living, restricting their
freedom and certainly not a place for ‘fun’. This clash
of values indicates that young people tend not to
make time for church because they perceive that it
would mean sacrificing their values in some way.
yet these young people were open to talking about
their spiritual needs. a russian student said: “This
is my life. What will become of me? What do i
live for? i have such a feeling of emptiness, like
i am in a vacuum, like i don’t mean anything.” a
slovakian young person said, “i get scared that we
are passengers, powerless, lacking significance in
whatever we do. at the moment, i don’t have an
answer to my fears.”
sarah Dunlop sums up, “The words of the young
people clearly show that they need to discover a
meaningful relationship with God. any ministry
that will reach them effectively will give them
the freedom to creatively explore christianity for
themselves, engage them in dialogue and most of all,
it will be fun!”
A full account of the responses of the young
people and comments from church leaders
across the region has been published as a book
called Visualising Hope: Exploring the Spirituality
of Young People in Central and Eastern Europe.
Sarah’s blogsite:
http://visualisinghope.wordpress.com/
a selection of the photographs taken by
17 year old students from nizhny novgorod, russia
and Bratislava, slovakia
15 yes advent 2008
During the General Conference of the
International association for Mission Studies
held in Balanton, Hungary, 16–23 august 2008,
a group of participants, including my wife and
me, paid a visit to the House of Terror Museum
of Budapest. The purpose was to reflect on what
happened in that country during the nazi dictatorship
of 1944–1945 and the following four decades of
soviet occupation.
The museum is located in the huge building that
both the nazi and the soviet regimes used as
headquarters for their terrorist police force and as a
prison. it enables the visitors not only to get historical
information but to listen to first-hand witnesses telling
their personal experiences during the long and tragic
years under the repressive governments.
among the sad experiences recalled are: the
deportation, under the nazi regime, of thousands
of Hungarian Jews to auschwitz, where most of
them perished; deportation, once the soviets took
over, of thousands of Jews to the soviet union,
and of thousands of Hungarians of German origin
to Germany; the ‘internments’ that took place after
the soviet occupation, by which the new Hungarian
authorities could place under police surveillance
and eventually arrest any citizens suspected of
opposing the regime; the concentration camps
where thousands of prisoners were forced into hard
labour; the ruthless communist campaign against the
Hungarian peasants who resisted the collectivisation
of the land.
one of the rooms of the museum is called
‘anteroom of the Hungarian political police’. it recalls
the political security Department (pro), which was
set up by the soviet union in January of 1945 for
the purpose of tracking down war criminals and
bringing them to trial. later on it changed its name
several times but not its methods, including torture,
and it gained fame as a dreadful force because of
the violence it displayed to repress the enemies of
the communist establishment. it was entirely at the
service of the communist party. for many years
the director of the political police was Gabor peter,
whose hideous participation in state terrorism is
recalled in another room.
no sensitive person can visit the House of Terror
museum of Budapest and not feel overwhelmed
by the degree of terror that, under the spell of a
totalitarian ideology, a group of powerful people
can impose on a whole nation. The recollection
of the atrocities committed under the nazi and
the communist dictatorships does not only have
historical value. it is also a forceful way to warn
Hungarians and people from elsewhere against
the dangers of totalitarianism. more than that, it is
a good way to use memory to bring about healing
and hope, especially when one takes into account
that the culprits were in the end brought to court
and condemned, and that the nightmare that the
museum depicts now lies in the past.
a cry from argentina
coming from argentina, however, my wife and i
could not help thinking that our country of adoption,
where we have lived for over forty years, also needs
a house of terror museum. from 1976 to 1983
we also lived a nightmare under a dictatorship fully
committed to an ideology – neither nazism nor
communism, but neo-liberal capitalism; neither
Hungary’s House of Horrorsa sobering visit to a Budapest museum prompted questions for Rene padilla about the impact of ideology on our world and its people
16 yes advent 2008
backed by Germany nor by the soviet union, but
(sad to say) by the united states of america!
Quite understandably, we in the West readily
condemn the state terrorism experienced by people
in Hungary and many other countries during the nazi
and the communist eras. at the same time, however,
our eyes seem to be blindfolded to prevent us from
seeing what happened in argentina and in several
other latin american countries under the military
dictatorships of the cold-war years.
in the case of argentina, it is estimated that 30,000
people regarded as ‘subversives’ disappeared.
surveillance, violation of human rights, torture –
including rape, stealing of babies born of imprisoned
mothers, and concentration camps became the
order of the day. some time ago, francisco scilingo,
an argentine navy captain, shocked people when he
confessed that, obeying orders from his superiors, he
had participated in the killing of ‘subversive’ prisoners
by drugging them and throwing them, alive and
naked, into the sea from a plane in flight.
By now, the horrors of nazism and communism
are history, and so is the ‘Dirty War’ against the
‘communist subversion’ in the latin american
countries. now that the ‘War on Terror’ is being waged
all over the world, we urgently need a new house of
terror museum to remind us that the ideology behind
this new war also has an ominous track. as Hannah
arendt says, under terror, the majority of people give
up, but a few do not, and humanly speaking nothing
more is required and nothing more can be reasonably
expected in order for this planet to continue to be
inhabited by human beings.
Carlos Rene Padilla is the current CMS
missiologist in residence. Born in Quito, Ecuador,
at 15 he had a conversion experience, later
studied at Wheaton and did a PhD in Manchester
under FF Bruce. For many years he was on the
staff of IFES, latterly in a publishing role and he is
a prolific author. He has been very influential in
the Lausanne Movement. A family, sharing Jesus changing lives for over 200 years.
Help enable the work of the CMS family to continue beyond our lifetimes. For more information, Sarah Thomas, our legacy administrator, is available
on 01865 787518 or [email protected]
As my parents planted before I was born,
so do I plant for those who come after me.
“now that the ‘War on Terror’ is being waged all over the world, we urgently need a new house of terror museum to remind us that the ideology behind this new war also has an ominous track”
after a fantastic time at Greenbelt Festival a
few weeks ago, i am recommitted to the idea that
festivals represent one of the best opportunities the
church has to actually assemble in a way that is slow
enough to enjoy each other. it is easy on the wallet
and easy on the earth.
i have to confess that i am a festival junkie and
my family are just as bad. until a few months ago,
my kids had three armbands on their wrists from
the three previous freakstock festivals in Germany.
freakstock, home to the Jesus freaks since 1995, has
seen its numbers rise to 8,000 young people and
has helped to launch other festivals with a similar
theme. freakfest in czech republic, for example,
which also has a blend of hardcore alternative music
as well as Bible teaching and worship. slot festival
in poland, also, has been helped along by the Jesus
freaks and other movements to become a favourite
on the christian festival scene.
our family were there last year, at slot, camping in
our teepee and surrounded by hundreds of tents.
slot festival meets around a large monastery that
is mostly abandoned and comes to life each year
with the young people that make up the slot art
festival. after arriving at slot, erecting the tent next to
the monastery wall, and getting into the vibe of the
festival, it soon became obvious why it was so well
liked. Here are my reasons why it stands out as a
truly unique experience.
It is youthful. out of the 5,000+ people who were
there, i would say most were in their late teens or
perhaps early 20s. i was one of the old guys. i felt like
rip van Winkle! Honestly. and even though it can be
depressing to be in your early 40s when everyone
around is half your age, it’s also really exciting to see
the future of church in poland and see so much hope.
It is cheap. five solid days of festival for 35 euros.
and you can camp for free. compare that with your
average christian festival where 35 euros will hardly
get you to the registration table. festivals can only
do this if they don’t hire the big name speakers and
bands who only come for a fee, the expense of
which is thus passed onto the participants and in
a poorer country would mean that a lot of people
would not be able to attend. Better to have the highly
committed speakers, bands, leaders come who can
often pay or help pay their own way.
It is environmentally friendly. people generally
come from the area and the few countries around
poland. most people stay in tents and the monastery
is not air conditioned. very little energy is used up
18 yes advent 2008
and the footprint is tiny. festivals in general leave a
far smaller footprint than conferences that rely on
hotels and airports.
It is holistic. some 130 workshops including
all kinds of physical skills and exercises in bodily
coordination. it has a carnivalesque flavour with
people learning to juggle and paint and fling
poi around. it creates an atmosphere of humility and
learning.
It is ecumenical. slot is managed primarily by
protestants but it hires out an old catholic monastery
to host the event. it manages to draw both protestant
and catholic young people. in a predominantly
catholic country, there seems to be a lack of
controversy and disunity at slot.
It gives itself away. like other festivals that have
encouraged it, slot is supporting other countries to
start festivals. one of the outstanding examples is
upfest in ukraine that started a few years ago. i met
the leaders of upfest at our round table in slot and
was so excited to hear their story that we are already
making plans to be there for the next festival.
anyway, it’s possible that festivals are not your thing.
some people hate going without showers and suffer
from portaloophobia and that is understandable.
for those in the uK who want a festival experience,
Greenbelt is a good balance. But for those who
want to adventure out beyond the country to see
something young, fresh, and bursting with potential
for the Kingdom of God, i challenge you to cross the
channel and take a look for yourself. you might like
it. you might get addicted. you might even pencil in
festivals as part of your spiritual calendar.
and if you can’t make it, please pray for us as we
host training opportunities for young leaders during
the festivals in our tent as a part of the leadership
round tables. our round table at freakstock drew
over 70 leaders from 25 countries and helped us
connect with young leaders from Bulgaria, Hungary,
ukraine and russia.
in 2009, we plan on bringing training for missional
cells and enterprises to about four european festivals.
Andrew Jones is a member of the CMS Europe
staff team. You can read him regularly on his
blog, read and see more about Slot including
photos and video:
www.tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com
Greenbelt, look outThe euro festival scene is vibrant and bursting with potential for the kingdom of God. andrew Jones tells about his visit to Slot in poland this summer
Tanzania (25+) 20 April–3 May 2009
kenya (18-30) 6 July–1 August 2009
Romania (18-30) 5–22 July 2009
Tajikistan & kyrgyzstan (18-30) 24 July–17 August 2009
Russia (25+) 4–18 October 2009
egypt (25+) 11–25 October 2009
neW! Urban encounter 2009
for more information visit www.cms-uk.org/encounter
contact sarah on 01865 787494 or email [email protected]
closing date for applications: monday 2 march 2009
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20 yes advent 2008
“shout joyfully to the lord, all the earth.” psalm 100.1
a first edition of Samuel Crowther’s
translation of the psalms into yoruba
is just one of several fascinating items
recently uncovered in the cms archives.
one of the richest collections of mission
and international history in Britain, the
cms archives contain more than two
million items. every once in a while, as in
the case of this early translation, even the
crowther centre staff are surprised at some
of the treasures they’ve found. Besides
the psalms, librarian margaret acton and
archivist Ken osborne have also catalogued
crowther’s yoruba translation of matthew
and some early reports from his niger
mission, complete with maps.
The main cms archives collection is housed
at the university of Birmingham, but many
resources are available at the crowther
centre for mission education at cms in
oxford – and online. in Birmingham, papers
from cms’s founding in 1799 up until 1949
are open for scholarly study.
The collection is a rich source of information
not only for ecclesiastical history and
missiology but for the secular history
and anthropology of the many countries,
particularly in asia and africa, in which the
society has operated.
included are records of the society’s home
administration (minute books, ledgers,
correspondence and publications) and of
the work of individual missions, among them
letters and diaries kept by missionaries. over
the years the society has absorbed other
missionary societies, and some of their
archives too now form part of the collection
in the university library: for example, the
church of england Zenana missionary
society (founded 1880), the female
education society (founded 1834), the
loochoo naval mission (founded 1843), and
mid-africa ministry (founded 1921).
in oxford you’ll find a full set of the archive
catalogues for the Birmingham collection,
microfilms for two-thirds of the archive
collection and cms records and publications
dating from as far back as 1813. from time
to time we’ll be featuring “Treasures from
the archives” in yes and at the crowther
centre pages online.
you’re welcome to visit the crowther centre
any time; the archives are available for
consultation during normal library opening
hours (9am – 5pm). However if you wish
to speak to the archivist it is best to arrange
an appointment by ringing 01865 787400.
Raiding the archives
21 yes advent 2008
neXT ISSUe oF yes DUe MaRCH ‘09
30 october, 8pm
ann pilling – Fake Gardens, Real Toads
ann pilling is a well-known children’s novelist. she
was awarded the Guardian prize and has received
two carnegie nominations. in recent years she has
focused on poetry. Her poems have won prizes and
commendations in several competitions.
5 november, 8pm
Bishop John pritchard – Telling it Slant: the need for eccentric mission
Before becoming Bishop of oxford in 2007, Bishop
John was Warden of cranmer Hall, archdeacon of
canterbury and Bishop of Jarrow. He has written a
number of books, including books on prayer and on
the work of a priest.
13 november, 8pm
Catherine Fox – Wrestling with angels: inspiration and writing
catherine fox is the author of three novels, a
series of humorous books arising out of her weekly
column for the church of england newspaper.
20 november, 8pm
Roger Wagner – Walking on Water
roger studied under peter Greenham at the royal
academy school of art and his paintings have been
exhibited widely. He is also an accomplished poet.
27 november, 8pm
Julia Golding – Creative Struggle: Christian author or author who is a Christian?
Julia was a diplomat and oxfam policy adviser
before becoming a widely published children’s
author. Her first novel, The Diamond of Drury lane
(2006), won the Waterstone’s children’s Book prize
and the nestle children’s Book prize Gold medal.
4 December, 8pm
Rob Hutton – Can you love Jesus and Journalism?
rob currently covers British politics for Bloomberg news.
He helped set up christians in Journalism in 2002.
11 December, 1pm
Toddy Hoare – The Word in 3D
The rev Toddy Hoare trained as a sculptor, served
in the army and later became a parish priest. He
has always combined sculpture with his ministry
and now preaches in bronze as well as conducting
retreats using sculpture.
Free parking. Before the evening lectures, you’ll
have an opportunity to meet with other guests
and friends and enjoy a meal, which will be served
from 7pm at the cms cafe. cost of the meal: £7 to
be paid on the day. rsvp for the meal seven days
before the lecture of your choice to:
More events 18 november: annual crowther lecture, 8pm
Given by current missiologist in residence
rene padilla, this excellent lecture will focus on
globalisation, particularly from the Global south
perspective.
early 2009, date to be confirmed, The role of
christianity in Britain Today, lecture by paul Woolley
paul Woolley is director of Theos, a public
theology think tank. in addition to working as a
parliamentary researcher and directing a political
unit, he has had extensive public affairs experience
in the charity sector. paul’s current research interests
include social cohesion in a pluralist society and
the role of government. paul is engaged in post-
graduate study at the university of st andrews.
Feb–May 2009 Missiologist in residence announced: The Rev Dr parush R parushev
originally from sofia, Buglaria, parush obtained his
first phD in applied mathematics. in 1992 he was
made a fellow of petri primi academy of science
and art, st petersburg, russia. His second phD
is in theology with specialist areas in christian
ethics and moral philosophy. parush has been
involved in the re-establishing of Baptist higher
theological education in Bulgaria, suspended after
1939. in 1991 the Baptist union appointed him
bi-vocationally as a director of the Bulgarian Baptist
Theological institute (BBTi). He is a popular author,
lecturer and conference speaker and we’re thrilled
to welcome him to the crowther centre.
Forthcoming monographs:
Dan Groody
on mission and migration
Ida Glaser
on crusade sermons,
francis of assisi and martin
luther: What does it mean
to ‘take up the cross’ in the
context of islam?
Johan Velema
on a Biblical Basis for
project evaluation
Todd Johnson
on changing Demographics
of World christianity
22 yes advent 2008
When one person has an idea to join in with
God’s mission it’s a good thing. But when they
connect with others sharing a similar vision of what’s
possible the world can really change for better. This
is the power of networks.
a friend of mine, si, had a concern about sex
trafficking – in fact more like a raging anger following
visits to bars where girls were visibly being picked up.
He got to know a few sex workers in his local area,
built friendships and helped them as individuals. But
it didn’t take long to realise that the problems were
pretty broad ranging.
chatting with a few friends he got connected with
a few other people who were involved in care
for sex workers or political campaigning. a
few emails, Google searches and coffees
later, he begin to build up a picture of
the scene and the various economic,
immigration, political and cultural factors
at play. crucially he also connected with
some others who caught the vision for doing
something and a small team was formed with
aimie and shannon picking up the baton.
The team quickly found themselves part of an
informal network of brilliant people working on their
own projects but also collaborating together. an idea
began to form – no one seemed to be working at the
customer demand end of things, with men who pay
for sex. via a few networked connections, a design
agency got involved and a beer mat and poster
campaign was born called The Truth isn’t sexy.
one side of the beer mat has a seductive image
and phone number but flip the card over and the
message is about sex trafficking with the story of the
sex worker. shocking but brilliant! The goal was simple
– to get these into pubs around Britain. another
network was needed – in fact ideally other networks.
Through informal relational connections, a website,
emails, friends blogging and yes more coffees and
conversation, money was raised, the printing done
and groups found through the different networks to
go on pub crawls in their cities to persuade pubs to
join in the campaign.
i am involved in an alternative worship community,
Grace, in ealing. We are in both formal and informal
networks with other alternative worship groups and
emerging churches so we were contacted and did a
pub crawl through ealing.
The campaign launched in spring 2007. Two
hundred thousand beermats have been distributed
in city centre pubs and nus bars. fashion shows
and film nights have been organised; national radio
shows and newspapers have broadcast the TTis
message; policemen have used the campaign in
their “on the ground” work; Black rebel motorcycle
club rocked the Bloomsbury ballroom for a benefit
gig; mps across the parties have praised The Truth
isn’t sexy in the House of commons; the minister
in charge of this area is now publicly stating the
importance of addressing demand – the main
political objective. The team are currently evaluating
the campaign’s success and will be self-publishing an
activists’ handbook for others wanting to embark on
something similar.
several things are interesting about this campaign.
aside from printing, the campaign cost virtually
nothing. it wasn’t spearheaded by an organisation.
volunteers made it happen as networks of people
shared the idea, cooperated and joined in collective
action. This network of people is not a club you can
join – it was much more organic and invisible.
it wasn’t something that was led – at least not in any
traditional sense – though the people involved had
a high level of skill at getting people connected and
participating. The technological tools that are available
in the world of digital media, all free if you have a
computer – email, websites, blogs, social networking
sites and so on, were absolutely crucial to the process.
This process is so simple that you can miss it. it’s
particularly easy to miss if you are looking for success
with an organisational or old paradigm pair of glasses
– measurable outcomes in organisational strategy
achieved by professionals supported by systems of
hierarchy and control. at its heart cms is a network
of people wanting to join in with God’s mission –
probably more like a network of networks.
The chances are if you are reading this you are part
of it. only a small percentage of the network are paid
staff. The organisation is simply part of our network
and community. in europe we hope that cms will
be a network environment that enables like-minded
people to connect and self-organise to change the
world as they share, cooperate and get involved in
collective action. Where you would like to participate
in the mission of God? maybe we can introduce you
to a few other like-minded people?
For further info see www.thetruthisntsexy.com
Shannon (Hopkins) is part of the Mission
Leadership and Community team. She facilitates
NET, the Network of Entrepreneurial Talent which
CMS helped catalyse – see
www.networkofentrepreneurialtalent.com
Jonny blogs at jonnybaker.blogs.com
networks change the worldby Jonny Baker
23 yes advent 2008
In an exciting move new Zealand cms is to
have an african face at the helm. The rev steve
maina is to be its next General secretary from 1
february 2009, subject to immigration formalities
being completed. steve, 37, moves from his role
as General secretary of church army africa (caa)
based in nairobi, Kenya. caa has trained and
deployed over 500 evangelists and missionaries
in eastern and central african countries. He is a
gifted speaker and for some years now has been
part of the faith2share network comprising various
members of the cms family of missions and
close allies. steve is married to mary, a counselling
psychologist, and they have two children, rinna 8,
and Tanielle 5.
Reports of the wholesale murder of christians
in the indian state of orissa make sickening reading.
it’s not just a case of spontaneous violence getting
out of hand. christian observers said the attackers
set their trap well. first, they built makeshift
barricades of trees and small boulders along the
roads leading into this village, apparently to stop the
police from intervening. Then, eyewitnesses say, the
attackers went on a rampage. chanting “Kill these
pigs” and “all Hindus are brothers,” the mob began
breaking into homes that displayed posters of
Jesus, stealing valuables and eventually burning the
buildings. When they found residents who had not
fled to the nearby jungle, they beat them with sticks
or maimed them with axes and left them to die.
a light-touch article in the oxford Mail about
Tanzania-based andy and susie Hart creating
employment for deaf and blind young people
making paper from elephant dung caused smiles at
cms. comments in the paper’s website reminded
me, however, that there’s no shortage of raw,
downright hostility to honest practical faith here on
our doorsteps at oxford. “i hate do-gooders”, one
opined. “another one of these ‘christians’ helping
the little coloured people in africa and getting a
nice warm patronising feeling from it.” ouch.
Strategy change at Willow Creek community
church in Barrington, illinois, offers an important
pointer to what it takes to embed evangelism in the
life of the local church. since 1975 this megachurch
has run ‘seeker sensitive’ services. its model has
been adopted widely all over the world. But Willow
creek has announced that it will now gear its
weekend services toward mature believers seeking
to grow in their faith. The change follows a four-year
research project. Willow creek had worked on the
premise that it should attract people searching for
answers, bring them into a relationship with christ,
and then capitalise on their contagious fervor to
evangelise others. analysis of the research revealed
that evangelistic impact was greater from those
who self-reported as “close to christ” or “christ-
centered” than from new church attendees. ergo,
effective evangelism grows out of discipleship.
by John martin
“another one of these ‘christians’ helping the little coloured people
in africa and getting a nice warm patronising feeling
from it.” ouch.
at 10am on 10 September 2008 a man in a white coat switched on the large Hadron collider (lHc) sending proton particles on collision courses thus simulating the ‘Big Bang’. The big question of course is this: who flicked the original switch?
Photo: from CMI synod