I’m preparing a briefing paper for people training as coaches in the Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod, focusing on the distinctive theological setting in which we work rather than attempting a generic approach that fits all. However there will and should be some resonance with other traditions. I’ve included quotes from the Uniting Church in Australia Basis of Union (1977).
1. Relational Framework.
We enter into one another’s lives aware that God is relational in nature. As Christians we perceive the being of God expressed in the relationship of Father, Son and Spirit, or, in a non-gendered framework, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. We see in that relationship the relational characteristics described by Paul in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. In our coaching, we are called to take part in God’s reconciling engagement with the world in which we live, doing so with respect for boundaries, seeking to empower rather than control, aware of our own strengths and limitations, always recognising that we are witnesses and supporters of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.
“Jesus of Nazareth announced the sovereign grace of God whereby the poor in spirit could receive God’s love. Jesus himself, in his life and death, made the response of humility, obedience and trust which God had long sought in vain. In raising him to live and reign, God confirmed and completed the witness which Jesus bore to God on earth, reasserted claim over the whole of creation, pardoned sinners, and made in Jesus a representative beginning of a new order of righteousness and love. To God in Christ all people are called to respond in faith. To this end God has sent forth the Spirit that people may trust God as their Father, and acknowledge Jesus as Lord. The whole work of salvation is effected by the sovereign grace of God alone.”
2. Incarnational Framework
Our participation in the people of God is founded in the life of Christ. Just as Jesus entered the every day challenges of life, filled with the Spirit, we are called to participate in the mission of God in every part of our lives. This is explored in processes that engage body, mind, spirit and soul.
“The Church as the fellowship of the Holy Spirit confesses Jesus as Lord over its own life; it also confesses that Jesus is Head over all things, the beginning of a new creation, of a new humanity. God in Christ has given to all people in the Church the Holy Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that coming reconciliation and renewal which is the end in view for the whole creation. The Church’s call is to serve that end: to be a fellowship of reconciliation, a body within which the diverse gifts of its members are used for the building up of the whole, an instrument through which Christ may work and bear witness to himself.”
3. The Whole People of God
We believe that participation in the ministry and mission of Christ is open to people of all ages, whether employed or not, whether in a recognised position or not. Coaching is a process that can be used to support people in their unique way witnessing, worshiping and serving.
“The Uniting Church affirms that every member of the Church is engaged to confess the faith of Christ crucified and to be his faithful servant. It acknowledges with thanksgiving that the one Spirit has endowed the members of Christ’s Church with a diversity of gifts, and that there is no gift without its corresponding service: all ministries have a part in the ministry of Christ.”
4. Faith as a Journey
We are a pilgrim people. Together we are discerning what it means to follow Christ, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. Faithfulness, perseverance, courage and humility are required as we constantly reassess our response to the dynamic leading of the Spirit. Coaching pilgrims involves listening, recognition of movement and progress, the capacity to encourage steps of faith in times of ambiguity and uncertainty.
“The Uniting Church’s Basis of Union draws on the motif of our being a people on the way: “The Church lives between the time of Christ’s death and resurrection and the final consummation of all things which Christ will bring; the Church is a pilgrim people, always on the way towards a promised goal; here the Church does not have a continuing city but seeks one to come.”
This time in 2007 Matt Novak started a blog, PaleoFuture, to examine the ways that those in the past envisioned the future. Over twelve months Matt has covered topics such as architecture, cars, cities of the future, flying cars, food, homes, ocean life, picturephones, space colonies, and the year 2000. His blog is littered with the imaginative pictures and descriptions of the future, sourced from the 1880s to the present.
In an article at Mung Being Matt notes that over the last ten years we’ve been reluctant to project very far into the future. There’s less job security for futurists these days. He wonders if it’s our sense of postmodern sense of irony and sarcasm that has led to more modest speculation.
I have a hunch that crossing the boundary between the 20th and 21st centuries has made us less dreamy eyed about the future. We’ve become used to rapid change, so much so that predictions about life in ten years time are bound to be out of whack with the advances made in that time. We do have picture phones that have us speaking in video imagery. No big deal now.
However we do seem to have lost our obsession with getting into outer space. The realities of attempting to send people into the solar system have made it clear that flying to the stars involves crossing unthinkable distances. While our world becomes smaller the universe has become larger.
We’ve used virtual reality to simulate the experiences of galactic travel. Microsoft’s Halo 3, for example, takes players to many worlds in an alternative fantasy version of our reality. I wonder if Halo players hold that version of the future as a possibility?
I worked with 25 teenagers and adults yesterday to look at ways of responding ‘when church sucks’. There’s a danger in raising this topic that our already existing tendency towards consumerism will be confirmed. However the organisers of the Summer Madness Uniting Church weekend believed that equipping young people for taking part in the Christian community needs to include dealing with disappointment, frustration and boredom. Not dealing with it has clearly led to many young people walking as soon as loyalty, family and peer pressure has worn off.
We began with an excerpt from Mr Bean goes to church. It’s the skit in which Rowan Atkinson’s character walks into church to find that the sermon is totally unintelligible. While the preacher drones on, in another language it seems, Mr Bean must deal with a runny nose and no handkerchief, drowsiness and the desire to eat a sweet without attracting attention to himself. Add to that the difficulty of navigating the hymns.
Young people in the workshop certainly related to the tiredness factor. Sunday morning is not the easiest time to stay awake for many. It’s hard to be spiritually focused when the body is not functioning well!
We drew inspiration from 101 Things to do during a Dull Sermon, by Tim Simms and Dan Pagoda (illustrator). These guys came up with a list of ideas for higher learning, diversions, games, musings and meditations, fine arts, church-er-cise, facts and figures. My favourite is church cricket. This is not listening to the cricket on the radio or using a mobile phone to check scores, great ideas that they are. It’s a competition to gain the most runs based on the gestures of the preacher and worship leader. You can earn points for a wide, four, six, bye. Leg byes are not common in church. A finger in the air indicates you’re out and it’s the next person’s turn to bat. To check out the signals see the BBC Sport Academy Guide.
Ideas from the workshop included:
1. Organise the toddlers at the back to make the service interesting…
2. Rearrange the Bibles and hymn books - by alphabet, colour…
3. Do a word search (count) in the Bible for key words
4. Pass the parcel combined with key words from the preacher
5. Phone the preacher’s mobile phone to check that it’s turned off
6. Share bluetooth photographs
7. Develop a cheer leader routine
8. Gameboy, PSP hand held games
On a more serious note, we looked at ways the preaching slot can be redeemed for young people (and a lot of adults).
1. Divide long sermons into smaller sections, using video, cartoons, discussion, interviews etc
2. Show some enthusiasm, at least once during the sermon!
3. Risk telling a joke
4. Try multiple formats - so that if people aren’t connecting with the preacher at least there’s something else to look at. Imagery (not just key points) helps with this. Photographs, art, movies…
5. Communicate with alternative forms - using drama for example
6. Mix up the preaching roster - give others a go, even for shorter slots.
So what makes preaching dull?
Preachers are sometimes in the same boat as the people in the pews - they’ve not had enough sleep. Particularly if they stayed up into the wee hours writing the sermon. I’ve heard of ministers who have fallen asleep during their own sermons! Low blood sugar level can lead to drowsiness. THe appeal from these young people was for preachers to be at their best. If need be, have an energy drink or coffee before - though that can lead to post service depression and exhaustion.
Lack of preparation, be that intellectual, emotional or spiritual, can lead to lack of clarity. I remember a minister who misplaced his notes halfway through his sermon. He confessed to the congregation that he couldn’t remember what he was going to say next. A clever member of the congregation replied, “If you can’t remember what you were going to say, how do you expect us to remember what you said?”
Relevance is a subjective thing. Young people in my workshop talked about the test of relevance being linked to why we have sermons in the first place - keeping us on track with faith in action. Will we be inspired and equipped to live out our beliefs? Most people make a call on that in the first few minutes. If there’s little hope of relevance it’s back to 101 Things to Do During A Dull Sermon.
For Comments
How have you dealt with dull sermons, as a listener or preacher?
Aussie Bloggers is a forum site designed, obviously, for Australians who blog. Topics covered by the 163 members so far registered include getting started in blogging, hints on Wordpress, Blogger and other platforms, social media, promoting and monetizing your blog. The people are friendly and open to newbies and pros alike.
I’m leading a workshop with the title, “When Church Sucks”, on Sunday with a group of young people from Uniting Church backgrounds. Church is not easy for many adults. It’s even harder for most teenagers.
Here’s a list of reasons why church sucks for different people
1. The sermons are boring.
2. The sermons are too long (usually a problem if they’re boring)
3. The people are cliquey
4. The people are unfriendly
5. The people criticize or judge me for my style in clothing and hairstyle
6. The music is bad (too old, poorly performed, poorly sung, too loud, not loud enough)
7. I don’t know the music
8. Too much revolves around singing
9. Not much evidence of faith in God
10. People are fanatical to the point of being anti intellectual
11. No sense of vision beyond running Sunday services
12. Direction of church is dominated by one person
13. Everything revolves around the pastor
14. Lack of imagination - nothing much changes
15. Lack of flexibility
16. Little sense of practical connection with real needs
17. Not connected to important issues in the world
18. Focused on narrow set of moral issues
19. Inward focused - no sense of connecting with outsiders
20. Lack of decent food and drink
In some ways these are the corollaries of a list put out by the National Church Life Survey people in Sydney - indicators of healthy congregational life.
1. Alive and growing faith
2. Vital and nurturing worship
3. Strong and growing belonging
4. Clear and owned vision
5. Inspiring and empowering leadership
6. Imaginative and flexible innovation
7. Practical and diverse service
8. Willing and effective faith sharing
9. Intentional and welcoming inclusion
The focus of the workshop will be on what young people can do about their list of complaints, ranging from 101 things to do during a dull sermon, to developing new environments in which people are welcome, to getting out more. The reality is that we can invest so many expectations in a 60 - 120 minute gathering that will always be hard to meet. Engaging in world poverty, building strong friendships, developing a sense of shared vision, are all 7 days a week activities that happen outside church buildings.
So what would you add to the list? What advice would you give a young person grappling with anything from dull to abusive church environments?
The nominations are now open for the 2008 Bloggies, an annual blog award run since 2001 by Nikolai Nolan of www.fairview.com, in Detroit, Michigan. Anyone can nominate their favourite weblogs in thirty categories. Nominations close on Friday, January 11, 2008. The finalists will be chosen by three panels of 50 voters between January 13 and 18. On January 22 the finalists will be announced and voting will be open again to members of the public until January 31. The winners will be announced sometime between Sunday, March 9 and Tuesday, March 11, online and at the Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, USA.
The Categories for 2008
Best Web Application for Weblogs
Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog
Best Asian Weblog
Best African Weblog
Best European Weblog
Best Latin American Weblog
Best Canadian Weblog
Best American Weblog
Best Photography of a Weblog
Best Art or Craft Weblog
Best Food Weblog
Best Fashion Weblog
Best Weblog About Music
Best Gossip Blog
Best Entertainment Weblog
Best Sports Weblog
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Best Computers or Technology Weblog
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Best GLBT Weblog
Best Teen Weblog
Most Humorous Weblog
Best Writing of a Weblog
Best Group Weblog
Best Community Weblog
Best-Designed Weblog
Best-Kept Secret Weblog
Best New Weblog
Lifetime Achievement
Weblog of the Year
Having moved house at the end of last year, one of the tasks I’ve recently completed is the reconfiguration of our book storage system. Previously we had bookcases of various sizes and hues scattered around the house, wherever there was a spare wall. In the new place we’ve really only got one room with walls suitable - so it’s become a library and entertainment area (for the family) and study (for me). And a lounge for the family pets…
To make this happen we’ve invested in a Billy shelving system from IKEA. Good things about the system: capacity to work in a modular fashion, attach shelves to walls and each other, and the capacity to fit them right against the wall (space allowed for skirting boards). There’s special shelves for CDs and DVDs, as well as the options of doors and glass shelves.
Some lessons learnt in the process of assembling fifteen units:
1. It’s worth it to get large loads delivered.
2. Allow plenty of time and space for assembly.
3. Get help with moving the flatpack boxes around (to avoid putting your back out and damaging walls)
4. Think carefully about what faces to the top, the bottom, back and front. Check before tacking the back on.
5. IKEA are generally very good about exchanging and returning goods.
The Blog Carnival of Australia is a fortnightly collection of blog posts, often focused on a theme, submitted and collated by volunteers, and organised by Megan Bayliss of ImaginIf. Categories are Culture, Food, Politics, History, Outback, Environment, Family, Indigenous issues, Slanguage, Travel, Technology, Business, Music, Helping a mate, Mates, Animals, Literature, Sport, Current Affairs, Walkabout.
Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
