[FESTIVE STORY] 12.03 Quiet Excitement MARK PIERSON Cityside/Parallel Universe : Auckland, New Zealand Ever wondered what the alternative to carols and christingles might be? Mark tells us of postcards, paddling pools and pongas in a Parallel Universe...

[REFLECTION] 12.03 A Call to Missional Revolution ANDREW HAMILTON Backyard Missionaries : Brighton, Australia "The book 'The Shaping of Things to Come' by Mike Frost and Alan Hirsch is both an incisive critique of much current missiology/ecclesiology as well as a challenge to boldly re-imagine what it means to do mission and be the church in a post-christian age. This is a call to revolution! "

[REFLECTION] 12.03 Post Community? GEOFF HOLSCLAW Chicago, USA "All things have become “post-” in our culture because the past is undesirable, but the future is unnamable. From post-industrial, post-literate, post-imperial, post-colonial, post-Christian, and post-modern, various labels are employed to describe this emerging culture. One “post-” we need to consider more closely is post-individualism..."

 Hot topics on Discussion Boards:

"I don't like the idea of preaching being entertainment. I have sat through too many sermons that were mainly about entertainment. I really can't see the point of having any element of worship that is so two dimensional as preaching lasting for more than 7-12 minutes."
[Topic: Is preaching a valid communication tool?]
[Forum: Freestyling]

"if we are thinking about doughnut churches what types of doughnut church could there be?
   baptist - dunkin donuts
   charismatic - kripsy kreme
   (lots of hype, focused on the experience)
   reformed - jam doughnut
   (there is DEFINITELY something in the middle)
   alt worship - ring doughnut
   (there is definitely lots around the edge)
   cell church - doughnut bites
   (lots of little doughnuts)
   any kind of doughnut you would like (free!)
   - seeker sensitive
over to you? "
[Topic: Doughnut churches]
[Forum: Reflections: Comments, questions and kudos]

[FESTIVE REFLECTION] 12.03
Incarnation: The emerging church at Christmas
BEN PATTISON
UK

"At this time of year, a quiet battle is going on. The might of the corporations against a child in a feeding trough. In pulpits across the country Christians rail helplessly against the onslaught of the ‘holiday season’. Together we watch as year by year the ‘real Christmas story’ is marginalised by the annual festival of consumption. But as emerging churches do we have any alternative that moves beyond quietly tut tut ing and getting stuck into the mince pies?"

...I'm coining a new phrase today, I think: "Syncretic Evangelism"... engage a person in their own culture, and without their explicit knowledge, trying to claim them as a Christian... a path of enlightenment within which one can pick and choose his buffet of spirituality...

Russell Mann argues for a re-evaluation of conversion. This month's PICK OF THE BLOGS

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