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Thanks
to Amelia for this extensive contribution (which was intended for the list but
didn't get there), and to the others today also.
-----Original Message-----
From: Amelia Koh-Butler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, 3 June 2004 09:33 To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'; Insights List (E-mail) Subject: Conversations about Bandy Hi
David,
I am
one of the people trapsing along to do the Bandy-thing in Melbourne and then
staying for an additional couple of days with Synod-mission-educators. My
motivation is less about the Bandy-stuff and more to do with being up-to-date
with what the other Synods and our Board of Mission are likely to be referring
to as they go about with business. One of the things I am working on is summary
notes of the main points he makes - so people can get an idea if they want to
read the 4 books that are being promoted. I didn't comment before because the
first discussion points referred to one of the books I haven't read yet. To my
knowledge there are at least 4 staff from Board of Mission and 3 staff from
Board of Education and quite a few people from NSW-ACT Presbyteries who will be
going - so the Bandy material will have quite an impact in NSW-ACT - even if it
only talking and contributing to thinking. (The networking side of being there
and the corporate thinking time will probably end up as important as the content
we cover).
So
for, I have read two of the Bandy books - Moving off the Map and
Christian Chaos. They both make quite interesting reads. One positive
aspect is that Bandy has started to talk about post-Christendom paradigms. He
has stated fairly clearly that churches need to think again and not assume that
insular attitudes will work anymore. His work compared declining churches with
thriving churches and identified some of the inward-outward looking patterns
associate with each. This echoes some of what we are familiar with in NCLS
material. Bandy went a bit further to do more than analyse research data. He
offered a tick-list of strategies. I recognised some of the suggestions as
things that some places are trying instinctively (or because they have been
inspired - maybe both).
For
example, he asserted that for congregations to be able to respond to rapid
change they have to change how decisions are made and implemented - give a
framework within which you can do anything rather than have to have every step
of every move approved by committee - wow what a challenge to the UCA -
interconcillar may have to learn to work differently! Nevertheless, I have seen
a couple of congregations do this very well and they do develop a culture of
permission-giving and being supportive of creative growth. Bandy said that if
your Core Congregational Values and framework were clear (the boundaries of what
you can't do need to be clear too) then you could give permission for people to
be creative within the framework - as long as they didn't contravene the no-go
zone they had implicit approval to try.
Is
this useful for us? In a recent Presbytery Consultations Training Day at Sydney
North I passed on some of Bandy's questions for Congregations from Moving
off the Map. I suggested that people who would be facilitating Presbytery
Consultations with Congregations could read through these just to get their
minds into gear about what signs of life and vitality they might be looking for.
There is certainly some useful material. The concepts may need to be reworded
for some of our contexts, but the material is certainly worth a
read.
Personally, I think we need to get even more radical in
our thinking than Bandy does, but this is probably a good place to help people
think more expansively. One of the things I would like to talk about during The
Visit in July is - in quite a lot of places in the pretty foreseeable
future we will be doing mission planning and mission education with groups that
are not congregations. I believe that we will see a shift within the next 5
years that sees the UCA move from a Congregationally-focussed church to a Combo
of Congregations and other groups - we will start by calling the alternative
groups Faith Communities (because we already have a name in the Regulations for
Faith Communities) - however, these faith communities will not be aiming at
becoming congregations - instead they will be developing into something else.
What? ...Hmmm?
I am
preparing some information-sessions for people who want to explore the Bandy
material further - if anyone wants to host or be part of a face-to-face group
gathering of interested people please let me know. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Blessings,
Amelia
Amelia
Koh-Butler
ELM
Associate Director (Education for Mission)
...part of the Board of Education of the NSW-ACT
Synod...
I
was surprised how much mention of 'my club' was important to me in watching
this program.
I
remembered seeing the smiling faces of those youth group leaders and hearing
the word 'Uniting'.
And
I remembered waiting for the same word from that Presbyterian minister who
listed a long string of participating denominations.
It
didn't appear.
So
perhaps indeed it was grassroots support, but not
institutional.
I'm
more interested in why that distressed me so much, because, like others in
this thread, I personally don't connect with this type of
thing.
Maybe it's the irony of a church labelled
"Uniting" that misses participation in a uniting event.
It's
a similar feeling to the one I got when I realised that the Bandy
programme is being sponsored by all our surrounding states including South
Australia, but 'my club' (NSW Synod in this case) has opted
out.
Our
Sydney Presbytery Mission Officer is trooping off to participate, and Bandy's
thinking has influenced his reports and I guess the mission plan we're
developing.
So I
guess I'd better try to find a copy of his book.
Here
in this forum there was the start of a debate on some reasons why Bandy might
be off-the-mark theologically, and for that contribution I'm
thankful.
But
the debate didn't seem to go very far. Maybe it's too hard for us all to
get the book. (I was ignorant enough to contribute ideas based only on
that contributor's remarks!)
David
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- Re: FW: Conversations about Bandy David Powell
- Re: FW: Conversations about Bandy Darren Wright
- Re: FW: Conversations about Bandy Stephen Webb
