Ronaldo's Room

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

2005-05-18T09:19:00.000+10:00

We gotta new site. Please click on the following link to go to

ronaldo's new room

The Journey of Faith

2005-05-13T08:42:00.000+10:00

On at least two occasions in the New Testament we find people asking the right questions. Nicodemus asked "What must I do to be born again"? The Philippian jailer asked "What must I do to be saved"?

Wouldn't it be nice to pick up the phone and somebody just come out and ask: "How can I find Jesus". I know that this does happen. It just doesn't seem to be the norm, does it?

Let's remember something. For the first time in the history of the world, we have arrived at developing a culture in which anything spiritual or sacred has been written out of the equation. Science, maths and philosophy has brought us to a place we've never been before; people grow up without a concept of the sacred, the spiritual. Our young people are confused. They are told to live the "secular" life but they feel there is something more.

The questions which Nicodemus and the jailer asked are
foreign to (secular) Western culture.

But something is happening. People are discontent with a sacred-less and spirit-less life. There is a spiritual revolution evolving. The Christian Community must take up the challenge before her in developing Safe Spiritual Environments in which people can pursue, uncover and discover again their inner spiritual self.

Only then will we once again find right questions being asked which we will be ready and willing to answer.

NEXT WEEK -- What will Safe Spiritual Environments look like?

My 20-60-20 Rule...

2005-05-12T08:41:00.000+10:00

This past Sunday I shared what I have come to propose as the 20-60-20 percent rule; well, actually it's a guess-timate. Let's see what you think...

Around 20% of the population, on average in Western Culture, is not only open to "spiritual things" but also ok with religious frameworks, forms and jargon. These are the people you could and, perhaps, would invite to special events at Church.

On the other end of the spectrum, the other 20%, are people who continue to reject any having to do with the spiritual. They continue to defend the scientific revolution and the God-is-dead philosophy underpinnings of modernism.

The middle 60%? They are individuals in our culture who appear God-less, religion-less and antagonistic to the Christian Community. Nonetheless, these 60%, when questioned, are open to the spirit world, the sacred and find secular life to not provide satisfaction in their inner being.

Guess who the Church has traditionally connected with? The first 20%, of course! But what if, the Christian Community, looking past the antagonism, the sense of rejection and the suspicious nature of the 60% and found new ways to connect with this sector of society? What if we could find neutral territory upon which we could develop Safe Spiritual Environments to nurture spirituality in the 60%. What would it take to change the way we "do" church in order to walk a journey with those who sense "the sacred" and desire to explore and discover what lies ahead?

What is Spiritual Hunger ? ? ?

2005-05-11T08:38:00.000+10:00

What do you think of this definition of "Spiritual Hunger"?

Uniquely human and inner desire to pursue and connect
with that which is considered "the sacred".

Notice that there is both an active and a passive character of Spiritual Hunger. The passive is described with the words "inner desire". We all know this passive characteristic of physical hunger. It creeps up on us. We don't have to ask for it, worry about orencourage it. We get hungry.

….spirituality is a human instinct and a deep-seated personal hunger….

There is also an active or participating side of this definition of "Spiritual Hunger". The words "pursuing and connecting" describe this characteristic. Just as physical hunger drives us to satisfy those urges, so the urge to satisfy spiritual hunger is followed by a pursuing and a connecting and a seeking after that which is sacred.

Often the Christian Community is concerned with only the "participatory" side of Spiritual Hunger in people. But what if the Christian Community found new ways of being able to encourage the "passive" part of spiritual hunger? What would it look like if the Christian Community nurtured Spiritual Environments in which people come to realise they are hungry, really famished, for a connection with something sacred outside themselves?

I think its an exciting thought and possible. Do you?

Listen Closely ! ! !

2005-05-10T08:14:00.000+10:00

Not to me! Listen closely to the people around you. What do you hear? Do you hear signs of a change of spiritual climate? I think I do. But don't take my word for it, listen closely.

Oh yes. There will be those who say that the world is "going to hell in a handbasket" these days. But let's remember...

We hear completely opposite statements being made about the state of the world. One person will insist that civilization is going to the dogs, and we are regressing to paganism, hedonism, and atheism. Another person will argue that the world has never been more spiritual, and that spirituality can be discerned not only in the arts and popular culture, but almost anywhere we care to look. The former will say that people are leaving the churches because they are becoming unholy, the latter that people are leaving churches because they want a more intense kind of spirituality than organized religion can deliver.

But look around you. I see something different. I went into a local bookstore and paroused the shelves. Almost a fifth of the store was taken up with a section of books regarding "spiritual" matters. Now I know bookshops are in the business of making money. Those books would not be there, in that quantity, if there wasn't a market for them.

In a secular society, a culture which has written off the sacred and pronounced God is dead, people are interested in something more. People are searching to fill that "God-shaped hole" in their inner person. But come on Christian, do you think for a moment a book entitled Change Your Life in 10 Days (Mind altering CD included) is going to provide lasting answers to that deep search? No way!

So look around. Listen closely. There is a sea change happening. And we, the Christian Community, should stand at the doorstep of this great opportunity poised to walk a journey with our culture which will take us through the spiritual and into relationship with Jesus himself.

False Assumption 5:

2005-05-09T08:10:00.000+10:00

Christians are God's "matchmakers"

I start with two quotes. The first a common Bible verse:

Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Revelation 3.20

Now one taken from David Tacey's book, spiritual revolution. This is an excerpt from a student of his who was writing on spirituality. For Tacey this students reflects the dilemma in which young people are finding themselves.

I made the transition to the secular society, but still did not feel satisfied. The secular world said I was free, but I did not really feel free. I began to feel something was missing; there was a God-shaped hole in my life. The secular world says I need to consume more goods, take more holidays , or seek more entertainment, but somehow this seems unfulfilling

When Christians read these two statements, they think like this -- "Somehow I got to bring these two together." Christians see themselves as God's matchmakers. They act as if God and this person don't have a clue the other exists and without a matchmaking process they won't come together.

We got to remember two important points -- First, God really doesn't need our help, He's doing just nicely, thank you very much. Second, people today don't want to be pushed, pulled or lured into any relationship with anybody without having the first and the final and the total say in the matter.

Imagine with me a Christian Community where God is allowed to be God; the pursuer, the knocker-on-the-door person, the engager-of-human-heart God. A Community where God is trusted to do that job better than we ever could. A Community in which Safe Spiritual Environments are developed where people have freedom to pursue their spiritual self at their pace, in their time and for their goals. Imagine a community where Christians don't have the pressure on themselves to play divine matchmaker, instead, we just "wait on the tables" of people who are interested in "having supper" with God.

You know what? In that kind of Community I imagine there will be a lot more "relationships made in heaven" than we could ever imagine.

False Assumption 4:

2005-05-05T15:51:00.000+10:00

It is the role of the leadership of the Christian Community to organise and categorise the ministries of the congregation for increase effectivity

I just love organisational charts. I enjoy systematizing concepts into structured fashion. I don't like loose ends. I like to know where everybody is and what everybody's doing in managing projects. I dislike very much surprises to plans which have been carefully laid out.

Unfortunately I'm finding out that God and I don't always agree on this one. I'm finding that God isn't as containable as I like and a relational style of community connection is very hard to manage. I'm learning to let go. I'm learning what it means to grasp ahold of the Body of Christ as a movement, a mystery and an organism.

A Christian Community that has as its basis for "belonging" a network system of relationships will find it impossible to organise and categorise everything and everybody into neat little organisational chart boxes. The Christian Community which is driven by a desire to be a "movement of God" will find that ministries spring up and fade away overnight sometimes. It will be hard to determine who's in and who's out, and, frankly, it won't matter. The edges at the periphery of the community will be soft so that people won't feel alienated or on the outside.

In this type of community the leadership will give itself to the equipping of its people in the APEPT (apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teacher) gifts so that ministries become "decentralised". Mentoring will have a high priority. Small groups will develop their own vision for finding ways to connect with its culture and on a trial basis will fine-tune ministries on their own.

It's always exciting to try to function out of one's "comfort zone". But how much more wonderful it is when standing back and looking at the bigger picture we can see God working in ways which are, indeed, "out of the box"!

False Assumption 3:

2005-05-05T08:15:00.000+10:00

The Christian Community's role in the culture is to provide clear, Biblically-based answers to common issues

The Church has taken up the role of "defender of truth" in society. This often puts her at odds with law-makers, politicians and ethicists. The heated debates seem to end up alienating whole sectors of society from ever desiring to engage with the Christian Community and creating a lot of grumpy Christians. Is it really the role of the Christian Community to try to provide answers to these tough issues. Is there another way through the arguments? I think there is.

In reality our culture is going through a deep revolution. People in society are caught between a rock and a hard place. They have found themselves in a secular society which has basically written the spiritual, the sacred and the mysterious out of the text-books of life. But these same people are believing more than ever that there is more to life -- that there is something spiritual, something or someone sacred and definitely something mysterious in this life.

Because of this, people are confounded. But they are not so confounded to the point of giving up. Rather, people in our society want freedom and safety to explore this inner sense that there is something more. More than discovering answers, they want to pursue the questions a bit deeper without dogma and doctrine placed up them. People want to spend more time on the journey of discovery of the sacred and the mysterious. They want space to do so.

So what might the role of the Christian Community be? To allow space for such exploration to happen. To apply restraint from answering questions to soon along the journey. To assist people to understand the inner turmoil they are experiencing being spiritual in a secular society. To be patient with people as they journey along in the process of exploring, pursuing and discovery of a faith which comes to experience the sacred and the mysterious. To walk this journey with the community rather than try to coerce, cajole or convince. To enjoy this place which she has been given at this moment in history; a place of real spiritual potential.

Perhaps it is time for the Church to exchange its soap box for a round table at which she can sit and explore with the culture the deep meaning of pursuing the sacred and develop with it new ways forward.

False Assumption 2:

2005-05-03T15:24:00.000+10:00

Christian Comm[Unity] Is Best Attained Through Everyone Meeting Weekly Together For A Common Worship Experience

When the Church accepts this assumption certain consequences seem to follow. They are these...

1. This assumption assumes that the forms used (for worship) will be meaningful to everyone in the congregation and everyone ought to be able to connect with God through the forms which are used. This one-size-fits-all approach has been used by churches throughout the 20th century but fails to take into consideration where people are on the continuum of growing faith.
2. It usually follows this assumption that the worship service becomes a "showcase" for the church; people come to believe that this "is" the church. In fact we have come to call it "church" (as in, "I am going to church).
3. It usually follows this assumption that the service becomes the main entry point for "seekers" to enter the Christian Community. Most people who, from our culture, desire to pursue spirituality find the forms, jargon and methods used in our worship experience so foreign to their inner spiritual needs that they find it difficult to relate.
4. It usually follows this assumption that the minister becomes the "human point of contact" for everyone in the church. This makes for one busy minister and was never the intent of God's plan of gifting every member for the work of the ministry.
5. It usually follows this assumption that the church becomes obsessed with the numbers game and determines success of the ministry by how many people attend the services.

I want to avoid these concequences at all costs.

Why not considering the following ways of developing unity in (and the basis for "belonging" to) the Christian Community?
1. Develop a sense of belonging to a Christian community which nurtures spirituality for everyone wherever they are along the continuum of faith and offers different spiritual environments so that people may connect with the sacred.
2. Develop a sense of belonging to a Christian community whose focus is on being sensitive and perceptive to the culture in such a way it finds ways to connect with it and finds ways to develop forms appropriate to the culture
3. Develop a sense of belonging to a Christian community which seeks to strengthen networks of relationships formally and informally which cannot, at times, be monitored, controlled, counted or categorised.

This, seems to me, to be a better description of the Christian Community as God intended it.

False Assumption 1:

2005-05-03T08:33:00.000+10:00

Promoting Spirituality is Dangerous (see 2/5/05)

Many Christians believe that promoting spirituality in and of itself is not only wrong but dangerous. But if we examine what Jesus said, we might get another perspective...

...true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks....
John 5.23

It sounds as if we need to get this right. It sounds as if its vital to understand what it means to worship "in spirit and in truth". So what does it mean?

This seems to say to me that our worship must first of all be "spiritual". I take this to mean that "worship" without "spirituality" is empty and lifeless. Doesn't this make sense? Isn't Jesus saying, in some way, our inner being needs to recognise its potential and need for connection with the sacred long before that connection takes some form such as worship. Won't worship be more meaningful if it is a result of a yearning desire to connect with the sacred?

This may seem obvious to us but I think we not only need to re-assess our Christian worship, I think we need to re-educate the Christian Community about spirituality. A lot of what we call Christian Worship is empty and lifeless because it assumes that we have an understanding of our spirituality which, unfortunately, is not true.

But there is something else to which the Christian Community needs to awaken. The Church needs to understand that it will be only through the journey of the "spiritual" that people will arrive at "worship". The Church seems deathly afraid of awakening spirituality in the community for fear that it will lose people to other religions or the New Age. The Church seems to be happy producing "worshipping" Christians who haven't a clue about "spirituality". The Church seems content with superficiality when what is needed is for her to take the initiative in leading people through the journey of spiritual discovery and renewal.

This may seem harsh. But then Jesus didn't mince words when he said -- they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.

NationsHeart Vision (& intro to the 5 false assumptions...)

2005-05-02T08:19:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, at our Sunday Services, I had the opportunity to share, what I believe to be, the leadership vision for the future ministry in our Christian Community called NationsHeart (see the links for more information).

These are 4 guiding principles we will be developing in the years ahead:

@ To outreach to our community through developing safe spiritual environments

@ To establish "Missional Gospel Teams" which will form the basis for a sense of belonging to the Christian Community

@ To nurture diversity in ministry, worship style and (watch out!) theology

@ To experience a sense of the movement of God through equipping people for APEPT (apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teacher) leadership

This is an exciting time for us as a Christian Community.

What I would like to do here this week is to address some of the false assumptions that we Christians need to deal with in order to get on with these 4 guiding principles. There are 5 false assumptions I will address and they are...

1. Nurturing spirituality in the community is dangerous
2. The most effective way of attaining unity in the Christian Community is by meeting together in a common worship experience
3. The Christian Community's role in the culture is to provide clear, Biblically-based answers to common issues
4. It is the role of the leadership of the Christian Community to organise and categorise the ministries of the congregation for increase effectivity
5. Christians are "God's matchmakers"

Oh won't this be a fun week as we look at these 5 false assumptions! See you later today for #1.

Reaching People

2005-04-30T08:42:00.000+10:00

The Christian Community is called to be perceptive and sensitive to the nature of its culture at both the point of connecting with it and at the point where the form of the church is expressed emerging out of its connection. It cannot option for isolation or insulation.

So how can it "connect" with people? David Tacey makes this statement . . .

If we are to reach people today, to make contact with their spiritual and emotional lives, we have to engage in what some theologians call pre-evangelisation. That is to say, we have to ask basic and core questions about life, outside the security of dogma and theology, because that is where most of us are, beyond such boundaries. If we want to reach young people, we have to meet them where they are. Thus, during the whole process of spiritual education, it is wise to make clear distinctions between religion and spirituality.

Often, the Church is too busy defending its dogma, convincing of some truth or pleading some argument, rather than nurturing; nurturing the already-existent spirituality in the lives of the people of its community. Sometimes, the Church believes that if it nurtures such spirituality before religiosity, it doesn't stand a chance; that it will somehow lose out to some "foreign" religion or the New Age. David Tacey goes on to say something very interesting. . .

I have been forced to recognise that the education of the spiritual impulse leads directly to new or renewed interest in religion. I have been told many times by students, after they have finished the course that they now intend to consider religion in a new light.

Amazing! And this is a quote from a man who's interest is NOT (necessarily) on the religious side, but the spiritual. But can we do it? Can the church actually become a nurtur-er of "spirituality" in the hopes that some, if not many, will then find the desire to express what they find and what they need in forms which will be fresh, vibrant and renewing? Oh, I hope so!!!!

I've been Crawled and Slurped ! ! !

2005-04-29T08:32:00.000+10:00

Sound disgusting? It's technology!!

Yahoo's system called "Slurp" has "crawled" through my web pages to "read" them so that if someone, for instance, on the otherside of the world enters the words Ronaldo's Room in its search engine, they get linked to my address ! !
You learn something new every week!

Lots of people out there have given up on trying to keep up with all the latest technology. And rightly so! Sometimes it's just overwhelming. As I walk through second hand shops and see the old discarded typewriter, I think -- Give me the old days with ribbons and correction tape (I really don't!!).

At times, the Christian Community gives up on "keeping up" with the culture around it. Sometimes its just too overwhelming. It seems easier just to put up the walls, build the moat and pull up the bridge and feel safe in the castle of the converted.

But neither isolation nor isulation are options for the Church today! !

As time consuming as it is, I want to keep up with the techo world so as to be able to "go with the times". And as a Christian Community we want to understand, accept, validate and blend with the nature of our community so as to be in the best position to serve God with "heart and soul and strength".

The Christian Community must learn to be perceptive and sensitive to the nature of its culture at both the point of connecting with it and at the point where the form of the church is expressed emerging out of its connection.

I'm havin' Pizza for Dinner ! ! !

2005-04-28T08:41:00.000+10:00

Yup, I've given up on my diet! No, I haven't quite reached my goal weight, but this has gotten unbearable. Now understand something! I don't usually give up on diets. I've done this no-carb thing about 3 times in the past 20 years, all successful (well, to a point, the weight did come back, somehow?!?!) But this time was different, you see.

I've given up this diet because I've been constantly hungry for a month. The reason? Well, this time, I combined a no carb diet with 1 hour of cardio exercise 5 days a week! There were days i thought I was hitting the marathoner's-wall in the first five minutes of exercise. Yesterday, the hunger, the lack of energy and the inability to even think about exercise brought this diet to its demise.

I'm having pizza for dinner. I will feel satisfied.

Spiritually speaking we all hunger. We hunger to connect to "the sacred." I watched with interest as Australians gathered this past Monday, on Anzac day, to satisfy some of that spiritual hunger. An amazing thing happens. Young people and elderly alike gather not just to commemorate fallen soldiers and the sacrifice of men and women of armed forces. They experience something they call "sacred". Their hunger for such connection is met mysteriously in those early morning gatherings.

Sometimes the forms we use to connect "spiritually" lose their meaning. Sometime the symbols of our "sacred" fail to cause us to connect. Sometimes what we call "worship" seems dry and doesn't satisfy our hunger. Is there something wrong with us? I don't think so. Sometimes we need to change our diet.

The forms we use to express our spiritual hunger, to connect to "the sacred", need to to be vibrant, life-giving and energised. We must be ready to recognise when we are getting hungry, when our diet needs changing and how to go about bringing the vitality and life back into the forms we use to connect in our spiritual journey.

Is Nothing Sacred?

2005-04-27T09:00:00.000+10:00

Peter Singer, Australian born ethicist, boldly summarises the ultimate and logical conclusion of the scientific revolution of the past 100 years when he writes in his book, Rethinking Life and Death:

If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog or a pig, for example, we will often find the non human to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality self-consciousness, communication and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant.

Peter Singer, Rethinking Life and Death, page 201

But something interesting happens when people who have accepted the scientific revolution, the Darwinistic theory and the God-is-dead (or well-on-his-way to-dying) philosophy of modernity read this. Many often cry out with these words -- Is Nothing Sacred?

In such a statement they are recognising that Peter Singer is taking modernity's great revolution to its final conclusion and asserting that nothing is sacred. Not even human life. But that's just too far for some. There's something else telling them that there is something sacred. They struggle with this deep dilemma.

So what's going on?
Here is the truth -- When we cut loose the sacred, we lose our way in the spiritual journey. In other words, we find, as humans an inner "spiritual" desire which seeks to connect with "the sacred". To have this desire and, at the same time to be told, "nothing is sacred" does not make sense to us.

Our spiritual journey must drive us to discover, or even re-disover, "the sacred". And we, today, have a great opportunity to lead and be lead in such a journey. And I invite you to join such a pilgrimage in awakening your spiritual self.

Creating Spiritual Environments

2005-04-26T08:00:00.000+10:00

Part of the Christian calling is to appraise any new ethos that shapes the culture in which God calls believers to live as his people. One goal of this task is to equip the church to articulate and embody the gospel in the context of that culture. Today we are challenged to live out our Christian commitment in the midst of a culture and to proclaim the gospel to a generation that is increasingly postmodern in its thinking.

A Primer on Postmodernism
Stanley J. Grenz

The ethos which is shaping our society is, among other things, characterised by (1.) a rejection of all things religious, while at the same time characterised by (2.) a pursuit of all things spiritual. These may seem contradictory, but they are not.

So what is the church to do?

It is my opinion that one of the most effective roles the church can play in its culture is to create spiritual environments in which people can pursue and nurture their connection with the sacred.

Ronaldo

Which then means that we must answer some important questions, like:

-What is spirituality?

-What do these "spiritual environments" look like?

-What are the "requirements" which people assume as they pursue their spirituality?

-How does this role differ to what we have known (or done) in the church? -Where does Jesus "fit" in all this

That'll give us a starting point!

It's Showtime!!!

2005-04-24T10:43:00.000+10:00

This picture found in a catholic church in the NSW town of Boorowa... I'll let you take it from here... Enjoy ! ! !

"Pick Me !! Pick Me !!"

2005-04-22T11:23:00.000+10:00

In my younger days I loved to play baseball. I was a pretty good first baseman and I batted well. The problem was that, the first day at camp when teams were “picked”, I was usually that last little kid to be chosen, standing on the sideline while these two teams were formed without me. It wasn’t until I could prove myself in that first game that, then, I was promoted to captain and did the picking. Nonetheless, I know what its like to feel “left out”. And I’m sure you do too.

In some ways, the church today is feeling a bit “left out”. What am I referring to? D Tacey writes this in his book, Spiritual Revolution:

…churches are emptying and yet the pathways of spiritual

discovery are crowded and full of activity…

What is this saying? It’s as if we, who feel we should be an active part of the game, are sitting on the sidelines and watching all this spiritual activity going on -- without us! And unfortunately the more we jump up and down screaming “Pick me, pick me”, the more we are left out of all the fun and activity.

I think the church has the opportunity today to become creatively involved in a culture which, we are finding, has an ever increasing desire for the pursuit of the spiritual. Unfortunately we have to prove ourselves all over again. We will need to show the world that we are ready to listen, ready to walk alongside of, ready to become of a part of the spiritual journey of our community and culture and ready to be a patient participant in this great discovery of who we are and what is “the sacred”.

I’m not sure the church is ready for this challenge, are you?

Church, Get Off Your High Horse

2005-04-20T15:34:00.000+10:00

In one of the church's cleverest moments, James speaks for the leadership when he says --

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Acts 15.19

This was a brave statement. Certain Jewish Christians were adamant about requiring new non-Jewish believers to complete certain rites and procedures that would have made it very difficult for many to find relationship with Jesus. The Church said "No, let the form of the Gospel emerge from this culture."

Unfortunately this has been the Church's struggle from the very first moment that the Gospel crossed cultural lines up to today. The Church continues to struggle with making it difficult for people to come to relationship with Jesus and stay there. The culture of the community and the culture of the church are, at times, oceans apart.

So who's going to give in? In the early church, James did graciously and assertively. And so must we today. Is there such a thing as assertive humility? Yes. Just look at the Trumphal Entry. Jesus did not ride into Jerusalem on a White Horse of Victory but a Humble Ass. He did not tower over the people. He looked them straight in the eye as if to say, "I know where you live and I have come down to live among you and to know you."

It's time the church gets off its high horse

and enters its culture

looking it in the eye

rather than from the

position of the high and mighty.

Habemus Papam -- We have a Pope!

2005-04-20T08:40:00.000+10:00

These infamous words were pronounced today from the Vatican's Window to commence the appointment of Benedict XVI to the papacy. Surprising some analysts, the Cardinals have chosen a man with a hard-line approach to some of the changes to the Church in its recent history. But despite this choice, we know that in 100 years the Roman Catholic Church will have changed from where it is today. Change is inevitable.

Churches Change.

Whether its Roman Catholicism, Protestant Evangelicalism or Whatever-ism, the church never remains static. It finds itself in the process of evolution. We must ask "Why? Why do churches change?" Do churches change because they find a better way of doing church? I don't think so.

Churches change because the culture changes and it must adapt

in order to minister effectively to that culture.

Some churches change in response to the culture around them and discover new concepts and new methods from within the culture to be effective in nurturing spirituality in the community. Other churches see change as compromising their authority to the community and resist change until the point of necessitating it in order to survive. Much better is the former than the latter, so it would seem.

Liquid Church starts from the positive elements in the new, fluid environment and tries to work with these and make them part of the way forward for the church. We need to develop ways of being a church that doesn't float on water like a boat. To be a liquid church means that we are able to combine with water to become fluid, changeable, flexible, and so on.

Pete Ward

The Liquid Church

Culture and Spirituality

2005-04-19T10:25:00.001+10:00

Read this from the book "Spiritual Revolution"...

I can see spiritual waters flowing down our city streets today, but our waters are not clear. As those who live in the desert areas know, a river that bursts into flood, after leading a life below the surface, carries ahead of it a lot of froth and bubble, brown debris and murkiness. The rising water pushes ahead trash that has been dropped in the dry river bed, and the water is, for many hours and days, brown, colloidal and full of silt and dirt. The river of spiritual interest in our society is also murky, dark, impure, and certainly not ‘crystal-clear’. But that is no reason why religion should not take up a dialogue with it. Formal religion looks at the murky stream rising in secular society, and it is

inclined to throw up its arms in horror and cry. ‘ God help us’.
David Tacey
The Spiritual Revolution

Two common Christian responses to the claim that there is a rise in spirituality in our society today -- fear and denial. Christians are afraid of the fact that spirituality is on the rise because they think it is motivated from the New Age when, all along, New Age has simply been a consumeristic response to the already present spiritual river flowing in society. Christians deny a rise in spirituality in our culture because it is so different to the spirituality they have come to believe in. So what is the church to do? Provide safe spiritual environments in which people can pursue this existent desire. Stop imposing on people the form of spirituality which has been institutionalised. Trust Jesus that in pursuing "the sacred" in spiritual environment that He will meet them there. Allow to emerge from such an environment a "new form" that will encourage others to pursue spirituality and find a relationship to Jesus. (Ronaldo)

In Da Big-Inning. . .

2005-03-10T09:38:00.000+11:00

welcome one and all to Ronaldo's Blog. Hopefully these humble beginnings will be da big-inning of a long and interesting journey! glad you could join us... stay tune for exciting times... Let's all jump in and enjoy da water...