benedson

The Do Lecturers

I got an email from Howies today telling me about the Do Lecturers. As I browsed the site it struck me that out of the 22 speakers only one was female...If this was an emerging church gathering we'd be slated for that, and rightly so. So what's going on Howies? Why such a poor female representation..

.

Technorati Tags: Ben Edson, Gender

New Team Leaders for Fresh Expressions...

New Team Leaders for Fresh Expressions:
Bishop Graham Cray takes up the Anglican role
Revd Stephen Lindridge steps up for the Methodist Church

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Methodist Church have today announced that the Fresh Expressions initiative is to continue for a further period of five years.

The Bishop of Maidstone, Rt. Reverend Graham Cray, is to be the next Archbishops' Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team.

The Methodist Connexional Missioner for Fresh Expressions is to be the
Revd. Stephen Lindridge, currently Evangelism Enabler in the Newcastle District.

Bishop Graham, who is the Bishop for Mission in the Diocese of Canterbury, will succeed Dr. Steven Croft, who is to be the next Bishop of Sheffield.

The new appointment gives Bishop Graham a unique opportunity to further develop many of the ideas and suggestions put forward by the Working Party he chaired before producing the much celebrated report Mission-Shaped Church (1). The concept of "fresh expressions" and the notion of a "mixed economy" church were both explored in that document.

Bishop Graham said this morning: “I have been delighted with the national and ecumenical response to Mission-Shaped Church and hugely impressed with the work done by the Fresh Expressions Team. It is an honour and a thrill to be asked lead the second phase of the work. I am very grateful for the Archbishops'
invitation, and look forward to taking up my new responsibilities.'

Stephen Lindridge has helped to pioneer a fresh expression of church in Gateshead and has been instrumental in setting up training and resources to support fresh expressions of church in the North East.

He said today: “I am delighted to be joining the fresh expression team, as the fruit of phase one is evident for us all to see and I am very much looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that phase two (of fresh expressions) will bring.”

He added: “God’s grace on the emerging leaders in fresh expressions has been wonderful to observe. I count it an immense privilege to be appointed to a position where I can actively encourage this work throughout the UK.”

Fresh Expressions is a partnership between the Church of England and Methodist churches and is an initiative of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Hundreds of fresh expressions have already been set up and new approaches to clergy and lay training have been advocated and adopted.

The initiative has been strongly and generously supported by the Lambeth Partners since it was launched by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has regularly thanked them for their support during phase one .

The new appointments will begin in 2009.

Technorati Tags: Ben Edson, Fresh Expressions

LICC Manchester Events...

Technorati Tags: Ben Edson, puppy

You were born on a black day shot through with sunlight

On Saturday Ruth and I went to see Spiritualized at Manchester Academy - J. Spaceman was on sparkling form and the gig was stunning. J. Spaceman was technically dead three years ago his heart stopping twice when he had double pneumonia. The latest album Songs in A & E interesting written before he was ill and died, makes a lot of reference to death and the afterlife. He fuses together indie guitar music with a gospel sound, and the lyrics are loaded with referenced to Jesus, heaven and faith. The evening started Amazing Grace, incorporate Walking with Jesus but the highlight for me was Soul on Fire...

The Question Mark inside

I've just seen on Ruth Gledhill's blog that the dome of St Paul's Cathedral Dome is going to become a blog! The project invites members of the public to answer the question 'What gives your life meaning' on this blog and then the blog posts may be projected onto the Dome of St Pauls...stunning!

City Centre Flats...

The BBC have just published this report into the falling price of flats. Manchester Deansgate has the second largest price drop in the country...not good for brand manchester.

Technorati Tags: Ben Edson, Manchester

Sustainability and Transcience

I'm intrigued by the sustainability of a Church community when working within a culture of transience. Let me explain, the church that I lead, sanctus1, has about 45 people in it. Of those 45 people over 50% of them are new to the community in the last year. Two years ago Sanctus1 had the same number of people in it, so in two years 50% of the community has changed. It has changed, not because people have got bored, annoyed, hurt and left but because people are extremely mobile and when work, relationships or something else calls them away, they have the freedom to move. This seems to be a pattern, that every few years there is a real diaspora of people leaving the community, which creates space for new people.

This has many affects on the community, firstly the values etc. that were defined by the community three - four years ago need to become either owned by the new community or changed and secondly, participation. It is often the case that it takes people a while to get involved - they start to take things on and then they move on and it's back to the drawing board! this is the same with finance, people start to give then move on.

There are frustrations to this but also opportunities, opportunities to re-imagine every few years, a story that is always evolving and it makes change slightly easier...

So, I'm wondering if emerging churches that are made up of mainly young mobile professionals will ever been sustainable? Will they always be dependent on leaders to carry the larger story, and institutions to guarantee their longevity?

Technorati Tags: Ben Edson, emerging church

Parliament Protest

A couple of friends of mine are camping in parliament square for two weeks as a protest about the way that Britain treats asylum seekers...check out their blog.

Technorati Tags: Justice