Author: Ian Harris

Alain’s main thesis is to give a softer face to the atheism portrayed by Richard Dawkins et al.  To do this he identifies aspects of religions that he sees as a positive benefit for individuals and society.  While he starts his address with “of course there is no god’, he makes his choices on a pick n’ mix basis of the good/useful/insightful aspects of religions.  He has been criticised for this approach but defends it by observing that as religions are a human construct – a reflection of culture, this is what we do with music and authors – we don’t just stick with one but enjoy the ‘best bits’ from each.  His position is not a rejection of religious praxis, it is a rejection of theology.  He aspects he admires from religious practices include: education – especially its repetitiveness, time based rituals – as they provide life with highlights, oratory, practices which involve all senses to appeal to as wide a range of people as possible, art, architecture, organisation – as good as the best of multinational businesses and building of community.

We couldn’t disagree that these aspects when done well, do contribute to a successful church but is that all?  Is not a sense of ‘the other’, a sense of the spirit that takes us beyond ourselves to consider others, also an important aspect that Alain is missing?

This book has described 10 indications of ‘green shoots’ within so called Mainline churches in the US in the mid noughties.  The chapter on Transforming Congregations highlighted some of the green shoot activities of 5 congregations. We visited the websites of each to see how they had fared in the intervening >6 years.  There was the usual mixture of formats, styles and dated material.  All these churches still had a large number of activities though we felt some reflected more inward focus than outward/community focus.  Some activities mentioned in the book were not identified on the sites – but that is the nature of some programmes – there is a right time and place.

Overall we’ve enjoyed considering this book.  The 10 indications of green shoots don’t necessarily fit our time and context but the principle of identifying what can be done well and having a few key people with vision, enthusiasm and drive to make things happen is universal.

Resulting from our discussion on 30 April, we challenged ourselves to describe what elements were necessary to ‘experience’ God in worship services.  We quickly realised that different environmental stimuli would impact positively on some but not others.  After all we are each unique.  We agreed that for a single worship time to invoke a feeling of God’s presence, a range of senses had to be stimulated – not just one or two.  Some of these include music, well sung songs/hymns, soft lighting/candles, silence, opportunity for contemplation, something visually interesting and unique, drama, smell – fresh bread and coffee, dance.

We considered one of the summary chapters ‘Transforming Lives’.  There is an initial emphasis on the ‘sanctuary’ and home wanderers have found in these Mainline churches.  They have found a place and an environment where they can put down roots and become part of an accepting, though challenging, community.  We observed the impression that compared to US society, NZ is a much smaller country and population with consequently fewer wanderers.  Nevertheless, they do exist and all churches need to be aware of, and welcoming to, new comers whether they be wanderers or not.  The author suggests 5 modern traits in (US) 21^st century society – individualism, aimlessness, consumption, fragmentation and forgetfulness.  It seemed to us that these are more noticeable and have spread beyond the US since 2006, eg the riots last year and recent election results in Europe.  In response to these, the author suggests wanderers have become pilgrims by ‘selectively adapting to the cultural changes that are pressurising the practice of Christian faith.’

We thought that Church members should be change makers not change followers – after all was this not what Jesus did?  Elements of the present society seek identity in what they consume compared to previous generations where people were known for what we produced.  Christians would do well to consider the example they set and therefore how they perceived – by their works you shall know them.

We reviewed 3 further signposts of renewal in Mainline US Churches.

Diversity  The author suggests that congregations are all the ‘richer’ for their diversity of thought, background, ethnicity and (in the US particularly) politics.  With diversity of thought and action also comes a need for tolerance and acceptance of alternatives to one’s own preferences and praxis.  She makes the important point that diversity does not mean ‘inclusion’ ie that secularism has invaded the church in the form of ‘anything goes’.  Diversity was very real and evident in the early church and in the letters and teaching of Paul.  Diversity is something Christians do that makes a truer, richer community.

As a congregation with many ethnic backgrounds and traditions, Tawa Union Church can confirm the joys of diversity.

Justice  The author quotes one church as noting that they pursue diversity as a way of justice.  The ideals of fairness, equality and human rights arose from the secular world during the Enlightenment – and are not found in the Bible or in prior Christian tradition! Doing justice means engaging the powers – transforming systems of oppression.  This is why doing justice is so difficult – it requires us to change the basis, the ethics, the way things are done, the world view of ‘powers and principalities’ – not mopping up the consequences.  Its hands on stuff, requiring the marshalling of resources and above all, persistence.  We also recognised that there is likely to a personal ‘cost’.

Worship  This is subtitled ‘Experiencing God’ and for our group pretty well summarised the chapter.  Worship should create a sense of awe, an experience that transforms the heart.  It moves from head to heart.  Worship is the church’s shop window to the world.  The author found that the kind or form of music or art in themselves didn’t necessarily imply vitality, rather it was innovation and experimentation.  A number of examples are quoted.  A must read for those grown tired of same old, same old ways of experiencing worship.

We reviewed 2 further signposts of renewal in Mainline US Churches.

Discernment  This is defined as being open to God’s will, searching for answers to ‘what does God want me to do?’  The author suggests developing the practice of asking ‘God’ questions in place of ‘I’ questions.  This requires openness and time and then interaction with others to ‘test’ the authenticity.  If one is to develop an ‘inituition’ about a subject, one needs to immerse oneself in the subject area – we felt this also applied to discernment through immersing oneself in God and thereby being open to the leading of the spirit.

Contemplation  The author’s main requirement here was quietness, silence, being still.  This chapter complemented Discernment as quietness is a key tool.  She advocates silence during communion and as ‘white spaces between words’.  Silence allows for assimilation – for our minds to sort out and order ideas.

Ian Harris

In this book the author sets out to discover ‘Mainline churches’ in the US that are growing and thriving and to identify what they doing to achieve this.  She mourns the loss of the church society in which she grew up – it has just disappeared.  After some introductory chapters, she identifies 10 ‘signposts of renewal’ exploring these in separate chapters with examples from the churches she visited.

Tonight we looked at Hospitality.  We know it’s hard to enter into unfamiliar buildings, groups and rituals, so we should be very aware of new comers and make a particular effort to be welcoming and putting ourselves in their shoes.  Efforts to make children welcome and ease them quickly into peer groups are especially appreciated (by parents and children) and effective in creating a sense of belonging.  Allow freedom to be themselves ie don’t pressure to conform, be non-judgemental, eating is a key activity where the division between guest and host can become lost.

Other signposts will be reviewed in subsequent weeks.

This is a DVD of a discussion between 4 atheists – Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris.  The discussion is wide ranging, informative (whether agree or not) and measured.  This is not a rant against religions but reasonably measured arguments.  Their principal issue is that religion removes individual’s ability to think for themselves – the church or the leader tells what to believe and the members accept what is offered at face value.  This they suggest is very dangerous and can lead to extremes of thought and action by manipulative leaders.  Totalitarianism is innate in all religions!

They do acknowledge however that the church has and can be an instrument for good, there is a certain mystery to life, that faith has resulted in majestic cathedrals, religious art and music eg carols at Christmas – which they sing!

This makes challenging and stimulating viewing!  A little ‘academic’ but worth the effort to hear what atheists think.

Ian Harris

This was given as the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership Inaugural Lecture 2012

This is a demanding read which yields much to those willing to search, discuss and ponder.  Mark notes that previous ‘fixes’ to arrest numeric decline of (Presbyterian) churches have not worked long term.  His view is that we are blinkered by our imaginations (essentially how we see the world) and this has disabled church leaders and members by:

–          The way the church is organised – often with the presbyter as the ‘CEO’

–          Denominational structures which limited (controlled) imagination and practices in a rapidly changing environment and resulted in new churches outside the established denominations

–          Disembodied spirituality – the rise of the individual which didn’t need the church as an anchor.  A separation of faith based values from ‘real life’ issues.

Mark then goes onto to suggest some pathways which might be explored by leaders to make the church fit and able to meet the requirements of the present.