Isaiah 43:9Hi there all new-thingers
Because we are an emerging group we still don’t quite know what we are about (at least I don’t!).
We started out wanting to say that we don’t like where the church got to in 2006 but nor did we want to be a lobby group… we turned down the offer of a New Thing room because we want to mix rather than separate off as we don’t (yet) have a clear idea of what we exist for anyway! (Sounds dreadfully post-modern doesn’t it!)
We expressed some hope that there might be another way we can find to relate that gets out of the mode of I am right/you are wrong that operates in our church system… it is not easy…
One of the things we were determined to do was try to encourage people to get alongside one another more – especially those we disagree with, in the hope that from a base of better relationship we might be more reluctant to act in ways that hurt each other.
So Sally and I have come up with the idea of New Thing being the suppliers of fresh mints at Assembly. We have several kilograms of mints that we want New Thingers to pass around – along the rows of seats, among the huddles and queues – and to accompany the mints with a greeting and the opportunity to get to know the people being passed the mints in a new way. It might sound a bit simple, but we believe the mints might act as a catalyst of the kind of relating we think New Thing is looking for.
So if you are going to Assembly find Martin and Sally and they will give you a supply. It is fine to talk about New Thing with people – you won’t necessarily find that easy to explain, but it might be enough to say that we are seeking to be part of our church finding new ways to relate to one another where we find our commonality in Christ even if we don’t always agree with each other.
Sally is preparing some little tickets with something about encouragemints! And I have come up with a few posters to stick around the place… like… the above Banksy pic with Isaiah 43:9 underneath.
Have a good whatever you are having
Martin
Because we are an emerging group we still don’t quite know what we are about (at least I don’t!).
We started out wanting to say that we don’t like where the church got to in 2006 but nor did we want to be a lobby group… we turned down the offer of a New Thing room because we want to mix rather than separate off as we don’t (yet) have a clear idea of what we exist for anyway! (Sounds dreadfully post-modern doesn’t it!)
We expressed some hope that there might be another way we can find to relate that gets out of the mode of I am right/you are wrong that operates in our church system… it is not easy…
One of the things we were determined to do was try to encourage people to get alongside one another more – especially those we disagree with, in the hope that from a base of better relationship we might be more reluctant to act in ways that hurt each other.
So Sally and I have come up with the idea of New Thing being the suppliers of fresh mints at Assembly. We have several kilograms of mints that we want New Thingers to pass around – along the rows of seats, among the huddles and queues – and to accompany the mints with a greeting and the opportunity to get to know the people being passed the mints in a new way. It might sound a bit simple, but we believe the mints might act as a catalyst of the kind of relating we think New Thing is looking for.
So if you are going to Assembly find Martin and Sally and they will give you a supply. It is fine to talk about New Thing with people – you won’t necessarily find that easy to explain, but it might be enough to say that we are seeking to be part of our church finding new ways to relate to one another where we find our commonality in Christ even if we don’t always agree with each other.
Sally is preparing some little tickets with something about encouragemints! And I have come up with a few posters to stick around the place… like… the above Banksy pic with Isaiah 43:9 underneath.
Have a good whatever you are having
Martin
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