The Vatican wants in on the beautiful game

This is just plain weird, and what would they use of a national anthem?? - "Make me a chanel (through the defence) of your peace".would they also have to wear the hats?
would divine intervention not be considered match fixing?
if they lost would that disprove the existence of God?
who would sponsor them?... starving catholics from the 2/3rds world
would the pope get cheap tickets?



Written by: Michiel van Blommestein
VATICAN CITY, Dec 18 (Sw) - A Vatican bishop has told Reuters on Monday that the state is planning to form a national soccer team that can compete in the Serie A.

Tarcisio Bertone, an influential bishop, openly speculated about setting up a squad that can compete with the likes of AS Roma and Inter Milan.

"It is something we are seriously thinking about it. It is a great plan for the future," he said.

Pope Benedict XVI is said to be a proponent of a Vatican team, and he speculated to Italian media about a "very strong" squad mostly containing Brazilian students studying in his state. The Pope is a known Roma fan.

What next....

On death...

I was at interning (I think that is what it's called) for the ashes of a young guy who died of cancer way backin February. It was a very strange experience putting the ashes of someone contined in what looked like a recyled milk container in the ground.
The mother of the guy said the reason she choose the site is becuase he has a view of the sea and can see the planes taking off (two of his loves). While I appreciated the sentimentality I found it odd, given he has been ten months and was well and truly cremated. At the same time the same mother has talked about her son looking down from heaven. With us, yet not with us... it's a weird way to view things but then I guess when I look at the Bible it's equaly as weird. on the one hand we have a big emphasis on the ressurection of the body, but on the other their is another voice that talks in almost gnostics terms of casting of the body. It is by no means clear which is correct, or even if one contradicts the other, which they appear to.

blogging on an article on blogging

The latest briefing has an interesting article on blogging - for a blogger it doesn't say a great deal but i suspect if you wanted to show an proselytise someone into being a blogger it could be a good tract...


Blogging terms

Football, and Pastoral Leadership

In this months New Zealand Soccer Talk there is a really interesting article about Football managers. In England at the moment there are some very new top flight managers who have not gone through the apprentice system, which seems to be an aspect of any career path. Subsequently one of them at least is probably not going to last the season (Gareth Southgate)- because when a club is not playing well the first person to blame is the manager/coach. (I have a friend who used to coach rugby - he said the only thing you can guarantee is that eventually you will be sacked.)
The argument goes that if they went through the apprenticeship system and started by coaching maybe a 4th division team then after 15 years they may be ready for the premiership. so subsequently the belief is that:
(a) You have to earn the right
(b) Better to learn how to fail at the bottom
(c) Experience is more useful than skill, passion or enthusiasm.
There are some problems with this model though and maybe the throw people who show ability in at the deep end is a better model.
(1) Failure does not always cause us to grow, I view failures as opportunities to get it right next time, rather than falling I use the term falling forward - and the momentum can carry you on to succeed.
- "this isn't flying it's falling with style." Quote Buzz Lightyear
While that works for me I realise it does not work for everyone - failure does cripples some people. I suspect then it doesn't matter where on the ladder (so to speak) you are - for many people failure stops them progressing. You can see this time and time again in soccer - BUT also in churches with pastoral leaders - i have come across many who are repeating the same mistakes they have done for years - they haven't learned from them and some never will.. I suspect putting some leaders in at the bottom may well have limited their potential.
(2)Your first position sets the course for every subsequent position. In that the first place you work will often be the biggest teacher, if you start of in a soccer team of has beans and misfits you may never grow beyond that. Same applies to church life - there are not many pastors who have grown their churches through the stages of church growth barriers. Why because the first church they were involved in set the precedent for how they do ministry.
(3) coaching/pastoral ministry is hard and you will be hurt, this is very true. It would seem that in the football fraternity there are many who would seek to protect our Gareth. But does age teach you to better handle criticism??? or does youthful enthusiasm help you overcome criticism?? I think there may be truth in both corners, but criticism is still criticism it hurts whether you are 34 or 64.
(4) The apprentice model isn't biblical, while this has nothing to do with soccer it does have a lot to do with pastoral ministry, and since i reckon Jesus is the model leader I suspect that every one could learn from him.
Now many would say that the model Jesus used was an apprenticeship model where he took followers under his wing and coached them. Well in a way that is true but he also broker the conventions of what the standard religious apprenticeship model of the day was.
Firstly he called them, the model of the day was you beg a teacher to let you follow them.
Secondly he treated them as equals - it was companions not apprentices.
Thirdly he encouraged them to join him in declaring the kingdom, showing people signs of the kingdom - they blew it on the first attempt, but they got it eventually.
Fourthly he told them they would do greater things than he had... Certainly not your standard apprenticeship practice

So is the apprenticeship model of pastoral leadership which is prevalent always the best, lets just say i think it works for some if they can find someone to work under, I spent 4 years under a man who I would consider to be one of the best PL's around, he isn't dynamic, but he listens, he serves and he is a life long learner. I'm grateful for that, but I suspect if i had gone straight into PL I would still have learnt some of these things. Not because i wouldn't make mistakes but because I am teachable, and i also think i demonstrate the qualities that Paul pointed out. As For Gareth well i wish him well, and i think he will be a great coach, probably one of the best - but i don't think he will last the season with Middlesbrough - but hi next club will inherit a diamond in the making. I guess that is what i hope to be in pastoral ministry.

1 Timothy 3:1–7 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.

Faith or magick....

I wonder soemtimes about the words that Christians use and there understanding of them. On Saturday I was talking with soemone who used the term that is not having enough faith, but the way she used it was like faith was a type of magick - that if you say the right incantation then you will be protected.
I say it worries me becuase that is not how i have ever understood faith, reliance on God yes but protection from harm - well deffinatly not always. It doesn't line up with scritpure either - the book of Job certainly doesn't fit with it. In fact I think one of the reasosn we have Job in the bible is to counter act an argument that associates faith with always being protected.
I always explain to people that faith is what keeps you going between one expereince of God and another. I think my understanding seem to be closer to the witness of scripture - but hey i am always open for correction

Lindsay Jones becomes a missional leader.. well maybe

I found this in Lindsay Jones (NZ Baptist head consultant) latest newsletter - and was very encouraged by it but also have my reservations over the move:
eFood for Thought
‘Missional’ is the new buzz word. But what does it mean? Is this a new emphasis of mission and evangelism, using new tools for a new day? I believe it is more than that. Those of us babyboomers in mainstream evangelical churches are beginning to wake up to the fact that God has a big purpose for the whole of creation. To live that out means changing thinking and action from something that we ‘do’ to something that we ‘are’ – the church’s very nature is to be God’s missionary people. In some respects we have always believed this with our heads, but in the passage down to our hands and feet it has been re-interpreted to mean participation in events and programmes. But before engaging in those (and we do need some events and programmes), we need to discover afresh a new set of disciplines and relationships and engagements that help form our being as God’s people. Pastoral leadership skills have largely been developed around how to engage people when they come within range of the church. But now we need skills to live Christianly in the whole of life, to engage the market place (including cyber space), to address the social issues of this generation. I myself feel I have the skills for gathered church, but need to upskill in these other areas. To help me do that Assembly Council has agreed to my following proposal: “That I spend 1 day per week equivalent seeking to form a missional group in the local community where I live (Mangere Bridge), as an extension of Bridge Community Baptist Church where I worship.”
This means I would become a ‘practitioner’ leader consultant from 2007, with the work being done within the framework of my existing job description and position.

I wish him well - but can't help thinking that Lindsay may be a little too attached to the church structure and thinking to do this. But I do hope and pray it works, we need people like Lindsay realising the limits of exisitng ways fo doing church if there is ever to be a shift..

Technorati Profile

Christian coalition

I pinched this post from L.A.paganchick Tuesday, November 28, 2006

"Christian Coalition: Caring for the poor and needy not our issues of concern
**Then what is? Oh yes, talking smack about others, keeping women from having control of their own bodies and gays/lesbians from marrying. Yeah, that's just what Jesus would want the christians to focus on, what with poverty and environment issues being SO yesterday.**ORLANDO, Fla. - The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America has declined the job, saying the organization wouldn't let him expand its agenda beyond opposing abortion and gay marriage.The Rev. Joel Hunter, who was scheduled to take over the socially conservative group in January from Roberta Combs, said he had hoped to focus on issues such as poverty and the environment."These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about," said Hunter, a senior pastor at Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.Hunter announced his decision not to take the job during an organization board meeting Nov. 21. A statement issued by the group said Hunter left because of "differences in philosophy and vision." Hunter said he was not asked to leave."They pretty much said, 'These issues are fine, but they're not our issues, that's not our base,'" Hunter said.His resignation is the latest setback for the once-powerful group.The Christian Coalition, founded in 1989 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, became one of the nation's most powerful conservative groups during the 1990s, but it has faced complaints in recent years about its finances, leadership and plans to veer into nontraditional policy areas. The group claims more than 2 million members."

As a Christian it always worries me that the voice that is loudest heard is the one of judgement, and not the voice of compassion, care for the needy, dare i say the voice of Jesus. Certainly when i read my Bible (which i do believe it or not) i can hear the voice of judgement but it is drowned out by that of the call to care for the needy. If caring for the poor is not the responsibility of the Christian Coalition - then I would love to know what Bible they are reading - becuase i can't read mine without seeing it as essential

Church Growth, Church Health, Missional Church

Just been reading a book that suggests a contium between the church growth movement (Fuller etc..), church health (40 days of purpose etc..) and the emerging missional movement. WHile there is some validity in that I suspect the major difference is that form where I sit the missional movement is more about indivduals than how we do Church. It is about dare i say the Kingdom of God rather than the Church. For that reason i would not expect to see many missional churches come out of the changing paradigm, but missional communities, collections or networks of people who come together for a purpose other than worship - while this may emerge into a 'structural' church of sorts, I suspect in many cases it won't.
Which leads me to another point to ponder - what of the palce of Consultancy? at the moment that is a large part of my role and it works out of a pardigm of Church health, the model that we use suggest that "if we build it (properly) they will come." This has been an issue for me and has caused me to look again and again at what i suggest to Churches in the way of youth ministry. I want to equip, direct and allow the local church to discover there AHA moment of realising that how they do Youth ministry in their mission context is always going to be different and if the Kingdom of God is to have a broad expression of Ethne then it must be different.
I guess then missional consultancy will be about listening and guiding, offering a tool box full of expereinces but most of all allowing the local church to find her own way...

Greg leaves the Wiggles...

It a sad day for children judging by the news report world wide:

"Greg Page, the lead singer of Australian kid-friendly supergroup the Wiggles, has announced plans to quit the song-and-dance crew after 15 years as its most prominent face after being diagnosed with a chronic condition known as orthostatic intolerance...."

"The emotional decision was one which was very difficult, as I have dedicated almost half my life to the Wiggles, and with a question mark over my health, I feel that this is the right decision," the 34-year-old entertainer said. "I will miss the Wiggles and the other guys very much, as well as seeing all the children in the audiences that we perform in front of."

Both my kids prayed for Greg last night - I think even though they are passed the Wiggles stage they will miss him, God Bless Greg and we hope you get well.