Archives For education

Pastors and politics

13 February, 2014 — 2 Comments

Last week I asked my Facebook friends: “Are you a signed-up member of a political party? If so why? I’m thinking about it…” There were over 70 comments which is a lot for one of my Facebook status updates. I have found the engagement interesting so share some of the ideas here.

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My initial question wasn’t intended to be about pastors and politics, but that was one of the dominant themes that emerged – probably because a lot of my Facebook friends are pastors.  A few main themes emerged, and I outline them below.

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In church, education, kingdom of God, leadership, local context, New Zealand , , , , , , ,
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New research shows women can make a difference.

30 January, 2014 — 15 Comments

I read an article last week in which I saw parallels with the church context so thought I would write about the same topic. The article by Olga Kahzan in The Atlantic is titled: “The Easiest Possible Way to Increase Female Speakers at Conferences.” The quick summary is: having just one woman on the organizing committee for a conference greatly increases the likelihood of women appearing at the front of the room.

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The contribution of women is a topic that concerns me because I am part of a Christian ‘movement’ that struggles with this: the New Zealand Baptist Church. This also appears to be a widespread problem for the church in general. Three points come to mind and I outline them below. Continue Reading…

In church, church decline, communication, education, local context, New Zealand, society, women , , , , , , , , , ,
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The best communication ever: God with us

20 December, 2013 — 7 Comments

The city I live in is recovering from a series of earthquakes that began three years ago. It’s a long slow grind. Earthquakes damage a city’s infrastructure, such as roads, and the sewers and water pipes that are mostly hidden deep below the road surface. Christchurch post-earthquakes has been riddled with orange road cones to highlight damage and repairs in progress. In June last year there were 100,000 road cones in Christchurch, worth more than $3 million. A day doesn’t go by without seeing many of them, they are a part of life here.

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This photo is a simple nativity scene made of road cones. Local artist Pete Majendie from the Side Door Arts Trust has placed this pregnant Mary and Joseph upon a pile of rubble on the corner of a busy intersection. The pile of rubble was once an historic church building.

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In communication, education, explaining our faith, local context, New Zealand, receiver, society , , , , , , , , , ,
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Just Church

9 December, 2013 — 3 Comments

This is the first time I’ve used a blog post to promote or advertise an upcoming event. I’m planning on attending this and hope you will consider it too (if you’re able to get to Auckland, New Zealand in March 2014).

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It’s being promoted as:

A gathering at the intersection of faith, justice, worship and the arts; to inspire, model, sustain and resource Christian communities in their building for the Kingdom of God.

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In church, discipleship, education, event, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, local context , , , ,
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The disconnected church

26 November, 2013 — 21 Comments

My PhD thesis has been signed off and it is now public on the university’s online scholarly commons. It is called:

The disconnected church: a critical examination of the communication of the Christian church in New Zealand.

Below is the 500 word abstract from the start of the thesis which gives a concise picture of what it’s all about. If you’re interested in reading more, you can download the entire thesis from AUT here: http://hdl.handle.net/10292/5922

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In church, communication, education, local context, New Zealand, PhD, society , , , , ,
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Where faith, arts and justice meet: Greenbelt (my review)

8 September, 2013 — 17 Comments

From 23-26 August I attended what I would describe as the best, most diverse, engaging, ecumenical, Christian gathering event I have ever been to. Greenbelt is an arts, faith and justice festival held in England that has now run consecutively for 40 years. This was my second time, the first being in 2011.

20130906-115842 PM.jpgIn this post I will explain what Greenbelt is, and then I’ll go through the things I did at Greenbelt this year as a way to show why I think it’s such a good time, and perhaps as a way to tempt you into joining me there sometime.

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