What is Loam?

Kate, a member of Loam, wrote this description of us.

Loam is a small community of people who, through action and reflection, are committed to discerning what it means to follow Jesus in and around the northern Melbourne suburb of Preston. Loam believes that hospitality is a central aspect of faith, and that food can bridge all manner of gaps.

It’s pretty well spot on I think.

Cross-Cultural Ministry Essay

I’m currently working on an essay with the following topic:

In the light of the Apostle Paul’s strategy to cross cultures for the “sake of the gospel”, discuss the following:

We need to find another way of defining our faith that is not so defensive, another way of affirming our faith that is not so aggressive; a way of comprehending our faith that is true, but doesn’t pretend to have a monopoly on truth; and a way of interpreting our faith that is inclusive, not exclusive, of all that is good and healthy and holy and right in other cultures, traditions and religions.
Christi-anarchy, Dave Andrews, Lion Publishing, 1999.

I’ll post the finished product in a bit but I’d be interested to hear anyone’s thoughts.

Where’s Tim?

As is so often the case I’ve been notably absent from the blogosphere. I have been doing a few interesting bits and pieces though.

- Baby business is coming along well. The beautiful Jay is 36 weeks today so the little man (Tuss) is due to arrive any time in the next 4 weeks.
- I’ve started a new job. I’m working at Urban Seed as a Youth and Schools Coordinator which is pretty great.
- Loam continues on. We’ve been having dinner on Sundays and worship on Wednesdays as always. We’ve had a few interesting chats lately about our commitment to each other and the group, what church is and our role in issues like reconciliation, mission, etc.
- Community connections continue to grow. I’ve been doing my best to continue to meet and spend time with my neighbours here in Preston. Some weeks I do better than others, but there are some great relationships growing all the same.
- I continue to study at ACOM. After this semester I’ll have 3 units left to get my Bachelor of Theology. Currently I’m doing a personal formation subject and a unit called Cross-Cultural Ministry, interesting stuff.
- I’ve just finished reading Church Without Walls which was a great read and certainly worth a look. Apparently it’s a bit of a classic but I hadn’t even heard of it before I started a subject that it was required reading for.
- I’ve also been following a series on Jesus Creed called Keys of the Kingdom which is a biblical exploration of the kingdom of God, very helpful.

So anyway, that’s where I’ve been lately.

Shaped by our communities

I was reading a post called Ecclesial Dreamer on the Money over at Backyard Missionary earlier today and they are having a great discussion about issues such as what makes a ‘good’ church and why churches should be counter cultural, but what really caught my eye was a comment about how our communities shape us.

Hamo wrote,

The group of people we choose to align ourselves with will give form to our identity and when it comes to a faith context the church we choose to be a part of will play a significant influence in our own formation.

I’ve always thought this was true, but more and more I’m convinced that it is a piece of wisdom we need to heed and encourage others to listen to. In a world where experience is seen as a key to truth I’ve noticed that people tend to throw themselves into relationships and contexts so that they might be able to explore something new. While on one hand I think this is a great idea, it’s also a dangerous one. These relationships and contexts might open up new experiences, but given the power the communities that we are a part of have on us we need to be wise and critical of their influence on us.

My concern is not that people join communities or create relationships so that they might have new experiences but more that they do so at the cost of the other relationships and communities that help them stay true to who they are. I’ve seen too many young adults jump from group to group in search of new experiences and consequently lack a depth and accountability in their relationships. Or they become excited about the prospect of a new job/hobbie that they love and consequently neglect or leave the other communities that have shaped them into the person they are. In too many cases I have seen these people come to a point of crisis where they have been influenced in ways they never intended to be and don’t know their way back.

The wisdom that our communities shape our identity and formation needs to be something that we live by and mature into if we are to remain radical disciples of Christ in a diverse and challenging world.

Cut to the Chase - Lee Jackson, Baz Gascoyne & Friends

When I arrived in Hamilton I saw this book on my friend Bruach’s shelf behind the bar in his bar. It took me a couple of days to churn through it and I have to say it was pretty good. I’m usually pretty harsh on Christian books, mostly I find I’m just reading a lot of lightweight crap that could have been said in a few pages rather than 200. Thank God, this wasn’t like that at all. It was great to have a Christian book aimed at blokes, that didn’t take itself too seriously and that was really honest. It addresses the usual suspects that guys need to think about and does a pretty good job of it, but I was really impressed that they branched out into subjects like dealing with disabilities (specifically autism), living missionally and even the place of Christian comedy. It’s not the heaviest book you’re going to come across but for guys who want to follow Jesus it’s a really good read.

Off to Hamilton

Well Jay and I are going to be spending January in the fine town of Hamilton, Victoria. I’m not sure what that will mean with regards to my return to blogging. Potentially I could do more of it or maybe none at all. I guess we’ll see.

Whose standards do we seek to hold each other to?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that people are at different points in their journey towards Jesus. Even people I have similar values to will make different decisions to me at times. But I have noticed a tendency for us to be frustrated when people don’t meet the standards we have for ourselves.

I noticed it in myself first. I would become disappointed and then frustrated when people would make choices I didn’t agree with. I found myself withdrawing and even feeling anger when people who I was in relationship with behaved in ways that I wouldn’t myself. After a while I realised that this was damaging my relationships, giving me more stress and certainly not helping my objective of encouraging others to move towards Jesus.

After I saw it in myself I began to realise how common it was in others. Particularly when you have a group that has some goals and ideas about what it wants to be like or achieve, this kind of conflict seems very common.

Recently I sent an email to the members of Loam encouraging them to consider the year ahead and make some choices about their level of commitment.

Over the last few months it has become increasingly clear to me that if we are to function well as a group we need to know what to expect from each other. In the absence of an opportunity to understand what we can expect from others we tend to default to assuming that they are aspiring to meet the standards/commitments that we hold for ourselves. While this seems to be the common approach, I’m not convinced it is the wisest and so have been thinking it would be very useful for us to take the opportunity to make clear exactly what we can expect from each other.

I mean this in a very practical sense. How regularly can we expect you to come to worship gatherings? How regularly can we expect you to come to Sunday dinners? Are you interested in being involved in events or activities beyond our two regular gatherings for the week? I think answers to these kinds of questions will limit our levels of frustration, because we will know what to expect, but also allow us to keep each other accountable to the commitments we have set for ourselves.

For this process to work and be healthy it must be done in a spirit of grace and love. It cannot be about judgement or creating hierarchies within our community. We must realise that while we journey together we are at different stages of life and faith and that that doesn’t make anyone better or more important than anyone else.

To this end I’d really like to encourage you all to take some time to reflect about the year ahead, to think about how much time and energy you are going to have and to realistically assess how much of that you are willing to invest in Loam. It’d be great if when we got together in February we could share with one another about our choices for the year ahead. This way we will be able to get a sense for what we can expect in the coming year and commit to helping each other achieve what we’ve aspired to for ourselves.

As well as the decrease in anxiety and frustration I am very much looking forward to the potential benefits in the area of accountability. I think Christians struggle to keep each other accountable, partly because it is hard to confront one another but also because we don’t have a clear understanding of what people really expect from themselves. A clearly articulated commitment with permission given to keep each other accountable could make a great difference.

Life’s ups and downs

So much has happened in my little world since I posted that I hardly know where to begin.

Jay and I no longer work at Northern Community Church of Christ. During the year it became clear that there were some significant differences in leadership and ministry philosophy and we decided that it would be better if we weren’t organisationally connected. So Loam is no longer a part of Northern and we are no longer on the staff there. However there is still lots of connection points as many people that we are in community with are involved in different programs or congregations that Northern runs. Obviously it is not the scenario that we all first imagined when we started up the relationship with Northern, but I think it is the healthiest place for us now.

The other comment that I want to make is that the relationship was not a waste of time. The church must experiment and take risks. Some things that we try will work and others won’t, some may even just work for a time, but we have to be willing to try new things if we are going to be faithful.

Since May I have been working with one of the guys in our church who runs a Landscape Construction business. I’ve been labouring 2-3 days a week and spending the rest of the week with people in the community or studying. Jay has gone back to doing 3 days of nursing and spending the rest of her time on either her new age bible project or with people in the community.

In other news we are going to have a baby. While we are really excited there is also concern as we have found out that he has Down’s Syndrome and a serious heart defect which will require open heart surgery sometime in the first six months of his life. So next year is shaping up to be very full.

The Loam community continues to meet and share life together. We are planning a time of reflection and discussion in February as it is around 2 years since we began. We still have the community dinner in our house every Sunday and we meet for worship on Wednesdays. We have developed several significant relationships with our neighbours which provide us with more than enough opportunities to love, serve and witness.

we can.Be - Who Says?

I flogged this from we can.be but now can’t find the original link.

You say: “Nobody really loves me”
God says: I love you
(John 3:1 6 & John 3:34)

You say: “I feel all alone”
God says: I will never forsake you
(Hebrews 13:5)

You say: “I’m afraid”
God says: Don’t have a spirit of fear
(II Timothy 1:7)

You say: “I’m always worried”
God says: Cast all your cares on me
(I Peter 5:7)

You say: “I can’t go on”
God says: My grace is sufficient
(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: “I’m too tired”
God says: I will give you rest
(Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: “I’m not smart enough”
God says: I give you wisdom
(I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: “I can’t manage”
God says: I will meet your needs
(Philippians 4:19)

You say: “I can’t figure things out”
God says: I will direct your steps
(Proverbs 3:5- 6)

You say: “It’s impossible”
God says: All things are possible
(Luke 18:27)

You say: “I’m not able”
God says: I am able
(II Corinthians 9:

You say: “I can’t do it”
God says: You can do all things
(Philippians 4:13)

You say: “It’s not worth it”
God says: It will be worth it
(Roman 8:28 )

You say: “I can’t forgive myself”
God says: I forgive you
(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams critique of the use of violence.

The archbishop also criticised the use of violence as a political solution. He said it could too easily be “a quick discharge of frustration. It serves you. It does not serve the situation. Wherever people turn to violence what they do is temporarily release themselves from some sort of problem, but they help no one else. A lot of the pressure around the invasion of Iraq was ‘we’ve got to do something, then we’ll feel better.’ That’s very dangerous”.

Something about the way he puts this makes a lot of sense to me. I also feel that it’s so obviously not something that is consistent with God’s character given the selfish nature of it.