Thinking continues
Have rediscovered my interest in 'postmodernity' - ie considering what cultural change our society is undergoing and wondering how the church should respond to it. Am reading a couple of books on the subject 'Who's afraid of Postmodernism' and 'the out of bounds church' as well as continuing to plough through my emerging church reading matter.
I say this because having started reading and thinking on this all about 12 years ago i just left it and got caught up in the world of 'church' and 'ministry' - so often focussing on maintaining the church as it is and keeping things going (whilst on a pretty steep learning curve with regards to what it means to be a priest!) without, in many ways, engaging very much with the society around the church. Of course i constantly interact with people, and pastor those both inside and outside the church, but i wasn't necessarily doing the thinking and praying and engaging with things that perhaps i should have.
I do feel that over the past few months i have done a bit of waking up, and am moving in my own personal spiritual life and within my role as a minister to re-committing myself to mission rather than ministry. That's a whole new subject, though, and one which could take a lifetime to unpack.
I say this because having started reading and thinking on this all about 12 years ago i just left it and got caught up in the world of 'church' and 'ministry' - so often focussing on maintaining the church as it is and keeping things going (whilst on a pretty steep learning curve with regards to what it means to be a priest!) without, in many ways, engaging very much with the society around the church. Of course i constantly interact with people, and pastor those both inside and outside the church, but i wasn't necessarily doing the thinking and praying and engaging with things that perhaps i should have.
I do feel that over the past few months i have done a bit of waking up, and am moving in my own personal spiritual life and within my role as a minister to re-committing myself to mission rather than ministry. That's a whole new subject, though, and one which could take a lifetime to unpack.
Comments
I'd like to read any revelations about it you might have.