So, over the last month I’ve been attempting to organise my blogging a lot more, focusing on investing time in the topics I want to research and learn more of and trying to be more methodical and more consistent with my writing.
I’d like to invite you to read over some of the popular posts you missed, and feel free to comment or discuss anything you find interesting. Here are some of the posts over the last month which have proved most popular with you guys:
World Relief has been empowering local churches to respond to the disaster in Haiti. From their news update:
Haiti’s local churches are rising to the challenge in their quake-ravaged communities – feeding and providing shelter for thousands of the most vulnerable survivors.
By the weekend, four local churches partnering with World Relief will be feeding 9,500 people hot meals – rice and beans for lunch and porridge for dinner – every day.
A local church in the Carrefour area has opened its doors to those who lost their homes, providing refuge for nearly 6,000 people in the community. Stepping out in faith, Pastor Jean Bathard Anthony began feeding the people with what few supplies he had. Now World Relief has come alongside Pastor Jean, assisting with food and water.
Last week I had a great conversation about conflict resolution with some friends, in particular on the differences between collaboration and compromise. We talked about the differences between the two and how collaboration is the most desirable solution to conflict, although not necessarily always possible. Dave has blogged through our thoughts from his point of view.
Here are some of my own opinions on compromise and collaboration:
Some of you may know that I’m in the process of writing my undergraduate dissertation. I’ve been working my way through research, reading material and planning since September. Now I have my research approach fully sorted, it means I can begin to share a bit more of what it’s about. I’d also like to begin to blog through some of the reading material I’ve been looking at and some of the key issues and concepts I’ve been working through.
My dissertation is about how consumerism affects the way young adults understand and live out their Christian faith.
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!
So, we’ve reached the last day of Christmas and the last day of this little series. If you haven’t been following so far, we’ve been studying the underlying religious symbolism behind the song, the Twelve Days of Christmas, looking at the Christian/Catholic folklore surrounding the song. Within this tradition the song can be used as a way to teach the Christian faith, with each day representing a different aspect of faith.
Today, the song culminates with the twelve drummers representing the twelve phrases in the Apostles’ Creed.
On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Continuing my reflections on the Twelve Days of Christmas, the third day of Christmas is for French Hens. Within Christian folklore, the French Hens are for the three virtues faith, hope and love.
Dear Fresh Expressions and leaders of Fresh Expressions of church,
Thank you so much for the space you have created within the established church for mission, and growing new forms of church which are new and fresh and cater to a whole wealth of different people. However, I have a problem, and the more I read about other Fresh Expressions (my own community is a registered Fresh Expression) the more I am becoming worried about this movement as a whole, and the intrinsic problem which seems to be built into it.
I hope you’ll humour me a moment to explain my very real problem.
Have recently been re-reading through Tom Wright’s Surprised by Hope, which is an incredible, really relevant, really useful book unpacking the Christian hope for the future, the resurrection, and new creation.
For me, its often really useful to have some kind of visual diagram/notes to be able to really get to grips with what a book is saying (as a slightly nerdy observation, that’s why Nussbaum’s reader for Bosch’s Transforming Mission is so useful – it has diagrams!). So, I’ve pulled together a diagram of what I think are Wright’s key arguments in Surprised by Hope – so I thought I’d post it in case it’s helpful to anyone else.
How does the image of mission as liberation help us in understanding how God is at work in the world around us, and how we can get stuck in alongside him?
The story about a teenage intern at Morgan Stanley who wrote some notes of teenagers’ technology usage is quickly becoming a bit of a legend. This is really interesting – I wonder whether companies had actually considered using teenagers to gather research before?
If you haven’t seen this yet, you can catch up with this story from the Guardian.
Here’s a full copy of the research notes which have caused the stir. From my own experience of young people, it certainly seems to ring true.
Welcome to the blog of James Henley. I'm a young church leader / youth worker and student based in Newport, South Wales.
Read more about me.
