intersections

Take the re-church survey

I am attempting to gather some information about how we can shape the re-church network for new stage of its ministry. I have had phone or email conversations with many of you over the past months or years. I am increasingly asked by Adventist pastors of all ages for advice or just conversation about the questions they're having. Maybe you are one of those.

All of this has got me thinking again about the importance of a network like re-church. I've begun to think of re-church as a kind of "Order/Fraternity of Missional Leaders" ("Order" is less sexist, I think). This is not about subscribing to a particular theology or practice, but about a way of being in the world and being in ministry in God's kingdom. It is about openness to the questions that God's Spirit is stirring within us.

So, to that end, I've created an online survey. It should take you less than 10-15 minutes to complete. In fact, it's very short. I would very much appreciate your input.

>>TAKE THE SURVEY<<

I'm also reviving the re-church website, so check it out and subscribe the RSS feed.

Finally, if you know people who have attended a re-church event in the past or have been involved in any way, please ask them to take the survey. It's completely open.

My Memorial Day

Yesterday I had the great privilege to participate in the Interfaith Peace Service held at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California. This event was convened by the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative (AFPI). You can read the press release about the event here to get a better idea of what the event was about.

Basically, a group of Muslim, Jewish and Christian clergy (including me) sat on the chancel of the All Saints Church while a few of the clergy led a service of peace. Portions of the APFI paper were read, describing how peacemaking is at the heart of all three Abrahamic faiths. Prayers were offered. Homilies were given by Rabbi Sharon Brous, Rev. George Regas, and Dr. Maher Hathout in which religious sponsorship of war was soundly condemned. It was the most bold and daring thing I have ever been a part of.

The most inspiring portion of the service was when cantors from each of the three religions sang calls to prayer at the beginning of the service. Those calls to prayer concluded with the three men - Jewish, Christian and Muslim - singing in harmony, in Hebrew, Latin and Arabic. It was unlike anything I have experienced before in my life.

A documentary is reportedly being made about the service and funding has been donated to repeatedly broadcast the service via satellite throughout the Middle East to illustrate to the people of the Middle East that Christian, Jewish and Muslim Americans are working for peace and understanding between nations and faiths.

A couple of my friends from the Hollywood Adventist Church were there. I was so happy they could experience it.

Introducing, Melinda Rice

Today we started a new sermon series at the Hollywood Adventist Church called "Working for Life." For six weeks we'll be exploring and building a theology of work together. If you want to follow along from a distance you can subscribe to our podcast (click here).

As a part of this sermon series, one of our members, Kelsy Jarboe, is creating short documentaries about some of our members and what they do for work. It's a simple way of telling our stories related to our work life. Here's the first installment with musician and music instructor, Melinda Rice. It's only 2:20 minutes long.

At the end of the series we will produce extended 10-minute versions of all the docs to make a 60-minute DVD for sale.

Other links:
Hollywood Church's YouTube Channel

Talking about ministry in a postmodern world

A few months ago Sarah Asaftei sent me some interview questions and asked if I would be willing to answer them for a monthly feature they do in re:frame news (click here for PDF of the recent issue). Sarah is the Assistant Director of the Centre for Secular and Postmodern Studies (CSPS) and re:frame is the ministry of CSPS to help Adventist Seventh-day Adventist church members understand and more effectively reach out to people in secular and postmodern cultures, such as we have in North America.

Answering the questions was a good experience because if gave me the space to sit down and think about what we've been doing in Hollywood. Here's an excerpt:

12) What would you recommend to others who want to effectively reach postmoderns who are just skipped by a lot of churches and outreach programs?
Listen broadly to the people in your church and in your community – don’t be afraid of what they will say. The church is good at talking. We like to talk about what we want to talk about. Even when we start to listen to others, we want to set the agenda of what will be talked about, so we might go to people with a survey about how our church can be more relevant.

So the church is still the focus of the conversation. What if the church wouldn’t rest until it could find a way to listen to people in the community without an agenda? What would it be like to be part of conversations in our neighborhoods that didn’t include what is on our agenda? Our role is to be like amateur anthropologists: learning, but not in that modernist, disconnected sort of way, as if that was ever really possibly. But rather by a genuine engagement.

[snip]

We typically come to our communities with all the answers. We should talk. Others should sit and listen to us. The church needs to stop talking and listen; to learn to be attentive to the movements of God’s Spirit. Discover that God is at work in your community in ways you never imagined. Your job, as a detective of God’s kingdom, is to discover what God is up to in your neighborhood. This could take 6 months – it might take 6 years. You will hear criticism that makes you mad. You’ll want to be defensive.

There also needs to be a commitment on the part of church members to love the community where they live and attend church. The community cannot just be the raw material for the growth of your church. People - least of all, postmodern people – don’t want to be used for your grand agenda of growing your church. It’s no wonder the community is hostile to the church. The church has been hostile to the community. Nobody wants a crusade done to them.

 You can read the whole thing here. I think it will give you a sense of our my philosophy of ministry. I hope it is encouraging. Drop me a comment below and let me know what you think. 

A new blog

My friend Alburn Binkley has started blogging. Alburn is a member of the Hollywood Church and a very active part of our media ministry. He works on the post-production side of the entertainment industry and is one of our technical gurus at the church.

But he also has a keen theological mind. He has a really great way of reflecting on his life in the light of faith and justice. His most recent post, "I was born addicted..." is a great example.

Check it out!

True, beautiful and just evangelism

My friend, Alexander Carpenter, curator of the Spectrum Blog, is kicking off a new Spectrum Podcast. Today is the first installment in which he interviews me about our evangelism at the Hollywood Adventist Church.

Listen Now: "True, Beautiful, Just Evangelism | A Conversation with Pastor Ryan Bell"

Check it out and join the conversation over at the Spectrum Podcast. It's only 8 minutes long, so it's easy to listen to on the fly. As I listen to it I can't help but think of all the other things I wish I could have included in those comments, but it's just a conversation starter, not the last word.

Thanks, Alexander, for the work you're doing of fostering a growing, generative conversation among faithful Adventists.

The rupture of Revelation

Yesterday, as I was troubling over which book to pick up next, I decided to explore Peter Rollins' new book (that just arrived from Amazon - ah, the joy of a new book). It's called The Fidelity of Betrayal. I've now devoured the first third of the book and I'm very excited.

Do you know the feeling of reading a book and recognizing the vague outlines of thoughts you had but were far from speech? That is my experience of the first third of this book. So, I thought I'd leave you with a quote this morning.

Griffith Park Fire...again!

No sooner was I reminded of last year's fire than we had another one, yesterday, in basically the same place. Fortunately it never got out of control. There is an amazing photo of the LAFD helicopter dropping water at the LAist blog. Do yourself a favor and check it out!

There's a cool series of pictures at the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council website.

Tweet-tweet

It's official! I actually like Twitter. I sorta quietly starting Tweeting about 2 months ago at the suggestion of my friend, Alburn. I didn't make a big fuss out of it at first, mostly because I didn't get it. It just seemed silly to me. At some point it is silly, but it's surprising how much funny it is to blog in this micro format.

So, if you're interested, you can find me here. My tweets are set as secure so I have to allow you to follow me before you can read my tweets and follow me. I'm only following a few people and allowing people I know to follow me.

Also, if you're a Mac user, I highly recommend Twitterrific for keeping track of things. It's free as long as you don't mind a few ads, which aren't much of a bother at all. Otherwise it's $15.

Some sample language for Hillary Clinton

This morning as I was reading news feeds I came across a couple of interviews with West Virginia voters that made my blood run cold. Have a look at this...

And this...

After watching these interviews I decided I would offer Hillary Clinton some sample language for an upcoming speech in which she could demonstrate real leadership for our divided country.

Good morning, Kentucky! It's great to be with you. As you prepare to go to the polls next Tuesday let me thank you in advance for your support of my campaign.... We had a great day in West Virginia this past Tuesday and I again want to thank the good people of West Virginia for their support.

However, there were some troubling signs about that election. I've lost a little sleep over some of the things I've heard. So, as you prepare to vote on Tuesday - and I trust you will vote for me, Hillary Rodham Clinton - I want to ask you to consider WHY you are voting for me. And let me start by giving you a couple of unacceptable reasons to vote for me: because Barack Obama is black. That is an unacceptable reason to vote for me. Or because his middle name is "Hussein." Or because you heard that he is Muslim. These are all unacceptible reasons to vote for me in exactly the same way it would be unacceptible for you to vote for Sen. Obama simply because I'm a woman and you don't think a woman should be president because of sexist stereotypes.

Instead, vote for me because...[insert your policy talking points]

Friends, America needs to move past this politics of fear, racism, sexism and innuendo. [Insert reference to Obama's speech on race and quote your favorite part]

So, my Kentucky friends, when you go to the polls on Tuesday, vote Hillary Rodham Clinton. But do it because you believe in what I'm saying is best for America. Do it because you think I would be the best president. Don't do it because you're afraid of black people or because you think my friend, Barack, is a Muslim who is trying to infiltrate America. These fears are unfounded and precisely the thing that America doesn't need right now.

Thank you and God bless you!