God is back

A couple of economists have written a book - 'God is back: How the global rise of faith is changing the world'. The brief description says

'Since the Enlightenment, intellectuals have assumed that modernization would kill religion, and that religious America is an oddity. This title argues that religion and modernity can thrive together, and that the American way of religion is becoming the norm.'

The book also promoted a really interesting article about this issue in the Times on Saturday - summarising much of the content. You can find that here.

It seems that the Times is having a bit of interest in religion. They did a feature during Holy Week, a story about Gavin Peacock training for church ministry last week and a story about Michael Howard's son Nick in April (From Tory Boy to God enforcer!)

So I wonder when will politics get around to doing God? Tomy Blair seems to regret not being more up front about faith in his role as Prime Minister.

Which leads me to think - what about me? Am I going to talk naturally abot God when the opportunity arises

Little people on the street

Got an ad today for a really interesting looking book

Its a book of pictures from an artist who paints tiny figures and then photographs them in places and poses on the streets. He apparently leaves them for people to find too. Looks cool and I thought I might even buy the book

Worth checking out his blog too

When posh met poor

Really interesting article in the Daily Mail this saturday about a channel 4 programme to be broadcast on Nov 13 - 'Rich Kid, Poor kid'.

The article offers a fascinating insight into the significant influence of parents and also the sheltered existence of many upper middle class youngsters.

Alice (posh); 'Mummy said that most of the people on the estate live on benefits and that I might get stabbed'

Natalie (poor); Alice was not as close to her mum as I am to mine... If that's what having more money does to a family, I don't want it'.

Read the full story here

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1082057/When-posh-met-poor-Living-door-worlds-apart-teenage-girls-different-backgrounds.html

Unseen Footprints

Among the books I've re-read this year has been 'Unseen Footprints: Encountering the Divine Along the Journey of Life' by Sheridan Voysey kindly sent to me by SU Australia. It's a fantastic read and is very much an evangelistic book for contemporary western society. Instead of starting with proving God, it looks for evidence of him in our world - his footprints.

In many ways it offers a similar approach to Tom Wright's 'Simply Christian'. But whereas Tom's book is like CS Lewis' 'Mere Christianity', Sheridan's book is at a more popular and engaging level. There is a fantastic chapter in it all about our vision of the future and how it shapes life in the present.

'God dreams that we become all he designed us to be, with all our individual flair and talent realised, But he wants even more for us. He dreams of us embodying the luminous character of Jesus Christ, "our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him." God dreams of that flame of faith within us growing until we become people of light.' (p135)

and then he goes on to say that we are called to transform this world by doing 4 things

Imitating the genorosity of God
Expressing the life of God
Cultivating the heart of God
Celebrating the love of God

This so much echoes the challenge and call to missional community that I feel.

A New Kind of Youth Ministry

I want to use this space to post about youth ministry books and issues. The first of these was published in 2007. A New Kind of Youth Ministry by Chris Folmsbee. It is an easy read and has lots of good stuff in there - stuff worth looking at and taking on board. Worth looking at his blog too. But so far this year I've began to wonder about the American Youth Minstry model. It seems to be programmatic and professional as opposed to relational and voluntary. Many of the shifts described in the book are excellent but are hard anyone other than highly trained workforce to do. I was staggered to hear that in parts of the States church attendance by teenagers runs at 40%. No wonder the issues they face are different to us.

On a positive note, I love the idea of 'reculturing' youth ministry. So much of what we do is passed down without much thought. We too often stick with methods and ideas that worked ten years ago without realising that we live in a different world. I was personally challenged by the contrast between 'spiritual formation' and 'biblical information'. We need so much to be allowing God to transform our lives and helping others to do the same.

The Jesuits haves ome great resources to help with that. Their 'Sacred Space' website and 'Pray as you go' are great - so different to the tradition I am used to and yet so helpful. These have been helpful in reminding me of our own Scripture Union bible engagement site 'WordLive.'
I'm sure I will return to this book a lot as there are some gems - but mainly because as I continue on this journey of challenge with God, I sense that he is going to 'reculture' my faith. That will certainly be an adventure.