New Blog

For those who are interested, my blog has moved to http://blog.timnorwood.name/

New Blog

I've moved my blog to a new address so that I can start again. This blog will remain live for a while.

Blogging

I've not posted on this blog quite so much during the past term. There are a few reasons for this:
Study: As part of my studies, I'm encouraged to keep a learning journal which I'm trying to keep as a separate blog (Tim's ProfDoc). I've also got big papers to write which are taking up some of the time I used to use on blogging.
Identity: The past year has been a bit complicated and I haven't always been sure that I was blogging as me, as an area dean or as a member of the Watling Valley ministry team. If you don't know who you are, it's sometimes difficult to know what you can say and what it might mean. I've therefore dropped some of the 'professional' aspects of this blog and moved them elsewhere (MK Deanery, FXMK). I'm going to experiment in using these for collaborative communications...
Micro-blogging: Since I started blogging, Facebook and Twitter have become massively important tools for journalling, sharing, communication and so on... I've been using these tools more and more to record what I do, putting the less public stuff on Facebook where the circulation list is more restricted...
This blog will continue and I will post random articles, thoughts, sermons or reflections here from time to time - but my on-line stuff is now happening through a range of other forums. I fully expect that I will pick the blog up more seriously again at a later date, perhaps when circumstances change...

Blog Analysed

I've just been looking at Google Analytics to see what's been going on with my blog. Unsurprissingly, while my blog activity has dropped I've had less visitors - dropping to around twenty a day during the past month.

It's been interesting to see which pages people have been visiting though.

Over the past year I've had 2,781 unique visitors who have looked at 13,512 pages.

The most popular old pages that people have revisited have been:

1. The Scratch Band - which has been sought out 197 times - all during February 2009!
2. The whole month of December 2008 (!) - which has been viewed 148 times - why?
3. A review of David Robertson's Collaborative Ministry - 79 times
4. Martha's Passion of Christ - 79 times
5. Ordinations - 77
6. Sainsburys - 72
7. What is Local Shared Ministry - 72
8. My Sunday Services - 71
9. What came first, the chicken or the egg - 68
10. and Living Faith in Milton Keynes - 68

Runners up include The Shenley Nativity (which appears a number of times under different searches), How to annoy a vicar's wife, Moggerhanger Clanger, What makes a healthy church and A job description for church members... Speedos is still climbing up the charts with more comments coming in as we speak...

It's interesting to know that most people seem to visit the page for the day rather than stumble in through a specific page, but it's also interesting to know what pages they do go looking for...

Monday Morning

Another day begins, but, for the first time in weeks, I have steady reliable internet connection (I hope).

There's so much going on here at the moment with the Watling Valley Scenarios, the fresh expressions events, the Deaenry Plan and so on... It's going to be difficult to see the wood for the trees for a while... On the other hand, a lot of this activity is really good and I'm convinced we're heading in the right dirrection.

I'm feeling particularly positive about Growing with Christ - our new nurture programme in Watling Valley. We've had a good start but this will need some careful nurturing if we're going to embed it as part of our ongoing discipleship work...

I'm also pleased with the steady (and occasionally bumby) development of fresh expressions in Milton Keynes. The CafeChurch team and the FEAST Day are looking interesting, even if we had to cancel the msm course...

Alighned with these positive projects there are a whole host of other activities - some good, some less so. The thrick is going to be to find ways of managing time so that we can keep the show on the road while giving appropriate time to the good stuff - always harder than it sounds I know...

Anyway, this is just a blog ramble - which is what blogs are for. Normal service has been resumed, whether you want to read it or not...

Blogging on...

I've been a fairly infrequent blogger over the past couple of weeks. It's been a mad season of fetes - combined with end of term work and pre-holiday deadlines. I've got my head down today, working on some Scripture Union notes for September 2010... It's a daft life!

On the plus side, we're looking forward to Shakespeare in the Park this evening. If all goes well, I'll post a review tomorrow.

Tim's Blog on Wordle

Redesigning the Blog

I've just been redesigning the blog. I'm trying to create a more natural site with links and pages of information.

Readability Tests

I've been working on a piece of writing today - one of my big jobs for the week. Because I'm fed up with Microsoft Word and its occasional glitches, crashes and downright bad behaviour I've been working with Google Documents. I've just done a word count and discovered not only that I have written 1465 words, but also that my document has a Flesch Reading Ease of 78.81 and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 5. (See Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test) This means that it's more readable than Reader's Digest and could be understood by someone in year 5. I think that's fine for something on all age worship... aren't stats wonderful!

The Return of CyberCell?

A few years ago (when Watling Valley was looking seriously at Cell Church) a few of us began to think about how we would do Cell/Church on-line. We actually got quite a long way into thinking about how this would work. We called the experiment CyberCell - and I bought the name. I also did a bit of web/logo design. CyberCell was ready to go - but my Team Leader responsibilities took over and the project languished...
At the same time the diocese was launching its Cutting Edge ministries - one of which was iChurch. A few of my friends suggested I apply for the iChurch job but it was half-time so I didn't. It has been interesting to watch iChurch evolve from something hugely ambitious into something remarkably similar to our early experiments with CyberCell. It's now a more realistic project - with its own strengths and weaknesses...

Time has now moved on. I've often wonderred whether CyberCell should be relaunched. It would certainly be a valuable fresh expression in a city with global commuters. I'm also interested in the growth of blogs and facebook as tools for church development. Peter Ballantine and Mindy Bell are doing an on-line lent course. The rest of the world seems to be catching up. Maybe this is the time to have another go...

I had a quick look at it this afternoon while I was waiting for the girls to come home. It took me about fifteen minutes to set up a page on Webjam using the rough format we worked out before - isn't web 2.0 woderful! I wonder...

I think I'm going to offer to do a lent course for interested people using the meditations and questions produced by the team. I wonder if anyone would be interested?

Baby Jesus Blog

At a Voices editorial meeting we briefly discussed asking the baby Jesus to do the minister's letter. We decided not to go for it, but someone has posted his blog. See The Baby Jesus Blog or Baby Jesus gets a Blog

Bishop Alan gets a blog award!

Bishop Alan produces a wonderful blog through which he pours out his thoughts for all the world. It's always a great read and is one of the few I check on a regular basis - after all it's nice to know what the Bishop is up to...

He's been given an award for blogging - one of those wonderful "pass it on" awards where you have to give the same award to five of your favourites... If you want to see who he's nominated, check out Scribble, Scribble, Mr Gibbon.

Testing the Blog

Bishop Alan has found a wonderful little gadget that does a Myres-Briggs Personality Type Indicator test for blogs (oh yes...) Every blog he tested came out ISTP - written by "mechanics". I would just like to point out that I tested mine and was judged to be an ESTP - a "doer". I'm sure this is all very scientific...

ESTP - The Doers

The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Check it out yourself at the Typealyzer

Happy Birthday

It's exactly one year since this blog got going. I had published a few blogs before but Tim's Blog really began on the 17th November 2007. It began with a very simple post listing my schedule on a busy Saturday. Since then there have been 528 entries which have been viewed by nearly 8,000 people.

This has been an exciting project for me and I have really enjoyed participating in the online community. Thank you all for making it worthwhile!


If I have time later on today, I may post a list of my favorite entries.

Blog Feeds

A couple of people have asked me how to add blog feeds to a blog. Here are the instructions for use on blogger:

1. Click "Customise" at the top  right of the page.

2. Click "Add Gadget" in the column where you want to place your feed.

3. Click the + button next to "Blog List"

4. You can now alter the setting for you feed, indicating the title of the list, the order of the posts, the number of blogs displayed and so on...

5. To add a blog to the feed, click "Add a blog to your list" and type in (or paste) the URL of a blogs home page, i.e. without specifics about page or entry, e.g. http://timbeinganddoing.blogspot.com/

6. Click "Save" to complete the process.

7. If you want to add more blog feeds, just go back to the gadget and repeat stage 5.

It's fairly straight forward.

Probably no God?

The big subject of discussion on the Christian Blogsphere today is the bus poster campaign being organised by Richard Dawkins and friends. The buses will say: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life".

Obviously, there's no such thing as bad publicity and the Methodist Church have offered to send them a few quid in support - and in grateful thanks for raising the profile of spiritual issues.

Peter Leeson is questioning why someone would want to spend £36,000 to announce that there is "probably" no God.

Bishop Alan is posting Atheist gospel songs...

It's all good fun of course - unless you are about to have your house repossessed and could really do with 36 grand...

Like many people I'm not that bothered about the campaign and fully expect it to start evangelistic conversations all over the country - so well done Dawkins for promoting discussions about faith.

Here are a few oblique comments of my own:

"Probably" - well, that's got to annoy the committed atheists. "Probably" implies an agnostic position which means there's something to discuss. If I was an agnostic I'd be inclined to hedge my bets, rather than stop worrying and enjoy my life. What if God's waiting to get me?

"Stop worrying and enjoy your life" - tricky advice if you're poor, sick or dying. The only people I know who are actually able to stop worrying and enjoy their life are those who have found a hope which transcends the difficulties of normal human existence. They don't embrace hedonism but life in all its fullness - in the midst of darkness and despair. Those who can dance while living through apartheid - who can sing songs of freedom while oppressors reign - who can smile in the face of their own death - these are the people who are able to project real peace. This advertising slogan suggests a shallow peace for those struggling with "religious" guilt - when real peace comes in the embrace of grace which acknowledges brokenness rather than denying it... or is that a bit deep for Dawkins?

I look forward to seeing the next slogan. I wonder what they'll come up with next:

Jesus probably didn't turn water into wine. Get yours at Odbins.

Noah probably didn't build an ark. Learn to swim.

Jesus was probably not born on December 25th in the year nought. No more Christmas presents!

"Better than Church?"

During the past few weeks I've been reflecting on the link between blogging and church. This has partly been sparked off by conversations with people in churches that I've visited who were asking for new ways to create networks and share information. I've also been monitoring my visitor numbers and was struck that the daily chart of unique visitors looks remarkable similar to the attendance record at St Laurence in Slough - the church I looked after for eighteen months as a curate. The only difference is that the visitors are daily rather than weekly, but there is the same pattern of community - roughly 20 to 40 each "event" with occasional spikes of 60 0r 70 on special occassions....

A friend of mine (who is probably reading this) also commented that reading the blog was "better than going to church" - which I do take as a compliment, but it does raise some interesting questions. To what extent can the blogsphere provide opportunities to "be" church?

A few years ago, I was quite interested in the idea of on-line church and a few of us began to think about how to do it. We started with cell church methodology and looked at ways to do this. I even bought the "cybercell" url (and still own it). When the diocese put money into cutting edge ministries and launched iChurch I was seriously tempted to apply for the job (which unfortunatley was part-time). It's been interesting to watch iChurch develop in similar directions to CyberCell - which never got off the ground because I didn't have enough time to invest in it...

In the meantime the web has moved on and we now have (through various web 2.0 innovations) the joy of Facebook, blogging, wikis and ediatble sites like Webjammer. Facebook (and other social networking sites) have been brilliant for creating a sense of community with people who you don't see every day - and with people you see a lot too! Blogging has proven a really interesting tool for people like me who have lots of people they want to communicate with - but may only see every few months or so... It's also had important spin offs in terms of accountability, deeper discussion and every-extending community. I began this blog in June 2007 as an attempt to record what I did workwise as an attempt to monitor and assess my working patterns. It's now a valuable tool for personal reflection, conversation and community. I may only give it a few minutes each day but these are never wasted minutes...

In the meantime I do have some questions about blogging and "being church". Is blogging a personal project - emerging out of what a person is? Is blogging a mission project - a conscious attempt to achieve something? Is Christian blogging is a fresh expression - a way of being church which is accesible to those who don't currently attend trad church? Is it ever simply a way of being church - a way of exercising our call to be Christian community?

These are interesting questions and I'd like to look at them using the criteria I often use with churches and groups - based on Acts 2:

Opportunity to engage with the word: I don't think I often use my blog to quote scripture or attempt to do bible teaching (it wouldn't feel hugely appropriate), but I am aware that I (and many other Christian bloggers) do use blogging to comment on contemporary issues. In many ways I feel that public blogging encourages us to conect real life with faith and scriptures - in a way that may not always seem appropriate in a church service. Blogging is the 21st century equivalent of discussing life with a newspaper in one hand and the bible in the other. And it is a discussion with opportunity for comments and continuing discussion - unlike traditional "preaching".

Mutually Supportive Relationships: These do seem to be developing and growing through things like Facebook and I love following some of the strands of conversation and comment that follow updates and photos. It's also been great to continue to feel connected to some of our young people as they head off on their university adventures. Bloggong does provide some opportunity for this and I loved one of Tim Leeson's recent entries about his Dad. The problem is that blogging can be more of a spectator sport - although mutual reading of blogs can be a powerful tool for community. I have wondered from time to time if we could create a group of "covenanted bloggers" who would commit to read each others blogs on a regular basis and comment - this would be one way of creating an on-line cell group. The blogs could be password protected if people wanted to keep their thoughts to themself. Church should be a mutually supportive, learning community - this is very hard on Sunday morning, but easy to do on-line.

Breaking Bread together: Hard to do on-line but iChurch and others do manage online worship. On the other hand there is something in the concept of the Christian Eucharist which is about taking the ordinary things of life and allowing God to transform them in the context of our community. Our online lives may not involve a litoral process of breaking bread and pouring out wine but they can provide us with opportunities to link ordinary life with God's reality - our online lives can have a sacramental element in some way...

Time and Space for prayer: Prayer usually begins with knowledge. Only when I am expossed to issues or needs am I driven to pray. Only when I begin to see things from God's point of view do I know what to pray for. The joy of reading other people's blogs, or reading facebook updates, is that I have a new mechanism for this. I am also able to post information on my blog that (I hope) will be picked up by other people who will join me in prayer. In fact, I think I often finish a blog entry by inviting people to pray for particular individuals or situations. Observant readers will have spotted a "please pray for" widget in the side bar. I'm not sure if anyone every notices it, but it seems like the right thing to do. Scripture Union also has a prayer application - which is very clever but I've never really got into it.

Helping one another to see God at work in the world: This is another joy of blogging and Facebook, Not only can I tell people what God's been doing in my life, I can also see it in others. I've never been a great fan of formal "testimonies" since I think they can become formulaic or self-obsesed, but I love reading some of the things that people write about their lives or churches. These have been some of the most moving experiences I've had over the past year and I'm thankful for those who've had the courage to psot their stories, images and experiences. They have enriched my journey and have been sources of real wisdom and wonder.

Members share who they have and what they are with one another: As I've already said, I think this does happen through blogs and facebook updates in a way that is very challenging in a Sunday morning "seeker sensitive" service. Many of us know it can happen well through cells or small groups, but it's proven really hard to help people set aside time for this. Online community, however, happens in its own time and seems more sustainable - in today's frantic world.

Chruch members have an opportunity to give to those in need: Mission is the purpose of church but I am aware that this is not neccesarily a priority in blogging - although many of us do use up megabytes of personal space talking about it. On the other hand it is possible to give to good causes on-line, although this can feel like an impersonal financial transaction. I'm more impressed by some of the Facebook innovations which I would love to promote. Superbadger is a fab idea that Tearfund have set up. It's basically a mechanism for co-ordinating online campaigns equivalent to the postcards that many of us send. Only last night I received a Superbadger request to "badger" the government not to give up their commitment to dealing with climate change even though the economy is in crisis. I was able to send off a quick message in seconds that the relevant minister will have received before his meeting today. I think this is absolutely brilliant and I really recomend that you check this application out if you use Facebook. There are a few other clever devices that people have cooked up - including Lil Green Patch which generates money from sponsors to buy up acres of amazonian rain forest for conservation. OUr on-line endevours can actually make a difference in the real world!

Meeting together for worship, prayer and celebration: Well... possibly... certainly there are around twent repeat visitors on my blog each day and Facebook speaks for itself...

Experiencing Growth as a result of God's grace: This is a fairly subjective thing although I do feel that I have been growing as a result of my blogging experiment. It's been a great way of creating a personal journal which has helped me to reflect on my life and connect my thoughts with others. In a more objective way I think it would be correct to say that our collective expereiments with blogging, Facebook, etc... have mushroomed and become steadily more significant. Is this a sign of God at work?

So, following these basic criteria, there is something "church-like" going on in the blogsphere, but what kind of church is it?

Liquid Church: Pete Ward coined the phrase "liquid church" a few years ago to refer to forms of church which were fluid and not contained within traditional buildings or structures. Church happens, he says, whenever people come together and do/be it. Church on the blogspehere is a bit like this...

Fresh Expressions: Fresh expressions are forms of church created for those who are not currently members and take on forms which are appropriate to the culture of those people. I think (in a very liquid way) this happens through blogs and social networks. Those of us who "do" church in a public way on-line are continually inviting others to share the journey with us, whether they belong to a specific church or not.

Bishops of the blogsphere: Like many people I love reading bishop Alan's blog. It strikes me that this has given him a new mechanism to be a bishop. His blog entries enable him to speak out on issues that are important to the Church. He also builds links and connections, enabling us to see what's going on in the wider world/church. In a funny way, I feel more connected to my bishop now than I ever have before - and I know he reads my blog so it's a two way thing... This may not be significant to all people reading this blog, but as an anglican minister, it's fairly imporatant to me.

In conclussion, is blogging a way of being church? Well, yes, sort of... But not in the way we're used to thinking about church.

Relevant?

I've been thinking quite a lot recently about the "relevance" of what we do and say in Christian communities. Having read Tim Leeson's "Angry Rant" I feel the need to blog... or have my own rant...

At Greenbelt I was struck by the comment that we need to deal with the questions that people are actually asking - and these questions often appear through mass media. Hence, some of the more interesting Greenbelt seminars (at least for me) dealt with film and television: Lost, Doctor Who, etc... I came away with a new sense that my interest in popular culture should find a place in my "professional" communications...

During my sabbatical I was struck a number of times by the discord between church life and daily life. Churches should support their members in ordinary life, rather than draw them out from reality. After the welcome for some new ministers in Milton Keynes, a colleague and I reflected on the way our public focus on clergy effectively devalues the ministry of all members. I am feeling the need to find ways of reversing this process...

As I continue to reflect on the global economic situation I am concerned that a sensible and realistic but visionary voice needs to be heard. The social order we have constructed since the industrial revolution is slowly destroying the planet and we are facing a major change of direction. Big businesses and politicians find it easier to talk about "business as usual" but it would be more sensible to take a long cold look at reality and put in place policies for significant but steady change...

...and that's before we take account of some of the other issues of justice, peace and the integrity of creation...

Oddly enough, the Local Shared Ministry Project and the difficulties posed by deanery finance and deployment give me huge reasons for hope. The unsustainable models of church and ministry which were set up when Milton Keynes was founded have been on the rocks for a while now and a number of us have set out to develop more collaborative and sustainable approaches. This may sound like moving deckchairs on the Titanic or a desperate attempt to find ways to survive, but I think our attempts to build sustainable Christian community will help us develop ways to encourage sustainable human community. A genuine local shared ministry community could be a sign of hope for the whole world...

When I said I had a vision for a sustainable, growing church, I was criticised by a good friend for using the word "sustainable" - but I increasingly believe that this word "sustainable" is central to what the Church could offer to a commercially dependent, consumerist society - such as we find in MK.

This has not been an "angry rant". I recognised long ago that the Gospel is not just about the "spiritual" world, but is for all creation. Hence, we are called to proclaim freedom to prisoners and good news to the poor, to be good stewards in creation and to continually expand the circle of hope.

But how do we do this? Can Sunday Church, such as we have it in MK, create space for deep reflection and engagement on these issues? If we have "seeker" sensitive services, can we also debate homosexuality, economic theory or community development? And if we can't what do we actualy have to contribute to this world?

I don't think I've got an answer here. As a pneumatological democrat and a believer in collective decision-making, I'm extremely warry of standing up in church and expressing a personal opinion, since I'm not sure I actually have the right - particulalry if there is no room for debate. Traditional forms of church encourage a didactic approach, but challenging issues are better dealt with by communities. Which brings me back to Rolland Allen's "tell it to the church" and the reflection that leaders can only impose short term "truth".

In order to deal with some of these tricky issues we need forms of church that create space for debate, and enable us to engage with real life. For many of us, traditional church just can't do this. On Thursday night I met with some of our worship leaders for a time of reflection. On these occasions, we often find ourselves saying that we don't give ourselves time for deep reflection, but get bogged down in commities and activities which often drain our energies. Oh for a church where this is not the case!

I agree with Tim Leeson's rant and would happily have written it myself, but I think the answer is closely related to the issue of how we do church. Can the "emerging church" do better?

Human Face or Personallity Cult

The news has been dominated over the past few weeks by public figures for whom their personality has become a significant issue:
Gordon Brown: Has he got what it takes to be prime minister - or is he too depressing?
David Cameron: Has he got any substance to offer behind that style?
Vladimir Putin: Is the ability to shoot tigers useful in a Russian President?
Sarah Palin: Is the ability to shoot moose useful for an American VP?

We have also had some high profile Anglican personallities who have decided to voice their opinion about homosexuality:
Cliff Richard: Who has declared that gay marriage would be a good thing... and
Desmond Tutu: Who is appealing for the Church to talk about something else...

Is this emphasis on personality a good thing?
It certainly has a negative side, allowing those in power to cultivate an aura of invincibility and competence. It can also enable a leader to cover up for a lack of good ideas, or convince their population that all is well... In America, Sarah Palin and John McCain have, against the odds, convinced the many people that they, as Republicans, are the party of change, in spite of the fact that Republicans have been in the white house for the past eight years...
But personallity can also have a positive side. Desmond Tutu has spent much of his life with limitations on his power. Even when he was Archbishop he served against the backdrop of an apartied regime that sought to limit his human rights. Now in retirement he speaks without actual power - but with the authority he has earned because of his life and experience. His personallity is what we see and his personaility still communicates. He may not dance when he preaches these days - but he is still part of the message.
We need to relate to one another as human beings. Today through blogs, facebook and social networking this is possible in a whole new way. But like all human abilities, or ability to relate as people is open to abuse, just as it empowers us to discover truth together...

9. Blog on

I started blogging in 2006 as an experiment in diary keeping. I was encouraged by my experiences on Iona and thought it was worth giving it a go. I lasted a month. I enjoyed the process of writing a blog but didn't have the motivation to keep it up. It was part of a push to run and write which didn't stand up to the pressures of everyday life... but some of my 2006 posts are still available on this blog.

I thought about it again in June 2007 and registered with Google's blogger - but didn't post many entries.

Later in 2007 I started blogging in a more systematic way. The motivation for this arose from a need to manage time more accurately and gain a greater sense of accountability. I was aware that fulfilling multiple roles was an issue but was also feeling stressed with too much to do. People asked me to write down a list of what I did in an average week so they could help, but I had a sense that an "average" week would be a rare occurrence. It struck me that blogging would provide a mechanism for achieving something more realistic. And so during November 2007 I kept a fairly detailed record of how my time was used and let people know where to find it should they want to find out.

Fairly rapidly the blog took off. I enjoyed the process of collecting my thoughts at the end of each day and reviewing what I was up to. Other people began to respond and comment. It wasn't long before I started adding photos and longer comments. (See To blog or not to blog for my thoughts about why blogging was a valuable thing to do, and Church for the Facebook Generation for more about online church.)

Since then, the blog has grown, and has proven extremely useful. It's provided an amazing mechanism for communiction and networking, and has helped build a sense of community. Thanks to people like Margaret and Barry, even those without computer access have been involved. Sermons have been written collaboratively, ideas shared, and some interesting people have made contact with with me...

Is it worth doing? I think so, even for the occassional nugget of value. In terms of statistics, there have been 92 visits in the past six days, so someone must be reading it - if only cyber stalkers...

I have every intention of continuing the blog since it's been so useful, but what about the future?

I think all clergy should blog - especially those who work with multiple churches. It's a great way of building community and becoming part of a wider network - sometimes it feels a bit like being a traditional vicar.

But blogging could also have value as a tool for all church members - to stimulate growth and nurture community. Some people have said that they don't think their thoughts would be of any interest to other people, but I beg to differ. Imagine an intentional community of people who write blogs and agree to read each other's. This would be a fascinating experiment. There are already groups of people who do this out of interest, but what if members of a church decided to do so? It would be a bit like facebook updates, only with more depth. (For an example of another Watling Valley blog, see Peter Leeson's - are there any more? Anyone else want to join the party?)

In conclussion, I think blogs are great tools and I think we should use them. I fully intend to.