Guy Kawasaki on 'creating community'

Jason Clark recently turned me on to this fella - Guy Kawasaki - who used to work for Apple but now, I'm not exactly sure what he does....write books by the looks of things. His blog is fascinating. He's coming from a kind of corporate management angle - which I know is a huge turn off for those of us walking away from a CEO style of church leadership - but I think he's got some real wisdom that is definitely apply-able to church. His latest post is called 'The Art of Creating Community'. He makes 8 suggestions:
1. Create something worth building a community around
2. Identify and recruit your thunderlizards—immediately! (evangelists for your 'product')
3. Assign one person the task of building a community (questionable in our case but he's talking about someone who wakes up in the morning with the building of the community at the top of her/his priorities for the day)
4. Give people something concrete to chew on. (i.e. make the community 'open source' so that people can re-code it for themselves)
5. Create an open system (giving people tools to tweak what's going on)
6. Welcome criticism
7. Foster discourse
8. Publicize the existence of the community
If you can see past the corporate overtones and look for the undertones (great name for a band) then there's something worth taking from this I think. Read the full piece here.

football (non sports fans look away now)

for the first time in I don't know how long, Spurs are in with a shout of a decent league placing and possibly european football next season as a result. The teams seriously vying with us for 4th place are Arsenal and Bolton (I am discounting West Ham because I honestly don't believe they can keep their run going). I have been looking at the remaining games and trying to predict the points haul for Spurs, Arsenal and Bolton from their remaining games to see how things will end up. Here are my predictions:

Arsenal
v Blackburn (a) 1
v Fulham (a) 1
v Liverpool (h) 1
v Charlton (h) 3
v Portsmouth (a) 3
v Aston Villa (h) 3
v Man Utd (a) 0
v West Brom (h) 3
v Man City (a) 3
v Spurs (h) 1
v Sunderland (a) 3
v Wigan (h) 3
= 25 more points
= total of 66 points (4th place)

Spurs

v Wigan (h) 3
v Blackburn (h) 3
v Chelsea (a) 0
v Birmingham (a) 3
v West Brom (h) 3
v Newcastle (a) 0
v Man City (h) 3
v Everton (a) 0
v Man Utd (h) 1
v Aresenal (a) 1
v Bolton (h) 1
v West Ham (a) 1
= 19 more points
= total of 64 points (5th place)

Bolton
v Fulham (h) 3
v Newcastle (a) 1
v West Ham (h) 3
v Sunderland (h) 3
v Middlesborough (a) 1
v Man Utd (h) 1
v Liverpool (a) 0
v Chelsea (h) 0
v West Brom (a) 1
v Charlton (h) 3
v Spurs (a) 0
v Birmingham (h) 3
= 19 more points
= total of 58 points (6th place)

so it looks like Arsenal could pip us to 4th place and the final Champions League spot. If that happens I will be gutted and be looking back to the final minutes of the game at home to West Ham when we conceded an equaliser (thereby losing 2 points) in the final minute, as we also did against Sunderland last Sunday. Those goals and therefore those points, I predict, will be the difference between us playing in the Champions League and the Uefa Cup next season.
It's all an improvement on last year but it'll be a shame to miss out on the CL by a couple of points.
Any other football fans like to disagree with my prognosis?

generalising

I am really enjoying this book - it's a very helpful survey of what's going on and the common themes that emerge from what's going on. i've already found it useful in clarifying my thinking, particularly when there's stuff you know intuitively but you haven't quite put it into words yet. There have been plenty of those moments.
But one aspect of the book disappoints and frustrates me and that is that it seems to continually generalise and perhaps doesn't recognise the diversity of approaches that are going on. Continually we are told that "emerging churches do this" or "emerging churches do that" or "such and such is important to emerging churches". I know for a fact that there is more diversity that this in the emerging church community.
They are doing a great job at picking out important themes, and Andrew Jones is probably right that this is the best book yet on the 'emerging church' but they just need to be more careful about some of their language I feel. Does this resonate with anyone else who has read the book?

Maclaren resonds (or perhaps 'Maclaren gives lesson in how to engage in a conversation')

Thankfully, after Mark Driscoll's awful, unkind post (see my blog entry below), Brian Maclaren has now responded here: an example if ever we needed one (and it would seem that we do) of how to engage in conversation/debate in an irenic, humble, and kind way. Remember people, it's not just about being right.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

some of you will know that the small christian community that I am a part of here in Oxford - 'home' (www.home-online.org) - are in negotiations to buy the lease on a small, independent cinema in Oxford.

We plan to refurbish it and continue to run it as a cinema but then use it for church on Sunday nights - that way it will function as a home for our community and also both a missional and cultural interface. A missional interface in the sense that we expect around 18,000 attendees at films throughout the year who will hear about the church, and missional also in that we will use the cinema as a base for serving and blessing the local community. A cultural interface as our church becomes a patron of the arts (we would hope to show the work of local film-makers etc.) as well as making a contribution to the conversations that are engendered by films in our culture (especially given the important role that cinema has in reflecting and contructing narratives).

We are busy putting together business plans for funding applications, loans and grants but it is clear that although once set up the project will be self financing, the initial purchase of the lease and assets is going to require a fairly significant capital investment.

So we are looking for funders - people who believe in the project as outlined above (and I will happily talk further about it), who can see with the eyes of faith the potential, and who are able and willing to invest financially in the mission and ministry of our community. If that describes you, then please get in touch with me at matt@home-online.org

how not to engage in conversation

Mark Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church (a Very Important church apparently). In this article he clearly demonstrates how NOT to go about having a helpful conversation on an important subject. Thanks Mark! You can find my comments about half way down.

that bloke's a nutter

I always think it's odd when people walk down the street smiling to themselves but today I became one of them. But it's very difficult not to do so when you're listening to the Ricky Gervais podcast (also available through iTunes). I walked through the city centre trying very hard not to laugh out loud and look like a complete nutter.

The Church Has Left the Building

Really looking forward to heading out to Vancouver and Seattle in April. We plan to spend some time in Vancouver and Vancouver Island and then head down to Seattle where we will be at the Church of the Apostles New Monasticism Learning Party (and it will be great to hang out with Karen and the other Apostles) and then I'll be taking part in Tom and Christine Sine's Mustard Seed Associates 'The Church Has Left the Building' 2 day conference. I am planning on doing a workshop/seminar on the subject 'Slow Church' drawing from the philosophy behind the whole 'Slow' movement (slow food etc.). Should be fun.

apple logo

has anyone else ever wondered whether there was any intentional link between the apple logo and the Genesis account of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of the knowledge fo good and evil? or do i need to get out more?

Spinal Tap

I am delighted to discover that my Spinal Tap DVD contains a commentary done by Spinal Tap IN CHARACTER. I've had the disc for ages without knowing it contained it. It is truly hilarious.

meChurch

where it's all about you. see here.

a weekend of films and film stars

had a pretty film-heavy weekend. started to feel a bit like a Jake Gylenhaal stalker as I saw him in Brokeback Mountain on Friday night (with Pippa and Suzie) and Jarhead last night (with Rich). Enjoyed both films. I think Brokeback Mountain is a landmark film as we're used to seeing gay characters in films but they are usually quite camp. This is the first film that I can remember seeing (though there must be others?) where the gay characters aren't.
The problem is that it's far too easy to pigeon-hole the camp variety. Brokeback Mountain doesn't allow you to do that, which makes it a far more intriguing film. And very sad.
Really enjoyed Jarhead too (for those not in the know, it's Sam Mendes' (American Beauty, beau of Kate Winslet) new film). Set against the backdrop of the first Gulf War it raises some interesting questions about the futility of war. It definitely seemed that some in the cinema failed to pick up on such subtleties. You've got to worry when the young guys in the seats behind you know the names of the guns!
The day was topped off with a fine curry with Rich and Chris, although we were Grouchy Old Men as we had to sit near to a long table of very loud teenage girls. Then as they left we noticed that one of them was Hermione from Harry Potter. Which didn't make them less annoying.

Lewis

those who know me well know I am a huge Inspector Morse fan (one of those little idiosyncracies that either make me interesting or, more likely, a bit of a loser!). Anyway, the much-anticipated spin-off based on Morse's old side-kick, Lewis, will soon be on the telly. There's an interview with kevin Whately, the actor who plays Lewis, here. The show is on Sunday 29th January.

the most perfect song

my friend Rich thinks the most perfect song ever is 'Fake Plastic Trees' by Radiohead. It's a fine song but I think the accolade should probably go to 'Lover You Should've Come Over' by Jeff Buckley. Perhaps we are both wrong. what do you think?

the cult of mac

ok - i obviously can't afford the just announced MacBook Pro but I set aside some money given to me at Christmas to wait and see what Steve Jobs announced today in San Francisco so I've just ordered the new adapter for the iPod (which charges it and hooks it up to your hi-fi) + the tiny remote control that goes with it. sweet. if you too feel so inclined, go here, although judging by the slowness of the apple site at the moment there are a lot of people doing so.

Stop Press : new Mac laptop...

just announced by Jobs - the Macbook Pro...with intel chips, remote control, built in iSight camera. fastest laptop ever. Lordy.

Top Win

Sometimes you just can't beat going down the pub, having a couple of pints with a good mate (good to see you Jim) and watching your team win away from home. well done everyone involved in a thoroughly enjoyable evening!

It's good to walk

The hOME New Year's Day Walk has turned into something of a tradition - i.e. we've now done it 3 times. Had a fine time the other day at near Dorchester where we walked up Wittenham Clumps (the theme song for the day seemed to be "my clumps, my clumps, my lovely Wittenham clumps"! - those of you that have been lucky enough to not hear the latest Black Eyed Peas single will have no idea what I'm talking about). The New Year's Day Walk has become a familiar orientation point for me in my mental world. It's a time to think back to the last one and all that has happened in between and also to think about who was there last year and has since moved on - to call them to mind so that they still live on in the memory of our community.

Paris

we had a great few days in Paris courtesy of Suzie whose Godfather has a flat there (thanks Suze). Saw the usual sights - Eiffel Tower (wonderfully lit up), Musee D'orsay (fantastic collection of Russian art), Les Deux Magots cafe in Saint Germain district (haunt of Hemingway, Satre and de Beauvoir), the outside of the Louvre, Sacre Couer, as well as some great meals out and general walking around. Also saw the new Woody Allen - Match Point - which Pippa and Suzie loved but I wasn't that sure about. Also found a fantastic bar - Au Trappistes - with a great selection of Belgian Abbey Ales. Had a Beelzebub and thought of Karen! Doing 190mph on Eurostar through the northern french countryside was something as well.

Attention Mac Users

i've been having a play around with a new web browser made by Mozilla (makers of Firefox) and made for use exclusively on macs ("mozilla power, mac style"). It's called 'Camino' and so far I'm pretty impressed. It's fast and it's got some great features (like being able to search your history etc.) You can also instruct Camino to not only block pop-ups but also screen out adverts on web pages, which it does pretty well. Fellow Mac users go here to check it out.
Secondly, most Mac users know that Steve Jobs' keynote speech from Macworld San Francisco is the one to watch so I thought I would remind us all that it's happening on Tuesday January 10th at 9am (5pm UK time). You can normally watch a webcast of it pretty soon afterwards on the Apple site. We wait with bated breath to see what he's going to announce this year.