Amy's Sabbatical, adventures in Berkeley,California

Today was my first day of classes at the Pacific School of Religion. This is the seminary I graduated from 20 years ago. (gosh that makes me feel old.). I am taking a class put on by the Center for Progressive Renewal taught by Cameron Trimble and Mike Piazza. The class is called Renew, Skills for Leading and Renewing Churches.

Today the class began discussing what the teachers called,"The Situation." They began talking about the major shifts in our culture over the last decade. In December of 2010 Time magazine focused on the shifts occurring in the last decade. Here's a summary
2000 - marked the failure of our political system with the counting of hanging chads and the supreme court deciding our next president.

2001- with the horror of 9/11 marked the failure of our national security.

2002 - the beginning of the failure of our military system as the war on terror began.

2003 - marked the beginning of the shift in power when Napster and the advent of the Internet began challenging the powerful music industry.

2004 - China surpasses the United States in economic superiority.

2005 - marked our failure as a nation to manage natural disasters with the example of Hurricane Katrina

2008 - is the beginning of the failure of our economic system as the economy collapses.

This may all sound like doom and gloom, but I think our teachers were trying to show us that while we may feel like the church is in a time of terrible decline and that the church is failing, unreality life on every level is shifting and changing in huge ways.

We also discussed a book by Phyllis Tickle called "The Great Emergence." in this book Phyllis states that every 500 years Christianity has gone through some radical changes. He's a quotes
"every 500 years the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale. We are living in and through one of those rummage sales right now."

Which is to y that many. Of the old ways of doing church and being church, especially on an institutional level are in flux, and are changing.

But there is a new form of Christianity that is emerging. This is what some people call the emerging or emergent church. It's characteristics are:
It is radically Jesus oriented
It is communal
It is post denominational
It often is found in virtual reality
And it is getting rid of Christian exclusivism.


That was all in the first two hours.

Then last two hours of threat we talked about more practical things like church growth.

Here are some thoughts about church growth...
For your church to grow your number one asset is the visitor. Visitors are the VIPs of a church that wants to grow.

It is important as a church to have a clear identity as a church and to know who is likely to come to your church. We cannot be all things to all people. And that identity of your church should be clear to visitors when they come.

Once people come to church, here are some things that help people come back
Friendliness towards the visitor
Worship that is exciting and moving
Great music
Service opportunities
Good children and youth programming.(a teenager has absolute veto power in a families decision to come to a church.)
Hope for transformation


This evening I walked to downtown Berkeley and picked up some take out sushi. I spoke Japanese to the man in the store (and he understood me!). I brought the sushi up to the seminary campus and sat on the lawn as I overlooked the bay. It's been an amazing day full of challenging thoughts and expansive experiences. I am so appreciative to be here and have this opportunity.

Take care.
Amy

Amy's Sabbatical, Adventures in the UK #6

Friday, June 17

Driving in close quarters

Returned to Chester on this day, again by High Speed Train.  Today was the day we picked up the rental car.  We made these arrangements over the internet before we came to the UK.  Huw has agreed to drive (Thank heavens!)  And it is a bit of an adventure getting back to Tim's house.  We have rented a Ford Focus, which is a pretty large car by UK standards.  Most of the cars here are on the compaq size, smallter than the Focus.  Driving a stick shift on the left side of the road, navigating all the round- abouts, is quite a feat. Plus the roads are quite narrow and everyone else is used to driving on these narrow roads, while we are not.  But Huw does really well.  Thank goodness too for the GPS unit (or the Sat. Nav. as the British say), because without it I am sure we would have spent a lot more lost without a clue about where to go.

The dinner party

In the evening we are invited by Tim and Ashlea to their friend's birthday party at a fancy restaurant right next to the Chester race track.    The men are in suits, the women are all in beautiful dresses with plunging neck lines and three inch stiletto heels.  I have brought a brown skirt and a button down shirt given to me by the staff before I left on sabbatical and I am wearing my "Keen" sandals - the only shoes I brought beside my sneakers.  I feel quite out of place among all these beautiful people.  But they are warm and accepting, kind and open hearted, engaging both Huw and I in great conversation.   We eat a three course dinner - which is just excellent.  After every course, the men who came to dinner are instructed by the host to sit in a differet place around the table.  It's an interesting way to keep the conversations lively and to help everyone to get to know each other. 

Lester, the 8 month old
black lab.

Evan got to stay home, watch movies and hang out with the dogs.  I think he enjoyed that better than a fancy dinner. 

Saturday, June 18  on to Abersoch, Wales. 

the beach at Abersoch

We make our first venture into Wales.  As we drive into the Welsh countryside, we notice that everything is written in Welsh and in English.  the Welsh Language seems very difficult - especially in its pronunciation.  Tim and Ashlea have a caravan (an RV) in the hills of Abersoch overlooking the Cardigan Bay. They park their caravan from May to October with several of their friends close by.   We stop in the town of Pwhelli ( I have no idea how to pronounce this!) for groceries. 
After we get settled in the caravan and met all the good friends, we walk down to the beach with the dogs and stop for a drink at the local pub. 


Dinner with friends, again a barbeque of ribs, burgers, lamb chops, and pork loins.  Outside it is windy and raining.  We are glad to be inside the caravan.

Amy's sabbatical, Adventures in the UK #5

June 16, 2011

Huw with the statue of Darwin
in the Natural History Museum

We have had pretty good weather so far. It's been cool with a few rain showers here and there. Today it is raining so it seemed like a good day for museums. We make our way on the underground to the science museum. The main entrance to the museum has been blocked due to side walk reconstruction. There is a lot of construction going on in London because they are getting ready for the Olympics in 2012. Our entry into the science museum takes us into the museum of technology. There are displays of old steam engines and old computers (boy were they huge when they were first invented!). There is also a section of the building dedicated to the history of medicine which I thought was fascinating. When the displays got a bit boring we moved over to the hands on section where you can build things with blocks, launch water rockets and enjoy the museum on a more interactive level.

Swans in Hyde Park.

Then on to the museum of natural history, which is just huge. Lots of displays about rocks and the formation of the earth. There was even an earthquake simulator! The mineral and gem stone exhibit was wonderful too, showing off all the colorful minerals found inside the earth. After most of the day inside these two museums, we were pretty museumed out. Plus I think we were all still pretty tired from jet lag and all the hustle and bussle of big city life. So we decided to stroll through Hyde park and just take it easy for a while. We walked to Buckinghan Palace and then down to Victoria station where we ate "bangers and mash" at a traditional English pub called the Kings Arms. Then back to the hotel almost overwhelmed with all the things we saw, tasted and experienced today.