Definitions of "culture"

I said I would post the definitions of culture I read in the audioconference last night. Here they are:

"the collective mental programming of a people in an environment" - Geert Hofstede, 1980

"everything one must learn in order to behave in ways that are recognizable, predictable, and understandable to a group of people" - Valentine, 1968

"a common set of previously assimilated master plans, from which . . . an infinite number of individual patterns directly applicable to specifric situations are generated" -Pierre Bordieu, 1976

If you want to cite them in your final paper, give the author and date I've mentioned, and then say "cited by Lynne Baab in audioconference 7." I don't have references for them.

last audioconference next Monday

For our last audioconference, please come prepared to talk about three things:

1. Of all the topics we talked about in this paper, which one would you say has the most impact on New Zealand churches?

2. Are there topics you wish we had addressed in this paper?

3. If you were asked what one thing you wish Christians in New Zealand understood about multi-cultural ministry or cross-cultural ministry, what would you say?

I'm sorry I haven't been able to write on this blog for the past few weeks. I've been so sick. But I'm definitely getting better and am looking forward to our last evening together.

Followup from last audioconference

I thought you'd be interested in hearing about a lecture by Anglican archbishop David Moxon that I heard last week. He talked about something that happened at the Lambeth conference recently. The Lambeth conference is a gathering of Anglican bishops from all over the world.

You may be familiar with the United Nations Millenium Goals (http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml). They are goals for 2015 related to aspects of world poverty, many of the same ones we talked about in the last audioconference.

Archbishop Moxon said that at the Lambeth conference, representatives of the United Nations came to speak to the delegates about the Millenium Goals. These U.N. representatives said that the church is indispensible in meeting those goals for two reasons. First, many of the development agencies that work with the poor around the world are Christian organizations, and these U.N. people said that Christian development groups are essential to help meet the goals because they do so much to address poverty.

The second way Christians are influential is something I had never thought about before. Christians, as citizens, can let their voices be heard, urging politicians to help meet the Millenium Goals. Archbishop Moxon said this applies to all kinds of countries, not just "rich" countries. Even countries in the 2/3 world set policies that have an impact on the poorer people in those countries, and when Christians speak up and urge that governments help their poorer citizens or help poor people in other countries, politicians listen. Or at least they listen sometimes! Christian leaders, then, can take on the role of encouraging other Christians to speak up about world poverty and the Millenium Goals, as well as speaking up themselves. I found this idea fascinating, challenging and encouraging.

It's really nice to know that U.N. leaders are appreciative of the efforts of Christians.

Audioconference Monday 8 Sept

On Monday we'll begin with 15-20 minutes for you to say a few words about the last assignment. I'm particularly interested in hearing what you were most surprised to hear in the interviews you conducted. I have read several of your assignments, and I have found them very interesting. I'd like for you to have a little time to learn from each other about what you heard in the interviews and what seemed most significant to you in what you heard.

In the second section of the audioconference I will ask you to think back to 1980. Some of you will be old enough to remember it, and others will have to go on what you have heard from your parents and from others in your churches. I'll ask you to compare 1980 and 2008 in the area of communication. What has changed?

The rest of the audioconference will focus on some of those specific changes in communication technologies and what that means for congregations. So between now and then, think about that issue.

Assignment 2

I've gotten several questions from students about your next assignment. Let me answer some questions here.

Do you want a transcript of the interviews?
No, I don't. I want an essay about one or more of the topics that we're discussing this semester. The essay should describe the kinds of things your interviewee talked about, with your comments about his or her ideas, and if possible describing some of the ways his or her ideas connect with the readings.

Should the essay say everything that the interviewee said?
No. Be selective. Pick out what the person said that was interesting. Perhaps they said something that contradicted what we've discussed in the audioconference or affirmed something you read in the coursebook. Perhaps they gave a good illustration of something we talked about. I've done hundreds of interviews for my books and I've learned that people ramble all over in interviews, but they usually say a few interesting things. Figure out what you consider to be interesting in what they said.

Should the essay be structured in the same way the interview was?
Again, no. When people get talking about a subject, they tend jump from topic to topic. In your essay, I want you to provide structure that is based on the topics discussed, not based on the order in which the person talked about the topics. For example, perhaps the person talked about post-Christendom issues at the beginning and at the end of the interview. I expect you to talk about what they said about post-Christendom in one section of your essay. And for those of you taking the paper at the 300 level, you have to interview two people. You can structure your essay by writing first about what one person said and then second about what the other person said. That works best if they focused on pretty different topics. If they focused on pretty much the same topics, it might work best to structure your essay around the topics. For example, you might describe some interesting points one person made about postmodernism, then something the other person said about postmodernism, and then move onto another topic.

Does the essay need to cover more than one topic?
No. If the interview(s) covered one topic in depth, then just focus on that one topic. Or if the interviewee talked about a lot of topics but only one topic was interesting, feel free to ignore the other stuff they said.

Please feel free to email me if you have more questions.

discussion topics for audioconference Aug 18

On Monday night we'll begin with a discussion of what everyday life was like 50 years ago. We'll begin there because I often think the church's perception of itself is stuck in the 1950s. Then we'll talk about what has changed in the last 50 years and the implications of those changes. You can draw on the readings as you bring up those changes. I'm also hoping that many of you will have done an Internet search about aspects of daily life so you can tell us what you found online.

I want to spend about a half hour discussing the reading from The Crisis of Care, so please be sure to read that chapter carefully. I'm looking forward to our discussion Monday.

To those of you who have sent in your assignments, thanks very much. I'll begin marking next week, so I don't have anything to say about them yet.

next audioconference

I want to encourage you to do an Internet search for topics related to our next audioconference that are interesting to you. I just did a search for "divorce in New Zealand" and found some interesting statistics and support material for people who are divorcing and for children affected by divorce. You might search for:

• personal debt in New Zealand
• average hours of work in New Zealand
• family life in New Zealand
• pace of life in New Zealand
• families in New Zealand

Hopefully you can think of some other topics. The way people live their everyday lives has changed so much in the last 50 years. How can the church do a better job meeting people where they are? The megachurches in the US, which do a terrific job of serving and welcoming people, often offer seminars and support groups that are open to the community on such diverse topics as money management, overseas adoption, surviving cancer, marriage enrichment, parenting teens, etc. If a church in New Zealand wanted to offer a seminar or support group open to the wider community, what topics might they want to consider addressing?

One of the things I'm hoping is that this paper will help you learn to read or watch the news and to read statistics about everyday life with a eye for the impact on the church and on Christians of what you are reading. And with an eye for opportunities for the church to connect with people affected by whatever issue you are reading about.

Sidebar for "God with a Million Faces"

One of the students in our paper wrote me an email with this helpful information:

I just wanted to let people know that the Million Faces full article with sidebars is available electronically through the library. They just sent it to me today.

Talking about postmodernism and post-Christendom in congregations

One of the students in our paper visited a church recently. She was handed a little flyer with notices on the back. On the front was some text about postmodernism and our post-Christendom culture. The church is The United Church of Port Chalmers Presbyterian Parish and the text was written by Rev. Geoffrey Skillton, who is the interim moderator of the congregation. I think this is an interesting model for how to begin or nurture a conversation in a congregation about these issues. As you read it, see what you agree and disagree with. Here's what Geoffrey wrote:

Once upon a time

Once upon a time not so long ago, about a century ago, it felt like the church was at the centre of community life. Many people brought their children to the church to be christened when they were but a few months old. In their teens the same children, frequently as a group, took the baptism vows for themselves in Confirmation. Then they came to the church to be married. And eventually their spouse or children made sure they had their funeral in the church. It felt like the church was at the hub of important community rituals. This was how it was once upon a time…….. in the Age of the Church.

One hundred years ago the effects of the Age of Reason, of Science, which replaced the Age of the Church had significantly eroded the centrality of church in Western societies. This Modern period promoted rational thought as its god. Scientific logic and theory became the measure of truth — even absolute truth. This Age has been rather short and is being overtaken by what is known as Post-Modernism. The god of this latter age is individualism.

The effect of these shifts is that the church is at the edge of community life. For many in the church it feels like we are living in a strange and at times lonely place. Baptisms, weddings and funerals in the church are rare occurrences. Programmes that once attracted an audience are characterized by empty seats. Sunday worship is another optional leisure activity alongside going to the Mall with the family.

Jesus himself frequently sought, or was pushed to, lonely places. When he left these places and talked to people in everyday situations his message sounded strange and yet appealing. Perhaps the church is best placed to represent Jesus from the edge, from a place where its message and actions are most unlike the cultures which surround it.

A note on the reading “God with a Million Faces”

In the last audioconference, I mentioned an error in the course book. In case you weren't there, let me say it here. The reading for Monday, “God with a Million Faces,” is missing its sidebar. I mentioned the sidebar in the coursebook when I was describing the reading, but unfortunately the sidebar itself didn't make it into the coursebook. I'll read a few sections from the sidebar during the audioconference on Monday.

Audioconference August 4

The audioconference on Monday night will focus on our post-Christendom world. Here are some of the questions we will be discussing:

• What do people mean when they call our world "post-Christian" or "post-Christendom"?
• Why does it matter? What difference does it make?
• What does it look like in practice? What are the characteristics?
• How have you seen churches respond?
• How could Christians do a better job responding?
• In a post-Christendom world, what is the place of welcoming people into a community of faith versus going out into the community to serve?
• People often talk about ministry in our world being characterized by belonging before believing, hospitality, the arts, and teamwork in ministry. What do these have to do with the post-Christendom nature of our world today?

Post-Christendom

The topic of our next audio conference is our post-Christendom world. Here are some articles on websites that I found interesting.

This is a review of a new book on why Christians need to embrace a post-Christendom model:
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/article_2004_03_10_murray.shtml

The author of the book reviewed on the previous website, Stuart Murray, spoke about his book, and this blog has a summary of his very helpful comments:
http://www.youthblog.org/2008/07/post_christendom.html

Trinity International University, an evangelical university in the United States, is hosting a conference on Post-Christendom Spiritualities later this year. The description of the conference is brief, but I found it interesting to read the topics they will discuss:
http://www.tiu.edu/graduate/academics/conferencedescription

Here’s a post on a blog where the author describes what Christendom was. It’s a helpful description:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080320/the-church-in-post-christendom.htm

Here’s another article that describes Christendom and goes on to describe the post-Christendom world as well:
http://gatheringinlight.com/2007/12/10/church-in-mission-post-christendom-effectiveness-and-reshaping-ethics-pt4/

The next article is mostly focused on the American scene, but it raises the question of how Christians engage in politics in a post-Christendom world, and it gives several examples of the ways different Christians think Christian engagement in politics should look:
http://countercultureblog.com/?p=35

Here’s a website that is devoted to issues about post-Christendom:
http://www.postchristendom.com/

Here is an interesting and thought-provoking essay (linked from the previous website) defending Christendom:
http://www.postchristendom.com/node/10

One of the discussion forums on the previous website has a few amazing stories illustrating our post-Christendom world. You’ll love these stories (and you may well mourn as you read them. I did):
http://www.postchristendom.com/node/5

People leaving church

I got an email from a student in the paper who gave me permission to quote from it:
"This has become an even more interesting topic for me following both the audio conference call and having the Assembly executive Secretary of the PCANZ speak at Presbytery last week. He said that over the last 10 years an average of 75 people per month are leaving the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. The interest for me from the 1st audio was when Craig mentioned about funerals and they are becoming more secular . I thoughts of our own parish in particular and how many 'rites of passage' type services, weddings, funerals and baptisms the minister does out of the church, kind of secular etc and this may be some thing I investigate further in this topic."

Follow up from our discussion on postmodernism

On Monday someone mentioned Brian McLaren's website. Actually there are two websites that are at least somewhat connected to him:
http://www.emergentvillage.com/
http://www.brianmclaren.net/
The first is the website of the emergent church movement (or "conversation" as they call it), and Brian McLaren is very involved in that movement. The second one is his personal blog. I didn't find anything too interesting on either one, but I didn't spend a lot of time looking. Perhaps you'll find something interesting.

Someone metioned Robert Weber's book, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World. Here's a review of it from Publisher's Weekly:
For much of his career, theologian and worship consultant Webber (Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail; Worship Is a Verb) has been inviting evangelicals to rediscover their connection with historic Christianity. Here, Webber takes up his case with a new urgency, warning that American evangelicalism's historical rootlessness and acculturation to modernity leave it dangerously unprepared to deal with postmodern culture and to reach postmodern souls. But there is hope: even in its thornier aspects (e.g., pluralism, state indifference/hostility, learned skepticism and popular credulity), the postmodern climate resembles the environment in which the ancient Church not only endured but thrived. This book makes an important contribution, not so much as a cultural analysis (Webber's treatment of modernity and postmodernity makes no claims for depth or originality, and his proclamation of modernity's demise seems premature) but as a call for theological renewal within evangelical churches. Webber provides a wealth of suggestions to help churches appropriate the heritage of "classical Christianity" for use in contemporary settings, including the renewal of sacraments and the church year, reconnecting evangelism with discipleship (as in classical catechesis) and a "rule of faith" ecumenism that emphasizes catholic creeds and de-emphasizes denominational confessions. Webber correctly anticipates the inevitable questions about authority, Scripture and tradition that his proposals will raise for evangelicals. Although he may underestimate the uneasiness that many evangelicals still feel about "Catholic-sounding" concepts and practices, Webber's call for an "ancient-future" faith is timely, practical and persuasive.

Message from the Remote Services Librarian

Judy Fisher, Remote Services Librarian writes:
As part of the Remote Library service I will be visiting Christchurch in the last weekend of July (Friday, 25th & Saturday 26th) and Wellington (Friday,1st, 2nd & possibly 3rd August) to offer help with research skills, searching for relevant information using library resources and the internet, Endnote queries, referencing, and general queries.

My intention is to be based at Canterbury and Wellington Medical libraries respectively, and to meet students either in one-to-one consultations, or in groups - depending on user's needs.
I am used to dealing with topics from all disciplines, so would be happy to meet with anyone who has research or assignment-based questions on any subject.

Please reply to this email (judy.fisher@otago.ac.nz) if you are interested, and let me know your location, and if the Friday or the Saturday is most suitable to you, and what time of day would suit you best. I will then get back to you with specific details.
I look forward to meeting you!
Regards,
Judy
Judy Fisher Remote Services Librarian University of Otago Freephone: 0800 347826 P.O. Box 56, 65 Albany Street Dunedin http://www.library.otago.ac.nz

Error in the Coursebook

My thanks to an observant student who pointed out this error. For both the 200 and 300 level, in assignment 4, point number 2, it says "Evidence that you have read the readings in the course book on these two topics." It should say "on this topic."

The same student also asked if the 10 or 12 footnotes (depending on whether it's the 200 or 300 level) from four readings for that assignment need to be from the coursebook or if you can cite other readings. I want to see 10 or 12 footnotes from four readings from the coursebook. Citations from additional sources will raise your mark a little.

Preparing for audioconference on postmodernism

I've been thinking about how to structure our discussion on Monday night, and I want to give you a sense of how we'll engage in discussion so you can be thinking about the questions I'll be asking. We'll compare and contrast modernism and postmodernism by addressing four topics:

• the positive legacy of modernism
• modernism's darker side
• the positive aspects of postmodernism
• postmodernism's darker side

In each of the four categories we'll consider these positive and negative aspects in the wider culture and also in Christian congregations.

Martin Macaulay, the new mininster at East Taieri Presbyterian Church near Dunedin, recently completed a Doctor of Ministry degree, and he graciously let me read the research essay he wrote for that degree. A lot of the essay focuses on the effect of postmodernism on the church in New Zealand. So you can imagine that it was very helpful for me.

Margin believes that Christians tend to respond in one of four ways to postmodernism:

• some view it as something to be resisted at all costs because it is an enemy to Christianity
• others affirm the objective truth of the Christian gospel while agreeing that modernism has some problems
• others study the postmodern culture and try to adopt strategies that speak into that culture, e.g. contextualize the gospel for its setting today
• and still others believe that a postmodern approach to Christianity is entirely appropriate and perhaps even more consistent with New Testament Christianity than modernism

In the audioconference on Monday we'll talk about what each of these responses look like in practice. And I would love it if each of you would do some thinking about where you stand with respect to these four responses and come to the audioconference prepared to talk a bit about your position.

Critical Engagement

Be sure to read Craig's response to the post from June 18. I appreciate three things about that response. First, that he wrote it. Second, that he gave some links to sites that are relevant to New Zealand. And third, the comments about critical engagement. I agree with what Craig wrote about critical engagement, and I think that's the way I interpreted Tim's use of "counter cultural." At the beginning of the next audioconference, I plan to do a brief lecture about the way I view counter cultural ministry in practice -- what it looks like in the real world. So please bring your thoughts and questions. Throughout the paper we will be talking about how to respond to these societal patterns we are studying.

Novel about medieval life

In the audioconference last week, I mentioned a novel set in medieval Scandanavia. I said it was a painless way to learn about life in medieval times and the way the church impacted just about every aspect of life. The book is Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.

Here's a review of it:
From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister
A landmark among historical novels, Kristin Lavransdatter is part of the body of work that won Sigrid Undset the Nobel Prize for 1928. This trilogy of more than one thousand pages follows its title character through her life in fourteenth-century Scandinavia. It is a novel full of big and dramatic happenings: romantic intrigues, political schemes, and spiritual debates. It is also a novel about one woman's life. Sigrid Undset makes us understand Kristin's love for her sons and husband, the feeling of milk in her breasts, and the hard work of living in the fourteenth century. As does any good historical novel, Kristin Lavransdatter immerses us in its time through rich details concerning dress and manners as well as social and historical events. The multitude of character names is confusing at first, but if you stick with it, Sigrid Undset will give you a first-hand experience of another world.

Welcome to Ministry and Society in the 21st Century

Welcome to the blog for the University of Otago paper “Ministry and Society in the 21st century.” I’ll be posting links to online articles I’ve found that you may want to use to write your assignments for the paper. Or you may want to read them to get more background information on topics you’re interested in.

The topic for the second audio conference is postmodernism. I looked around on the Internet for some articles that I thought covered the topic well and revealed some of the controversies around the topic. Please feel free to post comments about which of these articles you found helpful, and what you found helpful about them, so other students will have an idea of which ones to read. In addition, feel free to email me with suggestions of other Internet resources on our topics. I’ll read the articles you suggest and post them on the blog with my comments.

Here’s a sermon written by the minister of a Presbyterian church in Canada. He does a nice job discussing modernism and postmodern and the implications for churches:
http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Other%20Writings/postmode.htm

An editor at Leadership Journal wrote a piece about why he wishes we would move on from talking about postmodernism. He got a firestorm of response, and the series of articles on this web page summarizes the discussion. You may enjoy the series of articles posted on this page:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/special/postmodernism.html

In this article from Relevant magazine, the author is arguing in part that the decline of the church in recent decades has come from its inability to speak into the postmodern world. See if you agree:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=696

In this article from John Mark Ministries, the author describes the difference between postmodernism and postmodernity. See if you agree with his distinction:
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/13867.htm

Chuck Colson wrote numerous articles for Christianity Today about postmodernism in the early years of this decade. In many of them, he talked about the way the church needs to resist postmodernism and fight against it. Here’s one of his columns:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/december/24.72.html

Here’s a response that Brian McLaren wrote to that column by Chuck Colson:
http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/000018.html

You are quite welcome to quote from websites when you write your assignments. But you must learn to cite from website in the right form. Be sure to look at the Study and Style Guide on the Departmental website:
http://www.otago.ac.nz/theology/resources/index.html
Click on "study and style guide." On page 19 you’ll find instructions of how to cite from a website. Note that the date you downloaded the information is required. Whenever you capture an interesting quotation from a website, always note the full URL and the date. Then you’ll be able to do a good citation in your essay.

In addition, websites vary in their accuracy and level of authority. A website of a well-known journal or magazine (like Christianity Today, Relevant, or Leadership Journal) is more authoritative than a personal blog. When citing something from a website, it makes sense to say a couple words about the source so you indicate why you think it has authority and can be considered to be accurate. For example, you might write, "Brian McLaren, who has written many books on the church in the postmodern era, writes . . ." If you're citing from an article that was originally published in a magazine, don't say you got it from a website, say, "In an article in Christianity Today magazine, Chuck Colson writes . . ."

Another note on online resources. When you do an internet search on almost any topic, Wikipedia will usually come at the top of the list as a source. Wikipedia is often a helpful source to get an overview of a topic. But because it is a wiki – open source software that anyone can change – it is not a good source for academic papers. You cannot trust its accuracy. Always double check anything you find there. I read the entry on postmodernism on Wikipedia and found parts of it helpful, but I'm not suggesting to you that you read it (although you're welcome to) because I don't want you to cite it in your essay.