Chris Wright, Mission and the God of the Old Testament

We’ve got Chris Wright on this month’s podcast.

Chris has written a couple of books recently about how the theme of mission holds the whole Bible together. Let’s face it on the surface of it the Bible doesn’t seem to hold together all that well. Its 66 books are an eclectic mix of authors, literary genres and themes. So we at Nomad we’re keen to hear from a scholar who thinks he’s discerned an overarching theme that brings the whole thing together.

From creation to new creation, with the whole sorry mess in the middle, Chris reckons it’s the mission of God that provides the Bible with an overarching framework. I think there’s a lot to be said for that. But don’t take my word for it, check out the book, ‘Mission and the People of God’, oh and you want might also want to check out the Bible itself (and the Nomad interview of course).

Of course it’s not quite that simple though is it. So we also asked Chris about the slightly less missional passages of the OT, like the extermination of the Canaanites. He gave (with conviction and humility) what is essentially the traditional evangelical response. I’m not sure this understanding answers all my concerns though, so check out the interview and our reflections and let us know what you think.

Tim

Andrea Campanale and the new spiritualties

We’ve got a great Nomad Extra for you this month with Andrea Camapanale.

Some years ago Andrea sensed God call her to start making connections with people involved in the new spiritualties. So she started looking for where God was at work at New Age fairs. Check out the interview for what happened next!

This seems like a pretty daunting call, but Andrea’s humbling response was simply “God showed me what he wanted me to do and I just did it”. What an inspiring philosophy of mission! But of course the life God was calling Andrea to hasn’t been an easy one, and she’s shown tremendous courage and resilience as she’s sacrificially loved this community.

So tune in for a challenging and inspiring story. 

Tony and Felicity Dale and simplifying the church

On this month’s podcast we head down to Cheltenham to meet up with Tony and Felicity Dale. 

The Dale’s are English, but felt called by God 24 years ago to move to the US. During this period they’ve become advocates of the Simple/Organic model of church, and have seen many churches started and have countless stories of transformed lives.

Their book Small is Big is a great introduction to the Simple Church movement.

What really struck me during the interview was the Dale’s belief that we’re called to make disciples (Mt. 28:19), and the job of building a church is Jesus’ (Mt. 16:18). It seems to me that so often we get it the other way round. We plan and strategise about how we’re going to build a church, and then much later we start to consider how we go about the task of making disciples. I’ve been a full-time pioneer for a few months now, and all the talk (and a great deal of my thinking) has been about the sort of church I’m hoping to form. So Jesus’ words are both challenging and releasing. Challenging because I have to trust him to form and shape his own church and releasing because I don’t have to worry about it, I can just get on with the task of helping people follow him.

Tim

Nomad Journey 2: Tim and Dave's on-going adventures

A few months ago we posted the first ‘Nomad Journey’, the idea being to show how we’re trying to live out all the ideas we’re wrestling with on the podcast. This isn’t a theoretical exploration for us we’re really trying to live this stuff out, so we thought we’d invite you to join us on the journey.

We’ve just uploaded the second instalment, so tune in to get the inside story on what we’ve been up to over the last couple of months.

Drop us a line when you get a mo (Facebook, email, twitter etc) and let us know what you think and where you are on the journey.

Tim

Nicky Gumbel and the future of Alpha

Whatever you think about Nicky Gumbel it’s hard to deny he’s a sincere and passionate man. And whatever you think about Alpha it’s hard not to be impressed by the statistics (18 million people have been through Alpha worldwide and the day we interviewed Nicky 900 people turned up at his church to take part in the course).

So why do so many people have an aversion to Alpha (myself included)?

I think for me it’s the ‘off-the-shelf’ nature of the course. When we asked Nicky, he seemed to think that Alpha was culturally relevant even though it’s been around now for over 20 years and is used in cultures across the world. He pointed to the universal cultural relevancy of the course’s emphasis on communal eating, drinking and discussion. Of course there is truth in this (although I’d argue that even in this country these are quite middle-class pastimes), but there’s a lot more to Alpha than this.

Alpha, for example, presents the gospel using quite traditional ‘Christian’ language and the DVDs do this from within an Anglican church with everyone sitting in rows quietly listening to a leader on a stage. Of course there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, it’s just that it’s a very specific and culture bound presentation of the gospel.

I don’t have a problem with Alpha per se. My problem is more the lazy way people use it. I’m sure Alpha can be a powerful tool in certain setting, but it concerns me that thousands of churches in radically different cultures around the world have come to the conclusion that it’s the best way for them to present the gospel. How can it be the answer for all of them?

Surely we should assume nothing when considering how to present our faith in our own unique cultural contexts? We need to be praying, listening, watching, hanging out and asking questions before we can even know what the ‘good news’ is for our community, let alone how to communicate it. It may well be that Alpha is the most culturally relevant presentation of the gospel for some groups of people. But I find it hard to believe that it was the most culturally relevant presentation of the gospel for all the 18 million people who have already done it.

Tim

Phil Togwell and prayer spaces in schools

It’s Phil Togwell’s turn on Nomad Extra this month.

About four years ago Phil and others at 24/7 Prayer sensed God drawing their attention to some stories about prayer rooms being set up in schools. They investigated further and decided that this was indeed a God thing. They responded by launching ‘Prayer Spaces in Schools’, an initiative that is spreading across the country.

It’s a fascinating and inspiring story. So download the podcast to find out more!