Ian Mobsby's Blog

Vanessa Elston here

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Over the last week, I have encountered a number of people exploring spirituality, who have used that well known mantra, “I am spiritual, not religious”.  I have had some quite profound conversations with a number of people that had religious experience in their youth.  Words that keep appearing in these conversations are GUILT and SHAMING.  It seems that these foundational experiences often in more conservative catholic and protestant forms of church, centred on a strong narrative of guilt and shame.  One guy talked to me of his Sunday school being about filling people with fear.   In such a climate it is not surprising that people reject such forms of church as irrelevant and dehumanising.  I have been reflecting that such an approach to church devoid of love, envisioning and the power of God’s grace, is certainly not Good News, and most definitely needs to be avoided.

It is therefore imperative that the emerging church be a real welcoming place, of hope, of envisionment and rest, and not attempt to control people emotionally in any form.  This must be a mission strategy in all that we do, if we are really to engage with contemporary culture, where, whether we like it or not, some of the church has retreated into fundamentalist and fanaticism, and often appears very angry to ordinary people.  We need to live another way of being church and being a follower of Christ, who are not obsessed with who is in and who is out, and about human sexuality….

Recently I spoke at the Resource training course weekend representing the Moot Community, where we explored mission to a post secular culture of spiritual seeking and new monasticism as a particular model. Mark kindly bought my book I think to follow up what I talked about.

He has now written a couple of blogs concerning my book “The Becoming of G-d” exploring what I looked at last year.  To see what he has written click here

I am currently attending a residential training course on preparation for incumbency through the Diocese of London.  It is an excellent course, and I found it interesting how the concept of managing chaos and complexity returns to the themes of a fluid understanding of life, and some of the elements of a Trinitarian Ecclesiology which was so elemental in the book “The Becoming of G-d”. So very interesting how our learning takes us similar cycles revisiting things as life and vocation changes.

Post by Ian Mobsby.

Really excited that this new multi-authored book is coming out edited by Julie Gittoes, Brutus Green and James Heard, with chapters by the editors and Stephen Conway the Bishop of Ely, Jonathan Clark the Bishop of Croydon, Ian Mobsby, Tom Greggs, Jeremy Morris, and Robert Thompson.

Helpfully the book seeks a generous way forward holding being the Church and doing Mission in tension.  It seeks to hold onto the insights of the books ‘For the Parish’ and ‘Mission Shaped Church Report’ and help the Church to face the challenging times we face.  This is an important book for those who care about Christianity and the balance between being experimental and contextual as well as the faith having deep roots and an ongoing tradition.   For more info click here

Looking forward now to being in Toronto in Canada with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. I am doing a few things that may be of interest if you are into New Monasticism, Fresh Expressions of Church and Emerging Church.

2nd May - Meeting with the Congregational Development Team

3rd May - Meeting with the Jeremiah Community

4th May - Workshop Day on New Monasticism - open to people booking see link below for the front page link…

5th May - Speaking at St Martins-in-the-Fields, Toronto

6th May - Meeting with the Contemplative Fire Community Toronto

9th May - Meeting with Anglo Catholic Group exploring mission

11-12 May - Leading a retreat for the Jeremiah Community

http://www.toronto.anglican.ca/ — in Toronto, Ontario.

Those who know me and a great number of those involved in Alternative Worship and the Emerging Church in those heady   days of the ate 1990s will know how important an influence Noel Moules was, the Anvil Trust and the Workshop Programme. Noel’s theological and practical thinking, very much informed me at an important stage of my own faith development.

So this new book, the first and long awaited work of wisdom, explores and unpacks the Christian faith in a way that is open to all, whether never churched, dechurched or spiritual rather than religious.  I love the way it draws on the deep judeo-Christian tradition to explore the Christian spiritual tradition, and the mystery and implications of the person of Jesus in the context of the Holy Trinity.  This is a creative, artistic and gutsy book unpacking a great deal of material in an accessible way that does inspire and bring hope.

So if you are seeking a book to give you inspiration in the challenges of our times, then I do recommend this book as a good read.  To see more on the book itself click here.

If nothing else this book asks big questions and dares to explore radical answers.  It is a humble invitation to join in with a very constructive and positive understanding of the spiritual journey as a wonderful opportunity in the mystery of life.

The vote by the General Synod of the Church of England last week, was in effect a vote that emphasised the churches increasing irrelevance. The Fresh Expressions initiative begun when Rowan Williams became Archbishop of Canterbury aimed to bridge the gap between Church and Contemporary Culture. Many good things have occurred, but it is clear that some parts of the Church are so far removed from

the concerns and aspirations of general society, that the Church in such forms effectively renders the wider church impotent and irrelevant. Largely I believe this is because of enormous ignorance of hermeneutics, where people do not know how to approach interpretation of the bible. In the 21st Century I find it hard to understand why people cannot see that it is inspired by God but written through people. The bible is not heavenly dictation, and must be seen through the lens of the culture the original authors lived in. Until we educate Christians to engage with the disciplines of hermeneutics rather than overly simplistic approaches to reading the bible, such Christians will always undermine attempts of the Church to reach out in contemporary mission and explore new ways of being church. I cannot understand how the women who spoke out to defend the no vote, some who are CEOs and in higher management in the City of London managing large numbers of men and women, cannot see that there is a massive inconsistency here, with a sacred secular divide that is not biblical if you apply the principles of hermeneutics. We remember this is exactly the same as what happened with Slavery and other social oppressions. We run light to hermeneutics at our peril, and I increasing can’t see how the Church will renew itself in mission if it is to be constantly undermined through fundamentalism and a lack of understanding of the principles of hermeneutics.

On Tuesday 27th November 2012 the Moot Community mark one of those important milestones.  We have dreamed of running a missional arts cafe as part of our activities for at least the last 10 years with hopes for around 20 years.  Well its all happening now.  We have our official launch on Tuesday.  So if you are in London, please do come down and see what it is about between 12 and 2pm.

For details of what is happening please link here

The Holy Trinity is the central reality and concept that makes Christianity a distinct faith and not a jewish cult. As such God is a missionary God that challenges the Church and all Christians to participate in this mission and ministry of reconciliation, as God seeks to restore all things into renewed relationship with the divine.  In our increasingly post-secular context where people are more interested in spirituality than religion, it is the reality of the Trinity that gives us hope and opens up the spiritual landscape of the faith to those who are un-or-dechurched.

To Register for the Manchester Event 3rd Oct, click here at Manchester Cathedral

To Register for the London Event 11th Oct, click here at the London Centre for Spirituality

Canterbury Press Flyer click here

Ian Mobsby is the Priest-in-Charge and Missioner of the Guild Church of St Mary Aldermary, the home of the Moot Community in the heart of the City of London is a New Monastic Community engaged with pioneering and creative approaches to mission and evangelism in an urban context. Ian became a Christian through a very early alternative worship community from a background in socialist Atheism.  He has written and edited a number of books on mission and contemporary society, and lectured and spoken widely across the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Ian is a member of the College of Evangelists of the Church of England, an Associate Missioner of the Fresh Expressions Team, a national selector for pioneer ministry, and the co-opted New Monastic member of the Advisory Council on the relationships between Religious Communities and Diocesan Bishops in the Church of England.

This book can be ordered from Canterbury Press here