So as you head into Christmas I want to personally wish you and your family a wonderful and merry Christmas! May you be drawn closer to our Lord and saviour this year. And remember, he was born for you!!

Also watch this space!! I am upgrading this blog, so it will have a new design and some additional features for the new year!

FOUNDATION// The sermon is grounded in the Bible. The Word of God is brought to life! So many sermons are dominated by stories about holidays or the latest movie, or interesting observations on the world: but leave out the Bible. Getting back to the foundation. But as one person warned, you cannot assume that people will know the Bible stories.. so assume low understanding of the Bible.

ACTION// The second thing is that it totally applies to their life. That at the end of the sermon they are left with this feeling like they need to take action. This means being challenging.

MEMORABLE// Third characteristic is that the sermon is memorable. One way suggested to make this happen is to use physical illustrations.. so use a prop.. something that will be a bit different. But gotta be careful that people only remember the illustration and not the message!

EXCITEMENT// And the final point shared was that the preacher is personal. They share there passion. What is it about the scripture that fires them up? They are real, in touch with the issues of the community. They preach with conviction and power: not from themselves, but by the Holy Spirit!

So what do you look for in a sermon?

The research was undertaken by the impressive Theos Think Tank and shows that only 12% of adults in Britain have a detailed knowledge of the Christmas story.

But what amazed me was that only 36% of Christian church goers reported a detailed knowledge of the Christmas story!

What is going on here? Seriously.

The questions asked weren’t the sort that only tweed suited theologians would understand, we are talking about:

• Knowing that John the Baptist is Jesus’ cousin
• Knowing that Jesus , Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre.

Basic stuff really. Now I have a question.. I wonder if this is just the tip of the iceberg? Is this representative of a much larger ignorance of the Bible?

Are we losing touch with the Holy Scriptures?

What was of particular concern for me was to read that only 7% of 18-24 year olds had a detailed knowledge of the Christmas story. So 20 years from now, how will our society look?

Which brings me to the central question of this post:

Is this a problem?

Knowing the Bible stories is actually not that important. Satan knew the stories (Matthew 4: 5-6). It is how the stories affect us that is important.

The Bible isn’t about information but transformation. Transforming us and in turn, transforming society. Are we changed by our encounter with the Scriptures?

So how do we get more people to read the Bible?

Some appeal to our Christian heritage and say that this is ‘who we are’ in some attempt to call people back to our roots. But this is a simplistic take on a complex topic. What is heritage? What makes it Christian? These are difficult questions to answer. So I don’t buy this ‘rose coloured glasses’ argument.

Others believe the answer is to offer more types of Bibles: the, ‘make them attractive’ argument. This buys into the commercialism of our society: people want to own something new, something different, but doesn’t necessarily mean they engage in any meaningful way.

I wonder if the answer is in getting the message out there that the Bible is a transformative experience? That in engaging with it we are refined and become more fully who God intended us to be.

Tough challenge to encourage Bible engagement…

Any thoughts?

(8.09 minutes in length)

Stephen writes:

Can you see him? Can you feel him? Is he with you?

Three questions greeting you as you check out Fisherman Inc’s website. They’re interesting questions in themselves, but even more intriguing when you see what Fishermen Inc sell. Fishermen Inc was founded by Eric Dyson, who says on his website that two years ago he was a typical young exec, earning the big bucks in the US. Then his father died. Grief hit home and he says God touched him with the words “I am always with you.”

From there he had an image of Jesus riding a Harley across the open roads of America. Out of this was born Fishermen, an organisation making Jesus figurines.

Now, I have heard of Jesus figurines before. In fact I brought ‘Super Jesus’ as a Christmas present for my sister. He was a wind up Jesus with a cloak of stars and little wheels on his feet. He scooted across the desktop waiving his arms up and down. He certainly was super.

So I wasn’t surprised when I saw these. In fact, I love them. I love the concept. Rock climbing Jesus. Bull riding Jesus. Skateboarding Jesus. Surfing Jesus. And yes, Jesus riding a Harley.

But ‘what’s the point’ people seem to be asking. Well, thinking about it, what do I do on my scooter as I motor to work each day? I talk to Jesus. What do I do when I’m sitting out the back waiting for a wave on my surf board? I talk to Jesus. Jesus is with me everywhere.

But, as life-changing as this concept is, I still seem to forget it in the hard times. It’s when the going gets tough that we sometimes strangely think Jesus has abandoned us.

For that reason alone, I’d love to have one of these on my desk.

But as you can probably predict, some people don’t like them. “You don’t play with Jesus,” says one critic on a Youtube video.

Why not? Well, as one other person puts it, what happens when my kid has a battle between football Jesus and Megatron? Or Gandalf? Or Spiderman? Who’s going to win and how do I explain it to my kid if Jesus doesn’t?

This kind of critique I think is just purely over thinking. And as for the “don’t play with Jesus” argument, I think these are aimed at a slightly different audience. I can’t see executives or teachers or Pastors playing with Jesus on their desk the way one might play with Super Jesus.

So, while this is not a new concept, I love the creative approach at communicating a simple message. I just hope it pays off for this guy. Otherwise he might have to go back to being just another young exec earning the ‘six figure’ salary.

I’m just not so sure about commando-desert-storm Jesus, with his dove and AK47. I think that messes with my theology a little too much.

Stephen Opie

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Check out Stephen’s blog by CLICKING HERE

The virtual world of Second Life is an international community with millions of members, and the average age of the Second Life player is considered to be in the range of mid-20s to mid-30s. The lay and ordained leadership of The Anglican Cathedral on Epiphany Island are reaching out by logging on. I believe that their work in SL is creating an essential bridge between tradition and technology. As they build trust and deepen relationships among the SL community, they are proclaiming the gospel.

And then at the other end of the spectrum is a scathing attack by Anglicans Online who report to have more than 200,000 readers. That article can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.

How can a website with such a large readership produce such a misinformed lead article?

So let me respond to each point of the Anglicans Online article in turn…

(note:  these are my thoughts and don’t intend to represent the Anglican Group in SL.)

Anglicans Online: Many of you will be familiar with this three-dimensionalish online world, in which your avatar can live and move and have its being. It’s cleverly designed and programmed, it’s involving (as are all video games, more or less*), and it’s taken with deadly seriousness by those whose lives have been intertwined with it.

My response: Second Life isn’t a video game. It is a social networking platform, within which some run businesses and others promote causes, but most enjoy social networking. It numbers several million and is growing exponentially. Some significant voices (such as Bill Gates and Sam Parmisano, CEO of IBM) consider it the immediate future of the internet. My motivation is two-fold: fulfill the church’s mission to those within SL and in the long term, provide a platform to assist Anglican Churches leverage the internet as it develops into the virtual form.

You can watch the first Anglican service ‘in’ that cathedral on 16 July 2007, via YouTube, a service called ‘historic’ by the preacher. In addition to the cathedral (located, by the way, on Epiphany Island), there is an Anglican SL group which does, well, Anglican things, presumably like chatting about tippets and Second Timothy.

The Anglican group now offers 5 services a week, two of which involve a sermon preached. (To see a slide show of the Advent Sunday service CLICK HERE) People can listen to the sermon wherever they are (To hear the sermon CLICK HERE). One Bible Study is offered each week and two others are being considered at the moment.

Discussions about SL are taking up much air across the church, inspiring conference talks and think pieces, academic pondering and institutional-church head scratching along the lines of ‘What does it MEAN?’ The general conclusion seems to be something along the lines of: ‘The Church should have a presence there’.

The question, ‘What does it mean?’ is being addressed as the author asserts, and this includes a working group of theologians and cannonical lawyers attached the The Ecclesiastical Law Society based in the UK. No conclusion has yet been reached. It is still so young, it was only July when we started offering services. There are no manuals to read, we are in an exploration phase.

Also it is important to state that I am an ordained Deacon in the Anglican Church and my Bishop has licenced me to this ministry. This means I am accountable to him for my actions and practices. I might also add that I will be announcing in the near future who our Visiting Bishop will be.

We wonder. On first glance, SL seems harmless. Why not have a ‘presence’ there? Build a cathedral, add a clutch of churches, even devote an advertising campaign to drive people to Second Life, as the Churches Advertising Network is doing this season. After all, if people with a steady supply of electricity, fast computers, broadband connexions, and time on their hands want to wander round in a Disney-like virtual world, why not see if any of the unchurched might stumble into some Anglican land or other?

Web 1.0 is quickly fading. This was where information was presented and people accepted what was given to them. Web 2.0 is in the ascendancy. Where people want to participate, to be involved. Social networking is one form of Web 2.0. Right now Social Networking is growing exponentially. Not only Second Life, but with Facebook, MySpace, Bebo etc..

The Churches Advertising Network created an exhibit that presents the Christmas story in a creative way. Hardly anyone goes to it and it hasn’t yet succeeded for one good reason: it wasn’t birthed out of a social network. So they expected people to ‘stumble onto it’ and receive information (Web 1.0). The key to the growth of the Anglican Group and its developing ministries is: relationship. When people come to visit the Cathedral to hang out, or attend a service, what is important is the relationship. Relationship with God and relationship with others. Noted Australian social commentator, Hugh Mackay recently stated that people no longer need to be physically present to connect. Connecting and relating are heartland activities for us in the church. The method is just different. As the reality changes, so should we.

We’ve no quarrel with groups of Anglicans choosing to mess about in SL. We’ve been messing about on the net since the late 1960s, when one of us helped build it. And we’ve messed round on newsgroups and email lists. And in 1994, a young Canadian dabbled with the very young World Wide Web — and AO was born. We can’t claim innocence when it comes to the Internet and how it’s ‘used’. We’ve developed deep and lasting friendships that began online, survived the shock of incarnation, and are sustained through this big pipe. But we’ve never confused this place with ‘life’ and we’ve never considered any sort of 3D online world a reasonable substitute for the flesh and blood of this world.

There is absolutely no confusion on my part either. I am Chief Executive of The Bible Society in New Zealand. I am firmly grounded in the real world, and like the emailing and discussion lists I am part of, SL is simply another tool. There are some in SL who choose the anonymity that is available, and those, like me, who though represented by an avatar, are Mark Brown in every other way.

The author makes a huge assumption when they state, ‘But we’ve never confused this place with ‘life’ and we’ve never considered any sort of 3D online world a reasonable substitute for the flesh and blood of this world.’ This ministry is complementary to what we do in real life. There are those who are unable to attend church in the real world. Whether through disability, alienation or because they are in a country where public gatherings are illegal, the virtual setting provides a place for people to be part of church.

The actual service is either Compline or Evening Prayer and includes time for communal prayer. One attendee recently commented that they were in tears as we prayed together for his ailing wife.

We look askance at the American phenomenon of televangelists and their created ‘churches’, the most successful of which were exposed as shameful money-grubbing operations run by charlatans. The object of their TV shows wasn’t to help people visit and join real churches, but to keep their attention and their pocketbooks on the TV. We don’t suggest that SL churches are a sleazy parallel, but we do wonder: What is the plan for moving people from a virtual cathedral to a real church? From their screen to a pew? If Christian life is about incarnated community, will those who find the church in SL go on to explore it in their neighbourhood?

Some who attend the virtual Cathedral are connected to a church in real life, and some are not. And some don’t have a real church community. As our aim is to complement the local church, where the opportunity arises I will discuss their local situation.

We can hear the reply now: ‘Does it matter? If someone in SL gains some sort of understanding of Christianity online, isn’t that better than no understanding?’ We’re not sure. Bread and wine can’t be shared online or brought to the side of a sick bed. A whispered prayer to a grieving friend, the baptism of a squealing infant, a hot meal served at a parish food kitchen, a sanctuary for a homeless person: How are these ‘experienced’ in SL?

As previously mentioned The Ecclesiastical Law Society has formed a working group of lawyers and theologians to consider such issues. Personally I cannot see how we can offer virtual Eucharist or perform a baptism or marriage; but pray for people, provide community, preach the Word of God, evangelize.. absolutely.

One SL-connected priest writes:

Baptism, immersion into the Christian community, the body of Christ, and hence into the nature of God the Holy Trinity may have some internet equivalents — for example, being welcomed into a moderated group. But my own current position would be to shy away from, for example, having a virtual baptism of a second life avatar. Similarly, I would currently steer away from eucharist and other sacraments in the virtual world.

That ‘SL-connected priest’ is the Revd Bosco Peters and his response to the comments relating to his post can be found by CLICKING HERE.

‘Currently’? If we natter on about how important it is for the church to be present on SL, are we not buying into the world of a game, a role-playing fantasy that, no matter how real seeming, is far easier than actually visiting someone in hospital or tackling the problem of poverty in one’s community? And if the Gospel is for all — and the Field is the World — SL is surely a playground for the privileged. We doubt there’s much SLing going on in, say, Cameroon. We fully realize that the worldwide Internet connectivity is increasing exponentially, but the ability to spend hours in a virtual world is a far cry from popping on to write an email or check a website. If we carry on about the importance of SL and devote time and substantial money to ‘being a presence’, what are we neglecting? (Are there slums in SL? We rather doubt it.)

SL is limited to those with a good internet connection and a good computer. There are many churches where the above equally applies. It could read, (brackets my own words)

‘that, no matter how real (the issues are it), is far easier to (remain comfortable in our neat church community) than actually visiting someone in hospital or tackling the problem of poverty in one’s community? And if the Gospel is for all — and the Field is the World — (most Anglican churches are) surely a playground for the privileged.

The same challenges face the real world as they do the virtual: getting people to be active in their community. In my Advent Sunday sermon I talked about the need to serve others, to seek out the poor and lowly. (To listen to the message CLICK HERE.)

And, by the way, if Anglicans choose to be a part of SL, why not be a little more missionary minded and shed a bit of our edifice complex? Why should we buy land and build instead of simply going to where people in SL are already congregating, like shopping malls and casinos, and start handing out prayer books? Or engaging in conversation? A virtual world can surely give us a chance to evangelise a bit better than we have in this one. Building churches and waiting for people to wander in — or people like us to find our virtual church — probably won’t work much better in SL than it does in FL. (First Life, that is: this real one.)

I am not sure about ‘handing out prayer books’! But the ‘edifice’ was built for the following reasons:

• The first reason I decided on a Cathedral is to endeavor to create interest within the SL community. To do this you have to create something special, something unusual. And this awesome Cathedral does that (for more images click here). The Cathedral recently won an award in SL as the best build, and the builder, Monty Merlin deserved his win!

• The second reason was the desire to create something clearly Christian rather than something that looks like a meeting hall. SL is international. People from around the globe participate and the Cathedral in my mind is a clear symbol of a Christian community.

• The third reason is my reading shows that post-modernity is interested in both tradition and technology – so a Cathedral in SL is an attempt to integrate the two.

• And the final thing to mention is: this is an experiment!! We are creating a completely new way of doing church. Not inventing from scratch, but rather combining traditions of old with the latest in technological offerings. We have no book to read, no blueprint to follow, this is all new territory.

And the encouragement to be ‘missionary minded’ is welcomed. Due to the nature of social networking and SL it is hard not to head out and meet new people. The Cathedral is a home not a safe house.

So I invite those involved in Anglican Online to come and experience Second Life, to meet some of the community. I would be very happy to show them around!

In Christ,

Revd Mark Brown

For more information on the Anglican Group check out their blog by CLICKING HERE

What are the key parts of an amazing Christian walk?

Press the play button to hear the message.

Revd Mark

(13 minutes in length)

When worship was mentioned it was mostly about preaching: where the feeling was generally the sermon should be powerful and personal, speaking directly into the life of those listening.

So what makes a great church leader can be summarised into 6 points:

• Be real and authentic

you are who you are, people want to see how God has worked in your life, and how God is working in your life. Leaders over the years have suffered from unrealistic expectations of how they should be. But like everyone else, leaders are humans who struggle from time to time. Jesus before his death prayed to God, ‘take this cup away from me.’ The humaness of Christ feared what was about to happen.

• Read the Scriptures and pray constantly

Be connected to the source. Out of this will flow understanding, peace, confidence and clarity. Through Bible reading and prayer the leader is exposed to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew intimately the scriptures of his day. Christ also made times for prayer.

• Be a servant

Serve the community, serve Christ, not yourself. Jesus washed feet, don’t be slow to get involved in the basic tasks.

• Caring

Offer genuine and active care. Be proactive, be attentive, go the extra mile. Don’t just react but be intentional. Care in a way that speaks to the root issue, don’t be distracted by the presenting issue. When Jesus encountered the Samaritan women at the well she asked for water and he offered living water, which is what she really needed.

• Wonderful listener

To quote Bishop Tom Brown of Wellington Diocese, people can tell when you aren’t listening. Listen in a way that people feel valued and appreciated. Listen behind the words, ask questions, be inquisitive, seek to understand. Jesus encouraged the people not only to listen but to understand.

• Set a vision and inspire people to move towards that vision.

Be passionate, creative and focused. Discern where God wants to take the community you lead and then share this vision in a way that inspires those around you. The disciples followed Jesus for they believed in what he stood for and where he was going.

Stay tuned for the post on what makes a great church!

To view a short vid on the ordination service click the play button below.