Could church decline be just what we need?

To some extent what I’ve been blogging is no big deal for revival realists.  Over the next couple of sessions —there may be a break over the weekend—I want to introduce some ideas from an article I read recently which takes a whole new angle on revival.  It’s title is The coming revival in the desert: Expecting God to Move outside the Traditional Church setting.

Both and…

Part of the reason why us charismatics think that revival means that every conversation will be a hole-in-one is about the way we think signs and wonders work.

Slow-burn revival

Probably the idea most of us have of revival is of people on the street spontaneously encountering the presence of God, falling on their knees and turning to Jesus.

In previous revivals many people knew where to turn.  That isn’t always the case. 

Nailing Jelly to the Wall

I am trying an experiment over the next ten days or so by attempting to blog a talk I hope to give on Sunday 13 July at a meeting shared among a number of churches in the North of Wiltshire called Transform.  I know I am creating a rod for my own back but somewhere I have this hankering for a different way of preaching, which develops a community of meaning, where there is space for doubt and enquiry where the whole body becomes prophetic rather than relying on a star performer.  Anyway—given that we only see in a low-quality mirror, with only ever part of the answer—I would like to try my thoughts out with people who might have other pieces of the jigsaw.  If I am wrong, it might help to spread the blame around a bit.

Emerging Pneumatology

Since December I’ve been working on understanding the emergent critique in the UK of the charismatic movement and have just about finished writing it up, which means that I should get back to blogging. 

Much of the comment on practice is pretty much summed up in a brilliant video which Paul Roberts linked to. But I think it is possible to see a theological basis for, particularly, the alt.worship angle.  I think its possible to see a strong influence of Jurgen Moltmann’s Spirit of Life. 

Here’s what I have written.  I’ll post my reflections later.