Pioneer ministries and fresh expressions of church

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Wednesday 9 March 2011

What is Jon Curtis (VentureFX Exeter) doing for Lent?

The Seven Weeks look like this… The number represents what I’ll be doing that week!


 1. No money will be spent. This will probably involve hitch-hiking, working in exchange for goods, and bin-diving.


2. No technology will be used. I was born in 1982, so if it didn’t exist then, I can’t use it! No iPhone, no computer, no internet, and so on. I am going to write a lot of postcards, and hope that you will write to me too!

3. Purchases only from Independent Traders. Exeter was considered by an independent body to be the worst “clone town” in the UK, based on the number of High Street stores not part of a chain (there was 1 independent). I will only be buying from indies for everything, and all products will be independently produced also!

4. I will be Carbon Neutral. Tough one this! Obviously I won’t drive, catch a bus etc, but the aim is to exist on things that have not travelled either! I will be visiting my parents this week too, on my bike!

5. Voluntary employment. Every day, I will give my working day to an organisation that needs volunteers. This situation will increase massively given the recent cuts made by the government. I hope for a busy week!

6. Veganism. I will not eat a single ingredient that has anything to do with an animal. I value the farming community a lot, but there are too many people in the world to all eat animal products. This will have to be addressed at some point in the future. I will be feeding my friends a full 3 course meal as part of this task!

7. Monasticism. Essentially I will be living as if in a Monastery! Up before dawn, no eating during daylight hours. Prayer 3 times a day, a vow of silence, plus a Pilgrimage to a distant chapel! 
So, there we are! Each week will feature a challenge, and everything will be recorded here, and will be filmed. I’d also like to encourage you to give things up, but also get onboard with certain things that I need help with!



 

 

 












If you have any ideas, you can e-mail me at jon_shoe@hotmail.com.  I’m on twitter @joncutups where I’ll be undoubtedly griping, and if you could forward this to anyone who might be interested, that’d be great!

 

 

 

Thursday 3 March 2011

Salvation Today and CMS Pioneer Training

Who says that 'salvation' and 'being saved' are unfamiliar concepts in contemporary culture?  Yesterday outside Oxford railway station I snapped these two posters.




Maybe they are concepts which are in more common use than we think and somehow we need to re-invest them with Gospel significance?

Incidentally, I was in Oxford to attend the open day introducing the new Pioneer Mission Leadership Training course which Jonny Baker and Church Mission Society have developed.  It strikes me as being absolutely spot on in what it promises to deliver in training people for various kinds of pioneer ministry.  I think there is much to learn from CMS as we think about equipping the increasing number of people engaging in pioneer mission within Methodism.