CONSUMERISM

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CONSUMERISM

• CHOICE THE CORE VALUE
• ADDICTIVE - Desire an end in itself.
• AROUSING AND MEETING SHORT TERM NEEDS
• SHOPPING FOR SENSATIONS

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SHOPPING AS A PICTURE OF LIFE

• FOR IDENTITY
• LIFESTYLE CHOICE
• FOR TRUTH - BUY INTO A BELIEF
• PICK AND MIX A WORLDVIEW

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BOTH CONNECTED AND FRAGMENTED
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GLOBALISATION

• THE WORLD SEEMS SMALLER
• WE ARE MORE AWARE OF THE WORLD AS A WHOLE
• GLOBAL PROCESSES MAKE A LOCAL DIFFERENCE

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COMMUNITY SPLITS FROM LOCALITY

• The communities of the Global Age generally have
  no local centre. People living in the same street
  will have fleeting relationships with each other,
  having widely differing lifestyles and household
  arrangements, and have common interest only in
  the maintenance of certain shared facilities they
  take for granted. Martin Albrow

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PLACES ARENT WHAT THEY USED TO BE! - Porous
boundaries

• All boundaries are tenuous, frail and porous.
  Geographical discontinuity no longer matters.
  Zygmunt Bauman
• In any week 25 of families will be visiting
  absent parents, often at the weekend.

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SOCIAL CAPITAL HALVES IN FOUR GENERATIONS -
Bowling Alone

• 'Without at first noticing, we have been pulled
  apart from one another and from our communities
  over the last third of the (20th) century.'
  Robert Putnam
• 'Members of any given generation are investing as
  much time in organizational activity as they ever
  were, but each successive generation is investing
  less.'

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FAST AND FLUID
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LIQUID MODERNITY

• A flexible identity, a constant readiness to
  change and the ability to change at short notice,
  and an absence of commitments of the till death
  us do part style appear to be the least risky of
  conceivable life strategies. Zygmunt Bauman

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THROWAWAY SOCIETY

• A throwaway society meant more than just
  throwing away produced goods, but also being able
  to throw away values, lifestyles, stable
  relationships ... and received ways of doing and
  being. David Harvey
• Your car has an MOT every year, so why not your
  partnership? Hugh Wilson

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SELF CONSTRUCTION

• 'Identities are constructed through consuming.
• We shape our malleable image by what we buy - our
  clothing, our kitchens, and our cars tell the
  story of who we are (becoming). David Lyon

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VULNERABLE
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POWERFUL BUT VULNERABLE

• FOOT AND MOUTH
• HIV / AIDS
• THE MOOD OF THE MARKET A global casino?
• ASSAULT ON THE TWIN TOWERS

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THE PASTORAL COST OF A WEB WORLD

• THE PRESSURE OF CHOICE
• 'Depression, eating disorders, suicide and
  attempted suicide have all become more common.
• Young people now the most vulnerable to suicide.
  (Putnam)
• Constantly having to live in a temporary world.
  Richard Scace

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SELF CONTAINED
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CHANGING STORIES

• WE USED TO HAVE A STORY ABOUT MAKING THE WORLD
  BETTER.
• NOW WE HAVE A STORY ABOUT MAKING OURSELVES UP!

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THE LOSS OF REFERENCE POINTS

• There are few if any reference points left which
  could reasonably be hoped to lend a deeper and
  longer-lasting significance to the moments we
  live. Partnerships, families, skills, places
  of work, neighbourhoods, possessions, styles and
  habits. Zygmunt Bauman

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I AM THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD

• History shrinks to the (eternal) present, and
  everything revolves around the axis of ones
  personal ego and personal life. Ulrich Beck

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Culture is now an organised diversity with
little sense of defining centre.Alan Roxburgh
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THE POINT OF BALANCE

• No centre?
• Our society cannot reach its deepest longings by
  the road it is traveling.
• We know a better way
• Not just a belief
• But a new beginning
• And a new way of living.

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Christian ministry offers an alternative

• Matthew 713-14 Enter through the narrow gate
  for the gate is wide and the road is easy that
  leads to destruction, and there are many who take
  it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard
  that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

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A CHANGING CHURCH
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GOD AND CHURCH IN A NETWORK SOCIETY
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THE DEATH OF CHRISTIAN BRITAIN - Callum Brown

• What is taking place is not merely the continued
  decline of organised Christianity, but the death
  of the culture which formerly conferred Christian
  identity upon the British people as a whole.

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RELIGION AS LEISURE PURSUIT

• Religious activity has become, for an increasing
  proportion of the population, a leisure pursuit
  one, moreover, which competes for the public's
  attention alongside all sorts of other pastimes.
  ' Grace Davie

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Current (or previous) church attendance or
involvement
Regular attenders at least monthly(10)
Fringe- less than monthly(10)
Non Churched(40)
Open de-churched(20)
Closed de-churched(20)
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OUR PEOPLE?

• The Anglican pattern of ministry, built around
  parish and neighbourhood, can lead to a way of
  thinking that assumes that all people whether
  attending or not attending are basically our
  people. All people are Gods people, but it is
  an illusion to assume that somehow the population
  of England is simply waiting for the right
  invitation before they will come back and join
  us.

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OUR PEOPLE?

• The social and mission reality is that the
  majority of English society is not our people
  they havent been in living memory, nor do they
  want to be. The reality is that for most people
  across England the church as it is peripheral,
  obscure, confusing or irrelevant.

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OUR PEOPLE

• The task is to become church for them, among
  them and with them, and under the Spirit of God
  to lead them to become church in their own
  culture.

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60/40
Within our reach as we are
Out of reach
Steven Croft, Fresh Expressions, 2004
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THE CHALLENGE

• Go to mission as well as come to mission
• The change is to an outward focus from a come
  to us approach to a we will go to you
  attitude, embodying the gospel where people are,
  rather than embodying it where we are, and in
  ways we prefer.

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the mixed economy

• Celebrating and building on what is
  mission-shaped in traditional forms of church

and finding new, flexible, appropriate ways to
proclaim the Gospel afresh to those who do not
relate to traditional ways
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CHANGE OF EMPHASIS

• Unplanned consequences of other pieces of
  Christian ministry
• Church where people are, not bridges to get
  people to church
• Often lay led
• Church more deeply related to daily life
• Church when people can attend

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THE POINT OF BALANCE

• To reconnect with the world
• And reconnect the world with the gospel through
  mission

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MISSION-SHAPED CHURCH
We believe the Church of England is facing a
great moment of missionary opportunity, and we
recommend our report for the consideration of our
church Bishop Graham Cray, chair of the report
working party
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A CHANGING MINISTRY
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A BIT CROWDED
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NOT A FORTRESS MENTALITY
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A MINISTRY DEFINED BY ITS CENTRE

• Not by its boundaries.
• Not a stepping stone to other ministries
• Nor to be defended from other ministries
• To be enriched by other ministries
• To add something distinctive to other ministries

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Dig wells instead of building fences.
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A MINISTRY DEFINED BY ITS CONTEXT

• Not by its past
• But by its opportunities
• In the hope of the Gospel

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THE CENTRE OF READER MINISTRY
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LOCAL LAY THEOLOGIANS

• Biblically and theologically trained laity
• Licensed ministers and teachers of the Gospel
• Bridging Church and world

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LOCAL LAY THEOLOGIANS

• 'In order to fulfill the vocation of ministry,
  the pastor has to be a practical theologian who
  is able to discern the meaning of the gospel
  within the particular context of his or her
  ministry.' John De Gruchy

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THE POINT OF BALANCE

• Identify the worlds need
• Identify the local churchs responsibility
• Place yourself where the two meet
• There lies the heart of Reader ministry

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THE CENTRE OF BALANCE OF READER MINISTRY

• Local lay theologians, bridging church and
  world, in a missionary church.

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QUESTIONS FOR GROUPS

• I have proposed that the centre of balance of
  Reader ministry should now be as
• A local lay theologian, bridging church and
  world, in a missionary church.
• What do you think of that proposal?
• Where is the centre of balance of your ministry
  as a Reader?
• What would you like to change?

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WALKING THE TIGHTROPE

• WITHOUT FALLING OFF