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Monday, March 05, 2007
New at CEP: essay by a chaplain in Iraq
New at the website of the Center for Excellence in Preaching:
What I Have Discovered: reaching to a Postmodern Audience
By Douglas Vrieland, Navy ChaplainThe congregation I preach to every Sunday is unique in a number of ways. The vast majority of worshippers are male—there are usually about 15 men for every woman. They are a diverse group. I regularly address black worshippers that come from the rural south, urban north, and Caribbean islands; Asian worshippers who were born in Vietnam or the Philippines; and Caucasians who might call any of the 50 states of the U.S. home. The majority come from Free Church backgrounds (Baptist, Independent, Non-denominational), but there are a number from the more liturgical churches (Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal), and others who have no church background at all. I even have a practicing Buddhist attending regularly! A third distinctive of my congregation is that it is temporary. We are deployed to Al Asad, Iraq for 7 months in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After that we will cease to exist as a worshipping community.
Leadership • Preaching • Reading • World • (0) Comments • Permalink
CRC World Relief on Aceh, Indonesia
“Many leaders in Blang Mee are still asking how they can get past the grief of seeing their whole community literally washed away,” said Andrew Ryskamp, director of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, concerning a community in Aceh, Indonesia.
More than 60 percent of the people of this area were killed when the devastating tsunami hit in December 2004. Those that survived lost nearly everything. Their homes, their boats, their farm tools, and their treasured possessions were all washed away. Yet, out of this despair has risen many signs of hope.
Last month, the people of Blang Mee held a celebration ceremony to commemorate the progress that has been made in the two years since the disaster. Ryskamp was present for the festivities along with other CRWRC staff members Karl Westerhof, Nick Armstrong, and Grace Wiebe.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Update from Singapore trip ‘07
We received this update on Monday morning from Howard Vanderwell, who is traveling with Norma de Waal Malefyt and Pearl Shangkuan in Singapore to meet with worship leaders there.
It’s 5:30 p.m. in Singapore and we have wrapped up our responsibilities here and have found it an exceptionally rewarding time. We have been received very warmly and hospitably, and everyone has responded so very well to our interaction with them. Norma, Pearl, Paul Hammond and I have worked very well as a team together.
Cainan Mui and Peter Chung have been exceptional aids and hosts. Norma and and I have made 11 presentations since Thursday, about half of them were with interpretation ("Interrupter" they call it here!) and I’m amazed at how smoothly it has gone.
The Church Music Conference of Thursday-Saturday included approximately 140 attendees from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, India, Philippines, and Hong Kong.
World • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Prayers of the People in Morning Worship at the Seminary Chapel
This morning we gathered for worship in the Calvin Theological Seminary chapel to welcome many of our overseas guests. We sang “Holy, Holy, Holy”—the first verse in English, the second in Japanese, the third in Indonesian, and the fourth in a blend of languages, each worshiper singing in her own language. We were led in prayer by Juswantori Ichwan from Indonesia, Anastasie Maponda from the Congo, and Emmanuel Mumtaz from Pakistan.
Listen to their prayers here(mp3)(3.24 MB)
Prayers leading up to Symposium
We are eager and joyful for Symposium to begin (officially right about now, as we start to check in our guests for tomorrow’s seminars!)
But our hearts were also weighed down with these griefs this week:
http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/worship/more/preparing_to_pray_at_symposium_2006/
Events • Grants • World • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, January 08, 2007
Weekly Standard on ‘Holland’s Post-Secular Future’
Amsterdam - When the “corporate prayer” movement first started in 1996, few people in Holland took any notice. Why should they have done so? After all, Holland’s manifest destiny was to become a fully secularized country, in which prayer was considered at best an irrational but harmless pastime. That was then. Cue forward to 2006, when prayer in the workplace is fast becoming a universally accepted phenomenon. ...
The idea that secularization is the irreversible wave of the future is still the conventional wisdom in intellectual circles here. They would be bemused, to say the least, at a Dutch relapse into religiosity. But as the authors of a recently published study called De Toekomst van God (The Future of God) point out, organized prayer in the workplace is just one among several pieces of evidence suggesting that Holland is on the threshold of a new era--one we might call the age of “post-secularization.” In their book, Adjiedj Bakas, a professional trend-watcher, and Minne Buwalda, a journalist, argue that Holland is experiencing a fundamental shift in religious orientation: “Throughout Western Europe, and also in Holland, liberal Protestantism is in its death throes. It will be replaced by a new orthodoxy.”
Reading • World • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Asia Trip ‘06 Update 6
Kent Hendricks and company are back from CICW’s Asia trip, but Kent continues to reflect at his personal blog. Here is his report on August 10:
This morning we went to the Union Church of Manila for the first time. The church is located in Makati City, which might be described as the lower Manhattan of the Philippines. Just like the church, it is the international stomping grounds of the Philippines, the center of trade, and the engine of the economy. Makati City is affluent, cosmopolitan, and diverse. ... We began to associate new faces with the emails we’d received. ...
Thursday, September 07, 2006
‘Our Transnational Anthem’ (Christian Vision Project)
Introduction to Orlando Crespo’s article in Christianity Today, as part of the Christian Vision Project:
For 500 years, immigration has shaped the culture of North America. Recently, and not for the first time, the arrival of a generation of immigrants has sparked national debate. Fortunately, an increasing number of Christian leaders are working to bridge cultural differences. Many of these leaders have been nurtured by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an evangelical organization that has gone farther than most in living out the biblical example of interracial partnership on America’s university campuses. Orlando Crespo, a second-generation Puerto Rican American who is director of InterVarsity’s LaFe ministry with Hispanic students, exemplifies this commitment to both ethnic distinctiveness and multiethnic partnership, themes he explored in his 2003 book, Being Latino in Christ. Because multiethnic reconciliation is all too rare in mainstream culture and in the church, and because it is so evidently crucial to the flourishing of the common good in the United States’ third century, Crespo is an ideal person to respond to our big question: How can followers of Christ be a counterculture for the common good?
Interdisciplinary Application • Language • Reading • World • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Al Hsu on worship at Beijing International Christian Fellowship
At his blog, Al Hsu reflects on his recent trip to China, including worship at Beijing International Christian Fellowship. I met Al, who is an author and an editor at InterVarsity Press, in the Christian Proclamation in Contemporary Contexts seminar here at Calvin this past summer.
This morning we went to church at Beijing International Christian Fellowship, a church that is led and attended only by foreigners, not Chinese nationals. You need to show your foreign passport at the door in order to go in and worship. It’s a thriving multi-site, multi-congregation church with about three thousand attenders from sixty countries at two campuses, with main services in Chinese and English, plus additional Cantonese, French, Filipino, Indonesian, Japanese and Russian services so people can worship in their native heart languages.
Notwithstanding a few amusing typos in the PowerPoint slides (“Yes, Lord, yes, ahem!”) the service was much like you’d see at any contemporary service in the States. I was particularly moved during the singing of “Salvation Belongs to Our God,” in which the lyrics went:
Language • World • Worshipping Communities • (2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Friday, September 01, 2006
Asia Trip ‘06 Update 5
Report from CICW’s Asia trip by Kent Hendricks:
After three weeks in southeast Asia, I’ve finally arrived home ... I managed to stay awake for over fifty hours and saw three sunrises in one day. Somewhere between the first and second sunrise, I said good-bye to Emily, Bert, Bette, Sir Jo-el, Anne, Jay, Machelle, and Jon. Somewhere between the second and third sunrise I said hello to my family and Shelly in Seattle. Since arriving, I’ve been doing a fair bit of writing, reflecting, and sorting through over 2500 photos and video.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Asia Trip ‘06 Update 4
Reports from CICW’s Asia trip from Bert Polman ...
Our CICW team is now in Singapore, on the last part of our 3-week journey to south-east Asia, and I finally get to read almost 200 emails! God has shown us some beautiful parts of his creation, what God is doing among the rich and poor of this region of the world in building the church of Christ, and we’ve certainly also seen some of the agony in which many people here barely survive ... Things have gone well at our conferences and conversations in Manilla and Jakarta. The conference in Singapore begins Friday evening and winds up by suppertime on Saturday, just prior to our flight home very early Sunday morning! We’re healthy, no lost luggage, and just periodically totally tired! See you next week!
... and Kent Hendricks:
We’ve arrived in Singapore. I’ve had limited internet access for the past two weeks ... If you’re checking this from the Philippines or Indonesia, thanks for all your hospitality. Words cannot express our thanks. ...
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Asia Trip ‘06 Update 3
Report from CICW’s Asia trip via Shelly Veenstra:
The week in Jakarta has come to an end and the beginning of the next and last leg of the journey has begun. I got a call from Kent this afternoon saying that the group had made it safely to Singapore. Thank God for his protection and provision in every corner of the world! ...
Friday, August 18, 2006
Asia Trip ‘06 Update 2
Report and prayer requests from CICW’s Asia trip via Shelly Veenstra:
Kent and the group (Anne, Emily, Bert and wife Bette, John, Jay and wife Michelle) had a wonderful and safe time in Manila, Philippines. It was rough at first adjusting to the 12 hour difference and then, on top of that, putting in 12-14 hour days every day, never having a dull moment. They met many wonderful people and cultivated friendships with them, making it difficult to say good-bye; however, their experiences in Makati really opened their eyes to the extreme poverty that exists in various parts of our world. Here is a portion of an email I received from Kent on August 15th ...
Monday, August 14, 2006
Report from Asia Trip ‘06
Report from CICW’s Asia trip by Kent Hendricks:
… We arrived at our condo-tel, as they are called. I am staying with Anne and Jon in a three bedroom, two bathroom suite. We are on the 38th floor of a tall building, and from our balcony we can see city lights to the horizon and watch planes line up to land at the airport, which is also not far. Immediately across the street is a mecca of America - a Burger King, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Chile’s, and an entire mall filled with franchises and pop music identical to the ones I’ve been used to my whole life. I have a feeling that I won’t be spending as much time in eclectic cafes as I’d hope.
Tomorrow morning we’re meeting with the rest of our group - Jay and Michelle, Bert and Bette, and Emily - at the Union Church of Manila, which will be our geographical locus for the next several days. We’ll spend tomorrow morning at the church and have lunch with the pastoral staff. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll be at the Asian Institute of Liturgy and Music. All three groups - UCM, AILM, and CICW - are collaborating together to proliferate acronymn use. And have a worship symposium on Friday and Saturday, which is the real reason I’m in Manila. In addition to all of that, we’re meeting with Rev. Tomas Maddela, who is the Dean of St. Andrew’s Seminary. ...
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Philip Jenkins excerpt on the Bible in the Global South
Excerpt in the Christian Century of Philip Jenkins’ forthcoming book, The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (more earlier)
Interdisciplinary Application • Preaching • Reading • World • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink