Summer’s sun beats down, January days slip by, schools’ return looms near and down in the forest of parish-land there is the faint rustling of ministers stirring from their summer slumbers. First musings on sermon series seep into the consciousness, music leaders are planning their selections, Sunday school programs call for attention. A seemingly endless … Continue reading Planning to Fail In An Uberized Netflix World
The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost
The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost The second half of the biblical Book of Daniel (of Lions’ Den fame) paints an apocalyptic view of middle-eastern history through the period of the successive Persian, Greek and Roman empires. This, what might be called ‘the series of the collapse of the empires’ (Chapters 7-12), should be … Continue reading The 5th Dimension-How the West Was Lost
The Closing Window
Up to some point in the SS Titanic’s fatal journey towards the notorious iceberg there remained a window of opportunity during which decisive action could have been taken that would have avoided the disaster that ultimately took place. We know of course that such action was not taken, at least before it was too late, … Continue reading The Closing Window
Never on a Sunday
Recently I accidently tuned into a radio station playing the song ‘Never On A Sunday’. As I listened I heard couple of the lines which went- “Never on a Sunday when the church is full of people And the bells are ringing in the steeple” And I thought –well that doesn’t work anymore! There are … Continue reading Never on a Sunday
The Pruning Shears or The Axe
Sometimes church leaders are accused of running the church like a business and being too concerned about ‘numbers’, that is too focussed on attendance figures and not enough people. Together with this they may well also be accused of relying too much on strategies, programs, human ingenuity etc to make a ‘profit’, which in church … Continue reading The Pruning Shears or The Axe
Back to the Celts for Our Future
In 563 AD an Irish prince set out with a bunch of friends in small coracles to cross the Irish Sea to the wild west coast and islands of what now is Scotland. The purpose of the dangerous journey was mission, to take the gospel to the fierce pagan tribes of Scotland. He and his companions set up a … Continue reading Back to the Celts for Our Future
Green Shoots in the Melancholy Sadness
During my recent travels through the United Kingdom I took the opportunity to visit, in some cases revisit, a number of famous cathedrals, abbeys etc. as well as more humble local churches. As I did so I felt an overwhelming sense of melancholic sadness, for here was I in the ‘Valley of Dry Bones’. For … Continue reading Green Shoots in the Melancholy Sadness
Cult Spotting and the Venus Fly Trap
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Matthew 7:15 It was recently announced that the controversial show ‘Book of Mormon-The Musical’ is coming ‘Down Under’. What is described as an “irreverent take on the ‘Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” debuted on … Continue reading Cult Spotting and the Venus Fly Trap
Who Will Be Timothy?
It is my conviction, and the 'driver' of the 'Unbounded Church' concept, that the church urgently needs to be set free from its rigid, cumbersome and change-averse ‘Christendom’ influenced forms and structures in order to be ‘A church as we haven’t known it for a society as we haven’t known it’. For this reason I … Continue reading Who Will Be Timothy?
A Herd of Elephants-‘Conversations’ We Need to Have
The inspiration for this Unbounded Church site is an idea-the idea that the Australian church, if it is to resurrect its mission, needs to be unbound. That is it needs to be set free from its current rigid, cumbersome and change-averse ‘Christendom’ influenced forms, structures and mission strategies in order to be – ‘A church … Continue reading A Herd of Elephants-‘Conversations’ We Need to Have
