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Pentecost Peace Cranes
Here's a repost from my old blog of the wonderful Pentecost celebration at Blackwood UC in 2018. This is referenced in my book Deeper Water. Last year's Pentecost Service involved the congregation in making and hanging about 1200 paper birds (representing the Holy Spirit) in...
Building Faith Brick by Brick
Over a decade ago, Emily Slichter Given began experimenting with Lego to explore Bible stories with children. As former Director of Children and Family Ministry in an Episcopal church in the US, Emily developed these programs developed several years. They are presented in two...
Brick Church Australia
I have a new project to explore what it might look like to form new faith communities around a common interest in LEGO (TM). This has come about for a few reasons, including my own need/call to be involved in something in a missional vein. Lego has become big as a play and...
God of Creation
This song was written in 2010. The melody is Bunessan, also known as the melody for "Morning as Broken". God of Creation Gentle life-giver Present at birth, and all through our days Author of sunrise Song in the night sky Here in this place, we offer our praise Jesus, Companion...
Woodcut Prints for Contemplation
I've just recevied three wonderful resources of wood block prints from artist Kreg Yingst who is the guy beind Psalms in Block Prints on Facebook and wORKING aRTs on Esty. Kreg is from Florida in the USA. His woodcuts illustrate ancient and modern saints and biblical texts. I...
“Being with in Mission”
Mission is a big word. It means different thing to different people. Is it about providing a weekly lunch for people who are lonely? Is it about advocating for social housing to provide for homeless people? Is it about starting an environmental action collective among...
Interactive Christmas
I've just led a workshop on Interactive Christmas, an annual event that I directed at Rosefield Uniting Church in Adelaide for five years in the 2010s. Here's an outline with links. Interactive Easter was the first event in a seqeunce, both a community stand-alone experience...
Practices for Community Change
I've just discovered the wonderful community development work of the Tamarack Institute at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Their Five Interconnected Practices for Community Change are spot on for considering a range of work that we are doing both with churches...
Four Lenses for Faith Formation
Last Saturday I spent time with a church council, and a perennial question was raised. "Why aren't more people interested in Bible Study?" We were discussing what it means for a church to see faith formation at the heart of its life together. Is Christian education just for the...