6 tables – 5 for adults and 1 for the pre-schoolers. 6 pieces of Mah-jong Paper on the walls so the groups can post their responses on coloured paper. A slightly more “dramatic” reading of the text (with two of our readers in sunglasses for a while!), toddlers yelling their lungs out (to keep us plugged into reality), I shared from the book of Daniel using the Message, both “seekers” or “inquirers” and “Christians” together in worship, etc .
…. all this were some of the environmental & functional changes to facilitate the “Discover Anew” series this post-Christmas & season of Epiphany! We fumbled here and there … but it was worth it!
We started this series based on material designed by the Mennonite Church Canada (check out Missional Church travel bag). While using the ideas from the series to “spark” possibilities and the topics as an outline to allow us to create space for more “interaction” in our Worship Gathering, a lot of prayer, preparation, tweaking and adapting is involved because context & sensitivity to what God wants to do with us specifically is crucial. (Anyway, with a group of around 40-45 it worked pretty well yesterday even with a handful toddlers crying, calling for “mummy”, or simply sleeping … and older kids colouring, playing with some plastic “kitchen sets” .. come to think of it — it was quite hilarious!), .
All this is merely the surface, if we plunged deeper … I enjoyed our “council meeting”, some phonecalls, personal conversations, and dinner with some BLC fellow pilgrims old and new to see “where can we go from here?” in small steps … often unseen by the public but even more crucial to our journey!
I’m looking forward to see how GOD will work in our midst to “understand”, “embody” and “express” this interesting word … “Missional”!
Thanks James Tan for the design (one of his best so far … and he’s got a long journey to try new stuff!)
A long journey indeed. But not alone. I’m proud to tell that my brother, Philip, assisted me on the flyer. He picked the very suitable font, and helped me bring to reality the ideas in my mind. Thank you bro!
The first session of Discover Anew was an exciting one… I’m always one for change. Especially when it comes to our faith. Church services (we call them Worship Gatherings) especially are very mundane in most churches due to the lack of creativity, innovation, and the unwillingness to try out foreign ideas. Thank goodness Sivin is adventurous when it comes to Worship Gatherings!
Looking forward to Session 2.