DanSheffield

jacaranda trees on Pietermaritz St.

Jane's Walk Toronto

I was listening to CBC this morning on the drive in to work and heard Jane Farrow describing a city walking tour event in Toronto called Jane's Walk. It's actually not related to Jane Farrow (she's an organizer), but Jane Jacobs who said: “No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at …suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk."

The event features over 60 free guided walks in Toronto neighbourhoods.

coaching churches toward intercultural transformation

Last week I was in St Louis for a gathering of intercultural ministry practitioners from the US and Canada. From Canada we had Brian Seim, Donna Millar, Howard Olver and myself. The basic idea was "to discover common ground principles and best practices in helping coach mono-ethnic churches toward multi-ethnic transformation." Mark DeYmaz and others from Mosaix Global Network were part of the mix as well. Mark has recently released a book Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church (Jossey-Bass).

article in common ground journal

It seems there are some topics that need a bit longer reflection than 10 sentences or so in a blog post. :) I just got word that an article I wrote, "Encountering the Other: Mission and Transformation" has been published in the online journal: Common Ground. This journal is published by a learning community spread around the world, loosely associated with Linda Cannell, the CanDo Spirit Network, and people with some connection to the work of Ted Ward.

You can find the article by looking at the clickable table of contents here.

here's the abstract for the article:

Abstract: Transformative learning theory has something to offer the current discussion regarding “mission as transformation.” This article addresses the problem of confusing language and meanings in the use of “transformation.” Notions of transformation in Jack Mezirow’s transformative learning theory and in Mezirow’s theory as applied to the development of intercultural competence in the work of E.W. Taylor and Milton Bennett are examined. “Mission as transformation” explanations are compared with biblical language and transformative learning theory in regard to “the encounter with the Other”as a precursor to transformation. The article asks whether missional communities of Christian believers can function as “communities of dissonance” –places of encounteringthe Other–and, therefore, serve as the pivotal agent in “mission as transformation?” From this perspective perhaps more attention needs to be given to creating intentional (missional?) communities of dissonance, than to proactive, overt attempts to “transform”society at large.

friday foto - light thru cedars

cultural diversity and the Christian narrative

Chris Wright in his magnum opus, The Mission of God articulates a missional hermeneutic of the Christian Scriptures -- the Bible.

The Bible got there before postmodernity was dreamed of -- the Bible which glories in diversity and celebrates multiple human cultures, the Bible which build its most elevated theological claims on utterly particular and sometimes very local events, the Bible which sees everything in relational, not abstract, terms, and the Bible which does the bulk of its work through the medium of stories.

All of these features of the Bible -- cultural, local, relational, narrative -- are welcome to the postmodern mind. Where the missional hermeneutic will part company with radical postmodernity, is in the insistence that through all this variety, locality, particularity and diversity, the Bible is nevertheless actually the story. This is the grand narrative that constitutes truth for all. And within this story, as narrated or anticipated by the Bible, there is at work the God whose mission is evident from creation to new creation. This is the story of God's mission. It is a coherent story with a universal claim. But it is also a story that affirms humanity int all its particular cultural variety. This is the universal story that gives a place in the sun to all the little stories.

Las chicas del cafe - globalized world

I heard a great story this morning on CBC's Fresh Air. It starts with a coffee roasting company in London, ON, that gets its beans from a farm in Nicaragua; but its really a story about a family living in our mixed up world over the last 30 years or so. War, Sandinistas, refugees, immigration, opportunities, trade, cold winters, creativity, heritage, change... oh yeah, and coffee. [there are photos and a 9 minute story podcast]

Multicultural Leader in Christian Week

thanks to David Daniels at Christian Week for his recent review of my book The Multicultural Leader.

Toronto's cultural mosaic

CBC Radio in Toronto is doing a weeklong feature on immigration and multiculturalism in Toronto this week.

"More than 1.1 million people immigrated to Canada between 2001 and 2006, and 40 per cent of those newcomers chose to settle in the Greater Toronto Area. Immigrants now account for nearly half — 45.7 per cent — of Toronto's population.The 2006 census counted more than 2,320,200 foreign-born people in Toronto, the most of any city in the country."

Take a look here for further info...

current top missional books

this is my current short-list of favourite missional books...

The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

The Ministry of the Missional Church by Craig Van Gelder

The Missional Leader by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk

Missional Church edited by Darrell Guder

The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin

Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon