DanSheffield

Egyptian Pentecostalism - a new book

Not long ago I mentioned that an article of mine, from more than a decade ago, was included in a new edited volume on Canadian Pentecostalism. That was great. My article explores the story of Herbert E Randall and the connection between the "radical holiness" Holiness Movement Church, birthed in the Ottawa Valley, and the emergence of Pentecostalism in Canada at the beginning of the 20th century.

Another book has been published (Brill, 2023) that details the emergence of Pentecostalism in Egypt, around the same time period, also influenced by the same Herbert Randall and the Holiness Movement Church, from Canada. I'm only commenting on it now, cuz Amazon had a sale, so I could finally afford it :)

Egyptian Pentecostalism: When Cyclones of Divine Power Invaded the Ancient Land, written by Tharwat Maher Nagib. This book represents an edited, print version of his doctoral dissertation.  Tharwat is an Egyptian Pentecostal pastor who traces the influence of Western missionaries entering Egypt in the 1800s in a time of great social upheaval within the country. Part of this is an indigenous movement of Coptic Orthodox background Christians who are also seeking after "something more." Tharwat makes extensive use of insights and references from my Randall article (all properly cited, of course) to build a missing link in the narrative of how Pentecostalism emerged in Egypt in the early 1900s. 

I have to say that the book represents all that I might have hoped would emerge from the work that I did to tell Randall's story. Which was a project inititated (at least in my mind) after living in Assiout, Egypt (1988-89), where Randall also ministered.

 

 

Learning to engage with difference - identity politics in Canada

Or, why I prefer to nod and smile affably and not contribute to the debate on identity politics, while getting on with actually bridging differences.

A lot of the current debate on identity politics tends to emerge from those who hold what are regarded as socially progressive views about these topics. For the sake of argument, I would like to suggest that there are actually two fields of study that are part of this debate. The disciplines of sociology and psychology.

Psychology constitutes, by means of the scientific method, a body of organized knowledge, the purpose of which is to describe, explain, predict and in some cases influence behaviour. "Behaviour" includes conduct and internal processes (thoughts, emotional reactions, feelings, etc) that may be inferred from external actions. 

Sociology is the study of human relationships, the rules and norms that guide them, and the development of institutions and movements that conserve and change society. Sociologists now study the historical development of class relations and its relationship to economic, political and ideological processes. 

For most of the 20^th century, the discipline of psychology was prominent in the public consciousness with such personages as Skinner, Freud, Piaget, Erickson and Rogers. The discipline of sociology grew in increasing significance during the late 20^th century and also has its well-known names: Durkheim, Weber, Foucault, Habermas and Bourdieu.

A simple, however reductionist, summary might be: psychology examines individual human behaviours, while sociology examines collective human behaviours. Again, fearful of simplifying, we might say there is a debate going on about who or what is responsible? Individual human responsibility or collective social systems? Again, fearfully broaching… In the Boushie/Stanley encounter, who/what is responsible? Two individuals making very emotional responses and stupid behavioural choices that ended in tragedy? Or two products of socially pre-determined systems where this outcome was completely predictable? Interestingly, the court system is built on the notion of individual responsibility (intent/behavior) and verifiable proof – thus the outcome of the trial. The popular media and a generation of millennials raised on sociology (systemic responsibility), not psychology (individual responsibility), however, see through the lens of the socially pre-determined inevitabilities of racism and unconscious bias.

In search of more clarity, I would like to introduce the discipline of anthropology into this conversation:

Anthropology is the comparative study of past and contemporary cultures, focusing on the ways of life and customs of people around the world. Applied anthropologists use their knowledge of peoples and cultures for practical purposes. They do this framed by anthropological concepts and a methodology - ethnographic fieldwork - that portrays people in their actual circumstances.                 

Anthropology has a long tradition in Canada. In fact, Franz Boas, considered by many as a founder of the discipline, did his most significant ethnographic work among Canadian indigenous peoples in the late 1800s. One of his students, Edward Sapir, was chief ethnologist for the Geological Survey of Canada (1910-1925), producing seminal work on linguistics and culture before his death in 1939. He was also an ardent pacifist and humanist who challenged narratives of European cultural superiority over Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Other students of Boas included Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict.

It is within the learning framework of anthropology that I have spent most of my adult life. I was born and raised for the first 11 years of my life in the multi-ethnic mix of 1960s northern Ontario. I was exposed in everyday life to multiple, first-gen central and eastern Europeans, with some Scandinavians thrown in. This social context also included First Nations peoples. As an elementary school-aged observer, the stark reality of “poor living conditions” and “people in distress” was apparent. My parents, primary influencers of my early worldview, spoke of “these poor people who need help.” My parents, generally, had a positive desire to be service-oriented rather than judgmental or derogatory toward First Nations people; this included several summers where we “camped” on, or near reserves, to facilitate religious education experiences. My father tells a story of visiting in Norval Morrisseau’s home in the late 60s.

These early life exposures were fundamental to my understanding of difference. Languages, foods, living conditions, customs, values, were “interesting, but different.” To be explored and understood. I would go on to have other experiences with First Nations friends (Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Huu-ay-aht First Nation). Further life experience has led me to engage with people and explore cultures in Mexico (6 weeks), Egypt (14 months), Cyprus (1 month), South Africa (6 years), Hungary (5 weeks), Niger (2 months), Ghana (6 weeks), Sri Lanka (8 months), India (2 months), and The Philippines (1 month).

OK, thanks for all that, Dan, so what’s your point?

“Applied anthropologists use their knowledge of peoples and cultures for practical purposes.” How does this knowledge and experience of diverse peoples help us in this current conversation? One of the applications of anthropology is to the discipline of intercultural communications, which aids in the development of intercultural competence.

Intercultural communication is defined as situated communication between individuals or groups of different linguistic and cultural origins. This is derived from the following fundamental definitions: communication is the active relationship established between people through language, and intercultural means that this communicative relationship is between people of different cultures, where culture is the structured manifestation of human behaviour in social life within specific national and local contexts, e.g. political, linguistic, economic, institutional, and professional. Intercultural communication is identified as both a concept and a competence. Intercultural competence is the active possession by individuals of qualities which contribute to effective intercultural communication and can be defined in terms of three primary attributes: knowledge, skills and attitudes. 

Let’s catch up. Psychology situates the debate in individual terms, sociology as systemic and collective. Intercultural communication (an area of applied anthropology) says, "hold on, let’s sit down and figure out what’s going on and how we can move forward." This debate has individual, social, cultural, linguistic, political, economic and institutional implications. Meaning, engagement and dialogue is complex and any simplistic, reductionist media bites (on either side) completely miss the point.

The person who says “get your act together and pull up your bootstraps, Colten/Gerald” is missing the more complex work that needs to be done. As is the person who says “systemic racism caused this tragedy, we need to deconstruct the system.” It’s clearly both/and. But you know what? – all that takes time and commitment to engage, while suspending judgement in the meantime. And “the meantime” may take a long time.

Intercultural communication/competence provides these clues to the work that needs to be done:

• Am I sufficiently motivated by curiosity, by justice concerns, by empathy (whatever) to engage in a sustained manner, over time, with differences?
• Am I prepared to pay attention to myself (my attitudes, values, behaviours) and to others (attitudes, values, behaviours) so that observations, reflection and insight from experience with difference begin to alter my perceptions, assumptions and sensitivities?
• Will I engage in increasing knowledge acquisition regarding cultures, institutions, histories, values, roles, conventions, and behaviours of the people I find myself among?
• Will I adjust my behavior to the needs of a given cultural context for the sake of respected communication? Will I apply acquired communication practices to my engagement with people of other cultures?

And that’s my point. I’m tired of the debates – they only lead to further polarization, an entry-level phase of developing intercultural competence. I’m tired of the arm-chair, sophomoric social philosophers. I’d rather just sit down and spend some time engaging with, and learning from, someone who sees things different from myself – and doesn’t feel a need to convert me to their way of thinking. Maybe after I’ve listened long enough, I might get a chance to respectfully share my thoughts.

So I would respectfully suggest the beginning point is individual response (engagement, rethinking, changed behaviour) that leads to changes in systems, over time, because enough individual responses produce systemic change. 

 

Conversations that Change Us

More than a decade ago, Dr Joyce Bellous and I collaborated in writing a book, Conversations That Change Us, as an extension of several years of work together, leading ministry reflection seminars with theological students. We mostly dumped our class teaching notes and exercises into a book format and found a publisher. Although we did a lot of work developing the materials, we didn't spend much time on crafting, editing and formatting a readable book.

For the past decade, however, several seminaries have used our book as a text because it touches on issues not necessarily addressed elsewhere (and probably because we were Canadian authors for seminaries who pay attention to CanCon). As time went by, students would regularly comment: "great content, very hard to read." So we decided to completely reorganize, edit, craft, update diagrams and reformat the book. I think Joyce and I are both happier to have our names on this version of the book :)

Comments from back of book:

Theological reflection is conversation that’s personal as well as collaborative. It’s not a monologue. Thinking itself is dialogical. In order to learn the arts of theological reflection, we must first understand that when theological reflection is working, it’s effective because the conversation is dialogical. We may begin by engaging in conversation, but it only becomes a theological dialogue under certain conditions.

Bellous and Sheffield introduce the notion of theological reflection as a conversation with God, with oneself, and with the Christian community. It’s a conversation in which we encounter the humanizing gaze of God breaking into our alienation. As we converse, we stop and listen to ourselves and our own assumptions and allow others to listen and serve as witnesses to the story we are telling. That story is a personal narrative each one of us has been gathering since childhood that shapes how we understand ourselves, God and the world.

In the book you hear us engage with Piaget & Vygotsky, with Freud, with Freire, with Gendlin, with Eastern Orthodox monks, with the Prodigal Son. We talk about Lectio Divina, focusing, generative themes, etc.

Part One

• Theological Reflection as Dialogue
• Practicing Healthy Theological Reflection
• Speaking the Truth in Love

Part Two

• Generative Themes and Personal Inquiry
• Narrative Inquiry and Theological Reflection
• Spiritual Types that Influence Theological Reflection

Part Three

• Collaborative Inquiry
• Theological Reflection and Representing Meaning
• An Approach to Collaborative Theological Reflection

For those who choose to order/read the book, feel free to put a review on Amazon or Good Reads!

 

Beauty, history and reconciliation - Canada @ 150

Last week my wife and I visited the National Gallery of Canada to wander through the new display, Canadian and Indigenous Art: From Time Immemorial to 1967. I'm always inspired to stand or sit in front of Tom Thomson's Jack Pine or something by Emily Carr. This time I saw Yvonne McKague Housser's Rossport, Lake Superior. I've seen it before but I was startled again by how significant that sight is -- of this little village overlooking the lake, just down the road from where I was born. Aside from the early Modernist colour scheme, that's pretty much my "impression" from the early 1960s.

They also had a couple of Norval Morrisseau's pieces among many other indigenous artists that have been given a higher profile in the Gallery in preparation for the Canada 150 business. I have several Morriseau prints because I have been intrigued by his work since I was a kid. In the 1960s Morriseau lived not far from where I was born. Shortly after the kerfuffle with his work at Expo '67 he got a lot of press and certainly became a household name in my family. My father visited in his home around that same time period. 

This morning as I was driving I listened to a podcast of Roberta Jamieson on CBC's Ideas program. Ms Jamieson is from the Six Nations of the Grand River, just outside Hamilton, where I live. She was recounting the history of indigenous and settler populations in Canada. I am continually amazed by how much of the history of colonial engagement and deception is unknown to large swathes of the Canadian population. [I think there is something about each generation needing to be retold the story, to give perspective on the present]

She also began recounting the steps that have taken place over the past 50 years to begin telling a different story. She mentioned that despite the perspectives of others, she would be celebrating Canada 150, because she sees reconciliation emerging in new and hopeful ways that haven't been there before. She feels the "Canadian" values of inclusion and welcome (although indigenous people have felt like outsiders for so long) are actually indigenous values that were demonstrated, practically, centuries ago, at first contacts with traders and settlers.

I would highly recommend listening to her talk, for history, reality and generosity of spirit.   https://podcast-a.akamaihd.net/mp3/podcasts/ideas_20170630_64034.mp3 

One of her thoughts was that we need to move beyond apologies and neo-liberal/progressive hand-wringing (she gives a throw-away 'tsk, tsk' to the whole "cultural appropriation" debate from this spring), to concrete action. She says don't come with your ideas on "how to help us;" just come and listen and explore together the way ahead.

On that note, I want to share this link to another podcast talking to my friend Darryl (a school teacher in Saskatoon) about his walk through the Truth & Reconciliation Commission summary, and his own neighbourhood to listen, explore and learn to adjust and create new things together. 

https://www.newleafnetwork.ca/podcast/ep-40-song-built-bridge-darryl-dozlaw/

grace-radiating life at Smokey Mountain

In January 1998 I spent a week in Manila, The Philippines. This was in the midst of the time that Kathy and I were living in South Africa planting a church and developing community-based missional responses. For us that included developing an affordable housing company (managing 50 units) and an emergency shelter for domestic violence victims. The visit to Manila was to participate in a round table learning encounter with other urban ministry practitioners from around the world (Africa, Asia, Caribbean, England, USA) sponsored by Food for the Hungry, World Vision and the Fieldstead Institute. One of the products of that work was a book published by MARC, entitled Serving with the Urban Poor, edited by Ted Yamamori, Bryant Myers and Ken Luscombe. Kathy and I contributed a chapter on the work we were connected with in South Africa.

Among the many other learnings from that rich time was the opportunity to learn from Fr Ben Beltran, a Divine Word missionary working at Smokey Mountain, at the time the largest garbage dump in The Philippines. In the sessions, Father Ben shared his own experience of living and ministering on/in Smokey Mountain as an incarnational activity. He described the life of the church community (in a building built from scavenged garbage) as grace-radiating substance. That is, a faith community celebrating the Eucharist and reading & applying Scripture, in that setting, was both a physical and spiritual manifestation of the presence of God. That was a new thought for me at the time. That just to live, minister and "be" the presence of Christ in that space was witness. That God would give the resources to live that kind of life was, in fact, "good news." Interestingly, Ben also helped us reflect on a theology of holistic ministry by employing a motif from Philipino worldview -- the notion of human being as defined by relationship to others; "to be" is "to be in relation." Rejecting a dualistic western understanding of sacred and profane. Relationship with God, with others and the created earth is, "of a kind," not separate things. 

[recent writings on the idea of "place" in Christian ministry: Where Mortals Dwell, No Home Like Place, The Space Between, The New Parish. Good thoughts here from the late Richard Twiss, on an indigenous theology of place.]

As I returned to our ministry in South Africa, this led me to work toward deepening our practice regarding our location as a city centre, multicultural faith community that was expressing itself in the provision of affordable safe housing and care for those impacted by domestic oppression and violence. Those were issues "of" our place. This amplified insights from my study with Alan Roxburgh a few years earlier, who asked us, "what are the themes that emerge from your social context? what does the gospel/good news look like in relation to those themes?"

In the midst of our affordable housing development we received a major grant from the South African government's Dept of Housing. We decided to have a "thanksgiving service" (a very African thing to do) right on the building site, on a major traffic route through the city. So amidst the building rubble of demolished older buildings with new sections going up, we had an open-air worship service with full band and sound system, we had some traditional dancing and choirs, obligatory speeches and we celebrated the Lord's Supper as servers tried not to stumble over bricks and puddles of water. Grace seemed very tangible that day.

Today, in Canada, I am convinced more than ever that issues of place and context need to impact our practice and our communication. The incarnation of Jesus (local communities of the Body of Christ) in place and time must reflect good news to those who see and hear us.

remembering South Africa and Christian responses

In 1989, Kathy and I moved to South Africa, when Apartheid was still in full swing. Up to that point, I would have said I had limited knowledge of issues in South Africa beyond reading The Covenant by James Michener and general knowledge from media coverage through the 70s and 80s. 

Shortly after arriving, I heard this spoken word performance by one of the students in the seminary where I was teaching. I would say that I was profoundly moved and affected by this in a way that books and scholarly articles could never do. The author/performer was Tshokolo Marra. It was shortly after hearing this that Nelson Mandela was released from prison in early 1990. (I was going through file boxes the other day and found this -- which prompted this reflection)

By the Rivers of Apartheid

By the rivers of Apartheid we sit and weep

When we at the flow of blood look

There on the fast-growing stubbornness of government

The violence arises

And the blood of martyrs of peace and justice

is daily shed... by the rivers of Apartheid

 

For there our rulers declared the state of emergency

Our oppressors quoted Scripture

And said: "Be subject to the authority,

For authority is established by God" ... by the rivers of Apartheid

 

How can we be subject to government by minority

Which makes Christian fight Christian

Africans betray Africans

Whites distrust Africans

And live in constant fear and anxiety? ... by the rivers of Apartheid

 

If we keep quiet Christians

Better for us not to have been saved

Than to be saved and sit and wait

For the coming kingdom

While our families, relatives and friends

Are destroyed... by the rivers of Apartheid

 

If we do not announce the Good News

To the blind, the poor, oppressed, prisoners

And if we do not denounce Evil

(Evil done in the name of Law and Order)

Who else will do it? ... by the rivers of Apartheid

 

Remember, O Christians, remember

The Sharpeville Massacre

Where peaceful demonstrators met with resistance of SADF

Which killed and murdered people... by the rivers of Apartheid

 

Remember, O Christians, remember

Nineteen Fifty Three

The establishment of Bantu Education

Education for the poor and oppressed

Which makes them suffer from inferiority complex... by the rivers of Apartheid

 

Christians, please remember

Nineteen Seventy Six in Soweto

Thousand of school children were arrested

Many were killed, others fled the country

But the mystery remains

Where are the others? ...by the rivers of Apartheid

 

Saints, look, think and speak

You are ambassadors of Christ

To stop the ever-flowing river

Which breeds violence, disorder and exploitation

...by the rivers of Apartheid.

 

in the company of women

today being International Women's Day n' all... (originally International Working Women's Day) and since some of my friends are promoting this event IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN - paying attention to the place of women in Christian ministry leadership...

 

   I thought I would like to give a shout-out to some of the gifted and capable Christian women, in ministry leadership, who have influenced my life. I would have to say that the first woman I saw standing up front in church and doing stuff with skill and gifting was my mother Dorothy (I'm recollecting from about age 4 or 5, so mid-1960s through to the present day). Then I think of Mrs Christina Winslow (Faith Chapel), Miss Moyer, Miss Mouland (Dorion Bible Camp), Muriel Rorabeck. In fact, I can honestly say I don't remember hearing someone teach that women "shouldn't be in Christian leadership" until I was a teenager (mid-70s), by which time that thought just seemed confusing. 

As I worked in Christian camping from my mid-teens to mid-20s, I was constantly working alongside gifted women leaders. I lived in an intentional discipleship community on Vancouver Island for a year, where Joan McKee gave leadership and Debbie Maxie and Gloria Troll planted a church. The mission society that I joined (WEC) welcomed strong, gracious, gifted women in ministry leadership (Racille, Lucille, Melita, Edie, Peggy). My first real assignment in Christian ministry (Student Mission Advance) was led by Nancy Bridgeman, with colleagues, Kathy Scott, Andrea Brandsma. 

And then I met my wife Kathy. A confident, engaged, gifted, thoughtful and committed Christian (a nurse and actively involved with The Navigators). From day 1 we thought of our marriage and ministry involvement as wrapped up together. We have served together in ministry in Egypt, pastoring in Niagara Falls, church planting and community development in South Africa. She is an active contributor to our house church community here in Hamilton. 

So, yeh, I wouldn't want to do it any other way...

Reflecting on "Gutsy"

Good books, whether fiction or non-fiction (and I read a lot of both), 1) keep your attention -- you want to see where the story is going to take you, and 2) they give you pause to reflect on your own story and memories -- you feel the story because it resonates, somehow, with your own. That is what reading Jared Siebert's book, Gutsy: (Mis)Adventures in Canadian Church Planting did for me. I like the front cover picture even -- a kid in a superhero costume diving into the deep end of the pool!

(Disclaimer: Jared is a long-time colleague of mine with whom I have worked on a lot of projects over the years, including him being the denominational overseer for the faith community experiment my wife and I have been involved in for the past 7 years.)

This book kept my attention because Jared gave an update and an analysis of a story that some of us have been following over the past couple decades in Canada. The story of real attempts to birth faith communities that resonate with people living outside Christendom in our Canadian context. I have met a good number of the church planters in his book and know something of their stories. And I have been involved in trying to respond to some of the same concerns they were exploring as they planted.

This book also gave me pause to reflect on my own story -- it resonated as authentic. My wife and I were involved in the successful planting of a missional, multicultural church in urban South Africa in the 1990s. "Successful" in the sense that a continuing congregation was birthed; that we met the goals and intentions of the original vision; and that we both had a positive experience of leading a supportive, encouraging core team. The book also gave me pause to reflect on our second, more recent experience that has been markedly different. A key factor, of course, is that South Africa is still profoundly impacted by Christendom -- doing a few things differently and well, meant that people joined in with us. Canada, on the other hand, and the city we have been living in, has left Christendom behind. We did not attempt to engage with church people, or people with Christian memory, we have been engaged with people having no religious affiliation, perhaps even mildly hostile to the Christian story. And so the stories in Jared's book resonate deeply with me. Our work has largely been an experiment in imagining how different forms and approaches to Christian community will connect. Very similar to the stories in the book.

Chapter 7 in the book, "Do you know what success looks like?" was helpful. He says, "It is most important that church plants have a clear sense of their collective calling... your calling can be found in the reasons you decided to plant in the first place." That prompted my memories back to the first urges my wife and I had in 2009 about what we felt the Lord was calling us to do. 

Thanks for your service to the Canadian church and church planters in doing this work, Jared.

the slow work of God

from Pierre Tielhard de Chardin:

Trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.

We would like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through 

some stages of instability -- and that it may take a very long time...

Your ideas mature gradually -- let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don't try to force them on, as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)

will make them tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit, gradually forming within you will be.

Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you,

and accepting the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

 

Whether you turn to the right  or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it." Isaiah 30:21

The Multicultural Leader - 2nd edition

JUST RELEASED: Second edition of The Multicultural Leader.

(Only available in Kindle at the moment).

The first edition came out in 2005, but I had basically written all the content in 2001-2003. That makes the content definitely more than a decade old -- but we've all been learning so much since then! Hence the reason for this second edition.

The book is still being used as a text in a variety of institutions in Canada and the USA, so an update was necessary to do justice to the burst of new material in this field. Interestingly there is still very little written in a substantial way about leadership in multicultural churches for the Canadian context. Most of what has been published over the last decade or so is all couched in American context.

Additions have been made to Section 1 on A Christian View of Multiculturalism, updating current thought from Canadian author Will Kymlicka and American writers Branson and Martinez.

Section 2, Defining the Multicultural Leader is largely untouched with just the additions of a few more illustrative stories.

Section 3, Becoming a Multicultural Leader, has the most substantial updates, adding another 20 pages to the book. In the original I briefly touched on Milton Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity; in the update I go much deeper in the relevant applications of this model and assessment framework, now with a decade of experience using this tool in leadership development contexts. I add specific insights from the work of Darla Deardorff on processes for developing intercultural competence. Most of the charts have also been updated and some new ones added.

I think the main reason that I have gone to the effort of updating the book, is that there is still very little written on the specific leadership attitudes, knowledge and skills required for pastoring multi-ethnic faith communities, particularly in the Canadian context.