Blue Ocean Faith

There's a new phrase being bantered around the business world: Blue Ocean Strategy. It's about reinventing what you're doing, rather than competing within the confines of an industry and trying to steal other people's customers.

Mike Metzger, writing recently for the Clapham Institute, says "Businesses that keep using the same language are fishing in red oceans - where the market space gets more crowded, the lines get tangled and the competition turns the water bloody."

He goes on to use the red ocean as a synonym for church today. "It's a continuous film loop of sermon series covering worship, family, fellowship and evangelism... perfectly designed to yield the results we are getting."

Albert Einstein once said that we can never solve a problem in the framework in which it was created. Metzger suggests the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get a different result.

It's no secret that church attendance is dropping in the U.S. as well as New Zealand. New churches that grow rapidly are more often than not growing through 'transfer growth' (people moving from one church to another). There's no real growth - we're just fishing in the same ocean.

In Blue Ocean Strategy, customer demand is created. Metzger says that Blue Ocean Faith is “…not an emerging church. It’s not a rehashing the same information. It’s helping people imagine an old faith in a new way.”

So, is Oxygen a reinvention of church? Is it a new way to imagine old faith? Are we casting our line into a blue or red ocean?

For more, check out the Clapham Institute

Expecting God

To begin the last Oxygen service, I read out a passage from 1 Kings 8. I read verses 6, 10 and 11.

6 "The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

10 - 11 "When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple. "

I was struck by this scripture earlier in the week when I read it. A commentary got me thinking about the fact that what we get from church depends largely on our attitude when we walk through the doors. Do we expect God to meet us there? Do we expect to hear from God?

I was always taught that it's OK to expect God to do things when we ask him to. Provided it's within his will of course. But do we really expect God to answer our prayer? Being honest, sometimes I don't. I guess that's only human.

Oxygen #4

Lump was the title of Oxygen #4 last Friday. We had a crowd of 22. It was a totally different service again with some new elements. We didn't have a message. Instead we had a Scripture read aloud (parable of the lost son) and then followed up with some questions allowing the hearer to put themselves into the story.

One thing about post-moderns is that they don't like to sit down and be told the answers. They like to think for themselves, generating their own ideas and opinions on what something might mean. This is a crucial aspect of post-modernism that I think that the church in general doesn't embrace.

We then played a Nooma DVD - Lump, about Rob Bell's son who stole a little white ball. If you haven't seen this or any other Noomas, try to check one out as they're a great resource, even if they lack solid Biblical references.

Communion closed the night and feedback was great.

The next service we're focussing on hope. We'll be using some creative arts to help people think about what they hope for and what hopes God might have for them.

Lump

The next Oxygen installment is tomorrow and the theme is Lump. It's based on the Prodigal Son, and the fact that God will welcome us home whatever we do.

We've almost made it to four services (of the original six planned) and we're feeling like it should carry on after the six. Feedback has been really positive, and I really feel God has used Oxygen to touch the lives of some who are struggling, new to faith or just tired of church.

Oxygen is really internally focussed at the moment - trying to attract existing church members from MBC. However, we have a much wider vision that ultimately will look at pulling in non-Christians from elsewhere in the community.

But for now, we're happy to get into the groove and learn how to follow God's lead in creating a unique, peaceful and engaging service.

But Wait a Minute...

Following on from our experience in the Anglican Church, we traveled across town for the next 12 or so months to a brand new non-denominational church community. Led by a dynamic young Pastor, it was established on little or no money and a lot of young volunteer help.

Just months after they began they had several families in attendance and only a year later probably around 120 regulars. When we left they had moved to a new location because they had more than 300 people on their books.

What were they doing so right that the Anglican church was doing so wrong?

1: Presentation - everything was presented as professionally as possible. Bulletins were in colour, lighting was modern, chairs were comfy and the auditorium was warm.

2: Young Pastor - youth attracts youth. Messages were encouraging and motivating, typical of a pentecostal church. I call it the 'You can do it' sermon.

3: Energy worship - all songs were no older than ten years, with most probably five years or less. Full band WITH DRUMS. Music was loud and singers energetic. Basically it was a rock concert.

4: Guest speakers - aah, yes, variety.

But wait a minute...

On closer inspection, there were almost no members of the church over 30. Very few had children and in fact, most were university students. This church had limited its target audience. Maybe this could be the key to church growth? Focus on one particular demographic?

Try getting the Anglicans to adopt this philospohy! Or the Baptists, or Presbyterians for that matter. Or the....

Gatherings in a Phone Box - The Anglican Church

"Of the total number of clergy - the 1,540 odd - more than three quarters won't see their 50th birthday again... And below the age of 30, there are four clergy, for this entire three-Tikanga church. They could hold gatherings in a phone box." From Anglican Taonga (national Anglican magazine), December 2005, page 9.

The Anglican church we went to had a 50+ year old vicar. Everyone under the age of 30 could have had meetings in a Honda Oddessy. The Sunday service was fully ritualised. None of the small youth group came to church regularly, and there was little input allowed from young people.

The pews were the old fashioned kind, hard and uninviting. The worship never broke through the 1900's barrier. Most songs were from writers who died centuries ago.

The church never grew. There was nothing remotely relevant to a young generation.

But what were its strengths?  It had nice people.  It had rituals - which were surprisingly quite cool at times.  But rituals left no flexibility in the service.  It felt like everything was done by the book.

The Anglican Taonga article continues... "The numbers tell us that the liturgy, ministry, worship, distribution of resources, the face of the church as it's seen by outsiders, orbits an older generation that has a particular understanding of the world, and of what's important and what's not."

It's nice to hear a church being honest with itself.

Oxygen #3

Oxygen #3 was last night. It was a prayer service, with 25 attending. It was deliberate attempt at trying to stay out of a 'routine' box; not doing the same thing each week. It worked really well, and felt relaxed.

We invited about eight people to create prayer stations. It was really amazing to see them all in the hall. It was also remarkable how different each one was.

The stations went from the global to the local; i.e. we prayed for Sudan and Iraq, our country and Government, Miramar, for people we know who are struggling and then for ourselves. People were free to pray at any station they liked, or just chill on the couches in the middle.

Not all Churches are Created Equal

I appreciate that not all churches are the same. I have had the pleasure of experiencing three different churches over the past few years that are poles apart in theology, structure and presentation.

The first was an Anglican church I attended for about two years. A wonderful little classic church, with a steeple and all that. But inside it was half full (and it was a very small church) and most of that half were 60+ years old. Someone died one week, representing nearly two percent of the congregation. I can't remember any new people while we were there.

The second was a newly formed pentecostal church not affiliated with any denomination. It grew from just over 100 people when we started going to more than 350 a year later. Several months after God called us to our current church (Baptist), they were on the TV news because they were attracting more than 50 new members a month.

The third is kind of in between in terms of structure, theology and presentation. It's the Baptist Church I currently attend.

What is the difference between them all?

I asked myself this many times as I considered how to shape Oxygen. Each of the three churches has their strengths. I'll look at these over the next few posts.

P.S. Oxygen #3 tonight!

Stop Asking God to Bless What You're Doing

Bono was asked to address the annual White House Prayer Breakfast in February 2006. It was a good speech, but the thing that stood out the most was this quote:

"Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Get involved in what God is doing -- because it’s already blessed."

This was something that a friend told him after Bono said he was continually praying that God would bless what he was doing.

I guess if God wants to use you for something, but you'd rather be asking for blessings elsewhere, he'll just choose someone else. How many times have I missed a chance God has for me because I wanted blessings for something I wanted to do?

It's kind of bold to say I think Oxygen is part of something bigger that God is blessing. Some call it the Emerging Church, but I'm not tagging it with more Christian jargon. However, it is part of the drive to deliver Jesus in a relevant and life-changing way to an emerging generation.

But, if it's not blessed, we'll find out soon enough!

Sharpening the Edge

The Baptist Union in NZ is hosting a conference in late July on emerging churches. It will feature stories and happenings in eight different spheres of church planting around the country. It's called Sharpening the Edge.

Lindsay Jones, spokesman for the Baptist National Resource Centre told Challenge Weekly (Christian paper in NZ) that participants will learn that church planting has moved out of the traditional model of establishing clones of the parent church. It is no longer about land and buildings - that is only one way to grow a church.*

Oxygen really came out of this idea - that the traditional (or 'modern') model of church is no longer working for some Christians. 'Post-moderns' are getting bored, tired and skeptical of the way Jesus is being presented.

I love this new attitude by my church, the Baptist movement in general and many other denominations - that really recognizes the existence of post-modernity and the fact that some Christians (maybe many) are no longer engaged by traditional church. There is a sense of excitement about trying new things, about risking it all to try and find out how to capture this new generation.

Oxygen embraces the concept of not cloning what we've already got (the traditional morning service). So we took it out of the church building and into a back hall. We took it away from Sunday, and moved it to Friday nights. We're playing meaningful secular music, and got rid of the singing. These are all deliberate attempts at creating something really new.

*From Challenge Weekly, Vol 65 Iss 24