andi's perspective

RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

Just finished reading Stark's "Discovering God". Pretty boring title for what turns out to be an excellent sociological work on comparative religions.

Starks couragiously claims that rational thinking allows to distinguish between inspired and non-inspired religions, that all religions descend from early High-God conceptions before having been watered down into temple cults, and that by today we have a better understanding of God than ever before. He builds strongly on the notion of the "Axial Age", i.e. the remarkable parallelism of religious innovations during the 6th cy. BC.

What impressed me most, however, was how consistently he traced characteristics of social movements across times, contexts and religions:

• There is no mass conversion. Conversi0n processes in growing religious movements are standard diffusion processes along social networks and identical to the S-curve we know from the take up of technological innovations: It took about 300 years for Christianity to fill the Roman Empire as it took about 250 years for Islam to fill Persia and North Africa.
• When given a "free market", religions compete for adherents: a process that stimulates religious innovation. In stifled religious monopolies individual spirituality will turn to the cheapest solution (read: magic) and decrease in general.
• A well documented church-to-sect cycle sufficiently explains the inevitable fragmentation of any monotheistic religion.
• Religiosity is not irrational, but based on rational choice following perceived personal benefits - which again has all to do with social networks.

My next Stark book is already on the table, ready to provide more building blocks for my increasingly sociological perspective on life.

RELIGIOUS CAPITAL - POWER STRUCTURES (DE)

Habe mich auf der Basis von Bourdieus Feldkonzept an einer machtanalytischen Betrachtung des freikirchlichen Feldes versucht: PDF. Nur der Anfang einer Arbeitsrichtung, die ich vertiefen möchte. Feedback erwünscht. //

// You can test your German on my essay on power structures within the religious field of German evangelicalism. I sketched this analysis based on Bourdieu's "field" concept and as part of my sociological studies. Feedback welcome.

FEELING CHURCH

Celebrating the life and death of Josua we today took our leave of him in the good company of family & friends.

 
We were honoured by many a friend expressing their love & sympathy, sharing prophetic impressions or lending a hand in practical matters. It was good experiencing church - local and global - as a real life support network. The amount and intensity of empathy and interest actually surprised us. Joshua to us finally became not only a uniquely personal, but also a powerful relational exerience. "In his name" we wish you all a blessed celebration of the life & death of Josua's namesake!

DEEPER MEANINGS?

Partaking at a collective funeral for preemies we've waved a final goodbye to our firstborn today.

While i tend not to look for a deeper meaning where just plain nature (read: God authorised fallen reality) hit, we were suprised to receive a number of prophetic impressions for Josua: from being a "seed" over being a "sign to the city" to being a "prophetic image about the condition of the church".
For me Josua's being buried in Magdeburgian soil in the good company of other preemies is primarily a sign of confirming our incarnational attitude of sowing our lives into this specific place. We will see what comes out of it.

A huge thankyou at this place to all friends who by various ways have expressed their sympathy over these last weeks!! THANKYOU :.-) 8.-)

HELLO GOODBYE

(audio may take a while to load)

"Where's the Navigator of your destiny?
Where is the Dealer of this hand?
Who can explain life and its brevity
'Cause there is nothing here that I can understand

You and I have barely met
And I just don't want to let go of you yet

Josua, hello, goodbye
I will see you on the other side
Josua, sweet child of mine
I will see you on the other side

And so I hold your tiny hand in mine
For the hardest thing I've ever had to face
Heaven calls for you before it calls for me
When you get there, save me a place

A place where I can share your smile
And I can hold you for more than just a while"

(by M.W.Smith - thanks friends for the link!)

BEING MILDENED

It's not a new truth, just a new experience for me: The older you get the milder (or call it: more broken) - you seem to become. Now, if fatherhood is not accelerating your age, brokeness, and mildness, i don't know what would... In this sense, small Josua has probably done more to my spiritual journey than many other.

Looking back i realize how hardened my heart had already become against anything (and especially any kid) that would interfere with my business, projects and with getting things done...  -> Thankyou kids for opening my eyes to this reality so precious and so real! I guess this is called "life"?!

READ MY NAME

After 12,5 years of marriage we proudly announce the birth of our firstborn son Josua Immanuel Wolf!! :) :)

Tiny Josua, however, did not come with much time to spend on planet earth - about two hours after birth (24th week of pregnancy) he already left to meet the King...

Christine and me do feel hugely blessed by the gift we had the privilege to enjoy for a short time. Josua will stay with us an encouragement to press on towards the final Hope. Forever he has made a significant difference in our lives.

I have been here, just read my name ;.)

"MY PERSPECTIVE" ON CHURCH (de)

I was asked by a friend to give a "20 minute introduction" into my perspective of church. [-> German version]

Well...  Once you have more questions than answers and no more desire to "bash the system" you feel pretty humbled when confronted with this expectation... 20 min? :o ! honestly, if i had only 3 sentences (constructive and wayleading) i would already be happy!

In the end the talk did not come to place. Yet, probably out of sheer fear the question might reappear those 3 sentences emerged into my conscious mind. If you want to have my todays minimum perspective on church, here you go:

As the King's glocal body, we ought to

1. connect! This requires structures which encourage instead of limit free-flowing, God-breathed, life-giving body relationships. -> To overcome fragmentation by "loving each other".
2. progress! This requires structures (and habits) which encourage collective strategy(!) building, decision making, learning, and innovation.  -> To overcome repetitive religiosity by "loving God".
3. serve! This requires a mindset (and structures) of blending in with the world around us, of sharing the friendship we have received,  and of getting engaged with its wounds. -> To overcome ghettoism by not only "loving our neighbor", but actually "becoming our neighbor".
   

Now, what this means in practice - maybe you know?

FRANCE IN FOCUS

FRANCE is in focus these days! All those with a heart for this beloved - and so notoriously unruly - Europe kernel, have ample opportunity these days to pray, send or go:

• Still until March 16th runs a global 40 days of prayer initiative by Pray for France! Meet the man behind it.
• April 18-20 missional hearts and creative minds are reaching out for "His new" in a European gathering in Nimes!
• French speaking youth conglomerates  July 5-13  in Strasbourg for a multi-faceted missions week organized by (really inspiring) AJC!
• The HopeNow! year of cooperation and evangelization for Strasbourg is also still around and progressing slowly but steadily along the lines of the local establishement. With emRG we are still around to support where possible.

I am waiting for the day to see this country bless the Lord in all its beauté !