I am recommending these books because together they give a good overview of where the world and the “church” are headed.  As we look to “the present future” (the title of another book worth reading) the concepts explained in these books can help us understand both the present state of things and the direction things are going.  The future is really exciting if you like change, diversity, connectedness and community. If you understand the dyamics that are shaping the present/future you will be better prepared to be a participant.   I am interested in hearing what books, articles, movies, etc. you think add to this topic of discussion.

The Forgotten Ways - Tom’s notes

Summary of The 3 Ways of Getting Things Done - authors summary

Glocalization - Here is an amazon.com book review:

This book is for you only if in you fit into one of the domains of society (i.e. government, art, education, business, etc.). If you are a pastor, you cannot help but be motivated at your revised job description, namely, “to get the people sitting in our pews to use their vocations in a natural way to connect locally and internationally”. Your new gauge of effectiveness is “How many laypeople am I mobilizing?”If you are a Westerner, then you will be pointedly asked if you can “see and submit to what God is doing and be a servant to the East instead of a leader”.If you are a Western professional, you will be challenged to go engage emerging nations and seek the stability of those around it. You will get a crash course in being glocal, and seeing this not as a clever church program/strategy/platform, but a legitimate mindset for the integration of your faith in God and practice of your trade.Finally, Bob is a student of Friedman, Zakaria, Jones, Ghandi, Bono and Capra. This atypical pastor is providing leadership into an atypical, but extraordinary, societal/global transformation. Take your leaders through this book, whoever you are.

I received this report from my son Andy Hackett who is living in Mexico and helps direct “The Movement” in Tepic, Nayarit Mexico.  Read this, rejoice and pray for the influence of The Movement “El Moviemento”.

We had a great time with The Movement last night.  It’s amazing how these guys are understanding the message of Jesus.  We were talking about going to the beach to do some baptisms and right now 5 people are interested in being baptized.  Pretty awesome.  Next week we are going to look at the crucifixion and talk about what it means for us and the world.  We are going to have communion together afterwards.  Everybody is stoked about hospital visits and future concerts as well.  Thank you Jesus…we are blessed.  We hope to start growing more in numbers soon.  The thing that makes me happy though is that we are having true quality growth with formerly un-churched people.  It’s the perfect foundation.

Alternative Missions’ founder and Director Tom Hackett describes the VineAge project in this way,

“VineAge collectively endeavors to facilitate a network of Christian communities that acknowledges every believer, empowers social networks, encourages creative expression, and facilitates the global church.”
 
VineAge.com is built on top of the open source WordPress blogging platform.  WordPress is a proven technology and provided a stable base for the newly formed social networking site.  A team of web designers and developers have extended WordPress to add stronger content management, event scheduling and community membership features.  The result is a hybrid web tool that has website, blog and event scheduling capabilities with additional tools in the works.  The teams’ primary aim was to add elements that are essential for community interaction while maintaining a simple administrative interface.  

Starting and/or joining a VineAge.com community is free.  So surf on over to www.vineage.com and join today!

• Graphic Design
• XHTML
• CSS
• Flash
• JavaScript
• WordPress Theme Development

Web Developer/s with knowledge of:

• PHP
• JavaScript
• MySQL Database
• WordPress Customization Experience
• WordPress Plugin Development

Alternative Missions’ founder and Director Tom Hackett describes the VineAge project in this way,

“VineAge collectively endeavors to become a network of Christian communities that acknowledges every believer, empowers social networks, encourages creative expression, and facilitates the global church.”
 
VineAge.com is built on top of the open source WordPress blogging platform.  WordPress is a proven technology and provided a stable base for the newly formed social networking site.  A team of web designers and developers have extended WordPress to add stronger content management, event scheduling and community membership features.  The result is a hybrid web tool that has website, blog and event scheduling capabilities with additional tools in the works.  The teams’ primary aim was to add elements that are essential for community interaction while maintaining a simple administrative interface.  

Starting and/or joining a VineAge.com community is free.  So surf on over to www.vinage.com and join today!                

What does this poster do to you? It calls me to a place of evaluating my commitment to being missional. What does God want me to do? Where does God want me to go? Am I living a missional / incarnational life where I live?

Credit: Emerging Grace: http://emerginggrace.blogspot.com/2007/09/embodiment.html

Linnea and I have been so encouraged by those of you who have been part of our support team over the years…Thank you!

At this time, we find ourselves running $1000 a month short of our monthly budget.  We are looking for new team members who will commit to $50 - $100 or more a month.  We would appreciate you considering joining our support team.  You can do so by clicking Here.

• The Movement – An Arts Based Church Planting Movement

We are taking a new approach to church planting.  We have started a band in Mexico called “Into the Sea” and we are forming church plants that are committed to Community / Expression / and Social Helps.  You can get the whole story at this website: http://themovement.vineage.com

We are raising funds for a van and a practice location/office/studio.

Van   (purchase, insurance, maintenance)        $20,000

Practice location/office/studio:                             $10,000 

• VineAge – Where the Church Grows Freely

VineAge is a place where Christian communities form, innovate, interact, and grow.

VineAge is Alternative Missions attempt to facilitate the planting of churches and mission startups all over the world by providing free web tools to build Christian communities and the networked environment for those communities to share, learn and collaborate.  

Check out the VineAge website and start a community today.  http://vineage.com

Development costs related to the programming and technical side: $20,000

Promotion and expansion into other countries and languages:  $10,000

• Giving Options:
  1. The safest, most convenient, and most consistent way to give is through electronic giving. I use this method myself. Click Here to donate online.  Make sure and designate your giving clearly (Hackett or Project support) in the appropriate place when filling out the form.
  2. Mail a check to:  Alternative Missions, PO Box 5835, Goodyear, AZ 85338     Please include a note designating what the donation is for.

I believe that in the (present) future the needs of the Faith Community along with the technology available and the circumstances in which the person or group exist, etc. will determine the answers to those questions. What the church ”looks like” will be flexible and relevant to the many conditions and dynamics of the group. At this time, the collective ‘we” need to move beyond the concern that the Church should “look like” a particular way…(example: the building on the corner with a paid seminary trained pastor and hierarchal and lineal paradigm).  For some that model works great but for the majority that train has left the station…statistics show that church attendance is on the decline big time. Why that church attendance is on the decline is open to debate…I happen to believe the paradigm is in the way not the message. What I believe people are concerned with today more than a commitment to a church down the street are the questions related to how they can live out their faith in community and effectively reach those God has given them an influence. People are concerned about how they can know and honor God. They want to be both obedient and relevant. These issues have become more important than church attendance or commitments to certain paradigms. It will be interesting to see the “body of Christ” deal with these issues and hold to what is “true” as we move forward.  I believe our loving and creative God has a lot of things He will show us and connectivity via technology, access to information, and creative open minds will help to bring new expressions of faith into existence.

What will the church look like in the future? I don’t know but it is going to be fun to see what will happen. I trust the Father and His ability to “keep” the Vine (John 15:1-8)

The bigger question is can you let go of what you think the church should be now and go to the new places it can become?

VineAge  (Where the Church Freely Grows) is based on an organizational structure that emphasizes Responsible Autonomy. The future of “Church” and Christian expression is being transformed by “global connectivity”, access to information and a growing independence these things provide. The Church is becoming less dependant on hierarchical models of organization and freed to be more organic, innovative, responsive and yet accountable through “exposure” that technology provides.  This discussion is about what that means and how that might be lived out….thoughts?