Dream - Re-Imagining Church

Josh hitchiked to Morocco!

2008-04-29T15:31:00.003Z

Here's a post from Josh Bennett (of Dream in Haydock)

On 27th March in the Easter holidays I and a uni friend of mine set off on a journey. Our destination? Morocco (NE Africa, south of spain across the straight of gibraltar). Our means of transport? Hitchhiking!

Although I was initially skeptical about travelling in this way, by it we managed to cross the lengths of England, France and Spain and (with the help of a few ferries) arrived in Morocco. It was an experience like no other and, amongst many other things, involved the Gendarmerie, french female wine business tycoons and tent-pitching beside the motorway.

I'm telling you all this because we did it to raise funds for Link Community Development, a charity working to improve education standards in Africa.

Please take the time to visit www.justgiving.com/joshuabennett where there is more information on the charity as well as the oppurtunity to sponsor me online. Thanks for reading!

Josh

now - dream to go 24

2008-01-30T12:59:00.000Z

What if this is it?

What if this is as good as it gets?
The "good old days" we'll look back on.

Live now.
Embrace now.
This is the only moment that truly exists.

If I lived with the awareness of Now and of God here now, life would transform.

Now counts.
Milk now... no mug it!
Trip it up, grab it by the throat and forcefully pursuade it to give up its treasures... "the kingdom of God belongs to forceful people..."

Stop excusing now.
Stop delegating it and postponing it.

Perhaps one of the biggest dangers in life is to spend my time, energy and money seeking out endless ways to distract myself from now. Maybe the kingdom if heaven is here, but I am elsewhere.

The only battles I need to fight are the ones I face right now.

Now is really happening! It's not a role-play or a practise for the real thing.
Now is the real thing.

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. (Matthew 6:34 the message)

do you want to be a star?

2007-12-04T18:11:00.000Z

Liverpool is hosting it's very own contemporary nativity play with local stars (Geoffrey Hughes, Cathy Tyson and Jennifer Ellison) and music from Liverpool greats (The Beatles, The La's, The Zutons, etc). It'll be broadcast live on BBC3 (from 8pm on Sunday 16th December) and repeated later on BBC2. I blogged about it 'here' with a link to the BBC press release.

We've been approached to see if anyone from the Dream network wants to take part as an extra in the Herod scene, which will be at St George's Hall. Are you interested?... If so, you'll need to be available for rehearsals on 13th and 14th of December in the evening (from 7pm) and the afternoons of 15th and 16th December (around 2 - 9pm each day, which includes the actual performance on the Sunday).

The BBC need to know pretty sharpish as to who wants to be involved, so if you're keen and can make the rehearsals (or at least, most of them) drop me an email as soon as possible (if you don't have my email address leave a comment here or email Richard!)

Malcolm

Jesus never spoke to prostitues - dream to go 23

2007-11-28T14:33:00.000Z

I’m a Reverend you know. It says so on my credit card, and also on a bit of paper a bishop once gave me. Most of the time I avoid the title – I mean it doesn’t really suit my rugged good looks and street cred lifestyle. But sometimes I quite enjoy it. Like on those days when I’m feeling insignificant and overlooked.

Only problem is, Jesus abolished ‘status’. Seriously, he scrapped it. He even arranged an ancient powerpoint illustration as the curtain in the temple that separated the professional holy people from the others ripped apart when he died.

Jesus started a new community where there are no VIPs. Where children, the homeless and the elderly get as much status as doctors, directors, and archbishops. In the early days they took it really seriously. They even made the rich people sit in the worst seats as a reminder.

But soon the rot began to creep back in. Those who were leaders (Jesus had called them 'servants' – the cleaners and cooks for the community) reinvented priesthood – or gave it new names like 'senior pastor'. Those who were followers happily colluded, welcoming the chance to confirm their nobody-ness and escape the responsibilities of “ministry”.

Of course we need different gifts and roles. And of course there are tools for the job. But does the size of the house, office or car reflect a valid need? Or is it just one more attempt to keep the wretched system going and keep the radical words of Jesus at bay?

Someone said that Jesus never spoke to prostitutes* – because he didn’t see them that way. He saw them as precious women made in God’s image. He saw them as sisters, and the daughters of his father. That's status!

(*I stole this wonderful line from a wonderful book called the irresistible revolution)

dream to go 22 - do it badly

2007-11-14T16:33:00.000Z

If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly (G K Chesterton)

Don’t wait to start. Don’t wait to be perfect. Don’t wait to be good at it. Don’t even wait to be average. Pretty well everything that is really and deeply important in life is worth doing, even if the best you can do is to do it badly.

Get stuck in. Get your hands dirty. Get your nose bloody.
Do it with all your heart and strength even if that is only good enough to do it badly.

Jesus told us to do lots of things. I am bad at almost all of them. But I’m going to do them, even if I make a fool of myself in the process. I’m going to love God and you and other people. I’m going to pray. I’m going to give lots away. I’m going to give up destructive living. I’m going to resist evil.

It will really help me to keep doing those things, if you are willing to have a go to, and to do them even if badly, rather than wait until you are somehow good.

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? (1 Corinthians 1:26)

Dreamfields

2007-11-13T15:23:00.000Z

Well I loved getting together with nearly forty of you (including seven children) for our retreat day at strawberry field.

For those who couldn’t make it, you missed

-Chaos over caffettieres

-Malcolm’s brand sparkling new Mac powerbook crashing first time it tried to play a video (no I’m not secretly laughing at all)

-Me ‘preaching’ naked twice (you’ll have to ask someone!)

-Seven lifesize murder-scene type outline drawings of the children.

Seriously it was lovely to be together for a day and to build new friendships. The day was relaxed. The worship was intimate. The commitment to one another and to this crazy thing God’s drawn us into tangible.
There seemed to be a keenness to do this sort of thing again before too long (not sure yet how long is too long).

Thanks to everyone who came and took part.

richard w

Dream Retreat Day (+ children’s programme)

2007-10-23T09:34:00.000Z

On Saturday 10th November we’re running a Dream network retreat day at Strawberry Field.

Our theme will be Improve your love life!

We’ll be looking at …

-Devotion
-Friendship
-Passion

…as we reflect on growing in love for God, each other and the world around us.

The day will include teaching but also plenty of time for personal reflection, discussion and prayer.

Times: 10am – 3pm (byo lunch, drinks provided)

There’s no charge for the day but we’ll make a donation to Strawberry Field so bring some money.

We’re really excited that for children aged 5-14, ‘Pure Creative Arts School’ are going to run an event for the day exploring similar themes. Cost £10 per child (subsidised by Dream). If you’d like to bring one or more children please let me know asap (by 30th Oct)

Please email to let me know if you are coming.

You can find Strawberry Field here on google maps, but I’ll send better directions nearer the time.

I'm really excited about the day - got a feeling it's going to be special,

richard w

Dream in Ormskirk

2007-10-03T08:47:00.000Z

A new Dream group is starting tonight in Ormskirk. We're hoping that as well as connecting with the 'locals' it will be a helpful spiritual resource for students at Edge Hill. We'll meet at Ormskirk parish church at 8pm (drinks available from 7.30pm)

We have three gatherings in the diary so far.

-3rd Oct (tonight) - Beginnings

-31st Oct (Halloween) Bad Dream – The living dead!

-28th Nov - The Waiting Room

Releasing Creativity

2007-10-02T16:52:00.000Z

One of the signs of a healthy community is the releasing of all kinds of creativity. When we create, we honour God, since he is creative, and we are made in his image.

Not only does the act of creating honour God, but when the fruits of our creativity are offered in worship, or in service to others, we bless God and build his Kingdom even more.

I've been around Dream for a while, and it has offered many of us a great outlet for our creative energies. For me that's mostly been in digital art so far, but more recently in music too.

1) Thanks to some wonderful new music software (Ableton Live 6 LE), I've rediscovered a vein of musical creativity, and I'm going to post some of it, especially tunes that might be useful to others looking for resources for worship.

So here is the first of what I can sense is a new creative direction - you can listen to it here - I've called it "Distant Voices". I hope you enjoy it, but more than than I hope it finds a place in worshipping our Maker and drawing those around us to worship him too.

2) For some time now, I've had a growing desire to pass on some of my own skills and experience to others, to play my part in releasing the often untapped creative gifts in the body of Christ.

I would love it if even 2 or 3 other people discovered that they love doing this stuff too, and it turn, want to offer it in worship, and multiply it on to others.

If you have ideas about how that might happen, maybe you could leave a comment?

Thanks
Richard L

core

2007-10-01T20:46:00.000Z

We've simplified the page that explains our four "core" values. Hopefully the new one carries the same content but in a clearer more easily digested way.

Do add any comments or reactions.

dream to go 21 - Give us your money!

2007-09-28T18:00:00.000Z

Honestly, we want your money…. so hand it over.

Why on earth would I give my hard earned money away?
We’re really into “spiritual disciplines” in Dream. They’re ancient practises that flow from the teachings of Jesus. They help to change us from the inside as we learn to align our lives with God. We talk about some of them a lot – like silence, time out, prayer and meditation. We haven’t talked about giving money a lot because it’s a bit taboo in our culture, but we should because Jesus talked about it more than all the other ones! He said it was a key to our hearts and to really learning to trust God.

How much should I give away?
Down the ages lots of followers of Christian spirituality have given 10% of their income away as a basic guide. Others said that was just a silly old fashioned rule and God deserved a lot more than that! As a principle give a proportion regularly rather than just on a whim. As a spiritual discipline it seems to work most powerfully when we give until it hurts a bit and then give some more until it stops hurting and we start enjoying it.

Should I give it all to Dream?
No! We don’t deserve it and we aren’t the most important cause out there… there are people dying of hunger for goodness sake! Give lots to them. Also for loads of people involved, their main spiritual home is their local church, so that deserves the lion’s share of their giving. Maybe you could just pray and ask God to help you decide what proportion of your giving, if any should go to dream.

What will Dream spend it on?
Tea lights! Not really because the materials and running costs of each individual group are met by that group, so it’s the central network expenses we need to find. That’s mostly Richard’s half salary (because I’m worth it) and central stuff like network events, the website, etc. It all comes to around £20k per year.

Ok how do I give?
We've added a new section to our website just for you.

blue like jazz

2007-09-26T14:35:00.000Z

Just finished reading (Richard Lyall's copy of) Blue Like Jazz by Donald Millar. It came out a few years ago and I heard about it then but never got around to getting a copy.

It is BRILLIANT. Well written. Hilarious (kind of Rob Bell meets Woody Allen). Deeply challenging and extremely easy to read. I notoriously start book and never finish them (I have around fifteen on the go at the moment) but I got through this in no time.

Buy it!

St Hildas

2007-09-20T10:08:00.000Z

This lunchtime, we're doing a little dream style 'thing' for some of the students at St Hildas secondary school.

The idea is that some people might like to start meeting as a dream group each Thursday lunchtime, working towards a creative worship time once a month. We'll see how it emerges...

Hey if you read this and were there we'd love your comments on this blog.

-What did you think?

-Was it good, rubbish, helpful, useful?

-How would you like to see it develop?

plugged into lectio again

2007-09-04T08:41:00.000Z

One of the most refreshing parts of the Summer hols for me was being offline in a cottage that didn't even have a mobile signal... just what I needed once I got over the withdrawal symptoms!

It's always nice though to reconnect. Clear the 500 emails (mostly spam for services and substances that I really don't want or need thank you), say hello on facebook and start reading the bible as a community.

Well done to those of you who kept going with Lectio over the Summer. I didn't, but I'm looking forward to the next term's journey through Mark together.

btw the next reading is always posted on a Wednesday, I can't remember why. If anyone has a good reason for preferring a different day, it's easily changed.

Greenbelt

2007-08-29T09:25:00.000Z

There were fifteen or so people from Dream at Greenbelt which was fantastic - I was only able to get there for the Sunday.

The service we led seemed to go well. Perhaps we should have added to our risk assesment that after asking people to remove their shoes early in the service, when it came to the part where I smash the mirrors people had written on with a hammer, I would do two normal taps then a third massive crash sending shards of broken glass across me and the carpet!! (I realise now that the lump hammer on the day was a lot more powerful that the one I used before).

Thankfully it turned out that Ellen Louden who has been part of our "online" community was the 'official' on hand and she was VERY gracious (thank you Ellen, a drink on me next time you're around here.. in a safe plastic cup maybe?)

Did anyone take some nice snaps of the service and greenbelt as a whole? Do add them to our group photo album on the main dream website, or the facebook group and tell us here in the comments. Also love to hear any other feedback.

And a massive thank you to everyone who worked to put the whole thing together. Malcolm as always coordinated this big part of the Dream year brilliantly, but I reckon his job was made much easier by the fantastic shared effort.

Signs of Freedom

2007-08-02T08:41:00.000Z

Another wonderful post from naked pastor's blog.

I just had to copy it here in full. I'm sure he won't mind.

If you want to be free you must:

1. no longer worry about money

2. no longer worry about attendance

3. speak only what you know to be the truth

4. be yourself always without apologies

5. allow others the freedom to make their own choices

6. do not exclude anyone; include everyone

7. call bulls**t when you see or hear it

8. coerce no one ever for anything, no matter how important

9. do not cling to anything or anyone

10. trust God for the future in all things

Sanctuary - comments

2007-07-31T08:14:00.000Z

Welcome to the Dream website and blog for anyone who first connected with us at New Wine Newark last week, where we ran "Sanctuary" aka "praying in a cow shed"! I've put the words we used and a list of props needed onto our resources section here.

We had a visitors book for prayer requests, comments, etc which ended up with hundreds of really encouraging comments. Here's a sample of them...

---

Thank you for this space. Was really needing it and will be back.

Space and time to hear the beat of God's heart.

Showed me a way to connect with God.

God spoke to me here.

We are only twelve, but we really enjoyed every second of it. You will see us again!

This area is very special, thank you.

Brilliant. Need to come again and again.

What a "sanctuary"! Much appreciated.

It was a fantastic experience, I felt really at ease with God and the minimalist feel really helped me to focus and relax.

Music was great & the simplicity so powerful!

Thank you for helping me simply be rather than always doing.

An oasis of peace, calm, tranquillity - God met me here.

Thank you for creating space to allow me to hear God speak.

Loved the visual, the listening, the practical, the sitting, the quiet. I entered here my mind busy. I'm leaving restored. Thank you.

What a lovely place to visit before the fray of putting them all to bed - after a long day of getting us all here. Thank you.

Thank you for sacred practical ideas through which I was able to hear Him again.

It is a nice place to pray for children like me.

Thank you Lord for finally giving me peace of mind here after all the worry & doubt of this past year. I got a picture of a dove finally being set free.

In my hectic everyday life, everything seems blurred. This experience has helped me to see things clearly again and realise that all my problems which seemed so hard to solve are actually really easy to remove. Thanks you so much.

Simple but very effective. A true sanctuary.

I just keep coming back. This is so beautiful, so peaceful, a real sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of life.

Thank you Lord for speaking... for you peace, space & presence.

Thank you Lord, you never fail to amaze and delight.

I loved the humility of the surroundings, the holy and the grit, the birdsong reminding us to worship& celebrate and also to stay grounded and practical.

Lots of good ideas to take and use in our own church.

Please do this again next year

A still centre to New Wine

An oasis of peace that showed me again the need for making more time and space for peace in my life.

God is here.

Thank you for the space and encouragements to waste holy time with God.

It has been fantastic to come into this space at different points in the week, just to be quiet and reflect. The different exercises really helped. I will take some away for use in different contexts.

Sanctuary has certainly lived up to its name for me this week.

I wish I had discovered this area sooner in the week.

I know I have found spiritual healing here.

So ordinary from the outside, yet so amazing as you enter and get drawn into the presence of God.

Thank you for space to be quiet and take stock after so many words (good words!) in the seminars.

This place is just so special.

I can't believe that I only found this place on the last night. It's what my heart has yearned for all week. But thank God that I can leave knowing I have met with God.

I was in a really low place, depressed and kind of suicidal when I randomly came across this place. It's just so amazing. being here for five minutes left me extremely calm and collected. The atmosphere of God is just so heavy here. Thank you SO much for this place.

This place has made me learn a lot about myself.

Dream @ New Wine

2007-07-30T20:57:00.001Z

Just back from New Wine North where Dream ran the prayer shed, called Sanctuary. We'll probably post a bit more soon to share some of the great comments that people left, but for now, to let you know that some photos have been posted in the "Group Photos" section.

Click here to view the album.

Facebook

2007-07-17T15:11:00.000Z

L19:Dream have been using a facebook group brilliantly since they began (great idea for other groups). We now also have a Dream Network group. Just search for "dream"... we beat the other 30 million members of facebook to the name.

So stop all that important work you're doing and get down to our facebook group!

You're not alone

2007-07-11T09:12:00.000Z

Lots of things tend to stop happening over the Summer, but there are still a bunch of ways to connect with one another across the network.

1. Join In: For those who don't know, this is an email list you can sign up to (just click on "get dream emails" at the top on the website and select "Join in". The idea is that once you've joined the list, then whenever you are doing anything fun that you are happy for others to join in, you email the details to joinin@dream.uk.net and everyone on the list gets it. This is not about organising bog socials (tho feel free to do that too) but about joining in one anther's everyday lives (e.g I'm going on a picnic/having a BBQ/ going to concert/watching every episode of 'Friends' back to back and anyone else is welcome to join me. It's important that this is something that you are planning and will enjoy anyway even if o one else can make it. This list has been very quiet for the past few months, but the Summer hols are the perfect time to get it buzzing again.

2. Lectio: Again for those who don't know we publish a bible reading each week and you can sign up to receive it as an email. It's particularly great when people add comments/questions/reactions which turns it into a group thing.

3. Prayer Board: Lots of people check the prayer board regularly, so do add your prayer requests, and pray for others.

4. Photo-share: I'm going to write an intro to using our resources sections soon, but it's really very easy. We've added a "group photo's" section so you can upload any photos of your dream group. You can also add comments to any of the photos and other resources.

5. Come camping! Dream is running "sanctuary" a creative prayer venue at New Wine Newark and a worship slot at Greenbelt. There's still time to book in for either.

The photo was taken by Jonny Baker on a recent CMS team time in Orkney. As you can see it was a very full and busy time!

feedback

2007-07-09T14:52:00.001Z

Last night's Dream network service was jointly sponsored by Ikea unbreakable mirrors and the Health and Safety Dept (you had to be there).

If you were there, it would be great to have some feedback on two counts...

1. Content: We're going to be running basically the same service at Greenbelt, so it would be good to hear what worked/didn't work/changed your life/got on your nerves.

2. Venue: Did you prefer the ladychapel last night or the "well" in the main cathedral the last two times. Would you be keen to suggest a different venue altogether?

(if you weren't there, you're just going to have to come to Greenbelt now, where there's also going to be John Tavener, Coldcut, Billy Bragg, Matt Redman and Chas n' Dave!)

dream to go 20 - career opportunity

2007-06-25T08:57:00.000Z

I'm excited to be able to tell you that Dream has now grown to the size where we are ready to expand our staff portfolio. Please read the following job description carefully. You could just be one of the people we are looking for, so don’t miss this opportunity for a change in career direction!

Job Title
Your position will reflect a encompasses a range of roles. Please choose from any or all of the following titles…
-Pastor
-Minister/Priest
-Missionary
-Full time Christian Worker, living by faith

Responsibilities
As a pastor, you will take pastoral responsibility to care for a group of people around you. This will be challenging, since much of this work is done undercover and most people in your “flock” will not realise that you are their “pastor”. Nevertheless you will take seriously the need to care for them and to seek their spiritual growth and wellbeing.

As a minister and priest*, you will be aware that you have been called by God to serve your flock sacrificially, to pray faithfully for them and to take opportunities to make them aware of God’s presence.

As a missionary, you will seek to understand the culture within which you work. You will look expectantly for signs of God’s work within your mission field. This work is aspirational as you seek see your context transformed by the presence of Jesus. As a missionary you will also cherish the legacy of others who have, and still do, experience intense suffering and even death for the sake of this cause.

As a “full time Christian worker”, you will know that your true employer is God, whether or not you have a official employer. As such, you will embrace the call to “live by faith”, trusting God to lead you and provide for you.

Remuneration and Support.
Dream will not pay any wages, however we will be working in the months ahead to increase opportunities for giving, something which we regard as an outstanding long-term (ie forever) investment opportunity. Successful applicants may expect ongoing support from across the network through prayer, encouragement and resources for personal spiritual development.

Qualifications
This is an equal opportunities appointment that does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, class, sexuality or education. There are however two essential qualities

-A commitment (however fallible) to follow Jesus, seeking to live a life shaped by Him and in obedience to his teaching. (This bit automatically makes you a pastor, priest, minister, etc!)

-A desire to carry out this vocation (that means calling) as part of the Dream network. (This bit qualifies you for our exclusive remuneration and support package)

Application Procedure
None required, though you might like to be brave and add a comment to indicate that you are taking the job!

*please not that “priest” in this context neither requires you to wear strange clothes (though whatever floats your boat), not does it entitle you to claim a pay cheque from the Church of England!

invitation to take part in research

2007-06-19T10:19:00.000Z

Katharine Moody is a PhD student at Lancaster University. Her research is on the beliefs of individuals involved with "emerging churches" (dream is one those in case you've not heard the term!). She is looking for research participants to fill out a questionnaire, with 8 questions, including:

-In what ways might contemporary culture be useful for Christianity?
-What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “I am the Truth”?
-Why might Christian ways of understanding how the world is (or should be) be better or truer than any other understandings?

If you'd be happy to take part, even if you have never thought about these kinds of questions before, she'd love to hear from you.

To participate in this research, you must:
Be involved in emerging churches (eg dream)
Live in the United Kingdom

If you are interested in completing the questionnaire, please email me at k.moody1@lancaster.ac.uk and she will email or post you a copy. It would be great if you could return the completed questionnaire by June 30th! (edit: extended to 6th July)

Later stages of this project will involve face-to-face confidential interviews with any questionnaire respondents who are interested in exploring these issues further.

More Free Art Tools

2007-06-08T22:22:00.001Z

Two top quality free digital art tools for you to play with:

Vue 6. This is a free version of the software I use to create most of my stuff. It can do pretty much everything the full version does except that I think it adds a watermark to the final render. It specialises in 3D terrains and landscapes though you can do just about anything with it. It's called a Personal Learning Edition and can be downloaded here.

Google Sketchup. This is a really addictive program for creating illustrations and diagrams - it's really geared for more technical illustration or for architectural drawings, but again, you can have a lot of fun just doodling with it. Apparently some people use it for art therapy! Download from here.

With its more architectural hat on, one possible use for Sketchup is to plan the use of a worship space - to try to visualise how things will be laid out - could be really useful if you're planning something complex.

Here's a Google Sketchup diagram I drew of the house my parents live in - I managed it after watching 2 video tutorials lasting just 30 mins in total!

It may be at some point in the future worth gathering together anyone who's keen to learn the basics of 3D art ... interested?

by Richard Lyall

dream to go 19 - stop flapping... or maybe start

2007-06-07T09:55:00.000Z

Choas theory refers to the "butterfly effect". The idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in one place can be the tiny but crucial difference that leads to chain reaction, causing a hurricane on the other side of the world.

What were you doing 5 mins ago?

What will you be doing later today?

It is significant.

Could be more significant that what Bill Gates, George Bush, Bono and the Pope are do at those moments!

And if not, then still significant.

By the way, who says that Gates' job is more 'important' than the house-husband/wife who makes their own home hospitable?

Flap away, lets create a storm!