Choice is a good thing? Isn’t it? Surely being able to choose between 10 varieties of bread is better than being able to choose from just 2 choices. And for the longest time we have used that theory in our work in leading and growing churches. Surely we should provide people with a choice of worship styles, times, music, age groups etc. And on the surface it makes sense, but then you, sometimes, you have to wonder. Does it really make that much sense? Here are two presentations from TED.com. One by Malcolm Gladwell and the second by Barry Schwartz.
As I have mentioned earlier, I’ve been reading Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin. And while exploring the TED.com website, I came upon this presentation by Godin. In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. In this presentation, Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. It got me thinking about how we go about promoting and trying to grow churches. We aim for the center. We are often so scared to try things that are different, out of the box, whacky or weird because we don’t want to fail that we end up doing things more or less the same way we’ve always done them. We retreat into predictability and safety with the occasional minor tweak to quiet the voices wanting something more and something different. What would our churches look like if we did focused on the fringes, on those who are the “early adopters” and those who are passionate about exploring their faith and stepping out of their comfort zones? I wonder….
Most people who know me know that I love my food….both the preparation and the consumption of food. Food is central to my spirituality and my faith. For me, sharing food around he table with others is what being church is all about and what being community is all about. One of my favourite activities is baking bread so it is with some interest that I watched this second TED lecture by Peter Reinhart.
From his bio on Ted.com:
Master breadmaker Peter Reinhart is also a teacher, author and theologian. Through his lectures and numerous cookbooks, he channels the science of baking into deep, spiritual lessons — and dispels stale myths about the nature (and flavor) of good, wholesome bread.
…Peter Reinhart’s food work began as ministry outreach and later became a full-fledged culinary and teaching career. Both an educator and lay minister, his lessons focus on both secular and spiritual education. One of his books, Bread Upon the Waters: A Pilgrimage Toward Self Discovery and Spiritual Truth is first in a series of books exploring nourishment in terms of food and one’s life mission.
In this lecture, “…baking master Peter Reinhart reflects on the cordial couplings (wheat and yeast, starch and heat) that give us our daily bread. Try not to eat a slice.”
Click here in case the embedded video does not work.
Welcome to my personal musings and conversations about the emerging church, postmodernism, culture, spirituality, the journey of life and loads more. A Considerable Speck is a poem by Robert Frost - one of my favourite poems by him, hence the decision to use the title as the title of this blog. I'll leave it up to someone else to work out if it has anything at all to do with the content of this blog.
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