This is beautiful and sad. Sad, that the church is apparently struggling so mightily to convey the relevance of its core message; beautiful, the image of small cells of believers banding together and jettisoning from the small-c church to ensure the survival of the capital-C Church.
i suppose there is some irony with the weekly RCL lectionary reading of Jesus in the storm. He was asleep in the helm, and the people on board said wake up we are all going to die, and he stopped the storm and asked why they had no faith.
even if it goes down we will be ok because it’s all about resurrection – sometimes I think that we like to think that the church is going down but the truth is it never does and never will.
Might be a church that has reached a point where it is unsustainable?
Might be “going down” the wrong road and need to stay on board to get that boat turned around instead of bailing out?
Isn’t there some song somewhere says “going down” to the River of Jordan to get saved?
Funny thing that, here you’re going down and the river _is_ the lifeboat.
Thanks for putting the link on…makes much more sense now
I’m reading Jim Collins’ latest book “How the mighty fall…and why some companies never give in” and thinking about the church as an organisation…what learning applies equally?
I’ve no idea if God wants a floating, blown up, church, or if indeed the whole church is sinking in our shifting culture – but this pic sure catches a feeling of trying to belong to a 21st cent church.
somehow, sitting side by side in the little life boats, clinging on with a battered hope, our vulnerability exposed, seems very welcoming
That’s the thing about boats. Doesn’t matter how trendy it looks or how fast it goes or how smart the captain’s uniform is. The important thing is that it floats.
Equally, for all their jumping ship, the evacuees are still in a boat. And they are still in as much need of one as they ever were. Might just be a bit less picky about the type of boat in the current situation. Hmm. Food for thought that.
Also, props to the vicar in the toon for being last off the sinking ship. Good Captaining, that, depending on why its sinking of course. But at least showing the taking of some responsibility.
it’s amazing to stop and think of all the people who’ve shared a sense of love and hope with me, over the years, sharing a little space in a life boat, thankyou
thanks for your comment Su, I have been thinking about that too recently, particularly in relation to our friend who has just died. What I like about the life boat image is that we are not alone and we need to be there to support one another.
This is sad that a church is sinking, which many are today. But that is usually as they have forgotten their mission and have gone “internal focused”
But the hope is that the lifeboats plant new churches that are living for Jesus. They have a mission to reach places / groups and see people saved by the grace and love of Jesus.
Or else they to will sink.
A church with out a mission is a boat witha huge hole in its hull!
beatthedrum.wordpress.com
(Oh and its man the lifeboats not woman them, as it is the inclusive greek word for all humanity )
A question that Robb’s post raises for me is whether or not the emerging ought to be seen as merely saving the inherited.
Some might suggest that cutting it off to save on all that energy dragging a dead weight would be a good decision, and that the lifeboats would do better to tie themselves to each other to prevent them drifting too far apart.
btd & rebecca… isn’t there wisdom in looking inward and looking outward? looking inside and seeing ourselves and owning up to the people we really are will make any interaction more authentic. i’ve seen many a person tell others how great it is to be a christian, yet they never really faced their own demons (or it didn’t seem that way). evangelism and mission or even legislating to others becoming a sort of escapism. better to know yourself and be real with people, as individuals and as community.
make sense?
one thing I think about why God’s setting up little life raft churches, is because our cultures got its self in such a fix
whats the use of a monument to a generation out at sea?
in a sense church’s are great for people who like church, but God knows they look very strange to the uninitiated
there’s a fair share of human deviousness inside and outside the church, but those outside don’t even have a vague hope that God loves them (then again, in my experience, it’s hard to feel loved in a empty cold church)
so you see, we need cosy, loving, welcoming little boats, with flasks of tea
Trivia:
when we lived in Georgia we lived near the Ocmulgee River and had a boat.
“Ocmulgee” turns out to not really be what you might want to name your boat: “The name of the river probably comes from a Hitchiti phrase oki mulgis meaning “bubbling water”" =-o
27. I don’t want to rule out the church as I see the benefits of what y’all term in the UK as a mixed economy of traditional and new forms of church (though I do confess that Fresh Expressions sounds a bit like a feminine hygiene product). There’s something to having accountability to each other knowing you are connected to a larger entity outside of ourselves or else you end up with a Todd Bentley type scenario – I’ve seen some really amazing folks in recent memory morph into religious rock stars where they not Christ is the entity being worshiped. (No I’m not naming names but go to Greenbelt or come to the US for a bit and you’ll see some of this in action.) At its best the church provides an anchor so we don’t go all adrift but at it’s worst, it’s ballast that brings us all down.
Also, I’m the last one to set up emergent as the way to go forward – my experience has been that given human nature, folks will eventually form some kind of a hierarchical structure that if left unchecked resembles a Lord of the Flies scenario. Take Jon’s cartoon – if those lifeboats were left up to their own devices without any connection to the global body of believers, my “hunch” is that eventually someone will assume the role of the leader and that over time, the lifeboat will morph into the personality set by the leader or they will mutiny and put someone else in charge. Then they’ll start fighting with the other lifeboats to see who is the best at saving the church and you get the gist. Better to have them maintain contact with each other so they can realize that we’re all in this boat together (I know cheesy metaphor but I couldn’t resist.):-)
Speaking of community, I’ll be in the UK a bit In July Oxford on the 2-5, Stansted on the 5th (sleeping at the airport)and then London the 12-14th (leaving in the early am). If anyone is around and would like to connect, shoot me an email at bgthedoor@aol.com. (Sorry if this got off topic in any way – I will be back in 2010 and definitely at Greenbelt but this year I was asked to go to Slot.)
Currently reading ‘Breakout’ by Mark Stibbe and Drew Walker, on St. Andrews Chorleywood changing their church structures to more of a ‘lifeboat’ model, and they use lots of seafaring imagery. They use the image of a taskforce: a group of boats with a command ship, but where the individual boats have their mission, and go off and do it.
‘Fresh Expressions sounds a bit like a feminine hygiene product’ nice one Becky.
In the original post on Robb’s blog the Church isn’t sinking it’s just not moving and the life boats aren’t escaping they’re pulling the church along.
Without the larger boat in that image the lifeboats couldn’t survive for very long. they need the security and support offered by the bigger boat.
The bigger boat is stranded and so needs the propulsion of the smaller boats pulling it along until it once again catches it’s wind. At which point the life boats will need to return to the bigger ship quickly so as not to risk being left behind
From the blog comment, it seems the large ship is not sinking but just dead in the water and the lifeboats are not abandoning the ship but actually staying connected and pulling it forward.
I think the full up lifeboats already left while the vicar was asleep. He’s saying ‘Man the lifeboats’ but they are already manned and drifting away.
Wow, can’t believe I’ve just added to this minute analysis of the cartoon. Maye it should be hung in a gallery for art critics and historians to ponder over.
Jonathan – “A question that Robb’s post raises for me is whether or not the emerging ought to be seen as merely saving the inherited.”
This relies upon the premise that the inherited church is static. It isn’t. It has always been an evolving and emerging beast with movement. It moves slowly but it moves slowly never the less. It can be a lively and vibrant beast and it serves the bridegroom as well as it can. The EC is still a small movement on the fringes. It always amazes me that some members of the minority movement are willing to sink a ship carrying millions of faithful people.
beckyG – “At its best the church provides an anchor so we don’t go all adrift but at it’s worst, it’s ballast that brings us all down.”
Can I get an ‘Amen’? Preach it sister!
I wonder how long one of the little lifeboats would last on the raging seas by itself…
I wonder why we don’t set out to cross the Atlantic in rubber dingys from the start.
“Fresh Expressions sounds a bit like a feminine hygiene product”
And this from the land of the fanny pack!
Duttyo – “Without the larger boat in that image the lifeboats couldn’t survive for very long. they need the security and support offered by the bigger boat.”
Damn – just read on and realise now that you have said the same things I was thinking Fools seldom differ
is it good or bad that today’s church-boat has more hangers-on than in Noah’s day?
Comment by Mark — June 11, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
This is beautiful and sad. Sad, that the church is apparently struggling so mightily to convey the relevance of its core message; beautiful, the image of small cells of believers banding together and jettisoning from the small-c church to ensure the survival of the capital-C Church.
Comment by Matthew — June 11, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
Please can you give the link to Robb’s Blog?
Comment by Will — June 11, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
i suppose there is some irony with the weekly RCL lectionary reading of Jesus in the storm. He was asleep in the helm, and the people on board said wake up we are all going to die, and he stopped the storm and asked why they had no faith.
Comment by mary — June 11, 2009 @ 4:28 pm
sorry will. i’ve now linked above the cartoon and also here… http://changingworship.wordpress.com/
Comment by jonbirch — June 11, 2009 @ 4:29 pm
even if it goes down we will be ok because it’s all about resurrection – sometimes I think that we like to think that the church is going down but the truth is it never does and never will.
Comment by marcus — June 11, 2009 @ 5:36 pm
It looks to me like the lifeboats are coming to save the church…
Comment by Stewart — June 11, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
Mary (4) I think the modern equivalent of that story is the question why people install lightning conductors on tall churches!
Comment by JF — June 11, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
Might be human knee-jerk panic instead of faith?
Might be a church that has reached a point where it is unsustainable?
Might be “going down” the wrong road and need to stay on board to get that boat turned around instead of bailing out?
Isn’t there some song somewhere says “going down” to the River of Jordan to get saved?
Funny thing that, here you’re going down and the river _is_ the lifeboat.
Comment by Forrest — June 11, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
Thanks for putting the link on…makes much more sense now
I’m reading Jim Collins’ latest book “How the mighty fall…and why some companies never give in” and thinking about the church as an organisation…what learning applies equally?
Comment by Will — June 11, 2009 @ 9:50 pm
I’ve no idea if God wants a floating, blown up, church, or if indeed the whole church is sinking in our shifting culture – but this pic sure catches a feeling of trying to belong to a 21st cent church.
somehow, sitting side by side in the little life boats, clinging on with a battered hope, our vulnerability exposed, seems very welcoming
Comment by subo — June 11, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
yup, those little boats might be just the thing. looks like a lot of fun.
Comment by jonbirch — June 11, 2009 @ 10:14 pm
‘Lord – The sea is so big…and my boat is so small’
Comment by Pat — June 11, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
That’s the thing about boats. Doesn’t matter how trendy it looks or how fast it goes or how smart the captain’s uniform is. The important thing is that it floats.
Equally, for all their jumping ship, the evacuees are still in a boat. And they are still in as much need of one as they ever were. Might just be a bit less picky about the type of boat in the current situation. Hmm. Food for thought that.
Also, props to the vicar in the toon for being last off the sinking ship. Good Captaining, that, depending on why its sinking of course. But at least showing the taking of some responsibility.
Comment by linus — June 11, 2009 @ 10:42 pm
just as long as you’re not on the banana boat,
it will all turn out ok in the end!
;]
Comment by k-h-s — June 11, 2009 @ 10:44 pm
No longer re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic then!
Comment by Miriworm — June 12, 2009 @ 7:12 am
it’s amazing to stop and think of all the people who’ve shared a sense of love and hope with me, over the years, sharing a little space in a life boat, thankyou
Comment by subo — June 12, 2009 @ 8:37 am
thanks for your comment Su, I have been thinking about that too recently, particularly in relation to our friend who has just died. What I like about the life boat image is that we are not alone and we need to be there to support one another.
Comment by soniamain — June 12, 2009 @ 8:47 am
Heard this Quote the other day.
“The Church is like the Ark, sometimes it stinks but if you get out you’ll drown”
Just an interesting coincindence that I read your blog today to see a Church Sinking!
Comment by andrew — June 12, 2009 @ 9:03 am
Can’t we woman the lifeboats as well?
Comment by themethatisme — June 12, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
This is sad that a church is sinking, which many are today. But that is usually as they have forgotten their mission and have gone “internal focused”
But the hope is that the lifeboats plant new churches that are living for Jesus. They have a mission to reach places / groups and see people saved by the grace and love of Jesus.
Or else they to will sink.
A church with out a mission is a boat witha huge hole in its hull!
beatthedrum.wordpress.com
(Oh and its man the lifeboats not woman them, as it is the inclusive greek word for all humanity
)
Comment by beatthedrum — June 12, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
What I take comfort in is that there are groups of people in the lifeboats so no one is truly alone.
Comment by beckyG — June 12, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
Thats a good point BeckyG!
Comment by beatthedrum — June 12, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
An “internal focused” organisation sinks — those are wise words from Beat the Drum. It’s a lesson that the Labour Party needs to learn.
Comment by rebecca — June 12, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
But the church/boat can’t sink, we’ve always floated this way!
Comment by rockingrev — June 12, 2009 @ 6:34 pm
never trust a reverend in a boat whose first name is ‘rocking’.
Comment by jonbirch — June 12, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
A question that Robb’s post raises for me is whether or not the emerging ought to be seen as merely saving the inherited.
Some might suggest that cutting it off to save on all that energy dragging a dead weight would be a good decision, and that the lifeboats would do better to tie themselves to each other to prevent them drifting too far apart.
Grace and peace
Jonathan
Comment by Jonathan — June 12, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
Jon, On the west coast of Scotland at any rate, any reverend on board was considered bad luck. At least this rockingrev has his able seaman’s ticket.
Comment by rockingrev — June 12, 2009 @ 7:18 pm
rockingrev…
Comment by jonbirch — June 12, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
btd & rebecca… isn’t there wisdom in looking inward and looking outward? looking inside and seeing ourselves and owning up to the people we really are will make any interaction more authentic. i’ve seen many a person tell others how great it is to be a christian, yet they never really faced their own demons (or it didn’t seem that way). evangelism and mission or even legislating to others becoming a sort of escapism. better to know yourself and be real with people, as individuals and as community.
make sense?
Comment by jonbirch — June 12, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
one thing I think about why God’s setting up little life raft churches, is because our cultures got its self in such a fix
whats the use of a monument to a generation out at sea?
in a sense church’s are great for people who like church, but God knows they look very strange to the uninitiated
there’s a fair share of human deviousness inside and outside the church, but those outside don’t even have a vague hope that God loves them (then again, in my experience, it’s hard to feel loved in a empty cold church)
so you see, we need cosy, loving, welcoming little boats, with flasks of tea
Comment by subo — June 12, 2009 @ 10:03 pm
“so you see, we need cosy, loving, welcoming little boats, with flasks of tea.”
Comment by jonbirch — June 12, 2009 @ 10:52 pm
What about punctures!
Comment by Miriworm — June 13, 2009 @ 7:13 am
Trivia:
when we lived in Georgia we lived near the Ocmulgee River and had a boat.
“Ocmulgee” turns out to not really be what you might want to name your boat: “The name of the river probably comes from a Hitchiti phrase oki mulgis meaning “bubbling water”" =-o
Comment by Forrest — June 13, 2009 @ 8:14 am
as long as the captain is the last on the ship she/he has done their job.
Its the rats I cant cope with.
Comment by dennis — June 13, 2009 @ 10:01 am
27. I don’t want to rule out the church as I see the benefits of what y’all term in the UK as a mixed economy of traditional and new forms of church (though I do confess that Fresh Expressions sounds a bit like a feminine hygiene product). There’s something to having accountability to each other knowing you are connected to a larger entity outside of ourselves or else you end up with a Todd Bentley type scenario – I’ve seen some really amazing folks in recent memory morph into religious rock stars where they not Christ is the entity being worshiped. (No I’m not naming names but go to Greenbelt or come to the US for a bit and you’ll see some of this in action.) At its best the church provides an anchor so we don’t go all adrift but at it’s worst, it’s ballast that brings us all down.
Also, I’m the last one to set up emergent as the way to go forward – my experience has been that given human nature, folks will eventually form some kind of a hierarchical structure that if left unchecked resembles a Lord of the Flies scenario. Take Jon’s cartoon – if those lifeboats were left up to their own devices without any connection to the global body of believers, my “hunch” is that eventually someone will assume the role of the leader and that over time, the lifeboat will morph into the personality set by the leader or they will mutiny and put someone else in charge. Then they’ll start fighting with the other lifeboats to see who is the best at saving the church and you get the gist. Better to have them maintain contact with each other so they can realize that we’re all in this boat together (I know cheesy metaphor but I couldn’t resist.):-)
Speaking of community, I’ll be in the UK a bit In July Oxford on the 2-5, Stansted on the 5th (sleeping at the airport)and then London the 12-14th (leaving in the early am). If anyone is around and would like to connect, shoot me an email at bgthedoor@aol.com. (Sorry if this got off topic in any way – I will be back in 2010 and definitely at Greenbelt but this year I was asked to go to Slot.)
Comment by beckyG — June 13, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
Does it need God saying ‘gotcha!’?
Currently reading ‘Breakout’ by Mark Stibbe and Drew Walker, on St. Andrews Chorleywood changing their church structures to more of a ‘lifeboat’ model, and they use lots of seafaring imagery. They use the image of a taskforce: a group of boats with a command ship, but where the individual boats have their mission, and go off and do it.
‘Fresh Expressions sounds a bit like a feminine hygiene product’ nice one Becky.
Comment by David Keen — June 13, 2009 @ 7:53 pm
David – Hope you didn’t think I was too rude and gross. My mind is twisted, I admit it. But I like to think I’m in good company here.
Becky
Comment by beckyG — June 14, 2009 @ 3:37 am
If it is the church or if it is our own lives…….is there not but 1 single life boat which we need? JESUS
Comment by bubbybird — June 14, 2009 @ 3:49 am
In the original post on Robb’s blog the Church isn’t sinking it’s just not moving and the life boats aren’t escaping they’re pulling the church along.
Without the larger boat in that image the lifeboats couldn’t survive for very long. they need the security and support offered by the bigger boat.
The bigger boat is stranded and so needs the propulsion of the smaller boats pulling it along until it once again catches it’s wind. At which point the life boats will need to return to the bigger ship quickly so as not to risk being left behind
Comment by duttyo — June 14, 2009 @ 11:53 am
hey, that is an excellent point you make there duttyo.
Comment by Forrest — June 14, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
Andrew’s post (No. 19) said,
“The Church is like the Ark, sometimes it stinks but if you get out you’ll drown”
Yes, he put ’stinks’ instead of ’sinks’ and no one seems to have noticed. Freudian slip, Andrew?
Comment by Tiggy — June 14, 2009 @ 9:28 pm
From the blog comment, it seems the large ship is not sinking but just dead in the water and the lifeboats are not abandoning the ship but actually staying connected and pulling it forward.
Comment by Rick — June 15, 2009 @ 4:03 pm
I think the full up lifeboats already left while the vicar was asleep. He’s saying ‘Man the lifeboats’ but they are already manned and drifting away.
Wow, can’t believe I’ve just added to this minute analysis of the cartoon. Maye it should be hung in a gallery for art critics and historians to ponder over.
Comment by Tiggy — June 15, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
Typical – I’m in Africa when the party starts.
Jonathan – “A question that Robb’s post raises for me is whether or not the emerging ought to be seen as merely saving the inherited.”
This relies upon the premise that the inherited church is static. It isn’t. It has always been an evolving and emerging beast with movement. It moves slowly but it moves slowly never the less. It can be a lively and vibrant beast and it serves the bridegroom as well as it can. The EC is still a small movement on the fringes. It always amazes me that some members of the minority movement are willing to sink a ship carrying millions of faithful people.
beckyG – “At its best the church provides an anchor so we don’t go all adrift but at it’s worst, it’s ballast that brings us all down.”
Can I get an ‘Amen’? Preach it sister!
I wonder how long one of the little lifeboats would last on the raging seas by itself…
I wonder why we don’t set out to cross the Atlantic in rubber dingys from the start.
“Fresh Expressions sounds a bit like a feminine hygiene product”
And this from the land of the fanny pack!
Duttyo – “Without the larger boat in that image the lifeboats couldn’t survive for very long. they need the security and support offered by the bigger boat.”
Damn – just read on and realise now that you have said the same things I was thinking
Fools seldom differ 
Comment by Robb — June 17, 2009 @ 3:23 pm
[...] have been away, Jon has done a cartoon based upon my last post. Typical that I miss the conversation by being on another [...]
Pingback by I am Alive!! « Muffinmn0302’s Weblog — June 17, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
No, they need to get away fast before the suction of it sinking pulls them down too. I was surprised when that didn’t happen in the film ‘Titanic’.
Hey, dyou think the band will stay on board to the last playing ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’?
If it does, then they need to get away even faster…
Comment by Tiggy — June 17, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
I like the cartoon! Interestingly, Martyn Percy has a quite different take on the state of the church – apparently its not sinking. I’m not sure I entirely buy his argument, but its worth lisetning to: http://www.peat.me.uk/2009/06/13/are-the-only-growing-churches-evangelical/
Comment by Mark — June 21, 2009 @ 9:02 pm