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CONSUMERISM

CONSUMERISM. ‘CHOICE’ THE CORE VALUE ADDICTIVE - Desire an end in itself. AROUSING AND MEETING SHORT TERM NEEDS SHOPPING FOR ‘SENSATIONS’. SHOPPING AS A PICTURE OF LIFE. FOR IDENTITY ‘LIFESTYLE CHOICE’ FOR TRUTH - ‘BUY INTO’ A BELIEF ‘PICK AND MIX’ A WORLDVIEW.

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CONSUMERISM

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  1. CONSUMERISM • ‘CHOICE’ THE CORE VALUE • ADDICTIVE - Desire an end in itself. • AROUSING AND MEETING SHORT TERM NEEDS • SHOPPING FOR ‘SENSATIONS’

  2. SHOPPING AS A PICTURE OF LIFE • FOR IDENTITY • ‘LIFESTYLE CHOICE’ • FOR TRUTH - ‘BUY INTO’ A BELIEF • ‘PICK AND MIX’ A WORLDVIEW

  3. BOTH CONNECTED AND FRAGMENTED

  4. GLOBALISATION • THE WORLD SEEMS SMALLER • WE ARE MORE AWARE OF THE WORLD AS A WHOLE • GLOBAL PROCESSES MAKE A LOCAL DIFFERENCE

  5. COMMUNITY SPLITS FROM LOCALITY • ‘The communities of the Global Age generally have no local centre. People living in the same street will have fleeting relationships with each other, having widely differing lifestyles and household arrangements, and have common interest only in the maintenance of certain shared facilities they take for granted.’ Martin Albrow

  6. PLACES AREN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE! - Porous boundaries • ‘All boundaries are tenuous, frail and porous. … Geographical discontinuity no longer matters.’ Zygmunt Bauman • In any week 25% of families will be visiting absent parents, often at the weekend.

  7. ‘SOCIAL CAPITAL’ HALVES IN FOUR GENERATIONS - ‘Bowling Alone’ • 'Without at first noticing, we have been pulled apart from one another and from our communities over the last third of the (20th) century.' Robert Putnam • 'Members of any given generation are investing as much time in organizational activity as they ever were, but each successive generation is investing less.'

  8. FAST AND FLUID

  9. LIQUID MODERNITY • ‘A flexible identity, a constant readiness to change and the ability to change at short notice, and an absence of commitments of the “till death us do part” style appear to be the least risky of conceivable life strategies.’ Zygmunt Bauman

  10. THROWAWAY SOCIETY • ‘A throwaway society meant more than just throwing away produced goods, but also being able to throw away values, lifestyles, stable relationships ... and received ways of doing and being.’ David Harvey • ‘Your car has an MOT every year, so why not your partnership?’ Hugh Wilson

  11. SELF CONSTRUCTION • 'Identities are constructed through consuming. • We shape our malleable image by what we buy - our clothing, our kitchens, and our cars tell the story of who we are (becoming).’ David Lyon

  12. VULNERABLE

  13. POWERFUL BUT VULNERABLE • FOOT AND MOUTH • HIV / AIDS • THE MOOD OF THE MARKET ‘A global casino?’ • ASSAULT ON THE TWIN TOWERS

  14. THE PASTORAL COST OF A WEB WORLD • THE PRESSURE OF CHOICE • 'Depression, eating disorders, suicide and attempted suicide have all become more common.’ • Young people now the most vulnerable to suicide. (Putnam) • ‘Constantly having to live in a temporary world.’ Richard Scace

  15. SELF CONTAINED

  16. CHANGING STORIES • WE USED TO HAVE A STORY ABOUT MAKING THE WORLD BETTER. • NOW WE HAVE A STORY ABOUT MAKING OURSELVES UP!

  17. THE LOSS OF REFERENCE POINTS • ‘There are few if any reference points left which could reasonably be hoped to lend a deeper and longer-lasting significance to the moments we live. …… Partnerships, families, skills, places of work, neighbourhoods, possessions, styles and habits.’ Zygmunt Bauman

  18. I AM THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD • ‘History shrinks to the (eternal) present, and everything revolves around the axis of one’s personal ego and personal life.’ Ulrich Beck

  19. ‘Culture is now an organised diversity with little sense of defining centre.’Alan Roxburgh

  20. THE POINT OF BALANCE • No centre? • Our society cannot reach its deepest longings by the road it is traveling. • We know a better way • Not just a belief • But a new beginning • And a new way of living.

  21. Christian ministry offers an alternative • Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

  22. A CHANGING CHURCH

  23. GOD AND CHURCH IN A NETWORK SOCIETY

  24. THE DEATH OF CHRISTIAN BRITAIN - Callum Brown • ‘What is taking place is not merely the continued decline of organised Christianity, but the death of the culture which formerly conferred Christian identity upon the British people as a whole.’

  25. RELIGION AS LEISURE PURSUIT • ‘Religious activity has become, for an increasing proportion of the population, a leisure pursuit; one, moreover, which competes for the public's attention alongside all sorts of other pastimes. ' Grace Davie

  26. Current (or previous) church attendance or involvement Regular attenders – at least monthly(10%) Fringe- less than monthly(10%) Non Churched(40%) Open de-churched(20%) Closed de-churched(20%)

  27. OUR PEOPLE? • ‘The Anglican pattern of ministry, built around parish and neighbourhood, can lead to a way of thinking that assumes that all people – whether attending or not attending are basically ‘our people’. All people are God’s people, but it is an illusion to assume that somehow the population of England is simply waiting for the right invitation before they will come back and join us.’

  28. OUR PEOPLE? • The social and mission reality is that the majority of English society is not ‘our people’ – they haven’t been in living memory, nor do they want to be. The reality is that for most people across England the church as it is peripheral, obscure, confusing or irrelevant.’

  29. OUR PEOPLE • ‘The task is to become church for them, among them and with them, and under the Spirit of God to lead them to become church in their own culture.’

  30. 60/40 - the picture in 1997/8 Francis & Richter, “Gone but not forgotten” Within our reach as we are Out of reach Steven Croft, “Fresh Expressions”, 2004

  31. THE CHALLENGE • ‘Go to’ mission as well as ‘come to’ mission • ‘The change is to an outward focus: from a ‘come to us’ approach to a ‘we will go to you’ attitude, embodying the gospel where people are, rather than embodying it where we are, and in ways we prefer.’

  32. Celebrating and building on what is mission-shaped in traditional forms of church… the mixed economy …and finding new, flexible, appropriate ways to proclaim the Gospel afresh to those who do not relate to traditional ways

  33. CHANGE OF EMPHASIS • Unplanned consequences of other pieces of Christian ministry • Church where people are, not bridges to get people to church • Often lay led • Church more deeply related to daily life • Church when people can attend

  34. THE POINT OF BALANCE • To reconnect with the world • And reconnect the world with the gospel through mission

  35. MISSION-SHAPED CHURCH “We believe the Church of England is facing a great moment of missionary opportunity, and we recommend our report for the consideration of our church” Bishop Graham Cray, chair of the report working party

  36. A CHANGING MINISTRY

  37. A BIT CROWDED

  38. NOT A FORTRESS MENTALITY

  39. A MINISTRY DEFINED BY ITS CENTRE • Not by its boundaries. • Not a stepping stone to other ministries • Nor to be defended from other ministries • To be enriched by other ministries • To add something distinctive to other ministries

  40. Dig wells instead of building fences.

  41. A MINISTRY DEFINED BY ITS CONTEXT • Not by its past • But by its opportunities • In the hope of the Gospel

  42. THE CENTRE OF READER MINISTRY

  43. LOCAL LAY THEOLOGIANS • Biblically and theologically trained laity • Licensed ministers and teachers of the Gospel • Bridging Church and world

  44. LOCAL LAY THEOLOGIANS • 'In order to fulfill the vocation of ministry, the pastor has to be a practical theologian who is able to discern the meaning of the gospel within the particular context of his or her ministry.' John De Gruchy

  45. THE POINT OF BALANCE • Identify the world’s need • Identify the local church’s responsibility • Place yourself where the two meet • There lies the heart of Reader ministry

  46. THE CENTRE OF BALANCE OF READER MINISTRY • ‘Local lay theologians, bridging church and world, in a missionary church.’

  47. QUESTIONS FOR GROUPS • I have proposed that the centre of balance of Reader ministry should now be as • ‘A local lay theologian, bridging church and world, in a missionary church.’ • What do you think of that proposal? • Where is the centre of balance of your ministry as a Reader? • What would you like to change?

  48. WALKING THE TIGHTROPE ‘WITHOUT FALLING OFF’

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