Category Archives: social action
What’s in your hand? Rick Warren
Rick Warren is the author of the book, The Purpose Drive Life, which has sold over 25 million copies in the US alone and many more worldwide and which has been translated into over 50 languages. Here, he speaks to the TED conference about wealth, fame and happiness:
Like this:
Rob bell on the creative process
Notes from Rob Bell’s talk on the creative process at Greenbelt Festival. Brackets are mine.
Creativity starts with how you see the world
1. God is already present – first assumption. At every time you’re on holy ground learn to observe.
2. Capture the moment remember. Write things down. Take note. Take a photo.
Turn your edit button off until the thing is written/ or out of the brain. Get it out first then edit.
It nay be rubbish but unless you get it out you’ll never know.
3. You make stuff because you have to, they’re in you. (passion and need?). Youdfont have control over how it is received. The reward is not that it is received well but that you were able to create it. (God given creativity accomplished)
4. creativity is exhausting. That’s ok and it is a cost of creativity. Take a break if or when ideas don’t come.
Questions. Creativity doesn’t have to be written or artistic. Could be organisational. (Just following spirit really)
I did then ask a question about church-planting, and, in particular how he planted his church, but he didn’t really expand on the beginnings of his church any more than he did in Velvet Elvis – namely, that he was an associate pastor in another church and a group of them thought there was a need for a church plant. They were offered the use of warehouse building for the rent of $1 a year, and five weeks later they began. Velvet Elvis says that on the first week nearly 1000 people turned up. I was a little disappointed that he didn’t go into more detail on what happened in those 5 weeks.
Like this:
An open letter to Cadbury’s
Dear Cadbury’s
The name of Cadbury’s is known thought the UK and the world as synonymous not only with quality confectionery but also with a deep concern for the world. It was with this concern through the Christian Quaker roots of the company that led to the formation of the town of Bourneville for Cadbury’s workers – formed with Christian principles of social justice at the centre. This was done at a time when most companies were paying very little attention to the social well-being of their workers. In 2009 I rejoiced to hear that Cadbury’s was taking it’s Christian roots and social concern seriously when it announced that Dairy Milk was to go fairtrade – the chocolate certainly tastes a lot better to me without the bitter taste of injustice!
However, I am disappointed today to see advertising for the Cadbury’s Creme egg stepping away from the Christian roots of the company. The slogan “Creme Egg season is here” is misleading. The season that is here is called Easter – it is the season that Christians, including those who began the great company of Cadbury’s, remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is because Jesus offers a new and transformed life to all who follow him (as your founder knew) that the symbol of the egg – which gives new life – was chosen to represent the season of Easter. Hence, the Creme Egg (and all other eggs at this time of year) are a symbol of the season – the Christian season of Easter. We enjoy eggs at this time of year only because of this.
I do hope you will consider revising your advertising to be more in keeping with the principles that Cadbury’s was founded on.
I will continue to enjoy Cadbury’s fairtrade products and I look forward to an expansion of the scheme into other product areas.
With every blessing as you celebrate Easter
Cities which lose their heart.
General Motors did not invent the motor car, but they certainly perfected how to mass produce and sell them. Founded in 1908 when there were only 20,000 vehicles in the entire USA, they quickly outsold the already established pioneer of the industry, Ford. Throughout the years they acquired the Pontiac, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Opel, Vauxhall, and more recently the Saab brands. Yet the company that at one time was selling over 50% of all cars sold globally is now going through a tough time. Despite being loaned over $50 million from the US government, last month it slipped into bankruptcy protection measures and has been forced to close factories, sell off some brands and discontinue others.
If you go to GM headquarters in Detroit, you can still see the iconic towers of the Renaissance Center shining with all their corporate sheen. They are still in use as the company restructures. But if you go to the outskirts of town the decline is more evident. Factories razed to the ground, warehouses gutted and graffitied, whole communities in decay. The auto industry was the centre of these communities and, in some cities, was the only major employer. Now, according to one BBC correspondent, people are asking “What is the point of Detroit without the motor industry?”
Growing up in North East England in the 1980′s, I have seen this before. The rivers Tyne, Wear and Tees used to be major centres of shipbuilding, at one point building two of every five ships produced in the world. Last month the last remaining shipbuilder on the Tyne moved it’s production to India; Swan Hunter was responsible for building ships such as HMS Illustrious and RMS Carpathia which rescued some of the survivors of the Titanic. It’s was a similar story for pit towns in Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland, counties which are now littered with small towns with no industry. In the globalised world that we are living in, it is inevitable that industries will move as other countries become able produce things more cheaply. But it still leaves towns and cities such as Detroit which feel like their communities have been destroyed and their hearts and souls have been ripped out of them. We are left asking “What is the point of such towns now?”
In many cases, new technologies and new employment sectors will rise up and provide employment, as has happened in the North East. They usually don’t offer a new centre to the community, but they provide jobs nonetheless. Regardless, cities always have a point, because they are made of people and people are important. However, people derive their importance not from the jobs they do, or the place they live but from God and from each other. When God chose to create people, he put them together in the Garden of Eden. Also, His final vision of this earth is of a heavenly city – a place where people are together, interacting and working, but crucially, the centre of this heavenly city is God himself in Christ. Revelation 21 describes the vision that the apostle John was brought of this city – “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Rev 21:22) God is in the centre as the source of and focus for the community.
Of course, out earthly cities fail to live up to that vision. They can often be difficult places with lots of social issues which need to be addressed. They often lack a centre or are centred around systems that will ultimately fail. But although all empires, nations, and corporations will someday fall, God is the author of history and he will remain. This is a truth for these towns and for our own. Church congregations might be small in some places but they can still point towards the God who is the author of history and can live lives worshipping and witnessing, in keeping with the eschatological vision of Revelation 21. They can be God’s hands and feet, offering hope and support in communities that are grieving a lost identity and pointing towards the One who gives purpose and who will never fail.
Other thoughts welcome.
