A few people

The blog has passed through 200K hits which for something that started because I was bored in the Bodlein Library @ Vicar Factory is quite something.

Cookie's days is here to be a blessing so do tell people who you think it might bless.

Yesterday, I spent the morning with Alan Hirsch who is a sharp and very engaging fellow. He seems to really get the fact that we are living in post-Christendom (his big idea) and he is credited with coming up with the word 'missional' for which we will forgive him. His book 'The shaping the things to come' (2005 and since revised and updated) was helpful for me and he has also written 'The Forgotten Ways' and others. His latest is 'The Permanent Revolution' which he has co-written with Mike Breen, the UK's very own missional smissional man.

What on earth does missional mean? Well. Ask Alan

'It's not so much that the church has a mission but that the mission has a church'

'Discipleship is being more and more like Jesus'

One thing struck me right off the bat was when he spoke about Ralph Winter's idea of 'cultural distance'.

This is the idea that there are always barriers between us and the people we are trying to reach and the more barriers there are the more difficult is is (language, ethnicity, economics etc). That's not my thought though. My thought is that Ralph Winter managed to influence and mentor so many people and yet so few know who he is. I'll give you a couple of people he mentored: John Piper and Rick Warren (which is how they both met each other and became friends as you can learn here). There do seem just a few people who impact whole swathes of people and their thinking- Keller, McLaren, Driscoll, Wright, Piper, Stott and Nouwen to name a few. Or to name some from the past: Wesley, Booth, Calvin, Edwards and Owen.

I am no Ralph Winter but I like the idea of being an influence for good. It's why I blog and I hope some of the content here is a blessing and encouragement in the making of disciples. I also try to bring you lots of ideas from various sources and silos. I try to post here a variety of material from different theological camps and perhaps our problem in the church are our little isolated clubs. For example, this splendid chappy writes a brilliant blog that I read but you will note here he only reads Reformed blogs. He doesn't seem to read Cookies days sadly possibly because I do posts on Alan and he's probably not into Alan. Now I love reformed theology and think theology is beautiful (can theology warrant such a descriptor?) but I want to explore, be challenged by and learn from other perspectives and people who don't think what I think and I hope you do to. 

'Have many ideas and let them compete' 

Alan Hirsch 

Here here.

I also like Alan's definition of leadership which I have been mulling on.

'Leaders define reality for others' 

Alan Hirsch

I've more on this one but I'll stop now. 

P.S

Here's our 'Meet the Vicar' video which if something was ever destined not to go Viral this is it but you can have a little taste of my very ordinary clerical self as we're celebrating a double century of hits. Suffice to say I am no Alan Hirsch and the camera is indeed not kind to me- apologies. 

I plan to keep at the blog for another 100k hits as long as a few of you keep reading.