[Oe List ...] Fwd: Re: THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT

Tue Oct 4 14:16:01 PDT 2016

So vast conversation....and welcomed notes from far and near. (this is a long email...) 

Our personal, family and collective commitments to re-articulate and spread the Word as a teaching order through RS-I, the Academy etc. drove us into our community reformulation work with passion and zeal that is still jolting to people who are now hearing our story for the first time. 

Eunice and I spent 7 years in Indonesia and Malaysia as the transition toward direct community focus was rising and engagement with local churches was fading. The government in KL was reading and censoring our snail copies of the Global Order Report with black markers...so we knew that any high profile church work would set us up to be send out of the country. LENS was on the move and soon the band of 24 Human Development Projects became all consuming. In Kelapa Dua HDP we had Christians and Muslims, Internationals and Indonesians, agnostics and Australians :-) on our staff. For about 4 years we used a secular language morning liturgy and tons of songs to help sustain our staff. It worked, but never felt like a sustainable spirit breakthrough. More powerful were global fast days, spirit conversations and writing of new songs in Indonesian which had great ownership across the village-based teams. For a while we continued to do a common meal on Sundays for the global staff, and usually were open to Muslim staff joining in. Too dangerous...the village leaders were passive, but watching. So gradually our traditional symbol system disappeared from our daily corporate practice. Did we collapse? No, but that was not really the issue. The compassion and care for villages with 50% infant mortality rates called forth our best and we invented incredible depth in social methods, and engagement strategies for communities. 

We also had taught many International Training Institutes (ITI)s across Asia to "World Churchmen" and Women :-) so we were able entice some mission oriented Indonesian church leaders to join in the work in local Muslim villages. Eunice and I were married in a church in Jakarta with the Daily Office in two languages...and one of the members donated truckloads of bricks for the community center and staff residence that we built in Kelapa Dua. To be fair, we never really closed the loop with local churches and our connections gradually diminished. So, many of us continued to be sustained by the Word - albeit incognito - as we focused on community and then organizational transformation efforts. 

Fast forward to Western Presbyterian Church in DC 2016. Eunice and I are two moths into a six month contract as facilitators to design and conduct a planning process which aims to inspire a shift from pastor-led to laity-led community - reshaping of ministries and structures through engagement in listening sessions, a planning retreat, congregational 'festivals' one of which is a launching event of newly shaped teams in January. 

This effort depends more on the traditional vehicles for carrying the Word into the mix, like Sunday worship etc. but the power of the ToP methods adds a powerful push that we had barely touched on in the LCX days 40 years ago. Nothing can quite replace the corporate support of a Galaxy of committed colleagues, so we are exploring links to other churches and community groups to widen the net of engagement and hopefully sustainability. 

Two last thoughts: 

1) The USAID officer in Ujung Pandang, Indo. who was very supportive, once said…”you guys are doing important work in the villages, but I doubt if you can replicate yourselves, walk away and have the effort be sustained.” He was basically right, and the deep issue at that time was the source of the sustaining power of the Word in the lives of new people who joined the journey in the post-church renewal years. 

2) Now, we long-timers are gradually planning our retirements and funerals and we are mentoring young people who have come to us via ToP courses and consulting / facilitation services. Some have strong faith roots, others more social concern, and some are seeking a career path. The revolving door is alive and well…both encouraging and discouraging as people come and then move on. Mysteriously we are sustained in being! Perhaps we underestimate the long-term reverberations of our work. Perhaps not. The Mystery will write our final stories. 

Thanks for getting this far down the email J . 

Best regards to you Zoe and Ken Barley, let’s get together sometime soon. 

Grace and Peace, Sherwood and Eunice 

OE" <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> 
To: oe at lists.wedgeblade.net 
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2016 10:19:34 AM 
Subject: [Oe List ...] Fwd: Re: THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone 

-------- Original message -------- 
From: Zoe Barley <zbarley at earthlink.net> 
Date: 2016/10/03 12:41 PM (GMT-07:00) 
To: James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com> 
Cc: zbarley at earthlink.net 
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT 

Yes, I suspect we are all still at it - according to age, ability, and conditions. And such work must go on, even when it is ephemeral. 

But I'm concerned about Spong's challenge. He would yet attempt to renew the church. We began the work in the Order of imagining - and practicing - a wholly new liturgy. Is that where to begin? This is not exciting or immediately rewarding work - if ever - and it is not transformational in the first instance. I do not know who or what group is able to respond. Perhaps the Order is too vested in the community work to now turn back to the church. But I can't see that any such work can be sustained without the Word in some form. 

Zoe 

-----Original Message----- 
From: James Wiegel 
Sent: Oct 3, 2016 9:03 AM 
To: zbarley 
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT 

How does the beginning of Ecclesiastes go? Emptiness Emptiness says the speaker, emptiness, all is empty. What does man gain from his labor?? 

And, even that " internal strength and depth of belief to create the renewed dynamic in society" seemed to slip away . . . Bill and Carol Schlessinger are still at it with Projecto Vida in El Paso . . . 
Jim Wiegel 
“If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy 

401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 
623-363-3277 
jfwiegel at yahoo.com 
www.partnersinparticipation.com 

Upcoming ToP training opportunities in Arizona 

More info on: 

ToP® Facilitation Methods 
ToP® Strategic Planning : 
Mastering the Technology of Participation 

Register on line / see the ToP National Schedule 
AICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses 

The AZ ToP® Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, of every month, 1-4 pm, at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003 

From: zbarley <zbarley at earthlink.net> 
To: James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com> 
Cc: "zbarley at earthlink.net" <zbarley at earthlink.net> 
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2016 6:29 AM 
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT 

We were certainly aware, first as priors in Cleveland, then as Galaxy pastors in Denver, that the church renewal plan wasn't working. 
And with Spong it's no sure thing, despite the ages of existence, that the church wants, realizes the urgency of, renewal today. Yet I have seen the community renewal projects I have worked on all run their course and fade away. The Order had the internal strength and depth of belief to create the renewed dynamic in society that was once called church. I know of no other entity who can do it. 

Zoe 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone 

-------- Original message -------- 
From: James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com> 
Date: 2016/10/02 9:40 PM (GMT-07:00) 
To: zbarley <zbarley at earthlink.net>, Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> 
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT 

Well, that is a good and interesting question, Zoe. And probably many people might have answers . . 

Here are a couple possible ones that come to my mind. 

The Fifth City Project and, later human development projects and town meetings had a lot more visceral excitement for us than the slow work of congregational renewal. This might have been more particularly true for us younger, non clergy folks who came right after you all . . . 

The Local Church Experiment with Galaxies and all did not produce exciting enough results to be sustained, and we never got sufficiently strong and widespread support from the denominational heirarchies to keep it going. It may well also have been the case that the "risks" that the Galaxy leadership and clergy families in the order and movement sort of derailed their career prospects in Ecclesiastical circles. 

God chose fundamentalism and the charismatic approach over existential theology. I was struck, travelling cross country several years ago, on 2 lane highways, that it seems as though only the conservative churches have had heart and passion to root themselves in many local places. Music and broadcast christianity as well. 

With our focus on "globality", staying within the framework of Historical Christianity became increasingly relative as we engaged in countries not dominantly Christian 

In looking at old documents, like the Declaration of the Spirit Movement, I can see one could say that the primary concern was to address the "cultural revolution of the 20th century", ("renewal of the church FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD") 
Even the contextual documents on the local church describe it as an anthropological phenomenon and not a Christian reality 

>From a practical (and economic) perspective, at some point, participation in RS-1 peaked and we needed something else to keep the "movement" moving. While we talked of ourselves as an "Order" -- Religious Order, Historical Order, Global Order, seems we depended a lot on keeping momentum going. Sustainability and slowness were less important than Expenditure and transformation. 

What is your take on it? 
Jim Wiegel 
“If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy 

401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 
623-363-3277 
jfwiegel at yahoo.com 
www.partnersinparticipation.com 

Upcoming ToP training opportunities in Arizona 

More info on: 

ToP® Facilitation Methods 
ToP® Strategic Planning : 
Mastering the Technology of Participation 

Register on line / see the ToP National Schedule 
AICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses 

The AZ ToP® Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, of every month, 1-4 pm, at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003 

From: zbarley <zbarley at earthlink.net> 
To: James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com>; Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> 
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 4:35 PM 
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT 

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