This used to be a community blog, now we just use it for a podcast feed for our weekly worship gatherings (but we left the old stuff here in case you want to browse).
Email us if you want to know more, come for a visit, invite us your way, or just gab. Our website has a lot of information and some pictures of the people, places and things that make up the VC tribe
Our sometimes-updated podcast feed for Weekly Worship Gatherings:
Archives
Thursday
Cores and Edges
I was really trying not to post today, really! I've said enough lately. Kevin has really important stuff that you should read - its over here and here. If you care about VC you should read both of his posts (that's not meant to guilt you into it, but to say that I think what he says is extremely important to our journey).
That said, I do have something to post - it ties in with previous posts on the idea of a "Core" within VC. I discovered this book today:
Cores and Edges: How you can shape your church
by: Peter Renner
Paul Fromont talks about it in an article on TheOoze: Belonging and Not Belonging: The creative margins.
This other guy, Jerry Hampton, has this to say about it:
"Cores and Edges - is a guide book for every Christian to take with them as their church is reshaped by either deliberate restructuring or by relentless forces and pressures placed upon it. Whatever your church is becoming it must face the need to deal with its Cores and Edges. A core is that vital shape around which all the rest must hold together. The edges are the interface with the world. The core is the only really important structure a church must have. If it is mushy, or soft, or rotten, or scared, or hard, it will not produce the edge that Jesus showed to the world. The author maintains that a solid core and soft edges is the 'Jesus shape' for you as a Christian, and for your church."
Seems applicable for VC, huh? We've done a good job of having open edges, I think we need to spend a bit (not an inordinate or obsessive amount) of time on our core. What does hold us together (see Chad's post below)? What are the identifying marks of our community of faith?
by the way, you can buy the book from Potter's House Books (though perhaps Bill could hook you up as well). --------------------------------
That said, I do have something to post - it ties in with previous posts on the idea of a "Core" within VC. I discovered this book today:
Cores and Edges: How you can shape your church
by: Peter Renner
Paul Fromont talks about it in an article on TheOoze: Belonging and Not Belonging: The creative margins.
This other guy, Jerry Hampton, has this to say about it:
"Cores and Edges - is a guide book for every Christian to take with them as their church is reshaped by either deliberate restructuring or by relentless forces and pressures placed upon it. Whatever your church is becoming it must face the need to deal with its Cores and Edges. A core is that vital shape around which all the rest must hold together. The edges are the interface with the world. The core is the only really important structure a church must have. If it is mushy, or soft, or rotten, or scared, or hard, it will not produce the edge that Jesus showed to the world. The author maintains that a solid core and soft edges is the 'Jesus shape' for you as a Christian, and for your church."
Seems applicable for VC, huh? We've done a good job of having open edges, I think we need to spend a bit (not an inordinate or obsessive amount) of time on our core. What does hold us together (see Chad's post below)? What are the identifying marks of our community of faith?
by the way, you can buy the book from Potter's House Books (though perhaps Bill could hook you up as well). --------------------------------