Blog archive February 2011

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19.02.11 / 01 / scalability in emergence

i was reading something about scalability of networks, and it reminded me of the self-similarity at all scales of fractals. so i wondered, what happens if we scale the internal structures of emerging church communities to denominational level? does this tell us what an emergent 'denomination' would look like? here are some diagrams to illustrate the idea. can we think about how to transition the existing denominations to a new format, just as we thought about how to transition existing churches? would this mean the end of 'broad churches'? or would new breadth develop between communities that are separated by current structures

Comments:

genius as ever!

jonny baker

very nice representation steve. i think you should publish a small booklet of your graphs someday..

it would be well for many communities to observe this fluidity.. i certainly see it here, but often it's seen in a somewhat negative light, losing members, changing doctrines, etc..

we all need to see ourselves and our communities as little dots.

hooray for dots.

tim westcott

it amuses me to present the things people think are negative as positive ;)) at the least they're facts that have to be worked with. at best they're evidence of life and growth.

i am contemplating doing a small booklet. as ever it's a case of getting round to it and finding the time to put it together.

steve

11.02.11 / 01 / leave

so now that my project has all but finished, i find that i have 3 weeks leave to take in the next 7 weeks [before the beginning of april when next year's leave starts]. this is because i spent so much time being ill last year.

08.02.11 / 01 / kodachrome

patrick j barrett was shooting his last roll of kodachrome in january, and his flickr set shows off its now-lost beauties, especially for shooting architecture on a sunny day. those intense blue skies and black shadows, perfect for brutalism and beloved of architectural magazines. the buildings doesn't look quite the same on a damp grey day. somebody needs to put a 'kodachrome' setting on digital cameras.

07.02.11 / 01 / the sabbath manifesto

the sabbath manifesto

and it's jewish! which strikes me as much better than if it were the latest management-guru thing. though you might say a sabbath is a sabbath.