A Couple of New Church Perspectives on May 21st

First, here's a little snippet from the Nunc Licet Bible Study, where Rev. Jonathan Rose explained briefly (before May 21st) why the end of the world wouldn't happen on May 21st. (Over 5000 views so far - not bad!)



And then here's another great video from Curtis Childs. This one is about the desire to to say, "Ha ha! I told you so!" to the people whose predictions about May 21st didn't come true. Honestly, you should just subscribe to his channel (offTheLeftEye) already.

A New Church Bible Study Website Project That's Gaining Some Steam

Back in March of last year I first heard from Brian David about a concept for a New Church Bible study website that he was working on with a couple of other people. One of the early experiments with the concept from around that time was internalword.com.

The project has now had a lot more thought put into it and they've done some presentations to try to get funding for it. And so now, rather than have me try to explain the concept behind the site, I can just tell you to watch the fun, short, RSA Animate-Style video that they put together.



You can also find a bunch of documents about the project on PittsburghNewChurch.org, including some images of what the user interface might look like. A note about those images: they look like a bad site from the 90s but, never fear, Brian assures me that they were just to try to explain the concept and, when they make the site for real, they'll get professional design and UI help.

Anyway, I think it's a cool idea and I hope that they get the funding that they're looking for so that they can give it a try. It's definitely one of those projects that will only work if a lot of people get involved so, if it sounds interesting to you, be sure to like the New Christian Bible Study page on Facebook.

P.S. They also entered into the debate that Rob Bell's book has stirred up with a little video about the New Church idea of heaven and hell.

Live Video Streaming of Bryn Athyn Cathedral Services

The Bryn Athyn Cathedral has been streaming audio from their services for years. Now they're also offering live video streaming, using USTREAM.

You can find more information about their audio and video streaming options on the Live Services page of the Bryn Athyn Church website.

I haven't actually tried it out during a service but I have taken a look at the archives on Bryn Athyn Cathedral's USTREAM channel and I was impressed by the quality of the video. I was expecting it to be one badly positioned webcam, streaming grainy footage but, it looks like they've got at least 2 cameras that are well positioned to give pleasant shots of the service and the footage isn't too grainy, even in fullscreen mode.

Let me know if you've tried streaming a service live.

Here's a screenshot of Bryn Athyn Cathedral's USTREAM channel:

Nunc Licet Bible Study Now Available Online!

"Nunc Licet" is a Latin phrase which means "now it is allowable." This phrase was used by Swedenborg to describe how it is now allowable to enter into the truths of the Word with our understanding.

For this reason Rev. Jonathan Rose chose "Nunc Licet" as the name of a bible study he offers in Bryn Athyn PA, and recently also online.

Though I have never attended in person, I was very pleased to find that the class is now available online, both archived and live streamed. (The next live meeting is 7:30 pm on Wed April 6)

This class regularly receives great reviews. Why?

In addition to all that Rev. Rose brings personally, this class takes a fairly unique approach.

The approach is to look at "the bible, the whole bible and nothing but the bible, through a Swedenborgian lens, with the special purpose of experiencing the Lord in the text." Often in New Church circles, the writings of Swedenborg are studied directly, but in this case the attention remains firmly in the powerful, direct and often confusing teachings of the Old and New Testament.

Curtis Childs Wraps New Church Ideas in a Cool Video

Curtis Childs (who works for KidsLIVE) put together a cool little video called “How Do You Know God's Not in a Tree?” Here's his summary of it:

I don't understand the logic that says: “since I know a lot about something, I know everything about that thing.”

Curtis tells me that more videos are to come and, if you want to keep up with them, I'd recommend subscribing to his Youtube channel, offTheLeftEye.

The Loving Arms Mission Has a NEW Web Site

The Loving Arms Mission used to have a web site at lovingarmsmission.org. Unfortunately that site got hacked and so had to be taken down. But, now they have a couple of new sites.

Their main site is lamchildren.org. It's a nice looking site with plenty of pictures and information. It looks like much of the same information that was on the old site (if you happen to be familiar with that site).

They also have a Facebook group which you can join. Recently there were links to 3 videos about the Loving Arms Mission posted on the wall. I'll embed them below. They also have a blog (lovingarmsmissionblog.blogspot.com) which seems to be under construction.

Enjoy the videos!

The Next Journey Campaign

There's now information available about the next Journey campaign. (Journey campaigns are spiritual growth programs that involve sermons, small groups, and readings.) The title of the campaign is "Pause: Make Space for God." You can read a summary of the program on the Welcome page. You can also watch a 6 minute video in which Anna Woofenden and Rev. Mac Frazier introduce you to the program. And there's also a Program Overview page where you can get an overview of the content of the program week by week.

If you're new to the idea of Journey campaigns I recommend that you take a look at some of the other campaigns listed in the Spiritual Growth Program Materials section. If you go to the Program Materials page for last year's campaign, "Living Courageously," you can download a PDF of the workbook, listen to sermons, and look at Sunday School materials for it.

"Pause" is going to launch October 3, 2010 and January 30, 2011.

Dave Lindrooth: "We need to love the hell out of people."

I highly recommend that you check out Rev. Dave Lindrooth's blog, Dave Lindrooth's Church Growth Blog: A gathering place for support and mentorship in New Church Evangelism (www.newchurchweblog.org). I haven't had a chance to explore everything on his blog so I can't give you lots of recommendations of what to look at but I recommend that you start by watching the 4 minute video on his most recent post, "Let's Ramp Up the Love in this Church".

Evidence of the Need for Variety in Worship

I just watched a video of a talk that Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, The Tipping Point, and Outliers, gave at TED. It was about lessons we can learn from the breakthroughs that a food consultant made while helping Prego come up with the best spaghetti sauce. Watch the video and we'll talk afterward.



Being a minister-in-training who thinks far too much about worship services, Gladwell's conclusions got me thinking about variety in worship. In the past I think people approached the Writings in much the same way that food companies used to approach picking their spaghetti sauce formula—"What's the perfect formula for a worship service that will serve all people the best?"—when, in fact, there are lots of passages that say that variety perfects (e.g. Heaven and Hell 56; Arcana Coelestia 2385:5).

That said, I was interested to read an article in an evangelical magazine about the drawbacks of having a different worship service for each age group and the need for finding ways of bringing them together.

Interview with Jonathan Rose about Swedenborg

I found an interesting interview with Rev. Dr. Jonathan Rose about Swedenborg on YouTube. The interview was recorded in 2000 by Andy Nesky, the president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Theosophical Society, as part of his "Science and the Outer Streams" series.

[T]he show and its content were exceptional. Andrew Nesky's unique knowledge of subject matter coupled with an amazing guest list created a format that could objectively and intelligently address esoteric and non-traditional areas of human thought. Guests came from all over the world and represented diverse and important perspectives on philosophy, religion, spirituality and the paranormal.

(See Nesky's web site, esotericgateway.com, or his YouTube channel for more information.)

The interview is about 50 minute long. Like any unedited interview it rambles around a bit but it provides an interesting overview of Swedenborg's life and key teachings, with the interviewer providing some interesting context from other thinkers. I've embedded the first video below. If you don't have the time to watch the full thing, use the links and notes below to jump in where it looks interesting.



Part 1
- Introduction
- Summary of Swedenborg's life

Part 2
- Summary of Swedenborg's life
- Swedenborg's claim about talking with angels
- Should people try to duplicate Swedenborg's experience?

Part 3
- Different stages of spiritual awareness

Part 4
- The deaths and struggles necessary for growth
- Swedenborg didn't try to start a church organization
- Ornaments and poetry in Swedenborg's works

Part 5
- Disagreements with other Christian groups about the trinity and the books of Paul
- Gnostic gospels

Part 6
- Rules that Swedenborg used in approaching scripture
- The need to see things for yourself
- How to interpret scripture truly

Part 7
- The need to interpret all laws
- The establishment of New Church organizations

Part 8
- Conjugial Love and other works
- Wrap up

New Church LIVE So Far

Here's my understanding of where things are at this point and what you can find online.

Last Sunday they finished their first 4 week series, "Creation Works." You can watch the first 3 weeks of it online. They have a YouTube channel and a Vimeo channel. You might think that you might as well stick with YouTube because that's what you're familiar with, but Vimeo is actually better. Vimeo allows them to upload longer videos so you can watch a whole week's message in one video instead of in a series of 3 or 4 videos on YouTube. They have organized their YouTube videos into playlists now, which makes it easier, but Vimeo is still better because you don't have to watch through (or skip through) a minute of graphics at the beginning of each of the "Creation Works" videos. Also, because they don't have to chop things up they seem to put things up on Vimeo first.

Here's what you can currently watch online:

• "The Road Ahead" - This is their introduction to New Church LIVE.
• "Creation Works" part 1: "Light"
• "Creation Works" part 2: "Expanse"
• "Creation Works" part 3: "Heart"
• Kids LIVE promo - Kids LIVE is their kids program which is starting up in August sometime.
• Greg Simons Profile - This is a short video about one of the guys that volunteers in the parking lot.
• "Down to the River to Pray" - The music at New Church LIVE is awesome. Currently this is the only video online of the music.
• There are also two old promos - Pen Pals and another one.

Their new series, "A Tale of 3 Cities," started today.

That's about all I know. If you want regular updates follow them on Twitter (twitter.com/NewChurchLive) or check out their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/NewChurchLive).

Documentary About the Bright Future of the New Church in Africa

In the summer of 2008 Ron Schnarr and Caleb Schnarr traveled to West Africa to film a documentary on the New Church in Ghana and Togo. You can now watch the documentary they made, "Bright Future - A Documentary about the New Church in West Africa," online. They posted the videos to a Facebook group with the same name as the documentary. Whether you're on Facebook or not you can view the group by following that link. You can also go straight to the videos using the links below.

The documentary is 25 minutes long and has been broken up into 4 videos: video 1, video 2, video 3, and video 4. (Once you view video 1 you can click the Next button just above the top right corner of the video to see the next video.)

If you are inspired by the documentary, there's something you can do.

Want to support the New Church in Africa? You can start by buying our movie at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral book room or by writing us with a request for a copy. All proceeds will go to projects in West Africa such as a clinic and a vocational school. Send all donations and requests to:

Yes Africa Bright Future Documentary
Box 277
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

Thanks for supporting Africa!

The Largest New Church Organization You've Probably Never Heard of

Do you know what country has more New Church people than any other country in the world? It's not the United States. If the figures are correct, South Africa has over ten thousand more New Church people in it than the United States and Canada put together. Surprised? I was. I even lived in South Africa for 7 years and didn't have a clue there were so many other New Church people in the country. Here's the trick: I was only aware of General Church and Nova Hierosolyma societies but there's actually another whole New Church organization in South Africa.

That's the beginning of an article I wrote about the New Church of Southern Africa (NCSA) in the February 2007 issue (PDF) of BACON Bits (7-8).

I find the story of the NCSA fascinating. You can read a short version of it in my article or a longer version of it in Dr. Jane Williams-Hogan's article "Examples of Internationalization: The New Church in Africa" in Scribe of Heaven: Swedenborg's Life Work and Impact (317-335).

You can also read about the history of the NCSA in the August 2007 issue (PDF) of New Church Lifeline (9-11). The article also includes a description of what's happened in the organization in more recent years, a description of a number of events that took place while Rev. Ian Arnold (the author of the article) was there, and a number of photographs.

You can see a couple of photos and some wobbly footage of the headquarters of the NCSA from when I visited there in 2007 in the video below. The first part of the video shows footage of the Diepkloof New Church and preschool. The part about the NCSA starts at about 2:30.

Wayfarer's Chapel Appears in Sprint Commercial

The Wayfarer's Chapel (www.wayfarerschapel.org), which belongs to the Swedenborgian Church (swedenborg.org), was used in a Sprint commercial, "What if film crews ran the world?"

Keep Up to Date with New Church Live

If you're wondering what New Church Live is or what they're doing these days, there are a couple of new ways to get information.

They have a Facebook profile. You can access that here if you don't have a Facebook account. There are 3 videos there—a welcome video from the new pastor, Rev. Chuck Blair and 2 promos/advertisements. There are also details about an upcoming event on May 31st and you can ask any questions you have by posting them on the Wall.

You can also follow New Church Live on Twitter.

NewChurchWedding.com

For the last couple of years Rev. Chuck Blair has been doing weddings and pre-marital counseling for couples for people who get married at Cairnwood Mansion. He's now got a web site (newchurchwedding.com) where he outlines some of the fundamental New Church teachings about marriage, the requirements for a Cairnwood wedding, and what makes a New Church wedding different from a wedding in other churches.

The main thing to look at on the site are the 4 short videos.

More CaringForMarriage Videos

A little while ago I mentioned a couple of videos that Caring For Marriage made for promoting marriage. There are now two more. They look professional and they're funny, cute, and short. Enjoy!

Simple Lessons About Marriage from CaringForMarriage.org

The latest video made by the Caring For Marriage folks (caringformarriage.org) is up on YouTube. Like the 3 other Caring For Marriage videos (this one, this one, and this one) it has a simple metaphor and a simple message about marriage. If you don't get distracted by the low quality video and the other flaws you could find, there's a good point in each of them. I think it's useful to have these sorts of easily understandable metaphors for explaining simple truths about marriage.

Incidentally, on the Caring For Marriage web site you can find information about and register for the Caring For Marriage conference coming up on February 14th and 15th.

UPDATE: I've now embedded the videos in this post so you can watch them right here.

Merry Christmas from NewChurchLive.tv

A cool Christmas greeting from the NewChurchLive.tv team.

New Website for Bryn Athyn College of the New Church

On Monday Bryn Athyn College of the New Church launched its new website. In their news article about the new site they say,

The launch of our new website marks more than just a new layout; it demonstrates the College's emphasis on student perspectives by allowing current students to speak directly to potential students about the Bryn Athyn experience.

There are lots of videos throughout the site. Two of my favorites are the one on this page the one on this page.