Fire at The Simple Way

Many of you personally know or have heard about Shaine Claiborne and his work at The Simple Way community.

Early Wednesday morning, a 7-alarm fire destroyed an abandoned warehouse in the Philadelphia neighborhood where Shane Claiborne and the community lives. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer:

"The five-story brick building, near the intersection of Allegheny and Kensington Avenues, was reported in flames at 3:41 a.m. It took two hours - and about 170 fire fighters with 40 engines and 15 ladder trucks - to get the fire under control."

The Simple Way’s Community Center and a number of neighbors' houses were also burned. The Simple Way community reported on its blog

Despite this developing tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm’s way.

"The Simple Way has lost a community center that was home to our Yes! And... after-school program, community arts center, and Cottage Printworks t-shirt micro-business as well as to two of our community members. Community members Shane Claiborne and Jesce Walz have lost all of their belongings, the Yes! And... after-school studio and library were ruined, and community member Justin Donner’s Cottage Printworks equipment and t-shirts were destroyed."

In response, the community has established an emergency relief fund for The Simple Way and for those in the neighborhood who lost their homes. In the spirit of Paul’s admonition to the church in Romans 12:13, "Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers," I encourage you to contribute through the link below and to remember the community and their neighbors in prayer.

Rebuilding Fund - For The Simple Way community, a fund has been established to help community members recover their losses and begin to decide what to do next. This will also support the projects of The Simple Way community like the community gardens, Cottage Printworks, Yes! And..., and other things in and around Potter Street. To donate to the Rebuilding Fund, please put "TSW-Rebuilding Fund" in the box on the online form.

Kensington Families Fund - For the families on Potter Street, H Street, and Westmoreland whose lives have been disrupted by this fire, a fund to support these families has been established. This money will go directly to families in our neighborhood. To donate to the Kensington Families Fund, please put "TSW-Kensington Families Fund" in the box on the online form.

Donate Online - You can donate online through a partner organization, EAPE. It is extremely important that you put EITHER "TSW-Rebuilding Fund" or "TSW-Kensington Families Fund" in the memo box of the form. Tax-deductible donations can be made here.

The life of The Simple Way community is an inspiration to many of us. Shane has described their life in one of Philadelphia’s poorest neighborhoods this way: "We narrowed our vision to this: love God, love people, and follow Jesus." In their time of need, we can show our love of God and the community by coming to their aid. I urge you to give as generously as you can.

Special kudos to Chick-Fil-A

I fogot I wanted to give special kudos to Chick-Fil-A for providing breakfast (free of charge) for all the youth workers each morning, as well as providing free drinks and snacks throughout the day. They were absolutely phenomenal servants to the youth workers throughout the week! THANKS!!!

ICHTHUS '07

Spent the weekend at ICHTHUS, our local Christian music festival, with 18,000 of my closest friends. :-) The video is from the closing concert. It was incredible!

Our seminary sponsors a tent for youth workers during the three days. Over 1400 youth workers registered with us to participate in the activities. We provide morning devotions, seminars, training, spiritual formation, counseling, and just a place to hang out and relax. It's a great time, and I get to talk and counsel with youth workers from Michigan to Alabama about what God is doing in their lives, and the lives of their kids. I had the privilege of leading morning devotions each day.

Youth Ministry as a Practical Theology, part 3

In the last post, I described the traditional method of theology as a second order discourse. However, I aruged that a first order discourse is needed. Here I will begin to argue for that first order discourse, commonly known as practical theology.

While Barthian theology is still present in modern theology, many contemporary commentators (see for example, Anderson, 2001; Browning, 1991; and Dean, 2001) believe that Barth’s view is only partially right. True practical theology, according to these folk, starts with practice, then goes to theory (theology) and then ultimately back to practice. Or to put it more accurately, it goes from “present theory-laden practice to a retrieval of normative theory-laden practice to the creation of more critically held theory-laden practices” (Browning, p. 7).

What sets practical theology apart from the other three traditional disciplines in theological education (Biblical studies, Systematic theology, and Church History), and what I find most compelling is that it's grounded theological reflection. In other words, practical theologians attempt to deal with issues that are a part of life in the world, not to solve abstract theoretical problems. Of course, practical theology is not the only type of theology that is grounded; rather, it is just the most committed to being grounded.

Browning argues that all theology is practical in the sense that practical thinking is “the center of human thinking and that theoretical and technical thinking are abstractions from practical thinking” (Browning, p. 8). While practical theology is intimately connected to the practices of ministry, it is NOT limited to the practices of professional church ministers. Practical theology assumes that we live our convictions about who God is and how God works in the world, and that we practice our theology most faithfully when we do it on purpose.

In the next post, I will begin to explore some possibilities of what it looks like when we practice our theology on purpose.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson. R.S. (2001). The Shape of Practical Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Browning, D. S. (1991). A Fundamental Practical Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Dean, K.C. (2001). “Fessing Up: Owning Our Theological Commitments” in Dean, K. C; Clark, C; Rahn, D. (eds.) Starting Right: Thinking Theologically About Youth Ministry. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.