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DESIRE
The desire of TheOOZE is to create environments where church leaders (traditional teachers/theologians as well as emerging storytellers/artists) can converse about and collaborate on resources and experiences for the broader faith community. This is done by providing places for people to gather and communicate both online and offline about how to be the story of Christ to our emerging culture.
THOUGHTS
- See faith as a journey, not a destination
- Reintroduce the power of art
- Create experiential learning
- Take full advantage of technology
- Look to be surprised by the non-traditional voices
- Promote collaboration and shared resources
- “Unpackage” rather than “re-package” theology
- Embrace the essences of the story of Christ
- Interact with the broadest network of faiths
- Widen our influence through use of the Internet
- Deepen our influence through face-to-face gatherings
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TheOOZE is a website dedicated to the emerging Church culture, and organizes the premiere annual event for this audience, called Soularize. Over the past six years TheOOZE has developed a community that captures the ethos of the emerging Church movement. Our site and events hold the tensions between creativity and information, theologians and artists, traditional and new voices.
So what is TheOOZE’s “DNA?”
It comes from the VISION and PASSION of Spencer Burke and Malcolm Hawker who are part of the community of the emerging Church. We built our own website, without hiring consultants and designers. Spencer's own checkbook and credit card were used to do the first Soularize event. We worked first out of our car, then Jack-in-the-Box, and now we operate out of Spencer's garage and Malcolm's loungeroom. That’s what we mean by passion that can’t be stopped. Besides passion,
TheOOZE is about:
- THE ARTS. We have a heart for the arts and want to revitalize art in the Church.
- CHRIST'S STORY. We desire to live out the call to "come follow me".
- EXPERIENCE. We help people understand that learning is experiential—through the heart as well as the head.
- COMMUNITY, COLLABORATION. We want people to take initiative, connect, create community, learn and grow. So we empower and trust others to be part of TheOOZE, and to own any part of it with their passion.
- GRASS ROOTS. TheOOZE began as a grass roots organization, so our success has always hinged on the ability to communicate that passion in the most raw and authentic ways.
- AUTHENTICITY, HONESTY. We are not driven by dollars or fame or personal need. We are always trying to be on the edge and looking for the balance of how to effectively reach as many people as possible with as little control as possible, while still retaining our authentic purpose and community.
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