Oct 01 2008
defining emergence
browsing the ooze blog I cam e across a link to this site which has compiled an extensive list of online definitions of the emerging church
Popularity: 26% [?]
May 29 2008
the power of what if
One of the most powerful lessons learned in my recent diversity training with Steve Robbins is the power of asking the question, what if? I have applied that learning to the recent conversations about race and the emergent ( not necessarily emerging ) church. So here are some what ifs that I am pondering.
What if the mental model of those anglos emergents unwilling to address race issue doesn’t allow them to see how limited their world view is?
What if they are just interpreting race though a limited cultural lens?
What if they are just falling in intentional intolerance because they can’t see the other options and don’t have all the information?
What if they haven’t critically examined their point of view?
What if we are all trying too hard to be nice?
What if we all buy into sub-conscious cultural messages?
What if some of us are just closed minded?
What if some of us are open minded when we don’t feel attacked?
What if there are many other what if around this conversation that I can’t even come up with?
Popularity: 17% [?]
May 08 2008
an undiscovered voice in the conversation
Recently i discovered a voice in the emergent conversation that I was not aware of, melvin bray.
His bio reads
I am a professional speaker and aspiring author. I am contributing the chapter “Reading the Prophets for Justice: How can we read the prophets to learn justice?” to An Emergent Manifesto of Justice [Baker Publishing: Emersion Books, February 2009]. I am seeking to broaden my audience with my regular contributions to God’s Politics blog (beyond those blogs I manage myself).
He has commented several times on the EV blog post on race. I am really interested to hear more of his perspective.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Nov 26 2006
toward a missional future
emergent, new monastic, emerging, organic, ancient future, missional church. I haven’t been completely comfortable with any of these current labels for evolving ways of being the church. As I have been re-imagining what it means to be a follower of Jesus in my current cultural context (urban,racially and socio-economically diverse) I’ve moved beyond emergent but had not named what that beyond was.
I was recently been asked to teach a class at a local seminary on the missional church. As I’ve been preparing for that I find myself growing increasingly more comfortable with identifying what I’m doing as missional. To be sure the missional label is not perfect and I can’t say I agree with every expression of missional but here are some things that appeal to my post emergent sensibility.
My developing view of the missional church is
- Cross cultural in its efforts
- intentional indigenous - culturally engaged but not culturally absorbed
- connecting with God who is already at work in our world
- incarnational proclamation of the gospel
- realigning or re-imagining all aspects of church life around God’s purposes
- culturally engaged but scripturally orthodox
- transforming community
- church planting reproduction
- creative and culturally relevant but connected to the historically church
Some language derived from Friends of missional
So as I move toward the missional future I’ve taken the huge leap of posting a friend of missional button in my side bar. A first of any kind of identifying button for emerging mosaic.
Share your ideas or thoughts on the missional church
Popularity: 47% [?]
Nov 20 2006
emerging church dead end?
It may be self serving but I am encouraged when I see others speaking out for a post emergent future for the emerging church. Here is a snippet of a review from a talk given by Jason Clark titled The Emerging Church: Another Dead-End or the Hope of the Church?
First, it must become a deeper church by valuing old, new and even Christian faith.
Second, following the example and work of such theologians as Stan Grenz, Jon Franke, Scott McKnight, and Ray Anderson, it must become a theological church by developing a theology robust enough not to be either threatened or co-opted by postmodernism.
Third, it must become a Biblically-informed church by reading and re-reading the Bible as the church- and culture- critiquing set of authoritative texts that it is.
Fourth, following the ancient church on the road to depth, it must become a creedal church, checking the individualistic impulse towards fashioning the church in the image of ourselves.
Fifth, it must become a confessional church, not to celebrate sectarianism, but to show the richness and vitality of a deeper church. “Maybe then,” says Jason, the emerging church’s legacy will be that it was “the response of the church catholic to our emerging culture … known for it’s vibrant ecumenical depth, with a life giving theology, rooted in a new Biblicism, growing counter to our individualized culture, as it affirms the creeds, with a plurality of local confessions from communities growing in faith, with new Christians handing their lives over to the way of Christ.” We can only hope the emerging church will have such an impact.
I couldn’t agree more with Jason’s assessment of an emerging future for the church. His observations address the tendency of many in the emergent conversation to act as it they are inventing the church all over again. Furthermore that re-invention tends toward the image of those who are doing the re-inventing that is to say white, liberal, male and academic. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of that it has not created space for the richness of the church which comes from its history and the diversity of its members.
That has unfortunately caused some to step out of or beyond “the conversation” having become frustrated with perceived the intransigence of the emergent hierarchy, (yes there is a hierarchy) around these issues. Thanks to Jason for being a bold and prophetic. Maybe his voice will be heard and stimulate where others have not.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Aug 10 2006
Slice of Laodicea: on the rampage again
I just noticed that Slice of Laodicea: is on the rampage again wiith their/his particular perspective on Christianity, recently he has attacked Christians doing yoga, Rob Bell, Willow Creek, and now all things emergenct in a critique of Anne Lamott for endorsing a book my Mary Willaimson. He included a link in his post to this blog as evidence. His issue Anne Lamott,
This enthusiastic bunch bash and trash anything and everything that doesn’t fit their very narrow view of "church". Tehy don’t look at context or even try to see beyond anything that doesn’t meet withtheir approval. One good thing is everyone one is fair game for their attacks. They are equal opportunity attackers. Seem their slice of Laodicea could use a good dose of grace.
I just don’t get it. If you do let me know, clue me in.
Popularity: 32% [?]
May 23 2006
post emergence is no fluke!
In my recent web browsing of things emergent. I came across some posts that suggest that my post emergent perspective is not a fluke.
Jaimie Smith of Generous Orthodoxy ThinkTank: Emergent Reflections Post-Divergent points out several distinctions he recently experienced at an emergent event in Geneva between the US EC and the expression of emergence in Europe and the U.K . Things I have been saying is what makes the EC conversation in the US so limited and uninviting to people of color.
- This is not an “academic” conversation.
- There are hints of post-emergence afoot.
- There are surprising elements of anti-intellectualism in the conversation
Jamie Arpin-Ricci is posting about being a An Emerging & Affirming Critic From Within
However, the critics we could perhaps learn the most from are those within this emerging community itself. The value of affirming critics from within cannot be overstated, as who better knows the dynamics, intentions and convictions better than those who share them. This should never exclude the other critiques from without, but if we can embrace the necessary humility and patience, we have a wealth of wisdom that could help us move towards maturity. That is where I hope my future lies on this journey- to be an affirming critic from within the emerging culture. I have been deeply moved and encouraged by all that I have discovered on the way.
I don’t know that I have Jaimie’s patience but I appreciate his humility and I’m glad he is bold enough to be a critic from within. Since I have never felt I was in I guess I will remain an affirming critic from without.
Jason Clark has a post Love/Hate the emerging church from 2004
Well here in no order, and remember from my experience, in small corner of the emerging church are the things I have learned most, and enjoyed most about the emerging church, and some experiences that make me despair the most about emerging church too.
He really sums up my ambivalence toward the current state of of the EC.
Interestingly all of them have lived and/or experienced the emerging church outside the US. I think it is important that those of us who have roots outside white middle class America tend to see this emergent/emerging church thing a bit differently than the current dominant group. The question that continually arises for me is simple. Is there room in the EC tent for those whose perspective is even a bit divergent from the status quo or has the "conversation" devolved into defense of anti-church, radical liberalism as some critics suggest.
I wish I knew the answer to that but I don’t think post emergence is a fluke! So here is my post emergent must list. It seems to me that;
- We need to be more than rescuers of the Bible and Jesus from modernist theology.
- We need to be more than critics of the fundamentalist evangelical spiritual practice that has distorted much Jesus message.
- We need to be more than purveyors of some new anti prophetic, anti charismatic, anti-church, politically liberal, new expression of the Christian faith.
- We need to be more than spiritual option for people who don’t like church, have been hurt by the church or think the church is unnecessary
- We need to be revolutionary in more than just our thinking and theology.
- We need to have more than just a visual affinity with the poor and underprivileged.
- We need to move beyond warm and fuzzy gatherings where we can all feel good about ourselves, to risking self to be impactful in world so we can see the kingdom of God we hold high begin to be revealed in our world
This is just a start what can you add?
Popularity: 48% [?]
May 16 2006
Emergence and the Da Vinci Code: Do Stories Matter?
Kruse Kronicle: writes an interesting critique of the emergent conversation with regard to the Da Vinci Code and treatment of story in general. Here’s a quote
Yet for Emergent types, of all people, to flippantly dismiss concerns about events like The Da Vinci Code as “just stories” seems just a little inconsistent and a little too convenient. When Evangelicals write books like Left Behind, we bemoan the way they twist minds. We pride ourselves that intellectually we have sufficiently evolved to see this foolishness for what it is. We recommit ourselves to telling better stories. When The Da Vinci Code comes along, suddenly it is no longer about the story but rather about those silly Evangelicals (God bless ‘em) who are so incapable of distinguishing facts and reality from fiction. (This despite the fact that all along we have said it is not about facts and propositional truths, but stories.) It is this kind of behavior that makes me suspect all the more that too much of Emergent is driven by being contra-Evangelical than by a new way of being the church. If there is to be a new way of being church, then we had better get our story straight, even when it might mean being confused with being a traditional Evangelical.
What do we do with stories? Is the gospel the greatest story ever told? Which cultural stories get told? Is the emergent conversation just contra-evangelical?
I’m planning to see the Da Vinci Code movie when it comes out this weekend, I’ll have more to say then.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Apr 13 2006
a new kind of christianity on CBS news
Here is a link to a video of the CBS news piece about the emergent church including a brief piece with McLaren
Popularity: 17% [?]
Apr 12 2006
Brian McLaren and the secret message of jesus
Thanks to Elizabeth Potter for a heads up on this
MCLAREN ON CBS EVENING NEWS. Emergent-church leader and The Secret Message of Jesus (W Publishing/Nelson) author Brian McLaren will be
featured in a series on faith this week on CBS Evening News. The Emergent story is on Thursday night.And there’ll be an article in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, as well.
Brian has a new home on the web http://www.brianmclaren.net/
Popularity: 27% [?]
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