emerging mosaic

So in response to the recent USA today article about people turning away from religion I have had several conversations mostly in cyberspace with Christians who give me way to understand why our culture is moving into being post-religious.

First, there is the knee jerk reaction and immediate assumption by some of us Christians that if people are not religious they are anti-Christian. (Oh and by the way if you are anti-Christian you are also anti-American). In fact the article suggested that all religions and religious tribes are losing ground.  Instead of looking at the context and seeing that though these folks are not interested in religious institutions (and remembering that Jesus was not either)  they are spiritual ; there is the immediate defensive posture that they are hostile to religion and so hostile to us and so hostile to God. There is no consideration of the idea behind Dan Kimball’s book that they might like Jesus but not the church (i.e institutional religion) .

Secondly there is what seems to me to be a weak confidence in God’s word and Jesus message that feeds the fixation on personal salvation as all that matters. I need to get heaven and the rest be damned. Religion is the ticket to heaven. Not faith mind you religion. So if we are losing our religion then we are shaking the very foundations of the faith. Never mind that Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against the the church. I believe that God in control and will ways be in control and though the church or religion may be shaken, the faith of Abraham, Jesus and Paul will not no matter what craziness we mixed up messed up human beings get into.

So I don’t blame the average pew sitter in this. it is some of our religious leaders that truly worry and scare. Watch the video that was sent to me to rebut my thoughts about living faithfully in a post-religious world.

john mcarthur’s religious views on the emergent church

But there is blame to go around on all sides there are some folks with new perspectives on the faith that seem intent on disconnecting from the historical biblical Christian faith.  It gives dogmatic people fodder for their views and lets them paint anyone not agreeing their dogmatic views with the same brush and leads to responses like the one below to my above thoughts.

Either or propositions? What? Are we all Hindus now too? Truth is ALWAYS an “either or proposition.” You yourself cannot follow your own line when you refer to truth as being Scripture. (No relativist ever can live his own propositions.) I do agree that salvation is “holistic” (I really hate all these goopy trendy words) - spirit, soul, body. But the great, overwhelming emphasis in Scripture was on the spiritual, the eternal, the Kingdom that flesh and blood cannot inherit.

Years ago church consultant Bill Easum suggested to a group of church leaders that one of the biggest challenges for Jesus followers moving into the future was going to be the question how can I follow Jesus without being a bigot. I think he was asking us to consider how can we stand for Jesus without blowing off the very people Jesus calls us to reach.

So I wonder what will faith look like in post-religious world? Will there be a church for the post-religious or will we all be heading to hell in an hand basket?

I wonder if defenders of the truth will descend on this blog to prove their point and share their view, we will see.

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Well I don’t know how I represented the emerging/post-emergent/missional world view at the Baker forum two weeks ago. It was fun to hear the thoughts of the other participants all of whom I know; including my friend Steve Argue, who argued articulately for the need of the church to look again at how we practice what we preach. A colleague John Frye, who spoke with some pastoral compassion about the important contribution of the emerging church to the church. And Michael Wittmer who was brilliant in raising an appropriate cautionary question about what we do believe. I spoke about my experience with emergent and what is means to be embracing missional values pastoring an urban emerging church. I talked about the false dichotomy between belonging and believing. orthodoxy and orthopraxis, and the lack of diversity in the conversation. It was cool to have a recently connected couple from Mosaic Life there. The moderator Sarah Cunningham did a great job guiding the conversation.

One the one hand the folks at Baker thought it went well. (thanks for the pics guys). On the other hand someone who attended, warned a student working with me that they should careful working with me with me because I do yoga. I don’t know if much changed as a result I only received one letter about what I said I supposed there could have been more. The strangest thing was the one person who came up to afterward to tell me that he had friends who were Muslim and Indian who were good people but they were lost. I’m not sure why he thought that was important to tell me but so be it.

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I came across this recent in the The Christian Century. The description of Jacob’s web does not seem to fit the usual prescription of an emergent church. Which is supposed to be small and democratically led. (flat leadership model)

This neighborhood is also home to a thriving church called Jacobs Well, which attracts about 1,000 people each week to its various services. The church is led by Tim Keel, who, along with author Brian McLaren, is a founder of the Emergent movement. I went to JW hoping that it could help me understand a phenomenon that remains elusive—the Emergent church.

The innovative JW is housed, ironically, in a classic church building that Presbyterians erected in 1930. The building is the envy of the numerous congregations in the neighborhood, including two that have exchanged their denominational labels for more jazzy names and logos—one Southern Baptist now River City Church and one Evangelical Covenant now City Church.

So can a church be emergent and large, and led by a charismatic leader?

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I got the latest Emergent/C (which is the newsletter/communication piece of Emergent Village) today and it included this quote.

We in Emergent Village are poised for an important year in 2007. A pivotal year, I’d say. Lots of people are watching—some with high hopes that EV might be a part of a re-birth of Christian faith, a revolution in what it means to follow Jesus. (Others, of course, are plotting our demise J.)

The part I highlighted above about revolution has got me thinking. Is that why some people are “plotting the demise” of EV. Would it be more accessible for people to think of the emerging emergent church as an evolution of how the church practices the faith rather than a revolution? Can the emergent folks make claim to being the vanguard of a revolutionary movement in following Jesus (especially when it is still so monolithic in its racial ethnic makeup)?
Kester Brewin in his book Complex Christ suggests that emergence is more closely connected to evolution than revolution. Revolution he continues correlates more with insurgence than emergence. The point of view from which we view the emerging church and emergent conversation determines how we pursue the developing practice of the faith and who ends up coming along for the ride.

So is it evolution or revolution? Maybe it is both and what say you?

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Alex Mcmanus of Mosaic Church in LA has an interesting observation and reflection on the emerging church and Mosaic’s link to things emerging into the mystic… » Is Mosaic a part of the Emerging Church?

Here’s the interesting observation by someone outside the church

Recently a Los Angeles Times reporter was given the assignment to write an article on the “Emerging Church.” In doing her research she called me to talk about Mosaic. After she did her research and wrote the article, I spoke to her about why she chose not to include Mosaic. She had concluded from her research that Mosaic was not an emerging church because emerging churches tended to be “small, white and inward looking.” 

And the reflection from Alex on emerging church 

Mosaic is different from the “Emerging Church” not just in terms of ambition, ethnicity, and mission, but also in attitude and thinking. Many of those who take on the mantle of the Emerging Church seem to me to be burned out Church leaders who needed to bail on a Christianity that offered pat but empty answers. I consider this a good move. But, in contrast, Mosaic is more like a convert who is full of enthusiasm, joy and hope. The new convert moves with speed and intentionality toward Jesus, towards the scriptures, towards Christ following community, and towards the world in service and mission.

Everything Alex says and Mosaic LA  does is not gospel or perfect they don’t pretend that it is. But I think many who are embracing the emerging church mantle in the U.S. would do well to pay attention to the increasing perception of the make up and approach of the emerging/emergent church that seems to be more about disenchanted Christian than connecting people to God.

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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?

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Technorati Tags: divergent, emergent, emergent_church, emerging church, emerging_church, faith, post_emergence, theology

There is a growing conversation happening about diversity or the lack of diversity in the emerging church conversation. Thankfully there are several people of color responding, and sharing their thoughts. So here are snippets from some of the conversations.

Over at the Ooze in a conversation about Seeking diversity in Emergent sacred narrative writes

"Maybe we study African Christianity and South American Christianity and Eastern Christianity and Mexican Christianity and tell those stories."

I’d add the many facets of African-American and Afro Caribbean Christianity as well.

Another ooze conversation responds to a blog by Maurice Broddus on Black People in the conversation  he writes

"In a lot of ways, the emergent church struck me as, well, the Christian equivalent of the grunge movement. A little subversive, a little edgy, and whole lot of white, middle class evangelicals trying to make Christianity look cool. In other words, originally I saw a lot of style over substance. However, once I dug a little deeper, read some of the foundational works, a lot of the substance of postmodernism resonated. I was left wondering how this would translate to black churches, wondering what an emergent African American church would look like or what a multi-cultural emergent church would look like. "

This is exactly how I feel sometimes about t Emergent. What we are trying to do at my church Mosaic Life is figure out and life out biblical emerging church values in a real multiracial faith community.

Jose over at cracked pots has this perspective on the diversity from the urban side of things

"i think you’re right about an urban presence. reverend ray rivera, executive director of LPAC (south bronx) will say that people want to "parachute into the city" and try to save us. it becomes less about being missional (coming along side), and more about the old-school, missionary mentality. my other question is how do we preach relocation, and for those who are already there to remain?"

And Finally Anthony smith at postmodern negro is exploring/imagineering the postmodern black church

"I want to be a part of Christian community…a local ekklesia. But I want to feel at "home". Not in a consumeristic sense, but in a sense that it will challenge me, provoke me, encourage me, to be a part of the missio Dei or God’s mission of salvation in the Land. When I think about the kind of church community that would draw me…my imagination always goes to images like these. Am I crazy?"

This is how many of the spiritually searching people of color I know feel. I really do resonate with this. This is where I think Emergent has missed the boat.

I think is all boils down to creating new churches that speak this yearning. As my church planting  coach (grandfather to biracial kids said on the need for diverse and new churches "my grandkids need churches that haven’t been started yet."

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This is an exciting addition of another person of color to the emerging church conversation. Check it out.

Musings of an Emergent Postmodern Negro

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Technorati Tags: diversity, emergent_church, emerging_church

A new friend Steve sent me this from the emergent-us blog. He an I have had several conversation about the lack of diversity in emergent.  After reading this and looking at the comments on the blog here’s bullets of my response

• When it comes to diversity and the emergent conversation I have to say we have a long way to go.
• The problem as one commenter said is the emergent stuff is look a lot like all the other groups out there. On top of that the responses to issues of race, racial reconciliation and racism are sounding like those existing groups as well. We aren’t diverse, but at least we have women.
• The issues of diversity for white women (who represent a majority of this country and the church) are not a the same as those for African American males for instance but that has long been an excuse for the mainline church in its lack of response to diversity.
• I am more and more disappointed by the lack of creativity brought to bear on this subject by folks who so highly value creativity.

what say you

Andre

emergent-us: Brian McLaren Reflects on the Emergent Summit

First, we have been increasingly concerned about diversity for a few years. Fortunately, there has been denominational diversity among us since the beginning - and it has grown steadily in recent years as emergent has become a "post-liberal/post-conservative" common ground. But the "white maleness" of almost all Christian leadership networks has been of concern to us. (I was not surprised to learn from Tony Jones that 95% of Evangelical pastors are male; I was surprised to learn that 85% of mainline Protestant pastors are male.) We talked at length about how the Emerging Women’s Leadership Initiative has helped the emergent community seek to make progress in this regard. But EWLI has also helped bring diversity in other areas to the fore.
I’m very optimistic about what will happen as increasing numbers of First Nations, African American, Latino, Asian, and other leaders bring their leadership to emergent. When progress in this area is combined with progress in our global network (where exciting things are happening - stay tuned for amahoro.info) - our potential will multiply.

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jen lemen has another great post on her blog that relates to the conversation about how emergent conversation relates to women and people of color. She is suggesting correctly that there needs to be more than just inclusion of women (and I add people of color) in the conversation. We need to move beyond inclusion (which can just become tokenism) toward mutuality. She point out that at the heart of mutuality is reconciliation and reconciliation requires us to look honestly at the systems that create insiders and outsiders.

as i heard jay pankratz of sunrise church the church is called to be something more than just tolerant.

so right. that’s why I think the scriptures talk about mutuality and reconciliation and not inclusion.

without tackling this issue the emerging church may go the way of the other homogeneous expressions of the church.

holler back y’all

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