• Archive of "emerging church" Category

    The Great Emergence

    December 5, 2008 // No Comments »

    With Memphis as the hosting city & St. Mary’s cathedral as a hosting venue, The Great Emergence conference is getting started.

    Posted in conference, emergent, emerging church

    The Church Emerging and the Multi-Cultural Future of Western Christianity

    October 30, 2008 // 2 Comments »

    On Saturday night at CCDA I was excited to hear from Soong-Chan Rah, a Korean-American professor at North Park University in Chicago (stinkin everybody at CCDA was from Chicago!) and he did not disappoint.

    Soong’s main topic was the changing face of global Christianity. No longer a majority Western religion, Christianity is growing fastest in the global south and more than this, as the United States and other Western countries become increasingly multi-cultural, these non-Western believers are reshaping the future of the church.

    What I was perhaps most interested in was Soong’s good critique of Emergent and the Emerging Church. Namely, that this group and its related conversation/movement are failing to reflect the seismic shifts of which he spoke.  This is most notable, says Soong, in that the leaders and the majority of EC supporters are white and Western educated.  Soong is right, there is little doubt about it.  However, I would be quick to respond with 2 caveats.  First, this critique is hardly limited to the EC folk.  The vast majority of the streams of western Christianity are dominated by white, western educated folks.  Second, a huge part of the EC conversation/movement has to do with pushing past forms of Christianity held captive by narrow perspectives and traditions.  What better soil could one imagine for the changes Soong himself describes?

    Interestingly, I just noticed today that Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibbs’ book, “Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community is Postmodern Cultures,” was just translated into Korean!  Now, it may not be Asian theology, but talk about a great avenue to really get cross-cultural dialogue started.

    In another shocking bit of news, Tony Jones, the national coordinator for Emergent Village announced today that he was stepping down from the position as Emergent undergoes some changes precisely to

    allow more voices into the conversation and allow the network to grow in a more organic way.

    As a final sort of corrective to this critique of the EC, I’d like to point others to Brian McLaren’s article, “Church Emerging,” (pdf) and draw attention to this quote

    More importantly, though, I’ve become convinced that the conversation about modernity and postmodernity is the ‘tails’ side of the coin, and the ‘heads’ side is a related but different conversation. So I am hereby giving notice that I’m not interested in arguing with anyone about modernity and postmodernity, but I would very much like to engage in honest conversation about colonialism and postcolonialism.

    As he goes on he draws from and quotes the work of Dr. Mabiala Kenzo, a Twa theologian from the Congo – a great example of one of the foremost leaders of the EC discussion seeking to listen and learn from those outside our own context in an effort to provide a corrective.

    Soong was great – he made me wat to go back to school and take his courses.  More than this, his critique of the EC was a good one, but could have been levied against a larger population.  This was just the sort of talk that seemed unique to the CCDA confernece and I was glad to have been a part of it.

    Posted in CCDA, church, colonialism, conference, culture, emergent, emerging church, western culture

    Catching Up

    September 16, 2008 // 6 Comments »

    I don’t really like it when a full week goes by and I don’t have a chance to blog – it’s like I get creatively constipated and then I don’t know where to begin.

    Aside from just getting back into the swing of things and playing catch up since returning from Afghanistan, I have been busy doing a variety of things – getting the new house settled, wrapping up the online course I have been teaching, and training for a 1/2 marathon, along with other life-randomness.  So, where to start?  How about the 1/2 marathon.

    My New Year’s resolution was to get a 1/2 marathon under the belt before the year’s end.  I found out that there is one in Akron on Sept. 27, and since I had 2 friends doing the race (one doing the full marathon and another the 1/2), I decided to give it a go.  Afghanistan came at a bad time in terms of training, so I hit it hard as soon as I made it back.  Well, the left knee, as it has been doing for years, continued to give me trouble and I had to go see an orthopedist.  He read through a previous MRI and did an x-ray.  You should have seen his face when I told him I was training for a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks?!  He actually said, “You’re running on this?”  I just started rehab this morning and we’ll see how much that helps.  Next stage is a fluid injection to make up for the cartlidge that is damaged and/or missing, and then surgery will be a last resort.  So, sadly, no race for me, at least not this month.  There is another one here in Memphis in December, so perhaps then.

    Semi-related, as a part of training and moving to midtown, I have been frequenting the downtown YMCA, which is a great facility.  There is a trolly that goes back and forth, though it ends a mile from my house.  The other day, I ran down to the Y, worked out some there, and took the trolly back, and ran the last mile.  It’s a cool part of downtown Memphis that I was excited to experience for the first time.

    My friend Joey stumbled on a newspaper article last week about a gathering in a local establishment called Beer and Bible, facilitated by Phyllis, Tickle, someone I have been wanting to meet ever since moving to Memphis.  I had the opportunity to go and participate in the discussion last week and just loved it.  It was about the most eclectic group of folks you can imagine who used the 7 deadly sins as a jumping off point for discussion.

    I also had the chance to accompany my friend Jon and a few other guys who do some work with FCA at Carver HS to a football game.  Carver is a school in urban Memphis with few resources and about 30 guys on the team.  The team they played is an over-resourced suburban school with about 30 guys/position.  Needless to say, Carver got crushed, but it was fun to be back on the sidelines of a HS football game.

    What else?  With the help of some friends, lots of painting at my new place has gotten accomplished and I also added a few pieces of furniture as I seek to create an inviting and hospitable sort of place.  Pictures forthcoming.

    The class.  I am in the final stages of grading final papers for the first go-around of an online class for Fuller – The Emerging Church in the 21st Century.  The class was filled with great discussion and insights.  The majority of students feel as though they have a lot more clarity on what the EC discussion/movement is all about and I have reall enjoyed helping them to explore their questions, misgivings, and thoughts in general.

    Lastly, while the website leaves a little to be desired, the atmosphere at Republic Coffee doesn’t.  I am writing this from their location – one I very quickly become a huge fan of.  If you’re around midtown, check it out.

    Posted in bible, coffee, emerging church, friends, Fuller Seminary, memphis, midtown

    Fuller and the Emerging Church

    June 3, 2008 // 4 Comments »

    The crux of my message this past Sunday, at least as it pertains to my own personal story, had to do with the way in which God used my years at Fuller Theological Seminary to shake me up and refine me.  I simply can’t say enough positive things about my experience at Fuller and its desire to shape the future of theological education as it relates to the church.

    The other day my friend and former professor, Dr. Ryan Bolger, posted, “Fuller Seminary and Emerging Churches” on his blog.  It is a great read, chalk full of the reasons that I think Fuller in uniquely equipped to come along side those who really have a burden for the church in Western culture as I do.

    On top of that, I subscribe to a Fuller podcast and the latest one was entitled “Fuller’s Future (ab. 20 mins. if you wanna listen),” and reminded me of even more stuff that make me happy to be a Fuller grad.

    I have said it before (here and here), but I wanna say it again.  Fuller is a great school.  It repudiates the false dichotomy of conservative and liberal.  It pushes no denominational agenda or system of belief.  And its faculty seeks to find unity in God and God’s mission over and above any particular theological bent.  If you are thinking about theological/missiological/psychological education, Fuller needs to be on top of your list of schools to consider.

    Play

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

    Posted in church, emerging church, Fuller Seminary, theology, western culture

    Emerging From What?

    August 1, 2007 // 7 Comments »

    I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to write a post in response to all the great conversation that was going on in the comments of this last post. Thanks Josh and Andy for having such a thoughtful and even-handed discussion. I was going crazy because I was trying to figure out how to do too much in a single post. Instead, I’ll try to break it up into a few smaller ones.

    Regarding the Emerging Church, Josh asked in his first comment, “Emerging from what?”

    I would say that the most helpful part of the Emerging Church discussion/movement sees itself as emerging from the shackles of modernity. There are people and communities popping up all over the place who are being awakened to the effects that the Enlightenment, and more broadly, modernity, have had on the church. One of the most influential features of Western modernity was Christendom – a societal state in which the identity of a nation is intertwined with the identity of the Christian church. As our culture in the United States becomes increasingly post-modern and moves toward post-christendom, we are being given an opportunity to reflect on whether or not the church’s adoption of this state of affairs has been a good thing.

    I know people in the emerging church movement for whom seemingly impassable dichotomies are being removed and replaced with profoundly liberating ways of thinking and living. Others are finding places of healing and redemption after being wounded by churches which made them feel inferior because either they didn’t conform or because their giftedness wasn’t valued (I am thinking here primarily of artisans). Many more have had a deep longing for more authentic and committed forms of community and they are discovering that in these sorts of churches. Still others had no tolerance for a form of faith that seemed to make no real difference in the way people actually lived their lives. In emerging churches, this is seldom the case. In fact, one of the ways emerging churches are defined is, “communities that practice the way of Jesus.”
    A final thing that I hope we are emerging from is colonialism. This is something Brian McLaren (someone I have sat and shared meals with and have a profound respect for – sorry Andy) addresses in a recent article. For hundreds of years we in the West have taken not just the gospel to other countries, but we have taken our imperialistic ideology with it. People were compelled not just to become Christians, but to increasingly become just like Western Christians. We sought to offer people freedom in Christ, but wound up enslaving them to a distorted version of the Christian faith. Make no mistake, it is not coincidence that the people of Rwanda, whose almost entire population had converted to (Western Christianity), could kill each other by the hundreds of thousands.

    Perhaps the single greatest feature of what Brian prefers to call “The Church Emerging,” is a state of humility in the face of what the church in the West has done and become.

    Not everything that is happening in the emerging church movement or being said in the emerging church discussion is perfect or even helpful for that matter. I am happy to be the first to confess it. But then again, it’s emerging church folks who usually are ;)

    Posted in christendom, church, colonialism, community, culture, emerging church, modernity, postmodernity, western culture

    You Might be Emerging If…

    July 19, 2007 // 14 Comments »

    One of our MAGL students pointed out this post tody and I thought it was really funny. Enjoy.Since the Emerging Church doesn’t seem to like definitions, and they do seem to like images, I offer the following.* You Might Be Emerging if…You are afrom-or--or--or--or-You own anWithout me giving last names, You still know who these people are:BrianAnneSufjanBonoTomAndrewStanDougDanYou like to drinkand discuss one or more of the following:with a liberal dose ofYou are listening to:on yourYou use these words in a positive way:Missional, Liquid/Aqua, Ancient-Future, Post ___________, Jesus, Community, Derrida, Liturgy, Global, Creed, Experience, Social Justice, Conversation, Spiritual, Ritual, Beauty, Art, Blog, Ooze, Journey, Discussion, Open, Random, Culture, TechnologyYou use these words in a negative way:Foundationalism, Absolute Truth, Church Growth, D.A. Carson, Calvinism, Modernism, Fundamentalist, Bush, Seeker Sensitive, Preaching, Pulpit, Doctrine, Innerancy, Power, Enlightenment, Rationalism, Meta-narratives, Universal, JudgementalYou haveon the bumper of your-or-You have to look at these pics twice because it might be you:Your worship service looks like-or--or--or-This is your leg:You see this on a website and know exactly what to do:Depending on your sense of humor, you’re a tad irritated with this post.* This “list” is neither exhaustive nor exclusive. No single one of these traits indicates that you might be part of the EC, but at some point, a cummulative weight will let you know if you are Emerging. 

    Posted in blogging, emerging church

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