• Archive of "conference" Category

    Younger Missional Leaders, the Lausanne Movement, and the Shape/ing of the Church

    April 24, 2012 // 1 Comment »

    A College Memory

    For about a year and a half during and right after college, I got to live in a house w/ a group of guys, most of whom I still consider good friends and interact with regularly. This was one of the most formative (and fun!) times of my life. One memory in particular has come back to my attention recently.

    A few of us were sitting around on the front porch talking and the conversation turned toward the future. One friend commented on how he had had a personal epiphany recently. He said that he realized that he had developed, in no specifically methodical fashion, a vision of the man he would be someday. He went on to offer a litany of characteristics that he believed would accurately describe him when he was, say, 40 or 50 years old. That wasn’t what struck him however. The epiphany sprung forth from the idea that he was not just going to magically wake up and be this person that he imagined at some point, but that he was right then and there, in the present, either moving closer toward or further away from actually becoming the kind of man he envisioned. It’s probably characteristic of college-age students to disassociate who they are from the person they hope to become, but in the midst of an impending graduation, my friend, and through him the rest of us, began to wake up to the reality that there is no such thing as the person we imagine we will be someday, only the person we are actually becoming.

    The Inevitable Changing of the Guard

    This realization has important implications for how we think of our own formation for sure, but it begs the consideration of another reality; namely, that like it our not, in terms of Christian leadership, the younger generation inevitably becomes the older generation. The sad passing of people like John Stott and Chuck Colson bear this out.

    At 33, I feel like this is beginning to be important. I occupy something of a shared liminal space. Whereas I could rattle off a long list of Christian leaders that I and others have looked to for theological guidance over the last 15 years or so, the fact of the matter is, in another 15 years, many of these people will have offered most of what they have to offer and a younger generation of emerging Christian leaders will be looking to (gulp!) my generation for the same sort of theological guidance. Which compels me to ask the question, “What kind of Christian leaders are those of my generation becoming and how will these men and women serve and shape the Church?”

    I was insanely fortunate to have had the opportunity ride my wife’s coattails all the way to South Africa back in the fall of 2010 for the Third Lausanne Congress. I am equally grateful that I will get to participate in the upcoming Consultation for North American Younger Leaders. The Lausanne movement doesn’t need to be seen as THE locus for a quest to discern the future shape of the Church, but I have to agree with Dave Dunbar, the President of Biblical Seminary, when he supposes that perhaps Lausanne, and especially the Cape Town Commitment, hasn’t really received the attention it deserves (it’s a pivotal document for the initiative I’m working with, the Missio Alliance). They seem to have managed to bring a more globally and ecumenically representative tribe of Christians together than any other endeavor, and for the fact alone, I think it’s a worth-while point of reference. I think this brief video of my friend and Lausanne’s International Deputy Director for North America, Tom Lin, gets at some of this.

    From the Experience and Questions of “Wilderness” to the Experience and Questions of “Exile”

    Another friend, Geoff Holsclaw, and I have discussed that while Christian leaders of our generation (those under 35) have benefited greatly from the example and writing of many missional theologians and pastors, our actual experience has been quite different than theirs. They have had to navigate a ton of terrain on the journey from modernity to postmodernity / Christendom to Post-Christendom / denominational stability to denominational irrelevance, leading them to ask certain questions in certain ways with certain expectations and assumptions. By and large, this isn’t a shared experience for those of my generation. For most of us, the destination of our theological mentors has been the beginning point for us, leading us to ask (even if not altogether) different questions in different ways with different expectations and assumptions.

    To generalize, we don’t wonder about the shift of Christianity to the global south, we take it for granted. We don’t feel the same sense of Western (missionary) guilt, because colonialism wasn’t our project. We aren’t all that interested in conversations about restoring Christianity to the center of culture, because, for the most part, we’ve never known it, or, in a more theological sense, we reject it as not befitting the nature of Christian faith anyway. This list could of course be added to and argued with (as it should be). It also obviously wouldn’t resonate with the experience of everyone across the board (what does?!) But, my sense is that it nevertheless outlines some of the generational realities that shape and inform not only the questions we’re asking, but the way in which we ask them and, consequently, the shape the Church will inevitably take as younger leaders begin to take on more and more responsibility.

    I’m curious. Regardless of what generation you happen to find yourself in, what are your thoughts or impressions on the qualities, characteristics, and perspectives of younger Christian leaders and how do you suppose these will influence the future shape of the Church as these leaders shoulder more and more responsibility over the next 30 years or so?

    Posted in christendom, church, conference, culture, evangelicalism, lausanne, leadership, missio alliance, missional, modernity, post-christendom, postmodernity, spiritual formation, theology, western culture, young adults

    Missio Alliance: Discerning the Shape of Theology & Practice for Mission

    April 18, 2012 // 3 Comments »

    This is a very overdue post.

    A Personal Vocational Transition

    At the end of last December I resigned my position at Northern Seminary in order to begin helping direct the efforts of a new theological initiative. The transition was quite seamless as Northern has actually become an early and major sponsor of this new initiative, the Missio Alliance. In this new role I get to work alongside Chris Backert (serving as Ex. Dir. & Regional Dir. for Eastern US), JR Woodward (serving as Regional Dir. for Western US), and Dave Fitch (serving as Regional Dir. for Central US).

    What is the Missio Alliance?

    This initiative has grown out of the Ecclesia Network, a group I’ve been privileged to be a part of for the last 5 years or so. Whereas Ecclesia has become a home and source of support, training, and encouragement for missional churches and church planters, the Missio Alliance has more to do with bringing a broader array of practitioner-theologians, missiologists, pastors and other Christian leaders together for dialogue, training, and the creation of resources. Here’s a fuller description of the origins and aims of the Missio Alliance from the initial web page that we have up…

    As the Church in North America wrestles with the complex realities of an increasingly Post-Christian cultural context, there’s a need to consider afresh what God is doing and calling us to in His Mission. In recent history we have witnessed increasing fragmentation within evangelical Protestantism and sharp denominational decline. Yet even amidst these challenges, we believe there is a unique opportunity to work toward the renewal of the Church for Mission in North America. 

    The Missio Alliance seeks to provide a seeding ground for such renewal. We aim to bring pastors, practitioner-theologians, leaders, and missiologists together from across the spectrum of the North American Church to work for a Kingdom-driven, gospel-centered, biblically grounded theology and ecclesial practice for God’s Mission in North America. We seek to provide a place for theological dialogue, training, and the creation of resources to navigate present and future missional challenges. Grounded in The Capetown Commitment of the Third Lausanne Congress, these endeavors will emerge out of a strong and distinctive theological identity that is rooted in relationships. We will seek to cross cultural and denominational boundaries, creating by the Spirit a gospel dynamic for discerning the challenges of our time. 

    Dave Fitch has talked about the need for something like the Missio Alliance to emerge. As he wrote in this post…

    As I said previously, and as I have said in my new book The End of Evangelicalism?, evangelicalism is at a tipping point. We are cracking. The emergent conversation started by Brian McLaren et. al. has not produced theological leadership (it seems Love Wins is another case of this).  The herds of disenchanted evangelicals are left to either wander or head for the newer coalitions of the Neo-Reformed. Yet as I’ve said here, this isn’t going to take us into Mission. Based in the impulses in both of these movements, we need an alternative place for the work of theology and mission. Without it – it is questionable whether these much needed conversations can place. Without an alternative coalition (that can bring certain parts of these existing factions together into conversation with the Holiness, Anabaptist Missionals), the aftermath of traditional evangelicalism is going to devolve into defensiveness and fail to produce a missional movement. There’s some of us working toward that end (of nurturing an alternative theological coalition). In the meantime, this for me, is the lesson of the Rob Bell fiasco.

    Who’s Involved & How can I Connect?

    At present, we are working toward a launch conference in April of 2013. Among those who have already agreed to be a part of that conference are Dallas Willard, Scot McKnight, Roger Olson, Cherith Fee Nordling, Amos Yong, and Jo Saxton among others.

    If connecting w/ this sort of community sounds of interest to you, feel free to drop your email over here to stay in the loop, or connect w/ us on Twitter or Facebook.

    If you’re out West, we are planning a regional conference on Oct. 19-20 near Los Angeles featuring Alan Hirsch, Dave Fitch, & JR Woodward w/ engagement and responses from 6 local pastors. Stay tuned for more info on that as the date gets closer.

    We’ve already begun to establish working partnerships w/ a handful of denominations, seminaries, and leaders of various networks, but if you represent an institution or organization that might be interested in partnering with something like I’ve described above, please be in touch via: connect [@] missioalliance [dot] org.

    Posted in anabaptist, christendom, church, church planting, conference, Ecclesia Network, evangelicalism, lausanne, missio alliance, missional, Northern Seminary, post-christendom, theological education, theology, western culture

    Anabaptism, Empire, and a Missional Vision of Theological Formation

    April 6, 2012 // No Comments »

    I’m traveling out to Eastern Mennonite University next week to participate in the, #OccupyEmpire: Anabaptism in God’s Mission, mini-conference that I mentioned before. Looking forward to seeing some good friends and hopefully making some others.

    I was asked to offer a paper so I have been working on that for the last several weeks. Here’s the title and abstract that I am working with…

    The Role of Seminaries in Subverting Empire: Toward a Missional Vision of Theological Formation

    Across American evangelicalism, a rapidly growing number of pastors and Christian leaders are grappling with the realities of life and ministry in an increasingly Post-Christendom cultural context.  As a result of the cultural marginalization of the Church, many are (re)discovering what it means to understand God as a missionary God and the Church as a missionary community.  Inasmuch as the Anabaptist tradition holds a vast array of resources for those interested in theological and ecclesiological perspectives that reject the assumptions of Christendom from the outset, this paper seeks to bring these same resources to bear on our understanding of the nature, purpose, and shape of theological education.  It will be argued that a missional understanding of God, the Gospel, and the Church calls for a correspondingly missional vision of seminary-based theological formation as a major component of the Church’s role in subverting empire.  

    As I’ve been preparing, I was inclined to pick back up, Reenvisioning Theological Education: Exploring a Missional Alternative to Current Models by Robert Banks. This is such a fantastic book. Crying shame that more people haven’t paid attention to it! Here’s the brief review I posted over at Good Reads…

    This has to be the most sadly overlooked book on the shape of theological education out there. Banks engages with all the key influencers in this discussion and pushes beyond what has been offered toward a truly missional model of theological education. More could be said about how his proposals relate to a missional ecclesiology – something he references, but doesn’t really discuss at length. On one hand, I have a tremendous wish that those currently involved in the world of theological education would take Banks’ radical (at least from the perspective of the status quo) suggestions seriously enough to make substantive changes. But, on the other hand, as Banks himself mentions toward the end of the book, change will more than likely come, not from institutions at the center of the given system, but from grassroots experiments and movements from the margins. Perhaps what I appreciate most about Banks’ perspective and work is that he’s no mere pragmatist, suggesting changes to the structure of theological education based on external factors (though he is certainly aware of these). Instead, he addresses the topic of theological education from missiological and theological perspectives. If you are at all interested in the topic and/or practice of theological education, this book is one of the best you’ll come across.

    I imagine the paper will be undergoing revision right on through the actual delivery of it, so I hope to post it on the other side of the event. Looking forward to meeting any of you out there who may read this blog on occasion and will be at this event. In the mean time, would love to engage w/ any thoughts you might have on the subject of the relationship between theological education and empire from an Anabaptist (or whatever) perspective.

    Posted in anabaptist, christendom, conference, missional theology, post-christendom, spiritual formation, theological education

    Ecclesia 2012

    March 22, 2012 // 3 Comments »

    The annual Ecclesia national gathering was held this week down in Chevy Chase, MD. As always, it was not only ministerially helpful, but personally encouraging and just plain fun!

    …Lots of JR’s, Amy & Aubrey got to coma along, some good basketball games, lots of time to enjoy friendships and start some new one, we officially announced the Missio Alliance (site, twitter, facebook – all in development), and a group on younger missional theologians (plus Dave Fitch ;) got together to discuss doing some work together.

    The theme for this year’s conference was: Church as Center of Reconciliation: Living as One Reconciled Family Across Racial, Economic, and Generational Lines by the Power of the Spirit. Leading us into reflection on that theme were Ivy Beckwith, AJ Swoboda, and John P. Perkins, the grandson of Dr. John M. Perkins who was slated to be there, but had to cancel due to health issues. Dave Fitchchimed in with some profound theological thoughts on the subject and then, as is customary, a number of leaders from within the Ecclesia network of churches had opportunity to share out of their own lives and experiences.Perhaps one of the most meaningful times of the conference was when we welcomed 5 new church planters into the community and those Ecclesia pastors who had been walking with them up to that point had the chance to speak words of encouragement and exhortation over them. I can’t speak for everyone else, but the whole thing felt thick with Kingdom significance to me.Toward the end of the conference, Chris Backert initiated a time of reflection. We were asked to consider what part of the conference it seemed like God was most powerfully impressing upon us. Then, we got into groups to pray. We were invited to pray that God would do a work related to whatever it was that was sticking out to us not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of our children. As I thought about it, what came to mind was the way in which issues of reconciliation had come to me later in my journey as a Christian. My prayer for Aubrey was that this wouldn’t be the case for her – that she would never know of a gospel that could be understood as anything other than God’s incarnational mission of reconciliation in the world through Jesus buy the power of the Holy Spirit.This was something that I think will stick with me forever and, I continue to pray, will continue to shape the life and decisions of our family in as many ways as possible.If you’re looking for some additioanl reflection/resources realated to this year’s gathering, check out:

    Zach Hoag | A Sermon

    The Burner Blog | Part 1, Part 2

    If I come across (or remember) others, I’ll come back and add them here. Eventually there should also be some audio up over at ecclesianet.org.

    Posted in church, church planting, conference, Ecclesia Network, God, gospel, missio alliance, missional, reconciliation, theology

    #Occupy Empire: Anabaptism in God’s Mission

    March 4, 2012 // 1 Comment »

    All sights are set right now on the Ecclesia National Gathering coming up next week… and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to report back on after returning, but for those of you who stand within (or look longingly upon from without!) the Anabaptist tradition, I thought I’d let you know about a mini-conference happening in just over a month at Eastern Mennonite University.  The event is entitled, “Occupy Empire: Anabaptism in God’s Mission” and is part of the Anabaptist Missional Project.  You can see the highlights in the image below, but the rest of the details and registration options are available here.  For some additional details on where the idea for the conference came from and what the purpose is, check this article.  

    I’ve written before about how I found a theological home w/ in the Anabaptist tradition, so I am really looking forward to spending some time with people who have been swimming in that stream for quite a bit longer than me.  If you can swing it, hope you’ll consider joining us!

    Posted in anabaptist, conference, discipleship, missiology, missional, missional theology, post-christendom, spiritual formation, theological education, theology, western culture

    The Future of Theological Education: A Groundswell of Conversation

    October 18, 2011 // 3 Comments »

    I have to admit, I am really struck by just how fervently conversations about the plight of seminaries and theological education in general seem to be bubbling up to the surface right now.

    A few weeks ago my alma mater, Fuller Theological Seminary, went live with its, “Seminary of the Future” project that Andy Crouch (of Christianity Today) and Rich Mouw (the President of Fuller) have been collaborating on for the last year and a half or so.  You can follow the rolling out of their various Discussion Points at future.fuller.edu.  You can also follow them on Twitter @futureseminary or join a broader conversation using the hashtag, #futureseminary.

    Then, yesterday, as I was running and getting caught up on my Homebrewed Christianity listening, I was struck by the closing discussion between podcast host Tripp Fuller and my friend, guest, Dr. (yeah, he finally finished) Tony Jones on the lingering problems of “residential seminary education.”  The whole podcast is worth a listen, though this wasn’t the topic throughout.  They just touched on it at the end.  Tony is nothing if not straightforward and provocative.  Check out this 4 minute clip.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

    Then, stuck in traffic on my way in yesterday, I noticed that Patheos, one of the most highly trafficked religious websites is convening a two-month online symposium on “The Future of Seminary Education.”  They have already solicited contributions from some great bloggers with more to be added.  This promises to be a fruitful conversation.

    Clearly, this is an important conversation for a growing population of people.

    As someone who has written on this topic from a missiological point of view (see sidebar on the blog), whose role at Northern Seminary gives me the opportunity to help develop programs, partnerships, and other initiatives along these lines, and who has been working with 3DM as they attempt to offer what they can to this conversation, I am really excited to see just how much momentum this conversation is gaining.

    So here’s a final reminder about an event I mentioned a couple weeks ago, for those of you who are in (or who care enough about this to make your way to) the Chicago area, Northern Seminary is hosting a 3DM event on Thursday, October 27 from 7-9PM that will feature the presentation of a paper and video on the future of theological education.  These presentations will be followed by responses by those who can contribute from different perspectives (pastoral, student, academic), and then open discussion and dialogue.  The event is free, but you need to register here.

    And feel free to stick around for the (also free) workshop that 3DM is hosting the next day on issues of discipleship and mission, and then the annual Missional Learning Commons.  More info and registration options for these events availabvle at missionalcommons.org.  I think God is going to do lots of great stuff during these events.  Hope you can join us!

    Posted in 3DM, anabaptist, chicago, christendom, conference, culture, discipleship, Fuller Seminary, kingdom, missiology, missional, missional learning commons, missional theology, Northern Seminary, post-christendom, theological education, theology, western culture

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