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.

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!

Back in August I posted about a partnership brewing b/t Northern Seminary and 3DM as we share a vision for discipleship-oriented theological education.  I also intimated that I would be sharing about more work along these lines in the future.  I’m here to make good on that promise.

We all know that 3DM is coming to Chicago to conduct a workshop on discipleship and mission at the end of the month, right?  This is happening on Friday, October 28 in the morning and afternoon.  Following this will be the annual Missional Learning Commons, which starts that evening and wraps up around 3PM on Saturday.

Well, before all of this goodness, Northern will be hosting an event on Thursday evening during which 3DM will present a video and paper as a way to spark some conversation about the future of theological education.

From Mike Breen’s blog,

One of the things that has become abundantly clear in our work with pastors and leaders is that there is a devastating disconnect between the ways that our seminaries and theological schools train and equip leaders for ministry and the realities that these leaders are facing day in and day out.  Noticing this has caused us to begin asking (along with many others), “What is the future of theological education?”  While we don’t think we have all answers to that question, we do have some thoughts and would like to invite you to an evening of dialogue about this important topic in Chicago.

So here’s your shot, if you have thoughts, questions, concerns, or ideas about the future of theological education, we’d love for you to join us and contribute to the discussion.  The video and paper will be made publicly available in November, but those who join us for this event will have some advance access to them.

Note: We don’t anticipate this being a large event, but we really do want to advance the word to those who share a genuine interest in this topic, so please feel free to use the social sharing options below or your own avenues of social networking to let others know about this Thursday evening event as well as the workshop and Commons.  Here’s some additional details on the Thursday night event…

• When:  Thursday, October 27 from 7-9 PM
• Where: Northern Seminary, Lindner Conference Center
• What: Presentations of a video and paper on the future of theological education followed by responses by Dr. David Fitch and others and an open question and response time.
• Cost: There is no charge to attend this event, but we would ask that you register here, so that we have an idea of how many will be joining us for the evening.

I used to be a conference junkie.  Straight out of college and anxious (though I never would have admitted it) to be the next big thing, I though that if I hit enough conferences, rubbed shoulders with big-shot speakers, and played my cards right, I’d be well on my way.  What can I say, I was 22 and still naive enough to believe that personal ambition, so long as it was “for God,” was a noble quality as opposed to a liability.

I’m not 22 anymore – I’m 32.  And while there are plenty of 32-year-olds out there still nursing a desire for “their time to come,” I am grateful for the people and circumstances God has used over the last 10 years of education and ministry to heal me of the selfish ambition I had previously baptized in my own mind.  I’ve simply become much more enthusiastic about the advancement of God’s kingdom than mine – trust me, it’s way less stressful!  So now, whenever I am presented with the opportunity to attend or participate in a conference, rather than asking, “Will being there contribute to my own advancement?” I try to ask, “Do I have a passion for how this conference is seeking to contribute to God’s kingdom work in the world?”

This is the central reason that I’ll be at the upcoming Ecclesia National Gathering – because it’s an event that oozes authentic passion for God’s kingdom work rather perpetuates the cult-of-personality tenor of much of current Christian conferencing.

Besides that overarching reason, I’ll be there for a few additional important reasons as well…

I’ll be there because I love the down-to-earth, in-the-trenches, church planters and pastors who attend and focus on encouraging and supporting one another rather than engendering a spirit of competition.

I’ll be there because, in word and action, Ecclesia holds up the value of men and women co-laboring in all aspects of ministry.

I’ll be there because humble submission to God’s mission and not fine doctrinal points is what unites us as a group.

I’ll be there because I’ve never experienced an event or a group of people that is so capable of engaging in serious theological discourse without losing sight of its irrelevance apart from incarnational expression.

In short, I’ll be there because I think God is mightily at work in and through this group of people and this event is central to facilitating and furthering that work.  Hope you’ll consider joining us.

Not so long ago I reviewed, Launching Missional Communities, by Mike Breen and Alex Absalom.  Then, some good conversation ensued, both on my post as well as on a post that Mike offered in response to my review. (Incidentally, Mike has recently followed up on this conversation with another post.  You can see my engagement with his ideas there.)

Mike helps to lead a ministry called 3DM (more on them here) that a good number of my church ministry/planter friends have been impacted by.  One of those friends, Doug Paul, and I have recently been having conversations about the relationship between the philosophy behind 3DM and the future of theological education.  In fact, you should check out a brilliant interview that Mike did with Dave Kludt of “The Burner Blog” through Fuller Seminary, especially question 5, on that subject.

A couple weeks ago, as a representative of Northern Seminary, where I work, I was able to participate in the first gathering of a new Learning Community that 3DM launched.  Essentially, this was a gathering of about 40 church teams (3-5 leaders/church) who were beginning a 2 year journey of learning together what it might mean to build a discipling culture, multiply missional leaders, launch missional communities, and establish centers of mission.  The structure of the event (Monday afternoon through Thursday afternoon) was unlike any other Christian conference/event I have ever been a part of and quite frankly, was more helpful than any conference/event I have ever been a part of.  This was the case for one simple reason, it took seriously the idea of praxis – engaging in an intentional rhythm of reflection and action.

The event was structured largely around a rhythm of “idea-driven” corporate times and “application-driven” community times.  Interspersed throughout the week were additional times for even smaller group engagement, shared meals, and prayer/ministry time.

I won’t belabor the point by going into a detailed description of how all these times looked exactly, but suffice it to say, the centrality of praxis (learning/engaging, ideas/skills, or hearing/responding), which drove our time together, set this gathering apart from anything else I’ve been a part of.  Whereas a good many Christian gatherings are predicated on drawing people to celebrity speakers or to a purely intellectual presentation of ideas (not that these are bad in and of themselves), I would hope that more and more Christian gatherings might choose to restructure themselves in the way described above.

3DM is doing good work.  I would go so far as to say they are doing some of the most needed work in helping people/churches get a handle on what it might mean, practically, to embody a missional ecclesiology here in the US as Christendom continues to crumble and we are led (forced?) to ask new questions about the nature and purpose of the church.

If you represent an existing church or are engaged/thinking about church planting, you should absolutely consider being part of a future learning community.

If you are reading this and have been part of a 3DM Leaning Community, please feel free to offer your thoughts and reflections for others.

I learned a long time ago as a young Christian leader that the best way to learn how to become successful and great was to attend conferences led by high-profile, celebrity type pastors and authors.

I have been struggling to unlearn that travesty of a lesson ever since.

The most valuable lessons I have learned in ministry, have come by way of failure – mine, and that of others.  This isn’t meant to glorify failure in and of itself, but to remember and recognize that while we inhabit a culture that revels in the glory of one person/group triumphing over others, we worship a God who calls us to follow a savior who, from that same way of thinking, failed.  We are called to faithfulness not results, and very often, faithfulness will look like failure in the eyes of the world.

In that spirit, I am thrilled to let you know that a different sort of conference coming up in April, catalyzed by my friend J.R. Briggs, the Epic Fail Pastors Conference.

All the relevant information is available on the conference site so check it out there.  It’s unique, it’s inexpensive, and it very well may change your who outlook on ministry in the way of Jesus.

We tend to think of leadership as an activity and not a relationship.  But in terms of creating a culture of discipleship, equipping each other for ministry, and mobilizing people and groups for mission, the relational aspect of leadership is of enormous significance.

Having already engaged in conversations around the themes of missional discipleship and missional family, the Missional Learning Commons will round off with a discussions about missional leadership.  Speakers, topics, and bios are below.  More information and registration here.

David Fitch: The Hazards of Being Paid to Pastor: Overcoming the Bad Dynamics of Money

Summary:

When a pastor gets paid a set of negative dynamics are set into motion. Power relationships develop within a community. There are expectations from people who “give.” Ministry can turn inward and into politics. All of this works against moving a community into mission. I offer a couple observations and simple moves to subvert these dynamics.

Bio:

David Fitch is a co-pastor at Life on the Vine in northwest Chicagoland and a church planter/coach. He is also Lindner professor of evangelical theology at Northern Seminary’s programs in missional church studies teaching on matters having to do with gospel and culture. He is an author with his next book – The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission coming out in January 2011. Dave is married to Rae Ann and dad to their son Max.

Fitch, Take 2: Leadership is Submission: The Counter-Cultural Way of the Cross in Leadership

Summary:

Leadership that leads into the new territories of mission will always produce conflict. This is the inevitable prospect of a community pushing into Mission. The Missional leader is not one who manages this conflict from top down. Instead, through the posture of humility, service and trust in the Spirit, out of Scripture and mutual discernment in prayer, he or she leads the community through inviting it to seek what God is doing, hear and respond. In this way of non-coercion and submission, the “revolutionary” community is birthed, brought together in Christ “on the way” of Mission.

Amy Rozko: Global Perspectives on Missional Leadership:  Reflections and Observations from Cape Town 2010 (The 3rd Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization)

Summary:

Local churches bear the responsibility not only of equipping leaders for ministry in an increasingly globalized world at home, but also of mobilizing them for participation in God’s Kingdom work across the globe.  Doing so necessitates that we have a meaningful sense of what God is saying and how God is working in other parts of the world.  In this session, Amy will offer reflections on the state of the church around the world from a recent gathering of 4000 global church leaders and invite us to discuss the implications for churches in terms of leadership development.

Bio:

Amy is excited to have just participated as a delegate to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa.  She and her husband of just over a year, JR, live in Elgin, IL where she also works for International Teams US as the Director of Mobilization.  They are an active part of Life on the Vine in the Chicagoland suburbs.

Of all the errant and damaging understandings of “missional” out there, the one that essentially equates to, “add more things to your calendar through the week in order to reach people,” is one of the most disastrous.  Missional, when understood this way, destroys families rather than transforming and mobilizing them for Kingdom mission.

After our opening session focused on missional discipleship (speakers & topics here), the second set of speakers at the upcoming Missional Learning Commons will spark some discussion about what missional family relationships are all about.

For more information to to register here or the image below.  See below for discussion themes and speaker bios.

Helen Lee: The Kingdom Belongs to Such as These: Missional Living In and Through Our Children

Summary:

Jesus affirmed the value and the worth of children, expressing the reality that a child often has the capacity and the desire to embrace missional values and living, sometimes well before the parents. What are ways in our churches and families that we can encourage missional living and thinking, particularly amongst our kids? What are the benefits to doing so–and the dangers when we do not? We often think about the ways we can teach our kids, but in the area of missional living, our children may be the ones to teach us.

Bio:

Helen Lee is the author of The Missional Mom (Moody Publishers, January 2011) and has been writing for Christian periodicals such as Leadership Journal and Christianity Today for more than 15 years. She is married to classical pianist Brian Lee; they have three little boys 8 years old and under, whom Helen attempts to homeschool when she is not writing, blogging, or (now) tweeting.

Jason Lantz: If anyone doesn’t know how to manage his own family how can he take care of God’s church?

Summary:

“I’m not going to sacrifice our kids on the alter of some church experiment you want to do.”  That’s what my wife Suzi said when I came home and told her that I thought the Lord was calling us to live as missionaries in Canton.  A couple of years later, and still in the baby stages of leading a new church plant, we have learned many lessons about the power of imitation in discipleship, the mess that we actually have learned to like with children and mission, and the incredible Love of our Heavenly Father.

Bio:

Jason and Suzi Lantz live as missionaries sent to the people of Canton, Ohio.  They are leaders in LoveCanton, a network of churches sent to love different networks and neighborhoods in Canton.  They have two children Caris and JJ.  As a family they are doing their best to join others who want to build a culture of disciples of Jesus Christ in every part of Canton.

Ben Sternke: Sorry, We Can’t Come Because We Have Little League That Night.

Summary:

It’s easy for “missional living” to become just another extra-curricular activity for families to add to an already busy schedule. But really living missionally as a family demands that we think more deeply about the formational power of the seemingly benign activities so many American families get sucked into, and act more intentionally to engage as families in counter-formational practices that will truly shape us as missional people.

Bio:

Ben is in the midst of planting Christ Church: a fledgling network of missional communities seeking to join God in the renewal of the neighborhoods and relational networks of Fort Wayne, where he lives with his wife (Deb) and four children (Ethan, Raina, Ella, and Sydney). Ben also blogs (bensternke.com) and dabbles in web design.

The Missional Learning Commons (click link to register) here in Chicago is right around the corner, Friday Oct. 29 – Sat. Oct. 30.

If you haven’t already, you need to check out what Geoff Holscalw has to say about the whole idea of a non-conference.

Friday night Jon Berbaum and I will be facilitating a discussion around the book Desiring the Kingdom, the book from which this year’s theme of Kingdom Relationships comes.

On Saturday morning, in the 1st of our 3 discussion sessions, three different people will speak for 12 minutes each and invite us into some guided reflection and conversation with regard to missional discipleship.  Here’s a bit of a glimpse into who is catalyzing those conversations and their topics.

Cyd Holsclaw: Discipleship in Disguise

Summary: In our missional lives, many of us don’t have a standard or recognizable role as leaders or teachers or mentors.  Some of us might shy away from embracing a discipleship role in the lives of those we meet, yet there are people around us every day who are hungry for mentoring and discipleship. With a few frames through which to view our relationships, we can move past just ‘hanging out’ with people into sharing a journey toward the cross and into new life.

Bio: Cyd is part of the leadership team at Life on the Vine in northwest Chicagoland.  She and her husband, Geoff, also homeschool their two sons, Soren and Tennyson.

Michael Novelli: The intersection of Biblical Narrative, Dialogue and Spiritual Formation

Summary:

Michael will share about his experiences with Bible storying, a dialogical approach rooted in the Hebrew tradition. Through years of experimentation, Michael has found approaches like storying stretch across generations, helping guide faith communities to be rooted and formed by the biblical narrative.  In this process, the community is birthed “on the way” in Mission.

Bio: Michael Novelli is a writer and workshop facilitator helping church leaders to explore learner-center approaches to teaching. Michael, his wife Michele, and children Angelo and Abrielle live in Elgin, Illinois.

Mark Van Steenwyk: Missional Discipleship in the Shadow of Empire

Summary: Discipleship as commonly practiced in the North American church has become a disembodied, abstracted “thing.” Missional discipleship–embodying a way of life that is “Jesus shaped” in our local contexts–requires an experimental approach to new practices. How can we cultivate deep Gospel practices that counter an imperial way of life?

Bio:

Mark Van Steenwyk is a co-founder of Missio Dei–a Mennonite intentional community in Minneapolis. He works part time (with the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference) to network and nurture fledgling radical communities around the country. Mark is an adunct instructor at Bethel Seminary and experiments in grassroots radical education and organizing. He is a contributing editor at JesusRadicals.com and a regular co-host of the Iconocast. Mark lives with his wife (Amy) and son (Jonas) in Missio Dei’s, Sattler House.

Today is the day.  Amy and I have been busy all morning with last minute details as we get set to take off for Cape Town, South Africa for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evanglization.

We are only able to go thanks to the generosity of a plethora of family and friends who financially supported us and we are grateful beyond words.

If you have some measure of interest in this gathering, I highly recommend you check out the advance papers, participate online, or maybe even attend one of the Globalink Events.

Between the place we are staying and the conference center, we should have some access to Internet and I plan to do my best to offer brief reflections and pictures throughout our time there.

Thanks for your prayers for us and the rest of the leaders that will be gathered in Cape Town for the next week or so.  May God use this event for the sake of His Kingdom breaking forth in new ways all around the world!

Two weekends ago Amy and I were in Iowa.  We got to spend some time with her family and celebrate her birthday, but we also had the opportunity to guide about 20 students through a series of personality and spiritual gift tests.

The students are all part of something called TOAG – Training Ordinary Apprentices To Go.  Catchy right?!

They spend a year living in intentional community and doing various kinds of incarnational ministry as part of their preparation to serve as international, probably long-term, missionaries.  I think this is an incredibly helpful model of discipleship for mission and we were privileged to be a part of it.

Our time with these friends was a huge reminder of just how much I miss investing in the lives of young adults (now is the first time in 8 years that this hasn’t been a major feature of my life) and how much I personally receive from doing so.

We had fun, and I enjoyed leading these students through a presentation and guided reflection on their spiritual gifts, but man, what I really loved was watching my wife in action.   She has a crazy passionate heart for God’s global mission and a mature set of gifts to compliment her firm calling to mobilize people into it.

With our trip to Cape Town, South Africa for the Third Lausanne Congress just over a week away, I am reminded of just how grateful I am that a passion to partner in Kingdom ministry forms the bedrock of our marriage.  It’s gotta be close to my favorite thing about life!

Speaking of our trip to Cape Town, we are just about $1,500 $1,000 (We just received an incredibly generous gift of 500!!) shy of our support raising goal.  Not enough to keep us away, but significant enough that we’re still inclined to ask people to partner with us.  Below is a 5 minute video Amy & I recorded about this once in a lifetime opportunity.  If you’re inclined to partner with us, you can give here.

My partner in (missional church) crime out in LA, JR Woodward, has put together another unconference (remember Verge LA from last year?) where a host of church leaders get to share some thoughts and kick start some conversation, this year, around the topic of discipleship.

Check out JR’s post on the event here and register by way of their Facebook page.

My first experience with the missional community in the midwest was through a somewhat random collection of pastors and leaders that met at Life on the Vine over 2 days in January of 2008.  That was what has become known as the Missional Learning Commons…

A collaborative day for missional churches to exchange ideas, support, and encouragement on how to incarnate the gospel in their contexts.

We gathered for the 3rd time in January of this year and loved the time so much that we just had to bump the next gathering up to this fall – Friday, Oct. 29 – Saturday, Oct. 30!

(click image for PDF)

I’ve said before, there is a lot of power in regional gatherings.  So, if you are a pastor or leader who lives in driving distance of Chicago and is at all interested in the learning/participating in the missional conversation in real life, rubber-meets-the-road, kinds of ways, you should definitely join us.

This event has always been free in the past, but in an effort to make sure that we have all kinds of voices at the table, we are charging $10 to help cover the cost of childcare during the event.

Lots more info and banners/posters courtesy of one Mr. Benjamin Sternke can be had over at missionalcommons.org.

Northern Seminary has offered to host the event for us and Ecclesia is helping to sponsor it.  Spread the word!

I’m excited to be gathering tonight and tomorrow with some pastors and leaders from around the Chicagoland area and a bit beyond to talk about discipleship in a missional context.  We’re gathering in Hyde Park where some friends from Life on the Vine are in the process of moving into and exploring how the Kingdom might take shape.

I think this is a topic that a great number of us have at the front of our minds, but aren’t always able to speak to as directly as we’d like so I am looking forward to the conversation and stuff the Spirit surfaces.

So, since everyone has been so gracious in offering input on my doctoral considerations,

I’m wondering what you might want to say or ask related to this issue of discipleship in a missional context – ie. how do we think of and go about discipling people to participate in God’s mission in the world.

I’ll chance in periodically and add your comments and questions to our discussion.

We’ll also be trying to pound out some of the details for the next Missional Learning Commons.  Stay tuned for more details on that.

As Christendom continues to unravel and the Church loses its privileged role within culture at large, we live in an increasingly biblical illiterate society.

– Quoting Scripture will mean less and less.

– Bible stories will be increasingly misunderstood or forgotten altogehter

– And the battles that Christians wage with one another over the objective nature of Scripture will continue to damage our reputation in a broken world.

For these reasons and more, there is an incredibly important conversation to be had regarding the role of the Bible in society.

In contributing to that conversation, here’s a 40 minute panel discussion from the recent Q conference here in Chicago between Tim Keller, Alastain McGrath, Dempsey Rosales-Acosta, and Brian McLaren (you can find brief bios on all these panelists here) on that topic.  I’m anxious to see what kinds of responses others might have to the questions and discussion here.

(For those reading in a feed reader, the video is flash and may not come through, so you might want to click through to the actual post to view or download.)

I had the opportunity to catch some of The 19th Annual Wheaton Theology Conference this past weekend.

N.T. Wright was the keynote speaker and the name of the conference this year was, “Jesus, Paul, and and the People of God.”

Bishop Wright was spectacluar as usual, but one of my favorite talks was given by Jeremy Begbie, Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School.

The title of his talk was, “The Shape of Things to Come: Wright Amongst Emerging Ecclesiologies.”  I offer this (40 min) talk to you here, but you can also go here to download or watch the rest of the excellent talks from the weekend.

Begbie begins by noting 5 features of Wright’s theology and ecclesiology that have immediate resonance with those who identify with the Emerging Church.

1. Intrinsic – The Church is intrinsic to the vision of the purposes of God and the fabric of salvation.  God’s vision of putting the world to rights involves, at its heart, God forming a community.

2. Eschatological – Thinking from God’s future to the present, providing a pneumatological vision of worship and mission.

3. Cosmically Situated – God’s putting the world to rights involves creation-wide, Christological, reconciliation.

4. Material – Shunning the ideas of the Church as a disembodied ideal and all the material/spiritual dichotomies of modernity.

5. Improvisatory – Combining obedient responsibility to Scripture with flexibility to cultural and contextual circumstances.

After offering these, Begbie suggests 3 features of Wright’s theology and ecclesiology that many Emerging Churches would do well to pay more attention to.

1. Ascension – Christ is not localizible, but is universally accesible through the Spirit.  Failure to recognize Christ as universally reigning over the Church can lead to strident triumphalism on the one hand or painful disillusionment on the other.

2. Israel – Gounding of Trinitarian enthusiasm in the history of God’s mission in and through Israel.

3. Catholicity – Refusing to allow consumer choice to become the defacto foundation of church unity by rallying around the cross as the focal point of unity in God’s Kingdom.

This was an insightful talk that I would commend to anyone seeking to get a better handle on the Emerging Church and its resonance with the theology of a professor and church leader who lives and ministers in a context where the Church is all but extinct.  Here, emergence, far from being a fad, is the only choice the Church has if it wishes to participate in God’s mission.