Yes, it is one of those rare occasions that I actually talk a little bit about my passions in my profession here on my blog. But I have been reading a book as of late, and I would love some more thoughts and insights with those of you who actually read this blog and are a colleague or one who cares about the Kingdom, church, Christianity, people, world, etc.... so here goes..
I was reading Jason Clark's blog I first ran into Jason when Markus and I went to the Off The Map conference in Seattle. He is a great man, passionate and authentic and truly echoes with my soul, when it comes to "deep church". The blog post I read was this one...and so of course I decided to order, Remembering our Future: Explorations in Deep Church (a UK only book and pay an arm and a leg in shipping but it is very worth it.
And so of course, I read the same chapter Jason was talking about that he read, "Beyond the Emerging Church?" by Luke Bretherton.
and here are some of my thoughts (and BTW, no I am no where near finishing this book, and like good books I need to really digest them and re=read them if necessary, so don't just now ask to borrow it, heh)
Bretherton uses the 9 core emphases with in the emerging church found in Gibbs and Bolger's book, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in postmodern Cultures.
and they are:
1. Emphasis on Kingdom of God as apposed to "church/denomination"...(including emphasis on right practice over right belief)
2.engagement with contemporary 'secular' culture at all levels so that it is reflected in and transformed through worship.
3. Emphasising personal relationship and community over and above institutions, structure and bureaucratic forms of organization.
subsidiary emphases:
4. welcoming the stranger primarily in the form of humble openness to other faiths and the culture at large.
5. holistic service to the wider society, with an emphasis on embodied action as a gift as distinct form a consumer service or evangelistic technique.
6. participating in and taking responsibility for worship as producers rather than passive consumers
7. emphasis on art and creativity as a central part of Christian witness
8. encouraging all-member ministry and collective or team forms of leadership
9. emphasis on spiritual disciplines and liturgical practices both individually and in community.
OK wow... that was long...and maybe some of yo might like to stop there and comment...and fell free to do that because I am tired of typing...and this blog post is too long as it is right now...
OK, so do you personally see these things in your Christian community? If not do you think that it is possible to make these changes if you think they are good ones? how would it happen? do you agree or disagree with Gibbs and Bolger's 9 key emphasis of emerging churches? My critique of the rest of the article will follow...thanks for reading?
Vblog!
3 comments:
I really need to read Gibbs and Bolger's book. As I read the 9 emphases, I found myself saying (silently), "Yes! Yes! Yes!..." The only one that I personally have a hard time doing (well, they're all hard, but this one especially for me) is number 9--spiritual disciplines and liturgical practices.
yep agree Markus! agree very much!
D.G., not having read the book, my comments are more about the whole "emergent" movement and are probably a bit out of context with your post -- BUT... With regards to point #1, I think that is my biggest issue with some of the writers/leaders of the emergent movement. Regardless of how the established Church (or denominations) have or still do miss the point -- the Church was God's idea. I don't think that just means some loose confederacy of people who make vaguely the same confession about Jesus Christ and then just stop worrying about the rest of orthodox belief. I believe that the organized Church is a vehicle of Christian community, of orthodox truth rooted in Scripture and Christian conversation, of commissioning and equipping people's calls to ministry, and of engaging the world in corporate mission and witness. I also believe that right belief is critical to right action!
I've been reading a book called "Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail" by Robert Webber and another called "Working the Angles..." by Peterson. I think both of those books offer a healthy counterbalance to the McManus, Easum, McClaren, Sweet etc. crowd. ~Ken
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