emergent-us

On The Church

by Ivy Beckwith

While Emergent is about many things – what it’s about is probably as diverse as the people who identify with us – one of those many things we are about is the church. Many of us are about figuring out what the church of the 21st century ought to be.

Right now I have an ambiguous relationship with the church. Since leaving my church position at the end of 2004 I have not affiliated with another community. I identify with the community that is Solomon’s Porch; I’ve attended my parents’ Presbyterian church in Florida; visited a church in Brooklyn where a friend is the pastor (will be there this coming Sunday); and celebrated the start of a new church in the area on Easter Sunday. But on most Sundays when I’m home in Minneapolis church for me has been coffee and the New York Times. And there has not been much I have missed about the church experience until recently. First, I found myself missing the Eucharist. Celebrating and participating in the Eucharist came to be one of my most meaningful ministry experiences in my last church. Repeating the words of the liturgy and feeding the congregational flock were experiences that kept me in the vicinity of God when I was ready to walk away forever. I came to understand the centrality of this rite to the church in a way I’d never seen in my liturgy free past. I sorely miss that experience.

And I’m starting to miss the community. I’m starting to miss seeing people on Sunday morning or evening and am starting to feel a little isolated because of it. Missing these 2 elements of church life will ultimately drive me back to more regular church attendance in good time.

But I must admit that every time I think about finding a new church home I’m stopped dead in my tracks by the question of “what church could I possibly go to?” I don’t ask this question because of a lack of churches where I live. I live in, perhaps, one of the most churched areas of the world. It’s a question of finding a church which resonates with my sensibilities of what the church should be all about (sensibilities that are more felt than delineated in a logical list) and where I am not asked to join in or reveal too much of myself too quickly. When I go back to church I want to be left alone for a while. Not many churches understand this.

I’ll go back to church eventually. The very fact that I’m entertaining thoughts of going back is progress. And I’ll continue to ruminate on (as will the Emergent leadership team in upcoming conversations) what do I think about church and what it’s meant to be in our times.

Pope Benedict XVI

For those of you planning on attending the 2006 Emergent Theological Conversation with Miroslav Volf, you'll be interested to know that Volf's excellent book, After Our Likeness: The Church As the Image of the Trinity, deals extensively with the ecclesiology of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.  Volf's other dialogue partner is John Zizoulas, an Orthodox scholar. 

Being an excellent defense of a "free church" ecclesiology in the face of these two very different ecclesiologies, Volf's book should be an excellent guide for many emerging churches.

By the way, here is a nice profile of Volf.

Andrew's "Open Letter to DA Carson"

The following is from Andrew Jones' blog today. Andrew was one of the originial creators and shapers of Emergent. He has been an active participant in the emerging church conversation for years. If there is such a thing as an "expert on the emerging church" it would be a title easily applied to Andrew. He is friend of the US Emergent conversation and a personal friend of many of us. The following sets a wonderful pastoral tone that many of us are praying will become the tone of the overall Emergent conversation:

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An Open Blog Post for Don Carson
by Andrew Jones

Hi Don. Your book "Becoming Conversant with Emergent" comes out in June and I am awaiting my copy. But some clarification before then would help me. We bloggers are sticklers for the truth . . as Dan Rather found out.

Hey – I hate open letters . . . they are too long, too formal and they assume a personal enmity that is not always there. I thought an open blog post would be a little less formal, and would carry an extra level of communal accountability – for both of us. Readers would be welcome to say if my post was unfair or inaccurate, and they could also hear you say something (anything you want) as a response. Or you could ignore it and no one would ever know if you read it or not - then you could maintain your reputation without resorting the demands of us bloggers.

Sorry to bring you over to our new media world. I requested your email address on September 3, 2004, hoping to send you a personal email, but was denied by Christway Media - they said you would respond before Christmas in your book - and now we have to wait until June . . and even then we don't know if you will be responding to our concerns or not. Forgive me if i am impatient, but there is a lot at stake.

On Faith and Politics

by Brian McLaren

Greetings, friends - I'm thrilled to see increasing numbers of Christians turning away from the entrenched culture-wars polarization of the religious right versus the secular left. As my friend Jim Wallis says, the best way to find common ground is to seek higher ground - and more and more people are leaving the "low ground" of polarization to find the higher holistic, integral mission of Jesus Christ.

The article below, from Minnesota, gives you a feel for the excitement that's brewing in many places in our country. Let's prayerfully see and participate in this moment. I'm currently working on a plan to mobilize Christians in our city - and with your help, maybe around the country and perhaps beyond - to bring the needs of our neighbors in Africa (especially Darfur) into the public light - to "change the wind" on behalf of the poor. Stay tuned for more details soon.

In the meantime, I hope you'll find some hope in this article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. - Brian

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Faith that's of the people, by the people, for the people
Nick Coleman, Star Tribune
April 8, 2005

We need a religious revival. And we may get one. ... The revival that Jim Wallis predicts.

Wallis, the author of the best-selling book, "God's Politics," spoke to an overflow crowd of 1,200 want-to-be believers at the Westminster Town Hall Forum on Thursday in Minneapolis and restored their faith in the F word:

Faith.

John Paul II and the Story of God

by Ivy Beckwith

I have been struck by the outpouring of emotion over the death of John Paul II over the last week. Watching the crowds holding vigil in St. Peter’s Square or those waiting in line for 16 hours for a chance to stand before his body has given me pause and made me wonder about our secular world. One of those participating in the endless cable TV chatter about the pope said he “could fill the squares and but not the churches.” Perhaps this is much more an indictment of the church than the pope. Secular Europeans have showed up in the millions to venerate this man in his death. Somehow his story intersected with and touched theirs in a way we could ever have fathomed until now—and in ways the church never could or wasn’t allowed to.

I think this event speaks to something many of us agree to intuitively – the power of story and the power inherent in our willingness to share our entire story with others. John Paul II was maybe the most transparent pope in history—he didn’t shirk public life even in his illness and injuries. He shared his story with the world. And, apparently, a large part of the world loved him for it and, maybe, got a little closer to God in the process.

Blessings this Easter season,

Ivy

emergent churches making the news

Always exciting and usually interesting to see how people capture people rethinking church and how the church interacts with culture.  This article ran on Easter in da 'burgh (Pittsburgh) and looks at three seperate communities and a tattoo shop.  :)

Enjoy.  It's also El's (my daughter Ellie) five minutes of fame - her bright baby eyes wide for the camera lens.

Criticism of Emergent, Part Deux

by Tony Jones

My earlier post on criticism of Emergent drew much response, including an interesting (and painfully drawn-out) debate over Calvinism versus Arminianism. I find it striking that these age-old arguments still have such interest among some people.

Well, if you get into the comments in the eighties or so, you’ll see that some people ask me (or Emergent, in general) to just come out and declare where we stand on certain issues like the inerrancy of scripture or open theism. D.R. even asks me to summarize briefly what I consider the gospel to be. (I can answer that one easily: the good new of/in Jesus Christ.) Others valiantly attempt to answer these questions, for themselves as supporters of Emergent, if not for Emergent itself.

(A brief digression is necessary here. Some in the “emerging church” movement, broadly conceived, are quite uncomfortable with the organization, Emergent, taking the lead in defining the conversation. Their unease is understandable, but I hope to put some of their fears to rest with this post.)

Well, I'm going to answer the questions, here and elsewhere, by not answering them.  What I'm saying is that many are asking, why doesn't Emergent just place ourselves, why don't we just say where we stand on doctrinal, scriptural, and cultural issues?

I believe that the answer is a philosophical one, not necessarily a theological one.  So here's my stab at it:

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is possibly best known for the "categorical imperative."  He believed that there is a transcendent, objective moral/ethical obligation "out there."  As human beings, our job is to figure it out, articulate it in contemporary language, and then apply it.

G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831), on the other hand, believed that moral/ethical norms come become known through a dialectical process of practice and reflection.  As a result of this process, a "reflective equilibrium" is achieved.

So, it seems to me that many of the critics of Emergent at Kantian Christians -- they believe that there is a certain, correct, objective interpretation of God's truth as revealed in scripture and the person of Jesus Christ.  If they can just get us to stake our claim, then they can see where we are relative to their position, and then they can label us as "conservative," "liberal," "evangelical," "mainline," "Calvinist," "Arminian," or any other well-established category.

Emergent, however, I dare say, is a very loose collection of Christians who are committed to Hegelian dialectical and Aristotelian practical reasoning [thanks, Chris].  That is to say, we want to carve out a place for conversation, dialogue, dialectic, and debate.  We also want to place practice at the very center of theology.  That is, theology isn't just about getting what we believe right; it's a rich matrix of what we believe and how we live that matters for the Christian faith.  That's why we'll write books, but we'll also invite people -- including our critics -- to visit our churches and missions and new monastic communities.

Nota bene, Hegel's idea of dialectical reasoning is not a way to avoid coming to normative conclusions, but a different way to come to normative conclusions.

Blogs and books are only one place -- and a rather disembodied place; actually, hardly a "place" at all -- where this conversation happens.  It happens more powerfully at events like the Emergent Convention, the Emergent Gathering, and the Emergent Theological Conversation.  And the best place for this kind of conversation, no doubt are in local/regional cohorts and (drumroll, please) local churches!

For us to start taking positions on open theism, homosexual civil unions, or feeding tubes has a chilling effect on conversation.  That may be the tactic that modern denominations want to use in the complexity of a postmodern world -- writing position papers and voting on their books of order at national meetings -- but we would rather carve out a little space for those who would like to solve these societal problems by reflective practice in real life.

Is this a cop out?  Are we avoiding the issue?  Are we not engaging our critics?  I referred to Kant and Hegel above to show that the answer to these questions is, No.  We are, indeed, refusing to answer Kantian questions posed by Kantian critics.  But there is a long and rich tradition of dialectical/practical reasoning, and it is into that tradition that I believe we fall.

An Overview of the Kairos Gathering

(While not an official Emergent event, Kairos was promoted by Emergent and attended by a number of people in the emerging church conversation.)

For the last several days a group of church planters and pastors were meeting at a camp in Western Maryland to talk about God's kingdom and how we can be a part of God's work here on this earth. To try and capture the essence of a physical gathering in words would be sorely insufficient. However, by giving you an overview of what occurred, this will hopefully provide some pointers to what is happening in the emerging church.

The primary focus of the conversations was discipleship - how to enable people to follow God in the Way of Jesus. Easy question to ask, more complex to answer. The session began by addressing the tension that can exist between people and programs. This was an interesting place to start because the gathering was attended by individuals from diverse theological and practical backgrounds. This could have been a source of great tension. Instead, a tone was set early on of love and respect for differences as we all seek to follow God in the Way of Jesus and bring others along for the journey.

Good thing that tone was set, because the conversation that followed was on the question of atonement. While this sounds like an academic question and not a question related to disciple making, many of us fear that a false understanding of the meaning of the Cross may be standing in the way of more people following God. The discussion culminated with a beautiful picture of how we might express the idea of the Kingdom of God today.

The second day focused on the role that the emerging church is playing in bringing more people to be disciples of Jesus. There was both a negative critique and a sense of what is working. Some of the important questions that were asked were:

1. Is the emerging church new disciples or are we therapy for burned out evangelicals? Is spiritual formation happening?
2. Is the emerging church overwhelmingly white and male?
3. Is the emerging church self-impressed and self-indulgent?
4. Is there a sense within the US emerging conversation of a global conversation? Are we interested in missiology and the Third World?

The evening of the second day involved looking at the positive side of those questions - i.e., what is really working for people? How is faith being lived out in our congregations, whether they consider themselves emerging or not? Within all the churches represented - evangelical, mainline, emerging - there were some beautiful, real-world answers to these questions:

1. How do we make disciples and form people spiritually? This should include continuing reproduction, social justice & compassion, and should be particularly focused on bringing new Christians to faith.
2. How do we deal with the problem of whiteness, maleness, and global concerns in our churches?
3. How do we bring people back into conversation with the text of scripture?
4. How do we sustain what we are doing?

The third day we had a drama based on the call to follow Jesus and done by the folks from Hot Metal  in Pittsburgh. Most at the gathering were deeply affected, reflecting the personal sacrifice that many have made.

The whole time ended with a focus on the world. A representative from South Africa spoke about reconciliation and the role that is playing in the Church, as well as pointing out the need for American Christians to seek to gather our news from additional sources than just the American media. For Africa, four that he suggested were:

• allAfrica.com
• Africa Online
• IOL
• News24

Folks from the Del Camino Network  also spoke, providing a wonderful view of the work of God in Latin America.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the three days was to think that this group -  men and women who are planting or pastoring churches across the theological spectrum - came together at a camp in Western Maryland to talk about how to advance God's kingdom. Not to argue fine points of theology, not to talk about transactional methods, but instead to consider how to be the hands of feet of Jesus and in so doing to call the people of the earth back to God. Referring back to the drama, that was perhaps why so many of us resonated with its content. While being a part of these conversations may have come at some personal sacrifice, in the end there seemed to be this overwhelming wonder at the work to which we have been called. Not a bad way to spend your life.

Save the Dates

The annual theological conversation has been inked.  We'll be meeting with Miroslav Volf at Yale University Divinity School, February 6-8, 2006.  The event will be co-sponsored by the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, and possibly by a publishing company as well -- hopefully, this will keep the registration fee as low as possible.

Sometime this summer, we will officially announce the costs, accomodations, etc.  In the past, we have attempted to keep the theological conversation at around 100 participants, so as to keep it conversational.  This event is sure to have a lot of interest, so watch this space for registration details.

In the meantime, you can buy some books by Miroslav and get reading!  You can also follow the thoughts of Chris Scharen, the director of the Faith as a Way of Life Project at Yale here.  He's totally into U2, so you'll get some of that.  You'll also get gems like this:

miroslav offered a basic template for thinking theologically and we'll seek some short guides like this for practicing thinking theologically because it really does seem that tony [sorry about the self-referential moment here] is right--it is key, we can practice it, and only if we practice it can it become second nature, and serve a way of life that is deeply christian.

miroslav's template of questions:

god.
who is god.
what is god doing in the world.
how is god achieving this.

us.
who are we.
where are we going.
how are we supposed to get there.

connecting the two.
what should we ultimately trust.
how should we order our trusts, provisional and ultimate.