Easter Monday: A Litany of Good Vibes

by Tony Jones

It just seems like I've had a great stretch of Emergent-type things happening to me lately.  If this list can be seen in any way to be a sign that Emergent is gaining some traction and becoming a blessing to the church, then praise God.  If not, at least there are a bunch of links here for you to check out.

- Sitting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art a month ago, I met a great guy named Jeff Kursonis.  He was reading an eYS book, and we struck up a great conversation (I blogged about it here).  Well, Jeff is now officially starting a community of faith for artists in NYC, and he is blogging here.

- We had an excellent cohort meeting in Minnesota a few weeks ago.  Mark Stenberg of House of Mercy gave a presentation on the Radical Orthodoxy movement, followed by a great discussion.

- Speaking of cohorts, I'm privileged to be a part of two.  The other one is the Central Jersey Cohort, and it is fantastic.  We met last week, and were blessed to have a few Princeton Seminary profs and the President, Iain Torrance, join us.  The mix of pastors, church planters, seminary students, and PhD students (with the occasional professor) always makes for great conversation.

- I went to a beautiful worship service at Princeton Seminary last week.  It's called ".bE," and it's coordinated by Adam Cleaveland.  It was really great to see 120 PTS students and faculty -- not necessarily known for innovative worship -- really engaging some 'fresh expression' worship.

- Good Friday found Julie and me at our home church, Solomon's Porch, engaging with incredible artistic reflections on the Seven Last Words of Christ.

- I just finished the manuscript of a book critical of Emergent, particularly of books by Brian McLaren, Brad Kallenberg, Stan Grenz and John Franke, and me.  And, no, it's not the book you're thinking of.  The good news is that this book is respectful, gracious, and fair.  The criticisms are strong, and I disagree with many of them, but this book will set the standard of how to criticize Emergent with respect.

- A leading emerging church that we all want to succeed for years to come  just received a generous three-year grant from a mainline benefactor.

I could go on about conference calls with publishers who desire to work with Emergent, about future events that we're planning, and about the constant emails we get from people who are striking out in faith to start new communities of faith and to revitalize existing communities.  All in all, we can thank God for what momentum we have, and we can ask God to guide us into our future.

Comments

[Bill]

Praise God!

[dustybutts]

On a macro level, this is great news and an encouragement. However, on a micro level, I’m a little dazed. I’ve been leading an emergent gathering in a church with-in a church set up for the last three years and I am being let go for budget concerns. (My senior pastor was honest with me and told me that if the numbers of attends would have been greater I would not be let go.) I wonder how many people out there are finding less “success” in the trenches? It is a difficult calling to play the role of prophet: praying through changing the cultures in our churches and being sent ones who focus people onto Jesus; still, thanks for sharing the good word.

[ScottB]

Here's where I think one of the challenges for the emerging church will truly lie - how do we measure success? I think there's a general sentiment (at least it's my impression) to focus more on health and not growth, but if we work in contexts where health and growth are thought synonymous, then we have a conflict.

What I like about Tony's thoughts is that he mentions some great health indicators - diversity in cohorts and in worship communities, healthy dialogue with respectful critics, and new initiatives by people interested in pursuing the Kingdom.

[Pete]

As someone unfamiliar with the emergent church, this cohort thing is weird. It sounds like something from the military.

[hypocritesall]

Move over Mega-Church, Here comes the new cash-cow for the "Christian" community. Emergent is hot and will be setting up moneychanger station in a church near you. Sell, sell, sell!