Tall Skinny Kiwi

Michel Serres

Simon Critchley: "Coming from a background in phenomenology, I'd like to ask you about your relationship with modernity."
Michel Serres: "Maturnity! Why do you ask me about that?" (link)

Michel Serres is my favourite French thinker and author and yet only a few of his works are in English. Notably, The Troubadour of Knowledge (some of which is on Googlebooks). I first read Michel Serres in a The Postmodern Bible Reader. It was one of the best chapters in the book - "Meals Among Brothers: Theory of the Joker" which is a mindboggling, fast-paced complex little piece on socio-economic theory drawn from the encounter between Jacob and Tamar. I thought to myself . . . now HERE is a guy who is just as scatter-brained as I, impossible to box up into one category, probably more ADD than me, and yet absolutely brilliant!

I think i liked him so much because i found an author with a mischievous artistic bent who mashed genres, categories, and expectations and who was confident enough to play with structure, bending grammatical rules to create something profound and poetic. Which is why so much of his nuanced writing is untranslatable from the French but when it does make it into English, its amazing and it invites playfulness and creativity into the writing process. Spike Milligan meets Teilhard de Chardin. At my best, when I am writing well, when words flow effortlessly and transcend boundaries, I find myself thinking of Serres.

Jean Luc Marion is also a favourite but he is far more wordy and not nearly as much fun.

Interesting, I was having a chat with Leonard Sweet some years back and Len told me that Michel Serres is his favourite author. Howzat??? Len used Serres's thinking on "third places" in his book Soul Tsunami. Anyway, I found an interview with Serres from 1995 that Wired was going to publish but they chickened out.

I would love to meet Michel Serres, and hope to one day. In the meantime, a blog has been set up for Serres readers which even has a video of Serres dancing in a club . . . club without poles . . in case you were wondering.

Technorati Tags: michel serres

Tangible Kingdom

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community, by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
Excellent book from two guys who understand grassroots, missional movements. I really enjoyed reading through it. Made my blood boil in a good way. My recommendation is on the back cover which is the ultimate sign of QUALITY ASSURANCE.
“Plunging deeper and deeper with Jesus into a grassroots incarnational life is what this book is about. Many aspire to it, some write about it, but very few live out the rhythms of such a holistic lifestyle in the way that Hugh and Matt and their families are currently doing. I am thrilled to see their journey in book form.”
Andrew Jones, Boaz

Technorati Tags: hugh halter, missio, quality, tangible kingdom

Why They Don't Say Emergent

"Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be". Absolutely hilarious! I only read the sampler PDF, cheap and stingy as I am, but what I read was really funny and actually quite clever.

Heres a couple of guys practicing, as far as I can see, emerging-missional ministry in a fabulously Reformed way and at the same time telling people why they are not 'emergent'. You have to see the irony of the whole thing! Especially funny is the use of postmodern graphics on the front cover and then an innocent rib-poke at postmodernism. Beautiful! Classic! And the fact that it poses as an "anti-emergent" book gives it an automatic thumbs up by virtually every critic under the evangelical sun.

I haven't read the whole book and I have never met these guys - at least if they have shown up to any of our Emerging church roundtables or events, then they probably didn't introduce themselves - but what I briefly googled about them seems great and I think I will like them when I finally get to meet them one day.

Ted Kluck is a well-received writer. I don't know much about his ministry - whether emergent ministry principles are employed or not - but his writings certainly take the necessary relevant form. Kevin DeYoung is Senior Pastor of University Reformed Church that supports "green" church planting and portrays its worship as "missional". His church is described with words like "mission minded" and "pilgrim" which is all very good. The missionaries sent out from his church seem to be doing wonderful contextually sensitive work overseas - exactly the same qualities and signs I would look for in an emerging-missional ministry back in the home country. And I was especially impressed with URC's one officially sponsored mission agency listed on their website - which I will not name due to its sensitive nature but you can look yourself. And I bring it up here because its a great example of what "emergent" looks like . . . without using the tag.

Technorati Tags: books, kevin deyoung, ted kluck, why we're not emergent

Charles Colson Talks About The Faith

Chuck Colson, as a part of his blog tour for his new book "The Faith", honors my humble little blog today.

TSK: Congratulations on your ambitious yet comprehensive book. Well done!!!!! I know its risky but I admire your efforts to join with the other streams of the holy apostolic catholic church in gaining a wider, fuller more accurate understanding of the faith and I applaud the breadth of those authors you reference. I am familiar enough with your writings to know that "postmodern" is a negative word in your vocabulary, synonymous with "relativism". But I am also close enough to the emerging church scene to recognize that "postmodern" can just as easily mean "committed to context" or "open to the past". However, despite our disparate journeys and the words we chose to define them, I think many of us are finding ourselves on a similar a quest to rediscover the historical foundations of our faith or, as D.H. Williams put it, to "retrieve" the Tradition that has informed our practice through the centuries. So my question is "Why now?"

Chuck Colson: "I do understand the way in which you use the postmodern era. And of course it has some good aspects to it. For one thing, the reliance on experience enables us to make our personal encounters with Christ more relevant to people. But your focus on “retrieving” the tradition is very valid. A lot of the emerging church people get this—they want to go back to our roots; they want to find that original apostolic Christological consensus. I applaud that. You will notice in chapter 4 of the book that I distinguish between the “emergent community” which rejects the Bible, and the “emerging movement.” There’s much about the emerging movement that I applaud."

TSK: Thanks Chuck. Actually, I don't think I have come across an emerging community that rejects the Bible [there probably are some - maybe I should get out more!] but I have found a few that have rejected an overly scientific, reductionist approach to interpreting the Bible reminiscent of Enlightenment thinking, a Scottish common sense realism, or even a semi-gnostic view that is disconnected from time and space. But there are many communities and individuals who have begun to ask how the Christian church has understood the Faith since the beginning, not just the past 400 years. Your book is an encouragement in that quest. Hope the rest of the tour goes well for you. Thanks again for your response.

Check out the whole tour:
March 5 - A I PowerBlog
March 5 - The Dawn Treader
March 6 - Reasoned Audacity
March 7 - Challies.com
March 10 - Adrian Warnock
March 11 - Tall Skinny Kiwi
March 12 - Mark D. Roberts
March 13 - Rebecca Writes
March 14 - Jolly Blogger

Related:
My thoughts on "postmodernism" if I was to use the word around church folk (i don't any more)

Technorati Tags: charles colson

Thank God for Evolution interview today with Michael Dowd

Today at 4pm eastern time on Shapevine. [actually, it just got rescheduled until March. Sorry] My friend Mike Morrell will be hosting a 45 minute interview with Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World.

Thank God for Evolution is a hefty, ambitious, glossy-colored book with an audacious title. It arrived a few months ago on my doorstep and to be honest, the book gave me the willies. I am not sure what the willies are, exactly, but i think i felt them. It had page after page of endorsements from everyone under the sun, from religious leaders of every stripe possible, and stripes I had never heard of, and then some more stripes. What a collection!

D.H. Williams: Evangelicals and Tradition (book)

I am just finishing off the book Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influences of the Early Church(2005) by Baptist theologian D.H. Williams. Really good book and highly recommended for those wishing to revisit the early church and explore the relationship between the Scriptures and tradition. Williams argues that, according to the early fathers of the church, the Bible is not a one-dimensional book that gives way easily to detached scientific hermeneutical method, but rather is a multi-layered revelation. He warns against the dangers of a Sola Scriptura divorced from the foundational tradition of the church (Nuda Scriptura) and suggests a more mystical nature of Scripture that gives itself to the pure in heart in the context of worship and community. This reminded me of the late missiologist Paul Hiebert's doxological or "tropological" theology that I have discussed here under Icons and the Possibility of a Tropological Theology.

Buy the Book?

Maybe. Maybe not. If you haven't read any Williams, then his earlier book, Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants is probably a better book. It is more edgy, prophetically cutting, and a more appropriate place for Protestants to start. 'Evangelicals and Tradition' brings out a few issues readers had with the earlier book but spends more time dealing with the relationship between Scripture and tradition and explores a hermeneutic that integrates mystery and allegory as well as the literal meanings on the surface. It feels more like a Seminary textbook that his earlier book.

The other book to buy as a companion to Retrieving the Tradition and one that links William's ressourcement challenge with the current emerging church movement is Remembering Our Future: Explorations in Deep Church, edited by Andrew Walker and Luke Bretherton. This book, like Williams' Evangelicals and Tradition, are part of the same series called Deep Church, a term coined by C.S. Lewis in the 1950's.
After you have devoured those two books, Evangelicals and Tradition will make a tidy Trinity on your bookshelf . . . ah . . I mean trilogy.

Other Responses:
James Merrick

Technorati Tags: evangelical, religion

Tony Jones: The New Christians

The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier by Tony Jones is a new book that gets released this week to an eager audience. Tony is the National Coordinator for Emergent Village in USA and has been a friend for a decade. I found his book to be a meatier step forward from his earlier Postmodern Youth Ministry and an enjoyable trip through many events that I participated in over the years. To read the book is to understand where Tony is coming from, that middle ground between fundamentalism and liberalism that Lesslie Newbigin pointed to in his classic book Proper Confidence. It is also to get a feel for Tony himself and to a large extent, the flavor of Emergent Village and their many conversations and conferences. And for those reasons, I really like the book and recommend it.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, tony jones

Pagan Christianity? (book)

Its a great read and my copy has already been STOLEN by my neighbor who is probably just as fascinated in its contents as I was. Its called Pagan Christianity? by house church guru Frank Viola (not the baseball player) and researcher/author George Barna who have teamed up to give us the most thorough treatment yet of the pagan origins of many of our most cherished Sunday church traditions. Actually, Jim Rutz nailed a few of these in his book Open Church but Viola and Barna have gone far beyond Rutz, or anyone I know, in exposing more elements of Protestant church traditions to the scrutiny of historical research.

Like dressing up for church. Pulpits and 3 point sermons. Clerical dog collars. Church steeples and seminary training.

Pagan Christianity? lets George Barna unpack his argument why the new Revolutionaries mentioned in his previous book are not rebelling against God by setting up organic house communities. And it gives Frank Viola the chance to put forward his best thinking yet in a series that has already assisted thousands of people in dealing biblically and historically with accusations of "lack of covering" or "neglecting church" or more recently, of adopting "pagan" practices in starting emerging churches. Ha! Watch as Franky and Georgy turn the tables!

Controversial?

Yes . . . DUH! . . and the backlash has already started. Frank has responded to some of the objections here. I had one difficulty with the book that I emailed Frank about:

TSK: My main difficulty with it [Pagan Christianity?] is that it does not deal with the pagan/christian culture clash that accompanies all advances of the Kingdom into new areas. Much of what we adopt and have inherited has pagan roots but our response is not always to pull away but rather to redeem.

FRANK VIOLA: Right. I don't disagree; I could have said more about that I suppose. I didn't address a lot of the Constantinian influences on the political outlook of the church, for instance, (a la, church wedding the state) and all the problems we inherited from that simply because other people (McLaren, the radical orthodox folks, Stuart Murray, etc.) have addressed it adequately. I do try to make the point that just because a practice is pagan in origin doesn't make it wrong. We use the example of pile carpets and chairs as well as our calendar. It's the practices that hinder the headship of Christ, suppress the functioning of his body, and violate the church's DNA that we take dead aim at and expose.
As for redeeming *certain* practices, I'm all for it. In fact, if you go to www.ptmin.org/answers.htm you'll see why I don't go after Christmas and Easter in the book, but instead, argue that those pagan holidays, as it were, have been redeemed by Christians.

Thanks, Frank, for your response. Anyway, the book is a great read. And you can start with this free Bonus chapter (PDF). Of course you will have to figure out for yourself how to handle this information. And dont forget to hear Frank this week on the Nic and Josh Podcast. Also, my mate Alan Hirsch gives a positive review and Steve Eastman interviews Frank about some of the book's content, including the pagan origin of the sermon, known by the Greek sophists as the"homily". Ohhhhh . . . . got you hooked . . . haven't I?

Technorati Tags: frank viola, george barna, pagan christianity, pagan christianity?

Becky Garrison, Rising From The Ashes (book)

I just finished Becky Garrison's new book, Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church. Its a delightful romp through Becky's interaction with about 30 worship leaders, most of whom are deeply embedded in the mainline church scene in UK, USA and Australia, and most of whom are my friends. The back cover says "While UK worship leaders have been exploring fresh expressions of church for more than twenty years and the emerging church has made inroads within the United States evangelical community, the alternative worship/emerging church movement is just now beginning to influence mainline liturgical churches."

The book is really quite dynamic, full of interviews and conversations and skype chats with key leaders and thinkers. Becky is a relentless interviewer and a keen critic who insists on seeing the whole story from a wider perspective. She is not easily swayed by hype or intimidated by dominant voices and she is never, ever . . EVER . . . satisfied with the status quo.You may know her from the satirical Wittenburg Door, or, more importantly, her appearance on my Happy Hour a while ago. Or you may be one of the atheists giving her CRAP over her controversial book, The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail: The Misguided Quest to Destroy Your Faith (2008)

Buy the Book?
Yes, especially if your church tradition includes robes and high ceilings. Its a keeper. But I have to say that Becky's book is not as practical as Alternative Worship (Baker and Gay, 2003) and not as emotionally striking as The Prodigal Project: Journey into the Emerging Church (Riddel, Pierson, Kirkpatrick, 2000) which accomplished a similar duty in the southern hemisphere and is still, I would argue, a better book (and it included an interactive CD). Nor does it cover as many voices as Emerging Churches: Creating Christian communities in postmodern cultures (Gibbs, Bolger, 2005). And worst of all, she totally ignores our own little intentional/monastic community up here in Orkney, despite its connection to CMS and Anglicanism in general [you're forgiven, Becky!] However, Rising From the Ashes does a thorough job in focusing the conversation on mainline churches and showing them a way forward. And with so many books on the emerging church (I now have 100 of the bloody things on my shelf!!) I think people are looking for a filter rather than a funnel and Becky's book signals a trend towards getting the appropriate information to niche segments of the Christian traditions. I expect it to be well-received by liturgical mainliners and candle-lovers everywhere. And I can hear the Brits sighing in relief that at least one American can see beyond her country to embrace a fuller story of what God has been doing these past two decades.

If you like the book, and you probably will, you might also consider the classic Mission Shaped Church, now available as a free PDF. And if you want to read about how things looked back in the 80's, find a copy of Robert Warren's In The Crucible (1989). Also, earlier in 2007, Ian Mobsby published his MA thesis as the book Emerging and Fresh Expressions of Church: How are they authentically church and Anglican? What Ian does in a micro setting, Becky enlarges to a zoomed out macro view of how emerging churches inside mainline churches are experiencing God and each other.

Technorati Tags: becky garrison, emergent, emerging church, rising from the ashes

Tim Challies Appearance

As I promised yesterday, the world famous, credentially challenged [not an insult . . . honestly!] theoblogian Tim Challies lands here on TSK as part of his blog tour for his new book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (forward by John Macarthur)

TSK: Why all this controversy about having only trained, credentialed professions writing books like this from people that give verbal assent to the priesthood of all believers?

TIM CHALLIES: That’s the question, isn’t it? I think it is good that Christians are concerned about whom they will learn from. It is wise to be careful and, dare I say it, discerning, when it comes to the books we read and the authors or teachers we trust. Who can count those who have been led astray by false teachers?

Yet it is a strange contradiction that those who identity most closely with the Protestant Reformation seem often to be those who are most prone to forgetting about the priesthood of all believers. This idea, that God offers His truth to all believers through His Word, is a defining characteristic of Protestantism but one that continues to make Christians uncomfortable. Though many give it verbal assent, it is still easier to simply find and trust certain teachers, always giving them the benefit of the doubt. “I am of Paul! I am of Apollos!” can become “I am of MacArthur! I am of McLaren!” We can take comfort in another person’s position, believing that only a truly godly man could rise to become the Senior Pastor of a large church, or we can take comfort in another person’s credentials, assuming that a man with so many degrees and accolades must be right. Yet all the while the Bible commands each of us to do the hard work of discernment and to realize that we are all called to pursue and obey the truth.

Technorati Tags: discernment, tim challies

Tim Challies : Here on TallSkinnyKiwi tomorrow.

UPDATE: Tim Challies appeared here.
ORIGINAL: Go to Google and type in "world's most famous christian blogger" and you will be looking at the blog of Tim Challies. Tim will be here on my blog tomorrow (Tuesday) to talk about his new book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, to answer some of my thoughtful penetrating questions, and to interact with your gracious and stimulating response.

Quite a bit of controversy over Tim's subject material and whether Tim, without any formal theological training and "professional" ecclesiastic credentials, should write this book. I think he will be in good company on this blog. Good to see at least someone is practicing the priesthood of all believers.

Tim is a web designer, a geek, a Canadian, a theoblogian and a really well known Christian blogger at Challies.com. Tim and I both made the Feedster Top 500 when it existed but Tim scored higher than me so I chose to ignore him and treat him like a Philistine.

Tim hangs out with the more conservative, sometimes fundamental, crowd and he has transformed the concept to "live-blogging" conferences to a new artform. I will be interested to hear how he approaches the subject of discernment as a blogger and if the self-correcting function of the wisdom of crowds has a part to play in finding truth. I also want to explore the blog to book process and see what Tim has learned. Should be a good conversation.

Here is the whole blog tour so you can track with the Challies all week long.

Jan 7- Evangelical Outpost
Jan 8 - Tall Skinny Kiwi
Jan 9 - A-Team
Jan 10 - Sharper Iron
Jan 11 - Gender Blog
Jan 14 - Jollyblogger
Jan 15 - Between Two Worlds
Jan 16 - TeamPyro
Jan 17 - Michael Spencer
Jan 18 - Church Matters

Technorati Tags: discernment, the discipline of spiritual discernment, tim challies

Our New Media Book Wins a Prize!

First of all, I am now allowed to tell you that our new media book won a coveted award a few days ago from the Society for New Communications Research. My chapter is on the dark side of blogging, a haunting confessional piece called "The Ugly Blogger". The other chapters, although not nearly as metaphysically searching and psychologically demanding as my own [he he he] are also great and you will recognize a lot of bloggers from my world - see the list at Microclesia.

The book is part of the Wikiklesia Project and is called Voices of the Virtual World: Participative Technology and the Ecclesial Revolution. It was conceived in May 2007 as an experiment in collaborative pubilshing and is described as a "collective, chaordic conversation on how emerging technologies are impacting the church." You can buy it as e-book or paper version on Lulu. I bought both but I found that, at 340 pages long, the paper version was easier to read.

"Uttered like a prayer retrieved from the year 2030, spoken in a new tongue, a new form. Listen!"
- Kevin Kelly, Co-Founder / Executive Editor WIRED Magazine.

Anyway, all proceeds [and i mean ALL - I got nothing for contributing and i even had to buy my own damn copies] go to social oriented charities, with a focus on stopping human trafficking. Which reminds me, the Truth Isnt Sexy Campaign, [not connected to the book] desperately needs some money to buy more beermats for pubs in UK. Let me know if you can help and I will connect you.

Technorati Tags: books, new media, voices of the virtual world, wikilesia

The Blogging Church, by Brian Bailey

Book Review - The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs, by Brian Bailey with Terry Storch

Its a book for big church pastors to encourage them to blog. Leadership Network was behind it and the voices of Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll and others are the prominent ones encouraging pastors to increase the impact of their ministry through blogging. The suggestion is good. The book itself is OK. Brian reports that many people have started blogs because of this book. But its not a GREAT book. In fact, I didn't really like it, and I was one of the contributors. My little piece comes at the end of the book along with some other bloggers like Guy Kawasaki and David Weinberger and David Winer.

Hello? . . . Did you say Guy Kawa-bloody-Saki?????

Yes I did and thats the big BO-BO of the book - Guy K and the David W's are GURUS in the field of new media and should be at the FRONT of the book, not tacked on as endnotes to the blogging pontifications of big church pastors who may not even know their CSS from their RSS . . and probably don't. The other thing is that there really is a blogging church, described best by Tim Bednar in "We Know More Than Our Pastors" but it has more to do with bloggers aggregating online than with turning up to a large church to hear the pastor, whether he blogs or not.

Having said that, The Blogging Church is a well written book that is helpful and informative for church websites as well as blogs. And the encouragement to pastors and leaders to blog more is commendable.

Technorati Tags: blog, books

Simple Church, by Rainer and Geiger

Book Review - Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples, by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger

Its a simple book about simple church written in a really simple way. I guess thats the idea of the book and it will probably appeal to people who do not need to know the historical evolution of simple organic church or how it compares with other models. Its more of a get down and do it book. Its full of real-life-examples and stuff-of-life-anecdotes which I guess some people like. The large print makes me think it was written with older people in mind. Personally, I prefer a bit more meat on my dinner plate and would rather point people to books on simple church with more substance. But any book that encourages Simple Church has to be worth a read.

Related: Tiny is the New Small

Technorati Tags: books, simple church

Soul Graffiti, by Mark Scandrette

Book Review - Soul Graffit: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus, by Mark Scandrette

Excellent book! This the way these books need to be written, especially when the authors are highly creative. Some story, some poetry, some deep thinking (but dont be expecting a theological treatise), some Jesus story, some mindless dribble [not really] all mixed up with life and ministry and whatever is happening that day. I am so glad that Mark Scandrette had the freedom to write like he lives and like he talks. He is a good man. Almost a decade ago I was driving him around San Francisco, telling him he should move here with his family. Now he is deeply embedded as part of that city's tapestry and bringing the way of Jesus into it. This book is about that. Its a great book. Buy it. Dammit. And make sure you meet Mark one day. In the meantime, read some sample chapters on the SoulGraffit blog.

Technorati Tags: blog, emergent, emerging church

Shane Hipps: The Power of Electronic Culture

Book Review: The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media shapes faith, the Gospel, and Church, by Shane Hipps

I read this book a while ago and, initially, i was not impressed - thus my delay in talking about it. I guess i was expecting more insights on new media. I had already used McLuhan's Laws of Media, which make a strong appearance in Shane's book, to examine new media and blogging in particular. I have a STACK of books on this subject and was hoping Shane would add something unique.

Six months went by and i decided to read the book again but from an emerging church angle instead of new media. And to my surprise, I really liked the book. His observation that an image-based focus gives the emerging church some common ground with the iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church was very insightful. And best of all was his summary of the impact of print media on the Reformaton. His chapter entitled "Printing: The Architect of the Modern Church" is fantastic and it sheds light on the current upheaval of hierarchies through new media.

The emerging church has developed during the wild days of new media and the web. This fact is often overlooked and there are not many books about it. Plenty of blogs and seminars, but not books. And this is one worth buying.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, new media

Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation, by Hugh Hewitt

Book Review - Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation thats Changing Your World, by Hugh Hewitt. Subheading is "Why you must know how the BLOGOSPHERE is smashing the OLD MEDIA MONOPOLY and giving individuals power in the marketplace of ideas.

I bought this book last year and was a little disappointed with it so i have not given a review until now. Hugh Hewitt himself is quite a phenomenal person, having successfully brought his audience from his radio talk show over into the blog world and building his blog to be a real powerhouse for republican blogging. He is speaking today at GodBlogCon in Las Vegas. I almost made it this year but since i was in USA 2 weeks ago and have to be there again in 2 weeks (San Francisco) I decided not to come.

"If your organization has not established itself in the blogosphere, now is the time to move ahead, but quickly!" (front cover)

The book has some excellent thoughts on the similarity and differences between the first Reformation and the current information reformation brought about through the Web. And also the empowerment of individuals and the people who, unlike Hugh, don't usually get much of a hearing. The style of the book doesn't really appeal to me and his peppy enthusiasm for blog journalism will encourage those who appreciate that kind of pep-talk but will probably turn off most of this blog's readers - who will probably not learn anything new. A better book than this is by Shane Hipps - "The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture", which is also not a GREAT book but its not bad either i will it review next.

Technorati Tags: blog, books

Bob Whitesel: Inside the Organic Church

Book Review: Inside the Organic Church: Learning from 12 Emerging Congregations, by Bob Whitesel

This book chronicles Bob's pilgrimage to a number of well-known, somewhat larger emerging and seeker type churches including Solomons Porch, Vintage Church, St Thoms in England and Mars Hill in Michigan. None of these churches have radically reshaped the form of the protestant church as we know it but they are examples worthy of listening to and learning from. Its an OK book and Bob's unique contribution to this already populated genre is the connection between the church growth movement and the emerging church movement. This connection may come as an embarrassment to many but it is worth seeing how one helped pave the way for the other. And I don't recall any other author doing such a thorough job.

Technorati Tags: books

God on Mute by Pete Grieg

Book Review: God On Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer by Pete Grieg

Pete doodled on the copy he sent me.

Pete Grieg has written an excellent book (Iggy agrees) and I know how hard it is for Pete to write books. I have known Pete pretty well for 7 years and I can tell you he agonizes over writing books, and his earlier works show signs of this struggle. But this book flows better. Its a readable book, GenX comes to mind, and Pete knows what he is talking about. He knows about answered prayer and he knows about unanswered prayer. He has witnessed the rapid growth of his own prayer and emerging church ministry called 24-7 Prayer and he knows what is like to wrestle helplessly for his wife's medical healing without an answer. He may not know how to comb his own hair but he does know about prayer. God on Mute is a well written, well designed book on prayer that the younger generation will appreciate. Well done, Pete. Now about that Old Speckled Hen . . .

Technorati Tags: emerging church, prayer

15 Book Review Marathon : Thursday 8th on TSK

15 Book Review Marathon. Thats November 8th, all day. I have a whole bunch of books that I have read and I need to review on this blog. Its going to be a long and arduous day of blogging my way through these books. Come and join the fun.

There will be a special guest blogger coming here during the day to talk about his book. Christian Marathon runner runner S. E. Gregg, is author of “The Christian Olympics-Going for the Gold Crowns” and he will be around for a few hours to chat with you and answer any questions. Official word: "Best-selling author and Bible curriculum writer, S. E. Gregg will embark on the first eight-website tour on Monday, November 5, 2007 for “The Christian Olympics-Going for the Gold Crowns”, the unveiling of the Bible’s comparison of the Christian race to the Olympic Games. Tour events include blogging, forum discussions, interviews and book reviews."

Here are the books I will be reviewing:

Faith Undone by Roger Oakland
A Community Called Atonement, by Scot McKnight
The Blogging Church, by Brian Bailey
Breaking the Missional Code, by Ed Stetzer and David Putnam
The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, How Media Shapes faith, the Gospel, and Church, by Shane Hipps
The Reformation: how a monk and a mallet changed the world, by Stephen J. Nichols
Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation thats changing your world, by Hugh Hewitt
Inside the Organic Church: Lessons from 12 Emerging Congregations, by Bob Whitesel
God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer, by Pete Grieg
Soul Graffiti, by Mark Scandrette
Being Church Where We Live, Ron McKenzie
Changing Mission: Learning from the newer churches, by Stuart Murray
Justice in the Burbs, Will and Lisa Samson
Organic Community, by Joseph Myers
Simple Church, by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger

Technorati Tags: books

Brian McLaren: Everything Must Change

This is a few weeks late. Sorry 'bout that. I received a preview copy a month ago and i should have written something earlier. I have actually been traveling a lot - only 2 days at home in the past few weeks and i didnt feel ready for feedback and questions at the time. But here I am. So . . . instead of writing another review, i just want to throw out a thought or two, and point to some resources that may help some people making sense of the provocative book called Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope by Brian McLaren.

From a literary standpoint,  the book diesels along nicely, steadily building momentum, each chapter linked neatly to the next like a TV serial. It avoids charts [thank God] and the stylistic devices of his earlier books [I never liked Neo] and it reads like Brian sitting next to you having a chat - which I have done with Brian on a few occasions. Dang - he is SUCH AN INCREDIBLE WRITER and gracious person. Which makes it hard to write a somewhat mixed review.

Technorati Tags: brian mclaren, emerging church, everything must change

The Ugly Blogger - Wikiklesia

Despite my chapter called "The Ugly Blogger", positive endorsements for the first Wikiklesia e-book, released a few days ago, are coming in.
"The hive-mind of Christianity speaks! It brings news of the future. Uttered like a prayer retrieved from the year 2030, spoken in a new tongue, a new form. Listen!" Kevin Kelly, co-founder, Wired Magazine / Long Now Foundation.

If you have read my chapter and want to discuss it, then leave some comments below. If not, buy the book and lets talk.

Related: Wikiklesia: World's first self-perpetuating nomadic business model?

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, business, new media, web 2.0, wikiklesia

Wikiklesia: The world's first self-perpetuating nomadic business model?

"Wikiklesia may be the world’s first self-perpetuating nomadic business model - raising money for charities - giving voice to emerging writers and artists - generating a continuous stream of new books covering all manner of relevant topics. Nobody remains in control. There is no board of directors. The franchise changes hands as quickly as new projects are created." Wikiklesia Press Release

As a missionary and church planter, I like anything that can self-perpetuate, multiply, reproduce spontaneously and keep on giving itself away until it reaches it goal. That means churches, conferences, training systems, and also this little publishing experiment called WIKIKLESIA that LAUNCHES TOMORROW [now available] on Lulu.

Volume One of the Wikiklesia project gets released July 23rd and its called Voices of the Virtual World: Participative Technology and the Ecclesial Revolution. BUY THE BOOK! My chapter on blogging is buried in there somewhere but the other chapters will be much more interesting than mine.

I have invited one of the project leaders John La Grou to my Happy Hour video cafe on Wednesday, along with some other geeky guests, and hopefully, if everything works out, John will chat about the uniqueness of this collaborative project.

Technorati Tags: book, collaborative, ecclesial, new media, nomadic, participatory, publishing, wikiklesia

Mark Dever gets Merit Award

Mark Dever gets the 2007 Christianity Today Merit Award for his book The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made. I haven't read the book, and at $40 I might not be rushing out to buy it on first impulse, but it seems to be a hefty reference book that might get a workout from users. Love to hear comments from people who have read the book.
Mark Dever and the emerging church? When interviewed, Dever said the term "Emerging Church" can mean all kinds of things so he suggests we need to get to know the individual pastor. Good advice. Take a listen to Mark Dever on emerging church (Mp3 clip taken from a larger interview on Way of the Master Radio.)

Technorati Tags: book, mark dever

Truth War: Is the EC really the New Skid on the Jock?

So my book arrived. The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception, by John Macarthur. Just curious - did anyone receive copies for review? I sure didn't. But no regrets in purchasing it. I said i was going to discuss the book but it probably deserves a few more posts because it tackles so many topics. And if you cant afford the book, then order John's interview called "Whats So Dangerous About the Emerging Church" which contains some of the same arguments. And they will send it to you free if it is your first time ordering from Grace to You - which is nice of them. Start here.

Before I say anything, I have a lot of respect for John Macarthur. I have benefitted from many of his books over the years. He is a man of integrity. So just because i dont agree with him on his appraisal of the emerging church doesnt mean I dont think highly of him. Because I do.

In a nutshell, John Macarthur brings the harshest criticism that has ever been delivered to the emerging church. Much harsher than I expected and blogged about some months ago. Much harsher than Don Carson, who took the time and effort to mention the positive contributions of the emerging church. Unlike Carson, Macarthur offers no positives at all. He sees the movement as heretical, an assault on the certainty of Scripture, inherently flawed, riddled with gnosticism, and equivalent to a poopslide on the garment of Christ.

Its that poopslide thing thats stuck in my mind. One could argue that he doesn't use the phrase "poopslide" or its equivalent, and "emerging church" in the same paragraph but the connection seems intentional to me. John Macarthur appeals to the letter of Jude in dealing with heretics. On Jude's advice to ministering to the committed, he
"employs his strongest and most vivid language: "On some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh" (v. 23 NASB) . . .
. . . The expression Jude employs is shocking. It is as course as any expression in the Scripture. Jude uses a Greek word for "garment" that signifies underwear and a word for "polluted" that means "stained in a filthy manner; spotted and stained by bodily functions". He is comparing the defilement of false teaching to soiled underwear." (Truth War, page 181)

Now thats great! You mean there is a word in the Bible for an 'underwear skid'? A POOPSLIDE?

Why didnt anyone tell us? This is the stuff that inspires one to study Greek in seminary. This is the stuff that inspires bloggers to study the Bible for themselves. This is the stuff that creates youth pastors and gives them material for Friday night.

Hey, did you hear John MacArthur attacked the Emerging Church?
Really?
Yeah, he called them a poopslide!
Poopslide? Did he mean a Hersheys Kiss or a Cadbury Swirl?
He didn't say.
They must be pretty back-slidden for him to say that?
Oh yeah, splattered over Skid Row.
I guess you could say the Emerging Church is the New Skid on the Jock?
Yeah, thats why he BLASTED them in his brief!

Well, you wont find such frivilous chatter on this blog, in fact, I try to avoid such things. But the question remains. Is the emerging church even remotely related to the heretics of Judes warning. Are we the soiled garments?

Read on.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, john macarthur, truth war

Emergent Manifesto of Hope

Emergent Manifesto of Hope, edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones who do a great job in bringing a plethora of American emergent voices together in one book, but don't seem to have anything memorably profound themselves to add. But maybe that egalitarianism is part of the emergent flavor and the token of 2 hosts who know how to be gracious to the many important guests in their book.

I just read through this book in the bathtub. Not every word, mind you. But the water was rather tepid by the time i was done so i have read enough to give a short review.

My first impression was a regrettable tinge of disappointment. “Manifesto” is an ambitious title for a book and in all honesty, this book is overreaching itself to be a Manifesto of the kind one associates with MANIFESTOS. Unlike some of the manifesto-like books i have been reading lately (Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, Transforming Mission, etc) The Emergent Manifesto of Hope doesn't sum up in a climatic fashion the hopes, fears, dreams, struggles, and victories of a movement, or in this case a conversation among friends. The book is more a collection of essays from assorted writers within the Emergent Village community. Its more a snapshot of what these folk are thinking right now about whatever they wanted to talk about. I would have preferred a tighter boundary and stronger backbone of thought.

However . . . its lack of structure has allowed it many varied voices (Native American, black, Hispanic . . .), from disparate traditions (Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Liberty University graduate, well paid and 13k a year . . ) to address a myraid of topics related to emerging church ministry (gardening, sexuality, theology, community, post-colonialism . .) and this variety is its strength.

So its more like a TASTER than a manifesto. But tasters are cool. You get to sample a lot of different things before you invest in the one you want.

Know what i mean???? This taster last month in Denver was a huge help in deciding what to buy.

This was our tasting team - Tim Pynes and Alexander Campbell. Tasting is a serious business. We were on a mission.

But back to the book I thought the best chapter was from Brian McLaren who maps out the next step. This is Brian at his best - eloquent, thoughtful, prophetic, gentle, clear, radical. This is Brian leading the way for the church emerging into a postcolonial faith“, a ”new era of Christian faith as a 'living color' global community, from a religion of conquest and control to a faith of collaborative mission and humble service“ . . ” we are emerging into an integral, holistic, creative and transforming view of the missio dei in which we all participate as colaborers of God.“ [Page 149-150]

I don't see any JELLO ON THE WALL after that chapter . . . do you? Brian attempts to move the conversation from postmodernism to postcolonialism [I also quoted Kenzo Mabiala recently] and i hope his critics will be willing to follow him there for some thoughtful discussion.

I would have liked to have seen more critical self-evaluation of the movement. They [we] have had a good decade to reflect on achievements and mistakes and the lack of self-assessment in the book might create a vacuum that the critics will feel called to fill.

Much of the thinking behind this book has already happened overseas. Many European authors are quoted. Lesslie Newbigin in particular. Brian Mitchell (Catholic) rethinks the parish system in the same way that the Brits have in Mission Shaped Church. Jolly Bob Hopkins from England is quoted in Presbymergent Adam Cleaveland's excellent chapter on bridging between the traditional denominations and new emerging structures.

Technorati Tags: book, brian mclaren, emergent, emerging church

Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches. Part One.

An early release copy just arrived and I read it straight away. Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, edited by Robert Webber. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did! Fantastic book! Really. And this means i have to make room on my top ten Emerging Church books.

Dr. Robert Webber has done a great job in creating a snapshot of 5 emerging church leaders and pushing them to bring their theological leanings out of the closet. Not the widest scope - more a focus on the evangelical. non-Pentecostal, protestant, non-house church seminary-trained leader with a more traditional church structure and leadership hierarchy. But the book is about theology, not methodology, so I will cut some slack and give it the kudos it deserves.

If you have read "The Church in Emerging Culture" edited by Len Sweet, then you might think you're looking at its sequel. Robert Webber is the editor, and like Len, does a superb job in framing the conversation. Len Sweet's four categories (Garden/Park/Glen/Meadow), which I said were worth the price of the book, are replaced by four cultural stages that Webber takes from sociologists Strauss and Howe. They are four cultural turnings in a cycle that is finding completion in this present dispensation of emerging church.
1. High Evangelicals (1946-1964)
2. Awakening Evangelicals (1964- 1984)
3. Evangelical Unravelling (1984- 2004)
4. The Emerging Church and Younger Evangelical Leaders (2004 - )

The grid offers some good insight into where we have come and its a superb read, as was Sweet's intro. Both are worthy contributions on their own standing. Although, as in Webber's book on Younger Evangelicals, i would argue an emerging church that is older, more integrated, more invisible, less institutional, more international and more influenced by the charasmatic and post-charasmatic movement than Webber is willing to acknowledge.

Four of the five characters in Sweets book have their counterparts in Webber's. Reformer Michael Horton now becomes Mark Driscoll, the joker figure Brian McLaren is played by Doug Pagitt, the token female main-liner Fredrica Matthews-Green is replaced by Anglo-Lutheran Karen Ward, and the role of emerging church beyond the seeker sensitive model shifts from Erwin McManus to John Burke.

But there is a difference between these books. Rather than dealing with culture, Robert Webber tackles theology and focuses on the differences between them. This gives the book more EDGE than Sweet's book. And what allows Webber's authors to engage with vigor in this theological pillow-fight is the fact that they are all on friendly terms with each other, giving them freedom to be harsh and forthright in their critiques without getting nasty or personal.

These are five great people and over the years I have met all of them.

Mark Driscoll (Biblicist Theology) is the elephant in the room, the crabby schoolteacher, and one continually wonders whether he is on the defensive to protect his own reputation from participation in this book project or if he considers it his ministry to bring the others back to Calvin. Or, as a pastor, he is worried about his flock going into spaces where there be dragons. Maybe all of those. Reformed folk will be cheering him on as he chastises the others for treating theology as if dynamic rather than static. But his comments open up so many questions that the book almost needs a place for the other authors to respond to Driscoll's comments on them
"No, Mark, that was not a sly reference to homosexuality . . "
Mark's defensive posture prevents him from taking the conversation forward and he defers to a restating of what we have already heard, interspersed with a thousand Scriptural references. He is usually better than this, as you may know. When in his element, he is genius. But Driscoll's presence in the book, awkward as it is, acts as a reminder that a portion of the emerging church hails from reformed and fundamentalist corners of the room and they also need a place at the table. Mark's presence here is an entry ticket for those people to enter mission in the emerging culture. And for that, I am thankful.

Doug Pagitt (Embodied Theology) is brilliant. I have said this before but The Pagitt has not been able to display it in such a way as to prove I am right. His two books are OK . . but not great. Not as great as I know Doug is. But this chapter gives me hope that Doug is finding some space to shine in the literary world. At last.
In his chapter, he is Driscoll's nemesis - "We are called to be communities that are cauldrons of theological imagination, not "authorized re-staters" of past ideas."

Technorati Tags: books, emergent, emerging church

Forgotten Ways and Alan Hirsch's Online Course

My good friend Alan Hirsch of FORGE has a new book "The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church" and it has just been released. But you knew that already. I am running a little late on this blog post but at the same time, Alan and our DAWN team have a special offer for you if you want to do a custom online course beginning next month - with us and our team. You will be part of a three month European "cohort" and you will get a discount on the cost. Apparently they worked this out earlier this month in Copenhagen - I was supposed to be there but got stuck in Scotland.

But anyway . . . the book. An excellent book and most worthy of your attention. You open it up and the first words you read are these . . .
"The Forgotten Ways is a compelling challenge to awaken the church's innate entrepreneurial instinct and propel it into the fringes of our emerging culture. I recommend it highly, especially to those endowed with the boldness to align the church's operating system with the missional heart of God"
Andrew Jones, www.tallskinnykiwi.com

Well said! I couldn't have put it any more eloquently myself!

Alan's book is a full package training course packed into a book. I was with Alan last year in Switzerland as he taught through this material - much to the delight of German speaking ministry leaders - and I can tell you that this will be a big seller among denominational and mission executives, strategists and those gifted with apostolic potential but don't know what to do with it. And honestly, not much has been written for apostles in recent years. And Alan's teaching on communitas vs. community is really worth thinking through.

In their previous book The Shaping of Things to Come, Alan and Michael Frost laid down some missiological and theological background for emerging missional church movements. Alan picks up on this and gets more practical and strategic in this new book The Forgotten Ways. Michael's new book "Exiles" is also worth buying, and it takes a more personal, lifestyle approach to missional living and community. Both books rock and it would be fair to say that both Alan and Frosty should be on everyone's Top Ten reading list for emerging-missional books.

But if you haven't got Shaping of Things to Come, I suggest buying it first. Its a good primer on missiological issues that back up emerging church thinking.

MORE:
Read a sample [PDF]
Read some reviews on Subversive Influence, Reformissionary, Next Reformation, PoopEmerges, JesusCreed, and Easum/Bandy who give it book of the month and call it a "must read"
And if you want to get in on our Euro-team cohort with DAWN Europe and Alan, then send me an email and i can get you sorted.

Technorati Tags: alan hirsch, emerging church, forgotton ways, missiology, mission, missional

Frank Viola's Passion