Tall Skinny Kiwi

Dr Reg Codrington on the Emerging Church

You all know the ubiquitous South African Graeme Codrington from his many writings on Future Church, etc. But did you know that his dad, the venerable Dr Reg Codrington has written a great review and synthesis of 5 emerging church books, drawing upon his vast four decades of experience? He responds to books by Carson, Mclaren, McNeil, Claibourne and Sweet. Its about the most honest review I have ever read. He doesnt take sides and has no ax to grind. Behold . . . I give you . . .

Dr Reg Codrington on the Emerging Church

I just love the internet when it allows everyone a voice, no matter where they live. Its Web 2.0, for crying out loud! Its about DRIVEWAYS, not highways, connecting PEOPLE not organizations, its about tiny CANALS, not huge railroads. Its about connecting real people like Graeme's dad who has something important to say with the rest of us who need to hear it.

Technorati Tags: emerging church

How Emerging Churches can Avoid Insitutionalism

" However, my research with congregations3 which profess to be a part of the Emerging Church conversation/movement indicates that organizations can both survive and thrive without
becoming institutionalized, that is, without utilizing taken for granted patterns and routines in organizational structure, processes, or ideologies. In other words, my research shows that it is possible to resist the forces which compel homogenization through the utilization of very specific, deliberate, and intentional strategies."

Josh Packard, "Organizational Structure, Religious Belief and Resistance: The Emerging Church, PDF. HT: EV

Technorati Tags: emerging church

Emerging Church Gathering in Latin America

Update: The Latins want to know WHO is coming down to Brazil for Tribal Generation. These guys have been coming up to Europe and USA for our events over the past 8 years. I feel bad that I cant make it to this really important event. I would like a few people trek on down and be with the wider family from all over South and Central America.

Are you going? Please send me an email and a little about yourself.

Original: Every two years, leaders from many emerging church networks around Latin America get together in Brazil for Encontro/Tribal Generation. This year its happening again - May 21-24. I was invited to speak, again, but alas, we are launching our Cooperative space the same weekend so I cant come. [My aplogies, Olgavaro] But you could. Its worth the trip. Details at Tribal Generation website.

Tribal Generation call themselves a "movement aimed at stimulating the implementation of new churches focused on the emergent generation known as the urban tribes." I have talked about them in my post "I go to Rio"

Technorati Tags: tribal generation

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

Emerging Downunder

A book gets released next month in Melbourne by Brent Lyons Lee and Ray Simpson who is also one of my co-speakers at the Grassroots Festival. Looks like a wicked cool book. HT: Matt Stone who gives the blurb for the book:

"Emerging Downunder: Creating Celtic New Monastic Villages of God" taps into the current hunger for spirituality, the death pains of obsolete church forms, and the rising tide of hope felt by many Christians. It suggests ways the fragmented church may reconnect both with its roots and the contemporary environment, providing practical examples of church that bring praying, eating, learning and hospitality together in one place."

Technorati Tags: monastic

The Great Mergence (updated with more)

Emergent
AGmergent
Convergent
Submergent
Baptimergent
Anglimergent
Luthermergent
Reformergent
Methomergent
Presbymergent
Cathlimergent?
Fundamergent?
Neveremergent?
Shuttheheckupaboutemergent?

Update: Apologies to Quakermergent for missing you.

And Nazmergent

Technorati Tags: emergent

New Conspirators Conference today

The New Conspirators. I have been talking about this conference for a long time. Now its here and if you live in Seattle, you should be there. Really. The list of contributors is really impressive.

If you cant make the conference, at least buy the book. Its called The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time. Tom sent me the manuscript last year and I was really impressed with it. Tom and Christine Sine are possibly the most connected people I know to the wider emerging church scene AND the historic Jesus movement of the 70's in which they also had a part. It was the Sines that connected me with key leaders around the world including New Zealanders like Mark Pierson (who is speaking at the conference this weekend) and Emergent Kiwi Steve Taylor. They are always ahead of the game.

I stayed with the Sines a few months ago in Seattle and was really impressed with the monastic style community thats emerging there. I could waffle on and on but will shut up at this point and just say . . . buy the book and somehow find your way to hear them soon.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, new conspirators

C. Michael Patton's Charts on Orthodoxy and the Emerging Church

The conversation at Jesus Creed on C. Michael Patton's chart on orthodoxy and the emerging church is winding to a conclusionary pause and Patton has added more thoughts behind his attempt to map out the emerging church on the orthodoxy scale.

1. The first chart on conservative vs. liberal?

Nah. I don't feel that time-traveling to the 1920's dichotomy of fundamental/liberal to see which side we would land is the best way to reconnect a robust trust in the Scripture with a obedient commitment to social justice as outlined by the mandate of Jesus. I believe the story of the Bible is connected to the event - or in other words, those miracles of Jesus really happened - and so I am not a liberal. But I am also committed to the whole gospel as Jesus described it and that inclusion of justice and social transformation makes me appear suspect by fundamentalists. I prefer not to use the scale at all because its not helpful.

2. The Orthodoxy Chart?

I don't like it Sorry. I appreciate the effort of C. Michael Patton but these charts are neither helpful nor meaningful to me. I wondered why those particular authors were chosen to represent the emerging churches (and why authors and not network or emerging church ministry leaders?) and then I noticed that the 'emerging' and 'emergent were over to the side of Orthodox Christianity, rather than the center.

And who said orthodoxy was a fixed point in time rather than a moving target?

Shoot. What are we doing if it is not moving towards orthodoxy and orthopraxy? The emerging church movement, in my opinion, at least in my corner of the room, is at least an attempt to realign God's mission and the mission of the church in our generation with the way of Jesus and his apostles in a manner that resonates historically and theologically with what the catholic church has traditionally viewed as "orthodox". Patton has some good thoughts on what orthodoxy means, but I don't think he sees emerging church movement nudging the church towards orthodoxy in the way I do. His recent posts on his view on the emerging church [which says nothing about the missiological thinking behind the movement and seems to avoid the eschatological issues that are currently being raised by McLaren, Wright and Tony Jones] show that he sees the emerging church movement very differently than I do.

Technorati Tags: c. michael patton, emergent, emerging church, orthodoxy

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

Anglican + Emergent = Anglimergent

Its been a busy season for Anglicans and the emerging church.
- Karen Ward re-launches the Anglimergent social network which is like Presbymergent but Anglican. I am number 87.
- Ian Mobsby, after releasing his excellent book on whether Anglican Emerging Churches are really Anglican or not, is starting a Euro subset of Anglimergent
- Archbishop Rowan Williams gives some thoughts on the emergent church and fresh expressions on some videos like this one. HT: Emergent Village

- Becky Garrison publishes "Rising From The Ashes: Rethinking Church" and stakes a claim for Episcopal involvement in the American emerging church scene.
- Anglican Phyllis Tickle, after many thoughts about the emerging church, gets ready to publish her book "The Great Emergence"
- EmergingChurch.info is still the leading result for Google search on "emerging church" after many years at the top. (Wikipedia sometimes beats it).
Also, A Church Mission Society sponsored meeting in March in Northampton will see about 30 key leaders come together around the idea of "Small Missional Communities". And yes, I will be there for that.

(click to enlarge)

I wonder . . .
Who in the emerging church movement will be at Global Anglican Future Conferece [GAFCON] in Jerusalem?
Who will be at Lambeth and might want to help run a Lambeth Fringe event to inform Bishops of new emerging church opportunities and information?
Are there one or two leaders who are thinking way beyond the Fresh Expressions box that really need to be at Small Missional Communities? Read the flyer below and shoot me an email if you know of someone. There might be room for one or two more.

Related: Paul Roberts of Thinking Anglicans on emerging church
Anglican Church Planting Initiatives (PDF)
Anglican Church Planting Initiatives on emerging church where they say: "Emerging Church – GO and STAY and see what EMERGES!"

Technorati Tags: anglican, becky garrison, emergent, emerging church, episcopal, evangelical, phyllis tickle

5 Models of Emerging Church from 1999

DJ Chuang is collecting various models of emerging churches that are often quoted and referred to. That includes models given by Ed Stetzer, Scot McKnight, Justin Taylor, Mark Driscoll, and more recently from C. Wess Daniels and Darren Patrick and others.

No one has ever quoted mine because no one has ever read it, at least not in the last 8 years. It was never published online, only in a Leadership Network magazine called Next Generation. I post it here, introducing it to the internet audience as a blast from the past and also as way for Creatives to understand the various models of emerging church without resorting to reductionist labels or alliterated cheese. I have added some images but left the text intact, despite the choppy writing and embarrassingly sarcastic flavor.

Disclaimer: Back in 1999 when this was written, I had just traveled for two years in a Winnebago with my family around the USA. We had left our home in San Francisco in 1998 to hit the road and I shifted my employment from the California Baptist Association to becoming a Consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. They let us travel as missionaries to the emerging culture and some of that time was hosting conferences with a group called Young Leaders (which later became Emergent, after we had left for Europe). But in the two years of travel around USA, we went to every state (except North and South Dakota) to identify and support new church movements among the emerging postmodern subculture. Not just Baptist churches, but all stripes and colors. In 2000 we shifted our base of operation to Europe. So these models are from our American experience. I would NOT use them to describe the European emerging church scene.

"Postmodern" was the word we were using back then and obviously, I would not choose this word in 2008. Nor would I be so annoyingly ironic. I think over the past 8 years, and through many toils and snares, I have matured from a sarcastic smart-alec punk to a much more refined smart-alec punk. So please give me a break when you read this. Also, Jason from Young Leaders asked me to write a particularly provocative article for the magazine Next Generation. Thus, my overview of the American scene with some very sharp rib-pokes towards "posers" and a deconstruction of the deconstruction we were suggesting.

Anyway, its tongue in cheek and not to be taken too seriously. What I find interesting, however, is how similar other models from today's emerging church measure up to these five categories. And without further ado, dear bloggers and emerging church critics, I give you a blast from the past.

-----------------------------------------------

Postmodern Church Time Capsule,
by Andrew Jones. Dec 31, 1999. San Francisco

Is your church postmodern? This was The Question evangelical churches were asking themselves as the 1990s came to a close. Included in this time capsule is my brief snapshot of 5 models of churches going under the postmodern label at the turn of the new Century. I have likened them to gardens because . . . well, it's fun.

1. Big like a Miracle-Gro Garden

ntimidation through size is a great deterrent to criticism. Yet there are some steroid-ridden youth churches whose mandate is "Xtreme growth" and a head count that matches the Midian army, even at the expense of other churches.

a highly-strung, well-financed youth group becomes a stage production that becomes their fathers' church.

Are they
Not really. More like hypermodern with candles. They are unwilling to topple the pillars of modernity lest the whole building collapse on their head, as it did with Samson.

Technorati Tags: darrin patrick, emergent, emerging church, mission

Emerging Church Amsterdam

Heres are the highlights of my one day in Amsterdam.

I had a fantastic dinner at the home of Phil and Laina Graf in their classic Amsterdam home. Their house even has a cellar in the basement which was used for hiding Jews during the war. Which might be quite normal for the Dutch but I found it interesting. The food was incredible - wild mushroom soup with truffle oil was the best. Laina gave us her food business to come with her husband to help start new churches in Europe with a Netherlands based mission called Christian Associates - a mission group which received some good press in Prague the same day of the meeting for the new emerging church there [HT: Sasa Flek who there (preaching) has more info on their first gathering]

A great group of people came for our "meeting". You can read about them all on Ro's blog OurJourney which is where i stole this picture. Not mentioned in Ro's account was Gerard Almighty Kelly, whose early book on emerging church (RetoFuture) is a classic. Gerard left UK to give leadership to Crossroads Church in Amsterdam.

Ro Bos is a Dutch web designer and the guy that started Next-Wave.org - which, we decided that evening, was the original, and longest lasting Emerging Church on-line magazine in the world. Charlie Wear had the idea for it originally and still leads it today with Bob Hyatt, but it was started by a Dutchman. In fact, Next-Wave is having its tenth anniversary right now and the January issue is a big one. I was asked to write a quick ten year history but have not been able to get it finished in time. He is now working with a Dutch Reformed Church.

Thanks to Andrew Perriman of Open Source Theology for organizing the meeting. We discussed his excellent new book in the car. Its called Re:Mission - Biblical Mission for a Post-Biblical Church and I am half way through it. I like the way Andrew thinks and how he approaches the Scriptures, looking at them with a missional framework and asking the right questions.

Marc Van der Woude the Flying Dutchman and a leader in Connect Europe came with my good friend Eno, a church planter from Switzerland.

Digression: My first visit to Amsterdam was in 2000, the same week as Billy Graham's Amsterdam 2000 event, a massive affair in which I heard a number of famous speakers, none of whom realized I had snuck into the event without an invitation. The security people on their hi-tech scooters, however, noticing that I had no identifying bracelet, despite my attempts to cover my naked wrist whenever they looked, were polite and gracious in showing me the back door. Derek Chapman was also there and he lasted a few hours longer than I before they threw him out. Obviously his kung-fu was stronger. Gatecrashing Christian conferences is an art-form and requires years of practise. They don't teach you these skills in seminary, you know.

Our whole family flew in to Amsterdam with backpacks and sleeping bags and we set up our tent in a campground beside the city. The bread and the chocolate was wonderful. This photo was taken of myself and my son Samuel, taking a public whizz on the streets of Amsterdam.

Ahhhh. They don't call it a PUBLIC toilet for nothing. Would any other bloggers care to show their public urination photos. Hello? Al Mohler?

But back to the emerging church meeting. My biggest regret for the evening, apart from not getting a third helping of that mushroom soup, is that the legendary Curtis Sergeant had to leave early (Curtis, Lee Behar and I came over from our meeting earlier) and could not tell us some stories about the incredible movements that have been happening in China.

Very humbling to be around Curtis. And quite intimidating to submit my report for a funding grant to him and Lee Behar (they both work for a foundation that supports mission) knowing that Curtis has been involved with a movement that started a MILLION churches in Asia (probably a low estimate) and things in Europe move so slowly and are often very unimpressive.

Really enjoyed meeting two young guys [Hetnetwork] starting an emerging church and Nico-Dirk [Post-gereformed] (pictured on left) who has been reading up on a lot of theology. I asked him for a list of the Dutch thinkers who have impacted him and he reeled off a lenghty list and I wasn't sure if these were Dutch theologians or if he was just clearing his throat. I recognized Kuyper and a few others but there is a lot more out there - not all translated into English. Great to see people reading the writings of old Dutchmen to gain perspective on whats happening now in their own context.

And lots of other great people that i caught up with (Gea Gort, Martijn, etc). Ohh . . and Andrew Last, son of missionaries Scott and Terri Last [Scott was part of the original Calvary Chapel in the early 70's when it was a tiny chapel] Anyway, great to be in Netherlands again. I love that country. The EC scene has really changed since I came here in 2003 at the request of Roland Van der Molen and the Assemblies of God to do a creative training event for 50 young church planters. The emerging church scene in 2008 seems a lot more stronger, confident, and diverse.

Technorati Tags: emerging church

Emergent Church Difficulties and Differences

The phrase "emergent church difficulties and differences", although it sounds like a new book title, is actually found in a document from 1662 known as the Propositions of the Synod of the churches of New England, which convened in Boston that year. This document was part of the affirmation of the Halfway Covenant of 1662.

Technorati Tags: christian, emergent, emerging church, jonathan edwards

Sinners in the Hands of the Emergent Church

I simply just HAD to use that title for this post - he he he - I took it from an excellent PDF by Bill Hernard, offered up with permission by Ed Stetzer. Its called "Sinners in the Hand of the Emergent Church: Jonathan Edwards Join the Conversation." [PDF], presented at the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education. I agree with Hernard's conclusions, that there are things Edwards would both affirm and dismiss from our present emergent church movement.

High point: A number of interesting parallels between Jonathan Edwards and the emerging church of today. Bill has done some decent research here. For example, Edwards engaged the local culture and used innovative methods to reach people, including hymn singing in worship. He also took a big risk by supporting the itinerant evangelists.
Low Point: I was kinda hoping this Baptist pastor would use some Baptist emerging church examples. Its a little disappointing that, while the Southern Baptist Convention boasts some of the earliest and best examples of emergent churches and emergent church leaders in America over the past 15 years, none of them make it into Bill's paper. Or is it just a matter of convenience that we give our critique to churches on the other side of the denominational fence?

Further study: I wonder if the parallels from Edwards experience as a missionary preacher among the Native Americans (not tackled in Hernard's paper) might be even more applicable to a missional approach to the emerging culture than his experience with the settlers. Did Edwards demand the Native Americans convert to English language culture [and American value system] and a non-indigenous worship style or did he apply Biblical principles of cross cultural apostolic ministry in the way many emerging church apostles are now employing as they take the gospel into other cultures?

Hello, seminary students?????

Update: I have a new post that mentions Edward's relation to the "emergent church" phrase from 1622. Its called Emergent Church Difficulties and Differences.

Technorati Tags: baptist, emergent, emerging church

Chuck Smith Snr on Emerging Church, Again

I just heard Chuck Smith Snr's New Years Eve speech where he uses the emerging church as an example of last days apostasy. Chuck's major misfire here is probably another good reason to abandon the label.I don't have time to go through it point by point but can I just say in a general sense that I/we feel that, although we respect Chuck very much, and my wife used to attend CC Costa Mesa as a teenager, we feel he has been grossly misinformed about this movement. In fact, its very sad to hear because so many of us claim Calvary Chapel heritage in some form or another. However, I would be willing to look at some sources if anyone would be kind enough to send me some links.

Related:
The Chuck Smiths on Emerging Church
How Your Emerging Church Can Stay in Calvary Chapel

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, chuck smith

Rob Bell, Bullhorn Guy and Time Magazine

Nice to see Time Mag honoring Rob Bell. [HT: Eugene Cho who i got to meet recently in Seattle]. Rob has gotten a lot of criticism recently, much of it from churches that want to have the same genre of success that Mars Hill enjoys. But in my opinion, Rob Bell has done really well. I have never met him, nor been to his church and I only took a quick glance at one of his books - "Sex God". But I did sneak into the local Baptist church up here in Scotland to see what the Wednesday night Bible study (middle aged and older) folk were watching and there was a Nooma video on. Rob is a great storyteller. And from what I have heard, he is a great person. I think the Baptist youth group also went through his videos.

There is one video named "Bullhorn Guy", where Rob talks about a street evangelist. I am not that evangelist - that was someone else. But I was a street evangelist for many years and in many countries so I found it interesting that there was so much discussion on this one.

And if you happen to come across the Bullhorn Guy on the web (Fighting Fundamentalist Forums, for example), well . . thats me. I am not a street evangelist anymore, having swapped my bullhorn and soapbox (and guitar, magic tricks, sketchboard, ventriloquist dummy named Wally, and other paraphernalia accumulated over 5 years) for a keyboard and mouse . . . but I would not be opposed to pulling the bullhorn out again if it was culturally appropriate. And in most cases, I agree with Rob that those moments would be very rare. Actually, I would like to do more ambient video projection on buildings but thats another story.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, rob bell

Danger and The Emerging Church

Excuse the title. I just wanted to attract the attention of EC critics and wish them a very happy Christmas! Hey we LOVE you people and we thank you for proof-reading everything we write without compensation. God bless you all!

Congratulations, in particular, to Roger Oakland for making number one in a YouTube search for "emerging church", top five for a google search for "emerging church" and the publication of an anti-emerging church book called Faith Undone - which is actually worth buying if you are interested in the history and what many fundamentalists don't appreciate about the emerging church. Gary Gilley has a review of the book already but it doesn't seem very objective.

Roger Oakland is Emerging Church's Critic of the Year, for sure. But speaking of danger and the emerging church, here is some good reading:

DANGER:
- John Armstrong lands on the greatest danger for Reformed Christianity
- Chris Wright suggests that mission without reformation would be deluded, self-defeating and event DANGEROUS. HT: RealMealMinistries.org [I really like Chris Wright]
- Scot McKnight steps out on the 'dangerous' ground of politics.
- Eugene Peterson quoted in a discussion about the Golden Compass as saying, "Religion is the most dangerous energy source known to humankind”.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church

Tom Brokaw on emerging church

Tom Brokaw reports on the emerging church in USA for Nightly News. Video shows PineRidge Church's Tadd Grandstaff mixing the cocktail and Al Mohler adding the bitters.
HT: Denny Burk and Steve Knight.

Click on Tadd's lips to watch the movie

Related: USA Today looks at bloggers and denominations in an article called Bloggers keep the faith, contentiously

Pomomusings has some honest criticism regarding this interview.

Technorati Tags: emerging church

Roger Oakland and Faith Undone

Hot topic on the internet right now - Roger Oakland, of Understanding the Times, author of the hard hitting book against the emerging church "Faith Undone: the emerging church—a new reformation or an end-time deception", and anti-emerging church activist on YouTube, has been removed from his office at the Calvary Chapel Logos building and has lost his place on their radio station. PhoenixPreacher seems to be hosting the discussion and there is talk of the previous conversation regarding Chuck Smith and Chuck Smith Jr - not all the facts are in yet.

Anyone from Calvary Chapel know what's going on?

Personally, I feel for Roger and prayed for him this morning. He seems like a sincere man although his teachings border on the extreme and he seems to reject most of the evangelical church as heretical and leading us all to Rome - from megachurch to seeker to emerging to prayer movements to YWAM. He invited me for a chat last year in California but I didn't have time to see him. I said i would review his book last week but i ran out of time. I don't think it would be appropriate at this time to do so. Maybe when things settle down for Roger and he finds a new place to office, then we can discuss the arguments in his book. I do think that his book is worth reading if you want to find out why some people really despise the emerging church movement. Roger did a lot of reading. Its his interpretation that I disagree strongly with, but that is to be expected.

Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, roger oakland

Emerging Church and Web 2.0 in the Press

- Nice to see USA Today do a piece on the emerging church. Imago Dei in Portland OR is the church they landed on. Pastor Rick McKinley is a great guy. We hung out a few times in the early stages of Acts 29 - a network he used to help run. In fact, when i was in Portland a few weeks back Rick and I chatted for a long time. What i like about the USA Today article is the emphasis on downgrading and living a simpler lifestyle as part of their Christian witness.

- The latest edition of the Presbyterian Outlook focuses on Web 2.0 inside the Presbyterian church. Check out Rhett Smith talking about online communities and Adam Cleaveland writes on Blogging 101. Cleave's blog is called Pomomusing and its one of the top emerging church blogs in the world. And I know there are many ways to measure blog success but if you measure one of those factors - permanent inbound links measured by Technorati - then Pomomusings beats both JesusCreed AND Tallskinnykiwi. Yeahhh!!!

Technorati Tags: emerging church

Happy Hour: Virtual Monastery, House Churches, Emerging Church UK and USA, and Emerging Church Bloggers/Christianity 2.0

My Happy Hour is this coming Monday, 12th November at 5pm GMT (London time) on Shapevine.com. That's midday in New York. Come with questions for my very special guests who are turning up through video cam. They include:

Bob Beltz, an author of numerous books and creator of the world's first virtual monastery. He is also the guy behind Walden Media which is releasing the DVD of Amazing Grace the following day with a 5 week course for churches and small groups. I want to ask him about what happened with the blogger/Hollywood partnership that we experienced earlier in the year and if it is a good way forward.

Wolfgang Simson is author of Houses that Change the World (download PDF here) and a new book on the global house church movement that is awaiting release. Wolfgang, in my opinion, is the most knowlegable guy anywhere regarding whats going on with house churches globally. Actually, he will be in my house for a few days so his video cast will be coming from another room in our house. I want him to talk about web, cyberchurch and how it ties in to house church.

Becky Garrison, Senior Editor for The Wittenburg Door, is releasing a book a few days later called "Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church". Becky has just done some research looking at emerging church in both UK and USA and is able to draw some interesting comparisons. And she is NEVER lost for words. Believe me! See Becky on Wikipeida. She is also putting out a book on new atheism.

And a special guest to talk about cyberchurch and Church 2.0. I have just asked Paul Teusner from Australia but am awaiting his response. His PhD work on emerging bloggers and cyberspace (read some of it here - "Emerging church bloggers in Australia: Prophets, priests and rulers in God’s virtual world") is really fascinating.

And I will make some special announcements about some changes in our ministry and plans for 2008. You might even meet my wife, Debbie, who is starting an artists cooperative called The Sorting Room, which is paving the way for a new kind of social enterprise in UK

.

Technorati Tags: christian, emergent, emerging church, web 2.0

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

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

Emerging Funeral Trend

I noticed this when my father died a few years back and the funeral director suggested we have a funeral service that reflected my dad's life and story rather than a generic one-size-fits-all funeral service. To be honest, I was a little taken back. Especially when he told me stories of recent funerals that were quite creative and personal. Which is kind of what we did for my dad.

There really IS a trend here and other people are noticing also. A article published yesterday entitled "Emerging Funeral Trend: Its Not Your Grandfather's Funeral Anymore" discusses this trend among baby boomers to have designer funerals that are tailored rather than off-the-shelf.

"Celebrants help grieving families by working with family members to plan original funeral services that truly reflect someone’s personality and lifestyle and help begin the healing process."

Some might say its a part of our individualistic culture, and there might be truth in that. But the other side is that funeral and memorial services are not designed to keep the funeral home staff happy or to keep tradition for the sake of tradition but rather for those who have come to remember.

Technorati Tags: emerging church, funeral

Off The Map Conference is being blogged.

Off The Map Live conference tackling emerging church issues is going on in Seattle. Speakers include my friends Richard Twiss, Todd Hunter and Brian McLaren.

Bloggers covering the event:
John at SmuloSpace
Randy at DoableEvangelism
Jeff at Emergent Bretheren
Chad at Pathways Church

Technorati Tags: off the map

"Evangelical" - What does it mean today

Great discussion today with some heavy hitters on Café Theology. Its called A Symposium: Six Evangelicals Assess Their Movement The emerging church gets a mention by Denny Burk, as does Steve Chalke who continues to be mistakenly connected with the emerging church, despite his protests and the protests of others. Good to hear from John Franke.

Technorati Tags: christian, emerging church, evangelical, emergent

Emerging Church Submerging the Reformation?

Earlier today, Jim Bublitz at OldTruth.com took on my Reformation Sunday post and suggested that the emerging church movement, myself included, are trying to rewrite the history of the Reformation. His post called The Emerging Submerging of the Reformation has turned into an emerging church bash which I had to show my wife. She shook her head. I responded with a paper that is too long to post. Actually, I got to use the new "pages" feature of this blog which is cool. Anyway, have a read if you want.

My paper is called A Response to Jim Bublitz: Emerging Submerging of the Reformation?

Read on for a few thoughts on the Reformation that I quoted in my paper to back up my thoughts. I have turned the comments off here because I would rather you comment on the actual paper,

Technorati Tags: emerging church, jim bublitz, reformation

Prayer Feeder - New 2.0 App for emerging churches

New application for churches and groups by developer Stephen Dominy who is beta testing it right now. It offers more privacy than a Facebook app. You may have read what Stephen said about it earlier this month on Emergingchurch.info I have started a test group called Missional Communities. If you want to be a part of roadtesting a new group, go to Prayerfeeder.com and ask for an invite. I just might even let you join. And thanks Stephen for letting me know about it.

Technorati Tags: emerging church, prayer feeder, web 2.0

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

Getting the Bible Wright

Pryomaniacs Frank and Dan are halfway towards a 1000 comment quest with a provocative blog post against emerging church and other movements that threaten the Fundamentalist claim to supreme power and a uniquely correct view of Scripture.

Its called . . Emerging Church: bad as Gutless Grace Girliemen? Worse than Wrongheaded Wrightophiles? Sillier than Leaky Canoneers? and it will probably break the record of 1000 posts, although the only people who will have the time to plummet its depths will be those without gainful employment.

[update: Mike Morrell has the skinny on the Pyro site and this current controversy]

As a blog post, I think it is enticing, artistic, bold, and I appreciate how it invites criticism from foe as well as friend. And although I appreciate the post, as I said on my comment which helped them progress toward their goal by one degree, I do beg to differ from Frank and Dan on a number of points . . .
as well as being lumped in with Benny Hinn who drives a much nicer car than I, who tends to his hair far more than I and whose stage-led ministry looks ENTIRELY different than mine and the non-celebrity type people i hang with in the emerging-misisonal church scene.

First off, I really think Frank and Dan's definition of "missional" does no justice to the word. None. Whatsoever. Rather than describing the grand initiative of the Triune God, our framework to understand the Scriptures and our example in Christ for being obediently sent into the world, Frank and Dan downgrade the word with relativism and syncretism.

". . . This is what the people want—verbal meat-chubbery—and frankly, from what we understand, giving people what they really want is called missional these days." Frank and Dan, Pyromaniacs.

Giving people what they want? OK - don't get me started. I have already posted about the importance of missio dei, where the word missional comes from, and why I prefer to talk about the "emerging-misisonal church".

Let me tackle the issue from another angle - something i think is more inherently problematic in this ongoing debate. It has to do with the way we approach, interpret and apply the Scriptures in our world. Let me quote from Frank and Dan in their provocation:

"And if the most central issue of the Bible—how can man be just before God?—has been misunderstood by basically every one of the holiest, godliest, most consecrated and devoted men of God for centuries; if, that is, our most elder brothers in the faith have, every one of them, answered that question wrongly, and only a specialist engaging in specialized sub-category studies can unearth the true answer to this basic question...

...it makes you wonder not only why God wrote the Book, but why He made such a poor job of it. Why couldn't He manage to get it Wright...er, right, the first time? Why didn't He make it plain enough for non-specialists to "get" what He was saying?"
(Frank and Dan, Pyromaniacs)

The first thing that grabs me here is what is presented as the "central issue" of the Bible - how man can be just before God? Now that may have been clearly adequate for Martin Luther and others but it seems suspiciously too small to me. Too small, too humanistic, too individualist, too man-centered.

Technorati Tags: bible, chris wright, emergent, emerging church, fundamentalism, mission, missional, n. t. wright, theology

Slot Art Festival in Poland: Some reflections

Slot Festival rocked! Its an arts festival in Poland run by followers of Jesus but its much more than that. Its one of those festivals that people get really attached to and come back each year. Thousands of them. And earlier this month we drove across Europe to join them.

We set up our Tipi right next to the main monastery building (left). Its a dang huge place - the largest monastery in Central or Eastern Europe.
In fact, we were told that at 333,000 square meters, its the largest OBJECT in Central or Eastern Europe. Its REALLY REALLY MASSIVE, even with 5000 young people running all over it. Oh - that centre picture is my son Sam showing off some new skills to his sisters. About 120 skills were offered in daily training sessions. Abigail learned nun-chucks.

The chapel got fixed up nicely with art installations of all kinds.

This picture on the cathedral wall is the basis for my monthly banner that i just uploaded. You can see the other images from Slot weaved into the banner.

These guys next to me (left) are Jesus Freak leaders. All these photos are mine, btw, except this one which Hajo took. Check out his blog post on Slot for a lot more.

A few of us met the folk that maintain this monastery and we were shown inside what was described as the best example in the world of a Baroque ballroom. Really magnificent. And all this was build for the 70 monks who lived here. Imaging trying to raise funds for that today!

These Ukrainians started their first festival last year and invited me to come and join them in 2008. Might be worth a trip. They had a thousand people come last year which is a great beginning.

Technorati Tags: festival, poland, slot, slot festival

The Gospel According to Czechs

More emerging church people in the newspapers. This time a Bible translator and church planter. Listen to how this newspaper describes the birth of their first community . . .