{neurotribe.net}: ::Emergent - Who's doing what...

::Emergent - Who's doing what...
If you are a reader of this blog and your are either part of, or are leading (in some capacity) and emerging missional church (or some other derivative of that phrase), can you let me know. I have been interviewed three times over the last two weeks about emerging churches. Organisations and denominations wanting to know what I think.

In terms of issues, I have compiled this (very) brief list of what I reckon are the key issues facing emerging church leaders. This is obviously based on my experience and the experiences of a hand full of emergent types that I know of, and I would be interested in your opinion.

Sustainability (in terms of employment, paying the bills etc)
Sustainability in terms of spirituality.
Discipleship in a po-mo consumer based context (including a comnsumer based Christian context).
Community building and development.
Theologising.

Like I said a brief list, so I would be interested to hear form emergent types what you consider the issues to be, or your thoughts on my quick little list.

Posted by Stephen @ 10:46 AM

Comments:

steve...your list is good. i also think the obstacle of christendom and Constantinian in our thinking...it is a huge burden that we have branded in our minds...this will only be an obstacle for leaders of this this generation of emerging church leaders..the next will hopefully be more free of it.

steve this is a bit rude but i had to get your atention and it looks like this is the best way...its asher here from perth. have you got my emails? please email me at asher_vw@hotmail.com. cheers mate...

# posted by

asher van wollingen : 12:36 PM

Agree with you broadly; I think alot of the issues you face are dependent on what type of personality you have, as well as the group that hangs with you. I have a friend who is doing the same as me with church planting from the ground up; but he has an extroverted type of personality, and suprise, suprise has very different issues compared to me. I'm introverted most of the time and energised by isolation rather than people been around!

For me the whole thing of community building is difficult, yet for him it is a strong point. I think this is personality derived.

certainly the bucks are the biggest thing...

# posted by

scott : 10:22 PM

For me the big issues at the moment are relating to the traditional church and people who can't grasp the concepts of what Myriad is about.
Also taking people from a consumer church mindset into a journey of discovering that God has so much more for them.

# posted by

Gareth Williams : 1:26 PM

Hey Steve,

I would agree with your list, except I'd put effective mission/faith sharing (in an nonchurched po-mo consumer context) at the top of the list.

I guess it could be included in discipleship or community building, but I think its too central to be assumed under anything else. I don't know anyone who doesn't find mission a challenge and if we fail here we've missed the point. What do you think?

For me, theologising isn't so big a challenge, as there's lots of helpful resources out there, but perhaps that may change down the track.

Cheers

# posted by

Brett : 1:27 PM

Ok, so here's one from someone who's not "in" an "emerging church", but who watches on with interest and is highly supportive -

Diversity
Accessibility

I'm in what would probably be called a "traditional" church, but I don't think it's particularly traditional theologically or missionally. A lot of the things that would make me call us "traditional" - ie. liturgy, meeting in a church building - are actually what enable us to be a highly diverse (socioeconomically and theologically) community. A lot of the emergent communities I know of seem to be less diverse. They're also less accessible, in the sense that you pretty much have to be "in the scene" in some way to be a part of them - there's quite a few people at my church who've come to faith after walking in off the street one afternoon, and that's far less likely in emergent communities simply because they're less public. Neither of these observations are really criticisms - they're simply things that make me believe that talk about emergent and traditional is not an "either/or" conversation - the two have different strengths and weaknesses, and we should strive to maximise the former and minimise the latter of both.

Whoops...it turned into a mini-essay.

# posted by

Rebecca : 3:03 PM

i think our response to the consumer culture is a big issue - thanks for mentioning it

# posted by

andrew jones : 9:53 PM

I'm currently in a traditional church but am moving towards a more missional approach to church. I would add/make more explicit the ideas of

- keeping a focus on mission see this post
- working in partnership with the established/traditional/old skool church see this blog

# posted by

Tim : 1:32 AM

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