What’s in a name anyway?

When asked about the phase “emerging church” in the Australian context, Alan Hirsch said,

“We find the phase actually now singularly unhelpful. We are tending to drop it ourselves, or when we use it, [its] with [the word] missional attached to it. That is what we are more on about, like the church becoming a missionary agency and thinking like missionaries in our own context.”

When I first became aware of the entire Emerging Church movement I was extremely excited and quickly learnt that there was a difference between Emerging (which is a wider movement) and Emergent (which is a narrower movement with whom some of its practitioners I would differ quite strongly theologically on certain issues) and enjoyed discussing the relative merits and weaknesses of both.

But now I have become tired of the entire discussion. What I enjoyed about the Emerging/Emergent movement in the first place was that side issues were less important like baptism, the gifts of the Spirit, church government etc. When I was younger (and freshly out of Bible college) I loved to debate these kind of issues and the fine nuances of theology and semantics but soon it grew tired. Of what value is it really whether you are paedo-baptist, episcopal or secessionist when there is a dying world that needs to hear about and experience the gospel(ok - it does have some value but not the pride of position we normally give this kind of debate). It was this focus that first attracted me to the whole movement.

But it feels like now as the movement is becoming more legit, with conferences, books, recognised leaders and churches it is also becoming more concerned with defining what it is and it not (i.e. emerging rather than emergent). This ground feels familiar and quite frankly not somewhere I am in the mood to go over again.

So I agree with Alan Hirsch here - I have had enough of Emergent/Emerging terminology and would prefer to simply prefer to talk about Missional Church. As it keeps the two most important things at the centre - Mission (the gospel) and the church (community - the best hermeneutic for the gospel is the local church!). Also it is devoid for now of terminological baggage that needs to be deconstructed, justified or explained and I have grown weary of this kind of theological debate.

So I prefer to speak about missional church… Well that is until that becomes a technical term itself…

Reading

Hmm, this is a quote that I cut and paste a while ago and wanted to write about it but when I went back to it I realised that I did not record where it came from. But I think it is a quote from C.H. Spurgeon:

“Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them, masticate and digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes if hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be “much, not many.”

This is certainly great advice and I think I need to repent and search my heart concerning the idolatory of my reading list. But I do think that there are two ways to read and both of them have their own benefits.

Firstly I do think it is helpful to read (as) many (as you can) books straight through maybe making some margin notes (if it is your book!) as you go along but not really trying to digest it all but rather trying to get a good feel for the general idea of what the author is saying. That will help you to stay in touch with what people are reading and what the “new and innovative” new ideas are.

Secondly, and here is where I need to work harder, some books need to be read slower, more than once, and deliberately so. What I am now trying to do is target some books that I think are worth reading once straight through - getting the feel for the entire book and then going back slower and more deliberately, maybe a chapter at a time, working it over, meditating, taking notes, blogging about it, owning the thoughts.

I have decided to do this with Total Church, as I am sure that it is a book which will have a big impact on my ministry and I want to make sure I have understood and thought through all that is being said. I plan to read it 3 times - once straight through, once chapter by chapter - blogging and thinking it through as I go, and a third time with my wife, talking it over and discussing it with her.

Newbigin 3: Ecumenical Evangelism

This 3rd installment in my series about Lesslie Newbigin is way overdue. Hope you are still with me:

What is immediately apparent in any reading of the life of Lesslie Newbigin are “the two primary mission contexts of his life.” (1) The missionary to another culture (primarily India) and the missionary to his own Western culture. In the next few posts we will examine , Newbigin the foreign missionary.

“Any attempt to drive a wedge, from whatever side, between ecumenism and evangelism is challenged by the life and thought of Lesslie Newbigin.” (2)

Change Agents

This past weekend at our regional staff conference we had the pleasure of listening to Frans Hancke, a South African missional thinker, speaking on the theme of being change-agents in our communities. Here are some of my notes reflecting the highlights of his 3 sessions with us:

The key concept Frans wanted us to get was that “The Living God is a Missionary God!” – a quote from John Stott at the 1976 Urbana Conference. Furthermore the singular focus of God’s plan and purpose in Scripture is that God is a sending God – He sends his people, He sends His Son, he sends the Spirit, he sends the Church etc.

We then spent some time looking at John 20:19-22, where we were reminded that Jesus here speaks of a mission that would continue on after his mission. The breathing of the Spirit into the fledgling NT church is to be a symbolic reminder of God’s breathing of life into Creation in Genesis 2.

Back from the dead and… TOTAL CHURCH at last!

If you have been wondering where I have been all these long and lonely 5 or so days (someone out there must have noticed?… anyone?) Well I was horribly sick in bed (I’ll spare the details) and never even went near my pc until wed night for a quick peek. Anyway I am back…

(drum roll please) - MY COPY OF TOTAL CHURCH HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!

This is the (by now not so) new book by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, of The Crowded House, a group whose work I am very interested in. Read the introduction today and already really excited. You will be hearing a lot more about this book on this blog in the next few weeks…

Many of you will have seen this already but here is Tim Chester talking about Total Church. Enjoy the preview

Listening to our culture?!

This morning on the bus, I listened to a talk by Tim Keller on Persuasion from the 2008 Dwell Conference. It was brilliant I highly recommend it. But when I got off the bus and began the short walk to the campus what struck me most was despair. I realised how far I have to go. My theological education was first class in teaching me to listen to the Word, and for that I am forever grateful. But I now realise that I was never equipped to listen to the world, in order that I may better connect the Word with the world. I am not talking about topical teaching but rather connecting Bible teaching with the values of a world which is increasingly not shaped by those same values. A world whose questions are not my questions or often my concerns.

I also realised that even though I have been privileged to experience the teaching of some great teachers who have been really good at listening to the world and the Word and bringing them together, they have never really taught me to do this for myself (in fairness maybe I was not listening). And actually the next logical question is have I taught those who have been in my ministry how to listen to both the world and the Word. And to effectively learn to use the values of the world to connect them with the truth of Scripture.

Tim Keller talks about:

1. Listening to the culture - read the books, watch the movies, talk to people. Find out what are the things that people value, both positively and negatively. Those things that people believe in strongly, less strongly and disagree with.

2. Entering the culture - finding the positive “common grace” values in a culture that agrees with the values of Scripture, and use these as a point of connection

3. Challenging the culture - challenge those inconsistencies in values or ways of applying them.

4. Completing the culture - show them the Biblical story which completes the inconsistencies of a culture and fulfills those good “common grace” elements. Make them hunger for Christianity to be true.

I found this very helpful but my questions are about listening to the culture. I don’t have a TV, how crucial is this? Particularly given the fact that no TV means a more productive use of time for friends, reading, blogging, talking to my wife.

There are some books that I think would be helpful -but they are expensive. I tried the library but it is normally out of date or if they do have books they are normally out.

Movies have been helpful! Actually perhaps a great thing to start would be a movie club - where you watch and discuss movies, particularly given how prominent movies are as a cultural commentator and as a source of authority to most people.

But perhaps my most significant way of listening to my culture is to just spend time with non-Christians. And genuinely listen to them, their concerns, fears, values, joys, goals, things they love, things they hate. And then ask myself - would X understand this, what would his questions be, what would be agree with, what would she get upset about. The more time I spend just being with non-Christians, the more I think about them when I teach, and the better I teach (I think…).

What do you think about all this? What helps you to listen to your culture? How do you process what you learn about people and their worldviews?

Pastor’s Wisdom

I have earlier recommended this series that Scot McKnight ran entitled “Pastor’s Wisdom” - this was the last one in the series. And I really do think it Scot might have reserved it as a kind of grand finale because it is truly inspiring. As a word of clarification you should note that I am now a blog celebrity, by virtue of being mentioned by such a blog luminary such as Scot McKnight on his blog. In case you do not recognise me I am “young pastor #1″. Mark Paris is (not so) young pastor #2. Famous at last… today the blogosphere, tomorrow the world ;0) I also have it on good authority that Don Johnson is not the same as that impostor of Miami Vice fame.

Lessons from Church Planters

Lifted this great post from Tim Chester’s site (original author Andy Mason). Here are some great lessons for church planting:

1. There are worse things than failure
… we need to take the long view in planting - develop a 100 year plan!

2. Church planting is like surfing
… reflect on the providence of God. We cannot create the waves, we simply ride them as they come

3. Know your
… there are different ways of planting - be clear on what your is

4. You need a team
… for support, for diversity of gifts…

5. Ideals need to become flesh
… ‘too many people plant churches in their heads’. We must live it in everyday life.

6. Enthusiasm is a discipline
… and remind yourself in the hard times, how this estate is beautiful in God’s sight… and remember Jesus is your Saviour not your ministry

7. Small may not be beautiful but it will do
… and size of church is not the source of your identity/security

8. Locals are better than me
… those who have been around and grown up in the area will always be better equipped at relating to other locals, so equip them.

9. Read the Parable of the soils
… be clear about your conviction that the Word of God, though small, is powerful and will bring a harvest.

Tim Chester on the Sermon #2

Previously I encouraged you to read Tim Chester’s dialogue with an anonymous correspondent discussing the biblical position regarding the role of the sermon as the primary (that is the heart of the issue) teaching method. Chester argues that it one of a variety of forms of Word ministry, but it is neither prescribed biblically as normative nor as having inherent authority. In his latest post on this subject, Chester argues that historically the monologue only came to prominence around the time of Constantine and the beginning of Christendom. The early church did things differently. This is not to say that Chester is anti-sermon but rather he is arguing for license to “do church” with or without the monologue as the primary teaching of the Word. Other forms of Word ministry are equally valid.

Values for Church Planting - your input?

One of the reasons for me starting this blog was that God has been laying on my heart a desire to church-plant. Actually I should say our heart because God has been at work in the life of both my wife and I. But when I say church-planting I am not thinking about a church that looks pretty much like a number of great churches I know but just with a bit of a different flavour. No, God is burdening me to do something different, to attempt to reach those people who are not being reached by our contemporary church programmes and structures. What will that look like? Well I am not sure… but as I read, think and blog, some things are starting to gain more clarity…

Perhaps I need to be clear upfront that what has not taken clarity is the where (what community?) and the when (next year, next five years?) and being a action orientated, up and at them kind of guy (that is a polite way of saying I lack patience and faith) this is really frustrating. But then God is working and growing me and teaching me about his Gospel, his ministry and his mission! What I can tell you is that the models of church that have most influenced us in our thinking are those of The Crowded House (Sheffield, England) and Soma Communities (Tacoma, Seattle).

So what I would like to do now is to try to start putting together a list of values that I hope will one day shape our future church plant(s). So please give me your input - critique, agree, add, subtract. Let me know where you think we are going too far and where we are not going far enough. This is a work in progress and I would love your help: