Jason at Emergent sent this:
Dear Friends,
Welcome to those of you who have recently joined the Emergent-UK group. We hope those of you that joined us for our November "A New Kind Of Christian" conference in Sutton, led by Brian McLaren, enjoyed yourselves and we look forward to offering you more exciting events and conferences in the future.
1. The following resources are now available online:
o C.S Lewis' prayer from the conference
o Poem read by Margo Greenwood at the beginning of the conference (MP3 format)
o Powerpoint presentations and slides from the speakers (Jason Clark, Andy Hickford, Brian McLaren)
o Extra notes and information on post-modernism that may be of interest
Go to http://homepage.mac.com/revjasonclark to download or view these files.
2. We recommend the following sites for further reading and resource
o www.emergentvillage.org
o www.vineyardusa.org/publications/newsletters/cutting_edge/index.htm for online magazines and great articles on doing church in a changing culture. The summer 2000 issue has an interesting piece on Lectio Divina, that many enjoyed at the conference, and also an interview with Robert Webber
3. This group aims to provide information and resources about research and development into church and culture. We have also set up two new groups to discuss the issues raised, the details of which are outlined below.
o emergent-ukdiscussions@yahoogroups.com
o emergent-uktheology@yahoogroups.com
Please email becky@emergent-uk.org if you wish to join one of these groups.
4. You can now purchase CDs of the talks by Brian McLaren, Andy Hickford and Jason Clark, and the readings and passages read by Bev Clark and Margo Greenwood.
The MP3 CD costs £15.00, and 6 audio CDs are available as three double cases for £30.00. Cheques should be made payable to Vineyard Church Sutton and sent to:
Emergent UK, Vineyard House, 4 Greenford Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 1JY
Wamly,
Jason Clark - Emergent
The Art of Decentralisation
Last night Tammy and I were at a (very early) Christmas meal with a bunch of pastors from around the midlands region. We had a very pleasant evening, but one thing really stuck out to me! “We’re so far removed from church and the problem and challenges that so many of our fellow pastor friends face”. I purposely observed some of the conversations, which went along these kinds of lines… “How to do multiple services…” “Leading church with multiple ministries… “The pain of not knowing the names of all the church members…” “Building projects and so on…” Nothing bad, just problems and challenges any self-respecting pastor would face in a growing church.
The thing is, as I nodded and listened to what was being said, all I could think was “I don’t buy it to this stuff anymore”. Becoming the CEO of the church just doesn't turn me on! Becoming to chief of some centralised monster (that may be too strong a word) just isn’t where I’m at…
But all that has got me thinking, “how decentralised is my thinking?” “What will a decentralised network of simple organic churches really look like?” We know for this moment in time God has called us to plough the Central and South West region of Northamptonshire, he’s given us a vision to see small missional communities started within walking distance of everyone in that locality! But as I write this do we really know what that means or are we just holding out, until one day when we stop this little experiment (we call transition) and go back to being a real church?
Ok here is my real question “if our simple churches (we have 3 at the moment) are to be networked together, under this thing we call Central Vineyard, how should this happen?” And once we know how this should happen, “how do we stay decentralised in the process?” We currently have one house church in the west side of the county (Daventry) and two in the centre of the county (Northampton) there is 12 miles between them!
Tell me what you think!
The Top Ten Signs That A House Church is Getting TOO Small...
10. You can follow up on all members without leaving your house.
9. Your daughter sets out her dolls, so there is only one empty chair.
8. During Prayer time you find yourself quoting Matthew 18:20 "Where two or three are gathered..."
7. Every Chair is the empty chair.
6. Your usual waitress at the restaurant where you meet asks, "Will anyone be joining you this week?"
5. You over hear your son explain to a friend, "Naw, she doesn't always talk to herself. Just during the discussions."
4. You say, "Tonight we're going to pray for the empty room." instead of the empty chair.
3. When you join in prayer and you have to hold your own hand.
2. You decide to grow the church by encouraging schizophrenia.
1. Worship involves: You, a guitar, and 5 cardboard cutouts.
Jason Clark over ay Emergent mailed me this:
"Are you overwhelmed with trying to grapple with post-modernity? Imagine if one book of 250 pages, with each chapter by one writer (most are the notable major thought leaders for post-modernity), had their summarized thinking in that one chapter. Well that book is "The Truth About The Truth: De-confusing and Re-constructing the Postmodern world", Ed., Walter Truett Anderson. One book that could save you trying to read a few dozen...superficial for some, but a time saver for most. £9.99 at Amazon.co.uk"
Test post... something is up?
.Posted by: Central Vineyard | 11/20/2002 06:02:00 pm |
Here's something I posted on the Coventry Vineyard Community Blog
Do our church systems (how we do church) have a natural tendency to help people to become full–time disciples of Jesus? Or do they just help us warehouse Christians till they die?
Todd Hunter once said to a group of us in Birmingham that "Our system are perfectly designed to get the results we're now getting" that is a statement that has stayed with me for some time. For me the thing I long for as a church planter is changed live, people who haven’t just said a prayer to get them in to heaven when they die, but people who have experienced the kingdom of God in way that means their whole lives fall under it (or should I say in line with it) The thing I’ve realised is, many of the systems our churches get into, do not help us see this kind of thing happening (people becoming full–time disciples of Jesus) why is that?
First, I think it has a lot to do with our reductionistic approach to the gospel: "Come forward; say this prayer [giving loose, usually non–reflective, uncritical mental assent to a set of bullet points outlining one theory of the atonement] so that when you die you can go to heaven."
This is not the (whole) story, sure Jesus died for our sin and yes we’ll go to heaven when we die, but what if heaven isn’t the goal in God’s story, what if it is just our destination. What if the goal of the gospel (salvation, Christ dieing for our sin etc…) was something else? What if the goal was more about life than death? What if saying that prayer (which I’ve yet to find in the NT anyway) wasn’t about getting your ticket in to heaven when you die, but it was about the start of a whole new life? A Kingdom kind of life? A life that is being influenced by the rule and regain of God. Todd Hunter puts it like this: "Jesus' Gospel is an invitation into the Kingdom of God—the realm in which what God wants done is done. He is offering us a different kind of life. Eternal life is not spatial (out beyond the stars somewhere), nor is it chronological (out there waiting for us when we die). It is qualitative and it can begin now! When Jesus asks us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him, to lose our life in order to find it (Matthew 16.24–25), he is showing how to give up an inferior life outside the Kingdom for a superior life in it."
But the story that many of us (me included) have so lovingly told was (as Dallas Willard puts it) nothing more than a Gospel of Sin Management “The Gospel of Sin Management presume a Christ with no serious work other than redeeming humankind. ...they foster 'vampire Christians', who only want a little blood for their sins but nothing more to do with Jesus until heaven, when they have to associate with him...” (Willard)
This leads on to my second point, (and some of you may not like this… I’ll say it anyway) How we understand the gospel has direct effect on how we see and do church "If our story is all about death and eternity (usually thought of in spacial or chronological terms), then certain forms of church naturally emerge: "Cradle to Grave" programs to interest the uninterested and keep them warehoused in the church until they die. Christ as Teacher for a new way of Kingdom life is lost; He begins to exist in our imagination as merely the Lamb. People fail to take Him seriously." Seeing the point of the gospel as a story of "life in the kingdom", that starts now! Not when we die. Helps us to understand church not as a series of religious meetings, but as a way of life!
Church services (for me anyway) have become so performance driven, with the holy man, who stands up on a holy day, in a holy building (sometimes). Where we sing holy songs and listen to holy words, spoken from a holy book (I do value the bible, by the way) to un-holy people. Who want nothing more than to go to heaven when they die! And are really given no other context to think any different! Perhaps our evangelistic question should change from, "If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would go?" to "If you were going to live tomorrow, (and live for a very long time) whom would you live for?" "What would you do?" What is the basic and fundamental story around which you would organise your life?"
As most of you will know asking these kinds of questions have lead us as a community to think about church very differently. Not because it’s cool, or it’s the latest fad, or because it sounds post-modern (oh no I’ve said that word) but because we want to work in a system that helps us get the results we long for – people becoming full-time followers of Jesus!
Starbucks Spirituality
Postmoderns have three questions for Christians that you'd better be ready for...
Read Here!
Steve Sjogren is now a fellow blogger! go see............
.Posted by: Central Vineyard | 11/16/2002 03:40:00 pm |
Alan Creech posted this the other day on his blog
Liberal, conservative, what is the deal? Somebody e-mailed me the other day about Vine & Branches and one of the questions they asked me was "are you liberal or conservative?" I understand the question as sort of a "locator" in a way. Trouble is, where your definitions lie. Am I liberal or conservative in what area - who are you asking? Who's answering? Well, I said we were moderate to conservative - whatever that means.
Some people would look at me, especially if they could read my mind, and say I was pretty "liberal" - now I'm talking lifeways and theology here, not politics (I don't do politics). We have the Christian world so parsed out, especially among evangelicals - them looking at other people and themselves. I'm not sure if I'm an evangelical or not. Can you be catholic and evangelical - some say yes, some say no. I mostly don't worry about it.
Where is all this going? I don't know. I just wanted to lay it out there a little and see. OK, I believe in the Virgin Birth (hell, I even capitalized it!) - but I don't think being homosexually oriented is going to separate you from God. I cuss, casually, and drink alcohol, not unto drunkenness, and happen to believe that Jesus is the only way to union with God. What am I? Depends on who you are I guess. Funny stuff.
The Church At Matthews House
I was tired of the church, as I knew it. It was an event, a building, a program…I wanted to be the church; I wanted my “un-churched” friends to be the church, not become churched. I wanted it to be something I lived, rather than something I lived for. I heard of crazy people that met together, ate meals, shared their resources and studied the Scriptures together... in homes and coffee shops of all places! It couldn’t be that simple! You were supposed to bring the sofas, the coffee (and the candles if you’re real serious) into the sanctuary, but not use them in their common setting! That was ludicrous! It was two years ago that I thought that. Now, I’m one of those crazy people…
Some cool guys from Oceanside, CA... read their story as told by Jason Evans... re-published on this months Next-Wave...
Another test....
.Posted by: Central Vineyard | 11/14/2002 03:51:00 pm |
Testing, testing, 123...
.Posted by: Central Vineyard | 11/14/2002 03:47:00 pm |
