Emergent Brethren

After some bugging from a friend (thanks Martin) I recently bought two books (The Tangible Kingdom and Church Unique). I began reading the Tangible Kingdom on Monday night and finished it last night. It isn’t a long read. It was a good one though….another needed reminder to be missional and incarnational wherever I am.

So I was reading the book and came across some really good quotes all throughout the book, but the one that caught my attention the most, as it states my issues very well. is from Henry Nouwen.
“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them. ”

So that got me thinking of ways of living this quote out in my daily life. So here is what I am committing to do:

1. To visit the local Starbucks between 2-3 per week. Hang out there. Do work there. Meet with youth and others there. Seek to have a presence there.

2. Host a neighborhood picnic either during the remainder of summer or during early fall.

3. Learn how to say no. A quote from the book spells out more about this, “Since the word missional theologically means to be sent, leaving is where living like a missionary really begins. Leaving isn’t just about going overseas. It’s about replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with people in the surrounding culture.”

4. Be outside more. Play in the front yard with my kids. Take more walks around the neighborhood. Pray as I am walking around the neighborhood. Start up more conversations.

These are just some commitments that I am making in order to be more missional. Keep me accountable by asking how I am doing with these things.

Here are two events that may be of interest to you, in addition to many, many others at this year’s conference. Please pass this information on to all your friends! Word-of-mouth is good publicity!!

The first event is called, Emergent Brethren Conversations, to be held at 9:30pm to 10:30pm, Monday (7/14) at the Marriott Hotel, Dominion Room. The purpose is for people who are either exploring or attempting to do Emergent ministry in or beyond their congregations. Like last year, this will be another time where you can meet other people from around the country to increase your perspectives of what’s happening and what other’s are doing in ministry. There have been some great posts recently that could drive our conversation for a good, long time!

The second event is an insight session on Monday evening called, Engaging Our Communities with Jesus. The purpose of this session will be to have three congregations tell their stories of how they are engaging their communities in a way that builds God’s kingdom and the are growing as a result. One of the congregations to be featured is Community of Joy in Salisbury, Maryland. Last Summer, this congregation finally got their own building, have promoted themselves well in the community, building solid relationships and are growing in worship attendance as a result. The other featured congregations will be Grandview, Garden City, and Mohican. This Insight Session will start at 6:45pm, Monday (7/14) at the Convention Center, B-15-C.

Perhaps a third event might be our networking with each other and finding a common time when a majority could meet for a meal and just hang-out. This may be tough with so many things happening. But if anyone desires it, please let me know.

Also, if anyone has any other suggestions of activities to participate in, please post them here!

Blessings to you,
Jeff

Emergent Brethren Conversations
Marriott, Dominion
Monday, July 14th

Here are some quotes worth sharing…

“Religious people have preferences; Missional people have stories” Bruce Wesley

“If you copy someone else’s vision, who will accomplish your’s?” unknown

“What causes exclusive community is fear. What causes inclusive community is love!” Hugh Halter

“If people aren’t asking about our lives, then we haven’t postured our faith well enough or long enough.” Hugh Halter

“The gospel is the tangible life of God flowing into every nook and cranny of our everyday life.” Hugh Halter

“People who only dream of community usually destroy it, but those who love people without expectation unknowingly create it.” Hugh Halter

“Missional people are individuals committed to forming their character and lifestyle after those of Christ and who are compelled to live out their faith in the context of a community.” Hugh Halter

I beleive that each local church is unique and is given a specific mission from God that falls into the overall larger mission that every church has to glorify God and make disciples (apprentices) of Jesus. One of the things that happens to many of us is that without a motivating vision that is unique to us… we jump from one idea to the next in the hopes that something will get us where we want to go. I confess that I am part of a movement of pastors in America that have hopped on the Conference bandwagon that we spend time at ministry conferences hearing what is happening in certain churches and then try to imitate that hoping that it will help us too! Doing this ignores the fact that God has made each church unique and called us to a unique purpose. God doesn’t mass produce his church… each church is unique. “If we copy someone else’s vision, who will accomplish ours?”

In his book Church Unique, Will Mancini shares a process that will help us identify our unique vision and then a framework to guide the living out of that vision.

We all know that vision is key to kingdom growth. I came to Community of Joy in 1999 and in the first 10 months we changed the name, cast a new vision, established core values, and empowered leaders to lead… and as a result saw phenomenal growth, but then about 10 months into our journey, we started to platuea and then decline until a year ago, when God provided a new ministry center for us in the form of a building we purchased and renovated. That process brought us together in a profound way and as a result, we experienced another growth spurt… now we are back to the level we were at in late 2000 when we began our first plateau. Interesting enough, we are now experiencing another plateau. Having been down that road before, I don’t want to go there again… that’s why I am calling our congregation to embark on a journey of clarifying vision and even considering partnering with one of Will Mancini’s Vision Navigators to help us do that.

One of the realities that we still face inspite of casting a new vision and having buy in… is that for most of our long term core folks… the motivating vision for them is still to become a self-supporting autonomous congregation that has it’s own building and meets it’s budget, pays it’s mortgage on time and experiences modest growth. But that really isn’t much of a vision and certainly not one that we need God’s help to accomplish!

Besides, the church is a by-product of a motivating vision not the focus of vision. Being the incarnational/ missional people of God who are sent into the world to share God’s love with the world and invite people to join in the journey is the overarching vision we have and if we can live out that in specific and unique ways, people will be drawn to the journey and the church will grow.

There is a blog conversation going on today about being a Missional Church… Just read a blog by Alan Hirsch where he ended with this statement, “Mission always sets our Agenda and Incarnation must always describe our Way.”

I think this is a VERY helpful thought! This is how I would say what Alan has said…The mission of God is our agenda as a church and being the hands and feet of Jesus is the way we do mission!

 Here is another blog about the whole Missional Church movement.