Emergent Brethren

Millennium Park Chicago – The Chrome Bean

It is huge, it is reflective, it is post modern, and it looks like a giant bean! I found it fascinating. Obviously someone had a great imagination to come up with this giant interactive sculpture. Even more importantly, the leaders of the project had the fortitude to give the artist the “okay” to make it happen.

I believe Jesus calls us the church to the same kind of “visionary” thinking about ministry. While we always are called to stay grounded in the New Testament teachings about Jesus – we also need to open ourselves to new ways of spreading the Gospel.

Monday Movie Ministry has been such a ground breaking ministry for Glendale Church of the Brethren. We screen a meaningful contemporary secular movie, take a pizza break halfway through the movie, and then we close with a discusssion drawing out the biblical themes from the movie. Finally, we close with prayer and spend a little time in fellowship.

Secular movies were once seen as an “enemy” of Christianity. However, today there are many meaningful movies being produced today that give us a wonderful illustration of biblical themes. I love doing this ministry.

Peace!

Doctor “J”

Here are two events that may be of interest to you, in addition to many, many others at this year’s conference.

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. Last year, there was some really great sharing, networking and support going on. 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. I’ve been bringing this group together for 3 years now, since Brian McLaren spoke in 2005. Each time has been different, but helpful and enjoyable.

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. 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

The folks at Missio Dei are currently studying the Gospel of John; we’re in chapter 1. We last studied Matthew’s version of the Sermon of the Mount. In three months, we covered three chapters. If the trend holds, we will be in John for somewhere into 2009. In fact, although it’s been three weeks since we began studying John 1, we can’t seem to get much past the prologue.

Of the Gospels, John’s is my favorite. Written last, it is far the most introspective and creative. Whereas the other three Evangelists, seem to rely on each other and whoever the ‘Q’ source was, John takes another tact entirely. Instead a writing a biography of Jesus, John wrote a theology of Christ. He doesn’t trace Jesus’ life back to his baptism (like Mark), or back to his toddler years (like Luke) or back to his infancy (like Matthew), he tracks back before the creation of the Universe, into the very origin of God. By so doing he begins to reinterpret the meta-narrative by which existence itself is understood… by either Greeks or Jews.

I just read a book called, Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. The premise of the book is that growing, vital churches are those who keep things simple. Do either of the following illustrations apply to your church?

We live in a fast-food world with super-size me expectations. Here’s one quote from the book:

“There is an epidemic of fast-food spirituality among believers today. We like big spiritual menus with lots of options. And we want those options served fast.

Many churches have become like fast-food establishments. A new idea emerges, and the menu is expanded. Someone wants a special event served in a particular way, and the menu is expanded. People assume that the more that can be squeezed into the menu, the better. So the brochure, the week, the calendar, the schedule, and the process gets expanded. Cluttered.” (p.199)

I’ve seen churches add more and more programs to the “menu” of their activities. Its very difficult to stop doing something when something new is added. We find it hard to lay things to rest, and so we just add more to the calendar. This creates a huge problem for smaller and mid-size congregations. We all have a finite amount of time and energy. If the church continually asks for more, something is going to suffer! (For some help in laying to rest a ministry, go to “Closing Down a Ministry”. Here you can listen to an 80 second presentation by Leith Anderson.)

Here’s another thought: churches, like people, can be thought of as pack rats. When I first arrived at my last congregation as pastor, I was amazed by the amount of stuff (mostly ancient records) that cluttered the church office. There was no space to put away anything new.

Programs and activities can be another source of clutter. Here’s another quote from page 204: “Many churches are littered with clutter. Floundering programs and ministries are stored and piled on top of one another. It is hard for people to make their way through the process of spiritual transformation because of the distracting clutter. . . it is interpersonally and historically challenging (to eliminate programs). People and history are involved.”

The solution can be summarized in four words: Clarity — Movement — Alignment — Focus.

Clarity: How clear is the mission or God’s calling upon your church?

Movement: How well are you moving your people through the process of connecting with God, growing in discipleship and getting engaged in ministry?

Alignment: How does everything your congregation does align with its mission and process for developing disciples?

Focus: How well are you able to keep the church focused on the above and free from distracting clutter of other (new) programs, activities or special events?

This book is an easy read, though you have to wait to the final chapter to really understand how to develop a “Simple Church”. Obviously, it would be a lot easier to create a simple church in a church plant vs. those of you in congregations that are decades old.

Have any of you read this book and tried to apply its principles? If so, has it helped? I’d love to hear from you!

Jeff

In deleting old email from my computer, I opened-up a special CoB Newsline from March 12th. The Newsline feature article was on the proposed merger of the Association of Brethren Caregivers (A.B.C.) and the General Board. In the article, I read a quote from Eddie Edmonds, pastor in West Virginia and chair of the A.B.C. Board. During the presentation he said, “God doesn’t deliver us fully developed. He delivers us into the presence of possibilities.”

Rather than quickly deleting this email, I had to ponder this thought. I think it was a “God-thing” to see it today. I love the idea that God delivers us into the presence of possibilities! I must confess that in my immature faith that sometimes I expect God to have something “perfect” that I need to search for and find. Yet, in my journey with Christ, I often find that great things come when least expected. I’m not searching for the unexpected blessing. It’s just a gift from God!

Can you resonate with Eddie’s words? Any illustrations from your life you care to share?

Blessings to you,
Jeff