Heres my schedule next week for those trying to catch up with me.
Bath Jan 14-15 House Church Consultation
London 16th Emerging Generation Mobilisation Consultation [open]
London 18th Belgian Ales in a Noisy Pub with Jonny Baker who has a new digital self for 2009. Location near Ealing - to be announced if you want to join us
Oxford 19th Church Mission Society
Sheffield 20-21Mission meetings
Church and Community or Community and Church? by Ronald Gleason
From the book Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church
This chapter by Ronald Gleason and Phil Johnson's chapter, were the best ones in the book for me so I am responding to them before the others, in case I dont get to the whole book. Both men have some history with the emerging church conversation and have done their homework. I have chatted to both by email in the past.
Ron Gleason sees evangelicalism sliding down a slippery slope over the past 4 decades, characterized by these landmarks:
1. A glaring lack of and disdain for the historical Christian tradition
2. A thirst and desire for "tangible" religion
3. A hunger for genuine community and relationship.
Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church, reformed, reforming or conforming
Joyriding on the Downgrade at Breakneck Speed: The Dark Side of Diversity, by Phil Johnson. From the book Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church
Phil Johnson has written the best chapter in the book and in fact should probably have written the introduction. If you buy the book, read this chapter first and it will add light to the whole conversation. He does well in setting the scene. He acknowledges blogs as well as books (Phil is an accomplished blogger himself and quite the digital artist) and he compliments the ECM on recognizing the mega-shift of postmodernity and "sounding a wake-up call."
He says "the movement is a typically postmodern phenomenon - deliberately diverse, perplexingly amorphous and constantly in flux." This diversity, claims Johnson, is driven by three motives:
1. The unwitting (or sometimes intentional) adoption of postmodern values
2. A gnawing doctrinal indifference as a radical reaction to fundamentalism
3. Self-defence. Individuals are free to assert or deny anything because "Not everyone in the movement believes like that". It is notoriously hard to pin down and criticize because there are always emerging church leaders who don't fit the mold. I can sympathize.
Technorati Tags: emerging church
Chapter 1 - The Doctrine of Scripture: Only a Human Problem, by Paul Wells. From the book Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church
Paul Wells discusses the divine-human relationship to Scripture and offers four models - witness, accommodation, the analogy between Christ and the Bible [incarnational] and the servant form of Scripture. Treatment is given to scholars who's names begin with "B" - Bavinck, Brunner, Barth, Berkouwer, Barr and special treatment for Bloesch. I know what your thinking . . . . Where the heck is BRIGGS? Well, Charles Briggs gets treatment in the books Introduction, along with Bave. Oh yeah - Clark Pinnock and Peter Enns also gain a mention from Wells also.
Key thought: "The doctrine of the humanity of Scripture cries out for a fresh approach that will liberate it from the self-destructiveness of modernism and postmodernism."
Technorati Tags: emerging church, reformed, reforming or conforming
Introduction by Gary L.W. Johnson.
From the book Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church
Bonus: MP3 with Gary Johnson in which Gary talks about the book and what lies behind it and the emerging church movement that he calls "a radical reversal of the reformation".
Gary Johnson kicks this excellent book off with a quote from Carl Raschke on the church embracing 'postmodernity" and immediately makes a connection with liberal theologician Friedrich Scheliermacher, Far too soon, I think. Raschke explains what he means by "postmodernity" in his later book "Globochrist: The Great Commission takes a Postmodern Turn, 2008". In this book, Raschke, who shared a Belgian ale with me last year in the Netherlands, and is a wonderful fellow, prefers the word 'globalization' as a worthy successor to 'postmodernism', pointing out that no one can refuse to be 'postmodern' in this sense of the word. I think Carl would add that dimension to this conversation if he could.
Technorati Tags: reforming or conforming, reformed
We just spent 3 days with Wolfgang and Mercy Simson, and two of their sons. Really great time. Wolfgang spoke at the local church and we hosted visitors at our Orkney apartment.
Debbie got to hang out with Mercy, who is the daughter of a well known Indian evangelist. Mercy blogs at While We Slept and she wants people to blog about their dreams - thus the title of her blog.
After nearly two years of waiting, The Starfish Manifesto by Wolfgang Simson, all 540 pages of it, was officially released . . . well . . . released into my computer through a flash drive. No one else has it. Just me! . . . ha ha . . . I am not giving away any secrets just yet but I will say that Wolfgang has moved on and forward, in many ways, since the release of his book Houses That Change the World. [PDF]
I just had an Epiphany and it involved a new network called Missional Tribe. Not to be confused with Missional TriPe, which is what happens on my blog when I waffle on too long on the subject of mission.The public beta website opens tomorrow at missionaltribe.com by the people that brought you Missional Shampoo. Be one of the first people to check it out. The Facebook group is collecting members already, as is the Twitter group.
Technorati Tags: mission, missional, missional tribe
A really good book came in the mail two days ago. Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church. I always said that when a book of a decent calibre comes out as a corrective to the emerging church, I would give it some airplay and consideration on the blog. Although I think it misses the mark at many points, its probably a better critique of the emerging church movement [or EmergentVillage, to be precise] than any other I have come across. Its well written, not condescending, not patronizing and it offers some good advice for the wider evangelical church.
And its Sunday today. I have a bit of spare time and it might be a good way to spend it. No promises - I might not finish it today and I might not make it to the best 2 chapters in the book (Johnson and Gleason) but I will give it a shot and will add links below when there is something to post. Feel free to jump in and leave your own comments. Here we go.
Reforming or Conforming? Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church, edited by Gary Johnson and Ronald Gleason.
Introduction by Gary L.W. Johnson.
Chapter 1 - The Doctrine of Scripture: Only a Human Problem, by Paul Wells.
Chapter 2 - Sola Scriptura as an Evangelical Theological Method, by John Bolt
Chapter 3 - No Easy Task: John Franke and the Character of Theology, by Paul Helm
Chapter 4 - Whosoever Will Be Saved: Emerging Church, Meet Christian Dogma, by R. Scott Clark
Chapter 5 - "Right Reason" and Theological Aesthetics at Old Princeton Seminary: The "Mythical Evangelical Magisterium" Reconsidered, by Paul Kjoss Helseth
Chapter 6 - Cornelius Van Til: "Principled" Theologian or Foundationalist? by Jeffrey C. Waddington
Chapter 7 - Church and Community or Community and Church, by Ronald N. Gleason
Chapter 8 - It's "Wright", but is it Right? An Assessment and Engagement of an "Emerging" Rereading of the ministry of Jesus, by Guy Prentiss Waters
Chapter 9 - Joyriding on the Downgrade at Breakneck Speed: The Dark Side of Diversity, by Phil Johnson
Chapter 10 - Entrapment: The Emerging Church Conversation and the Cultural Captivity of the Gospel, by Martin Downes
Chapter 11 - Saved from the Wrath of God: An Examination of Brian McLaren's Approach to the Doctrine of Hell, by Greg D Gilbert
Chapter 12 - The Emergent Church, by Gary Gilley
Technorati Tags: emergent, emerging church
Happy New Year! Let me apologize for a boring 2008 in my personal life and a blog that reflected it. 2009 should be a better one for us. Godwilling, 2009 should be an adventure.
Adventure: Dictionary defintion: adventūra what must happen, fem. (orig. neut. pl.) of L adventūrus fut. participle of advenīre to arrive. See advent
Wikipedia definition: "An adventure is an activity that comprises risky, dangerous and uncertain experiences. The term is more popularly used in reference to physical activities that have some potential for danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, and extreme sports. The term is broad enough to refer to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with risk, such as a business venture or a major life undertaking. An adventurer is a person who bases their lifestyle or their fortunes on adventurous acts."
It makes sense to me that the Advent season, as that time to reorient our lives around the coming or arrival of Christ, should lead naturally to a risky, dangerous and uncertain adventure. This was certainly true of people who followed God in the Biblical account. It was true for followers of Christ through history. And it should be true for us today. I see my life, and the life of my family who follow Christ with me, as a risky, dangerous and uncertain adventure and yet I know that he is able to keep us safe and bring us to our final destination. I see my blog as a way to make visible that adventure. To share it with others. To offer it up for accountability and advice so that I might be corrected and made wiser.
I apologize if my blog has been boring in 2008. There have been many occasions when I should have picked up my armour and leapt into battle, jumped on that train, despite not knowing the destination or how I would return. There were moments when I should have sung loudly but instead I swallowed my words. Sorry about that!
This months banner is from a photo I took in Ireland a few months ago. I called it "Moss". It reminds me of my missed opportunities last year due to sitting around, playing it safe, and collecting moss. But it also points to the Irish spirit of adventure that characterized the Celtic monks who left Ireland on pilgrimage around the world.
Pray for our family in 2009. We feel God leading us to launch out once again in a more radical way than we have done for many years. We have given notice at our apartment and are fixing up a truck so that we can live in it full time and get to all the places we feel God wants us to ARRIVE at. We expect to be in at least 20 countries in 2009 and will be tracking what God is doing there, as well as finding and encouraging the next generation of missional entrepreneurs. There are people who are cheering us on in this adventure but also a few people who feel we should instead be settling down, saving for a deposit on a home, allowing our kids the luxury of sameness and stillness. I want to prove them wrong. I need to show that the safest place in the world for our kids is the center of God's intention for them, the path marked out for our family.
I pray that 2009 will be a year of adventure for you and your household. It will look different than ours but will just as important to God. If you choose to blog it, please let me know so we can follow your pilgrimage. Have a wonderful adventurous 2009!
A new RSS daily feed is You Version's One Year Bible. It already looks really good and you can upload your own thoughts, video, images. Very interactive. Very 2.0.
The last few years I have enjoyed the daily Bible feed from One Year Bible Blog. Mike does a great job in adding images and thoughts to each day's reading and there is a place to leave comments. I highly recommend it, especially if you haven't read the Bible through RSS before. And today is the best day to start. You can also join 7,600 readers at the One Year Bible Facebook group.
And don't forget Bible.org for resources, commentary, and the NET Bible which is the paper version Bible that I use and absolutely adore.
Technorati Tags: bible
Doodlebuzz gets my vote as another cool news aggregator. A bit buggy on Firefox for me this morning but worked ok on Safari. I love the low tech feel of it and the artistic touch. Check it out.
Jonny Baker and friends [and me] have developed a series of downloadable Christmas goodies. This Advent resource for your church worship is called "Nine" because there are 9 of them and it will cost you 9 pounds, which, at the current pathetic exchange right now, isn't very much at all if you are buying it from another country
Facebook spam scam for Christmas by some loser. Its a phishing site called barkcrawl. i was invited to join it by a facebook friend who i assume did not know anything about it. warning here.
Its finally here and our 5 kids are all excited. Its a very American Christmas morning here in our home in Scotland. Debbie is making her Kentucky mother's Christmas raspberry turnovers and sausage souffle. We splashed out and bought Amy Grants new Christmas album with an Amazon gift from Debbie's sister Pam, from Oregon, because its not Christmas without Amy - dont care who you are! Coffee with double cream for my Christmas treat. And soon we will open presents and expect a few visitors during the day. One lass will join us for the day because she lives by herself and Christmas is not a day to be lonely.
Hope you have a great day. Peace of Christ to all.
Its Christmas Eve again and I just borrowed a book from the public library about the most famous Christmas Eve ever . . . since the original one two thousand years ago. In 1914, on Christmas Eve, a truce was called between the English, French and German soldiers at certain parts of the Western Front. They stopped shooting each other, exchanged cigarettes, wine and sausages, played football, sang songs, and took photos with each other. Heres a few quotes and images that stuck out to me in the book "Meeting in No Man's Land: Christmas 1914 and Fraternization in the Great War", Faro, Brown, Cazals and Mueller.
"I was standing on the firestep, gazing out towards the German line and thinking what a very different sort of Christmas Eve this was from any I had experienced in the past . . .
There had been no shooting from either side since the sniper's shot that morning, which had killed a very popular young soldier in our company named Bassingham. But this was not at all unusual.
Then suddenly, lights began to appear along the German parapet, which were evidently Christmas trees, adorned with lighted candles, which burnt steadily in the still frosty air! Other sentries had, of course, seen the same thing, and quickly awoke those on duty, asleep in the shelters, to "come and see this thing, which had come to pass". Then our opponents began to sing "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht". This was actually the first time I heard this carol, which was not then so popular in this country as it has since become. They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate in some way, so we sang "The First Nowell". And when we finished, they all began clapping; and then they struck up another favourite of theirs "O Tannenbaum". And so it went on. First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until we started up "O Come All Ye Faithful" the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words "Adeste Fidelis". And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing - two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war." Rifleman Graham Williams, page 29
"Thus, amid the bitter realities of trench warfare, with all its squalor, a Christmas song had worked a miracle and had thrown a bridge from man to man." German Crown Prince Wilhelm
"There has been a certain friendliness between our men and the Germans in the trenches. Christmas Day was looked on mutually as a peace day and both sides went out freely in front of their trenches and buried the dead which were still lying out in the fire-swept zone - Germans looked very clean and smart - Put on their best clean clothes for the occasion I fancy - They conversed freely and exchanged cigarettes . .. " Lieutenant General Sir Henry Rawlinson, Dec 27th.
" . . . if we had been left to ourselves, there would never have been another shot fired. We were on the most friendly terms, and it was only the fact that we were being controlled by others that made it necessary to start shooting each other once again. " Major Murdoch Mackenzie Wood, Gordon Highlander
"The Christmas Truce of 1914 was striking because it was seen as an exceptional phenomenon. More than any other day of the year, this day was holy - but it was accorded no official recognition from either Church nor Army, and the truce was a spontaneous soldier-led movement." Page 157, comment by the authors
There are many more stories and quotes from this amazing event but what struck me most was the potential for peace and reconciliation, even in the midst of a gruesome war. The kind of deep, true peace, that can only come through focusing on the Prince of Peace, whose birth was announced with angels praising God saying, "Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth and goodwill toward men." Luke 2: 14
Technorati Tags: christmas, christmas eve, christmas truce
Jolly Blogger (David Wayne) is a Presbyterian pastor who has been diagnosed with colon cancer and asks for prayer. His blog has been around forever and is highly respected. HT: Another Think
Happy Christmas everyone!!! Peace of Christ to you all. Thanks for reading and tracking with our journey this year.
Christmas celebrations have already started in our house. Next week will be another cruelty-Free Christmas, like we did in 2006. Cooking has begun. Like last year, I have made a Christmas Ale, with ginger and fruit. Not as much pepper this year so its a little sweeter. We have some friends from Germany coming up on the 27th - Wolfgang Simson and family - so we will extend our Christmas long enough for them to enjoy with us.
Our Christmas tree came in from the cold. Its a little bigger than last year and a little browner but life is coming back to life. Good Christmas service this morning at the local. My youngest daughters were Joseph and Mary. My mothers gifts from Australia have arrived and the grandparents in USA have given some money for us to spend on the kids.
Just to give you a peek into one of our secret projects. A few weeks ago we bought an overlander - or at least a potential overlander. Its a 1987 Iveco Magirus Deutz - air-cooled engine, 4x4, diff lock, high clearance, 3-point pivot body, etc. Just what one needs to drive across the Sahara or around the Arctic Circle - both ideas having crossed my mind recently.
It needs a lot of work but when it is finished, it will be our Great Commission Go Anywhere Pilgrimage vehicle for our travels in 2009 - which involve being in about 20 countries from Turkey to Ukraine to Portugal . . and Morocco. [Road to Morocco was an old movie with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope]. Eventually, we would like to drive it all the way across to India and Asia. Still trying to figure out the visa problems for my American wife to get into Iran so it looks like Europe and its fringes for the next year.
Should make for some interesting blog posts.
We are spending the Christmas holidays fixing it up. Very exciting. Today we were cutting up plywood for the beds and couches. I already found some old Transit van windows for £20 each and they should be in next week. We don't have enough budget for solar panels just yet but are hoping to add them later on. I will start up a special blog for the truck soon.
So if you live in the Eurozone, and are feeling called into the new things that God is doing, let me know when we get near your city and lets hook up, even if your town or village is really hard to get to [we like a challenge]. Even better, plan to be at the Christian festivals next year (Slot in Poland, Freakstock in Germany, UpFest in Ukriane, Greenbelt in UK, etc) and look out for our tall skinny expedition vehicle.
Yesterday I went to the yearly bird auction and bought a dead goose. It still has its head on it and I will need to stick my hand inside it to rip out its inards [is "inards" a word?] but at least its dead. At least I dont have to drum up the courage to go out and kill it. And at least it's not going to get away!
If you followed my blog last Christmas, we bought a fabulously fat goose which was very much alive and kicking and happily living with the chickens in our back yard. We called her "Christmas Dinner" because she had a special purpose, all things working out, that would be realized a week later at the dinner table. However, our plans were thwarted. A few days after settling into our back yard, and pretending she was fattening herself for our festive season, Christmas Dinner made a desparate escape to the water, got adopted by a family of swans, and ended up in the newspaper as a local hero. Thus . . . we did not have goose for Christmas whatsoever but ate lamb instead. Good lamb . . mind you. Very good and cooked slowly on an Aga wood stove.
But this year, I have played it safe buy buying an ALREADY DEAD and INESCAPABLE goose that is now hanging in the shed out the back. I wont even give it a name.
Parables of a Prodigal World give the Top Ten Emergent/Missional/Post-Evangelical Posts of 2008. I had decided to post a link to this BEFORE I noticed myself on the list. Worth a look.
Here's a shot of me on a recent trip to London. This is the site of the Salvation Army's first indoor public meeting - 1865.
Technorati Tags: puppy
Don't know about you but this is the BIG Christmas question in my mind this season:
Were the Magi wearing mullets under their hats?
Did the wise men from the east wear bi-level haircuts when they found the infant Jesus?
Were the dudes bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh all "business at the front and party at the back"?
I think YES! The Magi TOTALLY had mullets! And artists through the centuries have given witness.
But don't just believe the artists. Bi-level hairstyles mullets were the preferred choice of Persian aristocracy and the wise men were representing the King of Persia. Makes perfect sense.
"Magi", btw, is a Persian word that once defined the priestly class of Zoroastrian spiritual leaders who followed and added to the writings of Zoroaster. Later on it was used more broadly for other Persian religious leaders and mystical teachers. But the origin of the word certainly points to Persia. And Persia points to mullets for the upper class. Or in other words, anyone who was anyone in ancient Persia would not be seen dead without a mullet adorning their head.
Ahhh, you say! Perhaps not! Since the Magi were Zoroastrian priests, their hairstyles may have been qutie different to that of Persian royalty and aristocracy? But after stroking my chin and complimenting you on your academic prowlness, and your amazing google dexterity, I would counter your argument with this:
"Ha!"
And when you had gotten up off the floor, and composed yourself, I would add that the Magi who visited Jesus were not probably not strictly Zoroastrian. The true Zoroastrians were expecting a Saoshyant [world redeemer] born of a virgin in Persia, not one in Palestine. Not only that but by the time the Zoroastrian Avesta (holy writings] had been completed, there were prophecies that spoke of not just one but three distinct Saoshyants, all born of a virgin, and all born by a certain Iranian river.
Saoshyant, yes. And its amazing how many world religions had an inkling of the Redeemer's birth before it happened. But Jesus was born in a shed by the inn, not in a cara-van down by the river.
Besides that, even being purely Zorastrian would not discount the idea that the wise men wore mullets. King Darius the Great was both a Persian king AND a devout Zoroastrian - a worshipper of "AhuraMazda" [Lord Mazda] - and his hair was longer than Billy Ray Cyrus.
Its hard to make out exactly how short Darius's hair was on top, since he was usually pictured wearing a royal headpiece. However, judging by the statues of Darius, I am quite certain that when he took his off headgear to let down his long braided hair, he would have boasted a mullet that would win trophies at the local tractor show!
Also, the type of gifts given to Jesus by the Magi were the type of gifts typically given to kings. It seems obvious that these wise men were both spiritual and governmental leaders, representing their King and most likely wearing the kind of clothes and hairstyle [ie - MULLETS!] that their King would expect from his ambassadors.
So yes, the Magi wore mullets. Friggin' "A" they wore mullets . . . and you can quote me on that! Hope this contributes a little towards a red-neck theology and that it inspires a new line of Christmas cards from Hallmark - cards that the rest of us can appreciate. Have a very Mullet Christmas!
This blog post is dedicated to Steve Camp - musician, reformer, blogger, and former mullet champion.
Alan Hirsch clears up the word "missional" for an American audience at Leadership Journal. Good article and I totally back up Alan, not just because he is a good mate, but also because he is right. Although I would argue with Alan, most probably over a beer, that the word "emerging" and "emergent" has been used consistently for a good century NOT as a renewal movement, as Alan suggests, but rather as a description of the new forms of church in pioneer missionary (overseas) settings, and in the past 40 years to refer to the new forms of church arising as a result of intentional mission in the home countries. However, not everyone reads old mission books like us geeks and the meaning of words is always in constant flux . . . so I will cut Alan some slack.
Speaking of Alan and loving disagreements, Dan Kimball had some missional misgivings recently and Alan responded with some good . . . um . . response. Its called "Dan Kimball on Missional Church Effectiveness".
Related: Did you ever read Alan's book The Forgotten Ways? It's excellent and it should be on your bookshelf. Heres more info.
Yeovil, England. Pronounced "Yo - vil". Sylvester Stallone would feel quite at home here.
I was here today for the Tribal Generation meeting. Great to see so many Brazilians who are now bringing the gospel to Europe. There were other nationalities also. JP from France who is now working in Belgium. One Brazilian who started 10 churches in North India, and is now also working in Belgium. Others from everywhere working everywhere.
That was a big theme - multi-directional mission. This was also something i talked about when i was asked to say a few things. I thought it interesting hearing Olgavaro talk about starting movements and keeping things simple, and expecting a little mess because its all very new and chaotic. Interesting, because the Assembly of God missionaries who went to Brazil many decades ago were influenced by Roland Allen's "Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours?" which had a similar message. It was like hearing the echo of the simple message of the gospel that went out to Brazil now coming back to Europe.
Reminds me of when I used to make big waves in the bathtub as a kid [i dont do it anymore, really!] watching the wave go forward and then come back, and then go forward again and back. Missions is a bit like that. And it seems like we are at one of those full-circle moments when the wave is coming back to hit us in the face and remind us of the simple ways of Christ and his apostles.
Back in London tomorrow and then home.
Worth Diversion: I had a cup of tea with the grandson of missionary Roland Allen
Richard Cizik resigned his position at National Association of Evangelicals this week. Sounds a bit too quick to me. 28 years service and one short interview, a few words out of line with NEA and he's out. What about some discussion? Some perspective? Some time for him to elaborate?
Best piece on this toic: Leith Anderson on CT
Technorati Tags: nea, richard cizik
This Traveler IQ was calculated on Monday, November 03, 2008 at 11:12PM GMT by comparing this person's geographical knowledge against the Web's Original Travel diary's 3,265,498 travelers who've taken the challenge.
Recent Comments