I opened up my email today and found the weekly newsletter from Emergent Village to be particularly relevant to where we are as a gathering in our formative stages.
People are drowning in the world—they are rethinking Jesus and church and Christianity and ministry, and they think they are all alone. People are ready to give up on faith and ministry and church. Then, one day, they find a blog or read a book or show up at an event, and they say, “Omigosh! I thought I was all alone. I thought I was the only one feeling these things, and now I find there’s a whole host of people asking the same questions as I am!”
I can’t help but wonder how many more people are out there, about to give up on ministry or even on faith…? Or how many people will never give Jesus a chance because they’re convinced that Christ-followers are a bunch of closed-minded ideologues…?
Those questions reconfirm to me the importance of the Emergent Village friendship, and the necessity of keeping that friendship open into the future—really, into God’s future.
I keep hearing similar sentiments from those of us already engaging this conversation. We have been burned by what church has become and hoping there is something more. This is why I am convinced of the importance of getting several of us together to continue discussion.
Have you ever tried to explain the emerging church to someone who has had no exposure to it what so ever? I found myself in that situation not to long ago and I kept stumbling over how to describe this “conversation.” In one of Emergent Village’s podcast (I think it was from the 2004 Theological Convention), one of the participants jokingly referred to the emerging church as having connections to gnosticism because it was one of those things that you can’t describe it until you are a part of it.
Well anyway, I have found the best way to discuss the emerging church is by walking through a few descriptive terms and what they mean for this conversation. Here is a list I have compiled. Feel free to add your own words or comments:
- Postmodern
- Narrative driven
- Communal
- Holistic
- Experiential
- Ecumenical
- Engages culture
- Artistic
- Dynamic
- Missional
- Messy
- Conversational
Several area groups have combined and are working together to create an impact on global extreme poverty. Youth from across the area will be working on projects consisting of Spoken Word, Music (Hip Hop, Live Band), Visual Arts, and Digital Arts. This will be showcased during a service of sacred communion at Christ Episcopal Church here in Bowling Green on December 10th. It will use songs from U2 (hence the name) to raise awareness and action toward the Millennium Development Goals and the One Campaign. Let me know if you would be interested in helping with this.