Emergent Wisdom For Churches #1

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(Click to enlarge). A network with many weak links is stronger than a network with a few strong links. Multiple nodes enable greater communication which enables faster emergence. Predicting which will new projects will survive or succeed is almost impossible in our present chaotic world, but planting many seeds and allowing multiple projects is a good place to start. Experimental ministries that do not succeed should not be seen as a failure, since many failures allow greater potential for success. Real failure happens when we are too intimidated to start anything new due to faithlessness or fear. So go ahead and start some new things. Plant some seeds. 7 or even 8 of them. Maybe one or two of them will take root and produce something.
From “Rhizome Cowboy: Emergent Principles for Network-Based Churches “(Andrew Jones, Nov 04)”

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

11 Comments

  • Johannes says:

    You really know how to let people crave for more 😉 We want the presentation! 😀

  • Andrew says:

    Johannes – hey – i would rather throw the individual thoughts up here. besides that, the presentation was quite short – this will give me time to expand a little and go further.
    And also, the powerpoint uses large video files that are presently too large up upload.
    But thanks for your encouragment!!

  • + simonas says:

    dude, i’m very unoriginal. i’m stealing stuff from you (giving you credit, of course) :-).
    (sorry, don’t know how to use trackback)…

  • Andrew says:

    Simonas – very cool. was it you who just said (in Lithuanian) ” Kokias 7tynias ar 8tuonias. Gal viena kita ir prigis, iÅ¡leis Å¡aknis ir atneÅ¡ kokį nors derlių.[IÅ¡ TallSkinnyKiwi.com]” ?
    The trackbacks should happen automatically when you hyperlink to the exact address of this particular blog post (click on skinnylink below the post to get the address). You just linked to the main site so it won’t show. No problem. Thanks for coming back. always nice to see how things travel and change.
    if you had time, you or someone could create an animated GIF or flash animation that morphed the two verses together. that would be cool.

  • adam says:

    wow… wow… this is exactly why i blog. in some bizarre way, i feel like i am a part of the network (albiet a very weak link in the network). thanks for calling us out, andrew.

  • andrew, you’re a natural. how did you larn to speak such good lithuanian? 🙂
    good stuff. ok, i changed the link, but i somehow doubt the trackback will work this way. maybe though… let’s observe and learn :-).
    yeah, flash would look great. don’t know if i will take up the task though. off to bed now…

  • Matt says:

    Three years ago there was a colloquium at my seminary that talked about church structures; the strongest structure that was developed was one that we described as “hyper-linked.” It did not fit into any of the formal, official church structures [whether congregational, episcopal or hybrid]. We found that using the hyper-linked internet structure built stronger communities even though the links were less official.

  • brian says:

    Andrew – great thoughts – right where I am at right now – looking at branching out – networking more ministries – thanks.

  • More on the network structure for the church

    The fact that God can speak the same message to different people that have had no prior contact on the subject and who can then connect those threads just serves to underscore the primary point about the value of this type of network structure.

  • Alpha says:

    sometimes it seems like we’re making a glorious mess. we make the mess, and the Spirit makes the glory : ).

  • Book Chapter

    When I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago – see the photos – one of the things I did was write a chapter for a book. This is the draft and I would welcome any comments. It

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