Last night I spoke at the 2nd Annual Foundation Briefing on International Missions. Very nice people – and a good spirit. Some of the foundations here are VERY conservative and I was a little nervous that they would freak out when i showed them some images and video of how the emerging church is looking around the world. I have to admit – It was very brave of them to invite me and open themselves up to the more organic, alternative, emerging side of what God is doing in the next generation.
Thanks for your prayers and thoughts – and all of those networks that have answered my questions over the last 6 months about what is going on. We are a small part of the body of Christ but we are ministering a very large chunk of the world’s population, and the ones who are the innovators and change leaders. The traditional church may not understand it all, but they see the heart is the same, and the gospel is the same and that ties us all together.
I set up a website for the folks to access extra resources and to link to the groups and events that I spoke about; Its a work in progress and should be completed soon. Its called EmergAnt
The temptation was to give a nice message, inspire and inform without giving the full picture. The other was to give a more accurate picture and fill them in on THE SKINNY on the emerging church around the world – warts and all. I went with the second option. I showed them what was going on – the things i like AND the things i don’t like.I talked about the dangers and criticisms as well as the opportunities and the resources.
I am still not really sure if i did the right thing. I feel good that i told the truth. Some people were a little surprised that our family is a on a cruelty-free diet and we no longer eat at McDonalds – at least not the chicken anyway – did you know that up to 30% of chickens die in the process in some countries? I also mentioned that some in the emerging church will not buy products made in countries where factory abuse takes place, and some refuse to wear brand names on their clothing. All examples of how we are following Jesus – of course it was just an example, not necessarily a recommendation.
But generally, the people here were REALLY encouraged to hear that God is raising up new people around the world to tell the story of Jesus and see new communities rise up in places where traditional churches cannot go or even understand. They were really encouraged and a few of them would like to receive regular updates – The Boaz Report
Stephen Douglass was here from Campus CC – I used to read his books on leadership.
Jerry Rankin gave me a BIG handshake and smile at the end – nice guy!
I think it went OK.
i guess you’re being facetious but just in case you’re not…..i always assumed that of the chickens used to make Chicken McNuggets, 100% of them died!
anyway, sounds like you did a good ambassadorial job – honesty is usually the best policy.
Really ironic that Rankin gave you a big hand shake. SBC officially came out against the emerging church yesterday. http://www.bpnews.org/bpnews.asp?ID=20420
I hope the imb’s missional thinking can extend to the emergent tribes. Thanks for opening that door.
Thanks for the nice talk on the phone! I look forward to staying in touch and maybe we can catch up in Scotland sometime.
All the best to you and i pray for safe travels home.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the nice talk on the phone! I look forward to staying in touch and maybe we can catch up in Scotland sometime.
All the best to you and i pray for safe travels home.
Keep up the great work!
Not sure if I count as the ’emerging’ church – I feel more like the broken-and-bruised-and-unsure-of-almost-everything church.
I’ve got an aversion to institutionalism (largely inherited from Dave Andrews 🙁 ) although at the same time craving the stability of liturgy. I can’t explain it… on the one hand the church seems to fail at almost everything it does, on the other, emotionally I feel like I need this stuff to hang my life onto.
Sorry, warbling. I wanted to say something about the second half of your post, TSK. I’m a member of this community called the Generous Project – http://www.generous.org.uk, which is something that came out of greenbelt last year.
A group of us signed up to spending a year examining our lives and seeing ways to change them. And as a group, we would try to support each other as we struggle to change themselves.
Corporately it has been a bit of a struggle. It is easy to make it into a kind of a competition in holiness and hard to stop yourself being disillusioned. On the personal side, it has been enlightening and encouraging to be with other people who are committed to finding do-able solutions without turning themselves into freaks.
This lent we’ve made a special effort to try some new things and one of the things we’ve tried is to change our diet. Personally I don’t have a problem eating meat, but a problem with where it has come from and the way it has been reared. So, as a compromise, we’ve tried going veggie in the week and eating meat at the weekend. We’ve tried to only eat wild meat – wild duck, pigeon and pheasant so far. Generally you get less meat, but maybe thats how our ancestors ate it… And you know, it hasn’t been as difficult as you might think.
OK that isn’t practical for everyone all the time, but y’know there are things we can do, and the secret is finding them and not beating yourself up about what you can’t do.
J
4th annual briefing on international missions
Since Tallskinnykiwi blogged about the 2nd Annual Foundation Briefing on International Missions, I think its okay for me to selectively post some sound bites from the 4th annual foundation briefing on international missions. This time its…