emergent/postmodern defined???
ChOG Postmodern Thinktank
last week [04.08] @ beaners in lansing - good conversation. we started off talking about the difference between some words [postmodern & emergent].
the thing we kind of landed on was this...
for the modern church everything they did [or we still do] is try and offer solutions to the problems that we as people have in our lives. a valid persuit, for our lives are screwed up; mostly by our own doing.
the biggest problem is that many times the modern church is wanting to offer answers to questions [problems] that many people are no longer asking [prove to me that Jesus existed, how do i know there's a God?]. most people know there's a God, they're not sure which one they should listen to.
so, solutions to problems/heartache are the bend of the modern church.
looking at new words like postmodern and emergent there are a couple of thoughts that came out of that discussion...
postmodern - this thought of doing church is still trying to answer the questions of life and offer Christ as solution. but they have changed the way in which they go about answering the question. it's become much more interactive and there is room for push-back from the questioner. that has not always been the case for the modern church. 'these are the answers and we don't really have time to go further because we're bogged down with meetings and mission statements.' [that's a general statement, not specific]
the communial aspect of getting together is very high for the modern & postmodern church [large worship setting, conference mentality, bumping into others].
emergent - the bend here seems to be much more interested in connection with God. i think if you look at the elements of what is involved in an emergent setting there is an element of interaction, but the focus of interaction is on the personal connection with God. community is not the primary focus of the gathering.
at least that's from my perspective.
hmmmmmm, i'm having some very interesting thoughts about student ministry as i write this. a comment on randy's post from 04.07...
but something else was touched on in the conversation from fri. it has to do with our compulsion to label everything and have it fit into nice, neat little file folders and place in a drawer.
labels are important so that we know what we're doing and how to find the next step. but all very modern...
just a funny aside
last week [04.08] @ beaners in lansing - good conversation. we started off talking about the difference between some words [postmodern & emergent].
the thing we kind of landed on was this...
for the modern church everything they did [or we still do] is try and offer solutions to the problems that we as people have in our lives. a valid persuit, for our lives are screwed up; mostly by our own doing.
the biggest problem is that many times the modern church is wanting to offer answers to questions [problems] that many people are no longer asking [prove to me that Jesus existed, how do i know there's a God?]. most people know there's a God, they're not sure which one they should listen to.
so, solutions to problems/heartache are the bend of the modern church.
looking at new words like postmodern and emergent there are a couple of thoughts that came out of that discussion...
postmodern - this thought of doing church is still trying to answer the questions of life and offer Christ as solution. but they have changed the way in which they go about answering the question. it's become much more interactive and there is room for push-back from the questioner. that has not always been the case for the modern church. 'these are the answers and we don't really have time to go further because we're bogged down with meetings and mission statements.' [that's a general statement, not specific]
the communial aspect of getting together is very high for the modern & postmodern church [large worship setting, conference mentality, bumping into others].
emergent - the bend here seems to be much more interested in connection with God. i think if you look at the elements of what is involved in an emergent setting there is an element of interaction, but the focus of interaction is on the personal connection with God. community is not the primary focus of the gathering.
at least that's from my perspective.
hmmmmmm, i'm having some very interesting thoughts about student ministry as i write this. a comment on randy's post from 04.07...
but something else was touched on in the conversation from fri. it has to do with our compulsion to label everything and have it fit into nice, neat little file folders and place in a drawer.
labels are important so that we know what we're doing and how to find the next step. but all very modern...
just a funny aside
Posted By nathan | |
Permalink 
