this falls on the heals of a couple of posts ago and fits real well with the thoughts of that post...

been thinking a lot about this issue of community, coming out of conversations with j.davey. we’ve both said, over the course of time and in teaching moments with others that American Christian faith is going to have to move, if it’s going to survive at all, into more of a communal – style of relationship. communal…that scares the crap out of some people. scares them because of what we usually think of in ‘communal’ terms; 50 hippies living under one roof sharing one bathroom, etc.
i don’t think that’s where we’re headed.

look at it from the other direction. currently churches operate, for the most part, independent of one another. it doesn’t matter what the churches in our area do. hardly makes a blip on our radar. sure, we pray for them and ask God to bless them and make them effective. we share an annual VBS with some of the other churches around us. but much more than that…not really.

what if it did really matter to us? that we were dependant upon those churches to have a sense of purpose and fulfilling God’s call to the church in the first place. to really gain a sense of community IN the community…that it mattered what we did on a weekly basis when we talk with the other churches…what if we shared sermon series and spoke on similar themes or ideas?
what if there was a real sense of venerability with one another? that we actually aloud other people into our secrets and to see us as our sinful selves?

don’t get excited, i’m not talking about completely uninhibited, total exposure here. there’s no way we’re ready for that!!

example:
i’m in my office, basically waiting for the worship band to arrive for practice. just killing time and playing some solitaire on my computer. sr.pastor davey is in the building waiting for the band also, he plays bass for us. my door isn’t latched and my back is to the door. he knocks, the door comes open and he enters. i, am now in a made scramble to hide the card game [not because cards are evil].

but if they’re not evil, what am i doing?this happened several months ago and i’m a bit of a slow learner so i’m just now getting it…
there is a mental model that if someone, anyone, sees me ‘not doing what i think i ought to be doing’ there are repercussions. repercussions for me on the job, people’s thoughts about what i do and how do what i do, and the list goes on.again, what the heck am i doing?!?!back to this community thing.

if real community is going to happen then there have to be times, regular times, when we put the guards down and let people see us. john has become one of the most open people i know. consistently have conversations that are valuable to us as leaders, as men, Christ-followers…and yet, there are times that i keep him at arms length. why? am i afraid that if he really sees who i am he won’t like what is there? do i think he may then begin to doubt what i’m doing? do i wonder if he just won’t like me in general?
probably yes on all 3 at some time or another.

maybe for real community to start taking place there needs to be an healthy dose of getting real with ourselves and lighten up. something that i’ve found is that if we are real, venerable with others then they end up liking us a bit more. so that gets at our desire to be liked, to belong. also, when we’re open it give permission to others to do the same. this helps us deal with a sense of loneliness that we all fight. feeling like we’re all alone in the problems we face.

ok, so I've said a while back that we would be blogging on Emerging Churches by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger and I haven't. I went back through what I have read so far and made some notes. I will catch us up and notate as I go. [I'm so slow getting through books it's sad.]

This book was a joint effort as a follow up to ChurchNext, by Gibbs. Which was theoretical, he wanted to go more practical and experimental. Bolger brought to the table an understanding of Emerging Churches, not just Buster/Gen-X churches(7). So they set out interviewing and observing these communities. They were on a shoe-string budget so they limited the book to the UK and the US. They speculate that these trends can be found elsewhere in the Western world. Their research discovered 9 trends of Emerging Churches and that is how the book is set up to discuss these "patterns"(9).

So I will do the same. I will work through each of the chapters at the pace necessary to do some good.

This quote from page 29 may shed some like on why this book has been a good read for me.

"This present work seeks to present the key tenets of emerging churches to a wider audience, to those who may be unaware of its development as well as to those who have some notion of significant changes afoot and are seeking further information and clarification. To those who are aware of, or count themselves apart of, the emerging church, it is our hope that this work will illuminate the familiar, giving words to those who have an intuitive understanding that has yet to mature into critical reflection."

This is my motivation for starting this blog. Questions like: Why is the Church not growing? [In health and numbers] How can we/I be more affective in ministering to the culture? Postmodern? What the crap is the Emerging Church? How can I help the Church of God with all these? This book has helped me to start answering some of those questions. I hope it will help you too.



Parenthetical references are for page numbers so I avoid plagiarism of their hard work.

Ryan Bolger co-author of Emerging Churches, has some thoughts about educating a community of faith rather than one pastor on his blog. It's a real interesting idea. have you been in a church that the senior pastor wasn't that good of a teacher. Hitting home: What are we not good at? would it be ok for someone else to the things "that pastors should do"? What if your really good at taking care of people? Not so good at teaching and someone else comes forward to teach and they really connect. Do you hand over the preaching and you shepherd the sheep and leaders? hmm. things that challenge my pay check and influence. I'm not sure what to think. Do you?