Happy reading!

Pam Hogeweide compares the emerging church movement to a game of ping pong.
Sarah-Ji comments that the emerging questions people are asking are far bigger than any defined movement.
Sharon Brown writes about using labels as an excuse.
Peter Walker reflects on how the emerging church conversation helped him recognize his power and privlege as a white male.
Dave Huth post a on new ways to talk about religion.
Kathy Escobar finds hope in seeing a spirit of love in action emerging in the church.
Nadia Bolz-Weber reflects on the the beautiful things she sees emerging in her church community.
Chad Holtz writes on our Our Emerging Jewishness.
Julie Kennedy describes her organic entry into the emerging church and reflects on moving forward with a new public face.
Dave Brown comments on the emerging church and swarm theory.
Danielle Shroyer reflects on what she sees emerging in the church.
Brian Merritt offers his pros and cons of the emerging church.
Julie Clawson is grateful for emerging globalized Christianity.
Susan Philips points out that emergence happens as G-d redeems our shattered realities.
Mike Clawson reflects on the non-western voices that brought him to the emerging conversation.
Jake Bouma suggest that what is emerging is a collapse into simplicity.
Liz Dyer believes a chastened epistemology is a valuable characteristic emerging out of the church today.
Rachel Held Evans writes on what is changing in the church.
Tia Lynn Lecorchick describes the emerging movement as a wood between worlds (from The Magician’s Nephew).
Amy Moffitt shares her journey towards a theology of humility.
Travis Mamone comments on the need for the emerging church to rely on the word of God.
Sa Say reflects on the the prick of doubt.
David Henson lists what he sees as what is emerging in the church.
Angela Harms writes in in defense of emergent.
Wendy Gritter asks how we can listening to the voices from the margins.
Bruce Epperly comments on the largeness of spirit of emerging spirituality.
Linda Jamentz reflects on listening to the voices from the margins in church.
Lisa Bain Carlton hopes that our emerging conversation can respond humbly to our moment in time.
Christine Sine asks how far are we willing to be transformed.
Lori Allen Wilson reflects on what is emerging in the younger generations.
Cynthia Norris Clack sees love emerging in the church.
Bob Fisher lists the values emerging in his faith community
Mihee Kim-Kort writes of the conversions and conversations she sees around her.
Ann Catherine Pittman believes that what is emerging in the church is inclusivity.
Matthew Gallion describes how emergence is spread thin across the whole church.
Phil Snider offers guarded praise of emergent.

Greetings!

You may remember back in April that a number of people invested in Emergent Village gathered in Washington, D.C., to discuss the future of this conversation. In May that group of 24 shared our stories from the weekend and expressed our hopes for what is to come. With the previous EV leadership ready to step down, this was a prime opportunity to take stock of where Emergent Village has been over the past decade. Over the past few months those of us who gathered in D.C. have been discerning carefully and thoroughly where God is calling us together. Though we are by no means finished dreaming for the future of the Village, here’s our summary of the process thus far.

In our recent conversations we distinguished four recurring emphases to guide the way we structure the Village: collaboration, distribution, transparency and localization. We want to hear what you are doing, connect you with others, open up channels of communication between diverse voices, and highlight the powerful and creative places of emergence happening in our backyards. And guess what? All of them involve YOU.

Emergent Village has always centered on relationships that find their common ground in seeking new, creative and sustainable ways of following Jesus, and that create glimpses of the present and coming Kingdom. As we move ahead, we want to continue to create intentional means of connecting people. We’ve been describing this intentionally relational space as the Village Green. The Village Green will take on many forms: gatherings and events, local cohort meetings and conversations, book groups, web resource sharing, news updates and more. In all instances, the Village Green is a generative environment where missional friendships are nourished.

For the Village Green to flourish, it needs YOU to ignite that generative energy at the local and grassroots level. The Village Green is open for planting seeds, throwing parties, living justly, discussing new ideas, connecting with new people, creating music and art and poetry, and yes, even sitting around discussing theology. As a way of encouraging, organizing and advancing these efforts, we’ve created eight working groups around the things we are most passionate about. A number of Villagers have already found their way to these groups and have started conversations about what the future of the Village Green looks like from there. And now it’s your turn to do the same. This is YOUR Village. We invite you to jump in on one or more of these groups by contacting the team point person(s) and contributing to the planning, the dreaming and the doing. If you think we’ve missed something or just feel like adding something new, let us know by contacting any of the people listed below.

Here are the working groups:

Arts: The Village has always been a place of creativity, and we want to continue in that direction by supporting, networking and highlighting artists of all kinds in the Village. If you would like to help foster arts on the Green, contact Troy Bronsink (troybronsink@mac.com) or Makeesha Fisher (makeesha@gmail.com).

Cohorts: In many ways, cohorts are the heart of the Village. This is a great on-ramp for people to get involved in the conversation, make new friends and discuss new ideas. If you want to help organize and resource our network of cohorts, contact Sarah Notton (sarahnotton@gmail.com) or Mike Clawson (mike.clawson@gmail.com).

Communications: Our relationships will only be as strong as our communication. So, a team of folks have been invited to steward our venues of communication to make sure that they are open, consistent, and empowering others. There will plenty of ways to help us spread the word around the Village and beyond. Already you’ll notice the fresh look and feel of the Emergent/C. If your gifts might serve this team, contact Tim Snyder (tksnyder@gmail.com)

Events: As a generative friendship, Emergent Village hopes to promote face-to-face interaction around compelling and creative ideas through a number of events. It has been part of our practice in the past to encourage Villagers to attend at least one event per year to sustain and grow relationships. If you want to help dream and implement future events, contact Randy Buist (randybuist@comcast.net) or Anthony Smith (postmodernegro@gmail.com).

Justice: One of the clear themes that came out of our time together in April was our common desire to see justice embodied in our communal life together and fostered in our individual lives, and to bring more stories of justice to the table. If you want to help foster our emphasis on justice, contact Kelly Bean (bean.kelly@gmail.com) or Wendy Johnson (Wendy.J@episcopalmn.org).

Resources: The Village Green is a great place to share ideas, and a wonderful place of conversation for Jesus Way followers to find encouragement and support. Through articles, books, podcasts, and lots of other mediums, we are all invited to share our collective wisdom for the greater good of the Kingdom. Contact Mike Stavlund (mikestavlund@gmail.com) or Brittian Bullock (brittianbullock@gmail.com) to help resource the Green.

Village Council: To help coordinate the efforts between these eight areas and to encourage the conversation even further into this next season of Emergent, the group from D.C. selected six people to serve on the new Village Council. The Village Council also makes up the Board of Directors for EV’s non-profit purposes and will handle some of the organizational necessities of EV. VC members will serve no more than two consecutive years. This year, the Village Council members are: Melvin Bray (melvinbray@gmail.com), Troy Bronsink (troybronsink@mac.com), Julie Clawson (julieclawson@gmail.com), Dwight Friesen (quest@scn.org), Eliacin Rosario-Cruz (eliacin@gmail.com) and Danielle Shroyer (danielle@journeydallas.com). How we choose future Village Councils is still yet to be determined, but we look forward to inlcuding more of you in this process down the road.

Web: The EV website and other digital media venues provide a virtual space for the Village Green in between our face to face encounters. The web also provides access to resources and offers a place of connection for newcomers. If you have ideas about supporting our virtual Village, contact Jon Irvine (jonirvine.com@gmail.com) or Michael Toy (the.michael.toy@gmail.com).

Thanks to ten years of dedication, passion, and vision, the soil on the Village Green is rich. We’ll do all we can to create and maintain this generative space because we are convinced that we’re far better together than we are apart. After all, that’s the definition of emergence—the collective becomes more than simply the sum of its parts. And isn’t that what this Kingdom is all about? So, fellow Villagers, we have only one question for you: What will YOU do on the Village Green?

Sincerely,
Danielle Shroyer, Melvin Bray, Troy Bronsink, Julie Clawson, Dwight Friesen, and Eliacin Rosario-Cruz

Even as debate erupts across the blogosphere about whether Emergent is fizzling as a movement, those of us still committed to the friendships and ideas we’ve found here are going ahead with ideas for how to keep the ball rolling and continue to get more and more people connected with the conversation. A few days ago I posted a question here at my blog and at the Emergent Village Cohort Leaders Google Group about what Emergent Village could do to help emergent-leaning folks in rural areas get connected with one another and with the broader emerging conversation, whether through cohorts or other means. The ensuing discussion was very productive, and has resulted in a project to create a comprehensive google map of what’s going on in the Emergent Village world.

In keeping with Emergent Village’s desire to be a network of emerging people and communities, the goal with this map will be to create a resource to help network folks with what is going on in their own local area, or help them start something new if there isn’t anything already. This will include existing cohorts, as well as any “emerging churches” who don’t mind being listed on the Emergent Village website.* The map will also include individuals who are interested in being a part of a cohort, but don’t currently have one near them. Our hope is that as more people add themselves to this map, it will become a lot easier for them to find one another and start new cohorts.

We’ve decided to start by open-sourcing this map, basically letting anyone and everyone who wants to add themselves or their faith community – no gatekeepers or approval system, though those of us in the cohort network will help make sure it stays free of trolls. We’ll start passing the link to the map around through blogs/Twitter/Facebook, etc. (that’s where you come in and inviting folks to add their churches and cohorts (or themselves if they’re not yet part of one and want to be). Hopefully it will snowball, and in a few weeks or months we’ll have a thorough and exciting map of what is going on and where. How cool will it be to be able to see just how much this conversation has grown in the past decade!

So here’s the link again. I hope you’ll help us create this thing!

*Of course we realize that there may be emerging ministries out there who do not wish to be “affiliated” with Emergent Village in any official way, for any variety of reasons, even if just on a google map. Nonetheless, those of us in the Emergent Village are happy to partner with any faith community that doesn’t mind calling itself a “friend of Emergent Village,” and hope that many communities will choose to add themselves to our map.

I’ve linked below to some of the reflections a few of the participants in the conversation have posted, and will add more links as they appear. What was especially significant about this gathering was the ease in which a diversity of voices and ideas were heard. There were no power plays in the room, no voices trying to dominate and drown out the rest. Voices from diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, and denominational backgrounds were heard. And there was a near equal representation of women’s and men’s voices as well. And none of that was the focus of the gathering – just a natural part of who we were. The inclusivity of voices, and making it easier for anyone to have a voice within EV was a major part of our discussions for the weekend. And seeing it work within the group that gathered in DC made me hopeful that we will see a more inclusive and diverse EV in the future.

So if you want to read a few perspectives on our time there, I suggest you check out these posts.

Makeesha Fisher, Part 1a
Tim Snyder
Julie Clawson
Sarah Notton
Amy Moffit
Mike Stavlund
Michael Toy
Troy Bronsink
Brittain Bullock
Kelly Bean
Mike Stavlund

“Our goal in these couple of days together is not to pontificate on the elusive question of “What is Emergent?” Instead, we will seek to create an environment where we can begin to see what form this organism wants to have. What do we need to let go of in our assumptions, and what is waiting to be born? What is already happening naturally that we should organize ourselves to support? Where is the life and how does that life get nurtured? What is important about the past ten years that needs to be conserved? What should be left behind?”

Since obviously the small group of us gathering do not represent the whole of the emerging conversation, we need your help. What are your thoughts? How would you answer those question? What ideas for the future do you have?

Please add your thoughts here and join your voice to ours as we enter into this conversation.

Christianity 21: Faith in the 21st Century

21 Voices
21 Ideas
21 Minutes Each

We live in a time of epochal change.

Many find this change exciting; for others, it’s a challenge. Call it globalization, pluralization, or postmodernism, this change affects our economy, politics, government, and education—all of society. And, of course, our faith and our churches are not immune to change.

So we have gathered 21 of the most important voices for the future of Christianity—21 voices for the 21st century—to speak into our future as people of faith in this age. They represent a diverse array of backgrounds, interests, and passions, and they will provide a wide range of innovative and challenging presentations.

Christianity21 is less a conference and more a happening, an event—a gathering of voices and ideas that will shape the future of our faith. And to the 21 voices, we want you to add your voice, whether you’re a seeker or skeptic, leader or layperson, disciple or doubter.

We hope you consider joining your voice to ours at Christianity21.

Friday, October 9 – Sunday, October 11
Colonial Church of Edina
6200 Colonial Way
Minneapolis, MN 55436
$195

I am really excited about this event. I’ll can’t wait to hear from these presenters, and I get to join them as I will be speaking on “seeking justice in the everyday.” A number of emerging women leaders will be speaking at this event – many who have been part of the community of this blog. For a full list of presenters click here.

I think this will be a gathering where we can really dig deep and explore where faith is headed in the 21st century. We can’t ignore that changes are happening around us, and I appreciate the opportunity to think out loud with others about what this all means. So stick it on your calenders and plan on join us in October!

GENERATE exists as a forum to retell the stories of the grassroots communities and individuals who are finding emergent and alternative means to follow God in the Way of Jesus. We hope to create an artifact of this historical conversation. These stories will be transmitted through narrative, works of visual art, documented performances, verse, fiction, non-fiction, essays, and interviews.

We/you are the conversation; our art, our lives, our hopes and failures all meet up with God’s approaching dreams for creation. We converse and in doing so spread the news that we are not alone — that joy is found in our generative friendship.

The first issue will be printed this summer, and they’ve put out a general call for submissions:

We are seeking writers, poets, thinkers, artists, bloggers, tricksters, students, educators, musicians, clergy, skeptics, mystics, sinners and saints — plus everyday janes and joes — to submit original, recent works that explore, probe, rethink/reframe, question, hack, contemplate, and offer insight into the growing global conversation about following God in the Way of Jesus — its intersections, its life, its resultant creativity and community practice.

• Submit original works to submissions@generatemagazine.com

“You never know what’s comin’ for you.”

During Christmas vacation, one of our favorite family traditions is to head out to a movie theater and watch one of the new releases. For those who did the same, you likely know by the above heading which one the Booram family enjoyed—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Rather than explain the premise of the movie and spoil it for you, I’ll simply mention that this line was spoken first by Queenie, Benjamin’s “adoptive” mother, and subsequently repeated several times throughout the movie. Queenie urged Benjamin to be prepared for what life brings; not to fight it, or resent it, but respond with acceptance and openness—a philosophy that she exemplified.

The movie has a fanciful and curious story line, great character development, and brilliant acting. I highly recommend it, though be prepared for a nearly three hour stay in your seat! What I’m musing about today is this idea that you never know what’s coming for you.

Queenie warned that there is some force beyond us that can and will sweep us up in its foment, whether we want it to or not. We are in a position to respond and cooperate, whatever that means, with the momentum this force generates. Not that we are helpless or passive, non-agents in our destiny. But we swim in a current of life that sometimes swirls us around and delivers us somewhere we weren’t expecting.

Now, allow me to make a leap….into a book I finished last night. (If this begins to read like a book review, it unapologetically is!) It is called The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle. The sub-title reads, “How Christianity is Changing and Why.” If you get the sense, as I do, that a momentum of change is building within Western Christianity, “that something is coming for us,” you are right.

According to Tickle,

“As a phenomenon, the Great Emergence has been slipping up on us for decades in very much the same way spring slips up on us week by week every year. Though it may have sent us a thousand harbingers of its approach, we are still surprised to wake up one balmy morning to a busy, chirping world that, a mere twenty-four hours before, had been a gray and silent one.”

Tickle goes on to explain, with helpful clarity and profound insight, that every five hundred years the Church feels compelled to hold “a giant rummage sale.” And we are in the midst of one of those times, a time of monumental change when something comes for us and we don’t know exactly what that something is.

As I interface with a broad spectrum of Christians, I observe a variety of reactions to this “emerging” Christianity. Some seem oblivious, content with their faith context, and unconcerned with the gathering storm. Others are battening down the hatches, vehemently committed to protecting themselves from the onslaught of the storm, convinced it is a tsunami of destruction. Others are indifferent, so far gone in their cynicism and disillusionment that if the storm hits and wipes us clean of any vestige of the institutional church, that would be just fine.

Others, like me, are mostly hopeful. Reading The Great Emergence has helped me frame our current history within a backdrop of five hundred year cycles of reformation. Tickle explains that each period of upheaval has resulted in three things: a new and more robust form of Christianity; a reconstituted previous form of Christianity that becomes more vital; and the spread of Christian faith and practice. That is good reason for hope.

For the last decade of my life, I have had the sense that “something was coming” for those of us who follow Christ and find community within the church. Whatever it is, I don’t think it can be stopped or avoided. Some interject this phenomenon is a consequence of our neglect of God, national moral decline or disregard for the Bible. I, on the other hand, think that God is up to something—that He is in this thing that is coming.

Whatever you think about the great emergence, please become educated about the history of the church and what’s coming for us today. This book will help explain how Christianity is changing and why.

Beth Booram has a passion to explain and model a way of living responsively to God in the midst of life’s varied landscapes. As a writer and speaker, she is highly creative, often utilizing artistic elements , contemplative exercises, and engaging interaction. Beth has authored a number of excellent works. Her most recent are The Wide Open Spaces of God (Abingdon Press/ September, 2007) and Picturing the Face of Jesus (Abingdon Press/April, 2009).

I was out shopping recently and saw a baby boy onesie (it was blue, so in the strictly color coded baby clothes world, it was intended for boys and boys only…). On the front was the phrase “Second in Command After Daddy.” Now as a good feminist that pissed me off. Who in their right mind would stick that on their baby, even as a joke? Even tongue-in-cheek promotions of such family hierarchy encourage the myth that having a penis somehow makes you more important than women.

If you haven’t gathered it by now, I’m not a huge fan of hierarchical leadership (even when it’s not based on gender). I prefer flat networked structures that allow for input from all. And in truth, it’s less about equality or sameness and more about simply respecting people as people. Letting voices be heard and appreciating contributions for what they are.

So on one level, I appreciate that fact that Emergent Village is transitioning to a more decentralized structure. While some may be heralding Tony Jones stepping down as National Coordinator to symbolize the dismantling of Emergent, it was meant as an opportunity to allow a wider variety of people to step up into leadership positions (as the amusing series of I Am The Emergent National Coordinator videos demonstrates). And as Tony mentioned on his blog yesterday, “Any time you can dethrone an overeducated, loud, brash, white man,people just feel more openness for their own voice to be heard.” It’s all about reducing hierarchy and opening up the conversation.

But will it work? In brief discussions with other women leaders in the emerging movement, I’ve heard the question raised if the lack of a central leader will actually help women become more involved in the conversation. Many post-evangelical women still struggle to jump into the conversation, much less assert themselves as leaders. For good or bad, they still seek invitations to come alongside and be a part of the in-group. With no one to officially offer that invitation, the question remains if the women will step up or just remain on the sidelines peeking in. I honestly have no idea. It would be easy to say that women just need to get over it and assert themselves, but that would stray into dangerous psychological territory and miss the point. I don’t want to need a man’s permission to do anything, but an invitation (from someone) is still what many women are looking for.

So I’m curious to see how the decentralization of power affects the presence of women in Emergent. I’d of course like to see a vibrant representation of women in Emergent leadership. I’m encouraged to hear from some that at The Great Emergence event men at times seemed like the token voice. But to the best of my knowledge, I haven’t seen any women making national coordinator videos. That’s not a criticism, just an expression of curiosity of where this will lead. I hope the speculation of other emerging women will be wrong and we will see an increase of women’s voices in Emergent. But at the same time be proactively aware that the opposite could just as easily occur.