Day 2: Russinger takes Fuller by Storm...

Greg Russinger of the Bridge Communities in Ventura, CA came and visited us on our second day of class. For about an hour, he told stories and fielded questions regarding the Bridge community that began in 1999. He was funny, thought-provoking, and very honest about his journey and that of his faith community. He translated their way of life into traditional church language, and he did it very well. Greg is one of the few, but the number is growing, leaders of emerging churches who did not need to unlearn many practices of church in the process of creating their faith community. More typical are emerging churches that begin with leaders who have seriously begun to question what it is church is about. It might take a few years, but there is a period of disillusionment with church-as-it-is before the creation of a community that is no longer reacting, but creating something fresh and new. With Greg, he intuits emerging church. Hospitality pervades all they do -- it is urban, it is artistic, it is communal, it is prayerful, it is everyday, and it is in the world. Greg and his community do not expend energy on how to do things in a way that is different than they knew before -- this is their primary understanding of 'church'. Greg said that those in the community who have the hardest time with how they do life were those who had spent significant time in more traditional churches.

In the 1990s in the US, church leaders and scholars spent a good amount of time pondering what incarnational witness might look like within postmodernity. In many ways it seemed like an impossible dream. In this decade, however, we see indigenous postmodern communities being birthed in places all over the globe, and they look a lot like what is happening in the Bridge...

Technorati Tags: Fuller Theological Seminary, Greg_Russinger

Comments

[Kyle]

Ryan, that was cool to have Greg there. I enjoyed it.

Nice pix too! Who is that stud in the yellow?

[Rich]

Hey Ryan,
The Bridge is about a half hour from my house and I went there a few months ago. I was blown away... I sat at a table with two strangers, also visitors (who were there to talk about giving blood)and by the end of the evening we were friends...
I am now planting a church and the Bridge has helped inspire my imagination of what a church that revolves around community can be...
Just wanted to encourage the folks at the Bridge and say thanks for letting those of us who aren't in your class benefit from some much needed experience...
God's Peace, Rich

[Existential Punk]

Ryan, have you thought about podcasting your classes for the rest of us unfortunate souls who can't take classes with you and Eddie Gibbs?!