Emerging Church Conference Biola -- May 13

A friend and former student (Troy Johnson) asked me how Biola went and asked for my opinions on it -- A few thoughts -- Biola, the professors, administration, and students went over the top in welcoming us -- no small feat -- they exemplified the kingdom in that regard and my respect for them increased  a couple of big notches.

I felt like it was a friendly first gathering. As some of the bloggers have mentioned, many of us talked past each other, as the topics were quite broad. I don't think this is entirely bad -- I think we need to walk before we run. If another conference is to happen, specific questions can be posed to which we respond. The final roundtable at the end of the day had this characteristic, and it might have been the most productive encounter of the day. Overall, I think what happened in the various dyads and discussions is the realization that the Emerging Church and Biola share a common passion.

That is not to say there weren't differences. I felt like the early presentations focused on the church service -- changing worship forms, adding this approach or that. To me, that is not the primary difference of Emerging Churches -- it is the primary caricature however. In our book, we see technique changes to church (adding visuals, candles, narratives, raw preaching, round tables) in the category of young adult services, GenX/Y services, churches-within-a-church, but not Emerging Churches.

Emerging Churches do not focus on creating a relevant worship service. The energy and creative passion is directed towards the culture, to those outside. As Mal Calladine told me, "we want a sustainable church service, where 85% of our energy is directed outside the church rather than inside". So, from my vantage point, if the energy is on the show, it is a young adult service; if it is on embodying the way of Jesus within the culture, it is emerging. I see emerging churches as a subset of the missional church (church is not a place or time, or a vendor of religious goods and services, but a 'sent' people).

So, at Biola, I tried to direct the conversation to mission. I see Emerging Churches as a missional movement within Western culture, not 'tweaks' on a church service. Tweaks on the service is Christendom, 'come-to-us' rather than missional, 'live-with-them'. 

I better stop, this is already becoming a long post...

Comments

[Troy]

Well said Ryan. I'm glad that there is a common passion that both groups brought to the discussion. That is promising.

Also, I like what you said about the issue of investing our "energy [to put] on the show." In the previous version of my church, the whole week was dedicated to preparing for the upcoming weekend worship event. In the evolving version, we are starting to realize that Sunday is the FIRST day of the week. So, the church gathered for worship and the word on Sunday is (in part) remembering the past week, but preparing for the next. It's a simple shift in thinking, but an important one for us.

Thanks for responding to my request. And hey -- I don't mind the long blog entries. Your thoughts are Carson's book were great!

[andrew jones]

good post, despite a shameless plug for your book!

[ryan bolger]

oops! no more shameless plugs!! mea culpa...

[John Sloas]

Ryan,

Welcome to blogging! I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.

Shameless plugs are great and should be encouraged—(Doug Pagitt has made an art form of it).

I agree about the service thing. I'm experiencing this with our church-within-a church/young adult/emergent thing at University Pres in Fresno. We are doing a Sunday night service that I don't see as really working. The expectations of most of those who come is for a "tweaked" service. I desire to be, as you say, a “sent people” who are living in the way of Jesus in the culture. A group of us are talking about co-housing as a way of living this out. I get more excited about living in this way than about a “service” (though it is hard to make a living at this form of church—it doesn’t justify all the money I spent on a seminary education). Oh, well.