Earlier this month I had the pleasure of co-teaching Doctor of Ministry class with Doug Pagitt at Fuller Seminary (I'm taking the picture, Doug is in the center). It was a 40-hour one-week course (!) with a late evening thrown in (you have to have a movie night, right?). We had eight pastors for the week and really covered lots of ground together. The great thing about such a small class is you get the time to go on the rabbit-trails, tell all the (back) stories.
The content of the course revolved around three poles -- the kingdom of God, the church, and contemporary global culture. Although we taught separately about each of these topics, it seems every conversation included all three, each filled with personal anecdotes from Doug and I and the eight students. Each 'lecture' worked out as more of a roundtable discussion than anything else. Of course, Doug's stories were filled with references to Solomon's Porch, and mine to my emerging churches research.
Simply what needed to be re-imagined was the church's role in a changed world. Church, at its best, points to the reign of God. The current challenge for the church is to explore diverse global contexts (from within), look for where the kingdom is (and isn't), point to it, get behind it, and embody it as the body of Christ. Yes, continue to be a contrast people, but from a place very much within the culture, usually in unexpected ways...
Technorati Tags: Doug Pagitt, Fuller Theological Seminary, kingdom of God
Sounds like an invigorating week! I wish I could have been in those conversations. Since I wasn't, I'd like to highlight one thing for ongoing conversation in the church. Context: I have been reimagining church for eight years, and during that time I've lived in FL, CA, and now CT. And I'd like your feedback. I'm highly interested in how the church is going to treat the poor, the immigrants, and the racially discriminated against in this nation...in the next decade or two. Making up a large part of the US's population, the church (disregarding intentionality) has seemingly gone along with the flow, contributed to, and been complicit in the dismal treatment of this nation's poor (especially children), immigrants, and blacks/Latinos/American Indians. All one has to do is look at the national data (compiled by the Census, which is the best barometer we have) and see the great disparity in key categories of health, education, household income, and so on...and the disparities illustrate exactly who is privileged in this society. But there are hosts of stories that also illustrate these realities. My contention is that this privilege is baked into our society and government, white-skinned privilege. And the gaps of privilege are significant and unnecessary, especially when you consider that 13 million children (18% of US pop.) are in deep poverty, and 28 million children (39%) are in low-income (barely scraping by) families. With 1.3 million more children in poverty TODAY than in 2000, what does that say about the US church (not to get to our culture and government)? Where is the kingdom of God at in this extremely wealthy, powerful nation when such pervasive poverty and structural and institutional white privilege are baked into the society, our policies, our psyche? What can the church do to increase the value and dignity and privilege of our nation's poor, esp. children, and our nation's non-white-skinned inhabitants? A human right is that all flourish, right? Are our government, corporations, media and society too strong for the church to make any significant difference? At minimum, I see a HUGE opportunity for the church to be a contrast! (Sorry for the long post.) Here's some links: http://www.nccp.org/media/cpt06a_text.pdf; http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html.
Posted by: Nick Connell | March 29, 2007 at 05:46 AM
Actually, Ryan, I just read your previous post, and you are going to be too busy reading to give a response. Besides, you're previous posts are a pretty good theoretical response already. It's exciting to see these conversations taking place, and I look forward to when they are firmly rooted in practice, and success stories abound (like water overflowing in a cup), and critical masses emerge to bring about a more equitable society, where all people can flourish.
Posted by: Nick Connell | March 29, 2007 at 06:39 AM
Ryan,
Just wanted to thank you again for letting me sit in class that day. I really appreciated it, and got a lot from it. - Even if it included figuring out I am an 8 with a 9 wing...hah!
The class was very inspirational for me. I am looking forward to the day when my educational experience resembles that. Thanks again for everything, and I really enjoy reading the blog!
Andrew
Posted by: Andrew Eaton | April 10, 2007 at 06:58 AM
Nick,
Thanks for your post. I want to clarify -- these are theoretical discussions rooted in practice - the kingdom of God made flesh through human service. Much of what we talked about was the urban location of congregations and how they served the poor.
Indeed, your stats are daunting and we have a long way to go -- but I think we are moving in the right direction...
Peace...
Posted by: Ryan | April 11, 2007 at 11:01 AM
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