Taking A Break

In light of the reactions to my recent posts on missional and emerging, and following the same discussion at other blogs who have picked up on the topic, I think I'm going to take a break and rethink a few things. It may be a few hours, or days, or I don't know. Honestly, these past few days have felt a bit like George Orwell's classic book, Animal Farm; to paraphrase a famous quote from the book: "All voices in the conversation are equal, but some voices are more equal than others."

CSI: Horatio Dork

A couple of people -- most notably my little sister and Roger Helland -- have emailed me to say that the picture of me that was formerly on this blog looks like I'm holding a joint in my hand.

I told my daughter Jo about it, so she surfed to the blog, burst out laughing, and said, "Yeah, Dad, looks like you're contemplating a doobie..."

For the record, it was my glasses (lens reflection can be confusing to the suspiciously-minded). The picture was taken at our YWAM party last month, where I was hamming it up like Horatio of CSI: Miami, who is perpetually either:

1. putting on his sunglasses before saying something pithy and profound before a commercial break, OR
   
   
2. taking his sunglasses OFF before saying something pithy and profound before a commercial break.

Either way, the picture has been deep-sixed until I find something (A) non-questionable, and (B) where I don't look like a dork.

Friend of Missional: Clarification & Apology

Yesterday's blog post has created a bit of confusion, it seems. In re-reading my previous post, it's pretty clear that I'm saying that I chose to link to Friend of Missional because I like what The Blind Beggar has put together, coupled with my disenchantment with the theologically revisionist direction in which Emergent Village seems to be headed.

Rick Meigs (The Blind Beggar himself), creator of the Friend of Missional website, has kindly but firmly stated (in the comments to a post by Jamie Arpin-Ricci) that it is not his intention to set up any kind of binary opposition, dichotomy, or emnity between his work and that of Emergent Village.

My apologies if I have misrepresented what Friend of Missional is about. There is nothing more frustrating than having people put words in your mouth that don't mean what you intended.

So, let me re-state:

1. I will continue to link to Friend of Missional because it more accurately reflects my own values (link has been moved to "Communities & Sundry" section of my sidebar links). AND
   
   
2. I am also increasingly uneasy with the theologically revisionist direction that Emergent Village's more prominent voices appear to be going.

But let me be clear that the linkage between these two statements is solely my own thinking and opinion, and absolutely DOES NOT reflect the heart and intent of The Blind Beggar or Friend of Missional. For any confusion or offence that this has caused, I apologize.

Friend of Missional

You may or may not have noticed the sudden appearance of this image in the sidebar on the right, but it's been there for a little over a week. Friend of Missional is the brainchild of The Blind Beggar, and is a very concise but helpful window into the missional church paradigm.

Charles Kraft has written some excellent resources on what it means to enculturate or contextualize the gospel into different cultures. I would highly recommend his Anthropology of Christian Witness and Christianity in Culture: A Study in Dynamic Biblical Theologizing in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Another good missional resource that is probably more popularly accessible than Kraft's weighty (but excellent) work is Frost & Hirsch's The Shaping of Things to Come.

Leonard Sweet has often commented on discerning the difference between the content of the gospel and the container of the gospel. A quote from Sweet which I used last month included:

"The mystery of the Gospel is this: It is always the same (content) and it is always changing (containers). In fact, one of the ways you know the old, old truths are true is their ability to assume amazing and unfamiliar shapes while remaining themselves and without compromising their integrity."(Aqua Church, page 30)

Why am I mentioning these resources again, and repeating the Leonard Sweet quote once more? Well, if I may be permitted a moment or two of bluntness...

I like the synopsis given by The Blind Beggar about what being "missional" in a church, para-church, or simple/house church can look like. Being missional is about adapting our methodology, language, and approach to a "foreign" culture: postmodernism. But it's NOT about changing the content of the gospel in the process.

I consider myself a part of the "emerging church conversation", and have been helped along the way by earlier books like A New Kind of Christian (which I'd still recommend), but more recent titles, like Spencer Burke's A Heretic's Guide to Eternity, make my skin crawl. HT's for great responses and critiques on Burke's writings to Bob Hyatt (Oh, Spencer) and Scot McKnight (Heretic's Guide Book Review).

But when I read the opening page of the Friend of Missional website, I feel like I'm being reminded of why I'm in the emerging conversation in the first place: to be proactively, strategically, intentionally missional in our 21st century postmodern culture, for the sake of the King and His advancing Kingdom. Or, as Andrew (TSK) Jones puts it,

"The term, 'emerging-missional church', favored by Aussies and Kiwis, seems to tie together the two strands of missio dei and missio ecclesiae in one phrase. Without the missional, emergent is just style. Without the emergent, missional pours the new wine backwards into old containers, and often without regard to context."

So, call me a Friend of Missional.

Update: September 23

Jamie Arpin-Ricci brought to my attention a recent post by Stephen Shields of "Faithmaps" -- Is the Distinction between Emerging Church and Emergent Obscurantist?, which overlaps with what I've written here. HT Jamie!

Apologetics has NOT Left the Building

Interesting thoughts about the theological field of apologetics (explaining & defending the faith) from Dan Kimball of Vintage Faith, in an entry entitled "Re-inventing Jesus. Here's a few excerpts:

(guest speaker) "Dr. Sawyer primarily focused on the canonicty of the New Testament (a word which he explained). We set it up where I asked some questions and he would dialog and teach about it. It kind of felt like a church history class. He covered how the New Testament was compiled, addressed the various Gnostic gospels and how to look at them etc. We then had a time of open Q and A about anything about the formation of the Bible..."

"Here's what I witnessed. That going into theology at this level and going into "reasons" of why Christians believe what they do - is very much needed and not only needed, but seeing the response of people at our church, very much desired."

"As a church, we have a general vision sort of a statement that says: We are asking God to transform us into a ... worshiping - community - of- missional - theologians". We put the word theologian in there, as we want to create a culture in our church where discussing and learning theology will become a norm for us. We have a long way to go on this, but I hope we continue to think and pray how to make this a reality."

"Creating a culture where discussing and learning theology will be a norm..." Wow. I like the sound of that. I hope Dan keeps blogging about how that part of their journey plays out.

Avast, Ye Scurvy Dogs!!

September 19 is almost upon us, and as all of the truly culturally enlightened are already aware, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Some necessary pirate jargon
(You don't want to be caught without the appropriate jargon on a day dedicated to pirates, saavy?)

1. "I don't know as I recall askin' ye for yer thoughts, ye scurvy bilge-drinkin' tar-merchant. Avast yer gob afore I keelhaul ye an' string yer bones from the crow's nest." (I didn't ask for your opinion. Feel free to shut up.)
   
   
2. "Yarr! Weigh anchor! Hoist the mizzen! Savvy, ye scallywag?! Or ye'll be in Davey Jones' locker soon, ye Landlubber!” (Do what I say. Now.)
   
   
3. "Thar she blows!" (The pirate equivalent of "There she be!" Arrgh... that be Whaler talk, and no respectable pirate would speak like a blubber lubber!)
   
   
4. "ARRRGHHHH" (General discontent.)
   
   
5. "Wake me at the zenith of the moon" (Only full blown pirates know this phrase. An educated pirate is rare but also the most deadly kind. They are smarter than you and crazier.)
   
   
6. "Ahoy, me hearties!" (Equivalent of "Hello, my friends!")
   
   
7. "Avast ye scum ridden weevil shaggers. Captain Black Beard is gonna keel haul you and grow barnacles on ye starboard knacker". (Your next performance review may not go as well as you think.)
   
   
8. "Avast ye varmint" (Stop right there young man because you're in big trouble.)
   
   
9. "Yarr." (I agree.)
   
   
10. "Yarr!" (I see your point, and agree wholeheartedly.)
    
    
11. "Yarr-ha-harr!" (You're right!)
    
    
12. "Yarr?" (You wanna say that again? Speak directly to me dagger...)
    
    
13. "Yarrgh" (I respectfully acknowledge that you are right and I am wrong.)
    
    
14. "Ye Scalawag!" (You scum-sucking bottom feeder!)
    
    
15. "Savvy?" (Get it?)
    
    
16. "Davey Jones' locker" (Your coffin in the sea.)

And here's a Pirate's one-eyed, peg-legged, parrot-pooping-on-the-shoulder hat tip to Brother Maynard for emailing me about this momentus occasion. Yarr!

Despair.com

Somebody in the comments posted a link to the quote that Jo had at the dinner table the other night -- "there is no such thing as a stupid question, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots" -- and I'm not surprised at all to discover that the nice folks at www.Despair.com either thought of it first, or at least put a great image to go with the quote.

Another favourite:

John Wimber was often quoted as saying, "Never trust a leader without a limp." I qualify, and at times, I have half-jokingly wondered if my all-time favourite -- "Mistakes" -- might actually be prophetic. Fortunately, I believe that God has better plans for me than living this one out!

More Diving

Kingsway Publications, a publishing house in the UK, has just agreed to publish my Post-Charismatic project in book form. I'll keep everyone posted as the process of getting the book ready for publication goes on, but best guess at present is a release in early 2007.

Diving In

Today, Wendy and I joined Youth With A Mission as full-time staff.

Our journey has often crossed paths with YWAM over the years, and in the back of our minds, we've always known that in some way, some time, YWAM would be a bigger part of our story.

Did we just dive into the Niagara River?

Patron Saints & Centred Sets

I'm not normally one for having a "patron saint"; I usually focus more on honouring the people who have had a profound influence on my life, such as George Mercado. In my early Christian walk, however, I could point to two men (neither of whom I have ever spent any significant time with) who had a huge impact on me through their music and lifestyles: Larry Norman and Keith Green (although, since I have all of their albums, Resurrection Band should also be mentioned). But if I were to have a patron saint, in some respects I'd have to go with Larry Norman. Primarily for something that was said about him many years ago, that Larry was "too rock and roll for the Christians and too Christian for the rock and rollers".

It is precisely Larry's "radical middle" status that most resonates with my own journey.

• Too charismatic for the evangelicals, and too evangelical for the charismaniacs.
  
• Too "emergent" for some, while not "emergent enough" for others.
  
• An ecclesiastical anarchist, and yet unwilling to completely write off the "institutional" church.
  
• Post-charismatic, yet still determinedly charis-missional.

Don't take this to be a traditional artistic self-pitying lament of "nobody understands me". Far from it. It's more about knowing the waters you're called to paddle in (a delightful metaphor that Jamie Arpin-Ricci loves to use), and recognizing the shape of the paddle you've been given. Or perhaps it's more akin to knowing which stars you are to navigate your own ship by.

I love this quote from Bill Jackson's Quest for the Radical Middle: A History of the Vineyard:

Centered Sets

1. "Fuzzy sets describe groups that have no organizational center. A group of little league parents might perceive themselves as a group in that they have a common interest, but no core values define their existence.

2. "Centered sets describe groups that have joined together a common center articulated by core values. People in a centered set want to go the same place and generally agree on how they will get there and who will lead them. There is a lot of latitude for collegial disagreement on non-core issues and flexibility in forms.

3. "Bounded sets describe groups that not only have banded together around a common center, but that have also clearly defined rules about beliefs and practices. The number of people who can get in the group becomes narrower because the parameters are more defined.

"John (Wimber) explained that from the beginning he intended that the Vineyard be a centered set of like-minded churches... John also taught that historically groups couldn't remain in centered sets forever because the rules that determine the insiders and outsiders will eventually have to be defined. His desire, however, was to keep the Vineyard a centered set movement for as long as he could.

"In order to evaluate trends and views emerging in the movement, (Wimber) generally chose to let them alone until they could be studied biblically and examined for long-term fruit. In describing this philosophy he used the analogy of growing a bush. It is a temptation to trim a bush back too soon before a gardener knows what he has. This means letting the thing go for awhile, thus having to endure a period when the bush looks messy and untrimmed. Then, when the course the branches are taking is clear, that which is unwanted is trimmed back. This allows for more growth in the rest of the plant."

I think there's great value in being a "centred set" as Wimber describes it, and as St. Larry of Norman modelled it. Living in the radical middle. Embracing the tension.

Stay tuned.

A Daughter's Wisdom

Jo overheard this one the other day, and blessed us with her insight at last night's dinner table: "There's no such thing as a 'stupid question', but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots!" Someday, perhaps Jo will publish her own book of proverbs and pithy sayings...

Year Four Commences

As Brother Maynard pointed out in the comments to the previous post, we spent my last evening in Winnipeg at the venerable King's Head Pub in Winnipeg's Exchange District.

I have many fond memories of the King's Head; it's where the Dead Pastors Society met in the late 90's, and it was also the site of the very first Theology Pub for the emerging gathering of Winnipeggers like Brother Maynard, Jamie Arpin-Ricci, Dan-D from Canada, Soul Pastor, and an assortment of other ecclesiastical vagabonds and subversives.

It's hard to believe that I'm entering my fourth year of blogging, while at the same time, Andrew Jones, the famous/infamous Tall Skinny Kiwi, has declared a blog fast for the month of September. Andrew has always been a fave rave here, and reading his list of reasons for proclaiming a season of fasting from his blog was actually inspiring, in a thought-provoking sort of way.

Three points of Andrew's that especially stood out:

"Because my blog is old and tired and not nearly as much fun as it used to be. I want to be re-inspired and invigorated."

I can really identify with Andrew's thoughts here. While my life has been enriched by the online community that I have encountered in my first three years of blogging, of late I've been feeling that my own blogging has a sort of "same old" quality to it, which frustrates me. I like the positive, "life-side" that Andrew focuses on: being "re-inspired and invigorated". That's really what I'm feeling the need for.

"Because the quality of my blog posts has decayed...and I need to raise the bar."

Again, I can relate. I've been feeling more and more that my own writing has been less than what I had hoped, and I'm not happy with that. And, to be as honest as Andrew has been (as he once again leads the way in blogdom)...

"Because I have become infatuated [again] with my stats and my blog authority and google-ranking..."

OUCH! But true. Andrew is struggling with the sheer numbers of people linking to him, which is causing problems. While I, on the other hand, have the opposite problem of watching my own "ranking" plummeting like a lead-filled lemming off the proverbial blogging cliff. Either way, it's the same disease of measuring our worth by our blogging audience, and as Andrew sums up, it's "a form of idolatry and narcissism that can only be harmful."

I've had a few thoughts about the direction of my own blog before the summer began, and several other conversations (on and off-line) have added impetus to that re-thinking; Andrew's post continues to challenge me in that area. So, over the next few days and weeks, I hope to be able to put into words some of the thoughts that have been swirling around in my head for the past several months.

Andrew, thanks for being such a helpful challenge, even by your reasons for silence.