Emerging Church Conference

Providence College and Seminary in Otterburne, Manitoba will be hosting a conference this October on "Ministering with the Emerging Church." Featured speaker: Dr. Gary Collins.


The target audience for this group seems to be pastors and other church leaders, and if I read the info right it looks like the purpose of the conference is to try and introduce these leaders to the concept of the Emerging Church. From what I can tell no one involved with the conference is an "official" member of the emergent organizations - which may not be a bad thing.

The conference looks like it is going to break down into 2 parts; one about counselling and "Christian coaching" (i'm not sure what the difference is); and the second, which looks like it will be more informal/introductory in nature about emergent. Here's a quote from the conference webpage:

"The emergent church movement is a strong new force, mostly evangelical, that is growing all over the world, with churches rising up and having a significant impact. the people in these churches seem to have turned away from traditional churches and many think the seeker-sensitive mega-church model is out of date. The emergent churches seem to have turned away from much of what people like you and I grew up with. How can we minister with them?"

The conference will run from Friday, October 21st to Monday, October 24th. Registration is due by the 10th of October. If anyone's interested in going I will likely be there for at least part of it, if for no other reason than morbid curiosity. Let me know.

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Life of Brian (or Random Thoughts on an Emergent Icon)

A few weeks ago over at the original Emergent-US blog, Brian Mclaren gave a three-part series that was supposed to be his response to his critics. Tony Jones gave him the space so he could clear up alot of the misunderstandings that have arisen because of his books, his beliefs, and the various critics thereof. The general hatred that appeared whenever he said or did anything had, apparently, been rather draining on the old boy. Now I don't mind telling you that I like Mclaren - I really do - and that I've enjoyed his books. But I was a little disappointed with his response, mainly because it turned into an autobiography (which I've read in his other books) and it didn't deal with the problems people had with him. Sure, he said that he had been misinterpreted and unfairly characterized, but he never actually got around to dealing with the specific arguments that people had with him. So I was a little frustrated after having finished it, even though I know that he had accomplished his purpose and given people a picture of himself.


I suppose what I really wanted was for him to tackle the issues. Some people have raised some very good questions about his beliefs and what he meant when he said such-and-such, and I had been curious as to what he would say. The dialogue section on his personal website is fairly sparse when it comes to actual explanations, although there is an awful lot of "I'm glad you read my books even though you disagree with me, and thank you for praying for my soul." And while I'm glad he's written the books he has and done so well at what he's trying to do, I can't help but feel that if some of the issues were dealt with and he actually, you know, told people where he stood on certain issues things would go a bit easier for emergent. It seems to me that many people associate his views with emergent's views, and as I continue to dialogue here on the Net I have been encountering an increasing number of people unfairly judge emergent based on something that Brian wrote. I am also curious for my own reasons. Not that it really matters where he stands - I am Christ's disciple, not his - I just would like to know.

So why the hesitation to take a stand? Why the reluctance to make statements that people can point to and say, "This is what Brian thinks"? I think perhaps it's because of the critics. It seems to me that before all this happened - before he became the incredibly popular guy he is now - he was alot more clear on what he thought. Perhaps the attacks of critics that came after his books became more popular spooked him, I don't know. I just know that now he seems a lot more gun-shy to stick his neck out. And who can blame him? If people thought I was the antichrist I'd probably lie low too.

What I find most perplexing about the hugely negative reaction to Brian is that he's not saying anything new. He admits he's not! He's not even saying it better than others can. Want a better discussion on the nature of truth? Read Os Guinness' (excellent last name, that)Time for Truth. Want a caring examination of certainty of faith? Read Daniel Taylor's The Myth of Certainty. Want to hear more about the possibility of salvation for the unevangelized? Read some C.S. Lewis, or if you're feeling ambitious pick up Dr. Terrance Theissan's Who Can Be Saved?. Feel like reading about disillusionment with the church and God? Read Philip Yancy's... well, basically anything by Philip Yancy. I had been hearing all these things for years from these authors, as well as from some friends I had been privileged to make in college who were both excellent professors and compassionate Christians.

Maybe the reason behind the popularity of Brian's books (despite the so-so writing and the recycled premises) is deeper than I originally thought. Maybe God is using those books to reach people and draw them into the conversation. Maybe He wanted people to find the "jumping-off point" in A New Kind of Christian and his other books and enter a world of service and worship that would have been beyond them before. And maybe now that they have reached this new understanding they will be able to effectivly engage the world around them and bring the hope of Christ into a hurting, broken, imperfect "post-modern" world.

True, A New Kind of Christian came at a very formative time for me, and if I hadn't read it... well, I may not be here right now. But having read it and come out of whatever funk I was in at the time, I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to pick up books by more learned people on these subjects. Brian's a good intro, and I'd encourage anyone who is unfamiliar with emergent or just starting to feel burned out to read him. But don't confuse him with emergent, and once you've read him, move on. No one wants him to be a guru - least of all him.

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On Movements

First week and I'm already breaking my own rules...

Since I decided to throw my lot in with the emerging church (or admit that I already was emergent, in Jamie's opinion) I've been asked by several people what made me make that decision. The question I've heard most often has been; "What makes this movement different from all the others?" That's an excellent question, one at the heart of so many criticisms - and, in my opinion, it's a legitimate concern. We've all seen, heard of, or been involved with movements that are "the next thing", or "where God is really moving." It's years later, and who calls themselves a Jesus Freak anymore?


This came up in conversation between myself and several other bloggers at the King's Head the other week - at our "theology pub" session or Rendevous or whatever we wind up calling it. We were talking about the brand spanking new "Emergent Canada" organization that showed up and set some kind of land-speed record for controversy among Canadian bloggers (with it's talk of "purchasing" friendship et al). The question was raised, "Do we really need a franchise of Emergent to call our own? What is the purpose that it hopes to achieve?" Now, the wonderful links over to your right (robbymac, Brother Maynard and Voyageurs) will provide you with some excellent discussions on these questions, better than I could hope to achieve. But what I'll give you here is my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

Screw movements. That's right, screw 'em. Repeat after me (quietly if you're at work), "Screw movements." In my experience they have been distracting, dividing, antagonistic garbage. Poisonous and evil rubbish, as it were.

Now that I've got that out of my system, here's the other side. As much crap as movements can be, I believe that behind some of those movements lies truth. The emergent movement has its issues. They aren't as big as some might suggest, but they're there (and the critics are often bang-on when they point their fingers. The folks over at Emergent No had some really good points, despite their borderline-paranoia and the rampant assholery in the comments section). Movements don't move people, God moves people. And if God is moving people to reimagine church, to reimagine our preconceived notions of who He is and what He wants, then that very well might manifest as or be surrounded by a movement. Some people may need the relative structure that comes with an "organized" conversation, and we shouldn't fault them for that. Some people don't need them and are sensitive to the Spirit's leadings, able to make the changes in their own situations completely independent from any movement, and we shouldn't fault them either. A good friend of mine, the same one who led me to Christ - let's call him Jon With No H - has started a ministry to "post-modern seekers". He's been working on it for a while, and never read a McLaren book until the ministry was basically up and running. He doesn't really care about emergent, but he recognized the same needs and decided to do something about it. So maybe emergent, as flawed as it is, is on to something. And perhaps we should be encouraging that rather than discouraging it.

My belief is that at the end of the day we still have to live our lives clinging to the Truth and following God as best we can. And if a movement helps you to do that, then great, and I'm sorry for the "screw movements" comment. If not, well, do what you gotta do to love God and love your neighbor. That is the point, isn't it?

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A bit about me...

Here's my first "official" post, one I'm pleased to put out and hope that someone reads it. Introducing myself seems like the thing to do. So, here's some for the statistics junkies out there...

I'm twentysomething, about 5'10", Scottish/Irish/English descent born and living in Canada. I was raised Presbyterian, but in my early teens I became disillusioned with organized religion and decided to give nihilism/agnosticism a try. Fast-forward four years and I was depressed, suicidal and lonely. I got dragged to a youth group by a friend and discovered, to my surprise, a surplus of cute girls that were unattatched and pure. I took it upon myself to remedy those conditions, but after a year off chasing girls I made another startling discovery: God. I was baptized into an evangelical church and have been there ever since.

Now, when you come onto the evangelical scene in your mid-teens, you get the feeling that everyone around you in the church are such fantastically perfect Christians that you don't know what to do. For me, I decided (at the encouragement of some of my new friends) to make up for lost time and be the most zealous, uptight and phony Christian you ever met or read about. I jumped in with both feet and fell flat on my ass. It is due to this experience and others like it that I tend to come across a bit jaded and bitter towards certain aspects of Christianity, and I may give the impression that my conversion was handled by absolute twits. This is not the case, however - in fact, the very fellow who helped lead me to Christ is a dear friend to this day and was a steady support when all else seemed like shifting sand.

I started becoming interested in emerging/Postmodern Christianity after I graduated from Bible college. The standard Christian answers weren't cutting it anymore, and I wanted the freedom to continue asking questions. In a dark time I was given A New Kind of Christian, and from that I got enough hope to enter into this conversation. After lurking/posting for about 8 months (as Dan-D from Canada) I am now starting my own blog with the intent of keeping tabs on my new friends, and also to share my thoughts with whoever cares. It will be slow going for the first few weeks due to my job (I am a full-time youth worker) and as I try to remember how to code in html. Hopefully I will put up a post with comments open every Monday, in which I will respond to every comment I get. I may post updates as the week goes on, but may keep those comments closed so as to not snuff out the convos on other posts (as so often happens). Please link to me if you feel your readers would enjoy this place.

The title of this blog comes from the quote beneath it; if you don't understand then please jump up and run extremely fast to the nearest library and don't come out until you've read Paradise Lost twice. My profile name (Grey Owl) comes from an inside joke with Jamie of Emergent Voyageurs, suffice it to say that sometimes I feel (in the emerging church) like I've "gone native", and hope that the true natives of the post-modern village that surround me treat me kindly and allow me to stay. Cheers,

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Hello World!

Hey all,

Due to continued harrassment from my friends here on the big wide Interweb of ours, I have finally succumbed to temptation and started a blog of my very own. It is my fondest wish that this would be a forum for discussion and change for our diverse and wonderful Canadian culture - or we can just plan the next meeting at the King's Head. Either one is good.

This is under construction for the next few days, so feel free to ignore me until then. Cheers!

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