Emergent West Michigan Gathering- December 14th 10.30AM-12.00

The Emergent West Michigan gathering is made up of ministry leaders in the community who are wrestling with how to express the Gospel throught the church in our rapidly changing culture. This group has been a huge lifeline for me and I have made some great friends here.

I'm facilitating the conversation on Wednesday 12/14. Here's the topic and what we're hoping to explore. If you're in the nieghborhood, stop by (See directions on the EWM blog). If you're not, feel free to weigh in here or at the EWM blog.

EMERGENT WEST MICHIGAN– 14 DECEMBER 2005 GATHERING
To: Emergent West Michigan Gathering
Fr: Steve Argue

Hello EWM journeyer. We’re looking forward to connecting at the gathering on Wednesday (12/14).

Over the past few months we have felt a desire to explore the Emergent Order and talk though the four values outlined on the Emergent Village website. We felt that this would be a good springboard for discussion, help us wrestle with core values that emergent declares, and to begin the address the fair challenge made by some who want to know what we’re “for” rather than what we’re “against.”

This month we’re taking a look at the third value. I think our conversation will be enhanced if we give some think time to this value. Below, I’ve tried to quote or summarize this value, raise some issues, and ask a few questions.

This merely serve to get us ramped up to our gathering and I hope it will inspire more questions and comments. Hopefully it will help us begin to answer the question, “What is emergent for?”

Rock on-
Steve

EMERGENT– BELONG: ORDER
Members of emergent hold in common four values and practices that flow from them. In the language of a religious order, we call these four values our order and rule:



1. Commitment to God in the Way of Jesus
2. Commitment to the Church in all its Forms
3. Commitment to God’s World
4. Commitment to One Another

EWM Focus on Value 3: Commitment to God’s World

We practice our faith missionally – that is, we do not isolate ourselves from this world, but rather, we follow Christ into the world. We seek to fulfill the mission of God in our generations, and then to pass the baton faithfully to the next generations as well. We believe the church exists for the benefit and blessing of the world at large; we seek therefore not to be blessed to the exclusion of everyone else, but rather for the benefit of everyone else. We see the earth and all it contains as God’s beloved creation, and so we join God in seeking its good, its healing, and its blessing.

PRACTICES:
• To build relationships with neighbors and to seek the good of our neighborhoods and cities.
• To seek reconciliation with enemies and make peace.
• To encourage and cherish younger people and to honor and learn from older people.
• To honor creation and to cherish and heal it.
• To build friendships across racial, ethnic, economic and other boundaries.
• To be involved at all times in at least one issue or cause of peace and justice.

A few Questions for us…

• Emergent folk use “mission/missional/missionally” a lot. How would you define this or explain it to someone? Is this really any different from being seeker-driven or committed to evangelism explosion? How do we keep this from simply following culture, as many critics have challenged?

• In what way are we tying our beliefs to historical Christianity, in what ways are we pushing underdeveloped elements of the gospel forward (I believe these to be complimentary, not mutually exclusive), and what are we completely missing?

• What does “commitment to God’s world” look like in West Michigan? What steps can we take? I’m curious to hear from you some of the things ministries are attempting. If you choose to share, I think it would be most helpful for it to be explained in a way (this might be a good conversation at the EWM Gathering or online here)...
-- That is framed in a theological/missional understanding (The “why”);
-- That shows tangible how it embraces a cause for peace, justice, and extension of the gospel;
-- That the potential to include other ministries for a combined (co-op) commitment.

Additional Reading…
The following steam of conversation has been floating around. I urge you to look, especially at:
• John Hammett’s Article . Hammett’s critique is fair and respectful. An Ecclesiological Assessment of the Emerging Church Movement
• Tall Skinny Kiwi on Emergent. Andrew Jones responds (6 parts) to Hammett’s critique.
• Jason Clark gives a good summary of his take from Hammett’s paper. Jason Clark's Blog

A final Comment…
Our hope, as we look at this order, is to stretch ourselves in light of some fair critiques of all, younger, emerging (I use this word in the broadest sense) leaders and ministries. There is a time to define who we are by what we are not but there’s also a time to define who we are by what we express (which encompasses what we believe and do).

The last thing we need to do is defend an icon called “Emergent” or run to the defense of Emergent Village. If we are emerging out of our historical past and are commissioned by the Sprit and the church (for this is what discipleship is) to express the gospel to younger generations... then this calls for listening to the questions even if we are accused of entertaining ones that some deem irrelevant (postmodern or otherwise), responding to the needs that show up on our radar screen even if we are accused of being driven by our culture (as if our predecessors are not), and inspiring others to do the same (which we hold loosely because it may not look the same as we’ve done it in the future).

The “now what?” challenges us as it does any idea or movement. If we are committed to our world because we believe it is God’s world and that he’s bringing healing to every part of it. We do not have the option to be casual spectators but active participants.

I hope our gathering on Wednesday springboards more conversations that steer us this way. I am hungry for it. See you Wednesday. Peace.