still touring with ryan bolger and karen ward…
at birmingham yesterday we had a question and answer session as we have done at every other location. the most bizarre question of the day was what is the difference between an emerging church and a cult? here karen and ryan thought they were posing for a nice photo – i pointed out the sign above them afterwards. maybe the questioner knew something i didn’t 😉
have spent today with CMS managers and directors presenting material and discussing how this stuff joins up with other regions of the world. it’s been a good day and because at the heart of this stuff is a contextual mission approach (albeit engaging with postmodern cultures) it is easy to see how it links in with CMS. tomorrow we meet with a smaller group of leaders in the uk to talk a bit more in depth about the uk and how this stuff plays out here which i’m looking forward to. part of the discussion will be about whether and how we can network and support each other better…
funny photo. Thanks for keeping us updated.
I’d have to say that one of the key differences between the emerging church and a cult is that members of cults can often be identified by their bright orange clothing, whereas leaders of emerging churches…oh, forget it!
Hi Jonny. It was my question. It might have come over a bit negative but I meant it to be positive, in a sense there was quite a bit to unpack if the panel wanted to or had time to. The answer was more or less what I’d expected. It was a shame there wasn’t enough time to unpack it a bit more. I don’t know where the day went. I could have listened to more from each of the speakers, it would have been good to have more group time and to have had more question time. But I don’t know where that time would have come from. Thanks for an interesting and challenging day.
graham hi! thanks for coming to birmingham… glad the day was good for you. hope you didn’t mind me posting the question on here but with the photo opportunity that followed it was too good to resist! cheers…
that’s an easy one Jonny… a cult is a lot more organised 🙂
I think Ryan & Eddie’s chapter on Leading Without Control is a good answer to that question – cults are a lot more controling rather than facilitating.
Big love going out to Karen. I wish I was there with you guys. God be with you.