stephen said has been recording a series of interviews and podcasting them. i have subscribed to his feed and pasted it into itunes. as part of his podcast he has posted the first of regular discussions with hirschy. this picks up on a conversation that was sparked when forge put out a statement reacting to emergent’s reaction to don carson. (i haven’t blogged about that discussion because to be honest i thought it was dull and utterly pointless – carson hadn’t done his homework – why give it the space? i’ve got better things to do. i also thought that the reactions were very defensive – not a stance i’m that keen on either.) emergent then reacted to forge and so on and so on… alan and stephen are discussing that reaction and trying to clarify what they were saying. the reason i have decided to mention this is because i think maybe some conversation about the different emphases is a good thing now. i think that different expressions of emerging church within different countries and contexts are a good thing. part of the forge gift and challenge to us in the uk is and has been to be more missional and i thank them for that. we see god more fully when we see god’s image more fully reflected by engaging with all the parts of his body round the world. in that sense we all need each other…
the comments on the interview post with alan are an intersting conversation as well…
Jonny thanks for your input into that little exchange on stephen audioblog, i thought it was helpful. as you probably guessed the AC comment was from me – I didn’t intend it to be anonymous, must change my blogger profile!
you wrote:-
we see god more fully when we see god’s image more fully reflected by engaging with all the parts of his body round the world. in that sense we all need each other…
OK…but first get out of your own heavens (pause…you mean MY own heavens?…yes siree!) the namby pamby liberal human rights crap spirit and a few others…spirit, like real influencing-entity. Then when that’s done, we can think (from a renewed-in-the-spirit-of-our-mind) about what way we need each other.
It’s got nothing to do with “going back to the early church” and everything to do with hearing God for this day and age beyond flavors of the month. It isn’t to be found in strong personalities pushing views, and it isn’t found in being trendy, Jonny. Oh, you don’t like that comment. OK. Fast and pray with me for a week…let’s agree together to do that…and ask for direction for us both…and for Christ to be formed in us and in those who are called according to His (read HIS) purpose.
Deal?
eh?
What the hell is “namby pamby liberal human rights crap spirit” when it’s at home?
Someone’s obviously very keen to engage with other parts of Christ’s body constructively.
I like that “namby pamby liberal human rights crap” Spirit only I know it by its more common name, “Holy” and yes it is a “real influencing-entity”.
Actually, I like “crap spirit” on its own, but then scatalogical humour was always my forte.
The crap spirit is moving among us. Especially after a Chicken Jalfrezi.
I have to agree that while its easy to be defensive or indeed offensive, that continuing such banter tends to lead nowhere. We have a life to live, a job to do, and people to love. Surely we can just let go of what a brother may see of us in judegement and just be wrapped up in the moment of living out our destinies in God. Sure ….robust debate can be healthy but probably not at a distance but best done face to face over a coffee or a beer! I actually feel pretty strongly about this since we have a rich traditiona of burning each other through books and interviews. its a far cry from , ” you will know my disciples by how much they love one another”….not bicker.
Is it really that important to be right?
Let me try and clarify…
There is no “judgement” from me, or any attempt to “burn” anyone, Garth…just a “prodding” to provoke prayerful inner searching about what “living out our destinies in God” really does mean. To me it’s clear that Jesus couldn’t have done anything if he had not understood his heavenly places in him and in other people and that this is what we should be primarily learning about also in order for Christ to be formed in us.
I am not interested in robust “debate”. Too much of that “unrenewed mind” crap already. Garth you can do that with your friends if you really find it profitable for your spiritual development into Christ. Personally I’d rather listen to what God has to say than argue with people holding differing “opinions”, anytime.
Mike R, your joke about Chicken Jalfrezi was truly funny! Thanks for that.
At least we are “engaging with all parts of his body around the World”. Jonny, I do enjoy your blog, and my apologies to you personally for me responding a tad in frustration at first to what I read because I am sad to see so much crap in churchianity propagated by those who should be teachers of heavenly things but who don’t know their mouth from their backside.
I was surprised with your response Boltono and I hadn’t actually read your post, so nothing was inferred to you. Indeed, I agree with much of what you say. But I do feel that Christians criticise one another far too much, worry that someone else’s doctrine in a particular area is not quite up to speed and basically get caught in a trap where we are but a shadow of who we are called to be. This is generalised of course and has absolutely no inference to you or this site. Its a mere observation and one that should be pretty obvious.
All the best!
Hey mate. I was wondering where the spike of UK visitors was coming from! We are currently in lockdown mode. We are in the middle of a two day team meeting. One of the interesting observations (and I say this because of some of what you wrote about Carson etc) is that in Australia, everything is “missional”. People are appropriating the language and describing everything that they do as “missional” without any real substantive change. The mental leap has been made, but there is no real change in terms of substance.
So we have been thinking, at the risk of sounding pedantic, that we need to use the term “missional” *and* the term “incarnational”.
Like I said, it sounds pedantic, but the language is being appropriated and consequently domesticated. One of about one thousand things that came out of our two day love in.
I’ll keep you posted.
Good to hear from you and I will drop you an email soon. Be great to hear what you have been up to as well! Grace and peace.