here is my recommendation for the new year…
read the shaping of things to come by alan hirsch and michael frost. there seem to be increasing numbers of books coming out that relate to the emerging church which is a good thing. the more thinking/conversation the better at the moment as there is so much re-imagining to do. but every so often there is a book that stands out, has an edge to it and for me this is the best book i have read that relates to the emerging church. why?… well it may just be that it relates so well to the situation i/we are in at CMS (the church mission society – i am part of a team there that is helping rethink mission as it relates to the emerging culture). the issues that are highlighted are precisely the areas we are looking to shift/re-imagine things, and (even though it may be a new set of jargon in some ways?…) the language is amazingly similar. it is also weird to read a book that covers the subjects i generally focus on when i get asked to teach in places – the incarnation as the inspiration for ministry, insights from cross cultural mission holding the clues to mission in our own contexts, contextualisation, creativity, imagination and innovation, thinking outside the box, dualism, the sacred revealed in the everyday, the redemption of creation,….. sometimes i feel like a lone voice banging on about particular things so there is something incredibly reassuring finding out there are others passionate about the same things.
but beyond just agreeing with a lot of stuff (which after all wouldn’t be a big deal or do much other than make me feel good) the book has really challenged me. when i met alan last year the same thing happened. he basically said as nicely as possible that the uk is incredibly creative in terms of evangelism and worship and has lots to teach/inspire others with BUT has a whole lot of catching up to do when it comes to rethinking/re-imagining church. just to give one example of the kind of challenge, they describe the current mode of church as running along attractional, dualistic and hierarchical lines – now i love alternative worship as it has tackled the dualism and hierarchy pretty head on and has a wonderful incarnational instinct in terms of how to construct worship but i realise it has got stuck with the attractional model in a lot of ways. so suddenly i’m having to think – shit! why have we missed such an obvious wrong turn?… another big area of challenge is on the need to train a different kind of leader. again i feel like a bit of a twit here because i so hate a lot of the models of leadership out there – in fact i even struggle with the word – that i just focus on deconstructing them and avoid the question of what kind of leadership is actually needed (whilst knowing that all the time i am being a leader). anyway i could go on but what i really want is some conversation with a bunch of people who have read the book… so read it if you haven’t and lets talk…
i did have a query or maybe it was more of a defensive reaction, but they imply at one point that when the church delegated responsibility for mission to parachurch organisations and missionary societies it killed part of the church. and yet at other places in the book they argue for the church to recover mission and the idea of church being a movement. my own take is that so called parachurch and mission agencies at their best are/have been church as a movement. problems happened when they then tried to set up church as they thought it should be rather than keep the movement going. but i agree that losing mission as a focus for any church is a mistake. anyway that’s a small point/digression…
a quote i love:
we’re convinced that what may be ultimately required is Christian leadership that values imagination, creativity, innovation and daring.
this isn’t so much from the book as from conversation with alan… but it seems (at least from a distance) that the networking and training for missional leaders that is happening down under offers a model that is needed in the uk. at the moment there are little groups here and there doing their own thing, maybe loosely joining up via blogs or collaborations. but we need to add value by working more together. i don’t know how or what that means or what the future holds. the future is fragile but i feel hopeful about it (today)….
It’s a goodie alright. Happy new year mate. May 2004 be a rich and wonderful experience. I had a chimay the other night and remembered your liking for them too
i noticed you mentioned chimay on your blog! i walked past a pub in london the other day called ‘abbeye’ that seems to do almost every belgian beer imaginable so will be trying that out with some friends soon… have a good 2004 🙂
Jonny;
As a leader of a “church” with 4 congregations, one very trad and one “emerging” I would like to explore –
1. When we deconstruct, what things do we hold as “sacred” ? – what babies must not be thrown out with the bathwater?
2. As a leader who deconstructs himself as often as possible, I find that people still want to be led (in the old ways if you like) and resist the idea of shared responsibility. What does an “emerging church leader” look like?
Grace and peace;
have ordered it right away – will get back to you when I’ve read it!
derek – for what it’s worth i have three days next week with about thirty people having a ‘conversation’ about apostoilc missional leadership (horrible jargon i know). maybe i’ll have a better idea after that. but a few things might be:
team (which has to include male and female)
journeying together – i.e. the punters feel that the leader/s are one of them
being real/authentic – i.e leaders are doing the stuff not just talking about it
relationships of trust – time and listening are essential
vision – having some and drawing it out of the community and then helping it to be realised
empowering others – again identifying and helping people use their gifts
inspiration – people want to be inspired
broker of new opportunities – spotting the next thing to develop and then getting it happening
there are probably also different kinds of leaders (that relate to what they are gifted at) – i’d say i had an ability to see the big picture say – maybe that would be a prophetic type gift in the language alan and michael use. but others are more pastoral or whatever… what alan and michael say is that pastor and teacher are the two leadership gifts that have been encouraged and the others (of the five listed in ephesians) – prophet, evangelist, apostle – have been ignored or neglected which is why there’s a huge imbalance.
the weird thing is that in grace we have never had ‘leaders’ as such. it’s been a team of people that meet weekly and someohow get stuff done. it’s egalitarian. the thing we have discussed is the way in which people in the group still hold quite a bit of sway/personal power – i.e. some peoples influence in the discussion is bigger than others – even though anyone and everyone has a voice. so while it may seem egalitarian there may be other things going on…. but that model of leading only works with a smallish group… but i do like it.
one of four sections of the book is on leadership. so that will certainly give you some food for thought.
i totally understand the idea of people wanting the old style leader – i.e. a real leader who tells us what to do and so on. but i still think this has to be resisted even though it is flattering. that group will ultimately be better served by being empowered to lead and identify leadership gifts in their midst. you can then support them and move on to the next thing….
p.s. derek i’ve just realised i visited your church last year (though i don’t think we met?) – sounds great what you are doing. say hi to the youth guys there for me….
hi, for what it’s worth i just thought I’d add my thoughts on the way we do leadership at my church. every leader is no leader without a team and to that end we teach that there are 4 stages of leadership based on Jesus’ model with the disciples. basically speaking: i do you watch, i do you help, we do together, you do i help and every team should move through each stage if it’s healthy and the leader is doing their job right.
so basically you have a visionary leader who empowers and releases those in their team to go on and either continue what they started or to go with their own vision empowered and with the skills and confidence to do it with their own team. This really works for us and means that we have a massive amount of lay leaders meaning that growth is possible!
it also means that we grow leaders who are confident and released to do church in whichever creative way floats their boat, so we have a group of prob about 150 young adults who do their own version of church, whether that’s with the arts, community based, sports based, etc etc. all under the one banner and one vision of the church.
i’m sure there’s more to learn and the model falls down sometimes but on the whole it works well.
if you want more info go to http://www.stthomaschurch.org.uk and look for lifeskills resources under the downloads section (the square).
Definitely the best I have read on the EC – ggod theology and ideas.
The Forge network really is gathering steam as a movement of new leaders with creativity and imagination.
Alan has done a sensational job in getting it this far!
G’day from Downunder. I’m about half-way through the book and it’s compelling, confronting and confirming.
Our (Baptist) church here is getting a big push from the pulpit to go and read the book. We need to change our thinking and get out of the “attractional” headset we’ve been inhabiting for so long. To Go instead of Come.
To that end I’m about to start at the end of February a – well, I’m not to sure what you’d call it: I’ve gone for a non-church. It’s not home group; it’s not church; it’s outreach of a sort. Our church has just about lost a number of 17-mid 20’s kids for whom church no longer “works”. They have come through church but now find church “boring”. So I thought why not take the best bits of church – the meeting together, the chat before and after church; the gathering together – get rid of the boring sermon, the singing and the long prayers – add other stuff like food and drink and give these kids the place and the space to ask the questions they may want to ask (or not). I’ve called it ‘Round the Back @ Thommo’s and given it the tag line: Eat. Drink. Get Heavy.
I get to present my ‘vision’ (although that has connotations I’m not quite so comfortable with) at a church evaluation meeting next week but from talking to some of the kids they are quite looking forward to it.
It’s a step out – maybe not very far, but it’s an attempt to put into practice some of the ideas put forward in the book.
I’m asking for prayer (from my church) cause it’s going to need it!
Hopefully they will use the space/place to ask questions – hopefully I can answer some of them!
It’s a brilliant book.
hope it goes well – sounds great… be patient