M7 and the Continuing Conversation

I personally was unable to make it the M7 conference in Kansas City this week, even though I would have liked to have been there. I would love to hear from others who are there now or who will be returning later this week, along these lines:

*How and in what ways did the M7 conference discuss postmodernism and emerging culture/life/faith?

*Do you think the church is making a push to "market" "postmodern church" in a pre-packaged box, or a genuine attempt to truly care about doing and being ministry in the context we now find ourselves in?

*What reactions did you see from other people regarding the parts of the conference that discussed these things?

*And of course, anything else you experiences and would like to add to the synopsis of M7.

Leave some feedback and let those of us who couldn't make it know what's going on!

Links That Make You Think

I'm hoping to start regularly making posts with links to other blogs, websites, articles, etc., related to emerging/emergent faith, and that would fall under the category of "links that make you think." I'll give a little bit of commentary, but leave the rest to you to check out, discuss, and well..."think" on!

Lisa at Emerging Faith made a post today that I thought was interesting. It applies to Nazarenes since the organizations involved are Nazarene, which I happen to know even though she chose to keep the parties anonymous. It brings up some good points of discussion and got me thinking about some of the differences (and similarities as well!) in the ways of thinking of traditional, contemporary, and emerging/postmodern (and other "types" too) Christians, churches, etc. You can read the article HERE, then leave here some comments or start some discussion here.

Postmodern Christianity: A Marketing Campaign, or Something Else?

by Phil Michaels

The January/February 2007 issue of Holiness Today has an article written by Jeff Edmondson titled "Marketing the Gospel" The article discusses faith and the "postmodern generation," defined as "nearly anyone under the age of 25 – and many over it." At nearly 31 years old, I guess I would fit into the "over it" category, though it's funny how I'd never seen myself that way before...but I digress. This particular issue of Holiness Today appears to be themed around the church as a business. Thus, while the title of Jeff's article doesn't seem to completely fit the content, I can see why it was chosen. I don't know Jeff and so I don't know his full intentions in writing the article, or whether or not he selected the article title (authors often don't get final say on the title), but it inspired some frustration in me, and I thought I'd write about that/review the article here.

I thought the explanation of postmodernity in the article seemed a bit shallow, and the focus of the article a bit narrow. For example, in the opening paragraph Edmondson writes that "for more than a decade, culture specialists and sociologists have announced the coming of the postmodern generation- a generation that would upset all we know about the growth of Christianity." First of all, I didn't know that postmodernity was limited to a "generation" or that it was this new of a thing, having only been "coming" for a decade or so. I would think that anyone who has studied or observed postmodern theory, thought, culture and the like at even a cursory level would understand that its roots go back over a century, and really beyond that. Postmodernism is not the newest cultural phenomenon, but a large, less-than-defined group of worldviews, philosophies, cultural and religious influence and assumptions, and the like, a discussion of which would be too lengthy to go into here. Perhaps that is what the author was thinking as well, but it does a dis-service to the reader who is not yet aware of and does not have a foundational understanding of the issues that make up the postmodern world of which we now find ourselves a part. Secondly, I noticed here and as a recurring theme throughout the article the concern for the "growth" of Christianity as compared to the "growth" of other religions. Are we concerned only with our own "growth" (whatever that loaded term might mean to a given reader), or only with the immediate effects of postmodernity, and only for youth and young adults? It bothered me that such an (apparently) limited understanding of postmodernism and less-than-holistic view of faith were the underlying foundations for the discussion within the article. That pops us again later...but I'll get to that in a moment.

The article seemed focused on how we could do a better job "evangelizing" postmoderns, as it seems other religions are ahead of Christianity in this department. Edmonson worries that "what's scary is that these other religions focus as much on evangelizing the masses as we Christians do...they're making a difference, too...this in light of reports that Christianity is on the decline." He uses the example of Paul in Athens as how to reach postmoderns with the gospel. While I agree that Paul's ingenious use of the "altar to an unknown God" is an excellent use of cultural and religious symbols to aid in bringing the message of the gospel to those who have not yet experienced it, I had to ask myself why it seems that just about everybody trying to explain faith in a postmodern context uses this same example. I know I have. Are we grasping at straws, looking for a prooftext to support our views? Or is this just the most obvious Scriptural example and so it gets overused? As a good friend and former Pastor of mine is fond of saying, "I'm pointing the gun both ways." And perhaps I've digressed again...

Edmondson quotes a youth pastor colleague as saying "It worries me that my students are more open to L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology than they are to Jesus and salvation." No consideration is given, however, as to why this might be so. Is it only because we live in a more pluralistic society than we have in the past? Does Scientology do more "cool" marketing gimmicks than us? Or are Scientologists simply more open and accepting of people? Are they more welcoming, perhaps even more loving, than most Christian communities of faith? Something tells me that if anyone ought to be cornering the market on love (if such a thing were possible), then it ought to be Christ followers. But no deep discussion seems to be held as to the problems with Christianity and with the church that have so greatly contributed to people's wariness of all things "Christian" but openness to all things "religious." This is really at the heart of what frustrated me with the article (which did have many good points along the way).

My frustration was summed up again near the end when the author writes: "The postmodern exploration of faith should make it easier to engage people in spiritual discussions. Our message doesn't change because of this alteration in cultural mindsets. Only our approach changes." This assumes that postmodernity is a mere shift in the wind, requiring only that we captain our ship by a little different method to account for the changes. In reality, postmodernity is more like a tsunami in which the ship we've been captaining is no longer adequate to stand up to the crashing waves. We need not just a different way of steering our vehicle, but an entirely new vehicle altogether, one that is capable of rising to the challenges that the Church now faces. We must be honest and authentic enough to admit our deficiencies, our weaknesses, our mistakes, our problems, and yes, our sins. Yes, we will always need new and innovative methods for following Jesus' call to "go into all the world" – times change, whether postmodern or otherwise. But it is critically important that we also examine our beliefs and practices of those beliefs: Our message may need some changing as well, because when we stop to truly, critically, authentically assess it, we may find that there are parts of our message that don't stack up not only with our experience of faith, with what is reasonable, and with the 2,000-year tradition and history of the Church, but with Scripture itself and the work of Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus, in our world. The idea of and the oft-quoted saying that "we don't change our message, just our methods" always assumes that we (Nazarenes, or whatever "group" is speaking) are the ones who have "finally got it right" when it comes to theology; we are perfect, never to be challenged again in the arena of religious belief. That's preposterous. So is the idea that postmodern people will be fooled by our "marketing the gospel," which amounts only to putting a different icing on the same old cake. The church, and the Church, deserve better from their earthly leadership.

Kansas City Conference Summary...

...is available at Emergent Nazarenes thanks to Jeremy Scott and James Diggs. Check out the conversations that took place late last month in Kansas City at the "Missional Leaders in an Emerging Culture Conversation" Conference.

While there may not have been a lot of information for those of us who have been having these conversations for a long time, it is good to see something happening at a denominational level that at least suggest our tribe is remotely aware of what is going on.

Nazarene M7 Conference Announces "Emergent Style Worship"

The Church of the Nazarene has announced on it's M7 Conference web site that it is planning, quote, "Late-night Emergent Style Worship Events that will be offered on Monday and Tuesday night at M7!"

"M7" is the short hand term for the "Mid-Quadrennial Conference on Missions and Evangelism" that the Church of the Nazarene has been hosting every four years. The last Conference, M3 (millenium three), was held in Nashville, Tennessee, in February 2003, which I attended. Featured speakers included Sam Vassel, Rick Rigsby, Leonard Sweet, and General Superintendent Jesse Middendorf. It was a pretty good conference, and I was inspired by seeing some of the innovative ministries that Nazarenes are participating in around the USA and the world. There were many workshops, some of which I found useful, and others of which I did not. The plenary session speakers were very good and very motivating, although the rest of those sessions left something to be desired in my opinion. I am sure that similar things are planned for M7, which this time will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, home of Nazarene General Headquarters.

I certainly plan on being at M7 if at all possible. I find it interesting that they are offering "emergent style worship events"- although I didn't know there was such a thing as an "emergent worship style." :)

Nonetheless, I am encouraged that our tribe is finally at least acknowledging that the emerging/emergent movement actually exists. After being told kindly but firmly by a high ranking denominational leader just two years ago at PALCON at TNU that postmodern or emerging ministries was something that was "not on their radar," and after being told point blank at a Nazarene Assessment Center in Kansas City that the word "postmodern" was just a "buzzword" and to be dismissed in creating paradigms for ministry, and after my own personal frustrations with trying to get others in my tribe to be aware of what is going on, it looks as though the grass roots movement of those of us who are aware of emerging/postmodern culture and faith is starting to take hold as we find like minded Nazarenes who are commited to BOTH holiness and the essential doctrines of the Church of the Nazarene AND seriously engaging from within the postmodern culture through postmodern, missional, emerging ministry efforts. This is absolutely what we need. Whether or not what is planned for M7 is remains to be seen- supposedly more information will be coming later.

If you have an inside track on what is going on at M7 regarding this or plan on being there, say so! I know of at least a couple of other individuals who are hoping to have some gatherings for those involved/interested in emergent/emerging church/culture. We need to do this, so if you are making plans already, or want to make plans, say so here, start a topic on this on the new discussion board, or visit James Diggs' blog, Emergent Nazarenes.