Signs of Emergence.

Today we will begin working through a recent read, "Signs of Emergence - A Vision for Church That Is Organic / Networked / Decentralized / Bottom-up / Communal / Flexible / Always Evolving" by Kester Brewin.

As I've done before, thoughts, ideas and quotes will be shared from the book and then I will make my comments or pose questions in bold and hopefully you'll make a comment and contribute to this conversation.

So for now, a couple of thoughts from the preface.

It is the idea of a constantly re-forming, learning community that is one of the driving passions behind this book (and series of blogs). We have for too long been trapped in cycles of boom or bust: hailing each new movement as the be-all and end-all of faith, only to slam it into the ground in a flurry of burnt-out ministers and angry members a few years later. It need not be this way.

We are not looking to become the next "thing" or be a part of any new "model". The dream is the church - simple, powerful, subtle, radical, evolutionary, revolutionary. Let us not put our hope in some expression of the church but rather put our hope in the person of Jesus.

We must restrain ourselves from being too quickly critical of the successes or failures of emerging congregations. Instead, we must attempt to form them as learning communities, with the mechanisms for their regular renewal built into them, and seek to commit ourselves to the relationships within them, rather than the structures around them.

The key to Christ's Church being built and his kingdom being advanced is RELATIONSHIP. I invite you to commit yourself to a people and community, not an organization or institution.

This is one of the beauties of a faith built on death and resurrection. The body of Christ will continue, eternally. But these little bodies that we build, trying to bring some structure and rhythm to the relationships we share, need not carry on forever. While the relationships continue underneath, the vehicles we commandeer to take us on various stages of our journey will zoom and splutter and will - sometimes - need abandoning. This has certainly been my experience in the communities I have journeyed with, and I suspect that we will see many more emerging churches, or umbrella groups, fail in the coming years. In a healthy learning environment, such things ought not to be perceived as failure (though many may want to spin it that way); rather the shedding of an old skin, to allow the inhabitation of a new one, better fit for purpose.

Remember, Church is not the point. Jesus came so the might have life and life to the full NOT church life and church life to the full. LIFE. And life is made up of a series of personal encounters and meaningful relationships. If we miss people, we miss life.

It is desperate if we can imagine nothing will ever change; we are, on the other hand, filled with hope if we believe that Christ is still desperate to incarnate himself in every myriad community in every changing season.

Christ is still desperate to incarnate (make himself know) himself in YOU. God took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. And God taking on flesh and blood looks a lot like you.

Chesterton's famous quote comes to mind: "It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, rather it is that it has been found too difficult left untried."