What does mission look after colonialism?  Are we truly postcolonial?  What forms is colonialism taking today?

If you can join the conversation its still not too late.  Its in Atlanta, Nov 1-3.  Register here.

Hope to see you there.

Peace, dwight

In preparation for this summer’s learning journey, I’ve been working on this class with the people behind The Parish Collective; especially Paul Sparks, Tim Sorens and Ben Katt.

Gonna call the course: “Body Of Christ: Rediscovering the Local Parish as Embodied Witness”

It will consider the church’s catholicity through focused attention on particularity.  Given that the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ was a radically particular event with universal reach this course will explore the implications of the church as the Body of Christ; more specifically the course will engage six Seattle-area churches and their missional quests to live in mutually transformative relationships given the particularity of their respective locations.  Leaders from each church will guide us on walking tours of their respective neighborhood, offering us a glimpse into their story of learning to become and experience Good News in their neighborhood.  In some ways this selected reading class will focus on reading our churches and our neighborhoods as much as on reading books.  Here’s are the written texts we’ll be reading:

• Richard Flodia’s, Who’s your City: How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of your Life.
• Timothy Gorringe’s, A Theology of the Built Environment: Justice, Empowerment, Redemption.
• Robert Lupton’s, Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor.
• Charlene Spretnak’s,  The Resurgence of the Real: Body, Nature and Place in a Hypermodern World.
• Parker Palmer’s, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life.

Peace, dwight

Hosted by the Freedom Initiative, the UNBOUND Conference features Human Trafficking activists who aim to educate people on the comprehensive factors that contribute to Human Trafficking, to  empower individuals to develop a personal response to slavery, and to mobilize them to action.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8ZK5qA9eo

Peace, dwight

This book was born in the context of an eleven-year life altering experiment in ecclesial life, fleshed out in learning communities with thoughtful women and men who never ceased to ask insightful and revealing questions, and now it is being published by my new friends at Baker Books.

I hope you’ll take a look at it.  I’m very excited to offer my voice and contribute, even a small piece, to the ongoing conversation. . . let me know what you think.

Peace, dwight

It gives me great hope for the unintuitive purposes of God through the church in the world.

While with Christian Churches Together I was able to facilitate a two hour conversation.  The title of the workshop they asked me to facilitate was “The Emerging Church Movement.”

One of the primary misconception I tried to address head on was the mistaken notion of the “Emerging Church.”  As I see it there is no such thing as “the emerging church.”  Of course there are local faith communities, pastors/priests, and community members who are influenced and shaped by the emerging conversation, but the emerging conversation is not a church.  The conversation does not have a theology, it does not have an ecclesial structure, no emerging constitution/by-laws, it has no formal authority/accountability structure, does not maintain offices or ordination, no formal member communities, thus it to call it a church assumes a kind of structure that I think is misleading.  I think it is more helpful to remember that every community or person influenced by the emerging conversation is also linked to a larger historic stream within Christianity. So a person or a local community is Presbyterian, Methodist, Mennonite, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Coptic, Orthodox, Quaker, Free Church, Assembly of God, Congregational, Baptist, or whatever tradition and shaped by by the emerging conversation.

In fact I have found it fascinating that often as people participate in the emerging conversation they find that their unique narrative shaped by their respective tradition becomes even more important to them.  Often inviting deeper study of their tradition’s history, theology, distinctives, contributions and even their liabilities or short comings.  This is part of the reason why the emerging conversation continues to be thought of a as a missional network.

Peace,

dwight

I ‘m getting ready to head down to Austin, TX to hang out with my friend Sam Lee (MHGS graduate) and his faith community, Vox Veniae for their annual retreat.  We’ll be exploring “The Global Parish;” as Vox has entered into a couple of interncational partnerships and are exploring ways of missionally extending their service.  I’m so looking forward to seeing Sam and meeting the community he’s doing life with.

peace, dwight

I find myself looking for conversation partners. I’m looking for new paradigm churches (emerging, neo-monastic, simple, avant-churches, etc.), who are intentionally partnering with more established congregations in mission and mutual transformation. And the reverse as well, for established congregations who have pursued partnership with new paradigm churches.

I find myself wondering about how both groups are formed and transformed through their ongoing engagement. I wonder about those things that both have been invited into from the other: new expressions of life, greater sense of rooted-ness into larger ecclesial narrative, and of course the invitation to surrender in the context of relationship.

Churches are more missiologically informed today than almost anytime in the last 1,500 years of church history, and I’m wondering what impact the growing quest for contextual resonance may be having on the kinds of partnerships that establishes churches missionally form.

So if you, or someone you know of, is intentionally pursuing a relationship that invites an established and new paradigm church to dance together, please email me or simply reply to this post; I’d sure appreciate it.

Peace, dwight

peace, dwight