Do leaders exist ontologically? I know that some church traditions claim an ontological ordination but that just seems to set us up for abuse of power, (of course the church would never abuse its power). Most leadership literature speaks more
Last night I had the opportunity to take a few minutes in a class at Mars Hill Grad School to present a boiled-down version of my Scale-Free Kingdom/Churches as Christ-Clusters paradigm. Dr. Bryan Burton who is guiding the theology course
Back in the 1920’s E. Stanley Jones wrote something to the effect of, Christ did not come to abolish Judaism but to fulfill it. Jones went on to build a case challenging the colonialist missionary movement of his day, arguing
In the words of Olivia Newton John – almost – “Let’s get metaphysical, metaphysical, we wanna get metaphysical, let us hear Christ’s body talk…” (or something like that). I’m in the process of writing a short paper on leadership. I
I continue to struggle with the growing use of the term “missional.” I’ve often used the term, yet I’m becoming concerned about what the cultural baggage hidden underneath the idea. I choose to emphasize embodied living (maybe even bodied living)
Almost a year ago theOoze.com interviewed me for their Seedstories deal, which has been undergoing a retooling for some time. Seedstories is a curated collection of stories and interviews with people from around the globe who are pioneering new expressions
why relational church? by dwight j. friesen Doug has a love/hate relationship with the church. Some of his fondest memories, his life shaping moments and his deep relationships have been within the body of Christ. He became a pastor to
A friend emailed a couple of questions yesterday: “What are the drawbacks to Post-Modernism? What are weaknesses within the ‘post-modern’ church?” Here are my efforts at a response… There are likely as many drawbacks to the pomo as there are
In dialogue with my friend Thomas, we found ourselves wondering about the church as trans. Take a look at the “da Vinci Code” for some of the impetus for the discussion. The church seems to struggle with its identity. One
I’m not exactly looking for new forms of worship; as much as I am wanting to learn from what appears to be a human impulse to worship. Human beings seem to have a penchant to worship. Forming desire for the
I just returned from a denominational conference and was shocked by the “us” verses “them” conversation representing the clergy verses the laity. As though “we” clergy (or whatever we are) have an experience of God that we need to lead
Michael Jinkins, writes: “When the church faces the prospect of its own demise (for whatever reasons), it faces a critical moment when its vocation is called into question, when it has the unparalleled opportunity to comprehend and render its life.
I continue to wrestle with what feels like a growing tension between the Missional and Incarnational approaches to life. I may be way of base here, does anyone else feel this tension? Is it just me? I guess when I
Recently I was in a discussion about whether we should still plant churches… or even, would the Apostle Paul plant churches today. It seems to me that we need new language to discuss the idea of pioneering new Christ-communities. I’m
A couple of weeks ago Mark Humphries – Winnipeg artist, spiritual innovator and community curate – emailed me regarding how I might define ‘relationality’ within the rhythm of community gathering. Mark’s email, alone is a testament to his generosity… I
One of the people I’m doing life with (Jeff Baker) in our little community of faith, wrote a brief reflection paper (for Mars Hill Graduate School) on worship in which he talks about quest. I asked Jeff if I could
I’ve been having this overwhelming sense that western protestant white Church “worship services” may ultimately have the opposite effect that we hope for. Among other things, we intend to lift up Christ, to praise him, and so on, however. The
Wow, I’m tired. This bi-vocational thing has a way of wearing a person out. I guess we all feel this way from time-to-time, huh? Trying to juggle life as a husband, dad, pastor, community member, employee, doctoral student, let alone
Today will be the fourth Gathering in the seven year history of Quest that I won’t be there for. Lynette, Pascal and I are taking just a couple of days as a family. I feel such a tension, one the
I have been appreciating some of the recent “leadership” literature emphasizing that leaders are not made nor born as much as they are situationally called into existence. I’ve been telling my community for years that the clearer the sense of
Ever since I posted yesterday’s blog I’ve been wondering whether I should have. Lynette read it and asked me whether I had intended to make, even a subtle connection to the controversy of the last few months, about gay men
I’m wrestling with “Incarnational living” and wondering about the relationship of syncretism & incarnation. Doesn’t it seem that to be incarnate is to enter in fully… to be present… even while holding imagination for “in yet not of” there may
What does it mean to proclaim Christ? This fall I will be guiding/teaching a coarse for a college on public speaking in ministry – preaching. One of my personal challenges is I don’t preach in “that way” any more. Should
Ok, so I’m a church planter who is in danger of giving up on the idea of church planting. I’m not even sure I see much Biblical support for church planting. I see Christ sending people as bearers of the
Ok so I just posted this on http://www.emergentvillage.com Why didn’t Jesus send out his disciples as synagogue-planters? Could it be because Jesus sent them out as people in relationship with the Divine, to bear witness to the Kin-dom of that
The other day I had a conversation with a woman who, though she may not have used these words, was challenging the notion of the church efforts to be fully present in a pomo/post-critical context. It doesn’t matter whether we
“Depend upon it, Sir,when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight,it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Samuel Johnson, Sept 19, 1777 Michael Jinkins begins his book, “The Church faces Death” with this quote from Samuel Johnson. If
Thoughts regarding ordination: I understand ordination to be a human recognition of God’s calling on a person’s life. Yet in practice it is a gatekeeping practice to ensure that those in power have a means of controlling who is let
Thinking about worship… What is it that the church can do in worship corporately that the church can’t do individually? How did worship devolve from a wholistic way of life to a gathering on a Sunday morning? What if how
