Here is an interesting link to a transcript of last spring’s forum sponsored by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The title is “Myths of the Modern Mega-Church” featuring Rick Warren and others. Peace, dwight
I will be interacting with a group of “J-TERM SEATTLE” seminary students from Wartburg Seminary, around some of my research regarding the “Scale-Free Kingdom.” Jan 18, 2006. Peace, dwight
What is the God’s Wisdom for us? Where are the passions and life . . . A heartbeat, coming together Reminder and helping each other remember that God loves us People who are questing Tangents Seeing where God is moving
Dear friends, I am writing this as I reflect back on our gathering this past Sunday night. It was a “family time” for thoughtful consideration of how we might morph our structured times together to continue to be more and
For a few days I’ve been sitting the question: “how can I better understand and enter into the narrative of church?” This question took me back to Greek theater, represented by the masks. I find myself wondering whether the narrative of
Here is Alan Roxburgh’s report on the report on “Forming Leaders for the Missional/emerging Church consultation which took place in April. The event was sponsored by Fuller/Allelon and brought together 40 leaders from USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia.
When I first encountered Miroslav Volf and his theological work I was elated. I found myself sharing his books with anyone around who would lend me their ear even if just for a moment. Needless to say I don’t agree with
I have the joy of participating in the Fuller/Allelon “Forming Leaders for the Missional/emerging church” consultation. Drs. Eddie Gibbs, Ryan Bolger, and Allan Roxburgh are facilitating the conversation. This group of participants is amazing! There are some folks who I
I’ve been giving some more thought to the connections of Cellular Mitosis with church growth and church planting. The body of Christ appears to be a not unlike a multi-cellular living organism. Multi-cellular living organisms contain more than one cell
The Church of the Apostles (Seattle, WA) and Moot (Westminster, UK) are sponsoring what is promising to be a great conversational space. Click for more details. peace, dwight
As the news of Pope John Paul II’s home-going sinks in, I am moved to pray all the more for the Cardinals who will be gathering in the selection process of the next pope. Peace, dwight
There have been times throughout Western history when people talked as though the spiritual mattered, and the physical did not. Soul = good; body = bad. The move to holistic viewing of the human person in community seems like a
Many avant-church leaders/hosts/facilitators/curates/etc. are serving in bi-vocational ways; meaning they earn their living working a “regular” job in order to support their community habit. Some have made this a conscious decision, others have been forced into this bi-vo-role by slower
Recently I was again asked about D. A. Carson’s comments regarding the emerging church. The inquirer was curious whether or not I’d recommend the recordings (previous posts, 1 & 2). I always value listening to those views might appear to
Today’s entry is intended for use by those who proactively shape the ethos of Quest by participating as our hosting forum. Quest’s “Hosting Forum” is the gathering of participants from our spiritual community who intentionally & collectively discern on behalf
Like most people 😉 my mind occasionally drifts to happy thoughts of Heidegger’s notion of Dasein as being-unto-death. Marty (can I call him Marty?) reminds us that when people becomes aware of their inevitable death; really aware, like after a
The return of the parish appears to be an ecclesial movement sweeping Western Christ-communities. I’ve been thinking of it as the parish corrective. I would characterize this corrective as a local church move to embody “full life” or embody the
I enjoy making soup. I literally have a pot of soup on right now. So see a few months back Lynette and I made a ham. And in my mind, any ham meal has a soup chaser. I put the
I been so swamped lately I don’t know which way is up. We spent part of last week in Canada last week, visiting my folks. It was nice to be together though we almost missed the ferry on our way
Recently, my friend Jacob highlighted Randy Frazee (author of “Connecting Church,” and “Making Room for Life”) and Randy’s encouragement to make use of certain tools to aid us in replacing “too many” weak relational connections and build a smaller number
So much energy has been spent wrestling with the church and institutionalization. Institutionalization happens when reified social constructs become untouchable. What is then often needed is some form of prophetic deconstruction of that social construct – enabling us to see
Bill Wallenbeck of Jacob’s Well just preached a sermon called Scale-Free Networks and the Kingdom using some concepts of Scale-free networks, he even drew on some of my research. Check it out. Tim Samoff posted some photos of a community-mapping
Well, I’m home for one day and then I’m off again. This is not the way my life has usually is… how do people who travel all the time get the everyday stuff done? I spent the last couple of
Over the past few months I elicited a small group of friends to help me evaluate my person and leadership. This small group comprised of three men and two women have known me for an average of three and one-half
Church by Dwight J. Friesen Restless boy yanking at his neck tie Flipping through hymnals, Bibles and Sunday School papers No match for the sermon fidgets Those warming the pews trade yawns Waiting For the last song and benediction Long
Lately I have been challenging the the assumption was raised with that God created the church. Is God drawing people together to live the the way of Jesus? – yes. Was Christ’s statement to Peter about what we now commonly
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
