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
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.
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
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
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
Van Gogh lifted the veil of our vision. He helped us to see dignity in the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He lifted the veil of creation, and the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He
“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
“Go to church” . . . what does this even mean? I sense it may be time for us to collaborate toward destroying the erroneous notion of “going to Church.” Jesus never told us to “go” to anything. Jesus’ invitation
On Friday l have the opportunity to join Trinity Lutheran College and speak in their chapel. I’ve been asked to speak to the kinds of leaders I sense that the church needs now and into the future. I’m titling my
As a spiritual leader of a small community of faith, I find assessing whether we are maturing to be a challenge. This may be totally nerdy but I’ve drafted, what I’m calling a “Community Profile“… it’s essentially a rubric to
From the birth of the church to today, the continuity and spread of the gospel has been dependant on the church passing leadership to the emerging generation. A cosmic relay race with eternal consequences and life altering ramifications. We can
North American culture is changing. So is church culture(s). Some have suggested that culture is reinventing itself at a faster pace than ever before… while none of us have lived at another time something inside me senses that this may
Recently I helped facilitate an “Emerging Leaders” conference sponsored by a modernist-mission denomination. All of the presenters/facilitators were asked the following questions, my responses are listed: Ministry Title? pastor / mystic / friend / artist / missionary / husband /
A few months back I preached at Union Hill Church in Redmond. In the sermon I explored the simple question… “What is a Christian?” Turns out it may not have been as simple a question as I first thought. I
