emergent story

stacey who is a part of solomon's porch sent me a link to this. a story by pbs on the emerging church in the states.

its interesting to see who they have chosen to speak to, personally i think the 3 practitioners they use are just awesome - Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones and Brian McLaren. Yet, I feel that the list may not represent where the thing is going as well as it could. These 3 guys are just amazing, and personally if I as to choose 3 americans to talk about the subject I imagine my list would probably be the same... ummm, no, I think i would include Robert Webber, who has written his ancient-future series, that really floats my boat.

But... having said that, where's Dan Kimball? If there is anyone who seems to be getting the emerging church thing off the ground in a practical way it would be him. By practical, I mean that Kimball really talks about putting things into practice, in the nitty gritty of church. Yet, I personally like the fact that he wasn't called up. why? cause i think kimball looses the point a little, dont get me wrong, i enjoyed his books and found them useful. But Minball continually refers to this idea (more implicitly than explicitly, but both) that we are to minister to a postmodern (whatever you want to call it) world. Where as, Pagitt, Kimball, Jones and Webber (in my opinion) are all about minstering in this world. Have i fallen into my own semantic trap here, I think not. What I love about the guys I just mentioned is that they realise that not only the way we do church is changing, but the way we be christians is (are?) changing. We cant just try to help those around us, when we may also be struggling.

Another individual who wasn't called up for the interview was obviously Leonard Sweet. I like Sweet, and find it interesting that he has been dropped back a bit. I think Sweet does great work, and in many ways laid the foundations for the 3 they chose to interview. Just interesting...

So, am I reading too much into this? Were Dan Kimball and Leonard Sweet off on holidays at Robert Webber's house? Quite possibly. But I basically use this a diving board to talk about some of these guys, who I think are doing great things.

Just quickly, I shall recomend some books.
Brian McLaren.
I havent read his latest, but I will soon (just been busy studying). But I can say that A New Kind of Christian changed my life, thanx again Dee for recomending it. Also the follow up The Story We Find Ourselves In is great. I think I liked it more that the original, let me reread it and then decide on that. Both these (and the 3rd one which i heavent read yet) are based around a story of 2 guys on a journey. Its good stuff. One more... More Ready than you Realize, is also a must read. On evangelism. I really enjoyed this one too (and i think all the people i bought copies for liked it too -hehehe)

Doug Pagitt
Is about to release a few more books (yay!) but for now (check out his blog for more info), Reimagining Spiritual Formation was excellent. Really like the way it is basically written by the church (not just doug). Definately a must read.

Tony Jones
I will only recomend one, which is a youth ministry book called soul shaper. he also released the sacred way, but i didnt get it cause it looks like its just a slightly different version of soul shaper. i also just noticed he has a new book out, which i will have to look into some time soon.

there you go... more on these guys later im sure. thanx again stacey.