emerge in ireland

alternative worship and emerging church seem newer on the agenda in ireland than england. at least that's the impression i'm left with as i'm sat typing this at dublin airport. i may be wrong of course (not the first time) but there seems more fear and less permission   to reimagine church in the light of the cultural changes in the western world. i realise that the church's mind has been preoccupied with other issues for many years at least in the north. but i hope the emerge day helped spark a bit of thinking about mission, church and worship in the emerging culture and look forward to seeing what emerges in the next decade or so. brad has blogged a few thoughts. i think this is a conversation that is likely to grow in ireland. for people interested, a couple of future events i picked up news of - brian maclaren is booked in to do something in 2006 though i don't know details and i noticed stuart murray is booked at an event in november.

i was really impressed with 3rock and greg fromholz who have been doing stuff in dublin and the surrounding area for several years, as well as david brown and the church of ireland youth department.

pete rollins from ikon popped down from belfast on saturday. good to catch up over a beer in temple bar and exciting to hear about his forthcoming book (out next year). not many of the people on the emerge day had heard of ikon or their CD DUBH so i gave that a big plug. i.m.h.o. ireland should be proud of such a creative home grown alternative worship community...

it was also good to meet john hebenton from new zealand. he is the national youth network facilitator for the anglican church there and blogs at colourful dreamer. he was over on a sabbatical.

Comments

[Paul Fromont]

Great that you got to meet John. At least in Ireland it's on the agenda. I'm not so sure it's even made it anywhere near the agenda within most Anglican circles down here.

[brad anderson]

for anyone interested, there is info on Brian McLaren coming to Ireland here: http://www.emergentireland.com/. Not much at the moment, but more news to come...

[si]

glad you had a good time Jonny. Great thoughts on the situation here. And I suppose I can't show up on this blog today without saying nice work on the football...ya b@£$*£d! ;)

[steve]

john hebenton is a neat guy. glad you 2 could connect.

[brandon]

After spending a few days in Ireland the week following your trip, Jonny, I can say that the context in Ireland is very different from North America and from the UK. Cultural commentary that I came across there suggests that the enlightenment and the reformation didn't even really touch down in Ireland, implying that they've arrived in a similar emerging postmodern milieu as the UK, but through a far different route. The implications are huge, as are the windows of opportunity for the Church. Good stuff happening there.