one of the great things about being in london is the number of people i get to meet from other countries who are passing through. blogging and the internet have usually been the connection point ahead of meeting. yesterday evening i met al roxburgh and bill kinnon, both of whom are involved in allelon, a network of mission leaders based in canada.
i hadn't realised it was going to be but the chat was recorded so will appear in an edited form on the allelon netcast in the next month i guess. my only knowledge of bill is that he wrote the blog entry the people formerly known as the congregation which made quite a splash in the blog world. i didn't find out much more as he was quiet for the interview. i first came across alan in his wonderful little book the missionary congregation, leadership and liminality. since then a number of things he has been up to have caught my interest but our paths had never crossed.
one is the stuff he and chris eerdman wrote on ethos. this was a short blog entry but it has ended up framing the way i have thought about how to develop the heartbeat of a christian community's life. it has had a big impact on how i have viewed the ethos in grace and the encouragement to focus on ethos rather than practices has been very wise advice. they are referring to monastic communities but i think it's a great approach for any community. we stumbled in conversation across the difference between ethos and strategy as an approach. whilst they don't sound very different, actually the sensibilities are miles apart. so in grace for example an ethos of engagement means it is gently shaping my choices about who to spend time with, where we want to put energy as a community and so on. if it was a strategy it would feel much more clinical and cold. i may reflect on this more another time.
another is his thinking on mission orders. cms have been exploring this idea for several years - whether to reconfigure as a recognised christian community rather than just as an organisation. i'm not so keen on the word order, but what this would mean is that to be part of it would be to share a common ethos and spiritual rhythm and it would be recognised by the c of e with some oversight from a bishop. this may still happen and we have lots to learn from the likes of alan.
then i am also interested in the tone of what alan writes and does. several of the voices in the emerging church conversation in north america are not located in a way that they work easily with mainline denominations or churches (though others are). they take a more independant approach. i've said before that this is one of the big differences in the emerging stuff between the context in the uk and us. but alan is passionate about existing churches and working with leaders to help them dream again and remember their forgotten narratuves of hope - he had some lovely turns of phrase about this (which i can't recall at breakfast today!). in my role i work with people at the edge/margins and with churches and leaders in denominational structures. i want to learn from alan in this regard. i hope this is the first of many conversations.
and then our work is in the same area - mission in western culture developing leadership, networks, resources, communities and so on. so it was a great opening conversation that i hope we get to follow up before too long. kindred spirits and all that...
Perhaps I should try the strong, silent type more often. It was great that you could take the time to come hang with us.
The Allelon Netcast Roxburgh Journal podcast with you should be up around June 15th. The one with TSK goes up June 1.
Posted by: Bill Kinnon | May 25, 2007 at 11:03 AM
Thanks for sharing your reflections. A lot of my thoughts about emerging church within US mainline churches (esp. the Episcopal and Lutheran churches) is starting to gel thanks in large part to your postings.
I have benefited greatly from dialoguing with my US evangelical brothers and sisters - as you know, issues such as the environment and Darfur have presented tremendous bridge building happening among groups I never thought would come together.The problem is that once you stop focusing on that particular issue, then the theological differences between mainliners and evangelicals can become very transparent especially around hot button topics such as the role of women and gays in the church. There are some evangelicals willing to build bridges but as you pointed out, there is an independent streak among some that hinders dialogue both in the US and UK.
But rather than bang my head against the wall trying to allow these people to open up the dialogue, seems more fruitful to focus on the significant opportunities that I see for synergy between US and UK mainline church leaders especially those coming from the Anglican tradition.
Posted by: becky garrison | May 25, 2007 at 06:27 PM
i remember al from my baptist union of western canada days - actually 'the missionary congregation' was a really influential book in my thinking back then - way ahead of its time within the denomination though, especially because they were heavily into strategies for church planting and he was into missional ethos - great to hear that he is still providing some grit for the traditional denominational oyster to chew over !
Posted by: julie | May 25, 2007 at 08:22 PM
get over to nakedpastor.com and read the relatively recent blogs and conversations on vision (read strategy as vision)... absolutely brilliant stuff and very brave indeed.
Posted by: jon birch | May 26, 2007 at 02:04 AM
that's excellent - thanks jon !!
Posted by: julie | May 26, 2007 at 02:41 PM
I second Julie's comment - thanks Jon for bringing to light this voice - 'preciate it.
Posted by: becky | May 26, 2007 at 11:18 PM
you're all very welcome... i'm hanging out there alot at the moment... i like him.
Posted by: jon birch | May 28, 2007 at 12:46 AM