rising from the ashes: rethinking church is a book by becky garrison exploring what it means to be church in the emerging/postmodern context we now find ourselves in. the content is collated from interviews with about 30 people and these interview segments are cut in to form thematic chapters. i am one of the interviewees - it was nice to be asked though it's kind of weird seeing an e-mail exchange on the pages of a book. it was good to meet becky at greenbelt this year too.
this is the crunch: for a number of reasons the conversation about emerging church has begun in the US out of the evangelical world, probably because it was birthed out of young leaders network which was a mix of vineyard and baptist guys as i understand it. the church in the USA seems quite polarised for a number of reasons which other people would be better placed to comment on than me. so when conversation gets located in one place it is sometimes hard to nudge it into another part of the church. this it seems is becky's agenda - to nudge it into mainline circles. she is excited about the challenge of re-imagining church but wants to see that sparking the imagination of episcopal and other mainline churches. this is a great quest and i wish her and others with the same heart all the best as they make that journey. when i reviewed emergent manifesto i saw this trajectory as a positive move. brian maclaren has also worked really hard to help do this i think with his generous orthodoxy amongst other things. adam cleaveland has encouraged presbymergent, karen ward has encouraged anglimergent so it really feels as if things are positively moving. i blogged before about the grace and generosity of god who is often surprising us in terms of where he/she is at work. alan roxburgh shares my concern that the emerging church doesn't rubbish the denomination or local churches because they contain within them the seeds of renewal that can be watered by the spirit to bring new life and of course we need pioneers planting new churches as well.
becky has been inspired by the uk and she is not the first. i think the reason for this is multiple but the c of e and methodist churches report mission shaped church being an official report has meant there has been a culture of permission for newness in places within the structures of denominational churches. fresh expressions, emerging church, alternative worship and other things have found space to breathe in and around the edges of the structures (not exclusively which is also good). and dare i say the likes of cms, an anglicanish mission agency, church army and others has also helped. (things probably look better from across the atlantic too as it can be pretty frustrating here at times!)
so...
if you are in a mainline church in the usa get the book and pass it around. if you are on in the emergent village encourage your fellow travellers as they try and work it out in the denominational context. the style of the book may not be to everyone's taste, though emerging churches by ryan bolger and eddie gibbs and spencer burke's book a few years back took a similar approach. i actually found it pretty interesting. phyllis tickle is one of the people interviewed and she sounds very hopeful about the possibilities. cheryl lawrie and karen ward have extended pieces in there, both of which are really good. nadia bolz weber, kester, pete rollins, shaine clairbourne are also interviewed.
one person i don't know, martha grace reese, is asked what concerns she has about the emerging church to which she responds that she thinks some of it is high octane and may be in danger of splitting off and doing its own thing with teh sort of attitude that says "i get some hot idea and then i want to split off from these old idiots who don't get it". the worst that could happen for the denominations is to see the emergent church go off to its own planet and the worst for emergent would be to cut itself off . she concludes saying "we need each other". i think that's a wise comment and hope it is possible in the usa...
tony jones is also interviewed. tony is a friend and one of the key people in emergent. so it pains me to say this but a couple of his answers made me wince. i have since noticed i am not alone in this. in complete contrast to martha he talks about rolling up your sleeves to overthrow organisational structures. in a book aimed at mainliners this just comes across with so much the wrong tack or tone. i just don't get why you would say that when you are the ambassador for emergent - take off the boxing gloves! tony has a new book out the new christians which i haven't seen yet but must lay things out and his vision much more comrehensively and in a different tone. some of his other writing celebrates and draws on the practices of the tradition (soul shaper and the sacred way) so that's why i was surpised. i guess it's just the nature of e-mail interviews?... anyway i hope martha's approach wins the day.
my favourite line in the book is from someone else i don't know , rick fabian, who says "tradition is a storehouse for participation" - like that a lot and will use it myself i think...
i noticed andrew jones review here that may also be of interest.
i am part of a uk network of mission leaders/practitioners/communities and am off this weekend to stay in the peak district for the weekend with about 40 people from that network which i am looking forward to and even more so now i have seen the weather forecast for the area...
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