Monday, January 09, 2006

My spin on things Postmodern and Emergent

By Randall Friesen
The Messenger - Spring 2006
The Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada
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When asked if I would consider writing an article on postmodernism, I confess that my initial response was to turn out the lights and hide. This task is no small feat, mainly because postmodernism is still in it's developmental stages and as a result it's not completely easy to define. However, it's influence on society and the church continues to grow.

Merriam-Webster defines postmodern as; "Relating to, or being any of several movements (as in art, architecture, or literature) that are reactions against the philosophy and practices of modern movements and are typically marked by revival of traditional elements and techniques."

At the risk of greatly overgeneralizing the discussion, postmodernism is a reaction against a Modern, ordered view of the world and against fixed ideas about the form and meaning of movements like art, architecture, and literature. It's a response against the systems of mass production and mass media.

A good question I hear many people asking is what does this mean for me and my church? How does a "postmodern" mentality affect the Church? Or does it?

Again, at the risk of overgeneralizing, this shift toward postmodern thinking is one reason why, for example, many churches have difficulty getting younger generations to attend congregational meetings. It changes the way people feel about involvement in Church programs- and even about the way those programs are fundamentally viewed. It calls into question the whole idea of how we are the church.

Our desire as Christians is to see people find salvation in Christ, and to experience all the fullness of life that God has for us. While that's our desire as followers of Christ, we have been living in a world where good processes speed up production, resulting in profit. From Henry Ford, who created the first assembly line, right down through the years, companies have sought to increase production and profit. This is done by creating processes that construct their product in the most cost effective and quickest manner possible. Increased profit follows quick, cost effective production.

This Modernistic approach has had it's effect within the church as well.

To a "modern" thinking mind, growth equals success. In a Modern Era Church, spiritual growth and development, as reflected in growing membership lists, is a sign of spiritual success. We have established structures and programs that are designed to help us get on with the life changing processes of discipleship.  Committee meetings, congregation meetings, reports and discussion are the corporate means of monitoring and evaluating the spiritual success of our churches.

Today we are faced with  a group of people who simply refuse to support the systems and structures that their more modernist forefathers created to help make disciples. In post modern thinking, meetings get in the way of relationships, and relationships are the way of making disciples.

You can see what this means for churches who are dependant on financial and volunteer support for their ongoing growth progress. Many with a postmodern worldview are leaving institutionalized churches in favour of churches in which they are not pressured to perform or produce. For the most part, these new churches have come to be known as "emerging churches", and they tend to vary from group to group.

Fuller Seminary researchers Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger spent five years collecting data and interviewing 50 leaders of emerging churches. They have been able to identify some important patterns of post-modern Christians and have published their findings in the new, well received book, "Emerging Churches -Creating Christian Community In Postmodern Cultures."

Gibbs and Bolger have identified nine core practices of emerging churches:

They 1) identify with the life of Jesus 2) transform the secular realm and 3) live highly communal lives. Because of these: they 4) welcome the stranger 5) serve with generosity 6) participate as producers 7) create as created beings 8) lead as a body and 9) take part in spiritual activities.

There is a strong sense that believers are to be disciples of Jesus Christ and his ways. Scriptures clearly indicate what his priorities were for life. As those called after his name, we too are to follow in his life choices.
 
With the modern church there has been a sense that there are secular places and there are sacred places. The secular places are those in which it's perceived that God does not reign or is not welcomed. To counter this, the church created local houses of God, -Church buildings, which were seen as sacred places. The mentality followed that if the world wanted to meet with God, it needed to come into the sacred space: The local church. Postmodern's do not recognize a secular/sacred split.

Community is a high priority for postmodern believers. They challenge us to realize that we don't experience community just because we gather in the same room Sunday mornings. Community means so much more than that. Life, growth, discipleship and worship all happen within a group of people.

Because of this, they welcome the stranger. This is a radical and gentle hospitality that is inclusive. Who are the marginalised in today's society? Who are today's lepers? They should have a place at our table and are always welcomed, no matter the stigma they carry.  

Postmodern Christians also serve with generosity. There is a generosity with this group that comes from the sense that we all are in need of the grace and love of God and because we've experienced it, we can be generous with all we have too. Remember, the intent isn't to serve an institution or organization, but people. The motivation isn't to increase the size of the organization, but to behave as Jesus called us to behave. It's simple obedience.

This leads to the next point in that they see themselves participating as producers, not cogs in a wheel of the church. They do not see themselves as parts of a system or machine designed to produce new Christians, or stronger believers. That would be seen as a lack of integrity. They involve themselves in the lives of one another, and in worship as full, caring, participants.

Being creative comes as a result of being created in the image of God, who Himself was a creator. This means that creativity is an integral  part of who we are. Let us then create and be creative, not just for the purpose of function, but for beauty and communication too.

In terms of leadership, the top down, pyramid model of leadership may work well for the business world, but this is the church. Here we will work hard to find consensus, discerning direction together. From there we move in the direction the head of the church, Jesus Christ, leads us.

Finally, there is a merging of ancient and contemporary spiritualities. The church is a lot older than a hundred years, and has spiritual disciplines available that help us connect with God in meaningful ways.  Let's look back and share in the experiences handed down from early church Fathers and Mothers. There is much there that we can benefit from spiritually today.

The authors, Gibbs and Bolger, remind us that;  "Emerging churches destroy the Christendom idea that church is a place, a meeting or a time. Church is a way of life, a rhythm, a community, a movement"



This postmodern time is a unique time in the life of the Church. It provides us with an amazing opportunity, if we are willing to listen.

We have been praying for years that God would awaken peoples hearts spiritually. That he would renew us and revive us, and bring many, many  people to Himself.

He is doing this before our very eyes.

People are open to spiritual things like they've never been before. The hunger and thirst they experience is deep and true and we have this amazing opportunity to share with them the fountain of life, Jesus Christ.

If  we are willing to keep our ways and systems from getting in the way.

What could it be like for us as the Canadian Evangelical Covenant church to reach out in new ways for new hearts to know new life?

Are we willing to pay a cost to support new initiatives that will create new groups which may look a lot different than the church we grew up in?

We need to explore different ways of being the church. When and where do we meet? Should we own a building or even have a constitution? What structures could help us?

How do we encourage our children and give them room to explore this new horizon?

This isn't about adding candles, coffee, or couches to our services. It's about whole new ways of being the church, to one another.

We can view this season as a challenge to our way of life in the church, or indeed, we can view it as an opportunity to be renewed in our relationships; With God and with one another.
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If you would like to do more reading on the emerging church I would draw your attention to a Canadian discussion about it.  www.Resonate.ca is a site you may want to check out. It will direct you to many different postmodern and emerging church resources scattered throughout the internet. 

1 comment:

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