Canticles of the Unhomed
Monday, August 01, 2005
Worst Conference Ever
Worst. Conference. Ever. Needless to say, I was on the internet within moments registering my disgust throughout the world.
That was for you know who you are. :)
So I was at a church planting conference this weekend. I was asked to come speak about the Emergent Movement and my experiences as an emergent pastor and my perspective on the the new turn ministry is taking, blah, blah, blah.
I gave two addresses. First, on my perspective of the Emergent Movement as a whole, discussing influences, contrasts and distinctives. At a conference with 150 pastors, pastors' wives, elders, deacons and denominational functionaries, I was surprised (but not really I guess) to find how many people basically look at us as just the celtic prayer and a candle kind of service. For many there, any kind of discussion about missionalism just drew missionary organizations and overseas to africa kind of talk. Sad.
My second address was from the perspective of a practioner. I talked about the House, where we came from, who we are. I talked about each member of the House, and what we all brought to the table. I talked about the web of relationships and our desire to build interdependent, profound relationships. I talked about our dream of all-week church and our taking the focus OFF Sunday. I talked about living in common, and building a common rule of life while still integrating ourselves in culture and society. I talked about the changed lives and the perceived yearning people feel for this type of community. I talked about simplicity and slowing down; of letting community grow organically without engineering it. I talked about fostering a global conciousness and trying to focus on making people's lives better.
All of it fell on deaf ears, I am afraid. There was not a stellar response to what I was talking about. Most of the people (50%) accepted it with a kind of benign indifference. Others (20%) accepted it heartily and were excited about it. The rest (you can do the math) told me (usually to my face) that I was watering down the gospel, that I was unbiblical, that I was building a pseudo-catholic cult, and basically lumped in with the ultra-fringe charismatics. I was pretty sure that if it came down to a biblical argument that I could destroy them, but I thought better of it.
The schedule was grueling. There was a morning devotion that had all the substance of a watered down "Daily Bread" (I don't know how many of you will be familar with that devotional) and then the whole day was scheduled down to 10 min blocks. There was no prayer time, no worship, no spiritual exercise at all. Just boring academic presentations about demographics, promotionals, demographic tailoring, leadership development, pastoral spouse relations, etc. So you can imagine how exciting it all was for me. It was like a frickin' evangelical jamboroo!
The best part was that at least I got time to spend with my favorite person.
Other than that, WORST. CONFERENCE. EVER.
That was for you know who you are. :)
So I was at a church planting conference this weekend. I was asked to come speak about the Emergent Movement and my experiences as an emergent pastor and my perspective on the the new turn ministry is taking, blah, blah, blah.
I gave two addresses. First, on my perspective of the Emergent Movement as a whole, discussing influences, contrasts and distinctives. At a conference with 150 pastors, pastors' wives, elders, deacons and denominational functionaries, I was surprised (but not really I guess) to find how many people basically look at us as just the celtic prayer and a candle kind of service. For many there, any kind of discussion about missionalism just drew missionary organizations and overseas to africa kind of talk. Sad.
My second address was from the perspective of a practioner. I talked about the House, where we came from, who we are. I talked about each member of the House, and what we all brought to the table. I talked about the web of relationships and our desire to build interdependent, profound relationships. I talked about our dream of all-week church and our taking the focus OFF Sunday. I talked about living in common, and building a common rule of life while still integrating ourselves in culture and society. I talked about the changed lives and the perceived yearning people feel for this type of community. I talked about simplicity and slowing down; of letting community grow organically without engineering it. I talked about fostering a global conciousness and trying to focus on making people's lives better.
All of it fell on deaf ears, I am afraid. There was not a stellar response to what I was talking about. Most of the people (50%) accepted it with a kind of benign indifference. Others (20%) accepted it heartily and were excited about it. The rest (you can do the math) told me (usually to my face) that I was watering down the gospel, that I was unbiblical, that I was building a pseudo-catholic cult, and basically lumped in with the ultra-fringe charismatics. I was pretty sure that if it came down to a biblical argument that I could destroy them, but I thought better of it.
The schedule was grueling. There was a morning devotion that had all the substance of a watered down "Daily Bread" (I don't know how many of you will be familar with that devotional) and then the whole day was scheduled down to 10 min blocks. There was no prayer time, no worship, no spiritual exercise at all. Just boring academic presentations about demographics, promotionals, demographic tailoring, leadership development, pastoral spouse relations, etc. So you can imagine how exciting it all was for me. It was like a frickin' evangelical jamboroo!
The best part was that at least I got time to spend with my favorite person.
Other than that, WORST. CONFERENCE. EVER.
:: written by Matt Thompson, 1:50 PM
4 Comments:
Sometimes the only thing that brings me comfort is knowing that we emergenters have a special reserved spot at God's Table, right next to Elijah and Moses! That's correct, right?
So what sort of church planters are these? This isn't the sort of evangelicals I typically encounter. Mind you I'm part of the academic wing of the evangelical establishment so we're also often being accused of watering down the gospel, selling out to liberalism, etc. etc. etc.
I always thought evangelical church planter types tended to think more missionally than the average pew sitter did. Was this conference linked to a particular denomination or a generic affair?
I always thought evangelical church planter types tended to think more missionally than the average pew sitter did. Was this conference linked to a particular denomination or a generic affair?
Hey, you better leave the pseudo-catholic cult thing to me - I have dibs on it.
And doesn't everyone know that the Celtic prayer and candle thing is sooo 90's ? :)
