postmodernpilgrim

Recently had a friend ask me this question. Where to start right? I referenced them to obvious websites (emergent village, the ooze, etc.) and books ( McLaren's trilogy, Jones' most recent work, Emerging Manifesto of Hope and Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches , etc.) but also offered the following attempt at explanation. Let me know if I did this question any justice. "Explaining the emergent church movement is, for many including myself, a little like nailing jell-o to a wall. I find that to really define the emergent church movement, you need to read a little and visit different . One of the easiest and most accessible books I recommend to assist you in figuring this out is Gibbs and Bolger ’s Emerging Churches. In it Gibbs and Bolger offer, I believe one of the most articulate and correct definitions of some of what lies beneath the emergent church movement: “Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures...

As I was reading Tim Keel's Intuitive Leadership , came across a couple of profound items to share. Highly recommend this book that was recommended to me by friend Phil Shepherd. In it, Keel explores the idea of story and how we, as the church, desperately need to re-orient ourselves around the context of being present in an unfolding and dynamic story. "We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time." - T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding " "We no longer live in the world of modernity. Oh, it's still out there, but not in the same way. We are indebted to it and wary of it, and well we should be. It's our story. But the story is moving on. The world is changing. Reality is in flux. Unfortunately, it seems as though the church is in denial, and if not outright denial, then confusion that leads, on one hand to often ill- conceived reaction and, on the other hand,...

As University UMC closes its study on Revelation as a part of reading the New Testament together in 2008, the words from Revelation 21:6 have stuck with me throughout the past two weeks: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life." (NRSV) I am continually reminded during the past weeks that, as the Scripture states, God is the God of beginning and end providing the water of life for the thirsty. As I close the chapter of my internship with this congregation, these words have offered me a great deal of comfort. But I have also been reminded that God is a God of resurrection and new life and the God of everything in between the beginning and the end as well. These are truly comforting words as we go forward as a congregation and as a United Methodist Church from our recent General Conference here in Fort Worth. I am confident that in all things, we are made new in the love and grace o...