Jurgen Moltman Emergent Village podcast

One of the best podcasts this year from Emergent Village in the USA. There main conference had Theologian Jurgen Moltmann as the guest speaker.

Moltmann said a lot of interesting things. One that got me thinking. When he was lecturing in German during the 1960's the question on young German mind in theological colleges was. 'What is the Church?'. When he went over to the States during the same decade the Theological students in American main questions was 'How do you run a Church?'.

Interesting that over forty years later the question 'What is the Church' is now been seriously asked by American Christian through the 'missional' and 'emergent' voices of Christianity.

Denominational Distinctivness

An interesting blog from 'Christianity Today'

Amid ongoing debate over the vitality or usefulness of denominations today, CT has observed that many denominational meetings of late have debated the merits of reinforcing denominational distinctives vs. loosening them in favor of focusing on evangelism.

Its an interesting. When at the Vineyard I could see this, a lot of discussion on values/distinctiveness. In the end the values and distinctives where pretty broad. Yet I wouldn't say that the Churches reflected this.  Most really pushed the 'Ministry' stuff. Only one or two where really different.
I can understand to how a missional focus can deteriorate what is or was a denominational distinctive. Makes sense.

Solace, Sunday @ the Forge 2nd intensive

On Sunday morning instead of been at Ranges we headed to Solace EMC in Fairfield as part of the 2nd Forge intensive. I had heard a lot about Solace so I was pretty happy to attend.

1) We attended the "Solace Sunday Stuff", a bit of a blurb on that from there web site

Sunday Stuff is hosted by Fairfield SPACE (and contributes time and effort into the facilities and connecting to other parts if Fairfield SPACE in return). Sunday Stuff is a gathering of people who pray, worship, learn from the Bible and fellowship together. There are no requirements to conform to a specific set of beliefs, but the gathering is centred on the life and teachings of Jesus.

I really did think this was one of the first times that we really participated as a family at Church. There was a real effort to intergate all ages which I realy appreciated. Kids been Kids was no problem. (Phew) I was also under the impression that Solace was a lot larger. It was about the same or a little smaller than us at Ranges.

2) I could see that they have identified similar issues as us. It would appear that Solace EMC Vineyard Cataylst Network, have a bit of an overlap. The ideas of being a "network" as well as "self directed groups" spring to mind.

3) Connection with the Anglican Church. Olivia was asked a few times about the formal relationship with the Anglican church (Not by myself). I felt that the answers were rather complicated in nature and that most probably there were a few difficulties. What was made quite clearly was that Solace EMC was incorporated independently of the Anglican Church.

4) Interested that they put the EMC on there name. Emergent Missional Church. A lot of pastors are thinking through this stuff but, not actually claiming it. Especially the "Emergent" side of the conversation.

5) Money, I'm not sure how many people are on "staff", but even if they employed one person full time I don't think that this congregation would able to support them. I wonder if some funding comes in from the Anglicans or the OP Shop?

I couldn't talk up Solace enough. Overall you feel that it is a safe place where people are encouraged to find where they fit with Spirituallity, and there is no rush. That the compartmentalness of large churches is just not part of there thinking. It would certainly be an option for us if we didn't have Ranges.

Forge intensive, 2009, @ Northern Church of Christ

Just a few thoughts...

*I didn't meet anyone from the pioneering stream. Once upon a time there was only the pioneering stream.

*Most of the people who I met were getting accredited from bible colleges or just decided to do a one off intensive.

*It would appear that most people are in mainstream churches, that some are exploring the idea of transitioning.

*It was good to hear Alan Hirsch speak. I have this nagging question. Is Alan still a pioneering practitioner. Or has he turned his hand at helping churches mainly large, in transitioning. I suspect the latter. 

*It was good to hang out with people who are exploring mission and missional theory to an Australian context.

*Christina spoke well on sustainability, lots of positive feedback.

An evening with Deb and Alan Hirsch

Tonight myself and the girls went to an evening with Deb and Alan Hirsch. This post is done on the iPhone so sorry about the quality. I've just jotted down the main points.

Deb's reflections.

US

Sevice based. Can do. We can do ideas.

Aussie

Rather cynical, what you see is what you get. Authentic but a little bit rude.

A lot more competition with Australian Churches.
A negative spirit in the church, within Australia.

Alan thoughts

Warning against missional liberalism. (would have liked to have seen this unpacked a bit)

A synergy happening with larger churches and new missional thinking.

US will be where western church is turned around.

There were a lot more points, but these got me pondering.