We awoke this morning to the rumbles of yet more thunder. Another rainy day at the beach. I set to reading quickly as I knew this evening would be spent in North Myrtle Beach helping to celebrate the 40th birthday of a dear friend.
The Emerging Church, by Dan Kimball, occupies me this day. It is an engaging and challenging examination of current cultural trends and realities and the implications for the ministry of the rapidly diminishing Christian Church in this country. Consider this excerpt...:
"The unchurched population in the United States is so extensive that, if it were a nation, it would be the fifth most populated nation on the planet after China, the former Soviet Union, India and Brazil. Thus, our unchurched population is the largest mission field in the English-speaking world and the fifth largest globally.
...As we approach ministry to the emerging culture - a post-Christian mission field - we need to use the same approach we would employ entering a foreign culture. We cannot go on seeing ourselves simply as pastors and teachers; we need to see ourselves as a new kind of missionary."
I have completed the theory and background section of Kimball's work. Now it's on to the methodology and implications section. I commend this to you, as I do his website (linked on this blog).
Enjoy today's brevity! However, I suspect that digging more deeply into this reading is going to produce more than lengthy blog postings. I am convinced that Kimball is on to something that might serve as the solid foundation of a much-needed reform in the church of Jesus. But then, our particular tribe has a colorful history of leading church reformations.
God's richest blessings to you this day!
God's richest blessings to you this day!
2 comments:
Your post highlights something that has fascinated me for years - US churches sending missions to South America and Africa, where church membership and growth outstrip that in the US!
The church I'm attending here just sent a mission trip to Mexico - when any of our members could climb their own steeple with a rifle, fire off 30 rounds in 30 different directions in downtown Maumee, Ohio, and likely never hit another Christian.
Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about br'er Kimball, oh reverend one!
This past week we shared parts of your July 9 post with the Centered Life team. We agreed that CL is already trying to help folks see themselves as apostles, literally "ones who are sent out" into the world to minister each day. We just have been using different language for the same goals. We were also stimulated to begin developing new effectiveness measurement tools at our next meeting.
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