the new economy: an introduction
the notion that as the church we’ve entered into a new age where paradigms are shifting and where ideals once loved are ruthlessly challenged is old hat. masked behind their books and blogs, the pundits have flogged this one to death, and personally, i’ve grown weary of the endless deconstruction without, what nt wright calls, creative reconstruction.
so as we wait for the dust to settle, i have a question: how does one practically navigate these waters? at theStory we’ve begun facing into this new reality by asking ourselves the following:
Ethos: What does it mean to create safe space for people to check God out but to also call people accountable to their commitment to follow Jesus?
Sundays: How do we continuing breeding a culture that values experiential learning and where questions & answers are of equal value?
Between Sundays: Continuing the dialogue and implicating ourselves into the life of our community. How does this happen?
$$: Where we’re at, where we’re headed and what we need to get there.
Leadership: Elders? Deacons? Other? Who?
Kids: What’s our responsibility in regards to kids? What role will they play as part of the community?
Potluck: So far so good, but now what?
a quick caveat: please don’t confuse this post for an infatuation with the new and a disdain for the old. in fact, quite the opposite is true. my motivation is not youthful dis-satisfaction or a false sense of entitlement but rather a concern for what it means to pastor and to be a disciple of Jesus in 2007.
truth be told, i’m haunted. in this new economy how do we practically live in the tension of remaining true to christian orthodoxy while at the same time persistent in re-articulating our faith for this present age?
over the next few blog posts i want to unpack some of my thoughts regarding this new economy through the following categories:
Accountability (for the church, leadership and laity)
Money (blurring the lines: ‘personal finances’, ‘the 100% tithe’, ‘the funnel’)
Rhythms (the weekly life of the church)
People (kissing efficiency goodbye)
Futuring (“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”)
Communication (rearticulating the sunday morning experience)
i may not tackle them in order, and i may add some along the way…maybe even one of yours if you feel like it.
Filed by Joe at May 3rd, 2007 under Rants, Church Planting
Joe,
Good stuff. I think many of us feel the frustration with all the theorizing and speculative talk that goes on in these new emerging paradigms but with seemingly little real change or action. The NT Wright thing is cool.
Thankfully, there are a many communities around the globe that we can look to for some examples of living out the gospel within these new paradigms while holding strongly to the true roots of our faith. One such community that some of us here in Calgary have been inspired by is SOMA communities of Tacoma Washington. http://www.somacommunities.org/
Jeff Vanderstelt and the Cesar guy both come from a background at willow creek. The story of how they have approached building communities and bringing the gospel into all areas of life is pretty cool. The thing that has struck me about this network of communities is the balanced tension that they live in, very much like what you mentioned in your post. They are talking about some pretty radical paradigm shifts and yet they strive to and actually do live it out in community. Pretty interesting stuff.
Check out Jeff talking about SOMA to a group of church planters at http://www.acts29network.org/multimedia/speaker/jeff-vanderstelt/
Thought I’d share that with you and anyone else who happens to check out the post.
later.
Anthony
Comment by Anthony — May 4, 2007 @ 7:48 am