Do you have your d-min? Are you ready to exercise your d-min?
This conference is interesting… and seems to be a little bit more of a networking…
I have had a lot of really good conversations. I do miss my family, my girls, and my wife. I look forward to seeing them and welcoming our newest daughter into the world. I have made some great new friends, learned more about some old friends, and have learned a lot about myself.
The emerging church is an interesting beast… The church is something we need, meaning the ELCA or whatever large denomination you are with is something we need. As Karen Ward says “we all need someone in the dingy.” We all need to go out ahead of the rest and scout out what is happening… We need to be in the dingy, and scout out the place, and seek out where God is working to go there and join God. But if the dingy does not have the big boat, then the dingy will be lost in the greatness of the waters, and without the dingy, the main boat will not really know what is coming up…
That is why the emerging church is the hidden church coming up… Making itself visible. the church is a thriving organism, a living being. It is kind of like planting a resturant. If you are with Friendly’s, then you would scout for a location that does not have a Friendly’s, and then you would get the floor plans from corporate, and you would get the menu from corporate, and you would get mock schedules from corporate, and you would build and do this Friendly’s. Now you could tell the people who would come, because they are the people who go to Friendly’s. If they like Friendly’s they will come… But yet think about the organic resturant. If you wanted to do a resturant to atract the community. Then this would have to be an organism, a living being. One would have to do a study of the community. You would have to discover their likes and dislikes. What they were allergic to, and what they found to be foul. If you discovered that over 50% of the population was lactos intollurant, then you probably would not want ice cream to be one of the main menu items. The resturant would have a different feel depending on the community. The floor plans would be different for Orlando, then in Gettysburg. the menu would be different. It is contextual and it is a living organism. It is what the people in that community want and need. Why do we think there should be a cookie cutter method to the church, when the model of the contexual emerging church applied to other things, leads us to the conclusion it will always be different?
Exercise your d-min and go forth in the dingy serving God.
aSacredRebel 