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Last Thursday, Mike Lewis and I facilitated a helpful discussion in Richmond, VA about CBF church planting with an Emergent ethos. We had around 25 people in attendance and the crowd was diverse. We joined with Bo Prosser, Coordinator for Congregational Life at CBF, to converse a bit about how the emergent conversation is connected with the missional church movement. I explained that every emergent church is by definition missional, but not every missional church is Emergent. We had other members of CBF leadership in attendance as well, including Rick Bennett (the associate coordinator for congregational life), Phil Hester (the coordinator for new church starts) Jeremy Lewis (the program manager for the CBF rural poverty initiative), Rick Clore (coordinator for Virginia CBF), Frank Broome (coordinator for CBF of Georgia), and Linda Jones (the missions coordinator for North Carolina CBF). We also had many potential and burgeoning church planters there.

Based on the initial feelers we put out, we discovered that an overview of the Emergent Conversation was necessary; both to clear the murky waters and to help curb misconceptions that some had espoused. Throughout our week in Richmond, Mike and I had heard Emergent compared to the Willow Creek/contemporary model. We tried to explain that Emergent is not a model, theres no kit one can buy to plant an emergent church. Rather, those taking the initiative to plant indigenous, organic, missional communities of faith who are also a part of the emergent conversation do so in culturally particular ways to fit their host community.

Some people present at the Richmond conversation expressed some of the standard worries expressed by evangelicals who are afraid that EV doesnt believe in absolute truth and that we are universalists. When this started, a beautiful thing occurred: the CBF leadership engaged these dissenting voices with vigor. While our digression into topics of soteriology and epistemology were lamentable, I was proud to be a part of a fellowship that had already significantly wrestled with these concepts and were able to offer a response. I think the title of one of Brians books, More Ready than You Realize, is apropos for CBF. It was a good talk and I look forward to the next venue for good beer and good conversation.

BTW: As I was exiting the Capital Ale House after our gathering, I heard a familiar voice call my name. To my surprise it was Corey Widmer, a colleague of mine at PTS and an all around great guy. He is serving as the Associate Minister for Outreach and Evangelism in Richmond. Small world!

posted by Jake at 8/30/2006 09:13:00 AM

Pete the Binary Slayer

While on vacation, I read one of the best books yet coming out of the emergent conversation. Pete Rollins’ book, How (Not) to Speak of God, is now being moved to my Jake Recommends list and will from now on be on my list of book recommendations to emergent seekers who contact me. Below, I would like to share a few of my impressions in order to persuade you to read the book for yourself. I’m sure that Pete would appreciate you buying the book rather than me telling you all of the details. So, I would like to share with you what I perceive he is up to in this book.
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Rollins offers us a thoroughgoing postcolonial theology; however, not in the traditional sense of the phrase. Instead, he is trying to move us away from the hegemony of our god-language and the dogmatic ideologies that enslave us (i.e. from the language that colonizes God!). Pete’s eclectic a/theology is a witty blend of postmodern mysticism coupled with an existential pragmatism. Throughout the book, he weaves the suggestion that a hermeneutic of love ought to be the regula fidae of emerging Christianity. I can think of no better rule of faith.

Like Derrida, Rollins is amply aware of the limits of language. Apropos, he is constantly bringing words under erasure (ex. a/theology is a concept connoting both the death of “traditional theology” while at the same time giving life to a new rendering of theological reflection in the aftermath of God). Even his title—How (Not) to Speak of God—is a playful, de/constructive twist that subverts our preconceived ideas about God language.
Like Levinas, he otherwises the hegemony of language. Like both writers, he plays with language as a cat plays with a ball of string

Rollins is trying to move us beyond traditional conceptions of orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right action) to believing and acting in the right way. This is not mere wordplay, but is a crucial distinction. He says more plainly than most, that deconstruction is not something that we do to texts, rituals, institutions, etc. Rather, it is something that they do to themselves. For instance, he writes:

[T]hose involved in the [emergent] conversation are not explicitly attempting to construct or unearth a different set of beliefs that would somehow be more appropriate in today’s context, but rather, they are looking at the way in which we hold the beliefs that we already have. This is not then a revolution that seeks to change what we believe, but rather one that sets about transforming the entire manner in which we hold our beliefs. (7)

One of the best things about Rollins’ book is his advocating for a tertium quid out of the either/or thinking spurred by proponents of modernity. And this third way transcends a mere both/and approach, but dialectically subsumes both terms. To this extent, Rollins takes his rightful place next to the great binary slayers of history: Socrates, Jesus and Kierkegaard.

To name but a few examples, Rollins bridges the Kantian chasm between perception and knowledge. He also presses us to rethink theology as being either a priori or a posteriori and God as the object of our theologizing or theology as the aftermath of God, who is the eternal subject. He slashes the binaries of journey/destination, revelation/concealment and reflection/experience. Check out this quote:

Yet in reality the Christian God destroys the idea of immanence and transcendence as opposite points in a diffuse spectrum, replacing this with the idea that immanence and transcendence are one and the same point: God remains transcendent amidst immanence precisely because God remains concealed amidst revelation. (24-5)

Rollins' a/theistic approach (emergent approach) puts words behind a form of "disbelieving what one believes, or rather, believing in God while remaining dubious concerning what one believes about God" (26). This a/theism makes the point that faith is found in the uncomfortable oscillation between understanding and ignorance, because "our reflections on God never bring us to God” (32).

He wants our a/theology to resist hypostasis or comfortability. Instead, he presses us to live in the unpleasant position of true faith—undecidability. This derridian liminal space forces us to embrace doubt as a necessary component of faith and undecidability as the nexus of authentic decision.

Rollin's book is a helpful guide as we journey on this path we call postmodern Christianity. His book is akin to this statement he makes about Emergent Village worldwide: “the emerging community must endeavor to be a question rather than an answer and an aroma rather than a food” (42). Read this book! It is worth every penny of the $13.57 you would spend on it at Amazon and so much more.

posted by Jake at 8/25/2006 08:26:00 AM

CBF Emergence Coming to Richmond

The last few venues in which we discussed issues of emergence within CBF have gone extremely well. The Atlanta meeting served as a general overview of some of the salient points of similarity between CBF and EV. The Chattanooga gathering led us into a more in-depth treatment of an emerging vision of hope that many of us see within the Fellowship. Now I would like to invite any and all who are interested to a third gathering that will surpass the others both in specificity and casualness.

Mike Lewis, a church planter in Hoover, AL, was a strong contributor at the Chattanooga gathering. There he expressed his passion for church planting and his desire to facilitate new church start initiatives. Mike was also one of several key CBF leaders who participated in a meeting hosted in Nashville last May to discuss the possibilities of "forging a church-starts culture within the national CBF movement." That meeting, which included leaders from four state CBF groups as well as the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, was an essential first step toward fueling such a culture. Those of us within CBF who are also a part of the emergent conversation see hope materializing on the horizon in the form of a potential partnership between the two organizations. That hope, for me, is most poignant in the area of new church starts.

Next week, Mike and I will both be participating in a Church Planters Boot Camp hosted at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. For those of you who might find yourself at this boot camp, live within the Richmond area, or are willing to drive there, you are welcome to meet Mike and I at the Capital Ale House to chat about planting emergent communities in partnership with CBF. This gathering is open to inquisitors from both sides. In other words, we welcome those of you who are a part of the emergent conversation and want to explore the possibilities of participating in the church starts culture being generated within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Likewise, this conversation will serve as a forum for exploration for those of you who have found a comfortable space under the CBF umbrella and would like to explore the fecundity of the emergent conversation from your context.

We will be meeting at the pub around 8:00 PM on Thursday, August 24. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Additionally, we will need to call ahead for reservations if we have more than 8 people, so if you would like to attend please let me know. Peace.

posted by Jake at 8/16/2006 02:02:00 PM

Back to Work

Vacation was wonderful. Lots of sun. Lots of cold coronas. Time with the family. It was great! We spent three days in Jacksonville with my family and high school friends and five days with Abby's parents down on Long Key. While we were in the Keys we also took some day trips down to Key West (I had my second cheeseburger in paradise @ Margarittaville...HEAVEN!) and Isla Mirada. One day we snorkeled on a boat my father-in-law rented and got to swim with an enormous sea turtle.

I also had lots of time to kick back and relax. I read Pete Rollins' excellent new book, How (Not) to Speak of God. (I'll post a review of it later.) I even got a chance to do a bit of running over the bridges down there. That was important because it helped to offset the Key Lime Pies, beers, fried calamari, and lobster that I indulged in. Last night when we returned I stepped back on the scale with trepidation and discovered that I had gained 4 pounds. Not too bad for a post-vacation weigh in. That means I'll need to really kick it in the ass to lose 9 pounds by my 9/11 deadline. Now I get to catch up on all of the work that I missed while I was away. Peace.

posted by Jake at 8/16/2006 08:35:00 AM

Ahh, Vacation At Last

Tomorrow morning we leave for a much needed vacation. With Abby's hectic school schedule, tomorrow begins a 9 day window between summer school, her graduate research assistantship and the Fall semester. We'll be heading down to the Florida Keys for some R & R for five days and then back up to Jacksonville to spend some time with family and friends.

As you may have figured out by the paucity of my posts as of late, I've been pretty much running on fumes for the last few weeks. I am looking forward to some time away to recharge and play in the Florida sun. Hopefully, I'll come back with some more stuff to blog about. Peace.

posted by Jake at 8/06/2006 06:17:00 PM

Chattanooga Gathering

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about this meeting last week. What can I say? Life is busy.

A group of about 18 folks gathered in Chattanooga last Thursday to converse about Emergent Village and CBF. Mike Young, of Tennessee CBF, facilitated the conversation. The gathering was comprised of a wide variety of people who are all connected in some way to EV and CBF. We had church planters, CBF employees, PhD candidates, pastors, non-profit workers, ministry residents, a publisher, a journalist and even a chemist coming from three states.

We began the conversation with an overview of the similarities that already exist between EV and CBF. Both groups find value in diversity, foster a loose affiliation centered around four core convictions, are passionate about partnering with like-minded groups to facilitate kingdom work, unequivocally affirm women in ministry, honor trust rather than suspicion, and appreciate fellowship as a kingdom value. There were other comparisons made that I didn't write down.
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Next we delved into a discussion about the differences between CBF and traditional denominational structures. It was very helpful to have people like Bo Prosser there, who played an active role in the formation of CBF. Here is what emerged. One person described CBF as the car we are riding in for missional ministry. We chose to ride in this vehicle as long as it is heading in the right direction. Most CBF folks were fleeing from the control and institutionalism of the SBC. Those who saw that ship sink under fundamentalism have learned not to place their trust in institutions.

CBF seeks to facilitate missional work through partnerships, intentional friendships, and networking. Denominations are controlling, even constricting institutions. They want to keep their thumb on things they support, forever. Not so with CBF. CBF desires to partner with other individuals and groups as peers, regardless of size. So, if denominations can tend to digress into the wicked step mother in Cinderella, CBF is like the genie in Aladdin. In other words, denominations are restricting and constricting institutions while CBF is an enabling and equipping fellowship. One person commented that CBF is constituted by "semi-religious institutionalism, that doesn't want to be institutional." Doctoral candidate and Texas Hold'em aficionado, Eric Barreto, suggested that denominations are about authority and that that authority is manifested in three ways: ideology, cash and institutions. Denominations want to control these things. We all found Eric's points helpful.

Next we discussed the phenomenon of CBF Emergence. Many were in agreement that both CBF and EV gatherings "feel like home." We seek a movement within a fellowship, a humble gathering within a gathering. The passion of many of those attending the Chattanooga conversation was to create intentional space within CBF life for the emergent conversation to emerge. We are interested in facilitating a network within the fellowship. Some even shared their passions for this generative fellowship. Mike Lewis, planter of Fellowship of the Valley in Birmingham, shared his passion for facilitating new church start initiatives. Jon Spencer, pastor of Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta, said that he is passionate about working with traditional pastors who are trying to emerge within established churches. Mike Young shared his passion for connecting people to form dynamic partnerships. My passion is to bring CBF and EV into an official partnership whereby CBF can help fund and support EV initiatives and EV can help educate CBF about kingdom work in this emerging culture.

I thought that the conversation was a wonderful first effort in what I imagine will be an ongoing discussion. Soon I will be working with EV and CBF leadership to broker this partnership. Hopefully, a generative, symbiotic partnership will emerge. Peace.

The Richmond Conversation

Pete the Binary Slayer

CBF Emergence Coming to Richmond

Back to Work

Ahh, Vacation At Last

Chattanooga Gathering