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Our next stop on the European Emergent tour was with two leaders from the Ikon community in Belfast. We had coffee with Pete Rollins and Johnny McGuan and the conversation that transpired was illuminating.

The Ikon community was birthed out of philosophical reflection that transpired in the mind of Ikon’s founder, Pete Rollins. As a doctoral student enmeshed in post-structuralist philosophy, he was looking for a theological outlet to bolster his philosophical reflection. Before a gathering ever materialized, Pete decided that the location should be the Menagerie, a very dark and dirty pub in a back alley of Belfast. He wanted to create a space that was not separate from the world. Following an impromptu conversation with his French tutor, Pete approached the Menagerie’s owner about the possibility of having church at his pub. After a pregnant pause, the owner indicated that they were on in 3 weeks time. There was, therefore, no pre-planning of Ikon. They did not do any demographic studies or focus groups. To Pete’s surprise, 50 people showed up at their first gathering, all of who seemed to come from nowhere. Johnny was present at the first gathering.
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Theirs is an ecumenical gathering, which blurs the Catholic/Protestant line so utterly present in Northern Ireland’s recent history. Since many of Ikon’s participants are involved in various reconciliation movements for their jobs, they have opted to created a space that gets around the catholic/protestant issue.

Ikon draws from the extremes of theology. They are not a church in the traditional sense. In other words, Ikon is not a place one goes to find doctrine. In fact, Ikon, as an organization, has no doctrinal position on anything, but individuals do. As a result, our conversation with Pete and Johnny took on a different shape from typically transpires from a gathering of pastors.

One of the emphases of Ikon, which abounds in Pete’s book, How (Not) to Speak of God, is a moving away from right belief (orthodoxy) and right action (orthopraxy) to believing and behaving in the right way. Pete explained to me that they are more concerned with following the trajectory of love and liberation left in the wake of God’s continual in-breaking into human history than to halt that inertia by pinning down a set belief or doctrine at any one moment. As a result, they are always being deconstructed by themselves and have embraced this failing dimension of their community’s existence.

Half of Ikon is theory and the other half is experiential praxis. Their work is not just an intellectual exercise. Some psychologists who participate in their community, however, have noted that Ikon gatherings tend to take the form of theological therapy.

At Ikon, they embody space in a public arena. People can shout or otherwise interrupt the gathering. Drunken people sometimes interfere and are incorporated into the dynamism of the situation. This uncontrolled, messy and open environment is life-giving to the Ikon community. They have no membership; it’s a crowd. And nobody, not even the organizers, endorse everything that goes on. Pete mentioned that Ikon doesn't care about anyone. He did quickly add that, hopefully, the person sitting next to you cares.

Ikon is made up of a mixture of different people:
30%-happy with church
30-40%-have left church and are on the fringe
30-40%-no church, but spiritual

Ironically many YWAM folks who serve in Belfast are very supportive of Ikon. Most of them are young Americans who are finding it liberating to explore new ground in this way.

Ikon’s five guiding coordinates are: ikonic, apocalyptic, heretical, emerging, and failing.
Pete and Johnny see their work as ikonic in direct contradistinction from idolatry, which captures the essence of something. An Ikon, in contradistinction, points to the invisible without possessing it. Pete noted that they are not trying to tear down the church artifice so they can rebuild something else. Nor are they like archeologists trying to find a treasure. They are failing to the extent that they will never arrive and have it figured out because they are always falling short.

In the mean time, Ikon is striving to create a place to express themselves through corporate innovation and philosophical reflection. Pete concluded our conversation by quoted Meister Eckhart: God is continually speaking life into the void. At Ikon, nihilism, death, deconstruction, and space makes room for life.

Postdenominationalism? Postinstitutionalism?

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European Reflections (Part 3)