On Monday we began two days of work on Emergence Christianity. In the morning we heard a lecture by Phylis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence, and in the afternoon, a lecture by Diana Butler Bass, historian and author. The lectures were followed by three workshops focusing on different aspects of emergence. I attended a workshop by Tom Brackett, Congregational Developer from the Church Center, and Stephanie Spellers of The Crossing Community in Boston, on ways to encourage and support the development of emergent congregations in our dioceses. We in Maine have already begun such work at the Cathedral, but it’s clear that our work will need continuing exploration and development if it is to be successful.
We continue our conversations on Emergence Christianity tomorrow. Our business meeting is Wednesday. On Thursday, I’ll travel home to Maine.
…emergenT, emergenT….
“Count me (and the other bishops) a-gnostic, except for the melding of the organization and culture! After Spong, this material is kindergarten stuff!”
It has been a mystery to me what, exactly, in the emergent churches these bishops are interested in, unless they think it is some manner of getting youth and numbers without having to be a church that takes the gospel seriously. I don’t want to start a thread on the good and bad of the emergent church, but these bishops are seriously mistaken if they think this will give them some magic solution to get young people to suddenly support the same old self-centered and watered-down things most of their diocese are involved in and not interested in changing.