emergence as re:formation
a quick post while i remember... i am slowly coming to the following definition of emerging church:
'the cross-cultural re:formation of christian community in conversation with postmodern culture'
this definition is at least sufficient to imply the following things:
1. emergence is what happens when christian community intentionally engages with contemporary culture
2. engagement with contemporary culture is registered in terms of a theological conversation within an emerging postmodern paradigm
3. theological conversation is properly at the service of cross-cultural mission - existing church culture aiming at a more indigenous, contextual, and enculturated expression of the gospel
4. emerging expressions of the gospel arise from both the RE:formation of existing church communities and the re:FORMATION of new church plants by those communities
5. RE:formation (transitioning to a more missional community) and re:FORMATION (planting fresh expressions of church) are inseparably related aspects of emerging church life
Obviously, a work in progress!...
'the cross-cultural re:formation of christian community in conversation with postmodern culture'
this definition is at least sufficient to imply the following things:
1. emergence is what happens when christian community intentionally engages with contemporary culture
2. engagement with contemporary culture is registered in terms of a theological conversation within an emerging postmodern paradigm
3. theological conversation is properly at the service of cross-cultural mission - existing church culture aiming at a more indigenous, contextual, and enculturated expression of the gospel
4. emerging expressions of the gospel arise from both the RE:formation of existing church communities and the re:FORMATION of new church plants by those communities
5. RE:formation (transitioning to a more missional community) and re:FORMATION (planting fresh expressions of church) are inseparably related aspects of emerging church life
Obviously, a work in progress!...
posted by Phil at
11:40 AM
2 Comments:
Philip .. good stuff .. how do you relate "postmodern culture" with the wider global perspective?
I'm biased as an Asian here :-)
By
Sivin Kit, at 6:37 PM
hi sivin,
at one level, i expect 'postmodernity' may be a particular way of describing contemporary western culture... and one that not all westerners would agree on! insofar as it is connected to a kind of technocratic consumer capitalism that is spreading aroung the world, it certainly has global ramifications, even in places that may not have experienced modernity as we have.
how does this kind of discourse relate to your asian context? and where is 'here'?
By
Phil, at 5:48 AM
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