Fawnix ...A-M (Emerging Church)

My wife and I thoroughly enjoy the multi-cultural diversity of American society. In our community, you can overhear people speaking Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Farsi, Greek, Italian, Russian, Yiddish, Sanskrit, Vietnamese, Thai, Punjabi, French, German, and Arabic. We’re inquisitive, outgoing people. It is not uncommon for us to befriend the couple seated adjacent to us in a restaurant who are speaking another language. We always ask them if they can at least teach us how to say please, thank you and nice to meet you. They enjoy it as much as we do. Try it sometime. You will meet some wonderful people.

The English mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once said: The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them.[i] I had the opportunity to participate in this adventure last week during the fifth- annual Soularize: A Learning Party gathering in Venice Beach, Calif. Attended by roughly one hundred people from all over the U.S., and conferees from countries including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The central focus of the three-day event was emerging Christianity. As stated by one author, “Sometimes in religious history seemingly inconsequential happenings in obscure places turn out to have enormous repercussions.”[ii] I have the distinct feeling that this author’s comments about Azusa Street in Los Angeles on April 14, 1906 may aptly characterize what occurred at Soularize in Venice Beach, Calif. in March 2005. Let me explain.

I emerged from the Soularize gathering with a deep appreciation for the sincerity of a group of people who are distinctly concerned about the present conundrum that Christianity finds itself in here in the U.S., and throughout the world. As I listened to the Soularize dialogue, I was reminded of what Theologian Leonard Sweet wrote in his most recent book: “Sadly, the church is too busy connecting people with the memory of Jesus, the Jesus who “once was” or the promise of the returning Christ who “is to come.” Meanwhile, the church is neglecting the Jesus who “is right now.”[iii] The folks I met and listened to at this conference recognize that the Christian adventure has unnecessarily lost its vitality for far too many. They are aware that stale ideas and institutions have misled us. They’re doing something about it.

Although the language spoken at Soularize was English, it was clear to me that a new message is being conveyed, a new vocabulary is emerging that yearns for further definition; the vitality of the precious truth that gives life to the mystery of the adventure of post-modern Christianity is being redefined. A new form is emerging. This is Fawnix: Attempting to spell, pronounce and describe the form and meaning of the dialogue alive within emerging Christianity, the offspring of our dear Lord Jesus.

In the following section, I have attempted to capture and convey the essence of what I heard at Soularize. I do so in all humility. Any attempts to produce terms that characterize a dialog are fraught with risks for misinterpretation. Please forgive me if I have erred. However, taking a risk of this nature is exactly how words are formed that provide the basis for common reference points that serve to promote understanding, convey meaning and invite others into the dialog. The following terms also establish a baseline from which these initial definitions can be revised to more accurately reflect the content of what is being said. Finally, it is my sincere hope that this attempt will cause others to contribute to the formation of the emerging language of the NexTestament: those called by Christ to redefine His witness to this world. Now.

At this juncture, you may be asking yourself, what is all this stuff about emerging Christianity? Or where is this guy going with all this? I will allow a quote from Henri Nouwen to speak toward this: “A Christian community is therefore a healing community not because wounds are cured and pains are alleviated, but because wounds and pains become openings or occasions for a new vision. Mutual confession then becomes a mutual deepening of hope, and sharing weakness becomes a reminder to one and all of the coming strength.”[iv] Stay with me as we ponder the essence of what I was able to recognize as oozing into this emerging form.

wesum – In the Christian church today, the neatly packaged formula of one plus one plus one does not equal three anymore. The sum is distinctly less than that. It doesn’t have to add up to this. However, business as usual just won’t cut it anymore. As author Tom Sine writes, “Business as usual won’t even begin to equip us to deal with the challenges of the new millennium. A number of our tried and true methods of being the church won’t carry us very far into the future. And I am convinced a little tinkering and fine-tuning won’t be of much help in our lives, churches or Christian organizations. We will need to find ways to reinvent how we live our lives and act out our faith.”[v] The emerging Christian (hereinafter “EC”) understands that ours is the Christ of more…much more. He will become more as we free ourselves from the limits of the packages, formulas and restraints that we have come to confine Him within. Jesus is awesum. It is within Him we shall find our all.

ttension – There exists a conspicuously recognizable tension within Christianity today. As Francis Schaeffer said, “If we are unexcited Christians, we should go back and see what is wrong. We are surrounded by a generation that can find “no one home” in the universe. If anything marks our generation, it is this.”[vi] The EC’s are excited about the body of evidence that Christianity is headed in the wrong direction. I am not characterizing cheerleaders for the demise of the established church! On the contrary, these are people who possess a respectful appreciation for the present conundrum and have the courage to begin exploring new pathways out of the maze. Together. Acting upon the sincere desire to begin the journey to discover more of Him requires challenging what we think we know, letting go of what we have become comfortable with while reaching for the outstretched grasp of Christ from a posture that requires repositioning our relationship to Him. This is attension.

yondaries – The EC understands the urgent necessity to move beyond the boundaries presently defined by mainstream Christianity. Emerging Christianity is not about pushing the envelope or creating a new one. The postage was paid on Calvary. However, the language and posture that one uses to communicate the good news matters. It is recognition of the truth that we continue to be confronted by His words in John 13: "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."[vii] Well, it’s later. The only time we have to seek Him is now. EC’s possess a reverent skepticism that the legitimate outpouring of the realization referred to above, will originate from within the reservoir of the established church. God has a penchant for using unschooled, ordinary people to reveal His vision, might, love, grace, glory and mercy.[viii] EC’s are people who recognize the present opportunity to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, moving beyond existing, man-made boundaries into byondaries.

come – As theologian Dallas Willard writes, “When we bring people to believe differently, they really do become different. One of the greatest weaknesses in our teaching and leadership today is that we spend so much time trying to get people to do things good people are supposed to do, without changing what they really believe.” [ix] (emphasis is mine). EC’s understand that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a process, not an event. To bcome like Christ is a holy, precious dimension of His gift to us that must be treasured and nurtured in our daily lives. In bcoming, we must challenge the authenticity and results of the effort and mindset involved in attempting to try to get good people to do what they are supposed to do. Perhaps, to bcome like Christ has less to do with mental assent to doctrine, established religious rituals, beliefs and theology and more to do with a relationship with Him.

ounticultural – The EC regards the multi-cultural reality of our existence as real-life expressions of the abundance of Christ. It is through immersion within this diversity that we experience His bounty. Yet, the established Christian church remains one of the most segregated institutions on earth. The term multi-cultural diversity is used most frequently to identify a gate leading into the fenced yard of another. A bounticultural removes the fences. The EC embraces the signature of Jesus in all of it’s bounticultural form and is dedicated to creating new outlets with others to participate joyfully in the breadth and depth of all of His creation. As expressed by Brennan Manning: “The ranks of the cadre transcend all class distinctions between male and female, progressive and conservative, charismatic and traditional, clergy and laity, young and old. All differences dissolve in the unifying love of the Spirit (Galatians 3:38). The sole requirement for membership is the experiential awareness of Jesus as our saving Lord, surrender to the sway of the Holy Spirit, and stable commitment to the mission of building the new heavens and the new earth under the signature of Jesus.”[x]

hainge – Change almost always involves escaping from restraints that bind us. Involves. I adore the story of Peter in Acts chapter twelve where he is imprisoned, surrounded by guards and bound by chains. “ When the angel appeared to Peter, “He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. [xi] In our world today, the EC recognizes that we are somehow imprisoned within our own theology, rituals and practices. We must awaken to the voice of Christ shouting “Quick, get up!” Change requires assuming a new posture allowing Him to release us from the chains that restrain us, for His glory. It’s time to chainge.

hristiamnesia – We must remember that we are created with the capacity to forget. The EC appreciates the fact that not everything we have learned about Christ, Christianity, others, and ourselves is useful for the present journey. We need to allow ourselves to succumb to Christiamnesia; the ability to replace what we think we know about the sufficiency and/or inadequacy of our relationship with Jesus Christ. We hunger and thirst to be restored by Him who makes all things new. Christiamnesia is a gift to be embraced rather than a disease to be inoculated against.

omforthable – The comfort of what the church has created has spawned a sea filled with couch potato Christians lethargically lounging around, intent upon protecting the status quo. “The vision is central but the passion is missing. Happy with how things are going, the organization stops taking risks. There is a power shift that happens internally. Leaders become caretakers, and the most listened-to individuals are the accountants and financial managers. Instead of seeking new hills to take, the mind-set becomes protectionist: The group starts getting defensive rather than aggressive, hoping to protect what it has rather than winning what it could have.”[xii] It’s time to abandon the comforts of the couch and come forth, embracing the risks, fears and discomfort within the authentic adventure of following the living Christ into this world.

o.u.b.t. – Jesus defined the essence of doubt for us in John 11:26 asking, “Do you believe this?"[xiii] The emerging Christian embraces doubt as a gateway to unexplored caverns of faith. One author characterizes the essence of this matter in the following: “We do not fulfill our commission to spread the gospel when we refuse to hear the doubters, the skeptics, and their criticisms. We blame the devil, the culture, and the media for everything when perhaps we should prayerfully listen to what is being said and discerningly sort through it for some better ways to represent our Lord and reach out to others.”[xiv] Once again, contemplate the contemporary challenge within words of Christ; “Do you believe this?"

-raisers – The EC knows that the results being produced by the machinery of the established church are suspect. As George Barna notes, “The American Church is the world’s primary exporter of cheap grace. At some point though, poor products come back to haunt the producer. Welcome to the haunting time.”[xv] It’s time to confront the reality of the results produced by the machine. “Christ told us to judge by results…Our careless lives set the outer world talking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity.”[xvi] It’s time to evaluate the current measures of productivity that perpetuate mediocrity as acceptable results within the Christian community. It’s time to raise the bar. This will likely involve erasing established measures of success and erecting new one’s. The people engaged in this process are the e-raisers.

all-lowers – The EC recognizes the necessity to assume a new posture. Instead of Christians masquerading as something we are not, it’s high time to get real. “If they cannot look upon us and say,” These are real people,” nothing else is enough. Far too often young people become Christians and then search among the church’s ranks for real people, and have a hard task finding them. All too often evangelicals are paper people.”[xvii] This involves a humble repentance, a falling to one’s knees before Christ confessing that we are done pretending. For many of us this will require downward mobility; relinquishing stations in life that prevent us from being what He has created us to be, assuming positions that are lower in the eyes of this world, for His glory. It is in this posture as fall-lowers where vast, undiscovered dimensions of His abundance will be revealed to us.

eez us? – The people I met at Soularize possessed one striking characteristic; a reverent humility about the call of Christ on their lives. Francis Schaeffer captured the essence of what I am attempting to convey when he wrote, “The people who receive praise from the Lord Jesus will not in every case be the people who hold leadership in this life. There will be many persons who were sticks of wood that stayed close to God and were quiet before Him, and were used in power by Him in a place which looks small to men.”[xviii] The EC’s I met are able to overcome the worthiness measures the world assigns to people and embrace with reverent awe the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. These are people who did not plan to be where they’re at. They are the Geez us? crowd. The spirit of this characterization is illuminated in the following: “Once man has regained sufficient humility to confess that ideals have been dishonored and that his condition is a reproach, one obstruction has been removed.”[xix]

is-story – His story is being written every moment of every day. The EC has a deep appreciation for this reality. A.W. Tozer states, “God wills that we should push on into His presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held; it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day.”[xx] Jesus is alive. We do not celebrate a historical figure and/or some sort of distant memory. The sacred holiness of His love is displayed each and every day. His-story is not limited to yesterday. It is today. It is tomorrow. It is now.

magitation – An element of agitation exists within the imagination of emerging Christianity. Author Donald Kraybill reminds us about this characteristic as displayed by Jesus, “But when the religious practices grew stale he turned them upside down and inside out and called them to their original reason for being. He refused to bless religious structures, which ranked people by pious deeds. He replaced the machinery of formalized religion with compassion and love.”[xxi] For the EC, this involves holding the tension of being part of something being formed that necessarily involves departing from the security and comfort of that which already exists. This is imagitation.

now-ledge - “It is fools, they say, who learn by experience. But since they do at least learn, let a fool bring his experience into the common stock that wiser men profit by it.”[xxii] Know what? These notions about being in the know have led Christianity in America to a place where we have succumbed to belief that we’ve finally arrived at the ledge…the end of the road. I call it the know-ledge. It’s a destination where we stand perched atop a vantage point, triumphantly gazing out across the vast expanse of history, the present, and the future and proudly proclaim, “We’ve made it! The EC recognizes the danger in all this. At this juncture, a verse from 1 Corinthians provides the startling truth we require to be roused from our complacency, “2The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” [xxiii] Emerging Christians have a sneaking suspicion that the wisdom of what we know is less than what we require. As the Scripture says: 18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.[xxiv] It’s not that we require more knowledge, we require more intimate relationship with Him.

istun – One of my favorite songs is an old one by Out of the Grey. It’s called He Is Not Silent. The words to the main chorus are, “He is not silent. We are not listening.” It has been said, “God is not honored when the church refuses to learn.”[xxv] The EC’s I met at Soularize recognized the limitations of the ways they have been taught to hear God’s voice. Furthermore, they were excited about learning new ways to hear Him. This involves unleashing ourselves from the limitations of the ways we have learned to listen for His voice, opening ourselves to the possibilities of other methods as well. Learning to listun together. As one author writes, “The future depends on God and on His people who will hear Him, believe Him, and obey Him.”[xxvi]

ysteryus – As much as the post-modern world believes it knows and attempts to convert others to it’s theology, the EC realizes how far a field we have strayed from the truth of Christ. Christians are not immune to this mysterious meandering. As Philip Yancey says, “Ironically, our respect in the world declines in proportion to how vigorously we attempt to force others to adopt our point of view.”[xxvii] Convinced we are right, we Christians continue to perpetrate unconscionable wrongs. Frances Schaeffer characterizes the dilemma as follows; “The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.”[xxviii] The EC accepts the responsibility that an important part of the mystery is us, not them.

Well, I hope you’ve stumbled onto a few morsels here that have stimulated your appetite for more. In a follow-up to this piece, I will complete part two of my initial effort to characterize the language of emerging Christianity with Fawnix N-Z.

I encourage you to become involved in the conversation. Make time to respond to the Holy Spirit’s prodding to add new terms, dimensions and definitions to this dialog. Please appreciate the fact that this piece is not about some sort of foray into reductionism aimed at boiling down emerging Christianity to its elements. On the contrary, that’s not possible. View this piece as simply watering the garden with the distinct desire to witness the beauty of what He who sows the sacred seeds can produce.

Bibliography & Notes

NOTE: The quotes used in this article have been selected to amplify the points this author is making. The use of these citations does not represent any sort of agreement between the parties regarding the points I attempt to illustrate. Readers are encouraged to read the works of the authors cited in their entirety and draw their own conclusions.

[i] http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Alfred_North_Whitehead/

[vii] NIV – John 13:7

[viii] Acts 4:13 – NIV

[xi] Acts 12:7 – NIV

[xiii] John 11:26 - NIV

[xiv] Burchett, Dave When Bad Christians Happen to Good People – Where We Have Failed Each Other and How to Reverse The Damage, WaterBrook Press, A Division of Random House, Inc. Copyright (c) 2002 by Dave Burchett, p. 170

[xxii] Lewis, C.S. The Timeless Writings of C.S. Lewis, Family Christian Press & Wm B. Erdman’s Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mi.Inspirational Press Edition, A Division of BBS Publishing Corp. © 2004 p.157.