2 Facets of Community Life to Factor In

I just finished Jim Kitchens' book "The Postmodern Parish: New Ministry for a New Era". There was a whole lot of GREAT material in the book. I thought I would focus on two areas that Kitchens emphasized that really struck a chord with me. The first has to do with an area that is foundational for communities seeking to adjust to postmodern culture: spiritual formation. In stating the case for a move away from the traditional/modern emphasis on programs and knowledge toward an emerging/postmodern emphasis on feeling and experience, Kitchens observes: "It's not information that they [postmodern folks] need, but formation" (61). Well said, Jim. "So what does formation look like in the life of a faith community?" you might wonder. "Formation," Kitchens would respond, "is as much about developing Christian disciplines and practices as it is about gaining knowledge about the Christian tradition. So it will focus," he concludes, "on learning to pray and to pratice Christian hospitality as much as on learning about the Trinity and the Incarnation" (61). One of my favorite suggestions Kitchens made regards how we can incorporate spiritual formation into our so-called new member classes (62-63). The second area I found helpful (and unique in my readings to date) is his emphasis on the adoption of a discernment model to help guide the life of the community. "Discernment is atractive to postmoderns," Kitchens writes, "because of its appeal to the whole person and the whole community" (90). He notes that parliamentary procedure (a favorite practice of the mainlines) was established upon the principles (and assumption of) an adversarial relationship. By adopting a discernment model for decision-making, a faith community could move away from this adversarial way of being. Unfortunately Kitchens didn't make any recommendations for a particular model of discernment to use so this will open a new avenue of exploration for me later this summer. I mentioned in yesterday's post I would be attending an emergent discussion group last night called the Theology Pub so I'll take a moment and mention a couple of reflections I had about the experience. The group of 12 was a little older than some emergent gatherings (members ages ranged from 25-40). The group was pretty homogenous (only two persons of color were present). Half of the group was either clergy or seminary students; the other half lay persons. The group had a topic to explore for the evening (suffering) and was lead by a talented facilitator (Sarah). There were two things that struck me about the emergent discussion group. First, I was struck by how little personal information was shared in the context of the discussion (of course 1/3 of the group was there for the first time so trust and relationship hadn't been built yet). Much of the discussion either stayed at the abstract level or occasional generic case studies were used to make a point. Second, I was impressed by how vulnerable people were willing to be about matters of theology. Given the fact that the group didn't know each other very well (and the fact that the group was made up of members from widely divergent faith traditions including everything from Seventh Day Adventists, Evangelicals, Lutherans, and Mennonites), folks were amazingly candid about their struggles to reconcile their understanding of God with the nature of suffering. There were no egos or judgement involved in the conversation. Just open, honest, and safe conversation. This aspect of the evening was emerging culture at its best. While this may not have been an emergent worship gathering, the evening was definitely full of the presence and Spirit of God! In terms of update on my father's condition, dad is still in ICU. There have been some positive signs over the past 24 hours. I'm hoping he'll make it out of ICU by Sunday. Thanks so much for your continued prayers for him and my family. Til next time...