Tag: Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren – A New Kind of Christianity

Brian McLaren has a new book coming out shortly and Spencer Burke’s already talking to him about it…

In the book, A New Kind of Christianity, Brian lays out 10 questions people seem to be wrestling with universally.

The questions include:

  • The Narrative Question: What Is the Overarching Storyline of the Bible?
  • The Authority Question: How Should the Bible Be Understood?
  • The God Question: Is God Violent?
  • The Jesus Question: Who is Jesus and Why is He Important?
  • The Gospel Question: What Is the Gospel?
  • The Church Question: What Do We Do About the Church?
  • The Sex Question: Can We Find a Way to Address Sexuality Without Fighting About It?
  • The Future Question: Can We Find a Better Way of View the Future?
  • The Pluralism Question: How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions?
  • The What Do We Do Now Question: How Can We Translate Our Quest into Action?

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Videos from #thenines online

#thenines logo

The videos from #thenines conference are now available for viewing on demand.

You can view them via thenines.leadnet.org or on #thenines YouTube channel.
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Do we transform our pain … or transmit it?

Brian McLaren shares some great thoughts from Fr. Richard Rohr ::

Is your religion helping you to transform your pain? If it does not, it is junk religion. We all have pain—it’s the human situation, we all carry it in a big black bag behind us and it gets heavier as we get older: by betrayals, rejections, disappointments, and wounds that are inflicted along the way.

If we do not find some way to transform our pain, I can tell you with 100% certitude we will transmit it to those around us. We will create tension, negativity, suspicion, and fear wherever we go…

Read the rest

What is emergent? Missional

what is emergent?

Read Part 2 :: What is emergent? Centered set

While there seem to be countless folks in the Church who are more than happy to avoid being labeled emergent, the exact opposite seems to be true for the term missional. More and more folks are rushing to use the term to define their ministries. Some have even suggested it may soon take the place of evangelical in the near future.

And while emergents can be included in the ranks of those using the term it shouldn’t be assumed that those claiming to be missional should also be labeled as emergent. But from my experience it tends to be a strong piece within emerging Christianity — and something I’m working to understand and practice more fully in my daily life.

attractional vs missional

Like I originally noted about sharing my thoughts on emerging, this is not in the least an exhaustive explanation of the term missional. There are far better places to find that information than here. My hope is that this will serve as a basic primer and how it relates to the emerging conversation.

The term missional springs from Missio Dei, or the Mission of God. While historically many have seen only certain “called” members as those active in the Mission of God (either on the foreign mission field or as full time pastors and ministers to their locale), emerging Christianity sees the role of all Christians to be about the Missio Dei each and every day — regardless of their occupation or locale.
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What is emergent? A generous orthodoxy

what is emergent?

Read the introduction: What is emergent?

“I offer this book with the heartiest sentiments to all the jolly people who hate what I write, and regard it (very justly, for all I know), as a piece of poor clowning or a single tiresome joke.” – G.K. Chesterson (Orthodoxy (Moody Classics))

I came into the emergent conversation probably a little bit later in the game than many. I didn’t even start hearing the name emergent until after college (circa 2003-2004).

As I started tracking blogs and other online conversations I began seeing the term more and more. And once I launched my own blog in 2005 and began making connections with folks in the UK, I started hearing from people who were actually taking part in the conversation.

In March of 2006 Thomas introduced me to the blogs of Jonny Baker and Andrew Jones, referring to them as the “grandfather’s of the emerging church” (and even then I didn’t get their names right).
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iPhones and dirty Coltan #justicefriday

Line outside Dallas' Apple store | Photo by alexmuse

Today a new iPhone 3Gs is being released to the masses. Folks were lining up around the block to get their hands on Steve Jobs’ latest gadget.

The new 3Gs just adds to the iphone buzz on Twitter about the new iPhone 3.0 OS (released earlier this week).

And I get it. I’m a huge fan of technology and gadgets – including my beat-up BlackBerry Curve 8310.

But what if these things we consume on a daily basis are enslaving folks in more ways than we realize (there’s a reason folks have fondly adopted CrackBerry as an appropriate nickname for their BlackBerry)?
Continue reading iPhones and dirty Coltan #justicefriday