What is emergent? Centered set

Read Part 1: What is emergent? Generous Orthodoxy

I remember somewhere along the way in school, we studied bounded sets and centered sets. I couldn’t tell you how all the formulas worked, but I remember it was a nice change from the other algebra and/or geometry we were doing at that time.

I had all but forgotten about these two terms until I recently became aware of them as part of the emerging conversation (and more specifically in reading “Not the Religious Type: Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist” by Dave Schmelzer.

So often we do out best to figure out who’s in and who’s out of our club. Who can we trust? Who’s our friend? Who’s really on our side? Are they really a Republican or just a Republican in Name Only? Are they really a liberal or are they just hoping to win friends?

And not surprisingly, I think we tend to do this even more so in our communities of faith. The Church itself has largely been built around bounded sets, with clear definitions of membership requirements. If you meet the requirements, you’re in the set (or club).

In our leader’s guide for our community groups Brian points out that in the past, people came to know Jesus and His body through four basic steps, attend, respond, agree and then you can be a part of the body.

attend
in recent generations the church building was seen as the shining city on a hill. with its white steeple it was the noted place of hope, direction, community, and activity. it was the beacon for morality’s influence in civic affairs. to discover a relationship with God began at the church building. the work of church members was to get others to “come to church”. thus began door-to-door visitation, the church marquee, and church architecture that set the building apart from all others. believing began with attending.

respond
once attending the “outsider” was now prayed for, preached to, and taught. the goal was change. the expectation was that they would respond and change their heart and lifestyle to become a part of the community of faith.

agree
after responding, the new convert/member was expected to agree with the doctrine and practices of the church. “members” signed a covenant that not only gave them rights and privileges in church business matters, but it committed them to a lifestyle of faith that was consistent with the church’s established rules.

relationship
after these steps the “member” was accorded with full membership privileges. they were now “in” and could have and enjoy fellowship in the new family.

However as Brian writes…

“We live in a foreign land compared to a generation ago. The landscape has changed. Thinking has changed. People have changed. What has not changed in many places is the church. While holding on to theological truths as it rightly should, it has also held on to methods and attitudes that are no longer effective in the new culture of America. When challenged with a new environment, many resist and then develop attitudes that are damaging to the cause of the kingdom of Christ.”

We’re always trying to size people up. Celebrities, co-workers, neighbors, family members.

We start asking, are they Christian? Are they Protestant or Catholic? Are they Baptist or Methodist? Are they Southern Baptist or Northern? Are they Southern Baptist General Convention of Texas or Southern Baptists of Texas? Do they preach from the King James Version only, or are they a liberal church that uses the New International Version?

We can so narrowly define our groups that it literally chokes the good news out of them. And before long, rather than reaching out to people, we’re focusing on who’s living up to the standards we’ve set. And of course, the only set anyone should be a part of is your bounded set. After all, if the other sets were true Christianity — you’d be a part of them instead.

Emo Phillips tells a great joke (named the number one religion joke ever) that perfectly illustrates the idea of a bounded set religion:

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”

He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”

He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”

Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.

On the other hand, I’ve come to see the emergent conversations built around centered sets instead. Instead of a strict set of membership requirements, centered sets pick a defined center point. Individuals who are moving towards that point are considered part of the set and those who aren’t moving toward the center aren’t.

With Christ as the center of the centered set, emergents are always looking to move closer to Jesus and encouraging others to come along side them. Some may be moving at lightning speed, some may be moving at a snail’s pace, but as long as your moving towards the center, you’re welcomed to join the set.

Of course a natural weakness to this view is that an individual’s view of Jesus can become skewed, but that’s why emergents believe community and ecclessia are so vital to the conversation. (And it is a conversation and dialogue, not one man’s opinion preached to the masses.)

“You can’t make it on your own.”

It’s also true that some people may not realize they’re moving towards Jesus. But emergents welcome them with open arms, whether they realize it or not.

A friend shared a story about a church in LA. (I want to say it was Erwin McManus’ Mosaic but I’m not certain – hope I’m not butchering the story.) The church was starting to grow and needed a nursery worker. They hired a woman who was an athiest. She had experience working with kids and was able to work when they needed her to. At some point she excepted another job and resigned from the nursery job. But she told the pastor, “I don’t know what it is about this place but I feel loved here. There’s something here that I can’t explain and I just want to be a part of it.”

The church welcomed her with open arms and assured her she was loved and accepted no matter what she believed about God.

Sure enough, their love and God’s love won out. She later became a follower of Jesus.

It reminds me as well of Adam Clayton in U2. He’s said on many occasions in the past that he doesn’t know what it is about U2’s concerts, but he knows something is going on. And even The Edge has said that while the band was struggling with whether they could be Christians and be in a rock band, Adam was being the most Christian of them all by showing love and accepting the other three members of the band even when he disagreed with them.

And finally I think back to one of my favorite stories in Scripture.

After Jesus was resurrected from the tomb he appeared to all but one of his disciples, Thomas.

We don’t know where Thomas was or what he was doing, John just tells us he wasn’t around when Jesus showed up. So naturally he had some doubts when the disciples claimed to have seen Jesus.

But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”

But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”

Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.”

Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”

Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”

Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”

I love this story because Thomas is honest. He’s real with his issues. He says, “I’ve got to see Jesus for myself or else I won’t believe. I’m not putting something this important in the hands of someone else — I have to experience it myself.”

And I think in a traditional bounded set, the disciples would have said, “Well, sorry about that. We’re gonna have to ask you to move on.” But they didn’t.

John tells us that it was a full week that they stayed together before Jesus showed up again. And of course Thomas was there this time. He didn’t want to leave his friends. He didn’t want to leave a group that he had come to love. And I imagine their response assured him that they loved him as well.

Of course Thomas does meet Jesus. Face to face. He experiences Jesus in the flesh and believes.

That’s what I see as a beautiful part of this emerging conversation. It’s people who are willing to say, “You don’t have to believe just like us. You don’t have to live up to our standards. You don’t have to act just like us. You don’t have to accept our titles or labels. We just want you to join us on the journey towards the cross. And take your time. Jesus will show up and reveal himself to you, just like he did for me.”

And if we can move from those bounded sets to centered sets in our own lives and in our communities of faith, perhaps we can regroup and see a new way of bringing others into a relationship with Christ.

relationship
this is the starting point for effective group development and ministry for this generation. the believe-ability of people today begins after trust, acceptance, and love have been experienced. when this occurs, ministry can advance to the next level.

relevance
after trust, the next step is to introduce relevant spiritual help. it is at this level that Christ is introduced into the area of greatest need with a method and communication style that the hearer can understand. An irrelevant message in an irrelevant method is like speaking a foreign language to an unlearned hearer.

revealing
the third level of regrouping for this generation is to be revealing. at this level the Christ-follower reveals genuine aspects of their faith in authenticity and vulnerability. in part the receiver will begin to reveal their hearts, their questions, their struggle. This level can be emotional, vulnerable, and painful. It leads though to the level of greatest impact and change the level of response.

response
this is the level of change. at this level the person or group has grown from trust, to hope, to vulnerability, and now to the point of response to the truth that they have heard. they are challenged to repent, change, and make new commitments to Christ in the very real areas of life.

Part 3 :: What is emergent? Missional

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I put together a PowerPoint a few months back to explain this concept to my community group :: you can view it here.