I was a shepherd in the traditional/conventional church. I also served as a deacon, a preacher, and a missionary. Today I believe more in the church of Bob Evans every Sunday afternoon, the church at Starbucks on Friday evenings and then there is my new institutional church at a University Hospital. (FYI—degrees in Nuclear Medicine and Bible; chose to make my living from the medical side)

For employees who have excessive absenteeism or a history of tardiness there is a policy that places them in a process with the end result being dismissal (verbal warning, written warning, etc) I choose not to do that. Instead I invite them into my office and use the wisdom that comes with sixty years of life and the spiritual wisdom God has blessed me with nudging them closer to success and Jesus (this is my policy and the process I choose). I really believe if I died tomorrow the employees of this institution would carry signs to my funeral expressing their love for me.

And then there are the folks at New Wineskins who encourage me in my wacky writings and the conversations I have with the many I talk with in Christian circles.

I am blessed!

Files under Church, Culture, How to Live, Jesus, conventional church, conversation, future church, influence, love, missional, orbiting the church, revolution, unchurched | |

I’ve changed my mind so many times the reversals would be too long to list. Yet to challenge the thinker I’ve listed five flip-flops:

1. Ten years, five years ago, I agreed with the attractional church (its focus on relevant worship, music, etc) and the idea that “if you don’t like it, go somewhere else.” Retrospectively, I see things very different today
2. I far prefer the contemplative style over the contemporary. Lights dimmed, candles, icons, Celtic crosses, with a small group of musicians playing (maybe) hammered dulcimer, harp, guitar, and wooden flute
3. From my perception, the 1990s throwback assemblies, organ, old refurbed buildings, choirs, and special choirs has a strange reverence about them
4. Is objective truth tangentially relevant to the human condition? Objective truth unknowingly often becomes subjective truth because what is experienced is always perceived through the filter of our humanness. Whether known by the person or not, the validity of truth depends on the accuracy of perception
5. Related to my ten years ago, I mean five years ago post (see #1) I’ve exchanged cultural relevancy for cultural maker

Files under Church, Culture, truth | |

I recently had a good experience with the American Baptist (see post below). And now comes the Baptimergent an Emergent Baptist Network (cool).

We confess that we’re Baptist but we look around and see only two options; moderate/liberal or conservative. We don’t really identify totally with either one. We respect our heritage as Baptists. We value the competency of a person to work out their faith before God without coercion from an ecclesial authority or from the government. We also think that the strength of kingdom mission is in the local congregation, and is best sustained by free association. We also think that the Bible is best understood with Jesus as the hermeneutical guide. When we think of baptism we think of going down to the river for a full bodied washing.

While we value these Baptist destinctives, we are in no way inclined to value our Baptist identity over anyone else’s religious identity. It just happens to be the family of faith we were reared in, but we feel no need to make anyone else in our religious image.

We also have no stake in the fight that has defined many of us for the last forty years. No one has God or theology figured out and finished. The hubris of our recent forefathers who have wasted the last four decades fighting over who is most Baptist or most right is embarrassing. Especially when world events such as South African Apartheid, Latin American Disappearances, Rwandan Genocide, Darfurian Genocide, Middle Eastern war, global poverty, and climate change have dominated the landscape in those decades. Being the most right Baptist, or even the most right Christian is laughable in the face of these world issues.

We are Baptists, but we are dreaming of new ways of living that identity. Something more kingdom-of-God now, rather than later. Something with a lot more room for others, be they Christian or not. Something more than church on Sunday and Wednesday night. Something that hasn’t been co-opted by a political agenda, but still maintains its prophetic edge.

If this confession resonates with you then you will most likely find this blog and its community of friends encouraging engaging, and empowering. You may find that to be the case even if this confession doesn’t resonate. Whether you identify as Baptist, Emergent, both, or neither, you are welcome to interact with us via this site.

Welcome to the Emergent Baptist Network, a.k.a. “Baptimergent.”

Files under Baptimergent, Baptist, Uncategorized, emergent | |

I am more missionally persuaded but very familiar with the seeker/attractional church model. This morning my wife and I visited an American Baptist church, a congregation one of my wife’s friends attends. I wanted to go online and research American Baptist this afternoon but I decided not to do that. Sometimes I think it might be best the less we knew about the inner workings (some might call it politics) and the history of the thousands of faith heritages in America. As expected, the people were very friendly and helpful. But oh my, was it a throwback to the 1980s—traditional church, choir, special choir, and the organ (at the same time I found a reverence there that seemed to be missing in the attractional church). Ok, how about some thoughts from the American Baptist out there. Do you guys do internet?

Files under Baptist, Church, traditional | |