Response: Denise's Blog [Week 10]

Denise Bogard brings it in her critique of Bevans Chapter 9 and how Bevans: "...errs in its tendency to centralize 'community' over and above the gospel itself. (This is not to belittle community as a central part of the Christian life, but only to assert that it is a rightful outflowing of the gospel, rather than its source or its equivalent)."

Denise, since you've sat behind me the entire quarter and have been a great small group partner in conversation and presentation, I feel obligated to chime in on a blog of yours before the quarter wraps. In regards to Bevans, I would wholeheartedly agree that community should flow out of the "gospel" rather than visa-versa.


But I believe this is where the Church has gotten it wrong [for the most part], and the new "Emerging Church" has gotten it right. The Emerging Church emphasizes the biblical principles behind mission, church planting, outreach and community endeavor. Critics of the emergent movement believe that many modern church initiatives lack true biblical grounding, choosing community over gospel truth, whilst traditional churches often lack both and that their way is the middle way. And like Denise, I believe God's story in the Gospel message is a powerful one.

That being said, I tend to fall on the side of something new rather than something old... even if this fuzzy image of community over truth is part of the package. It all comes down to the old not resonating with people who have been "burned" by the Church. And because sometimes the doors are closed by the elements of our fallen world, I'll side with community and believe that God's story can be seen through the lives and love of God's people.

Reflection: Week 9 [Monday]

Carnivalesque is significant, for Bakhtin offers a legitimate, state sanctioned space for otherness of "world upside-down" in which the rules are broken, alternative truths are visualized and difference is embraced. It is in this space that the marginalized community disrupts the stable silence of official lives and identities.

The small group that I started in Seattle was called "outkast" and based our identity on similar thoughts. Moreover the Church doesn't appeal to the outcasts in society and many young people in their 20's and 30's feel on the outside looking in most of the time. The Emerging Church movement is keying on some of the marginalized people, but the Church as a whole has a long way to go.

Reflection: Week 4 [Monday]

The Emerging Church is something that I have been a part of for the past 7 years from helping start a church plant in West Seattle that grew to about 150 attendees to seeing the limitations of the model evolve out of a lingering postmodern mindset.

The church I had a pleasure of being involved in was called Doxa Church and we had a church building that was given to a group of a couple dozen of us that were meeting in the basement at the very beginning. From that group, Doxa Church grew out of an emerging church model embracing the arts and music while continuing to root itself into the DNA of the community of West Seattle. [Pictured here is the coffee shop that later was created in the same basement Doxa grew out of]

In the Spring of 2006, the Elders decided to merge into the larger Mars Hill Church congregation and share the [admittedly generous space] large facilities with 500+ of their members that were commuting from West Seattle about 20-30 minutes to Ballard [a section of Seattle just Northwest of Downtown]. This caused many of the attendees to leave, included my family and small group of about 20+ individuals. In retrospect, the decision is a good one for God in allowing 500+ believers to worship in a building directly in their community where they live. But the differences of beliefs of Mars Hill versus Doxa were extreme for most [the biggest three differences being the archaic role of women in the family, aversion against women in ministry, and aggression towards gays & lesbians] and the events still harbor deep wounds for many, including myself, that may never fully heal.

The healing continues in my life. And I pray to continue to learn from my experiences. In the past months, I have felt called to write about peoples lives and how the Church has wounded them through doctrine, traditions, and beliefs that alienate people instead of loving them for their differences.

So if anyone has story they'd like to share, please let me know. I'd love to talk about it over a hot cocoa or cold soda.

Reflection: Week 3 [Wednesday]

Fuellenbach's idea of believers being agents of transformation is a superb one. What do you believe in? "Oh, I'm an agent of change." Watch out, now! Love it. I always wanted to be a secret agent. Jason Bourne style... except without guns... unless you are a president with a Machiavellian agenda in the Middle East. [Sigh.] Too bad a vote for Hillary really isn't a vote for Bill to get back in White House as the President instead of First Gentleman.