On this month’s podcast we have as chat with Stuart Murray. Stuart is chair of the Anabaptist Network, and is a trainer and consultant in emerging churches, church planting and mission after Christendom. So Nick took the opportunity to quiz him about what church and mission might look like in our post-Christendom culture.I felt a real connection with a lot of what Stuart was saying in relation to Christendom and its impact on the way we understand and go about church and mission. It really make sense of, and articulated well, a lot of the frustrations I have felt over the years.
I also liked the way Stuart didn’t just pander to those people frustrated with the worst elements of the Christendom church, he also challenged the emerging church as well. My conscience was prinked, for example, when he said that emerging churches are often clearer about what they don’t like and don’t want to be, than what they’re heading towards. I’ve certainly been guilty of that.
In fact, much of our time on Nomad podcast has been reflecting on what we don’t like about church (as some of our critics have noted!). I guess to some extent it’s human nature. I’ve heard, for example, a number of friends say that their parenting style has been based on not doing what their parents did! And I guess to some extent I’ve adopted a similar attitude towards church. I don’t think there’s anything fundamentally wrong with this as a way of kick starting us into doing something new, but we have to move on from this, we can’t define ourselves by what we’re not.
We at Nomad are starting to think through who we are and what we’re doing. So far things on the street have been developing nicely. But where are we headed? Are we just a group of friends who for a time got together to share their frustrations, or are we a group with a longer term positive vision?
Stuart said his hope is that the next wave of emerging churches will be more missional, hopeful, and creative. I feel inspired to try and make a contribution to that future.
Tim
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Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks to all you guys for the Nomad Podcast, I really think you are doing a much-needed job and doing it well.
I agree that we need to be moving forward and not just sitting around criticising! Some of us in the Bedford/Cambridge area have been testing ways of listening and hearing because we believe obedience can only come from hearing and then doing. The simple rhythm of CO2 helps us listen to one another's hearts and, together, to the Lord's heart. We have been finding this very useful.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you. Agreed, hearing God is absolutely key, it's something I've been thinking about a lot recently. I'll check out CO2, looks interesting.
Tim
Tim, by far the best way to understand CO2 is to give it a try for a short time and then review it. If you would like to do a daily session with me for a week or ten days drop me a line - chris@scilla.org.uk
ReplyDeleteI've just listened to the interview with Stuart Murray and the Nomad discussion afterwards. He has really thought this through, hasn't he? Loads of good stuff to chew over, especially about our relevance in current UK culture and interaction with people of other faiths.
I also found the idea of fresh expressions as essentially experimental very useful. Changing or moving from where we are should never been see as failure! It's just part of the journey.
Chris
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you again. Thanks for the offer of doing CO2 together, that's very generous. I think I'll start by introducing the idea to the group and see if we can organise amongst ourselves. If I'm the odd one out though I'll drop you a line!
Tim