Cohort Feeds

The Austin Emergent Church Cohort Group August Meetup

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:10:11 PDT

Emergent Christianity Meetups > The Austin Emergent Church Cohort Group

1. What's an interesting issue we'll discuss?

We're discussing a chapter at a time from the book "A New Kind Of Christian" by Brian McLaren. This week's topic is Chapter 12: "French Fries and the Kingdom of God". Come join the discussion, even if you haven't read the book!

For more information, see http://emergentchrist...

2. Who should come? Are newcomers welcome?

Anyone and everyone is welcome to join us!

3. Do attendees need to participate or can they just listen?

You can just listen if you like, but we encourage all to participate in the discussion!

4. How will members find you when they get there?

We're usually outside at a table on the patio, unless the weather is cold or bad. Then, we'll meet at a table inside the cafe. Look for the "Meetup" table sign on our table.

Austin, TX 78756 - USA

Saturday, August 2 at 10:00 AM

Attending: 0

Fee: Donations Accepted: USD 1.00 per person

Details: http://emergentchristian.meetup.com/1/calendar/8281073/

Google Calendar instead of "Our next meeting"

Zack — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:33:00 PDT

Greg suggested making a google calendar to use so we could post events farther in the future then just our next meeting. What do you guys think should we use this instead of the "our next meeting" or keep both? Suggesstions? Month view, Agenda view, Tabs?
I'll invite people to be contributors to it, but I don't have everyone's e-mail so if I don't get you and you'd like to add events, let me know.

Celebration of the Faithful

Adam Newby — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:54:00 PDT

This Sunday Celebration of the Faithful will be at Adam and Kara's house, we will come together at 5:30 for the meal, followed by worship and meditation time. Kara will make a poppy seed casserole, and we still have a few adult beverages left from super fun night. Please post to let everyone know what you are planning on bringing. We are looking forward to it!

Can You Name the Seven Ancient Disciplines?

Greg — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:02:00 PDT

For those unaware, Phyllis Tickle taught at Mars Hill this past Sunday. What I appreciate more than anything when I hear her speak is the passion and hope always present in her words.

This particular teaching, entitled "Ancient Disciplines for the Church," begins by explaining that we are in yet another pivotal moment of change that Tickle calls The Great Emergence, the same name unsurprisingly of her forthcoming book. She then gives a quick recap of the 500 year cycles that have characterized Church history: Great Reformation, Great Schism, Gregory the Great/Birth of Monasticism, Great Transformation (Judaism to Christianity), Babylonian Captivity, and the end of the Age of Judges.

Is there a connecting link between all these changes? According to Tickle "there's something about religion that wants to institutionalize...more programs, more buildings, more doctrine, more people to police the doctrine...until what began as a faith of the heart becomes institutionalized and intellectualized, and ceases to say to your body and your whole life 'I believe in Jesus Christ, and I live it out,'" thereby causing the next cycle of change to erupt.

A point she also emphasizes is that the original version of what was before is never completely erased. In other words, Roman Catholicism still exists today in spite of the Reformation. (To me, this point is her subtle way of stymieing misconceptions about the emergent church as a power-hungry attempt to overthrow what has been our current normal state.)

She goes on to illustrate that one aspect of the new thing being born is always about rediscovering what had been lost. In our current case, that means rediscovering what got lost as a result of the Reformation. Because though the Reformation rightly reminded us that Christ is now our high priest, "it must not be forgotten that to be followers of Christ...we must bear not only the wonder of this story in our minds and in our memories, but also...in our bodies," which leads to the crux of her message: an outline for our Western, Reformed ears of the Seven Ancient disciplines--communion, tithing, fasting, fixed hour prayer, keeping the sabbath, keeping the seasons of the liturgical year, and making a pilgrimage.

It is much more enjoyable to hear her speak it, so head over here.

Church Basement Roadshow - Charlotte

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:54:42 PDT

Indie Allies Meetups > Emerging Church Discussion Group

A biodiesel-fueled RV loaded with three of the most outspoken emergent church leaders and authors will crisscross the country this summer in "The Church Basement Roadshow: A Rollin' Gospel Revival." The tour featuring Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette will hit 36 cities across the U.S., with a message that combines old-time revival flair with a 21st century gospel. They'll preach, sing, and sell healing balm in church basements from San Diego to New York.

The "Church Basement Roadshow" rolls into the Queen City on Tuesday, July 29, for ONE NIGHT ONLY!

This 90-minute high energy, meaningful, and light-hearted show is set in the tradition of the late 19th and early 20th century revivalists, issuing a call to join the greatest people movement of all time: to a life lived well with God in the Way of Jesus. Drawing on material from their most recent books, our three revivalists will invite you into a serious encounter with the exciting possibilities of lived Christian faith in our day.

ROLLIN' ... An invitation to join the hope-filled, opened armed, alive and well journey of faith in our day.

GOSPEL ... God's reconciliation of all things through the example, sacrifice and message of Jesus.

REVIVAL ... imagining new possibilities, collaborating with the creator's good dreams, and living the risk-taking adventure that is making a life in the way of Jesus.

COST = FREE!
(an offering will be taken)

The reviews are in:

"It was the most creative approach to a book tour I have ever seen -- and the characters they created become so real you forget they are characters. ... I would for sure make my way to see the Roadshow experience."
--Dan Kimball, author of They Like Jesus But Not the Church

"See, the Roadshow has the guise of a book tour. But don't let that fool you. It is only a cover. The true essence of it is three guys who are deeply passionate about Jesus. Who will stop at nothing to proclaim his message of hope and restoration. Who love hanging out with other people who are seeking to follow the person and way of Jesus. Whose hearts beat with an inner God-cadence and have reconciled their fear at the feet of God, saying, 'We'll speak what we hear, regardless.' It was laughter and silence and joy and profoundness and embarrassment and gut-level sharing and music (kinda) and wisdom and friendship all rolled up into two memorable hours."
--Jeromy Johnson, A Mending Shift

"The CBR is much more than a 32 city book tour for Tony, Doug, and Mark. It's a rollicking roadshow filled with unexpected fun, some exceptional storytelling that can almost hide the deeply serious message that sits just beneath the surface. These are three guys who want Jesus to be front and center. To be honest, I didn't have a clue what it was going to entail and went hoping for the best. And I wasn't disappointed."
--Jonathan Brink, Missio Dei

Charlotte, NC 28205 - USA

Tuesday, July 29 at 6:30 PM

Attending: 2

Details: http://indieallies.meetup.com/27/calendar/8140216/

Truth

Kate Murray — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:40:00 PDT

Since today's conversation (at least for the first hour before I had to duck out) revolved around the notion of truth and what exactly is truth in an emergent community, I thought I'd offer up another blog I'm writing for. I posted something about Truth and Postmodernity at the beginning of June and have responded to a comment. Please feel free to take a look and chime in on the conversation.

http://www.emerginglutherans.org/blog/2008/06/02/truth-and-postmodernity/

6/29 Discussion Wrap-Up

Jane Johnson — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:50:00 PDT

Our discussion today was so wonderful! For those of you who had to miss out on it, here is an extremely distilled version of it. Please feel free to continue the conversation on the blog. Oh, and if I missed anything that was said that someone else feels was important, feel free to add. I admit that eventually so many amazing comments were being made in a row that I stopped taking notes.

We discussed the question, "What are the areas of agreement and areas of difference between typical emergent thinkers and evangelical thinkers on the nature and role of truth?" This question comes to us from the Xenos Summer Institute, where Jesse and Noel will be taking part in a forum in July.

There seemed to be a strong consensus that:
1. We learn truth directly from God, and that our relationship with Jesus is the key to this communication working effectively. Several gospel verses were brought up to support this idea, including Jesus attack on the Pharisees in John 5 (that they search the scriptures for truth, but that the truth is found in him), reply to the trap set by the Pharisees in Mark 12:24, and Jesus' famous declaration that he is "the way, the truth, and the life."

2. Along with the above, that knowledge of truth can be found outside of the Bible, and that there are truths that many Christians acknowledge today that could not have been gleaned from the Bible alone. A good example is what we currently think about slavery. The Bible does not present the whole picture on slavery, but instead addresses the institution as it existed at the time the texts concerning it were written. Perhaps Christians are often behind in the area of social justice because when we believe that all truth is found in the Bible and issues come up in the world that the Bible has little or nothing to say about, our answer is inaction (or even to assume that no answer from the Bible means the issue is not important).

3. That truth and love are intricately bound. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, which we might think of as a question about which truths are the most absolute and best guide a human's life, he responded that it was all about love of God and others. He stressed that we are to be concerned with the action of love, and not with being right. We should live in a way that causes us to love others. Being too concerned with what is true could very well adversely affect these others, as we cannot stop the angry voice in our head, screaming that every other person we meet doesn't understand The Truth as well as we do, for long enough to love.

4. That what we believe to be true about our reality is dependent on the situation that we find ourselves in, and on the life experiences that have preceeded it. What we thought was true at 16 we might consider untrue now. This doesn't mean that we were formerly categorically incorrect, but that the information we knew of at the two different points was different. We are to observe carefully the world around us and extract "truths" about how to life most effectively (lovingly) in that place. It is as though every person's life is a box of a unique shape, and that our job is to fill it completely with the love of God.

5. That to truly seek after God's truth will result in a constant feeling of tension in our lives. For some reason humans love lists of rules that they can follow, perhaps because this allows us to escape relationship with God. We want a neat and clear way to live our lives. But if we instead rely heavily on the Holy Spirit to show us exactly what he wants us to do in a given situation, this really takes the power out of our hands. There will be a lot of waiting, uncertainty, and probably failure as our impatience gets the best of us. We must continually seek intimate moments of communication with God, where he reveals to us what he wants us to do in a time of crisis.

6. That there is no consensus among Emergents about an answer to the question posed to us. While we don't want to circumvent the question, based on our experiences with each other we all have very different ideas about any and everything. Think about any Christian doctrine, and then ask yourself how much agreement there is among a diverse group of Christians about it. Even among just Evangelicals, there is hardly agreement as to things like the Trinity, speaking in tongues, and how Christ accomplished his work on the cross. I suppose one of the truths Emergents tend to believe is that truth is very complicated, multi-faceted, unstable, and highly dependent on experience and cultural conditioning.

7. That the best way to communicate truth to children and teenagers is through modelling rather than teaching. Young people need to see how the older people they know live life, not a list of things to do and to not do.

Finally, I wanted to further challenge and stretch our personal understandings of truth with an article that I heard about recently on a small Amazon tribe called the Piraha. A link to it can be found here. Learning about the Piraha blew my mind, because their worldview is so different from my own that it raised questions about how God reveals truth to humans in general. I found the descriptions of the efforts of the missionaries that have worked with the tribe to be heartbreaking, because the organization they are with believes that all missionaries need to do is translate the Bible into a culture's native language, and then God will do the rest of the work. This approach has made little impression on this particular culture. Might there be another way that the missionaries could share what they believe is true about God?

Volunteers needed for Artscape 2008

Baltimore Emergent Cohort — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:24:00 PDT

I received the e-mail below asking for volunteers for Artscape 2008. It looks like a great opportunity to support a great event. The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts has a severe shortage of volunteers for Artscape 2008. We are contacting you in hopes that your church may be interested in volunteering for this event. We would greatly appreciate your help! We would be glad to sign up your church members by phone and arrange for them to work together. We could liaison with a representative from your church to do so. We only ask that volunteers be at least 18 years of age or older. We provide free parking, a free-t-shirt, and refreshments. If you have individuals or groups who may be interested, please contact me directly at 443.263.4307. Thank you in advance for your support! Debbie

Not For Sale Georgia Needs our Help

Troy Bronsink — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:47:00 PDT

to learn more about not for sale and the human trafficking issues in atlanta and beyond visit NFS.

NFS Georgia needs the Emergent Cohort's help. The Senate has just introduced a bill to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). NFS is organizing a national call-in campaign for June 25 & 26 to get cosponsors for the bill, S.3061. Join others in making a call to support the TVPRA.

The TVPA, which first became law in 2000, represents the first major comprehensive U.S. effort to address the global scourge of human trafficking. The TVPA created new programs to protect and serve survivors in the U.S. and globally, to prevent trafficking, and it also created new criminal provisions. It needs reauthorizing this year.

Not For Sale Campaign has been working in a coalition for the past year to advocate for important changes to the TVPA. The Action Group to End Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery includes organizations working both in the United States and abroad. The organizations came together and agreed to support several important amendments that were included in the bill that passed the House of Representatives last December with overwhelming bipartisan support. These include initiatives to increase victim identification, provide survivors with much needed services and prosecute human traffickers.

It's time for the Senate to pass this bill.

Modern-day slavery has a devastating effect on each victim who suffers severe physical and emotional abuse, threats against their families and even death. But the impact of modern-day slavery goes beyond individual victims; it undermines the health, safety and security of all nations it touches. It's important for our Senators to know that this is an important issue for their constituents.

SUGGESTED TALKING POINTS WHEN YOU CALL YOUR SENATORS :
· Hi, I am [NAME] calling from [STATE] and I want to urge Senator [NAME] to cosponsor S. 3061, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
· Vulnerable victims are waiting for increased protections already included in house passed version of the TVPRA, HR 3887 and the Senate needs to introduce its version of the TVPRA as soon as possible.

Call Senator Johnny Isakson (202) 224-3643

Call Senator Saxby Chambliss (202) 224-3521

We appreciate your help and commitment to end modern day slavery in our lifetime!

June Cohort meeting

Greg Newton — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:56:00 PDT

The J. Clyde @ 7:30 pm on Tuesday, June 24.