Andy Rowell | Church Leadership Conversations

The missional ecclesiology of Rowan Williams

I have posted below for download the paper I finished recently on the missional ecclesiology of Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Communion.  The question I was asking was, "What would Rowan Williams be thinking about if he was a church planter or emerging church pastor?" 

Download Rowan_Williams's_Theology_of_the_Church_as_Missionary.pdf

I look forward to reading your comments.  I am not an expert on Williams but I have read eight books by him.  If you know of any place I might consider publishing this, I would be open to advice.   

Three benefits of my paper:

This paper has three main benefits.  First, Christians might use the four “practices” as a guide for evaluating their own churches.  Does our church embrace fully the four practices in Williams’s work that can help ensure our faithfulness to the gospel? 

The terms “practices” and “standards of excellence” are borrowed from MacIntyre and are not used by Williams but I think they are an enlightening way of organizing his arguments related to the mission of the church.

Second, Christians might use the “standards of excellence” for the practice of communicating the Good News to evaluate their own church’s outlook toward mission.  Does our practice of communicating of the Good News adhere to the standards of excellence which should characterize that practice according to Williams?

Third, this paper brings together in an organized way the diverse thought of Rowan Williams for the edification of the church.  Williams tends to be misunderstood as the recent furor over his comments about Sharia exemplify.  His writings have different audiences and content so that one could get a skewed understanding of Williams’s thought if they are unaware of the scope of his work.  For example, if someone only read Lost Icons, they might be unaware of his explicitly Christian writing such as Tokens of Trust.  This paper allows both liberals and conservatives, critics and fans, to better appreciate and understand Williams.  By organizing it in these categories and explaining it, I hope to set Williams’s work “on a lower shelf,” that is, making it somewhat more accessible than it might otherwise be.  I have also quoted liberally from Williams in order to point readers toward the places in Williams’s writing where he makes these arguments so that further research can be done.

When one understands Williams’s work in its breadth, it is difficult not to appreciate the beauty and sensitivity and brilliance of his writing.  His writing truly can help churches who are attempting to do innovative mission work to do so with faithfulness to the Christian tradition as well as great effectiveness and flexibility.  The difficulty in reading Williams is that his essays tend to be so occasional, that is, trying to address a specific situation.  Therefore, it is possible to misinterpret them if they are taken to be representative of Williams’s approach to related issues.  I think this essay helps to relieve some of those possible misconceptions by framing the issue in terms of practices and standards of excellence and bringing together eight of Williams’s works.

A few websites with Anglicans thinking about new forms of church:
Anglimergent
Fresh Expressions

Jonny Baker

Emergent UK:

Emergent UK

Jason Clark

 

• 

  Rowan Williams: Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel

• 

  Rowan Williams: Writing in the Dust: After September 11

• 

  Rowan Williams: Lost Icons: Reflections on Cultural Bereavement

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  Rowan Williams: A Ray of Darkness: Sermons and Reflections

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  Rowan Williams: Wound of Knowledge: Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to St. John of the Cross

• 

  Rowan Williams: Why Study The Past?: The Quest For The Historical Church

• 

  Rowan Williams: Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief

• 

  Rowan Williams: On Christian Theology

Archbishop Rowan Williams: How is emergent church viewed in the Anglican Communion?

Archbishop Rowan Williams: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the emergent church? Archbishop Rowan Williams - What is church?

Tony Jones, N.T. Wright, Richard Bauckham, Scot McKnight, James K. A. Smith, Robert Bella and John Milbank - Audio from SBL and AAR

In the past, I have been enormously helped by people who recorded audio of various lectures and conferences and then kindly posted it on the web.  I have recorded a few of the sessions from the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the American Academy of Religion (AAR) annual meetings November 17-20, 2007 in San Diego.  See my previous post about attending the meetings.  There are literally thousands of lectures at the meetings but I thought I would give you a sample of the ones I attended.  At each time slot, there are about 30-40 choices to choose from.  Sometimes I bounce from one to another.  Other times I find someone to talk to and skip the sessions.  So some of the talks are not complete.  But I still thought I would post what my little MP3 player recorded and see if anyone was interested.

For the next couple of years, SBL and AAR will not meet together.  Some AAR people led this divorce but people in my circles are hopeful that after a couple of years people will reconsider.   Typically theologians, historians, practical theology, and people who study other religions than Christianity attend AAR.  Biblical studies people attend SBL.  But in the past these have occurred together so that many of us have enjoyed sessions from both. April 28, 2008 Update: the AAR has decide to begin meeting with SBL again when they are able to work out the logistics in a few years again.

Other places to find great audio: 

If you like audio, see my now outdated Best Audio for Church Leaders (Aug 2006) but still useful list of MP3's on the internet and my instructions about listening to podcasts in my also outdated post Best Podcasts for Church Leaders (Oct 2006). 

Also Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) has this on their site:

As in previous years, ACTS, inc. will be recording all sessions at the conference. Online orders for these recordings may be placed on their web site at the following address: http://actsonline.biz/ets_21_ctg.htm.  The entire conference costs $149.00.

I do not think AAR and SBL record their sessions at all. 

If you dislike my low quality recordings, check out christianaudio.com which has quite a good selection of Christian books on audio.  For example, you can download the unabridged 6 hour audiobook of Eugene Peterson's Eat This Book for $20.98.  (This is the book Duke Divinity School first year students were required to read this year).  That would be a very rich six hour car drive.  They also offer a free download each month.  This month (November) it is The Religious Affections (Unabridged) by Jonathan Edwards.  In December it is Dark Night of the Soul (Unabridged) by St. John of the Cross. 

Instructions for playing MP3's:

I have given you MP3's which play on any computer.  You just right click on it and click "Save Link As . . ." or "Save Target As . . ." and you can save it to your desktop (and it will be on your computer and you can listen to it whenever you want).  If you have an MP3 player, you just plug in to your computer like a memory stick and move the MP3's from your computer to your player. 

I have pasted below the SBL or AAR description of the session (S is for SBL and A is for AAR) and then put a note in italics with my comment about the recording.  I'm sorry to say that I have not listened to these recordings nor edited them.  If you are interested, I thought you would appreciate them anyway. 

Let me know in the comments if you appreciated them or if they were too poor quality to be helpful.  I haven't done this before so I just thought I would give it a shot.   I have emailed the speakers to let them know I have posted these and I will take down the talks if any of them wish.  But I do think this is good publicity for AAR, SBL and each of the speakers.
      

Without further ado, here are the MP3's I recorded from 9 presentations I heard at SBL/AAR this past weekend. 

AM17-28
________________________________________
Emergent Church Forum
11/17/2007
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 29 C – CC
The panelists are Tony Jones, Diana Butler Bass and Scot McKnight and the moderator, from Azusa Pacific University, is Keith Matthews. 

I missed the first ten minutes of this one.  Tony was speaking when I arrived.

Emergent Church Forum.mp3 (131 MB; 2 hrs. 19 min.)

Update: December 18: The first hour of this lecture is also available now on the Emergent Village podcast website but honestly you didn't miss too much in the 10 minutes I missed but Tony's recording is a better recording.  I would expect that they would put up part 2 (the second hour) at the end of December.

AM17-53
________________________________________
Mission and Biblical Interpretation: toward a Missional Hermeneutic
11/17/2007
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 28 C – CC
What would it mean to read the Bible with an explicit methodological starting point in an ecclesial location understood as fundamentally missional? Join us for our sixth annual session focused on such questions, as Princeton Theological Seminary professors Darrell Guder and J. Ross Wagner present their work on missional hermeneutics in the seminary classroom. We anticipate a thought-provoking and productive discussion.

I only taped Ross's brief comments about Philippians.  The first two minutes are the end of Darrell Guder speaking.

Mission and Biblical Interpretation - toward a Missional Hermeneutic.mp3  (12 MB; 13 min.)

S17-79
________________________________________
Synoptic Gospels
11/17/2007
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: San Diego C - MM
Theme: Panel Review of Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006)
Jeffrey Peterson, Austin Graduate School of Theology, Texas, Presiding
John Kloppenborg, University of Toronto, Panelist (20 min)
Adela Yarbro Collins, Yale University, Panelist (20 min)
James Crossley, University of Sheffield, Panelist (20 min)
Richard Bauckham, University of St. Andrews-Scotland, Respondent (25 min)
Discussion (65 min)

I only recorded Bauckham's response.  The room was packed.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony.mp3 (23 MB; 24 min.)

A18-122
Scriptural Reasoning Group   
Sunday - 9:00 am-11:30 am
Steven D. Kepnes, Colgate University, Presiding
Theme: Pragmatism and Biblical Hermeneutics: A Discussion of the Work of Peter Ochs
Panelists:
David Lamberth, Harvard University
Leora Batnitzky, Princeton University
James K. A. Smith, Calvin College
Nicholas Adams, University of Edinburgh
Responding:
Peter Ochs, University of Virginia

Abstract
Scriptural Reasoning Group
Theme: Pragmatism and Biblical Hermeneutics: A Discussion of the Work of Peter Ochs
The session will discuss the theoretical contribution of the work of Peter Ochs in terms of its contribution to the field of American pragmatism and to theoretical advances in biblical hermeneutics as well as in contemporary analyses of religious community and inter-religious dialogue. In particular the session will discuss the impact of Professor Ochs' work on the recently developed set of practices referred to as scriptural reasoning. Panelists will speak from the perspective of their various disciplines including, philosophy of religion, Christian theology and contemporary Jewish philosophy.

I recorded until from the beginning of the session until Smith was finished (the first three speakers).  Ochs was not present because he had to do a eulogy at a funeral.

Pragmatism and Biblical Hermeneutics - A Discussion of the Work of Peter Ochs.mp3 (72 MB; 1 hr. 16 min.)

A18-106
Sunday - 9:00 am-11:30 am
William Schweiker, University of Chicago, Presiding
Theme: Living in a Secular Age: Charles Taylor and the Philosophy of Religion
F. B. A. Asiedu, Middlebury College
The Post-Secular Condition: The Usefulness of Belief in the Philosophy of Charles Taylor
Jennifer A. Herdt, University of Notre Dame
Secularization, Recomposition, and Bad Faith in Contemporary Christian Ethics
Joseph Prabhu, California State University, Los Angeles, University of Chicago
Re-examining the Secularization Hypothesis
Robert N. Bellah, University of California, Berkeley
Taylor on Religion and Modernity
Responding:
Charles Taylor, Northwestern University

I only taped Taylor's response and I was sitting in an area of the room where the sound was terrible.  The room was absolutely packed.

Living in a Secular Age - Charles Taylor and the Philosophy of Religion.mp3 (44 MB; 47 min.)

A18-200      
Sunday - 1:00 pm-2:30 pm
Sponsored by the Public Understanding of Religion Committee
Lawrence Mamiya, Vassar College, Presiding
Theme: The Marty Forum: Robert N. Bellah
Panelists:
Robert N. Bellah, University of California
Randall Balmer, Columbia University

Abstract
Special Topics Forum
Theme: The Marty Forum: Robert N. Bellah
Sponsored by the Public Understanding of Religion Committee
The recipient of the 2007 Martin Marty Award for contributions to the public understanding of religion is Robert N. Bellah, Elliott Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bellah has authored or co-authored numerous influential books and articles in the sociology of religion, including Beyond Belief, The Broken Covenant, The New Religious Consciousness, Varieties of Civil Religion and Uncivil Religion, Habits of the Heart and The Good Society. The Marty Forum provides an informal setting in which Dr. Bellah will talk about his work with Professor of American Religion Randall Balmer and will engage in discussion with the audience.

I taped all of it except the last ten minutes when my battery ran out.  This should be a very good recording.

Interview with Robert N. Bellah.mp3 (70 MB; 1 hr. 15 min.)

A18-251
Sunday - 3:00 pm-4:30 pm
Paul Oslington, Princeton University, Presiding
Theme: Theological Readings of Economics
Panelists:
Alasdair John Milbank, University of Nottingham
Albino Barrera, Providence College
Kathryn Blanchard, Alma College
Rebecca Todd Peters, Elon University

Abstract
Wildcard Session
Theme: Theological Readings of Economics
This session is about religious voices in political economy. Deeper theological engagement with economic theory is needed because (a) much contemporary religious discussion of economics is ill-informed and superficial (b) economics dominates contemporary culture. In the session panel members will consider a number of recent theological readings of economics, followed by discussion. The emphasis will be economic theory rather than particular economic issues because religious engagement with particular issues depends on our view of the relationship between theology and the economic tools we use to consider the various issues. At the end of the session we will discuss the proposal for a new AAR group on religion and economics and its relationship to the Religion and Social Sciences Section.

I taped Milbank and Barrera.  Barrera told me he listened to my recording and could make it out.   

Theological Readings of Economics.mp3 (36 MB; 39 min.)

S18-117
________________________________________
God in Public?
11/18/2007
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Room: Salon C - MM
N. T. Wright, Durham Cathedral
God in Public? The Bible and Politics in Tomorrow’s World (45 min)

I taped all of this.  The room was packed.

God in Public - The Bible and Politics in Tomorrow’s World.mp3 (44 MB; 58 min.)

S19-50
________________________________________
Pauline Epistles
11/19/2007
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 20 A - CC
Theme: Paul and Empire
Papers by John M.G. Barclay, Durham University, and Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, with a response by Robert Jewett, University of Heidelberg
Alexandra Brown, Washington and Lee University, Presiding
John M.G. Barclay, Durham University
Why the Roman Empire was Insignificant to Paul (40 min)
N. Thomas Wright, Church of England
Paul's Counter-Imperial Theology (40 min)
Robert Jewett, University of Heidelberg, Respondent

I taped this in two parts as there was a five minute break after Barclay and Wright presented.  The first part has Barclay and Wright.  In the second part, Jewett responds and Barclay and Wright respond.  They then took some questions but I skipped out at that point.  Many New Testament scholars were there.  There is lots of talk on the blogosphere about this one.  If you google, Wright Barclay Paul Empire, you'll get lots of hits.

Paul and Empire - Part 1 of 2.mp3 (84 MB; 1 hr. 30 min.)

Paul and Empire - Part 2 of 2.mp3 (30 MB; 33 min.)

Bonhoeffer / Emerging Church paper and AETE

[I have revised this post].

At the last minute I was asked to be ready to present my paper on Bonhoeffer and Emerging Church movement at the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education meeting.  But as it turned out, they didn't need me as all four presenters showed up.  The AETE met this year in Ashland, Ohio at Ashland Seminary. 

The paper I was going to present was the one I wrote for my Duke Th.D. application.  It has been on my blog for six months and I have made the changes people suggested there.  I have attached both a Microsoft Word and PDF version below. 

Download bonhoeffer_and_emerging_church.doc

Download bonhoeffer_and_emerging_church.pdf

"Who is the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education?", you might ask.  The professors on the board are United Methodist, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, evangelical Anglican and Southern Baptist.  The theme of this annual meeting was "engaging the emerging church." (Download AETE publicity.pdf).

The presenters this year were:

Bob Whitesel - who is a church consultant, author, adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, and is finishing his Ph.D. at the School for Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary.  Bob tried to describe the way organic / emerging / missional church leaders think.  He tries to help older church leaders understand this mindset.      

Paul Chilcote - who is a visiting professor of evangelism at Duke Divinity School shared a paper comparing various positive aspects of the emerging church movement to the work of John Wesley. 

Bryan Stone - who is a E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at the School of Theology at Boston University, pointed out that though the emerging church may appear at first glance disgusted by the institutional church, it is deeply focused on seeing people connected into community. 

Len Sweet - who is E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University also presented comments about the emerging church movement.

There were also a couple of papers presented by Southern Baptist pastors, Adam Greenway and William Henard.  Henard is an adjunct professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY and Greenway is a Ph.D. student.  They both have concerns with Brian McLaren's view of Scripture, doctrine, atonement, evangelism, and ethics. 

The United Methodist E. Stanley Jones Professors of Evangelism from various United Methodist seminaries sometimes attend this meeting and then meet afterward together.  The Foundation For Evangelism which funds the E. Stanley Jones professors of evangelism are also funding my doctoral program.

Book Review: Off-Road Disciplines by Earl Creps

Today I received my copy of the Winter 2007 issue of Leadership Journal entitled "Going Missional."  My abbreviated book review of Earl Creps's book Off-Road Disciplines appears on page 76.  I have posted the full 1000 word review below.  Earl has a website.

Earl Creps. Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006. 240 pp. $23.95 (cloth), ISBN: 0787985201. 

Reviewed by Andy Rowell, Christian Educational Ministries and Biblical Studies, Taylor University

Over the last few years, Earl Creps, director of doctoral studies at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, has interviewed hundreds of young innovative church leaders.  In his first book, Off-Road Disciplines, Creps takes the very best of their insights, adds his own wise reflection, and describes twelve ways pastors can keep their ministries relevant and healthy.  Pastors will greatly benefit from this book for three reasons. 

First, Creps tackles relevant and important issues.  For example, he brings up how to cope with feelings of failure when your church doesn’t grow as fast as you had hoped (ch. 1), how to assess how your church is doing (ch. 7), and how to resolve issues of young vs. old in the church (ch. 8, 11-12).   

The second strength of this book is that Creps looks at the issues with a balanced perspective.  Often books on church ministry are written by practitioners who inform us what worked at their church.  We immediately think of twenty reasons why it couldn’t work in our church.  Creps makes conclusions after consulting a variety of perspectives.   

Third, pastors will appreciate this book because the writing is so accessible.  Creps is a pastor’s pastor.  He graciously dispenses empathy, stories and appropriate challenge.

Below I have given a short description of each chapter with a few lines that struck me as particularly insightful and convicting. 

In the first chapter, “Death: The Discipline of Personal Transformation” Creps tells the story of bringing his “ministry paradigm of tidy principles” (8) to a small church in Maine and fully expecting attendance to boom.  He had been taught that the paradigm worked except in cases “of poor execution or weakness in leadership” (9).  “But our Mainers seemed to have missed a meeting somewhere” (9).  Creps calls this experience a “small crucifixion” (4). 

Then Creps describes the different ways pastors are responding to the coming “post-Christian generation” in his chapter “Truth: The Discipline of Sacred Realism.”  In chapter 3 “Perspective: The Discipline of POV” (point of view), he helpfully outlines a ten-tier scale to depict the varying degrees of how people are affected by postmodernism (36).

In chapter 4 “Learning: The Discipline of Reverse Mentoring” Creps describes the rich educational experience of humbly asking young people questions about things he “doesn’t get.”  He gives this advice: “don’t limit yourself to one person or format” and “check your attitude at the door. . . Remember, you are being crucified, not just educated” (49).

Creps urges pastors to develop relationships with non-Christians, whom he calls “the sought,” in chapter 5 “Witness: The Discipline of Spiritual Friendship.”  He reflects on the positive changes in his preaching style after he began to compose his sermons in a coffee shop where he built friendships with the non-Christians owners.  “The length of my talks dropped by a third, concepts and vocabulary grew simpler, and text on PowerPoint slides gave way to images or nothing at all” (69).               

Chapter 6 “Humility: The Discipline of Decreasing” invites pastors to wake up to our tendencies to: fake humility with a little self-deprecating humor (74), deliver infomercial monologues about ourselves (76), and bluff that we have read books we haven’t (78). 

Next, Creps reflects on “Assessment: The Discipline of Missional Efficiency.”  He urges leaders to evaluate things that deserve it, “not just the things that are easiest to count” such as bodies, bucks and buildings.  He briefly describes today’s Traditional, Contemporary and Experimental churches in chapter 8 “Harmony: The Discipline of Blending Differences.”  He sets forth a basic model for theological reflection in chapter 9 “Reflection: The Discipline of Discernment.” 

In chapter 10 “Opportunity: The Discipline of Making Room”, Creps describes how to create evangelism-friendly opportunities where the Spirit might move.  He critiques programs that imitate large successful churches but also criticizes those who would dismiss all forms of intentionality (143).  As a Pentecostal, Creps has done extensive thinking about the role of the Holy Spirit.  That pays dividends in his insightful description of the Spirit’s role in ministry.  The Spirit is not some “depersonalized vague form of divine background radiation” nor the “battery used to power big-personality leaders” (152).  Rather, the Spirit “fills individuals to make the mission of Christ a reality” and “reveals Christ to the sought” (153).

Chapter 11 “Sacrifice: Surrendering Preferences” is the only chapter in the book that seems particularly directed to younger pastors.  Creps shares his pain of being discriminated against by younger people (158).  He explains that young pastors may need to sacrificially give up some of their preferences, as Timothy agreed to be circumcised, for the sake of broader mission.  Chapter 12 depicts the role of the older pastor in this process.  It is entitled, “Legacy: The Discipline of Passing the Baton.”  Here Creps casts the vision for loving younger leaders and having enough faith in them to share power with them. 

You will enjoy reading this book more if I give you one piece of advice.  Don’t pay much attention to “disciplines” in the book’s title.  Though titled Off-Road Disciplines, the book has nothing to do with spiritual disciplines.  Don’t read this book if you are looking for insight into Christian practices, discipleship or spiritual formation.  The chapters make sense independently without that overarching structure. 

If you are a pastor from the Baby Boom generation, this book is primarily written with you in mind.  If you read this book, you will better understand the convictions driving younger pastors and will come away a more gracious, thoughtful pastor.  All church leaders will benefit from the wise and gracious coaching of Earl Creps. 

Spring 2007: Program and Curriculum Development Textbooks

Update: February 1, 2007

I have placed the syllabus below. 

Download syllabus_ced352_ver_2.doc

Original Post:

I thought I would list here on the blog what books I am requiring in my Taylor University Christian Educational Ministries 352 course this spring which starts next Wednesday, January 31st.  I have 26 students in the course spread out over two sections.  They are all juniors and seniors. 

We will begin the course by attending a workshop at Granger Community Church next Friday, February 2nd called First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences at Your Church with Mark Waltz who has a book by the same title and also has a blog.  If you are near South Bend, Indiana, come check it out and we can chat about it!   

I told the students this about the workshop:

The reason we are going is that Granger does programming better than most any church in the nation.  They are known for their excellence and expertise.  They were rated in a recent Outreach Magazine survey as the #2 innovative church in the nation (though one of their pastors helped organize the survey).  In this workshop, we will see many of the principles of the course demonstrated: goal-setting, strategic planning and evaluation.  I hope you will be impressed by Granger's zeal for evangelism and its programming excellence.  This trip will also launch us into a semester-long discussion about what we can learn from the megachurch and what we might question.

COURSE TEXTS (We will be using the six books in this order). 

1. Stevens, Tim and Tony Morgan. Simply Strategic Stuff: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church. Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, 2003.  $13 (Required last year so there are a number of CEM seniors with this book).

The Stevens/Morgan book is excellent for becoming a wiser, more competent church leader.  They both are pastors at Granger Community Church where will be visiting but we will not be attending their workshop. (Later correction: Actually Tony is leaving mid-February to take a position at a church in South Carolina).  If you are excited about reading before the semester begins, your assignment will be to read any 100 pages in this book.  You will be reflecting about what you learned at the workshop and from reading this book in a three page paper.  You will need to write how many pages you read.  Tony and Tim both have blogs: http://www.tonymorganlive.com/ and http://www.leadingsmart.com/ and a podcast www.simplystrategicshow.com    

Optional instead:

But if you are strongly interested in business and not as interested in church ministry, you may read the following work. (Tim and Craig, I am thinking about you here). Instead of reading 100 pages of Stevens/Morgan, I am requiring that you read 150 pages of Collins. I have not ordered the Collins book for the Taylor bookstore.  I hope and expect most of you will read the Stevens/Morgan book.  Though Good to Great is the most influential business book in many years, it has also been read by many pastors.  If you are excited about reading before the semester begins, read any 150 pages in this book.  You will write a three page paper reflecting on this book and the Granger workshop.  You will need to write how many pages you read.  You can also find audio to listen to Collins at http://www.jimcollins.com/  

Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.  $17.

2. Olson, Ginny, Diane Elliot and Mike Work. Youth Ministry Management Tools. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/Youth Specialties, 2001.  $28.

               We will use this book to help design a ministry and build programming skills.

3. Stanley, Andy, Lane Jones, and Reggie Joiner. Seven Practices of Effective Ministry. Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2004. $15.

               We will be challenged by Andy Stanley, one of the most influential pastors in America, and the insights he has gleaned leading one of the fastest growing churches in America today.  Andy, Lane and Reggie have a podcast on this book at http://www.practicallyspeaking.org/  

4. Kimball, Dan.  The Emerging Church.  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.  $13 (Required last year so there are a number of CEM seniors with this book).

This book will serve as an alternative to the megachurch model.  Kimball’s book is an excellent introduction to understanding the emerging church movement which is the most important young adult ministry movement in America today. Dan has a blog: http://www.dankimball.com /

Optional instead:

But if you are strongly interested in counseling, you may read the following book instead.  (Mary, I am thinking about you here).  But instead of reading 100 pages of Kimball, I am requiring that you read 200 pages of Scazzero.  I have not ordered the Scazzero book for the Taylor bookstore.  I hope and expect most of you will read the Kimball book.

Scazzero, Peter with Warren Bird.  The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship That Actually Changes Lives.  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.  $13.

But if you are strongly interested in social-justice or ministry to the poor, you may read the following book instead.  (Shanna and Carly, I am thinking about you here).  But instead of reading 100 pages of Kimball, I am requiring that you read 150 pages of Sider.  I have not ordered the Sider book for the Taylor bookstore.  I hope and expect most of you will read the Kimball book.

Sider, Ronald J., Philip N. Olson and Heidi Rolland Unruh. Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.  $15.

5. Peterson, Eugene H.  Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987.  $11 (Required last year so there are a number of CEM seniors with this book).

This book will serve as an alternative to a high emphasis on programming.  The Peterson book talks about the importance of prayer, Scripture and spiritual direction in the life of the pastor.  Peterson is one of my heroes. 

Optional instead:

But if you are strongly interested in charismatic prayer ministry and are less interested in church ministry, you may read the following book by Cymbala.  You will be required to read all 200 pages of Cymbala as opposed to only 100 pages of Peterson. I have not ordered the Cymbala book for the Taylor bookstore.  I hope and expect most of you will read the Peterson book.

Cymbala, Jim.  Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997.  $13.

6. Frazee, Randy. The Christian Life Profile Assessment Tool Workbook: Discovering the Quality of Your Relationships with God and Others in 30 Key Areas. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.  $11.

               We will use this workbook to learn about how to evaluate spiritual growth – something notoriously difficult to measure. 

Scot McKnight's Excellent Lecture on the Emerging Church Movement

If you can only read one thing on the emerging church, read this. 

Scot McKnight gave a lecture Oct 26th entitled "What is the Emerging Church? and Misnomers Surrounding the Emerging Church" at a forum at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia area).  It is excellent.  It is 30 pages but is pretty easy reading. 

I think Scot gets it right on.  Scot is a prolific and wise blogger here.  He is a professor of New Testament at North Park University. 

I have pasted the paper below.

Download scot_mcknight_what_is_the_emerging_church.pdf

Here is a link to the audio. 

Here is Scot's own reflection on the day. 

I was pleased to see David Black, Greek professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, responding positively to McKnight's talk here. 

Here is where you can buy the series. 

I have recommended Scot as a good source for understanding the emerging church movement before.  See here. 

Scot, and everyone else it seems, recommend the book Emerging Churches by Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibbs because it lets the movement speak for themselves.  I reviewed that here.   

Scot will be at ETS and SBL if you are attending them this week. 

I found an article entitled More than a Fad: Understanding the Emerging Church by Walter Henegar of the PCA which shows quite a good grasp on the emerging church movement and responds quite fairly to it.  Most PCA folks tend to be suspicious of it.  Henegar was one of the speakers at the Westminster conference.

You can also read Scot McKnight's article based on the paper for Christianity Today at "Five Streams of the Emerging Church."

ETS Paper: "Emerging churches in dialogue with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A fresh practical theology of discipleship for the church"

Update December 23, 2006.

I have updated the paper here.

I just thought I would let you know that I am presenting a paper this Wednesday at the Evangelical Theological Society in Washington, DC.

The title is: "Emerging churches in dialogue with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A fresh practical theology of discipleship for the church."   

Here is a summary of what to expect.

According to UNC sociologist Christian Smith, evangelical teens tend to view Christianity as “feeling good, happy, secure, and at peace” (Soul Searching, 164).  And yet Jesus said "If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also" (Mt 5:39 TNIV).  We've got an educational problem here.  How do we bridge the gap?  We need to take a multi-disciplinary approach to tackle this issue.  I use the practical theology reflection paradigm described by Princeton Theological Seminary's Richard Osmer.

If we are going to reach young adults, it will be instructive to investigate what emerging churches are doing.  I suggest that these emerging churches should properly be seen as laboratories where innovative Christian practices are being explored.  I then present some insights by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on discipleship and innovative Christian practices.  I then look at the meaning of "turning the other cheek" according to New Testament scholars.  Finally, I suggest how a few emerging church practices could be utilized to teach young adults about turning the other cheek.

Here are the details of when and where I'm presenting.

Wednesday, November 15 // Afternoon

Lincoln East
3:20-4:00 PM
Andrew D. Rowell (Taylor University)
Emerging Churches in Dialogue with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Fresh Practical Theology of Discipleship for the Church
(replaces paper by John S. Hammett, which is moved to November 15 in C-356 at 11:00 am)

I am on the "program changes" page which you can find on the conference page here.

I had written earlier about the ETS conference here.

December 1, 2006 Update

Due to your kind requests, I have put the paper I presented below.  I have been reading a lot more Bonhoeffer and have decided to completely restructure my dialogue between Bonhoeffer and Emerging Churches in another paper.  But, if you are interested, here was my first stab at the whole concept. 

Here is my paper:

Download bonhoeffer_and_emerging_church_paper.pdf

Here is the 2 page outline I handed out:

Download bonhoeffer_and_emerging_church_outline.pdf

Thanks Steve Knight for the link at Emergent Village. 

Audio Report on Paper

On my trip to Princeton Theological Seminary and Evangelical Theological Society, I ended up doing some late night driving.  I had no one to talk to so I did a bit of audio recording.  I talked about my ETS paper mostly and a bit about visiting PTS.  I have posted those recordings below.  I don't know how to make them one big recording.  Sorry. 

Numbers 1-9 take place on a drive from Washington DC to Princeton, NJ from midnight to 3:00 am.  At around 3 min 30 sec of number 9, I almost hit a deer. But the show goes on.  :-)

Numbers 10-11 are after PTS and ETS on my way home. 

You would have to be nuts to listen to any of these.  But it is fun for me to experiment with the technology. 

Grace and peace, friends,

andy   

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_01.mp3 11 min. 10 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_02.mp3 17 min 16 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_03.mp3 3 min 3 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_04.mp3 5 min 5 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_05.mp3 5 min 5 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_06.mp3 5 min 5 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_07.mp3 2 min 2 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_08.mp3 3 min 3 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_09.mp3 5 min 5 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_10.mp3 5 min 5 MB

Download Andy_Rowell_PTS_ETS_11.mp3 5 min 5 MB

Best Podcasts for Church Leaders

Here are the best podcasts for church leaders that I have found. 

The ITunes links will only work if you have the free ITunes software installed on your computer.  See below for more directions.  I have also put the MP3 location for each link in case you don't want to bother with ITunes. 

Catalyst Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location.  The Catalyst Conference was this past weekend.  It is this cool conference for pastors under 40.  See my preview of it here.  There are good interviews with Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Andy Stanley, Eugene Peterson, and Donald Miller.

Defining Moments Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location. These are samples of the Willow Creek Association Defining Moments audio CD's.  They are good 10 minute interviews but really leave you wanting more.  And that is the point.  They want your church to become part of the WCA and then the pastor will get the full CD's.   

Emergent Podcast (ITunes): MP3 location.  The Emergent Village is the main organization of the Emerging Church movement.  These podcasts are usually just plain good theological discussion.  You will enjoy them even if you aren't "emerging."  The first seven are with Yale theologian Miroslav Volf. 

Mars Hill Bible Church (ITunes): MP3 location.  Rob Bell, of the NOOMA DVDs, Velvet Elvis author and author of spring 2007 book Sex God, has more people download his sermons than anyone. 

Mosaic (ITunes): MP3 location. Erwin McManus, author of The Barbarian Way, and numerous other books, and pastor of Mosaic in LA. 

MPPC Sermon-Cast (ITunes): MP3 location.  John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and author of The Life You've Always Wanted and other books, is an outstanding teacher. 

North Point Ministries: Life Rules (ITunes): MP3 location.  This is a series on relating with one another.  This is with Andy Stanley, pastor of the #3 influential church in the nation according thechurchreport.com and author of the new book Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication. North Point only podcasts their most recent sermon series. 

Practically Speaking (ITunes): MP3 location.  This is a series for church leaders based on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley and friends. 

Covenant Worldwide of Covenant Theological Seminary has thirteen classes that are podcast.  They actually have many more for free at their website here. Below are the ITunes links. 

1. Old Testament History with V. Phillips Long (now at Regent College).
2. Biblical Theology with Gerard Van Groningen.
3. Life & Teachings of Jesus with Daniel Doriani.
4. Life & Letters of Paul with Hans Bayer. 
5. Ancient & Medieval Church History with David Calhoun.
6. Reformation & Modern Church History with David Calhoun. 
7. Calvin's Institutes with David Calhoun.   
8. Christian Ethics with David Jones. 
9. Apologetics & Outreach with Jerram Barrs.
10. Youth Ministry with Mark Davis. 
11. God and His Word with Michael Williams. 
12. Humanity, Christ and Redemption with Robert Peterson. 
13. Spirit, Church & Last Things with Robert Peterson.

See also my post about the best audio on the internet which is my most popular post. 

Other ITunes podcast links:

The below ITune links either aren't as strong as the ones above or are not directly related to church leadership.  But I thought I would place them anyway for your to see what is available and what I'm listening to.  The links below will only work if you have ITunes installed on your computer.  If you don't, I'm sure these MP3's are available but you will probably have to google them.  I don't want to take the time to find them right now. 

NYT Op-Ed Podcast (New York Times and other NYT is good.)
NPR (Anything at NPR.org or podcast is good. National Public Radio)
Moyers on America (PBS)
Nature (Science journal)
Science Talk: The podcast of Scientific American (Science journal)
Relevant Podcast (Relevant Magazine for Christians in 20's)
Jesus Asked (Book by Conrad Gempf; Zondervan, 2003. Read by the author in 15 minute segments.  "In the Gospels, when people asked Jesus a question, he often replied with one of his own. This book looks at the questions Jesus asked and how they can enrich our understanding and faith.")
PeterKreeft.com (Christian Catholic philosopher)
wiredparish.com (interview with Rob Bell is pretty good)
Willow Creek podcasts (not much there right now except a few random sermons)
Leadership Network  See my posts about listening to these video venue audio segments here.
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Gordon-Conwell Chapel
Donald Miller a few posts from a while ago
BusinessWeek - Climbing the Ladder
Christian Audio podcast - Devotional Classics
Duke Chapel Podcast including Richard Hays and Walter Brueggemann
USA Today's Pop Candy - on pop culture

Here are some basic instructions to get you started using ITunes for podcasts.

Basically, you download ITunes here.  It is free.  I would recommend doing it.  You might as well learn what people are talking about and it is free and convenient to have ITunes download your MP3's for you. 

Basically, ITunes like Internet Explorer doesn't work unless you are connected to the internet. When you open ITunes and see the ITunes store, go to the right side of the page under "Quick Links" and click "Power Search."   On the next screen, click "Podcasts" which is on the right side of the page.  Under Title, put "Mars Hill Bible Church" and then click "Search."  You will have found the podcast for Rob Bell's church.  Click on Mars Hill Bible Church.  Then you can see the main page for the podcast.  At the bottom, all of the episodes are available.  If they are not in the right order, click on "Release Date" to have them organized from most recent to least recent.  You can either "Subscribe" at the top so that you get each new sermon as it is posted on the net each week or you can just click "Get episode" and download the past sermons that you want. 

You can click on "Podcasts" under Library on the left side of your screen.  This will show you all the podcasts which you have downloaded and subscribe to.  Right in front of the title of the podcast you have downloaded is a little triangle pointing right or down.  If it is pointing down, you can see all the details of what episodes you have downloaded.  If it is pointing right, the details are hidden.  When you click on the name of the podcast, it is highlighted and a little arrow appears to the right of the title.  You can click on this arrow to go to the ITunes home page for that podcast.  You right click on the icon of the podcast on its ITunes home page to get its ITunes link (url). 

If you want to get back to searching for more podcasts, just click on the left side of your screen where it says "ITunes store."  In the ITunes store, you can always click back to the ITunes front page by clicking the little house at the top of your screen. 

The podcasts you download are audio computer files called MP3's.  Podcasts are generally free.  You can also download audio books or songs but you have to pay for them. 

Unlike the Apple song files, you can play the podcast MP3's on any computer and MP3 player. You can also burn them on CD's and play them on some CD and DVD players. 

For convenience, you might want to be able to access your ITunes MP3's without ITunes.  Here is the default location where podcasts are downloaded to your computer:

C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts

If you want to make a shortcut, go to My Documents, My Music, ITunes, ITunes Music, Podcasts.  Then right click and click Create Shortcut.  Cut that Shortcut folder and paste it on your desktop. 

You can grab the MP3's there if you want to transfer them to your MP3 player or a CD.  I

You can double click the photo on this post to get a bigger photo of what my ITunes looks like. 

Should we be worried about Contemplative Prayer?

A fellow professor asked about what the contemplative prayer movement is and if we should be concerned about it.  Here is how I responded:

Critics of contemplative prayer are particularly worried that Christians will accept Hindu or Buddhist practices.  When Christians speak of “meditating” or “meditation” or “Lectio Divina” (spiritual reading) or what we can learn from Catholic mystics such as Teresa of Avila, these critics start getting very concerned about these manifestations of contemplative prayer influencing people toward eastern mysticism.  For example, Richard Foster has a chapter on “meditation” in his book Celebration of Discipline. These critics worry about the continued influence of that book.  They worry that Christians will do Eastern mysticism practices and dismiss Scripture.  In reality, most people including Richard Foster are simply showing people what Biblical prayer and Scriptural meditation is all about. 

A number of Christian writers including Robert Webber and Tony Jones have decried our lack of historical knowledge. They have tried to remind modern Christians that Christians throughout history have memorized Scripture and prayed in solitude.  Some people within the emerging church movement (such as Jones) have encouraged these “ancient” practices as a response to the harried and consumeristic modern life-style.  You won’t be surprised to learn that contemplative prayer is not spreading like wild fire because it mostly entails mediation on Scripture and times of prayer in solitude!  This is not easy for any of us! 

It is appropriate to listen to the warnings about contemplative prayer but I would assume the best about Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Larry Crabb, Tony Jones, Robert Webber, James Houston and any others who urge us to meditate on Scripture and spend time in prayer!  This is the right kind of contemplative prayer. 

I would be happy to hear if there is more I need to know about this movement. 

Update February 2007:

See also a well known church Church of the Open Door (Maple Grove, MN) that has a Response to Emergent Church & Contemplative Movements (PDF) that sounds a lot like my response. 

What is the Emerging Church Movement?

I have been asked to brief a fellow professor on the Emerging Church Movement.  Here is how I responded. 

In my opinion, "The Emerging Church Movement" is a description for the new styles of evangelical churches that are being led by younger pastors who are between the ages of 25 and 40 today (who we used to call "Generation Xers").  (There are people younger and older but I’m trying to give you a ballpark sociological description).  Most used to be youth pastors and are now senior pastors.  They are using their youth ministry experience to help create churches that better reach younger people.  Of course any changes in church structure or practice could become heretical and deserve reflection.  But, it seems to me that all of the main "emerging church" writings would easily fall within the boundaries of the National Association of Evangelicals statement of faith.  The most controversial things some emerging church writers have questioned include how to best reach out to homosexuals (see an example from Brian McLaren at Leadership Journals’ Out of Ur blog 1, 2, 3) and whether hell has been biblically taught correctly within evangelicalism (See again McLaren at Out of Ur 1, 2, 3).  In my opinion, these are standard conversations within evangelicalism.  (As you can see, they are happening on Christianity Today’s website). 

As theological educators, I think we should view it this way:

the emerging church proponents = innovative evangelical youth pastors

They will make some mistakes in their enthusiasm for changes and relevance but they are trying their best to reach young adults and teens.  These are not enemies to argue with but rather people to cheer on, put your arm around, and offer guidance.  They will also challenge us in good ways and keep our churches fresh. 

Below I have provided some resources.  Let me know if you have questions or concerns.   

andy

Resouces:

The proper term is "The Emerging Church Movement" not "emergence" or "emergent."  And it does fit the sociological definition of a "movement."  The "Emergent Village" is the most organized group within the movement.  You can read their "statement of faith" which they call an "order" here.

You can read a decent description at Wikipedia on "Emerging Church."  (Wikipedia is a user generated encyclopedia that anyone can edit and both critics and supporters of the emerging church have basically agreed upon this description). 

The best scholarly book on the subject is:

Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
by Eddie Gibbs, Ryan K. Bolger

Baker Academic (November 1, 2005)

You will be interested to know as well that the highly respected Trinity Evangelical Divinity School New Testament professor D.A. Carson has written a book that is mostly critical of the movement. 

Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church : Understanding a Movement and Its Implications
by D. A. Carson

Zondervan (May 1, 2005)

Carson tries to analyze the movement by analyzing Brian McLaren's epistemology.  It is a theological and philosophical analysis of what is really a practical phenomenon.   

See especially North Park New Testament professor Scot McKnight’s review of D.A. Carso