The Portal

The newsletter from April 18, 2009:

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New ministry opportunties!

Would you like discover the joy of ministry? Do you have a burden for the elderly? We have new ministry opportunities, and we need workers! After visiting retirement communities in our area we found a tremendous match for our fellowship!

The Gardens of Western Reserve Assisted Living Residence in Cuyahoga Falls has a friendly staff, the right volunteer openings for people like us—and most important—they will allow us to share Jesus Christ with the residents. It’s a clean atmosphere, and these residents are a real joy to serve!

We need volunteers for the weekends, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and Wednesday nights. We need help for:

• Bingo nights (Wednesdays) between 6:15pm and 7:45pm. This would involve transporting (pushing their wheelchair or walking alongside them) residents to and from the Bingo room, interacting with them during the game, etc.
• Getting ready for a craft bizarre on May 1st. Main hours to help with this project are Tuesday and Thursday between 2:00pm and 4:00pm. Again, the volunteer activity would include helping transport the residents, helping them with what they are doing during the craft time, etc.
• Sunday bible study assistance. A pastor from a local church leads this between 1:30pm and 2:00pm. They could use help transporting patients to and from the bible study room, plus hanging out with them afterwards to talk or play games.

Visit this Web page for a list of other ministry opportunities.  They have lots of openings during the week and on weekends which require help. You may find that you have a knack or skill for one of these listed!

There could be more opportunities as we get established as volunteers and as the residents get comfortable with us. For example, we might be able to develop a second Bible study, or do things with specific residents with whom we build relationships – especially those who don’t have family that visit them often (or ever).

Go post a reply at the Basecamp topic to let Kathryn Hughes know what hours and times you would like to volunteer, and what kinds of things you would like to do, and she will do her best to accommodate you.

We went there to see a legend, and a legend we saw: Brian McLaren, spokesperson, evangelist, activist and prolific author of Emergent Church theology.

But he told us not to consider him an activist. “I mostly listen,” he said. What does he listen to? “The Conversation!”

Read the NeoZine article about McLaren’s performance, or listen to our very own recordings of the event:

• The McLaren Debate.
• The Michael Toth Question.
• McLaren on “Penal Substitution”.

And here are the notes from the debate:

Doesn’t like “Emerging Church” term, nor “movement”.

It means “do I join or not?” Which gives it a shelf-life of 2 yrs. Doesn’t want to put pastors into a position needing to decide.

It’s not another “slice of the pie” competing for “market share.” It’s already sliced-up too much.

Rather, it’s a cross-section of a tree;they grow fat first, then taller. The outermost rings of the tree tell us about weather conditions. If the tree is under stress, it’s evident. There’s always a “conversation” among the outermost rings of the Emerging (rapidly-changing) culture. So it’s a conversation, not a movement. It’s always changing, thus “Emerging” phenomena.

These changes are philosophical, political, and economic. As the church deals with these changes, we’re dealing with people’s pain. So the conversation is between “people in pain”.

It’s also like grabbing a ball of mercury: “I’m involved in this…and I don’t understand what’s going on.” Supposedly a spokesperson, but “I’m just listening, mostly.”

He was always interested in evangelism, since the early 80s.

Never considered inviting Christians.

The kinds of questions they were asking were different from mine. My answers didn’t work. I wanted to take their questions seriously.

In 1998, attended a gathering to discuss “Generation-X”.

They understood change was afoot:  they used the P-word (postmodern).

None of us had a solution, but we could talk about the problem: “How do you do church?”

These people came out of the Mega-church movement, which counted people.

They had few people from 18-35 yrs old. They were dropping out. It was “How do we do church?”

But it isn’t about generational issues: it was a philosophical shift, a generational shift.

McLaren was chosen as an “older speaker”.

So, it’s a conversation about church.

How do we help people outside the church make sense of the message?

So he wanted to pursue “how do we evangelize” these younger people.

He wrote “Finding Faith” to help non-Christians find their way into Christianity.

Defending the “truth claims” of Christianity became a big deal: shifts in epistemology were afoot (with Postmodernism).

He wrote “New Kind of Christian”, which became a third topic.

“We were struggling against a Christianity with a history we weren’t proud of. So we entered into a period of reflection on Church history, and reflection. “

Anthony Bloom’s book, “Beginning to Pray” introduced him to Eastern Orthodoxy and its approach to prayer.  His book “Generous Orthodoxy” became the corollary.

They read black/South American theologians, who were very much interested in the Kingdom of God. They spoke of it in increasing dynamism.

Why was the KOG so important to JC, but it played almost no role in what we inherited? This means you stop talking about theology, and start talking about justice:  racism, ecology, etc.

“Secret Message of Jesus” was his book dealing with this, and also “Everything must change.”

Coming from a Pietist movement, there must be a balance between the “doing & being”, or “active and contemplative” ways.

It means cultivating a deep awareness of God (i.e., loving God, worshipping Him).

It’s also interesting watching the conversation expand.

It began as a white evangelical male movement (“with soul-patches”).

But quickly they realized they needed others involved, like women (evangelicals don’t allow significant roles for them) — which then attracted mainline Protestants, who had 20 yrs advance over Evangelicals in admitting women into leadership.

Native Americans were interested in this, as well as black theologians.

Then there were “conversations” springing up all over the world: in Europe (which was more advanced than American Christianity).

In Latin America you find the most advanced form of this conversation: lots of civil unrest, environmental problems, etc. Which led to a vibrant conversation with them.

So he’s a learner among these more advanced thinkers.

Similar things are happening in India & South Asia too.

Emerging or Diverging?

“I’ve heard that I have some critics. Many are upset by us raising these questions, looking at scripture and reaching different conclusions than our grandparents.”

I hope people will feel we’re not diverging from Jesus, but participating with the Emerging of Jesus in a changing world.