ARE WE A PEOPLE AT HALF TIME? - Leadership Network

The New Edge
Our world, in the midst of multiple and
significant transitions, is shifting to
“Post.” To Postmodern, Post-secular,
Post-Christian, Post-conservative, Postliberal.
And with the shift come new
rules, new needs, new answers, new
approaches and new cultural edges.
While the church must always be
present with the reality and truth of God
throughout the culture, the New Edge of
culture is both a natural and essential
place to be the church of Jesus Christ.
This special issue of NEXT reflects the ongoing
conversations among church leaders
who are ministering on the New Edge and
in particular, the more than 500 young
leaders who gathered at a Leadership
Network national forum in October to
re-evaluate how ministry is being done in
these times of transition on the edge.
We invite you to read, discuss, pray and
participate in seizing the opportunities
found on the New Edge.
Inside this
issue
the national
reevaluation forum 1
journey 2
the issues
on the new edge 3 - 8
community 3
experiential 4
mystical 5
telling the story 6
leadership 7
missional church 8
creed interview 9 - 11
yl schedule 12
next
february, 1999
special
www.youngleader.org
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special edition from leadership network
The National Reevaluation Forum:
The Story of Gathering
WHERE: Glorieta, NM
WHEN: October 12-15, 1998
They traveled from all corners of North
America. From New York to Alaska.
From California to Georgia. From
Kansas to Canada. They came to
re-evaluate ministry in the context
of the Postmodern transition. More
than 500 young leaders of the new
millennium’s emerging church spent four
days listening, learning, dialoguing and
praying about the church and
ministry in a radically changing world.
Some came seeking direction. Others
were looking for “confirmation of what
God is already doing in my life and my
church.” Amidst their diversity, they have
in common a passionate heart for God
and a deep desire to live out their faith
and reveal Christ in a Postmodern world.
Cutting-edge practitioners in worship,
church planting, leadership, youth
ministry and young adult ministries
shared their knowledge and infectious
hope. Clusters of pastors and ministry
leaders gathered in “affinity groups” to
discuss everything from restoring arts
in the church and reclaiming a social
conscience to developing rave-vivals
(ministry to rave and club cultures).
Plenary sessions featured practitioners,
church theologians, thinkers and
futurists such as Rodney Clapp, Carol
Davis, Stanley Grenz, George Hunsberger,
Jimmy Long, Sally Morgenthaler,
Christine Sine, Tom Sine, Len Sweet and
Thom Wolf. Sessions included dialogues
on new leadership styles, spiritual formation,
Biblical justice, worship, the use of
story and the mystical, and the experiential
aspects of faith.
Worship times, led by teams from
churches in Washington, Colorado and
California, were rich, sweet and varied.
Ancient Scottish hymns, raucous
thundering songs of lament and praise,
candles and incense created a holy
atmosphere, calling participants to a
full sensory worship experience.
Theologians and practitioners dialogued
about their common journeys on these
uncharted paths of cultural change. They
shared their struggles and insights on
ministering in a society transitioning
from learning primarily by proclamation
and rational presentation to one where
narrative storytelling, in its many forms,
is the primary learning mode. They
compared notes on multiple models
of emerging ministries.
Young leaders found encouragement in
this community. “I used to think, ‘are
we the only church doing this’ For
the first time I’m seeing hundreds in
the same place as we are,” a pastor
commented. Others celebrated
attending the first conference where
church size and numbers weren’t even
mentioned. They loved the, “lack of
pretension, genuine humility, no head
trips and ordinary average people
seeking God.”
That the church is in transition, from
the modern age of reason to what it
will become, is undeniable. And what
it becomes will not be “programmed”
but organic. The Gospel message remains
unchanged but the maps for this journey
are still in process. Noted theologian and
semiotician Len Sweet offered this
observation: “The primary challenge
in this Postmodern transition is
navigational tools. Each person or
church becomes their own cartographer.”
In reflection, the Reevaluation Forum
was an extraordinary cartographer’s
convention.