ARE WE A PEOPLE AT HALF TIME? - Leadership Network

detourby brad cecil forum participant
The sign in the
middle of the
road read
“Detour.” I
obligingly turned
and followed the
signs onto an unfamiliar
road and continued
winding through
residential neighborhoods until
I was back on the original road
beyond some construction. The
road I had been on was undergoing
major work – it appeared that they
were widening it.
“I guess the road had
been built in a different
period and had to be
redone to accommodate
the traffic patterns
of today’s travelers.”
Something similar happened
to me a few years back in
my ministry. I was
traveling down the
ministry road
that I had traveled
on for years,
but one day I ran
into a sign that read
“Detour.” Like so many
others in ministry, I had
witnessed the exodus of young
adults from our church and apart
from programs that had ancillary
attraction (meeting other single
people), I did not see much activity
among the young adults. However,
I saw this growing spirituality in
popular culture, especially among
young adults, and was confused. I
began to sense that young adults
were not just “going through a
phase” that they would grow out
of some day and “find their way
back.” It seemed that something
had happened to the way people
think. The signs on this detour
kept pointing me in a direction off
the main road.
www.youngleader.org
My detour became an intense
theological/philosophical journey.
I started exploring the issue of
Postmodernity and its effect on
our culture. I started to uncover
“understanding” that helped
explain this emerging spirituality,
pluralism, desire for dialogue, and
real community that was so prevalent
in young adults. But to be
honest, I heard little or no discussion
of it in ministry circles and
felt fairly alone on this detour –
until my journey took me through
California in 1997. I attended the
GenX 2.0 conference at Mt.
Hermon, which was disturbing
and refreshing. It was an anointed
confirmation that we weren’t
“lost,” but it was disturbing to
realize that we were on the brink
of the most significant shift to
occur in the Church in hundreds
of years and no one knew for sure
what was around the corner.
I left Mt. Hermon with my head
spinning and my heart inflamed.
Throughout the year I continued to
dialogue with fellow “journeyers”
through e-mail, phone calls,
forums and regional conferences,
and personal visits. I looked forward
to the Reevaluation
Conference in Glorieta, NM in
1998 with much anticipation.
Detour
The Reevaluation Forum was
sweet. The opening session
confirmed that this “reevaluation”
of ministry is not born in rebellion
but in necessity. The world is in a
time of transition that has not
occurred in the last 400 years;
modernism built a ministry road
that was effective . . . but is in
need of some major revision for
today’s travelers.
Stanley Grenz illustrated beautifully
how this transition will affect our
travel. While modernity starts in
doubt and requires an apologetic
of evidence,
0 2
Postmodernity
starts in community and
“community becomes the
hermeneutic and the apologetic.”
Len Sweet, the master of
metaphor, illustrated so well the
glorious task we are faced with: to
“Kiss the World.” One session after
the other kept encouraging me and
my fellow travelers to continue on
this detour while the ministry road
is undergoing some major renovation
for today’s travelers. Thom
Wolf, Carol Davis, Rodney Clapp,
Sally Morgenthaler, Brian McLaren,
and Tom and Christine Sine all
provided signs that we were
headed in the right direction.
The best part of the Forum, for me,
was the fellowship with others who
are on this detour with me. I was
so encouraged to listen to others
who wrestle with the new direction
this is taking us and the dialogue
of faith that is required because of
the unfamiliar road. The fellowship
was deeply moving – especially
communion on the last night. I
kept thinking, “How beautiful is the
Body of Christ.” If I am going to
travel these unfamiliar roads . . . I
can’t think of a better group of
people to join on this journey.
I am awed by
the time we live
in . . .
to think that
God would
entrust this
generation with
this transition
and the
responsibility
of building the road of ministry
that others will travel on for
years to come. While the road is
“less traveled” right now, I think
Frost is right . . . it makes all
the difference.
axxessbrad@aol.com