What's Next?

[Frank Logue]

Associated Parishes has been at the forefront of liturgical renewal in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in Canada. As we continue to live into the baptismal theology embodied in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, what needs to be done next? Where should our energies be focused now?

[Kurt Huber]

Certainly, I think APLM needs to be engaged in conversation with those in the Emerging Church. Having just taken a course on the emerging church (what it is, etc.), to me I see the Spirit is moving within those communities of faith and I think we need to engage them.

Seeing what the Church of the Apostles has done in Seattle with regards to liturgy and mission, I see new areas of growth! (And certainly a community like St. Gregory of Nyssa in SF is part of that movement too...)

[Frank Logue]

Kurt,
I agree about connecting with the emerging church. I am glad that the APLM council made this part of its most recent meeting (I wish I has been there for it). Sometimes King of Peace strikes folks as an emerging church. But when I read emerging church literature, I wonder. There is definitely a connection. But the emerging church folk have often arrived to their new place by way of the Evangelical Movement and then looking for something rich and authentic and discovering ancient connections that do this. We arrive to the same clearing in the same grove from the side of the forest that already had the ancient connection. So when they talk about an ancient-future connection, I know that I already had my mail forwarded there.

I think the conversation is important and will be mutually rewarding. It will also be more rewarding if we appreciate the different paths some of us are on when we talk about emerging church. Emerging from where? Emerging out of evangelical churches or liturgical renewal? I see St. Gregory of Nyssa as a good connection to make, but I suspect that Donald and Rick et. al. were coming from a very different place than Brian McLaren.

With that said, today is Pentecost. We know that it is the same spirit animating people in different places and that spirit seems to be guiding us toward a way to be authentically Christian in a new context. And in doing so, we might find a dialogue to be helpful in litugical renewal and mission in an Anglican context for us and enriching in terms of discovering rich traditions in liturgy that could provide fertile soil for emerging churches.

That's my off the top of the head take from the vicar of a congregation that gets tapping into a way of following Jesus that connects to older practices of the faith not typically found in south Georgia, all while trying to be authentically the Body of Christ as best we can muster, yet almost none of the congregation knows the term "emerging church."

[Kurt Huber]

I agree Frank.

Most of the emerging church from the evangelical side of the forest are just learning about practices they we have known, and some have brought back into the light (St. Gregory's for one).

What I am thinking about, is how we lay out our mission to those of younger generations and I think the emerging church has tapped into that.

I think COTA (Church of the Apostles, Seattle) has an average age of 27 or so in its congregation.

My congregation is 206 years old and is probably in the early 50's in average age. I still think the emerging church has something to say to it, and I think it fits in with liturgy renewal and what mission is today.

[Frank Logue]

The Rev. Leslie Nipps has a thoughtful article in the last issue of APLM's Open, An Anglican/Emerging Church Synthesis?

[Leslie Nipps]

I agree with the comments concerning the different directions evangelicals and sacramental Christians are coming from. Having said that, though, in my experience of spending lots of time with self-identified "emergents" is that everyone who is attracted to the movement--from whatever Christian tradition--shares a basic yearning for a more missional expression of Christian faith, frustrated by the limitations stemming from institutional structures. The great re-discovered insight of emergent is the idea that growth flows FROM the creative margins TO the ordered center, almost never the other way around. All of our traditions are hampered by an over-reliance upon the empowerment of the center to make anything happen, and that's why we're ALL languishing (whether numerically or, from the point of view of evangelical emergents, theologically, spiritually and missionally). It is an issue of particular concern, I think, to Episcopalians, where we have traditionally a VERY difficult time empowering the margins. For instance, our entire ordination training process is intended to enroll our leaders INTO the center, rather than empower them for creative work on the margins. These issues are the same in all denominational traditions, and that's where we find our common ground.

How do we revive mission? What are the particular ways the Episcopal Church needs to reform to make that happen?

Peace, Leslie

[Ormonde Plater]

My personal frustration with the way things work centers on our ordination process, which, despite the reforms of 2003 and 2006, remains cumbersome, lengthy, and subject to control at every level. Some of us tried to make it simple and flexible, but we failed to carry these reforms far enough. Whenever the church has been successful at mission, over many centuries, the initiative has come from those who had vision, daring, and the courage to work outside the institutional structures.

[Thomas Brackett]

Leslie,

First, I'm a new member -- intrigued by comments I find here. Bear with me as I learn the groundrules of this forum.

Second, there is a beautiful little parable that makes sense of this discussion for me. I think of it as a talisman for deciding my part in any of these discussions. You can find it here: http://www.intervarsity.org/slj/article/4249/

Thirdly, one of the more cogent and thorough discussions of this is offered by Maggie Ross in her book, Pillars of Flame: Power, Priesthood, and Spiritual Maturity. She doesn't hold back from calling us to reexamine baptism, ordination, and institutional power and she does so with a compelling sense of longing and urgency. Reverend Debbie Little-Wyman (Founder of Common Cathedral, Boston) turned me to this.

I am grateful for this forum and I look forward to following along as this thread develops.

Joy to you,


Tom Brackett
828-489-9168