We were away for three days last week at the Church of Scotland Emerging Church Conference. This group of about 50 folk are all involved in new initiatives of one kind or another and fundamentally they are about looking at fresh ways of getting church engaged with our culture once again. Society has changed so fundamentally in the last 20-30 years that the church has become largely disconnected and hence also increasingly misunderstood.
So it was great to meet people who are concerned to see a reconnection and the key note speaker was simply excellent. His name is Alan Roxburgh and although he has a lot of academic things to say about being a Missional Church, he nonetheless weaves much of his life story into all that he says. That makes him much more enagaging and also plausible, at least for me! The net result is that we returned exhausted but refreshed at the discussions that we were also able to enjoy at the Conference.
It was also particularly good to catch up with our good friend and mentor Duncan MacPherson from Hilton Church, Inverness! Though I think our laughter at Alan's 'eccelesiastical' jokes was at times a little too vigorous... :)
For those who don't know much about emerging church or missional church I would recommend that you take a look at this web site - http://www.roxburghmissionalnet.com/
Bible in a year...
10 years ago
If you have interest in the Emerging Church discussion that has taken place in the U.S. from a preaching perspective, then you may have interest in my work, "Preaching and the Emerging Church." You can learn more about it at amazon.com. God's best to your ministry.
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