Some final thoughts...
It was good to get away to Off the Map this year. I think if I'm asked to present a workshop next year, I'd like to. There were a lot of good thoughts and ideas and I worried that I might not have much to add to the conversation, but I think maybe...
At any rate, overall, it was a god and worthwhile time. Time away with some quality people, time to hear soem good thinking on... Well, here's the thing. The conference had a theme ("Revolutionaries") and many things were shoehorned into and around that theme (and many things fit really well), but like other Off The Map things I've been to, this one was really about our posture as Christ followers towards the world and each other. This one included a beautiful subtheme woven throughout on the kindness of God and our responsibility in light of His kindness to be kind ourselves (I'm expecting a book from Brian McLaren on this!).
The really encouraging thing to me was to hear the subtle shifts that are taking place within this emerging conversation. I heard Spencer Burke say "I love Jesus, I love Scripture, I love the Church!"
I heard Joe Myers say that organic does not mean chaotic and without structure. That there is no such thing as a community without leaders. I heard Jason Clark say "We've struggled for so long to take Jesus out of the church as though the church was the problem. And now we're simply seeing Jesus is in the church."
I heard Brian McLaren exhort (!) the people not to forsake community, not to cease gathering together as Christ followers and reading the Scriptures, praying, worshiping... He even busted out Hebrews 10!
I heard less anger and more charity towards the institutional church, even the (gasp) mega church.
I still heard a lot fo what makes the emerging conversation so good and troublesome and challenging and frustrating... but it was also good to hear it maturing, bring the pendulum back a bit towards the center. There's still a lot to talk about, and by no means have we ironed out all the kinks... but what I heard this weekend encouraged me quite a bit that there's some good things happening in this Church that is emerging.
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