The next meeting of the Akron/Canton Emergent Cohort is Friday, June 8, 8 PM, at Rico Latte in Stow (click the link in Jared’s previous post for location and directions).
This month’s discussion is going to be based off some discussions that Jared and I have had recently. Our starting point comes from a quote by Alan Roxburgh in his book, The Sky Is Falling: Leaders Lost in Transition:
“Both Liminals and Emergents are struggling to understand how to be the church in a radically changing context. It requires both tribes to discover their need of one another in a communitas“
Let me clarify a few terms in this quote so that we all are on the same page to start:
Liminals: liminality is the “condition of being on the threshold or at the beginning of the process”. Roxburgh defines liminals as Christians who have an awareness that something is amiss, but from a practical standpoint, don’t know what to do about it. Perhaps better put, liminal Christians understand that the culture is rapidly changing and they’re not sure how to deal with it. Because of this, they tend to force a return to the “good old days”, old ways of thinking and practice that they feel will return stability.
Emergents: Roxburgh defines them as longing to contribute to a new type of church but rejecting the old practices, frameworks, etc. upon which to shape vision. The past way of doing things is seen as having nothing that is worth carrying over.
Communitas: describes a potential later phase of liminality. It shows what can happen to the relationships between liminals and emergents if they go through the constant changes borne of cultural instability together.
So the question is: can really take place in Northeast Ohio? Can two tribes with diametrically opposed viewpoints find common ground and experience the massive changes in culture together? Can we forget our differences and focus on our similarities? Are we as individuals even willing to try? If so, how does that look in our community and what does it mean with regard to our relationships with people who are in the “other tribe”?
So let that marinade for a week, and I’ll see you then.
Pax,
Tim
