A New Kind of Christianity - Brian McLaren [155]
One of the best writers I’ve found on this subject is Alan Roxburgh, especially in Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006). See also allelon.org.
9. Methodism was later ejected by Anglicanism—or broke away from it, depending on whose version of the story you accept.
10. See www.newmonasticism.org, www.churchinnovations.org, and www.emergentvillage.com.
11. Seasoned leaders learn to “move with the movers,” meaning they focus their energy on the folks who are willing to move forward rather than exhausting everyone by bothering those who are resistant. But seldom is there enough critical mass inside a stalled or stagnant organization to move it forward only with insiders (otherwise, it would already be moving). Almost always, a new day will begin with movers on the inside welcoming in new movers from the outside.
12. A tremendous example of this change by addition is happening at this time, as the Belhar Confession (developed to faithfully oppose apartheid in South Africa) is added to existing core documents in several Reformed denominations. The act of adding something new opens up new space, giving testimony to the fact that the Reformed tradition is alive and still reforming rather than frozen in a past reformation. It simultaneously removes the old documents from their previous status as absolute (see www.rca.org/Page.aspx?Pid=2552). Vatican II provides another example, although its full promise has yet to be realized.
13. The writings of Walter Wink, Robert Greenleaf, and Jim Emrich are especially helpful in this regard, as are www.seeingthingswhole.org and servant-leaderassociates.com.
14. When priestly editors and officials included the writings of the prophets in the biblical canon, even those texts that were highly critical of the priestly establishment, they demonstrated the power of institutions and social movements working in creative tension.
15. The song of the Apocalypse is not, “The kingdom of this world is replaced with the kingdom of God,” but rather, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15, emphasis mine).
16. Haidt beautifully explains these five lines of moral reasoning in a mere nineteen minutes at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html.
17. It also helps explain why liberals often consider conservatives to be regressive; for liberals, justice and compassion are higher values, while purity, in-group loyalty, and tradition are seen as regressive.
18. The ten questions in this book could be used to facilitate such a listening team. Listeners could ask these questions of dropouts and nonchurchgoers and of churchgoers, seeking to understand the tensions between the two groups.
Chapter 22: Conclusion: A New Kind of Christianity
1. An old friend of mine used to say, “You can’t steer a bicycle unless it’s moving.” Perhaps, similarly, the Spirit can’t guide us unless we’re on a quest; or better said, perhaps we’re unguidable unless we’re searching for something more, something beyond, something better.
Searchable Terms
Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.
abductive experience, 250
Abraham, 36, 37, 41, 46, 53, 65, 81,83, 99, 133, 149, 211
abstinence pledges, 187, 189
action: call for inclusion and transcendence, 234–239; church change-agentry, 247–251, 296n8; cultivating spiritual life, 226–229; the growth imperative, 238–240; handling resistance to change, 244–246; and the quest, 21–22, 225–226, 244; support for, 239–240
Acts of the Apostles, 143, 156–157, 180–183, 211
Adam, 36, 37, 41, 47, 149–151, 268n14
Adam and Eve story, 49–53, 56, 167, 268n11
adoption metaphor, 151, 152
Age of Faith/Belief/Spirit, 11–13, 238
agriculturists, 50–52,