new zealand: christianity is pregnant

The Scriptures are full of unlikely pregnancies ...

Unlikely Pregnancies of the Bible:

GomerSarah

Ruth/NaomiHannah

ElizabethMary

TOO CYNICAL!

TOO OLD

?! TOO YOUNG?!

NO

T READY?

SELF DOUBT

UNLIKELY!UNPREPA

RED?ASHAMED?

FAILED BEFORE!

Unlikely Pregnancies of the Bible:

GomerSarah

Ruth/NaomiHannah

ElizabethMary

NOTHING IS

IMPOSSI

BLE W

ITH GOD!

COULD CHRISTIANITY BE PREGNANT?

signs of pregnancy- flexibility (2 kinds)- creativity- realism- restlessness- dreaming- anticipation- discomfort

JOY!

PANIC!

JOY!

PANIC!

ANXIETY!

JOY!

PANIC!

ANXIETY!

MAJO

R

ADJU

STMEN

TS!

JOY!

PANIC!

ANXIETY!

MAJO

R

ADJU

STMEN

TS!SELF DOUBTWONDER

INSECURITY

RESPONSIBILITY

EXCITEMENT!

the narrative of decline

... whom do we blame?

“It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion--its message becomes meaningless.” ― Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism


... whom do we blame?NEW

NAMES

NEW ID

ENTITY

NEW N

ARRATIVE


the narrative of pregnancy

“There is something afoot in the universe, something

that looks like gestation and birth.”

- Pierre Tielhard de Chardin

the narrative of pregnancy

Christ born in you.Christ born in us.

Christ born in today’s world.

It’s time to stop naming ourselves by the narrative of

decline.

It’s time to accept for ourselves and announce to

the world ...

Good News!We are Pregnant!

JOY!

PANIC!

ANXIETY!

MAJO

R

ADJU

STMEN

TS!SELF DOUBTWONDER

INSECURITY

RESPONSIBILITY

EXCITEMENT!

“I am the Lord’s servant.

Let it be to meaccording to your word.”

Good News!Christianity is Pregnant!

Pregnancy as a Christian future.

Three possible futures:

Continuing contraction

Conservative resurgence

Pregnancy

Three possible futures:Continuing contraction

- Shrinking numbers- Wrinkling members- Low retention- Low evangelization- Constrained leadership- Secure finances

Three possible futures:

Conservative resurgence- Immigration fears- Western domination- Terrorism fears/revenge- Playing to bases- New alliances (global,

ecumenical)

The greatest threat to world peace is radical Islam... Only the United States, and more specifically, only the conservative, evangelical Christians of America are who stand between radical Islam and their quest for global domination.

If the world is to be saved from Muslim conquest, it will be America who does it. And if America is to be saved, only conservatism can do it. And if conservatism is to be saved, it will be those Bible-believing patriots who do it–those conservative, evangelical Christians who are the bedrock of the American way of life.

Why? Because only Christianity has the intellectual and spiritual horsepower to defeat radical Islam and prevent the world from returning to the darkness of the 7th century. After all, the story of the birth and growth of Western Civilization is pretty much the story of the birth and growth of Christianity. The divide between East and West today, fundamentally, is the divide between Islam and Christianity. Christians and Muslims know this, it’s the secularists who don’t get it–or at least won’t admit it. -

Why Al Queda Supports the Emerging Church- #1 Religious Talk Show Host

NRB Award Winner

Three possible futures:Pregnancy

- Theological & liturgical renaissance

- Missional reorientation- Post-national, post-partisan

identity/ethos- Spiritual-social movement(Peace, planet, poverty) - New alliances (global,

ecumenical)

Which future(s) should you prepare for?

Which future seems most likely?



DO NOT CONSPIRE IN YOUR

OWN DIMINISHMENT!

(PARKER PALMER)



Which future should you help create?

DO NOT CONSPIRE IN YOUR

OWN DIMINISHMENT!

(PARKER PALMER)

Three possible futures:Pregnancy

- Theological reformation- Missional reorientation- Post-national, post-partisan

identity/ethos- Spiritual-social movement(Peace, planet, poverty) - New alliances (global,

ecumenical)

Pregnancy takes two ...

Two Parents ...Catholic/Orthodox and Protestant

Mainline and EvangelicalCritical and Experiential

Contemplative and ActivistInstitution and Movement

Rooted and InnovativeMajority and Minority

Convergent and Distinct

Pregnancy

Methodists alone can’t solve Methodist problems.

Presbyterians alone can’t solve Presbyterian problems.

Baptists alone can’t solve Baptist problems.

Our solutions won’t fit in our sectarian silos.

Pregnancy

Intersection

Intersection:

Church

Intersection:

Church World

Intersection

Church World

Convergence

Missional Mainliners ProgressiveCatholics

Progressive& Post-Evangelicals

Socially engaged peace & ethnicchurches

ConvergenceProgressiveCatholics

Socially engaged peace & ethnicchurches

Progressive& Post-Evangelicals

Missional Mainliners

Pregnancy converts you.

“Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your

body. ” ― Elizabeth Stone





Pregnancy costs you.




Pregnancy costs you.Pre

gnan

cy cha

nges

you.

Many Christians, pastors, denominational leaders, and congregations would rather

not be converted, pay the cost, or undergo the changes of pregnancy.


Many Christians, pastors, denominational leaders, and congregations would rather

not be converted, pay the cost, or undergo the changes of pregnancy.


That’s OK. Just don’t let them hold you hostage!

Pregnancy converts you.Pregnancy converts you.

Pregnancy typically involves

romance.

If Christianity’s future is

pregnancy ...

it will require a romance

between a movement and

institutions.

we need a theology of

institutions, movements. and Communities

Communities

Families, individuals, and organizations linked to a common environment, collaborating for the common good.

Institutions:

Organizations which conserve the gains made by

past social movements to serve their community.

Social Movements

Organizations which make proposals or demands to current institutions to make progress towards new gains for their community.

Both movements and institutions...

Organize for their purposeNeed one another

Are frustrated with one another

Benefit - or harm -communities

Without movements ...

Institutions stagnate ...

Without institutions ...

Movements evaporate ...

Movements may ...

- successfully inject their values into the institutions they challenge.

- create their own institutions. - be co-opted.- be defeated.

From Greg LeffelFaith Seeking Action: Mission

and Social Movements

Leffel’s 6 Characteristics of Vibrant Social Movements

1. Opportunity Structure (Context Awareness)

Current restraining realities ...

in tension with ...

emerging opportunities.

Opportunities:- Problems needing to be solved- Elites who hold power, resist change or promote negative change- Fissures, Problems among elites that make the status quo vulnerable- Values of the movement in conflict with values of elites- Potential advocates and allies in academic, civil society, arts, church, government, business, science, etc.

2. Rhetorical Framing/Conceptual Architecture

What is our message?

How do we redefine current reality? Desired reality? What are our proposals or demands?

3. Protest (messaging) strategyRaising awareness, attracting growing numbers of participants...

Campaigns, tactics, deployments, making demands, public relations, sustaining

conflict, forcing a crisis, managing internal tensions, managing stigmatization,

showing results, maintaining momentum, not overreacting, defining acceptable

level of disruption

4. Mobilization Structures & Strategies

- Authority and Decision-Making Structures- Transparency/Confidentiality, Communication Plans- Leadership development, Relational Development, Conflict Management Plans- Coalition development- Resource, Technology, Finance Mobilization and Management- Evangelism, recruitment, induction- Renewal and Increase of commitment

5. Movement culture

- Emotional vibe (fun, serious, angry, playful, heady, gutsy, etc.)- Feel of spaces, physical and digital- Songs, slogans- Virtues, values, moral ethos- Dress, Graphics, - Nicknames, terminology- Emotion, motivation, motion

6. Participant BiographyHow does involvement benefit - or harm - participants? How does the movement promote emotional and social sustainability ... avoiding burnout, squabbles, etc.How does it contribute to personal formation:- character- attitudes- knowledge- recovery from trauma- relationships- renewal

What do participants gain from being involved?

1. Opportunity Structure2. Rhetorical framing3. Protest (messaging) strategy4. Mobilization strategy5. Movement culture6. Participant Biography

Jesus launches the Kingdom of God movement ...

Jesus seizes the opportunity structure provided by conflicted elites (Pharisees/Sadducees; Herodians/Zealots) and struggling masses (Galilee/Judea)

He provides rhetorical framing on hillsides, in houses, on retreats, in public teach-ins, in debates, through parables, through rituals and practices. He repeats key themes - commonwealth of God, life to the full, life of the ages, liberation - rooted in dynamic tension with tradition.

His protest (messaging) strategy includes public demonstrations (healings & miracles), teach-ins (sermon on mount), civil disobedience (turning tables), guerilla theatre (exorcisms), festivals (feasts & feedings), naming evil (woes), naming heroes (blessings).

He develops a mobilization strategy based on 3, 12, 70, and multitudes. He entrusts freely with responsibility and expresses high confidence in his agents (greater things shall you do ...)

He associates his movement culture with love, joy, justice, risk,

hope, healing, creativity, courage, service,

willingness to suffer, nonviolence.

He provides his disciples challenge, rest, retreat, encouragement, recovery after failures. They testify that their participant biographies have been forever changed for the better.

If Christianity’s future is

pregnancy ...

it will require a romance

between a movement and

institutions.


romance.

The romance leads to a proposal.

Critical conversations become movements when they make

proposals.What are our proposals?

Here are 8 ...

1. We call upon just and generous Christian communities who have embraced conversion/

pregnancy to identify themselves, and where no such

communities exist, we call upon people to start creative new

ones.

2. We call upon Christian leaders and parents to begin

afresh with children, youth, and college-aged adults - and

reenvision Christianity primarily as a youth movement

with support by elders.

3. We call upon Christian communities, movements, and institutions to recruit different

leaders and train them differently (and without debt -

or cost, if possible).

4. We call upon Christian communities, institutions, and

movements to convene people in the new old-fashioned way: through stories and saints -

rather than doctrinal statements/beliefs/polity.

5. We call upon Christian congregations to sing, pray, and

preach differently.

6. We call upon Christian individuals, communities, and

institutions to mobilize new alignments of Christians for

creative public engagement on the critical issues of today and

tomorrow.

7. We call upon Christians to collaborate creatively with our colleagues from other traditions to address the global challenges we face together - protecting the planet, eliminating poverty, and making peace.

8. We call upon Christian administrators to sequester the

funds from all excess real estate and invest these funds in an

endowment to create sustainable fresh expressions of Christian

community and mission.


romance.

The romance leads to a proposal.

Pregnancy as a Christian future.