Worship In The Emerging Church

Periodically I get a chance to sit in a live studio audience for a CCN broadcast. I’ve seen Doug Fields, George Barna, Larry Osborne, Henry Cloud, etc. The best part is I can bring students and expose them to some of these leaders.

Anyway, I was particularly excited about the recent Worship In The Emerging Church seminar with Dan Kimball (he blogs!) and Sally Morgenthaler. If you’re going to hear two folks talk about this subject it’s hard to pick a better team. You can get the notes in PDF (although there are blanks).

Some thoughts I had:

  • As I suspected, college ministry really is a behind-the-scenes driver for a lot of the “emerging church” “postmodern church” stuff. Dan launched the precursor to his current church as a college ministry. All the staff at Curtis’ church (including Curtis) are former college ministers.
  • Dan mentioned that he had done a survey and 98% of UC Santa Cruz students were not part of either a church or a campus ministry. Hurry up, Brian & Cecilee!
  • Curtis Chang was also there as an audience member. He wrote a book on methodology in apologetics (Engaging Unbelief) which I really like. He also pastors an uber-cool church in nearby San Jose. I asked what he’s been reading lately and he said Mountains Beyond Mountains and that it had really stretched his vision. I’d never heard of the book, which just shows I really do know less than other people think I do.
  • The weakest point in the seminar was a foray into the realms of multiple learning styles. I find the concept as it is usually expressed pretty bogus. I’m not sure the church should be taking its lead from America’s education system and the theories that underlie it. Let me rephrase that. I’m sure the church should not be taking its lead from America’s education system. My apologies to all the educational theorists in Chi Alpha who will now regard me as an enemy.
  • Resources that were recommended:
  • In closing, I’d never seen Dan before this but I’d heard people rip on his hair. I like his hair. It suits his nose. He also plays with his wedding ring a lot, which I do myself.

One thought on “Worship In The Emerging Church”

  1. I don’t have any great authority or experience, but I will throw my opinion in anyway.
    So you really don’t think excellence should be a core value? Glen, I must say I like you more and more everyday. I don’t think excellence should be at our core as well. I don’t really know if I can explain why. Maybe because it seperates people. It pushes that you cannot participate in church unless you are the best speaker, worship leader, or whatever. The “excellent” people have church, and the rest of us are just there to watch, and because we are not “excellent”, we are only fit to be observers of the church and not memebers. I like to think God enjoys our desire to please Him more than our performance. We should always serve God and each other as best we can, but making excellence a core value goes against believing that God lwants us to serve out of love, not just talent. I will read the essay.

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