Emerging Postmodern Ministry

Emerging Postmodern Ministry

Sources:

Brian McLaren, Ken Baugh, Neil Cole, Dieter Zander

john.chandler@vbmb.org

Between Two Worlds

• Waves simultaneously entering and departing

• Today: Modern and Postmodern waves creating rip-tides

Six Transitions in Christianity

• Jewish multicultural

• Persecuted minority Favored religion (325)

• Roman multi-cultural and Greek

• Greco-Roman Celtic/medieval

• Medieval Modern (Reformation)

• Modern Postmodern

When in transition …

• Breathe deeply and coach calmly

• Look to lower anxiety by focusing on the single next step

• A beginning point: look for parallels between 1c and 21c

5 Parallels between 1c and 21c

1. One dominant superpower

• Rome, U.S.A.

2. One spoken trade language

• Koine Greek, English

3. Advances in technology make the world a smaller place

• Roads, Internet

Parallels between 1c and 21c

4. Rise in Eastern influences• Greek in 1c, World

Religions in 21c

5. Rise in pagan and occult practices• Acts 17, Wicca

New Postmodern Preferences

1. High value of relationship

2. Journey > Destination

3. Authenticity > Excellence

4. Experience > Proposition

5. Mystery > Solution

6. Diversity > Uniformity

What might this look like?

• Indigenous and intimate

• Lowering bar of “getting into church” while raising bar on “becoming a disciple”

• More conversational

What should the church embrace in postmodernism?

1. Willingness to utilize evolving methodology to communicate gospel

2. Lowering talk of “absolutes” and “certainty” in favor of “full knowledge”

3. The move from the ordained to the ordinary• The common Christian will

be the missionary

Where should the church resist in relation to postmodernism?

• Dealing with issues of unity and love between moderns and postmoderns in an explosive and defensive climate

Postmodern Preaching

• From regularity of alliterated outline … to a curious conversation

• From delivered by preacher… to shared within sermon and in dialogue with the congregation

• No longer incubated only in study, but in out-there conversations

• From stories to illustrate the points to stories that are the point

• From the merely aural to the also-visual and multi-sensory

Postmodern Worship

• From well-produced (“cheesy”) to feeling thoughtful but real

• Upping the octane beyond “order” toward “encounter”

Spiritual Formation

• “Equip, empower, and release” as key words

• Move beyond serving church to serving world

• Focus on the means and plan to “becoming a better person” and “making a difference in the world”

Strategies toward Formation

• Read Scripture repetitively, in context, and in community.

• Confess sins confidentially and with accountability.

• Pray for lost friends strategically.

Missional Church

• “Benediction” as the key liturgical point

• To be chosen by God is not just to be blessed, but to be a blessing to the world

• From the church saying, “y’all come” to “we’ll go”

Transition Possibilities

• Engage postmoderns non-defensively & non-judgmentally– Privately and in church

• Count the cost to be paid with moderns in church

• Plan to study, read, watch

• Allow for un-learning

• Tolerate high anxiety

• Invest in lives of those who can do what you cannot

Teaching Key

• Not just lowering lights and upping sound; not just “smells & bells”

• To teach what Jesus taught in the way that Jesus taught it– “the Kingdom of

heaven is like ….”

Evangelism Key

• You can’t just believe in “evangelism in theory” to reach postmoderns

• When fishing, fish don’t come scaled, fileted, and shrink-wrapped

Mental Keys

• Change the metaphors

• From “legal and judicial” to “family and community”

One final thing …

• Value “spiritual” and “relational” capital – more than

“intellectual” and “financial” capital

• People need “oikos”!

Emerging Postmodern Ministry

Dr. John P. Chandler

www.spencenetwork.org

John.chandler@vbmb.org Copy right John P. Chandler, 2013