Impact: missional/emerging breakouts

I attended all four breakout sessions with Brian and Bill entitled "The Missional Church in the Emerging American Culture."

We discussed Reggie McNeal's Six Tough Questions for the Church (from The Present Future).

1. How do we deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity? (New reality number one: The collapse of the church culture).

2. How do we transform our community? (New reality number two: the shift from church growth to kingdom growth).

3. How do we turn members into missionariers? (New reality number three: a new reformation: Releasing God's people).

4. How do we develop followers of Jesus? (New reality number four: the return to spiritual formation).

5. How do we prepare for the future? (New reality number five: the shift from planning to preparation).

6. How do we develop leaders for the christian movement? (New reality number six: the rise of apostolic leadership).

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At one point in the discussion Brian shared what "Following Jesus" means in his church:
1. Loving God (reading the Bible, prayer, worship, etc)
2. Loving people
3. Serving locally
4. Serving globally

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We spent most of Friday's discussions on the five-fold leadership model - and stuff from Alan Hirsch's "The Forgotten Ways." The APEST: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers.

It was all pretty good discussion. I gained a little better handle on the APEST stuff. I absolutely agree with it, I just still have some questions and don't understand all of how it should be flushed out in our present settings, or how to move from "here" to "there." It certainly explains a lot of the frustration I have always had as an apostle/prophet type of "pastor." We need to somehow quit thinking that our pastors need to become better leaders (expecting a shepherd to be everything, or that APE's should be shepherds), and develop better leadership as a whole (five-fold).

I don't know who coined the term "unleashing", but I prefer "blessing" or "empowering." I think for too long the APE's have been unleashed in the sense of "just get out of here." We need to somehow embrace these people more; better utilize the way God has equipped us.

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Definitely time well spent. I maybe learned more from informal conversations and discussions than I did from any of the "main event"-type stuff. But the corporate worship was incredible too. Lots to think about.