Emergent Convention Reflections: Thoughts for ‘05
May 23, 2004
Unfortunately, I had to leave the general session early to get a head start to the airport, so I missed Doug Pagitt talking about how they were going to do some things differently next year. Does anyone have any suggestions for possible changes for Emergent ‘05? Here are just a few things I thought:
- Less seminars/stuff: Give us more time for simply building community
- This isn’t a youth workers convention: so, stop treating many aspects of it (e.g. General Sessions) like we are just another group of youth workers. We say that the Emergent Convention is about rethinking the church - well, maybe we should start by rethinking the conventions…
- Do we need to stay in the highest hotel available? Is it about space? Is it about we just want to pamper ourselves? Good questions we should be asking…
iTunes update: French Connection from the album Some Kinda Voodoo by Simon Stinger
Tags: Blogging, Emergent, Emergent-Convention, emerging-church
Posted in Emergent
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
May 23rd, 2004 at 5:37 pm
i told lily lewin… more field trips! or i guess add field trips. i agree about less focus on the general session and even seminars and more on community and discussion. we talk about dialogue, but we don’t actually practice it very well in the seminars. still feels pretty top-down.
on the other hand i’m being patient with working out all those details and changes and overall i give it a big thumbs up… but just cause i got to meet you in real life.
May 23rd, 2004 at 5:51 pm
yeah, i agree. i found it so interesting that we kept talking about non-linear this and non-linear that, yet all of the seminars seemed to be presented in totally linear formats. i enjoyed the seminars and want to keep some of that but some more intentional community-building and dialogue would probably help the shyer (is that even a word?) people like me that are more apt to join in when it’s a time that is deliberately set aside.
i also have to agree with your critique of the use of the david crowder band. i love dcb and was looking forward to seeing them there, but once i got into the swing of things…. that wasn’t really what i was looking for or needed, for that matter. i loved the times of silence in worship. i helped me realize how little of that i make space for. i don’t know…. just some of my thoughts.
May 23rd, 2004 at 7:57 pm
Adam,
A great week. I’m sure all the changes will be rehashed and people will be offended. But it’s about the people
You rock,
rob
May 23rd, 2004 at 10:46 pm
Instead of just inviting guys like Jonny Baker over for a workshop, maybe use him and Gareth, etc. to bring some alternative worship to the EC.
May 24th, 2004 at 12:06 pm
I went to the one in San Diego. The Ooze tried doing this kinda lower key, more hanging out thing at soularize last year, and it didn’t turn out super great.
Here’s the problem we face: we long for community yet don’t fully get it. Community is way more than just hanging out, right?
The problem with something like emergent or soularize being more relational is that it’s great for those that know others and get to hang out. But what about the loners, introverts and outsiders? We face this same problem in many churches. We tend to hang out with those like us.
Hear me out on this everyone: I’m totally for a more relational convention model, but let’s remember to be inclusive.