This is Part 3 of “A Brief History of Presbymergent.” You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Where does Presbymergent go now?
But I don’t think that means people have stopped rethinking what it means to be church in the PC(USA) this past year. I continue to have folks contact me and ask questions about Presbymergent this year. Mike Clawson’s paper is probably the most thorough, but I’ve done a couple email interviews with folks doing papers or research on emergent Christianity in the mainline. Folks are continuing to try new things, be creative with their theologies and liturgies and think outside the box. And even a self-proclaimed techie like myself can’t quite grasp the type of outside-the-box ministry that Neal Locke and others have been doing with Second Life.
Stuff is happening – there is still emergence occurring in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Perhaps it’s a good sign that folks who are committed to Presbymergent aren’t as much focused on maintaining or creating a structure for an organization, but are focused on actually getting out there and doing ministry. But perhaps it’s frustrating for those who do want to see a bit of organization on our part.
I’m not entirely sure where we go from here. But I’m confident in the amazing group of folks who self-identify as part of the Presbymergent community. I’m hopeful that there will continue to be ways that people find to “hack the Book of Order” and be able to do new and creative ministry in a time of mainline decline. I’m hopeful that the denomination may begin to realize that they need the loyal radicals and work harder to find ways to support those of us who want to try new things. I hope that there will be groups who are not afraid of failure and committees who are not afraid to put their trust in younger pastors. I pray that more and more seminarians will feel confident enough to continue asking “WHY?” when professors at our seminaries teach us the same old things and tell us what worship is “supposed” to look like.
“Welcome to Presbymergent. What’s the first rule of Presbymergent? You do not talk about Presbymergent.”
Sure there will probably be some organization at some point…sure we’ll have to talk about our goals and discern more what our purpose is in the church that is emerging. But for now…maybe we don’t need to talk about Presbymergent – maybe we just need to be Presbymergent…maybe we just need to be out there, engaging the world, being the church and perhaps the rest will follow.
Connect with Presbymergent
To learn more about Presbymergent, you can connect with us in the following ways:
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow @Presbymergent on Twitter
- Check out our site at www.Presbymergent.org
- Register to become a Contributor on our site here
Related posts:
- A Brief History of Presbymergent: Part 1
- A Brief History of Presbymergent: Part 2
- Presbymergent 2.0
- Follow @presbymergent to Get Updates
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A nice summation, Adam.
That Fight Club quote is both accurate and a tiny bit painful. While there were many wonderful folks working in and around the Presbymergent community, it was woefully difficult to get folks to self-identify as part of an organic movement, and to get fired up about gettin’ the word out. And unlike the little bunch of folks gathered by Tyler Durden, silence hasn’t exactly added to our mystique.
You also make a good point about organization. Some simple, effective, and representative structure…meaning, not the well-intentioned but incoherent cat-herd of committees that came out of Louisville…would have served us well. At some point, it may take shape. I’m convinced, though, that that will require some intentional effort and some clear vision for the direction of Presbymergent. When the Holy Spirit calls someone to that ministry, I am seriously there.
In the meantime, though, Presbymergent remains a really cool informal network of fellow-travellers to know. Your efforts and energies to build and sustain this community are very appreciated.
I am a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Canada and we are also trying to find new ways to go forward. A few weeks ago we had a national conference titled the “Emmaus Project” which was attended by approximately 160 representatives from Presbyteries across Canada. The main theme of this conference was to try and find ways for the Presbyterian Church in Canada to re-vision for the future. If interested you can go to our website
http://www.presbyterian.ca/emmaus/
Bill Ashby
Thanks for this, Adam. Along with Presbymergent, I’ve been considering how to live out said principles and values in a changing context. As a rural pastor, I find much of my work necessarily follows emergent stuff, but can’t begin to think about leading a discussion in my congregation about emergent. It’s sort of like presbymergent is in my water, watering all my actions, but I don’t know how to put it in cups and share with others. Thanks.
Thanks for the shout-out to 1st Pres. of Second Life, which I can affirm wouldn’t exist today if not for the relationships formed in the Presbymergent community. Among the core group of those of us who have been gathering for real worship, real prayer, real conversation, real service, and very real evangelism to very real people in a very virtual world . . . at least 50% were active in the early days of Presbymergent, and the other 50% are quite “presbymergent” in their perspectives, so would have fit right in. Given that, I think its safe to say that the 1PCSL community was “forged in the fires” of Presbymergent.
I think that the same could be said for quite a few other prominent ministries out there right now. Some are churches, while others are communities gathered around podcasts, radio shows, websites, or social media platforms.
Susan Phillips (herself a presbymergent pastor), once said that there are only two kinds of pastors in the Presbyterian church: midwives and hospice chaplains. I think the same could be said of Presbyterian ministries themselves, and taken in this light, I think Presbymergent has definitely been a midwife.
Thanks be to God for that.
I think I need to learn more about this Presbymergent thing
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