what a week. throughout the week, i’ve randomly broken down in tears – while working, eating, sitting – crying like a baby.
painful tragedy. painful stories. i woke up this morning – really wishing – not to honor my commitment to speak at a conference here in seattle. eventually, got my ass out of bed and made it to the location in wallingford [a couple hours late] but in time to catch the other chats from other presenters. the theme of the conference was ‘Neighborhood Mission…’
John 1:14 [the message] says
“the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood…”
the day was pretty much a blur. i’m not all sure what i shared about. i do hope my brief presentation along with the q/a was somewhat helpful. one brief thought i’ll share [that i remember] here is the critical importance of theological reflection to help form our sense of ecclesiology. it’s too easy for christians and churches to want to ‘imitate’ – and as such, our focus is more on the mimicking of methodology. so simply, focus your thoughts and conversations on the question ‘why do we do ministry’ rather than ‘how do we do ministry.’ the latter is important as well but not without proper reflection of the former. the former will serve as a catalyst to the latter. you must owner the former to enjoy the latter.
i played 2nd fiddle to brian mclaren, the featured speaker. i’ll post a link to his chat if it’s made available. we had a chance to connect again and appreciated our short conversatin about the virginia tech tragedy and the heartfelt statement issued by sun-kyung cho, [seung hui's older sister] on behalf of her family. in the midst of a tragic week in a very broken, fallen, and depraved world, there is much hope and much beauty.
Filed under: emerging church, leadership
Thanks, always good posts on your blog!
Eugene,
Just a quick word of appreciation. I attended the “neighborhood mission day” and really resonated with a lot of what you had to say. Thanks so much for sharing your passion and keep up the good work.
Blessings.
Eugene,
I too attended the Mission Learning Day and appreciated your comments. I’ve been meditating this week on our culture’s self-imposed isolationism, and I recall your story about going out of your way to meet new neighbors, yet never having had that hospitality reciprocated when you’re moved into a new neighborhood. I think that thought is right on point, and this “disconnect” between neighbors is a symptom, if not the root, of a lack of social responsibility. I’m curious whether you plan to visit this idea in future blog posts and/or sermons?
Thanks for your input, and may God bless your work.