15. âIt is customary to blame secular science
and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse
of religion in modern society. It would be
more honest to blame religion for its own
defeats. Religion declined not because it was
refuted, but because it became irrelevant,
dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is
completely replaced by creed, worship by
discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of
today is ignored because of the splendor of
the past; when faith becomes an heirloom
rather than a living fountain; when religion
speaks only in the name of authority rather
than with the voice of compassion--its
message becomes meaningless.â
â Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search
of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism
16. the narrative of decline
... whom do we blame?
N
EW
N
AM
ES
N
EW
IDEN
TITY
N
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ARRATIVE
29. Three possible futures:
Continuing contraction
- Shrinking numbers
- Wrinkling members
- Low retention
- Low evangelization
- Constrained leadership
- Secure finances
30.
31. Three possible futures:
Conservative resurgence
- Immigration fears
- Western domination
- Terrorism fears/revenge
- Playing to bases
- New alliances (global,
ecumenical)
32. Three possible futures:
Conservative resurgence
- Immigration fears
- Western domination
- Terrorism fears/revenge
- Playing to bases
- New alliances (global,
ecumenical)
33. The greatest threat to world peace is radical Islam... Only the United States, and more
specifically, only the conservative, evangelical Christians of America are who stand
between radical Islam and their quest for global domination.
If the world is to be saved from Muslim conquest, it will be America who does it. And
if America is to be saved, only conservatism can do it. And if conservatism is to be
saved, it will be those Bible-believing patriots who do itâthose conservative,
evangelical Christians who are the bedrock of the American way of life.
Why? Because only Christianity has the intellectual and spiritual horsepower to defeat
radical Islam and prevent the world from returning to the darkness of the 7th century.
After all, the story of the birth and growth of Western Civilization is pretty much the
story of the birth and growth of Christianity. The divide between East and West today,
fundamentally, is the divide between Islam and Christianity. Christians and Muslims
know this, itâs the secularists who donât get itâor at least wonât admit it. -
Why Al Queda Supports the Emerging Church
- #1 Religious Talk Show Host
NRB Award Winner
34. Three possible futures:
Pregnancy
- Theological & liturgical
renaissance
- Missional reorientation
- Post-national, post-partisan
identity/ethos
- Spiritual-social movement
(Peace, planet, poverty)
- New alliances (global,
ecumenical)
37. Which future(s) should you prepare for?
Which future seems most likely?
DO NOT CONSPIRE INYOUR
OWN DIMINISHMENT!
(PARKER PALMER)
38. Which future(s) should you prepare for?
Which future seems most likely?
Which future should you help create?
DO NOT CONSPIRE INYOUR
OWN DIMINISHMENT!
(PARKER PALMER)
39. Three possible futures:
Pregnancy
- Theological reformation
- Missional reorientation
- Post-national, post-partisan
identity/ethos
- Spiritual-social movement
(Peace, planet, poverty)
- New alliances (global,
ecumenical)
41. Two Parents ...
Catholic/Orthodox and Protestant
Mainline and Evangelical
Critical and Experiential
Contemplative and Activist
Institution and Movement
Rooted and Innovative
Majority and Minority
Convergent and Distinct
Pregnancy
42. Two Parents ...
Catholic/Orthodox and Protestant
Mainline and Evangelical
Critical and Experiential
Contemplative and Activist
Institution and Movement
Rooted and Innovative
Majority and Minority
Convergent and Distinct
Pregnancy
43. Two Parents ...
Catholic/Orthodox and Protestant
Mainline and Evangelical
Critical and Experiential
Contemplative and Activist
Institution and Movement
Rooted and Innovative
Majority and Minority
Convergent and Distinct
Pregnancy
54. âMaking the decision to have a child - it is
momentous. It is to decide forever to have
your heart go walking around outside your
body. â
â Elizabeth Stone
Pregnancy converts you.
55. âMaking the decision to have a child - it is
momentous. It is to decide forever to have
your heart go walking around outside your
body. â
â Elizabeth Stone
Pregnancy converts you.
Pregnancy costs you.
56. âMaking the decision to have a child - it is
momentous. It is to decide forever to have
your heart go walking around outside your
body. â
â Elizabeth Stone
Pregnancy converts you.
Pregnancy costs you.
Pregnancy changes you.
57. Many Christians, pastors, denominational
leaders, and congregations would rather
not be converted, pay the cost, or undergo
the changes of pregnancy.
Pregnancy converts you.
58. Many Christians, pastors, denominational
leaders, and congregations would rather
not be converted, pay the cost, or undergo
the changes of pregnancy.
Pregnancy converts you.
Thatâs OK. Just
donât let them hold you hostage!
70. Movements may ...
- successfully inject their
values into the institutions
they challenge.
- create their own institutions.
- be co-opted.
- be defeated.
73. 1. Opportunity Structure (Context
Awareness)
Current restraining realities ...
in tension with ...
emerging opportunities.
74. Opportunities:
- Problems needing to be solved
- Elites who hold power, resist change or
promote negative change
- Fissures, Problems among elites that
make the status quo vulnerable
- Values of the movement in conďŹict with
values of elites
- Potential advocates and allies in
academic, civil society, arts, church,
government, business, science, etc.
75. 2. Rhetorical Framing/Conceptual Architecture
What is our message?
How do we redeďŹne current reality?
Desired reality?
What are our proposals or demands?
76. 3. Protest (messaging) strategy
Raising awareness, attracting growing
numbers of participants...
Campaigns, tactics, deployments, making
demands, public relations, sustaining
conďŹict, forcing a crisis, managing internal
tensions, managing stigmatization,
showing results, maintaining momentum,
not overreacting, deďŹning acceptable
level of disruption
77. 4. Mobilization Structures & Strategies
- Authority and Decision-Making Structures
- Transparency/ConďŹdentiality,
Communication Plans
- Leadership development, Relational
Development, ConďŹict Management Plans
- Coalition development
- Resource, Technology, Finance
Mobilization and Management
- Evangelism, recruitment, induction
- Renewal and Increase of commitment
78. 5. Movement culture
- Emotional vibe (fun, serious, angry,
playful, heady, gutsy, etc.)
- Feel of spaces, physical and digital
- Songs, slogans
- Virtues, values, moral ethos
- Dress, Graphics,
- Nicknames, terminology
- Emotion, motivation, motion
79. 6. Participant Biography
How does involvement beneďŹt - or harm -
participants? How does the movement promote
emotional and social sustainability ... avoiding
burnout, squabbles, etc.
How does it contribute to personal formation:
- character
- attitudes
- knowledge
- recovery from trauma
- relationships
- renewal
What do participants gain from being involved?
82. Jesus seizes the opportunity
structure provided by
conflicted elites (Pharisees/
Sadducees; Herodians/
Zealots) and struggling
masses (Galilee/Judea)
83. He provides rhetorical framing on
hillsides, in houses, on retreats, in
public teach-ins, in debates, through
parables, through rituals and
practices. He repeats key themes -
commonwealth of God, life to the
full, life of the ages, liberation -
rooted in dynamic tension with
tradition.
84. His protest (messaging) strategy
includes public demonstrations
(healings & miracles), teach-ins
(sermon on mount), civil
disobedience (turning tables), guerilla
theatre (exorcisms), festivals
(feasts & feedings), naming evil
(woes), naming heroes (blessings).
85. He develops a mobilization
strategy based on 3, 12, 70, and
multitudes. He entrusts freely
with responsibility and
expresses high confidence in his
agents (greater things shall you
do ...)
86. He associates his
movement culture with
love, joy, justice, risk,
hope, healing, creativity,
courage, service,
willingness to suffer,
nonviolence.
87. He provides his disciples
challenge, rest, retreat,
encouragement, recovery after
failures. They testify that
their participant biographies
have been forever changed for
the better.
96. 1. We call upon just and
generous Christian communities
who have embraced conversion/
pregnancy to identify
themselves, and where no such
communities exist, we call upon
people to start creative new
ones.
97. 2. We call upon Christian
leaders and parents to begin
afresh with children, youth, and
college-aged adults - and
reenvision Christianity
primarily as a youth movement
with support by elders.
98. 3. We call upon Christian
communities, movements, and
institutions to recruit different
leaders and train them
differently (and without debt -
or cost, if possible).
99. 4. We call upon Christian
communities, institutions, and
movements to convene people in
the new old-fashioned way:
through stories and saints -
rather than doctrinal
statements/beliefs/polity.
100. 5. We call upon Christian
congregations to sing, pray, and
preach differently.
101. 6. We call upon Christian
individuals, communities, and
institutions to mobilize new
alignments of Christians for
creative public engagement on
the critical issues of today and
tomorrow.
102. 7. We call upon Christians to
collaborate creatively with our
colleagues from other traditions
to address the global challenges
we face together - protecting the
planet, eliminating poverty, and
making peace.
103. 8. We call upon Christian
administrators to sequester the
funds from all excess real estate
and invest these funds in an
endowment to create sustainable
fresh expressions of Christian
community and mission.
