Sorry for the delayed book discussion this month, I've been kinda out of touch online since my son was born a month ago. But it's the summer, so laid back is all good right? :)
Anyway our book club selection for this month is Tony Jones'
The New Christians. If you don't know Tony is the national coordinator of Emergent Village and so is in a great position to tell the story of this new movement called the emerging church. And telling that story is just what he does in this book. From its beginnings as a young leaders attempt to do generational ministry,
The New Christians describes the formation of emergent, its main influences, and the ways it has manifest over the years.
So as we start this discussion I want to ask a few basic questions -
- how aware are you of the emergent movement and its history?
- what manifestations of the movement have you encountered?
Much has been said regarding differences of opinions as to what the "real" version of emergent is. Some say that Tony's perspective is just one of many. Given that emergent isn't a denomination, but an organization and conversation, such differences are perhaps to be expected. In light of that, did the story of emergent told in
The New Christians resonate with you or did it seem outside your particular experience? Do you think emergent will ever be a cohesive group or is the diversity present in the movement something to be valued and upheld?
Next week we will explore some of the characteristics of the new Christians that are described in the book, but I hope that we can explore the larger issue of the movement as a whole this week.
Labels: Book Discussions, Emerging Church, The New Christians
