Well, there’s a very promising new documentary film project that’s just getting off the ground, which promises to shine a spotlight on some of the more diverse voices in the conversation. I want to tell you about it so that you and I can help make it a reality. The film is called Anything Less Would Be Uncivilized, and the filmmakers are Alex Bowens and Tim Kennedy. Watch this preview:

My friends Brian McLaren and Glenn Zuber are both featured in the documentary, which I’m very excited about. But it’s the broader range of people that the filmmakers have chosen to interview that really has me intrigued.

They’re trying to raise a lot of money — $35,000 — via a Kickstarter campaign, in order to do post-production, marketing, etc. As of this writing, they’ve received a little more than $2,200 in pledges, or 6% of the total for the campaign.

I want to ask anyone who cares about seeing this conversation expand and bring new, more diverse voices into the forefront to please become a backer — for $25 you’ll get a digital download of the film when it’s completed or for $50 you’ll get a copy of it on DVD. At the very least, become a fan of the film on Facebook and tell others about it (who might then become backers).

These are important stories that need to be told and important voices that need to be heard. I hope you’ll join me in supporting this project.

The all-or-nothing Kickstarter fundraising campaign ends Sunday, March 18. Become a backer!

See the other Kickstarter campaigns I’m backing right now.

cross-posted from Emergent Village Voice

This is still true here in Charlotte (“the city of 1,000 churches”), and I suspect it’s true of the many cities where other Emergent cohorts are continuing to meet and discuss ideas and ask questions. No matter what persuasion the church may be — liberal or conservative (or somewhere in-between / beyond) — the fact is most churches are not modeled on conversation or participation but on coercion and capitulation.

But I’m deeply encouraged by stories of faith communities like Englewood Christian Church on the near east side of Indianapolis. Chris Smith is the editor of the church’s Englewood Review of Books, and he’s the author of a new e-book that tells Englewood Christian Church’s story of transformation, entitled The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities (2012, Patheos Press).

More than just re-telling the story of how one church was transformed through theological discussion and dialogue, Chris helps the reader consider how to apply the practices of conversation in other existing church contexts. It’s one more important method or path to transformation for churches that are stuck or declining to consider before turning out the lights or changing the church building into a discoteque.

I’m excited to be interviewing Chris Smith tonight on Twitter for this month’s (third Monday) #missionalchat. We’ll primarily be discussing the new e-book and the power of theological conversation, but we might slip in a little discussion of Slow Church, as well. Please join us online tonight starting at 9pm ET!

cross-posted from Emergent Village Voice

Earlier this week, Christianity Today published an article by Chris Smith, from Englewood Christian Church in Indianapolis, entitled “Before ‘Transforming’ Your Neighborhood, Talk to Your Neighbors.” It shares a little bit of the story of this urban church and how the practice of dialogue and conversation transformed their congregation and, as a result, is transforming the broader community.

Chris shared with me an advance draft of the forthcoming e-book that goes further into telling Englewood’s story, which will be published soon by Patheos Press. It’s a beautiful and inspiring story, and one which I hope many faith leaders will read and consider.

On Wednesday night, I had the opportunity to actually visit Englewood and join them for their community dinner, and it was a treat to sit and talk with Chris about what is happening in and through the church and meet some of the men, women, and children from the community (many of whom live right around the church and in the Englewood neighborhood). Englewood is an old independent Christian church (who are cousins to the Disciples of Christ, my tribe), with a long history … a “turnaround church” story … a success story of “revitalization.” And Chris credits conversation — and (I would add) open, honest theological conversation — for that revitalization.

“The Conversation”
For quite a while now, the emerging missional church movement has been referred to as “the emerging church conversation.” I think this was initially just part of the nature of something that was seeking to earnestly embrace and embody epistemic humility, because to call this thing a “movement” might be to over-inflate the status or importance of it. And besides, that would jinx it, right?

So “the conversation” has been, for many us, shorthand for “the emerging missional church.” And indeed, it has been within this movement that the practice of conversation has been reclaimed and space for robust theological discussion has been created and nurtured. Emergent Village launched “cohorts” as local expressions of the movement where self-organizing groups could engage in conversation.

I still believe there is a great opportunity and need for Emergent “cohorts,” because there are still not very many churches engaging in theological conversation and creating safe(r) spaces for that to happen.

Church or Cohort?
As we talked over pork and beans in the Englewood basement hall, I shared this analogy of Emergent cohort with Chris, and he reminded me that churches (like Englewood) have advantages over Emergent cohorts in that they offer place (a sense of history and community), commitment (to a local body and shared ministry values/goals), and accountability (to move from talk to action).

I think he’s absolutely right, which is why I’m dedicated to lighting a fire under people to start churches, to form new missional communities of practice, to organize experiments in kingdom living. We will still need cohorts, but we also need churches and courageous leaders to open up those spaces for conversation that leads to action — for the good of the broader community and the world.

Conversations and Communities
Last summer, I had the privilege of meeting Meg Wheatley and Juanita Brown, the founders of the Berkana Institute and World Cafe, respectively. Meg’s writing on emergence theory went viral a few years ago (in Emergent circles, anyway), and her thinking has become very influential for many of us.

I was only vaguely familiar with World Cafe, and I was not aware at all of Juanita’s work with the Art of Hosting, as well. Core to both of those networks is “harvesting conversations that matter.” And Berkana Institute’s mantra is, “Whatever the problem, community is the answer.”

I think our religious/faith communities have much to learn from these two brilliant women and from all the participants in the networks they’ve started. We desperately need more faith communities (like Englewood) that recognize the power of conversations and are willing to do the hard work of cultivating and harvesting the riches that can come from them.

I was heavily involved in maintaining the EV site for a few years (2007-2009), and I’ll be eternally grateful for the friendships and connections I’ve made with people all over the country (and around the world) through my work with EV during that time. I wouldn’t be doing the work I am doing today if it hadn’t been for the time I invested and the relationships I developed during those years.

In addition to the new emergentvillage.com, there is a new Emergent Village Voice channel over at Patheos, where most of the blog posts fostering theological conversation will be found. I had the pleasure of curating that online space for EV for a few years, but I’m really excited to see the circle widened and the true diversity of voices and perspectives being shared in this new space.

As Doug Pagitt shared in his conversation with Deborah Arca, managing editor of the Progressive Christian portal on Patheos, the Emergent Village Voice channel will be actually be interfaith and interspiritual, with Jewish contributors as well as Christian (and, I would add, hopefully emergent voices from other religions/faiths in the future). Jana Reiss, an emergent Mormon, published her first post there today. [And I can still remember when Tony Jones was asked whether Mormons would be included in emergent conversation, and he said something to the effect of, "I'm not sure why they would want to be, but sure."]

Doug made another interesting comment about the emergent conversation during his radio show: “Emerging conversation wants to say, ‘What is it that’s being born in a cross-axis of that [conservative-to-liberal] continuum?’ … And that’s another continuum: of those who want to see things stay as they are in whatever our issue is, or those who want to see something new emerge, something new come from it.”

Doug’s assertion is that the emergent conversation should not be viewed so much through the lens of a conservative vs. liberal dichotomy, but rather a past vs. future one. He says we need ask a different question: “Are you more satisfied with the way that things are now? Or do you want to see that change in the situation, in this case spirituality and religion?”

I agree it’s an intriguing question to ponder and play with, but my initial pushback to Doug would be that past/future is yet another dichotomy, which keeps us locked into a dualistic way of thinking about the world (i.e., past = bad, future = good). I still very much appreciate the “ancient-future” nature of the emergent conversation, which (as Brian McLaren has said many times) goes back to the altar of the past and takes the good things (the things that have been refined by fire and stood the test of time) and bring those things forward into the present and into the future. Or, as Len Sweet has so preciously said, we need to lean forward while kicking back (as we would swinging on a swingset).

However you wish to view it, history is continuing to be written, and another page has been turned in the ongoing story of Emergent Village, the generative friendship that continues to stir the pot and foster theological conversation online and on the ground in cohorts and conversations in churches and faith collectives all over the place. I’m grateful to God for this group of friends and mentors, and I’m honored to be one of the voices on the new Emergent Village Voice blog at Patheos. I hope you’ll join me over there for more thoughts and conversation on emerging missional church.

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ACT LOCALLY: The Charlotte Emergent cohort is excited about Shane Claiborne coming to town this weekend. There’ll be two opportunities to hear from Shane, but I especially want to invite anyone in the area who can make it to come to our “meet and greet” with Shane (and his new wife Katie Jo, who grew up here in Cornelius, NC) on Saturday afternoon.

Then in less than one week (Monday, August 4), Brooke and Jason Evans come through town on their own cross-country roadtrip, conducting research for a new book on Christian communities and the food they eat. They’ll be our culinary guides for the “Justice Kitchen” dinner party and cooking class at our home in Gastonia (just west of Charlotte). Here are a couple of pictures from previous Justice Kitchens on this tour:

There are other events coming up in the next few weeks, including a visit to the Carolinas by Paul Young, author of the best-selling novel The Shack. I haven’t read the book (yet), but I’ve read a number of different reviews—and I think I’ll probably enjoy the book.

I’m really looking forward to seeing lots of people tonight at the “Church Basement Roadshow.” I’ll try to post a re-cap with some photos later this week. Until then, I appreciate your prayers that God would use these events to bear good fruit for his kingdom here in the Charlotte area.