Why I am Presbymergent
I’m evidence that The Emergent Conversation is not just for twentysomethings. I’m a middle aged, lifelong Presbyterian who approached my 20th year of ordination realizing that something had to change in the way I was serving the church. (Was I merely serving “the church”— acting as a chaplain to long time “church men” and “church women” or was I still serving God in a Biblical understanding of ministry?)
After five years as pastor of a small rural congregation in upstate New York, and then over 15 years serving as co-pastor and pastor of a medium-sized congregation just outside Washington, DC, I found myself wondering why ministry felt so far removed from “real life.” In my 21st year of ordained ministry, something clicked. (Okay, I’m a slow learner.)
Via many “emergent voices”, I heard some things that would forever alter my ministry. I’d never previously learned these things in any Sunday School class, sermon, Bible study, seminary course, Presbytery meeting, or continuing education event but I found them to be true and to breathe new life into my calling:
- The pastor’s only responsibility, according to scripture, is to equip the saints for God’s service (Ephesians 4:11-12).
- The church exists to serve the community not its members.
- The role of Presbyterian elders is to be spiritual leaders, not to run the programs of the church.
- The Constantinian Church is dead and gone forever.
And because I’ve never been particularly easy to peg theologically, a “generous orthodoxy” resonated with me. I’m not the only one weary of compartmentalized Christianity, theology wars, and power struggles. I long for a tribe that looks at the Big Picture, unwilling to spend valuable time arguing about who’s in and who’s out. I long for a different kind of church – one that welcomes tax collectors, adulterers, eunichs, tanners, and imperfect – but willing – followers of Jesus, along with post-modern day addicts, over-achievers, losers, and heretics. While on sabbatical in 2005, I heard a guest preacher at Cedar Ridge Church share this quote:
“Artists are simply people who are passionate enough to imagine things that do not yet exist.”
By this definition, I was an artist – but a starving one.
I found that the emergent conversation feeds me. I like that one size doesn’t fit all. I appreciate that progressives and evangelicals are coming together to serve God’s kingdom on earth. My passion is increasingly for those who are not yet with us. And knowing that the mainline church – my home – must be transformed, the emergent movement strikes me as the best venue for faithfully moving into a new era.
written by Jan Edmiston
A Church for Starving Artists
Comment by Tom Robinson on 12 February 2007:
Hi Jan - many thanks for your comments. They really echoed what I have been feeling. The writings of Brian McLaren and Diana Butler Bass have been a breath of fresh air, encouraging us to go beyond the boundaries we put up and truly listen to each other. I wonder, though - will we? Given this kairos, this God-filled moment, will we really let go of what is comfortable and be a little bit more at ease with things that don’t always fit; with more questions than answers; with more silence than noise (Jim Kitchens’ book about “The Postmodern Parish” really hit me on this one).
This is more of a question for us modern types than postmodern folks. They have already moved on - can we let go of our old models of ministry and take on something new? I feel it is imperative that we do that, and keep asking the right questions to keep us on the journey.
Comment by RPS on 12 February 2007:
Wow Jan: Now I know what your blog name means! Shame on me for never asking / thinking / wondering until I read you explain it!
Nice thoughts (no, NOT “nice” — TRUE thoughts perhaps… important thoughts for sure.
Hope the knee is doing better.
RPS
Comment by Drew on 29 October 2007:
I am just now reading about the emergent church now over 7 years since I decided not to become a pastor because of what I felt were increasingly arbitrary boundaries placed on the activity of God in the existing corporate structures of the church itself. I wonder if I had been exposed to this vision of the church then, where I would be today… It might make an interesting vision of the future… Glad to know that there appears to be a voice in the church that seems to listen before it speaks.
Pingback by Presbymergent Retrospective, 2007 : presbymergent on 1 January 2008:
[...] panel of editors kick off a series of posts on the theme “Why I Am Presbymergent.” Notable guests like LeRon Shults, Nannette Sawyer, and Troy Bronsink, [...]