There are a number of task that I am doing at the moment that seem to be quite cathartic. For my PhD I've had to write up a lot of the Sanctus1 story, this has helped me reflect and be thankful for our journey. I've been asked by someone who is part of Sanctus to produce a soundtrack of the music that I've used over the years, and yesterday I had to write the title of my MA dissertation on an application form for a professional body, the title was: 'A critical and theological assessment of post-modern models of church in relation to ‘life-cycle’ & evangelistic strategy'. I wrote this in 2001, and as I read the title I smile that the language of 'emerging church' and Fresh Expression was not in common currency.
I've been part of Sanctus1 for eight years. That's the longest I've lived anywhere and the longest I've been part of a church. During that time there have been a number of significant shifts in the UK churchscape, Mission Shaped Church was seismic, an affirmative shift in the churchscape, we were affirmed rather than tolerated - Sanctus1 was mentioned in the report and our profile was raised, other reports and books of the time mention Sanctus1 and over the next few years 2004-07 there was a massive interest in the emerging church...we were the next big thing.
There is a temptation to believe this, but the reality of all church communities is that we are not the next big thing, it's just spin. Spin that is very tempting to get involved with, spin that if believed can mean a loss of focus on that which is important. Spin that is not the reality of eight years experience.
I've been reflecting a lot on the language of church recently, originally Sanctus1 called itself a Christian community then when the language of emerging church emerged we started to use that language as it was an accurate description of what we were doing. However, it is also a ecclesiastical legitimator - the church likes the language of church arguably more than the language of mission. So by using the language of church, in this context Fresh Expression, we are legitimated, affirmed, brought under the wing of the Church. I am still unsure whether this is a positive move or not...
Pete Ward talked about when he was in Mcr recently, and he wondered whether the shift in the language of church has had a negative effect on mission. Have we become too focused on re-imagining church as the institutions are encouraging us to do this? Sold our souls to the language of church at the expense of mission...I'm polarizing but sometimes that's helpful.
In 2007-2009 the interest in Emerging Church seems to have peaked. The innovators and early adopters are now being overtaken by the early majority. This is positive, but personally I'm energized by the innovation and so it's time to hang up my three candles and move on...
