Emerging from the Shadows

Driving around talking to people about faith and God has caused me to think more about how Christians communicate their faith. One of the key developments of the past few years is what has come to be known as the Emerging or Emergent Church.

The Emerging Church movement seeks to develop churches that are more attractive to those outside of the institutional church culture.

Many people these days are not comfortable standing and singing songs with other people or sitting through a long exposition of the Bible. Various groups have sought ways to bridge this divide and present the message of Jesus Christ in a more manageable format.

As I have reflected on this and investigated contemporary church responses to what may be called the post-Church era I have found myself uneasy at one particular aspect. It seems that some new churches may just be a response by bored, disenfranchised Christians who want to do something that they like. These Christians get together with like-minded Christians and form a new, contemporary church which they all enjoy. What has happened is that it the same Church in different clothes. To be blunt, these churches are still glorified social clubs.

What I am praying through is how to connect with the people I meet in the taxi and not creating a trendy cafe church environment for Christians who lack a stable social network. If anyone has any information on setting up a cafe church please let me know. I have sounded out the idea with non-Christians and a lapsed Anglican and have received a very positive response. One person, last week, told me he was in and I haven't got anywhere for him to be "in" yet!

Too much of what passes as Christian responses to the postmodern era is a shifting of the deck chairs on the Titanic. I don't want to rearrange a sinking ship; I want to be part of manning the life boats and discovering a new place where people can ask difficult questions, explore spirituality and journey towards Jesus without feeling judged or condemned.

Drugs

I drive a taxi in Newcastle, NSW approximately 2 hours north of Sydney. In recent month the local council have imposed a curfew so that all patrons need to be in the pub/club of their choice by 1am or else they are locked out. The pubs/clubs then stay open till 3am but no more patrons are allowed in after 1am.

This measure was supposed to be a response to fighting and other loutish behavior on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights. I suppose it has had some effect although it seems to be more about noise minimization for people who have bought trendy apartments near to the main clubbing areas of the city.

As I drive around many people ask about my own personal safety and about the different episodes that occur across the town. 2 weeks ago I was in my taxi at a rank and witnessed a brawl involving a dozen or more young men. There have been other incidents mostly involving young men in their 20s and early 30s.

The general consensus is that alcohol is not the main factor. The unknown factor is illicit drug use. I took 3 people home last night who were more than drunk and one of the passengers told me that he had quite a few pills on him. It is this addition of chemicals to the usual weekend ritual of letting off steam that, I believe, is causing the greatest difficulties.

I guess my next question is what part I can play if any in trying to arrest this decline of the values of the young people in our societies? I am not sure of my role outside that of making a living to support my family. I would like to do more than just ferry people from point A to point B but I am not sure what I can do. Any thoughts?

40

On Thursday June 12th I turned 40. I have the most wonderful few days with family and friends celebrating and reflecting on all of the good that is in my life.

Today, Sunday, we held a party at my house which my wonderful wife spent a long, long time preparing with the help of her sister. The last few months have been fraught with difficulties but my wife has stood by me with admirable faithfulness and trust which I do not take lightly.

I reflected this evening on the people that attended the party and I am so fortunate to have friends who are not "pew sitters" or casual spiritual travelers but people who are serious about their faith and the need for it to be a lived faith. I am not sure how well I would have made the past weeks and months without some very, very supportive friends.

All of this has bought home to me the need for us to get serious about Christian community. The word "community" should not be a convenient buzzword for Church strategy meetings but it should be a mindset that churches adopt that fans out into the community.

Sadly, from our recent experience, we have encountered people that espoused community rhetoric but opted for judgment and gracelessness when the chips were down. This is not the example that Jesus presented to His Church.

If you are reading this then you are also a part of my network and for that I am also grateful. I grow as I learn from others and I appreciate all of my associations and the polishing that they bring to this rough gemstone.

I am confident that God has great things in store for me and my family in the years to come. God has shown His faithfulness to me and I am going to tell the world.

Hope

I am off work now for a couple of days so as well as spending time with Tanya and the boys and finishing my paper on narrative criticism I will fit in some blogging in the form of my latest reflections from the drivers seat of my taxi.

Today is a public holiday in most of Australia and the day off work on Monday prompted a lot of people to descend on the city for a night of drinking.

Coming, as I do, from a family who have and still do get drunk I am well aware of the dynamics of drinking and do not stand in judgment over the people who come into my cab. It is too easy to sit on the sidelines tut-tutting and pontificating from our pulpits without actually seeking to understand what leads people to binge drink.

The issue of binge drinking is a hot topic in Australia at the moment with various methods employed to try and stem the violence that often accompanies large crowds of drunken young people. What strikes me though is that the percentage of people who cause trouble is very, very small and there are a lot of people who are looking to enjoy themselves. It is this issue that I want to consider briefly.

Again, it is too easy to make simplistic comments from within our Christian enclaves regarding the fact that people work all week, drink on the weekends and save for the summer vacation and this constitutes the basic dynamics for most people. The truth is much more complex as I am finding out as people begin to open up on their taxi journey. The people I meet are, generally speaking, decent people who lack a deeper sense of hope that can lift their sights from the limitations of the 21st century western world.

I recall an old hymn that says "Because He lives I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone. Because He lives I can face the future. Life is worth the living just because He lives."

In 1 Cor 15:14 Paul wrote " And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless."

The Christian hope rests firmly on the fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. It is this fundamental belief that keeps me striving to help those who have not heard this good news. The people around us are not evil (or, to use the Christian euphemism, "worldly") but simply people who do not have a deep seated hope to even taken them through the working week sometimes so alcohol provides a suitable avenue for relieving tension, relaxing people and opening up conversation but, unfortunately, it is also addictive and insidiously saps any hope that is there.

In summary the Christian hope is vitally important to the Church and something that needs to be taken outside the doors of the church and into a community that, although they do not say in so many words, need and want to hear that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

Time

My plan was/is to blog at least every couple of days but I seem to be in a battle for time. I had a very successful week, financially, with the taxi driving but I worked 55 hours to do it. My wife is happy with me driving and we are able to pay our bills and actually start saving some money for once.

I am still not attending a church and still working through what this means for the future. I am constantly challenged by the mistrust of Church amongst the broader community.

Today I am going to attempt to complete a big block of my paper on narrative criticism. Trying to get my head around study after a 55 hour week as well as attending to my wife and children is a big ask but I am determined to give time to the Masters degree.

If anyone knows of any good apologetic resources please can you let me know. I want to be able to begin to challenge some of the responses I am getting as far as basic questions about God are concerned. I think what troubles me the most is that there are many people in their late teens and early 20s who don't seem to understand love. In order to evangelize we speak about God's love for people and so these people are a step back even further in the process. I will pray that God uses me to demonstrate His love.

Hard as Nails

I have just been totally and utterly inspired. It is my first day off and, surprisingly, I woke early so I decided to get up. I flicked on the TV and caught a documentary made my HBO about a radical unordained Catholic Minister from Syracuse, New York, called Justin Fatica.

This man is walking talking 24/7 passion for Jesus. With the journey I am on right now and seeking ways to share my love for Christ as I drive the taxi this was a divine appointment.

Check out www.hanm.org for further info. If you are in the US or Canada you might be able to get HBO. I saw it on Showcase on the Foxtel network in Australia. If you want to be challenged and confronted then get a hold of it.

This is a man and a ministry that gets right in the face of troubled teens in a way that can be offensive at times but they get to the heart of what it is to live 24/7 for the one who died for the WHOLE world. As I meet more and more lost people I am realising that I need to be bolder in sharing my faith and the hope that is found in Jesus.

Passengers

The taxi driving is wonderful. Last night I met a man who was a doctor in both senses i.e. a doctor of medicine with a doctorate. He was a pathologist with an interest in molecular biology. As we proceeded with our discussion over the course of a 20 minute taxi ride it became clear that he was also a Christian.

He was very open about talking of the complexity of the universe and his own discoveries at a molecular level and how science was appreciating the complex design of the universe at every level. He has taken one of my taxi cards and we will meet up again in the future.

I am still interested in the fact that whenever I mention that I am an ordained Baptist pastor I get no negative reaction whatsoever. The issues that people have are always with Church as an institution. I am not attending a church at this time and working through where I should be as far as a Christian community is concerned. My in-laws wrote a letter to the church leadership supporting me fully and the letter was read to the Diaconate and I have not had one person contact me. It seems that the church has put the allegations against me into the "too hard basket" and are getting on with the business of church.