Emerging Ministry

Recently, I attended a conference in Albuquerque on a new Christian movement tentatively called the "Emerging Church," though it defies all attempts at being labeled. At this conference, 1,000 Christians from all backgrounds (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Mennonite, Charismatic, and everything in between) came to sit down at tables with people from other traditions to talk about what God wanted the church to be.

What I quickly discovered was all my my life, I had been using the word "church" incorrectly. Church is not a building where people come to worship on Sundays. Church is a community, a group of people who want to follow God, irrespective of bricks and mortar. But I believe church is much more than that. Church is not something stagnant. Church is a verb - it's what you do.

So, how can we call ourselves a church if we're not actively participating in being church? After all, Jesus didn't gather up his disciples and say, "Okay, now we're going build a cathedral." He went out into the streets to preach and to perform miracles.

That's the example I'm called to follow, and a lifestyle that I believe we are all called to emulate. So, you could say the "Emerging Church" is a fitting description of what needs to happen. All my life, the building that I called my church was a small, self-contained community that didn't branch out. The Emerging Church on the other hand, is the church emerging from the confines of the buildings.

It will not be an easy transition, but since when is being Christian an easy path to follow? As a person, I am often closed off. God is something I experience through quiet prayer and meditation. But whenever I open myself up and experience God through other people, the feeling is a hundred times as potent. My soul craves human interaction. My soul is emerging and I will follow wherever it leads.