Report – YWAM Western Canada Leadership
Having just returned from Calgary where Kim & were attending the Youth With A Mission Western Canada Leadership Team (YWAM WCLT) meetings, I wanted to give some feedback to the emerging church discussion that was on the agenda. Again, many people who are familiar with YWAM in other regions might be surprised to realize that it would garner much attention, but several leaders within Western Canada are pushing for more intentional exploration and engagement with it, as it has already had deep impacts in our missional mandate.
Unfortunately, due to other unscheduled (though important) events, the time designated for the topic was cut by more than half. However, we had enough time to get people engaged enough to expose some interesting assumptions were the emerging church is concerned. Namely that many people have very misguided assumptions as to what the movement actually is. For example, while it certainly plays an influencing role, it is a common mistake to assume that the phenomenon is a generational issue. This came up more than once.
In response, I offered to make a “What Is The Emerging Church?” presentation at our next meeting in the Fall in Kelowna. However, as I have considered what I would present, then consider the common misconceptions, I realize how difficult it actually is to define. The truth is, the emerging church (or the church in the emerging culture) is an amorphous matrix of complex, overlapping influences, ideas, histories, etc. In the end, I hope to at least present a framework for them to engage the issue, with specific emphasis on YWAM’s place in the conversation & praxis. Some questions that came up that will also be worth exploring were: Is YWAM a church? (and What is church?) Can we engage the emerging dynamics of faith and remain faithful to our Foundational Values? Is our region (YWAM Western Canada) unique to the mission in the level of our interest and involvement with the conversation?
More to come…
