(e)mergent Voyageurs

Tomorrow morning- New Years Day 2007- Kim & I pack up the van and head home to Winnipeg after a couple weeks of great family time in good ol’ Rainy River, ON. My brother & sister-in-law drove in from Toronto, plus dozens of family and friends were in and out throughout our time here. Though it was full and busy, it was also restful to have some time away from the city to reflect on the year behind us and the year ahead.

That isn’t to say our holidays were uneventful. In fact, I received a call yesterday informing me that our home had been broken into during the night. Our house is a duplex, with Kim & I living on one side and our YWAM residence in the other. It turns out that the intruders broke into the YWAM side of the house, setting off the alarm. They managed to make off the DVD collection from one of our staff, as well as some random clothes from another renter. As frustrating as it is, there was other serious theft and very little damage. Oh what fun…

On a positive note, we have confirmed 6 students for our upcoming Discipleship Training School (DTS) which is scheduled to start in a week. In an uncharacteristic mix, we have three guys and three girls. Five of them are Canadian and one American. The American grew up no more than 20 minuntes drive from where I grew up, so we actually connected in person over the holidays. We are very excited about this school, which I will be blogging about here week once it starts.

This year has been a strange mix of troubling trials and exceptional promise- a connection I highly doubt is coincidental. As I enter into the coming New Year, I am filled with a deep sense of hope, albeit mixed with some anxiety. Thank you all for your continued prayer, support and, above all, friendship. Happy New Year!

Emerging Church, Missional, New Year, Christmas

We arrived in my hometown, Rainy River, ON this evening to begin our long awaited Christmas break. My brother & sister-in-law will be joining us in due course, bringing the Ricci clan together for Christmas for the first time in a few years. We are really looking forward to it.

When we get back after the New Year begins, we will be going directly into our Discipleship Training School (DTS) which will keep us pretty tied up for several months. Given all the stress of the last few weeks, I have decided to take a break from blogging until the holidays are over.

That being said, I want to spend some of this time off developing ideas for the coming year. I believe 2007 will be an important year for me, so I hope that will be reflected in my blog. Here are some of the things you can expect:

-Lost In The Barrens chapter exploration: Once a week, I want to explore a topic that will be covered in a chapter of my new book, getting your input, feedback and even critique. Some of the topics will include sexuality, ecology, Scripture, gender roles, the so-called “para-church” and much more (for a complete list, See Here).

-Personal Life Processing: I truly believe that God is bringing me through one of the more crucial stages in my personal and missional formation. It is my intention to try and share with you how that process is going. This is not an attempt to be self-serving, but rather that so often we feel alone in these times because we do not share with each other. It will be a stretch for me, but I’ll do my best.

-Discipleship Training School: For a few months of the year, at least, I will be engaged in co-leading our DTS. I truly believe in this program, so I thought I would share some of experiences each week to give you an idea of what it is we do.

-Friday Art Reflection: I started this at random, but it has drawn some of the best conversations (this years winner being the post on nudity in art). I will endeavour to keep it fresh, but you input is welcome (and needed).

-Readers Choice: I would love to hear from all of you what you would like to see here. Share in the comment section now or anytime throughout the year. I am not an expert missionary nor a Bible answer guy nor a wise sage, but I’ll tackle nearly any topic you want, so long as you’ll join me in the journey. So have at it!

As you enter into the last days of this Advent season, consider the beauty and power of Christ’s first coming and consider with hope and purpose His second. God bless!
Emerging Church, Missional, New Year, Christmas

Several years ago, while attending a Biblical training school with YWAM, I read through the entire Bible in just over two months.  As I reached some of the Old Testament geneaologies, I was tempted to skim.  However, rather than take the easy way out, I read every line, then spent some time waiting on God in prayer for understanding.  Frankly, I didn’t expect much, which is why I was surprised that it turned into one of the more important lessons of my faith journey.

Consider Exodus 3, as Moses approaches the burning bush.  Here we have a classic and powerful example of God revealing Himself in power.  He begins by calling Moses by name, then commands him to take off his sandals, as he was standing on holy ground.  It is here that God identifies Himself:

He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

-Exodus 3:6 (NASB)

In one of the most dramatic and powerful displays of His presence that we find in Scripture, in a moment of calling one the most important leaders in history into his missional vocation, God chooses to identify Himself by the relationships He had established throughout generations before.  Of course, it is an affirmation of the continuity of the covenant God made with Abraham.  However, I think there is more to it than that.  Here are a few things I’ve learned:

First, God identifies first with being the God of Moses’ father.  After revealing Himself in power, inviting Moses into His holy presence, He identifies with Moses’ father, Amram (which means “friend of the most high God”).  While never diminishing His holiness, His power and His authority, God identifies with us very personally.  We should never forget that the very foundation of human value, the seed bed of human rights and the healthy celebration of individuality were are all born out of the richness of the Judeo-Christian tradition.  God values each of us. (Note: For more on this topic, I highly recommend Thomas Cahill’s “The Gifts Of The Jews”).

Second, He identifies with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the patriarchs of Judaism, of the great faith.  As I already said, this reflects a foundation in His covenant with His people.  More than this, however, is revealed that God related to each of these men as representatives of their people in their time.  He related to them as men representing very specific and unique generations and circumstances.  God, while being holy and eternal, and while relating to us where we are today, does not forget (nor does He want us to forget) the very unique relationship He had with those who have come before.  He values them, recognizing that which each generation brings to the great narrative.

Third, God neither ignores nor tolerates the failures of each generation, but rather, while He clearly brings punishment when needed, He does not dissolve the covenantal relationship.  His commitment to His people is as constant as His love.  Even in the face of great judgment, such as exile in a pagan land, God makes way for His people to return to His purposes for them, as well as to relationship with Him.  Each generation is intentionally made aware of the failures of previous generations as reminders not only of the consequences for disobedience, but also about God’s unfailing grace.

So what can we learn from these lessons?  More specifically, what does this say to those of us involved in the emerging/missional church movement?

First, in an age where individualism has so rampantly swept through our culture (the church culture included), leaving a wake of devastating consequences, we must be so intentional and cautious not to swing to an opposite extreme.  While we need to rediscover our shared identity as a missional community, now more than ever, we must never underplay the significance of a God who deems individuals worthy of not only relating to us, but identifying Himself in terms of that relationship.

Second, we must remember that as we seek to follow God, we must recognize that He chooses to relate to us uniquely as a people in a specific time and place in history.  This is a significant aspect of what the emerging/missional movement is all about.  However, we cannot forget that, as true as this point is for us, it also stands true for previous generations.  Whether we are referring to the Medieval or the Modern expression, God was (and is) in active, covenantal relationship with them.  As we relate to those from different traditions and expressions of the faith, we must do so as God does, with grace and love.

Third, without question each of these expressions are fraught with failures (as is and will be the emergent/missional/postmodern expressions), but this does not dissolve the eternal connection between God and His people.  Each generation brings unique dynamics to the people of God- some are specific to their era, while others are universal that following generations would do well to respect.  The emerging church conversation has in fair part been made up of a critique of the negative impact of an uncitical embrace of aspects of modernity, etc.  No matter how valid these concerns may be (and I believe they are VERY valid), we cannot forget or diminish that, if God is the God of both the established and emerging church, then we are inexplicably connected- one Body, one Church.

I would love to hear your thoughts.  What do those of you who identify with the emerging church most appreciate about the established church?  And what do those of you who identify with the established church most appreciate about the emerging church?

Emerging Church, Missional

This past Tuesday celebrated the birthday of Norwegian expressionist artist, Edvard Munch, who was born December 12, 1863. While his paintings and prints are numerous and remarkable, he is best known for his painting entitled “Skrik”, or as we refer to it in English, “The Scream”. Previous called “Despair”, Munch attempted to symbolize humanity in the midst of existential angst. It has become iconic in popular culture, making appearances in such shows as “The Simpsons” to inspire the name & famous mask of the successful horror film trilogy “Scream”. Munch himself commented on the inspiration for this piece when he recalled:

“I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

Given the commeration of his birth and the “joys” of my previous week, I felt this picture was ever so appropriate. What say you?

The Scream, Edvard Munch, Art

I have been so blessed and overwhelmed by all the emails, phone calls, comments and visits from friends and family in response to my last post.  While we are still facing many significant challenges and decisions, your encouragement and prayers have had a real impact on the sense of things being overwhelming.  Thank you all so very much.  It is not an easy thing for me to be open with these matters- as several of you who talked to me can attest, I get uncharacteristically tongue-twisted, awkward, etc.  This does not reflect my lack of appreciation.  Far from it.  Again, I am so deeply blessed by your friendship.

I am happy to announce that our plumbing problem is not completely finished and, while the cost has hit us in a tough season, it was much lower than it could have been.  Further, we have had family step in and make sure that this expense will not cripple us.  The two home appliances that have been out of order for the last six months finally received attention today.  The more expensive unit was repaired in a matter of minutes (a sock somehow got sucked into the pump of our washing machine- go figure), and while the second unit might be a write off, it is a far less expensive unit than the other.

The reality is that the circumstances have not been the real problem.  Life is full of these events, which I am more than capable of dealing with, given the support of others and the grace of God.  However, I know that I facing a significant life shift in the next year.  I know this will probably be the most significant shift since setting out of my dreams and plans for my life and into God’s vocation for me.  When faced with the (seeming) inability of make this shift work without creating problems for my wife, the ministry and myself, the stress and frustrating build and build.  It is then that the circumstances pile up.  There are so many people whose lives are far more challenging than mine, so while I wanted to be honest with where I was at, I didn’t want come off as a whiner.

Your continued prayer and support are appreciated.  As you pray, please remember my wife, as she is the heart and muscle behind our ministry, plus the main support for me.  I am continuously humbled by her ability to extend love and grace to me during this time.  Because of her- and people like you- I truly feel a deep (if distant) sense of hope for the future.

Again, thank you so much.

For those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I have been having a… challenging year (if you haven’t been following, see Immigration Crisis, Dark Night Of The Soul and Cry For Fatherhood).  This month, with the holiday season upon us, the Discipleship Training School approaching in January and my second book in the works, it doesn’t take much to get me down these days.

Then Friday afternoon our plumbing backed up.  Thinking that it only a plug, it turned out to be a collapsed pipe under the house.  Over the weekend and into today, plumbers opened up the floor, repaired the break, removed the dinner fork- yes, dinner fork and no, not ours- and finally got things moving (no pun intended).  We still are waiting to hear the cost (though it was a relatively easy fix).

I know it is not the end of the world, but the stress of the repairs, the reality of our financial instability (including our struggling financial support), my sense of vocational angst, Kim’s immigration challenges, our inability to start a family, our shrinking number of staff, etc. all came crashing down on me at once.  It has left me empty, frustrated and very tired.  Thankfully, our Christmas holidays begin at the end of the week, and though we will have to work over the holidays, it will be a good time of family, friends and, of course, food.

I am deeply grateful for the people who came around me during this time.  My wife, Kim, who has had to go through all of this as well, has been a rock.  I love her dearly.  My family have been a source of wisdom and encouragement.  My many friends have there with prayer and support- the crew at the Resonate.ca Yahoo Group, Doug for stopping by to chat and pray, Dana who cared enough to hunt down my number to call (and listen to my sleep deprived mumblings) and everyone else.  Thank you all.

The fact is that things are going to have to change.  Once the DTS is complete in June, Kim & I will spend some serious time of prayer, reflection and decision making.  Please keep us in prayer this week and in the coming months.  Specifically:

-Pray for peace and rest of both spirit and body
-Pray that our financial support will strengthen
-Pray for direction, clarity and freedom to pursue God’s next phase

Thank you all!

As many of you are probably not aware of, Winnipeg is the coldest city in the world with a population over 500,000. While we have just hit a “warm” break after a bitterly cold stretch At any rate, perhaps growing up in this climate and region accounts for the following being my favourite poem (and the only one I have committed to memory). So, as the emerging church is often characterized by its different approach to eschatology, I thought this would be a fitting, contextual piece to share- for fun.

Fire and Ice
by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Emerging Church, Missional, Eschatology, Poetry

As a teenager, my father & I joined a travel group from our home town to tour through Spain, Portugal and Morocco. While in Spain, we had the chance to visit the city of Toledo. Declared a World Heritage Site, entering this ancient city was like stepping back in time. We travelled through the city to the Catedral de Toledo, a 13th century Gothic cathedral which is a masterpiece of stone, space and light. With a sense awe, I enter this sacred space, grinning internally at the humour of the fact that I was entering “Holy Toledo”. Nevertheless, it was a powerful experience.

Years later, while sitting in a discpleship class, the speaker made an offhand comment about these great churches. He asked the students why so many North American churches had high peaked roofs, then when on to explain to us, with unhesitant confidence, that they were copies of the high vaulted roofs of cathedrals whose roofs were designed primarily as a means to keep the copious European snow from building up and collapsing through. I sat flabbergasted at the ignorance of such a statement, but bit my tongue as no one else seemed to think anything was amiss.

While I still believe his comment to be ignorant, I have come to realize that the role of architecture as a tool and/or medium of the faith is not as simple as I once thought. As I consider the great Catedral de Toledo, I also remember the massive amount of gold that gilded the statuary and encrusted candelabras, chalices and the like. As I took it all in, our tour guide explained how much of the funding for the building came from the commoners, poor by most standards. Likewise, the cathedral took many generations to build, consuming he meager wages of families for nearly three centuries, not to mention the many lives lost in the construction of the building. How much more could have been done with the money, the labour and the vision? Was the unargubale beauty of this place worth the price paid?

Given the diversity of locales for church gatherings today, this question becomes increasingly complex. The Old Testament reveals that God demanded a wealth of resources, energy and beauty to be invested into places of worship. Some might argue that this ended when the temple curtain was torn at Christs death, further finalized at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. However, I think this is too quick a dismissal.

In my opinion, the intentionality of architecture in churches (and by this I mean everything from the actual structure of the building to the layout of furniture and use of other implements, such as candles, etc.) is something that can be important to the experience of worship, even formative in our understanding of God. The high vaulted ceilings of the cathedral inspired in me a sense of the greatness of God, the timelessness of a God who transcended my finite perspective. The intentional incorporation of iconic images and statues acts as touchstones to nature and character of God and His interaction with humanity through the great narrative of history. Candles, incense and vestments acts as beautiful symbols, whose meaning infuses our worship with something deeper than an articulate propositional understanding (important as that is).

I am deeply committed to serving the poor, investing our time, energy and resources into issues of justice and compassion, rather than them all being consumed in other self-serving reasons. However, can we become so pragmatic that we fail to honour God in beauty? Should we miss an opportunity to engage in the divine through the experiential encounters that art and architecture offer? Where do we draw the line? How have you been inspired or offended by architecture in your faith? Join the conversation in the comment section.

Emerging Church, Missional, Architecture, Art

After several months of work, I now have a functional book proposal for my new book, which I’ve tentatively titled “Lost In The Barrens: Thriving & Surviving In The Missional Frontier”. It sets out to explore the reasons for the growing internaldisparity of  a generation that is simultaneously distancing itself from the local church while demonstrating an unprecedented passion for God and missional community. I seek to chart a path to growth and reconciliation, drawing from my own journey of faith, one that saw me leave the local church only to be increasingly drawn back again. It is a call to both the established and emerging church community to work towards understanding, if not unity. Nearly half of the first draft is done, with the rest outlined. It still needs a lot of work, but I am excited. Here is a general outline:

Introduction – Reflections of an Emergent Voyageur

Beyond The Birds And Bees:
Towards A Celebrated Sexuality

Father, Son & Holy… Bible?:
Towards A Balanced Approach To Scripture

One Body, Many Parts:
Towards An Intentional Diversity

It Ain’t Easy Being Green:
Towards A Sacramental Ecology

Where Mercy Triumphs:
Towards A Restorative Justice

No Church Is An Island:
Towards Missional Community

There Is No “Para” In Church:
Towards A Broader Ecclesiology

More Than Words Can Say:
Towards Incarnational Faith

Sons And Daughters Of God:
Towards An Inclusive Worldview

Retracing The Suburban Exodus:
Towards Urban Renewal

Conclusion – From Colonialization To Community

I would love to hear your feedback. What do you think of the topics? Any thoughts or stories in regards to any of them? Any additions you might suggest? I value your opinions, so let me know.

Emerging Church, Missional

I recieved by Winter edition of Geez Magazine today and eagerly (though nervously) flipped through it. A few months ago I sat for an interview for this issue, which is provocatively entitled “Let’s get Evangelical”, focusing largely on our ministry as YWAM here in Winnipeg. The article, called “Where the evangelists are” by J Unrau, recounts the authors search for old school, door-to-door style Evangelicals in Winnipeg. His journey starts at local churches in the city, then turns to our ministry, finishing with an email dialogue with a Winnipeger serving with YWAM in Australia.

While tongue-in-cheek, the article is fair, if too brief, in its treatment of each ministry. It did get some details about YWAM wrong (for example, it confuseded to our Discipleship Training School (DTS), a 5 month spiritual and missional formation program, with our Mission Adventures program, which is more short term urban possibilities for teams. In one quote, he says of our ministry, “The main focus is on living in an urban community and being exposed to the problems prostitutes, refugees and poor youth face”. This frames our relationship to our community as primarily built on the negative challenges of the neighbourhood in a somewhat paternalistic stance. Rather, I would say we seek to live as a true neighbours, sharing as much as we can, the good and bad of life there. Outside of that, it was a fair portrayal.

In another article in this issue, entitled “An evangelical body, broken for you… into six convenient types”, Anna Bowen gives quick overiews of different expressions of Evangelicalism (as she sees them): Fundamentalist (or Conservative Evangelicals); Pentecostal Charismatics; Liberal Evangelicals; Emergent Church (or Vintage Church); Social Justice Folks; Christian Leftists (or Progressive Reconstructionists). Each group was flanked by a description and an image of an “Evangometer”, where the degree of Evangelicalism is measured. As you might guess, from he beginning of the list to the end, the degree decreases, with Fundamentalists reaching 100, Emergent settling at 50 ad Christian Leftists hitting 0 (which should disqualify them from the list, no?).

While Bowen affirms that these are generalized and over-lapping groups, the fact is that the a few paragraphs cannot represent the complexity of any of these groups. In some cases, I feel she missed the boat significantly. For example, here is what she wrote for the “Emergent Church (or Vintage Church)”:

The shift into what some would call the postmodern age has uprooted these Christians and sent them scrambling to find new ways to make their Christianity “relevant” (a key but sometimes nebulous term).

The issue for Emergent types is to assert Christianity in a time when binary ideas like heaven and hell, Christian and non-Christian, spirit and body, male and female are being challenged and seen as too dualistic. Emerging Christians value individual stories more than ascribing to one grand overarching and possibly oppressive “metanarrative.” This allows emergent church Christians to have a new openness to different ways of interpreting the Bible – everyone’s perspective is relevant and should be expressed.

As with so much post-structural and postmodern theory, the emergent gospel tends to come from the top down, drawing analysis from academic discourse surrounding postmodernity. Adherents tend to be internet savvy and have a heavy presence in the blogosphere, which could be deemed inaccessible.

I am not sure if it is the definition itself (which I find significantly off the central mark) or that it would be used as one of the groups (as I think it is too broad and complex to be in the grouping), but I found myself frustrated with the outcome of the article.

Along with my magazine came a subscription renewal notice. Geez Magazine is a creative, challenging and provocative publication that I have recommended to many people. That being said, I have found it, at times, needlessly antagonistic, unhelpfully critcal of America, shallow in its engagement with socio-historical material, and perhaps most disappointing, it sometimes seems to be written only for those who already agree with them. I do not mean to be harsh, as I think it is a great edition to world of publications. However, I will not be renewing my subscription, choosing to purchase on an issue by issue basis.

Anyone disagree and care to weigh in? Please let us know.

Emerging Church, Missional, YWAM, Geez Magazine