:: in.a.mirror.dimly :: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other.

Last Friday I attended the Missional Christianity Conference at Biblical Seminary where Scot McKnight, Brian McLaren, Tim Keel, Darrell Guder, and John Franke spoke on Missional Christianity. It was an all-day affair where I connected with some old friends from my seminary and ETREK days, as well as a few bloggers.

When I attend these kinds of events crawling with tons of extroverted pastors and ministers who are chatting each other’s ears off, I tend to become what my wife calls “a clam”. I just shut myself up and search for a water cooler or the bathroom. Anything to kill some time while not talking with someone. Fortunately I did manage to have some great conversations and the speakers gave me a ton to think about. I have to give Biblical some high marks for the caliber of this conference and look forward to future events of its kind.

Here are a few of the takeaways I have:

• Scot McKnight contrasted an authoritative vs. a relational reading of scripture, advocating that we read the Bible so that we can know God, and it is out of that relationship that we obey the teachings of scripture, thereby covering the authority bit without turning the Bible into merely a text that mandates obedience (though it does call for obedience, but that’s not the main point. The main point is to know and love God). The Bible leads us to a relationship with God, where we live in his will as his children. I found a lot of points in his talk that lined right up with the approach I advocate in Coffeehouse Theology, so it’s always a relief to know you’re on the same page with a respected theologian! 
• Gary and Todd from The Well affirmed the importance of reaching out to our communities through nonprofit organizations. I’ve been an advocate of this for quite some time, so I’m glad to see this idea spreading at this conference.
• If Christianity is about faith and hope (and love for that matter), then Tim Keel made a great case for the importance of imagination in the church today. If we don’t value our imagination, we may very well have a hard time following God by faith.
• Darrell Guder far and away stole the show with his talk about missional church. While it was merely a summary of his book Missional Church, it’s the kind of heavy read that needs the enthusiastic, powerful summary he provided. As he spoke about God being a missional, sending God and how the church is by its very nature sent, I realized that we have merely gummed this idea, far from chewing it or digesting it. Guder made a great point that he hopes the term missional will simply fade away as it becomes so closely entwined with the character of the church, there will no longer be any need to distinguish missional practice from what the church is.
• During the dinner break Scot Berkheimer and I discussed the connected nature of idolatry and injustice in the Old Testament. Some have made the mistake of only addressing injustice, without digging into the degenerative effects of idolatry, which is deeply rooted in the causes of injustice.
• I had a brief chance to chat with Brian McLaren and found that, as many others have affirmed, he’s one of the nicest people you could ever meet–gracious, kind, and attentive. He gave a talk about an epistemology of love, studying the text of 1 Corinthians 13, making points similar to my own in the first session of the Coffeehouse Theology Bible Study Guide.