Awesome Second Meeting

Wow, what a great time we had last night at our second NYC Cohort gathering. Everyone was really into it and the conversation was awesome (can you tell I'm from California).

David Ramos characterized it well on his LLC blog, "About ten of us gathered at Origins where we discussed the lost art of listening as well as how the Emergent dialogue has created spaces of discussion that transcend denomination, ethnicity, and other categories. Over crackers and cheese [and beer] we talked about the uniqueness and fecundity of having mainline, Catholic, and evangelical traditions all in one room. We weaved in and out of varying personal and ecclesial observations."

Jon Tyson, our gracious host summed up what I felt when he said afterwards, "this was life giving to me".

We agreed to meet starting in September on the second Tuesday of each month, which is Sept. 12th at 6:30 at the same place, Origins church office - a very cozy space filled with couches.

We are also going to have more members of the cohort post here on the blog and hopefully we can continue the dialog throughout the month, and I think this will also give us a good idea of what kind of topics to have each month as we see what people are wanting to talk about.

The best part for me, and what the real point of it is, are the friendships that are developing. I see a wonderful unity going forward that will bring joy to our Father as he sees his children living and playing and working together as they be his presence here on earth.

Okay cohort members, start posting!

July Topic - Listening to all the voices

July Cohort meeting on Tuesday, July 25th at 6:30pm

Origins Church Office
581 9th Ave #3B
(corner of 42nd and 9 Ave.)
above the papaya dog.
Enter next to the hotdog place on 9th ave.
look for the ORIGINS poster in the door and buzz number 3B...

(August-no meeting, back in September)

The NYC Emergent Village Cohort is not the first regular gathering of emergent minded people in NYC - The Latino Leadership Circle already has that distinction.

Over the last year I have been thrilled by how God has been giving me friendships with some of the leaders of LLC. I met the founder David Ramos at the emergent theological conversation at Yale this winter, along with Jose Humphreys. I have been pastoring my church this whole year in the same building, the Lamb's theater, as Gabriel Salguero, the pastor the the Lamb's Manhattan Nazarene Church, and prof at Alliance Theo Seminary.

These guys have been very excited and encouraging to the start of the Cohort. I know as time goes on many of them will come and help build friendships. I'm hoping some of them will help in even deeper ways with the Cohort.

Last month, the LLC hosted Brian McLaren for a day full of events, and warmly invited me along. Here is a quote from David Ramos on the LLC blog which has inspired the topic for the July Cohort.

"Among many things Brian shared about his personal journey, described the history of the emergent dialogue, challenged us through narratives of faith in action, framed new questions for us, shared resources, and above all—authentically listened to us! While listening seems simple, it is nevertheless an act that lamentably, and often tragically, is not practiced enough within our communities, and as one person said, “Listening is an act of love.” "

So, let us take action - to listen as an act of love. Listening to people is how you go from acquaintance to friendship - so let's listen to one another.

July topic: How do we emerge together? (listening to one another)

Come and share your perspective, especially if you feel it isn't being heard.

As always we will make room for those new to the discussion and cover some of the basics if they don't know much and are curious to learn. We're all just getting into this!

First Meeting!

We had a great first meeting, where we grappled to understand what this whole emerging church thing is all about.

Here's a few definitions:

Emerging Church (EC) - a large amorphous group of Christian leaders talking about the future of the church together, often interested in how postmodernity is changing things, and why the post-Christian generation has stayed away...with the hopes of being the church in our day in new ways.

Emergent Village (EV) - the specific organization started by Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones and Brian McLaren amongst others in order to help facilitate the above conversation. When outsiders report on the EC they often go to these guys who are generally considered amongst the leading voices. EV is starting Cohorts like ours all around the country to help people build friendships and carry on the conversation.

We had a great time at O'Lunneys, but it was too loud there so next month we're looking for a new space - I will post it here as soon as confirmed.

If you would like to be on the list, please email me or just comment below and I will get it. jeff@cotanyc.com

Soon I'll send an email to the list and post here, the topic of next month's conversation. Please comment below on what you think the emerging church is.