Emerging Africa

Roger Schroeder, well-known missiologist, Professor of Intercultural Ministries and co-author of the influential “Constants in Context” visits South Africa.
The Department of Science of Religion, in co-operation with Communitas from Stellenbosch, invites you to a day conference on the 24th March 2010 with prof. Schroeder, prof. Nico Botha (UNISA) and dr. Marius Nel. The theme will be “Missionary by its very nature”. Prof. Schroeder will lecture on the book Acts and the church emerging in mission.
Where: NG Gemeente Doornpoort, 841 Boababst. 841, Doornpoort, Pretoria See www.ngdoornpoort.co.za
Cost R100

Navrae/Inquiries
Daleen Kotze
Tel. 0124202348 (Kantoor ure)
Daleen.Kotze@up.ac.za

Prof. Nelus Niemandt
nelus.niemandt@up.ac.za

Program

I am encouraged always by the fact that we live in the beauty of a rhythm starting and ending with our Creator who has invited us into a space of living and dying with him - continual life. It is this powerful relationship that enables us to see a partnership that links us to LOGOS - WORD - CHRIST - and enables some of the life lessons to make sense. I am busy working through a study of what the early writers were actually saying when they said "In the beginning was the Word" and am fascinated by how cheeky this actually was, or rather how tongue in cheek it was. A substantial power had been given to the word - both spoken and written and then to have defined this as GOD was a mind bend for early theologians. It should be the same for us. How do we define Logos - Word ?

We have seen quite a lot of debate on fundamentals and fundamentalism, sparked off by ill-informed attacks on the Amahoro Gathering last month in the blog Discerning the world.

Just as a point of clarification Fundamentalism (with a capital F) is characterised by adherence to five points of doctrine:

1. The verbal inerrancy of Scripture
2. The divinity of Jesus Christ
3. The virgin birth
4. The substitutionary theory of the atonement
5. The physical resurrection and the bodily return of Christ

To be a Fundamentalist you have to believe all five, because to Fundamentalists those are the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

Hey guys,

I don't mean to post this to take any conversation away from the Amaharo chats. I still want to listen to the talks before I add anything, as that week I was unfortunately too swamped with work to make it away (serious bummer). Was bummed I didn't get to see many of you again.

Nevertheless, I'm posting this as I know that this is an emotionally charged topic for some and want to see what people say about it. I might get no responses at all, I might get a ton of responses - I don't know. I'm just throwing it out to see what happens.

I originally posted this on my blog, hence the tone.

Separating judgement from the Gospel

Having been off the wavelengths of this great conversation, it is good to be back. I have been diving into my proposal for a D.Th and have found my radar antennas being drawn back again to the sweet winds of change that are coming. Len Sweet calls it "The Church of the Perfect Storm" and encourages us to go out and find a way to fish in the spots where everyone else is running for cover. Is it not possible to change challenges into opportunities of a lifetime?
We are heading into one of the most perfect storms in SA and hopefully the church is shifting and adjusting it's sails so that it can be ready and equipped to handle the shifting winds.

Earlier today I read a comment from Roger Saner on futurechurch expressing his belief that the Bible is the Word of God but that he would not use the modern categories "inerrancy" and "infallibility" and that this makes many evangelicals uncomfortable.

It seems that we are in the process of a shift in how we define church once again and as Phyllis Tickle so clearly shows in The Great Emergence - this is a phenomena which occurs every 500 years. Does it have to take that long for us to work out that we need to change ?
How do we find ways to reexamine our faith and explore again the ways in which we do things and then adjust if necessary and if not we'll need to open up to opportunities?

Recently I read two sections of the Old Testament that challenged my understanding of the person of God and the notion of "covenant". I refer to Genesis 16 and 21. In these chapters, God reveals His compassion in ways that even then should have made the authors of scripture consider carefully their position in relation to God.

I am a newcomer to the ideas of the Emergent Church. When I first encountered references to the Emergent Church I must admit that I was most concerned. This was before I had really encountered the element of dialogue and conversation that informs Emergent discussion.