An Alternative to the Consumer Conference
Written by Mark Van Steenwyk : February 22, 2006
Thanks to Jeff for pointing out this conference opportunity: The Buzz Conference. Now those of you who were planning on going to the Conference on Christianity in a Consumer Culture have an additional option for conference awesomeness!
(in case you are one of those infrequent visitors to my blog, let me be quite clear that what I have written in this post is a snarky joke)
for further reading . . .
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Submergent is a network of leaders who, embracing the Anabaptist impulse, are living into the Kingdom of God in a postmodern, post-colonial, post-Christian world. Together, we will re-baptize the Christian imagination!
Anchored in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis, Missio Dei is committed to following Jesus' way of peace, simplicity, prayer, and hospitality.
The Missio Dei Breviary includes morning and evening prayers for one month. Edited (and freely shared) by Missio Dei, it draws primarily upon the Gospels, reflects Anabaptist convictions, and emphasizes missional commitment.
My favorite part of the site is when I read this about the sponsoring church:
“Recognized as one of the most innovative churches in the country, NCC is orthodox in doctrine but unorthodox in practice. NCC?s creative approach to ministry has resulted in a unique demographic: 75% single twenty-somethings and 75% unchurched and dechurched.”
If you can’t fit all of your unorthodoxly orthodox church attenders into the typical math, just expand it a bit.
I’m still just in shock about the whole thing. I guess I just don’t want to believe that someone(s) have the gall to do such a thing. I’m not even amused by it. I’m deeply saddened. It’s a real shame.
I find it sad too, Jeff. But I can understand where they are coming from. It is easy for us to say that their understanding is flawed, but it is difficult to help them gain “new eyes.” The really frustrating thing is that our conference addresses this issue, but most of the people who are going to attend the conference already sympathize with our perpective. How do we help the Church be true to its nature?
I guess by doing what we’re doing and by being true to it ourselves.
Or maybe we just purge the infidels.
Wow, this amazes me. How sad.
I think that in order to cause change we must become the change we want to see. The consumer conf is a great way of creating conversation on this subject. we have a lot of work to do.