‘To boldly go…’: Theological Resourcing for an Emerging Kultur

Andrew Perriman

The Christian Associates Thinklings group has been around for a while now. Twice a year for the last four years this loose network of supposed ‘thinkers’ has met together to discuss various aspects of the interaction between theology and mission in an emerging culture. The basic format is simple. Participants prepare papers on a given theme; they present those papers to the group; we discuss the papers furiously; and then we go to the pub. It’s a process that has generated friendship, innovation, laughter, some good ideas, and, I think, a much deeper appreciation for what God is doing in the postmodern, post-Christendom, pluralistic landscape of Europe. You can find much of the written output here.

But theological reflection should not be done in a cosy elitist huddle – well, not only in a cosy elitist huddle. Across the Western world the church is having to rethink its whole approach to mission and the development of Christian community – and we are all, in one way or another, engaged in this task. We are finding ourselves called – I would say compelled – to re-imagine the story about God’s redemptive work in creation through Christ, and to bring into existence inspired communities, Spirit-filled communities, that live that story out. A grass-roots movement needs a grass-roots theology.

The Brussels Serve the City project has given Wes White and myself an excellent opportunity to help move this vision a step forward. In May we had three days with a group from The Well as a first attempt to support a Christian Associates church plant through our proposed TREK (Theological Resourcing for an Emerging Kultur) programme. Motto: ‘To boldly hold conversations where no one has held conversations before….’

Thursday evening and Friday were spent at a retreat centre in the Ardennes. In addition to Wes and myself, thirteen people participated, mostly staff or interns from the church. The format for the sessions was similar to that developed for the Thinklings gatherings. Everyone presented a brief paper (one person had written a song, another a poem) on a theme that Thinklings had addressed last November: ‘What will it mean for communities of faith to demonstrate Jesus’ priority for “the least of these” (Mt.25:45) in the emerging and urban culture of Europe?’ 20-30 minutes of lively discussion followed each presentation. On Saturday the group joined with others from The Well in a number of small-scale Serve the City activities, ranging from clearing a garden to distributing lunches to the homeless. There was a wrap-up session on Sunday afternoon at which we talked about art collectives and jazz.

What made the whole thing so rewarding was to see how theology and mission, theory and practice, could interact so constructively. And it sounds as though the emphasis on the role of the inspired imagination in all this really struck a chord, as Carlton Deal’s feedback suggests:

I’m planning to use the theme “re-imagining” for our Serve the City morning meetings and we’re asking area pastors to come in and speak for five minutes on “re-imagining hope” or “re-imagining justice.” I really like the re-imagining idea. So important for us to call people to.

We believe that learning conversations like this, especially conversations that engage so closely with mission and community, provide an extraordinarily fruitful context in which to stretch our understanding of what it means to think biblically in the emerging kultur. If it’s something you’d like to boldly do with your team or church, then get in touch with either Wes or myself.