Xenos Summer Institute "Pre-Discussion" - Part 3

Alright - here is question #3, with a little bit of explanation, and a few side tracks. These are the proposed topics of conversation for Sunday's meeting at Global Gallery.

Dennis' initial email asked: "How to reach postmodern young people: What should go into an approach to communication, community, church ethos, structure, practice, etc. in order to avoid losing relevance to postmodern culture?"

I was a little unsure what he was getting at, so I sent another email and asked him to explain a bit more, and this is what he wrote: "I'm referring to non-Christian postmodern people (mainly the young) and how to attract them to Jesus. What does the church need to be in order to be considered relevant to these people's lives? What would commend Jesus to them? I think one of the big arguments I've seen and heard from emergent Christians is that unless the church becomes more postmodern, it will lose its voice with postmoderns. So, the argument is that the church is too propositional, too modern, and that's why we need a change that emergent is pioneering." (btw, thanks Dennis for the great questions and quick email responses!)

Side track A: When Dennis first offered the three topics, I suggested a fourth topic, "The Kingdom of God," and from the looks of an email giving some details about the conference, this topic is also on the table. So perhaps this week we can also toss around the topic of the different understandings of the kingdom of God b/w traditional evangelicalism and emergents.

Side track B: Since the Goshen "Everything Must Change" event, a few of us have tossed around the idea of getting together with other cohorts in the MidWest region. If you haven't heard, Emergent Village officially canceled any official national cohort gathering this year in an effort to stimulate more regional, indigenous and organic gatherings. I contacted a few cohorts this week and they seem interested, so perhaps we could also toss around ideas for a regional get-together.