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Todd
Harrington
The
bridge ministries
Gulf
Breeze, FL
1.
we ask this of everyone, what is your
understanding of a pomo ministry?
My
understanding of an effective "pomo" ministry
is a ministry that is willing and able to communicate
the gospel through a community of lives that are
authentic and diverse and model the christian life
holistically. In regards to "holistically", I
am referring to the idea that a ministry in the
postmodern world will help people realize that
christianity is not a facet of life that exists for the
individual’s good pleasure nor should faith be tucked
nicely away until tragedy or a need arises.
Ministry in this context should educate and
exemplify a christianity which effects all of life’s
decisions--where do I live, how much meat do I eat, how
many kids should I have, how do my decisions effect
ecological and conservational issues, how does my faith
effect my decisions in regards to finances, sexuality,
rest, work, and exercise.
Christianity in the new world must be
communal-communal in listening to God's spirit through
the reading of the story of God's intervention in the
lives of humanity as well as communal in understanding
that the Christian was not called nor created to journey
on the path of faith alone.
I visualize that ministry in the pomo setting
will not have a uniform look but will be diverse based
on being relevant to the cultural context in which a
christian community lives. Ministry in the new frontier
will be team based, and will be lead by more people who
are not making their financial livelihood from a local
church. Lastly, ministry in the pomo setting will be
missional-not tacking on missions as a ministry arm of
the church or giving a certain percentage of time and
money to outreach, but one where people realize that
they are all sent as ambassadors for Christ with their
entire lives being under the leadership of God's spirit
and direction where they are each being the church
(those who are called out) continually-a ministry which
is not focused on a church as a person, a place, or an
event, where a person involved in that ministry becomes
a consumer of religious goods and services, but a
ministry where the church is a community of people where
deep-spirited friendships can take place, where people
can wrestle and struggle with theological issues and
personal issues honestly, and where people live their
lives as a mission coming together weekly to express
what God has done in their lives during the previous
week.
2.
what makes the bridge ministries different from
other churches in the area?
It
is hard to answer what makes us different than other
churches in the area because it is hard for me to gauge
other local churches. However, I can share who we are: a
diverse community of people on a journey of faith in
Christ wrestling openly with God about how to be the
church in the new world. We long to be authentic with
each other and with God so that deep-spirited
friendships can bloom and grow.
We long to be a place that can model and teach a
fragmented and broken world how to be friends.
We look at Christianity holistically - affecting
the mind, the body, the soul, and the earth in which we
live. We
value learning from scripture, the early church fathers,
the arts, each other, and those who believe completely
differently than us so that we can be enriched and
strengthened as well as enriching and strengthening the
lives of others. Also,
we see worship as a life-style (not merely one hour a
week as we gather together (but that we can worship God
continually even as we wash dishes, eat, surf, work and
yes even as we change diapers.
3.
with the bridge ministries being connected to the
umc, do you feel that being connected to a denomination
is a good thing and why?
The
Bridge is a "church within a church model"
whose long-term plan is to stay connected and supported
by our "mother church" - Gulf Breeze United
Methodist Church. In our situation there are definitely
pros and cons to being a church within a church where we
will always be connected to Gulf Breeze Methodist. I
will start with a few of the cons. It is a little difficult to have your own identity and not be
seen as either a age-based ministry within the church or
being perceived as a ministry outreach of the church.
Also, by being connected it is difficult to be
gauged and held accountable by standards and measures
that do not fit within a postmodern paradigm. For
example, church health is more important for our
ministry than is church growth.
As the people within the church become healthy
than a direct correlation of this will be growth both
spiritually and eventually numerically. Also, there is a
con/pro paradox. It
is good to have the recourses that being connected to a
large church can offer.
Off course, there are the financial resources,
the facility resources.
Yet, the flip side is that we have to be careful
not to use them as a crutch to keep us from being
diligent and not becoming complacent and “consumeristic.”
However, there are other benefits for being
connected. We
have a great number of people who are willing and who
support us with prayer.
We also have the opportunity to help influence
the church as a whole.
We are located five minutes from the beach, so a
typical baptism experience can easily be held in the
Gulf of Mexico. However,
it is difficult to have baptisms outside during the
winter months and being that we meet in and are
connected with the Methodist denomination there is not
access for people to be immersed inside where we gather.
Therefore, we were creative and purchased for a
little over 100.00 a metal horse trough to be used as a
baptismal. This
trough has also been used in other services within our
church giving the entire congregation the ability to
witness baptisms by immersion, which many had not
witnessed before.
4.
how do you think the umc is doing in reaching a
postmodern culture?
Well,
there are many people and authors that have impacted my
life and helped me in my birthing into a new world, and
two names which come to my mind who have been involved
with and have a great impact on the Methodist
denomination and beyond are Leonard Sweet and Bill Easum.
In regards to individual congregations and their
effectiveness, then I can only answer for the conference
in which I serve. Overall,
I would say that we are not as a whole being effective
in reaching the postmodern world.
I am not sure how many of the new church starts
and the new creative ministries are not just a more
innovative way to reach the modern mindset.
I have hope and knowledge that many people are
wrestling with some of these difficult issues especially
young leaders within our conference which in time will
have a more effective impact in connecting with a
communicating to people with a new world mindset.
5.
how is the bridge ministries connected to the
wider "local" christian community?
Poorly.
As I have read this question, I am convicted by
how fragmented our church is from the greater church as
a whole. A
lot of it of course is that I seem fragmented
personally. However,
I am finding and committing to ways in which I am not
alone as a 'lead questioner' for a local church.
One in which is through on-line communities as
well as recently being asked to meet with a few other
local church planters for prayer and support. Also, I am open to and desire connecting with another church
that has journeyed ahead of our path that we can learn
form and connect with.
6.
how do small groups fit into the bridge
ministries?
Small
groups do not fit within our ministry they are a vital
artery of our ministry.
Small groups are the best place for our community
to deepen in their friendships share their needs and be
open to experience transformation. We place a great
emphasis on small group leadership development and the
importance of small groups impact on our ministry as a
whole. we currently have six weekly small groups that
meet. We
are a little over a year old and we have an average of
40 people a week involved in our home groups.
We average between 50-60 people a week in our
larger group worship gathering.
7.
how does the bridge ministries view culture and
culturally relevant outreach?
As
far as culturally relevant outreach goes I will refer
back to our ministry trying to be a miss ional community
where all of our lives become outreach so that outreach
is not a part of our ministry or an arm of our ministry
but that outreach is just an extension of who we are.
the outreach will be as relevant as our
authenticity to God and to each other. As we grow and
wrestle and learn then our lives will be relevant--and
outreach being in extension of our lives than through
deduction our outreach will be culturally relevant, and
meaningful.
In
regards to our ministries view of culture, we want to
learn how to navigate within culture.
We view that there are many things in culture
that we can embrace and learn from--such as the
arts-music, paintings, plays, literature etc… and that
there are some things within culture that are in need of
redemption... racism and pornography to name a few.
We do not want to set our selves a part from
culture nor do we want to embrace all aspects of it. The aim of our ministry is to be a culture--a counter culture
if you will where we learn from and dialogue with
culture as an entirety where we can critically grow and
challenge culture learning when and how to participate
within it ...this means that we need continual
discernment and wisdom in this ongoing process.
For at the place where we are engaged in and
participating with culture that is where the gospel can
be planted where it can bloom and where it can grow
within the lives of others.
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