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sean mcgahan
Texas
new beginnings
First
of all, they all get a hmmmm from me. They are good questions and
very thought provoking. I was tempted to try and sound deep, but I
think I’ll just shoot for simple and honest.
1)
planting a church in an emerging/postmodern culture, what do you
think are the key elements of a community of faith in an
emerging/postmodern culture?
I
believe the key elements in planting and maintaining a community
of faith in the postmodern/emerging culture is very similar if not
identical to any other culture. Love for God and love for people
would be the most important things. Then I would say authenticity,
in other words, be who you are and not who you think others think
you should be, or not even who you think you should be. Every book
on church planting is written from a success story, and the
temptation is to try and be just like them. Resist that
temptation. I also believe that acceptance of others even if they
are not part of our “focus” group. A loving and accepting
community crosses many cultures.
2)
what do you see as the four (because three is too traditional) to
differences between the community of faith you are serving, and
those churches in your area?
On
this one I think I know, but maybe I can better describe based on
what others have said. Number one, we are definitely the youngest
overall group in town. We probably have the rockin-est praise
team. Evidently, people feel like we are pretty accepting. We have
had attenders of other churches recommend their misfits to us.
Number four would be our overall style. We have lots’ of
opportunities for participation for different people in the
gathering.
3)
is the community you serve connected with a denomination? if
"yes," what do you see as the benefits and problems with
that relationship, and if "no," what do you believe are
the benefits and problems without being connected?
We
are not connected with a denomination. I have been in the past and
have even considered it recently. Being connected with a group is
a good thing if it’s a good group. I remember having good
relationships with other pastors that I don’t have as much
anymore, and having leaders that I can ask questions of and kick
ideas off of is also a good thing. The downside for me was feeling
limited to what they considered important and what they felt like
church was supposed to look like.
4)
what would you say are the two hardest things connected to
planting an emerging/postmodern community of faith?
We
did not necessarily start out that way intentionally; however, I
think that is what we are. The tough things are: 1. You cannot
limit who comes and therefore some who are more traditional
struggle with some of the things that go on; 2. Probably the
feeling that I need to be constantly creative when sometimes I
just feel like just having church.
5)
how does your community of faith develop connections with those
outside the community?
Personally,
I try to maintain a number of friends who are not Christians and I
think many in our body does as well. We have some new Christians
who still have connections from their recent past and we try to be
a part of that. I stress relationship-based evangelism all the
time. We also try to be involved in various activities for the
kids, etc. that keep us in touch with those outside, e.g., soccer,
taekwondo, etc.
6)
what do you believe are the key elements in an emerging/postmodern
worship service?
This
one is very relevant to us at this time. We had one home group
spent eight weeks focusing on what we would traditionally consider
“worship”, and they not only just started to scratch the
surface after eight weeks, but have come to a new understanding of
what worship really is and it doesn’t necessarily include music
or singing. I would say the key elements are, as much as humanly
possible, make God the center of our attention. We try a few
things to set the mood, and we realize that everyone has a list of
distractions coming in so it may take a few minutes to really get
going. We are fortunate having two very talented teams, but even
for those who are maybe a little limited, I would say attempt the
best for God and for the people because they both are worth it.
7)
what two key areas of advise would you give to a person looking to
plant a community of faith in your area, or any area?
This
is a good one. One area is what I said in question one, be who you
are. Sometimes it takes time to find who you are, and even then
you will be continually developing. You will probably draw people
who are most like you to a certain extent and if there are few
people who are like you around town, you may consider a change of
location, because you can’t change who you are. Even though
Bastrop is a pretty progressive and fast growing small city, and
there are a lot of artist-type people here, I’m just not sure I
would try some of the things here I have read about. The second
area is “ain’t nothin’ easy”. Plan on being in it for the
long haul despite the frustrations and disappointment you will
face. Be a reader, never stop learning and bettering yourself. In
the first few years, you will have to be involved in nearly
everything that goes on, that is just a reality. But, it will not
always be that way. Build your team first. Relationships within
the team and with other leaders outside of your community will be
very helpful.
any
closing thoughts you would like to share?
Final thoughts? When we started New
Beginnings, I had never heard of emerging churches. But when I
started finding out and reading about it, I discovered that there
are others like me out there, it was exciting. I suppose we are
not typical, if there is such a thing, but so far so good, we have
something that is working and the best is yet to come.
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