Okay, two weeks after the fact, I’m getting to blogging about Diana.
I actually got to spend a little time talking to Diana at the conference, and my friend Pam was called up on stage Saturday morning by Diana because Diana wants to grow up and be just like Pam. Diana was saying that Jim Dobson recently declared her to the be "Whore of Babylon". I want to find a reference for that. If you have one, please shoot it to me. Diana is NOT the Whore of Babylon....I don't know who is...but it's not her.
Diana Butler Bass is a church historian, a recovering evangelical, and just an absolute kick to listen to and talk to. If you haven’t yet listened to her podcast on Emergent Village, take 45 minutes and listen to it!!! Her story of “The Frozen Eight” in their little church that doesn’t want to change what they do, or change the people, and want to grow is priceless.
I actually got to spend a little time talking to Diana at the conference, and my friend Pam was called up on stage Saturday morning by Diana because Diana wants to grow up and be just like Pam. Diana was saying that Jim Dobson recently declared her to the be "Whore of Babylon". I want to find a reference for that. If you have one, please shoot it to me. Diana is NOT the Whore of Babylon....I don't know who is...but it's not her.
Diana Butler Bass is a church historian, a recovering evangelical, and just an absolute kick to listen to and talk to. If you haven’t yet listened to her podcast on Emergent Village, take 45 minutes and listen to it!!! Her story of “The Frozen Eight” in their little church that doesn’t want to change what they do, or change the people, and want to grow is priceless.
Her session at Off The Map on Friday afternoon was a continuation of her session in the morning, which I unfortunately missed. However, the afternoon session could live “standalone”.
Her focus for the last several years has been research into Mainline liberal churches that are succeeding, and not just succeeding, but thriving. She talked of her time at Trinity in Santa Barbara in the mid ‘90s, and how they nearly died, but then managed to turn things around, and are thriving. The Christian media at the time was regularly saying that liberal Protestantism was dying. Yet, she was seeing something completely different.
Her latest book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, covers some of her research. I wish I could say that’s all it is, but I’m only halfway through with it. (I’m working on it! My stack of books doesn’t feel like it’s getting shorter.)
The churches that are thriving have found themselves re-centering on three basic themes: Christian Practices, Tradition, and the Quest for Wisdom. They also, commonly, asked the same two questions: Who are we in God? What is God calling us to do?
So, what are these “practices” she was talking about? Well, how about meeting the needs of the individuals in the church and in the community for the sake of God in the world. I’m talking about fundamental needs: justice, hospitality, healing, forgiveness, spiritual formation. Notice something? There’s no mention of “financial” needs in this list. Doesn’t mean it’s not important, just that the church as a whole has a greater mission for building community.
The church, according to Diana’s research, goes through reformation and internal reconciliation about every 500 years. Key word…about….these renaissance periods are not sudden flip of a switch deals. They often last for a hundred years or more. So, 500AD….1000AD…..1500AD (Luther)….and now entering the 21st century, we’re hard in it. What’s the new reformation? Well, it’s the rediscovering of what Jesus’s message actually was. Some say it’s postmodern, but it’s more than that. It’s a revamping of how we “do” church; how we “are” the church.
Given the timeline of every 500 years, one can easily see that the church has been around since Christ, and constantly refocus to remain Christ focused. Societal changes, church directions, etc., all need to refocus on Christ. So, the church dawdles along just fine…then changes direction slowly…then returns to “the path”. Since everything is built on everything else, you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, you have to leverage the traditions in place. That’s the “tradition” of Diana’s triad for thriving churches.
The quest for wisdom is urgently important. The Bible is a scary book. While Diana is solidly Episcopalian/Presbyterian (Presbymergent), she has a background in Methodism. One of the values in Methodism is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason.) As the Holy Spirit leads into all truth, we are led only so far as our divine spirits are ready to go. In other words, mysteries are revealed to us when we can handle them….and it’s a formation process. So, there are a number of churches that are “answering questions that people aren’t really asking”, and eschewing the nature of spiritual formation. I think it was Helen Mildenhall at OTM that said that it seems some churches are “more interested in being right than being kind.” Kindness should allow seekers (old Christians included…we’re all seekers) to wrestle with their spiritual formation. Diana said, “You don’t have to have answers to be wise, just and kind.”
Practice, Tradition and the Quest for Wisdom.
How is your church doing? How are you doing?
Oh, by the way, Diana did say that she left evangelicalism behind and never looked back, and now she is spending a lot of time with evangelicals, rediscovering that they are “okay people”. Then she’d laugh her delightful laugh. I think I fall in there somewhere. ..an okay person.
What Diana has to say, and her research, shouldn’t just be valid for Mainline churches. This is stuff that all churches that call themselves Christian need to assess their actions.
Good stuff.
Check her out at: http://www.dianabutlerbass.com/
2 comments:
great round-up brad of the afternoon session i missed. i did hear her that morning, though i did not take notes. i just listened, but i do remember her touching in on the every 500 years or so thing with church...and she did forecast that though there is definitely a shift happening in the way we do church and Are church, she says it won't fully materialize in our lifetime. she gives it another 100 years. that was a Wow moment for me. and at the rate we are going, i think she's right.
when i have time i'll try to track down that dobson quote as well. that is not a very family friendly term to throw at anybody, let alone a delightful woman such as Diana.
I didn't make it quite clear in the blog.....500AD...early Church Fathers and the beginnings of the monastic movement.....1000AD....Beginnings of the Roman Catholic Church....1500AD....reformation (Luther, etc.)....
I agree, Pam. Diana is truly delightful. It is scary to think that we are in the "gray area" between church eras. I prefer things to be black and white. The scariest thing is that usually, those gray areas leave damaged lives and relationships in their wake. **SIGH**
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