Customer Reviews

The Out of Bounds Church?: Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change (emergentYS)

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Given that you have eyes to see, and given that you are reading something of the world in which you live, Steve Taylor's opening statement, "We live on the fault lines of widespread cultural change," won't come as any kind of surprise, nor will the resultant challenges we face as churches in our, at once, global / local ("glocal") contexts.

Taylor writes, from within the church, both gathered and dispersed. He writes, as he himself says, from the "border country" between church and culture, and has an obvious commitment to ensuring that "the postmodern or emerging church" doesn't become "a fad." He contributes to this aim by articulating a missiology of the emerging church and by offering "theological resources to nourish, deepen, sustain, and strengthen what God is breathing."

That said; I would be concerned if mention of the so-called "postmodern or emerging church" limited this book's audience. It has wide appeal and usefulness beyond this particular church grouping.

Taylor writes with his senses attuned to "what's going on out there." He writes in order to help us do what Olive and John Drane (in one of the two forewords to this book) describe as finding "new ways of expressing and celebrating Christian faith in a world that is increasingly interested in spiritual meaning, whether that is demonstrated in the search for life-giving ways of nourishing [their] own lives, or as a concern about the apparently destructive capabilities of spiritual fanaticism."

They write (and I wholeheartedly agree) that Taylor's book "will speak to all who share these concerns, and do so in innovative ways that draw us deeper into the gospel story, and consequently, closer to Christ."

Taylor's book offers his readers a series of "postcards":

Postcards 1 & 2, "Beyond Romeo & Juliet", and "Edges of Culture."

Here we find commentary on the societal / cultural changes themselves and what some of those changes might mean for churches wanting to `gospel' Jesus Christ faithfully and creatively. His use of the contrast provided by Franco Zeffarelli's 1968 version of "Romeo & Juliet and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 version of the same movie, is compelling.

Postcards 3 and 4 ("Koru Theology" & "Creativity Downloaded").

The second set of postcards help us to think about and explore the metaphors of "beginnings," "birth," and "midwifery." They also remind us that God is Creator, and therefore the source of creativity, artistry, and re-creation. Taylor uses these postcards as a means of exploring, both the beginnings of possible responses to cultural change, and also in order to talk about birthing the kinds of communities that will fruitfully communicate and embody Christianity in the cultural milieu of our day.

Postcards 5, 6, 7, and 8 ("Spiritual Tourism" (traditionally rendered "pilgrimage"), "Redemptive Portals," "Missional Interface," and "Culture Samplers"

These offer possibilities and content for any church congregation seeking to become mission-shaped. There's much on offer: tourist spirituality, spiritual tourism at gathered worship, creativity as consumptive product, navigable space, souvenirs, spirituality2go, building community, pegging communities, ethical communities, festival spirituality, postmodern monasteries, DJ'ing and the sampling of biblical txt and culture, and ideas for creating well-lit pathways from church in the world, to church as a particular community being formed and shaped by the biblical txt, by sacraments, by Christian practices, and by God in their midst.

Postcard 9 ("Keep the Home Fire's Burning").

Recounts a wonderful story from Outback Australia and reminds us, in what is the final postcard, that "Ours is the task of being Christians today and following Jesus into the future." He tells us "we can't go back [but we can keep the fires of our Christian tradition alive]. We can't delegate. All we can do is be responsive to the wind of God [God's presence] in our culture. And that wind is inviting us to playfully birth redemptive communities of Christian faith that will confidently DJ, extending spiritual tourism to [Baz] Luhrmann's world. All we have is faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."

So, in the end, it's an innovative book. It does well at weaving together and engaging afresh with the metaphors, symbols, and narratives of Scripture and culture. It is a book that expresses, celebrates, and creatively gives away Christian faith. It is a book that will nourish Christian faith and encourage us to join in on what God is doing in the world. It is also a book that will helpfully provoke, prod, and invite us to step "out of bounds" in order to recover something of what it means for the gospel, centred on Jesus Christ, to again be a source of creativity, innovation, new-birth, passion, redemptive-freedom, and life in the much changed landscape of what many, myself included, would describe as the post-Christendom Western world.

My hope is that a thoughtful engagement, with "The Out of Bounds Church" in one hand, and the biblical narrative in the other, will help Jesus-followers to wonder and imagine how God might be inviting new and existing expressions of church to faithfully enact, embody, and communicate unchanging "good news" in a changed and still changing world.

I found it extremely useful in helping me to stretch, think, dream, and act in response to my invitation to follow Jesus into the midst of a landscape that is not the sixties into which I was born.

In its `weight class' I rate it very highly.

What do DJs, tourists, and postmodern philosophers have to do with church? Apparently quite a bit. This recent book by Steve Taylor, a pastor in New Zealand, is subtitled "Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change." Mr. Taylor draws from Karl Barth's comment about the task of preaching being to sit with the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. "I sit on the fault lines of a cultural shift. In my right hand, I hold a video remote. In my left hand, I hold the gospel of Jesus... Ours is the task of communicating the gospel in an age of change." (19)

The book is in some sense a blueprint for how the church, or Christian communities, can apply the gospel to the changing culture. Each chapter is a postcard from an emerging church somewhere in the world. Each postcard highlights some activity that reflects the goals of emerging churches. Throughout the book there are also comments by different people in the margins that expand, footnote, or softly critique what Mr. Taylor writes.

Postcard 1 really sets the stage for the rest of the book. Mr. Taylor draws out the differences between Frank Zeffarelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Romeo and Juliet. Each sought to translate Shakespeare's text into contemporary culture. The implication is that the gospel has not changed, but the culture has, and in order to communicate it effectively we need to re-translate it.

Mr. Taylor offers different perspectives on how this can be done. One is to view the church has continually being reborn. "If God is about birthing-and rebirthing-and we are to be about the things of God, then we, too, are called to acts that bring new life into the world." (50) "The belief in God's constant re-creation drives much of the merging church. IT is less a reaction against old forms and ideas and more a response to God's call for us to join in with the continuous birthing of his kingdom." (56)

Another approach offered is tourist spirituality. "Tourism can serve as a redemptive framework for postmodern mission, in which people are `tourists' on spiritual journeys and the church operates as `tour guide,' stimulating forward movement and nourishing the quest." (83)

Perhaps the most interesting and telling perspective is that of cultural sampling, applying the activities of DJs to the role of the church. For Mr. Taylor this means playing television commercials, popular music, showing art, reading poetry, reading scripture, and much more.

There were a number of things I liked about this book and several I didn't like. Usually I fall on liking a book or disliking it. I think Steve Taylor makes some good points about communicating the gospel in a global culture that is almost entirely different than it was 10 years ago.

His analysis of where the modern church is lacking is accurate in several areas. One that I appreciated was that of the place of art in a worship service. For some reason, we tend to consider the reading of scripture, liturgies, and songs as the only legitimate forms of worship in service. However, if God gave us abilities for creativity, it seems those would be appropriate for the worship from Christ's Bride as well. Mr. Taylor also has some good theological points that should not be missed, e.g. "Spiritual seekers can fall into the trap of picking and choosing a feel-good theology that doesn't have anything to do with the truth of living life with God." (82)

Contrary to what many critics of the emerging churches have argued, the Bible plays a role in Mr. Taylor's view of church. In many of his theological points he seeks to route his claims in the words of scripture. There are, however, a few problems with how scripture is used. One is its role in service, in which a few services that he describes leave the Bible mitigated to either being one voice among many voices (154) or having no role at all (55). Another problem is the way Mr. Taylor exegetes scripture. The most prominent example is his use of 1 Peter 3:1-7, which he uses to argue that Peter was "sampling from culture and from the way of Jesus." (141) Mr. Taylor assumes, without argument, that some of Peter's imperatives for how husbands and wives relate are items from the culture, and this enables him to dismiss several elements of what Peter says because "our world is not Peter's world" (143).

In contrast to Brian McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy, this was a far more interesting read and a far more accurate description of what's going on in emerging churches. For anyone looking to find out what emerging church is all about, this is the book to read. It exemplifies the changes in methods for presenting the gospel that are happening, however, it never clearly presents the gospel. Mr. Taylor tells us we must remain orthodox and true to God, but what that means is wrapped up in metaphors of birthing and incarnation that are unclear at points. This is not a defense of emerging churches. However, it's mostly accurate as a description of the emerging church.

Steve Taylor The Out of Bounds Church: Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005)

Reviewed by Darren Cronshaw

From a writer across the Tasman but drawing from stories around the world, this is a collection of postcards from the emerging church - house churches, art collectives, weekly participative communities and labyrinths; as well as dreams of incarnational church plants, spiritual festivals and postmodern monasteries. It is a diverse conversation that links real experience of emerging churches, sociological and cultural analysis, and biblical reflection. It is easy to read but draws on a wealth of research (it was based on Taylor's reflections for his PhD on his experiences of a new way of being church Cityside Baptist Church [...]). Its images, quotes, practical suggestions, creative worship ideas and website addresses to explore invite the reader to think seriously, worship creatively and gather playfully; 'A key mission task of the church today is to be a playful space, providing the images, the spiritual "colored pencils," an the space for people to make connections between God, themselves, others, and God's world' (p.72). Taylor is concerned to connect the emerging church movement with the historic church, without derailing its freedom to be creative and innovative; and to ensure its priority of doing church creatively is undergirded by thoughtful theological reflection, without disconnecting from contemporary culture. Like the Luhrmann's recent Romeo and Juliet film that kept the ancient words but put it in postmodern images, he urges the church to set the gospel free to connect with contemporary culture, like a spiritual DJ that mixes gospel and culture together so that people dance to God's beat. The postcards are to give the impression that things are going well and fun, but ultimately to entice others to make their own journey. Steve operates the NZ future church platform [...]

Originally appeared in Darren Cronshaw, `The Emerging Church: Introductory Reading Guide', Zadok Papers, S143 (Summer 2005).

How does Taylor's book translate into a Latin American situation? I would answer rhetorically: Was it not really written with churches in São Paulo in mind? To start with, the problems are the very same: churches, small and large, which, ignoring the obvious cultural changes, use the same communication and teaching methods of almost a century ago. This condition is perpetuated by pastors who seem not to live in the Age of Information. Therefore, also here in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking America, the churches need to become missional in a postmodern way, responding with creative and flexible structures and movements to the culture of change. Not only the principles, but also the practical ideas presented by Steve Taylor in The Out of Bounds Church? apply perfectly to urban Latin America. They are relevant for São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Montevideo, etc. We can see ourselves in the Kiwi book. Contextual differences play a lesser role than our share in postmodern culture. Then, dear Steve, "waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa" (Maori proverb: "Let us keep close together, not far apart").

AUTHOR: Steve Taylor founded Graceway Baptist Church in New Zealand , has a Masters in Theology and is working on a Ph. D. in new ways of being church. He's lead pastor at Opawa Baptist Church and describes himself as a thinker, creator and writer. A lecturer in Practical Theology, he teaches Missional Church Leadership, Emerging Church, and the Gospel in a post-Christian society. He's married with twin daughters. Though his training and church experience leans to the Baptist tradition he seems to be wholly unfettered by any single tradition, being at home with the newest moving of the Holy Spirit. As a practitioner of what he writes, Taylor seems well-qualified to give his reader these snapshots (or postcards) of the emerging church.

THESIS OF THE BOOK: "Gospel and culture lie at the core of the emerging church," in which the Holy Spirit is fostering imaginative ways to embody a missional, incarnational and holistic Gospel.

PART 1: A paradigmatic cultural shift to a fast/cutting mentality paradoxically both fragments traditional community and provides opportunities for new modes of community. Changes are occurring at the edges of traditional Christianity, in the "border country of postmodernism."

Part 2: Coffee drinking can be a spiritual discipline (by allowing one to be present in culture). Emerging churches focus ahead, not behind; on birth, not death; on "God's constant re-creation." God is a God of creativity, play, and fun.

PART 3: Spiritual tourism invites "tourists" to move from the experiential to the experimental to existential converts. Redemptive portals draw people into spiritual community. A missional interface allows people to peg , but encourages them to participate in ethical communities. Remixing gospel and culture helps the church stay relevant in a society in which resampling and remixing is a primary communication mode.

PART 4: "The emerging church is a toddler" standing on the "fault lines of a cultural shift."

REFLECTION: I read this book three times, and each time gleaned a little more encouragement and discovered new potential areas of personal ministry.

I particularly resonate with the idea of spiritual tourism, inviting people on "guided journeys" into the spiritual domain. However, I wonder how to make these journeys out of the context of the church edifice, where so many factors can not be controlled. For example, I'd like to apply the concept of spiritual tourism to online role playing games, trying to set up events and situations where my "character" can guide other characters spiritually.

The nine "postcards" present snapshots of different aspects of the emerging church. No snapshot is definitive, but in aggregate they create an image of the emerging church as highly varied, rapidly changing, iconoclastic, community oriented and passionate about embodying the Gospel in culturally relevant ways. The greatest benefit for me (and I suspect for most) is in the "proof of concept" they represent. The wide variety also suggests that there are many more as yet undiscovered ways to "do" emerging churches.