Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

When I first started getting paid to go to church, the issues were all around the existence of God, the relation of science and theology and sources of authority for Christian ethics (situational ethics). A keen observer might have guessed that ecclesiology - matters of the purpose and form of the church - would emerge to dominate but I was not in that press box.

Ecclesiology - who is the church, what is it for and what form(s) will it assume - may well dominate for the next 5-7 years.

The issues are profound and critical. When they are probed the tremors reverberate through every level of our church.

Questions exist about the denominational structure. Is it a relic of the modern, industrial age or can it transform to be a potent tool?

Personally, I believe immense possibilities exist but embracing them will require us, as a church, to focus more resources on fewer areas (contrary to a "do more with less" approach). I am confident that a distinct and vital mission exists for the United Church of Canada. My anxiety stems from whether we could survive the internal politics.

Extraordinary leadership will be required at many levels.

The spark of hope is fanned by the observation that many congregations are emerging from a similar process of refining mission. Congregations are realizing they cannot be spiritual megastores. They have to choose and declare who they are and what they are about and how they will go about it. (See Diana Butler Bass's books for example of different, yet faithful, choices made by mainline congregations, e.g. The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church.)

Internally, this has often not proved to be easy. The default United Church (and Canadian) position seems to be "one of everything." We have trouble with "valuable but not a current strategic priority."

Focus does not mean other views and expressions are not welcome; simply that, for good and faithful reasons, they are not currently a priority.

The distinguishing mark of those congregations that emerge with fresh vitality and hope is good leadership. And that is the other side of ecclesiology.

People trained in seminaries of the past are comfortable with theological debates and descriptions. The church though is also the place where the rubber hits the road, faith engages people and people have to live together. And that is never abstract.