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

For most churches, it's annual report time.

Ministers spend hours trying to be pithy, reflective and inspirational as they cobble together words that most of their community will not read. Folks want to get on to the meat of the report - the numbers and graphs. Red ink and black. This is the time when find ourselves weighed, measured, and often found wanting.

Did we make money?

Did membership go up? (There was someone I didn't know sitting in my pew last week.)

Is that welcoming and listening to people really worthwhile?

Is this emerging church thing really working? (I think that H1N1 might have put a stop to it.)

We have one particular problem that needs to be addressed. (Actually, I have many, but you probably don't have the medical credentials to deal with them.) In the past decade, 25-45 year olds have not sought out "membership" in religious institutions. This is not only true of The United Church of Canada, but all churches from evangelical through Anglican and Roman Catholic (don't ask for a footnotes, ask around). It is not limited to churches, but also true for fan clubs, consumer clubs (Costco, Sam's Club, etc.) and other identifiable groups. We don't want to be a single thing, we don't want to limit ourselves with labels and darn it, we just don't trust joining stuff!

No, really, it was an Italian restaurant - this is not some obscure Billy Joel reference. I was having dinner in the early evening by myself in a little Italian eatery with some aspirations to "fine dining." The food was fine, nothing spectacular, but the people were a study.

To my right, over by the bar, sat seven professional business men, gathering after work; they drank a lot of beer, ordered most of the menu and carried on in loud, if jovial, manner that made it clear that this was "their place." As much as I enjoyed their laughter, I was also excluded from it. I didn't know the jokes; I didn't get the references and frankly, they were just too loud.

I began to wonder if we don't often do the same thing in our churches. Jovial folk, well meant, but very clearly in charge, in the know, in the in-crowd. Often, it seems that for new comers, there is no room at the "in" (bad pun, but I trust you take my point). As long as this is "your church" it's never really going to feel like "my church."

So, here I am at GC40.

The 40th General Council for The United Church of Canada.

I get to help elect a new Moderator.

I get to discern well over 100 proposals.

Specifically, I will be spending time on Palestine and Israel, dangerous dump sites, support for Canadians in prison...and, Emerging Spirit.

Yes, I will part of the group that will try to discern the future for Emerging Spirit - our programs like WonderCafe, advertising campaigns and congregation training seminars. How did they ever let me in?

Although I clearly have a bias, even a passion for Emerging Spirit, I will listen, I will share and I will do my best to hear the voice of God as we make our recommendations.

But before, I get properly objective - let me say a couple of things.