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Leadership
Network Launched the Emerging Church Movement!
Many think that the
Emerging Church movement was
started by a bunch of young people who wanted a hip atmosphere
at church ... not so at all.
According
to an article in the recent edition of Criswell
Theological Review,written by Mark Driscoll of Mars
Hill, it was the Leadership Network that initiated the Emerging
Church movement. Driscoll states:
In
the mid-1990s I was a young church planter trying to establish
a church in the city of Seattle when I got a call to speak at
my first conference. It was hosted by Leadership Network and focused
on the subject of Generation X. ... Out of that conference a small
team was formed to continue conversing about postmodernism ...
By this time Leadership Network hired Doug
Pagitt to lead the team and organize the events. He began
growing the team and it soon included Brian
McLaren. Pagitt, McLaren, and others such as Chris Seay, Tony
Jones, Dan
Kimball, and Andrew Jones stayed together and continued speaking
and writing together as friends....
McLaren, a very gifted writer, rose to team leader in part because
he had an established family and church, which allowed him to
devote a lot of time to the team. That team eventually morphed
into what is now known as Emergent. (Mark Driscoll, "A Pastoral
Perspective on the Emerging Church")
Incidentally,
in Driscoll's article about the emerging church, he left out the
one element that counts the most - the emerging church's affinity
with contemplative spirituality. As I have often said, remove contemplative
from emerging and all you have left is coffee, couches and candles.
It is more than significant
to understand the implications that Leadership Network actually
launched the Emerging Church. To understand just how pervasive the
connections are, it is necessary to take a look at CCN (Church
Communications Network which is an Innovation Series of Leadership
Network). CCN carries most
of today's top Christian leaders including James Dobson, Nicky
Gumbel (creator of the Alpha course) Richard Foster (a speaker for
the Be Still CCN conference), various Saddleback pastors, including
Rick Warren, Bob Buford (founder of Leadership Network) and the
list goes on and includes several emerging leaders such as McLaren,
Leonard Sweet and Erwin McManus. The point is that while many are
saying they do not agree with the emerging church and what it stands
for, some of these same so called critics have been behind it all
along.
Related
Information:
*Other
partners of Leadership Network include:
Josey
Bass (publishers of Brian McLaren),
Zondervan (partnering with Youth
Specialties and many contemplatives),
Lifeway (from the Southern Baptist Convention)
Emergent
and Jewish Leaders in First Ever Meeting
Read the Criswell Theological
Review - Spring 2006 Edition
For
further information on this topic:
Link
to Leadership Network: http://www.leadnet.org/ (Bob Buford's organization)
You can use their search tool and find information on their connections
to Brian Mclaren, Doug Pagitt, Dan Kimball, Mark Driscoll, basically
all the emerging leaders.
(A
1999 article on Leadership network that refers to Doug Pagitt
as their "Young Leader Network" manager. This confirms
what was said by Mark Driscoll in our article (above). Leadership
Network hired Pagitt in the mid-80s.
Buford
and Drucker: "Before Bob Buford and Fred Smith Jr. co-founded
Leadership Network in 1984, Buford consulted Drucker for advice.
As a testimony to Drucker's profound influence on Leadership Network,
Buford has observed, 'Peter Drucker is the 'intellectual father'
of most all that guides my approach to philanthropy. I've long
since ceased trying to determine what thoughts are mine and which
come from Peter.""
Robert
Webber and Leadership Network: "There are a lot of books
being published these days about ministry in a postmodern world.
Last week, I read ANCIENT-FUTURE FAITH: RETHINKING EVANGELICALISM
FOR A POSTMODERN WORLD by Robert Webber. Published in 1999 by
Baker Books (www.bakerbooks.com), it is one of the best and most
concise explanations of the shift from the modern to postmodern
world and what might be an appropriate response on the part of
the church. 'The road to the future runs through the past,' writes
Webber, and he supplies some excellent maps with this book. Especially
useful are the charts and additional reading lists."
Leadership
Network’s Young Leaders program is called the "Advance
Scouts for the Emerging Church." Conclusion: The Leadership
Network (Buford and others) started and supported what is now
the emerging church.
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