THE COMPLEX CHRIST chapter 4

In the interlude, Brewin takes a step away form his direct discussions of church as the embodiment of the complex Christ to wonder about the shape and characteristics of an Emergent Church. A key idea in his discussion is illustrated by slime mould. This particular mould is morphed as a direct result of its environment--radically morphed. This causal relationship--mould and environment shaping each other--is, according to Brewin, the condition of the Emergent Church. Just as Christ was incarnated into first century Jewish culture, so each church today incarnates into a particular culture. The church is changed by and changes the culture, and a new thing is constantly happening.

Quotes from The Complex Christ:

p.75
What is important for our purposes is to understand that this change-from-within is triggered by the environment in which the slime mould is existing, and that central to its survival is its ability to read and respond to this environment.

p.87
The truth of the Church needs to become 'open source', with distributed agents able to feed in solutions, rather than it being left to a closed clique of experts.

p.91
...the role of leaders in an emergent system should be to 'change the perceptions of a situation.' This is very different from stating what changes ought to be made and telling everyone what the new deal is. They are not there to announce change, but to resource change; to provide environments whereby change can happen naturally from the bottom up, as described above.

NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): ecclesiology kester brewin complex christ

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