Man of Depravity - Tyler Braun's posts on Church Ministry, Worship, Seminary, and Theology.

Imago Dei Community and Thoughts on the Emerging Church

2009 December 07

by Tyler

Yesterday I went to Imago Dei Community with Rose and some friends. It was the first time I had been there in over 3 years. I rarely get a chance to visit another church, so it was quite a treat to see how Imago “does” church during the Christmas season (you can listen to Rick McKinley’s message on the incarnation, specific revelation, and being a neighbor here).

Imago is located in the heart of East Portland is a known as a haven for many “young people” of east Portland. They are also a founding church behind Advent Conspiracy, which most churches are a part of in some way now, and one of the more well known “emerging” churches if you still refer to churches as such.

Here are some of my observations:

They meet in an old high school’s auditorium. It was around 32* all day in Portland, and the auditorium wasn’t much warmer. Most people were in coats the entire time. I guess the heat was on, but the place is too drafty. Kind of adds to the ambiance in some way though.
They haven’t re-invented the wheel. They still do music, they still pray, they still do the usual 30 to 40 minute sermon/message, and they still do announcements.
They don’t do loud music, they don’t do brand new music, they don’t have bright lights on the stage/dimmed lights on the crowd…and yet “young people” (use as you see fit) still flock to this church.
Rick McKinley is a great leader. He doesn’t have an overwhelming presence or speak with a ton of fervor, but he speaks with vision and purpose. I even felt this during the announcements he gave. They were all connected to the bigger story of Imago as a whole, and the Gospel story.
Loved this from Rick: “The specific revelation of God in Jesus becomes the specific revelation of God through us.”
I’m all for having style on the stage, but the white dog next to the bass player is just weird (look closely at the picture above). You too can buy the same thing at your local Urban Outfitter. That’s lame.
I appreciate their desire to be relevant to the culture around them in their own way, and yet faithful to the tradition of the Christian faith. This is not an easy path to walk and it is one that challenges me greatly. But, I felt they walked that path with excellence.
In many ways the emerging church type movement is a combination of many other church moments. It has roots in seeker sensitive, liturgical, and charismatic worship movements and seems to combine those in various ways. Emerging churches might be able to reach more people than the churches who find themselves rooted in one of those other movements because of this.

When was the last time you visited another church?

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http://www.contentunderpressure.net Josh

My wife and I are in a season of visiting churches after some serious healing in our hearts took place (previous church hurts), so it’s all “new” again….

Went to a church near us yesterday that had very rock-driven worship (dueling guitar solos in about every song ) and a message series on Angels for the Christmas season. I was uncomfortable the whole time, but it was a kind of pleasant uncomfortable if that’s such a thing. Through this season I”ve concluded this: if we were connected in real community with others, some of the petty things that we tend to focus on would be just that – petty.

I imagine this is the case for the crowd at the place you’ve visited. They’re connecting with each other and journeying together. Plus, they have great leadership and encouragement in that. I believe that’s God-honoring. Worship style, lights, stage setup, etc. becomes irrelevant (IMO) when you’re involved in all the “one-anothers” that being the Church is all about.

P.S. love the quote from the pastor, there….good stuff.
secondchair

My wife and I recently visited a church in San Francisco (City Church – you can read my review of this church at: http://secondchair.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/city-church-of-san-francisco/) which reminded us a little of Imago. (Our daughter and son-in-law attend Imago). While Imago is certainly “emergent” in the generic sense of the word – younger, balance of the ancient and modern, authentic, etc., it likely does not fit in the theologically “emergent” grouping with McLaren, Bell, & Pagitt among others. Too bad the word has become so muddled that it’s difficult to use now.

I do admire and appreciate the simplicity of Imago. I kind of like the fact that they have not spent millions (even tens of millions) on a free-standing worship center so that they can control the temps, lights, parking, etc. Seems a bit more authentic to me and reflects good stewardship to make some sacrifices in order to do church as a renter.

We really enjoy visiting other churches and try to do so whenever we are out of town. We will visit Imago the end of December while we are in Portland and would like to make it to Sunset some day, too. I think it’s great that you took a rare open Sunday to see what else God is doing in your city! Nice comments and well-written as usual!
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

Good thoughts Joe. I used the word “emerging” instead of “emergent” on purpose as I do see a theological difference in the direction the 2 are headed. I know that most people don’t use either word for various reasons…I use them mostly as a way for some to understand a broad sense of what I meant.

You’re always welcome at Sunset
http://twitter.com/torriejae Victoria

I do like Imago a lot. I attended for about 6 months with my boyfriend at the time. I feel like they strike a nice balance, just like you talked about. And I love that one of the first times I attended, Rick said from the pulpit something like, “If you’re just here because you read a cool book, just leave. We don’t have enough parking spaces and it’s making the neighbors mad.”

Beautiful! Love it when pastors are brutally honest.
Yonas

Wow a pastor said that? As in telling people to leave?

That would certainly push away new-curious seekers away…I know it would do that to me for sure (and I will tell people NOT to go to that church).

Brutally honest and maybe not brutally not thinking before he speaks

People nowadays seriously have to think before talking…(including and especially people in teaching/leading/pulpit position)….often times isn’t it easier to take three seconds before saying anything dumb (especially for shock/cool/controversy), and spending the extra effort apologizing and doing damage control later on?

I see this more and more from the current generation and it’s a sad thing to see.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

I actually think Rick needed to say that. Imago has been known to attract believers from other churches who wanted to check out the cool new church from Blue Like Jazz. I don’t think Rick meant it for shock value or anything near that (go listen to him and meet him, he doesn’t play that card).
http://www.aworshipfulheart.typepad.com Jan Owen

For good or bad, we are looking for a new church. Although we’ve only visited two so far I find it to be an ordeal. When I was on staff I didn’t feel this way. It was kind of exciting. I got great new ideas, and a chance to simply worship, etc. But visiting churches knowing you have no church home is brutal, at least for me right now. I don’t really enjoy it at all. I firmly believe spiritual community (relationships) is the main reason people gather in churches. My thoughts are much deeper than that statement but too long to go into here. Suffice to say I feel a bit like a boat drifting without either anchor or harbor……