Starting Next-Wave's Second Decade…

When I founded Next-Wave I was a burnt out and discouraged failed pastor. I read Willard’s Divine Conspiracy and wondered if I had ever been a follower of Jesus. I had recently closed a normal church and was involved in the beginnings of a ministry to skateboarders. The name of Next-Wave was inspired by a leadership lecture by John Wimber. John was talking about the life-cycle of movements. He was drawing these wave-like symbols on a whiteboard depicting the rise and then crest of a movement. He was talking about the stages of a birth, life and death of a movement. You know, something like: Man…Movement…Machine…Monument…Memorial.

John’s audience were leaders in the Vineyard movement. John had been working on his leadership transition for a while but thought it was important the leaders of the movement know that, without constant renewal, movements die. Wimber’s encouragement in that message, pointing at the crest of the wave, “When you get here. Take the Best and Go.”

The cover story in this month’s issue of Next-Wave is entitled: The Decline of the Emerging Church (?). In the weeks leading up to its publication there are stirrings that the title of the story might be more than descriptive.

My discouragement 11 years ago was born out of my perceived judgment that the institutional church had failed to bring the message of Jesus to my generation, the baby boomers. I was not only angry, I was sad. I didn’t believe that it was the will of God that so many of his children should never hear about his unfailing love. I blamed the older generation for clinging to their traditions. I blamed them for protecting their institutions. I blamed them for hanging onto positional leadership at the expense of forward momentum.

Don’t get me wrong, I acknowledge that God had birthed a number of movements that did multiply and minister to the baby boomers, the Calvary Chapels and the Vineyards among them. However, to me, it just wasn’t enough. Having experienced the failures of my church fathers, I realized that it was highly likely that MY generation would make the same mistakes. I was pretty convinced that this was happening all around me and that another generation, the people I thought of as Gen-X, were missing out on the life that following Jesus promises.

When I approached future church planter, Rogier Bos, about starting Next-Wave I wanted an “e-zine” that would speak to these issues. About six months into the project Next-Wave launched in January 1999 and it was full of articles about postmodernism. I hadn’t even heard of postmodernism! The words “emerging” and “church” had not yet been juxtaposed. Emergent had not been founded. That came later along with terms like ancient-future worship, neo-monastic communities, transformational, incarnational and missional.

I had been discouraged because I thought that nobody was doing anything to reach the rising generations based on my observation of the movement I was involved in and the readily observable institutional and mainline denominations. Imagine my surprise a few months after the birth of Next-Wave to discover that God’s Spirit was at work all over the world birthing new expressions of his kingdom! Along came Emergent and their cohorts, Acts 29 was planting churches to beat the band, Mosaic pastor Erin McManus was energizinging artistic expression, McLaren’s writings and others like Neil Cole were organically going about the business of doing what has always been done by those who are inspired by the Holy Spirit, they were following Jesus and building his church.

One of my favorite writers in this realm has been Andrew Jones, a practicing missionary who has traveled the world with his family encouraging and nurturing what God is doing. There has been some controversy in the past few weeks as Andrew wrote an article entitled: Emerging Church Movement (1989-2009)?

This prompted a response by Tony Jones: Lonnie Frisbee and the Non-Demise of the Emerging Church. I’ll have to admit that I was really irritated by Tony’s treatment of Lonnie Frisbee, the Calvary Chapels and the Vineyard based on the documentary film. I knew Lonnie Frisbee in the last years of his life. I knew him to be a follower of Christ. One in a long line of wounded people who have been mightily used by God. Jones’ application of Weber’s conclusion is in its best light, misplaced. Lonnie was not the leader of either the Calvary Chapel or the Vineyards. He was a catalyst, to be sure.

I think a fairer observation would be an application of Weber’s conclusion to the current transition taking place in the leadership of Emergent. A group that first appoints a National Coordinator and then dissolves that office in a matter of years is more than likely experiencing a transition of leadership.

Next-Wave has always endeavored to be inclusive of viewpoints. It has been our intent to be a reflection of what God is doing to bring his good news to those who have not yet heard it outside of the efforts of the established and institutional church. Over the years we have included articles about all of the flavors of the banquet that God has been preparing. It is interesting that so many cling to terms and language and work so hard to revise our language as a means to changing our thinking.

As for myself, I thought of Next-Wave as the “journal of the emerging church” for a number of years. (At least since “Emerging Church” became a term of widespread use.) I still think it is a useful term if it is not identified with a particular theological mindset. Emerging simply means that which is coming into existence. Unfortunately, “emerging church” now has its own set of Samsonite luggage to carry, much like evangelical church, the fundamental church, the pentecostal church and the charismatics.

Here is my prayer for the second decade of Next-Wave: “Father, may we be faithful to your call on our lives, to love you will all of our hearts and to love others and one another, as we love ourselves. Out of that love, Father, I pray that we may be winsome messengers of the good news of your grace and mercy for humanity. Empower us with your spirit, in the name of your son, Jesus, let it be.”