Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

emerging

  • The Next Big Thing for Christianity

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    7 min read

    Prophets The prophets of the Old Testament were gifted at knowing what was about to happen. But not so gifted at predicting the future. The difference between the two is simple to parse. Given the environment and knowledge of the world, culture, and the divine dream, they did an astounding job of knowing what would…

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  • Emergence Is Not a Fad

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    6 min read

    Using Words We have a communication problem in the church. About change, tradition, our existing culture. We struggle to understand each other when we talk about our liturgy and our patterns of worship and our expectations of leadership. We argue that we want our church to have a more engaged role in the community, but…

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  • The New Authority: Trust

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    5 min read

    It comes down to trust.  Our current behavior demonstrates that we don’t trust the system, we simply rely on it and expect it to function.  Then when it doesn’t, we condemn it.  Sometimes we even argue that the system can’t do it.  And even then we still don’t hold the community responsible for cleaning up the mess. Perhaps this…

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  • Telling Secrets: “…Another World Is Possible.”

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    1 min read

    Elizabeth Kaeton preached the quintessential Advent 4 sermon–about Occupy Wall Street.  Amazing! This has me moved to see a simple idea.  Head on over, read it, and then reflect over that picture of Bishop Packard for a moment.  When you are done, come back and ask yourself the following question: What if, in the midst…

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  • Forward living or backward obsessing?

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    4 min read

    My brain is intent on proving me wrong. More than a decade ago, when my two closest friends were living in East Lansing, I moved down to join them.  Having only visited the apartment once or twice, and not knowing the area very well, I was confident that I knew the way to get there;…

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  • On Ecclesiology: Leadership, Emergence, and #Occupy

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    4 min read

    In the Premodern world, humanity was led by “the divine right of kings,” in other words, authority was bestowed upon a singular human authority from a divine source. In the Modern world, humanity was led by singular representation.  Authority was bestowed on an individual to represent the people, either through fiat or election. The Enlightenment…

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