Posted 50 days ago
Reflections on The New Conspirators Conference
By Jonathan Brink, Thrive Ministries
Every once in a great while an event comes along that intrigues me enough that I have to participate. The New Conspirators conference was exactly that conference. Formed by Mustard Seed Associates, an organization started by Tom and Christine Sine, the conference provided insightful glimpses of everyday people doing extraordinary things. Their desire was to bring together the four streams of the renewal within the western church: emerging, missional, mosaic (or multicultural) and monastic.
The conference was situated in Seattle and had an un-conference vibe to it. This was not the biggest and brightest stars telling us how to do the next ministry model. This was ordinary people grappling with what it meant to bring love to a broken world. They just happened to be doing some interesting things.
On Thursday the crowd began to arrive. By 7:30 pm the sanctuary of Bethany Community Church was bursting with nervous energy. Tom opened with a truly inspiring clip from the movie Strictly Ballroom that highlighted what many were asking the entire weekend: What are the “new moves” that God is inspiring within the church?
Mark Scandrette got things started on the graffiti board, a panel of white paper the size of a wall on the left side of the room. Throughout the weekend those in attendance shared what they were feeling and thinking in art form. One gentleman provided beautiful illustrations that seemed to highlight different emotions around what those in attendance were feeling.
Friday began early and with an amazingly simple acoustic worship set with Sean Hall and his wife. Their songs were both real and poignant, focusing on love and social justice. Kathy Escobar led the conference in a prayer reading that not only invited people into worship, but reminded the crowd that women bring a much-needed voice to what is happening in the streams.
The first plenary session could have been five hours long and I doubt anyone would have gotten up. This was the reason people were there, to hear from the four streams. Tomas Yaccino (Mosaic), Kathy Escobar (Emerging), Tim Morey (Missional), and Mark Scandrette (Monastic) shared a few minutes each on their respective streams. It was somewhat of a summary from a practitioner’s perspective. This was the heart of the conference.
Throughout the conference the panels highlighted various speakers and gave the audience a chance to hear what is bubbling up in the four streams. The interaction provoked some great audience interaction and discussions. One of the central themes that seemed to be consistent was the awakening of the priesthood of all believers. Several speakers mentioned calling their community into this, especially Tim Morey and Tomas Yaccino. I asked the panel, “What has been the response of people who are invited into the priesthood of all believers and given permission to love?” Tomas answered, and I loved his response. He said, (essentially) “people were embracing what it meant to love.”
What is unique about the four streams is that each is positioned on the fringe of traditional expressions of church. The monastic stream seemed to attract a great deal of attention, drawing people into the idea of shared community, orders and even renewal projects for the poor.
The mosaic stream, with its focus on multicultural expressions, was also a major thrust of the weekend. Saturday morning we were treated to a powerful hip hop worship session, which included break-dancers. It had a contagious way of almost drawing people out of their comfort zone. A few of us were in the back dancing to the infectious beats.
There were several major plenary speakers over the weekend highlighting some of streams. These included Shane Claiborne, who told stories about being love in an intentional missional way. It’s hard not to love Shane because he’s very humble and just wants to love. I asked him about losing his Simple Way community in a fire and how he found love in the midst of trial. His response was really inspiring. He said, “This year I found out what it was like to be just like the people I’ve been serving. I was homeless and they supported me.”
During the Q&A session with Shane, a gentleman stood up and shared what was clearly one of the highlights of the weekend. He said, “I’m a Palestinian Muslim. But I like what you are doing so I wanted to come and listen.” The comment struck a chord in everyone. Shane was providing one of the purest example of what happens when we choose to love in a very real, practical way.
Another powerful speaker was Efrem Smith, who riveted the audience with his discussion on the mosaic stream. He spoke for at least an hour on what it means to be loved first so we can love. And much of what we do is look for our identity in everything but God. And what we get is a reflection of the broken self. I really loved his breakdown of agape and God’s expressive love flowing through us.
The breakout sessions provided an opportunity for smaller groups to connect with the speakers in a more intimate way. I attended monastic and emerging stream sessions with Mark Scandrette and Dwight Friesen, who both asked questions as much as they spoke. Dwight provided a really great reminder to honor those who have come before us as we practice being agents of renewal and change.
The conference also included an afternoon excursion to four communities within the greater Seattle area. The stories that came from these were priceless. One gentleman shared an experience of running into a man who looked just like Jesus. But the man ended up sharing the tension of how Christians judge first and ask questions later. It was a sobering reminder.
I left Seattle inspired, hopeful, renewed, and wanting to connect with those who are practitioners in the four streams. I can’t wait to come back next year!
Jonathan Brink is spiritual formation director of Thrive Ministries, a missional discipleship agency for those who are looking to follow Jesus in today’s world.
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