Brian McLaren travels widely to network and resource the emergent conversation globally.
(Christian Today)
In this interview with Christian Today, he shared his view on the conversations and his ministry.
CT: How have the conversations gone since your arrival in Malaysia?
BM: I think it has gone very well. I like the way that these [conversations] are being set up. Through the conversations I have had in Malaysia, I have learnt so much.
What is the vision of emergent internationally?
Well, first of all, it is hard to explain what is “emergent”, but it is often described as friendships and networks. It is not really an organisation. There is no budget, there are no staff, but it is friends that try to stay in touch; on the internet or also by gathering together like this.
Despite all this, people tend to think that it is an organisation. But it is really a conversation and an extended friendship.
About the vision, what I can say is that we need to talk, because we have a lot of problems. We need to help one another and we need to have a global conversation.
In the colonial era, the communication method was one way – where it comes from Europe and North America to the rest of the world. But we need a dialogue, not just a monologue. We need to have voices that come from Asia, Latin America and Africa as well.
You have been to so many countries, and have seen so many different organisations and churches, what would you suggest to improve the cohesiveness between them?
Well, it seems to me that the internet helps a lot, and personal conversation like this also help too. It might be difficult as we need to travel, but I think we still have to meet each other in person.
There have been criticisms aimed at you from some traditional church leaders. How would you respond to that?
I think a lot of the criticisms are at the point of misunderstanding. For example, a lot of it was associated with the word “post-modern”, which is very controversial. It is a word with a thousand definitions. So a lot of people are making assumptions about me based on the assumptions on that word.
Another bigger disagreement relates to honest disagreement, which relates to my belief that Christians in the United States have fused their faith with nationalism too strongly. Of course many of my American brothers and sisters disagree with me on it.
