Experience vs. Encounter

As I think about the misconceptions revolving around Emergent ministries one of them that has surfaced in conversation often is that Emergent leaders are after "cool experiences with God thrown in." As we've said at Emergent Gatherings before, "it's not about incense and candles."

While, in theory, I believe this is a misconception, I do believe that we (me included) must be careful with this notion. I have been thinking much about this idea of experience. Experience, as we know, is something twentysomethings (and other generations) crave. We no longer want just to hear Truth, we want to experience it. We no longer just want to know about God, we want to experience Him. All great things. Experience can be a good thing.

But this week I have been asking myself the question, "But are we really after experiences?" Intially, as I think about our community I believed that we are after this. But after considering this, I recanted. What we're after is not experiences, but The Experience. Maybe a better way of putting it is that we're after an Encounter.

All of the unique expressions in worship and teaching that Emergent Ministries strive toward is all for the purpose of people encountering the living God in a fresh, unique and intimate way, wouldn't you agree? I feel there is so much more adventure in pursuing an Encounter with God than with trying to engage in meaningful experiences with him.

Maybe we can be focusing more of our energies on the Encounter than on experiences.

One more random thought that has hit me right square in the middle of my forehead this week: "Where is the evangelistic movement among twentysomethings in this generation?"

Comments

[nate hulfish]

having just got off of the phone with a mutual taylor friend named martha (one who has proven over time to be more of a mary than a martha in my oppinion), and having been reading up on your thoughts on and off for a number of months, i thought i'd stop being a peeping tom and finally post a few of my own...

i believe that "encounter" is a well chosen word...i believe this for two main reasons...

1) DEPTH..."encounter" goes deeper than "experience"...many experiences do not necessarily facilitate true depth...i've experienced wonderful worship...but often that worship lacks depth...the depth of a worship experience comes in the form of encountering our God

2) APPROACH..."encounter" is more holistic in it's approach than "experience"...as twentysomethings (you correctly observe) we don't want to just know about God (intellectually)...we want to experience God (emotionally)...but an encounter with God merges both our intellect and our emotion...the pendulum always seems to swing too far to one side...an encounter means both

when it comes to your "random thought"..."where is the evangelistic movement among twentysomethings in this generation?"

my belief is that is starts with you and it starts with me...sitting down for a coffee or a beer...sharing our lives rather than 4 spiritual laws with those who need Christ...

now this is what i recognize...it is not until i am living missionally that i can expect others to...we grew up in churches that said, "we're going to sit here and be sensitive to unbelievers who are seeking and might happen to come through our doors"...the paradigm needs to change...we need to get up off our cans and be the body Christ in the world so that unbelievers will be drawn to Jesus rather than our sensitivity.

enough for now...please consider me officially a humble part of your conversation

for Him.
nate

[martha]

hooray for Nate posting! JR, i was telling Nate yesterday that i wanted to let you know that i read your posts and go away to think about the meaty ones... and only ever comment on the Napoleon ones, because they're easy to respond to and don't require much reflection. and i'm sure i'm not the only one who you've gotten thinking but hasn't responded. just so you know. blessings on the briggses-
:0) martha "wanna play me?" wood

[joey]

How do we bring others to have The Encounter without bringing them to church? (I know, I know...it means living it out wtih our lives...but HOW? What does that look like?)

Just curious to know how others flesh that out...

[nate hulfish]

for me it means having coffee with an a self-proclaimed atheist and never once mentioning Jesus.

huh? seiously...there is more to presenting Jesus than arguing a point and "forcing" evangelism. i have found that with the majority of the unbelieving world...arguing my point starts to look like ballroom dancing...round and round we go, kinda looking stupid...i believe our greatest evangelical impact can be on those who expect us to be a certain way as Christians...when we don't act like "Christians"...when we just have coffee and ask them about them (what music they like/dislike, who they voted for, why they like napoleon dynamite, etc) they begin to see Christ differently...they begin to have the Encounter with God because they have an encounter with you...

how? what does it look like? it looks like regular, everyday, run of the mill life..."While going...make disciples..."

for Him.
nate

[J.R.]

M-dub and Fish-

You peepin' Tom's you!
Welcome. Glad you got up the nerve to post a comment or two.
(Martha: no more Napoleon posts so you'll have to be courageous here...)

J.R.