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Book Review: "The Emerging Church" by Dan Kimball
I first heard Dan Kimball speak at a youth specialties convention workshop in 2001. His workshop was on
planning postmodern worship experiences. I went hoping to get all kinds of practical creative worship
ideas I could rush back home to my church and try out. As it turns out, I got something much better.
Dan Kimball is the founding pastor of the "Graceland" service in Santa Cruz, California. This service is looked to
by many in the emerging church as a template for how to do it. Dan gives a lot of his personal history and the history of
this service in the first few chapters of the book. What sets Dan's story and writing apart from so many of the
"how-to" books is the way Dan lets us know why we need to be doing this in the first place. The first half of "The
Emerging Church" is a detailed discussion on how the culture is evolving, what emerging generations are thinking, and
how the church is changing (or not changing) to keep up. Dan firmly believes that before you can reach anyone,
you need to have a firm understanding of where they are coming from.
When I left Dan's workshop back in 2001, I
didn't remember much about any ideas for services. What I was fascinated by was Dan's thoughts on postmodernism and
how young people today see the world so much differently than they did even 10 years ago when I was in high school. I was
literally so overwhelmed with thoughts that I skipped the next workshop just to write more notes down so I could be certain
to remember everything he had said. I'm not the best notetaker but fortunately, I didn't have to be. It's all here in the
book and in its written form, it is very detailed and well laid-out.
Then, in the second half of the book, Dan actually does provide some useful worship tips. All of his ideas
come from the best place: personal experience. Dan simply relates what has worked well for them at Graceland, all the while
encouraging the reader not to just copy their ideas, but to copy the concepts behind them and then adapt them for their own
congregation. This is advice we would do well to heed. I know if I tried some of the things that work in California here in Tennessee,
they would run me out of town!
Another great feature of the book is the running sidebar commentaries. Dan invited Brian McLaren, Sally Morganthaler,
Rick Warren, and others to write "pop up video" style notes in the margins. They often add deeper insight, offer criticism,
or support what Dan is writing. This is an interesting feature and one I found enjoyable.
Another enjoyable thing about the book is that Dan assumes the reader is new to the whole "postmodern discussion". He avoids
using much of the jargon of the day which is helpful for those like me who don't consider themselves to be scholars.
All of this adds up to this being a great book for anyone who is interested in learning to plan relevant worship.
Some readers who are already very familiar with the work of Sweet, McLaren, and others may find the first half
of the book a bit slow as it would be review material for them. For those just starting out though, "The Emerging Church" is
a wonderful tool.
Review by Greg Adkins
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