The contrasts at the ‘Worship, Arts, Liturgy and Preaching Conference’ (www.walp-ec.com) at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky weren’t quite so stark. While it was run under the Emergent-USA banner I was attracted by the lineup of speakers that was in contrast to the usual Emergent conference. It offered Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox as well as Protestant, and several female speakers. Emergent is a network of churches and individuals interested in or belonging to the stream of church life that is variously described as ‘emerging’ or postmodern, post-colonial, or post September 11. (www.emergentvillage.org) It was an exceptionally worthwhile event at many levels.

First up I was surprised by the number of people there who I had encountered (or who had encountered me) in other parts of the world via Prodigal Project or Fractals or some seminar or other. It’s always encouraging, humbling and surprising to hear stories of the positive impact that something I’ve written or said has had on another person. I never quite come to terms with it.

Then there was the wide range of excellent speakers and seminar leaders. Under the title of ‘Public Worship as Spiritual formation, Brian McLaren gave 10 good reasons for going to church; Maggi Dawn gave a standing-ovation address on how we should look at the Bible in our current context; and Claude Nikondeha from Burundi was outstanding talking about the ‘Just Worshipper’. All of these addresses (and the others not mentioned) should be available on CD and by download from the website soon.

In Kevin Callahan’s workshop (‘Body Language: the art of ekklessia’) I was delighted to meet an architect who knew something about worship spaces and the effect they have on worship. If I ever build a worship space I’ll have Kevin design it. Joe Myers unpacked some of the material in his very helpful book ‘The Search to Belong’. Barry Taylor gave us a rapid-fire overview of the global explosion in spirituality and the need to design a spirituality for the twenty-first century.

Artist Kevin Nolly from Tribe in LA had produced a stunning series of Stations of the Cross pieces that were exhibited, and Lily Lewin and friends set up a series of stations constantly available for reflective worship. They were based on different Christian traditions in worship eg Charismatic had us laying our hand on a tablecloth, drawing around it and writing prayer requests inside. Later others would come and place their hand over the request, pray for it and draw around their own hand to indicate what they had done. Nice. Also covered Mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Anabaptist.
Worship led by Tribe and their fantastic hand-drumming circle, and by Corey Nelson were highlights.

But, as is usually the case at these events, it was the casual conversations over meals and in the lounges late at night that were the most stimulating. WALP gave plenty of space for this.
People were very interested in Urban Seed and how it went about its ministry. It was great to meet Geoff and Sherry Maddock who are part of an intentional community near Asbury Seminary. Geoff is a Melburnian and knows Urban Seed well.

WALP was framed with a prelude weekend in Denver hanging out and having very stimulating conversations with my friend Sally Morgenthaler (sorry about flooding your bathroom – twice Sally!), and a postlude weekend in Bowling Green, Kentucky with friends Steve and Elizabeth Ayers. On Saturday I went with them to Hillvue Heights Baptist Church ‘Single Moms Oil Change and Car Wash’. It was incredible. Any single mum can bring her car in and get a free oil filter and oil change. Then the car is safety checked and brakes, fanbelts, tyre pressures etc before being washed. While this is happening the mothers and kids are inside having free haircuts, manicures, back and foot massages, choosing free clothing, food, children’s activities etc. They do this every three months! At 7am 15 cars were lined up waiting for the 8am opening. They shut the gate at 2pm and the last cars take another hour or so to process. 238 cars were done, 66 went through the 11 oil change bays in the first hour. It costs the church about $3000 each time. 140 volunteers work on the cars, in the café etc, not all of them Hillvue or church people. Around 600 people come through. Seeing people work together, the responses of the mums helped, hearing the conversations was, very moving and I cried almost constantly! It was a humbling experience to see the impact this church was making with very practical mission and service.

Sunday morning I attended two out of the three services (and went to an adult study group in between). Although a Southern Baptist Church (‘We don’t do it very well.’) it was not at all like usual SBC services. What impressed me most was that they have many of the same values that Cityside Church and Urban Seed have been built on. The choir sings once a month and has 100-150 participants. They sang beautifully but there was no formal-excellence about their style and all shapes and sizes, ages, education and work backgrounds and ethnic groups were represented. The lead singers were a long way from the look of Hillsong, although they sang as well. (One singer was told by a major ‘Christian’ recording label that while she had a magnificent voice she had no future in the business because she was ugly) The congregation is very mixed and many come from addictive backgrounds. They seek participation before excellence.

Hillvue draws about 4500 people to 4 services over the week, from a pool of about 8500. Fourteen fulltime pastoral staff and a budget of USD1.8 million. They are debt free and will not go into debt for a building project. There are no reserved parking spots for the lead-pastor or any other pastoral staff. In fact Steve parks his car at the back of the carpark in the spot farthest away from the door. He likes to talk to people as he walks through the parking lot. None of the pastors or elders sits on the stage during worship. The band comes and goes as it is needed. Steve preaches for 35 minutes with no notes! Their message is that Christ offers hope and change in the midst of the pain and failures of life, so they attract a lot of addicted and broken people (cocaine being the drug of choice). They have retained their original chapel on site and return to it regularly to retell the story and early struggles of Hillvue Church. They loved hearing about Urban Seed.

At Easter they set up a labyrinth, and offer reflective worship spaces and events alongside their usual stuff.

It was helpful for me to see a church that was successfully connecting with it’s culture in very different ways to most ‘emerging’ churches, and to put the material I speak about in my seminars (about curating worship, new ecclessiology etc) up against Hillvue. If what I am saying really is principles then it needs to be applicable in this context too. Lots to think about here.

Bizarre coincidence: Mark Hale, Executive Pastor at Hillvue has been rostered to do a report for week ten of his Drew University doctoral programme - on the CDROM I produced, 'Fractals: alternative worship resources for the emerging church'. I am staying at his house when his report is due!

So all in all it was a worthwhile 10 days away, mostly because it gave me some perspective on what I am doing in Melbourne. It put that work in a wider context and helped me to reflect on both the ministry of Urban Seed and the potential place and value of Urban Seed:church in the bigger picture. I remain convinced that the future of the Church in the West doesn’t lie in the Emerging Church movement. The value of this movement is to influence and provoke the inherited church forms into change rather than to replace them. Still a vital role.