The Great Emergence

Apparently the sol cafe might well be riding a wave that crests only once in five hundred years. Go figure. All we were trying to do was gather to worship God together...

Marks of the Church

This contribution to our food for thought menu comes from the blog of Franklin Pyles, President of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) in Canada, our umbrella denomination. It's an article of particular importance to the sol cafe, I think, given the nature of our church gathering and its place in the CMA. I'd encourage you to not only discuss here, but provide some thoughtful comments on Franklin's original post.

resonate

Part of our bigger family. Consider joining the mailing in particular (link below). From the Resonate website:

"Welcome to Resonate. We are a network of Canadians striving to love God and our neighbors in a changing culture.

"As one worldview transitions into another, we realize that we are living in an exciting but challenging time. This transition has had a lot of labels stuck on it, postmodern, emerging church, and a bunch of other labels and clichés. Around here, we aren't big on labels but we do agree that the world is changing and like any time of transition, courageous people respond to the call to move forward in faith. We are a network of sojourners responding to that call together across Canada.

"Resonate exists to facilitate conversations and friendships among people across Canada through both national and regional dialogues. It also partners with church planters through our Greenhouses across the country to bring people together, support each other, and help partner with God in building the Kingdom.

"It doesn't cost anything to get involved, no DNA testing, botox treatments, or even a Winnipeg Bluebombers tattoo, just a desire to journey with people trying to navigate a changing culture and trying to figure out how to follow Jesus Christ in it. We are glad you stopped by and we are looking forward to talking more with you. Peace."

The Revised Common Lectionary

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) is a calendar of Bible readings that follows a three-year cycle, and is, as the name suggests, common to a large cross-section of the Christian church. We decided to adopt it as a guideline for our readings and weekly study at the sol cafe in order to further connect ourselves to the larger church, symbolically and practically, as well as reinforce our focus on the Bible within our church. And if any of this material seems confusing, don't worry -- it's new to us too!

Some resources on the RCL for your reference:

• The Consultation on Common Texts is the official publisher of the RCL
• They have an FAQ on the RCL (pardon the alphabet soup!)
• Here is the Wikipedia entry on the RCL (to be taken with a grain of salt, as with all things found on the internet)
• textweek.com provides links to weekly readings and other resources
• The Vanderbilt Divinity Library also provides links

We also link to the weekly readings from our homepage.

We'll try and add more resources as we find them!

What is the "Emerging Church"?

Imagine our surprise at discovering that there was a label for our "style" or "attitude" of church (not that we like labels, but it is what it is). This link points to a posting in our blog containing links to similar churches and other emerging church information, as well as a developing discussion on the issue.

Update October 12, 2006! You can also check out the following Wikipedia entry on the Emerging Church, which is starting point though by no means definitive.

What is Christianity?

Part of the soc.religion.christian newsgroup webpage, this collection of essays provide an excellent introduction to Christianity for non-Christians and Christians alike.

The Canadian Christian and Missionary Alliance

The Canadian Christian and Missionary Alliance, the umbrella organization under which the sol café operates. Their website does not necessarily reflect the views of the sol café, but it does on most of the big things! Your comments about them are welcomed.