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Peace.

In the last few weeks, several people have asked me, “What’s different about The New Conspirators conference?” It is a fair questions. One might be tempted to think it will be exactly like all the other emerging church conferences that are happening now. Let me try to explain some elements of our conference that we hope are not only new, but valued by those that come to this gathering on February 28, 29 and March 1 at Bethany Community Church here in Seattle.

Distinctive 1: Hearing from four streams instead of one
Distinctive 2: Bringing new expressions and established congregations together
Distinctive 3: Exploring questions important for the entire church
Distinctive 4: Taking the future of God seriously
Distinctive 5: Taking the future of the world seriously
Distinctive 6: Taking our imaginations seriously
Distinctive 7: Taking connections seriously

Click here to read more about the distinctive characteristics of The New Conspirators.

“One of the greatest challenges we always face as we start to plan a conference is how to convey the kingdom values that are central to who we are at Mustard Seed Associates. I teach a class on urban ministry and cross-cultural adaptation, and one of the questions I like to ask is: ‘What will the culture of the kingdom of God look like?’ Most of us have no idea. I believe that God’s love and compassion, justice for the poor, concern for those at the margins, freedom from oppression and good stewardship of God’s creation will be at the center of God’s kingdom. Many people will probably get a shock when they enter the kingdom because it will be a real cross-cultural experience for them.

“It is the vision of this ‘shalom kingdom’ that is at the center of all we are and do at Mustard Seed Associates, in which God’s eternal family from every tribe and nation–rich and poor, young and old–live together in the midst of a restored creation in harmony, mutual care and peace, not just with God but will all who are part of God’s international community.”

Read more about how we hope to practice our values at the conference here.

Call to Praise
After a time of reflective silence, proclaim:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Psalm 15
A psalm of David.
LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy mountain?
Those whose walk is blameless,
who do what is righteous,
who speak the truth from their hearts;
who have no slander on their tongues,
who do their neighbors no wrong,
who cast no slur on others;
who despise those whose ways are vile
but honor whoever fears the LORD;
who keep their oaths even when it hurts;
who lend money to the poor without interest
and do not accept bribes against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.

To read the whole Tuesday Evening liturgy, click here.
For information on The Breviary from Missio Dei, click here.

Lisa Domke, PC(USA)
Workshop – “2008: Do God and Politics Mix?”
Come explore what faithfulness looks like in the 2008 presidential election and find creative ways to influence public policy.
Click here for more information.

Romanita Hairston, World Vision
Workshop – “Empowering the Young and the Poor”
Romanita will share creative ways churches have become agents of empowerment and community transformation and ways your congregation can join them.
Click here for more information.

Bruce Bishop, Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends
Workshop – “Rediscovering Spirituality For New Expressions and Traditional Communities”
Together we’ll discuss the importance of creating space in our lives to refocus our attention on the Presence of Christ even amidst the busyness of modern living. Come explore ways to experience “holy loitering!”
Click here for more information.

God is present in our communities and at work in our world. We cannot be effective as followers of Christ unless we take time to observe where God is working and learn from what God is doing. There is no better way to understand God’s presence in our communities than by getting out into the streets. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to go on an urban field trip to a unique Seattle neighborhood. The urban field trip represents the very heart of The New Conspirators conference. It is the best way to observer where God’s shalom kingdom is breaking into our world.

Read Jonathan Neufeld’s notes on this year’s urban field trip.

“In a religious landscape that celebrates the ‘mega,’ Trinity Lutheran Church conceived a simple vision of smallness through its Mustard Seed ministry. We found we have a number of Christian creatives who are not a part of the core leadership want to create imaginative new missional expressions. We started this ministry because we wanted to help them unleash their imaginations to create new ways to make a difference. We also want to help other traditional churches enable their creative member to create new forms of innovative mission like some of the younger church are doing. In fact, that will be the focus of my workshop at The New Conspirators gathering.”

Read the whole article here.

“Churches come in all shapes and sizes. In the emerging stream of church planting, groups intentionally shape themselves for the place and people of their call.

“In some ways, it is like choosing the best vehicle for the journey. To reach some destinations, you fly in a large airplane. Other places are best reached on a bicycle. Most of us value the variety of vehicles available to us, and we do not imagine constructing future travel by always choosing a bicycle over an airplane, or vice versa. In fact, not only will we embrace different kinds of vehicles at different times, we are excited by the advancement of hybrids! Likewise, in reaching out to people, neighborhoods, and cities, we welcome a varity of vehicles and approaches in ministry, including hybrids. We recognize how ‘necessity is the mother [and God is the Father] of invention.’ You might say this is one of the driving impulses of the fresh expressions of church today.”

Click here to read more about The House, a hybrid congregation engaged in the Wedgewood and Ravenna neighborhoods of Seattle.

Available recordings:

1. “What’s In Your Wallet? Economic Policy and Poverty in America,” by Romanita and Tali Hairston
2. “Irresistible Revolution,” by Shane Claiborne
3. “How did an instrument of torture wind up in Madonna’s cleavage?” by Mark Pierson
4. “REMix: Igniting Missional Discipleship Pods in British Columbia,” by Mark Anderson
5. “Godspace: Restoring the Rhythm of Life,” by Christine Sine
6. “Beyond the Red and Blue Pill: New Forms of Spirituality For a Postmodern World,” by Gary Heard
7. “Reading the Bible With the Damned,” by Bob Eckblad
8. “Taking Creation Care Seriously,” by Peter Illyn

• Shane Claiborne, The Irresistable Revolution: Living As an Ordinary Radical (Zondervan, 2006).
• Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw and friends, Jesus For President: Politics For Ordinary Radicals (Zondervan, 2008).
• Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson, The Hip Hop Church (Intervarsity, 2006).
• Mike Riddell, Mark Pierson and Cathy Kirkpatrick, The Prodigal Project: Journey Into the Emerging Church (SPCK, 2001).
• Mark Scandrette, Soul Graffiti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus (Jossey-Bass. 2007).
• Mark Van Steenwyk ed., The Missio Dei Breviary (Missio Dei, 2007).
• Lon Fendell, Jan Wood and Bruce Bishop, Practicing Discernment Together: Finding God’s Way Forward in Decision Making (Barclay Press, 2007).
• Tom Sine, The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time (Intervarsity, 2008).
• Christine Sine, Godspace: Time For Peace in the Rhythms of Life (Barclay Press, 2006).
• Christine and Tom Sine, Living On Purpose: Finding God’s Best For Your Life (Baker Books, 2002).
• David T. Olson, The American Church in Crisis (Zondervan, 2008).

Blogs

• Submergence, http://submerge.typepad.com
• Mustard Seed House, http://mustardseedhouse.wordpress.com
• Kingdom Praxis, http://eliacin.wordpress.com
• Emerging Women, http://emergingwomen.blogspot.com
• One Hand Clapping, http://julieclawson.com
• Beauty and Depravity, http://eugenecho.wordpress.com
• Godspace, http://godspace.wordpress.com
• Mustard Seed Journey, http://mustardseedjourney.wordpress.com

Websites

• The Simple Way, thesimpleway.org
• Sanctuary Covenant Church, sanctuarycovenant.org
• Church of the Apostles, apostleschurch.org
• Fremont Abbey, fremontabbey.org
• Life Covenant Church, life-covenant.org
• La Red del Camino para la Mision Integral en America Latina, lareddelcamino.net
• World Vision, worldvision.org
• Emergent Village, emergentvillage.com
• Mars Hill Graduate School, mhgs.edu
• Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, WA, trinitylutheranchurch.com
• Reimagine, reimagine.org
• Missio Dei, missio-dei.com
• Jesus Manifesto, jesusmanifesto.com
• Northwest Cooperative Development Center, nwcdc.coop
• Quest Church, Seattle, WA, seattlequest.org
• Q Cafe, qcafe.org
• Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, nwfriends.org
• Regent College, regent-college.edu
• Mustard Seed Associates, msainfo.org
• Seattle Mennonite Church, seattle.wa.us.mennonite.net

Articles

• Erik Lacitis, “Homelessness up in yearly count,” Seattle Times (Jan. 26, 2008), accessed January 30, 2008, here.