Be Careful What you Wish for…
Hey Jason C!
Did you guys see that Jason Clark asked me how I thought emergent should proceed in the future? He did, just check it out in the comments below. So nice! Thanks Jase.
I should say too, that I have been invited to be a part of the Emergent planning group. (Thanks Bob Carlton.) I just couldn’t afford the travel…and truthfully, I don’t know how much energy I can/should give to the organization because I know organizing the emergent types out there is not my primary call. I’m listening though, to see if and how I should be inovled as things move foward towards the 07 gathering.
Anyway, I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I have a couple of small ideas.
1) Emergent should provide scholarships for women and ethnic minorities to attend ‘core’ gatherings, like the one in S.F. last year, and the Glorietta get together. If you truly value minorities and want to have them as a part of your core leadership, you have to count the cost and get them there. This will change Emergent in a myriad of ways that we can’t even begin to concieve of yet.
2) Emergent should make sure women and ethnic minorities are in on the planning stages of things. Men organize things in a certain manner, and that encourages male participation because it seems logical to them. But women and people of color would lend a different flavor to how events are formed, which topics are chosen, etc. (Just ask someone of a different ethnic background from you to describe how decision making worked in thier family and you’ll see how varied the approaches can be!) Also, recognize how your inherent societal power as men influences the power balance in the room during planning sessions. Height, title, voice volume/depth, etc. all influence a discussion and can quickly communicate “I’m in charge,” thus shutting down the discussion. I have a distinct memory of standing in a circle of men with Holly R.Z. and being totally shut down by the mere volume, height, and body language of the guys. A bunch of six foot plus men man with their arms crossed interrupting everyone’s sentences does not communicated “gee, I want to hear from you.” There’s only so long we can swim upstream with that before our arms give out. And if we talk in a similar manner then we have “an agenda” and are being bitchy. (Seriously. It happens.)
3)Listen to Kelly Bean. If she doesn’t speak up, clear a space off the table, have her stand on it and ask her stuff. She’s a weatlh of insight. But don’t make her be the lone female, either. Get other stunning minds in there. (Again, you’ve got to keep the cost of women traveling in mind. In San Diego there were about 10 of us in a room, only some of whom had children, and we had paid more than a thousand dollars in childcare to be there, plus our travel costs and registration…and at least half of us were un-salaried ministers. Just FYI.)
4) Bringing in the big published names and paying them as keynotes is cycle we need to break. We have to find a way to distribute our limited funds more equitably. Why sponsor the pepole who are already getting sponsored via publishing contracts and paid pastoring gigs? Of course people deserve to be paid for their time and work, but is there someway we can creatively spread the funds around? This requires big dreaming and brainstorming. Finding the marginal voices is essential, and it will cost those in power something to get them there. For instance, when I get paid for a conference gig, I “tithe” part of it to women, preferably ethnic miniorites, so they can attend. What little power I have, I strive to share — and it’s hard! I don’t want to give it away because I feel like I don’t have much. Believe me, it’s a discipline. But we need to practice it. I wish I had more ideas about how to do this…
5) Find Bob Eckblad and hang on his every word. He’s been invaluable to many of us privledged folks by helping us see why we need the poor and the marginalized, and how they can lead us into a fuller expression of the kingdom. He’s also managed to mix social justice with charismatic experiences/healing — which are two things no branch of the body should be without.
6) Stop publishing books that are really just long articles and publish a journal of long articles instead. Hire a woman to manage this. Invite lots of women and ethnic minorities to write in it. We might not be able to squeeze out a book in between child care and ministry, but we could write some damn fine articles.
7) Don’t go anywhere without a woman. Make sure they get invited to the pub, the hooka outing, the cigar fest — whatever. Invite them with you to talk to your publisher. Everytime you write an article, recommend a female pracitioner/writer to the magazine editor. Make sure every conference gig you get has women speakers — hell, make it part of your speaking contract. Make sure the sole woman on your planning team isn’t the secretary/administrator. And if you see women getting run over by predominately male voices in anything you are at, stop the conversation and kick open the door.
8) Go on an unseen practioners tour. Take a couple of the Emergent leaders and tour around to see the people that are doing the small, unnoticed things. Visit Wicker Park Grace and Liz Rio’s community, have lunch with Claudia Burney and attend Brittany Ouchida’s thursday night gathering. Ask Jen Lemen to hook you up with every “unkown” who’s doing the stuff. Then listen. (Damn, I wish I could do that tour.)
Phew! Didn’t know I had all that in me. I’ve got to run to an appointment. Thanks for all your hard hard hard work. Hope this was illuminating.
-Rachelle
Hmmm. Sounds like the Emergent Church has the same problems including women as mainstream does…. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
I really think what you’re saying would make a huge difference. The emergent church NEEDS women and minorities more than it knows it does.
Very interesting. I wish men would do as you advise everywhere… at work, at home, at play… not just at church. You know, sometimes I feel so overrun by men that I gave my daughter a male middle name so at least on paper should could appear powerful when she grew up. Instead of being just “Elizabeth”, she could be “E. Franklin” when she had too.
Proverbe ne peut mentir.
That’s some good stuff. Appreciate your thoughts.
Brilliant! Thank you, Rachelle. I hope the emerging powers that be listen. Thanks… again.
wow rachelle. thanks for giving us a voice. i’m a 4′3 woman so i am even smaller in power than the average woman.
thanks for seeing us.
if you want to know what a government, household, or religious movement values . . . look at its wallet . . . this idea of scholarships for women, ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged to attend ‘core’ gatherings would certainly speak volumes . . . i suspect that it will be up to the men to determine if that approach is consistent with a Christian worldview . . . it would certainly be a tangible method to live out the assumption that people are more important than things . . . like money! (Rom 12:10b)
Hmm. Funny Liz should speak about girls’ names: when we learned my wife was expecting (and, owing to a cvs procedure, discovered that the baby would be a “she”), we resolved not to give our child any feminized masculine names, like Charlotte (Charles), Joan (John) etc etc.
When we did finally apply her names, we chose them for entirely different reasons, but with the same (accidental) result.
There is something about naming conferring a power…
Great post. I will be linking to it at the Emergent Diversity site.
How do we find Bob Eckblad? And is he related to David Ruis? He sounds quite similar.
Pat,
You’re luck because Bob is in our own backyard! Here’s the link http://www.peoplesseminary.org/. You would love him because he’s recently caught the holy spirit healing prayer bug and has combined practical social justice work with vineyard-style healing prayer. amazing to see someone ‘doing the stuff’ in the world outside the church walls. I’m not ready to dive back into that world — too beat up from the last time — but I really like the fresh way Bob is applying these spiritual gifts.
Actually, he would have been GREATR to book for the February “Holy Spirit” conference Jim’s putting on (Off the Map) with David.
bob also recently got a book deal (thank the good lord!) It’s ” “Reading the Bible with the Damned.” I haven’t read the book, but I’ve heard Bob speak on this topic and it’s life changing. Your perspective will totally shift. Truly transformational.
R
jay,
could you post that site in the comments please…i’m not sure how many folks know it out there.
r
great list — I hope those in power, yeah - the middle-aged white guys, take up your suggestions. Although I appreciate my guy-only time (re: 7) it’s certainly correlated with the concentration of power.
craig,
most of the best emergent plannign stuff happens around the guiness…thus the plea to bring the women along.
wouldn’t it be funny the standard emergent hangout switched from cigars to pedicures? (just helping the gender sterotypes along…:-)
r
You know you’re emerging if….
http://purgatorio1.blogspot.com/2005/11/you-might-be-emerging-if.html
This is tongue-in-cheek, so I hope it doesn’t offend. I thought it was pretty well done, and it definitely starts off with the “White male” thing…
good stuff..love the one about articles instead of one big article called a book..
mark
Excellent thoughts! I would add:
(9) Get out of USA/Canada/Western Europe/Oceania and spend some time in the “rest” of the world, i.e., the so-called Developing World such as Africa, parts of Asia, or Latin America. This is good medicine to experience a different culture firsthand and learn some things (not to mention getting one’s head outta one’s arse).
Emergence only occurs at the boundaries and margins. Whether we’re talking about mold or a political movement, there is no emergence in the center but only endurance Therefore, unless this “conversation” continues to tap the boundary layer, it will stagnate and become the Inert Coagulum that it seeks to “emerge” from.
re: 15 -
I know just what you mean.
Hope you don’t mind me hanging around. I’m enjoying your writing.
you’re right on…us small fish can’t swim in the big ponds…the upcoming conference in Seattle in April is what, $150 for 2 days? and that’s just to come HEAR people talk…to really become part of the “conversation”, one has to get out to more than one conference…and wouldn’t it be amazing if someone, somewhere thought of including free childcare???i’d also love to see more support and resources for us lay people doing ministry…
R
Thanks for this post. I appreciate that you would share what you did. You know that twice I did get to go to EC but that was because Jen and her friends advocated for $ to have me and other people of color there. I don’t think many do count the cost and its sometimes viewed as an unwelcomed other thing to do …to get people of color to come to events. We do have something to say, another perspective but like always we will do what we do and if anyone cares to ask us, we’ll share. That is why I appreciate Jay and Charlie Wear and others like you who at least remember there are other sides and different world views. Again thanks for advocating for us.
Crap.
How did it take me so long to find you out here???!!!
Speak it!
Dear Rachelle…just saw your reply to my question…thank you for such a great reply. That is the most helpful thing I have read that we can work towards. Jason.
Rachelle,
These are important and insightful words. I’m copying them off for my own further thinking even though I have no formal connection with emergent. Until the fullness of Christ’s body is seen, heard, accepted, understood, included and toasting a guiness together . . . we have not emerged enough.
as for pedicures instead of cigars, I’d need some adjusting time. I just visited a spa last weekend for the 1st time in my life for a 30 min. massage and it was quite the cross cultural experience. I’d have to reach into my indigenous people missions training for that one.
Lastly, if I have ever been a part of the problem in being a barrier for a woman’s voice amongst the Body, I want to here publicly apologize and state that I want to be learner.
Words to live by.
Thanks.
Wonderful words Rachelle: Thank you
So agree about the conversations,
it’s not just the size thing, it’s the way conversation is framed around competition (to be heard and to have the final word -or the one after)
it’s also the way that conversations tend to revolve round purposes, issues and ‘things’ rather than contributing to relating as the way forward.
Of course women have ‘learned’ how to do man-talk but it doesn’t do us, or anyone, much good in the long run.
This is why I track Maggi Dawn’s blog. We need to keep hearing this stuff and being challenged. We don’t naturally think from others’ perspective and change is tough work. Don’t give up on us. A small practical thing for those of us who read blogs would be to check the gender ratio of the bloggers we track.
I’m with Erin. HOw come I haven’t found you before! I love your honesty and your passion
If there were such a scholarship fund for women and minorities to attend, I would definitely contribute to it. I’m coming from the Chicago/west Emergent cohort and plan to recruit like crazy for the 07 event among such groups.
Thanks for your blog…I’ve enjoyed reading and lurking since I heard you speak in Nashville this past May at the EC.
here’s a novel idea for the emergent conversation
truth-seeker reports idea for emergent’s future that she shared with Jason Clark. Among other thing it included this “novel ideas”
1) Emergent should provide scholarships for women and ethnic minorities to attend ‘core’ gathering…