Antenna06 (First impressions)

The so long expected day of the Emergent Conversation in Belgium Antenna06 arrived. It was on Saturday March 18th, at the Brussels Vineyard Church in Evere. It gathered arround 50 people from different backgrounds, ages, denominations, and places in Flanders, Belgium.

The guest speakers were Jason Clark from the UK, Rogier Bos (from The Nederlands), Filip Tregunna and Filip de Cavel from Belgium. It was of course a great opportunity to know others and share our visions, frustrations and strategies to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the post-modern society in a relevant way.

Our Church had a very important presence: David, Dirk, Jeroen, Michael, Steven and myself. I believe because being relevant for the present generation is one of the subjects that keep our minds busy. And because each of us has a different opinion on how things should be done and how to go further together, blessing Gent and Belgium.

In general terms, it was an eye opener for many who were present at the Antenna06 day. Although we share the same frustrations, particularly the fact tha we, as Church (in the inclusive sense), failed to communicate with the post-modern society, we were not all aware of the recent developments and the need of a change in paradigms. Therefore, the conference was indeed very helpful to present to the audience what emergent truly is, and the challenges that changing our paradigms bring to the Church.

I enjoyed particularly Filip DC's presentation, where he showed clearly the boundaries between postmodern thinking and modern (or post-enlightment) thinking, with all its variants within the scope of the Christian Church in Flanders. Filip T's presentation was also challenging: how to communicate the gospel in a very fast changing society. And I loved that all the presentations were done professionally. The guests also did a good job, particularly by explaining what emergent is or is percieved by some people.

The afternoon session was devoted to small groups discussions, that promoted participation and gave the opportunity to many to bring their concerns and hopes to the group. I hope i will be able to write more about this interesting day in the future.

Blessings,

ARMANDO

PS Filip, I hope you don't mind I use your picture, but the batteries of my photo camera were flat on Saturday and could not make my own pictures!