Implications but there's probably a better word...

I considered slowly striving to make the titles longer than the posts...something creative and out of the ordinary to strive for ...

...but in the meantime...

Among other things, as I'm reading about post-modern churches, I'm thinking about the implications for those who write for children (because I write for children) and those who write curriculum (because we're trying to do creative hands-on activities with the kids at church to draw them into whatever the topic is in the worship gathering). Alot of creative people who love to write and create may find enough of an audience and opportunity for expression in their local communities and never feel a need to seek publication for a larger audience. But writers may still be enabler/facilitators (in the healthy sense of the word) and vision casters beyond their local community. They can help build bridges for people who may never understand each other without the bridges.

Postmoderns seem to be thinking "wholistic,""inclusive," "story," "journey," "beauty," stewarding culture and creation, loving people vs. converting them - among other things. They think "art" in the richest sense of the word. They aren't afraid of imagination and fantasy but see imagination as another God-given facet of who we are and a tool for "painting" pictures and parables to facilitate communication. They seem to be making a real effort not to compartmentalize life and faith but rather to filter life through faith, thinking "layers" in the literary sense of the word. Someone under 40 can probably better explain. That's my take right now.

I'm guessing that they're thinking of learning by observation, discovery, and discussion as opposed to lecture, memorization, punch and color or cultural cloning in church programs. And again, without the compartmentalization. They have a deep respect for historic tradition combined with a deep desire to include and engage those who are immersed in the culture around them in their discussions. They want to encounter God in an authentic, meaningful and personal way and in community - not as a one time experience. They want to be able to invite others to join them on their faith/life journey.

Someone else can probably do a better job adding other dimensions. If I go back through my notes from Webber's Younger Evangelicals and keep adding details, this will get long. :-) You can read the book. (You can read lots of books!)

And my question is what are the implications for writers? What are the implications for teaching and learning? What are the implications for families? [my feeling about families is that postmoderns will give them the freedom to be who they are, care about the things they care about and participate in the wider world as their expression of faith - as their spiritual service of worship and yet remain vital members of their faith community.]

It isn't neccessarily that these ideas are new so much as new churches seem to be more focused on elements like these and there are bound to be implications for writers, for learning, for families though not limited to those areas.

Of course, writing is largely personal expression and if it's happening on the inside, eventually it will show itself on the outside. Learning is like that too.