Tom Sine's The New Conspirators

Conversation one of Sine’s work examines the four streams—emerging, missional, mosaic, and monastic—that have surfaced as the significant movements to renew and reimagine the Western Church in recent years. This section of the book provides a succinct description of each of the movements without resorting to absolute definitions or pigeonholing each group into specific categories. Therefore, Sine begins his book with a foundation through which to understand the new directions in which the Western Church is moving and thus which will have an influence on my own future church plant.

Conversation two then examines the impact of globalization, how the world has changed post-9/11, and how it is being influenced by the Western values of individualism and materialism. Therefore, we as the Church must make a conscious effort not to promote a direct link between Western cultural values and Christianity at large. We must also be aware that globalization and materialism have defined our eschatological hope and have a direct effect on other cultures. As a future church planter, I and my team must seek ways to combat these influences proactively.

The third section of Sine’s book continues the conversation begun in section two. This section is essential because of the way it reimages Christian eschatology as a homecoming of sorts in which God’s creation will eventually be restored and thus in which we get to participate now through the work of the Kingdom. Such a theological notion is essential for how we as the Church work to embody the missio dei and strive to be missional. Furthermore, it influences the sorts of celebrations that we have, the way in which we live our daily lives, and how readily we pay attention and respond to the injustice occurring around us—aspects of a church which are all important to consider throughout the planting process.

I found conversation four to be the most helpful out of all of the sections in Sine’s book, as it outlines specific examples of ways existing and new churches can research the cultural changes occurring around them and thus look ahead to the future accordingly. This allows a church to be proactive and combat the challenges that they might face (i.e. environmental issues, poverty and economic disparity, the declining church) while also seeking to provide positive alternatives to these situations.

Finally, conversation five of Sine’s work is important because it tells stories of specific ways in which church communities are creatively addressing the changes occurring within the world and thus within the church. This section is important for the final paper because of the wealth of first-hand accounts it provides on things like the use of ancient liturgy, missional approaches to church, and kingdom-living practices.