2008.

I did the whole "reflections" thing with my Top 10 Emergent/Missional/Post-Evangelical Blog Posts of 2008 a few weeks back. Turned out to be wildly popular (HT: TSK). (By the way, anyone who's getting tired of my mentioning/playing-off-of the success of that post, rest assured, this will be my last act of such blatant traffic-consciousness).

Now it's time to look ahead.

So here are my top 10 Emergent/Missional/Post-Evangelical predictions for 2009. As with the Top 10 Blog Posts, and in keeping with the permeable definitions inherent in our little movement, these predictions touch on various aspects/dimensions of E/M/P-E: some tech, some theology, some...well, you'll see.

Also, in keeping with the theme of "looking ahead," this list offers something that the Top 10 Blog Posts didn't:

INTERACTIVITY, BABY!!!

That's right, we're getting high-tech here at Parables. Now, you can join in the fun by letting the world know what YOU think about how likely each of these predictions are!

(Really, I promise, no more of this nonsense in '09. I think it's a new-year-giddiness thing.)

So, without further ado...


10. N.T. Wright releases 4th installment in his Christian Origins and the Question of God series; Trevin Wax reviews the hell out of it.


9. Facebook succeeds in it's hostile takeover of every other social media site on the Internet; Twitter holds out until late Fall, but cannot reasonably refuse history's first $100 trillion offer.


8. The Rob Bell Show on TBN.


7. A rich and famous celebrity will come to a true faith in Christ and engage in a shocking, well-publicized act of self-sacrificial love.


6. A rich and famous celebrity will become a Christian, begin leading a non-debaucherous lifestyle, and tell anyone who will listen how Jesus saved him/her from a previously-debaucherous lifestyle.


5. iMonk finally caves, converts to Catholicism. C'mon, we all knew Denise would win in the end!


4. EMERGING PENTECOSTALISM!


3. Phyllis Tickle's "Gathering Center" imagery from The Great Emergence finally replaces Neo's (Brian McLaren's fictional character from A New Kind of Christian and The Story We Find Ourselves In) above-the-line-circular-hand-gestures as the supra-linguistic method of choice to explain E/M/P-E; most people continue to nod in apparent understanding but still don't get it.


2. First Emerging Church Ecumenical Council called in Seattle, Washington, to discuss the great unresolved theological issues of E/M/P-E; Council disbands after three days of fierce debate when members fail to agree on a name for the movement.


1. POST-EMERGING CHURCH!!!


That's it for '08. See you (with a lot less gimmicks, hopefully) in '09.

Happy New Year.

Grace and Peace,
Raffi