Showing posts with label Emerging Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emerging Church. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
For Faith to Flourish...
For faith to flourish it must engage in a vigorous conversation with its own past and with contemporary culture. It is about looking backwards and forwards. Christian faith must neither amount to simple repetition of past doctrinal formulations, nor a mere echoing of present attitudes, but must be a dialectic between the two. - Dave Tomlinson
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Mission of the Church and the Methods of the Church
There is much discussion these days about the mission of the church and existing patterns and methods of church.
Of course this discussion has been going on for 2000 years; it seems though that the intensity of this discussion is at a level unseen in recent history.
What is the churches mission and how can it best fulfil that mission? The ‘what’ of the church and the ‘how’ of the church. To me these seem to be the questions at the heart of the emerging church conversation.
For years the ‘what’ question for the church was seen by most to have a satisfactory answer in; ‘save souls from going to hell.’ Preach the message of the cross in order that sinners might repent of their sins and find forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and thus be converted to Christianity. Plundering hell to populate heaven was a slogan or bumper sticker I seem to recall seeing or hearing along the way.
The ‘how’ was then seen to be a no brainer. Preach, teach, evangelise and pray; what is now referred to a ‘ministry’ model of running church. At least this seems to have been method of outworking this in the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches of Australasia. Ministry through the enabling of the Holy Spirit and the outworking of the gifts of the Spirit. Ephesians 4:11-13 has been a core passage of scripture in regards to this, and He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Beginning in the early 80’s and really coming to fruition in the last 10 years or so there as been a shift from a ‘ministry’ model of church to a ‘leadership’ model. Leadership was seen to be an essential ‘how’ in making the ‘what’ a reality. Young leaders within the church, with an appreciation that most churches in the world were under 200, saw this ‘ministry’ model as a limited ‘how’ as they sort to reach lost people and build the church. Looking to some of the larger churches that did exist and outside the church at the business world, the leadership model began to take prominence. This model has sought to promote more effective ministry though the promotion of leadership within the church. Leadership is seen to build the church, by building and releasing ministry that builds people. At times the leadership model has been criticised as being too ‘corporate’ or too ‘structured’; it has been accused of limiting the ‘move of the Spirit.’ However in many places it has been very effective in creating structures that have allowed ministries to grow, expand, and multiply which has lead to a lot of church growth.
With this history of ministry and a focus on leadership many of today’s young leaders have grown up theologically illiterate, or at best with a very basic and simplistic theology. This is causing many of today’s young leaders, particularly those of the Millennial Generation (aka Gen Y), to begin asking afresh the ‘what’ and then necessarily, the ‘how’ question of mission and method within the church. What are they actually trying to do as Christian leaders, leading in this thing called the church? A question that is being discussed with reformation like intensity.
Largely this discussion seems to be being led by those in the emerging church, even though the figure heads, leaders, key voices, (Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Scott McKnight, Dan Kimball, Tony Jones, and many others etc) are an older generation. The thing is; what they are talking about is resonating with a young generation.
The old ‘what’ save souls from going to hell seems so narrow. Say a prayer of repentance, repeated after a preacher up the front, recite the right words, and that’s it? Now you are not going to go to hell? Now you’re a Christian? Young people intuitively know that there has to be more to it than that; the problems and issues in the world are bigger than that. The ‘what’ has to be bigger. Following Jesus today in the 21st Century has to be as revolutionary as it was in the 1st Century. It must be an all encompassing life changing adventure that will turn your life upside down. We intuitively know it must be so, and we want it to be so.
Different voices offer a wide variety of answers to the ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions. Most of the answers and conclusions are not new, in the sense that they have been outworked somewhere along the line in church history. However, most of the answers are new to a new generation. Mark Sayers summarizes a number of different fractions all of which will have their own versions of mission (what) and method (how) thus making them distinct from one another. You can see his summary here and it is defiantly worth a read.
What is a Christian?
What is the mission of the church?
What is the best way to go about fulfilling that mission?
Of course this discussion has been going on for 2000 years; it seems though that the intensity of this discussion is at a level unseen in recent history.
What is the churches mission and how can it best fulfil that mission? The ‘what’ of the church and the ‘how’ of the church. To me these seem to be the questions at the heart of the emerging church conversation.
For years the ‘what’ question for the church was seen by most to have a satisfactory answer in; ‘save souls from going to hell.’ Preach the message of the cross in order that sinners might repent of their sins and find forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and thus be converted to Christianity. Plundering hell to populate heaven was a slogan or bumper sticker I seem to recall seeing or hearing along the way.
The ‘how’ was then seen to be a no brainer. Preach, teach, evangelise and pray; what is now referred to a ‘ministry’ model of running church. At least this seems to have been method of outworking this in the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches of Australasia. Ministry through the enabling of the Holy Spirit and the outworking of the gifts of the Spirit. Ephesians 4:11-13 has been a core passage of scripture in regards to this, and He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Beginning in the early 80’s and really coming to fruition in the last 10 years or so there as been a shift from a ‘ministry’ model of church to a ‘leadership’ model. Leadership was seen to be an essential ‘how’ in making the ‘what’ a reality. Young leaders within the church, with an appreciation that most churches in the world were under 200, saw this ‘ministry’ model as a limited ‘how’ as they sort to reach lost people and build the church. Looking to some of the larger churches that did exist and outside the church at the business world, the leadership model began to take prominence. This model has sought to promote more effective ministry though the promotion of leadership within the church. Leadership is seen to build the church, by building and releasing ministry that builds people. At times the leadership model has been criticised as being too ‘corporate’ or too ‘structured’; it has been accused of limiting the ‘move of the Spirit.’ However in many places it has been very effective in creating structures that have allowed ministries to grow, expand, and multiply which has lead to a lot of church growth.
With this history of ministry and a focus on leadership many of today’s young leaders have grown up theologically illiterate, or at best with a very basic and simplistic theology. This is causing many of today’s young leaders, particularly those of the Millennial Generation (aka Gen Y), to begin asking afresh the ‘what’ and then necessarily, the ‘how’ question of mission and method within the church. What are they actually trying to do as Christian leaders, leading in this thing called the church? A question that is being discussed with reformation like intensity.
Largely this discussion seems to be being led by those in the emerging church, even though the figure heads, leaders, key voices, (Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Scott McKnight, Dan Kimball, Tony Jones, and many others etc) are an older generation. The thing is; what they are talking about is resonating with a young generation.
The old ‘what’ save souls from going to hell seems so narrow. Say a prayer of repentance, repeated after a preacher up the front, recite the right words, and that’s it? Now you are not going to go to hell? Now you’re a Christian? Young people intuitively know that there has to be more to it than that; the problems and issues in the world are bigger than that. The ‘what’ has to be bigger. Following Jesus today in the 21st Century has to be as revolutionary as it was in the 1st Century. It must be an all encompassing life changing adventure that will turn your life upside down. We intuitively know it must be so, and we want it to be so.
Different voices offer a wide variety of answers to the ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions. Most of the answers and conclusions are not new, in the sense that they have been outworked somewhere along the line in church history. However, most of the answers are new to a new generation. Mark Sayers summarizes a number of different fractions all of which will have their own versions of mission (what) and method (how) thus making them distinct from one another. You can see his summary here and it is defiantly worth a read.
What is a Christian?
What is the mission of the church?
What is the best way to go about fulfilling that mission?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Underwhelming Christianity
For a number of reasons; the reasonably anti-establishment attitude of our postmodern world, the busyness and burnout of our fast past culture, the nature of the mega church (1000 plus people), a fresh appreciation by church leaders in regards to what a Sunday service can and cannot achieve in the life of a believer, and so on, the 21st Century Church, (at least the Australasian Charismatic/Pentecostal churches I am most familiar with), has pulled back a lot on the expectation it has for its church members. Where members were once encouraged and expected to attend two services on a Sunday, attending one is now OK. Where members were often serving in multiple departments or areas of the church, one area of service is a more healthy expectation. All sorts of things have changed. I'm all for most of them. Without losing the fact that the church is central and essential to God's plan for redemption in the world; a de-institutionalisation of some aspects of our spiritual walk is a healthy thing.
What is unhealthy is a distortion of what it means to follow Christ. We cannot afford to reduce Christianity to a prayer asking for forgiveness and then leave it at that. To do this is to promote and underwhelming Christianity. A version, if it can be called that, of Christianity which is most likely not Christianity at all.
To follow Christ, to be a disciple of Christ, means a whole new way of life. It means a whole new worldview and approach to everything we do. New goals, new priorities, new purpose, new standards, new ways of measuring success, new paradigms, new attitudes, new hope; a whole new life.
An underwhelming Christianity will not draw a new generation to the things of God, it will push them away. The Millennial Generation (Gen Y) live in a world where upgrades, expansions, modifications, extra additions, add ons, and so fourth are available in every area of life from their iPods, to their facebook page, to their cars, to their own bodies. Following Christ is not an addition to ones life it is a whole new way of life. And that is the very thing about Christianity that will attract the next generation. This is the thing that I love about my faith, about following Christ, yet after living my whole life as a Christian, I think I am only just beginning to get it.
The next generation has to get it from the start.
I haven't read the book yet, but I think these guys are getting it.
What is unhealthy is a distortion of what it means to follow Christ. We cannot afford to reduce Christianity to a prayer asking for forgiveness and then leave it at that. To do this is to promote and underwhelming Christianity. A version, if it can be called that, of Christianity which is most likely not Christianity at all.
To follow Christ, to be a disciple of Christ, means a whole new way of life. It means a whole new worldview and approach to everything we do. New goals, new priorities, new purpose, new standards, new ways of measuring success, new paradigms, new attitudes, new hope; a whole new life.
An underwhelming Christianity will not draw a new generation to the things of God, it will push them away. The Millennial Generation (Gen Y) live in a world where upgrades, expansions, modifications, extra additions, add ons, and so fourth are available in every area of life from their iPods, to their facebook page, to their cars, to their own bodies. Following Christ is not an addition to ones life it is a whole new way of life. And that is the very thing about Christianity that will attract the next generation. This is the thing that I love about my faith, about following Christ, yet after living my whole life as a Christian, I think I am only just beginning to get it.
The next generation has to get it from the start.
I haven't read the book yet, but I think these guys are getting it.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Distorting Our Perspective
As a Christian I believe that the only way to truly, accurately, and correctly perceive, understand and interpret life and the world we live in is through the bible.
The grand-narrative out of which I live my life must be God's story.
Aside from the at times difficult yet not insurmountable challenges of accurately understanding the bible; there are a number of other things that will distort my view of God's word as i read it. A number of these have come to light as I have been wrestling with many of the issues to do with poverty, consumerism, generosity and so on.
All of us must be aware of these issues as we look to develop a biblical worldview from which we live life.
1. Western worldview - my perspective on life is essentially a western worldview, I must be aware of when my western perspective and how easy it is for me to assume this is a correct perspective. I must search for a biblical perspective and also be careful not to interpret Scripture as would be most convenient for me and my western worldview.
2. Folk theology - many of my beliefs and my understanding of what certain passages of the bible mean, as well as being distorted by a western perspective, will have been shaped by folk theology. Perhaps poor theology is a better term. Growing up in church you hear thousands of sermons over the years. At times comments regarding, thoughts concerning, and meanings of biblical text are presented in an enlightening and inspirational manner but are actually poor theology and far from an evangelical understanding.
3. Discipleship challenge - following Christ should change the way you live life. It should change your priorities, your goals, your dreams, everything. As we journey closer in our relationship with Jesus this will become more and more of a reality. There comes a point where we move from looking for God's blessing and favor for our dreams and goals, to actually letting go of our dreams and goals in order to give our lives in the pursuit of him and his purposes. This can be a challenging and difficult transition. While-ever we approach God's word only looking for how it can bless us and help us with the goals we are working towards, it has the potential to distort our perspective.
The grand-narrative out of which I live my life must be God's story.
Aside from the at times difficult yet not insurmountable challenges of accurately understanding the bible; there are a number of other things that will distort my view of God's word as i read it. A number of these have come to light as I have been wrestling with many of the issues to do with poverty, consumerism, generosity and so on.
All of us must be aware of these issues as we look to develop a biblical worldview from which we live life.
1. Western worldview - my perspective on life is essentially a western worldview, I must be aware of when my western perspective and how easy it is for me to assume this is a correct perspective. I must search for a biblical perspective and also be careful not to interpret Scripture as would be most convenient for me and my western worldview.
2. Folk theology - many of my beliefs and my understanding of what certain passages of the bible mean, as well as being distorted by a western perspective, will have been shaped by folk theology. Perhaps poor theology is a better term. Growing up in church you hear thousands of sermons over the years. At times comments regarding, thoughts concerning, and meanings of biblical text are presented in an enlightening and inspirational manner but are actually poor theology and far from an evangelical understanding.
3. Discipleship challenge - following Christ should change the way you live life. It should change your priorities, your goals, your dreams, everything. As we journey closer in our relationship with Jesus this will become more and more of a reality. There comes a point where we move from looking for God's blessing and favor for our dreams and goals, to actually letting go of our dreams and goals in order to give our lives in the pursuit of him and his purposes. This can be a challenging and difficult transition. While-ever we approach God's word only looking for how it can bless us and help us with the goals we are working towards, it has the potential to distort our perspective.
Monday, March 9, 2009
There are more important conversations to be having…
You’re involved in more conversations right now than you probably realize. You could have face book open and be talking to a friend on the other side of the world. A work colleague or family member may be talking to you right now. Perhaps you have just sent a text or an e-mail and are waiting for a reply. Even if none of those things are happening you likely have 5 or 6 conversations going on in your head.
- You’re talking to yourself about what conversations you might have going on at the moment.
- You’re reminding yourself and talking to yourself about some of the things you still need to get done today or this week.
- You’re trying to solve some sort of problem you are facing or answer a question you have regarding something or other.
- You’re replaying a literal conversation you had with someone recently, perhaps a disagreement, you’re thinking of all the great lines you’d use now if you had that conversation again.
- You’re talking to me (or at least my blog) as you agree or disagree with what I have written.
Some of your conversations may be paused at the moment, some you may be avoiding, others you might be trying to instigate or close.
Most of the conversations that you have going on at the moment will be about reasonably unimportant things. Sure they might be a big deal to you right now but in the bigger scheme of things they are probably not that major. Most of them are probably to do with yourself and your immediate needs, wants, desires, etc. It’s not likely that many of them are going to change the course of your life.
There are more important conversations to be having. Most importantly; with God, his word, and with yourself. With the people around you; with friends, family, workmates
There are some big issues in the world (global issues) that actually need to be addressed at a personal level.
Here are some of the big issues I believe need addressing. Particularly perhaps by 21st Century Western Christians and potentially resulting in some radical changes; a 21st Century Reformation? I’m not sure.
Consumerism and Generosity
Materialism and Simplicity
Individualism and Community
Production and Sustainability
Opportunity and Sacrifice
Fighting and Surrender
I look forward to expanding on these in the future.
- You’re talking to yourself about what conversations you might have going on at the moment.
- You’re reminding yourself and talking to yourself about some of the things you still need to get done today or this week.
- You’re trying to solve some sort of problem you are facing or answer a question you have regarding something or other.
- You’re replaying a literal conversation you had with someone recently, perhaps a disagreement, you’re thinking of all the great lines you’d use now if you had that conversation again.
- You’re talking to me (or at least my blog) as you agree or disagree with what I have written.
Some of your conversations may be paused at the moment, some you may be avoiding, others you might be trying to instigate or close.
Most of the conversations that you have going on at the moment will be about reasonably unimportant things. Sure they might be a big deal to you right now but in the bigger scheme of things they are probably not that major. Most of them are probably to do with yourself and your immediate needs, wants, desires, etc. It’s not likely that many of them are going to change the course of your life.
There are more important conversations to be having. Most importantly; with God, his word, and with yourself. With the people around you; with friends, family, workmates
There are some big issues in the world (global issues) that actually need to be addressed at a personal level.
Here are some of the big issues I believe need addressing. Particularly perhaps by 21st Century Western Christians and potentially resulting in some radical changes; a 21st Century Reformation? I’m not sure.
Consumerism and Generosity
Materialism and Simplicity
Individualism and Community
Production and Sustainability
Opportunity and Sacrifice
Fighting and Surrender
I look forward to expanding on these in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)