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| Good essay over on SeedStories. Gordon Duncan writes a horrified response to George Barna's Revolution. My response to Gordon's essay follows:
I agree with Jeff. Those "revolutionaries" who truly want to be disciples of Jesus Christ will find themselves forming groups which others will call "churches," even if the revolutionaries dislike that term (and they shouldn't). Attempting to love the existing church into becoming a vital branch of the vine might only lead to frustration; Jeff's baby analogy is a great one. At the same time, I applaud you, Gordon, for fighting for churches as a concept. However, it is difficult to see how an American (which implies busyness) can live a "robust spiritual life" while being suffocated by the established church's programs and activities. Perhaps retirees can be devoted followers of Christ, but there is no time for the employed churchgoer to spend extensive quiet time with God AND build relationships with people in the community, living out the gospel to them. It's paradoxical but true: BEING the (real) church requires saying NO to the (brick & mortar) church!
(That doesn't mean you have to leave the church, but you do have to be very good at saying no to its desire to fill up your calendar.) | | |
| I'm excited by Marcus Yoars' Transfaith: Does It Matter?. Yes, it "sticks it to" the established church once again; it's become too easy a target. But that's not why I'm excited by it. The end of the article, and Yvonne's comment below it, bring amazing clarity for me.
The Church is an easy target because it's composed of humans with all their frailties. Yes, the Church fails utterly as a community of fellowship. There are small pockets of hope, small communities here and there, but they are rarely sufficient. They are fellowships for a tiny portion of the week, but they will never meet our need for community. The Body of Christ is not a family, and it looks like it never will be. Those of us blessed with good families when we were children experienced the only family we'll ever have here on earth. "Church" will never be that close, that nurturing. "Small group" may be nurturing and supportive, but it will never be the ubiquitous, full-time, 24-7 family of our childhood.
Yvonne responds to the article by doing what its final paragraph calls its readers to do: point to Jesus. Jesus will be the full-time companion we crave. He will not let us down; He will not abandon us; He will not turn His back. Cultivating a relationship with Jesus which is close enough to meet our needs for intimacy and true fellowship is an adventure into the spiritual realm.
Yes, I'm excited by this article & comment, because it explains some things about some in the Emerging Church. I can't say that I've been entirely at peace with some of the expressions used, as some of its writers seem to be treading on the thin ice of Eastern mysticism. Marcus Yoars exclaims, "How sad is it for us believers that Redding—and countless other Christians willing to compromise their beliefs—can only find this authenticity in another faith?"
Join the tide of Authentic Christianity! Accept no substitutes! Commit yourself to daily, even hourly, realignment of yourself toward God and His path for you. And as our lives point more and more strongly to Jesus, perhaps others will begin to find themselves drawn to Him as well. | | |
| This from the closing paragraph of a wonderful essay on churchplanting:
We’re all committed to do our part in fulfilling the mission on this earth that Jesus started 2000 years ago. And remember if it doesn’t all look clear to you now, sweet, you’re probably on the right track because, well it’s emerging, and if it looked familiar, you’d probably just be going in circles.
Grant Thiessen, "Why We Exist?"
Now, go read the entire thing. It's worth it!
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| This post has been rated  - Parent or guardian approval required for minors under 18. | | |
| I've just finished reading an incredible article, entitled "Confessions of a Jesus Impersonator," by Andy White. Wow.
This is one that really gets to the heart of our living for Christ. He even addresses the emerging church (else why would they have posted his article on their site?  ) and the concept of being missional rather than institutional. It's not a new concern that the emerging church avoid ending up just like the modern church it seeks to leave behind; I believe that Andy does the best job of explaining just what it is we seek to avoid, and what we can do to avoid that fate.
What must be done is costly. It can be painful. It takes time. It takes a lot of concentration. We must deliberately submit to Jesus' transforming Presence and power. And we have to do it over and over, day by day, hour by hour. We can't just sit around and hammer out policies to ensure our emerging church remains pure and passionate for God's kingdom. Instead, we must personally be transformed by the living God, and join together as a family of pure and passionate servants of God. That's when we'll see our church be the Church. | | |
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