I’ve been watching a lot of Ovation TV since I discovered it a couple weeks ago. Many of the designers they speak to are  fascinating beyond what they have to say about the things they design. Many of them could be classified as philosophers just as easily. One such man was John Maeda. In addition to his degrees from MIT in computers and electrical engineering, he is also an art school graduate, the current president of the Rhode Island School of Design, and author of the book The Laws of Simplicity.

One statement he made caught my attention: “Creative people are very comfortable with ambiguity.” That made me think of the leaders of the Emerging Church movement. The ideas put forth in Brian McLaren’s A Generous Orthodoxy (see my review here) are downright heretical if you believe in the Law of Antithesis. He seems very comfortable with ambiguity as do many others in the movement. Does this mean that for the first time Christianity is not only attracting mainly creative people to leadership roles but that we could possibly have a generation that doesn’t have a word for heretic? The thought is both awe inspiring and fear provoking at the same time.

I, for one, would love a world where Christians all accepted one another without having to throw around words like heretic when someone thinks differently from the rest of us. However, there is that sticky problem that Paul seems to believe there are people who are heretics. Tolerance for ambiguity could quickly become a license to believe whatever you want. Where would we draw the line in a world that embraces ambiguity?

I believe the progressive wing of the Churches of Christ have come to the most biblical answer I’ve seen regarding the issue. They don’t reduce it down to proposition statements you have to believe (As the United Church of Christ pastor and singer Brian Sirchio says in one of his songs, “Jesus never said, ‘Believe in me I’m the second member of the Trinity.’”)  but they rather reduce it to three situations in which you’ve forfeited the grace of God: First, you no longer believe. Second, you no longer are penitent. And third, you believe you can be saved by something other than grace (i.e. works). You can read a summary of their view by clicking here and by using this table of contents you can read about their position in more detail (look for the sections listed as “progressive”).

In part two I hope to discuss in more depth what I feel constitutes apostasy. My prayer for the Church is that we stop labeling everyone who disagrees with us as a heretic but also keep in mind that there are real heretics. I believe, however, that heresy is a lot more rare than many want to believe.

Today I spent a couple hours on the beach at Lake Michigan swimming, playing with my kids, and thinking about the Emerging Church Movement (ECM).  I thank Andrew for introducing me to Maranatha Bible & Missionary Conference, but blame him for making me think about ECM today!  His link to You Might Be Emergent If… kept many thoughts running through my head…

Like the author of the blog, I have spent a lot of time over the last several years reading and interacting with the Emerging Church Movement.  My thoughts, which are often rather critical, can be found in this article in Reformed Review (an abbreviated version of my ThM thesis).  However, when someone posits a “definition” of ECM such as this I have to stand up for this diverse movement (which as Andrew states in his comments, has taught us a lot).

Simply put, this “definition” is simply too broad to be helpful.  It fails to take into consideration the great diversity of the movement (which originally ranged from solid evangelicals such as Mark Driscoll, Dan Kimball, and Scot McKnight to the “postmodern innovators” such as Tony Jones and Spencer Burke).  Furthermore, it fails to take into consideration many other general trends, not only in Christianity, but in the world today.  Here are some brief comments (original blog listed first, my personal thoughts second):

• “if you listen to U2, Moby, and Johnny Cash’s Hurt (sometimes in church), use sermon illustrations from The Sopranos, drink lattes in the afternoon and Guinness in the evenings, and always use a Mac” – U2 is been one of the most popular bands in the world for 3 decades, Starbucks and McDonalds sell millions/billions of lattes around the world, and Mac is pretty popular too.  This description probably describes billions of people in the world.
• “if your reading list consists primarily of Stanley Hauerwas, Henri Nouwen, N. T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard, Brennan Manning, Jim Wallis, Frederick Buechner, David Bosch, John Howard Yoder, Wendell Berry, Nancy Murphy, John Franke, Walter Winks and Lesslie Newbigin (not to mention McLaren, Pagitt, Bell, etc.) and your sparring partners include D. A. Carson, John Calvin, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Wayne Grudem” – Informed Christians must interact with all of the people in this list.  All of them have written best-sellers that reach across a wide spectrum (even Maranatha has a copy of NT Wright’s book on justification!!).
• “if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Desmond Tutu;” – again, Christians respected by billions of Christians of all stripes.
• “if you don’t like George W. Bush or institutions or big business or capitalism or Left Behind Christianity;” – over 50% of America voted for an anti-Bush candidate, the Baby Boomers were anti-institutional in the 60s (before most ECM’s were born), and Christians of all stripes – especially Reformed – criticize Left Behind.
• “if your political concerns are poverty, AIDS, imperialism, war-mongering, CEO salaries, consumerism, global warming, racism, and oppression and not so much abortion and gay marriage;” – these are important issues for people in all political persuasions, even though the solutions are different.  George W. Bush has done more for African AIDS than any other President.  Is he emergent?
• “if you are into bohemian, goth, rave, or indie;” – I have yet to see a goth emergent leader
• “if you talk about the myth of redemptive violence and the myth of certainty;” – myth is a topic in theology everywhere, including Westminster Theological Seminary and Peter Enns.
• “if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways modernism has ruined your life;” – I’m not sure about nightmares, but there are more and more criticisms of modernity coming from every branch of Christianity.  A good book is The Logic of Renewal which examines renewal movements within Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, many of which are anti-modern (and anti-institutional).  By the way, there are a lot of reasons modernity should scare us.  People in all vocations/belief systems are starting to realize this!
• “if you love the Bible as a beautiful, inspiring collection of works that lead us into the mystery of God but is not inerrant;” – I believe in inerrancy, but A LOT of Christians reject this terminology.  The debate continues, and not just because of emergent.
• “if you search for truth but aren’t sure it can be found;” – not all postmoderns and/or emergents reject truth.  This is a common misunderstanding of the movements.  There are many criticism about foundationalism and certainty and objectivity, but this is not an outright rejection of objective truth.  In fact, this conversation about truth has led a lot of evangelicals to move toward a “soft foundationalism.”
• “if you’ve ever been to a church with prayer labyrinths, candles, Play-Doh, chalk-drawings, couches, or beanbags (your youth group doesn’t count);” – not sure what to say about this…but I think the first two are found in orthodox churches around the world
• “if you loathe words like linear, propositional, rational, machine, and hierarchy and use words like ancient-future, jazz, mosaic, matrix, missional, vintage, and dance;” – there is a whole new science that is rejecting these terms.  This new science is impacting religion, business, science, leadership, etc, etc.  One should read Margaret Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science.  Really it is quantum physics challenging the Newtonian world.
• “if you grew up in a very conservative Christian home that in retrospect seems legalistic, naive, and rigid;” – the reality is that some people have grown up in legalistic homes.  It is interesting that this is a common theme in the lives of many ECM leaders, but it is a common theme in a lot of other lives as well.
• “if you support women in all levels of ministry, prioritize urban over suburban, and like your theology narrative instead of systematic;” – again, this describes such a large swath of Christians that it cannot be said to be the sole property of one group.  I think of egalitarians such as Craig Keener and Gordon Fee.  I think of dozens of scholars talking about narrative theology…
• “if you disbelieve in any sacred-secular divide;” – Reformed theology rejects this, as many in Protestantism claim to…
• “if you want to be the church and not just go to church;” – this is simply sound ecclesiology, which I believe can be found in every age of the church (I have a draft blog on that one).
• “if you long for a community that is relational, tribal, and primal like a river or a garden;” – doesn’t everyone want a relational community?  I think this is obvious from the number of non-ECM churches called the journey/river church.
• “if you believe doctrine gets in the way of an interactive relationship with Jesus;” – it can…this was a concern Jesus had with the Pharisees (a pre-emerging group!).

I could go on but I’m on vacation.  My basic point is this list defines literally millions of Christians and non-Christians around the world.  Because of this it definitely fits many emerging Christians, but it fits many, many others as well.

Let’s interact with the Emerging Church Movement, embracing it when necessary and rejecting it when necessary.  But let us speak in specifics, not over-generalizations that are fun but not helpful.

This definition is from Tim Challies.  It might help you get a handle on the Emergent Church movement.  Maybe we should have an Emergent litmus test.You might be an emergent Christian:

• if you listen to U2, Moby, and Johnny Cash’s Hurt (sometimes in church), use sermon illustrations from The Sopranos, drink lattes in the afternoon and Guinness in the evenings, and always use a Mac;
• if your reading list consists primarily of Stanley Hauerwas, Henri Nouwen, N. T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard, Brennan Manning, Jim Wallis, Frederick Buechner, David Bosch, John Howard Yoder, Wendell Berry, Nancy Murphy, John Franke, Walter Winks and Lesslie Newbigin (not to mention McLaren, Pagitt, Bell, etc.) and your sparring partners include D. A. Carson, John Calvin, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Wayne Grudem;
• if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Desmond Tutu;
• if you don’t like George W. Bush or institutions or big business or capitalism or Left Behind Christianity;
• if your political concerns are poverty, AIDS, imperialism, war-mongering, CEO salaries, consumerism, global warming, racism, and oppression and not so much abortion and gay marriage;
• if you are into bohemian, goth, rave, or indie;
• if you talk about the myth of redemptive violence and the myth of certainty;
• if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways modernism has ruined your life;
• if you love the Bible as a beautiful, inspiring collection of works that lead us into the mystery of God but is not inerrant;
• if you search for truth but aren’t sure it can be found;
• if you’ve ever been to a church with prayer labyrinths, candles, Play-Doh, chalk-drawings, couches, or beanbags (your youth group doesn’t count);
• if you loathe words like linear, propositional, rational, machine, and hierarchy and use words like ancient-future, jazz, mosaic, matrix, missional, vintage, and dance;
• if you grew up in a very conservative Christian home that in retrospect seems legalistic, naive, and rigid;
• if you support women in all levels of ministry, prioritize urban over suburban, and like your theology narrative instead of systematic;
• if you disbelieve in any sacred-secular divide;
• if you want to be the church and not just go to church;
• if you long for a community that is relational, tribal, and primal like a river or a garden;
• if you believe doctrine gets in the way of an interactive relationship with Jesus;
• if you believe who goes to hell is no one’s business and no one may be there anyway;
• if you believe salvation has a little to do with atoning for guilt and a lot to do with bringing the whole creation back into shalom with its Maker;
• if you believe following Jesus is not believing the right things but living the right way;
• if it really bugs you when people talk about going to heaven instead of heaven coming to us;
• if you disdain monological, didactic preaching;
• if you use the word “story” in all your propositions about postmodernism—if all or most of this tortuously long sentence describes you, then you might be an emergent Christian.

I have finished with my updated abstract and also created a page on my blog so it will be easier to view then having to scroll through my posts. We are coming down to the end of this project as our poster presentations are on monday the 27th. Now I need to work on finishing up my poster and sending it out to get printed! My last project will be to revise my draft and add in all of the missing parts (citations and I think one quote) then it should be a little better.

Ok, so for the most part, my draft is done. It obviously needs to be re-read and I need to finish a few things up, like the citations, but I believe that I don’t intend on changing a whole lot more. Also, with the new focus on my research, my abstract needs to be changed and I intend on getting that done later today, after our lunch meeting. I’m thinking I will create a separate page for the abstract, much like the draft, so that its easier to access. After that, I need to finish up the poster, so everything is certainly coming to a close.

Well a lot has certainly happened with myself and my research in the last week or so. If you haven’t had a chance to recently check out my draft page, the old draft was pretty much scraped and a new one has taken form. My research has taken a new focus, a much more specific and defined focus on the emerging church movement. Now I am focusing on the idea of postmodernism and how significant it is to the emerging church movement’s and its views on Christianity. This new focus should allow for a much better understanding of the movement and how/why it is different from traditional Christianity.

Of course, with this new focus, the abstract will have to be changed to include this, and that will take shape hopefully by the end of the week. I am currently researching postmodernism and how well it can be related to religion, and the emerging church movement in specific.

From The Times : November 4, 2004

Spirited away: why the end is nigh for religion

Christianity will be eclipsed by spirituality in 30 years, startling new research predicts. Our correspondent reports on the collapse of traditional religion and the rise of mysticism.

In the beginning there was the Church. And people liked to dress up in their best clothes and go there on Sundays and they praised the Lord and it was good. But it came to pass that people grew tired of the Church and they stopped going, and began to be uplifted by new things such as yoga and t’ai chi instead. And, lo, a spiritual revolution was born.

Article continues … Click Here

at new site “Girded with Truth”

.

from Emerging Church “Fresh Expressions” UK website (bold emphasis added):

Steve Hollinghurst, Researcher in Evangelism to Post-Christian Culture at Church Army’s Sheffield Centre, and Yvonne Richmond (Chaplain for evangelism at Coventry Cathedral) kicked off a national tour ‘Equipping your church in a spiritual age’ designed to help local churches engage with today’s growing interest in spirituality.

Mind, Body, Spirit

Last weekend, Steve was speaking on ‘discovering meditation with the Christian mystics,’ at the 10th Mind, Body, Spirit festival held in Manchester’s G-Mex Centre. This is the second biggest fair of its kind in Britain with over 15,000 visitors shopping for spirituality over three days. You will find herbal remedies, crystals, angel inspired art, past life therapy, spell-casting and various forms of spiritual and psychic healing.

Article continues … Click Here

at new site “Girded with Truth”

.

from Emerging Church “Fresh Expressions” UK website (bold emphasis added):

In August 2004 my wife Jo and I moved to Exeter from London to pursue a clear call from God to start a mission shaped charismatic church. We knew one couple there who knew others who were eager to do something. Our first gathering was a party in a garden and then we found a place to meet in the old dry house on the quay opposite a nightclub. We launched ourselves properly as the Exeter Network Church, (ENC) in January 2005.

Our approach has been to develop an outward focused culture and wean people off dependency on traditional pastoral leadership.

Article continues … Click Here

at new site “Girded with Truth”

.

from Emerging Church “Fresh Expressions” UK website (bold emphasis added):

More than 80 people from all over the south west peninsula gathered in Launceston to explore the implications of the fresh expressions movement for Devon and Cornwall.  Representatives came from churches as far apart as St Just in Penwith (near Land’s End), Paignton and east of Honiton. Pete Pillinger from the Fresh Expressions core team joined with Evangelism Enablers and Missioners from the counties of Devon and Cornwall and parts of Somerset and with Revd John Carne, Methodist Chair of District for Plymouth and Exeter.

Article continues … Click Here

at new site “Girded with Truth”

.

At his Beliefnet blog Tony Jones tells us he is “a leader in the emergent church movement and a renowned expert on postmodern theology ….

Article continues … Click Here

at new site “Girded with Truth”

.

Take a look at this May 2009 Fresh Expressions Book launch:

“Ancient Faith, Future Missions“

Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Traditions & New Monasticism

Article continues … Click Here

at new site “Girded with Truth”

.

Emergence Christianity Is A Global Movement

• United Kingdom – Fresh Expressions initiative Sept 2004 to present
• Ireland
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Canada
• USA

Further information at … Girded with Truth

.

Fresh Expressions defined by Church Army

Article continues … Click Here

at new site “Girded with Truth”

.

New Monasticism!

Fresh Expressions

is an initiative of

The Church of England and The Methodist Church

Established : September 2004

• July 2009 edition of ‘expressions‘ magazine

The Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions, Bishop Graham Cray, has called for a positive view of discipleship, emphasising what Christians are for rather than simply what they are against.

In the latest edition of expressions, the initiative’s newspaper, Graham Cray says that ‘people who belong to new forms of church need a relevant discipleship that works where they are. It is not about learning a new pattern of behaviour from something which is alien to them.’ Graham Cray has spoken and written extensively about discipleship, recently publishing a book entitled ‘Disciples and Citizens: a vision for distinctive living‘.

Also in the new edition, American missiologist Brian McLaren, who addressed the 2008 Lambeth Conference, welcomes the increasingly international profile of Fresh Expressions. He says the UK initiative ‘represents a wise move in a faith community and is a ripple that will spread and inspire creativity in other churches around the world’.

The new senior Methodist on the Fresh Expressions team, Stephen Lindridge, has called for the wider church to embrace fresh expressions. Writing his first article for expressions, he adds that ‘much of the great growth seen has been a fantastic encouragement. This vision of what is possible under God should be nurtured into the wider bloodstream of the church.’ Stephen Lindridge, who helped start a fresh expression of church in Gateshead called ‘Mind the Gap’, begins his work with the national team in September.

A very rough draft of an abstract.

As society advances each day, the Christian religion appears to stand still against the advancing ideas. Little has been done to reverse this in within the religion, largely in part to ideologies of the Christian religion. However, a new movement originating in the United Kingdom and making its way to the United States focuses on the very problem of a stagnant Christianity. This paper attempts to expose the specific ideas behind the emerging church movement by providing a distinct definition, but also to give a greater understanding behind the movement itself. Very little is known of this movement, and this paper sheds light on it through the use of various sources, providing the groundwork of the movement through the collaboration of the ideas expressed currently within these resources. It also provides specific examples of practical application of the ideas of the movement towards evolving Christianity to be applicable in the present society. Along with this, it will expand on the idea of the present state of the world as a postmodern society, one of the main points within the movement causing it to exist. Through all of this, the paper will provide the proper information in order to understand the nature of the emerging church movement through its application of Christianity and through the progression of the movement in the United States. The paper will show the importance of the movement in regards to the state of Christianity in the United States and its need for change. (247 words)

I apologize for the large absence of posts in since the first one, I was having a little difficulty with my internet as well as posting on wordpress, but fear not, it appears to be fixed. At this point I am attempting to gather a central database for all things emerging church movement. My ultimate goal for this research project is to create a website with the purpose of being a “how to” for the emerging church movement, meaning if anyone wanted to learn how to incorporate the ideas of the movement into their own church, they have the resources available to find out how they can on the website, or find a link that will help them out. With that said, I have been working  on trying to come up with some concrete definition for this movement, which is proving very difficult. Here is what I have so far:

The idea that Christianity is not a religion, that is, something concrete and final, but that it is a movement that is ever changing with every new day. Christianity, for this movement, is about the future, not the past. One of the most distinct ideas of the movement is that the world is currently living in a postmodern world. Postmodernism refers to a distrust of theories and ideologies. Through this idea, Christians within this movement feel that Christianity should be a much more fluid, impermanent religion.

The emerging church movement does not attempt to change any of the ideologies or traditions of Christianity; it simply tries to alter the focus of these ideologies and traditions. The movement feels that Christianity has been too focused on the past. They feel that Jesus’ life was extremely important, but not just to look back at, but to apply it to the present and the future. They take the idea of the church and try to insert it into society. Many emerging church movement groups don’t even have a central church facility, they instead try to incorporate their communities already existing gathering places and use them for services on any day of the week.

This is certainly subject to change and revision as I progress through my research. I would love to have input from any readers of this as far as help  with adding things or if something in the definition doesn’t make sense or needs clarification. That’s all I have for now.

One of the major points in the debate between some in the Emerging Church Movement (Wittmer’s “Postmodern Innovators”) and conservative evangelicals regards salvation: is it necessary to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved?  While this debate has not been resolved, I’ve been surprised to see some conservative evangelicals potentially broadening the path…

One such evangelical is Dallas Willard, a superhero in evangelical spiritual formation.  I have not read his latest book, Knowing Christ Today, but here is how Scot McKnight summarizes one chapter: “The seventh chp enters into a spirited but reasonable form of Christian inclusivism, which he calls Christian pluralism where final redemption is ultimately shaped by whether or not a person — Christian religion or not — has a heart that is properly oriented toward God.”

At the same time I’ve been reviewing Erwin Lutzer’s 10 Lies About God for some upcoming youth lessons.  Lutzer is the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago.  In it he says: “God will not ask those who have never heard of Christ why they did not accept Him!  That would be unjust.  Judgment is always according to knowledge, according to the light given…there is much about God’s relationship with those other religions that we do not know” (pp. 91-93).

Now I realize that there are some slight differences between these two examples.  Willard emphasizes a heart orientation whereas Lutzer emphasizes knowledge.  Willard is more firm on the destiny of faithful followers of other religions whereas Lutzer is more cautious.  Finally, Willard seems to focus on all people whereas Lutzer’s primary focus is on “those who have never heard of Christ.”

Let me say that I greatly admire and appreciate both men.  Let me also say that I would love for everyone on the face of the earth to experience salvation.  Salvation for all people is, afterall, the goal, isn’t it?  Let me take it one step further and say that I wouldn’t be angry with God if He is as gracious as Willard and Lutzer describe.

The one thing holding me back is the Bible.  I simply have a hard time reading the Bible and not coming to this conclusion: salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  Period.  I just don’t see how anyone enters the kingdom of God without Christ.