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Inside One Emerging Church
by C Michael PattonFebruary 15th, 2007
6 Comments
Well, I will wait and read what you have to say. I think that they say some good things but represent more some of the more radical tendencies of some emerging churches. Plus, the preacher with the top hat is just too great. In the words of Peregrin Took “Pippin,” “I’m gettin’ one.”
Warning! There is a small bit of profanity, so put the kids to bed 
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6 Comments
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It seems that their motivation is two-fold: social injustice and rebellion against tradition. The first is admirable but the second is questionable. One girl very plainly stated that she naturally rebels at tradition. Others stated how they rejected the categories of current Christianity and how they can’t be put into a category. So what have they done? Created a new category and jumped in it. They don’t believe in creeds or a common set of beliefs, but then they recite something together at the end. Whatever it was they said, by reciting it together they affirmed that they all believed it. That makes it a creed.
Personally, I can really sympathize with their rebellion against tradition. The difference is that my rebellion was channeled into a search for Truth, but there rebellion was channeled into a rejection of the notion of Truth. Evidence of this is seen when one states that everyone believes different things and those different beliefs are accepted and celebrated. To put that in my terms, everyone believes something different, some true, some false, but we accept even the false stuff as true.
I think that many can watch this and have their admirable social interests overshadow their shallow ideas of Truth. But while they speak big on the environment, racism, and sexism, their comments were restricted to rebellion against Christianity. Not one person said something about going to the soup kitchen, passing out blankets on the street that night, or anything else that would have embodied their social assertions. It makes me wonder if their statements on social injustice are as hollow as their theology, and if what they really celebrate is a desire for Christian tradition without Christian Tradition.
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We have a lot of comments about this over here
And ther’s a related post about this not being bizarro world.
Bob
Sojourn Huntsville
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We have a lot of comments about this over here: http://sojournhuntsville.org/forum/topic/329
And there
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(Oops – sorry. Encoded URLs didn’t take.)
We have a lot of comments about this over here: http://sojournhuntsville.org/forum/topic/329
And there
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While, I appreciate the groups multiple references to “community,” and even
attend a church where “community,” is its middle name, I do not understand
the purpose nor the importance that they attach to the following statements:
* “The Bible is constantly changing”
* “There is no need for a Statement Of Faith, because all views are valid”
* “People are all that matter” (from the top hat guy)
* “A Social Gospel is paramount: Racism, Environmentalism Etc.”
It seems to me that, as a whole, the groups professes that to be “Christian”
means that you “do” something (fight Racism, accept all views, Love people,
etc.) rather than “believe” something (Why Jesus came, Is the Bible
inerrant, What Is Grace, etc.), which I believe is the essence of our faith.
Furthermore, regarding tradition and history, I love the words of Churchill, who
said, “the farther back we can look, the farther forward we can see.” I see
this group as only being about to look back to the “Jesus Movement” of the
1960s, rather than back to the development of Christian Thought from the
apostles to the apostolic fathers to the reformers, etc.
When we deny tradition, we deny history and with that I believe that the
foundation of our faith begins to be built on statements such as
“I believe this…,” “I believe that…”, etc. rather than “What does the
Bible teach…” We become a culture where we become the center of our
theology rather than God.
I am continually reminded that the Christian faith did not start with my
conversion, so I must remove my presuppositions (white, male, American,
etc.) from both my theology and the Scripture, if I am going to see God
and Christ clearly.
There is no room for my opinions on foundational matters of faith.
Grace,
John
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They say they want the Kingdom but they don’t want God in it.
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