Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Recently someone gave me an article to read to get my thoughts on it. The article is titled "The Emergent Church Could Submerge Yours!" by Jan Markell. Here's the link:
It's a short read. Give it a once over and then read my response below and let's talk about it.
Response:
She seems to be in attack mode and I wonder how well she has really looked into the guys that she lists on her "bad guys" roster. I've read books by a few of them, including Bell, and I've listened to many of their teachings via podcasts. Definitely more Bell's than the other guys, but none the less, I've still heard Doug Pagitt, Dan Kimball, and Tony Jones. And she's making some drastic accusations that I don't think have much ground (at least not enough to write about).
When Rob Bell teaches, he's very biblical. He usually spends 45 mins to an hour teaching a very small portion of scripture. It's very biblical and he definitely does not downplay hell, sin, repentance, or the word of God. And churches have to do things differently now if we are going to reach the culture of today. Traditions aren't necessarily bad either, you just have to ask if they're effective. If not... give it the 'axe'. I seem to recall Jesus sharing a few words with guys who were locked in on ineffective traditional practices. It's been proven that people retain more when their senses are engaged (sight, taste, smell, touch, sound, etc.) so why not use people's senses to create an engaging teaching environment? They're not being different just for the sake of being different, they're being different because it works. And they are not getting away from the Bible.
The least churched age bracket across the country is the 18-30 years old bracket. What a lot of those guys are doing are engaging that bracket. You look at their churches and the majority of the people involved are in that bracket, where other places it's the smallest group. The churches that are doing things differently are reaching people that most churches are not. And they are in fact getting sound biblical teaching and the focus is still Jesus.
Now granted, I do disagree with the stances some of those guys take with certain issues. I disagree with McLaren more than any of the others, but I still believe that he loves Jesus with all his heart and he is my saved brother in Christ. And even Bell; I disagree with some of the things he says, but that doesn't discredit him. He's a child of God and a student of His word, and his desire is for people to know Jesus.
She states in the beginning of her article that leaders came out saying "we need a new way of doing church. That old time religion wasn't good enough. So in came new gimmicks, replacing the solid gospel." I agree, but not with her. You can't do church like it was done in the past, it has to change with the times to relate and reach out to the people living in those times. What worked 50 years ago, is not going to be effective with todays culture. And to correct her, those guys are not replacing the gospel. They are coming up with creative and innovative new ways to communicate it. And those are not gimmicks. If ministries don't change with the times, they will for sure die over time. And you can be creative and innovative and experiential and engaging and emergent and still be focused on Jesus and the gospel.
Do know that I definitely have disagreements with some of those guys and the "emergent church" thing, but I do believe they are still God's guys doing God's work. Most of the things that I disagree with them on are things they don't take a stance on. For instance, McLaren won't make a stance on homosexuality and has some weird beliefs about hell... like it doesn't exist or something like that. Now granted those are the big ones. And there's nothing that I've heard from Bell that I disagree with in the same magnitude I disagree with McLaren on those issues.
But I wouldn't bash them or the church like she does. Those guys are still doing amazing things and are playing a huge part in sharing the gospel and showing people Jesus.
Anyways... those are some of my thoughts. I could talk about this kind of stuff forever. I love having conversations like this.
You haven't told me what you thought yet. So what do you think?
Labels: Brian McLaren, Christian, Christianity, church, emergent church, Jesus, Rob Bell
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3 comments:
Hey Bryan,
Good response. It's one thing to articulate how you disagree with a specific thing a person has said, but to maliciously bast an entire movement with board (somewhat hilarious) accusations is kind of a low blow. I really hope she prayerfully considers checking her sources before writing another article like this. Im sure she means well, but she seems to seriously misunderstand the emerging church movement (not that anyone really understands it well), but some of her accusations show that she has not taken the time to properly educate herself on this subject.
Hey, sorry, i posted that last comment, and it came up anonymous. I wanted to add one more thing. To anyone who is interested in learning more about the emergent church, i would recommend "Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church" by D.A. Carson. Granted his book is not a perfect analysis of the the Emerging Church, it is a place to start.
The hardest part about all of this is that the movement is so large, and so diverse, that it's really not that helpful to make general statements about it as a whole... different people who associate themselves with this movement have different things to say. You kind of need to look at them one by one.
great point shane. you are right, the churches and the leaders that make up the 'emergent church' movement are so diverse and different from one another that it is difficult, and unfair, to make general assumptions about them as a whole.
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