Not Emergent? – Some Thoughts

Last week the authors of Why We’re Not Emergent came to CTS to talk about their book.  While I had intended to attend, life got away and I chose to study for a Hebrew quiz instead.  But I did finally pick up the book and crack into the first couple chapters (this makes two books that I’m now reading simultaneously, the other being – ironically – The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne…my hope is to finish both by the end of Spring Break).  So far, much of what’s said is to be expected – a lot of criticism for Rob Bell and Brian McLaren.  I’m trying hard not to get upset about anything the authors (Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck) say; afterall, I tend to line up with the “emergent church” more often than not, and so I’m bound to hear some stuff that I don’t like.  And although many-a-blog has already been written as a review of the book, I want to offer my own thoughts.

In many ways it’s refreshing to see two guys like DeYoung and Kluck writing a book like this.  There are a number of people who make the assumption that every Christian under the age of 35 is “emergent” (or “emerging” – the book does not make a distinction between the two terms.  The purpose is not to necessarily lump everyone together, it’s simply for simplicity’s sake.  There are a number of differences and nuances between the two, but every now and then you get someone like me – or Mark Driscoll or Rick McKinley – who don’t really fit nicely into one of the two.  I’m fine with being whatever you what to call me; I’m mostly concerned with being a follower of Jesus whatever that means.).  Viewing the “conversation” that way automatically turns the whole thing into a generational issue; in reality, it’s just not that clean.  And so, the existence of this book is refreshing in that it shows the church that there is diversity even within generations – some are, some aren’t.

Filed under: Book Review, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Culture, Faith, Ministry, Philosophy, Theology

Simple Church…or Something

As I’m getting closer to graduation and full-time ministry, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about things like church structure and organization.  Being a church planter, I find myself in a unique position of being able to completely create the structure of the church I lead from the ground up.  There are a lot of options out there.

I’ve read some books and talked with some pastors who are absolutely convinced of one form over another.  A while back, I was at a gathering for church planters in W. Michigan and the structure conversation came up almost immediately.  What is the best structure for doing ministry in our “post-Christian” culture?

There’s some difficulty associated with a question like that for a few reasons: 1) the word “best” is such a vague word; what it means is completely subjective depending on the person you talk to.  2) Some people like to label the culture we live in with terms like “post-Christian” even a recent article on CNN discusses the results of a recent survey showing that 75% of Americans still consider themselves Christians (granted this is down about 10% from a decade ago).  But are we really a “post-Christian” culture?  

Filed under: Christian Living, Church, Church Planting, Culture, Evangelism, Leadership, Ministry

The Coming Evangelical Collapse

This is an article featured on the website for The Christian Science Monitor.  It’s lengthy, so I won’t make any comments about it here.  My next post will deal with some of my thoughts about the issues here.  Happy reading…

ONEIDA, KY. – We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the “Protestant” 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I’m convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

WHY IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN?

1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society.

The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap ofbelieving in a cause more than a faith.

Filed under: Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Church Planting, Culture, Evangelism, Faith, Ministry

Judging

I’ve been noticing that the topic of judging seems to be coming up a lot in my classes and discussions.  Maybe it’s always been this way, but I can’t recall ever hearing so much emphasis upon avoiding judging as I’ve been hearing this year.

At this point in CRC history there seems to be a big deal about not judging other people.  That’s a good thing.  But there also seems to me to be a difference between what people mean by the word.  I fall solidly on the Reformed side when I say that I think pronouncing judgement upon a person regarding their salvation is wrong; it’s not up to us to decide if someone is saved or not – that’s God’s job.  I also affirm that we ultimately do not know who is saved and who is not or how God works all that out.  If a person is born, lives, and dies on an island and has never heard the Gospel, what happens with their salvation is entirely between them and God – I can’t answer that question.

But I also read in the Bible various passages that seem to give some pretty clear guidelines for being able to determine the likelihood of a person’s salvation.  Paul is always talking about the importance of faith in a person’s life.  He fleshes out faith as belief in Jesus as God who died on the cross for the sins of God’s people.  In Galatians, we have the fruits of the Spirit.  In James, the thesis that “faith without deeds is dead.”  In Exodus, the Law.  But Paul consistently comes back to Christ, “and him crucified.”

I’ve heard a lot of talk about judging that sounds to me like a condemnation of even suggesting that a person is not saved.  In other words, I, as a Christian, cannot morally/ethically/theologically conclude that a person I know is not saved.  But if they tell me that they do not believe in God or Jesus and insist on living life according to their own rules, how can I not draw that conclusion.  Similarly, if another Christian is not living according the the Word, how can I just stand by and not confront them.  Isn’t drawing such a conclusion about a non-Christian friend or holding a fellow believer accountable a form of judgement?  Does that make it wrong?

Where I struggle with the broad definition of “judgement” is that it strips away our ability to keep one another in check.  Sure it’s been abused, but don’t “throw the baby out with the bath-water.”

I’m afraid that if we define judgement so broadly, we lose much of our motivation for evangelism.  The whole purpose of evangelism is to preach the Gospel to those who have not yet received salvation.  The only way we can know who to preach to is if we have some form of criteria for determining whether or not a person is saved.

While we should be cautious in drawing such conclusions, we sill need to draw them.  The eternal destiny of a person is not dependent upon our or the church’s pronouncement of salvation or damnation.  But we do have the ability to make conclusions about a person’s relationship with Jesus.

Filed under: Theology

Pastor, Do You Love Me?

When I was working as a youth pastor back in Oregon, I came face to face with what is perhaps my biggest downfall as a minister.  At the time, coming to such a realization was very damaging – I nearly left ministry altogether because of the criticism I received.  In general, I was accused of not caring enough for the people I was working with.

The past few weeks have brought many of these criticisms back into my life.  Three weeks ago, the candidacy committee (CC) informed me that they were placing me on delayed candidacy pending the completion of one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).  I can’t lie – when I was told of the CC’s decision I was quite angry.  Honestly, there’s still some anger smoldering under the surface.  But following my experience at Assessment Center (AC) I’ve been able to get myself to a point of “submitting” to the CC’s decision.  Even there, the benefit of CPE for my future ministry was affirmed and the final report approved me for church planting upon completion of CPE.

This recent development has forced to do a lot of personal retrospection.  My experience has been that the people who have waged the harshest complaints against me are usually those who hold some sort of supervisory role over me.  But I’ve also found that the people I work with tend to speak rather well of me.  I’m not saying this to brag – believe me, I tend to rip myself apart on the way home from church; I am my harshest critic.  I bring this up because it raises what I think is a very important question: Who opinion matters most in ministry? The leadership, or those who we as pastors are ministering to?

I’m also not intending to create a distinction between the people receiving pastoral care and church leadership (elders, deacons).  The pastor is ministering just as much to the leadership as they are to the rest of the congregation.  It’s just that the leadership tend to see themselves as the ones who supervise the pastor and distinct from the congregation, rather than congregation members that have been called out to provide the administrative backbone of the church.

Everyone who enters ministry goes into the field with certain unique skills, gifts, and personality.  We all approach ministry and relationships in different ways, and we do so because God has “knitted us together” to reach specific sub-cultures.  But there is needed wisdom on the part of the pastor as well in recognizing how they have been equipped and what ministry setting is best for them.  For myself, I tend to approach relationships with a desire to “break down stereotypes” toward Christianity.  Frequently, this shows itself in my willingness to criticize Christianity and even the CRC where criticism is due; there are a lot of people who have been really hurt by the church in the past and I find it better to simply fess-up to our problems than try to defend the church against many of the criticisms it’s earned.  My style of pastoral care is typically misunderstood by well-established, traditional congregations – but highly appreciated by those who usually don’t “fit-in” with most congregations.

We all have areas where we can benefit from continuing education and personal growth.  And love is an essential element to any ministry.  But I think that the effectiveness and needs of a pastor should be determined based on the people being ministered to, rather than any list of leadership characteristics.  We need to be less formalized and more customized…

Filed under: Leadership, Ministry