What did I miss?
Ever step into a conversation or debate and realize you have no idea what the two sides are arguing about? I had that experience this morning when I read the following short article by a Chicago-area pastor.
Why I’m Not Emerging: A Brief Response to the Emerging Church
Very odd.
I like to think I’m up-to-date with what’s going on in the world, but I feel like I missed something here.
Now, I know there is a movement afoot called the emergent church, and I know Brian McLaren is the unofficial spokesperson, and his book, A Generous Orthodoxy has generated a lot of debate.
However, I guess I was just a bit surprised at this pastor's tone. He sounds as if he feels attacked in some way, or threatened by the emergent church. It's almost as if he had just read something implying that all churches and all Christians should sign on to McLaren's point of view. Which, from what I can gather, would be pretty antithetical to the whole emergent church vibe.
I suppose I have just been completely sheltered from this debate, so it's hard not to feel like "what's the big deal?" Which is exactly the kind of comment which would apparently push some people right off the edge...
Why I’m Not Emerging: A Brief Response to the Emerging Church
Very odd.
I like to think I’m up-to-date with what’s going on in the world, but I feel like I missed something here.
Now, I know there is a movement afoot called the emergent church, and I know Brian McLaren is the unofficial spokesperson, and his book, A Generous Orthodoxy has generated a lot of debate.
However, I guess I was just a bit surprised at this pastor's tone. He sounds as if he feels attacked in some way, or threatened by the emergent church. It's almost as if he had just read something implying that all churches and all Christians should sign on to McLaren's point of view. Which, from what I can gather, would be pretty antithetical to the whole emergent church vibe.
I suppose I have just been completely sheltered from this debate, so it's hard not to feel like "what's the big deal?" Which is exactly the kind of comment which would apparently push some people right off the edge...
posted by Jonathan Ziman at
10:24 AM
1 Comments:
I guess from everything I've read and heard on this topic (which, admittedly, is not a whole lot), the thing that concerns me about the emerging church is that it seems to be more about culture transorming Christ than vice versa. Those involved in the "discussion" seem preoccupied with how Christians should be acting in light of the "post-modern culture in which we live." Give me a break; shouldn't we be living in light of the gospel pure and plain? At one recent evangelical convention I attended I overheard one woman raving about an emergent church leader, praising his "genius for not seeing everything as black and white" and for being more comfortable "in the grey." And while I understand that the gospel is, and will (until we meet Christ face to face) be a mystery in so many ways, I fear that the post-modern tendency to treat everything as "grey" would be a very bad direction for the church (not to mention unbiblical). I guess the fact that all of my undergrad and graduate professors viewed most *everything* as grey (and yet almost all were entirely "foolish" in the eyes of God) makes me leery of a christian movement whose purported draw is the tendency to do the very same.
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Anonymous, at 9:15 PM
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