Thoughts From Chris

Sometime last year, I received the following e-mail asking me my perspective on the emerging church movement.  If you don’t know what that is, this e-mail exchange will still make some sense.  I would say we probably have a lot of different opinions on the movement within Grace, but here was my response as simply some food for thought.  Here was the original e-mail. I have changed the name to make it anonymous:

 

Hi, Chris

 

What are your thoughts on the Emerging Church Movement?  How would you define it, are there things associated with it that we should learn from, and are there things associated with it that are dangerous (and if so, how do we combat those things)?  These are questions that my wife and I are processing and would appreciate your input as we seek clarity on this issue.

 

Thanks,

Joe

 

 

My response:

Thanks for the e-mail, Joe.  Again, sorry it has taken me a little while to get back with you.  I didn’t want to give you a trite answer.  Here is how I will answer your question.

 

There have been, are, and will be many “movements” within the Christian church.  An example of some of these movements are the following:  Seeker sensitive movement, Parachurch movement, Charismatic movement, Dominion theology movement, Contemporary Christian music movement, Young Earth/Old Earth Movement, Church Growth/mega church Movement, Liberal Theology Movement, Conservative/Fundamentalist Movement, Liberation theology movement, Home School Movement, House Church Movement, health/wealth movement, emerging church movement, etc.  

 

Most movements are reactionary and while they usually emphasize a good point (and can serve as a correction in the church), they often take things to an extreme and swing the pendulum over to one side.   Believers in the church often negatively react to their positions and arguments, and this becomes a reaction to the reaction.  The end result is that you have polar opposites who argue for and against their positions.   Most of the time the most biblical and balanced truth is somewhere in the middle.  The polarization is unfortunate, because generally there is healthy truth contained within the movement outside of its extreme.

 

The emerging church is no different.  In my humble opinion (and it is only that) this movement is by nature reactionary.  It is a reaction against the traditional church (go to a building to get your spiritual goods and services), it is a reaction against the “Seeker Sensitive” church (performance oriented and spectator oriented), it is a reaction against approaching doctrine as logical proofs that make perfect sense while minimizing mystery and the transcendental, it is a reaction against viewing God and the church through the lenses of Greek culture versus Hebrew culture (left brain/linear in thinking versus right brain/creative and nonlinear in thinking),  it is a reaction against emphasizing the distinctions among denominations versus emphasizing the likenesses, and it is a reaction against these things and much more (both in approaching style and in approaching doctrine).

 

What happens in any movement is that extreme statements are made by some public voices in any given movement, and the critics on the other side use those examples to show the error of the movement as a whole and why it is so unbiblical and dangerous.  And while it is true that those extreme statements are usually unbiblical and should be called out, most don’t have the ability to avoid “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” while they do this.  In other words, most pounce on the extreme statements and cannot look past them to see some of the truth contained in the movement.   Even if a movement can have an overall positive effect and correction to the church at large, the focus becomes exclusively on the extreme statements and further polarization occurs. 

 

These kind of polarizing debates occur within the peak of all these movements.  I really like reading from authors of all the different movements I mentioned above.  I find solid truth in all of them, and at the same time I find some error with some of the more extreme statements and ideas in all of them.  I cannot think of any of these movements that don’t make extreme and unbiblical arguments at times.  If someone were to ask me, I don’t consider myself in the seeker sensitive camp, the mega church camp, the emerging church camp, the liberal church camp, the fundamentalist church camp, the charismatic church camp, or even the house church movement camp.  Yet, at the same time, the polar opposite of each camp would probably label me in all of these because I do believe and practice some of the biblical truth I see in all of them. 

 

As it pertains to the emerging church (or any other camp for that matter), I don’t like some of the extreme statements that I hear from some leaders within these camps, and I would not shy away from declaring them as error.  As you can imagine, if you take any of those issues I raised regarding what the emerging church is reacting to, and you take them to an extreme, you will move into unhealthy and unbiblical perspectives.  I am sure it is not hard to see what those unbiblical positions might look like. While we should never shy away from declaring truth from error, I have really appreciated much of what has been written from this particular movement, and it challenges me to look back into Scripture, to shed some of my presuppositions that I perhaps didn’t know I had, and to make me more biblically balanced. I think most of the movements I have studied have done this for me. 

 

This may be a little broader answer to your question about my take on the emerging church (and may not be specific enough for you).  I think, though, that explaining this broader perspective as a whole on church movements in general helps you understand how I approach these kinds of things, and how I would not agree with certain aspects of emerging church and wholeheartedly agree in other areas.  

 

Feel free to ask me any follow-up or clarification questions – or if you want me to get more specific.  I am certainly no expert in all this – just trying to learn and grow as I journey through it. 

 

Thanks, Joe.

 

Chris

 

 

 

As we begin this series called “An Ancient Walk with God – a survey of the OT” we have some inherent challenges we must recognize as we approach an understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.  We will spend some 35 messages covering the main themes of the OT, but we cannot go into it without recognizing our own cultural and presuppositional biases and assumptions.  Here are some things we need to remember:

3000 years removed from the authors

Different way of life

Different language

Different geography

Written from an Eastern mindset

Higher value of experience over knowledge

Higher value of truth within story over abstract truth

Higher value of mystery over systematic answers

Higher value of holistic thinking over linear thinking

 

 

How fitting it is that the presidential inauguration of America’s first black president comes a day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  This is truly a historic day in our country.  Regardless of what one may think of Obama’s views and politics (both good and bad), I never thought I would witness a dark skin president in my lifetime. 

Some consider Obama the next savior or messiah of the world, and others consider him the next anti-christ (two extremes I personally avoid), but whatever the case, history is being made.  Racism, bigotry, and prejudice have plagued our country for centuries, and there are signs of hope.  

We still have a long way to go in conquering racism, but hopefully we can continue to make progress as Jesus leads us to treat people with dignity and respect regardless of the color of their skin.

I think the below picture shows how historic this inauguration really is for the United States with regard to race.

See below pictures of our 44 presidents.

I had an opportunity earlier this week to pray with some pastors at “A Hope Center” (formerly known as Crisis Pregnancy Center).  We prayed with board members and staff members on behalf of unborn children, parents who are hurting and confused, as well as for the ministry itself. This ministry has been in Fort Wayne for 23 years.  The last 22 years they have had one executive director at the helm – Judi Hapke. 

Judi retired last month, therefore, there is a current search for a new leader.  This ministry has had significant expansion in recent years and is certainly a beacon of light in our community for the marginalized in our society. This Sunday is “Sanctity of Life” Sunday.  Please pray for “A Hope Center” and pray in particular for wisdom as they select their new leader.

This past Sunday I gave everyone at Grace Gathering a very practical but significant challenge.  In our quest to become more like Jesus in the depths of our character, and in our quest to become more engaged in his mission as a missionary to those around us (loving them, serving them, and calling them to repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins), here was our challenge:

1)  To grow in two specific areas of Christ-like character.  The first one I would choose for all of us and the second area each person would choose on his/her own.

The first area is to be more sensitive to the promptings of God’s Spirit in 2009.  As God prompts us in our hearts to help someone, to seek someone’s forgiveness, to challenge someone, or however he prompts us, we should attempt to follow through on that even if inconvenient or uncomfortable. 

I then encouraged everyone to select a second character trait of Jesus to more intentionally pursue this year from the following list (this is just a beginning list of Christ-like traits): compassionate, humble, firm, loving, prayerful, submissive, truthful, approachable, persevering, patient, bold, gentle, giving, faithful, empathetic, merciful, flexible, Spirit-led, discerning, self controlled, sexually pure, joyful, forgiving, disciplined, caring, thankful, simple, self-denying, content, uncompromising, servant-oriented, gracious, etc.

The other major area of challenge I gave was in regard to taking on more of a missionary mindset in 2009 as we intentionally engage in the mission Jesus gave us of loving people and calling them to repentance for salvation. 

I challenged us all to think of two specific people that we interact with:  1) the person we think is the least likely to become a follower of Christ in 2009, and 2) the person we think is most open to repenting and placing faith in Christ this year.  My challenge is that we pray for these two people as regularly as we can, and we pray for the opportunity to love them, serve them, and share the gospel of repentance and faith with them this year. 

Are you willing to take the challenge of becoming more like Jesus in your character and life this year and becoming more engaged in the mission Jesus has given us?

It is time for us to stop talking about what God calls us to do and start living it. 

The new year usually begins with hopes and dreams of what “could be” for 2009.  This is not only true when it comes to our spiritual lives but also in other areas as well.  Take for example the Detroit Lions. I know they were terrible in 2008.  Well, maybe more than terrible.  They were the worst team ever in the history of the NFL.