PBS on the "emerging church"
posted by Matt Friedeman @ 4:50 PM
6 comments
Monday, July 11, 2005
Previous Posts
- Holiness and Social Cleansing
- Evangelism - not!
- Interesting list
- Matt's latest AgapePress column
- The Message and the Messenger
- The Celebrity Gospel
- Compassion is necessary
- Matt's latest AgapePress column
- Matt's recent column
- "I don't feel called..."
'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world. (William Booth)
6 Comments:
I've read the book also, DT....might tend to agree that the theology is somewhat diminished. But the emerging church idea is not going to go away. Like we've discussed many times in seminary classes, Christian history is more oftent than not a "pendulum", whereas one movement emerges to counter the calcification of a previous movement. From these guys' standpoint, its time for another movement to come and shake the church from it's recalcitrance. WHat did the established church say about Wesley and his "classes"? I think these guys are at least seeking to recapture the fundamental spirit of NT Christianity - namely, discipleship and worship in the context of intimate community. Without a doubt our churches have become WAY too "spectator". Blessings on you, brother.
Thinking:
Tell me how DaySpring is emergent. Would like to hear about that. Hope it is not the shallow and diminished parts. Help me out here.
On the whole, of what I have seen of the "emergent" movement...it is here today and gone tomorrow with its best attributes already practiced in effective churches. Just my hunch...
Thinking:
Oooooh. I love that last post. Planting an "emerging" highly relational church. Your names go on the Hall of Fame at WBS if you have the guts to do it.
Wish I were younger. On the other hand, that might not stop me from one more.
Yes.
DT -
Good insight on the EC. Matt is right, also. The EC isn't doing anything that "effective" churches aren't doing. Maybe the problem is that SO FEW churches are effective (or seem that way). Without a doubt the vast majority of churches are not discipling and creating community (cf "What Makes A Disciple?" module from MF's class "Princ and Pract of Disci). Dayspring is more effective than most because from the offset we've committed to these "EC" kind of behaviors. Nothing novel about it. But most churches arent doing it. Mine certainly is not. We've adapted the standard fare of the holiness movement - a strong focus on preaching/teaching, on SS participation, and even holy living in your private life, but so little "discipleship through community."
To answer your Q, DT...I've about a hairs breath from leaving and planting a church. It's intensely difficult to reconstruct a church of mostly elderly saints. I love them, but sometimes I see ministry so differently.....but I stay put til God moves me. I need to remember this is likely more about ME growing than it is about the church.
DT:
We plant because if we don't we die. And we spent about three decades not planting which means, of course, that we have an inordinate amount of churches dying and not enough getting birthed.
Simply nose counting led us to this rocket-science conclusion.
Planting is easier and funner than trying to move an stiff-necked people with no apostolic vision.
You and Brad need to do it. We have far fewer holiness churches per capita today because we forgot that the holiness movement - at its zenith - was a planting movement.
May it happen again! And may a few with some real guts lead the way.
Hint, hint.
Matt
DT, our prof said: "Planting is easier and funner than trying to move an stiff-necked people with no apostolic vision." After having experienced both a church plant and an established church, I couldn't agree one iota more. This (current church)is INFINITELY harder than the first three years of DaySpring combined. I'm fighting battles that (in kingdom persepctive) are foolish and irrelevant. Most of my "victories" are with the unchurched - those whose shadows won't darken our hallowed doorsteps. And the fat sheep just send me anonymous notes about how I don't visit them enough.
Are we "able" enough, DT, to plant churches? Maybe not. But I'd rather risk all to create even one small community of Scriptural authenticity. The only question is, where and when? God knows both.
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