Change and the Mythical "way it has always been"

Tonight was the second evening of the revival, and this brought to mind my earlier comments about the need for doing things differently from "the way it has always been done", and what I realized, is that this mythical "standard" of tradition, doesn't really exist. Sunday School is less than 100 years old, the common use of music in church is less than 200, even pastors that are not bi-vocational is a recent development. The truth is, it's not about doing things by this "standard" of tradition that is most important to people, it is preventing change. In a world where everything changes every day, if not every hour, it is no wonder the church is struggling with relevance when we are hampered by slavish devotion to theologically and morally neutral methods. These methods were developed at a point in time for a specific reason, that have now outlived that time and reason, and must change. They served their time, but they are not relevant to preserving the fabric of our belief system, merely the preservation of our comfort zone. So really, our struggle with relevance is a struggle against living the Christian life the way Christians are supposed to, since I'm pretty sure that there is nothing in the Bible that guarantees Christians any sort of comfort zone. It might be nice to do things the way we grew up doing them, but when it comes to the eternal state of those around us, possibly hampering their response to the Gospel merely for our comfort, I think our comfort-seeking stops being nice and starts being sin.

The Evangelical Slide: the review of a publisher and a book

Christianity has never been without wolves amidst the flock. Whether it is a Judas, or "wolves" attacking the Ephesian church, or rotten priests at the time of Martin Luther, there have always been those who have attempted to bring destruction to God's people from within by pretending to be one of them. Today, though not exclusively, this infamous position is largely held by the so-called "Emergent Church". The signs of this have never been more clear. Baker Books, long a conservative publisher many evangelicals have relied on, have fallen prey to this insidious disease within evangelicalism. While the Emergents run around trying to convince everyone that they are just like us, but more "relevant" and "cutting-edge", they know that the public defense of their position is not where their victory will be found. They have learned well the lessons of the last generation. Evolution was combated, not because it was wrong, but because it was a direct assault on the beliefs of many. While evolution is still wrong, had the proponents of the system found more circuitous means to spread their ideas, they would probably have been ignored until it is too late (or at least nearly too late). Liberalism almost succeeded at taking down the entire edifice of Evangelicalism in this way, and in truth, evangelicals took a stand, really almost at the cusp of disaster, to salvage their conservative, biblical ideals. The Emergents have learned from all this, and are now using those same devious means to mislead and misdirect so that they can slip their ideas in without others noticing. This is where Baker comes in. In 2004 they published a book titled Alternative Worship: Resources from and for the Emerging Church. Why is this a problem? Well, first, Baker, according to their own website (here) states that their mission is "to publish writings that promote historic Christianity, irenically express the concerns of evangelicalism, and reflect the diversity of this movement." The problem is, there is nothing historic about the "Christianity" in this book, nor is there any true allegiance to the evangelical movement by the authors of this book, despite what they may say. A simple evaluation of their ideals and theology reveals a gross disparity with traditional evangelical thought. Second, Baker was founded by Herman Baker with the intent to produce "conservative, scholarly, biblical material--a book that had more than an even chance of becoming a standard reference work" even from his very first book (here). If this publication is in keeping with the intent of the founder then Baker must intend this work to be biblical, conservative, and a standard reference work. If they are the source of so many trusted resources, like Haddon Robinson's Biblical Preaching and Millard Erickson's Christian Theology, should we not demand that they hold fast to their mission statement and not produce the works of wolves in sheep's clothing? I understand there will always be differences of opinion, yet those who deny universal truths and metanarratives, and there-by the meta-unifier status of Jesus, must always be considered as outside the camp of conservative evangelicalism, not merely another voice from within. The real tragedy arises when those who are unaware of the rampant influence of both Feminist and Liberation theology upon those who created this system of "Alt Worship" as Baker will promote this book to anyone, not just those who are prepared to do battle with postmodern thought. Our Christian book stores are not always staffed by those who are able to weed out every erroneous book, and our churches are certainly not filled with those who are able to do so either, unfortunately. Too many people trust our "conservative, evangelical" publishers to provide only those works that are both reputable and trustworthy. Too many others, those who know what is going on, are letting the buck pass, and not saying something about it. Were it not for the cries of the few watchmen on the walls in the past other issues like Liberalism and evolution would have swamped the evangelical movement, and we are in the same situation today. If we do not stand up and declare that Baker must change their ways or lose business, then we are neglecting our duty. If Christian authors do not refuse to have their books published by those who are so willing to give in to these "other gospels", then they are remiss, for making a buck is never worth the compromise, and we ought not publish books with publishers who compromise on the essentials with one side of their mouth and claim to hold those same essentials of the faith with the other. We must educate the people in the pews, we must stand up for what is right, and we must tell Baker, and anyone else who decides that standing firm is not worth the effort, that we will not follow them down this slide into heresy.

The Death Knell of the Church

The cries for continuing to do things "the way we have always done them" are even now the death knell of the Church. As I was thinking over yesterday's posts, I realized that is the reason the Emergents are cornering this market, why we are losing relevance, and why so many under 35 today are tuning out what the Church is saying. Case in point: one of the most invigorating things I have seen in a local church recently is what is called "Faith for Today, Hope for Tomorrow". It is a revival in south Louisville that is not just one church renting an amphitheatre to have plenty of space, or someone trying to be loud and obnoxious to try and at least stir up the curiosity factor. Instead it is 5 churches, in a close, and inter-woven relationship coming together, though all Southern Baptist, to reach out to the community. And this year, for the first time, 6 more churches are involved in supporting the crusade as well. Including corporate sponsors, over a dozen Louisville entities are involved now in putting on what began as the passion of a small group of men who began meeting to minister to each other and have ended up starting a movement in south Louisville. I don't know about you, but churches cooperating in the way I have seen these churches is rare, and if those five men had decided to only do things the way they have always been done, not only would all 11 congregations be missing out, the entire surrounding community would be as well. If we are really serious about making a difference, and about regaining our impact on society and culture, we have to begin by finding new ways to take the message once for all delivered to the saints and tell it in a new, relevant way without alteration. For more information on the crusade see here. More thoughs coming soon.

One final thought for tonight: Narrative and why we must use it.

I have done a lot of thinking about the use of narrative in the average church. Narrative is all the rage in the Emergent pulpits, it is what they say works for this generation. While I may not agree with their implementation of it, I would have to say narrative does work, but not because it is for this generation. Narrative works because it has worked for every generation, since the beginning of mankind. From the first time God breathed life into man, mankind has used, in fact needed, narrative. Stories make us who we are. Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, preached this past Thursday (August 25) in chapel about why we do not use narrative in our pulpits, and why many conservative pastors don't in fact (hear message here). After hearing that sermon, I was struck by the fact that Dr. Moore is right, that conservative, non-Emergent pastors avoid narrative, often because we can't see how it relates to the rest of the Bible. He said we often don't see that every story ties into the grand story of the Bible, the metanarrative, and therefore miss the great truths there for us and our congregations. In fact, he said, it is the fact that we don't see that every one of those stories ties into the story of not just the Bible, but one Person, the one who the story of the Bible is about, Jesus. And that's when I realized that just like every sermon is supposed to have a unifier, an idea that brings it all together, (as per several preaching books, classes, and other sources of advice) Jesus is truly the "metaunifier" of the Biblical texts. I don't know that I have run across this idea before, especially of the term meta-unifier, and in fact, when I realized this term Thursday afternoon, I saw how it perfectly fit into the concept. The Emergent church is not just dismissing the metanarrative of the Bible in their assault on universal truth, but they are in the end, nullifying the work of the one described in that metanarrative, the metaunifier, Jesus. Just like Dr. Moore said, everyone around us is looking for a story that will make sense of what is going on around them. We believers, who know the metaunifier of the metanarrative that is not only a story with answers, but a true story, have a burden to share that story. Don't let the Emergent church corner the market on narrative, because it is not their market to corner. Don't give in to the temptation to avoid narrative, because the Bible gives the clarity necessary to see it weave together. That is how we can reach people in our day and age with stories that are relevant. By being willing to get out there and tell them.

On another, very similar note:

A scan of the commonly available additions to this grand internet community, in the area of religion and faith, is alarmingly one-sided. Where are all the non-Emergent folks? I am sick and tired of this outlet of ministry being swallowed up by one or two factions, when the rest of us have something worth saying, and aren't making use of it. I don't blame the Emergents for getting out there and using it, I blame us, the conservatives, the traditionalists even, for being so locked into our boxes of what ministry is that we don't move into cutting-edge things. I've had enough. I have spent enough time reading other people's ideas. How about the rest of you?

Where are the young leaders?

I've been thinking, with all that the Southern Baptist Convention has been doing to promote young leaders within the Convention, where is the evidence of their impact? I know it takes time for things to grow, but if you look at other groups out there right now, most of them have no problem at all tapping the strength and ingenuity of their younger members. Take for instance the "Emergent" movement. There is a plethora of emergent leaders, seemingly a new one every day, and maybe they don't last long, maybe they do, but they are getting out there. Yet when you look at the typical Southern Baptist event, most of those involved are not under 35. Our churches are full (or partially-full truthfully) of older people, and we say we don't know how to reach those of my generation, but when we have opportunities to really give those under 35 a voice, do we? Hopefully this trend of involving younger leaders will continue until there is actual, long-term results and the hero's of the denomination won't just be the senior citizens but everyone who is able, including the younger generation.

Christian Cleric arrives on scene

With blogs being the new “niche” or “trend” it is not unusual that lots of people will start them, and most of them will start them just ‘cause it’s cool, or it’s what their buddies are doing, or maybe for no reason at all. Heck, there may already be someone out there writing what I intend to write, there probably is in fact, but oh well. This is a place of new horizons, a place where the struggles of the up-and-coming minister, even a Southern Baptist one, will be tried out, vented, even disseminated, into this many-voiced conversation we call the Internet. I hope you get as much out of it as I do.