Emerging? Yes! Neck Veins Protruding? Maybe Not! Nuts? I Don't Think So.
No I am not completely up to speed on the emerging/emergent lingo but I have a strong suspicion that there is a "right wing" to this movement. I think Ed Stetzer puts them under his "relevance" category (the other categories are "revisionist," and "reconstructionist"). And as I learn about these right wing emerging pastors and their churches I, like much of what I find.For one thing they seem to be happy Calvinists--yes I said happy Calvinists. Where were these guys when I was young and smoldering and needing to be smacked!
And they are missional, which might mean that they are so busy actually sharing the gospel with lost folks and discipling believers and planting churches and being authentic all over the place that the anti-Calvinists and Arminians end up doing most of the brow furrowing and neck-vein protruding, and head scratching.
And they seem to be able to emerge without pretending not to know that the God who inspired the Bible views homosexual behavior as sinful whenever it occurs. Given this, wouldn't it be unloving to pretend that He hasn't told us that? I suppose if you just got started reading the Bible and stumbled upon a liberal commentator or two who argued that the passages that two millennia worth of commentators were sure prohibited homosexual behavior really condemned child abuse, well, hesitance to take a stand could be a sign of admirable modesty. But, after six years or so (and that is how long it has been for some emergent gurus who have hem hawed on the subject) the admirable modesty interpretation starts to lose its luster and we have to wonder if somebody needs to learn how to research a topic.
And some of these mainly happy reformed guys do urban! That's right, they go into cities--real cities with tattoos and piercings and grime and loud bass guitars and those silly patches of hair the guys sport and they actually plant churches. WOW!And they believe things. They have stout old sounding doctrines and lots of old orthodox stuff that they have not yet learned to be ashamed of for some reason and Bibles too. They have Bibles and they read them and they think the Bible is the Word God too, don't they? Tell me I am not wrong. They are like a dream come true. And even though my generation invented "cool" which means that we will always be more cool than this new upstart Reformissional crowd, still, they do seem to be a different kind of cool that the SBC might need just now. I hope I am right about most of this and if I am--please Lord--do not let these Right Wing Emerging Christians bolt the SBC just yet.
And they are missional, which might mean that they are so busy actually sharing the gospel with lost folks and discipling believers and planting churches and being authentic all over the place that the anti-Calvinists and Arminians end up doing most of the brow furrowing and neck-vein protruding, and head scratching.
And they seem to be able to emerge without pretending not to know that the God who inspired the Bible views homosexual behavior as sinful whenever it occurs. Given this, wouldn't it be unloving to pretend that He hasn't told us that? I suppose if you just got started reading the Bible and stumbled upon a liberal commentator or two who argued that the passages that two millennia worth of commentators were sure prohibited homosexual behavior really condemned child abuse, well, hesitance to take a stand could be a sign of admirable modesty. But, after six years or so (and that is how long it has been for some emergent gurus who have hem hawed on the subject) the admirable modesty interpretation starts to lose its luster and we have to wonder if somebody needs to learn how to research a topic.
And some of these mainly happy reformed guys do urban! That's right, they go into cities--real cities with tattoos and piercings and grime and loud bass guitars and those silly patches of hair the guys sport and they actually plant churches. WOW!And they believe things. They have stout old sounding doctrines and lots of old orthodox stuff that they have not yet learned to be ashamed of for some reason and Bibles too. They have Bibles and they read them and they think the Bible is the Word God too, don't they? Tell me I am not wrong. They are like a dream come true. And even though my generation invented "cool" which means that we will always be more cool than this new upstart Reformissional crowd, still, they do seem to be a different kind of cool that the SBC might need just now. I hope I am right about most of this and if I am--please Lord--do not let these Right Wing Emerging Christians bolt the SBC just yet.
posted by Mark DeVine at 9:40 PM
5 Comments:
I am afraid that if you are correct then much transition needs to take place with respect to the facial hair and musical listening habits of most Southern Baptist pastors. Maybe we'll need to cease wearing three-piece suits, forfeit our CEO privileges at board meetings, and quit opining about Jesus as a leadership guru who taught His disciples the ultimate time management principles. Maybe, just maybe, we'll have to rethink just what is the most important thing. Maybe, just maybe, our "best lives now" will center more on the truth of the atonement and the gospel message rather than the quaint facade of our suburban happiness. I can say this because I truly live in the country now! If I sound cynical, it's not intentional, well maybe it is? What is for certain is the emerging generation that is one step generationally behind where I am is focusing more on the truth of the Bible, evangelism, and missions than we are right now. They do seem to be more passionate than we are about making a true difference across the world. (It is extremely sad that I am turning 35 in a couple of weeks, don't you feel sorry for me?) Anyway, I agree that we may need to question 'how' we approach church, without compromising the truth about the church revealed in God's word. And yes, that even applies to a small-town country pastor from Braymer.
As a non-denominational type who's getting slowly acclimated to SBC life, I like what I'm hearing from the "relevance" emergent-type fringe of Baptist culture (i.e., Missional Baptist Blog). I'm even thinking of "becoming" one myself... The cultural contextualization and focus on missional living is refreshing.
I may be willing to grant that your generation "invented cool"... Just show me the evidence.
Without the presence of these much needed evangelicals who make up the "right wing" of the Emerging Church movement I'm afraid that as a convention we will continue to find ourselves floundering as we try to approach, converse with, and lead towards Christ, our current and future generations. We've got to be people who recognize the value of cultural relevance while happily admitting to the truths of Scripture.
My concern now is how do we educate people in this vein? As an educator you're probably better equipped to answer the question, but how do we provide educational opportunities that help to refine and encourage this movement? Right now it seems like, within the SBC, there are little options aside from those who want to attend more traditional institutions that are not fully embracing this methodology.
I'm glad that people are finally beginning to recognize the difference between Emergent and the emerging church. This is very helpful I think.
Our convention definitely needs to shift or else there really isn't going to be anything for anyone to stick around for.
Here's just one case in point. In our state and on the national scene there is the move to only allow people from churches that give certain percentages to CP to hold different offices. Now, I could be way off here, but I think this is a move to save CP (b/c we all recognize it is dying). One problemo, no one in my generation is going to give more so we can hold an office. No one in my generation, who isn't already a good ole modern boy, wants to hold office.
I was/am one of those SBC Emergents you mention (I am looking outside of the SBC for a church, though, because I find myself, the more I study Scripture, identifying less and less with the SBC), and you have us nailed down. I am a happy Calvinist, I do evangelism at the local punk shows and *gasp* even in some area bars when I have the rare occaision (although not so much anymore since I got married in December).
So many people are out to "kill" the Emerging Christian community, and it is sad. We don't necessarily use all the old church words and theological terms (although sometimes...most of the time we do), but we still preach the same goospel and we strive to live that gospel in our daily lives.
My mother-in-law is one of those people who condemns the Emerging church. She thinks it is of the devil and a way for him to deceive, if possible, the elect. She tells me that everything I find in the Emerging church regarding social, environmental, and ministry issues can be found in the already established churches. I say, "Yes they are, but the established church is not reaching out to this culture that we live in, and that is a tragedy."
Thank you for coming out in support of us conservative Emerging folks. It is much appreciated.
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