|
|||||
|
Last year a group of folks presented an “Eighth Letter” to the Church in North America (the previous seven ‘letters’ are those listed in Revelation to the church in Asia). In that same vain, David Fitch – author, church planter, pastor, seminary professor – recently wrote a letter to the “Christians in North America.” [...]
Below is a summary of the nine suggestions – you will need to go to David’s website to get the full version. The Important Task of Cultivating Missional Rhythms in a Community1.) Kindly Reject doing Outreach Events. Instead direct imagination towards ways of connecting with people where they are. 2.) Kindly Reject evangelism as a one time hit on a target with a preconceived outcome. Kindle imagination toward seeing mission as part of regular daily, weekly and monthly life rhythms where out or regular life God works to use your life to impact people for the gospel in unforeseen ways. 3.) Kindly reject building multiple use buildings as if by building a gymnasium on the church campus we can bring people into the orbit of the church. Instead stoke imagination for what can happen when we go inhabit the gyms already in the neighborhoods. We should build less third spaces, and inhabit more the ones already there. Continue reading Cultivating Missional Rhythms in a Community Last night I was approached by a couple in the church asking if we could start giving testimonies ever week. Unknown to them, this concept of testimonies or storytelling has been a crucial concept in the marketplace of ideas within Christianity over the last few years. Proponents are claiming that the church needs to [...]
Alan Hirsch does this every thing with his book The Forgotten Ways. Instead of focusing on the negative side of the decline of Christianity, Hirsch began with asking what would be left if all the Christian seminaries, school, books, NGOs, buildings and 501-C3s were removed. Then, drawing insight from the first 200 years of the Christian church and the modern underground church in China, he developed a model doing ‘church.’ This model (displayed below) is centered around one crucial element: Jesus is Lord. While this statement may sound trivia or Sunday shcoolish – it is in fact the center of the entire Bible. Jesus is Lord, King, Ruler of everything. It was this understanding that drove the early church onward in the face of persecutions and death. As such, it should be the center piece of everything a Believer does. Spreading out from this center are five different intertwined elements that help fill out the model:
Co-author Ryan Bolger is also a Fuller Theological Seminary professor with expertise in contemporary and postmodern culture. Bolger’s background as a generation X-er involved in several new paradigm churches (:8) helped balance out Gibbs’ Baby Boomer generational worldview. This book was born out of a desire by Gibbs to follow up his theoretical book ChurchNext with more practical data and Bolger’s need for field research to complete his Ph.D. degree at Fuller Theological Seminary (:7). Joining together, the authors set out to analyze “emerging trends in the U.K. and the U.S.” (:8) with the goal of proving that the church is in the “midst of a cultural revolution and that nineteenth-century (or older) forms of church do not communicate clearly to twenty-first century cultures” (:17). Continue reading Emerging Churches by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger
The thesis of Smith’s book is that the French postmodern philosophy promoted by Jacques Derrida, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Michel Foucault has a “deep affinity with central Christian claims” (:22) that can help Christians “recapture some truths about the nature of the church that have been overshadowed by modernity and especially by Christian appropriations of modernism” (:23). Continue reading Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? By James K.A. Smith
The thesis of Jones’ book is fairly simple: to tell the story of the emerging church. That is, to tell the story of how the emerging movement started and what factors affected its growth and development. To do this, Jones starts off chapter one by describing the “Old Country” dominated by mainline Protestant and evangelical churches. After describing the various problems on both the ‘right’ and ‘left,’ Jones describes the new “Frontier” being pushed open by the emerging church (chapter two). Throughout both of these chapters (as well as throughout the entire book), Jones makes liberal use of personal testimonies – highlighting the fact that the emerging movement is not about doctrine or church structure, but is about real people finding freedom in God to live hope filled lives. Continue reading The New Christians: Dispatches From The Emergent Frontier By Tony Jones
Well, this is exactly what has happened here on Requisite Danger these last two months!! I have been using the term “emerging church” in one way – while some of you have been reading it in another way. Specifically, some readers have been reading the term exactly the way Webster would define it (i.e. churches that are emerging – or up and coming). Yet, this is not the way that I have been using the term. For me – and for a lot of folks around the country – the term ‘emerging church’ brings to mind a new movement within Christianity (similar to the Jesus Movement, the Third Wave, etc – if these terms confuse you, check out Adrian Warnock article on the “The State of the Evangelical Movement” for a short history lesson). Therefore, in an effort to clear up the confusion, here is a brief definition of the Emerging Church Movement: The Emerging Church is a movement that began in the mid to late 1980’s (Andrew Jones of Tall Skinny Kiwi fame says 1989 as well as Wikipedia – but there are some that 1985 is the true date) among mainline Protestant and Evangelical churches in the USA and UK (note, however, that the movement did not stay within these countries or denominations, but quickly spread around the globe with Brazil having one of the largest Emerging Church conferences in the world). Continue reading Defining the Emerging Church A few days ago I posted a question asking “where were all the Pentecostal/Charismatic emerging church leaders.” Today, I want to propose a theory. But before I do, I must set the culture stage:
Ok. Now that the stage is set, here is my theory. Continue reading Premodern vs Modernism vs Postmodern: A Theory
The thesis of the book is that the “dogmas and doctrines of God, of humanity, of Jesus, of sin, of salvation” being taught by the church at large is so “firmly embedded in the cultural context of another time [Greco-Roman] that they have become almost meaningless” to people today (35). The first three chapters of the book are focused on establishing Doug’s credibility as a Christian leader and as someone who can speak on the topics at hand. In these chapters he describes his life before Christ, his conversion experience and his life after accepting Jesus. He also points toward the fact that he attended a Christian undergraduate college as well as seminary. In addition to establishing his credibility, Doug uses these chapters to describe the disconnect he felt between his relationship with Jesus and what the organized church was telling him. Continue reading A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2012 Requisite Danger - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
Sometimes when you have a problem it is good to have someone else look at the issue with new eyes as they can sometime see things you can not.
Recent Comments