Reformissionary

Jesus Loves Porn Stars

If you haven't seen the ABC news piece on the XXXChurch.com's Jesus Loves Porn Stars Bible, you should.  I find this issue fascinating and important.  Craig Gross and others in this ministry go to porn expo's and give away Bibles that have some Christians displeased, including Al Mohler (as the video shows).  More from Mohler at his website.

Please watch the segment and let me know what you think.

Kevin Cawley on Driscoll's Confessions

Kevin Cawley offers a thoughtful review of Mark Driscoll's Confessions of a Reformission Rev.

Review: Breaking the Missional Code

A couple of nights ago I finally finished Breaking the Missional Code, a new book by Ed Stetzer and David Putman.  I found it to be a worthy read and I wanted to offer a somewhat brief review of it.

I expected this to be a good intro to missional thinking.  I'm not sure that's what I'd call it.  I would call it a good intro to the outworking of some missional thinking.  It's not about the "missional code" but about "breaking" it.  That's why it's a book of stats, helpful stories, charts, and plenty of simple, practical ideas based on solid missional foundations. 

I must admit that I'm a little concerned that some guys who don't get missional theology could apply much of this book as church growth advice.  Joe Thorn seems to make similar observations.  It's hard to break the missional code if you don't get "missional."  So I wish the book had a little more space dedicated to something more foundational in explaining "missional." 

One of my favorite aspects of the book is the pervasive help concerning thinking on culture and contextualization.  The church should "spring forth out of the soil in which it is planted" (p 91).  "We must look for those cultural bridges to every people group, population segment, and cultural environment" called "redemptive analogies" (p 97).  All good stuff.

There's plenty on planting, on models and methods.  Lots of good questions on vision, networking, and readiness.

I really liked Chapter 12 on emerging networks.  It's mirrors much of what I've been personally desiring and encouraging among Southern Baptists.  They have recognized the backwards work of denominations and parachurch ministries and recommended a helpful approach to getting denominations thinking about their role in a healthier way.  My favorite advice is that denominational agencies need to "learn to 'dance' with other organizations."  Can I get a witness?

For me the chapter on the practices of leaders who break the code was crucial to the book.  Maybe it's just because of where I am and what I'm wrestling with in ministry, but it's very helpful nonetheless.  They said we need to ask the right questions of the right people to understand the culture we are in.  We must be willing to pay the price physically, emotionally and in so many other ways.  Getting culture and making an impact will take real risk.  According to the authors it will also take great teams, so leaders need to "inspire people to take overwhelming risk" (p 201).  We need focused visionaries who work on their churches and not just in it.  These are not just brief statements, but all thought out and explained.  Very helpful.

The absolute best thing to me about this book is you don't get through it and think there is one way to "do church."  It's a book about asking the right questions based on the right biblical principles and hopefully seeing an indigenous church raise up that reflects the culture in the right ways and is different than the culture in the right ways. 

When we talk about missional churches we are not referring to a certain form, expression, model, type, or category of church.  We are talking about a church that seeks to understand its context and come to express that understanding by contextualizing the gospel in its community.  Over time the church becomes an indigenous expression of the gospel within that culture, eventually removing all extrabiblical barriers.  The truest expression of this mission church is that is fully represents Christ in its context, maintaining biblical integrity so that gospel moves unhindered. (187-188)

I really enjoyed and recommend Breaking the Missional Code.  For biblical/theological foundations many of us will need Bosch, Guder, Newbigin, Van Gelder and others.  But for the how-to outworkings of missional theology, Breaking the Missional Code is very worthwhile and has already caused me to make some plans this summer to implement a few great ideas.  I see this book as mainly helpful for practitioners and those in training, but it is also the most accessible book for local church leaders.  May it find a wide readership.

Chicago Sun-Times on Rob Bell

The Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting article on Rob Bell this morning: The next Billy Graham?

Webber & Story

I really enjoyed Robert Webber's article in the Spring 2006 Criswell Theological Review: "Narrating the World Once Again: A Case for an Ancient-Future Faith."  If you get a chance and can find a copy of the CTR, read it.  My "tight" evangelical readers may shiver at all the uses of the word "story" or "narrative," but hey, our existence and ministry is rooted in, concerning, and continuing The Story.  So there. :) 

A couple of quotes...

I want to articulate three very specific paths for the Emerging church to follow in order to restore the ancient biblical and historical narrative from which to minister in a post Christian world: 1) deconstruct the current accommodation of ministry to the cultural narrative, 2) recover the story-formed nature of the good news, and 3) re-situate ministry in the divine narrative. (p 16)

Evangelicalism is so thoroughly conditioned by the culture in which it seeks to minister, that it has the appearance of the commonplace.  It has become what people want to hear, not what it is that God wants to say and do.  This indictment of evangelical Christianity--that it is culturally conditioned--is only the surface problem.  The deeper problem is that by allowing itself to become conditioned by the "surface culture," it missed the point of the deeper cultural crisis.  This crisis is that our world has become storyless.  There is no unified story that gives meaning to life and history.  Everything has been reduced to "my" story.  But there is no universal story in which my story is situated. (p 19)

The task of the next generation of leaders is to disassociate themselves from the culturally conditioned practices of the evangelical church, and recover the divine narrative in which all ministry is situated. (p 20)

Reform & Resurge Podcasting

The podcasted audio of the Reform & Resurge conference will start up tomorrow.  The sessions will be released a week at a time.

iMonk Reviews Driscoll

iMonk likes Driscoll's Confessions.  Flashback to my review here.

Don Miller Interview

Donald Miller is interviewed at Out of Ur: "Donald Miller Isn't Hip."  A clip...

You've said that the church "uses love as a commodity." What do you mean?

Miller: We sometimes take a Darwinian approach with love—if we are against somebody's ideas, we starve them out. If we disagree with somebody's political ideas, or sexual identity, we just don't "pay" them. We refuse to "condone the behavior" by offering any love.

This approach has created a Christian culture that is completely unaware what the greater culture thinks of us. We don't interact with people who don't validate our ideas. There is nothing revolutionary here. This mindset is hardly a breath of fresh air to a world that uses the exact same kinds of techniques.

Seattle: Thursday

Okay, it's VERY late.  So this will be very short.  I may expand on some stuff later, and I don't claim to be able to make sense of stuff so late.

Smokin' guns, Tim Keller just rocked.  I'll explain this talk a bit, but the rest will be brief. 

Keller's third and last session was up first this morning, "Doing Justice."  Geez.  A friend said it was the highlight of the conference.  It certainly was one of the most important talks I've ever heard on ministry.  Keller described injustice as that which damages the fabric of shalom.  Shalom is the way things ought to be.  When the body is healthy, it has shalom.  All bits and pieces are harmonious.  So with culture, as the bits and pieces do well together, there is cultural/city/neighborhood shalom.  But when that fabric is damaged (as it always and often is) then we do justice, or reweave shalom.

Keller said that power has to be given to others if we are going to do anything good.  Our job is to enable flourishing.  We are born in certain circumstances we didn't look to be in.  People haven't asked to be where they are.  And Christians should give away power to those who don't have it as the work of justice.  Keller said that biblical righteousness is about being willing to disadvantage yourself for the advantage of the community.  His question for us: Does your city rejoice that your church is there?  If they don't then we aren't working justice.

Matt Chandler of The Village Church of Dallas was next.  I first heard Matt in Dallas last summer at Acts29, and he was great.  But today, it may have been the most important message I've heard.  I said Darrin Patrick's message was really good for me, and Matt's was like picking up where Darrin left off and pressing even harder toward Jesus.  I wrote in my notes: "I would gladly let Matt start again and say it all over again."  It was that good.

Eric Mason talked about reaching the hip-hop generation.  Good, solid stuff.  We heard a couple of rap songs.  Very interesting on contextualization.

Mark Driscoll batted clean-up by talking about the Gospel, the Cross, and mostly about penal substitution.  It was a "hot" talk, and he was pretty fired up.  Good, biblical stuff.

Last things...We were able to hang at the Driscoll house for 1 1/2 hours tonight with about a dozen other guys.  The conference audio should be online in a couple of weeks.  And please pray for our trip back.  We fly out at 2:30 central time.  It has been a great, great trip but we really miss our kids.

Seattle: Wednesday

What a great day in Seattle.  The temp was nice, the sun was out, and day two of the the Reform & Resurge conference was fantastic.  I'll go speaker by speaker with a few brief (it's really late and I'm really tired) comments.  All quotes are as exact as can be after trying to understand my fast and sloppy writing.  You may not understand the context of something, but consider yourself blessed for what you do understand. :)

First up, the second and final session taught by Ed Stetzer.  Much came from his new book Breaking the Missional Code (see Driscoll's new interview with Stetzer about his new books).  I won't give all the info, including a couple sets of lists.  But I will say the first list includes 10 shifts for moving people toward culture and the second includes steps to understanding culture.  Good stuff.  He also gave good advice on how to get beyond demographics in knowing culture. 

Josh Harris followed Stetzer and talked about a "humble orthodoxy."  It was very good.  I've heard Josh speak before and I always learn much from him.  He taught from 2 Timothy 2:14-26, 1. Teach the truth faithfully, 2. Live the truth faithfully, and 3. Represent the truth humbly. 

Quotes: "We are to avoid controversy that distracts people from the gospel."  "Living Truth becomes a living lie when we don't embody it ourselves."  "You should be suspicious when the voice in your head says, 'You don't need counsel on this decision.'"

Tim Keller gave the other two messages of the day.  The first was on "Being the Church in Our Culture."  He provided a paper/article for the talk.  Here's his six-fold model for the church relating to culture.  They can read as one sentence.

1. More Christians living long-term in cities
2. ...With a better understanding of the gospel
3. ...Living as dynamic counter-cultures in the city
4. ...Integrating their faith and their work
5. ...Radically committed to the good of the city as a whole
6. ...Contextualizing the Gospel message

Quotes: "Christians are to be alternate cities in every city."  "People in our churches need to understand the theological meaning of ordinary work." "We are taught how to raise up church leaders, not culture leaders."  "Christians are supposed to live in the city as a counter-culture, but are not supposed to take power."  "Unless you are radically like [the culture] and radically unlike [the culture], they are going to shrug."

Keller's second talk was on "Preaching the Gospel."  He said you can understand the Bible diachronically (through the story) or synchronically (topically).  Some new evangelicals try to focus on the former, older evangelicals on the latter, but both are needed.  He focused on the Gospel as the agent of change in both unbelievers and believers as it tears down our idols and leaves us with Jesus.

Both talks by Keller were excellent and well received.  I was able to ask about suburban/rural incarnational ministry during QnA, since he focused on urban ministry.  I was also able to talk with him after the last session.  He speaks again in the morning.

I had the chance to meet Mark Horne and Dan Cruver today, and shared lunch with several friends I mentioned yesterday plus Drew Goodmanson.  Drew is a great guy and an elder at Kaleo in San Diego who knows more about the internet than the founder, Al Gore.  I had a nice chat today with Shaun Garman of Red Sea Church in Portland.  Shaun is a godly young pastor who we first met at the Acts29 conference in Dallas last year.  I also had a brief 'hello, love your books' with Donald Miller after he showed up for Keller's first talk.

I've met several guys who recognized me from this blog and decided to say 'hi.'  I love making these sorts of connections, and many of these guys seem to find my blog because they are looking for Tim Keller resources.  One of those guys is Darren Larson from Wheaton, IL.  He only lives an hour from me but we meet for the first time in Seattle.  Strange world.  Check out his blog.

I failed to mention yesterday that I talked for some time with Scott Thomas, who has been the Acts29 replanting guy and is now heading up the whole dealio.  Very cool for everyone because Scott is a great guy.  He always listens like you are the most important guy in the world and has great penetrating questions and insights.  We hope to talk more with him tomorrow.  Read a great "replanting" article by Scott.

FYI, I believe the conference audio and video will be available for free at some point on the Resurgence site.  How cool is that?

Seattle: Tuesday

The Reform & Resurge conference is on full force.  Three speakers today.  First was Darrin Patrick of The Journey Church in St. Louis.  Darrin is an SBC'r and a church planter with Acts29.  His talk was just perfect for me, exactly what I needed. 

He said that your biggest challenge in ministry is yourself.  He used James 1:1-4 to talk about how those who walk with God will be a mess because God wants to build our character through trials.  The process of going through trials is painful, but we need to focus on the product of trails not the pain of trails.  Why would we want to avoid trials when it's the trigger to God's power?

The second speaker was Anthony Bradley.  I didn't like it.  Seemed like a good guy with something to say, but he didn't get it out. 

The third speaker was Ed Stetzer, the church planting and church researcher with NAMB.  Great missional stuff.  He used Acts 17 to make four points.  1. Acknowledge spiritual questions in culture,  2. Understand culture, 3. Acknowledge the positive and rebuke the negative inside the culture, and 4. Proclaim Christ. 

Stetzer said that the HOW of ministry must be determined by the WHO, WHERE, and WHEN of culture, but that the church is currently answering questions that no one in the culture is asking.  The church has then become a culture in itself.  But what the church needs is to hold two truths in tension, that we mus be contending for the faith (Jude 3) and contextualizing by becoming all things to all men (1 Cor. 9). 

Great quote: "Preaching against culture is like preaching against somebody's house.  It's just where they live."

Second great quote: "The stumbling block of the cross has too often been replaced by the stumbling block of the church."  Most people aren't being recruited by other religions, they are being repelled by ours.

Today I was able to sit with Kevin Cawley and Brian Brown.  We had some discussion after the day ended with Kevin, Brian, Bruce Chant, Bill Streger, and Pete Williamson.  I also met a handful of other bloggers and blog readers.

Sidenote: I'm reading and planning to blog-review Stetzer's new book Breaking the Missional Code soon.  The book is about how Tom Hanks finds the code for missional theology in the glow of Thomas Kinkade paintings.  Okay, not really. But it's very good so far. 

For lunch we had it catered by a local barbeque restaurant, Porter's Place.  Wow, was it good.  We were told to be sure to "meet the man."  So we saw a guy who we figured was "the man" and asked if he was.  He said no but went and got "the man."  "The man" is no man, but one of the most powerful hot sauces I've ever experienced (and I've experienced a couple of very hot ones).   That's "the man" that I tasted a drop of on the toothpick (see pic).  Literally burned my mouth and made my eyes water for 15 minutes or more. 

Tomorrow, more Ed, Josh Harris (who I met tonight at the hotel), and Tim Keller.  It's gonna rock.  For now, the donger need sleep.  G'nite.  Oh!  And be sure to keep up with my Seattle pictures.

Desiring God Conference Promo

Dang, great Desiring God promo video.  You need to see it.  I'm planning on going.  (HT: Thorn)

CTR and Emerging Church

I've read three articles in the Spring 2006 Criswell Theological Review so far.  Two of them are public and can be found at the CTR website. 

The interview with Brian McLaren, I thought, was great.  As often occurs, I was both very encouraged by Brian's answers and very provoked (and at times disturbed) by some of what he said.  It's a great read and important for anyone trying to understand McLaren or the Emergent side of the emerging church.

John Hammett's "Ecclesiological Assessment of the Emergent Church" (not the CTR site) is just okay.  It's helpful in some ways, but nothing too special.  I've interacted briefly with Hammett about this paper before, and he's a good guy who is trying to understand the movement.  It's a difficult task.

Mark Driscoll's "Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church" is really good.  I think he does a good job of taking messy emerging church junk and distilling it until we have some clarity.  Read this article.  It not only helps us understand the EC, it helps us understand the church and our interaction with culture.

This week I hope to read Robert Webber's "Narrating the World Once Again: A Case for an Ancient-Future Faith."  I'm intrigued.  I'm pretty happy with the Criswell Review so far.  If they continue to get this kind of content, it should be a consistently good read.

Theopraxis: Theology of the Suburbs

Scott Berkhimer of Theopraxis and MereMission is in suburban Philadelphia.  He has written a series of posts on "A Theology of the Suburbs."  I've been enjoying his thoughts and felt I should provide a central location for these links here.  He offers no specific titles, so I will offer a very brief identifier for each post.

Part 1: Pursuit of Happiness; Part 2: Choice & Imagination;
Part 3: Economic Influence; Part 4: Rootlessness;
Summary: Restatement; Part 5: Race & Ethos 1;
Part 6: Race & Ethos 2; Part 7: Imago Dei & Sabbath Keeping;
Part 8: Shaping Imaginations; Part 9: Simplicity & Generosity
Part 10: Hospitality & Eucharist;  Part 11: Suburbs & Gospel

Incarnational Practices

I read this last year, but found it again recently.  I don't agree with all of it, but I think it's thought-provoking in a healthy way.  "Incarnational Practices."

Emerging in the Suburbs

David Fitch (at Out of Ur) on "The Brutal Burbs: How the Suburban Lifestyle Undermines Our Mission."

By idolizing the family, suburbanites may become focused on consuming more stuff to create the perfect home and family. There is nothing but contrived affection left to keep the home together. And children who learn they are the center of this universe from parents actually develop characters that believe they really are the center of the universe.

After decades of this suburban lifestyle America is left with families split by divorce, kids leaving in rebellion, and millions on various drugs to relieve the emptiness as the idolized family turns out to be a myth. Apart from the personal destruction the suburbs can bring, suburban isolation also poses a real problem for the spreading of the gospel.

If hospitality is to be a central way of life for the spreading of the gospel, the alienation of the suburbs is a condition of our exile we must overcome. Elsewhere I have said:

… evangelical Christians must consistently invite our neighbors into our homes for dinner, sitting around laughing, talking, listening and asking questions of each other. The home is where we live, where we converse and settle conflict, where we raise children. We arrange our furniture and set forth our priorities in the home. We pray for each other there. We share hospitality out of His blessings there. In our homes then, strangers get full view of the message of our life. Inviting someone into our home for dinner says “here, take a look, I am taking a risk and inviting you into my life.” By inviting strangers over for dinner, we resist the fragmenting isolating forces of late capitalism in America. It is so exceedingly rare, that just doing it speaks volumes as to what it means to be a Christian in a world of strangers.

McNeal on Spiritual Formation

I've been thinking a bit about spiritual formation lately, and this lengthy quote from Reggie McNeal has been helpful.  I am almost done with this book and I've really enjoyed it.

In the modern world spiritual formation was thought to be accomplished by taking a student through a prescribed group of texts that addressed topic in a curricular approach.  This is so deeply ingrained in us that we approach almost any learning experience in the church this way.  Only in the modern world would you find people huddled together reading literature produced by mission agencies as a primary approach to mission "education" or would you convene a conference for people to spend all day taking notes in a notebook on fasting and prayer.  This feels "normal" to us.  In the world that is dawning, the curriculum approach to growing people is increasingly view as a supplemental strategy to the primary approach: learning agendas driven by life issues and informed by life experiences.

Jesus facilitated spiritual formation in his disciples by introducing them to life situation and then helping them debrief their experiences.  He taught them to pray.  He did not lead them in a study course on prayer.  He took them on mission trips (Samaria, for example); he didn't read books to them on the subject of missions.  He sent them on learning junkets and exposed them to situations.  He asked their opinion on what they were hearing and observing ("Who do you say that I am?").  He asked for radical obedience from them.  He asked them to take up a cross and follow him.  He did not send them to school and wait for them to graduate before giving them a significant assignment.  He sent them out before they were ready to go and then helped them to learn from their experiences.  He talked about the kingdom of God, but mostly he lived the kingdom of God, practicing a life in front of his followers that modeled very different core values than those given to them by the Pharisees in the synagogues.

Helping people grow, particularly in the arena of spiritual formation, is about unpacking life: challenging our emotional responses that are destructive (envy, hatred, bitterness); challenging our biases (racial prejudice, social and economic elitism, intellectual snobbery); challenging our assumptions ("my needs are the most important"); challenging our responses; unpacking our frustrations, our hopes, our dreams, and our disappointments; bringing life to God rather than teaching about God, somehow hoping to get him into our life.

Reggie McNeal in The Present Future, pgs 85-86, emphasis his.

Warnock Interviews Driscoll

Adrian Warnock interviews Mark Driscoll.

(HT: Kevin Cawley)

Criswell Journal

If you haven't found it yet, you need to head over to the Criswell Journal site and check out their new issue on the Emerging Church.  You can read an interview with Brian McLaren and Mark Driscoll's article "A Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church."  Kudos to Criswell guys like Alan Streett and Denny Burk who obviously know how to draw a crowd to a theological journal site.  Well done, and here's to thoughtful conversation on the Gospel.

Driscoll Apology

Remember the whole Mark Driscoll and Brian McLaren exchange a while back?  Remember how Driscoll took shots at McLaren and Doug Pagitt?  Driscoll now apologizes.

A godly friend once asked me an important question: “What do you want to be known for?” I responded that solid theology and effective church planting were the things that I cared most about and wanted to be known for. He kindly said that my reputation was growing as a guy with good theology, a bad temper, and a foul mouth. This is not what I want to be known for. And after listening to the concerns of the board members of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network that I lead, and of some of the elders and deacons at Mars Hill Church that I pastor, I have come to see that my comments were sinful and in poor taste. Therefore, I am publicly asking for forgiveness from both Brian and Doug because I was wrong for attacking them personally and I was wrong for the way in which I confronted positions with which I still disagree. I also ask forgiveness from those who were justifiably offended at the way I chose to address the disagreement. I pray that you will accept this posting as a genuine act of repentance for my sin.

Missional Suggestions

I made a few suggestions for people striving to be missional over at MBB.  It's just a starting place and mostly a call for missional fellowships (nothing too profound here), but it's a start.

Blue Like the 9th Commandment

Joe Thorn has pulled out his 9th Commandment trump card on some of the chatter about so-called "liberals."  Sounds like this has a few Blue Like Jazz reviewers names all over it.  Here's a teaser, but don't miss the whole thing...

Recently some men have been accused of being “liberal” theologians. Vague generalizations are being made, people are not quoted, sound argument is not made, but naked assertions and accusations are released in an effort to warn others to stay away. “That guy is a liberal in evangelical clothing!” My trouble is that in some cases these accusations amount to unrighteous distortions of the truth. And I have to say, I am grieved.

[...]

Am I the only one who’s going to say it? This is sin. Having a platform or a big mouth necessitates responsibility, clarity and charity. What I have seen lately is at best zeal without knowledge, or worse it is lying. Either way, it breaks the ninth and hurts the church.

[...]

The carelessness of it all amazes me. Watson explains that men who would never steal another’s goods don’t think twice about robbing a man of his reputation.

The Resurgence of Resurgence

From Mark Driscoll...

The elders at Mars Hill Church, which I founded in 1996, have always been a big-hearted, kingdom-minded team of godly men who have given over 10 percent of our general budget to help church planters since our inception. Now, they have also agreed to give even more money to serve the greater church by launching The Resurgence ministry. This includes paying for the development of a massive website that will include thousands of free articles, audio and video podcasts, film reviews, music reviews, book reviews, and more. It also includes freeing up one of our elders, Gary Shavey, to serve as director of The Resurgence, and recently hiring Jon Krombein as the full-time content manager for the forthcoming website.

To kick The Resurgence off with a bang, we will launch the new website this spring, Zondervan will release my next book Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church in early May, and we will be hosting the Reform & Resurge Conference 2006 at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Below I’ll introduce each of the main speakers and give some reasons why you will not want to miss this event.

Miller-Webb Chat Audio

You can listen to the Derek Webb - Don Miller online chat audio.  Don't miss Joe Thorn's helpful, fairly detailed summary.

Derek Webb-Donald Miller Chat

Don't miss the Derek Webb and Donald Miller online chat tomorrow night. 

Joining the conversation is a sure ticket to becoming a theological liberal repackaged with a goatee.  If you are a girl, it will take a pretty significant piercing to equal goatee status.  Yes!  You can be a liberal too!  Try throwing something into your eyebrow, tongue, nose, or lower lip.  You didn't know liberalism was this easy, did you?  Lucky I'm here for you.

Resurgence is Surging

The Resurgence website is "becoming" as two new articles pop up from John Armstrong ("Why Seek to Advance Tradition?") and Anthony Bradley ("Keeping it Real").  Learn more about these guys.

Mark Driscoll's blog is directly linked here.

Driscoll: Church, Gospel & Culture

From Kevin Cawley, the audio from the first Acts29 Boot Camp has been resurrected.

I consistently get emails in response to my Missional Ecclesiology readers guide asking if I'm aware of any sermons/conference lectures that treat these issues in a systematic fashion. Beyond the excellent A29 Boot Camp sessions (2005) and the (forthcoming) A29 2006 Boot Camp sessions, the only real source I'm aware of is, to my knowledge, no longer accessible on the internet. It is an old (the first?) church planting boot camp at Mars Hill. I got another email today asking the same question, and so I decided to upload these sessions in hope that others will benefit from them as I have.

The sessions below are some of the best comprehensive teaching I have heard on the theological foundation of the church and a practical implementation of a missional ecclesiology. I downloaded these sometime in late 2000 or early 2001...

Church, Gospel, & Culture part 1
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 2
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 3
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 4
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 5
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 6

Review: Mark Driscoll's Confessions

Mark Driscoll (Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, founder of the church planting network Acts29 and the new missional web resource Resurgence, and author of Radical Reformission) emailed me a couple of months ago and asked if I wanted to read and blog review his new book Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church. I was pumped, agreed, and received a pre-publication version of the book in the mail from Zondervan and read through it near the beginning of January.

I'm going to approach the review in three phases. 

I. The Boring Details: how long, when published, etc. 
II. Themes, Quotes & Content: hitting a few themes and highlights.
III. My Take & Recommendation: why you MUST read this book.

I have found this to be a difficult book to put in a one-post review.  I considered doing multiple posts, but since the book isn't out yet I would end up giving up too much of the content and you would have to take my word for it.  I would rather you read the book.  So consider this an extended trailer that should encourage you to pick up the book.  Consider this a tray of Turkish Delight.  I want you to read and be hungry for more.

So away we go.

I. The Boring Details

The book is due out on May 1st, 2006 and is Driscoll's honest look at the 9 year run of Mars Hill (planting and pastoring).  The church has gone from a few people in his living room to more than 4,000, and he has a strategic plan to take it to 10,000 and more.

Mark has already posted a brief excerpt from the book as well as the table of contents.  I won't repeat those here.  Suffice it to say the chapters are based on attendance, so he deals with issues at each stage of numerical growth. Each chapter is followed by reflection questions, and these are actually ones you won't skip.  Very helpful.

Before the "meat" of the book you get Chapter Zero, which is "Ten Curious Questions" and deals with lingo, theology, and ecclesiology to build a missional foundation before talking about their church story.  The first appendix is called "The Junk Drawer" and deals with common questions people have about Mars Hill.  The second appendix lists distinctives of larger churches.  There are endnotes as well.  All-in-all the book is about 200 pages long.

II. Themes, Quotes & Content

Emerging Church Issues

Driscoll early on points out his connection to the Emerging Church Movement, but he is careful to distance himself from Emergent.  He says, "I myself swim in the theologically conservative stream of the emerging church" (p 22), but also says, "the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism.  The only difference is that old liberalism accomodated modernity and the new liberalism accomodates postmodernity" (p 21). 

I assure you that I speak as one within the Emerging Church Movement who has great love and appreciation for Christian leaders with theological convictions much different from my own.  And because the movement has defined itself as a conversation, I would hope there would be room in the conversation for those who disagree, even poke a bit of fun, but earnestly desire to learn from and journey with those also striving to be faithful to God and fruitful in emerging churches.  Standing with my brothers and sisters in our great mission, I hope this book can in some small way help the greater church emerge in biblical faithfulness and missional fruitfulness. (p 23)

Knowing and Hearing God

In Confessions you can't miss the idea that God is not silent in the work of Driscoll and Mars Hill, and that He speaks in amazing ways.  Driscoll speaks often of "The Ghost" (his Holy Spirit term). 

He tells us why he started Mars Hill, "God had spoken to me in one of those weird charismatic moments and told me to start a church" (p 39).  Before they launched their first service Driscoll had a "prophetic dream" that told him to ditch a guy who would eventually try to take over as pastor.  Driscoll showed up to the first service and found the guy in the exact circumstances of his dream and told him to get lost before the service even began.  Not the best way to build a welcoming atmosphere, but necessary.

Driscoll later tells the story of a demon-possessed guy who came in the service and disrupted it.  God told Mark to go to the front of the church during a time of prayer just before the demon-possessed guy started acting out.  The book is sprinkled with these sorts of stories, talk of spiritual attacks and "bad angels" talking to his daughter, prophetic dreams (both from God and Satan), even "words of knowledge" (p 121).  Sure to be provocative.

Mistakes & Frustrations

Mark confesses his major mistakes in starting and leading Mars Hill.  At first they had no clear leadership structure, relationships were too connected to him, he didn't draw clear theological lines, and the church was broke. With some clearly articulated goals written out by Mark, they began to work toward a more biblical church, and it began to grow.  Driscoll is open about his mistakes throughout the book.

Driscoll talked about his frustrations being in an immature church with less than manly men.  He tells one hilarious story of a guy who called him in the middle of the night upset because he watched a porno and masturbated.  Well, that's not hilarious.  But the way Driscoll talks about it is hilarious, and his response to the guy was, "A naked lady is good to look at, so get a job, get a wife, ask her to get naked, and look at her instead" (p 60).  This is typical Driscollian bluntness, and it works for him.  He seems to use frustrations to push him toward prophetic sorts of responses.  You will laugh at his strangely courageous moments, and wonder if you are being too soft with those who frustrate you.  Will you do what Jesus wants or what the people want?

You don't get the impression from the book that getting from a few people to 4,000 has been easy.  It's been rough.  There have been problem people ("nut jobs"), pastoral mistakes, spiritual struggles, and even the near miss involving Driscoll, a massage from a hot lady, and the decision to run from rather than receive sexual favors (p 128).  Driscoll's openness to his own problems is helpful.

Theological Issues

Ecclesiology is a big issue in the book, especially dealing with church polity.  Of congregational ecclesiology he says, "As I studied the Bible, I found more warrant for a church led by unicorns than by majority vote.  Practically, it seemed obvious that a congregationally governed church would not be led but would instead make decisions by compromise to appease all of the various interests in the church" (p 103). Driscoll instead holds to elder ecclesiology and his thoughts should be challenging to those with other positions.  He should also be challenging as a complementarian who believes the biblical view is for male eldership.

Buzz

A term that comes up time and again is "buzz."  Different events in the history of Mars Hill created a "buzz" that brought in curious people, and some of those people would keep coming, get saved and join up.  My impression throughout the book is that the buzz they have at Mars Hill is usually created by either weird people doing uncontrollable things or by God's people doing bold and biblical things.  "Buzz" was a result, but I don't think ever spoken of as something to be created.

Future

Driscoll believes that comfort is an enemy at Mars Hill and so he has to keep the church ready to charge hell with their squirt guns instead of becoming complacent.  To do that Driscoll and the elders strategically blow up the settlements of MHC and push toward risky and bold goals.  They buy more property, add more services, and decided that Mark should stop being the pastor of everyone and instead transition to being more of a "missiologist-preacher."  They have now begun to move toward so many venues and services that some are video rather than Mark preaching each one.  And they are adding a bunch more elders and some staff to serve and lead the church.  They have decided not to be happy with where they are.

Their mission is much bigger than growing a megachurch of more than 10,000.  Though they have a lot to focus on internally (Driscoll says they are like a "kite in a hurricane"), they have a church planting network and are continuously planting churches and discipling new planters.

III. My Take & Recommendation

This has been one of the most important books on church and ministry I have read, and I think will hold a unique place among books about ministry.  My advice?  Get this book.  Read it.  Reread it.  Give it away.   It's most helpful for pastors and planters since it deals a lot with dealing with preaching, logistics, pastor's family issues, church growth, etc.  But I highly recommended for all church leaders and thoughtful Christians. 

Where could this book be better?  I don't know.  Some people will be offended at Driscoll's "in your face" approach.  Some will disagree with his reformed theology, his ecclesiology, his charismatic tendencies, his complementarianism, and more.  I have my concerns with some of the practicals, like video venue preaching.  I'm concerned that a lot of Driscoll's ministry is founded upon his personality.  I'm concerned that there may be better ways to go than to build a monstrous church.  These are some of the things I've wrestled with in this book and found myself wondering if there might be a better way to go.

But I don't answer to God for Driscoll and Mars Hill.  Driscoll does.  And I don't have his growth problems, unfortunately.  And one of the things he points out in the book is that he has learned to be more careful in his criticisms of others (such as Rick Warren) because it's easy to disagree with the big church guy who is seeing so many good things happen that there are few ideal options open.  Instead of considering how to disagree with Driscoll's directions, I encourage you to read the book, be thankful for what God is doing, and learn from it.

Now some positives.  Conservative evangelicals need to learn from Driscoll's willingness to identify with the "emerging" church while distancing himself from movements within it that he finds problematic (at the least).  By considering himself an insider, he has influence that many evangelicals who only scold the ECM will never have. 

I hope this book will be read by many who are practical (or theological) cessationists.  Driscoll's "Ghost" stories will be shocking to much of the frigid American Church.  I hope this book sparks discussions on the miraculous, the supernatural, the voice of God, the will of God, and more.  I hope this book will be widely read and cause many of us to say, "How is God speaking to us?"

For all I've written about, I've neglected so many good things in this book.  I've left out lists and charts and stories and systems and ideas that have already become a part of my thinking with my local church.  It's a theology book, a missiology book, and a practical book.  You will find help no matter what kind of church you are in, where you are located, or what size you are.

I think most of all Confessions is a Jesus book.  You cannot help but to read and feel that Jesus is the focus of Driscoll and Mars Hill around every corner.  Driscoll writes, "My answer to everything is pretty much the same: open the Bible and preach about the person of Jesus and his mission for our church" (p 86).  Good advice. 

I think many who read this book will be awakened from their bland Christian slumber to ask good questions of ourselves and our churches.  May we hear and respond to the voice of the Ghost, preach Jesus and be on His mission, and have our churches buzzing from the work that God is doing.

Chuck Lawless on the Emerging Church

Chuck Lawless is the new Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at SBTS and a guy I really like.  When I was commissioned as a "missionary" to international students I asked him to preach at the service.  I think very highly of him. 

Dr. Lawless recently gave a breakout seminar on the Emerging Church at the collegiate conference held at SBTS.  Here's a news article giving some of his thoughts and critiques.  I like a lot of what he has to say.  And though I might say some of it differently, I think it's good to have Dr. Lawless encouraging students to learn (cautiously) from the Emerging Church.  I have the last bit for you...

"We have to build relationships to gain a hearing," he said. "I'm right there. But New Testament evangelism does not say, 'I'll just wait and listen and when you ask, I'll respond.' New Testament evangelism is initiatory and it is confrontive."

Some teachings from the emerging church movement "do not fit Christian orthodoxy," Lawless warned.

"Read very, very cautiously. Hear the positive. Then pray that God would help us to work on our own churches to take those positives and to become more relational, to become more authentic, to become more vulnerable as needed, but without ever compromising the truth of the Gospel."

Driscoll's Apology and Question

Mark Driscoll has now commented on Brian McLaren's post at Out of Ur...

Brian, as someone who has known you for many years I will, out of sincere and true love for you, ask one simple question and kindly request that you answer it.

Do you personally believe that all sexual activity between two persons of the same gender is always a sin?

I hope this question is simple, clear, and personal enough to result in an answer of either yes or no. Perhaps my attempt at some prophetic sarcasm which is commmon in Scripture was not well received. So, rather than repeating my tone I would like to simply ask your forgiveness if your have been wounded and get to the point of all this controversy. People like me who have known you, followed you, and learned from you for many years would simply like to know the bottom line for you personally with all of the other issues set aside for the time being. If you refuse to answer I am sure you can understand why accusations and concerns will be coming from both the right and the left and your answer will at least enable you to speak for yourself. So, with all respect would you please answer the question my brother?

(HT: KC)

Erwin McManus and Denominational Headway

What do you think about Erwin McManus?  Just an open question for anyone who has read one of his books, heard him speak, been to his church (Mosaic).  I've appreciated his ministry and writings.

Baptist Press has an article today on McManus and a class he taught on leadership at GGBTS.  It's a nice introduction to him if you don't know much about him.  He will be preaching at the SBC Annual Meeting Pastor's Conference in June.

I really like McManus' approach to the SBC, in that he makes his noise with his church, his books, his speaking and it's a "building" mentality and not just tearing down.  It's all gospel and mission and zeal for Christ.

McLaren Responds

McLaren now responds to the conversation over at Out of Ur on homosexuality, where his original post was made public.  It isn't short, and he deals with a number of issues.

McLaren's original post
Driscoll's response
McLaren's response

The Reformissionary discussion...

Moratorium on Truth?: Homosexuality
Driscoll Responds to McLaren

Other helpful posts elsewhere...

TallSkinnyKiwi: Is the Blogosphere Ready for Mark Driscoll?
Bob Hyatt: Some Thoughts for Mark Driscoll

Driscoll Responds to McLaren

Mark Driscoll has responded to Brian McLaren's post on the "homosexual question."  It's posted on the same blog as McLaren's post: Out of Ur (Leadership Journal's blog).

This is getting interesting.  Driscoll's first line...

Well, it seems that Brian McLaren and the Emergent crowd are emerging into homo-evangelicals.

Driscoll's best line...

I am myself a devoted heterosexual male lesbian who has been in a monogamous marriage with my high school sweetheart since I was 21 and personally know the pain of being a marginalized sexual minority as a male lesbian.

And don't miss the main points...

And on January 23rd McLaren wrote an article for Leadership that is posted on this blog. In it he argues that because the religious right is mean to gays we should not make any decision on the gay issue for 5-10 years.

As the pastor of a church of nearly 5000 in one of America’s least churched cities filled with young horny people this really bummed me out. Just this week a young man who claims to be a Christian and knows his Bible pretty well asked if he could have anal sex with lots of young men because he liked the orgasms. Had I known McLaren was issuing a Brokeback injunction I would have scheduled an appointment with him somewhere between 2011-2016.

Lastly, for the next 5-10 years you are hereby required to white out 1 Peter 3:15 which says “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” from your Bible until further notice from McLaren because the religious right forget the gentleness and respect part and the religious left forgot the answer the question part. Subsequently, a task force will be commissioned to have a conversation about all of this at a labyrinth to be named later. Once consensus is reached a finger painting will be commissioned on the Emergent web site as the official doctrinal position.

In conclusion, this is all just gay.

-Pastor Mark Driscoll

UPDATE: The original article was slightly tweaked, so I tried to make sure my post represents what is now public.

Moratorium on Truth?: Homosexuality

One of the truly life-changing things I've learned in the last two or three years of my ministry is that my tendency to scold sinners rather than speak and act redemptively (hard to believe I would approach culture like that as an SBC'r, isn't it) is the wrong approach.  As someone once said, it's hard to get someone to smell a rose right after you've cut the nose off their face.  And scolding is not the God-ordained means by which sinners will realize they are sinners and run to Christ.  The only people Jesus would scold are religious leaders bent on torquing God's ways.

With this I have realized how important it is for the church to stop saying they "love the sinner" without lifting a finger to express love to them.  This is particularly true with homosexuals, and we as the Church need to repent of how we have at times scolded them and refused to love them actively.  (There are many out there who aren't guilty of this and have been in gracious ministry to homosexuals, but I don't see these courageous saints as the norm.)

And while I desire this change in evangelicalism and my own life, it appears that Brian McLaren has failed to even comprehend what to do now.

Read McLaren's "pastoral response" on the issue of homosexuality, which quite honestly is hardly pastoral and not much of a response.  I realize that those who have needed grace from Christians haven't received it.  I realize that too quickly answering the "homosexual question" (which is, What does your church think about homosexuality?) sometimes can close the door to answering more important questions first, like Who is Jesus? 

But what about conviction?  What about Peter (Acts 2) preaching to the crowds and saying YOU crucified this Jesus, and they were cut to the heart and responded, What shall we do?  Maybe many homosexuals aren't asking What shall we do? because they aren't cut to the heart.  And maybe they aren't cut to the heart because we have equated being non-committal with being "pastoral."

The most pastoral thing we can do for someone who run with down the avenue of homosexuality (just like any sin) is help them be cut to the heart in a God-intended way, through the truth of their sin in comparison with truth of God's law.

McLaren and I have similar issues with evangelicalism.  We are both concerned to 'cut' sinners through our own "rightness" which will tend to run homosexuals off and keep them from hearing about grace.  But I cannot go down McLaren's path of choosing to not know the answer to the "homosexual question."  Being pastoral in our responses, and getting to more important questions is a great and important thing, but there is no excuse for not even knowing the answer to the "homosexual question."  McLaren said...

Frankly, many of us don't know what we should think about homosexuality. We've heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say "it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us." That alienates us from both the liberals and conservatives who seem to know exactly what we should think. Even if we are convinced that all homosexual behavior is always sinful, we still want to treat gay and lesbian people with more dignity, gentleness, and respect than our colleagues do. If we think that there may actually be a legitimate context for some homosexual relationships, we know that the biblical arguments are nuanced and multilayered, and the pastoral ramifications are staggeringly complex. We aren't sure if or where lines are to be drawn, nor do we know how to enforce with fairness whatever lines are drawn.

I find no space for nuanced arguments on homosexuality.  In Scripture I find direct answers with direct implications for ministry, and our pastoral job is to realize where we have failed to speak and act with love toward those who need to be cut to the heart deep enough to see the hole that only the cross can fill.

McLaren then says...

Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements. In the meantime, we'll practice prayerful Christian dialogue, listening respectfully, disagreeing agreeably. When decisions need to be made, they'll be admittedly provisional. We'll keep our ears attuned to scholars in biblical studies, theology, ethics, psychology, genetics, sociology, and related fields. Then in five years, if we have clarity, we'll speak; if not, we'll set another five years for ongoing reflection. After all, many important issues in church history took centuries to figure out. Maybe this moratorium would help us resist the "winds of doctrine" blowing furiously from the left and right, so we can patiently wait for the wind of the Spirit to set our course.

I'm disturbed that McLaren doesn't think that thousands of years since the destruction of cities and the teachings of Jesus and Paul and others isn't enough, and that maybe 5 more will do it.  If not, let's go 5 more. 

Something is terribly wrong with McLaren's lack of clarity on what Scripture teaches.  The answer for "emerging leaders" is not a moratorium on deciding, but boldness to take the Scriptures at face value and to approach sinners with a firm kindness that will lead them to repentance.
_____

Worth checking out on the issue:

Doug Wilson's response to McLaren
Tom Ascol's discussion with a homosexual radio host

9Marks and Blue Like Jazz Coolness

9Marks has published an online review of Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz.  The iMonk's "rant" over the review is a must read.

Driscoll on Culture War

Mark Driscoll discusses hearing Charles Colson talk about "culture war" and offers some great questions...

Colson’s comments raise interesting missiological questions about the role of the gospel in the culture. An aging generation of evangelicals assumes that America is essentially founded upon Christianity and that the role of the church is to defend Christian morality through mainly conservative and Republican political involvement and by fighting against such things as abortion and gay marriage. Younger emerging type Christians are increasingly answering these questions differently than previous generations, leading to a growing rift among American Christians regarding the proper role of a Christian in their culture:

• Is Christianity at war for culture?
• Is it beneficial for Christians to speak of themselves in military terms such as war when speaking of their engagement with lost people and their ideas?
• Does the concept of a culture war cause Christians to fight moral and political battles rather than gospel battles?
• Does the greatest threat to Christianity come from forces outside the church, or from inside the church, through leaders who are more like Judas than Jesus?
• Do Christians have the right to continually claim the moral high ground when they are statistically no more moral than the average pagan?

Burnside Writer's Collective 2.0

The Burnside Writer's Collective, something conjured in the mind of Donald Miller, has a new site up.  It's an "online magazine presenting an alternative to franchise faith."  Choice. 

I've been waiting for it for a while, and it looks good so far.

(HT: Goodmanson)

Resurgence

Mark Driscoll's Resurgence website is now up.  From Driscoll...

...our staff is constructing the mother lode of all websites, complete with an ever-growing library of free articles, curriculum, podcasts, book reviews, cultural commentary, teaching helps, ministry tools, and mp3s of sermons and conferences for a spring debut, this blog will help keep you up-to-date on the sanctified trouble we are planning. Some of the most successful pastors and most respected missional theologians are providing enough content to give even the most devout gospel and culture geeks a headache of Absalom-esque proportions.

From the "About" page...

Resurgence means to rise again, or to surge back into vibrancy. We believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ must resurge in every generation to meet the needs of people and their continually changing cultures.

Missional means that we believe Jesus Christ is on a mission to seek and save people, change their lives, and transform their cultures. Because of this we believe that Christians, Christian organizations, and Christian churches exist to join Jesus on His mission by immersing themselves in whatever culture Jesus has placed them.

Theology means that we believe that personal and cultural transformation is only possible by meeting the living Jesus Christ of the Bible through His gospel. Because of this we believe that culturally accessible mission also requires biblically faithful theology.

Cooperative means that we believe a team of missional theologians working together as friends and peers, sharing ideas, and correcting errors is the best way for learning to occur. Because of this we are a network of various Christian leaders, ministries, churches, and networks seeking to work together in providing the most culturally effective and biblically faithful missional theology.

At Resurgence you will find info for the Reform & Resurge conference in May, which I would give up one of my toes to attend.  I'm planning on being at two conferences in April (one I attend, one in which I'm a speaker) and I'm still trying to see if I can make it to Seattle.  Speakers include Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Tim Keller, Rick McKinley, Joshua Harris, Darrin Patrick, Matt Chandler, and Anthony Bradley.  From the website...

This is a conference that exists to provide encouragement, guidance, and instruction for the church and its leadership. Topics will address issues such as:

- Preaching the Christian Gospel to a secular audience
- The role of mercy ministry in cultural transformation
- Methods for engaging and decoding culture
- Practical tips for pastors
- Emerging theological errors in need of correction
= Crazy Delicious. (sorry, I did that)

In addition to all this the net is abuzz on how Driscoll is now blogging on the front page of the Resurgence website.  I highly doubt this will be much more than his way of updating people about the Resurgence ministry and what's coming next, etc.  But it will be worth watching since Resurgence promises to be a tremendous missional resource.  Here's his first post.

Stetzer on Emerging Church

Ed Stetzer has a new article on the Emerging Church in Baptist Press.

Emergent in 2006

It looks like Emergent is taking a year off.  Well, not really.  But as Tony Jones seems to say in a new article, 2006 will have more to do about planning 2007.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev.

I just received my pre-publication copy of Mark Driscoll's new book Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church.  Mark asked me a couple of months ago if I would read and review this book and another one on emerging church theology (esp Scripture, Trinity and atonement).  It will include stuff from Doug Pagitt, Karen Ward, Dan Kimball, and John Burke.  Each are writing sections and then commenting on & critiquing one another.

So I hope to begin the Confessions book very soon and plan to blog on it sometime after the holidays.  I'm not sure when I will get the theology book, but I'm looking forward to that one too.

Emergent's Tony Jones at SBTS

Tony Jones writes of his trip to SBTS (Boyce College, really).  He met with some of the college faculty including two guys I know, Randy Smith and Jimmy Scroggins.  I'm very glad to see that something connected to SBTS is at least in dialogue with EC (Emergent) guys.  I believe that's a good sign.

Also, notice Tim Keller finds his way into the comments on Tony's post on inerrancy and atonement issues.

Side note: I think the best thing that can happen to SBTS/Boyce (or conservative evangelicalism) and the EC is if they mate and have tons of offspring.  Then we will fill the earth with a bunch of (hopefully credobaptistic) Tim Keller's.  Oh, a man can dream.

Emergent, Jews and Justice

It seems Emergent (the organization) is muddling the Christocentric nature of Kingdom work (see Doug Pagitt's blog as well).  In other words, it looks like Emergent (Tony Jones, Brian McLaren, et al) is treating collaboration on social justice issues between Jews and Christians as equally valid Kingdom work.  Doesn't that give social justice primacy over faith in Christ so that Kingdom work can be done without faith in Christ?  Or is this worse in that Emergent is attributing spiritual life to both groups?

If we are talking about working together to help those who can't help themselves instead of sticking to the same political routes, that's fine.  But it seems much worse than that.  Read some excerpts.

Synagogue 3000 (S3K) and Emergent have announced a ground-breaking meeting to connect Jewish and Christian leaders who are experimenting with innovative congregations and trying to push beyond the traditional categories of "left" and "right." This will be the first conversation that brings them together to focus on the enterprise of building next-generation institutions. 

[...]

S3K Senior Fellow Lawrence A. Hoffman, (_Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life_, forthcoming 2006) stressed the importance of building committed religious identity across faith lines. "We inhabit an epic moment," he said, "nothing short of a genuine spiritual awakening. It offers us an opportunity unique to all of human history: a chance for Jews and Christians to do God's work together, not just locally, but nationally, community by community, in shared witness to our two respective faiths."

Brian McLaren...

"We have so much common ground on so many levels...We face similar problems in the present, we have common hopes for the future, and we draw from shared resources in our heritage. I'm thrilled with the possibility of developing friendship and collaboration in ways that help God's dreams come true for our synagogues, churches, and world."

Tony Jones...

"As emerging Christian leaders have been pushing through the polarities of left and right in an effort to find a new, third way, we've been desperate to find partners for that quest," he said. "It's with great joy and promise that we partner with the leaders of S3K to talk about the future and God's Kingdom."

Without a bunch of explanation for how this isn't what it seems to be, I reckon this to be very bad news.

(HT: Mike Noakes)

Successful Emerging Discussions

Scot McKnight posts on the Seven Habits of Successful Emerging Discussions.  Don't miss it.

Moore, McKnight and McLaren

Scot McKnight recently saw Walk the Line, the movie on the life of Johnny Cash.  He blogged on it today (also at Touchstone's Mere Comments) with an interesting twist, that he found it curious that Russ Moore (SBTS) stands with the Man in Black while the Kentucky Baptist Convention didn't stand with a different sort of man in black, Brian McLaren. 

Russ Moore has responded.

I've read both posts a few times now.  On the one hand, I'm not sure McKnight's connections between McLaren and Cash work.  I don't know the history of how Cash was treated by SBC'rs, so I can't speak to that.  But the KBC decides who it wants to instruct them, and Cash had a different purpose altogether.  You are standing for different things when you stand for one or the other.

On the other hand, Moore's unreasonable caricatures of the EC make whatever wisdom he has on the issue hard to hear.  He writes,

The difference between Cash's sin-and-repentance authenticity and the manufactured faddish candles-and-incense "authenticity" of the "emerging church" movement is one of kind, not just degree.

and

One might also say of the repackaged liberalism of the "emerging church," everyone who wears dark turtlenecks is not a Man in Black.

I just don't get this sort of response.  Does Russ actually believe the EC is (STILL!) only a fad?  I'm not saying the EC is the church of the future, or whatever.  But I think Moore's position is a very unscholarly one.  I don't see John Hammett or Justin Taylor or Don Carson using this sort of language.  They are engaging the issues.  Sure there are faddish elements in the EC, just as there are in the SBC and everywhere else. 

But characterizing the whole this way is like saying you aren't willing to look any deeper.  It's like saying that you would rather see the EC as a big impersonal whole that you can mock rather than as real people with real faith and a real desire to know and follow Jesus.  I encourage my friend Russ to lose the rhetoric and stick to the issues.  He has a lot to add if he does.

UPDATE: Scot McKnight has posted a response to Russ Moore.

Warning to 'Emerging Church'

I learned recently that John Hammett (SEBTS prof of theology) delivered a paper at The Evangelical Theological Society meeting a couple of weeks ago on the Emerging Church: "An Ecclesiological Assessment of the Emerging Church."  I don't know if it's online anywhere (it's online now) but he has kindly emailed it to those interested in reading it.  So I have it on my desktop right now, but I haven't read it yet.

Baptist Press has picked this up as a news story: "Baptist Scholar Sounds a Warning to 'Emerging Church."  Here are a few snippets.  I've pointed out a couple of things in bold.

The leaders of many "emerging" churches echo McLaren’s claim, saying that traditional churches must change or die. Hammett, however, charges that this type of approach is overly simplistic. Many so-called "traditional" churches, he said, are reaching people by simply teaching the word of God and sharing the Gospel, he said.

[...]

Hammett also criticized emerging church leaders for letting cultural concerns over postmodernism drive their agendas, rather than being driven solely by Scripture.

"Key leaders of the emerging church affirm that they love, have confidence in, seek to obey, and strive accurately to teach the sacred Scriptures," he said. "I see no reason to doubt the sincerity of these leaders, nor the reality of their commitment to Scripture. But in reading their material in books, websites and articles, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the concern to respond to postmodernism is what is really driving the movement.

"It seems that the central problem with the emerging church ... is that in its zeal to respond to postmodern culture in a way that is evangelistically effective and personally and ecclesiologically refreshing, they have not yet carefully critiqued postmodernism," Hammett continued. "Without such critique, there is a real danger that the movement will appropriate elements of postmodern thought that cannot be integrated into a genuinely evangelical Christian worldview."

[...]

While the emerging church’s desire to engage a lost culture is admirable, Hammett said, they should do so with caution and a willingness to learn from traditional churches, not with a willingness to uncritically accept postmodernism.

"The more desirable alternative is for all churches to engage the culture, with a zeal to understand its questions and to speak its language, but also with a resolute willingness to take the posture of Christ against culture where biblical fidelity requires it," he said. "This challenge of thoughtful engagement with contemporary culture lies before the emerging church and all branches of evangelicalism."

A couple of thoughts...

1. I wonder if Dr. Hammett sees the difference here between a desire to understand and reach a culture influenced by postmodernity and uncritically accepting postmodernism.  These are very different things.  And if I read him right, I think Dr. Hammett hasn't distinguished these ideas.

Maybe he speaks this way because he thinks EC'rs muddle the line?  Maybe so.  I wouldn't fight over that claim.  But as he assesses the movement he needs to be clear on the difference.  Though I have no problem saying some in the EC are too accepting of postmodernism, there are many who are simply trying to reach a culture that has been influenced by postmodernism.

2. He says churches need to have a "willingness to take the posture of Christ against culture where biblical fidelity requires it."  What does he mean?  I'm increasingly skeptical over the intentions of statements like this one.

Critics of the EC may wonder if my skepticism is based in an unwillingness to see what's wrong with the culture because I would rather speak of love and grace than sin and judgment.  That's not my point at all.  I'm skeptical because of the 'culture war' mentality of much of evangelicalism, and of the SBC in particular.  I think it's the wrong approach to culture, it always has been, and the EC in large part is looking for a way to be the Church without scolding the culture.

Again, I'm fine saying the EC has created new problems at times in this area and in other areas.  But I think a non-scolding approach to culture is a better approach, not a lesser one, and I'm curious to learn whether Dr. Hammett's quote above is intending to hit on this topic.

I appreciate Dr. Hammett and the other scholars and pastors who are working hard to understand the EC and approach it in a conversational way.

JT on the EC

Justin Taylor is posting on the Emerging Church.

What Is the Emerging Church Movement?: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, a blurb on his purpose in the series.

Dialoging with the Emerging Church Movement: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

God Electrocutes EC Pastors?

I wish I could say I didn't expect this, but I did.  Someone has claimed the death of Kyle Lake is God's message to the EC: "God Sends Shocking Message to the Emerging Church."  Does God electrocute Emerging Church pastors? 

Bob Hyatt is bordering on livid, and writes a short post with his email response to the author.

Maybe God's message is, 'Stop baptizing people.'  Sheesh.  Every pastor or theologian who dies young will have their reputation and that of their "movement" Ananias and Sapphira'd.  What about Jonathan Edwards, for crying out loud?  You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Oh, and one more thing, I think if God is going to kill someone, He is going to make sure we know that He did it.  He will not share His glory with electricity or a microphone.

McKnight on the Emerging Church

Check out Scot McKnight's four part series on defining the Emerging Church.  I think it's one of the best explanations of the emerging church around.  I've given a blurb from each post, but they are all excellent and should be read in full.

What is the Emerging Church? Praxis

One of the reasons so many are frustrated with the Emerging Movement’s definition is found here: it is a movement concerned with praxis and not simply theology. If the older fashion was to define others by their theology, the Emerging Movement wants to be defined by its behavior. This is a dramatic challenge to the Church.

What is the Emerging Church? Protest

Whatever the Emerging Movement is, it is clearly a protest movement. Sometimes it can appear to be cranky, but there is substance and there is focus in what the Emerging Movement is protesting. And, though sometimes the resolutions fall flat or fail to materialize or collapse into the unworkable, there are genuine resolutions being worked out.

[...]

Tenth, the Emerging Movement wants to be Worldly. Not in the Johannine sense or in the Pauline sense, but in the Kingdom sense: it knows that God is working to restore the entire creation into an expression of his glory and so it summons everyone to participate in the grant work of God to restore and redeem. It embraces culture and state and politics and business and it protests old-fashioned Christian separationism and enclave Christian circles. The walls between Church and World, so it is suggesting, need to be impermeable and not permeable, they need to be knocked down so the passage from one to the other is an imperceptible as the passing of Jesus from one person to another.

What is the Emerging Church? Postmodernity

There is nothing that should be more welcome to orthodox Christian theology than the contention that meta-narratives cannot be established on the basis of some kind of universal reason independent of faith. This is somewhat Augustinian: I believe in order to understand. It is crucial to the way of Jesus that we must first trust him in order to know him and to know ourselves and to know our vocation in this world.

[...]

I will say this again: the Emerging Movement is not entirely postmodernist in its epistemology, and it is sloppy and unfair to say that it is. What the Emerging Movement, and almost universally, is an attempt to “do church locally” in light of the postmodern condition of our world.

What is the Emerging Church? Pro-Aplenty

It can be said that the EM is theologically driven by a reaction to the sort of theology that flowed from the ancient creeds into the Reformation and from the Reformation into the present Evangelical culture. And that theology is often abstract, systematic, and rooted in logic and reason. The EM wants to root its theology, which is more practical than it is theoretical, in the incarnate life of Jesus himself. It wants a theology that is shaped by personhood and relationship rather than just rationality and systemic thinking.

McKnight, MacDonald and the Emerging Church

Scot McKnight continues to be one of the most important voices in the emerging church (ec) discussion, especially as traditional evangelicalism continues its knee-jerk reaction to a stereotype of the ec that is always right in small pieces and almost never right as a whole. 

McKnight takes on "Why James MacDonald is Not Emerging" Part One and Part Two with a thoughtful and thought-provoking response.

I think the issue for the emerging movement, on the whole, is “how” to proclaim not “if” it is to proclaim. And, to make this clear, I don’t think the emerging movement on the whole is afraid of “what” it proclaims either. It simply believes that proclamation and performance are to be wedded.