Shaw on Emergent Church

[Hoovie]

Shaw addresses both sides in the article. He ends the first of the series by saying, "I think we need to talk. Is anyone interested?".


Where Do We Stand?

Postmodernism, the Emergent Church, and Apostolics
July 13, 2009
by Rodney Shaw
http://www.ninetyandnine.com/Archive...0713/cover.htm

[KWSS1976]

Did he put it nicely that the apostolic people don't even understand there own roots correctely did I read that correctly..

[Pragmatist]

I just can't believe that people are so concerned about style. I don't think the Bible mentions Hammonds vs. guitar so I fail to see the issue.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by Pragmatist

I just can't believe that people are so concerned about style. I don't think the Bible mentions Hammonds vs. guitar so I fail to see the issue.

But I think he addresses that. The concern should really be limited to whether it is or will effect core doctrine.

[Pragmatist]

Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover

But I think he addresses that. The concern should really be limited to whether it is or will effect core doctrine.

But I can't believe it needs to be addressed.

[n david]

Good article

[*AQuietPlace*]

Going by his definition here, you could say that Jesus was postmodern:


In a religious context, postmodernism challenges propositional truth, traditional expressions and institutions, and anything that is perceived to be too rigid. Postmoderns value dialogue, interaction, diversity, experience, transparency, and authenticity. We could spend a lot of time defining postmodernism, but we will leave it at that.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by *AQuietPlace*

Going by his definition here, you could say that Jesus was postmodern:


In a religious context, postmodernism challenges propositional truth, traditional expressions and institutions, and anything that is perceived to be too rigid. Postmoderns value dialogue, interaction, diversity, experience, transparency, and authenticity. We could spend a lot of time defining postmodernism, but we will leave it at that.

Agreed.


The article is far from an attack on postmodernism itself or the "Emergent Church".

[*AQuietPlace*]

Yes, it's an interesting, pretty balanced article.

[*AQuietPlace*]

This is an interesting portion. I think it's also why many are being drawn to 'emergent' type fellowships. Traditional church has, in most places, lost it's outward focus. We mostly focus inwards, on the church building and what happens there. That can leave us feeling empty and without a purpose.



The vocabulary in postmodern churches includes words like incarnational, missional, community, journey, ancient, authentic, real. These words often originate in protest of a dysfunctional church or system. For example, missional emerged a few years ago in response to churches that do not live out their faith or witness. (See The Missional Church, Darrell Guder, editor.) Missional was conceived as a model for doing church over against the traditional attractional model. Protestant churches of all stripes have used the attractional model for years. The seeker-sensitive megachurches of the 1980s and 1990s revamped their formats but also had an attractional model. In both cases, people were attracted to what was happening on stage on Sundays. Faith was defined by attending church and believing a set of propositions.

Missional theory says that instead of constructing a building and expecting sinners to come to that building, Christians should take their faith to the streets. Christians should live out their faith every day. Christians should be light and salt in the world, i.e., Christians should be missional.

Although we could debate what exactly it is Christians ought to be doing between Sundays, the idea of being missional is inherent in Pentecostal theology. Our strong sense of evangelism as well as holiness allow for the theological framework to be missional. As pointed out above, early Pentecostals were involved in social outreach primarily for theological reasons. First, they believed it was an opportunity to share the gospel. Second, they believed this was part of holiness. They believed they were empowered to go and do good works. Holiness was not merely personal piety or outward appearance; it included doing good works.

Accordingly, Pentecostals have a theological basis to be both missional and incarnational. But since we typically do not use this language, and because we have largely abandoned social outreach, it is easy for young Apostolics to feel an attraction to these ideas when they are articulated elsewhere.