Keller in Newsweek

Tim Keller was recently featured in a Newsweek article this week. You can check it out here. It's also worth checking out his response to a few errors written in the article. You can view that here. Keller has had a tremendous impact on my understanding of the gospel in relation to religion and irreligion. His new book, The Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism, was released this past week. I have a copy in the mail, so, I'll post a review as soon as I read it!

my state of the emerging church address

[The following is a synopsis the emerging church as whole as I've observed the past two years. Some of this is redundant, and material that I've stated in the past. After this article, I am taking a moratorium on the topic for a bit to focus more on how I can be more like my Lord and Savior, King Jesus. I will continue to stand for what I feel to be the truth, but I'm not looking for an argument. May Jesus be lifted High!]

The emerging church is one those topics that seems to always find its way onto the table of discussions in bloggerdum and the likes of any good seminarian lunch table. It’s one of those subjects in which everyone thinks they know “something” which usually ends up with a synopsis that is based either entirely on hearsay or a secondary source in which one has already nailed their coffin shut with biases. I’m not claiming to be an expert on the topic at hand; however, I have been involved in a church plant this past year that would be considered emerging. It was part of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network which is considered to be the premier network that would be deemed emerging. I’ve personally attended two of their boot camps, one in Seattle at Mars Hill Church, and the other in Raleigh at Vintage 21. I am speaking as a voice that has seen the emerging church from the inside and the outside, the good and the bad. So, my first attempt will be to define the emerging church.

The term emerging was originally coined by Dan Kimball, who published a book on the topic a few years back. When you hear the word “emerging”, in the basic sense, it typically refers to a church that employs a philosophy of ministry and/or methodology that calls for the church to be constantly emerging in and with the culture it has been placed. In a general sense the term encompasses a very broad umbrella of movements within movements. The first mistake anyone can make is to assume that all “emerging” churches consists of far left, post-modern, beer-drinking, square-glasses, goatee sporting, pastors who sit in a circle, light candles, and question and discuss the validity and value of such topics as the virgin birth, penal substitutionary atonement, the Trinity, the deity of Christ and anything that the majority of the Christian faith would adhere to as orthodoxy. Although such things do exist in some circles, you cannot assume that all emerging churches adhere to the same practices and beliefs. For example, there are many churches that would consider themselves independent, fundamental, and Baptist and adhere to a King James only philosophy. That doesn’t mean that all independent, fundamental, Baptist churches are King James only in the least. So, when viewing the emerging church or any movement for that matter, you must be wary of reductionism which will result in a view that is reduced based on the assessment of only one or two books or a lecture from a favorite theologian or pastor.

Another mistake I’ve observed is assuming “emerging” and “emergent” are synonymous and interchangeable. There is a HUGE difference that must be differentiated between the two. Most churches and individuals that would consider themselves “emergent” would be considered an emerging church. However, there is a huge stream within the emerging church which is not “emergent”. The term “emergent” represents a theological framework which employs a post-modern epistemology and a trajectory theology. To the “emergent”, they view theology as something that is dynamic and changing with time and culture. God knew that culture and times would change, so he set it in motion or on a trajectory theology giving man the ability to dictate what message best suits the times. So, basically, human reasoning, evolution, and even integrated spirituality (aka neo-paganism and new age) are all fair game in building our theological framework. What it amounts to is a man-centered, culture driven theology in which a post-modern epistemology is employed to be the lens through which the entirety of life is to be viewed and filtered.

Many individuals view emergent theology as a danger and rightfully so. However, I do not believe that it is a movement that will last simply because the whole foundation is built on speculation which results in relativism and fear of taking a stand for any thing absolute. I’ve written at greater length in the past about how the “emergent” movement is eerily similar to the Gnostics of early Christianity in which they attempted to elevate Christian theology and doctrine to that of pagan philosophy. I believe Tertullian was right when he shouted that heresy is prompted by philosophy. He would go on to say that “we have no need of curiosity reaching beyond Christ Jesus. When we believe, we need nothing further than to believe. Search that you may believe; then stop!” There are certain facets of Christianity that must simply be accepted by faith. We cannot know everything there is to know about God. It is nothing more than self-righteous pride and arrogance to place human reasoning/philosophy on the same level of an omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-present God. When God speaks, you listen! One need only to go back to the garden to see that what would ultimately lead to the fall began with a conversation and questioning what God had said. There is nothing good that can come out of questioning whether or not God meant what He said. He has spoken and revealed Himself in and through Jesus, whose life is recorded in the Bible. We need only to look to Jesus to see God.

I was privileged to be a part of an emerging church that boldly proclaimed the Gospel, stood for the authority of Scripture, preached through the Bible expositorily, but at the same time saw a need for contextualization to a culture and city in which we had been called. Thus, the term “missional” comes into play. What does it mean to be a “missional” church? Being missional basically means being intentional about proclaiming and living the Gospel out within the culture/city the church exists. A missional church would operate from a Jesus-centered, Gospel driven theology in which the Bible is the lens through which the entirety of life is to be viewed and filtered including culture. It operates from the premise that God is a sending God, a missional God who has always set apart individuals (e.g. Abraham/disciples) and entities (e.g. Israel/Church) to be salt (preservation) and light (illumination) to the unbelieving world. It acknowledges that the Gospel is a timeless message, but requires timely methods to use the tools of culture to contextualize the truth of the Gospel (c.f. Acts 17). It operates under the tension of remaining biblically faithful but being culturally fruitful.

What concerns me about the church at large is that most believers do not embrace the Gospel as a lifestyle in which we truly heed calling as ambassadors of Christ. Most churches are guilty of reductionism in which evangelism is merely another program or department. I agree with John Armstrong when he says that “the place we must begin to counteract this reductionism is in seeing that our mission is not merely an activity of the Church, but rather that the Church exists for mission. Mission is the result of God's activity within the world and that mission is to restore and heal creation. The Church is a community of the redeemed and exists to serve that mission. This is the meaning of John 20:21. God is a missionary God and we, as his people, are a sent people. The Church is not the purpose of the gospel, or even the goal of the gospel. The Church is the instrument and witness of the gospel. Only when we get this right will be begin to be the community that God intended for us to be.” ( “How Reductionism Impacts Evangelism” http://www.theresurgence.com/john_armstrong_2007_how_reductionism_impacts_evangelism [Accessed on 10 November 2007])

If the church is to truly heed the call to be missional, believers must realize their calling and what they’ve been commissioned to do. Christ gave us a commission to go into all the world and make disciples. If you are a believer, this is your duty this side of eternity. It encompasses every area of your life and you are responsible to represent Christ in such a way that is conducive to making disciples. Being missional is a lifestyle. It’s allowing those around you to take a peek into the life of someone who is committed to something bigger and greater than anything anyone could ever imagine on this earth. Only when you recognize this can you truly take every opportunity and seek to transform these moments into something that will last an eternity. This ultimately requires commitment. But let’s face it! You choose to be committed to something/someone you believe in. If you really love someone, you will choose to sacrifice and take risks that you would not typically take. I believe that you can only be “missional” if you first truly recognize your calling and commission, then ultimately fall in love with what God has given you to do. In this sense I do believe that the church should be emerging to contextualize the Gospel to the cultures within which we are placed and called without compromising the truth or the character of the Gospel.

Are you passionate about the Gospel? When you are passionate about something or someone people will take notice. When people take notice, they will see that there is something different about the way in which you live. They will begin to dig and dive into your life to see where this vitality is coming from. This is what living a missional life is all about. Taking those opportunities and sharing Christ with those who would never dream about picking up a Bible or walking into a church building. When you have an assembly of believers that recognize their calling, accept their commission, and make a commitment to truly sacrifice and live passionately for the person they want to become (Jesus) by yielding to the Spirit, God can and will use His church to reach far more people than we ever dreamed imaginable.

In conclusion, I don’t believe that every stream within the emerging church is biblical or effective. At the same time, I do believe that there are many churches within the movement that are biblically faithful, culturally fruitful, resulting in many converts who have embraced the Gospel and are now our brothers and sisters in Christ. As a result, I hope that we can at least rejoice on this point. So, I don’t expect you to agree with me on every aspect, but as one who has seen the good, the bad; experienced from within and stood as an observer outside; I thank God that there are passionate people within the emerging church who are living a life that is Jesus-centered and Gospel-driven. Nothing more, nothing less. May Jesus be lifted High!