The Emergent Church Part 6

Darrill L. Guder advocates that the western Church see itself as a peripheral movement, engaging its culture as a missional movement. If the Church is primarily a missional movement, is it still the Church? Some descriptions of what some emergent churches are doing seem more like a youth evangelism enterprise than a church. Marva J. Dawn describes this as “dumbing down” the Church. If emerging churches are primarily missional outreach vehicles, how and where will believing Christians be raised to maturity in Christian community? The regular exposition of the Scriptures through preaching has been a vital element in the formation of the Church and Christian people.

John Wallis is on the editorial team for www.next-wave.org, an Internet magazine that is engaging the emerging community. In an e-mail he writes about his emergent acquaintances, "I wonder if any of them even preach anymore.  Most of the people I know are involved or leading missional communities, and I am not sure preaching as you are describing in your survey happens anymore. The first question made me stop.  Most of the people I know are in communites (sic) that are less than 30. I still attend a large suburban church and (sic) not sure why at times, (sic) hear preaching every week from a gifted speaker but there is usually something missing. I sometimes wonder if preaching will slowly die out. I think it is starting to in missional communities maybe not, or maybe it has just taken another form."

It is because of the shortcomings of a primarily “missional” church that Stan Grenz argues that there is

An insufficient understanding of the role of doctrine in Christian life, or in formation of Christian identity…being Apostolic in doctrine is crucial to Christian identity, both as a community, as well as each of us as individual Christians. In His 'Preaching and Preachers', D. M. Lloyd-Jones wrote, “Is it not clear as you take a bird’s-eye view of Church history, that the decadent periods and eras in the history of the Church have always been those periods when preaching had declined? What is it that always heralds the dawn of a Reformation or of a Revival? It is renewed preaching.” 

In his book, The Preacher’s Portrait, John Stott uses five biblical words to expertly examine the cross-generational attributes and responsibilities of a Christian preacher. He is a steward, a herald, a witness, a father, and a servant. The steward is the metaphor that best helps in examining the function of preaching in every age. A steward cares for another’s goods in trust. He does not own the goods himself. He dispenses the other’s goods as the other demands. He also serves the other’s guests. The owner’s guests have not come to visit with the steward; they have come to visit the owner and to be served by the steward along with the owner. The Word of God is entrusted to Christians. It does not belong to anyone. It belongs to God. Preachers in every generation must care for it in trust and dispense it with reverence and awe to those who gather to listen to his Word. Christians desire to hear the Word of their Master. Christians would be most disobedient stewards to serve the Master’s guests our own measly goods or our Master’s goods pretending they are our own. 

In 'I Believe in Preaching', Stott writes, "Preaching is indispensable to Christianity. Without preaching a necessary part of its authenticity has been lost. For Christianity is, in its very essence, a religion of the Word of God. No attempt to understand Christianity can succeed which overlooks or denies the truth that the living God has taken the initiative to reveal himself savingly to fallen humanity; or that his self-revelation has been given by the most straightforward means of communication known to us, namely by word and words; or that he calls upon those who have heard his Word to speak it to others."

One popular compromise with postmodern culture is the rejection of expository preaching because it is seen as too methodological. It is true that when any spiritual exercise in the Church – including the exposition of Scripture – is reduced to techniques, it destroys the authenticity of the Church. James Houston writes, "What is destroying Christianity is the marketeering of Christianity…Disciple-making is not about replicable, transferable methods, but about the mystery of two walking together. Methods treat discipleship as a problem to be solved, but mentoring treats discipleship as a relationship to be lived."

Whether it is mentoring or preaching, the authentic work of Church leaders is to do what they have always been called to do. But they must do it by the Spirit in the context of their present culture. Leonard Sweet argues, “Christians should not embrace a postmodern worldview; we must not adapt to postmodernity…but we do need to incarnate the timeless in the timely.” What would this look like in a postmodern context?

The Emergent Church Part 5

Douglas J. Hall is pessimistic about any attempt to retain any cultural control or relevance if the Church remains tied to the modernist worldview. Meanwhile, he remains hopeful for new opportunities for the authentic Christian faith to engage the contemporary, post-Constantinian western culture. To do this he underlines “four worldly quests” through which “Christians may engage their society from the perspective of faith and hope.” These “quests” are the search for “moral authenticity,” “meaningful community,” “transcendence and mystery,” and “meaning.” Yet his primary argument is for Christian pastors to regain their prophetic ministry of being pastoral poets who concentrate on proclaiming God’s Word, saying, “Ministers are recalled to the teaching office.”

Writing from many years of teaching about the mission of the church, and from his own observation of the direction of the church today, Eddie Gibbs offers many excellent insights. He gives concrete suggestions for how the western Church cannot only grow, but can turn the tide of history from becoming a marginalized, ancient institution of religion, to becoming an instrument of vibrant change in our culture. He describes how the Church can move from living in the past to engaging the present; from being market driven to being mission oriented; from following celebrities to encountering saints; from holding dead orthodoxy to nurturing living faith; and from attracting a crowd to seeking the lost. However, his lack of vision for a Church led by the proclamation of the living Word of God is disappointing.

Gibbs’ suggestion that the Church needs to move from “dead orthodoxy” to “living faith” is suspect. Can orthodoxy be dead? This is the crucial question as one is constantly tempted to alter the truth, or right-thinking (ortho-doxios), to suit a postmodern palette. It is unpopular to adhere to the regular obedience and instruction of God’s Word. One would rather listen to the latest instruction on marriage enrichment or stock tips or self-improvement plans. Gibbs’ definition of “church” seems to focus too much on the Sunday morning service, and his definition of “worship” on the singing during that service. He does offer some helpful suggestions for proactive strategies for western churches. But he lacks an emphasis on the ministry of preaching as the prophetic leading of the people of God and the communication tool for outreach to the lost.

            

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch offer what is fast becoming a benchmark for how the Church can authentically represent the Christian message to a postmodern context. They argue for a contextualization of the Christian message, and for the Church to be a missional body. Yet they offer no clear explanation or demonstration for how that message is authentically proclaimed in the regular practice of the Church.

Christian futurist Leonard Sweet calls for many new and innovative ways of expressing the Christian faith in this postmodern context. He argues for the western Church to rediscover its meaning, mission, and purpose by forming new methods for doing church by using some old methods. This “ancient future faith” is “a faith that is both ancient and future, both historical and contemporary…and attempt(s) to show the church how to camp in the future in the light of the past.”

In his many popular books, Sweet expresses a commitment to the Bible as authoritative and important to authentic Christian spirituality. Yet he offers very little to describe how authentic biblical exposition can actually be practiced in postmodern churches. His many books merely offer critiques of modernist approaches to Bible teaching. Likewise, Pete Ward argues, “The theology and values of the Church are not up for grabs.” Yet he gives us little clarity for a theology or value of biblical exposition that transcends the age. George Cladis offers a list of nine characteristics of postmodernity. Yet he gives us no explanation for how this new social paradigm calls for a new kind of proclamation in our churches.

David Hilborn declared that a modernist style of “expository preaching” is a prisoner of modernity; being “rationalistic, elitist, authoritarian, and unbiblical,” but an emergent compromise with postmodern culture can be a prisoner to our youth-oriented postmodern culture. Duffy Robbins writes: "I’m concerned that our youth ministry culture has the same kind of adolescent arrogance that thirty years ago led to the maxim, “Never trust anyone over thirty,” except that now it’s “Never trust anyone who doesn’t define himself as postmodern.” Unfortunately, that kind of narrow chronological and ideological landscape leaves us vulnerable to momentary fads and fashions.”