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.”
