Wednesday, December 21, 2005
In Definition of: the Church
the Church – a beautiful collective of Jesus followers. 1. It is a deep seeded all-inclusive community of faith in Jesus, thanks in salvation, and movement in justice; 2. We are the church, you are the church, I am the church; 3. Believe it or not, everyone is welcome – that weirdo nut-job who knows the secrets of the universe but is locked away in a padded room is welcome, and so are you; 4. The church is not emerging, it’s not submerging, it’s not outdated, it’s not postmodern (or if it is then it’s not church), it’s not a building, it’s not a political platform, it’s not where all the happy shiny people are, and, we’re not about to go away. << I suppose that could be considered a threat…but it’s not.
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9 comments:
Boy it seems like I'm stalking you are something with all my posts...I admit...I'm internerd just like you and all i ever do is check my firefox live bookmarks for updates and try to find something to do on the net! Anyways, I like your definition...I like how you said the church is not emerging...I'm kinda getting sick of the word and the group to be honest...don't get me wrong...I read all the books...but I don't think this new breed is emerging...I think a better term would be "returning". I think people are seeing the need to return to the simplicity of what church is supposed to be...of what it was...returning to what our mission is supposed to be and at one time was...We say our mission is the same, but our actions don't line up with what we say...maybe I'll start a new movement.
yah yah yah... me too...
enough talk about church in the postmodern matrix..
postmodernism is an ancient concept.
church is people who love god forming a community of faith that serves one another and extends serving community to others.
That's actually one thing that kills me....people that say their church is postmodern! Why on earth would anyone wear that as a badge of honor? I supose I could think of a few reasons....but they would be anti-Jesus reasons no doubt.
Too many people get caught up in postmodernism and just jump on board, the sad thing is that the ship they jumped on is full of holes and is sinking.
A short academic look at postmodernism reveals truth moving from objectivity to relativism and textual authority moving from the author to the listner (interpretur). This, among other points of comflict, is very hostile to a foundational Christian worldview.
That said - a postmodern church? Wrong. A church led by false teachers happily being what John calls anti-christs. Scary.
ooooohhhhhhhhhhhh what a burnnnnnnnn
So then why do we learn about The Emerging Church or The Post-Modern Church and how it's a good thing, in Religious Conversion? Is it just one of those false teachings? Or does it actually have some validity to it? Cuz it does have some validity, but I'm not going to lie when I say the course was, in essence, a waste of my time. The things I actually learned didn't come from the teacher either.. it was from other students comments- and it was from the teacher drawing out the comments either.. There was 'conflict' from these comments.
That being said- There is some truth to the whole idea of post-modern, though it is not a good term to apply like stated earlier. The truth of it all is that people do think "what works for me doesn't necessarily work for you." But, then again, people have always been thinking of that.
sorry, I did a mistake let me correct it...
"*It WASN'T from the teacher drawing comments...*"
hmmm.. i agree that postmodernism is not a badge the church should wear... i think the goal of that class is to "think" about how to do church biblically, while being aware of the cultural challenges of postmodern ideology.
its not a postmodern church.. rather.. it is the followers of christ, learning about how to biblically reach out to a postmodern people.
hmmmm.... do i agree or disagree.. i think that was the answer i was taught :)
Jeff, i thought a lot about all that stuff after I posted about it... I still think about the course and its relevance. I'm on the verge (hehe) of saying that the course was ok. haha. Well, I will say it was ok. But, yeah... I don't want to sound to harsh, so I'll stop there.
Again... I'm growing, much like everyone else.
-Steve.
Jeff - a book I would recomend to you >>> Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church by D.A. Carson <<<
One I know you would enjoy.
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