
I’ve read and posted reviews on a couple of books by what many would call “emergent” church leaders. You can find reviews for The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren and Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell on this blog. Dan Kimball is also mentioned in Why We’re Not Emergent and an”emergent” leader and I have also reviewed his book They Like Jesus But Not the Church.
Kevin DeYoung is a pastor of a church while Ted Kluck is a writer but a lay person as opposed to a pastor or theologian. They have split the book literally in two as they alternate writing each chapter. This could have been confusing if you did not read the Introduction first but with the strategy understood up front it worked out ok.
I enjoyed the book. It addressed many of the questions I asked myself after reading McLaren’s and Bell’s book. I enjoyed these latter books as well but as I mention in my reviews, certain aspects did not sit quite right with me. DeYoung and Kluck point out many of these same questions so at least I know I’m not alone.
That said, what I appreciated about this book is that it addressed this questions and concerns with grace. I’ve read other critics of the emergent movement whose words lacked love and respect which really made hearing their reasonable concerns difficult and impossible if you felt personally attacked.
Probably the main issue that has bothered me with the books I read from McLaren and Bell is that the gospel is only half-way presented. I admit that I may not be cool enough to read between the lines in their books so I may just be missing some of it. However, it appears to me that they want to skirt by issues of sin in order to not offend anyone. So what you have is a gospel of salvation from the injustices of this world but nothing about needing to be saved from your own sin nature.
Why We’re Not Emergent addresses this same primary topic as well as many other concerns.
In my opinion, the emergent church movement has a valuable message that more conservative evangelical Christians need to remember. However, I get the impression that eh emergent movement is throwing out the baby with the bath water. DeYoung and Kluck draw these same conclusions.
I the last chapter, DeYoung does a great job of explaining this problem by looking at the churches addressed by Jesus in the first three chapters of Revelation.
The church of Ephesus can be seen as the loveless, fundamentalist church (Rev 2:1-7). They are orthodox, moral, and hardworking, but lacked love and compassion. To them Jesus says “Return to your first love.”
The church of Smyrna can be seen as the persecuted church like we might find today in communist or Islamic countries (Rev 2:8-11). These Christians are persecuted, slandered, and impoverished. To them Jesus says “be faithful.”
The church in Pergamum can be seen as the underground, youth-movement church (Rev 2:12-17). They are faithful and passionate witnesses but they have also compromised righteousness for worldly culture. To them Jesus says “discern.”
The church in Thyatira can be seen as the warmhearted liberal church (Rev 2:18-29). They are strong in love, faith, and perseverance but they under value doctrinal authority and moral purity. To them Jesus says “think.”
The church in Sardis can be seen as the flashy and wealthy mega-church or the bible belt church full of nominal Christians (Rev 3:1-6). They have great reputations but are spiritually dead. To them Jesus says, “wake up.”
The church in Philadelphia can be seen as the small, storefront, urban ghetto church (Rev 3:7-13). They can feel weak and unimpressive but in reality they are strong in their struggles. To them Jesus says, “press on.”
The church in Laodicea can be seen as your ritzy, influential church in the rich part of town (Rev 3:14-22). They may think they have it all together but they are as spiritually poor as they are materially rich. To them Jesus say, “be earnest.”
Just like personality testing, I don’t think any particular church falls in just one particular category. All churches are made up of sinners so all churches will tend to have multiple characteristics, both good and bad, as these seven churches addressed by Jesus in Revelations. The point is that when we swing too far to one tendency, even a good tendency, the church suffers when we leave behind other attributes we are called to follow.
I recommend Why We’re Not Emergent" but I also recommend that you also make yourself familiar with some of the books of those in the emergent movement. Weigh it all against the only infallible writings on the subject, the bible. ESV of course ;-)
"We so often limit what the church is by trying to define it in bylaws, and mission statements, list of values, and even doctrine, even though all that can be good, and helpful it is really just a shadow of what the Church will be one day."
ReplyDeleteAmen brother. You put it into words extremely well.