Some thoughts after my post yesterday.
First off many of you know that I have shown videos of McLaren and linked to Tony Jones. So it might be assumed that by agreeing with Driscoll on what he said that I am playing both sides of the fence. Let me try to clear this up.
All of these men, who are leaders for various views of postmoderns in church, saw the changes in church well before it was something talked about by all Christians. So I would call all of them visionaries. Which is why I would use something said by Tony or Brian: they understand what is going on. The question really is, what needs to change? For men like Brian and Tony “everything must change” (yeah I know, a horrible play on words). For men like Dan Kimball, only methodology must change. This difference is at the root of everything Mark Driscoll was saying in his talk.
Quick hits
- You might remember Rob Bell’s latest Nooma video called “Open.” It was very much a panentheistic take, which I talked about yesterday. He talked about how prayer is tapping into the same energy of the 6 day creation. I know a lot of people who are big Rob Bell fans and I completely recognize his speaking and leading abilities. I also do not question his ability to draw people to Christ and the core of his message being Christ-centered. But I do have to question the margins of his messages and some of his stances give me pause. I think his Nooma videos and his cool image shields some of the underlying issues that are questionable.
- How odd is it that the three more conservative theological voices for the emerging church are in LA, San Francisco Bay area, and Seattle? If you throw in Rick McKinley from Portland, that is quite a group from the most liberal places in the US.
- It is sad to me that when a conversation about the emerging church occurs that one must now distinguish between Emergent and emerging.
- I wonder what my grandparents think when someone says the words emerging church. I really doubt they would say something positive. How can we present postmodern Christianity in a way that is at least understood and accepted by all ages?
- Despite any issues I have about Emergent and their theological and philosophical stances, there are few organizations that deserve more recognition for how they operate. They do not close their doors to anyone, and they are willing to talk to just about anyone about anything.
