Stories of Emergence
Church was all about performance, and if you didn’t perform, the church had no place for you. Participation in church activities determined one’s value. The sermons, teachings, activities and publications were all about what Jesus wanted us to do, what God expected us to do, what the gospel commanded us to do – as seen through the eyes of the minister. I don’t recall my soul being mentioned, except in reference to its final destination.
Church services have become conspiracies of pretending. The church has its own language. God-words permeate services, giving the impression that church is other-worldly. The minister pretends he has life figured out, and the congregation members pretend they don’t have problems, well, maybe one here and there, mostly there.
The minister tells people what to do, and the people do it. Church is the reservoir of the uncomplicated. Jesus is the answer, the fixer, the problem solver, the protector. In other words, Jesus is the Chief Doer whose purpose is to do stuff for us, to satisfy our every need, want and desire to prove to us that he is, in fact, God so we can go out and do stuff to prove we love God. ~ Mike Yaconelli, ‘Stories of Emergence’
In today’s evangelical world, one of the worst things you can be called is liberal. Challenge an accepted belief or confess doubt and you’re the equivalent of a card-carrying communist.
In recent years, I’ve become increasingly concerned about the power certain evangelical personalities have over popular opinion. Call me crazy, but it seems like many of my church friends live on every word that proceeds from the mouths of the evangelical leaders of the world more than on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It isn’t that what evangelical leaders say is right or wrong, it’s just that so many people have stopped thinking for themselves – and those who haven’t don’t feel safe to express a dissenting opinion.
Permeating much of my experience in ministry was the underlying assumption that bigger is better. The people with a platform – the ones everyone wanted to hear and shake hands with – were always the guys from the big churches. Pastoral credibility had everything to do with how big a budget they had and how many worshippers came to the Sunday event. If a church decreased in size, one could only assume the pastor wasn’t doing God’s will and his books were destined for the discount rack.
Simply shepherding a church wasn’t enough. You want to have ‘the fastest growing congregation’ or a similar label attached. It was survival of the fittest with a thin spiritual veneer. ~ Spencer Burke, ‘Stories of Emergence’
What perplexes me is that Christians have known for 50 or 60 years how valuable cultural anthropology is to cross-cultural ministry, but we’ve never applied that knowledge here at home. We’ve assumed that we’re the same culture as those around us, but we’ve failed to acknowledge our radically different worldviews; values; customs; and in some cases – dress, speech and mannerisms.
I’d like to suggest a problem that might not have occurred to you: the myth that all a church needs in order to increase its appeal to outsiders is a change in its forms. We think that sprucing up the old images and making superficial programmatic changes will result in busloads of new visitors to each of our churches.
Early on we made the mistake of thinking we could change the style of our service and expect the whole community to show up only to find out that when you improve the style of your ministry, the first people to arrive are Christians – bored with their former churches. Church shoppers are always looking for the latest and best entertainment. ~ Chuck Smith Jr., ‘Stories of Emergence’
Salvation, as normally understood outside the context of the whole story (say-a-prayer-so-that-when-you-die-you-can-go-to-heaven), lacks the power to be compelling. The reductionist version was never right or true. Lacking the context of the story of God and His kingdom, salvation became, in late modernity, just another consumer item that supposedly secured one’s eternity. ~ Todd Hunter, ‘Stories of Emergence’
These are stories of people who have become disillusioned with institutionalized churches that worship programs. These were leaders in their churches as well. I am thankful for their authenticity and boldness to share what they thought and felt. The more I read, the more I realize that I am not alone in my thoughts.
Church services have become conspiracies of pretending. The church has its own language. God-words permeate services, giving the impression that church is other-worldly. The minister pretends he has life figured out, and the congregation members pretend they don’t have problems, well, maybe one here and there, mostly there.
The minister tells people what to do, and the people do it. Church is the reservoir of the uncomplicated. Jesus is the answer, the fixer, the problem solver, the protector. In other words, Jesus is the Chief Doer whose purpose is to do stuff for us, to satisfy our every need, want and desire to prove to us that he is, in fact, God so we can go out and do stuff to prove we love God. ~ Mike Yaconelli, ‘Stories of Emergence’
In today’s evangelical world, one of the worst things you can be called is liberal. Challenge an accepted belief or confess doubt and you’re the equivalent of a card-carrying communist.
In recent years, I’ve become increasingly concerned about the power certain evangelical personalities have over popular opinion. Call me crazy, but it seems like many of my church friends live on every word that proceeds from the mouths of the evangelical leaders of the world more than on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It isn’t that what evangelical leaders say is right or wrong, it’s just that so many people have stopped thinking for themselves – and those who haven’t don’t feel safe to express a dissenting opinion.
Permeating much of my experience in ministry was the underlying assumption that bigger is better. The people with a platform – the ones everyone wanted to hear and shake hands with – were always the guys from the big churches. Pastoral credibility had everything to do with how big a budget they had and how many worshippers came to the Sunday event. If a church decreased in size, one could only assume the pastor wasn’t doing God’s will and his books were destined for the discount rack.
Simply shepherding a church wasn’t enough. You want to have ‘the fastest growing congregation’ or a similar label attached. It was survival of the fittest with a thin spiritual veneer. ~ Spencer Burke, ‘Stories of Emergence’
What perplexes me is that Christians have known for 50 or 60 years how valuable cultural anthropology is to cross-cultural ministry, but we’ve never applied that knowledge here at home. We’ve assumed that we’re the same culture as those around us, but we’ve failed to acknowledge our radically different worldviews; values; customs; and in some cases – dress, speech and mannerisms.
I’d like to suggest a problem that might not have occurred to you: the myth that all a church needs in order to increase its appeal to outsiders is a change in its forms. We think that sprucing up the old images and making superficial programmatic changes will result in busloads of new visitors to each of our churches.
Early on we made the mistake of thinking we could change the style of our service and expect the whole community to show up only to find out that when you improve the style of your ministry, the first people to arrive are Christians – bored with their former churches. Church shoppers are always looking for the latest and best entertainment. ~ Chuck Smith Jr., ‘Stories of Emergence’
Salvation, as normally understood outside the context of the whole story (say-a-prayer-so-that-when-you-die-you-can-go-to-heaven), lacks the power to be compelling. The reductionist version was never right or true. Lacking the context of the story of God and His kingdom, salvation became, in late modernity, just another consumer item that supposedly secured one’s eternity. ~ Todd Hunter, ‘Stories of Emergence’
These are stories of people who have become disillusioned with institutionalized churches that worship programs. These were leaders in their churches as well. I am thankful for their authenticity and boldness to share what they thought and felt. The more I read, the more I realize that I am not alone in my thoughts.
posted by sojourner @ Thursday, April 07, 2005
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