Category Archives: Church

What should we do with heretics?

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John Stott has some wise and measured words on this subject.  He is, of course, writing from within an Anglican context.  But I think that the principles he espouses are worth weighing in other parts of the church too.

‘What should the contemporary church do with heretics? Is that a harsh word? I think not. A humble and reverent probing into the mystery of the incarnation is the essence of true christological scholarship. But attempted reconstructions that effectively destroy that which is supposed to be being reconstructed is christological heresy.Let

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It’s all modernism’s fault

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Chapter 7 of Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be) explores the ways in which emerging church people have tended to make a bogeyman out of modernism.

Kevin DeYoung summarises the emergent approach:-

Once upon a time the church was a brighter, fairer place.  And then the Enlightenment happened, and the scourge of modernism – systematic theologies, propositions, foundationalism, certainty, creeds, monological preaching, individualism, inerrancy, logic, indoctrination, deductive reasoning – began to crack down on the church.…

Doctrine, anyone?

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In chapter 5 of Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be) Kevin DeYoung discusses the emergent attitude towards doctrine.   Quoting Doug Pagitt, DeYoung notes,

Instead of saying, “Here is truth; take it or leave it,” the emergent crowd calls Christians to declare, “Come and experience the story of God in the life of this community.”

And a member of Pagitt’s church, Solomon’s Porch, speaks for many when she says, ‘I feel like dogma never works, like people are hungry to see a better life.’…

On loving the person and propositions of Jesus

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In chapter 3 of Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be), Kevin DeYoung explains why he loves ‘the person and propositions of Jesus’.  What follows is based on part of that chapter.

All Christians claim to have a high regard for the Bible, and emerging Christians are no different.

Brian MacLaren says:

‘I believe [the Bible] is a gift from God, inspired by God, to benefit us in the most important way possible: equipping us so that we can benefit others, so that we can play our part in the ongoing mission of God. 

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On travelling hopefully AND arriving

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According to an ancient Taoist saying, “the journey is the reward.”

And Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in Virginibus Puerisque (1881), “to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.”

Not very new, then, the post-modern preference for journey over destination.  But it’s a favourite idea of emerging church people.

Kevin DeYoung discusses the emerging preference for seeing Christian faith as journey rather than destination in chapter 1 of Why we’re not emergent – by two guys who should be. …

Emerging church as a protest movement

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New Testament scholar Scott McKnight is a friend of the Emerging Church, but not in an uncritical way.  He sees the movement as in part a protest movement.  Its primary target is evangelicalism, and McKnight identifies ten items of concern.  I quote at large:-

First, it protests too much tom-fakery in traditional churches. This generation of Christians is not as capable or interested in putting up fronts when it comes to “church” or when it gathers.

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Eavesdropping on Asia Minor

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Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be) is a good read, if slighty bitty due to its two-author format (Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck each contribute alternative chapters).

The best part for me is towards the end, where Kevin relates the Letters to the Seven Churches (Revelation 2-3) to our contemporary church situation.

Here’s the overview:-

Ephesus was your loveless fundamentalist church.  They were orthodox, moral, and hardworking.  But they didn’t love either the lost or one another. …

‘Emerging Churches’ by Gibbs & Bolger

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I’ve just finished reading Emerging Churches – Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures.  It is touted (by Brian MacLaren, no less) as the best guide to emerging churches around.

It’s an engagingly-written book, based on interviews with 50 EC leaders in US and UK.  Although it therefore incorporates a range of opinions and experiences, the whole thing is given a measure of coherence by the thoughtful commentary of the two researchers/authors.

Gibbs & Bolger summarise the characteristics of emerging churches in their conclusion (pp235ff):-

Emerging churches are not young adult services, Gen-X churches, churches-within-a-church, seeker churches, purpose-driven or new paradigm churches, fundamentalist churches, or even evangelical churches. 

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Children and Communion 2

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I was once asked to present a discussion paper to our Church Council on this subject.  Here’s what I came up with:-

1.  A Statement of the Case

The Anglican Church, in common with most other branches of the Christian church, supports the baptism of adult believers and their children.

When a child is brought by Christian parents to be baptised, the minister welcomes the child with the words,

“God has received you by baptism into his church.”…

Children and Communion

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Some time ago, I participated in a debate on this subject, and was asked to argue in favour of the following motion:-

“We believe that it is right and proper for children who are baptised members of the church to be admitted to Holy Communion prior to their confirmation but following suitable preparation and instruction.”

Here’s my argument.  (Please bear in mind that the debate took place within an Anglican context).

Specifically, the parish may ask for the bishop’s permission for children to be so admitted, providing that the child has reached the age of seven years; that the child is regularly involved in Christian teaching and attendance at Sunday worship; and that the child has undergone a period of instruction and preparation.…