Trinity Evangelical Divinity School invited me to come and be part of a five member panel discussion entitled “Culture Transit: Laying Down a Track for the Church.” Each of the five panel members was to write a statement on the subject “Where is the church now and where should it go?” Each of us was to read our statement and then be addressed by another member of the panel. The dean of the seminary, Dean Tite Tienou, moderated. The interaction both from the panel and the audience was good. Dr. Tienou was masterful. The piece delivered by Glen Kehrien from Circle Urban Ministries caused a stir over the continued segregation of the evangelical church. Although this seems to be a subject well worn and in need of new tactics that subvert the individualist and capitalistic evangelical theologies that have so far accomplished little in this regard. Other presenters were provocative and engaging as well. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is to be commended for putting on such an event during their new student orientation. And I was honored to be invited and to participate.
My piece caused some stir as well. As I read it up there (in front of the gathering), I must admit it did sound somewhat over-done (I repent – I wrote it late one night before leaving for vacation). I can see how people might misinterpret my words here: people from both fundamentalist points of view and emerging church points of view. What was most curious was a critique I received from one of the faculty that suggested that the issue for the church is propositional truth? This confused me and I still do not know if I understood what concerns he was addressing towards me. So for my own clarification, I offer this piece for your reading. Any comments as to where I have gone wrong would be much appreciated! Many will recognize themes from my book the Great Giveaway.
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WHERE IS THE CHURCH NOW AND WHERE SHOULD IT GO?
When I say church here, I speak about the evangelical church, the church where I have been born, become a pastor and an ordained servant of Christ. I believe we as a church in America are in trouble. I believe we?ve lost our way. I believe we have a.) accommodated ourselves to American culture in such a way that we have become another example of the mistake of protestant liberalism. And in the process, I believe we have b.) lost our calling that is given to all ?the saved,? that is the calling to be the embodiment of Jesus Christ amidst society and the nations.
In regard to a.) I believe that evangelical church in its attempt to reach those without the gospel has accommodated itself to the languages of individualism, the habits of consumer capitalism, and the organizational forces of American business. We could do this because we have viewed salvation as largely an individualist transaction instead of the participation of God?s people in the cosmological salvation of God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. We could do this because we placed such faith in secular discourses like modern science and business technique (apologetics, business principles of leadership). In the process we have organized church life around the busy lives of Americans living the dreams of capitalism and democracy that leave little time for mission, community and worship. I fear the ?church? for evangelicals has in George Hunsberger?s words, become ?the distributor of religious goods and services.? As a result, I fear we evangelicals are becoming less and less noticeable and barely distinguishable as a people from the rest of our society who live as if God does not exist.
In regard to b.) I believe that evangelical church has lost the calling of God upon us to be the church of Jesus Christ in society. We evangelicals don’t need the church to live salvation because we have personal salvation augmented by reason, science and immediate experience it seems. In some ways frankly, we can do without the Church. And so, the church in essence is left to be a sideshow to what God is doing for, in and through individuals. We no longer have a need for the church to be the social manifestation of His Lordship where He reigns over the powers of sin, evil and death, the very inbreaking of the kingdom of God, where His mighty works are made manifest and put on display before the world (1 Pet 2:9), where hospitality is such an overpowering ethos that the lost in this world are compelled by this invitation. As it is right now, we lack a way of life that people look at and see and say, ?Look what manner of life has been made possible in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.? Our witness has been lost because we don’t see ?the church? as God?s strategy for the salvation of the world.
Where we must go? Let us reclaim the practices of being His Body. I count these as community, hospitality, embodied witness, truthful formative worship, preaching of the Word, justice both internal and then external to His body, spiritual formation as a Body, and the catechesis of our children as a community. The church becomes a culture in order to engage a culture. The church is the social strategy. We cannot know what parts of culture, justice or works of righteousness are faithful in the world, until we have discerned them as His Body from which we engage the world and perhaps make partnerships in the world, all under the Lordship of Christ. In short, let us embody the mission of Christ, in not just what we do or say, but also in who we are.
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That was it. Any comments?
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Dave,
If that’s what you said at Trinity, then I don’t feel it was that overstated. Besides, sometimes hyperbole can be a good and necessary thing. I felt the piece was clear and well articulated.
I’m not sure how the faculty member’s response focusing on propositional truth as the key issue is/was particularly relevant to what you said here. It sounds to me like he may have had a preconceived notion of your position, perhaps based on lumping you a category such as “postmodern,” and judging your position based on that. It’s not as if anything you said there denies the reality or importance of propositional truth, though it certainly points to the importance of things that go beyond it. There is no doubt, though, that the issue of propositional truth in general remains a big one for many evangelicals, perhaps not totally without good reason. Nonetheless, I fear that such an intense and singular focus on propositional truth can easily keep us from seeing that there are other important dimensions of Christian existence and can therefore facilitate all the problems you have spoken of here.
Peace,
Gordy
Dave,
A. I along with Mr. Hackman above, am wondering what the “connection” is between what you wrote and the faculty member’s position on propostional truth. Regardless…
B. While there is much that I agree with what you have articulated, it does concern me when Christians raise this, “You’ve bought into the culture” awareness, without discussing the WHY of such co-optation.
Call it my “pastoral side,” but I agree with Mouw that there are “deeper impulses” within the faithful that cause me to have a little reservation (and charity) in my angst towards popular religion.
Third try.. for some reason blogger isn’t agreeing with the comment form today..
“accommodated itself to the languages of individualism, the habits of consumer capitalism, and the organizational forces of American business.” Reminds me of Brueggemann, “economics of affluence, politics of oppression.” The modalities of the business world (efficiency, hierarchy) and the scientific world (objectivity, analysis) were both oppressive.
“Become a culture in order to engage a culture.” Then you must have a critique of Niebuhr… along the lines of Hauerwas and Willimon perhaps? I need to reread Hauerwas, but I agree this is part of a new imagination that we need. We have been working within a Christendom framework.. a world that no longer exists.
Perhaps the criticism wrt propositional truth was not addressed toward what you said.. but toward what you did not say.. you heretic
It’s obvious that your working framework is not Enlightenment friendly.
For what it’s worth, your statement seems to me to be spot on and consistent with your book. I love hearing those truths again. As far as the propositional truth issue, perhaps the faculty member was saying that the church needs to return to absolute truth and universal principles rather than relativizing its mission and message according to cultural trends. Then again, maybe I completely misunderstand him.
Adam, just read your post from Aug 4th ..on your blog … absolutely awesome. Interesting though how Finney’s techniques may have been the source of the demise of his own soteriological understanding as delineated in your post. …
For all the comments above, many thanks. I continue to believe that Trinity Evangelical Divinity School attracts some awesome students who I am so priviledged to work alongside at our church. T.E.D.S. has some awesome professors as well, one being Vanhoozer who I hope to learn from this fall. Yet as with all bastions of evangelicalism, there is a tug-o-war manifesting itself there which both belies the significance of the institution to evangelicalism as well as the struggle we all are in to go forward in meeting the challenge of N. America as a mission field. I believe the comments about propositional truth from one of the good faculty, is another “symptom”… of all this. If you want to get into the thick of this struggle, which frankly too many evangelicals young folk are opting out of, then Trinity is a place to start.
Blessings
David,
Thanks for your kind words on my blog post. Yes, it is kind of ironic that Finney’s methods are employed in ways that undermine his vision. It seems to me that he was often misunderstood in his time as well as ours.
Ok – I’m going to attempt to stretch my brain cells here…Propositional Truth…& Where is the Church Now and Where should it Go?
(I raised almost the identical question to my Toronto Resonate group last week, for possible consideration and discussion, before we move ahead with our ‘projects’.)
“Propositions are claims about how the world is.”George W. Bush is the current American President.” That claim is either true or it is false, depending on how the world actually is. “I weigh 160 lbs.” It matters not what I think or feel, or what anybody else thinks. That claim is either true or it is false, depending on my actual weight. Propositional truth, then, is not relative to what individuals think or feel, or how honest they are with themselves. Claims are true or false depending on how they correspond to the way the world really is.” (Todd Long, Dept of Philosophy, University of Rochester)
So with that in my mind, I consider your ‘Church…Now…Going’ article and, (while none of us know what was in that faculty member’s mind, if he didn’t clarify his direction or convictions or concerns with you) I offer that while we, the church, need to indeed ‘embody the mission of Christ, not just in what we do or say, but also in who we are, I ask ‘who, or what forms, who we are’?
If by propositional truth that faculty member might have meant what the Gospel truly is, and Who God truly is (and not simply what we denominationally/theologically have been taught they are, or experientially come to understood them as) then, he could indeed be on to something revolutional and worthwhile.
For example, I think of Rom 1:16 – ‘the Gospel being the power of God for salvation’. If we’re not knowing revolutionary power in our lives (and our churches) –the power inherent in salvation –the power that would make us fearless, committed, radical, self-denying, other-serving christians; the problem likely does come down to propositional truth, in good part.
(We have little idea what the Gospel really is, and who God really is. But of course, those truths would remain sterile and ineffective if they weren’t also the true driving force and focus out of which we honestly engaged ourselves together over, in our environment and experience of church, so that we were being increasingly and realistically shaped and won over by such truths.)
Francis Schaeffer was right when he concluded there were two orthodoxies: the orthodoxy of doctrine, and the orthodoxy of community. Both are in a state of shambles in our Western church.
So the direction for church indeed may not be, alone, to establish meaningful cultures with which to do and be church. The answer might also be to uncover gospel and biblical Truth, as it really is.
We have an advantage today, as never known before, in that we can listen, and search, and look, and discover, with relative ease of accessibility of resources.
I, for one, am committed to both realities (and needs): True truth, and True community. That couplet succinctly lends itself to clearing the way for ‘loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength’ (we don’t really love Him like that, until we really know Him for Who He Is, and even then, we can’t sustain that love without the pure, unimagined grace of the Gospel) and also for ‘loving one another as Christ loved us’.
Selah – nj
Like in marriage, commitment has to be directed towards a person, not an ideal or concept. If our commitment to a body of believers is based on our agreement with all the thinking, then if that thinking changes or shifts more than we would like, our commitment ends. I’m not talking, obviously, about orthodoxy or doctrines going so far afield that the group’s Christian authenticity is in question, but our commitment has to transcend the flavor of the day. Jesus said that it was by our love for one another that the world would know that He was the Messiah (John 17:21). I’ve come to the same idea, after thinking about it long and hard, about staying with our affiliation. This is our history and God’s leading, and that has to be taken into account. The idea that this direction might lead to actually more ecumenism and cross-denominational unity is a fascinating idea.