Have you heard of this? I believe it’s’ relevance, while a “movement” 20-25 years ago, is still germane for present day consideration, even if the proverbial “heat” has cooled in discussions about the modern church. At least it has in the context of the Emerging Church. But that is the point here. There will always be discussions about the “modern” church; its’ beliefs, practices and perspectives. I realize it is not a common practice for most solid mainstream practitioners, (read: your average Christian) to study church history and the contentious nature of “truth” regarding God’s character, His essence, relationship to His creation and even what constitutes grace – who is going to receive it and who is not. I put the word truth in parenthesis here because while God’s truth is never changing, is timelessly consistent and forever extant, man’s truth will always have a subjective quality to it that may or may not coincide with God’s truth.
While this movement towards a rethinking of the church, and even Christ Himself, is said to be “largely past its peak”, which in my opinion is a good thing, there are a couple of things that make me wonder if they weren’t onto something. For example, the emphasis on social justice, relational authenticity ("belong-believe-behave" instead of "behave-believe-belong"), and conversation over rigid institutionalism left a lasting mark on how younger generations engage with faith.
There are many of us ( I include myself in this group) who tend to eschew denominations, generally. When I was going through seminary back the 1980’s it seemed the mentors of the time thought everyone needed to declare a “flavor” – or denomination. As such denominations usually propagated themselves because most would choose the denomination in which they grew up. I did not. I grew up strictly as a Presbyterian, did not understand their doctrine until much later. As I started paying attention to different mainstream institutions of the various churches, the more I realized I could not really abide by any of them. If not having a denomination was good enough for Jesus, it was good enough for me. After all, even though Jesus grew up as a Jewish man, and He was called Rabbi (teacher), Ther was no denomination, or religious system that could ever hold Him.
If this is new to you it might surprise you to know that arguments have been proffered since the time Jesus was here with us of exactly who He was. I think Peter’s response when he was questioned by Jesus in Matthew 16 was exactly right:.
15 “But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.” (CSB)
Once again (and I feel like “Johnny One Note) I propose that 1 Corinthians 13:12 is one of the most important verses in the entire work:
"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" (NKJV)
And just for clarification, I feel this verse is that important because of the above point concerning the arguments and perspectives from antiquity to present. We can Know Jesus, what He did, who He was, etc., but beyond that seminal truth, there can be discussion to the point of contention, disagreement/agreement or speculation with confidence. But I contend all we know is that Word, and what is not up for debate (though there are those who speculate about this, too) Jesus was born, baptized, died on a cross, rose the third day (with many, many witnesses) and ascended into the heavens. THAT is non-negotiable. All the rest; let the iron sharpen the iron.
There will always be an “Emerging Church” type, of one sort or another. Someone will always think they have a special revelation from God about their own pet peeves, random thoughts upon rising, or even considered study. This is a wonderful quality of free will with which God imbued us all and we use it, hopefully, to His glory. We use it to get closer to Him. We use it, also, to help ourselves and others go deeper in their faith and experience.
So, while you may not agree with different movements, from time to time we should explore them, so we know why we disagree, or agree for that matter.
