Postmoderism ~ fueling the EMC

"One of the main features of postmodernism is a commitment to a relativistic stance toward truth claims. Something can be true for you, but not for me. Truth is socially constructed. As Christians, we have to be careful to note that we have a message that is both true and relevant."

That definition was offered by Ligon Duncan recently at Ligionier Ministries' (R.C. Sproul) West Coast Conference. In his message, "Should the Church Embrace Postmodernism?", Ligon gave three reasons why we should study postmodernism (though he noted the church ought not to embrace it):

1. It is pervasive in our culture today. We need to know what is out there.

2. If someone truly embraces the tenants of postmodernism, it makes it more difficult to hear the claims of Christ that are being addressed in the gospel. For believers that dabble in the ethos of postmodernism, it weakens their discipleship at critical points.

3. Many church leaders today believe that in order to speak into a postmodern milieu, the church needs to itself embrace aspects of postmodernism.

Read all of Ligon's message HERE.

"Social" Gospel remix

Umm, is it only me or does anybody else think that the current 'emerging/emergent' movement is simply the 'social gospel' repackaged?

'American Bandstand' for Emergents

If the theology wasn't so BAD, this video might have been funny.

I took note of what one commenter at Reclaiming the Mind said, "And the dangerous part is the quickest way to get to people is to put stuff to music. Especially Christians, now adays they would rather hear a song than a solid sermon or study for themselves.".

I Found It ~ A local emergent church not meeting in a bar

Looks like we can add 'emergent' to our Survey of Denominations course! Several weeks ago I noticed a flier posted on the bulletin board of a restaurant where my husband and I enjoy our weekly 'date' every Saturday morning. At the time what caught my attention was the '...we don't have the answers...we're asking the questions...' line of thinking--how emergent is THAT? (Very!!!)

How Do You "DO" Church?

If you 'do' church anything like what is described in
THIS recent post by Phil Johnson at Pyromaniacs then I hope you are afraid--be VERY afraid!

I've been watching the current "church growth" movement since the late 80's--by "current" I mean the "seeker-sensitive" model. It's the model that has now given us this (courtesy of Phil):

1) Polling people to find out what they want and then giving it to them is an unbiblical approach to church growth (2 Timothy 4:2-4).

2) The so-called seeker-sensitive strategy actually stints discipleship.

3) It engenders worldliness and false conversions.

4) In fact, it's filling the church with people who think they are Christians but have no basis for that confidence because they have little or no true understanding of basic gospel truth—and no appetite for studying God's Word on their own.

Do you 'see' yourself in any of those points? Here are some questions I would like to pose for your further consideration:

1) Ask yourself if you have truly grown in your love AND obedience to God over the years, months, days since professing to be a Christian.

2) Are you able to discern worldliness from godliness? Or does it all seem to flow together? For instance, do you recognize a problem with the church service incorporating Bon Jovi's tunes with Luther's hymns? Or, does the 'dance contest' at the beginning of the Wednesday night service cause you to pause and wonder what that possibly might have to do with coming together and worshipping the one true holy God? Have you considered why you prefer the 'fluff' songs/choruses over the deeper and theologically rich hymns or choruses?

3) Do you struggle with the 'assurance' of your salvation? Do you have a Biblical understanding of what salvation requires and what salvation accomplishes?

4) Do you have even a basic understanding of the gospel? An understanding which is readily communicated to others--whether they ask or not?

5) Do you have a growing love for God's word and a desire to study it--for His glory and your spiritual benefit?

I urge you to examine these things and determine whether you have grown dull and complacent in a man-centered 'seeker-sensitive' church rather than a God exalting church where God's Word is boldly proclaimed (I did not say loudly or obnoxiously proclaimed) AND it is applied to YOUR life through the aid of capable and godly teachers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to post a comment. I'll be glad to interact with any serious comments.

Is Your Church "Fad-Driven"?

Some people are surprised to realize that they are in fact part of a "fad-driven" church--one that embraces and uses wordly marketing methods (and stunts) simply to attract numbers, falsely assuming that large numbers of people equates to "good" teaching and discipleship.

The best true indicator of this is the depth of spiritual maturity--yours and those among your church membership and leadership. It's NOT a question of whether they are reaching out to the community, or welcoming the community in. It is a question of WHAT they give those people when they do reach out or welcome them--are they truly being given spiritual meat, are they being spiritually challenged, are they being changed into the image of Christ, are they growing stronger in their understanding of who God is, are they growing in their love for God AND His people?

Read THIS this and give it some serious consideration to how your church measures up.

Pioneer "Seeker-friendly" Church Repents

UPDATE (10/22/07): ~ As Emily Litella would say, "Never mind..."

I guess I should have known, but it looks like Willow Creek's recent "repentance" was only made in order to make way for their next (newest) ministry "fad"--ECM (which, I must admit, my husband suspected when we discussed this last week). Earlier today while reading Phil Johnson's response to Willow Creeks "repentence" I took note of some links provided by a blog commenter--links to Willow Creeks upcoming "Shift" conference, complete with Brian McLaren.

Having warily watched this movement since the late 80's, the following excerpt practically brought tears (of joy) to my eyes:

"...Bill Hybels said, 'We made a mistake. What we should have done when people...become Christians...started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility...taught people how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.'

In other words, spiritual growth doesn't happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage..." Full article HERE

In the late 80's while we were at DTS, Bill Hybels was invited and scheduled to be a keynote speaker at one of the annual "spiritual growth" conferences on campus. News of this prompted talk of and plans to picket/boycott his lecture(s), which was met with a verbal and printed "warning" from the office of the seminary President.

Why the uproar? Because even then many students, faculty, and staff had rightly become concerned over Willow Creek's "customer-driven" approach to church, and saw it for what it was--unbiblical and spiritually damaging to the Body of Christ.

Within a matter of months, my husband and I were shocked and deeply saddened to discover that the church at which he intended to intern had sent a "delegation" of staff and members to Willow Creek with plans to implement their approach. It was announced one Sunday morning when we were home for a visit with family--I recall fighting back tears, and seeing the color drain from my husband's face.

If you'll read the article, I'm certain you'll see that I'm not being overly dramatic about this--it is a grave matter to be "toying" with the souls of people. When we start "customizing" church we essentially divide and destroy the Body of Christ--all for the sake of "felt needs".

While I'm encouraged at this recent confession, I did take note of one comment by a Willow Creek executive pastor Gregg Hawkins; "...Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture...".

Wouldn't this be the more Biblical approach, "...Insights that are informed BY AND ROOTED IN SCRIPTURE (period)."?

Effeminizing the Church (Part 2)

Ladies, Nathan Busenitz has been "live blogging" his church's men's conference this week. The theme of the conference is, "Acting Like Men in the Church".

As it often is with the things of God, the timing of this topic has caught my attention! Just yesterday while attending a women's retreat, I sat at a table with two other ladies whose husbands are in church leadership. The topic turned to movies and I commented on a series of books that had recently been made into a series of movies. I pointed out that I enjoyed reading the books many years ago but did not recall them the way the movies portray them--practically devoid of male spiritual leadership. While the movies are "wholesome", two out of the three we've watched so far focus on and highlight the spiritual awareness and responsiveness of the women while downplaying--if not ignoring--the spiritual leadership of the men/husband, as if this was or should be the "norm".

So, today when I read the FOURTH SESSION of the conference, I took particular note of Phil Johnson's words as a warning to us all--men and women! Phil pointed out that, "If we look at evangelicalism today, it seems that evangelicalism today is committed to feminine truths. If men will embrace a feminine approach to relationships and spirituality then they are welcome in the church. Everything, even the tone of the preacher, is expected to be soft—more-suited to the sewing circle than anything else. Accuracy and plain speaking has been devalued, and replaced with a love affair for things like the seeker-sensitive movement...And it is about to get worse with the emerging church — where truth is not held with courage and conviction. What we see today, instead of reflecting biblical Christianity, is a movement toward ear-tickling, truth-softening, and effeminization."

Ladies, I hope you'll read the notes from Phil's session and consider how you can and should uphold and support the Godly men in your family, church and community. We need strong Xian men who will not only "act like men" and stand for the truth, but who are CONFIDENT of our support and commitment to follow their leadership.

The Emerging Church - Warning!

The last widespread cultural threat to Biblical Xianity I recall was "seeker sensitive" churches/services in the 80's and 90's--popularized by Bill Hybels. What that gave us was churches willing and eager to "morph" themselves into something that appealed to unbelievers. It went something like this, "You want the preacher to tone down his proclamation of the Biblical gospel? Okay, we'll have him teach on popular topics to help you feel good about yourself." "Oh, you don't care to waste your day in church? Okay, we'll give you a smorgasbord of service days and times that you can pick and choose from." "And, yes, we'll tone down the doctrinally rich and solid hymn singing for you, too!" "You say your kids won't like coming and listening to Bible stories during Sunday School? Well, we're installing a state-of-the-art video and audio auditorium that will wow them, and for your younger kids we have a real-live carousel they can ride on!" Get the picture? We have effectively created a "church" environment that appeals to and feeds the flesh, and not the spirit.

Naturally, it was only a matter of time until those external gimmicks gave way to the intellectual gimmicks.

About two or three years ago I first began hearing the term, "emerging church". First through, a casual acquaintance with a fellow-homeschool mother. Then just days later, my husband came home from a meeting with the president of a large international missions organization who warned of the emerging church. Naturally, I began to listen and watch for more evidence of this coming "trend" inside and outside of the church.

Here are a few names of people in the EC movement that you should be aware (and beware!) of: Rob Bell, Brian McLaran, Mark Driscoll, and Dan Kimball.

Because God always protects His sheep, He has equipped a good number of reputable Xian men and women who are watching this present trend, talking with the leaders (and followers) within the movement, and subsequently providing necessary warnings to Believers. One of those men is John MacArthur, here's what he had to say recently:

"If you haven't heard of the Emerging Church, you will. The Emerging Church movement is wildly popular with people who are dissatisfied with orthodox doctrine, dogmatic preaching, and traditional worship.

People who are drawn to the EC generally place high value on ambiguity and mystery. They reject the notion that God's Word is clear, and that anyone can really understand its meaning. That means every doctrine you and I find precious is subject to new interpretation, doubt, and even wholesale rejection. Everything is being questioned and deconstructed. Unlike the noble Bereans who used Scripture to test what they were taught and refine their understanding of the truth, people associated with the EC regard God's Word as too full of mystery to warrant handling any truth in a definitive way.

The result is a movement that thrives on disorganization, lends itself to mysticism, distrusts authority and dislikes preaching, feeds intellectual pride, and recognizes few (if any) doctrinal or moral boundaries. You can see why they movement is so appealing to college-age young people--it is fleshly rebellion dressed in ecclesiastical robes...

The EC's frontal assault on the clarity of Scripture makes it the most dangerous attack I've seen. If the Bible isn't clear and its meaning can't be understood, what do Christians have left to say to anyone? No doctrine is sure enough to declare; everything is subject to debate and discussion. No text really offers hope and comfort. No truth can definitively correct error. There is no standard by which to measure a minister and his ministry. There is no clear gospel to communicate to the lost--in fact, it's not even clear whether there's such a thing as lost or saved.

While not all the EC leaders and authors pursue their belief system to the same extreme, the movement's core is radical and dangerous. You can understand why a Christ-professing movement built on such shifting sand so deeply concerns me..."

Ladies (that's who I primarily blog for), we need to be watching for this--in our own churches, Bible studies, fellowship groups, homeschool groups, etc. We need to be ready in season and out of season to stand firm for the truth of Scripture, not the whims of man or the gimmicks of the world. Not only are we commanded to guard our very souls, we are charged with the care and training of those around us--family, friends, neighbors, etc.

Here are a few resources I've come to trust on the topic of the EC:

The Pyromaniacs have a lot to say about the EC, just do a search for Emergent, or Postmodern.

Carla Rolfe is a homeschooling mom who has been studying and interacting with the EC people through a blog she created for that sole purpose, EmergentNo.

Frank Turk minces no words on the ECM (Emerging Church Movement) on HIS BLOG. Frank is also one of the TeamPyro members at Pyromaniacs .

D.A. Carson has written THIS BOOK that is considered "THE" book on the topic. I'm hoping to read it after my husband finishes.

Well, I'm sure there are plenty of others worth our time and consideration, but these have kept me busy enough!

Oh! Please make him stop!

I picked up a book at the library for my husband today that he had requested. He's now reading "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell--please, someone make him stop!

Seriously, I treasure our time in the evenings when it's just the two of us sitting quietly in the living room reading. Over the years we've developed a habit of sharing little "nuggets" of wisdom, humor, or even disgust, from what we are reading. He's only about 20 pages into this book and I can't believe some of the things he's sharing!

Here are just a few of the little "nuggets" from Rob Bell that my husband graciously shared with me this evening; "We sponsored a Doubt Night at our church awhile back...Most of my responses were about how we need others to carry our burdens and how our real needs in life are not for more information but for loving community with other people on the journey.", "One of the great "theologians" of our time, Sean Penn, put it this way: "When everything gets answered, it's fake. The mystery is the truth."

What? Does Rob Bell seriously think that "a loving community" is the answer to people's doubts/questions about God, Jesus, etc.? And, since when did Sean Penn become a "great theologian"?

I've only recently begun to dig deeper into the "emerging church" issue (as I've already mentioned on my blog, I've been a bit preoccupied for the past 4+ years), but I'm rapidly gaining a better understanding as to why this movement is an attack on Biblical Christianity.

Assuming that my husband doesn't read the whole book out loud to me--there's probably LOTS more he'll be sharing with me--I plan to read "Velvet Elvis" for myself. But I may need to turn my internal "alarm" down a notch or two just so I can complete it.

(Oh yea, for the record my husband is not reading the book because he agrees with Rob Bell or the emerging church movement--quite the contrary.)