Part 2- The Emergent Church’s “Missional” focus

Greetings everyone!

Part 2- The Emergent Church’s “Missional” focus

To most Christians, a church or movement that is defined as “missional” would be a good thing. We equate the word with those who give their lives to spreading the Gospel and helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Our Christian faith has a rich history of helping the poor, building hospitals, tending to the sick, and being a force for social good as a testimony to the Savior we serve.

However, in the Emergent philosophy, missional has an entirely different meaning. Today we will look at both how they define their mission, and how they put it into practice.

The Emergent Church’s beliefs- Defining the Mission-

Last week we mentioned the eschatological (end-times) belief of the emergent church- they do not believe in a final judgment. Their belief, in varying forms, is that the church through social action and influencing the culture will change the world into heaven on earth. That is the mission of the emergent church. On the surface, it may seem like an admirable thing- bringing “Christian” principles to the forefront of society. However, even a brief look beneath the surface reveals the truth of how they go about being missional.

Emergent Church leader Brian McLaren in his book “The Secret Message of Jesus” defines this mission. McLaren writes, “What if Jesus’ secret message reveals a secret plan? What if he didn’t come to start a new religion, but rather came to start a Political, Social, Religious, Artistic, Economic, Intellectual, and Spiritual Revolution that would give birth to a whole new world?” [The Secret Message of Jesus, McLaren, Brian, pg 4]

Anyone with just a basic understanding of Christian Doctrine can see a huge problem with that. One of the key beliefs revealed to us in the bible is that God is both knowable and wants to be known. The primary way we learn about Him is through the scriptures as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. To suggest that the “secret message of Jesus” has been hidden for 2000 years until the Emergent Church leaders discovered it exposes them for what they are, neo-gnostics. Gnostism (meaning knowledge) was a heresy confronted and defeated by the early church, and has lately been gaining prominence in both books and (later) movies like “The Da-Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons”. In its most basic form, Gnostism is the belief that only through “secret knowledge” you may discover the true will of god (little “g” intentional) and experience him and/or salvation.

On a personal note, I have to say it is an incredibly egotistical belief to think that you have discovered something in the bible that centuries of brilliant theologians have not seen. This is especially true when what you think you have discovered goes against centuries of accepted Christian doctrine.

The Emergent Church in practice-

We looked at the emergent church’s beliefs first because on both a personal and corporate level, your core beliefs will always govern your actions, and this is clearly seen in the way the emergent church practices their mission.

To accomplish this mission in reaching and influencing as many people as they can, they have a “big tent” philosophy. Last week, I used the example of an emergent church in Haiti incorporating various aspects of voodoo into their service to relate with their community. Admittedly, that may be an extreme example, but it was chosen to clearly illustrate their philosophy of ministry. It all would fit under their “big tent” way of doing ministry- everyone and every belief is included, as they believe that God can be experienced in all things and in all ways. That is the belief of a Unitarian Universalist, not a biblical Christian.

The emergent church places a high value on the subjective religious experiences of its members. If a person who was previously a Buddhist came to their meeting, they would have no problem bringing those teachings into their fellowship, as they would believe “that is how God is revealing himself to that person”. As previously seen, they interpret scripture (and other religious teaching) in ways that make sense to them at the time. They reject any sort of systematic theology or objective truth. They believe god (little “g” intentional) is still in the process of creation and is continually revealing himself to them in new and different ways. Since “god” is doing that, this movement in general accepts every belief in him that is helpful to humanity.

These beliefs and practices are flawed at many levels. For the sake of brevity, I will list just three primary ones here-

1. They violate the 1st and 2nd commandment- you are creating a god that makes sense to you- essentially elevating your understanding above God’s revealed truth found in the bible
2. In incorporating other belief systems into their “church”, they are denying the wider biblical and direct Gospel message of humankind’s sin, God’s love for the sinner and His providing a way through the Lord Jesus Christ to be forgiven of that sin. In doing that, they deny Jesus’ own teaching- “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”(John 14:6)
3. In raising and supporting whatever belief is “helpful to humanity”, no matter what the source of that “help” may be, they shift the object of worship from God to humanity. Again, a violation of the first two commandments.

I will close with one last warning from scripture. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes-, “There is nothing new under the sun.” The apostle Paul fought against this heresy his entire life in ministry and placed this warning in the bible for us even today-

Gal 1:6-9 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. NKJV

I hope this brief expose’ of the emergent church has been helpful to your understanding of this movement. If you would like more information, I recommend Pastor Ron’s Auch's book “The Jesus Sensitive Church” (purchase by clicking here) to see how the church is supposed to be, and then Pastor Bob DeWaay’s book “The Emergent Church, Undefining Christianity” which can be purchased by clicking here. As always, I invite any questions you may have.

Many blessings,
Pastor John
pastorjohn@prayerhouseag.org
www.prayerhouseag.org
http://pastorjohnsview.blogspot.com/

An Emerging Deception, Part 1

Greetings everyone,

There is a growing movement among many evangelical churches called the Emerging (or Emergent) Church. It is of critical importance that we understand the dangers of this movement.

I am going to come right out and give my opinion right off the bat, and then work to defend it in this and further editions in this blog- this is an extremely dangerous movement. It meets every definition of a cult. To anyone who holds to the traditional interpretation of scripture, it is a damnable error.

On the surface, it looks like a wonderful extension of Christianity- churches that are very active in their communities, very concerned about social issues, and very interested in reaching everyone with their message. However, when one takes an even slightly deeper look into their beliefs and “theology”, one finds a message and theology (or lack thereof) that is very much opposed to the classical/traditional understanding of God, theology, and even Christian Doctrine that is revealed to us in the scriptures.

I’ve been studying this in depth for the last month to try to get an understanding of the complicated issues and philosophies surrounding this movement’s belief structure. This is very difficult as one of their core beliefs is putting practice before theology/beliefs, leading to a wide array of beliefs that are dependant upon local practices. As an example, if an Emergent Church was formed in Haiti, they would incorporate voodoo into their worship practice since that is “how god is revealing himself to these people”1. This is one of the main issues I have with them, but more on that later.

My research is taken from several books, internet articles, and audio messages I’ve listened to pro and con toward this movement. The books include “A Generous Orthodoxy” by Brian McLaren, “The Secret Message of Jesus…” by the same author, miscellaneous writings and speeches/debates of Doug Pagitt, and the primary text I’m using which is “The Emergent Church, Undefining Christianity” by Bob Dewaay, which extensively quotes from the previous texts as well as several other Emerging Church leaders.

To truly understand anything, you have to examine the history and origin of it. As this series will be long, I’ll try to be concise here to save time.

The history of the Emergent Movement can be traced to the philosophy of a German theologian named Jurgen Moltmann, who was heavily influenced by two German philosophers named Friedrich Hegel (an atheist) and Ernst Bloch (an atheist/neo-Marxist). Moltmann wrote a book called “The Theology of Hope” in which he put forward several primary theses-

1. The classical teaching of the bible that the world will end in judgment is wrong (see bullet 5)
2. god (small “g” on purpose) is bringing all people and his whole creation to himself
3. The fullness of the kingdom of God is not a future event, but something we can experience now through working toward establishing that kingdom now on earth.
4. The bible is not our absolute rule of faith and conduct. god is found in experiencing him in the context of the society we are in.
5. Although not implicitly stated by Moltmann, the inference is drawn in his writings and is believed by the Emergent church that only through understanding the scriptures in the context of Moltmann’s (and other Emerging Church authors) ideas, can the true meaning of the “red-letter words” or any other scripture be found. (This heresy is called gnosticism)

Understanding this background is key to understanding where the Emergent church is coming from, particularly the faulty eschatology of no final judgment and the working out of the kingdom on earth. This “theology” (I hesitate to use that word, as they don’t really study God at all) really took root among open theists, and although initially somewhat cloaked, is what fueled Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven movement, which paved the way for the Emergent Church. In fact, the Emergent Church is simply the next logical step of Warren’s model of church.

Next Part Two- What the term “missional” means to the Emergent Church

1. McLaren, Brian, a Generous Orthodoxy, Zondervon (although the example is not directly stated, the idea of the example is exactly what he is stating)

Many blessings,

Thought for the week- May 13th, 2009

Deut 6:4-5 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

I’ve been on the edge of some type of revelation for a while now. It has been fleeting, like reaching for a steam cloud and having it disappear when you close your hand around it.

The Spirit of God has been speaking to my spirit, but I haven’t been able to comprehend or hear clearly what He has been saying or trying to teach me. Yesterday during staff, the heavens opened with a bang and I had the epiphany.

The discussion was on the proper priorities that pastors should have. The widely accepted and taught priority list is this-

1. God
2. family (spouse then children)
3. church
4. everything else

Most of us pastors get into trouble assuming #3 directly relates to #1, and in some ways it does. However, it suddenly occurred to me that I’ve had it all wrong. There is no list. I have spent the last day meditating on this, and I believe our priorities should look like this-

All of the problems in life can be traced back to this diagram. Preachers are great for telling people how to live, but often times in an effort to help people live a life pleasing to God, we reduce our relationship with Him to a set of rules and/ethical norms that have to be followed.

Those are important, but we should instead focus on teaching people to have a proper relationship with God. The law is a schoolmaster to point out our sin, but often times we (and I definitely count myself in this) come short and only point out the disease without offering the cure.

The verse from Deuteronomy that I used at the top of this devotional is called the Shema (meaning “Hear O’ Israel) among the Jews. It is their simple declaration of faith. Looking at the Hebrew in these verses, another way to translate it would be “Listen Israel, Yahweh our God is everything/altogether/our complete focus/our number 1 on a list of 1”.

Our relationship with God is not to be number 1 on a list of other things. There is no list with God. Anything else on a list with God is an idol.

All of our problems with sin, all of our problems with temptation, and all of our problems with relationships can all be traced back to this truth. If everything in our lives emanates from God, everything else in life takes care of itself.

Get alone with God and ask Him what is lacking in your relationship with Him. Let Him show you His wondrous riches and the incredible depths that He wants to take you in intimacy with Him.

It’s all about HIM! Let us covenant together to make Him our everything.

Many blessings,