“What is the Emerging Church and Why Does it Matter?”
The above question was asked to Ed Stetzer (The North American Mission Board’s Church Planting Specialist and Southern Baptists’ authority on the emerging church movement) during a Missouri Baptist Convention’s church planting luncheon.
Stetzer replied: “The emerging church movement is a reaction to the failings of the evangelical church. 89% of Southern Baptist Churches are not experiencing growth through evangelism, and that part of the problem is a refusal to reconsider unnecessary cultural roadblocks preventing communication of the Gospel”
Stetzer went on to say “The problem is found in how we live, and how we look. The church is supposed to live differently from the world, but look similar. Lottie Moon wore the clothing style of the people to whom she brought the unchanged Gospel. However, far too many people in the church today are living no different than the culture, even while looking different in things that don’t matter.”
Stetzer further said, “I have deep concerns that we be both biblically faithful, and culturally relevant.”
Source: The Pathway, the newspaper of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
For further reading on the emerging church movement, read Ed Stetzer’s and Elmer Town’s Perimeters of Light, Biblical Boundaries for the Emerging Church.
The Glocal Church and “The Least of These…”
As we enter the Thanksgiving and Christmas Season, with all of the joy it brings to so many, let’s not forget it is also one of the most difficult times of the year for many others.
I recently read Reflections for Ragamuffins, which is the collective writings of one of my favorite, yet intriguing authors, Brennan Manning. His works really challenge me and make me think! Manning exhorts the “Glocal Church” through the following words:
“The compassionate love of Jesus at work within us empowers us to suffer with, endure with, struggle with, partake of, be moved in the depths of our being for the hunger, nakedness, lonliness, pain, squailed choices, and failed dreams of our brothers and sisters in the human family. We don’t have to join the work of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, or the Medical Missionaries in El Salvador. The Passion of Christ is being played out in our own communities, perhaps in our own homes, in anyone who is in agony of flesh or spirit. Jesus is there not in some vague eerie way but as a real presence-for what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters, we do for Him. “
“The King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25:34 -40 (NASB)
Remember this Thanksgiving and Christmas season, that we are the hands and feet of Christ. Remember Romans 10:15: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (NLT) Whether it’s across the hall, across the street, or across the world!
The Practice of Spiritual Disciplines and the Glocal Church
I have always been interested in the study of, and the practicing of spiritual disciplines. I have found when I’m actively practicing the spiritual disciplines, I always grow closer to Christ.
I became a student of spiritual disciplines when I read Richard Foster’s classic work, Celebration of Discipline in college. Then in Seminary I discovered the writings on spiritual disciplines by Donald Whitney, whose book, Simplify your Spiritual Life helped me pursue Christ more passionately, with the understanding that If I didn’t make time for a growing relationship with Christ, no one else would.
I recently picked up an intriguing book… well a book with an intriguing title. It’s titled. Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders by Earl Creps, who is an authority on the emerging church movement.
Creps’ disciplines definitely give credence to the title Off-Road Disciplines. The first off-road discipline Creps detailed was the spiritual discipline of “Death.” Let me explain… Creps describes that all missional (and Glocal) church leaders experience a “kind of spiritual renovation that forms a missionary’s heart and defiles every attempt at reduction to a formula, or franchising as a ‘model.’ But there is a common confession, along with Paul: ‘I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.’”
Creps hit the nail squarely on the head! Before we can be used by Christ, we must sacrifice ourselves, our desires, our dreams, our total being to Him. Just as Paul outlined in Romans 12: “We must offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.”
For me, that discipline is not a day by day submission to Christ, but rather a moment by moment submission to Him. Unfortunately, however, I often find myself crawling off the altar. It’s a daily battle. You?
Any thoughts?
(emphasis Added)
