colson’s article in christianity today: “soothing ourselves to death”, a take off of neil postman’s book, amusing ourselves to death, gives some great insight into the entertainment culture that we are creating in our churches by “giving people what they want, not what they need.” in fact he opens with a rather amusing story detailing one experience in particular and his frustration with the consumer, entertainment-driven church…
reading through the article it’s clear who he is singling out… he’s targeting the consumeristic, modern, church that looks more like an amusement park than what we’ve deemed a church should look like. however, in the last few paragraphs he sends you for a loop by attributing all of these ills of the church to none other than the emerging church. i know the emerging church is the new whipping child of the modernist movement, but in this instance colson get’s it wrong. his assessment of the entertainment driven church is spot on, however i’m afraid its sorely mislabeled. the emerging church, is doing just that-emerging from what has been in the recent and evolving into something new. the emerging churches that i’ve attended have been nothing close to an entertainment-fest but rather more contemplative, quiet, and thought-provoking where relationship (to God and each other) is the center of the gathering. biblical teaching is exposed and chewed upon, wrestled with and developed– viewed more as the living, breathing, authentic word of God rather than a static, boring, institutional document. so, when colson said this, you can imagine why my brow would turn upward, and a, “huh?” would come out of my mouth:
“Doctrine and biblical teaching are not-as some ‘emerging church’ advocates believe-dry, dusy, abstract notions.” ~ Colson.
i peruse a lot of blogs of people that aren’t in paid, full-time ministry but are very much involved in the emerging church. i’m constantly amazed at the theological depth, the doctrinal questions and the beauty with which they articulate God, his church and his people.
there’s a lot of misinformation that surrounds the emerging church, a lot of stereotypes and preconceived notions that are constantly ringing false for the movement as a whole. it seems as if there is somehow a campaign out there devoted to misinforming the world about the emerging church (there are a few websites out there in particular that have made this their mission), but i’m sure this isn’t the case. maybe more than anything its a communication barrier-the emerging church can’t quite seem to convey who/what they are (probably because it’s so hard to define) and the modern church is frustrated with their inability to completely categorize the emerging church into a nice and neat cubby-hole. i wonder if that barrier were to be broken how much the modern church would embrace or shun the emerging church…
Related posts:
- the anti-biblical, emerging church.
- seeker-sensitive & emerging churches
- questions of the emerging church
- emerging church.
- driscoll & zacharias weigh in on the emerging church.
