If a church can E-merge, it must also be able to SUB-merge. I wonder if our Anglican naves (derived from the Latin navis, a ship...and see here) have turned out to be SUBmersibles.
I wonder if in our Anglican introversion we have so effectively retreated to our "quiet places" behind our stained-glass windows and big old doors, whether literally of figuratively, that we now float below the cultural radar of our day. We are running silent, running deep.
Or, perhaps it's more like this; in our attempts to be relevant to the culture, we have so SUBmerged ourselves in it, that our saltiness has been lost; dissolved by our full emmersion.
In either case, we have some serious E-merging to do. Time to blow the tanks!
Our Jonathan was non too impressed with your speaker. Clergy conferences seem like an exercise in Masochism!
ReplyDeleteIf we don't promote our beliefs, on a plane or wherever, how does the good news get spread? No wonder mainline churches are in decline, as I doubt people just show up out of curiosity.
ReplyDeleteHow does she suggest that a church grow? If the current members don't evangelisize there won't be much growth, except through sheep stealing and a higher than normal birthrate.
I have been wondering lately why Alpha and other basic Christianity courses spend so much time talking about the Holy Spirit. I think the answer is in the book of Acts. The disciples performed signs and wonders and people were added to their numbers daily - people that had received the Holy Spirit. What signs and wonders are happening in our churches - healing, prophesy, wisdom, knowledge etc, that are adding to our numbers? Not many I suspect as super-natural type gifts seem to be kept well hidden. Many Christians today have trouble even admitting they are Christian.
There are many other writers who also comment on the current state of church/religion, such as Robert Webber, Harold Percy, Erwin McManus and Rick Warren, just to name a few. I think one has to be realistic and open-minded as there are a wide variety of experts, all with a wide variety of opinions. The so-called right-wing churches seem quite successful to me so they must be doing something right. How can one author slam success?
DRB
I heard a message recently that dealt with this... I think part of the issue is transparency and vulnerability. If we speak to people just of Jesus' death and resurrection I find they tune out... BUT if we speak of our own weaknesses, finding common ground with them, we can then speak of God's salvation with a more personal effect.
ReplyDeletePerhaps that's why we overcome not just with the blood of the lamb, but with the word of our testimony. Postmoderns who don't believe in absolute truths DO respect personal experiences.
Having lived and worshipped on both sides of the evangelical debate I 'm sure of only one thing--God's ways are not our ways. He cannot be put into a church growth program or a litergical worship format. He will use the preacher in the airplane and the street person in the cafe. Ms. Bass's comments are only the example of the human pendulum condition. As we move and grow and change the pendulum swings--only briefly do we see dead centre; thus magnifying the reason we need a "helper", "counsellor", Holy Spirit. Only then can we hear God's voice urging us toward Him as centre (emerge). What method or manner in which God uses to "emerge" one church is not necessarily what He will call the next church to be and do--for the next church will not have those same needs or gifts. If a church is "successful" (very much a human definition) other churches should rejoice with them and take encouragement that the same God that worked there is faithful and desiring to do His work in your church. Anglicans do not hold the prize for divisions and problems. Get more than God in the church and you will have that!
ReplyDeleteI am grateful for the evangelical church in which I was raised--it grounded me in the word---and I am very grateful for the Anglican church that I presently attend ---"the communion of saints".
Maybe Ms. Bass just wants to remind us that we haven't arrived--to keep moving until the Lord comes.