Last Class Lecture

I have to admit one of my favorite lectures was actually the last one. I have been a part of the pentecostal and charismatic faith background for about 6 years now, but I was raised in the Presbyterian background. When I first started to go to a charismatic university and made my way into pentecostal circles and churches I jumped right in and never really heard very much background history about how the roots of Pentecostalism. So I really enjoyed hearing all about William Seymour and others in the Pentecostal movement in this last lecture!

Emerging Churches Book Review

Emerging Churches

Chapter 1:

In their book Emerging Churches, Bolger and Gibbs emphasize the need for a change in what church looks like, that they need to be culturally relevant in order for them to be fulfilling their purpose. They show that the younger generations are no longer following the religious traditions of their parents and that’s mostly because it doesn’t draw them in and isn’t relevant to them the way it is to their parents. Bolger and Gibbs also reveal the cultural similarities and differences between the US and the UK and what churches in these countries are facing given their current cultural state where very few people are going to church anymore.

Chapter 2:

In this chapter the authors define emerging churches as “missional communities arising from within postmodern culture and consisting of followers of Jesus who are seeking to be faithful in their place and time” (pg. 28). They emphasize in this chapter that the church the way it is currently (in Western cultures anyway) is relevant to the modern time period, whereas, our societies are moving head on into the post-modern time period and as a result the churches are losing the post-modern generation of believers. They discuss whether or not it is possible to have a church that will draw in both generations and time periods of believers.

Chapter 3:

Here the authors talk about how the nature of the church is shifting from having some type of methodology, with the expectation that it look a certain way, and how instead, the church must come back to being about living like Jesus and giving glory to him while being a sign of the Kingdom to all those around them. As a result, emerging churches, by definition, “embrace the Gospel of the kingdom as revealed in Mark 1:15-16” (pg. 54). Also, the authors contend that emerging church communities are rooted to “follow the pattern set by Jesus” and thus heavily emphasize servanthood and forgiveness (pg. 59, 61).

Chapter 4:

The Modernist churches that currently exist foster division, as they are doing nothing to challenge the many evident dualisms. Meanwhile, emerging churches hold fast to the idea that all of life and everything a person does should be sacred and that people/the church need to move out of the compartmentalized mindset that some things are “secular” and other things are “sacred.” I really appreciate this aspect of the emerging churches - I have found that the church tradition I come from is really embracing this as well and I am in agreement with it. The authors also talk about the shift in worship between churches that are attempting to modernly appropriate by making a contemporary and traditional service, and instead replacing that with doing worship that is indigenous of the culture that is in the church’s immediate surroundings (pg. 77).

Chapter 5:

Emerging churches highly emphasize community in their definition of being a church. This type of “community” is said to be “centered around principles drawn from the story of Jesus” and thus strives to be about love, recreation, connectedness, etc. Further, the goal is that the church would be defined as a family unit comprised of relationships as opposed to an institution where people go to meetings and events. In order to get to this point, a big shift must take place, and the deeply rooted notion that a service or a building must be involved in order for something to be considered church needs to be addressed! Emerging churches has embraced small groups, or a network of small groups in order to cultivate this family life and connectedness.

Chapter 6:

Emerging churches are largely focused around the concept of inclusion of outsiders which is directly based on the practices of Jesus in this manner. In doing this, emerging churches see that outsiders and those who are different both clarify and define the boundaries of their faith (119). Church then should be a place where others feel safe to be around and to be a part of (to dwell) in what is going on despite being an “outsider.” Another emphasis of the emerging church is their focus on apologetics being on just straight living the lifestyle of and embodying the “Truth” rather than talking about the truth and confronting people with it verbally.

Chapter 7:

This chapter talks about the hospitality embraced by emerging churches in serving the stranger – those outside of their community along with serving those in their community. This style of living is rooted in Jesus and the kingdom which means living lives of “justice” while also not “preferring one over another” (136). Those in the emerging church look to “serve others as a part of a holistic way of life” and as a result they do not engage in social programs or activities but instead live a life of hospitality – a socially engaged way of life (144).

Chapter 8:

The worship of emerging churches is vastly different from modernist churches mainly because those who attend are not passive recipients of the worship, but instead are participants/contributors. The goal then in these churches is that there not be focus primarily up in front, but would be a place where people feel at home. This is different from my church tradition as what is going on in front is where much of the focus is as they are leading the group in worship. However, there is the emphasis that each person freely worship God having personal communion with him – taking personal responsibility for their worship which is an aspect of the emergent church (pg. 160).

Chapter 9:

The emerging church tradition holds to the creativity that each person possess, emphasizing that people should cultivate and use this part of them as it is a way of worshipping God! This creativity can be expressed in a number of different ways whether through giving a gift, painting or creating art, etc. By drawing out this aspect of themselves and embracing this, it gives “worshippers the opportunity to embrace aspects of God’s character they normally would not acknowledge” (178). Not only that, but they are also able to express God’s creativity as all are made in His image.

11/30/09 Class

In class on Monday we talked about the Christian Reformed church, touching a bit more on Calvin which was apparently a continuation from the last class period. The we went on to learn about the role the Puritans played in the progression of the church - what their mentality was in thinking that they must do certain things in order to win back the favor of God. We also talked about the Anabaptists, a special sect that was separate from the Protestants and the Catholics and whom both of those other sets of Christians actually persecuted. They emphasized that baptism should be coupled with a public confession of faith, so there should be no infant or child baptisms. Lastly we touched on the myths related to America and American's being "a chosen people" who had a covenant with God that is comparable to the covenant God had with Israel. Very interesting comparisons were presented Monday regarding this issue!