12.21.05

tony speaks

Posted in faith, culture at 4:24 pm by brandon

So, I’ve been catching up, slowly, on my blogosphere reading and listening. And, I’ve just worked through listening to the Tony Jones interview over at Stupid Church People. Anyway, great stuff. I think I really like this Tony Jones fellow. Now, as much as that may surprise you, I still like Josh and Steve, too. Even if they did nominate for Tony Jones as a Stupid Church Person of the year.

I liked hearing Tony’s thoughts about the commodification and banalisation of the contemporary Church. And, I think–despite the initial raising of my cackles over this whole “National Director of Emergent” business–I’d like to buy beers for Tony if he’s ever in Grand Rapids (yes, Tony, if you’re reading this, that’s an official invitation.)

One thing that struck me was how Tony defined, albeit loosely, what the hell emergent is anyway. As he put it, and I’m paraphrasing here, emergent is Christians realising that the Church needs to grow and change and become what God wants it to be as it relates to a post-modern (or post-postmodern) culture. I like that, I think.

Now, I don’t think that leaves a whole lot Churches out of the mix, I think that most would say that they want to become what got wants them to be in light of the current cultural climate. But, I think that this distinction can ellucidate a bit of the divide that’s driven me a little nuts about certain places that affiliate themselves with what it means to be emergent.

To me there’s two ways to go forward into the culture of today. The first, and to me less preferable way, would be to take our current understanding of Christianity and simply transpose that current understanding of the sub-culture of faith onto a broader post-modern cultural context. The problem with this, as I see it, is that it often ends up that the Church basically ends up tossing a post-modern table cloth over a modern table and calls the whole damn thing post modern. This kind of church ends up with what I’ve termed a “sexy modernism.”

The second way for the Church to move forward, and this is the one I prefer, is to try to first separate itself from it’s current sub-culture–often mired in modernism–then, reinvision Christianity as it arose from its earlier forms (i.e. the early Church). In short, I think that in order to go forward, we’ve got to look back.

As much as it pains me to do it, I’ve got to admit that this is something that Mars Hill Bible Church’s Rob Bell does pretty well. He takes great strides to really go after the roots of Christianity as an ancient Middle Eastern religion. Now, lest you think I’ve lost my edge, I still think that the Mars Hills–that is, the megachurches–of the world suck rocks. But, Rob Bell does a good job with this (though, I still think Mars Hill is a ‘type I’ emergent church.)

I was enamoured with Tony Jones. That doesn’t happen all too often. Especially not with someone so, well, formally connected to a movement. I tend to be pretty skeptical about such formal movements, as they often suck. But, my friends, Tony seems to be the real deal. Did I mention I’d love to drink beer with him sometime?

If any of you know Tony and would like to pass along the word of my open offer for free alcohol, let the man know!

Tags: Emergent Church, Stupid Church People, Tony Jones.

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tony speaks

Posted in faith, culture at 4:24 pm by brandon

So, I’ve been catching up, slowly, on my blogosphere reading and listening. And, I’ve just worked through listening to the Tony Jones interview over at Stupid Church People. Anyway, great stuff. I think I really like this Tony Jones fellow. Now, as much as that may surprise you, I still like Josh and Steve, too. Even if they did nominate for Tony Jones as a Stupid Church Person of the year.

I liked hearing Tony’s thoughts about the commodification and banalisation of the contemporary Church. And, I think–despite the initial raising of my cackles over this whole “National Director of Emergent” business–I’d like to buy beers for Tony if he’s ever in Grand Rapids (yes, Tony, if you’re reading this, that’s an official invitation.)

One thing that struck me was how Tony defined, albeit loosely, what the hell emergent is anyway. As he put it, and I’m paraphrasing here, emergent is Christians realising that the Church needs to grow and change and become what God wants it to be as it relates to a post-modern (or post-postmodern) culture. I like that, I think.

Now, I don’t think that leaves a whole lot Churches out of the mix, I think that most would say that they want to become what got wants them to be in light of the current cultural climate. But, I think that this distinction can ellucidate a bit of the divide that’s driven me a little nuts about certain places that affiliate themselves with what it means to be emergent.

To me there’s two ways to go forward into the culture of today. The first, and to me less preferable way, would be to take our current understanding of Christianity and simply transpose that current understanding of the sub-culture of faith onto a broader post-modern cultural context. The problem with this, as I see it, is that it often ends up that the Church basically ends up tossing a post-modern table cloth over a modern table and calls the whole damn thing post modern. This kind of church ends up with what I’ve termed a “sexy modernism.”

The second way for the Church to move forward, and this is the one I prefer, is to try to first separate itself from it’s current sub-culture–often mired in modernism–then, reinvision Christianity as it arose from its earlier forms (i.e. the early Church). In short, I think that in order to go forward, we’ve got to look back.

As much as it pains me to do it, I’ve got to admit that this is something that Mars Hill Bible Church’s Rob Bell does pretty well. He takes great strides to really go after the roots of Christianity as an ancient Middle Eastern religion. Now, lest you think I’ve lost my edge, I still think that the Mars Hills–that is, the megachurches–of the world suck rocks. But, Rob Bell does a good job with this (though, I still think Mars Hill is a ‘type I’ emergent church.)

I was enamoured with Tony Jones. That doesn’t happen all too often. Especially not with someone so, well, formally connected to a movement. I tend to be pretty skeptical about such formal movements, as they often suck. But, my friends, Tony seems to be the real deal. Did I mention I’d love to drink beer with him sometime?

If any of you know Tony and would like to pass along the word of my open offer for free alcohol, let the man know!

Tags: Emergent Church, Stupid Church People, Tony Jones.

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Trackback URL »

http://www.badchristian.com/2005/12/21/tony_speaks/trackback/