Where’s the Spirit in Deep Church? Dr. Bradley Truman Noel Re-Sourcing Church, 2011
• All I want is reality. Show me God. Tell me what He is really like. Help me to understand why life is the way it is, and how I can experience it more fully and with greater joy. I don't want the empty promises. I want the real thing. And I'll go wherever I find that truth system. Anonymous Teenager
Deep Church • Jim Belcher has written Deep Church to try and find “a third way” beyond the Emerging/Traditional church debate currently underway in Western Christianity. • Having examined both sides of this debate, he has come away convinced that neither holds the key to future growth and stability, and has therefore attempted to chart a course that accepts what is best from both approaches.
Deep Church • This paper will explore the goals of Deep Church – future growth and stability – from a pneumatological perspective, with a focus on the impact of postmodernity on the youngest generations of the western world, generations that the Church must reach in order to thrive and fulfill its mandate. • We will conclude by noting points of dialogue between Pentecostalism and the direction
• What is the Emergent Church protesting?
1. Captivity to Enlightenment rationalism The Enlightenment, which began in the 18 th century, • based truth not on revelation, but on reason. • In an attempt to defend itself against the cultural despisers of the day, The Church increasingly looked to current philosophical arguments to support its doctrine; looking to reason, and not revelation, to secure itself in the world. • Soon, the Church took on the role of championing Modernism, mostly condoning individualism, rationalism, and pragmatism, each pillars of Enlightenment thought. • Eventually, the Church became hard to distinguish from the culture.
2. A narrow view of salvation • Emergents argue that the traditional church has focused for too long on how an individual becomes a Christian and not enough on how he or she lives as a Christian. • Justification has taken priority over sanctification. • The Church has been overly dependent on the way of salvation in the Epistles and has not paid enough attention to Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom in the Gospels.
3. Belief before belonging • The Emergent church is critical of the view that a person must believe correct theology before they are welcomed into the Church. • They reject using doctrine as a gatekeeper, which keeps seekers out of the church. • For Emergents, belonging precedes belief.
4. Uncontextualized worship • Emergents protest that worship in traditional churches does not speak sufficiently to the culture around it. • Using music and traditions that are hundreds of years old, making no attempt to speak to the present culture, and setting a posture that is against the world, traditional churches have become incapable of reaching the culture for God.
5. Ineffective preaching • Emergents believe that the old style of preaching, where the Pastor is fount of all knowledge, where rationalism trumps experience and where people are not involved in learning, has reduced spiritual formation to head knowledge. • People need to learn from each other, and be changed through many different experiences, + knowledge.
6. Weak Ecclesiology • Emergents believe the traditional church is more concerned about form than mission. • It cares more about institutional survival – protecting the growth and assets of the church – than being the sent people of God into the world.
7. Tribalism • The traditional church is accused of being unwilling to engage the culture and be salt and light. • The church has adopted a largely negative stance in relation to the world, and is known more for what it is against, than what it is for. • It has lost its ability to be countercultural, to model a different way of life and to actually create beauty.
Postmodernism • The Emergent church draws heavily from postmodern thought, which is a huge change in the thinking of society. We can see its effects everywhere, from TV to the belief systems of teenagers. • Postmodernism is basically a reaction to Modernism, the pattern of thinking that arose out of the Enlightenment, which has gripped Western society for almost 400 years.
Postmodernism • Modernism taught that the universe was a well- ordered machine, with laws set in place by God. • Humanity had but to discover these laws, and the universe could be controlled. • Humanity and human thinking is elevated to the highest level. • Individualism becomes very popular.
Postmodernism • Nothing could be “ true ” if it could not stand the test of human reason. • Miracles came under heavy attack, as did the supernatural aspect of God, and faith. • The Holy Spirit largely faded from view in the Christian religion. • Christianity became very formal, intellectual, and “ reasonable ” .
Postmodernism • Postmodernism is therefore a reaction to Modernism, and basically comprises two parts: • 1) A rejection of the abilities of human reason and an openness to “know” things by our experience • 2) A rejection of the idea of absolute, objective truth.
The Holy Spirit and Deep Church • It is the position of this presentation that while the discovery of a “third way” beyond traditional and emergent approaches is essential, doing so without recognizing the essential role of the Holy Spirit and without having a charismatic approach to the faith, this “third way” will be far less effective with the newest generations than might otherwise be.
THE CHURCH AND POSTMODERNS • Although the significance or permanence of Postmodernity may well be debated, it seems clear that certain of its presuppositions are making inroads in the thinking of the post- boomer generations. • In terms of the rejection of the rationalism often espoused by organized religion, and importance of experience in particular, today’s students and young adults are approaching the Christian faith, and our attempts to propagate the Gospel, in ways not seen since pre- Enlightenment times.
Anti-religious but Pro-spiritual • Concerning Generation X, Harvard Professor Harvey Cox notes: • [T]heir religious proclivities have remained a mystery almost as inscrutable as that of the Holy Trinity. Here is a generation that stays away from most churches in droves but loves songs about God and Jesus, a generation that would score very low on any standard piety scale but at times seems almost obsessed with saints, visions, and icons in all shapes and sizes. These are the young people who, Styrofoam cups of cappuccino in hand, crowd among the shelves of New Age spirituality titles in the local book market and post thousands of religious and quasi-religious notes on the bulletin boards in cyberspace.
Anti-religious but Pro-spiritual • Canadian Sociologist Reginald Bibby reveals the results of two national surveys completed in 2000. The dichotomy between identity and practice is readily apparent: among Canadian teens, a full 75% identify with some religious group, while only 22% attend weekly services. • Bibby notes, “Overall, these findings point to a paradox: many young people who are not involved in organized religion are nonetheless seemingly interested in many things that organized religion ‘is about’.” • They have a widespread regard for Mysticism. “As practiced by Xers, mysticism is defined broadly as paganism and is often expressed as religious eclecticism. Xers take symbols, values, and rituals from various religious traditions and combine them into their personal ‘spirituality.’ They see this spirituality as one being far removed from “religion,” which they frequently equate with religious institution.”
Anti-religious but Pro-spiritual • Bibby and Posterski note that paradoxically, youth have having difficulty relating to organized relationship precisely as they exhibit a strong interest in the things that religion has traditionally focused upon – the supernatural, spirituality, ethics, morality, and meaning. 46 per cent rate the quest for truth as “very important” and 24 per cent rate spirituality the same. • Only 10 per cent of teens, however, rate religious involvement as very important. • “Time and again, young people express an openness to things spiritual, and disinterest in things organizational.
Anti-religious but Pro-spiritual • Bibby’s research reveals that a majority of Canadian teens believe in conventional Christian values: – life after death - 78% – heaven - 75% – the existence of God – 73% – Jesus was the Divine Son of God – 65% • These same teens, however, also believe in a variety of less conventional values: – near-death experiences – 76% – Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) – 59% – astrology – 57% – individuals can possess psychic powers – 55%
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