SUMMARY:
We live in a period in church history that is characterized by enthusiasm for methods and means that facilitate church growth. Large churches are commonly equated with successful pastors and successful church growth methods. Whatever it takes to reach that objective is acceptable, we are told. Church growth has become the measuring stick for successful Christianity.
By ROGER OAKLAND
HISTORY reveals that Christian fads and trends come and go.
It seems that it is common for many pastors and church leaders to constantly look for some new methodology, “new wave” or “new thing” God is doing, “right now.”
Purpose-Driven Christianity
It is true that some of the largest and fastest growing churches and church movements in the world today promote a concept called “purposedriven.”
No matter where you go these days anywhere around the world, purpose-driven is being proclaimed as the latest church growth method.
But stop for a moment and think.
What is it that defi nes success from a biblical perspective?
While we are accustomed to accepting numbers or quantity as the yardstick for measuring success, when it comes to Christianity, quantity without quality can be misleading.
According to the Bible, Christian faith must be directly related to God’s Word.
Faith comes by hearing what God has said and then acting accordingly.
With regard to church growth, if the growth is the product of some technique authored by some man, and this technique is not based on God’s Word, the results may actually be deceptive.
With this in mind, we will consider this current common trend known as the “purpose-driven” church growth movement.
Before we do, let’s review the biblical premise that we are to test the teachings of men as the Bereans did (Acts chapter 17) and search the Scriptures diligently.
The Purpose of Purpose-Driven
One of the major goals of the purpose-driven church movement is growth, which is dependent on adding numbers based on human methods and techniques.
While promoters say these human methods are found in the Bible, there are reasons to question this claim.
It would appear that many of the purpose-driven techniques are oriented towards what’s in it for me, rather than what I can do for you.
Successful purpose-driven church leaders find out what appeals to seekers who might come to their church and then provide the service or the environment that meets their approval.
Thus purpose-driven churches can become market-oriented for the “seeker-friendly” without being so biblical that “seekers” would be offended.
Most Christians would agree that to be faithful to Jesus and His Word, healthy church growth should be based on the teaching of God’s Word.
However, a market-driven church based on man-made methods designed to increase numbers may produce converts who are biblically illiterate.
Man’s word or God’s Word
The Scriptures have been carefully translated from Hebrew and Greek so the Word of God can be understood in the languages of our day.
Some say we need to make the Bible more understandable by taking the Word of God and changing it to the words of men.
But is this idea biblical? Remember that the Bible has been given to us by God.
As Paul stated in his letter to Timothy: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profi table for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
While the Bible has been written by human hands, the words were inspired by God.
Not only are the words inspired, but the Bible states humans are prohibited from altering the Scriptures by adding to or taking away from what God has said.
Notice what we read in the Book of Revelation:
For I testify to every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book (Rev 22:18-19).
Therefore according to Scripture, humans tread on dangerous ground when they take the liberty of adding to or deleting from what God has said.
However, it is a fact that many seeker-friendly churches try to make the scriptures more “seekerfriendly”, by altering the actual inspired Word of God and reinterpreting it into the ideas or views of man. .
Whose Message?
For example, consider a version of the Bible authored by Eugene Peterson known as The Message. Described as a “contemporary rendering of the Bible from the original languages, crafted to present its tone, rhythm, events, and ideas in everyday language,” this “paraphrased” version of the Bible, in reality, is nothing more than Eugene Peterson’s thoughts and views.
Peterson has taken the carefully translated words of the Bible and put them into his own words and chosen idioms.* 1
For example, consider the following portion of Scripture taken from John 3:17 — “that the world through him might be saved”. Peterson’s rendering reads: “
He came to help, to put the world right again.”
It does not take a biblical scholar to understand that “saved” means that we can be redeemed from the judgment we deserve for our sins so that we can go to heaven.
It should be obvious that using “help” instead of “saved” completely distorts the meaning of what Jesus said.
And “to put the world right again” has nothing to do with the salvation of souls.
In fact this sounds like the social gospel to reform the world through political action.
Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Church, is a strong supporter of Eugene Peterson’s message.
While Warren claims he quotes the Bible, by quoting The Message he is not quoting the Bible.
He is quoting the thoughts of some man who thinks he is stating what the Bible states.
You may ask, so what is wrong with this?
Isn’t it better for a seeker to be reading some version of the Bible, rather than not reading the Bible at all?
Many Christians, although they have been believers for years, claim they still have diffi culty in understanding the Bible that has been translated word by word from the original text.
If someone can come up with a way to make the Bible more understandable, wouldn’t this be a great tool for planting seeds for the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Such a line of reasoning may sound acceptable.
However we also know that what seems right to man, may be wrong from God’s perspective.
Further when we rely upon man’s thoughts rather than God’s thoughts it’s almost certain that we will be deceived.
With regard to Eugene Peterson’s The Message, there is one message that should be clear.
If you want the truth and all the truth, read the Bible — not some man’s conjecture about what he thinks God has said.
Otherwise you have the potential of committing spiritual suicide.
Relevancy with No Compromise
While it is true, Christianity has to be relevant in order to be effective, the fact is Christianity is the only message that never needs to change no matter what changes around us.
The question is can we stray from biblical standards and still be sound Christian witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Perhaps you have not heard about another new trend sweeping the Christian church.
Many are saying a great change lies ahead.
The seeker- friendly era is over.
Now we are headed into another new period of church history.
It’s called “the emerging church.” *2 If you have not heard of this, try doing a search on the Internet by typing “emerging church” into a search engine.
I guarantee you will be amazed at what you fi nd.
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Emerging church ... less WORD – MORE worship ... merging into the ancient and the mystical. |
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Rick Warren is very supportive of “the emerging church.”
This is what he wrote in a foreword for Dan Kimball’s book,
The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations --
This book is a wonderful, detailed example of what a purpose-driven church can look like in a post-modern world.
My friend Dan Kimball writes passionately, with a deep desire to reach the emerging generation and culture.
While my book
The Purpose-Driven Church explained what the church is calledto do,
Dan’s book explains how to do it with the cultural ‘creatives’ who think and feel in postmodern terms.
You need to pay attention to him because times are changing. *3
It is true that over the past decades many trends have come and gone.
As Warren stated in the foreword of Kimball’s book:
As a pastor, I’ve watched churches adopt many contemporary styles in worship, programming, architecture, music, and other elements.
That’s okay as long as the biblical message is unchanged.
But whatever is in style now will inevitably be out of style soon, and the cycles of change are getting shorter and shorter, aided by technology and the media.
New styles, like fashions, are always emerging. *4
Not all these trends have been based on sound biblical doctrine.
In fact the reason many of these trends occurred was because Christians were vulnerable to “winds of doctrine” that had no biblical basis.
According to the Bible, in the last days these winds of doctrine will be “doctrines of demons” that will infl uence Christians to fall away from the truth and accept ideas that “tickle their ears.”
1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Timothy 4:3.
Rick Warren is not only supportive of the “emerging church,” he believes that it is exactly what is required at this time.
He believes this is what “the purpose-driven” church that he founded will become in the “postmodern world.”
He notes: In the past twenty years, spiritual seekers have changed a lot.
In the fi rst place, there are a whole lot more of them.
There are seekers everywhere.
I’ve never seen more people so hungry to discover and develop the spiritual dimension of their lives.
That is why there is such a big interest in Eastern thought, New Age practices, mysticism and the transcendent. *5
Further, he explains what the “emerging church” must do in order to emerge:
Today seekers are hungry for symbols and metaphors and experiences and stories that reveal the greatness of God.
Because seekers are constantly changing, we must be sensitive to them like Jesus was; we must be willing to meet them on their own turf and speak to them in ways they understand *6
Now, let’s follow Rick Warren’s line of reasoning through to its logical conclusion based on the idea the world is hungry for an Eastern worldview, New Age, mysticism and spiritual enlightenment.
If it is necessary to meet these “spiritual seekers” on their turf, wouldn’t that require Christianity to become more New Age and mystical?
Emerging into What?
Rick Warren and others say we need to pay attention to the emerging church.
Things are changing, they say and the “emerging church” has the answers for our generation.
But what will the emerging church emerge into?
Could it be a form of Christianity that embraces experience rather than God’s Word?
Dan Kimball is the author of The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations. He is also launching a church called Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California. Kimball makes the following statement in the introduction of his book:
I believe with all my heart that this discussion about the fast-changing culture and the emerging church must take place.
While many of us have been preparing sermons and keeping busy with the internal affairs of our churches, something alarming has been happening on the outside.
What once was a Christian nation with a Judeo-Christian worldview is quickly becoming a post Christian, unchurched, unreached nation.
New generations are arising all around us without any Christian infl uence.
So we must rethink virtually everything we are doing in our ministries. *7
Certainly the spiritual climate in North America has changed radically over the past number of years just as Dan Kimball has stated.
Many, including Rick Warren and Dan Kimball use the term “post- Christian era” to describe the days in which we are living.
They say, while the seeker-friendly era was successful in bringing a generation of “baby boomers” to Jesus, that time is past.
Now we need to fi nd new innovative methods that will reach this new generation for Jesus.
Kimball’s book,
The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations, is written for this purpose.
He not only identifi es the problems he believes the church is now facing, he provides the answers and the solutions.
The church for the future, he believes, must be more sensual and experience based.
He calls this church “Vintage Christianity”.
Perhaps the term “Vintage Christianity” is new to you.
While it is not my intention to describe all that it means in this commentary, a few chapter titles from Kimball’s book under a heading called “Reconstructing Vintage Christianity in the Emerging Church” will be helpful for us to understand where the emerging church is headed.
These are: “Overcoming the Fear of Multi-sensory Worship and Teaching”, *8
“Creating a Sacred Space for Vintage Worship”, *9
“Expecting the Spiritual”, *10
“Creating Experiential Multi-sensory Worship Gatherings”, *11
“Becoming Story Tellers Again” *12
and “Preaching Without Words”. *13
Now, I ask you this question.
What does the Bible say about Vintage Christianity and the socalled emerging church?
Is the goal of Christianity experience based or Bible based?
Jesus said: “If you continue in My word, then you are My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 31-32).
Further He stated:
Why do you not understand My speech? Because you cannot hear My word (John 8:43).
To be continued in CETF 37 (September 2006) Less Word, More Worship — The Ancient and the Mystical and MUCH MORE from the author’s research into the Emerging Church.
Footnotes:
1 Warren Smith, Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church, Mountain Stream Press, Magalia, CA, pages 23, 24
*2 Also known as “the Emergent Church”
*3 Dan Kimball, The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for the New Generation, Zondervan, 2003, page 7.
*4 Ibid
5 Dan Kimball, page 6.
6 Ibid pages 7-8.
7 Ibid pages 13-14.
8 Ibid page 127
9 Ibid page 133
10 Ibid page 143.
11 Ibid page 155.
12 Ibid page 171.
13 Ibid page 185
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Appeared in Issue 36 CETF 12.2 NR June 2006
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3
© Copyright 2006 Christian Witness Ministries, except where noted. All rights reserved
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-Last revised-
Monday, October 09, 2006
