A heads up to all you interested in the fusion of the Emerging Church conversation and established Christian fellowships. Tyler Priest, a good friend of mine, has written a great primer to the whole thing here, and is asking for ideas on how to conceive of the Stone-Campbell Movement’s intrigue and experiment into postmodern expressions, and the Emerging Church. Check it out and leave him a comment. If you’re wondering what Emerging Church is, head to Emergent Village to learn more.

Katrina and I are wrapping things up here in Indy. We had an amazing time last Sunday at Southeastern Church inviting them to partner with us in some of our next steps forward in church planting in Chicago. I am continually grateful to be hooked up with them, and look forward to ways in which we can work together to develop an ‘emerging’ expression of God’s Kingdom that is deeply rooted to its ancient faith.

(see my earlier related post here)

I just found out that there will be a sequel to the new book Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna coming out this summer. I’m thrilled. From what I hear, it will focus on some of the topics discussed below. I’d love your feedback!

First off, Pagan Christianity is a bold book that uncovers the Greco-Roman influences of many of the origins of today’s current church practices and beliefs. The first edition of the book (2002) also called for a specific response - return to the original impulses of the early church.

The 2008 edition (as I understand from an interview with Viola here [props to Nick and Josh]) eases off the prescription, and instead asks the question, “Do these Greco-Roman influences hinder today’s church from being the Bride of Christ she truly is?” Another way to ask the question is:

“Must the church look/act exactly as it did when it first began, or does acculturation over the last 2,000 years also refine what it means to be God’s Church in the world?”

Is tradition okay? What impulses in the DNA of the Church are immutable?

Jarislov Pelikan: “Tradition is the living tradition of dead men, traditionalism is the dead religion of living men.”

The religious heritage I grew up in had a goal: ‘To restore the ancient order of the church to its original form.’ I am not naive enough to think that this is a obtainable goal. But like many in the Reformed Movement that helped seed the Restoration Movement,

“Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda: The church; reformed and always reforming.”

If I catch what Viola and Barna are tossing us in their book, it means that the church is an organic reality that has both adaptability and integrity in its structure. We are sinners that don’t truly understand God’s vision of what his people look like, and God throughout time is always revealing more of himself to us as his Church. With humility, we learn that there is a moldable, shapable quality to the church, no matter what the age. And there is also a core DNA that most purely points to God and his purposes in the world.
This is just another reminder that the Church is not the Kingdom. The Church, through the ages points to the Kingdom of God. It shapes and changes, and its influences must continually be discerned. Are we following the Spirit of God, or the spirit of the age?

I believe that Viola and Barna are asserting that there has long been dead traditionalism and pagan spirits leeching off of Christ’s Bride, and the authors are begging God’s people to open their eyes to it. Some of these influences are okay - I don’t want to “go back to the good ole days” of earliest Christianity, nor can we - but we can all agree that Easter has just as many connections with Pan as it does Christ. And that the term “laity” only keeps God’s people paralyzed. And that Church as described by Christ looked more like a family than an 2oth Century American business. And…the list goes on.

The million dollar question for Barna and Viola is this: will people change once they know the truth?

Reading this book was a wake up call for me. While somewhat purist in his pursuit of New Testament Christianity (I feel for the guy, me being a Restorationist and all), its an absolute gem. Piece by piece, Frank Viola uncovers the pagan roots to traditional Christianity - and asks his readers and the Church for an explanation. From choirs, to pulpits to Easter itself - Viola helps uncover the competing religious impulses that pushed the ancient (or not so ancient) church to adopt foreign tenets and practices.

But here’s a worthy question: is Christianity, if it changes gradually, or even fundamentally in content, structure and style over the course of 2,000 years, still to be considered “Christianity”? Is the Christian faith allowed pagan influence? Thoughts?

Bonus: read a sample chapter here.

Double Bonus: Read a continuation of this progressive book review here: Should we Have a Pagan Christianity?

A week and a half before school starts…for the last time. I would be in 20th grade this year if school was still counting, which is unbelievably too long. I’ve known very little about life outside of school, and its time I get to learning. (Funny…leave school to begin learning? One of life’s little ironies I suppose.) The school structures that I’ve been a part of for so long has been good ones. And I’ve enjoyed the overall trajectory that the Lord has sent me on through it all. But its definitely time to finish strong and to FINISH. It all comes down to this year.

My classes this fall are looking good. I’m taking two graduate classes; the first is Theology of Mission with Ed Matthews, and the second is Readings in Christian Spirituality with Jeff Childers. Since I have no clue (i.e. no syllabus emailed to me yet) about Matthews’ class, I’ve gotta rant and rave about my ‘Readings’ class. It’s looking really neat! Here are the 15 books (read, “ZOIKS”) I’ll be reading this semester.

What I’ve loved about my previous class with Childers is that his preference and expertise is on Christian communities not at the hub of Western examination. Christian expansion which coincided with the Western Roman Empire is only a slice of the pie, but that is all we’re ever taught. But what about the Syriac desert fathers of Edessa? What about Byzantium Christianity? Or the Celts? Or the early Anabaptists? Or the lesser known feminine mystics like Julian of Norwich? There is so much more to learn than my own little branches on the tree of God’s great family.

In a similar vein, I’ve been enjoying another Newsboys song (Newsboys? I feel like I’m back in High School again!) called ‘The Mission’: (listen here)

When the runners came from Bethlehem
All breathless with good news
They were passing a baton forward through time
The commission, from God’s lips to our ears
Carried by his saints two thousand years
Connects us all to the same lifeline
As I fix my eyes ahead
I can feel the spirit’s breath…

(AND) I CAN HEAR THE MISSION BELL RINGING OUT LOUD AND CLEAR
IT’S THE REVOLUTION JESUS STARTED, AND IT’S HERE
ECHOING ACROSS THE WORLD FROM THE SHORES OF GALILEE
I CAN HEAR THE MISSION BELL CALL FOR YOU AND ME
I WANNA RUN WITH FIRE
IT’S MY HEART’S DESIRE
LIFTING YOUR LOVE HIGHER

In the history of our faith’s arrivals
Great awakenings, Welsh revivals
Saints and martyrs, summoned by a new birth
Patrick’s save of the Irish nation
William Carey’s expectation
Lambs & lions
Called to the ends of the earth
Gotta put my hand to the plow
Not looking back, not now…

I have a feeling I’ll be exploring lots of uncharted territory this semester, and at the same time, I’ll be finding myself all over the place.

Yesterday we met with a man who has been on a journey to find Christ’s abundant life and has been desperate about getting this life to the poor, and socially oppressed. For decades Gary has been searching for a means of not only bringing someone to a decision to follow Christ, but to a healthy, sane lifestyle that radiates God’s shalom all the while still seeking after that life himself. He knows that’s what the Gospel looks like with skin on. He also knows how hard it is to try to introduce someone to that lifestyle by a simple weekly sermon or 6-week Bible Study.

Our conversations yesterday had nothing to do with where to go to church, or what we should do when we meet together. It focused on a dream that had been lost back in ancient Ireland, where Celtic Christianity found its wings. For the Celts in that area, life was consumed by fear, starvation, barbarian conquest, competition, and early death. People lived lives that didn’t expect rescue because that concept was simply never introduced to them. In was among these crazed people that 8-10 Christ-followers would settle, set up a shelter, community garden, simple farm life, and a general sense of peace. People in a town would soon be given the choice: live this life of madness and trepidation, or be welcomed with warmth, share veggies, and work together as a team for something that matters. The choice was simple: share in life together.

That is what it meant to become a Christian in those days. Not moral truths to be shelved next to contradicting values - it was sharing a life that didn’t happen just one hour on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Yesterday’s conversation came down to two reflections: To bring someone to not only a decision to follow Christ, but to a mature journey in the Lord, it takes at least these two things: (1) A belief in the comprehensive power of the workings of the Holy Spirit to transform lives [this is something those of us from Churches of Christ have a lot to learn] and (2) the kinds of vibrant communities that display a complete lifestyle of love before a disbelieving world.

This isn’t a complete list, but it got us thinking.