SEAGOON
Puritan Board Freshman
Hi Guys,
Just received the news about MNA's upcoming North America Church Planting Conference and my reactions to the line-up and talking points varied from disappointed to downright horrified. Not surprisingly, there was nothing about planting anything resembling an OSP church (which is always generally the case) and no one featured with any experience doing so (officially, we don't appear to exist) but also surprisingly nothing about planting what might be called a "traditional ministry." Everything was oriented towards developing either contemporary or - and here was the horrifying one for me - emerging churches.
Before, when we talked about the conference at CTS on the emerging church, it was billed as merely a conversation and nothing to get riled over, now we have MNA teaching "Theologically sound and culturally relevant approaches to planting emerging churches" which after watching the emerging/emergent movement for several years is roughly the 21st century equivalent of a 17th century Presbyterians talking about "Theologically sound and culturally relevant approaches to planting Quaker assemblies"
Here's the blurb:
"Emerging Ministries: Church Planting in the Emerging Culture led by Ed Stetzer, Daniel Montgomery, and Shayne Wheeler
New churches have always been planted on the edge of culture. As culture has changed, so must our missional approaches to church planting. This forum will help you better understand the emerging culture so that you might be more effective in your ministry. Theologically sound and culturally relevant approaches to planting emerging churches will be explored. You will learn ten trends of emerging churches and how they have been effective at reaching people in new churches.
Ed Stetzer has trained pastors and church planters on five continents and he has planted churches in New York and Pennsylvania. He holds two masters degrees and two doctorates. Ed served for three years as a seminary professor at the Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and has taught at ten other seminaries. He has written, Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, and coauthored Perimeters of Light: Biblical Boundaries for the Emerging Church, which helps churches to determine what parts of church life are biblically commanded. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Donna, and three daughters, and they are currently planting Lake Ridge Church in Atlanta."
Even better, Shane Wheeler has been a supporter not just of "emerging theology" but of the NPP/FV.
There were other disturbing comments, for instance: "The Gospel compels us to rip our hearts open and make room for very different people in our lives, just as God in Christ has done for us." Where do you even begin with that one...
Anyway, so despite a host of published warnings from our senior theologians, the official position in the PCA is "thumbs up for the emerging church movement?"
Is there any way to reign this in, or have things gone too far and we just wait around for "emerging theology" to work its way through our Presbyteries in the same way the New Haven theology did in the 19th century? I wish there was just some way to stop the denomination from tearing-off after every new wind and wave of doctrine that sweeps over the floundering and rudderless ship that is American evangelicalism.
Your Servant in Christ,
Andy
Just received the news about MNA's upcoming North America Church Planting Conference and my reactions to the line-up and talking points varied from disappointed to downright horrified. Not surprisingly, there was nothing about planting anything resembling an OSP church (which is always generally the case) and no one featured with any experience doing so (officially, we don't appear to exist) but also surprisingly nothing about planting what might be called a "traditional ministry." Everything was oriented towards developing either contemporary or - and here was the horrifying one for me - emerging churches.
Before, when we talked about the conference at CTS on the emerging church, it was billed as merely a conversation and nothing to get riled over, now we have MNA teaching "Theologically sound and culturally relevant approaches to planting emerging churches" which after watching the emerging/emergent movement for several years is roughly the 21st century equivalent of a 17th century Presbyterians talking about "Theologically sound and culturally relevant approaches to planting Quaker assemblies"
Here's the blurb:
"Emerging Ministries: Church Planting in the Emerging Culture led by Ed Stetzer, Daniel Montgomery, and Shayne Wheeler
New churches have always been planted on the edge of culture. As culture has changed, so must our missional approaches to church planting. This forum will help you better understand the emerging culture so that you might be more effective in your ministry. Theologically sound and culturally relevant approaches to planting emerging churches will be explored. You will learn ten trends of emerging churches and how they have been effective at reaching people in new churches.
Ed Stetzer has trained pastors and church planters on five continents and he has planted churches in New York and Pennsylvania. He holds two masters degrees and two doctorates. Ed served for three years as a seminary professor at the Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and has taught at ten other seminaries. He has written, Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, and coauthored Perimeters of Light: Biblical Boundaries for the Emerging Church, which helps churches to determine what parts of church life are biblically commanded. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Donna, and three daughters, and they are currently planting Lake Ridge Church in Atlanta."
Even better, Shane Wheeler has been a supporter not just of "emerging theology" but of the NPP/FV.
There were other disturbing comments, for instance: "The Gospel compels us to rip our hearts open and make room for very different people in our lives, just as God in Christ has done for us." Where do you even begin with that one...
Anyway, so despite a host of published warnings from our senior theologians, the official position in the PCA is "thumbs up for the emerging church movement?"
Is there any way to reign this in, or have things gone too far and we just wait around for "emerging theology" to work its way through our Presbyteries in the same way the New Haven theology did in the 19th century? I wish there was just some way to stop the denomination from tearing-off after every new wind and wave of doctrine that sweeps over the floundering and rudderless ship that is American evangelicalism.
Your Servant in Christ,
Andy