Friday, January 13, 2006

Resurgence Missional Theological Cooperative

Finally someone (actually there are many within the Emerging conversation who are like this) who understands the terms "missional, postmodern, contextualization, innovation, and community" yet maintains a bold, firm stance within evangelical theology. After distancing himself with the theological tinkering of Brian McLaren and Tony Jones, check out Mark Driscoll's new blog (lead pastor of Seattle's Mars Hills Church). But then there are the folks who are dug in with their ammo ready to fire at anything that says "postmodern."

Postscript

I have sporadically followed the growth of Mars Hill since its inception in the 1990s. It was during Bible school when I found them online (while doing research for a class "Implications of Computers in Ministry" or something like that). Mars Hill had a unique bent on its views and values - since then we categorize such communities as "postmodern" or "emerging church." I think that it is important to note (as I did in an earlier blog), that Mars Hill is one of the more conservative communities in the "emerging church" bunch. After visiting Vintage Faith, I would say that Dan Kimball is also of a similar theological flavor (Perhaps the result of rich traditions of being in a Bible church which emphasizes evangelical beliefs? Not to say that there are not other rich theological traditions out there as well!). Again, this is yet another reminder to me of my bad American habits - remember the red and blue states? I can hear them now, "you are either for us or you are against us!" As NT Wright so insightfully points out in a presentation regarding "Women in Ministry": "We have to claim the freedom, in Christ and in our various cultures, to name and call issues one by one with wisdom and clarity, without assuming that a decision on one point commits us to a decision on others." Though Driscoll may not agree with McLaren or Jones, he still considers them friends - call that revolutionary!

1 comment:

Ron Henzel said...

As for me and my house, we're impressed! Thanks for the link!