I’ve been re-reading a book I read a couple of years ago called Making Sense of Church: Eavesdropping on Emerging Conversations about God, Community, and Culture
Making Sense of Church is one of the best I have read on the whole emerging church movement, and the reason it works is because it doesn’t have a whole lot of theory but consists of many, many stories and journeys that help us identify and discover our own journeys and stories as we attempt to make sense of church. Burke tries to provide some brand new metaphors for what it means to be church in this postmodern age.
Some quotes and extracts that got me thinking and reflecting:
Metaphor #2: Teacher to Facilitator
“Somehow, over the centuries, knowledge has become king. We’ve effectively said that knowing about God will ultimately help us know God. As a result, we often focused more on the Word, then on the Word become flesh. And yet as A.W. Tozer pointed out, God cannot be contained in any object or that object will become out god. Cold it be that we’ve created an idol and have actually begun to worship Christian education or the Bible?Churches today have been expressly designed for passing on knowledge. Objects that appeal to the senses have been removed, Ironically, this switch to a “user-friendly” environment is problematic for many postmodern people—the very people churches say they want to reach. While there is something to be said for comfortable chairs and trouble free parking, slick worship services seem exactly that—slick. It’s Amway with a thin spiritual veneer.
Thom S. Rainer, dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, told The Washington Times that the main reason people leave church is it’s too similar to their everyday lives. Could it be the seeker-sensitive movement has actually backfired?” – Page 53-54
Metaphor #1: Tour Guide to Traveller
“For centuries, the tour guide metaphor has dominated our religious experience. We’ve defined evangelism and spiritual leadership in terms of a hierarchical relationship: one person finds the way and tells someone else how to get there. By controls, the church of the future-the emerging church-would seem to embrace a more collaborative leadership model. The metaphor is that of a traveler-someone who is “one the way,” journeying with us. They still may have more experience and expertise than we do, but they don’t need the security of their position/title. They can lead a group without having to know absolutely everything about the final destination.Metaphor #6: Retailer to WholesalerHow many leaders in the Bible would actually live up to our contemporary expectations for leaders?” – Page 37
“Target markets, strategic plans, statistical research-they’re all part of what it means to do church in the modern world. How can we reach certain segments of the population? How can we be “relevant” to our culture? How can we get brand recognition in a crowded spiritual marketplace? The answer is almost always a cool new program or some kind of image overhaul. In many ways, we function like retailers-branding our goods, fending off the competition, and always trying to increase sales. We’re photographers desperately trying to take the pictures we know people will buy. ......we start thinking that Jesus needs to be dressed up a little-maybe surfer shorts and a pair of Oakley sunglasses. The truth is that we need to strip that stuff off him and get back to the basics of our faith.
When we have a wholesaler mindset, we’re more inclined to trust that the story of Jesus Christ is powerful enough on its own. We tend to focus, not on how we can make ourselves look relevant, but how we can be relevant-through authentic life change. We live out the gospel in front of people and then let go, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide them into truth. As wholesalers, we share, “the raw materials,” and then give people the freedom to embrace them in their own way.” –
Page 109 – 119
For me it is so refreshing to read a book like this when churches everywhere seem to be jumping from one church growth fad to another – from The Purpose Driven Church to Alpha to the Willow Creek model. The book raises some interesting and challenging questions about what it means to be church.