KEN DILLMAN’S BLOG

11/17/2008

I had coffee today with a friend who wanted to know of my experience with the Emergent Movement. Specifically, he wanted to know why I was once in it, but have since moved out of it. Here’s my best shot at attempting to describe for him how I ended up where I am…

 

Let me categorically say that there are really, really good people in the Emergent Movement. In fact, I think they are some of the brightest, brilliant, most articulate people I’ve encountered. There are also others who move in and out of the Emergent Movement world that are amazing people; N.T. Wright, Dallas Willard, Jim Henderson, Phillip Yancey and many more.

 

My first exposure to the Emergent Movement came in 2003 when I read Dan Kimball’s book The Emerging Church. I was leading a twentysomething ministry at a Purpose Driven/Seeker Sensitive Church and was interested in unique expressions of the Church. A friend of mine and I attended the Emergent Conference in 2005 in Nashville. It was nearly a week-long affair with some of the biggest names in the Emergent Movement speaking.

 

During the conference I attended sessions with Brian McLaren, Brian Walsh, Doug Pagitt, Spencer Burke and others. Just prior to going to the Conference I was reading everything that Brian McLaren wrote. The Conference was exciting, stimulating and different from other Christian Conferences I’d had attended in the past.

 

Much of what was said during the Conference resonated with me. The speakers spoke of a “conversation” that was ongoing regarding the Church. Brian McLaren spoke eloquently on the evils of colonialism. All in all, what I discovered was that the Emergent Movement was very, very good at identifying much of what was wrong with the Western Church.

 

There is no denying that the Western Church was culpable in colonialism, slavery, bigotry, racism, injustice, hypocrisy, and even thinking that conservative politics is next to godliness (lets not think that liberal politics is any different).

 

As part of the Conference there was an exposure to new types of worship in new places. There was a reverting back to higher, more liturgical worship with an emphasis on sacred places, candles, lighting, elements, Stations of the Cross, prayer labyrinths and communion. I remember going to a late-night worship time in which a DVD was played of a new kind of “church” in the UK which was being held in a pub (I liked that idea) and showed various videos related to Christ’s crucifixion. The idea was that there could be all kinds of new and freeing expressions of what the Church is (I liked that idea too.)

 

There were times during the Conference where I seethed with anger over some of the things the Church had historically bought into; things that promoted exclusion, privilege, hypocrisy, racism and our country involving itself in, and even usurping the role of governments in other countries in order to get at their resources.

 

For about a year and a half after the Emergent Conference of 2005 I continued to read many of the books of those who considered themselves Emergent, including; Mike Yaconelli, Tony Campolo, Brian McLaren, Dallas Willard, N.T. Wright, Brian Walsh, Doug Pagitt and others.

 

About a year prior to the Emergent Conference of 2005 I had become involved in Passion events. Passion was founded by and is led by Louie Giglio. During Passion events I noticed an amazing outpouring of the Spirit of God. There was incredible transformation going on in the lives of twentysomethings and young adults who were involved in these events, and every time I attended one God did something amazing in me.

 

Over a period of months I began to notice something about the Emergent Movement that was totally different than what was going on at Passion events. First, I don’t recall there being a thick presence of God at the Emergent Conference, and worship was relegated to something akin to a necessary and expected practice (something we were supposed to do because everybody kind of expected it to be done). While at the same time during Passion events the presence of God was so thick you could almost taste it. Worship was something that one couldn’t help but engaging in because EVERYTHING being done at Passion was focused upward, and on the GLORY OF GOD.

 

The glory of God was the preeminent purpose for gathering at Passion. The preeminent purpose for gathering at the Emergent Conference seemed to be to identify the failures of the Church (historically) and raise some hell about it. There is no doubt in my mind that those in the Emergent Movement could identify the Church’s failures, but, I soon came to understand that their solution to the historical problems of the Church (things like racism, colonialism, injustice) was a thoroughly manmade solution.

 

The line of thinking was that if we (Emergent) could get people to think differently about the historical failures of the Church, we could re-educate them so that they will act differently. A big part of that acting differently was to revert back to some historically high practices of the Church, and get people to focus on behavior that would look more Christ-like; practices like meditation (which I think is a good spiritual discipline), ancient expression of communion, reciting the Creeds and stuff like that. And, at the same time confess our sins (and failures), become more inclusive and tolerant of divergent views of worship, expression and practice of Church (The Catholic Church does some good stuff), and in some way attempt to make restitution for what had been done to people (i.e. with slavery and colonialism).

 

The reality is that NO manmade solution will EVER solve the failures and sins of the Church. The failures and the sins of the Church existed (and exists) because they are all man doing his own thing. In fact, Emergent makes a huge mistake when they speak of the Church in broad, far reaching terms. Let’s face it; the historical problems of the Church that Emergent defines cannot be viewed in terms of the entire Church of Jesus Christ being involved in perpetrating evil. There were individuals, and local expressions, perhaps even national expressions of the Church that were involved in evil, but not every Christian in every local or national expression was involved in it. That would be like saying that all Muslims are extremists, or that all Hindus are responsible for what’s happening in Orissa right now. Historically it was individuals who identified themselves as part of the Church who were to blame, not the entire Church.

 

A classic example of this would be that at the same time that slavery and racism was being practiced in the United States, and some of it by people who considered themselves Christian (even pastor types and politicians) the first 120 colleges and universities in the United State were being founded by Christians to train Christians for missionary and Christian service to those around the planet; and lots of those people went out in the name of Jesus to do much good, and to alleviate pain, suffering and evil in the world.

 

I saw that Passion had the real solution to the failures and sins of the Church; and that is THE GLORY OF GOD! If we, as individuals, who make up the Church, will focus on living our lives for the glory of God, and, if we pursue holiness to the point that the supremacy of Christ rules our lives, then EVERYTHING will flow out of that.

 

All good works, all justice, and all worship happen because Jesus is supreme in the human heart—worship becomes our response to the greatness and glory of God, not because somebody has pointed out the Church’s failures and sins, and want to attempt to change human behavior and make people act and do right. In fact, one could extrapolate that out and conclude that the United States could legislate good moral behavior, while eradicating things like racism, bigotry and injustice, without God ever being involved in the process.

 

Feeding the hungry, providing clothing for poor people, visiting those in prison, caring for kids with AIDS, not being racist, not being bigoted; all of that is the overflow and outworking of the Spirit of God living and reigning inside us.

 

Did individuals with the Church, in some cases, help propagate injustice and sin, yes! (They still do today) Were individuals in the Church culpable in racism and slavery, in some cases, yes! (They still are today) Did some Christians involve themselves in the Inquisition and Salem Witch Hunts, yes! (They do similar things today) But it was not ALL Christians, and one cannot lay the blame for some of the evil that some Christians did on all of Christianity and the Church; but this is what Emergent seems to want to do. Did those Christians who participated in those evils have Jesus’ approval in doing them, no! At the same time that some Christians were trafficking in slavery, you had other Christians like Wilberforce who were instrumental in bringing it to an end.

 

I noticed some other things that Emergent was promoting that did not align with Historical Christianity. Gatherings were being promoted that invited individuals of other faiths (i.e a Shaman), specifically non-Christian faith, to share their expression of whatever they worshipped in a Christian gathering. The Apostle Paul understood the ramifications of this when he wrote 2 Corinthians 6:14-15:1 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” Belial was the Demon of Lies. Both Jesus Christ (Christianity) and Belial (non-Christianity) cannot be right nor compatible. Yet, some within the Emergent Movement believe that we as Christians can learn from and adopt non-Christian practices to our benefit. Thus they deviate away from two thousand years of historical Christianity.

 

If that were the case I don’t think Jesus would have taught what he did in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

 

What I take from what Jesus said is this…if I see lots of people going down a particular road (like the Emergent Movement); it’s probably NOT the road I need to be on. I’m convinced now, more than ever, that when Jesus said the road to life is narrow, he meant it, and he meant that it was probably a whole lot more narrow than any of us want to believe—too narrow for Muslims, Buddhist, Hindus and Christians to all be on at the same time. Gandhi once said…“I believe in the fundamental Truth of all great religions of the world. I believe they are all God given and I believe they were necessary for the people to whom these religions were revealed. And I believe that if only we could all of us read the scriptures of the different faiths from the standpoint of the followers of these faiths, we should find that they were at the bottom all one and were all helpful to one another.” This is similar to much of what I heard within the Emergent Movement.

 

Emergent’s focus on inclusion and tolerance sounds very attractive and appealing; it sounds very Jesus like; didn’t Jesus welcome all people to himself? Many of those in the Emergent Movement are tolerant, inclusive, affirming (promoting) and welcoming of all religious practices and variant lifestyles. Jesus had a lot to say about all of that. When Jesus welcomed people to himself, lets just use the woman caught in adultery as an example, he offered her himself (God) and something far better than what she was currently involved in. And, we come to understand that she WAS involved in prostitution because Jesus told her to go and leave her life of sin. So Jesus was quite narrow minded and quite intolerant of many things.

 

While journeying into the Emergent Movement I got a very strong sense that sin wasn’t a big issue to people, unless it manifested itself in the form of racism, bigotry, nationalism and narrow mindedness. Sitting in several of the sessions in Nashville I heard the facilitators talk about struggles they had with sin, and it came across as rather flippant, as though one couldn’t help oneself for using profanity when one taught (and preached: I met a guy who referred to himself as the “cussing pastor” while in Nashville) or that everybody struggles with the flesh with things like lust, getting high, and getting drunk, or that smoking is just something I do (which is destroying the temple of God).

 

 

I know all that sounds very intolerant, very narrow minded and very exclusive, but lets face it, Christianity and every other religion or cult in the world is exclusive in its beliefs. Hindus believe their way is the only and right way, Muslims and Buddhist believe the same, as do Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons; Jim Jones believed it, and David Koresh believed it. I think I want to believe Jesus when he said in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” I know this to be true with Passion; I know that THAT is Louie Giglio’s heart.

 

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said in Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” That’s pretty exclusive. Making life, ministry, and service about something other than the glory of God is nothing short of idol worship; it just so happens that the idol we worship is ourselves—man doing it all, man having confidence in changing man. Jesus said “I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.” A full life is one that is filled with God and consumed by his glory; that’s what I am now pursuing.

 

I’ve learned some great things from Brian McLaren and those within the Emergent Movement. I believe they have a lot to offer Christianity. I’ve learned some great things from those who move in and out of the Emergent Movement, people like Dallas Willard and Donald Miller; who I still read and recommend. But, I’ve learned the greatest things from Jesus Christ.

 

I want to live in such a way that Jesus is supreme in my life and God is glorified in my life. As John Piper is fond of saying “God is most gloried in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

 

The Church will always have some people in it who are doing sinful things that Jesus would never approve of. When we as Christians begin to get to the point that we are finding our satisfaction in Christ alone, our propensity for sin and things like racism, bigotry, hypocrisy, nationalism, colonialism and the like will fade and hopefully disappear. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

 

If the Emergent Movement ever arrives at understanding it’s all about the supremacy of Christ in the human heart, and that becomes their driving force, it will become a movement that can’t be stopped. Until that time, it will continue to be a movement focused merely on human effort.