** I have significantly expanded and revised this post into an article, located at Next Wave.

Brian McLaren is celebrated by many as a hero of postevangelical theology and ministry. Others lament his writings and practice, branding him a heretic. I believe that McLaren is exemplary for a number of reasons (pastoral, dialogical, sincere, compassionate, creative); however, his theological method is disturbing. Central to his hermeneutic is a suspiscion of the reliability of Scripture.

In The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives McLaren summarizes his theological method called the “Four Ideas”.[1] These Ideas are: 1) The Gospel as a story, 2) the Gospel as many versioned, many faceted, many layered, and Christ centered, 3) the Gospel as cumulative 4) The Gospel as performative and catalytic.

McLaren stresses his experience of “depropositionlization” in order to appreciate and understand the essentially narrative nature of the gospel, which in turn, became his Idea 1. Ironically, Idea 2 comes in the form of a proposition asserting that the Gospel is “many versioned”, meaning that the gospel story was recorded and is told in a variety of ways, e.g. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John or American, Asian, or African.

While affirming the rich diversity of the gospel’s expression throughout time and across cultures, McLaren does not pose self-contradictory theologies but instead asserts that all of these versions must converge upon the person of Christ, if they are to be considered the gospel. In an effort to heed the epistemological warnings of postmodernism, McLaren states that he can not know that the records of Jesus are accurate with “absolute, undoubtable, unquestionable certainty.”[2]

In Idea 3 McLaren underscores the cumulative nature of the gospel story, pointing out that the story began before the incarnation and that it continues well after the resurrection. He supports this claim by linking Luke’s two part history in the New Testament, where in his gospel he recorded, “all that Jesus began to do and teach” with the Acts of the Apostles as a Spirit-enabled continuation of the ongoing acts of Jesus Christ in his apostles. The fourth and final Idea celebrates the Transformative power of the gospel story, that it is action in time and space. As a result, the community of faith welcomes new people into its faith from various cultures and backgrounds, making the story richer and different. In fact, McLaren even says that it changes the gospel message. This claim indicates that he is not only proposing an alternative methodology but also a redefinition of the message.

McLaren’s uncertainty regarding the records of Jesus and his openness to culture changing the gospel are reasons for concern. Greater clarity on what exactly these statements mean would be helpful. Feel free to enlighten.

[1] See Leonard Sweet, ed. The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003), 198-206

[2] Ibid., 201

The Burnside Writer’s Collective is “an online magazine presenting an alternative to franchise faith.” A Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) creation, BWC offers articles on “issues relating to social justice, novels relating to humanity, music expressing reality and books strengthening our understanding of God’s heart for the world, for equality and whole morality.”

Today they published my article “Pulp Fiction Faith or Universal Faith?” You may comment/interact with the article there. Comments are welcome!

Read an alternate, more robust ending to the article here.

My earlier critique of Alan Hirsch’s book, The Forgotten Ways, was incomplete and imbalanced. Though there is too much self-coined jargon to wade through, making it a frustrating read, after the first half of the book there are some real gems. So while my earlier praise and critique stand, Hirsch is due more praise, especially from a church planter’s perspective.

The chapter on “Organic Systems” is very helpful. He nicely sets traditional churches in contrast to organic churches:

Planting a new church, or remissionalizing an existing one, in this approach isn’t primarily about buildings, worship services, size of congregations, and pastoral care, but rather about gearing the whole community around natural discipling friendships, worship as lifestyle, and mission in the context of everyday life. (p. 185)

 

Hirsch then proceeds to lay a theological foundation for why Organic, which is primarily rooted in allusions to the biblical doctrine of creation, especially as it pertains to the church. Noting organic metaphors such as living temples, vines, bodies, seeds, trees, etc. he argues that this imagery is not haphazard but latent with are intrinsically related to the essence of the church (180). Next, he rightly tethers this creation imagery to the triune Creator noting that “an organic image of church and mission is theologically richer by far than any mechanistic and institutional conceptions of church we might devise” (181).

After laying this foundation for Organic church, Hirsch develops insights based on his research and reflection on the nature and function of organic systems. I will briefly list them here: 1) Innate intelligence: trust the organic nature of the church 2) Life is interconnected: follow this impulse in community 3) Information brings change: free and guided information flow is vital to growth. 4) Adaptive change: constantly adapt and react to your environment.

In turn, he advocates building relational networks that have “viruslike growth.” More to come…

Planting a new church, or remissionalizing an existing one, in this approach isn’t primarily about buildings, worship services, size of congregations, and pastoral care, but rather about gearing the whole community around natural discipling friendships, worship as lifestyle, and mission in the context of everyday life.

Click here for an expanded critique of Alan Hirsch’s Forgotten Ways.

My church planting coach, Mark Moore, recently recommended the following books (w/disclaimer that he doesnt agree with everything in them). I’ve read a couple and now have more to read! I’ve linked a couple to personal blog reflections/reviews.

The Shaping of Things to Come (Frost, Hirsch)

The Forgotten Ways (Hirsch)

Radical Renewal (Snyder)

Houses that Change the World (Simson)

Organic Church (Cole)

If you haven’t heard of unChristian: what a new generation that thinks about Christianity…and why it matters you’ll want to pick up a copy. This is the kind of book that missional people read. Of course, the best approach to finding out what a “new generation thinks about Christianity” is to ask them yourself. Nothing beats a concerned Christian asking nonChristians what they think about Christianity. In fact, local answers are arguably more important that national answers.

Nevertheless, check out the video, the site and snap up the book. Then, drop by and tell me what you think.

[youtube=[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m3Q2lDMRm0]

After offering a couple of informational posts, I have put out some personal reflections on this important lecture by Mark Driscoll.