Today I am going to hand my blog over to an incredibly godly and insightful man of God (Geoff Surratt from Seacoast Church) who stood up to say what many are afraid too. It needs to be said and I for one will help spread the message.
So, without further adieu, here is part one of four,
5, no 4 Scary Trends that Shipwreck the Church
(since this is very long, I will be leaking out several parts today. It’s a five part blog series and we won’t do all of it–but most–stick with it–It’s worth it! Also, I will interject part two of my 2 part series, “ABumRap.”)
I am excited about the future of the church. Every week I meet sharp young leaders who are passionately pouring themselves into seeing the Kingdom on earth expressed through the local church. At the same time when I read articles about the fastest growing segment of society being those who don’t give God or church a second thought I realize that we have to sharpen our game considerably if we want to see the local church prevail in America. To paraphrase Paul we need to discipline ourselves mercilessly lest after having preached to record crowds on Christmas Eve we lose our communities to apathy.
To start the conversation I have identified five trends that I see in the American church that, if unchecked, will shipwreck us. These trends are not pointed at any particular church; these are simply my observations and opinions based on 30 years in the trenches. I am feeling a little Old Testament minor prophetish, so I apologize in advance if there is a negative tone, my only goal is the expansion of the Kingdom and to see the church prevail.
Reformed Revolution
I never thought that theology could be trendy, but now if you are young and cool you are Reformed. Since I am neither young nor cool I may miss this wave. My problem with the Reformeds, however, is not theology (I’m too much of a light-weight to argue there), but with attitude. I’ll call it PLA (Pharisee-ic Legalistic Arrogance)
First is the arrogance I see among some young Reformed protégées. Last Thanksgiving I shared dinner with a young man invited by another family member. When he discovered I might have a non-Piper bent he decided somewhere between the stuffing and the cranberry sauce this would be the perfect setting to argue the finer points of Calvinism. Instead of expressing gratitude for grace and provision we spent the latter part of the meal sparring over limited versus unlimited atonement. I am sure he walked away feeling vindicated; I just wanted more apple pie. I have run into this combative theological mindset among many in the TULIP field. This type of theological gunfighting does not draw people to Christ nor does it promote unity in the body. There are some things we need to agree to disagree about and get on about the business of pointing people to eternal Kingdom citizenship.
The second challenge in the Reformed Revolution is a leaning toward legalism. There seem to be certain theological litmus tests that have to be passed before you can be accepted in fellowship in some Reform circles. I have stumbled into one of these tests on more than one occasion when my egalitarian slip begins to show. The relational temperature int he room drops suddenly as I explain that my family first came to know Christ when my grandmother responded to a salvation appeal from a lady evangelist traveling through Oklahoma in the 1940s. Eventually my grandfather became a Christ-follower and then a pastor. All of his children and grandchildren became pastors. Thousands of lives around the world have been impacted by the sermon of that faithful Pentecostal preacher who happened to wear a skirt. Can we at least have a conversation about the role of women in the church? Or should I be shunned? Shunned I say, shunned.
Pharisee-ic Legalistic Arrogance is not the sole property of the Reformeds; every tribe has its ego. But the current popularity of this stream among young evangelicals brings PLA into bright focus. If not checked it will slow down or even strangle our joint mission to see our communities turn back to God. Let’s stack hands on the essentials, agree to disagree on the non-essentials and focus on the work at hand.