Phil Johnson
The Worst of Times in Evangelicalism echoes the thoughts of David Gibson's
Assumed Evangelicalism. How do we get out of this mess? Break away from being
"Fad-Driven® Churches" and become those
"where Christ is honored and His Word obeyed". Ian Stackhouse's
The Gospel Driven Church made a similar call, to charismatics, to abandon faddism and get back to preaching the gospel. Is anyone listening?
I much prefer David Gibson's article. Maybe it is because I am English. Phil Johnson's post, while I agree with every sentence, tends to reinforce an impression of a totally corrupt church [mainly in America - Europe has other problems], with a small band of people who have it all right. I do not think this impression should be reinforced.
ReplyDeleteI am constantly surprised by how Jesus and Paul can be both terribly critical (of things which it is my instinct to sympathise with, e.g. lack of faith in a storm) but also be really encouraging to a church in Christ that I would probably class as heretical and far from the faith. And here is the thing. My mind is clearly in need of being renewed more, as I clearly do not yet see people quite like Christ sees them.
Another problem with Phil Johnson's post, is that it seems to see all the problems with 'evangelicalism' as being somewhere else. Maybe I am being unfair, and maybe it is because it is so concerned with America, which to me is 'somewhere else'. David Gibson's article though challenges me as much as it makes me rethink the standing of other people. Phil Johnson ends his post asking whether we need a 'new generation of Reformers'. I have to answer with a 'yes' but the church is structually a million miles away from the 16th Century. There is not one Church for the whole of Western Europe, or even for each country. Many of the 'problem people' that Phil Johnson identifies operate in independent churches with little accountability structure (although even denominations have trouble with that now). This means that 21st Century reformers will not be able to work from the top down as the 16th Century ones did (although the grassroots were important too), reformation will only occur church by church, and partly individual by individual. This means that the lessons of David Gibson are even more important as we seek to put the gospel central, in our own churches, and not just gawp at crazy American Christian-celebrities (searching for the right word there).
This is already a ridiculously long comment so I will stop there. I hope I have not been unfair to the pyromaniac. He does say that only his beagle, Wrigley, agrees with him all the time.
PS I know I made a horribly generalised portrait of the reformers situation, but I believe my point still stands.
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteI think people get over victorious (rick warren) and over defeatist about the state of the church (emergent? johnson type reformers).
Its always going to be a mixed bag. I don't think the church is anywhere near as bad as emergent or johnson suggest... at least not over hear. There is life in the church and its great. There is also massive room to improve in many places.
I was at an independent baptist recent which would be viewed by many as a dead old church... it was traditional in style - but the focus was Jesus and the work of the Spirit in our lives. Style is not everything!
David thankfully draws a helpful distinction. Whilst many are suggesting that vast sections of the church are gospel-deniers (and maybe some are).... the bigger problem is Gospel Assumption... and that is a widespread phenomena, from which recovery is possible... it has to be. If we don't believe people can change what are we doing? The gospel changes lives!!
The church has to keep reforming - to keep returning to explicit gospel existence.
(Long comments are not a problem!)
Phil Johnson has been critical of the ECM, but he has had some good things to say about people like Marc Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA, USA. You also have to keep in mind that Phil is writing as the "Pyromaniac" and that allows him to push a bit harder than some might otherwise. He is starting fires, and I think they are good fires to be adding fuel to.
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