{"id":1881,"date":"2006-11-14T02:20:09","date_gmt":"2006-11-14T07:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2006\/11\/14\/well-scot-what-about-you\/"},"modified":"2006-11-14T02:20:09","modified_gmt":"2006-11-14T07:20:09","slug":"well-scot-what-about-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/11\/14\/well-scot-what-about-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Well, Scot, what about you?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

About a week ago I posted the clever question<\/a> of a reader\/commenter. In the post I mentioned that Kris said, \u201cWell, about you? We\u2019re emerging and go to Willow!\u201d So, here\u2019s the question I was asked: <\/p>\n

But I have often wondered how you believe what you believe and still attend Willow? I mean Praying with the Church doesn\u2019t seem like a Willow type of thing. And the many emerging ideas you present seem to squarely contradict the mega-church approach \u2013 whether it be Willow or any other mega-church. So, to repeat your wife\u2019s question: \u201cWhat about you?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, here\u2019s my answer:
\nFirst, don\u2019t box me in. We emerging types are embedded in communities and not just creating our own communities. I am embedded at Willow, for a number of reasons, and have no desire to leave for another faith community. Not all emerging types are in house churches or at coffee shops; and folks like me might well think those kinds of churches are a really good thing.
\nSecond, on those four rivers I detail in the WTS paper<\/a>, and they are Postmodernity, Praxis, Postevangelical, and Politics:
\nI\u2019m a critical realist: I think there is an object out there that is objective, and that making knowledge is not simply spinning a story in my head; but I think I\u2019ve got a \u201ccracked Eikon mind\u201d and that means that my \u201cstory\u201d or theology will never be purely objective, it will never be identical to that objective reality out there, and that I need to hold my story in tension with other stories and with ongoing learning.
\nSecond, I think orthopraxy is more important than orthodoxy. Also, I do think orthodoxy is very important. But, I listen too much to the Sermon on the Mount and to the judgment themes of the Bible to think relationship to God is simply what I believe. What I do is most important, and I\u2019ve got plenty to work on. In the same stream, I think worship should be ecumenical \u2014 drawing on all the great traditions. I like some of the funky stuff, and I like the liturgical developments, and I like candles and aesthetics.
\nI think the focus of church work should be small and local; I think if you gather in a big place \u2014 fine \u2014 but the work of God doesn\u2019t take place simply when we are gathered but when we are reaching into the lives of others. So, I think \u201cmissional\u201d is the key for the future. For me, the church is what happens during the week more than what happens on the weekend; I don\u2019t think the singular point of the church is gathering on Sunday for a sermon; I think it all fits together into a community of faith that embodies the gospel and individuals whose lives flow out of that community \u2014 in whatever calling a person has.
\nMy own \u201cmissional world\u201d is teaching, writing books and to people who write me, speaking in churches, etc etc\u2026..
\nThird, I\u2019m postevangelical in many ways: I think the evangelicalism of the 50s-90s is in need of serious reshapings at places (especially in the praxis elements I mention in the paper; I\u2019m basically post Bible study piety and post systematics but not post theology; I\u2019m all for a narrative structure to our theology). This is not to say that I am against evangelicalism or nonevangelical. I\u2019m an evangelical in the postevangelical mode \u2014 that is, in some ways I\u2019m postconservative and sometimes I join ranks with the postliberals (for those who get into terms like that, which seem to be used differently by everyone who uses them \u2014 so I\u2019ll not try to define them).
\nFourth, on politics I strive as much as possible to let my passions be for God and for the Church and for others (the Jesus Creed). I place no confidence in redemption by way of politics. The political hope ebbs and flows every 8 years now; I don\u2019t get all riled up if a Republican or a Democrat wins; I don\u2019t think it matters that much to what we are called to do on a daily basis.
\nPut simply, I\u2019m thoroughly of the belief that the church is a small group rather than a large group, or better yet, I\u2019m anabaptistic (that is, the church is a sect in society rather than the power over society). I try to focus on the kingdom and on Jesus Christ and following him. I think the Church should be the alternative society that far too many hope will come as a result of the next election.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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