The church does most for the world when it is least like the world, whereas the church that tries very hard to be “relevant” to the world spells doom for itself and for the world.
-Simon Chan, Liturgical Theology
This is the introduction post to a series about the changing way worship is envisioned as occurring the church today.
There is today a growing movement to make the church in practice different from the world. This is counter to the past several generations. During that time the church was brought as close to the world as it could be in practice. A concerted effort was made to make the church as accessible and relevant to the world in hopes the such an effort would bring the world into the church. This effort had mixed results. In some churches large numerical increases in members occurred. In other churches members who did not like the changes left. Overall however the church in North America has been on the steady decline, and this attempt to shape the practices of the church to the world has not stopped this decline.
Partially in response to the kind of shallow spirituality the past several generations is perceived as producing, partially in disgust to the pragmatic philosophy the underlined the movement, and partially in an attempt to rediscover what it means to be the church, a movement is afoot to undo what the last several generations did by attempting to change church practice so it will more closely resemble older practices in church history. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the recent decision by the Pope to make it easier for the Latin Mass to be used. Only a generation ago was the Latin Mass replaced with one that was thought to have more appeal. It is not clear how many churches will return to the old mass, but the decision by the Pope to allow it shows the growing belief that the recent changes in the church may not have been for the best.
Similar things are occurring in the Protestant world. The guitar music and almost concert like worship sets are increasingly coming into question. This is seen particularly well in writers from the Emerging Church. One of the main characteristics that define the Emerging Church fort Gibbs and Bolger in their excellent book Emerging Churches is “Merging ancient and contemporary spiritualities”. This includes re-introducing such practices as a liturgy, recited prayers, and the Lectio divina.
Many modern protestant churches view the Emerging Church as a threat becasue of this ancient spirituality that it is attempting to bring into the church. To many in the modern church it smells of Roman Catholicism and is not evangelical. On another level perhaps it is simply not what they are use to, and they want to hold on to their own traditions, while the Emerging Church wants to embrace an older tradition. In any event, the worship wars that existed over the type of music sung in church that died down over the past decade seem to once again be heating up over the practice of worship in church as a whole.
It would seem that a lot of people have begun to sit up and take notice that what the church has been doing for the past couple generations hasn’t worked. They have therefore decided to attempt to return to what the church has done in the past. In the next post in this series we will examine this movement a bit more by looking at some specific critiques of what the modern church has done.
“Many modern protestant churches view the Emerging Church as a threat becasue of this ancient spirituality that it is attempting to bring into the church. To many in the modern church it smells of Roman Catholicism and is not evangelical. On another level perhaps it is simply not what they are use to, and they want to hold on to their own traditions, while the Emerging Church wants to embrace an older tradition. In any event, the worship wars that existed over the type of music sung in church that died down over the past decade seem to once again be heating up over the practice of worship in church as a whole.”
To my understanding, much of the “threat” of the Emerging Church as perceived by Protestant churches lies not in the worship style (a matter of mostly personal opinion or taste) but in the Emerging theology and adherence to truth (or lack thereof). For example, in his “Becoming Conversant” book, D.A. Carson mostly ignores the differences in worship styles and primarily tackles the tendency toward postmodern relativism and theological weakness apparent in the writings of many Emerging authors, namely McLaren and Chalke.
If it were merely a difference in worship styles, I doubt many, if any, Protestants would have a problem with the Emerging Church. Likewise, Protestants’ problem with Roman Catholicism doesn’t hinge so much on their worship and liturgical differences as on some of the deeply flawed theological beliefs held by the Catholic church.
It depends on which critics of the Emerging Church your listening to. There are some who want to deal primarily with the question of truth and post-modernism, I’m guessing Carson would be in that camp.
But take a look at sites like:
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2007/02/rob_bell_in_a_n_1.html
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2007/06/tony_jones_and_2.html
http://understandthetimes.org/commentary/c46.shtml
Here it is not the theology that is first called into question, but the practice. Remember however that theology and practice are are inseparable, If you take issue with one’s theology, you’ll likely take issue with how they live out that theology. Likewise, if you don’t approve of how a person is practicing something, you’ll often find the root of that disagreement in a theological difference.
I for one was sorry to see the Pope’s move to encourage Roman Catholics to use the Latin mass. I suppose the rationale of congregations who turn that way may be similar to what Protestants are thinking–things were better back in the good old days. But what good is scripture (or the liturgy) if no one can even understand it? I know there still exists a living priest or two who can actually speak Latin, but not many.
People do not need the church to become more worldly. We already know the world (and attached to it), we do not need the church to teach us about it. What we need is for the church to reach out to the heavens, away from the world, so that people may follow.
There is one basic thing that young people need to know: “Nothing material can satisfy the human heart, nothing material can satisfy the human soul.” So don’t experiment with what the world has to offer, the past generation already did that, and were sorry. Just go straight to God and nourish your soul.