Good article by Brian McLaren (via Jordon Cooper)
If Christianity isn’t the quest for (or defense of) the perfect belief system (“the church of the last detail”), then what’s left? In the emerging culture, I believe it will be “Christianity as a way of life,” or “Christianity as a path of spiritual formation.”
The switch suggests a change in the questions people are asking. Instead of “How can I be right in my belief so I can go to heaven?” the new question seems to be, “How can we live life to the full so God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven?”
Instead of “If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain that you would spend eternity with God in heaven?” the new question seems to be, “If you live for another thirty years, what kind of person will you become?”
I’m not certain any postmodern churches exist quite yet. But even in modern churches we can feel a rising tension, a fomenting discontent: why aren’t we making better disciples? Why aren’t people becoming more holy, joyful, peaceful, content, and Christ-like?
Why, in a Christian subculture served by 24-hour Christian radio-TV, bathed in books and periodicals of unparalleled quality and quantity, instructed by a state-of-the-art seminary system, and inspired by a state-of-the-heart worship music industry why are so few of our good Christian people good Christians?
Why is Prozac needed by so many? Why are the most biblically-knowledgeable so often so mean-spirited? Why are our pastors dejected so often? Why do our speakers (both human and electronic) have to blare so loudly to get a response, and even then, why is the response so shallow or temporary?
That discontent may be the ending point for many of us, but it is the starting point for our brothers and sisters of the emerging culture. If Christianity doesn’t bear fruit in a way or rhythm or pattern of life that yields Christ-likeness in real measure, they aren’t interested. Being “saved” is suspect if people aren’t being transformed.
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