Entries Tagged 'Authentic Faith' ↓

POV part one - oral culture/liturgical church

“The development of the printing press signaled the world’s first step into mass communication, arguably the most profound cultural dividing point in history.”¹ - Rex Miller, The Millennium Matrix

The Gutenberg press set the Bible in movable type around 1454, giving the (illiterate) masses the chance to read the sacred text that only the social elite had access to. Thereby elevating the peasants potential knowledge base to that of popes and kings. Some have said that the invention of the printing press was the start of the downfall of the Church, as now the uneducated would begin to read and decipher this ancient and complicated texts… And while I am grateful to have a Bible of my own, I see the point, as this invention produced a torrent of activity within the Church for the next 500 years (and beyond). Because everyone has access to the Bible, we have become a nation of armchair theologians, Now, any 35 year-old with any sort of personality, can start a church (in a school cafeteria), and base his opinions on his own doctrine… picking and choosing what to glean from his denominational audits throughout his youth.

I’m not saying that mass-printing of the Bible was bad(ie; there was a ton of good), it just has had some long-lasting effects that weren’t foreseen. But back to the topic at hand… Mass-printing and the Reformation.

From Messenger to the Message: The basis of understanding moved from person to person, master to apprentice, to books, lines of type, to print. The world became linear rather than a relational. Wisdom was found in knowledge of the message rather than first hand experience.

From Context to Content: A shift from receiving with the eye instead of the ear, created a vast change in perspective, no longer caring about the context of the messenger, rather the content of the message. The Modern Man. A rational, autonomous, self-made being.

• Understanding through analysis replaces understanding through dialogue
• Individual autonomy replaces community allegiance
• Conceptual understanding of God replaces a relational orientation toward God.
• Reading about the gospel in a book replaces experiencing the gospel through ceremony and ritual
• Ethical principles replace moral choices
• Pedagogy replaces mentoring
• Logical reasoning replaces dialectic exploration

Cultural Impact: Perspective.  Through this shift in communication came with it a shift in artistic interpretation, from the flat, round faces in earlier paintings to the depth and realism of the Renaissance.

Spiritual Impact: The Centerpiece for Reformation Theology was that the written word became the ultimate standard of authority.  Luther may have said it best in the Diet of the Worms in 1521, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason–I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other–my conscience is captive to the Word of God.”² Hence the proliferation of denominations which is ongoing still today.

Educational Impact: Before print - master taught apprentice, apprentice became master, and so on… With printed books came the educational system we know of today, the teacher disseminates information to multiple pupils, guiding them to books that contain more information for their use. One-to-Many teaching replaced One-to-One teaching.

Roots of the Church: From Intimate connection to a place of rational detachment (beginnings of the Reformation). Print makes the message more important than the messanger. Truth, in print cultures, shifts from its relational foundation to principle or propositional truth. The Bible replaces the Church as the source of authority and truth. Sola Scriptura - The Bible usurps the oral message (the good news) of God and Jesus the Christ.

Faith is Belief: Faith shifts from trust in the Word of God (Jesus) to belief in the printed word of God (the Bible).  This approach bred systematic theology, reason, analysis, and rational explanation of doctrine. The print revolution also brought with it a linear progression to Faith (think the Romans Road approach to evangelism):

• We are sinners, and sin is apart of our nature
• We can’t overcome sin on our own to reach God
• God came to earth in the form of a man, born to a virgin
• Jesus lived a sinless life and is able to make a bridge for us to God
• Jesus offered his life as an act of obedience and sacrificial payment for our sin
• He rose as Christ, validating his sinless life and his power over death
• We can experience rebirth and resurrection life by accepting our condition and Christ’s payment.

The Reformed (or Protestant mind) favors an individualistic, analytical, linear approach to relationship with God, which relies strictly on the Biblical text (Bibliology - a certain form of idolatry which is puts the Bible above Jesus and the message of the Gospel).

Worship Service: Orderly, the service is in a consistent and logical order building up into the preaching of the word.  Church service are to inform and reinforce God’s truth.

Worship Style: Hymns

Church Architecture: Functional:  outside and inside.

Next, we will look at how broadcast communication changed culture even further.

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1. Miller, Rex; “The Millennium Matrix“  (2004) Josey-Bass,  San Fransisco; p. 35

2. Ibid, p. 44

Question 1 - What makes church healthy?

Question 2 - Describe any experiences you’ve had at a healthy church?

Question 3 - Is Western Christianity doing its job? If yes, why? If no, what could be done?



I don’t think Western Christianity is doing its job…. I could cite book after book, survey after survey of why the Church is failing. Even in the failure, God continues to use a flawed system to do miraculous things for His Kingdom, but we mustn’t use this excuse to ignore the problem.



Right now we have 3 different era’s alive and contributing to society, the Boomers, Busters and Mosaics… In the next twenty years we are going to see a big drop in Church tithing, as the Boomer are the biggest givers (who have financed most Church growth in the last 50 years). The Buster’s and the Mosaics choose to give their tithes to other sources, namely social and environmental causes. If nothing changes, the Church will lose its funding and therefore lose its ability to present the programs it has built into the “Church Experience” we are witnessing today. Sorry, there is no citations here… but most of this is readily available in George Barna’s book “Revolution;” “The Millennium Matrix” by Rex Miller; “Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne; and “Everything Must Change” by Brian McLaren; just to name a few of the authors talking this lingo…

So, what can be done?! It seems that the biggest obstacle of the Church is to transition from program based Church to missional based church. A big challenge when faced with the gap in communication styles between the Boomers and the Mosaics. Only a few pastors I have talked to are in tune with this cultural transition, and there is major dissonance in their opinions on how Church should respond. Some chose to ditch the boomers entirely and focus on missional style church, while others can’t quit the money stream and remain focused on maintaining the status quo, even as the status quo dies off. It is a fascinating time to be in vocational ministry, that is for sure!



My prayer is that the church, in whatever form, chooses to be committed to community and finds a mission to take part in (not only to give money to, but to also get their hands dirty in). The Kingdom of God is here and now and I want to be apart of refocusing minds not on a building of stone and clay, but on proclaiming the foundation of Christ.

Just like community, the church is best when there is a missional focus. This missional attitude is the sticky part of community, it is the glue that holds relationships in place. Everyone needs two things in life to be fulfilled: Affirmation (love) and a sense that they are contributing to something meaningful (being an integral part of the whole). Therefore, it would make sense that a community of believers who have decided to join the work of God in this world, would choose to attach themselves to a mission of sorts whether it is the poor, the homeless, the addicted, or international students, Africa, orphans, special needs, wells for africa, the mocha club, et cetera… The healthiest, churches are ones in which their lives are centered not around themselves but around a greater need.

That is what Jesus has called us to be: Missionaries to the world, no matter where we live, sleep and eat.

Question 1 - What makes church healthy?

Question 2 - Describe any experiences you’ve had at a healthy church?

Okay, this is going to be answered from the perspective of the body of Christ, a community of believers, not the Church as an organization.  The healthiest church has always been one that holds community in high regard, and strives to bring the Kingdom of God to this world (has a mission).  In my life, Church has always been ugly.  In that light, you can see why much of what I say is anti-Church and pro-church…  The following are some specific instances where I have experienced a healthy church:

FCA summer camps (2001-2004) - This was my first taste in community of believers, centered around athletics and Jesus.  It was a with a group of 10-15 counselors that I trained for 3 summers in a row.  Truly an awesome time in my life.  Prayer was daily, Worship was passionate, and Competition was fierce!  We were friends from different Universities, different upbringings and different denominations, but all united around one mission, that was to proclaim the adventure of receiving Christ as Lord through the avenue of athletics.

Kanakuk Colorado (2005-2007) - A truly beautiful experience where a community becomes so close it transforms friendships into family.  I give credit to this place for awakening my desire for Christ and a community to worship Him in.  It was a chapter of my life that is a mix of joy and sorrow - within a close-knit community you share in the joys and sorrows of each member…  We experienced both the celebration of marriage(s) and the grief of premature death within the three years I worked at this place.

Norman Community Church (2004-2006) - During Grad school at OU, I was apart of a Church that did church like I’d never seen before… With the housechurch as the core place of worship, Church was decentralized and the community was empowered to be missional in their approach.  Housechurches were characterized by their unique missional focus, ie: Greek, International, College, Married, Special Needs, Homeless, et cetera… Each housechurch was directed in ministry by the pastor and leadership team. Sunday celebration was held twice a month at a school cafeteria and the other Sunday meetings were held at peoples homes.  Accountability was directed from a paid pastor who met directly with housechurch leaders and had additional accountability through a sister church in OKC.  It was not perfect but it was a joy to be apart of, a very genuine place… as well as a place where people got the opportunity to be church as opposed to just doing Church.

Recently I have been more aware of my carbon footprint, energy consumption and the all-around sustainability of my actions. Many books, articles, documentaries have stimulated thought and offered solutions, and through this gathering of information I have become acutely aware that “saving the planet” must start with me and my sphere of influence.  One interesting thing I have found is an article on the Pacific Garbage Patch, a amalgamation of floating plastic (polymer based material that is non-biodegradable).  This floating patch of waste is no small matter as it is currently the size of the continent of Africa. What!

Finding out about these ecological disaster areas motivates me to reduce my plastic intake. In lue of this, I have taken two steps towards reducing my plastic consumption… they are relatively easy, albeit sometimes hard to implement, and are in-line with a pledge I took to Rise Above Plastic, through the Surfrider Foundation (of which I’ve been a member of since 2006).

Using reusable bottles for water and other drinks, you will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.

Using cloth bags for groceries and other purchases you will save approximately 400 plastics from being used and discarded.

I challenge you to take the pledge and help lessen your carbon footprint on the earth. It is a small, but important step in changing your behavior towards the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle).  Hardest part about it is remembering the clothe bags before you go in the grocery store (I keep them in my truck and then when I’m done unloading I put them by the door to take back out to my truck.  Also I keep my Sigg water bottle in the side pocket of my messenger bag, so I always have it handy.

T. Boone Pickens and The Pickens Plan (click T. Boone for the website and The Pickens Plan for the pdf).

Just wanted to know your thoughts on this statement.

Agree or disagree???

The greatest adventure in life is not an exotic safari, a booming business success or a love relationship with that perfect someone.  Rather, it’s discovering the purpose for our lives.

For those of you in America still sleeping… Friday is going to be a beautiful day!!  The sun is up the sky’s are clear and the waves are pulsing.  It is a rather odd thing to blog on a computer (not my computer) in a third world country, where the cost of this machine is more than an average villager makes in a year.  Here, the average daily income fluctuates around $4-$5 a day… which seems upsurd but is enough for the average family to live on… though not luxuriously as we American’s are accustomed to.  It is a sobering place, a place that continues to drive me to the scriptures and to the words in red.  A place that causes my mind to wrestle with spiritual, economical, and social issues and a place that causes my selfish habits to cry out in want (A/C anyone?).  It is a place I wish many could see, so that they too may have their ‘comfort’ paradigm shifted and their ’Western’ perspective challenged.

This island view is beautifully sobering.

Question that was posed (here) (copied below in its original form):

I have a question about the definition of “culture”. I think of culture more as a two way street - both reflecting people and molding them at the same time. It seems that the weaker ones are molded more and the stronger are the ones whom it reflects (this is tenative and a huge generalization).

However, the emergent movement seems to follow culture and modern (meaning current) philosophy rather than the Word. It’s like looking at the Bible through the lens of postmodernism, instead of looking at the world and all it entails through the lens of a biblical worldview.

I know exactly what you’re talking about in the review of chp 2 concerning the particular minestry, but one’s faith cannot be dictated by other people. A church building is still filled with sinful people, and this gives us great joy to look forward to the only perfect Church ever - in heaven.

What are your thoughts?

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My thoughts:

True, the definition of culture is paramount to how we react to the words of Jesus… but we have to remember that all of our known theology was influenced by the culture of the day, namely the enlightenment, and then modernity.

Even Jesus’ teaching reflected a cultural understanding, or influence. So in that sense we must read the Scriptures with different lenses then our own. And in reading we begin to deconstruct (yes, Derrida), or better defined, we begin to look at the text through the cultural lenses of Jesus and his disciples.

The Enlightenment and Modernity brought with it a dualistic theology - separation of secular and sacred… But Jesus did not live in such a realm, he lived life in the grey, life between the ‘righteous’ and the ’sinner’, the clean and the unclean. In doing this he was always moving within culture(s), though not corrupted by them.

Emerging Christians are most definitely following culture, though not in the sense that you espouse. They are trying to take the message of the gospel, which is to love thy neighbor (enemy) as thyself, just as God has loved you and you love God.

When I was in grad school, we had a project consisting of cultural exegesis. Which basically was a project in observing a particular subculture, interviewing the participants, and constructing a plan to show them the Gospel message. In the 60 different papers that my classmates wrote, there were many different routes to sharing the gospel message of love. In this setting an emergent christian flourishes… looking for ways to integrate faith within the daily lives of non-believers.

Like it or not we live in a Postmodern world… a world vastly different than even 20 years ago. A world that communicates, disseminates, and circulates information in the blink of an eye (a shift in epistemology). In this flat world we cannot be stalwarts clinging on to the particular doctrinal pillars of our local church, rather we must cling on to the words of Christ and his commandments to Love one another, and in doing this we bring the Kingdom of God to the here and now… the perfect church is not something to look forward to, rather it is something to take part in. We are to be a light on a hill, salt to the earth, we are holy and righteously broken. And in this humble state we are to be the body of Christ, the incarnation of his will to the marginalized, the poor, and the fatherless.

This guy reminds me of my Dad’s story, and many others who in seeking out to incarnate the words of God are chastised and rebuked by the Churches they are in fellowship with… Trucker Frank’s full story is chronicled in Tony Jones’ new book, “The New Christians” of which I have been reviewing: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3(a), Chapter 3(b), Chapter 4(a)… Enjoy!

Art Boulet’s exceptional reflection on fundamentalism and the temptation to become emergent.

Also, my podcast of on the Kingdom of God.