what do emerging churches in the us believe?
I'm not sure how deep I'm going to get into this, but tonight I started poking around the statements of faith of emerging churches. I started with
- Dan Kimball's list of churches,
- John O'Keefe's on ginkworld,
- Spencer Burke's on theooze, and finally
- Mike Morrell and Philip Scriber's list.
We'll see where this goes!
6 comments:
thanks for thinking of me :-) blessed advent. I suppose I'd also keep the "role" of a statement in the equation (if one has one) and how we see its relationship with us personally and as a church.
Interesting to me is that while the accusation that we have not statements of faith... we all talk about our faith... That is the conversation...
Instead of something written down (besides the bible which is what I think most of our statement of faith really is and should be) it seems a bit out of step with what the bible teaches.
Let me explain... to distill our faith to
1. Virgin Birth
2. Incarnation
3. Heaven or Hell
4. Death Burial and Resurrection
5. Then what ever else is the "pet doctrine of that community.
Some will say T.U.L.I.P and I would agree with about two of their statements, yet does that mean they are heretics? I don't think so as they believe in Jesus as I do...
So statements of faith are rally nothing in that they show that one leans toward a certain bend in their doctrine.
It only shows what they believe and not how they live. It may show they believe in the Resurrection then deny that we live by that same power now.
It will say one believes in the bible...as inerrant, yet deny that it teaches that the gifts are for today as much if not more than when that book was written.
So I see this as a meaningless goose chase.
The Bereans examined Scripture to see if what Paul said was true... (Acts 17:11)
We are not to examine others or statements of faith... we are to examine ourselves...
2 Corinthians 13: 5-6 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test."
My last point is this... Just because a church as a statement of faith does not mean all that go believe that statement... I have gone to "grace oriented" churches that deny grace, and "works oriented" churches that teach grace! I have attended Calvinist churches and not been a Calvinist I have attended Assemblies of God and believed in eternal security...
And again, which statement is right, or even more right than others...
I still say ignore the divisive men... even if they use our names and falsely accuse us and let our works bear fruit and show who we are...
Blessings,
iggy
iggy,
i'm pondering your words here.
sivin,
i didn't quite follow you. can you expand your comments a bit?
no need to apologize. research your back yard and let us all know.
sorry for being unclear. For example in Bangsar Lutheran Church, we have the Lutheran Confessions (statement of faith for Lutherans I think) because it connects us to the Lutheran denomination and heritage as well as history. I think I see the role of the confessions here as providing some continuity with the past as well as connection with others within our denomination (and the wider Lutheran communion). However, I do not see it as "document" meant to close off conversations, thinking and exploration. It does provide some parameters or even starting points. But this is where contact with other Christians who are different help, because they help us see our blind spots. I think this applies also to one's personal pilgrimage.
The "thinking of me" part . was simply it's nice to be linked! :-)
thanks sivin; that clears things up completely and I'm in agreement with you!
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