brian mclaren is my hero
in the latest brian vs. all of modernity "conversation" here is brian's take on the "outreach" effort marketed to coincide with the passion of the christ and a response by mr pdl hmself, rick warren
here's my thing. i agree with brian that the hype about "perhaps the best outreach opportunity in 2,000 years" is more "christian" marketing garbage. i also think it's great that warren's church used the movie as a massive outreach to their community and that lots of people are making moves toward Christ as a result of it. my problem is that, yet again, here is a spiritual leader from one side of the debate attacking and minimalizing an "emerging" leader and taking the opportunity to toss numbers around as a measure of the "success" of his ministry (at least 9 different references to numbers). after rereading brian's article several times, i just don't feel like it is an attack on anything. does it critique? yes. and that critique seems thoughtful and respectful and hopeful. why does warren feel like he needs to try and rub mclaren's nose in it? last time i checked, his church was doing just fine.
my guess is that for the rest of my life the church will exist in the transition mode we are currently experiencing. my hope is that at some point we can stop attacking each other (i realize that there are a LOT of people among the emerging church "leadership" who take shots at the modern church) and find a way to co-exist. lots of people are telling me that it isn't possible. i hope that's not true. and if we can't get along, can we at least be civil about the way we disagree?
to quote that great american man of peace rodney king
can't we all just get along?
j
here's my thing. i agree with brian that the hype about "perhaps the best outreach opportunity in 2,000 years" is more "christian" marketing garbage. i also think it's great that warren's church used the movie as a massive outreach to their community and that lots of people are making moves toward Christ as a result of it. my problem is that, yet again, here is a spiritual leader from one side of the debate attacking and minimalizing an "emerging" leader and taking the opportunity to toss numbers around as a measure of the "success" of his ministry (at least 9 different references to numbers). after rereading brian's article several times, i just don't feel like it is an attack on anything. does it critique? yes. and that critique seems thoughtful and respectful and hopeful. why does warren feel like he needs to try and rub mclaren's nose in it? last time i checked, his church was doing just fine.
my guess is that for the rest of my life the church will exist in the transition mode we are currently experiencing. my hope is that at some point we can stop attacking each other (i realize that there are a LOT of people among the emerging church "leadership" who take shots at the modern church) and find a way to co-exist. lots of people are telling me that it isn't possible. i hope that's not true. and if we can't get along, can we at least be civil about the way we disagree?
to quote that great american man of peace rodney king
can't we all just get along?
j
posted by J at 2:39 PM
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