Sully Notes 4 | Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional Part 2 of 3

Sully Notes 4: Books in 25 minutes or less

Sully Notes are more than a book review. They are meant to provide you with direct quotes from some books I've read in the last year, so you can get a taste of the overall theme of the book and then begin to chew on what your life might look like if you applied what you read. 

Here are links to the previous Sully Notes books:

• Sully Notes 1 | AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church Part 1 of 3 
• Sully Notes 2 | Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community Part 1 of 3   
• Sully Notes 3 | A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community and Mission Around the Table Part 1 of 3

And here is the link to the previous post in the Sully Notes 4 | Deep Church series:

• Sully Notes 4 | Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional 

Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional | Sully Notes 4: Part 2 of 3

Part 2 | Protest, Reaction and the Deep Church: Chapter 4 | Deep Truth

"Modernism, which was birthed in the seventeenth century, is a worldview that rejects transcendent truth, instead finding meaning in reason and the solitary individual. We don't understand our world from revelation but from reason. But four hundred years after it started, this worldview has led to the breakdown of morality, self and community. Reason alone did not have enough resources to sustain ethics and morality. Once the rational individual was cut off from divine revelation as the source of being and ethics, he or she did not have the resources to sustain a healthy sense of self or participate in community. The individual stood alone, rootless, apart from tradition and community. This has led to the breakdown of community, which requires stable, mature participants who are capable of giving to others. The best description of a twenty-first-century human is a person watching TV alone. ... One author calls postmodernism radical modernism. It pushes individualism to the extreme. Each individual, now cut off from the larger tradition and community, invents him- or herself anew each day. Truth becomes whatever brings comfort or helps the person cope with life. Thus all truth is relative to each person." – pgs. 73-74

" ... Christians who uncritically adopt hard postmodernism open themselves up to what James K. A. Smith calls the 'correlationist model.' The danger is that the surrounding history, language and community, and not God's revelation, establish their worldview. In other words, faith is correlated to culture. Liberal theology has done this for years. If it is not careful, the emerging church could fall into the same trap. If it happens, says Smith, the gospel will get swallowed by culture. ... in their desire to contextualize the gospel to reach out to postmoderns, they will lose the gospel's countercultural message." – pg. 83

"Even though we realize that language always stands between us and reality, that beliefs always shape how we interpret the world, we still believe there is an objective reality outside of us, that we can have some knowledge of it and that everything is not relative to our condition or community. We can transcend our culture. But we don't do it by going back to the Enlightenment and individually or corporately creating our own reality. We do it by living within the biblical story, which teaches and transforms us. ... We follow Augustine, the original postfoundationalist, who said, 'I believe in order that I might understand.' It neither starts with knowledge that leads to faith nor with faith that leads to knowledge. How do we get into this circle? The starting point lies beyond us, with the Holy Spirit who places us inside the faith-knowledge circle. ... Thus we do not align the gospel too closely with the culture and become syncretistic. We steer clear of correlationism or radical constructivism, which sees community as the sole source of truth. ... We realize we are sinners, prone to see reality through our selfishness and conceit; we see clearly it is all grace." – pgs. 84-85  

"Reality is like a multifaceted diamond, and we tend to see only one or two facets. ... We see this in the Gospels; all tell the same story from varied angles. Multiperspectivalism reduces pride, making us cognitively modest. ... Our confidence is not in ourselves and our wonderful ability to grasp and see reality, but in knowing that God knows all things and has chosen us to be part of his story. He has revealed the beginning and the end, and asked us to be his loyal representatives in his world. This good news takes the focus off ourselves and our existential search for meaning – because we know the source of meaning and our identity is secure – and allows us to spend our efforts in boldly serving others for the common good." – pg. 85

"Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch describe the centered-set church. ... Centered-set churches see the gospel as so refreshing that lovers of Christ will not stray too far from him. And outsiders will be drawn into the community like thirsty pilgrims seeking water. ... (We) attempt to preach and lead worship in a way that is sensitive to the seekers in our midst. Humbled by our own sin and need for the gospel, we remember what it feels like to not believe. We don't want to be bombastic or arrogant know-it-alls. We don't set up unnecessary boundaries for those who are searching for meaning. But this does not mean we are not confident about the Well in our midst. We are not hard postmoderns. Our confidence is in Christ, not ourselves. When it comes to the gospel, we are confident, even dogmatic, because the message comes from God's revelation. He has spoken to us in his Word and made the message of salvation clear. Thus we confidently proclaim the existence of the Well in our midst. Through our preaching, liturgy, weekly Lord's supper and a community of believers united in Christ, we want to provide a cup of living water to a dying world. We want to see others drawn to the source of life." – pgs. 86-87, 89  

Chapter 5 | Deep Evangelism

"(from Jason, visitor amongst Belcher's church) 'As I got to know people, I realized that some of them were just as messed up as me. But I found a difference. I realized that these people understood the human condition, their struggle with sin and unbelief, and were open about their suffering. They were not trying to cover things up or put a nice wrapper on the ugliness. They were refreshingly authentic.' This drew (Jason) in. ... 'It was not that they were just messed up, but that as people in the midst of real trouble they were still faithful. Here I was struggling with depression, addiction and loss. Some of these people wrestled with the same things but put their hope in Christ. Every time hard times hit, they were not medicating their pain with drugs and sex like I was.' (Jason) was beginning to believe. He was coming closer to the Well." – pgs. 93-94

"Conversion can't be reduced to simplistic formulations. ... the New Testament records many distinct narratives of entry, from the thief on the cross, who experienced conversion in an instant, to the followers of Jesus who experience an arduous and sometimes frustrating journey to faith. 'The conversion of the disciples is ... parallel the typical 'postmodern conversion,' where a person first enters into a community and it's the involvement with that community that ultimately transforms the whole of his or her life.' ... The goal is to be sensitive to diversity but hold to a 'commitment to the values of Christian mission and community.' This change 'helps transform (mission) teams into dynamic communities that pursue the Christian path with a vibrant commitment to relationship, honesty, and dialogue. ... (While also realizing) the New Testament affirms that Christians constitute a new and distinctive community, which includes boundary markers (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). And New Testament teaching on church discipline presupposes that 'in' and 'out' are meaningful categories, or else church discipline (Matthew 18:15-17) or excommunication (1 Corinthians 5:1-5, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11), the highest sanction, would be meaningless. ... Christians are called to make distinctions on both doctrinal (e.g. 1 John 2:22) and ethical grounds (1 John 3:14-15; Matthew 7:15-20). The New Testament emphasizes teaching and doctrine. Therefore Christianity will challenge seekers to conform to Scripture." – pgs. 95, 97-98

"(Steven Cooper, pastor of Harbor Church in San Diego) The key is to look at the life and ministry of Jesus. ‘What we see,’ (Cooper) explained, ‘is that each of the Synoptic Gospels can be broken up into three main parts. The first part chronicles Jesus’ ministry with the disciples in Galilee and the north (Matthew 1:1-16:12; Mark 1:1-8:26; Luke 1:1-9:17). The second part of his ministry narrates Jesus’ travels with his disciples south to Jerusalem (Matthew 16:21-20:34; Mark 9:2-10:52; Luke 9:51-19:10). And the third and final chapter of Jesus’ ministry tells us of his entrance into Jerusalem and his actions there that led to his death and his eventual resurrection (Matthew 21:1-28:20; Mark 11:1-16:8; Luke 19:11-24:53). … In the first part of Jesus’ ministry, he’s training the disciples so they would know exactly who he is. Through his teaching, his miracles, his actions, his ministry, Jesus is answering the disciples’ questions about Jesus’ identity. … In this section Jesus is surrounded by tax collectors and sinners. They are part of his community. Like the disciples, these outsiders belong to the community. … there is a gap between sections one and two of each Synoptic Gospel. … Said in another way, Jesus would not embark on his final journey to Jerusalem until after this specific transition took place. … Notice that Jesus asks the disciples the ultimate question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ He is ensuring that they’ve figured it out. Then the Gospels specifically state that ‘From that time Jesus began to show his disciples…’(Matthew 16:21 ESV), ‘And he began to teach them…’ (Mark 8:31 ESV), and ‘he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying…’ (Luke 9:21 ESV). This major transition occurs once the disciples finally understand exactly who Jesus is. … we find that throughout the second section of these three Gospels Jesus repeats this prediction of his upcoming sufferings, death and resurrection multiple times. … What we see with Jesus is that thousands of people were invited into the community of Jesus. But once they joined the community, Jesus challenged them to not just be part of the community but to commit themselves to him (John 6:26-29, 43, 53, 66). For those who followed him because of his teaching and signs about his kingdom, Jesus challenged them to embrace his mission and its application by taking up their cross and following him. … What we really have is two circles around Jesus, the Well of living water. The outer circle is the seekers, those hanging around as part of the larger community who are learning about Jesus and his message. We see this in the first part of the Gospel narrative. But at some point, Jesus calls for commitment, for belief. His disciples responded. They move closer to the Well, to the inner circle.  …though Jesus was in favor of inviting people into the community, he also challenged them to know whether or not they were truly following him. This takes the insights of the traditional church (the need for boundaries) and the teaching of the emerging church (the need to belong before believing), and steps beyond them into a third way. Belonging is important. Jesus invited many into his community. This is what got him into so much trouble with the Pharisees (the original bounded-set people?). But at the same time he did not shy from the truth of the gospel and the need for his followers to repent of their idols. They had to believe in his kingdom, his kingship, and his death and resurrection. … belonging is important, but we still have to believe at some point. He calls those in the outer circle to come into the inner circle, to be close to the Well. … As I see it, the well is the gospel – the continual preaching of it through Word and sacrament, the announcement of Jesus’ kingdom, and a grace-transformed community witnessing the power of this new life in the world." – pgs. 99-101

" ... (commit) to being a church that not only works hard at welcoming the seeker in your midst, but at the same time is a church of sufficient depth to disciple and feed those who have made the commitment to travel deeper in." – pg. 104 

Chapter 6 | Deep Gospel

"Calvin and Kuyper taught that God cared not only about souls but also about his entire creation. And we are to care as well. ... Now in one sense, God reigns over all. His sovereignty is complete. But from another angle the Bible indicates that a person, institution or part of creation who is not serving God is outside the kingdom, in the realm of darkness. When we become believers we join this reign; our goal is not only to help brings others into God's kingdom but also to help transform culture – the family, politics, the arts, the marketplace, all aspects of creation." – pgs. 106-107

"The way forward is to realize that each (the traditional church and the emerging church) accuses the other of reducing the gospel. The traditional church argues the emerging church has reduced the gospel to social action and the emerging church contends that the traditional church has reduced the message to individual salvation. But according to Darrell Guder's book The Continuing Conversion of the Church, all reductions of the gospel are wrong. In his brilliant chapter "The Reduction of Salvation and Mission,' Guder points out that 'our greatest priority, particularly in our theologies of salvation, should be to join the benefits of salvation with the responsibilities and call to the saved to enter into God's mission in the world.' Recognizing this truth is the first step in moving beyond the impasse." – pg. 112

" ...  the Synoptic Gospel writers lay out the kingdom of God in the first section of each Gospel but eventually get around to Jesus' challenge to his disciples to believe in him and his impending death. Jesus linked the kingdom of God with his atonement. ... (Hans) Boersma cites theologian Henri Blocher's perspective 'that the penal model forms the foundation for the Christus Victor (Christ's victory over the principalities and powers at the cross) model and that the very victory is gained both through obedience and through penal suffering.' ... How can victory be gained if sin is not first atoned for? How can we start to live in the kingdom unless our sins are first forgiven and we are given new power to live in the service of and obedience to the kingdom? ... How could we possibly live up to these lofty goals (of kingdom living) unless we are first sure of our membership in the kingdom; that is, how are we brought into it? And how is it possible to live it without daily renewal by forgiveness, grace and reconciliation? Just reminding us of the story of what God is doing to create a new heaven and new earth, and our calling to participate in the kingdom, is not enough. Without the daily renewing grace of God, which comes from the cross and is applied to my life by the Holy Spirit, I simply can't pull it off. ... Without God's atoning grace, the message of the kingdom sounds like law. ... I understand that a certain cooperation of the will is required for Spirit-led Christians to develop godly habits. This is part of working out our 'salvation with fear and trembling ' (Philippians 2:12). But if this is not balanced, perhaps superseded, by the doctrine of transforming grace, what I call 'grace ethics' (God's grace in our lives is what gives us the power to change and live the kingdom life), we will produce two types of people – (1) those who are burned out and cynical because they could not live this way, and (2) those who have become proud or arrogant because they think they pulled it off on their own. Ironically, once the latter figure out they can pull this virtue ethic off on their own, they will start thinking they can change the world through their own efforts, and we move right into social gospel reductionism." – pgs. 115, 118-119    

"The gospel is the center of all we do. The 'gospel' is the good news that through Jesus, the Messiah, the power of God's kingdom has entered history to renew the whole world. Through the Savior God has established his reign. When we believe and rely on Jesus' work and record (rather than ours) for our relationship with God, that kingdom power comes upon us and begins to work through us. We witness this radical new way of living by our renewed lives, beautiful community, social justice, and cultural transformation. This good news brings new life. The gospel motivates, guides, and empowers every aspect of our living and worship. ... Gospel – Community – Mission – Shalom ... The order is important. As we are affected by the gospel, we are empowered to move into community to care for one another. And as we care for one another, we begin to reach outside of our community with acts of mercy – mission. And as we move into our community with acts of service and mercy, we begin to look for ways to make and renew culture and its institutions so that they honor God's original design for creation. This is shalom. The more we live in community, are merciful and transform culture, the more we need the gospel to empower and transform us, and the circle starts over again – gospel, community, mission and shalom." – pgs. 120-121

Chapter 7 | Deep Worship

"(We desired) worship that embodied a genuine encounter with God, had depth and substance, included more frequent and meaningful Communion, was participatory, read more Scripture in worship, creatively used the senses, provided more time for contemplation, and focused on the transcendence and otherness of God." – pg. 124

" ...  no book has been more helpful to me in understanding the weakness of free-church evangelical worship, whether emerging or traditional, than D.H. Williams's Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants. Williams, a Baptist minister, realizes that evangelicals have been raised to be suspicious of Christian tradition. I know I was. Williams comments that believers whose (unacknowledged) tradition is that the Bible is their only guide to faith and there is no reliable Christian tradition must come to terms with how they got this view before they are willing to adopt the early church tradition as their own. In trying to help evangelicals be more aware of their views, Williams reveals how much of evangelical 'tradition' is connected to the independent movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that reacted against the Roman Catholic view of Scripture and tradition. When he calls evangelicals back to tradition he is not calling them to a tradition that would undermine the sufficiency of Scripture. This is key. Williams says, '(The) Tradition indicates the core teaching and preaching of the early church which has bequeathed to us the fundamentals of what it is to think and believe Christianly. The Tradition of the Christian faith is that fundamental Christian identity for every believer no matter which of the traditions – protestant, Roman Catholic or Orthodox – he or she may profess.'" – pg. 134

" ... tradition is not something we can take or leave. If we are serious about reclaiming the Great Tradition, we must look beyond our own experience to the formative eras (apostolic and patristic) of the faith and not just for the practices. ... Does this mean we are to swallow church tradition whole? ... Is the ancient church the golden era we need to get back to? No. There is no golden time to return to, whether the pre-Constantinian era or the time of the great ecumenical councils and creeds. Golden-age thinking makes the mistake of the Enlightenment all over again. ... Robert Webber, who has encouraged the movement back to the ancient church, warns evangelicals about the danger of 'primitivism' (the belief that we can return to a golden age of the church). There is no return to the pristine church, no true historic form; it never existed. And it does not mean converting to Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy. The early church fathers, the tradition belong to the whole church. As Tom Oden says, all of the traditions 'have an equal right to appeal to the early history of Christian exegesis ... Protestants have a right to the Fathers. Athanasius is not owned by the Copts, nor is Augustine owned by North Africans. These minds are common possession of the whole church. The Orthodox do not have exclusive rights over Basil, nor do the Romans over Gregory the Great. Christians everywhere have equal claim to these riches and are discovering them and glimpsing their unity in the body of Christ." – pg. 136

"In order to be faithful we must draw on not only Scripture but tradition as well. But we also draw on our cultural sensitivities and our desire to 'worship before the nations,' making sure that our worship is accessible to an outsider. Keeping all three – Bible, tradition and culture – in mind, we are able to craft a worship gathering that is neither irrelevant nor syncretistic. If any one of the triad is missing, we risk falling into one of these two extremes. Keeping them in tension we are able to maintain a powerful worship service that is simultaneously countercultural and culturally relevant. As Tim Keller says so well, 'I believe the solution to the problem of the 'worship wars' is neither to reject nor to enshrine historic tradition but to forge new forms of corporate worship that take seriously both our histories and contemporary realities, all within a framework of biblical theology.'" – pg. 137

1. Ancient and new: "We use both set prayers from the history of the church and new extemporaneous prayers. We combine the best of the free church – moving extemporaneous prayers, longer sermons and room for the Spirit – with the ancient church's commitment to set prayers and a liturgy of Word and Table. The combination of ancient and contemporary speaks deeply to the our desire for ancient roots and a common history."
2. Biblical drama: "Worship can be grouped into five acts – calling, cleansing, constitution, communion and commission. God calls us to worship, we recognize our need for cleansing, we hear him speak in his Word and sacrament, and then we are sent out to love God and serve others. Each act is dramatized by powerful singing and meaningful prayer." 
3. Joy and reverence: "As we approach God in all his holiness we are solemn. Music should be at times reverent, majestic and awe-inspiring. But God is also the source of joy, laughter and happiness. He is the God of the resurrection and new life. How can we not be excited, filled with joy, ready to praise him? For this we need songs and prayers with energy. We embrace deep theological content in our music that balances reverence and joy. Each worship service should take the congregation through the full gamut of emotions that are fitting for the weekly participation in the drama of salvation."
4. Priesthood of all believers: "God calls everyone, not just the people up front, to participate in worship. As priests, we are all required to be involved. There are no spectators. Thus the liturgy (order of the worship) should be as interactive as possible. It is a dialogue between the people and God. God speaks to us through his Word and we respond. Throughout the service, God engages us in the call to worship, multiple Scripture readings, the sermon and the words of blessing, and each time we respond in prayer, song or action (e.g., taking the Lord's Supper or giving an offering)."
5. Profound but accessible sermons: "Whatever part of the Scriptures the church finds itself in at the time, the goal is to preach Christ in a way that is both edifying for the long-time believer and yet accessible to the newcomer or nonbeliever."
6. Weekly communion: "Having confessed our sin in act two of the service, Communion is now a time of celebration, not long faces. God's grace is real and is experienced powerfully in the Lord's Supper. While God's holiness was held up in the first half of the service, God's amazing and gentle grace is now on display. God is sovereign but he also suffers along with us. The bread is the body of Christ, the bread of heaven and our most profound hope. The cup is the cup of salvation to quench our deep spiritual thirst. Even though people come forward as individuals, it is done as a community – a covenant-family meal. There is something powerful in the imagery here. Communion is about unity; even though it speaks of individually being united to Christ, by taking it together we are saying that we are together, unified in Christ."
7.  Guest friendly – doxological evangelism: "Though the service is primarily for believers, we worship before the nations (Psalm 47:1; 105:1; Isaiah 2:1-4; 56:6-8). We call this doxological evangelism. Nonbelievers should find our worship understandable (Acts 2:11; 1 Corinthians 14:23-24). We lead our worship with the assumption that nonbelievers are present. We address our guests and nonbelievers at several points during the service: (1) welcome time before the service, (2) announcement time, (3) the Lord's Supper as they are invited to believe in Christ, and (4) as the gospel message is related to their fears, concerns and hopes. We remember what it means to not believe. The goal is to be respectful, intelligible and always welcoming. We want to draw them to the Well that is Christ." – pgs. 138-140

  

Next post: Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional | Sully Notes 4: Part 3 of 3

– Sully
 
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