Friday, March 26

Persecution and the emerging church

Losing your life

The above link takes you to a thread where someone asked about what type of persecution the emerging church faces. I won't rehash everything I did in a post on the thread, but there are some thoughts I wanted to share with THEOOZE blog community.

I think a major theme in the emerging church which underlies much of what we do is that we want to make the only offense of the gospel to be the message of the gospel. If that is offensive, so be it. For me, I see the established church as bringing much persecution on itself for things which are unnecessary. Whether it be aligning with a political party or trying to become the morals police for our culture, there are things which bring about hatred and persecution that are unnecessary.

I can see how someone could think the emerging church is just trying to make everyone happy. When we talk of changing to engage culture, there could be a sense of compromise. For some, I believe this is probably an accurate assessment. But it would be wrong to characterize the entire movement as driven by a need to fit in and not offend. Some of my beliefs, and the conviction by which I share them, are still not accepted by a "postmodern" world. I am okay with that, because I believe I am holding to essentials of my faith. And maybe essentials isn't even an accurate description, because much of what I hold to be true I am okay with being wrong about. Not all, but there are some things. If I never fully comprehend how God views those who have sexual lifestyles I am not okay with, I am okay with that. It won't break me if in eternity I am spending it with those who disagreed with me on it, and... they were right and I was wrong.

I will, however, not condone things I can't fully support. I will relate and love and cherish friendships with those who think differently, especially if they can do the same with me. I have many friends and acquaintances who think very differently than me on certain issues. For some, they may just assume I approve because I don't condemn them with my words or my actions towards them. When the discussion presents itself, however, I am not afraid to share my convictions and discuss the issues. Most of the time, this doesn't result in persecution. Sometimes, it does.

I realize I use the word persecution loosely, because anything we face here in Western society is miniscule compared to the martyrs of the past and other cultural persecution in regions where religion is a dividing line for all people.

posted by Alan | 7:12 PM | |