Sunday, April 23, 2006

Yes, The Same Pragmatic Approach.

For those who may not be convinced that the "emerging" movement employs the same basic pragmatic approach as the "seeker-sensitive" movement, here is an excerpt from an article in Reformation 21 magazine that makes that observation. Although the characteristics may differ, even significantly, the underlying principle is basically the same. Jason Robertson posted on this some time ago and took some grief over it, but I agree that the principle of pragmatism is basically the same.

"Interestingly, although emergent church leaders disagree with the seeker-sensitive, church-growth model of the church they share the same underlying principle of pragmatism. The reason we need to “re-paint” and “rediscover” Christianity is because the old model doesn’t work anymore. Author’s like Leonard Sweet argue that we need new kind of Christianity, a post-modern Christianity if we have any hope of reaching a post-modern world. Beyond the subtle arrogance of such a proposition there is a beating principle of pragmatism. This movement seems to be fundamentally driven by the question, “what will work?” instead of the Biblical question, “what has God said?”. In the pursuit of “relevance” and “authenticity” - the holy grail of the seeker-sensitive movement 20 years ago and the liberal church before that - this movement is also in danger of leaving historic, biblical Christianity behind. Consequently, it is destined to be one more “ism” in church history which ends up in the garbage heap of failed philosophies." (Emphasis Mine)

[Reformation 21, Review by Dale Van Dyke of Rob Bell's book, "Velvet Elvis: Repainting The Christian Faith"]

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AuthenticTruth said...
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