A Different Perspective

I really like what Will Samson had to say about John MacArthur’s most recent attack on the emerging church (specifically Doug Pagitt). More thoughts from me after the quote…

John MacArthur on The Emergent Church:

“This gives us the chance to say that we are so committed to unity in the Body of Christ that we are willing to hang with MacArthur, even when he thinks we are part of a different story. Rather than stooping to divisive rhetoric, we can help interpret the message of Christ by claiming MacArthur in our family, even if he is our crazy Uncle Phil.”

(Via willzhead.)

One of the most difficult things for me in leaving any type of established church is the feeling of being disconnected from the Church universal. Mostly, it’s a game in my mind, as I was no more connected to the church universal by attending an institutional type church than I am gathering with like-minded house-church types. But in a very real sense, I am disconnected in that they no longer see me as a healthy member of the body of Christ. I used to be able to reach out to even MacArthur’s students (I was a pastor in the city where the Master’s College is), and most of them would at least acknowledge I was a Christian (though certainly misguided ). Now, I feel like I can’t even engage them on a level where my faith is recognized as genuine.

And that does break my heart. Sure, I can explain how hyper-fundamentalists divide and tear down those who don’t fall in line, and I can tell others they are poor models of Jesus (though I don’t think I’d want my own life put under a microscope in that regard), but if I truly believe in the gracious God I love and serve, I must see them as family. Family who are not just the “crazy Uncle Phil” types, but the type of family who have disowned me, don’t want to speak to me, and put all of their effort into making sure no one else does either.

I love the Church. I wish I liked her a little more right now than I do. And I wish most of her liked me more than right now, too.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Emerging Church, Faith, Life, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.