I'm still working through McKnight's book with the club, but here's something I found in a UM Connection article, exploring factors leading to decline in membership in the United Methodist Church. When in doubt, look to the megachurch:
"Instead of small wooden pews, one or two microphones, and an organ or piano, mega-churches boast stadium style seating for thousands, use state of the art visual projection equipment and play mostly contemporary music, often with a full band."
I can hear the spiritual seeker now: "Almost am I persuaded to be a Christian, but that projector is so 2006!"
To be fair to the author, more is mentioned than just technology, but the article is program-heavy. I have seen technology, management techniques, and creative programming produce impressive results in ministry. Programs also offer security, as they allow programmers a certain amount of control over the outcomes. However, if the Gospel is to be believed, such security is misplaced, and is a danger to authentic ministry. Not to be down on technology and management techniques, but the church has relied upon them for too long.
I like the N.T. Wright quote on page 76:
...the point of the Spirit is to enable those who follow Jesus to take into all the world the news that he is Lord, that he has won the victory over the forces of evil, that a new world has opened up, and that we are to help make it happen.
Here is an excellent example of atonement that works!!!
Apparently, being made in the image of God comes with a few limitations, especially if that image happens to be a bit cracked. Oh, yeah, don't forget that Eikon is the Greek translation of the Hebrew term for "image". If you've read McKnight's A Community Called Atonement (see 1/31 post) through chapter three you already know that.
Speaking of an exercise in postmodern humility (chapter six), I can't recommend enough Stephen Toulmin's Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity (see my review of Toulmin's analysis of the traditional view of the 18th century)
The arena of the 18th century isn't ours, but questions he provokes are certainly applicable. Theology does not take place in a vacuum. We all do our knowing, thinking and believing from a vantage point that is limited, historical, and dependent. The modern decontextualization of all reality, including theology, has the dangerous potential of homogenizing spirituality, turning God and religious experience into products to be marketed at the global level.
A faith maintaining any links to a particular history, a particular way of life, particular symbols and rituals, or a particular institution, remains limited in its marketability. Therefore, those overly influenced by the market mentality will most likely dismiss such a faith.
Have you seen how religious symbols are often reduced to marketing tools? This is most evident in today's plethora of church curriculum, programs and marketing strategies, which offer uniform packages of interpretations and judgements for delivery to every place.
When George W. Bush spoke of the war on terrorism as a “crusade,” he was roundly criticized for the perceived suggestion that it was a war of Christianity against Islam. His aides apologized, saying that the president had only used the term in its sense of a campaign, but in the Middle East, the remark was thought to confirm a popular assessment of Americans and Europeans as “crusaders.” This is a hard lesson for the West, which long ago relegated religious beliefs to personal preferences and celebrates religious diversity -- at least a Western understanding of diversity. We often confuse diversity with the Western idea of multiculturalism, which I would argue, is intrinsically racist, since is posits a single (Western) perspective for seeing all other cultures. Diversity seen through “our” eyes and “our” perspective is also a diversity that fits “our own” needs and interests. Or even worse, we see others as means for achieving our desired ends.
The same could be said of the “Western” Gospel. McKnight’s dialectic shows how theology (atonement theology in our discussion) actually does shape the mission of the local church:
The gospel we preach shapes the kind of churches we create.
The kind of church we have shapes the gospel we preach.
Given our history, we should ask ourselves, what’s in our Gospel?
