E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
Technorati"I am a pastor. And I am not emergent," writes Kevin DeYoung, pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Mich., at the beginning of Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be).
DeYoung and co-author Ted Kluck, a member of the Reformed church, have just released a book that offers Christians both a theological and "on-the-street" perspective on the emerging church. While cautioning against the more liberal end of the emerging church movement, the authors also show how they've come to embrace their more traditional evangelical roots and most importantly, the truths about Jesus and Scripture.
These two 30-somethings have not joined the emergent scene, but many young Christians have as they rebel against the "religious right" and adopt an it's-all-relative attitude. And what the authors want to present is that you can be passionate about Jesus Christ and not be emergent, and the evangelical church is not as dire as emergent Christians might lead you to think.
Questions for Kluck
CP: What qualities make you emergent or what is it about you and your church that should place you in the emergent category?
Kluck: It was one of those titles that is a little bit playful. We’re not emergent obviously. “By Two Guys Who Should Be” sort of refers to our demographic. I think reading a lot of this emergent literature and going to some emergent services, we really realized that this movement mostly targeted at guys like this – white, suburban, yuppies, 30-something, college-educated guys. For a movement that I guess promises this unchecked creativity and diversity, what we found was in fact a not very diverse population. “By Two Guys Who Should Be” refers to at least on paper, we hit that demographic.
CP: How did the idea for the book come about with your pastor?
Kluck: For us, I think it happened like it happens for a lot of people in the emergent church in that a few years ago, these books were being passed around our congregation – Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian, Rob Bell’s Velvit Elvis, these kind of landmark emergent texts. I was reading them with an open mind – “hey, what can we learn from this? What are you guys all about?” At the end of the day, I think a number of theological red flags became apparent even to a guy like myself with no theological training. Kevin and I just realized it might be helpful to have a book in this conversation that was written by younger guys, in a more readable man-on-the-street presentation. I think the only book at that time that was out kind of as a caution to the emergent church would be D.A. Carson’s Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church which is a really good book but it’s a really tough read. It’s pretty Ph.D-ish.
CP: Can you describe your own personal journey from being dissatisfied or disillusioned with the church you grew up in, experimenting with the emergent church movement, and ultimately going back to your traditional church? What did you conclude about the emerging church movement?
Kluck: I grew up in a Christian home, in the Midwest, a conservative Christian area. I went to Taylor University which is a Christian college. I think the emergent church really resonates with kids like myself who’ve been in the Christian “bubble” their whole life. I think for kids like that, the sexiness, the rebellion of the emergent church is attractive. Any time you’re in an institution for that long, you self critique it and that could be healthy. I think when I was reading a lot of these emergent texts, I felt they’re right – the evangelical church doesn’t seem to care about the poor, doesn’t seem to care about social justice. A lot of what they wrote in those areas really resonated with me. Continue »
feetxxxl »
Agree: 
Disagree: 
