Can You Split Over What You Don't Know?

In my Sunday School class today I posited that the Federal Vision controversy will not split the PCA because most don't understand it. They will pick a camp and be done with it. Further, it seems to me that the younger guys appreciate the "attempt" at scholarship on the part of the FVers. Traditionalists spit back a one sentence confessional quotation, must as is preferred during ordination trials. To me this means that the traditional church becomes a frog in the kettle. Over time it will become more influenced by the FV as more young guys get into church positions.

Personally I think that the FV is Covenant Theology on steroids AND HTH. Trying to explain God through one lens of any kind gives one tunnel vision. I think that this stuff would have been refuted long ago if we in the "traditional" church would get serious about theology instead of memorizing parts of the catechism. For example, the padeocommunion issue is one we are losing. We lose because we have, for years, misinterpreted the "discern the body" (and the related examination) provisions of I Cor. 11:27ff. The exegetical work of the FVers shows this up easily. Then, once they display our poor exegesis, they move quickly to say that our interpretation of this passage is ALL that stands between accepetance and rejection of padeocommunion. Hence, if it falls, so does rejection. Smart guys like Jeff Meyers argue just that way.

As Lee Corso might say on ESPN, "Not so fast, my friend!" If "body" means church as the FVers show, and I have always taught that it does, it does not follow that padeocommunion is right. To discern the body means to understand principles of community in the church, which means understanding how the church came into being, which means understanding the gospel. So, no padeocommunion. (This seems a lot like the Ex. 12 discernment suggested at the passover.)

Because the traditional positon seems closed to conceeding anything, I think we lose the support of the young guys. So, look around in five years and see how strong the controversy is. Maybe we will be more FV than we think just by time passing. Sad.

RUF with Sacraments

Last night we attended an "emerging" church (PCA). The young woman who sat next to me was a regular with a PCA background. She said that she and her husband loved it because it was like RUF with Sacraments. And, it was.

Liturgical, informal and with RUF type tunes, it appealed to the trendy, 20-30 somethings. No 40s appeared, and only three 50s couples. There weren't many kids there. It was a wonderful collection of young people, but none of them looked like they were off the streets. Most really did look like RUFers. So, across town the socioeconomic look would have been different in a traditional church, but just as narrow. Is the emerging really emerging or just mining in a different strata of the earth?

One thing I really liked, however, was the start time-late afternoon. Could this begin to bring back the "rest" idea to Sunday? I would guess that it could. It might also be a wonderful way to jump start a church plant. My guess is that early afternoon folks would never go back to early or mid morning. How restful if this caught on for families.

Where to?

Like the cab driver who turns and asks, "Where to?", the same could be asked of the emerging church. It is a conversation (movement) already torn by the issue of theology--Bad or good. My thinking is that the Driscoll led group will move more and more towards the organized church (Church 1.0 types as he likes to call them). The impact of this move will hopefully be a more "Missional" traditional church. This move seems to be obvious to me. Traditional churches are criticized for programs, but as twenty somethings have kids, the youth program will become more important.

The "emergent" guys, led by Brian McLaren, seem headed towards a hook up with the mainline denominations, where theology already is post-modern and relativistic. They will also have an impact (negative) on those "revolutionaries" that Geoerge Barna has convinced to drop out of Church and embrace the Church without commitment. This will probably lead to further abberations in beliefs.

So, my guess is that in a few years, the emerging church will have arrived, having gone in a circle back into the presently available camps.

Setting Sail

I was challenged by a statement made by Sean Lucas about the need for Pastors to blog if they hope to reach all the people. So here is my blog. As a sailor, it seemed fitting to name it the Jib Sheet. I have a roller furling jib, so sometimes I will sail in light winds with a light weight jenny fully unfurled. Some of my posts will be "light winds" posts. Other times I reef the jib in to a small storm jib. I expect that some posts will be about storms I see heading our way. Anyway, I will appreciate your comments, and If I don't like 'em, I can always strike sail!