The Modern and Postmodern Church Part 2

The Modern and Postmodern Church – Part 2 © John Stevenson, 2017

The Post World War II Growth of the Church • Baby boomers • Suburbanization of America • American Democracy Versus Communist Atheism

Why is Christianity experiencing new vitality in parts of the Third World yet declining in the West?

Jesus Movement Second Great Awakening 1800 American Civil War 1850 WW 1 1900 Vatican II WW 2 1950 Machen Darby Mormons Millerites Jehovah’s Witnesses Darwin’s Origin of the Species Billy Graham 2000

A move toward religious unity • Christian Ecumenism versus Religious Pluralism. • Ecumenism and Vatican II. – Anathemas rescinded (1965) – Pope John Paul II visits Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (1999)

How important do you think the visible unity of the church is, or should be?

How should the church reconcile these two values? Truth Unity

Formed in 1948 • Made up of Protestant, Independent, and Orthodox Churches. • Political Issues. – Israel, Arab, and Palestinian rights – Support of Communist rebels • Facilitation of dialog between different denominations.

1962 - 1965 • Called by Pope John XXIII • Continued by Pope Paul VI after his predecessor’s death in 1963 • No Doctrinal changes • Celibacy & Birth Control Affirmed • Liturgy permitted in Common Language • Laymen encouraged to read Scripture

1912 -1984 • Established a Christian study center in L’Abri, Switzerland • Spoke on the issue of relativist thinking • Brought people to see Christianity as “true truth. ”

1910 -1997 • Born Agnes Bojaxhiu in Macedonia • Roman Catholic Nun in India • Felt a call to serve the poor outside the convent • Malcom Muggeridge: Something Beautiful for God William Cook

1910 -1997 • Love begins at home with family and friends • Begin by loving the outcast you know • Love is not defined by extraordinary deeds, but in the daily giving of yourself to another William Cook

A Theology of Liberation 1973 • Notre Dame Professor of Theology • Salvation in terms of liberation from social and economic injustice • A Marxist approach to Christianity

Born 1927 • Founded Calvary Chapel • Pentecostal • Jesus People Movement • Rolling commentary style of preaching

Jimmy Swaggart Jim & Tammy Bakker

In what ways have churches reacted to the “me” generation?

Self-Esteem Parenting Narcissistic Children

…side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair (Pope Benedict XVI, 2008).

• • • Over 2000 attending Suburban areas Functionally nondenominational • Something for everyone • One highly gifted spiritual leader Scott Thumma, Ph. D

Leadnet. org

• Initially attracted by… – Worship style – Senior pastor • Nearly 2/3 have been attenders 5 years or less • Many come from other churches, but 25% had not been in any church for a long time before coming • 55% of attenders volunteer in some way Leadnet. org

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities that the Church faces today?

• Motivational speaker • Studied communication at Oral Roberts University • Took over his father’s church • Prosperity Gospel

Oriented toward Postmodernism • De-emphasis on Doctrine • Openness to new ideas • Seeking Community • Participatory Worship

Shaping theology to suit culture Adapting methods to reach culture

“When I say I'm a universalist, what I really mean is that I don't believe you have to convert to any particular religion to find God. A I see it, God finds us, and it has nothing to do with subscribing to any particular religious view. ” – Spencer Burke

“It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts. ” – Brian Mc. Laren

“The old paradigm taught that if you had the right teaching, you will experience God. The new paradigm says that if you experience God, you will have the right teaching. ” – Dan Kimball

What makes you most hopeful about the future of the Church?