The Modern Church John Stevenson 2014

The Modern Church © John Stevenson, 2014

Session Objectives • • • To identify, analyze and critique the fortunes of Christianity and its relations to culture in both its Western and global settings in the 21 st Century. To recognize evaluate the influence that Nazism and Marxism has had upon the Christianity in the 20 th Century. To summarize, interpret and evaluate the ecumenical movement.

Session Objectives • • • To identify and assess the value and impact of Vatican II on the Roman Catholic Church. To explain the effects of globalization on the Christian Church and the relative influence Christianity is having. To compare and contrast the interaction of Christianity and the culture in the 21 st Century with that of the Patristic era.

1 500 The Ancient Church 1000 The Medieval Church 1500 2000 The Reformed Church

How ought the church to respond to the changing world?

Second Great Awakening 1800 American Civil War 1850 1900 Darby Mormons Millerites Darwin’s Origin of the Species 1950 2000

1809 -1882 • Five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle • “Origin of the Species” “The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic. ”

Man is not a finished product incapable of further progress. He has a long history behind him, and it is a history not of a fall, but of an ascent. Sir Julian Huxley

1844 -1918 • Documentary Hypothesis • JEPD Theory – J: Jehovah – E: Elohim – D: Deuteronomy – P: Priestly writings • These original writing were collected and edited by a later redactor.

Five Major Christian Teachings • Inerrancy of Scripture • Virgin Birth & Deity of Christ • Substitutionary Atonement received by Grace through Faith • Bodily resurrection of Jesus • Second Coming of Jesus

1837 -1899 • Worked in a shoe store • Led to Christ by his Sunday School Teacher, Edward Kimball • Began teaching Sunday School • Traveling evangelist

1837 -1899 “Someday you will read in the papers that Moody is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I was born of the flesh in 1837, I was born of the spirit in 1855. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit shall live forever. ”

1843 -1921 • Background in law and politics • Converted to Christianity in 1879 and ordained four years later • Influenced by Moody and Hudson Taylor • Published Scofield Reference Bible

1862 -1935 • Professional Baseball player • Converted to Christianity • Evangelist • Tent meetings • “Sawdust trail”

1862 -1935 “At Kansas City, Kansas, before the saloons were closed, they were getting ready to build an addition to the jail. Now the doors swing idly on the hinges and there is nobody to lock in the jails. ”

Methodist Holiness Movement • Entire Sanctification • Second Blessing

Methodist Holiness Movement Keswick Movement • Spiritual Power for service

Methodist Holiness Movement Keswick Movement Holiness Camp Meetings

• • Charles Parkham January 1901 Topeka, Kansas Speaking in tongues Missionaries no longer need to learn foreign languages Agnes Ozman

Charles Parkham • Asuza Street Revival, Los Angeles • Begun in 1906 • Three services a day, seven days a week for three years • Transcended racial barriers William Seymour

Methodist Holiness Movement Keswick Movement Holiness Camp Meetings Pentecostal Movement

Methodist Holiness Movement Keswick Movement Holiness Camp Meetings Pentecostal Movement Charismatic Movement

1918 Published the book, The Manhood of the Master, denying the deity of Christ

“Shall the Fundamentalists Win? ” “The question is—Has anybody a right to deny the Christian name to those who differ with him on such points and to shut against them the doors of the Christian fellowship? ”

1881 -1937 • Professor at Princeton Seminary • Left to begin Westminster Seminary (1929) • Independent Presbyterian Mission Board • Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1936)

1881 -1937 “If the liberal party really obtains full control of the councils of the church, then no evangelical Christian continue to support the church’s work” (1923: 166)

What course do you take when even the church, you believe, has tragically compromised the Gospel and been seduced by the culture?

Civil War Northern Southern Presbyterian Church Machen left in 1933 to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) Ministers left in 1973 to form the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)

1881 -1937 “Seventy-five years ago, Western civilization, despite inconsistencies, was still predominantly Christian; today it is predominantly pagan” (1923: 65)

1925 Clarence Darrow William Jennings Bryan

1886 -1968 • Trained in German theological liberalism • Known as the “father of neo-orthodoxy” • God makes Himself known as we encounter the Scriptures

Theological Liberalism Bible is merely a man-made book Theological Orthodoxy Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God

Theological Liberalism Neo-Orthodoxy Theological Orthodoxy Bible is merely Bible becomes Bible is the a man-made the word of inspired and book God as I inerrant Word receive it in of God faith

Orthodoxy Neo-Orthodoxy The Bible is the Word The Bible contains the of God Word of God Verbal Plenary Inspiration Authors interpreted events and words of God Truth is absolute Truth is relative

1906 -1945 • German theologian • Received his doctorate at the age of 21 • Traveled to America • Returned to Hitler’s Germany • Involved in the Confessing Church

1906 -1945 • Involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler • Funds used to aid escaping Jews traced back to him • Concentration camp • Execution

1906 -1945 “To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. ”

1906 -1945 “Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes. ”

How does a Christian committed to peace come to assist violence in combating unrestrained violence?

What do you do when patriotism and Christian faith collide?

What is the responsibility of a Christian when others are being persecuted and even executed?

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.

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

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 at the beginning of the new millennium?

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?

ALP due next week

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