The Post-Modern and PostChristian Era Church

Lesson 15 29 January 2012

The Post War Ecumenical Movement

The Mainstream Protestant Denomination Movement to Unify the Church
US: The Seven Sisters: The United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the American Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the Churches of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church US: The Federal Council of Churches (1908) becomes the National Council of Churches (1951)

Cooperate on politics, social issues and missionary efforts The World Council of Churches (1948)
The Lausanne Conference of Faith and Order (1927) The Uppsala Conference (1968) The Nairobi Conference (1975) The Vatican II Council (1962- 1965) Pope John XXIII The emphasis was to be pastoral and not doctrinal (no challenges to Papal Infallibility, the doctrine of Mary, etc) Protestants were to be described as separate brethren not heretics Mass was to be held in the vernacular; the laity could take the cup and were the people of God Bible reading by the laity now encouraged The Bible and Tradition were now seen as one common expression of the Holy Spirit December 7, 1965: Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras lifted the order of excommunication

Roman Catholic Ecumenical Movement

Changes Made out of Vatican II

The Evangelical Movement

The National Association of Evangelicals established (1942) Norman Vincent Peale and the Positive Thinking Movement (1935) Billy Graham and the Modern Evangelical Revival
The 1949 Los Angeles Tent Revival The 1957 New York Crusade 2.3 million attend; 61,000 recorded decisions The 1973 Seoul, South Korea Crusade 3 million attend in 5 days Pioneers the use of Television and Radio The 1974 Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism 1/3rd attendees are from Third World Rejects the formation of denominations Centers in Bible Colleges, Universities and Seminaries that were fundamentalist 1973: The Chicago Statement on Inerrancy of the Scriptures Organizations that function separate from a denomination or church, usually focused in evangelism or on social issues Examples: Campus Crusade for Christ, Francis Schaeffer and LAbri, Navigators, Focus on the Family The Moral Majority and Jerry Falwell as an example

The Bible Church Movement and the Non-Denominational Movement

The Rise of Para-Church Organizations

1980: The Year of the Evangelicals and entry into the political arena

The Mega Church Movement

The Charismatic Movement and the Third Wave

The Charismatic Movement
1960: Dennis Bennett Episcopal Minister in Van Nuys, CA speaks in tongues Movement spreads to mainline Protestant Churches 1967: Spreads to Roman Catholic Churches at a retreat at Duquesne University, Pennsylvania The Full Gospel Mens Fellowship International Grows out of the teachings of John Wimber and C. Peter Wagner at Fuller Theological Seminary in California Originally emphasized signs and wonders as a tool of evangelism in the Third World Wimber founded the Anaheim Christian Fellowship that expanded into the Vineyard movement Emphasizes the experience of signs and wonders over doctrine Grew out of the 1960s Hippie movement in San Francisco, CA Emphasized communal living and holding all material things in common Formed the basis for the modern Christian music movement Kenneth Hagin and the Rhema Bible Training Institute influenced by New Thought of Esek Kenyon Spread by Televangelists such as Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, etc Emphasis is on the power of the word to create things such as health and wealth

The Third Wave Movement

The Jesus People Movement

The Word-Faith Movement

Radical Church Movements

Liberation Theology
Emerged from Latin America in the 1960s during the period of Marxists Revolutions Gustavo Gutierrez and A Theology of Liberation (1973) Emphasis: Theology begins with the practice of liberating the oppressed masses from the societal structures and institutions that hold them in place Black Liberation Theology: James Cone and the Black Liberation Church Movement centered in the Black Church of Christ Feminist Liberation Theology: Centered in Methodist Church and is expressed in terms of the worship of the goddess Sophia Alfred North Whitehead, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and centered in the University of Chicago Emphasis is on evolutionary process and that God is in the process of becoming just as man is The world is evolving toward a new and more perfect order with God involved in the process Based on the atheistic existentialism and will to power of the writings of Frederick Nietzche Emphasizes the horrors of World War II, the Holocaust and the Atomic Age God is dead because He no longer is involved in the thought process of man Emphasizes the secular age and the search for God internal to each individual (pantheistic) Jurgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg Looks to the future as unfolding revelation instead of the past Biblical Revelation

Process Theology

The God is Dead Movement Theology

The Theology of Hope

The Post-Modernist Challenge

Post-Modernism is a reaction to the Modernist idea that beginning from oneself, you can determine all truth (There is an objective truth to be found) Definition: Post-Modernism is the philosophy that there is no defining truth (meta-narrative) and that truth is merely a construct by those in power to control those without power. Truth is found only in the group of like-minded individuals or in single individuals. Deconstructionism
Began as a literary movement; grew into a social movement Society, literature or any structure is defined by those in power and it must be deconstructed in order to find the power narrative and then be re-interpreted in light of that power structure The Goal is to identify and destroy the power structure so that liberation may take place A reaction to the Religious Right with in the Evangelical Movement Based on the Post-Modernist ideas and that the Institutional Church must be deconstructed Emphasizes social responsibility, social welfare and the use of politics to free people over doctrine and the teachings of the Bible Claims to be re-claiming the early Church Popularized by Rob Bell, John Etheridge (Wild at Heart), William P. Young (The Shack)

The Emergent Church Movement

Observations on Church History

God continues to work in the world and in history; our challenge is to discover where He is working and join Him
Christianity is truly a global religion The Center of the Church is shifting from Great Britain/US to Africa, Central/South America and Asia

The Church is neither as strong as she seems nor as weak The Challenges of the 21st Century mirror the challenges of the 1st Century as secularization and urbanization continue to increase Technology is a tool; not an end in itself and it can be used to do either Satans work or the Lords work The Word of God is the same yesterday, today and forever and we deviate from it at our own peril as exemplified in Church History The Church is far more than an institution or a building and God is far more interested in His people being unified in purpose and in action as opposed to unified in one practice God loves the Church and works through it; shouldnt we?

References
Brown, Colin. Christianity and Western Thought vol. 2 Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries Cross, F. L. and E. A. Livingstone ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Lewis, Clive Staples. The Complete Works of C.S. Lewis Wells, David. _________ _________ No Place for Truth Losing Our Virtue God in the Waste Land