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9. Transformative Theologies
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61 9. Transformative Theologies F aced with the challenges outlined in the previous chapter, one is inclined to a rather dark view of future prospects for mainline churches. Here’s what the dark view looks like: the church trains its best and brightest candidates for ministry in seminaries, giving them three years of academic course work and, usually, some sort of internship experience. Then they are to go out to serve and grow the church, doing everything possible to keep their little congregations alive. Since most of their church attendees are over the age of sixty-five, the young clergy person is really being asked to build a ministry that is largely geared to the needs of this population, while somehow managing to attract new youth, young adults, and families at the same time. No wonder there is clergy burnout! We’re sending our best and our brightest out into the world with the mandate of conserving existing structures. But what they dream of when they enter seminary and begin taking my classes—and hopefully are still dreaming when they’re finished with these classes!—is to find new ways of being “church” in today’s world. These are fantastic, visionary men and women who want to renew the church and help transform society. What does the church do? It places them under immense pressure to maintain the existing structures. With this assignment, how are they to reach those who are leaving the church in droves? How are they to reach the seekers and those who are drifting further and further away from traditional institutional forms of religion? As one younger minister told me recently, “It’s as if we’re being sent out to provide hospice care to ailing congregations. Don’t they realize that most of these ‘patients’ just aren’t going to recover?” New books flooding the market talk about ways for the church to become (or stay) relevant to today’s world. Many, including those listed under “For Further Reading” on page 181, offer valuable concrete suggestions and I commend you to read and learn from them. Well-known speakers 62 | Transforming Christian Theology crisscross America lecturing on the same topic. These books and speakers describe the dramatic cultural changes that have created a new environment for the church today. Tripp Fuller interprets these cultural changes as “missiological barriers”—contextual challenges to communicating the gospel. Some individuals and denominations are employing creative methods in order to get their message through despite these challenges. Together with many others, however, we are worried that innovative techniques by themselves don’t go far enough unless they also free the gospel from its imprisonment within modern ways of thinking. Is it enough to add contemporary music or a few technological enhancements when the message is still couched in terms of absolute foundations and sets of mutually exclusive categories? Sure, let’s experiment boldly with new forms of worship and community, new ways of being church. But we must also do the hard work of freeing the Good News from modern, Western (and sometimes even distinctively American) assumptions with which it has become confused . A lot more is at stake than designing a few new programs. It’s about what and how we believe, which, as you now know, means it’s about theologies. This challenge is going to take some serious thinking. It will take the involvement of all of us, from the most famous heads of denominations to the humblest church attendees , if Christians are to succeed at formulating transformative theologies for this new age. A transformative theology is a powerful statement of what you believe, one that can guide and motivate transformative action in the world. After all, no number of church-growth strategies—Sunday school curricula, contemporary music, innovative social and community -building activities for adults, sexy new modes of youth ministry, crafty uses of mass media—will be sufficient if we cannot tell a convincing story of what it means to be Christian in today’s world. A disembodied, head-only theology is an empty husk, an invitation to hypocrisy and pride. Genuine theologies are always embodied. They are A transformative theology is a powerful statement of what you believe, one that guides and motivates transformative action in the world. [3.90.255.22] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 05:36 GMT) 9. Transformative Theologies | 63 what you believe with a passion and what you most deeply want your life to manifest. Genuine theologies lead to...