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                  Letter to Brian McLaren

Brian,

I know you receive tons of emails, but I felt compelled to write and it is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will speak to you in an out of the ordinary way through this modest correspondence. 

I am a former Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher, and more than two years ago God called my husband and I out of the institutional church with all it’s programs, methods, and strategies of men to build the kingdom of God.  The Lord has since brought me to a place where I have had to rethink almost everything I had been taught in traditional church. So I was excited to read Barna’s October report (2005) about a great movement of God across the nation.  He said there are 20 million of us!  Committed believers are foregoing Sunday mornings to live a 24/7 faith unfettered by the clutter and bureaucracy within the church walls. (Barna, 2005, Book cover) 

A new reformation, a third great awakening – I was so excited! My husband ordered and we read the book.  But, while Barna said some wonderful things, something about it troubled my Spirit.  Barna mentioned the emergent church only once, but recommended many emergent resources in the back of the book.  Upon reading a few of the recommended sites, some of what is being said in the “conversation” echoes what the Spirit has been speaking to me. Still, I found I was uneasy in the Spirit and sought to prayerfully put my finger on why. 

 Then I read “A Letter to Friends of Emergent...” on your site, and suddenly I knew what was troublesome to the Spirit within me! I got a glimmer when you said, “The problem with the critics here is that they think they have a superior timeless gospel that floats above any culture...” I thought, “But the gospel does transcend culture...”  But as I read the words of Ed Chin, it really became clear, for he states the heart of the matter.  We must have “something proclaimed out of heaven, something that carries the majesty, the revelation, the heart and breath of God.” 

WE can never reach the people of the earth, no matter the language or culture we speak.  It takes a miracle.  It takes a Word from heaven.  It takes the Lord of the Universe opening their eyes – revealing Himself to them.  The eyes of the blind can only be opened by a Revelation from the Living God!  And that is precisely why I left the institutional church – there is precious little  Word from God there!  They rely on human methods to do what only the Spirit can do.  The church has relied on trying to meet people where they are for centuries. They relied on reaching people by intellect during the modern era; lately they have relied on meeting “felt needs” in the seeker-sensitive movement; and now emergent seeks to reach people by being relevant to them in their culture.     

We cannot simplify the gospel or try to make it more relevant so that it is understood.  At Pentecost, the Spirit transcended language and culture to give utterance to those who spoke (Acts 2:4) and understanding in their own language to those who would hear (Acts 2:8,11). This is how the gospel transcends culture – the Spirit must give utterance; the Spirit must give understanding.  A miracle must take place! Something supernatural must happen, for the natural man cannot understand the things of God. This is the only way that we will accomplish the admirable goal of “bringing the gospel of the kingdom of God to postmodern people with a style of incarnation that resonates with (and in fact continues) the original Incarnation.” 

As an illustration, several years ago I was troubled by the fact that those in the new believers class I was teaching appeared to be gaining very little understanding concerning the things of God.  They seemed unable to grasp what the Lord was giving me to teach and they were not reading the Bible or seeking God for themselves.  I longed to see them grow in the Lord, and I asked the Lord if I should use a simpler translation of the Bible to further their understanding.  After about a week of earnest prayer, the Lord spoke and said very simply, “They don’t need simpler translations.  They need more desire.” 

 In effect, we keep trying to give people earthbound  “simpler translations” in a heartfelt desire to see people come to know and follow Jesus.  But the House of the Lord must be built, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech 4:6).  It cannot be done in the natural, but must be done in the Spirit. 

I am reminded of 1 Corin. 1:21- 24, which says, “...it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

1 Corin. 2:13 goes on to say, “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy ghost teacheth;” 

We must speak as the Holy Spirit gives utterance and depend on Him alone for the increase if we are to be part of the building of His Kingdom.  It is the hardest task of all not to go forward in our own strength but to wait on the Lord.