I found truth in Pagitt's description of our changing values as we move from the Information Age to the Inventive Age. I am 23 and feel like I am straddling these two ages. Education - the pursuit of more knowledge - was the motto of my childhood. Now, as I study in a setting of higher education, the focus has shifted from what you know to what you can create.
I find his historical description of the phases of our existence helpful for our understanding of a changing church in the 21st century. I certainly sense that smaller churches better facilitate individual and family participation, ownership and engagement. People want to be among friends and family and know each others' names and stories. The dangers I see in the smaller church is that diversity is often compromised.
Another consequence of the changing values of the Inventive age is a change in the role of the pastor. Pagitt says that the pastor will shift from teaching, preaching, and leading to "facilitating open source faith experiences for the people of the church" (33). This is an idea that I have been playing with for some time. How would a church respond to a sermon that gives many people voice to interpret scripture? In my speculation - I think it would give permission and create the needed space for all to raise their voice and deeply consider scripture for themselves. In a time where biblical literacy is on a quick decline, this might be a great way to give people access to the scriptures. The danger is that we might leave the conversation of interpretation confused, frustrated to have to live in ambiguity, and feeling lost without one shared direction. The benefit is that all take ownership and live out the "priesthood of believers" not relying on anyone to spoon feed them the Gospel.
A few quotes/ideas I've enjoyed thus far:
"We are not called to change for change's sake. We are called to live faithfully in the time and place in which we live" ... if you just make change without thoughtfully considering why and how, you will only trade one set of problems for another. (5)
"The past is not our standard. It is not the test of whether something is right or good. But it's also not an albatross we need to shuck off as quickly as possible." (8)
"They (people who do not like that culture affects the church) like to think of the church as a bastion of stability in a sea of turmoil." (13)
Culture is what we think, what we value, what we do, and how we do it. Culture is like language, when we become accustomed to it we stop thinking about it. (38)
Expressions of culture in church - songs we sing, way we talk about the Bible, role of women, children, and elderly, arrangement of our furniture, the time we meet and the food we share. (39)
When language dies, culture dies with it (42). What are the implications for the language of the Bible in the 21st century?
"We tend to believe values are universal." (46) They are not. I've experienced this in my friendship with an African - I (American) value honesty and justice and she (African) values loyalty. What happens when these cultural values come into conflict? How do you negotiate/compromise values?
"Once a tool changes our sense of what's possible, it becomes inconceivable to hold on to the old way of thinking or understanding or being" (51)
I wrote a long set of comments, and lost them all as I tried to post. Now I'm experimenting to see how this works.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Steve. It appears that it does not save as you go in the comment section. Thanks for being open to this blog format. I think once we work out the kinks it will be a great way to facilitate dialogue. Please let me know how I might help!
ReplyDeleteOK, got it. Now I'll try again. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, Dawn.
As you rightly point out, Pagitt takes a sort of anthropological/sociological snap shot of the nature of the church. He evaluates the church against the backdrop of culture and historical moment. And this is indeed helpful in understanding the situation we find ourselves in.
Where it does not help us is in getting a handle on the purpose of the church. Why did Christ establish the church? What is the church for? Certainly it is not merely a cultural artifact.
And yet, for many churches the mission of the church seems to be the church. They are focused on self-preservation, self-education, self-realization, self-understanding, etc. Is this what Jesus had in mind as he sent his followers into the world?
A good illustration of why we have to go beyond the cultural/anthropological analysis of the church is the issue of size. There are indeed lots of advantages to "small" churches in terms of building and sustaining community. But is community--even great community--the purpose of the church? Maybe so. But if the church is commissioned by Christ to a larger Kingdom purpose/mission, then every small church must have some sort of strategy for growth and how they will manage their growth. The issue of diversity is another dimension of this, too.
I spoke with a person last week who is in a presbytery where there has not been a single adult baptism in the entire presbytery for over 5 years. While adult baptisms are merely one statistic, what does that say about how these churches view their purpose? How do they regard the commissions of Jesus in Matt. 28, John 20, Acts 1, etc.?
Great quotes! And some good questions to ponder. I am struck by your questions, for example, about conflicting values between cultures. Pagitt suggests that values are culturally specific, which is surely true. But are there also universal values, or "super"-values? For example, while "love" certainly has different cultural expressions, isn't love (and perhaps the rest of the fruit of the Spirit) a universal and perhaps even a "guiding" value?
Steve, that is indeed a place where I need to be pushed. What is the purpose of the church? Is it community or evangelism or both?
ReplyDeleteI studied Sociology and Spanish at my university and often get caught up in what makes the most sense to me (which is Pagitt's sociological/anthropological description of church as a cultural-human institution). The church is indeed a unique institution in that we are bound to one another across cultural and other boundaries. This bind is following of Jesus Christ!
I do think that the Kingdom makes most sense to me in a setting of community in which we must order our lives in the life of the Trinity- Caring for one another, forgiving one another, and building one another up in the love demonstrated to us in the Triune God.
I do also see that in order for us to resist the stagnation or degradation of the church institution, we must be just as focused on outward growth as we are on inward growth and sustainability.
My confession to you is that "evangelism" is one of my trigger words. In college, I lived in an International dorm and I remember sitting with friends who had been scared by Christians on campus coming to their door and telling them they needed to be saved. I have realized that this is only one form of evangelism and that I need to be pushed to take up my calling (Matt. 28) to evangelize. I just need to explore different methods. I would love to hear some suggestions of how you have observed grace-filled evangelism.
Thanks for your thoughts and for choosing this book!