Marc Van der Woude, the tall skinny Dutchman from Connect Europe, has written out some thoughts on what a new reformation could look like . This came out of a series of meetings last month in Prague with about 50 key leaders from all over Europe. Link Download .doc
“We believe that today’s church, especially in Europe, is in a serious spiritual crisis and needs a reformation of theology and practice in at least the following areas:
1. From idolatry to acknowledging Jesus Christ as the true head of his church. Idolatry is basically anything that robs Jesus of his legitimate place, like:
a. church programs that limit the flow of the Holy Spirit,
b. the clergy-laity divide, which is creating and maintaining a mediation structure between ‘ordinary’ people and Christ, and
c. denominationalism, dividing and disempowering the body based on human notions.
2. From religious church systems that keep people in a place of passivity, unfruitfulness and bondage to organic, life-giving, disciple-making movements based on the ministry of Jesus and the New Testament foundational values of church. This means the restoration of a ‘priesthood of all believers’ and a return to grassroots community, worship, mission and justice, bringing Jesus into people’s sphere of life.
3. From a church mainly focused on herself to embracing a holistic Kingdom counter-culture that will again impact our cities and regions. Jesus is Lord of all creation, therefore we bring His presence and the values of his Kingdom into every sphere of life, including government, economy, media, education, sports, arts, science, technology and the environment.
4. From unbiblical tithing schemes and investing in maintenance Christianity (pastors, buildings, church programs) to aligning our finances and possessions with God’s heart and purposes: the poor and oppressed, reaching the unreached, mobile apostolic teams, and serving our communities.
5. From unhealthy one-pastor and one-man leadership structures to multiple-ministry teams that hear from God together and maintain covenant-type relationships of mutual encouragement and accountability. These teams are prophetic-apostolic in nature, in the sense that they hear from God and act with a focus to see His Kingdom come. They can include men and women in all ministries mentioned in Ephesians 4. A reformation in the church will also prepare us for shaking and hard times (like terror, persecution and economic trouble) by developing a deeper dependency on God and persecution-proof (organic) church structures.
Very encouraging. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall.
Just had a couple of comments about the semanics of evolution over revolution with Kester and bottom up change. My response was I think change does come bottom up at its best. But I think the emerging church has reached a certain point where defintion becomes important to help the process continue. The sticking point is that there will be a reluctance to redefine big doctine like church. maybe the semanics would be better like “through evolution to redefintion” What do you reckon?
So i would really encourage some kind of defintion (that is not too fixed) as part of the process.
Great story about EB. He is such a man of God. Fred joins me as we pray blessings to you and your family.
5 issues for a new Reformation
Andrew (TSK) Jones notes,
Marc Van der Woude, the tall skinny Dutchman from Connect Europe, has written out some thoughts on what a new reformation could look like . This came out of a series of meetings last month in Prague with about 50 key leaders…