Like many of you, I’ve been devouring episodes of the “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” podcast from Christianity Today. But, with the end of the podcast now here, what is next? Well, I’ve already set out some preliminary Lessons from the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill
One temptation to all his exposure of toxicities in churches will be to tell stories of good churches, and we will end up valorizing them and the next thing we will be creating more celebrity pastors and celebrity churches. Which at least in part got us into this trouble. We resisted telling good stories of living pastors and churches in A Church called Tov for that very reason. I know you are not suggesting this one bit and are instead saying we’ve had enough of the exposure (I mostly agree) but we have a hero problem in evangelicalism and it needs to be dealt a death blow, and perhaps these exposures will accomplish that.
Not a podcast, but Winn Collier’s bio of Eugene Peterson “A Burning In My Bones” has been a nice antidote to all of the dismay of Mars Hill and the like.
I’m sure plenty of people are aware of it. But wanted to share as a way of pointing towards something a bit more life giving, especially for anyone in ministry.
I appreciate your articulation of the issues related to the exposing of church scandals, Michael. Certainly it is good to expose what is evil and bring it into the light. But yet, how much knowledge of the good, right and beautiful can we get from starring into the corrupt and ugly? Scott McKnight's point is good too: On the flip side, when does an exaltation of the good in our day become corrupting to that good?
Related: a discussion by the editors of a journal called Ad Fontes really gave me alot to think about regarding the subject. They discuss how a philosophy and theology of sin can affect the way we talk about church scandals. (Ad Fontes is a journal of protestant letters put out by the Davenant Institute).
We all must take heed unto ourselves and work out our salvation with fear and trembling! As George MacDonald wrote, "Am I going to do a good work? Into thy hands I commend my spirit." (As I remember the quote, not exact)
One temptation to all his exposure of toxicities in churches will be to tell stories of good churches, and we will end up valorizing them and the next thing we will be creating more celebrity pastors and celebrity churches. Which at least in part got us into this trouble. We resisted telling good stories of living pastors and churches in A Church called Tov for that very reason. I know you are not suggesting this one bit and are instead saying we’ve had enough of the exposure (I mostly agree) but we have a hero problem in evangelicalism and it needs to be dealt a death blow, and perhaps these exposures will accomplish that.
Not a podcast, but Winn Collier’s bio of Eugene Peterson “A Burning In My Bones” has been a nice antidote to all of the dismay of Mars Hill and the like.
I’m sure plenty of people are aware of it. But wanted to share as a way of pointing towards something a bit more life giving, especially for anyone in ministry.
Resonate with this for sure
I appreciate your articulation of the issues related to the exposing of church scandals, Michael. Certainly it is good to expose what is evil and bring it into the light. But yet, how much knowledge of the good, right and beautiful can we get from starring into the corrupt and ugly? Scott McKnight's point is good too: On the flip side, when does an exaltation of the good in our day become corrupting to that good?
Related: a discussion by the editors of a journal called Ad Fontes really gave me alot to think about regarding the subject. They discuss how a philosophy and theology of sin can affect the way we talk about church scandals. (Ad Fontes is a journal of protestant letters put out by the Davenant Institute).
Here is the link to the episode if curious: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNzI2NDU3LnJzcw/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC05MTc2MTg0?ep=14
We all must take heed unto ourselves and work out our salvation with fear and trembling! As George MacDonald wrote, "Am I going to do a good work? Into thy hands I commend my spirit." (As I remember the quote, not exact)
After this podcast I am afraid we will need to beware of the rise of an anti-movement bias. Some of my thoughts here: http://muslimministry.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-potential-dark-side-of-movements.html
I recommend "Tides of History."