it's about 'what is church?' it's about whether 'emergent' is the latest Christian trend or something more substantial. it's musing on what it means to live faithfully...in the city, in America, in community, intergenerationally, at this time in history...
If you have a few minutes, you might try taking this test, to see where you land on the post-modern, neo-orthodox, fundamentalist spectrum of things. I'd be interested in hearing scores from some of you who take the test. I think you'll find that, not only are we an ecclectic community, but many of us are ecclectic even within our own self-contained worldviews!
posted by Richard Dahlstrom @ 4:42 PM
My name is Richard Dahlstrom, and I'm the Senior Pastor at Bethany Community Church in Seattle, WA. I've started this blog so that I can record my own thoughts about being a middle-aged pastor, in a great city, at the beginning of the 21st century. I've been at Bethany for over 10 years, and during this time, it seems that my entire theological world has been deconstructed, and recontructed again on the same foundation - with the end result feeling somewhat as if I've been through a squeezing machine, had some of the less essential elements removed, and came out on the other side feeling spacious, joyous, better able to love and enjoy all that life has to offer. The learning has come from all kinds of places: all kinds of books, music and art, the Bible, fellow pastors on staff, countless folk in our little flock, (an intergenerational lot consisting of lots of university students, and plenty of folk who remember where they were when Kennedy was shot) with whom I love to converse over good coffee, hikes and climbs in the Cascades, Colorado, Europe, my wife, my kids, and early mornings, again with good coffee, on the deck - quietly listening for the voice of the creator.
15 Comments:
You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan.
You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 93%
Reformed Evangelical 71%
Neo orthodox 68%
Fundamentalist 54%
Emergent/Postmodern 50%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 46%
Roman Catholic 21%
Classical Liberal 21%
Modern Liberal 14%
Same blurb as Whitney's with these percentages:
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 89%
Neo orthodox 68%
Reformed Evangelical 64%
Fundamentalist 61%
Emergent/Postmodern 57%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 39%
Modern Liberal 32%
Classical Liberal 25%
Roman Catholic 18%
I will take that test, thank you, and appreciate your posts. Keep writing
give my blog a read once in a while
You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.
Emergent/Postmodern
86%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
82%
Fundamentalist
61%
Neo orthodox
57%
Reformed Evangelical
57%
Classical Liberal
50%
Charismatic/Pentecostal
39%
Modern Liberal
29%
Roman Catholic
25%
Here are my results. I am not so surprised by the first outcome as I am by the second. Perhaps my great-grandfather's methodist roots are still present in my genes :)
Emergent/Postmodern 89%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 75%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 46%
Neo orthodox 46%
Reformed Evangelical 46%
Roman Catholic 43%
Modern Liberal 29%
Classical Liberal 18%
Fundamentalist 7%
I'm a little fascinated by the results! Didn't realize some of the tradition I'd been brought up in has stuck!
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79%
Roman Catholic 75%
Emergent/Postmodern 71%
Neo orthodox 68%
Fundamentalist 50%
Reformed Evangelical 39%
Modern Liberal 36%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 36%
Classical Liberal 25%
Well, I seem to be following the trend here pretty well. The surprising part to me was how many of the questions I'd never seriously thought about before. I had a lot of 'middle-of-the-road' answers. Definitely to my mind a good argument for me to consider a little bit more deeply my theology and the side effects of the things I am implicitly believing.
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan - 86%
Emergent/Postmodern - 64%
Classical Liberal - 54%
Reformed Evangelical - 50%
Roman Catholic - 50%
Neo orthodox - 46%
Modern Liberal - 43%
Charismatic/Pentecostal - 29%
Fundamentalist - 25%
WOW. who knew?
Neo orthodox79%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan79%
Emergent/Postmodern71%
Classical Liberal54%
Charismatic/Pentecostal54%
Reformed Evangelical46%
Modern Liberal36%
Roman Catholic36%
Fundamentalist11%
This certainly reflects a change in my perspective! I'm willing to bet most people reading Richard's blog will have similar results. Wow Pen, I wonder what that's all about?
You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.
Emergent/Postmodern 82%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 68%
Neo orthodox 61%
Classical Liberal 61%
Modern Liberal 50%
Reformed Evangelical 36%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 21%
Roman Catholic 18%
Fundamentalist 14%
You are neo-orthodox. You reject the human-centredness and scepticism of liberal theology, but neither do you go to the other extreme and make the Bible the central issue for faith. You believe that Christ is God's most important revelation to humanity, and the Trinity is hugely important in your theology. The Bible is also important because it points us to the revelation of Christ. You are influenced by Karl Barth and P T Forsyth.
Neo orthodox 82%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79%
Fundamentalist 79%
Reformed Evangelical 50%
Emergent/Postmodern 46%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 36%
Classical Liberal 25%
Modern Liberal 14%
Roman Catholic 11%
I've never been to Mass in my life, but there you have it.
You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.
Roman Catholic
79%
Emergent/Postmodern
75%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
71%
Neo orthodox
64%
Classical Liberal
43%
Reformed Evangelical
32%
Modern Liberal
29%
Charismatic/Pentecostal
21%
Fundamentalist
4%
You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
82%
Emergent/Postmodern
64%
Fundamentalist
61%
Neo orthodox
54%
Reformed Evangelical
43%
Classical Liberal
39%
Modern Liberal
32%
Charismatic/Pentecostal
29%
Roman Catholic
18
Not too suprised by the first one...and I guess not the second one (my career training, at least, encouraged holding opposite truths in tension!).
Emergent/Postmodern 79%
Neo Orthodox 61%
Modern Liberal 46%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 43%
Classical Liberal 39%
Roman Catholic 32%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 32%
Reform Evangelical 11%
Fundamentalist 7%
Interesting test. Post-modernism is a funny phenom because, by its nature, it wants to question categorization - not just in subcultures of theology/philosophy but also in our over-arching culture. So maybe the truest Emergent/Postmodern result is an evenly-divided pie chart. Or maybe it isn't. That's the slippery quality of PM. In any case, I'll have to look up that white-haired guy that showed up on my test results. Find out what I believe...
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 68%
Neo orthodox 61%
Emergent/Postmodern 61%
Classical Liberal 57%
Reformed Evangelical 54%
Fundamentalist 50%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 46%
Modern Liberal 43%
Roman Catholic 18%
You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.
Emergent/Postmodern
86%
Modern Liberal
71%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
68%
Classical Liberal
57%
Neo orthodox
54%
Roman Catholic
43%
Reformed Evangelical
36%
Charismatic/Pentecostal
32%
Fundamentalist
14%
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