Younger Evangelicals

E. Webber Robert

Description

Robert E. Webber has led worship workshops in every major city in the United States and Canada. Through his conversations and contacts with a network of emerging church leaders he calls the "younger evangelicals," Webber sees how this new generation and their style of leadership is bringing change and renewal to the evangelical church. These leaders, who include those young in spirit as well as young in age, have important insights to offer all generations faced with "doing church" in a rapidly changing postmodern culture. The Younger Evangelicals explores the characteristics of these emerging leaders and provides an outlet for their stories. Beginning with a brief overview of twentieth-century evangelicalism, Webber examines what is different about the twenty-first century younger evangelicals' way of thinking about faith and practicing church. He allows them-Ph.D.s and laypeople-to speak in their own words on issues such as communication, theology, apologetics, pastoral leadership, evangelism, worship, and spiritual formation. Thought provoking, energizing, and timely, The Younger Evangelicals is a landmark book for pastors and church leaders, culture watchers, ministry students, and worship leaders who want to prepare for and respond to the new evangelical awakening brought on by our changing cultural context.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History of Christianity
• History of religions
• Christianity
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781585583904
• Langue: English

Extrait

© 2002 by Robert E. Webber
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-58558-390-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
To my students at
Wheaton College
1968–2000
Every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.
J ESUS
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epilogue
List of Tables
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1 Introduction to the Younger Evangelicals
1. A Century of Evangelicals
2. A New Kind of Evangelical
Part 2 The Younger Evangelical Thinkers
3. Communication: From Print to Cultural Transmission
4. History: From Ahistorical to Tradition
5. Theology: From Propositionalism to Narrative
6. Apologetics: From Rationalism to Embodiment
7. Ecclesiology: From Invisible to Visible
Part 3 The Younger Evangelical Practitioners
8. Being Church: From Market to Mission
9. Pastors: From Power to Servanthood
10. Youth Ministers: From Parties to Prayer
11. Educators: From Information to Formation
12. Spiritual Formation: From Legalism to Freedom
13. Worship Leaders: From Program to Narrative
14. Artists: From Constraint to Expression
15. Evangelists: From Rallies to Relationships
16. Activists: From Theory to Action
Part 4 Conclusion
17. A New Kind of Leadership for the Twenty-First Century
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Backads
Tables
The tables in this volume attempt to present the differences between traditional, pragmatic, and younger evangelicals. I intend them to show general directions and cannot, because of their brevity, capture various nuances. Please use these tables as guides for thought and discussion, not as statements of absolute accuracy. Overview of Traditional, Pragmatic, and Younger Evangelicals Comparison of Traditional, Pragmatic, and Younger Evangelicals Three Cycles of Evangelicals in the Twentieth Century The Cycles of Traditional, Pragmatic, and Younger Evangelical Histories The Impact of Communication Theory Attitude toward History and Tradition Approach to Theology Approach to Apologetics Approach to Ecclesiology Approach to the Missional Church Approach to Leadership Approach to Youth Work Approach to Education Approach to Spiritual Formation Approach to Worship Approach to the Arts Journey to Jesus Approach to Evangelism Approach to Social Action
Illustrations The Cross-Training Model of Mission The Younger Evangelical Leadership Circle
Acknowledgments
A book like The Younger Evangelicals could not have been written without the input of a lot of people.
I first need to thank Northern Seminary for appointing me to the Myers Chair of Ministry with its greatly reduced teaching load. This much needed release from teaching has given me the time to do the research and writing of this book.
Second, my thanks to the people at Baker Books. They trusted my hunch there was a story here and gave me a contract with confidence that what I thought about the twenty-somethings was indeed true. It turns out the story is more extensive than either of us dreamed. Thanks, too, for the able editing of Chad Allen, who is also a twenty-something. He looked, not only at the writing, but also at the ideas through the eyes of “someone who thinks this way.”
Then there were the many people who helped me reflect on the changes being made by the twenty-somethings. Thanks to my twenty-six-year-old Northern Seminary assistant, Ashley Olsen, who is alive to our postmodern world, especially in worship, spirituality, and all the arts. There is that special group of very bright young men, Wheaton students who served as my focus group. Thanks for the many luncheons in the college cafeteria where we pored over the ideas and worked through so many issues. These students, Joseph Clair, Tim Leininger, and Joel Handy, also made lengthy contributions to the manuscript, as did Ashley Olsen. Tullian Tchividjian, minister to young adults at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, sent a perceptive article, unsolicited, at just the right time.
Thanks, too, to Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan; to Joe McDonald and Kurt Vickman from Christ Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis for their description of youth worship; to Ron Martoi, pastor of Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, Michigan; to Steve Skaff, a former Wheaton student; to Julie Vigors, a Bethel Seminary student; and to many others who contributed.
Many people contributed by answering an email questionnaire. Most of them provided me with extensive answers to my questions. Their insights are quoted throughout the manuscript. A special word of appreciation goes to the following people: Chris Alford, minister of music at Smithwood Baptist Church, Knoxville, Tennessee; Jason Archer, youth pastor, Spring Arbor, Michigan, Free Methodist Church; Tory Baucum, teacher in the Beeson program at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky; Paul Christenson, minister of music and worship, West Court Street Church of God, Indiana; David Clark, professor of theology, Bethel Theological Seminary, Minnesota; Don Curran, graduate student in ministry, Berkeley University, California; Nathan Coleson, coleader of Breaking Bread, a street ministry to homeless people in Chicago; Dale Dirksen, director of worship arts, Briercrest College Seminary, Saskatchewan, Canada; David Di Sabatino, editor of Worship Leader Magazine , California; Tim Erdell, librarian and assistant professor of religion and philosophy, Bethel College, Indiana; John Green, executive director, Emmaus Ministries, Chicago; Dawn Haglund, pastoral ministry, D.C. Vineyard; Paul Jones, student, Regent College, Vancouver; Russell Jung, racial reconciliation, New Hope Covenant Church, Oakland, California; Jonathan Nelms, minister of music and worship, First Baptist Church, Cooksville, Tennessee; Bruce McEvoy, student, Northern Seminary, Lombard, Illinois; Frank Nihart, music minister, First Baptist Church, Troy, Alabama; Kyle Roberts, graduate student, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois; James Stump, assistant professor of philosophy, Bethel College, Minneapolis; David Taylor, pastor of arts and teaching ministries, Hope Chapel, Austin, Texas; and Bernie Van De Walle, assistant professor of theology, Canadian Bible College, Regina, Canada. In the event I have missed one or two contributors, I apologize.
I also need to acknowledge that I drew from the website material of several twenty-somethings. Acknowledgment of these writers and of the websites that contained their material is made in the footnotes. Here I wish simply to admit how much I learned from these younger thinkers and to express thanks for their contributions to my thoughts.
Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to those who work with me day by day. A special word of thanks goes to Carmen Martinez who has so faithfully worked as my assistant at the Institute for Worship Studies, the Illinois office. Her tireless work at the computer and her cheerful servanthood attitude are a constant encouragement to me. And then, there is my wife, Joanne. How could I ever thank her enough? Her sharp and critical mind keeps me accountable. Her willingness to give me the time to write is a freedom without which this book could not have been written.
Thanks to all these very special people who have enriched my life and continue to do so.
Introduction
This is a book about an emerging generation of leaders, the younger evangelicals. It is also a book about all evangelicals because it tells the story of evangelical roots in the twentieth century and how and why evangelicalism in the next century will be different.
Evangelical Christianity is in a state of change. The change taking place is not abrupt, nor simple. This book interprets the changing face of evangelicalism since about 1950 and projects where evangelicalism is going in the next decades. History is best told after the fact, yet there are discernible shifts and seeds of thought that will probably flower in the near future. Consequently, I interpret what I have seen and project what I foresee. But I do so recognizing the complexity of change and with the underlying conviction that evangelicalism has an unchanging message for a changing culture.
Not everyone will read this book in the same way. If you were born before 1975, you may read from the perspective of the twentieth century. If you were born after 1975, you will probably read from the perspective of the twenty-first century. But this is a generalization. You may break the mold.
I write from both perspectives. I was born in 1933 and have spent my whole life in the evangelical world. Like others my age, I was shaped by the issues of the twentieth century with its emphasis on reason and science. But I have been shaped by the shift into the twenty-first century as well. I straddle the two paradigms, as do many of us who are seeking to make sense of the enormous changes currently taking place.
For those of us born before 1975, it is a stretch to understand the “new world” and to affirm the younger evangelicals’ response to it. For those born after 1975, it is a stretch of equal proportion to