What exactly are criticisms of Christendom 1 that must be avoided in Christendom 2.0?
(1) It was sometimes repressive / opressive / co-ercive. Christendom 2.0 must be voluntary through the spread of the gospel by the power of the Spirit as rulers and people become attentive to the Word of God, join the church and ask for help to be obedient to God as public as well as private persons, citizens and governors.
(2) It sometimes forgot Christ for the sake of the -dom. Christendom 2.0 must remain distinctively Christians and never compromise or sell out to the world. It must remember the antithesis, the lack of neutrality, the absolute crown rights of King Jesus to be Lord of All if he is to be Lord at all and the sufficiency of God's inerrant Word for all areas of public and private life.
Anything else or are we all signed up for this project (a.k.a. gospel work, doing ministry, discipling the nations) already?
Monday, September 15, 2008
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2 comments:
DOING ministry?
i went to a useful seminar on Web 2.0 yesterday. I know that's the not the same as Christendom 2.0 - but it made me think about a number of things. Peter Sanlon gave a really go contrast between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is all about connecting people, relationships, interaction and user generated content. (eg Wikipedia, Facebook, Youtube)
What makes evangelicals nervous with Web 2.0 - and possible Christendom 2.0 (in a Web 2.0) is that we may present the truth in a way that makes it look negotiable or flexible. We worry about post-modernism and all that stuff. In fact we just need to do things a little differently since the top-down method is no longer culturally acceptable. Now, God is Top-down. But Jesus talked to people. He engaged in dialogue in order to teach. But that did not make the truth negotiable or synthesised. Our preaching, our teaching and our church life, then, needs to reflect dialogue and relationship more than it might have done in the past, I suspect. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. (Unless your Brian McLaren who runs too far in that direction.)
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