{"id":12818,"date":"2017-05-18T16:02:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T23:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=12818"},"modified":"2017-05-18T16:02:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T23:02:58","slug":"we-shall-not-be-moved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/we-shall-not-be-moved\/","title":{"rendered":"WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SHAPING THE CHURCH, \u00a0THE PROMISE OF IMPLICIT THEOLOGY<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Percy approaches the Churches\u2019 views and practices of Implicit Theology. \u00a0He identified \u2018Implicit Theology\u2019 as \u201cexamining the basic theological habits of the daily life of churches, congregations, and denominations and guessing at the hidden meanings in structures and practices that on the surface appear to be benign and innocent.\u201d (2) This book intrigued by interest as it relates to the religious views of the establishment religious institutes and including the new church movement effect on the establishment teachings. I drew close to Part I, Sacraments &#8211; Spiritual Life as it relates to my dissertation. \u00a0I focused on Part II, Chapter 4 \u2013 Fresh Expression A Critique of Consumerism in this blog.<\/p>\n<p>Some churches are stalled in their spiritual growth, relationship with God and attendance. Malachi 3:6 has been used by preachers for years, \u201cFor I am the Lord, I change not.\u201d\u00a0 Church denominations use it to support their polity, maintaining their views, traditions, authority to name a few. Haven\u2019t you heard, \u201cWe have always done it this way!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s just the way it is!\u201d \u201cIt worked well for our ancestors (parents and their parents).\u201d\u00a0 Dr. Percy referenced Woodhead and Heelas using Luke 10:2-28 as a response to the Fresh Expression movement\u2019s methodology by saying \u201cJesus did not reply to the rich man inquiring about eternal life saying, \u2018well, what works for you?\u201d (77) These Church Christians may be responding in fear to the unknown and what they believe to be a threat to their longtime beliefs and traditions.<\/p>\n<p>There are believers (unchurched) who challenge the heart of God because of the heart of church folks. Many individuals don\u2019t want to be churchy or religious but look to be spiritual. Their disenchantment with religion, church polity, hypocrites, and stale teaching\/worship has fueled the success of \u201cchurches of hope.&#8221; The Lead Preachers speak of love, hope, forgiveness, and having a personal relationship with God. Dr. Percy refers to a movement in England as \u201cFresh Expression.\u201d I believe that is a good term for the Christian church movement in America.<\/p>\n<p>These new church movements could be defined as a church which provides a haven that relates to the culture of the current times and reaches to the people who are not interested in the traditional way of worship and serving. Dr. Percy states the Church of England Fresh Expressions websites defines a \u201cFresh Expression as a form of church for our changing culture established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church\u2026\u201d (67)\u00a0 These churches do in fact have a structure similar to the church institution, for example, providing worship service, bible study, and fellowship. Some preachers criticize their methodology but defend their personal presentation of the gospel to a traditional preacher as the same message but presented in a different way.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/herestoallthepeople-who-disagree-withmytheology-but-haventunfriendedmeyet-we-are-still-called-2656642.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-12821\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/herestoallthepeople-who-disagree-withmytheology-but-haventunfriendedmeyet-we-are-still-called-2656642-242x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"183\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/herestoallthepeople-who-disagree-withmytheology-but-haventunfriendedmeyet-we-are-still-called-2656642-242x300.png 242w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/herestoallthepeople-who-disagree-withmytheology-but-haventunfriendedmeyet-we-are-still-called-2656642-150x186.png 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/herestoallthepeople-who-disagree-withmytheology-but-haventunfriendedmeyet-we-are-still-called-2656642-300x371.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/herestoallthepeople-who-disagree-withmytheology-but-haventunfriendedmeyet-we-are-still-called-2656642.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 183px) 100vw, 183px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s not misunderstand; I am not promoting that all new movements are great, nor am I saying all old establishment religious groups are bad. We all have faults. The Fresh Expression movement in England focuses on gathering in small groups, similar to the New Testament church where the people met in their homes, caves, etc. Dr. Ronald Morgan addresses the New Testament Theology as \u2018Implicit Theology.\u2019 He stated that \u201cNew Testament theologians interpret these writings by rational methods; they attend to the letter, aware that only the Spirit can convince anyone of religious truth.\u201d <a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a> The new movements in America (Houston) are large assemblies with cell groups. They have rapidly grown to multiple locations. They do not promote membership in the church but he referred to it as associated with or belonging to the church.<\/p>\n<p>Another point presented in the Chapter was the effect of the movement on \u201clegitimizing support for preferred causes with the promise of immediacy, and a clear return on a focused investment; whilst undermining the organizations that sustain our social and spiritual capital.\u201d (77) There are numerous prosperity preachers connected to establishment religious denominations who transformed into a different dimension of gospel teaching. We, the people of the established traditional religious churches have weekly supported Malachi 3:10 to financially support the church, \u2018give of your tithes as commanded in the Old Testament and see won\u2019t God open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you don\u2019t have room to receive. If you don\u2019t, you are stealing from the church.\u2019 We also say, \u2018Ask in the name of Jesus, and you shall receive.\u201d These are a part of the gospel that is preached from the traditional church pulpit. Yet, we challenge the prosperous teaching of other preachers. Our focus should be on the intent of the message including our own.<\/p>\n<p>I have visited and viewed several of these new movements in Houston, and I have found some of their methodology alarming and informing. Most did not offer the invitation to a Church membership but an invitation to Christ. They spoke on \u201cbeing a cheerful giver.\u201d One lead pastor said to the visitors they were not required to give an offering but could if they wish. We do want to ensure your salvation. He asked them to consider making Jesus their Lord and Savior. If they do, then their next step is baptism.\u201d There&#8217;s no longer the walk down the long aisle and shake the pastor&#8217;s hand ceremony. \u00a0They ask them to text their contact information to receive a one time link to resources to help them with their walk with Christ. This new environment in my limited observation does not promote relationship with others in the church setting. Where is the fellowship among believers? I am still open to understanding by interacting with the new movement churches more than once to see what the newness is all about.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Percy concludes with the Fresh Expression movement can be seen as \u201can implicit theology based on its form of faith that expresses contemporary \u201csecular\u2019 preoccupations\u2026\u201d (78)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Morgan, Robert. <em>New Testament Theology as Implicit Theological Interpretation of Christian Scripture<\/em>, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 2016, Vol. 70(4) 383\u2013398, accessed May 17, 2017, www. sagepub.co.uk\/journalsPermissions.nav,DOI: 10.1177\/0020964316655106.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SHAPING THE CHURCH, \u00a0THE PROMISE OF IMPLICIT THEOLOGY Dr. Percy approaches the Churches\u2019 views and practices of Implicit Theology. \u00a0He identified \u2018Implicit Theology\u2019 as \u201cexamining the basic theological habits of the daily life of churches, congregations, and denominations and guessing at the hidden meanings in structures and practices that on the surface appear to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[963],"class_list":["post-12818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-martyn-percy","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12818"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12822,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12818\/revisions\/12822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}