nuance

Something More
The “something more” I mentioned last time is really at the heart of what I mean by “post-Reformed.” In the incessant debates over 5 points and 3 words and 1 variant and various -isms, there are a couple of possible outcomes that maintain general Christian unity. One is for the two sides to retain their differences and yet pursue an emphasis in teaching and theology that is focused on a middle way. Another is for the two sides to still hold tightly to their systems and yet understand the frailty of systems and so embrace one another as Christians.

But there is something even better than these two options, and this is the heart of my post-Reformed identity. It is not just charity towards disagreeable brethren and not just emphasis on a middle way but also a passionate pursuit of community among those of different views.

In my local community of believers, there are people from a variety of theological backgrounds. There are people who have been reared within the strong fortress of Reformed teaching and have been taught to regard all other systems with suspicion. There are those who have grown up in the loving atmosphere of Arminian thought and have been shocked and even repulsed by a Calvinistic or monergistic view of conversion. For some there are strong relational aspects to their theological commitment; moms and dads and dear church leaders taught them this way of thinking, and it’s hard to let that go. For some there is a gutteral emotional aspect, and they find themselves torn up by the thought of having to embrace the other view.

As a leader in this community, what am I supposed to do?

What has always been done
Here’s the way it always goes: the leader takes a side. In the worst situations, he takes a side with reckless abandon and forces, if not actively then by insinuation, a division in the body. People who hold an opposite view are oppressed by the heavy preaching against them; and eventually they leave. Let me just say that even those churches that pay lipservice to a tolerance of various theological opinions, the fomenting message from the pulpit tells the real tale, and the prideful attitude towards “bad theology” proves to be too much for those on the outside.

In the best situations, the leader still takes a side - he is a Calvinist or a non-Calvinist, and the pulpit message, and the party line, is one or the other, - but he does his level best to be as charitable as possible. Perhaps he preaches as infrequently as possible about the issue. Perhaps he avoids it altogether. Perhaps he even advocates for a middle way. In this situation, there can be peaceful coexisting; but usually, the congregation eventually becomes pretty uniform and those with opposing views either give up their views or move on to another church.

As I think about my little community, I find both of these alternatives to be intolerable. I do not want to see any division over systematic theology; I want to be united in an emphasis on Jesus and the biblical story. I want to passionately pursue community with those of either view or background and to passionately - exclusively, even - preach the middle way.

Passionately preaching the middle way
When a leader decides that he will no longer take a side - no longer identify himself as Calvinist or Arminian - then he has opened himself up to passionately preaching the middle way. That is, he has made a commitment, a determination, that he will no longer abide the division over systematics that plagues the church universal - that he will not contribute to this disease. He has become, as the hippies would say, globally minded - thinking again in broad terms, in positive, hopeful terms, believing in the ancient truth that there is indeed a holy catholic church and that the hope for the world is its health and unity.

If that kind of global-mindedness seeps into the heart of that preacher and bleeds out into his preaching before the local congregation the result is a corporate passion, not for a theological system, but for a glorious church and a redeemed planet earth.

Which is also, I think, the biblical vision.