Why I aim for a reformation

Over the past few weeks I've been interacting with a number of friends and fellow pioneers in the Netherlands about this question: should we take the structural reality of church as it is for granted and (within or out of that context) aim for maximum renewal and innovative missional experiments, or should we aim for a reformation that will shake the foundations of today's church, and re-defines and re-imagines church based on a deeper revelation of Christ and how He intended his Body to function?

Let me start to point out that I believe we need both, and both are valid aims to pursue. I believe it's unfruitful to polarize these two approaches. Innovators and reformers should stand side-by-side when it comes to pulling the church out of her comatic state of unfruitfulness. However, I decided (already a number of years ago) to bless the various expressions of much needed renewal, but aim for a deeper reformation of church. Yesterday, when sharing a meal with Matthijs and Martijn, I drew a picture to visualize the process we are in (click to enlarge).

Over the past few years we've seen quite a number of 'fresh expressions' emerge, that we label 'emerging church', 'missional projects', 'house church' or whatever name we prefer. Partly this was a reaction to traditionalism in the existing church, partly it was a genuine desire for the church to regain a missionary focus, partly it was a realisation that society is changing and therefore the church needs to change. All good and necessary. However, I believe that what we see so far is only the beginnings (the first 20 percent if you like) of a deeper reformation God wants to bring to the church.

Some people get nervous with that idea, because it means that some of the holy cows mentioned in my earlier post may have to die. Others, who are by nature more practically oriented (e.g. planting churches in real-life) look at reformation as highly idealistic, not really reachable, so why bother aiming at it, let's rather start where the opportunities are. As a practically oriented person I understand that hands-on approach, but as a prophet I'm also quite aware that God has a higher standard of maturity and fullness for the church than what the church (even the emerging church) functions in today.

Because of this higher standard I simply cannot aim lower. God wants us to come up to His level of seeing, understanding and acting, instead of expecting Him to descend to our level of 'doing church'. This is where I differ from my emerging comrades - I aim for a reformation (which is basically bridging the gap between where the church is now, and where God wants the church to be), while at the same time working in real-life with real people, real problems and - let's not forget that - a real God. It's quite well possible to be principled in what you aim for (and not lower that standard) and pragmatic in how to go about it (which should not be interpreted as combining the new with the old). Of course it's a tension, but it's a healthy tension, a tension we need to keep us holy dissatisfied, so that we continue to seek God for an Acts-type movement in our time.

Now practically, it looks like two initiatives are developing in the Netherlands. My friend Matthijs is forming a network for emerging/missional church planters, and I'm starting a webzine for reformation and innovation that pushes for 'more than meets the eye'. Also a relational 'Shift Network' is forming that connects the emerging reformers.

Comments

[daniel]

Hey Marc, erg boeiend allemaal! Ik vraag me wel af wat je bedoelt met de zin: 'This is where I differ from my emerging comrades - I aim for a reformation'. Kun je dit verduidelijken? Doen zij dat dan niet? Of wat is precies het verschil? Je presenteert het alsof jij verder wilt gaan dan emerging church etc., maar kun je dat concreter maken? Wat ontbreekt er volgens jou? Ben ik wel benieuwd naar. Grtz,

[Marc]

Laat ik het zo zeggen: Matthijs gaf aan dat hij de reformatie-dimensie niet echt ziet, en ik heb gemerkt dat dat bij wel meer mensen die zich associeren met 'emerging' het geval is. Dat is niet erg. Laten we het erop houden dat sommigen in de kerk profetisch wat verder zien dan anderen, net zo goed als sommigen meer missionair-incarnationeel zijn dan anderen.

Als je het niet erg vindt, laat ik dit thema even voor wat het is. Ik heb er de afgelopen vijf jaar regelmatig over geblogd. Hier drie links, maar er zijn er veel meer:

http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/files/ce_reformation_sheet.doc

http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2005/12/top5_postings_o.html

http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm3/2007/02/emerging_feedba.html

[danieldaniel]

tanx, ik ga het lezen

[Archie de Ceuninck van Capelle]

Je gaat een nieuw webzine starten? Hoe zal de opzet van het blad zijn? Wil je er ook hervormingsgezinde theologen bij betrekken?

[Gijs]

Deze reformatiegezinde theoloog-in-opleiding mag als veldcorrespondent wat rondrennen en neerpennen. Verhalen uit de praktijk weergeven. Daarnaast hoop ik wat bij te dragen aan de inhoudelijke discussie. Theologie is dus geen probleem, haha. Zolang we bepaalde (klassiek-)theologische valkuilen maar vermijden, lijkt mij.

Trouwens, lijkt me leuk en heel verrijkend, een Rooms-katholiek in de 'emerging conversation'.

[Marc]

Shiftzine zal het gebied van innovatie/emerging en reformatie bestrijken, vooral out-of-the-box. Zo'n 15 mensen hebben toegezegd af en toe een bijdrage te willen leveren. Focus is mensen te helpen shiften van kerkje spelen naar het Koninkrijk brengen.

Mensen die heel erg eager zijn, kunnen zich al aanmelden op www.shiftzine.nl.

Ik houd me zeker aanbevolen voor een katholieke bijdrage.

[Dirk-Jan]

Gaaf dat het shiftzine er gaat komen. Dit voorziet denk in een behoefte. Een mooie netwerk-knoop in de lage landen.
Ik ben benieuwd naar meer concrete voorbeelden van emerging church 'van eigen bodem'!

[Philip]

I have actually never thought of seperating Reform and innovation. Innovaters in the Old structure quickly hit strife and have to quickly decide whether they are going to push through the resistence (which means become reformers)or return to the status quo. Well this has been my experiance anyway!

[Marc]

Yes, it's not a matter of separating the two, but reformation as you say goes further than innovation. Church renewal normally stays within the parameters of a given church context, while reformation questions the very foundations of the status quo, and refuses to accept the given context if it doesn't match with the Word of God. Think of Luther: "I'm captive not to Rome, but to the Word of God."

Innovators often want to stay friends with the establishment, while reformers are not afraid to make enemies if they have to. They're quite aware of the religious (demonic) powers that uphold church systems. Their call to reformation comes from a deeper revelation of Christ, and is not directed against men, but against the forces of religion working through men and man-made structures.

I've worked as a church growth consultant for a number of years, and know that apart from a few exceptional cases where God moves the hearts of leaders, reformation is not possible in an existing church context where people have an invested interest to keep things the way they are. So while renewal can take place anywhere (and has been going on for years), a movement of reformation will inevitably start outside the existing church set-up.

[Archie de Ceuninck]

Hoi Marc,
een opmerking van technische aard over jouw Shiftzine. Ik begrijp dat het om een e-zine gaat. Er bestaat een goed systeem om magazines online te maken het heet "Open Journal Systems (http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs). Het wordt gebruikt voor wetenschappelijke tijdschriften, maar misschien is het ook wat voor jouw tijdschrift? In samenwerking met de developpers ben ik nu bezig het systeem in het Nederlands te vertalen en verder bekijk ik met de redactie van "Tijdschrift geestelijke verzorging" (waar ik ook bij zit) of we het systeem bij ons kunnen invoeren. Er is al 1 tijdschrift in Nederland dat ojs reeds gebruikt; http://library.wur.nl/ojs/index.php/njas. Misschien iets om te overwegen? Afhankelijk van de opzet van het tijdschift ben ik zeker wel bereid om te gaan schrijven!

[Marc]

Dank je, Archie. We kijken naar iets wat grafisch/visueel sterker is en volop interactief, een combinatie van weblog met goede ontsluiting van bijdragen.

[Archie de Ceuninck]

Is inderdaad grafisch niet zo sterk, maar biedt wel een goed gestroomlijnd peer-review proces. Maar misschien staat dat niet zo op de voorgrond bij Shiftzine?

[evelien]

Hoi,
Mag er even iets van het hart ?
Als ik de definities lees van innovater of reformer, dan herken ik mezelf in de reformer. Toch zou ik mezelf geen reformer willen noemen. God is de Reformer en ik volg. Dat maakt voor mij een groot verschil.
Heerlijk om dat met elkaar te delen en elkaar daarin aan te moedigen !
Evelien

[Simon]

I was thinking how in many ways the new churches formed during the Reformation took on many characteristics of the established church of the time. The break with the past was not total: theologically the new churches diverged considerably from the old, but the changes to the essential structure of the Church were quite superficial. We cannot help but take our past experience into new situations, and our choices tend to be influenced by what we know. It could be that in the "new reformation" the two kinds of initiatives (the one reforming the old and the other starting from scratch) will end up looking quite similar. I think both are essential, and need to draw from each other.

[Jenelle]

Hey Marc, hope you don't mind but I quoted you from this post in my final paper for a class at Fuller. I think your blog is great and hope you get to publish some writing in English, if you haven't already done so.