Jesus Cropped from the Picture

How Jesus Was Cropped from the Picture

Despite these artificially clean categories, navigating a church through these waters is not easy. For example, a church might have a Traditional pastor, an Emerging youth leader, and a Pragmatic chair of the elder board, none of whom can articulate their presuppositions, each confused by their friendly conflict, not knowing the reasons why. Church leaders may be confused about what they believe and may go through phases: trying Pragmatic approaches, then upon failure, attempting Emerging principles, followed by a season of going back to Traditional practices. The voices can be maddening: Be more biblical! Make sure it works! Be more relevant! Or there are many other distracting alternatives formed by culture, nostalgia, and common antagonists. How can church leaders find a way out of this mess? How can the picture be de-cropped to include Jesus, while allowing each church to retain its heritage, values, and traditions? These were the final questions I needed to answer before my journey was complete. Part Three (Back to the Future) will explain the satisfying end of my search. I found rest when I discovered a way back to the full picture of Jesus and his Kingdom Story, where Christians could be restored to vibrant faith.

Holy Spirit, guide us in the complexity of this age. There are so many competing voices shouting at us. We need your direction to point us back to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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