Vintage Christianity

Greg and I had the pleasure to meet and have a long conversation with Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA.  Dan is one voice in a broad spectrum of Christians called "emergent" exploring what the church should be like in the current culture to fulfill its mission for God's Kingdom.  Dan's approach is to be a "vintage Christian" in a modern world, and from what I know I like this approach.  Here's how Dan describes being vintage "post-seeker-sensitive": 

Going back to a raw form of vintage Christianity, which unapologetically focuses on kingdom living by disciples of Jesus.  A post-seeker-sensitive worship gathering promotes, rather than hides, full displays of spirituality (extended worship, religious symbols, liturgy, extensive prayer times, extensive use of Scripture and readings, etc.) so that people can experience and be transformed by the message of Jesus.  This approach is done, however, with renewed life and is still "sensitive" as clear instruction and regular explanation are given to help seekers understand theological terms and spiritual exercises.

Dan's assessment of the "postmodern" culture is that we have to listen carefully to the questions and needs being expressed, but people are still looking for truth and Christianity offers true truth that is the hunger of every human soul.  While thinking through how the church can reach non-Christians in our culture, he also reaches back to what has united the Church through the centuries - the Creeds and the revelation of Scripture.  I like his approach because it confesses what the church has confessed for 2000 years while being relevant to the times we live in.

Comments

[Christopher Taylor]

What concerns me most about the Emergent Church movement is that it seems to not be concerned at all about the Gospel. Jesus is mentioned but is not their focus, the Gospel is sometimes brought up but the concept and meaning are ignored. I agree with many of their concerns, but the concerns and emotive response seem to be most significant to these leaders, not Christ and Him Crucified.

[Jim]

(extended worship, religious symbols, liturgy, extensive prayer times, extensive use of Scripture and readings, etc.)

Can a generation raised on the short attention span of MTV be attracted to such a service?

[Vicky]

Isn't it a bit dangerous to generalize? to decide that there is a lumpen mass called "Emergent Church", all the same? How is the gospel stinted in the account given by Melinda of Dan Kimball's work? Melinda references the "broad range" of Emergent thinking, and I think that's a bit more accurate than Chris' dismissal--the reason I'm commenting here is that I think Christians should question, yes, but not attack, nor generalize. Far too many of us dismiss others upon learning their "denomination".

[Matt]

I wonder how long it will take for STR to become part of the emergent church. Everyone there certainly seems to hang around the "leaders" of the movement enough. ;)

[Christopher Taylor]

I think the "MTV generation" idea is grossly overstated, as if people before that point had long, leisurely attention spans and spent hours contemplating things. No generation for over a century has had an attention span very long at all because we're shallow people.

That doesn't mean that somehow we're incapable of changing or learning, does it? Should we change what is good to fit people's weaknesses and incompetence or lift them up and teach them to be better than what they are presently?