Brian McLaren is the Real Thing

Those were my first thoughts after interviewing Brian over a morning cup of coffee in Minneapolis in the fall of 2002. I was struck by how pastoral Brian was – he was just as concerned for me and how I was doing as he was to communicate his answers to my questions. I felt completely disarmed, and at one point I put my questions away and just connected with him. I’ve been a big fan ever since.

At Fuller, we were familiar with Brian’s first book back (Reinventing Your Church/Church on the Other Side) in 1998. We (those of us dealing with church issues in the School of World Mission) felt that it was the best practical church book on the market – one that took our context seriously and struck the right tone of humility given the great state of flux the American church experienced at that time.  Our learning community of professors, administrators, and students had deep suspicions that the Seeker/Purpose movement, the New Paradigm churches (Vineyard, Calvary Chapel) and the Gen X movement were incapable, on their own, to address the daunting missional task required by our transformed context. On a side note, Eddie Gibbs’ book (ChurchNext) flowed out of this learning community at that time, a work quite consistent with Brian’s thought, and in-synch with missiological thinking in general.

Brian’s works on apologetics (Finding Faith) and evangelism (More Ready Than You Realize) plowed new ground in refreshing and creative ways. I talked to a college campus minister last week, and he confessed that traditional apologetics no longer make sense on college campuses – rationalistic approaches to the faith hold little sway with their audience. This campus minister shared with me how he had benefited from Brian’s works on apologetics and evangelism. With More Ready Than You Realize, Brian demonstrated his ability to weave narrative and theory together, a skill he develops with great success in his later trilogy.

“Can you recommend one book that will introduce me to the whole postmodern/emerging church scene?” This question has been posed to me many, many times. I follow up with a question: “are you interested in churches per se or do you desire an introduction to our current cultural shift?” For those who answer a yes to the latter, I respond, “have you read A New Kind of Christian?”

A New Kind of Christian created more “ahas” for my students and friends, both young and old, than any other book I have had them read. Some of the most common reactions are: “I feel hope for the church for first time in a long while”. “I feel like someone just voiced all my doubts”. “I finally understand what this postmodern thing is all about”. “This is the kind of faith that has some integrity to it.” Not only my students, but I was deeply impacted by A New Kind of Christian as well. Brian’s work hit me at a gut level and I was moved to tears throughout this book.

Postmodernity was discussed in church circles in the UK in the early 1990s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that those discussions hit the popular church scene in the US. At Fuller, a growing number of students and faculty discussed these issues at the same time, in the mid-to-late 1990s. A few years later, A New Kind of Christian came on the scene, brilliantly bringing together postmodern theory, missiology, and current church practice through a set of conversations between a pastor and a high school science teacher. Again, McLaren wove narrative and theory together seamlessly. In effect, Brian connected the dots in a way that we in the academy did not or could not do.

With the sequel, The Story We Find Ourselves In, McLaren provides a full narrative apologetic, one that invites us to serve in the Story of God. I remember interviewing Todd Hunter, former director of the Association of Vineyard Churches. After much soul searching, Hunter realized he was living in the wrong story: the story of modernity -- not of the gospels. In McLaren’s fictional account, he provides a compelling picture of God’s story that beckons the reader to join in this work. McLaren’s thoughts coincide with the works of Dallas Willard (Divine Conspiracy) and N.T. Wright (Jesus and the Victory of God). Much of our current evangelical practice works on the idea that we invite God into our personal story – The Story We Find Ourselves In, along with these other writings, works on the much more radical idea that we join in God’s story.

McLaren innovates in his more recent writings as well. With The Last Word and the Word After That, McLaren challenges our modern evangelical assumptions about reality by offering thoughtful alternatives. With A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian overcomes the many dualisms of modernity (both fundamentalism and liberalism are flip sides of the same modern coin) as he offers a both/and faith.

Recently, McLaren has taken a lot of ‘hits’ from unfriendly critics, primarily from those who are resistant to missional change. In a peacemaking gesture, Brian has told his own story, and for those who have not heard it before, I highly recommend you give it a read. I am impressed by Brian’s gracious responses to those who attack him, and I find McLaren to be a worthy (if not reluctant) ambassador for the emerging movement as a whole.

Pioneer thinker, practicing pastor, missional innovator, and community storyteller, Brian McLaren is a great gift to the church today. He gives thoughtful expression to the many new challenges the church faces. Because of Brian’s deep love for people, both inside and outside the church, he continues his writing and speaking tasks. I applaud Brian and pray that God gives him great strength for the journey ahead. May those like him increase in number!

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Comments

[Sivin Kit]

wow! you said it so much better than I could :-)

[David]

That was really good...but.

Some thinking out loud: I wonder, would it be fitting to voice some critiques, even if you don't share them? Or to put it another way, where does McLaren have room for improvement? That was afterall a pretty one sided review.

On the other hand, if one did have critiques, is it fitting to offer them in public? I mean, pastorally, we don't typically critique people in public. Although what McLaren says is public, so I suppose it could be critiqued publically.

[David]

It seems that the issues surrounding the modernity vs postmodernity, and evangelism vs being missional battles are entirely too polarized. Maybee that is why there is no critique here?

Those that do have negative things to say are entirely too unforgiving about what they typically say, labeling people like McLaren as potential heretics, and those that tend to agree with him, which includes me, have nothing negative to say. Shame on me and all of us, we need more critiques of a helpful nature.

[Ryan Bolger]

David,
I think there has been extensive critique of Brian and those like him. As a missiologist, I want to encourage those who venture out and take risks, who explore and live on the edge between church and culture. It is going to be messy and tentative. Thus, the last thing I want to do is cut someone down before they get going. There will enough time for armchair quarterbacking in a few years...

[John W. Morehead]

Thanks for sharing your perspective on Brian McLaren, Ryan. I have appreciated his work for some time as well. In some of the circles that I try to speak into Brian and the whole emerging church movement have been deemed heretical. In my view such folks seem more interested in perpetuating Christianity as perceived within an Enlightenment paradigm rather than being able to critically reflect on the way of Jesus in light of changing cultural circumstances. It seems to me that a constant synergy between missions and theology would be a helpful remedy for the Western church seemingly inexorably linked to modernity.

I appreciate your insights informed by the academy and missiology. Perhaps your comments will permit others to see McLaren in a different light.

[David]

Ryan,

I'm with you, I definately want to empower people, not cut them down. When I say critique, I mean that in a positive way. And I have no doubt that Bryan and others are doing the best they can. The predominate number of people that do critique are way too harsh. What we need are people that can offer ideas for improvement, with brotherly kindness.

ps the new colors look great!

[Alan]

Ryan,

You mentioned "traditional apologetics" (TA). Can you cash out what you mean by TA? What does TA look like?