Kregel Publishing just released my book The Convergent Church: Missional Worshipers in an Emerging Culture (Foreword by Ed Stetzer), written with my colleague Mark Liederbach. The book argues we can learn from the best of the Conventional church (modern Evangelical/Bible-believing churches) who have been great at standing on the Word, ringing the bell for missions and evangelism, and standing firmly on larger moral issues of our time (abortion, etc). Yet, as effective as these churches have been, they have not as a movement been effective at turning members into missionaries, engaging the unchurched culture with the gospel, reaching the great cities, or standing for social justice in some moral issues.
On the other hand, recent movements such as the Emerging Church movement and its many streams — from the more liberal to the more biblically centered/missional — have raised many questions while only sometimes offering effective answers. Mark and I argue we can learn from both, but in order to move into the future we should take the best of each–the convictions and heritage of the Conventional Church, the missional stance of the more conservative elements in the Emerging Church (it is a serious error to lump all into one pot, as it would be to lump all Baptists globally into one pot)–and plant churches, build congregations, and disciple believers in a way that ultimately resembles much more the church in Acts.
Mark and I have actually demonstrated our goal of convergence by writing this book (read the Preface and you will see what I mean). We come from pretty opposite places to end up where we are. Mark’s training comes through the lens of classical theology. His area of expertise, Ethics, has too often been separated from evangelism even in Evangelical circles. On the other hand, my training is as an applied theologian who teaches evangelism. When I was in seminary such a convergence was pretty much unthinkable. Yet we both converge to expect our students both to live lives of character and to be Great Commission Christians.
My background comes from conventional Southern Baptist culture. I am “Southern Baptist born and Southern Baptist bred, and when I die I (likely) will be Southern Baptist dead.” Mark is a self-confessed theological mutt, coming from an amalgam of backgrounds, only more recently becoming a Southern Baptist.
And yet we have converged to write a book on culture, worship, and the gospel. And there is yet another way we though different have come together. Mark is a Calvinist theologically. I am not (although I am also not a hater–my heroes include Spurgeon, Edwards, Baxter, Whitefield, as well as Wesley, Graham and Criswell). We wrote this book without ever a single bit a controversy on this important issue, which has become quite a topic of discussion in our current denominational climate. We are brothers in Christ who share a great love for the Word, the gospel, and the sovereignty of God, although we at some points differ. We have never had the least bit of dissension on this matter in the writing of this book. Perhaps there can yet be a convergence in our time resulting in a missional, Great Commission movement that will bring great glory to God.
Together we find ourselves converging on the great hope of the gospel for a dying world that needs more salt and light than institution and criticism. Perhaps more than a few of us in our time can bring together leaders both young and old who stand on the unchanging Word and yet understanding that our time has changed from even a few years ago. Maybe, just maybe, we can converge on things that matter and be civil in our disagreements on things that don’t. Mark and I pray this book will help to engender conversations with brothers who may not agree at all points but who value the gospel and our call to fulfill the Great Commission effectively in our time.
