Have we really done this poorly?

As you know, I really enjoyed Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz, so when I saw my local paper carry a feature story on him I was delighted. It's the anchor article for the "Faith" section of the Sunday paper and also bears an enormous colour picture of Don. [Though not bearing the same picture or title, here's the article from another source.]

What really surprised me about the article (written by an AP writer) was not its existence (Don's been very popular for a while now) but the misunderstanding and partial understanding it propagates...

Start with the article's title: "Redefining Christian". That's an attention getter, for sure! The subtitle expresses the editor's main point - Author [Don] disavows notion that faith is conservatism. I found it very distressing that this newspaper editor felt that Christianity was primarily defined by it's attachment to the Republican party and conservatism in general. Don, of course, wants to dispel that notion among Christ's followers. Sadly, we've obviously been so attached at the hip that the non-believing world has made the connection...

But the emerging church has fared no better in being understood by this AP author. Read this line from his article slowly:

"The book also debuted at a time when the emerging church movement - which emphasizes the individual's faith experience and varied worship styles - is flourishing, signaling a fertile audience for such religious musings among more socially liberal evangelicals."

No mention of postmodernity. No talk about social justice. No word of community.

At least for one AP writer, "emerging church" can be condensed into "individual faith experience and varied worship styles"!

Many of us have long believed that Christ's followers have done a terrible job at proclaiming who we really are, and who Jesus really is. I offer this article as yet another proof that this belief is well founded.

Hatushili