Men on the Edge

I had the same conversation with both a fellow seminary student and the Dean of the seminary today. The subject was one very near and dear to my heart, because it specifically involves people like me.

By now you are perhaps wondering what quirky attribute I'm talking about...

No - not an attribute; a position in history. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I am increasingly convinced that God has specifically raised up a generation of pastors and leaders who have one foot in modernity and the other in postmodernity. I find myself one of those people.

Truth be told, I'm more postmodern than modern. But I was churched in a modern environment, and most of my education has been decidedly modern as well. Yet I can't escape the fact that the gears in my head turn in ways different than modernity. This is not the place to discuss exactly what that means, but I just wanted to give a bit of context to what I'm about to say.

Those in the world of emerging church, postmodernity, Brian McLaren, etc... sometimes act as if modernity is the root of all evil. They often give one the impression that we need a revolution in the way we do church. I agree - sort of.

Those in the world of traditional church, modernity, John McArthur, etc... sometimes act as if postmodernity is the root of all evil. They often give on the impression that we need to suppress this attack against the way we do church. I agree - sort of.

Both camps make some valid points. [Incidentally, if you have no idea what I'm talking about at this point, this post isn't really a good place to start chewing on the subject.] More to the point of this post, both camps will continue to exist for some time yet. While I do think that postmodernity will be the vast majority in the next few generations (and for many generations to come after that), the fact remains that for right now both groups of people exist simultaneously.

Think of the situation as cross-cultural, if that helps. Moderns and postmoderns share much in common here in America, but there are serious differences in very important areas of thought. So - just like a missionary overseas has to learn another culture as well as his own - what we need is people versed in both cultures that can shepherd God's people in this time in between - in between the time now and the time postmodernity will be the norm.

I know of such men. I share classrooms and lecture halls with some of them. I am one of them.

In His infinite wisdom, God has created people like me: steeped in modernity, yet wired for postmodernity. Don't get me wrong - I'm not claiming any sort of special status for myself. I'm not saying I'm better than anybody else. I just find it too coincidental to be coincidental that God has made people like me and then gifted and called them to vocational ministry.

I've got lots of thoughts on how this cross-cultural modern/postmodern ministry can actually take place, but those are thoughts for another day. Right now I just wanted to expose you guys to the concept:

Maybe God has placed specific men in this time and place to shepherd both His modern and His postmodern children as one loving flock.

Maybe those that insist on a revolutionary break are wrong-headed. Maybe those that see the inevitable tidal wave of postmodernity as a fundamental threat to Christianity are wrong-headed. Maybe there is a sense in which we can get along. Not with the ministry models we've gotten used to, I think. But maybe, just maybe it's possible.

Hatushili