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  | RENOVARE, THE EMERGENT CHURCH, AND ECUMENICALISM by Ike Sweesy, 2010 note: I have gone to great pains on other pages to emphasize that I have true Christian brothers with whom I fellowship who are 'cultural' Roman Catholics, or 'practicing' Liberals or even have some Emergent 'leanings'. There are many true Christians who have identified with these, and my being against something is not saying that everything about it is wrong or error. But I'm also saying that these are dangerous, and that Christians should take heed to the dangers that are identifiable by investigation and comparison with the truths of Scripture. Much of the Emergent Church especially tends to deny or minimize identifiable truth. Although this is a very big generalization for this summary, I have grouped Ecumenicalism with Renovare and the Emergent Church because these, in the final analysis, have largely abandoned or ignored the distinctives of the Apostolic, Reformed faith. Summary:
Renovare,
the Emergent
Church, and Ecumenicalism
are not
‘evangelical’ in the historical
meaning of the word. Although these are not 'monolithic' exhibiting all of
the same characteristics, but each de-emphasizes the distinctives of Apostolic
& Reformed doctrine & practice (but not meaning ‘tradition’ or
‘form’, but rather biblical substance); and substitutes “experience”, “spirituality”
and “community” for biblical
doctrine, godliness, and Christian unity. A danger is that many of these
re-define many formerly 'evangelical' words, and give them new meaning and
application but without broadcasting those new definitions or inclusions.
Two prime examples are "Christian" and "Gospel", which are
no longer exclusively 'evangelical' (or Apostolic/Reformed) but now have been
expanded to be more 'inclusive' and 'communal'. Likewise, Christian
doctrine itself has little importance and does not define these new 'communities
of faith'. That means that they have no grounding in anything solid.
Indeed, many even minimize the absolute authority of the scriptures
themselves. That's fine, but don't use the words
"Christian" or "Gospel" or "Evangelical".
That's false advertising. “Evangelical”
used to refer to those who proclaimed the ‘good news’ of faith in the
crucified Christ (alone) for the forgiveness of sins (Substitutionary
atonement), and being ‘born again’ as a result of that Faith. To
be “Evangelical” was to have a scriptural
and missionary focus as detailed in ‘Apostolic’
and ‘Reformed’ doctrine and practice.
Those people who were not ‘born again’ were not considered to be
“Christian”, and were to be ‘Evangelized” to the ‘good news’.
To be identified as “Evangelical” was to be distinct from “Liberal
Theology”, from “Neo-Orthodoxy”, Roman Catholicism, Eastern, Greek or
Russian Orthodox, and especially ‘non-Christian’ religions.
In
the 20th Century that doctrinal distinctive of some
‘evangelicals’ began to change and
widen. Many who called
themselves ‘evangelicals’ began to also question
the inspiration and infallibility of the scriptures that was so central to the
Reformation and Evangelicalism, to de-emphasize
doctrine (which naturally follows),
and to widen the definition of “Christian”
and ‘brethren’ in the church. Whereas
there had been historic (and even bloody) rejection of evangelicals by
non-evangelicals and by non-Christians because of their doctrine, in later years
those very evangelicals from the ‘Reformed tradition’ (Protestants) began to
soften those distinctions and to try to approach and reconcile with Roman
Catholicism by downplaying distinctions
of doctrine and practice. And of
course the most central ‘doctrine’ is the Gospel definition and substance. Eventually,
the Ecumenical Movement formalized the re-approach to Rome and to other centers
of religion. The objective seemed to
be to form some manner of ‘community’
by broadening or ignoring definitions and distinctions.
In its most extreme form, Ecumenicalism also attempts to find ‘common
ground’ with even non-Christian
religions. While it’s true that with other religions there is much ‘common
ground’ of moral law and principles of living, there is no ‘common ground’
in the matter of the Gospel.
Along with the Reformers, Evangelicals
declare that we are “not ashamed of the Gospel, which is the power of
God unto salvation”, while “others preach another Gospel … and would
pervert the gospel of Christ”. The
Apostle Paul had very harsh words for those that abandon or change the
‘gospel’. Renovare
& the Emergent Church has ‘emerged’ in the last 30 to 40 years as a new
approach to ‘church’ which is more subjective
and experience-oriented and less
doctrinal and propositional. In
fact, uniquely evangelical or Christian doctrine is now de-emphasized (and in
many cases ridiculed). As a
natural result, Ecumenicalism tries to bring together divergent religious
groups; and ecumenicalism is inherently contained in Renovare & the Emergent
Church, and now even in modern ‘liberal theology’ which long ago gave up
conservative Christian ‘doctrine’. As
a consequence, the ‘Sola Fide’ Gospel has had to be softened, de-emphasized,
or even abandoned as too narrow and restrictive for the new definition of
“Christian”. As
such, Ecumenicalism is an unbiblical
attempt at an artificial, cobbled-together ‘Unity’ that is in name only
and is not based upon Jesus’ prayer of unity of all ‘believers’.
Jesus did not emphasize His ‘common ground’ and ‘unity’ with the
Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees, but rather He firmly declared the distinctions
of doctrine and practice founded upon the Scriptures.
However, ecumenical writers now ignore or downplay distinctly biblical,
Apostolic, Reformation, and historical Evangelicalism and the missionary
calling. The
Roman Catholic salvation ‘gospel’ is
clearly declared and documented in R.C. doctrine as based upon ‘church’
membership and the ‘sacraments’, rather than the finished work of Christ
and ‘sola fide’. But Ecumenism
accepts Roman Catholic doctrines and practices as mere disagreements without
real importance, and focuses instead of the “common ground” of the words
“Christian” and “Church” and “Mission” as if the meanings
of those words don’t matter either. Renovare,
the Emergent Church, and Ecumenicalism in general replaces
godliness and “righteousness in Christ” to focus on a ‘spirituality’
through ‘contemplative prayer’ techniques, discipline, and yes, works. The
details are very scary and ‘new age’ but with lots of big-name
‘evangelical’ supporters. ____ "OK Ike, but doesn't all this emphasis upon the written 'Bible' ignored the Holy Spirit in our lives, and also ignore our working for the Kingdom of God right here and now?" Bible / Spirit: Gospel of the Kingdom:
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