I’ve only read two of the blog posts about Rob Bell’s recent interview in the Boston Globe. Jared Wilson’s and Scot McKnight’s.
Much of the response has been extremely negative towards Bell and his failure to clearly articulate the gospel at every single waking moment.
I figured I would offer my thoughts as well. If anyone cares.
I think that, like any piece of literature, genre and context are of key importance. And most of the people who have criticized Rob Bell’s statements here are ignoring both.
1. This is a transcription of a journalistic interview. Many people have treated it as if it were an all-inclusive systematic treatise of Bell’s theology. It isn’t; interviews are conversational, and, as in any conversation, things get left out. You have to realize that.
2. We cannot take this quote from Bell and determine things about Bell’s nature without considering the context in which it was said. First, he was doing an interview with the media. Who wouldn’t see this as a chance to change some people’s views about Evangelical Christianity? The first thing that he says is that evangelicalism isn’t what most people assume it is: right-wing, anti-intellectual fundamentalism. Naturally, he would follow that up with something that is strikingly dissimilar with what most people assume when they hear “evangelical.” And those things that he mentioned should probably be some of the natural responses to those who believe in the “evangelical Jesus,” if you will: helping the poor, caring for the environment, and extending hope to the world.
If Bell had said, “evangelicalism is all about telling people about Jesus.” The interview, in most of the readers’ minds, would have been over because they would have turned the page. They would have assumed that this guy is another religious nut job and would have ignored him.
Finally, you cannot remove this quote from the totality of Bell’s body of work and say that it somehow gives us a more clear picture of where his heart is at than anything else does.
Leah and I have been rethinking our ideas about youth ministry here in the past few weeks. Its not so much that we are realizing new things, but that we are trying to implement things that we’ve known all along. I have about 47 books on youth ministry. I haven’t read all of most of them, but I’ve read at least a little of all of them… and they all talk about the same thing: building attractional programming and building positive relationships.
The relationship stuff can be helpful.
However, most of them are filled with statistics and psychological stuff. All of that can be helpful, but rarely do these guys actually talk about teaching kids the word of God.
When youth ministry becomes primarily about programming, the goal is no longer to see kids know and treasure Christ, but for them to be assimilated into the programs: teenagers start leading the worship band or take charge of the children’s sunday school classes, and the youth pastor is convinced that they are “saved.”
When youth ministry becomes primarily about relationships, the goal can move from knowing and treasuring Christ to making positive decisions and doing good. A teenager volunteers at the soup kitchen or collects canned food for needy families and we think they’re “saved.”
Pause for a second. Those are great things. I wish every teenager in my youth group would be a leader in church life or volunteer their own time to helping others. I’m not opposed to that at all. But it needs to be the result of their knowledge of and love for God.
The goal is to see them know and treasure Christ above all else. Period.
How are they going to do that if I water down his word?
How are they going to do that if I talk about funny stuff or “relevant” stuff more than I teach them about who Christ is and how worthy of treasuring He is?
Their math teachers don’t water down Trigonometry for them. Their English teachers don’t make them read the abridged version of Hamlet. Why should I water down God’s word? If they can understand Calculus and Chaucer, then they can understand justification.
We’re still building relationships with them. We’re still having fun with them. But we’re through watering Truth down. Period.
——————————————————————-
On a lighter note, Leah and I were trying to write a real song and this is what came out:
——————————————————————-
Over at Internetmonk.com, there is a really cool thing call the Liturgical Gangstas. He asks a question and has someone from a number of different denominations answer it. Check it out if you haven’t already. The second one is about the meanings of Sacramental, Attractional, and Missional. Interesting stuff. Be sure to read the first one about Spiritual Growth, as well.
