There's an interesting blog discussion going on today on Scot McKnight's blog. Scot McKnight is a New Testament professor from the area, an accomplished author and an academic advocate in the Emerging Church movement. A young pastor wrote him a letter asking his advice on what to do if you're a progressive thinking, emerging, youth pastor in a more traditional church that tends to frown on thinking that colors outside of the lines.
I don't know that I would classify myself or ever will classify myself as "emergent" but I certainly know the feeling of being at odds with certain streams within the church in which I'm employed. I've been there, and it's tough. There's a continual awkward tension of trying to teach with conviction and honesty, always knowing that if you stray too far from the party line, you could get shot for mutiny. But there was one comment on this blog post that I found to be especially profound concerning this topic. Here was the comment:
"When I started to feel emerging leanings, it became so enticing to become cocky and let everyone know anytime I disagreed with a conservative pastor about something. It’s easy and sexy to do, but somewhere along the way, I quickly forgot the importance of submitting to Spiritual authority. Preach with conviction, but submit to authority- if you can’t do both, then it may be time to move on."
Simple, humble, and wise.
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