Everything Must Change
I’ve just started into Brian McLaren’s most recent book, Everything Must Change. I’ve been trying to avoid reviews by various bloggers. I have peaked at a couple and I am going to read Scot McKnight’s chapter by chapter examination as I go along, staying a couple chapters ahead of him in the process.
I must admit, I do not expect to disagree with Brian. Already a couple chapters in we get a sense of the global frustration with modern gospelizing. I’ve been hearing some critics say that these emerging folks are just pushing Jesus into these new places because they are bored in their rich north american churches, and have grown fat on their freedoms. New Monasticism has a lot to say in response to that idea – but also Brian’s interactions with these African Christians shows us that it is not simply the place of privilege to question our “saving souls from hell” approach.
One other quick mention… So I think I am somewhat of a sucker for one-liners. But this is just fantastic…
“The time had come, we said, to center our lives on the essential message of Jesus, the message of the kingdom of God – not just a message about Jesus that focused on the afterlife, but rather the core message of Jesus that focused on personal, social, and global transformation in this life.” – page 22
