The Reconstruction Revolution
I am tired of hearing myself and others moaning and groaning in fruitless criticism of the problems of the Church. Deconstruction was good for a day. But that day is now dusk. But I’m also tired of fundamentalists acting as if there was some time in the Moral Majoritarian 1980s when the church was properly constructed.
Enough of the Deconstructionists! Down with the Traditionalists!
Viva la Reconstructionists!
I have been involved in some form of Christian volunteering, ministry, or church leadership for the majority of the past 13 years. I’m not speaking to the effectiveness of those past 13 years, I’m just stating a fact :)
At some point, around the turn of the century, I became aware of a movement (conversation) which eventually gained the name “Emergent.” I started to realize that there were other people that were asking the same questions about the Church that I was.
“What those involved in the conversation mostly agree on is their disillusionment with the organized and institutional church and their support for the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, modern evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community.” -Wikipedia
This term, “deconstruction” is a slightly inaccurately borrowed term from the world of postmodern literary criticism. It was conceived by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, and it purports that as an author constructs a text, there are multiple biases at work — regardless how unbiased the authors intent. Therefore there is no such thing as a true statement. Only the author’s biases at work.
We in the evangelical world have recently been using the term to describe the way in which we analyze and eliminate the unnecessary elements of the Church. There is nothing wrong with doing this! It’s actually a beneficial process to continue to revisit, and if you pursue it for long enough, there’s not really much that you have to do.
The problem is, there’s also not much that you end up doing… at least that is my own personal experience. “Okay, I don’t have to do anything. So now what do I do?”
Enter Reconstruction.
It’s time to stop dwelling in our cynicism and inward-focusedness. So let’s drink beer. We all know we are not going to hell because of it. But can we please stop telling everyone every time we imbibe? It’s unbecoming. Let’s all get tattoos and earrings. Let’s get dreadlocks. Let’s have church in a bar. Let’s listen to Radiohead. Let’s vote for Obama, live in a recycled PVC outhouse, and play lead pipe organ in a local secular indie screamo folk band. At best, those things may eventually indirectly open up a door to talk about the Kingdom of God with someone who may be hard to reach. And that is something! But it is not substance.
What is the essence of the Kingdom? Skip the cliché ( yes… The Great Commandment and The Great Commission are essential). Before we get to doing anything, I want to submit being something.
to be continued…
Viva la Reconstructionists!
Reconstructionism is also a theonomy in which family, church and civil governments adhere strictly to OT principles. Our usage here “remixes” the term, making it useful by supposing a necessary next step in Church history post “emergent discussion.”
