At Space For God we don't believe that one comes to God by uttering a series of shibboleths. Indeed, we believe that speaking in Christianese generally only serves to alienate outsiders. Accordingly our commitment to speak in "outsider language" raises the suspicions of those who believe that secret passwords initate one into the Christian community. I mean, if a church doesn't use words such as justification, sanctification or propitiation, how can they really call themselves a Christian community?
Space For God also desires to be actively involved in pursuing social justice, whether that be as individuals or as a community. Again, "social justice" is one of those phrases that arouses an element of suspicion in the wider Christian community. Accordingly, a conservative Christian friend of mine asked whether the Emerging Church in general and Space For God more specifically was little more than a glorified good works club. Wouldn't we be better off, he argued, simply joining Rotary or another charitable organisation?
Questions such as those asked by my friend don't really annoy me. On the contrary, such questions indicate at least a surface level interest in what we do at Space For God. What's more, such questions provide an opportunity for closer self-examination and scrutiny. And considering that the people at Space For God are not afraid of facing difficult questions, this is precisely what I did - I raised the question for consideration on the Space For God retreat.
Bek, our correspondent from Ireland, gave this response.
Yes, that's right. You'll have to click on the link to find out ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
What are some of the good works you have done?
Post a Comment