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'Deep Shift' hopes to shake things upEverything Much Change Tour tries to alter dynamics of religious conversation Brian McLaren Those who think they have evangelicals figured out and have relegated them to a confined conceptual box may be in for surprise if they hear Brian McLaren speak at First United Church, April 4-5 as he brings his Everything Must Change Tour to Oak Park.In his book by the same name, which he is promoting on the tour, McLaren acknowledges that evangelicals have in the past been concerned only with getting people "saved." While he has nothing against being born again,...

Profile: Mars Hill Bible Church pastor Rob Bell Posted by slangford March 23, 2008 00:00AM Press Photo/Paul L. Newby IIFull of humor: The Rev. Rob Bell, of Mars Hill Bible Church, lets out a big laugh as he speaks to his congregation on a Sunday morning. Bell works on a sermon for weeks, sometimes months, before he delivers it. "A good sermon will exhaust you and inspire you," he says. "You'll say, 'Whoa -- that's a full meal. It'll take me a week to recover from that.'" More photos The Rev. Rob Bell hops up onto the circular stage...

Celebrating the Resurrection, But Denying the Atonement Source: Lighthouse Trails The Church's fixation on the death of Jesus as the universal saving act must end, and the place of the cross must be reimagined in Christian faith. Why? Because of the cult of suffering and the vindictive God behind it.--Alan Jones1 As we here at Lighthouse Trails have joined with other believers in exposing the truth about the emerging church and contemplative spirituality, we have come to learn that the core of the New Age believes that the teachings of the East and of the West must be fused and...

Cromwell: Now, Sir Thomas, you stand on your silence. Sir Thomas More: I do. Cromwell: But, gentlemen of the jury, there are many kinds of silence. ... Suppose I were to take a dagger from my sleeve and make to kill the prisoner with it; and my lordships there, instead of crying out for me to stop, maintained their silence. That would betoken! It would betoken a willingness that I should do it, and under the law, they will be guilty with me. So silence can, according to the circumstances, speak! Let us consider now the circumstances of the prisoner's...

Tickets to see the Dalai Lama in Seattle next month are going fast. The Tibetan Buddhist leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner will be in Seattle April 11-15, joining other global leaders in discussions about the importance of nurturing compassion in children....

If Jesus walked the earth today, he'd drink fair-trade coffee and fill his Blackberry with non-church activities. So says Brian McLaren, author of more than a dozen books on modern Christianity - most recently Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope. In Everything Must Change, McLaren urges an examination of four critical issues: the environment, poverty, world peace and religious understanding. The book is titled Everything Must Change. Do you mean everything? Are we doing anything right?The laws of gravity and the speed of light are just fine. (laughs) But what I'm saying with "everything" is...

The Future Lies in the Past -- Why evangelicals are connecting with the early church as they move into the 21st century.Many 20- and 30-something evangelicals are uneasy and alienated in mall-like church environments; high-energy, entertainment-oriented worship; and boomer-era ministry strategies and structures modeled on the business world. Increasingly, they are asking just how these culturally camouflaged churches can help them rise above the values of the consumerist world around them. For younger evangelicals, traditional churches are too centered on words and propositions. And pragmatic churches are compromising authentic Christianity by tailoring their ministries to the marketplace and pop culture....

The information in this article about Tony Jones (the US director of the Emergent Church and closely aligned with Brian McLaren) is bothersome, to think that Tony Jones may not be a true believer and yet is accepted by many in the church as though he were. This is just an excerpt from a three part article on the Emergent Church by Richard Bennett. We should pray that Tony Jones really meets Jesus and repents from promoting forms of Eastern mysticism and Roman Catholic heresies. I do not know if he is born again or not, I can only go...

We are engaged in a war that is not only defining our times, it is determining our destiny. I'm not talking about the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, or even the broader war on terror – those are offshoots of the real war. I'm talking about the culture war. The culture war is a struggle between secular socialism and free market traditionalism, and the outcome of this struggle will ultimately determine whether or not the jihadists will pick up the pieces to convert America and Canada into a North American caliphate.

Along with unfair stereotypes of other traditions, such are the urban legends surrounding the emerging church—one of the most controversial and misunderstood movements today. As a theologian, I have studied the movement and interacted with its key leaders for years—even more, I happily consider myself part of this movement or "conversation." As an evangelical, I've had my concerns, but overall I think what emerging Christians bring to the table is vital for the overall health of the church. ...snip... A final stream flowing into the emerging lake is politics. Tony Jones is regularly told that the emerging movement is a...

By Ray Baumann Posted: 07/02/2007 Ten Ways To Grow a Church Without GodBy Ray Baumann I have spent many hours figuring out how to grow churches. I recently found some old notes that I had taken at a conference some years ago. To my surprise, I had an outline for success that was void of a Savior even being involved. Back then I focused on what attracted people to church. This is what my list read: 1.  “Leadership is key.” This will be my number one way to grow the church without God. Thinking back, I would say that if I had...

A Hindu professor of religion has become the first non-Christian to head St. Olaf College's Religion Department in the college's 133-year history. "It's a great honor," Anantanand Rambachan said of the three-year appointment. "St. Olaf has one of the finest undergraduate religion departments in the country." Rambachan, 55, has taught religion, philosophy and Asian studies at the college in Northfield, Minn., since 1985. He also has been a leading figure in Minnesota's Hindu cultural circles. He grew up on the West Indies island of Trinidad in a devout Hindu family -- both of his grandfathers were Hindu priests. As a...

Author and pastor sounds warning about 'emergent church' Allie Martin OneNewsNow.com June 19, 2007 Pastor and author John MacArthur says evangelical churches must be on guard against post-modernism and the emerging church. His new book says many church-going Christians are caught in a crossfire of teaching and writing that promotes alternative Christian histories and a push to eliminate absolute truth. In his book The Truth War; Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception, Dr. John MacArthur sounds a warning about the growing influence of the emerging church movement. The battle for truth, he says, is raging not only in...

Monday, May 14, 2007 Re-Branding Christianity “Image is everything.” --Tennis pro Andre Agassi, 1992 Canon camera commercial [Cited on p. 197 of No Logo by Naomi Klein (Picador, 2002).] This could be the new slogan for the slick marketing campaigns in neoevangelicaldom today. These campaigns aren't selling a product, per se. They are selling the image of a product. To understand what this means, check out the latest marketing strategies used by the corporate world. The example of Nike, as described in No Logo by Naomi Klein, is quite instructive: “A company that swallows cultural space in giant gulps, Nike...

James L. Evans An emerging Christianity is reshaping faith Christians may believe that they are participants in a "faith once delivered to the saints," but the shape of that faith has varied greatly through the centuries. From the stately and ornate forms of Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, to the humble and plain worship of the Amish, Jesus is followed and revered in a myriad of ways. In fact, so great is the diversity of forms within Christianity, it may be more appropriate to refer to them in the plural — Christianities.Even now a new form of the faith seems to...

An influential Baptist in Missouri believes the Emerging Church movement is one of the most dangerous and deceptive movements infiltrating Southern life and he's out to stop it. Roger Moran, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, is a conservative layman at First Baptist Church in Troy, Mo. But he's also considered the most powerful Baptist in the state, St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported Monday. Moran's driving concern is the rise of the emerging church and its threat to the future of the Baptist church in Missouri and across the nation. "Not since the stealth tactics of the...

ATLANTA (ABP)—Atlanta church planter Jake Myers used the images of beer, candles and theologian Soren Kierkegaard to describe the “emergent conversation” taking place within Christianity, which he said could be a good fit for members of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Myers, who leads an emergent community in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta, led a breakout session during the CBF general assembly. He also serves on staff at Wieuca Road Baptist Church in Atlanta as a church planter and mission leader. The “emergent church” movement is a decade-old movement of Christians—both mainline and evangelical— exploring new expressions of Christianity...

A Biblically based commentary on current issues that impact you The Discerning of Spirits by Bob DeWaay “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1John 4:1) Twenty years ago I received a phone call from a woman who claimed to have a word from God for me. She began prophesying, “You are a great man of God, full of power, and God is going to use you in a powerful way. You are going to be a mighty warrior for...

You are invited to take part in a unique and important event! Three prophetic speakers, Jim Wallis, Anne Lamott, and Richard Rohr, will be together for the first time in Washington, D.C., Jan. 14-16, 2006,for a conference titled Politics and Spirituality: Seeking a Public Integrity. This is an opportunity not to be missed! The country is hungry to replace a politics of blame and fear with a politics of solutions and hope. What better time to explore the vital connection between politics and spirituality than now? Come hear these nationally renowned speakers and authors dialogue on the critical topics of...

"always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2Timothy 3:7) My favorite TV show as a teenager was Green Acres. On the show was a county agent by the name of Hank Kimball whose job was to answer technical questions for farmers. Mr. Douglas, a misplaced New York Lawyer and wannabe farmer, would often call Hank for advice. Hank, however, was the master of using many words to say absolutely nothing. His advice would go something like this: After Mr. Douglas calls Hank for advice about his sick pig, Hank shows up and accompanies Mr....