Young fogeys and the future shape of the church

fo·gey/ˈfōgē/
Noun: A person, typically an old one, who is considered to be old-fashioned or conservative in attitude or tastes.

I first heard the term from my grandmother. She was frustrated by a generation of young Christian men with shoulder length hair and guitars (and probably beards). Any physical resemblance to the Lord, she did not recognise. "They'd just dismiss us all as old fogeys" was how she interpreted their attitude to her generation. A "fogey"! What a great word!

Fast forward about ten years...I encountered a whole new phenomenon: the young fogey.

There were certain differences between the young fogey and the old fogey. The old fogey was not self-consciously a fogey. He or she was just being himself or herself and found that he/she was out of step with the times. The older person might well have been offended if you had called him a "fogey" and the term might even have been considered a put down. It must be said that whether the older person could have accurately been described as a fogey or not, their fogeyism was often endearing and was only a symptom of them being true to themselves and their values. Of course, many who dismissed my grandmother's generation as "old fogeys" might well now be "old fogeys" themselves, or worse still they might be retro cool in an embarrassing kind of way or worst of all just "outdated groovers" whose hearts are forever stuck in 1973. Potential fogeyism awaits us all.

The young fogeys were entirely different. They wanted to be fogeys. They dressed in such a way that people would consider them "young fogeys" and spoke in a way that made them seem like upper-middle class Edwardians. They were very conscious of the image they were projecting and sometimes, perhaps more often than not, the image bore very little connection to who they really were, serving only to betray their own insecurities. Young fogeyism is sometimes more "wannabee" than substance.

So why, you might ask, am I writing about fogeyism on a Monday morning? Because I believe the fogeys are after the soul of the church! Not my church - the church at large!

And it's not old fogeyism that concerns me - after all give me a few years and people might think I'm an old fogey. It's....young fogeyism! Or perhaps young-ish fogeyism.

If you read around a bit in the Christian world, you might well be aware of the renaissance in Reformed theology. Calvin, it seems, is cool again. Got any questions? Calvin and his mates Augustine and Luther have most of the answers. Calvin's offspring have lots of answers as well. And if you have got some "problems" - especially ones that aren't conveniently theological - consult "the Doctor" - the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones, that is (Through his books of course, not through a seance). I have to add that I think the Dr. is very good indeed.

In all seriousness, I am concerned.

(i) I am concerned that like fogeyism in the truest sense of the word, that some of this is just a reaction to the fuzzy theology or lack of theology of the emerging church. There's no doubt that much of what goes under that label is heading in the direction of theological liberalism. Calvinism presents a good bulwark against such a trend. However, the price might well be a new exclusivism and an intolerance of anything that doesn't fit squarely into the reformed theological box.

I have tried to keep up to date with the reformed blogosphere for a couple of years. John Wesley hardly gets a mention in any appraisal of church history or revival, despite the fact that he is undoubtedly the single most influential Christian leader of the last three hundred years. At worst there is a revisionist tendency within some reformed circles. The Sally Army, the Brethren and, of course, the Pentecostals, et al. - even in the charismatic wing of the reformed world, have effectively been airbrushed out of church history, certainly in terms of making any positive contribution.

Calvinism tends to be bookish and ruthlessly critical of any challenge to its central tenets. One of the dangers is that it will kill off any charismatic impulses.

(ii) My second concern, is that the desire to define the faith and defend the faith against liberalism is actually going to destroy evangelicalism. If it doesn't destroy it, it will make "evangelical" equal "calvinist". Anyone who wants revival and wants to win back the West, should consider all the great revival movements. Thank God for great Presbyterian and Baptist preachers. And thank God also for the Methodists and the Salvation Army and the Brethren. And for the Pentecostals. By all means preach sin and grace. And repentance and justification. But don't forget that what fired evangelism in the early twentieth century was preaching on the return of Christ. The church is bigger and more diverse than its reformed expression.

(iii) Finally, I do find much of the output that parades one's reformed credentials incredibly inward looking and tedious. Why trot out terminology and phraseology that is well past its sell by date? Sorry, but some of it does smack of young fogeyism, and I don't think the world is waiting for the young fogeys!

I write the above observations as someone sympathetic to the reformed outlook, but also as one who has discovered that the world is a bigger place and the gospel a bigger message than the playground of any particular theological school, however worthwhile it might be.


This will give you an insight into cool Calvinism.

This is a brief introduction to young fogeyism. Get the handbook here . The hardback will cost you £256.74.

So Bono's a Calvinist, eh?

"And U2's 2009 album, No Line on the Horizon, chimes in with, "I was born to ring for you / I didn't have a choice but to lift you up," with the refrain, "Justified until we die / you and I will magnify / the Magnificent." Who knew that Bono was at least a three-point Calvinist?"

Read the whole thing here

Thursday Thoughts

I was out on my Street Pastors duty recently, when I had a conversation about which I'd like to hear your thoughts.

It was one of those five minute chats in which a huge subject came up and there wasn't the time or even an appropriate context for properly discussing the issue.

The issue boiled down to the old question of why God allows suffering. It wasn't framed as a question - more of a commentary on someone's own experience of life.

The conversation I had was with a young guy. He was very complimentary about what we were doing and I sensed was open to God - or at least to the idea of God. His difficulty was that he had experienced quite a lot of pain - he didn't go into detail.

In the few minutes I had with him, I said something like this:

"I don't know what caused your pain or why what happened to you did happen. I do know that Jesus loves you and that if you respond to His love, He is able to turn your pain into something that can be used to help others." (I felt that simply saying "Jesus can heal your pain" seemed almost dismissive of whatever he had experienced).

Someone else came and joined the conversation. He shook my hand and was gone.

Does Jesus turn our pain into something that can be used to help others? What do you think? What would you have said?

Thursday Thoughts

Choices. Is a choice really a free choice if it is in any way influenced? Can a choice ever be made that is not in any way externally influenced? And if not, does that mean we are not free and have no real control over our own destiny?

Take a man who marries for love. We would all agree that he has made a good choice And we would probably want to argue that it was his own, free choice - that he wasn't forced into marriage nor did he make his choice out of some inner sense of obligation.

No he did it for love. He was swept away by the charm and grace of his future wife. Does this imply that his choice wasn't free and unaffected? There was no obligation. He didn't have to marry this woman. But in another sense he couldn't do anything but marry this woman. The force of love made him a happier man than the ability to make a wholly independent decision.

What do you think?

Calvin makes an inevitable comeback

Some audios caught my eye this post at Between Two Worlds. If you scroll down you will find four talks to download by Colin Hansen. I have listened to the first three. They were very informative not to say fascinating. I hadn't realised that there was such a revival of Reformed theology amongst young Christians in America.

I think of my theology as pretty much Reformed but set in a Pentecostal context. I think that Reformed people would consider my theology "Reformed lite" at best!

Piper, Driscoll and a college principal called Al Mohler are considered the kind of unofficial leaders of what is happening.

What ecclesiastical and cultural currents are driving it is another question. A desire to return to a more classical expression of Christianity? Disillusionment with the megachurch culture? Burnout out from just trying to love Jesus and do good? Who knows. Whatever the drivers are it is certainly making an impact and on the whole an impact for good.

Not sure that such a "revival" is happening in the U.K. or mainland Europe. Perhaps it is partly to do with people rediscovering the theological sources that were so influential in the founding of the American nation.

Hansen's talks are worth listening to at any rate.

Blogging through Grudem

A few weeks ago a church member and I set ourselves the task of reading through Grudem's Systematic Theology by Christmas. Whether we'll get there or not, I don't know, but we'll try!

Anyway, I thought it would help me if I blogged my way through some parts of the said work (as opposed to blagged). It might help to introduce any readers out there to biblical doctrine in a simple way. I'm sure there'll be all sorts of attemtped humorous feedback - "You're too blogmatic", "Spare us the blogmatism" etc. But hey!

So here we go. I'll give you headings based on Grudem and some scriptures.

The Word of God (chapter 2, pp.47-53)

What do we mean by "the Word of God"?

"The Word of God" can refer to Jesus Christ

Scriptures: John 1.1, Revelation 19.13. See also 1 John 1.1.

The above scriptures are the only ones that refer to Jesus Christ as the Word of God.

In describing Jesus as the Word of God, the Bible is drawing attention to Jesus' role within the Trinity as the one who reveals God to us. In His person and words He communicates God's character to us and God's will for us.

"The Word of God" is used of speech by God

(i) The Word of God as God's decrees

Scriptures: Gen 1.3, 1.24; Psalm 33.6; Hebrews 1.3

Decree: God's spoken word causing something to happen. Creation is the most obvious example of God's speech causing things to happen or come into being.

(ii) The Word of God as God speaking directly to human beings

Scriptures: Genesis 2.16-17, 3.16-19; Exodus 20.1-3; Matthew 3.17

The above scriptures are examples of what we mean by God speaking directly to human beings. He spoke to Adam directly. He spoke directly to the people of Israel. He spoke about Jesus at His baptism.

(iii) The Word of God as God speaking through human beings

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 18.18; Jeremiah 1.9; Isaiah 30.12-14; 2 Chronicles 20.20, 25.15-16.

The scriptures above relate to Old Testament prophets. They spoke the Word of God. Anyone who claimed to be speaking a word from God, but was speaking falsely was severely punished (See Deuteronomy 18.18-22).

(iv) The Word of God as the written words of scripture

Scriptures: Exodus 31.9-13, 18, 32.16; Joshua 24.26; Isaiah 30.8; Jeremiah 30.2; John 14.26, 1 Corinthians 14.27.

Some of God's servants wrote down God's words. Moses, Joshua, Isaiah and Jeremiah are all recorded as having written down God's words. The ten commandments were actually writtend by the finger of God, in other words they were divinely scripted. In the New Testament, Jesus promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit will remind them of what He taught them. And Paul claims that his writings are words from God.

The benefits of having a written word

• God's words are preserved for future generations
• It is easier to study and discuss God's written word
• God's revelation is made more accessible

The benefits of studying of God's written Word

The Bible tells us that when we study and meditate on God's written word we are blessed (Psalm 1.1-2), God grants us success as we study and obey His written revelation (Joshua 1.8)and God's Word teaches us and trains us (2 Timothy 3.16).

Some questions:

How should we approach God's Word? What sort of influence should it have in our lives? How can we get to know it better?

Christian Audio.com

If you are into classic Christian literature and like audio books, Christian Audio.com is worth a visit.


This months free download is St. Augustine's Confessions.


http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php

What the Doctor orders

There's an interesting post at http://theresurgence.com/node/1091. It's a summary of a conversation between Mark Driscoll and J.I. Packer.

Packer outlines four theological priority areas for younger leaders:

• A deeper understanding of regeneration - being born again gives you a new heart and a new identity

• God-centred theology

• Godliness begins in the family


• Trinity - emphasising and appreciating Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not just Jesus and the Holy Spirit

When someone with the experience and wisdom of J.I. Packer speaks, it is worth considering what he has to say.