The Error of the Uniperspectival Church

Over the last several months Drew Goodmanson and I have been working through the implications of multiperspectivalism in the context of leadership, preaching, apologetics, hermeneutics, missiology, ecclesiology, and masculinity.

Christ has chosen to exercise His offices of Prophet, Priest, and King through the church for the hope of the world. In doing so, the church should continuously reflect upon whether or not what Jesus began to do and teach (Acts 1:1) continues through our local body. The need to see the church and her activity as directly related to Christ’s offices and ministry gives us an appreciation of the multiple perspectives necessary when considering not just if but how Jesus is working through His bride.

This post attempts to give a brief explanation of what I believe are the errors of a uni-perspectival ministry. In other words, these are ministries which focus on one perspective or office of Christ to the detriment or exclusion of the others.

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

The historically orthodox church is typically theologically driven. This focus usually creates an imbalanced concentration upon the intellect. In this type of church much emphasis is made in memorizing its confessions and creeds as well as its theological and doctrinal distinctives.

There is either an implicit or outright disdain for the experience driven church, whether seeker or charismatic. Since it is the intellect which is most important in this view, the activity of the church to shape the culture is usually relegated to reconstructionism or theonomy rather than gospel-driven kingdom activity.

A church that is primarily focused on the intellect will often find a secondary, but less developed, strength to satisfy the needs of its members. The theologically driven church that does not concern itself with the kingdom of God, mission to the lost in their specific context, or the joyful and emotive worship of God is not truly theologically driven, at least not in the truest sense of orthodoxy found in the first three centuries of the missional church. It’s theology is reductionistic which is not much different than the errors of the emergent church or the seeker church. The orthodox church often slips into an intellectual gospel which is little more than agreed upon propositions rather than experienced power in action. This results in the following:

Intellect + Action - Experience= Legalsim/Phariseeism

THE EMERGENT CHURCH

The ever shaping emergent church is typically kingdom driven. This focus creates an imbalanced focus upon social action and mercy ministry. In this type of church much energy is spent in removing the distinctives and creeds which bind the universal and historically orthodox churches.

There is often an implicit or outright disdain for the orthodox church and all its modernistic baggage. The doctrines which pervade the orthodox church are reduced to only a few binding absolutes, one of them being diversity and tolerance for other views. The kingdom driven church is often action oriented in its view of the world. It prides itself on authenticity and therefore disdains the programmatic slickness of the seeker church or the overly hyper-emotive nature of the charismatic church.

Since doctrine is considered divisive, community becomes the focus and this usually results in a group in conversation on a journey with no prophets to speak and no destination in mind.

The emergent church often slips into a social gospel which is little more than repackaged liberalism which attempts to live solely by the golden rule. If the emergent church is not concerned with historically orthodox theology or the heartfelt delight of God driven by the the truly “good news,” it can not truly consider its focus to be kingdom oriented. Kingdom theology finds its joy in submission to the King and His news of victory which is proclaimed in the Gospel. Without such grounding the gospel no longer is power because it’s gutted of its content and results in the following:

Action + Experience - Intellect= Liberalism/Syncretism

THE EXPERIENCE DRIVEN CHURCH

The experience driven church is typically seeker driven. This usually creates and imbalanced focus upon the felt-needs of church attendees or “seekers.” In this type of church much emphasis is made in removing difficult doctrines or burdening the church with social concerns as it focuses on the experience of the Sunday service as well as the consensus based programs requested by visitors or congregates.

There is often an implicit or outright disdain for the orthodox church and its cumbersome and archaic language, as well as the taxing and tiring interests of the kingdom driven church. The experience driven church is often made up of white, middle to upper class Republicans who exercise their consumeristic tendencies by demanding a church have what they want.

Since doctrine is perceived as too cumbersome, pop-psychological self-help methods become the dominant view of how people change. Since kingdom driven activity is considered too costly, the experience driven church often becomes bloated as it feeds upon itself and pours its resources back into better sound equipment, better lighting, better carpet, more comfortable chairs, etc.

The experience driven church elevates emotions over intellect and action and as a result it seeks after the next high delivered by the worship band or preacher to keep their felt-needs met on a regular basis. Since the gospel is muddled at best, the power in the preaching and teaching of it is left behind for 3-step messages that make us feel good rather than call us to repent and believe. Since the concern for the world is lost behind an “I’m ok, you’re ok” façade of Christianity, those whose needs are obvious and ugly are avoided so that we’re not offended by the cares of the world. Without a concern for faithful proclamation of the deep truths of the Gospel as well as the deeds which follow this news in the advance of the kingdom, the seeker church is really not serving the lost as they assume. Instead they are providing nothing more than baby aspirin for cancer. The result of a consumeristic, experience driven, seeker church are:

Emotion + Intellect - Action= Fundamentalism/Sectariansim

The combination of each of these perspectives are by no means absolute. Clearly they are not solely uni-perspectival. However, the secondary strength of a uni-perspectival church is often stumbled upon as a pragmatic necessity rather than a purposeful conviction. It is in my experience that these combinations occur more frequently.

Also, each of these perspectives have at their roots some theological grounding and strength. The failure to focus on each perspective within the context of our ministry is what creates the error within the activity of the ministry. It is much like a beautiful supermodel whose nose kept growing when the rest of her stopped. She becomes distorted, misshapen, and ultimately ugly. In the same way, a ministry which focuses on one aspect to the exclusion of the others will find itself lopsided.

When the gospel invades a church it comes to terms with the reality that Christ is the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King who works from His offices through His church to the world. We are all considered prophets, priests, and kings through the fulfillment of these offices by the work of Christ. This is our very identity today, right now, at this very moment. When this is understood, the church will begin to look more like the beautiful bride of Christ instead of a distorted and misshapen supermodel who stared out well only to end up ugly.