A Hill To Die On?

The Shaping of Things to Come is a book that I would include on any list of MUST READS about ministry in the 21st century. I was re-reading it during our outreach with YWAM these past two months (on the bus between ministry locations), and this paragraph jumped out at me as being absolutely crucial in my own journey as an "ecclesiastical anarchist" (HT to Vineyard Canada's Gary Best for publicly giving me that label at a conference a few years back).

"Not only does our connection with Messiah mean that we are tied inextricably to Him, but it also means that we must affirm, as do the Scriptures, that Jesus is the only way to salvation. It is a given to say that in the ideological/cultural climate of the emerging global culture, this aspect of the Christian claim is under serious threat, and it is not getting any better. When Jesus said in John 14:6, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,' then once again we must realize that our identities, as well as our mission, are tied to the Messiah. We agree with Peter's confession, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68)... And neither can our spirituality avoid the messianic (Christocentric) nature of the New Testament faith."
(The Shaping of Things to Come, page 114)

Since arriving back home, I've learned of another book that just came out, Spencer Burke's Heretic's Guide to Eternity. While I haven't had a chance to read it yet -- and with my limited financial resources, it will probably be some time before I can -- the book is already creating a bit of a stir.

Some of the best discussion so far on this one has been via Scot McKnight's series, which I would highly recommend as a starting place. I would tend to agree with Scot's assessment of the book's message (Scot is blogging on it section by section), and it was also cool to see one of my seminary prof's, Dr. Terry Tiessen, weighing in repeatedly in the comments. Dr. Tiessen's graciousness towards people of differing viewpoints is legendary; he's one of my favourite Calvinists (aside from Brother Maynard and Grey Owl, of course).

The emerging conversation has worked hard to remain a "centred set", where there is room for exploration and experimentation, but speaking only for myself, I believe that we need to be tethered to orthodoxy in some way (I'll have to unpack that one later), AND feel the freedom to experiment and explore within parametres of some kind. For me, the quote from Frost & Hirsch is a vital one; "a hill to die on", as it were. A final comment from Leonard Sweet, who wrote some years ago:

"I am a virtual fundamentalist about content. I am a virtual libertarian about containers... The mystery of the Gospel is this: It is always the same (content) and it is always changing (containers). In fact, one of the ways you know the old, old truths are true is their ability to assume amazing and unfamiliar shapes while remaining themselves and without compromising their integrity. Yes, people's experience of God and of the gospel changes. But no, God and the gospel don't change. Part of leadership is making sure that containers don't alter the content as they are wont to do."
(Aqua Church, page 30)

UPDATE August 24

Bob Hyatt also weighs in on The Heretics Guide to Eternity, and sums up my concerns quite concisely in his post Oh, Spencer.