Somewhere in America on some Sunday morning the first man or woman walked into a worship service with a baseball cap on and a cup of coffee in their hand. It is now quite common. The pastor would surely offer three or four impressive reasons why this was the “missional” way to go, but I can assure you that when the decision was made, serious theological concerns were not invited to participate. ~Dr. Timothy Tennent
Dr. Timothy Tennent is the President of Asbury Theological Seminary. He joins me on Monday, October 3 to discuss the address he delivered in early September at Asbury’s annual Convocation titled Our Mission to Theologically Educate in which he decried the church’s “bumper sticker theology,” market-driven services, and “God is, like, my pal” approach to worship:
Who has lost sight more of the depth of human sin, the certainty of God’s judgment and the call to repentance and transformation at the feet of a crucified savior than today’s populistic, evangelical churches? I knew something was amiss when I read the line from the well known pastor Walt Kallestad who wrote in his book, Entertainment Evangelism, that “the church needs to be friendlier than Disneyland.” I knew that somehow we had lost our way when prayers of repentance and confession quietly disappeared from the order of services. I knew we were charting some new path when I heard Jason Upton’s worship chorus, “Into the Sky.” Thankfully, there is a growing realization among many of us who call ourselves evangelical that we have inadvertently participated in an obscuring of the Gospel which is not unlike what we have so vociferously decried in Protestant liberalism. It seems that Satan can work at both ends of the shop.
Paul”s interview with Dr. Timothy Tennent on Monday, October 3, 2011: Dr_Timothy_Tennent.mp3
You can listen to the entire address here: http://media.asburyseminary.edu/podcasts/files/audio/F11A23%20-%209-8-2011%20-%20Dr%20Timothy%20Tennent%20-%20Our%20Mission%20to%20Theologically%20Educate.mp3
Dr. Tennent is the author of Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology (Zondervan, 2007).