AEF- Brian McLaren

These are some random thoughts about Brian McLaren’s topic, “Does the Emerging Church have an Ancient Future?”

One of the first things that Brian talked about was how we need to realize that we don’t all start with the same meaning for many of the words that we use. One in particular is the word “evangelical”. I mentioned this in my discussion with the anonymous commenter. Before we can begin the discussion we must first challenge our definitions, especially this one in particular.

Brian also mentioned the importance of the community of faith acknowledging the validity at all levels in the different expressions of the faith. I don’t see much middle ground here, you either know that all expressions of Christianity are working toward the same kingdom goals or you think that other expressions are foes to be conquered. God help us.

The final part of Brian’s presentation that stood out to me was a part that he mentioned briefly which is our temptation toward Christoencapsulation. This is that temptation to forget about the other two parts of the Trinity in our worship and theology. We must be followers of Christ with the understanding of how we then relate to the Father and Spirit. Without a relationship and communication with all three persons of the Trinity we are falling short in our attempts to be kingdom people.


Again these are my thoughts and do not represent McLaren’s opinions.