An Emerging Mess
Last week Tony Jones, the de facto bishop of the emerging church, started a petition to ordain his friend Adam Walker Cleaveland. Adam, it turns out, has been delayed (note: not denied) in his journey towards being ordained in the PC(USA), a denomination he has been part of for quite some time and feels called to serve. This delay was, it would seem, unacceptable to Tony and the proverbial stick that broke the camel’s back. Tony’s response has been to call the denominational institution “sinful” and those of us who encourage Adam to stay the course “complicit in this sin” (see Adam’s blog) It’s quite a mess, as Tony sees it.
I first came to know of Adam through an essay he wrote in The Emergent Manifesto, edited by Tony Jones. It was an essay that caught my eye because he, like myself, was determined to stay within his mainline denomination while claiming for himself an emerging Christian identity. I respected his desire to remain humble, submissive and in covenant fidelity with a community of faith that had nurtured him while he pursued God’s call upon his life to be a pastor.
Tony I know only through what I have read of his, the latest being The New Christians (an excellent book) and through my following the emerging church scene for about the past 5 years. Seeing how Tony has reacted to his friend’s delayed ordination and the harsh comments and judgments he and others have lobbed from one imperfect institution (the emerging church) at another (denominations) has disturbed me deeply. It’s quite a mess.
Here are just a few of my random musings concerning this emerging mess…
1 – No system is perfect. It is uncharitable of Tony and shows a severe blind spot (or arrogance) in his thinking for him to call Adam’s denomination (or any of them) “sinful” and those of us in the system as complicit in this sin. Why should Adam leave one “sinful” system for another? For years I have been defending the emerging church against stereotypes that it is comprised of nothing more than malcontent evangelicals who hate authority. Tony Jones is not helping me make that defense any easier. Authority, order, procedure, etc are not inherently wrong in and of themselves. How we use them certainly are. Do ordination boards always get it right? NO! They are made up of humans, just like Tony. Do I believe they go to their task with great humility, prayer and desire to be true to the Holy Spirit’s leading? Yes, I do. Are there some that abuse this power and authority? Sure. However, Tony’s proposed solution solves nothing. Rather, it creates chaos.
2 – If any of us can start a petition to ordain someone we feel should be ordained where does that lead us? We may all agree that the process of ordination is not perfect and that we should always be evaluating our practices. I would hope we can all agree that whatever ordination is it is most certainly something that should be done in community. Even Tony Jones recognizes this. In a sermon he just posted on BeliefNet, titled, “My Anti-Ordination Sermon,” Tony writes about the beauty of their solemn meeting as they ordain his friend, Danielle:
Danielle is ordained today not by a distant bishop or a denominational bureaucracy, but by the local body of Christ, by the same folks who led her in youth group, discipled her through high school, prayed her through college, gave her a job in ministry, and kept her in care in seminary. We encouraged her to preach, serve communion, teach Bible studies, run summer camp, lead mission trips, hang out with kids, and mentor an amazing group of young women.
I say, amen. Tony has beautifully described the process many of us (myself included) have experienced as we are cradled in the hands of our various ordinand boards and particular communities of faith who rejoice alongside us as they affirm our inward call through their outward signs of grace and fruit borne.
However, Tony has also proven, in his own words, precisely why he is wrong to start an online petition to ordain his friend Adam. I cannot give my blessing to ordain anyone that I have never shared a drink with let alone never met around the Table with, prayed with, sang with, learned with, grew with, etc.
3- In some of the comments surrounding this mess there has been an emphasis on the priesthood of all believers and the sense that we are “all ordained” anyways, so what is the big deal? Any discussion about how we are all “one” in Christ or that we are all “priests” before God must take into account the many passages throughout Scripture that speak to God’s specific calling of individuals for certain vocations. Beginning with Noah to Abram to Moses to Deborah, David, Jesus, the 12 disciples, Paul and so on, God has been in the business of setting people aside for specific work. The Spirit calls and gifts the church as the Spirit wills. Are all prophets? Are all apostles? Are all teachers? Are all pastors? Paul says, No! Similarly, not all of us speak in tongues, not all of us have the gift of discernment, healing, service, etc. To say that we are all ordained is like saying that everyone should sing solos in church. Clearly, some of us should not be pastors anymore than others should be signing out loud.
This is cause for great joy and celebration, not ridicule and judgment. God is STILL raising up people from all walks of life to be God’s servants in a myriad of ways and in a myriad of institutions! The Church needs all of these gifts in order to fulfill the mission she has been given. I think that one of our chief missions is to show a world in darkness what it looks like when a people unified under one Lord truly sing together with one voice even while they may not adhere to one institution.
I hope that Tony will either apologize for his harsh and judgmental comments and demeanor towards denominations and those of us in them or even recant. In my 5 years of following the emerging church I have never been more concerned about her direction. It’s an emerging mess, but God does great things with messes.
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Filed under: Church, Essays | Tagged: Adam Walker, Denominations, Emerging Church, ordination, Tony Jones
Either God is still raising up leaders for our church or he isn’t.
To finally give credit where credit is due, it’s my brother who explained the central paradox of Sola Scriptura thus: Sola Scriptura claims that the Bible is complete in and of itself, thus there are no more prophets (because the Canon is closed) and yet also claims that everybody is now a prophet (because one of the historical things prophets did for us, enshrined in the Catholic priesthood, was to interpret scripture, and now everybody can do it).
I see the same problem with Tony’s deconstruction of the Sacrament of Holy Orders- without order there is only chaos and heresy, but there is also no ability for doctrine to develop in an orthodox manner.
Thanks, Ted. I agree.
You won’t find much sympathy for Sola Scriptura from me. I doubt you would from Tony, either.
Peace.
Which is why I’m in this conversation at all- my cousin’s wife, Theresa, introduced me to Tony on facebook, and suddenly I saw the first hope in my lifetime of a bottom-up healing of the schisms in Christianity. What a golden opportunity emergence is! Almost as good as having a German Pope to talk to the World Lutheran Council!
I wonder what awful event happened in Tony’s past that would cause him to be so angry towards denominations. The ordination process he describes (and lashes out at) is nothing like the process I have seen in my denomination. I wish he would be more in-touch with the reality that most people experience in their denominational families. Sadly, it seems that the venom he is spewing on this issue makes it difficult for people to resonate with the other amazing things he has done / written / said. I pray that is not the case…
Erik,
Very true. If we focus on the extremes we can always find fuel for fodder. I feel that is what Tony (and the bandwagon following) have done here. I have experienced nothing but grace in my process. In fact, I still get cards of encouragement and prayer from people on boards I am no longer working directly with!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
grace and peace
Chad,
I knew nothing of Tony or Adam prior to reading your blog. Yet, upon reading your entry I feel compelled to enter the conversation (as if what i say really matters).
It seems to me that the forgotten people in this process are those composing the ordination committee. The assumption that is easy to make is that they had no grounds for delaying Adam’s ordination. But what if they did? To delay ordination is not to deny that an indivdual is called by God, nor does it deny their giftedness for ministry. Rather, it is another opporutnity to slow down, pray, and seek God’s guidance for the future. Clearly there was something the committee concluded was significant enough for delay. We don’t know what that issue was. I think it is wrongheaded to assume that the committee’s reasoing was flawed, or that this is an example of a failure of the denominational structure. Perhaps this is the denominational structure at its best: providing accountability and faithfulness in discernment of God’s call. We just don’t know.
It is easy to get frustarted with denominations and institutional strcutures in the church. The American way to handle such frustrations is to leave the institution behind, start a petition, and find a new “majority” that agrees with you. It seems to me that this response poses greater problems than the denominational structures posed in the first place. By leaving the institutional strcuture behind, the individual is free to choose and believe whatever she chooses. Accountability is lost, and one loses the sense that authority resides outside the individual.
The church is a community, God’s call is discerned in community, and this side of eternity community always means some form of institutional structure.
In fact, after reading Adam’s blog on the subject this morning and the list of additional classes he was asked to take, I’d have to say the ordination committee was doing an EXCELLENT job of trying to protect orthodoxy. Adam keeps bringing up his Princeton degree like it means anything- how is the committee to know that he wasn’t just yet another rich kid who got in and through Princeton based on a named wing for the library?
Tom,
Glad you shared that (and even if our Amy’s care nothing for this, I care what you have to say)
I agree with you. I do think you are right to highlight the committee in this, asking whether they may be doing exactly as they ought to do as they discern what is best for not only Adam but also their particular locale (church). Since we do not know the full story (and there is always more sides to the story than initially meet the eye) we just can’t say.
I think your last paragraph is the clincher. A denomination is simply a defined community. It can (and does) serve a significant purpose. While it is not always perfect, it never claims to be.
Gotta run for now.
Peace.
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Ted~
Aside from your caddy comment about Princeton that I sometimes share. I think you are talking about something you know very little about (which is the process that the Presbyterian Church uses for ordination). I am not sure that the committee’s response was to protect “orthodoxy”. I don’t think even they would say that. That might be stretching it a bit. Adam’s situation is difficult, fraught with problems, boneheaded decisions and I am sure discouraging for everyone involved.
It just seemed to me to be so, given the list of classes he was asked to continue to take (oh, and my caddy comment, I extend to almost all Ivy League schools, which I consider to have proven themselves not worthy of their rather high tuition, which they seem to get from reputation alone).
I’m not sure what the Presbyterians would call orthodoxy vs heresy, but look at what he was asked to take: History classes and biblical interpretation classes. They weren’t questioning his basic education, or his Master’s degree, or even his intelligence. They were questioning whether he had sufficient breadth of knowledge to preach, from scripture, and not lead a flock into some random heresy.
That to me, is a completely reasonable question to ask, when admitting somebody into being the leader of a congregation. Sure, it’s boneheaded and discouraging, but it’s also necessary.
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