Glebe Road United
A group from Glebe Road United and Manor Road United, two churches in mid-town Toronto, is meeting in person and on-line to discuss "Everything Must Change: When the World's Biggest Problems and Jesus' Good News Collide" by Brian D. MacLaren during the last three months of 2010. We hope that anyone who wants to join in the discussion will be able to do so, either through this group on Wonder Cafe or at our meetings, which will be on Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm. Check with Ambury for location (which will be at one of the two churches) and where we are in the book. We welcome anyone who wants to participate - the "application" to join the Wonder Cafe group is pretty casual.
A group from Glebe Road United and Manor Road United, two churches in mid-town Toronto, is meeting in person and on-line to discuss "Everything Must Change: When the World's Biggest Problems and Jesus' Good News Collide" by Brian D. MacLaren during the last three months of 2010. We hope that anyone who wants to join in the discussion will be able to do so, either through this group on Wonder Cafe or at our meetings, which will be on Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm. Check with Ambury for location (which will be at one of the two churches) and where we are in the book. We welcome anyone who wants to participate - the "application" to join the Wonder Cafe group is pretty casual.
| Title | Posted | Type | Comments | Last comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Prosperity System (pp. 189-224) |
3 years ago by Ambury |
Group Post |
3 years ago by Ambury |
|
| Part 4: Reintroducing Jesus |
3 years ago by Ambury |
Group Post |
3 years ago by Ambury |
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Comments
Ambury
Everything Must Change: The book
Posted on: 10/19/2010 13:03
Some of you may be surprised that I selected this particular book for us to read this fall. Brian McLaren is from the U.S. Evangelical community, and one would imagine, will have not much in common with the United Church.
I chose the book because McLaren is part of growing group of evangelical Christians who are beginning to question the assumption generally made by them that Jesus only came to earth so he could die on the cross for our sins. In the traditional view, the whole point of his life was his death. The new, emerging view is that Jesus also came to show us through his teachings and his ministry how we should live. He came to proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God had come near (Mark 1:14). Many in the United Church will be surprised that this emerging view in the U.S. evangelical churches is stirring up a hornet's nest of controversy in those churches.
As United Church people read this book we need to understand that while its author is moving in our direction he has by no means arrived yet, and some of his conclusions may seem too tentative. Also, he seems to have no idea that there are other Christian groups who have been following active social gospel programs for decades. Even so however, this development should be seen by everyone as a great sign of hope for Christianity generally in the next few years. Whether we like it or not, the U.S. evangelical community is the face of Christianity (or at least the face of Protestant Christianity) that is regularly presented to the secular world in North America, and if this community is moving away from traditional atonement theology this is a very promising development for all of us.
So please read the book with this in mind.
I welcome your comments; just add them below.
Comments
Ambury
Everything Must Change: The book
Posted on: 10/19/2010 13:03
Some of you may be surprised that I selected this particular book for us to read this fall. Brian McLaren is from the U.S. Evangelical community, and one would imagine, will have not much in common with the United Church.
I chose the book because McLaren is part of growing group of evangelical Christians who are beginning to question the assumption generally made by them that Jesus only came to earth so he could die on the cross for our sins. In the traditional view, the whole point of his life was his death. The new, emerging view is that Jesus also came to show us through his teachings and his ministry how we should live. He came to proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God had come near (Mark 1:14). Many in the United Church will be surprised that this emerging view in the U.S. evangelical churches is stirring up a hornet's nest of controversy in those churches.
As United Church people read this book we need to understand that while its author is moving in our direction he has by no means arrived yet, and some of his conclusions may seem too tentative. Also, he seems to have no idea that there are other Christian groups who have been following active social gospel programs for decades. Even so however, this development should be seen by everyone as a great sign of hope for Christianity generally in the next few years. Whether we like it or not, the U.S. evangelical community is the face of Christianity (or at least the face of Protestant Christianity) that is regularly presented to the secular world in North America, and if this community is moving away from traditional atonement theology this is a very promising development for all of us.
So please read the book with this in mind.
I welcome your comments; just add them below.