If you've never checked out Immerse, I definitely recommend that you do so. As you can guess from my response to Tony's print article, there are a wide range of views represented such that you'll find things that you resonate with and things you disagree with. One thing's for sure: the content in Immerse raises the bar when it comes to thinking theologically about youth ministry.
Here's an excerpt from my response to Tony Jones. I'd appreciate it if you would head over to to the Immerse website to read the whole thing and add to the discussion:
Where I part ways with Tony in the article is how he applies his relational ecclesiology. Tony suggests that the best way to live out a relational ecclesiology is by blurring leadership distinctions within the church. He criticizes, for instance, the practice of church leaders being the ones to lead the rest of the congregation in communion. Now, I don’t believe you have to have a three-year seminary education to lead fellow followers of Jesus in communion. However, having an egalitarian view of the body of Christ, where all are valued equally as children of God does not necessarily mean that we don’t hold on to distinct authoritative leadership roles within the church.
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While I agree with Tony regarding his distaste for an ecclesiology that emphasizes the role of the few church leaders at the top and de-emphasizes the role of everyone else, I’m not sure he has provided a satisfying and biblical solution to this problem. If the sin of a “top-down” ecclesiology is to encourage too much spectating and little participation, the relational ecclesiology that Tony offers has an equal yet opposite problem: Participation is emphasized to the point that the authority of church leaders becomes almost irrelevant.
Read it all.
