I recently received an email from a friend regarding the controversy surrounding Brian McClaren. She is a Native American who has embraced the idea it seems of preaching the whole Gospel. Back when the Charismatice movement came into being and was treated with much of the same contempt that the Emergent Church is receiving, they also claimed to have the full Gospel. This seemed to discredit their fore-runners (conservative mainstream) and caused a division that is only now seeming to find a "closing in". It seems possible that the same divisive rendering could take place with the mainstream Church and the more missional/emergent Church. What is interesting is that once the Charismatic revival and the Pentecostal movement of last century moved off to form their own identity, now there has been an indelible impact on maintream Churches from those movements that has almost completely changed the worship style, mode of dress and many other things, not to mention that Churches and individuals that used to be staunch cessationists are no longer so staunch. Of course, for you thought police, the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements of last century wheren't the only contributors of these changes but they were major influencers.
Anyways, the claim was that they had a Full Gospel now. There are even Churches with that name. Well, this new movement, the Missional/Emergent Church has discovered (nothing new, just not included) the push for preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, not just salvation. Being in a developing country, I can tell you honestly that if you don't focus on the Kingdom and only salvation, you will always leave half of your purpose at home. It is so obcvious that the Kingdom principles are so needed here, not just salvation - both.
Is it an even fuller Gospel with more to be considered? - a hermeneutical spiral maybe... Read this email excerpt from my friend and let me know what you think...
"I got to meet Brian McLaren in Nashville and he is just the coolest down-to-earth guy. An example of how cool he is, he was going to get a certain amount of honorarium for being a higher profile speaker, but he declined and just asked for what everyone else was getting. I was wondering what kind of crazy theology he was touting to be catching all the flak that he's been receiving from mainstream church stuff, but after hearing him speak, I have no idea why. He just preaches the gospel of the Kingdom—a holistic gospel where our actions match what we preach.
It's interesting that Rick Joyner is now speaking that the Gospel of the Kingdom has to be preached before the end will come. For the longest time, it was just the Gospel of salvation—which is necessary, but if we want the church to be the Church, it has to be whole. The hierarchy that's been around has to go and the untouchables will be the ones to touch those who are lost and find them. "
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