Pilgrim Soldier

Two quotes have struck me in recent weeks about Postmodernism. The first by a colleague was that:

Postmodernism is awful, its the worst thing that has ever happened for the church.

The second I read yesterday at David Fitch’s blog:

Postmodernity allows for a critique of the way modernism has captured the church. In essence it frees the church to be the church. We are free from the attractional model of church - producing goods and services for people shopping for services - to embrace a missional paradigm - that we are participating in the mission of God.

I understand the fear of the first view. Indeed when we look at its deconstructionalist nature, postmodernity is indeed a dangerous thing for the church. However, I refuse to accept that a worldview can have power over the commission we have from Jesus himself. Now it is quite possible that understanding the postmodern mindset will have fundamental consequences for the way the Church carries our its mission. Certainly it can be no worse for the church than modernity was as we embraced the mindset in order to fight the scientific absolutism it produced.

My natural inclination is towards the second view. That in order to carry out God’s mission here on earth we need to use postmodern lenses to look at what the church has become and then re-evaluate what is important. Anything that detracts from our mission can afford to be put aside!