Thursday, February 24, 2011

Tri-perspectivalism? Really?

Admission of guilt: I'd never heard of "tri-perspectivalism" before today. I guess that means I'm either (a) an uneducated dolt with the IQ of a badger, or (b) I have to figure out to work this word into my everyday conversation.

It's hard not to love Tim Keller if you're an evangelical follower of Christ - he's smart, thoughtful, engaging & solidly Biblical. And gracious in a for-real "they'll know we are Christians by our love" kind of way.

And nowhere is that more obvious than in this blog post from September 2009 (which I just read today):
John Frame's 'tri-perspectivalism' helps me understand Willow. The Willow Creek style churches have a 'kingly' emphasis on leadership, strategic thinking, and wise administration. The danger there is that the mechanical obscures how organic and spontaneous church life can be. The Reformed churches have a 'prophetic' emphasis on preaching, teaching, and doctrine. The danger there is that we can have a naïve and unBiblical view that, if we just expound the Word faithfully, everything else in the church -- leader development, community building, stewardship of resources, unified vision -- will just happen by themselves. The emerging churches have a 'priestly' emphasis on community, liturgy and sacraments, service and justice. The danger there is to view 'community' as the magic bullet in the same way Reformed people view preaching.
Read the whole thing at The 'Kingly' Willow Creek Conference.

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