I recently finished a book called “Why We Love the Church” by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Perhaps the simplest way to sum it up is that it’s the sequel to their earlier book, “Why We’re Not Emergent“. In an era where it has become fashionable to complain about, disrespect, and leave, organized, institutional religion, their book is a breath of fresh air. Yes, it “exposes” the emerging/emerging movement. But that’s not the primary goal nor my reason for recommending it. The reason is that it presents a very good, and Reformed, defense of why Christians belong in a church community with one another, and not just out playing golf or meeting at Starbucks on Sunday.

Toward the end of the book, the authors introduced a term that seems to sum it up well: “Plodding visionaries”. These are people who do not ignore the fact that in a fallen world, Christians will sin, and in doing so give others fodder for disrespecting the church. But they also share a vision for what can be over the long haul — as people live together and, by God’s grace, together strive for obedience and to give God glory. They are not revolutionaries — those who want to throw away status quo (and thus the traditions and beliefs of the church for two millennia) — and have no need to redefine what church is. They go along, one day at a time, one step at a time, supporting the church through its ups and downs. Not seeking every little bit of info on why the church is screwed up and why people need to move on.

Here’s a blog entry Kevin DeYoung wrote last year that further explains what this is all about.

With this in mind, I’m changing the name of my blog. “The Plodding Visionary Blog” will better sum up the theme of my infrequent posts. It will create a context for more “ordinary” topics — “the daily grind”, so to speak. I’d subtitle it “Why I’m Not Emergent” but that would be a blatant plagiarization (is that a word?) of DeYoung and Kluck’s work, and I’m not trying to steal their thunder. Seriously, if anyone had a reason to be emergent, I might qualify — having been raised in a Baptistic/Wesleyan brand of fundamentalism, with a solid dose of legalism thrown in, and surrounded by stories of organizational abuse (but fortunately only being on the periphery of any of it). But unlike various friends who eventually made their way to emergent or quasi-emergent views of church (or quit attending any church altogether), I ended up in the non-emergent Reformed camp, or in other words a very organized church structure. Why? Because Scripture is preached. Grace is offered. The sacraments are faithfully administered. We want to be a hospital for sinners, not an incubator for perfectionists. Now, we’ve been through a kind of rough period. Attendance is down as people jump ship for what seems to be greener pastures. The energy that was once present seems to have dissipated. Revolutionaries might be tempted to say that it’s time to start something new, or that it’s proof that Barna (that traitor!… sorry) is right and church isn’t relevant. (With friends like revolutionaries, who needs enemies?!) But plodding visionaries know that — like the process of sanctification — any church will experience ups and downs in this world. We can long for that future day when all will be right (for all eternity). But in the meantime, our calling is to community. After all, just like you wouldn’t dis your best friend’s wife (unless you were tired of him being your best friend…) you wouldn’t dis the Church, which is Christ’s bride.

Sometimes “plodding along” almost feels like taking steps backward. At my church, not all were happy about moving from two morning services to one service. But anyone in attendance yesterday would have been hard pressed to say that the first unified service was not a marked change — we’d been having some Sundays were pews were half full during a service, with maybe twenty-five present at the start, and not a lot of fellowship before/after services. The sanctuary was packed (also had a number of visitors). It was almost loud during congregational singing. People stayed over an hour and a half after the service and enjoyed a meal together. That’s community. So even though from a growth perspective it might seem like a step backward, it’s one more step as we plod along as a community. Maybe we’ll be back to two services in a few months as more people start attending and the momentum of a few years ago is restored. Or maybe it will take longer. It’s okay for plodding visionaries to look ahead to the future and hope for great things. But it’s also important to remember to take one day at a time and not despise “the days of small things”.