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Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: John Burke

April 3, 2007 Adam Walker Cleaveland

Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging ChurchesPart 1: Mark Driscoll
Part 2: John Burke

John Burke: Incarnational Theology
John Burke is pastor of Gateway Church, and I appreciate the ministry that seems to be happening at Gateway. I’ve never met John, and he is theologically closer to Driscoll than myself, but he doesn’t have the same negative vibe that Driscoll had in his chapter.

Burke’s community must be a very welcoming place because he relates some stories about people who have been very skeptical about Christianity, have come with plenty of questions, and yet, somewhere along the line, have made a commitment to faith at Gateway Church. Burke talked about a theology of religions and what place Christianity has amidst all other world religions. While Burke is certainly no universalist, he does offer a more progressive evangelical perspective than Driscoll was comfortable with:

“The emerging church can affirm the mysterious ways God has always been at work, drawing people to himself out of the various religious backgrounds, like God did with Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian king…the Queen of Sheba from Africa, the Iranian astrologer, and the magi…Can the emerging church build the kinds of bridges to those pursuing other faiths or coming from other religious backgrounds like Paul did? Does our theology have room for a God who works behind the scenes, even in other religious pursuits, drawing people to Christ” (58-59)?

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Filed Under: Books, Emergent, Theology Tagged With: Atonement, Emergent, Gateway-Church, John-Burke, Listening-to-the-Beliefs-of-Emerging-Churches, Scripture, Theology

Adam is an artist, entrepreneur, pastor, husband and father. He lives in Skokie, Illinois with his wife Sarah (who is also a pastor), their son Caleb, and their dog, Sadie. Read More…

« Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Mark Driscoll
Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Dan Kimball »
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