10 February 2025
Some trends are close enough to us that we see them over short periods of time. As I watch how each succeeding American generation handles the religious issues of their day, it seem as if genuine faith can easily get trapped behind the generational barriers so that people don't seem to notice larger moves.
I can tell you that our community effort to rekindle the Covenant is not just our own thing, but it could easily seem that way. You won't see very much about the doctrine of the Covenant in the popular books of our day. Instead, you'll see small and incremental steps that show promise.
This is not a book review, but pastor and author Tyler Staton is one example of that incremental shift that seems rooted in generational differences in faith expressions. We can easily say that religious Boomers were all about the deep intellectual traditions of theology. I can recall how much noise there was in my college days about the infallibility of the Bible, and the associated noises about a conservative versus liberal view of the inspiration of Scripture. It was downright Pharisaical at times. Staton is a later generation who has found this stultifying atmosphere to be a faith killer.
Staton published several books that call for a move away from strict intellectual handling of the questions to a more experiential one. For example, he warns that discipleship is an artificial structure across the evangelical spectrum of churches. Instead of Jesus sending his disciples out the experience His power in the real world, we have had the evangelical expression of "discipleship" as a purely intellectual exercise of getting correct theology and doctrine.
Two things I notice: (1) This is far deeper than the average entrepreneurial brand of experience some pastors sell and (2) it is still just a tiny incremental step in the right direction. But because of that first item, his books get rave reviews on Amazon and rather brisk sales. His comments are reviewed on church news sites. Granted, this is a move in the right direction and it hits the Overton Window for the mainstream, but it shows how much work we have to do.
Folks, our community could testify of just how powerful the Covenant is in our lives. We have all been experiencing in these times a tremendous boost in confidence that our God is taking care of us in the face of demonic storms against our faith. Embracing the Covenant works, but there's a huge burden of cultural resistance that will keep our work obscure for a while yet.
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