Tim Cooper – a lecturer in church history at Otago University – also sees churches in this country well on the way that McLaren points to. As a former church director of LifeSwitch Church in the Hutt Valley, he was responsible for facilitating changes to meet the 21st century. He says the fact that it has developed spontaneously here shows it is an important movement.

“I think it’s a real issue for New Zealand churches to work through, how they make the experience of church meaningful to a new generation. The older modes of church may not be so meaningful any more because they were suited to the modern perspective.

“There is a real shift from modernism to post-modernism, which we have to engage with.”

But Mr. Cooper warns that churches need to beware that while finding ways to relate to postmodern culture, they don’t become too enculturated. He is unhappy with one of the early books written by McLaren, A New Kind of Christian, which appeared to rely more on post-modern thinking than the Bible to resolve problems.

“If churches abandon the Bible as the basis for what they doing, that’s tricky. The weakness of postmodernism is: what do you pin it on? What basis is there? Once you take out the idea of objective truth, what is left?

“I strongly believe that churches need to engage with post-modern thinking, but post-modernism may be passing, and it may pass more quickly than you think, because people will find in the end it’s not a philosophy you can live by. Who knows what will succeed it, but perhaps it will be a return to absolute values.

“Therefore, while we should pay attention, we don’t necessarily have to buy into it. Nonetheless, churches need to pay attention. Things are rapidly changing, and if we’re 10 years behind we’re a long way behind. We’ve got to connect somehow,” Mr. Cooper said.

© 2006 ASSIST News Service, used with permission