Curious Christian

When embarking on new directions in your spiritual journey it is always advisable to find yourself an experienced teacher or spiritual counselor who suits you and where you are at; someone who can guide you past some of the pitfalls that you might otherwise fall into, and open up new vistas that you might otherwise take a lot longer to find. So what if your interest is in learning more about Jesus and his way? What if you are looking for a non-institutional approach to Christianity?

While there are many Christian leaders offering non-institutional approaches to Christianity these days they are not all the same. One of the first things you need to recognize is that some non-institutional teachers cater more for “post-evangelicals” whilst others cater more for “pre-Christians”. There is generally an overlap of course, but you might save yourself some bother down the track by sussing this out up front.

So what do I mean by these terms? Which category do you best fit into?

“Post-evangelical” is a term that has come to be applied to people who are familiar with many of the basics of Christianity and pop Christian culture, but who have been burnt out by some of the excesses of fundamentalists and the like and are looking for alternative ways of being Christian that are more in tune with post-modern culture. Leaders catering to this group generally assume you have some basic familiarity with the Bible, the Trinity and other church teachings; that what you need most of all is space to deconstruct some of your commonly held truths about church and experiment with new forms. Some people speak of this as “back door ministry,” meaning the focus is on people at risk of walking away from Christian community if more appropriate options aren’t offered.

“Pre-Christian” is a term that applies to people of a different sort, who may not be so experienced with pop Christian teaching, practice and culture; people who might previously have identified themselves as “unbelieving” or “spiritual but not religious” or maybe have identified with different religious traditions altogether. They may have visited churches on occasion or in their youth, and heard a lot through the media, but direct experience is much more limited. Leaders catering to this group are generally distinguishable by a deeper familiarity with the teachings of other religions and sensitivity to the plethora of questions that can throw up. Even here though, it needs to be recognized that some are more used to working with people with no previous religious commitments; that not all have worked with people who have previously had high commitments in other traditions. This might be something you need to consider. It you belong to this group it is not just your previously held view about Christianity that you’ll need to work through. Either way though, this is better understood as being a “front door” ministry, focused on people who are less experienced in hard core Christian learning.

As I said though, that doesn’t mean there aren’t areas of significant overlap between the two. Both of these non-institutional approaches tend to be allergic to fundamentalism, both are interested in experimentation. Neither is right or wrong in itself. Where you see yourself fitting is up to you.