Is God is killing the church?

Back in the 1960s there emerged some theologians that claimed “God is dead.” Many people took that claim literally and angrily argued that God was alive and well. They missed the point. The real claim was that the “image” we had of God (from the '50s) was dead and that a larger image was needed.

More recently theologian Stanley Hauerwas claimed that “God was killing the church.” While I am not a follower of Hauerwas’ writings, I think that he is saying something similar to the theologians of the '60s. I believe his claim is that God is killing the “image” we have of church left over from the '50s which still guides many congregations. God is killig that "church." While that image may have been appropriate in it’s time, the world has continued to evolve and the church has not. We are reminded of the admonition not to put new wine in old wineskins.

While the Gospel remains the same, instruments for that proclamation must continue to grow and develop or they will die a very embarrassing death. - Ed