A talk by Kendall Harmon on the need for traditionalists to achieve differentiation
Hard to beat Kendall Harmon
K: Can I also mention in passing for those of you who want to study this, because another part of the challenge of this is that this isn’t the first time in church history that this problem has arisen. Think about this - think about the way that Luther had to conduct himself early on. Many people forget about this - Luther didn’t stand up one day and say, "Oh, I’m leaving the Roman Catholic church - bye". He didn’t do that. He had to engage the current structures, and find a way to differentiate himself. And it was a slog, and he had to do all sorts of weird things, like hiding out in a castle with a very unlikely person for a very long period of time - which got a whole lot of people even madder at him. But the point is that - and the other one I would mention is the Methodists. I live in a diocese where George Whitfield was sent out from St. Phillips Charleston because he was publicly indicted for three offences - two of which were "praying in public" and "enthusiasm". I sometimes say to people, "The Episcopal church indirectly caused the Great Awakening" - because the diocese of South Carolina helped send out Wesley and Whitfield because we were so unwilling in the current structures...but the point is that, the reason that happened is because those guys tried to come into the existing structure, showed up at St. Phillips, and then didn’t do what anybody else did from the pulpit. Which is why St. Phillips got so mad, and said, "You’re never preaching here any more". In which case they said, "Fine, we’ll go out in the fields", and they went out in the fields! And you can just hear the people in the back saying, "penalty flag" - we don’t have any canons - you can’t preach in the field - it doesn’t say you can do that! They’re trying to differentiate - I think there are resources to mine in the early Methodist stories and history, and the early Reformation stories of some of how you can try to do this. You look at Wesley, you look at Whitfield, you look at Luther, they’re trying to differentiate, and they’re also trying to find structural relief. There’s all sorts of structural things that are happening in both movements to try to find a way. They don’t find it easy, and they get attacked all the time, but they’re not doing business as usual.
From Standing Firm through Awakening to trinitypastor
K: Can I also mention in passing for those of you who want to study this, because another part of the challenge of this is that this isn’t the first time in church history that this problem has arisen. Think about this - think about the way that Luther had to conduct himself early on. Many people forget about this - Luther didn’t stand up one day and say, "Oh, I’m leaving the Roman Catholic church - bye". He didn’t do that. He had to engage the current structures, and find a way to differentiate himself. And it was a slog, and he had to do all sorts of weird things, like hiding out in a castle with a very unlikely person for a very long period of time - which got a whole lot of people even madder at him. But the point is that - and the other one I would mention is the Methodists. I live in a diocese where George Whitfield was sent out from St. Phillips Charleston because he was publicly indicted for three offences - two of which were "praying in public" and "enthusiasm". I sometimes say to people, "The Episcopal church indirectly caused the Great Awakening" - because the diocese of South Carolina helped send out Wesley and Whitfield because we were so unwilling in the current structures...but the point is that, the reason that happened is because those guys tried to come into the existing structure, showed up at St. Phillips, and then didn’t do what anybody else did from the pulpit. Which is why St. Phillips got so mad, and said, "You’re never preaching here any more". In which case they said, "Fine, we’ll go out in the fields", and they went out in the fields! And you can just hear the people in the back saying, "penalty flag" - we don’t have any canons - you can’t preach in the field - it doesn’t say you can do that! They’re trying to differentiate - I think there are resources to mine in the early Methodist stories and history, and the early Reformation stories of some of how you can try to do this. You look at Wesley, you look at Whitfield, you look at Luther, they’re trying to differentiate, and they’re also trying to find structural relief. There’s all sorts of structural things that are happening in both movements to try to find a way. They don’t find it easy, and they get attacked all the time, but they’re not doing business as usual.
From Standing Firm through Awakening to trinitypastor
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