(Non)-denominational

Since I have an exam today it seems like a very good time to revive the bad blog. It has been a cluttered school year that has not given me much time to ponder. Probably the two strangest things were
1. getting on the Dean's list (twice)
2. finding it difficult to write papers.
Yah I somehow had a hard time at writing my papers this year, especially this spring. Yet I like to write so I'm not sure what it was that was blocking me.

So denominations...

I may be late to the party but the term non-denominational... It is incredibly accurate and inaccurate at the same time. I'm not sure how people understand this term, but for whatever reason I've always taken it to mean no denominational theology. If that is how it is taken, well it's inaccurate. I've attended many different churches and because it's New England many were "non-denom". The churches though were fairly uniform across the board.
Order of Worship
Active ministries
Songs
Theology
Architecture
It was all about the same the thing. Although some had comfy pews and others had hard pews and then there was the super hip "chairs", they all join together and function the same as a pew.

What does this term mean then? If everything is so chain-restaurant-the-same from place to place? Well it simply means they have no denominational affiliations. They don't have a larger body working together. They are an island of believers with no connection to other "non-denom's". They get to suffer and enjoy all the benefits and shortcomings of being by themselves.

There are of course ups and downs to their position as there is with being part of a Nazarene or any other large denomination. Bureaucracy.

The curiosity of them is their nearly uniform theology. Their title is totally inaccurate in the sense of "Non-denominational-theology". Which is a shame. For me there would be a much larger appeal if they were somehow able to shed non-practical theologies from their existence.

I've found in youth ministry a simple and useful theology. Adults do not want to explain deeper theological ideas to kids because they might not "get it". This of course is the exact thing that happens to adult congregations but not admitted to. Some more theological youth pastors might be able to incorporate deeper theology than myself but of course they could be the exception instead of the rule.

Do not let this seem like I am snubbing theology, in fact I embrace it. However I find that there is quite a lot of superflous theology that I suspect we have created to distract ourselves from the tragic realities of the society around us.

Jesus had a beautiful way of concluding his teaching so that people would continue to scratch their heads.
Continue to think.