Young, Restless, and Reformed

Here's the conclusion to their exchange.

Related to info on the young/restless/Reformed subject:

Doug Sweeney (church history professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) recently discussed the movement with Hansen, which you can listen to here.

Finally, I'd encourage reading (and heeding!) Kirk Wellum's wise posts on the subject. Wellum teaches systematic theology and biblical studies at Toronto Baptist Seminary.

He offers (and explains) five exhortations for this group:

1. Those who are young, restless and reformed must not become too self-conscious.
2. We (and I include myself in all of these things) must avoid a triumphalistic attitude.
3. We must put our hope in God and not in our theological systems.
4. With regard to the way we structure our churches we need to give people some breathing room.
5. We need to work and pray when it comes to evangelism.

Be sure to read the whole thing. Here's the conclusion:

There is much to be thankful for, much good has been done, churches have been established, seminaries put back on the right track, and much, much more. But we must keep our focus, we must not take ourselves too seriously, we must make much of God calling upon him to move in our lives and in the lives of others. If we combine our zeal for the word with a passionate love for God and a lost world then great opportunities lie ahead. But if our zeal turns inward and we start judging and dividing along party lines as if we alone have the truth, God will raise up help from somewhere else, as he has done many times before.

Wellum also has a follow-up post On Being Restless, where he explores how "theological precision [can] be joined to gentle patience that is willing to bring people along step-by-step"--and why this is often not the case.