suffering

Last month, three believers were brutally murdered in Turkey. The Protestant church in Smyrna, nearby where the killing occurred have written “a letter to the global church from the Protestant Church of Smyrna,” which is reproduced in its entirety below.

My question to the “emerging church” is does it feel addressed by this letter, as part of ‘the global church’?

After leaving the church for the second time but still knowing that I would be lost without faith, I found myself probing for answers to a question that I didn’t know how to ask. I grew up in a modern-minded church in a suburban family, but early on I realized that I simply thought differently than others in my community. I didn’t understand. But something screamed from inside for as long as I could remember. Life, however, is a strange instructor. After all, as the emergent church our goal is to connect our life expereinces with God in a way that is authentic, meaningful, and powerful.