More thoughts on apologetics

For those of you who are interested in apologetics and/or the emergent church conversation, then you may want to check out this article: Emergent Apologetics. While discussing the (re)emergence of originality, Myles writes the following:

No longer can the same sermon be preached without care to the specific people in our context. One strength of emergent apologetics is its emphasis on genuinely listening to people and getting into their world. In doing so we can craft our conversations and messages around who they are (instead of who they are not). This will help us to avoid copycat formulas and instead inspire original conversation that is alive with the spontaneity of the Spirit.

Let me take a few moments to comment on this quotation. We must be listeners! I am afraid that we are often more ready to be heard than to hear. I love having the opportunity to express my thoughts/ideas/passions/concerns, but I also realize that other people love to do the same. Those of us who are naturally talkative must be cautious that we do not dominate every conversation that we enter. (In reality, does healthy conversation even take place when one person dominates the speech?) If we strive for genuine conversations, then I believe we will also learn how to more clearly speak forth the Truth into the lives of those people in our context.