This is a reblog of an article by Bryan Berghoef.
It reminded me of a conversation I had during a surprise visit from a childhood friend this year. He and I both grew up to become pastors who also married pastors.
We grew up at opposite ends of the Protestant theological spectrum: my family was conservative evangelical, his was liberal mainline. Both of our spouses, interestingly enough, grew up as part of the charismatic renewal movement in mainline denominations.
What we discovered is that our respective spiritual journeys, while starting in very different places, had led each of us to embrace very similar values, practices, and dreams for what we think the church c/should be.
This article reminded me of that conversation. Enjoy!
Hopping Hadrian's Wall 
It is an interesting time to rejoin the church. I have just finished Brian McLaren’s book Generous Orthodoxy – which discusses this coming together of ideas. The chapter that really surprised me, in a good way, was “contemplation/charismatic”. I had realised that I had been drawn to the best of both traditions, but had not recognised the deep commonalities.
I do wonder if ‘convergence’ is the right term. that suggests we are all coming to some point of agreement. Whereas I think it is more about learning to agree to disagree and enjoy the areas we do agree on. I would hate to think we lost valuable traditions through this process.