There is no Emerging Church
Friday, February 8th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under
I found a great article on line that I wanted to bring up here: There Is No Emerging Church: A Defense of the Emerging Church.
The author writes:
But through all the reading, listening, discussing, observing, and thinking I have done I have come to the conclusion that there is no Emerging Church. There are Emerging thoughts, and some semblance of a methodology but across the board I haven’t encountered a church that I would visit and from observing their gathering (service) I would call them emerging.
He goes on to list some values:
- Missional Mindset
- Relational
- Accepting
- Critical thinking
These are values, not a church. They “contribute to the character of the church body.”
I think he makes a great point. What do you think?
Pastor Chris
EvangelismCoach.org
Comment by Bruce Reyes-Chow on 8 February 2008:
Exactly.
But . . . in the spirit of being able to communicate in a culture that does need to have some boundaries set in order to understand things, we who would be considered everything from postmodern to emerging to Emergent, to just a bunch of Yahoo’s must be able to articulate who we are to best communicate who we are to the intended audience.
I too get pretty tired of the semantics game that we allow ourselves to get into at times . . . it’s the modernist game that we do have to play at some level, but I don’t have to like it.
So as long as we all stay description instead of proscriptive, I think we hold on the the essence of what I think it really means to be emerging.
Comment by ryan pappan on 8 February 2008:
It is as if we are a gathering of a terminal mass of abstract and impressionist artists seeking to explain their encounter with the divine without boxing in anyone.
I pray we may not focus on the ebb and flow of ecclesiastic rhetoric and focus on the outward service to those we are blessed to serve.
Why do we have to label anything? A church is made of people assembled for a common purpose via Christ.
Values are nothing absent of people to engage them. Values do not sit in a box awaiting a cup of milk and a packet of cheese.
There has always been an emerging church. This is how we arrive at our location today. The church is influenced and in tension with the culture surrounding it.
I agree that there is no product to be produced and consumed that will re-merge the church absent of Jesus mojo. We are stuck with the tension until Christ flies in.
Comment by Tom Robinson on 9 February 2008:
From what I have seen - and that is a very limited criteria - I guess I would have to agree that there are no emerging churches. And yet, as has been noted here already, we are all emerging. But are we aware of what is emerging? And are we helping our congeregations to see it, touch it, taste it? Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibbs wrote a book entitled “Emerging Churches” in which they lifted up nine patterns of emerging churches, starting with identification with Jesus, transforming secular space, and living intentionally in community. Okay, every other church may do that sort of thing, but it seems to me that emerging churches take these on in new and vibrant ways. I like Bruce’s comment about our need to be descriptive; Gil Rendle has pointed out how the old (modern?) model was evaluative, and that led to quick (and sometimes nasty) judgments. But as Jesus said, it shall not be so among you …
Comment by Michael Kruse on 11 February 2008:
Good stuff Chris. Sums up my experience as well.
Comment by Sarah on 11 February 2008:
I was in a class last week with some fellow seminarians, and they were all trying to figure out what “the” emergent church was… imagine their surprise when I suggested that it isn’t a church at all, but perhaps better understood as a way of being.
I think I might refer the class to this article, though. Thanks for the link!