So you want to know what the emerging
church is? This is the place to start...
Where did the emerging church come
from?
Many leaders in the emerging church have their roots
in the Evangelical tradition, but feel dissatisfied with the ways
that the established church has related to our culture and the wider
church today. Brian McLaren, a prominent writer in the emerging
church, explains, “‘Big E’ Evangelical refers
to a segment of the church that I love and from which I hail, but
which I don’t think I understand so much anymore, and in which
I my not actually be wanted anymore . . . When I say I cherish an
evangelical identity, I mean . . . an attitude toward God and our
neighbor and our mission that is passionate” (A Generous Orthodoxy
128, 130).
Although the movement has many of its roots in the
Evangelical tradition, it has grown to include a much wider base.
There are a growing number of “mainline” churches and
leaders that are in dialogue with the emerging church and that consider
themselves “emerging.” Diana Butler Bass often talks
about a similar “post-liberal” movement growing out
of mainline denominations in a way that parallels and becomes combined
with the emerging church (Practicing Congregations 69-90). Emerging
leaders are quick to point out that the emerging church is not a
solution to generational angst (a dissatisfied youth or young adult
culture), but a response to a philosophical disconnect with the
wider culture (Gibbs and Bolger 32).
What is post-modernism?
This is hard to define, and often not what most people think it
is. See our page of definitions for our best answer to this question.
What is post-Christendom?
Post-Christendom is the term many theologians and
sociologists are using to describe the world we live in today when
Christian faith is not a given. Contrary to the past 1,500 years
(at least in the west), the majority of the world population does
not attend church on a weekly basis, and the Christian faith has
less and less impact on people’s daily living. It is no longer
assumed that Western children or adults will be baptized. In some
places, such as parts of Europe) there is even a growing intolerance
for Christianity and its outward practices in secular areas.
Emerging churches want to be honest about this new
era and climate for Christianity, rather than pretending it isn’t
true, focusing on the dwindling remnant, and lamenting evangelism
programs that do very little. They want to ask the questions of
why church attendance is declining and fewer people who do attend
are barely impacted in their daily living. Most emerging churches
believe the answer lies in the fact that the historic church has
let God’s children down by failing to reach them in meaningful
ways.
Does the emerging church advocate relativism, unionism,
or syncretism? Is it just an “anything goes” melting
pot type of church?
Although there are certainly those in the emerging
church that cross the line of relativism, unionism, and syncretism
(as there are in just about every tradition), those who do are few
and far between. If you haven’t yet read the description of
postmodernism, that answer will help you better understand that
relativism does not characterize the postmodern church. It is true
that emerging leaders encourage dialogue among Christian traditions
and non-Christian traditions. The intent is not to combine all of
the beliefs into one, but to better understand the One Holy God
that gives us the ability to think and talk with each other. This
dialogue not only helps us understand what we have in common, but
also helps us to better understand what we confess and what we cannot
faithfully give up. Instead of a theological melting pot, emerging
churches seek a church that is more like a bowl of salad--it is
filled with many very different flavors and food, each part maintaining
its distinctiveness while enriching and complementing the other
parts that make up the whole body.
What makes the emerging church more than just a passing
fad?
Unlike programs that attempt to address generational
and societal preferences (such “contemporary” worship
services or “seeker” services), emerging churches are
not tied to any particular culture or preference. The emerging church
is not a program; it is a way of being the church in the world in
which we live. As the world and our culture changes, so would their
response. The philosophy and theology of the emerging church implies
by its very nature that there is no pattern that can be applied
universally to achieve a specific end. It is all contextual. Being
rooted in conversation with God, each other, and the world, it maintains
the flexibility to grow and change as the world changes and as God
speaks in many and various ways to it.
What demographic is most often represented by emerging
churches?
By and large, most emerging churches tend to be
urban. Like the Lutheran church, those who participate in the community
and life of emerging churches tend to be white and middle class.
However, that is not true of all emerging churches, just like it
is not true of all Lutheran churches. There are some churches in
rural areas that consider themselves emerging, and there is racial
and social diversity in a lot of emerging churches.
Emerging churches also tend to draw younger generations
than older generations. Part of that is because mainline churches
do a better job at speaking through culture to older generations
than to newer generations (a 3-point expositional sermon speaks
much better to those who grew up in the modern era than to those
who grew up in a more postmodern era). Although emerging churches
tend to be younger, they are by no means exclusively young people.
There is a growing number of middle-aged Christians attending emerging
churches, and in some places they even outweigh the younger generations.
Is this only an American thing?
Although most emerging churches and leaders we hear
about tend to be American, there is a similarly growing movement
in Europe, especially the United Kingdom, in response to the growing
secularism and the church’s failure to reach the wider culture.
Which culture are emerging churches seeking to live
in and converse with?
Most emerging churches intentionally reflect the
culture of their primary demographic. This is both a blessing and
a liability. Those who have difficulty hearing the Gospel in the
ways that have characterized the modern era are hearing the Good
News for the first time. Just as we acknowledge in our schools today
that different children learn in different ways (audible learners,
visual learners, etc.), churches are acknowledging that people also
hear and experience God’s love and grace in different ways.
Recall the Pentecost experience of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2: “All
of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
languages, as the Spirit gave them ability . . . Parthians, Medes,
Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia . . . both Jews and proselytes,
Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about
God’s deeds of power” (vv. 4, 9-11).
The difficulty is that our world is full of many
different cultures. Because they focus on reaching people using
the means of the culture, few emerging churches end up being truly
cross-cultural or trans-cultural. Although the internet may speak
powerfully to the young and the wealthy, it cannot speak in the
same way to the poor and the elderly. What speaks to an urban crowd
may not speak as well to a rural community. Some emerging churches
are experiencing changes as they become more diverse, such as what
to do with babies and young children as their youthful community
begins to have children. Ultimately, emerging churches must also
figure out how over time they will speak to a culture without becoming
enmeshed and bound to that culture in the way that the mainline
church has become bound to the modern (as in modern era) culture.
It seems like emerging church leaders tend to be
very charismatic. What impact does that have, and where will the
next pastor come from when the current one leaves?
Although not characteristic of all emerging churches,
a lot of them have been founded by and lead by people who have been
disaffected by the denominations or who have felt like the type
of ministry God is calling them to couldn’t arise out of an
existing church. While this should naturally raise some questions
for us, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing (there can be good
reason to be disaffected with denominations and the many churches
that resist significant change). Many emerging churches are still
young enough that they have not yet gone through the transition
of pastoral leadership and don’t know what effect that will
have. However, some emerging churches, such as Mars Hill in Michigan,
have gone through that transition and continued to thrive and grow
after pastoral transition. Independent of how the churches began
and how transitions will occur, most emerging churches have no desire
to be centered around one charismatic leader. In fact, such a top-down
leadership would be counter-productive to the empowerment of and
expectations for the lay people that is characteristic of emerging
churches.
Are emerging churches anti-clerical?
The very strong emphasis on lay empowerment and
responsibility would seem to suggest that the emerging church is
anti-clerical. Furthermore, few emerging leaders wear collars, stoles,
robes, or other things that make them look like the “traditional”
pastor (though some do) because they want to fit in better with
the rest of the community and don’t want people to think that
they are the only ones called to ministry. Unlike the Lutheran tradition
that values an educated clergy, many emerging leaders come from
traditions in which extensive theological education is not a prerequisite
for ordained ministry. Many emerging churches place a higher value
on a pastor who is more “down to earth” and who relates
better to the “unchurched.” In fact, many emerging leaders
have an affinity for the tent-making lifestyle of the Apostle Paul,
saying that they would rather their role in the church be something
they love to do, but not their primary means of employment. The
issue of ordination and the role of the pastor may actually be one
of the most difficult differences to reconcile between Lutherans
and many emerging churches (though not all of them, since many are
part of a mainline denomination).
Isn’t there at least some kind of organization
to the emerging church?
Rather than a denomination, the emerging church
is more of a movement (sort of like pietism) and a conversation
than a body of churches. Emerging churches don’t even all
agree about what characterizes an “emerging” church.
However, numerous organizations have developed as churches that
find themselves asking similar questions and finding similar answers.
The largest and most organized group of churches and individuals
is Emergent Village (http://www.emergentvillage.org),
a group that engages in dialogue with each other and enters into
conversation with the wider church (including the National Council
of Churches). A surprising number of churches and individuals that
participate in Emergent Village actually belong to a mainstream
denomination. To learn about more organization of emerging churches
and leaders, visit our links
section in the “Get Involved” section of our website.
Where can I ask my own questions?
Visit the forum in the “Conversation”
section of the website. [link here] You can see if someone else
is asking a similar question, or pose the question yourself.
What are the books cited above?
Butler Bass, Diana. Practicing Congregations:
Imagining a New Old Church. Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute,
2004.
Gibbs, Eddie and Ryan K. Bolger. Emerging Churches: Creating
Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures. Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2005.
McLaren, Brian. A Generous Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2004.
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