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Looking at the emerging church . . .
One of the most fundamental things to understand
about the emerging church is that it is very hard to define. There
is no “Emerging Church.” It is not a denomination, nor
is it a program to be used in congregations. There are a lot of
churches in the world that would consider themselves “emerging,”
but they all look different from one another. Jonny Baker of Grace
in London says, “Church, as we have inherited it, is no longer
working for the vast groups of people. The world has changed so
much. So I think the term emerging church is nothing more than a
way of expressing that we need new forms of church that relate to
the emerging culture” (Gibbs and Bolger 41).
While there are certain characteristics that emerging
churches tend to have and certain characteristic that they don’t
have, none of them fit all of these definitions perfectly. To make
matters more complicated, there is a lot of debate and variation
about what it is that makes a church “emerging.” For
this reason, it is important to look at the whole of emerging churches,
rather than just individual ones. We know in our own tradition that
just because a congregation calls itself a “Lutheran”
congregation does not mean that it represents the whole of the Lutheran
tradition very well. Likewise, there are many faithful, and some
less than faithful, emerging churches and leaders out there, just
as there are in any tradition.
The description of the emerging church presented
here is long. We fully acknowledge that, and we apologize for that.
However, any definition that seeks to provide a concise and precise
definition most likely doesn’t quite get at it quite right
(not that this answer gets it perfectly right either). Sometimes
the best theology requires us to wrestle with things a bit more
than we might want to. Thanks for taking the time to read this and
learn a bit more along with us.
What the emerging church is NOT .
. .
Because there are so many misconceptions about the
emerging church circling throughout the church, one of the best
places to begin any discussion about it is to talk about what the
emerging church is NOT.
As already mentioned, the emerging church is not
a denomination. Most emerging churches tend to be non-denominational,
though there are a lot of congregations in the mainstream (Lutheran,
Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc.) that participate in the
emerging conversation and consider themselves as emerging churches.
A good example of this would be The Church of the Apostles in Seattle,
Washington, which is dually affiliated with the Episcopal Church
USA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The emerging church is also not a program. There
are a lot of programs circulating among churches, each promising
to fix some problem or to enhance some ministry. Most of these programs
promise to help a church bring more people into it if they follow
any number of steps. Emerging churches shy away from programs like
this because they believe that what works in one place may not work
in another place. For them, being the church is a contextual thing.
It grows out of authentic faithfulness in a particular context.
Although emerging churches tend to be growing, their aim is not
to grow, but to be faithful. Thus, any church that embraces the
emerging church mindset in order to grow has missed the point altogether.
Some mainstream congregations talk about adding an “emerging”
worship service to their congregation, but even this goes against
the emerging mentality. Although the form and style of worship in
emerging churches tends to be different than a lot of mainstream
churches, that is not what defines it as emerging. Rather than juxtaposing
itself against “traditional” worship (as many do with
“contemporary” worship), emerging churches embrace a
variety of forms (including many traditional ones) in order to develop
a more faithful and contextual community.
What the emerging church IS . . .
We have spent a lot of time talking about what the
emerging church is not, so you are probably wondering by now what
the emerging church is. That is a fair question, but it is a difficult
one to answer, and one that needs just a little more prefacing before
we can try to answer it. As mentioned earlier, there is no agreement
on what defines the emerging church. Part of the reason for that
is that most emerging churches embrace the fact that we live in
a post-modern world. Like the emerging church, there are a lot of
misconceptions about what it means to be post-modern (which we will
get into later). For now, it is enough to say that in a post-modern
culture, there is a high tolerance for ambiguity. Our tendency to
categorize things, to try to pin them down to a 12-point list of
attributes is a very modern concept (modern as in the Modern Era,
closely tied to the Enlightenment—modern here does not mean
“recent times”). Rather than coming up with a specific
definition for the emerging church, emerging leaders are happy to
live in tensions (as was Martin Luther, who rejected the reasoned
explanations of Aquinas, especially when it came to communion and
transubstantiation).
One of the best ways to describe emerging churches
is as faithful communities who live in dialog. Emerging churches
seek to address the difficult issues and to simply talk about faith
and converse about the one Holy God who is ultimately indescribable.
As they engage in conversation with one another, emerging churches
are in dialog with the culture. Rather than seeking to define itself
over-and-against culture and rejecting culture, emerging churches
acknowledge that faith is incarnational (Jesus became human and
lived in the world) and seeks to speak to people through culture
without being defined by that culture (because they are defined
by God).
For the remainder of our explanation of emerging
churches, we turn to Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolder, who in their
book, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern
Cultures, describe three core practices and six other marks of emerging
churches.
Three core practices of emerging
churches . . .
Through their extensive research and evaluation,
Gibbs and Bolger have identified three core practices that characterize
most every church that would be considered “emerging.”
Those practices are: identifying with Jesus, transforming secular
space, and living as community.
To say that emerging churches strive to “identify
with Jesus” means that they seek to emulate the “way”
that Jesus lived. Although Divine, God chose to live among people,
engaging them where they are in the world. Through the incarnation,
Jesus engaged the culture and lived in community. For emerging churches,
the “way” of Jesus was most clearly articulated in the
Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). For this reason, emerging churches
critique theologies that focus only on Jesus’ death and/or
resurrection (though still believing his death and resurrection
to be an important and necessary part of the incarnation). Some
would suggest that Lutherans fit this category of traditions that
the emerging church critiques because of Luther’s theology
of the cross. However, we believe that a faithful theology of the
cross does not devalue Jesus’ life either, but rather puts
his life, death, and resurrection all in tension with each other.
The practice of “transforming secular space”
is a direct response to the modern era (see our page of definitions
for a fuller description of modern and postmodern). Emerging churches
believe that the church experienced a fragmentation between religious
life and secular life that began developing in the fourteenth century.
Although this could easily be seen as a critique of the separation
of church and state, that is not what they speak of in relation
to this matter. What emerging churches lament is that the life of
faith has been separated from daily life. They seek to renew the
embodiment of one’s faith and beliefs in all that they do.
Although a very minor implication of this practice, one good example
of this shift is the separation of “Christian” music
from secular music. Emerging Christians believe that even secular
music can speak to their faith and their non-Christian compositions
can speak to the whole world. In this way, all music becomes sacred
music and even secular music that embodies the way of Jesus can
speak to Christians. Often times this sacred/secular fragmentation
has lead to what many people consider the separation of one’s
head and heart, suggesting that faith is an emotional thing and
the rest of life based on reason. This mentality suggests that faith
is mindless and that faith has no real implications for the “real
world.”
The third and final core practice of emerging churches
is the pursuit of community. Instead of just a group centered around
similar interests, emerging churches imagine community at being
more like extended family. Relationship is central to any emerging
church. It is not just about what “I believe,” and it
isn’t all about “me” (often the critique of a
lot of contemporary Christian movements). Rather, the life of faith
is about “us,” living together, learning together, and
loving together, each as Jesus modeled for us. This means that while
the worship gathering is still centrally important, living together
in the community and with the whole world throughout the week is
just as important. As Thomas Merton once wrote, no person is an
island.
Six other marks of emerging churches
. . .
Although most every “emerging” church
exhibits the three core practices described above, they still vary
in a lot of ways. Through their research, Gibbs and Bolger have
identified an additional six characteristics (in many ways derivatives
of the first three) that many emerging churches tend to exhibit,
though few of them exhibit all six: welcoming the stranger, serving
with generosity, participating as producers, creating as created
beings, leading as a body, and merging ancient and contemporary
spiritualities.
Several of the additional practices build on following
the way of Jesus. This “way” involves a preferential
option for the poor (in body, mind, and spirit) that involves not
only faith, but an active response to God’s grace through
faithful living that welcomes the outcast, hosts the stranger, and
challenges the political authorizes by creating an alternative community
(Gibbs and Bolger 44). For this reason, emerging churches practice
a radical hospitality that seeks to make all people feel welcome
in Christ’s community, especially those who might be a “stranger”
to the church. Most emerging churches attempt to avoid “churchy”
language, using more culturally relevant language and metaphors
to describe God and God’s gracious actions in the world. This
radical hospitality also involves serving as Christ commanded the
disciples to love and serve one another as Christ himself loves
and served them (John 11).
Emerging churches tend to encourage and sometimes
even require that people fully participate in the life of the community.
This practice comes as a response to the consumer-based church models
where people “church shop” to find what meets their
needs. Rather than marketing a product, emerging churches invite
all people to participate in the community. That means that everyone
is involved in some In many emerging churches, the expectations
of “members” (few would refer to it as membership) tend
to be much higher than in most Lutheran churches. Each person is
responsible for contributing to the community through their unique
gifts. They are also encouraged to share their experiences, proclaiming
the Good News as it has impacted their lives.
Building on the Apostle Paul’s already-but-not-yet
description of God’s action, many Lutherans today are approaching
theology from a proleptic viewpoint, believing that God’s
creative work has not yet been completed and that humans are being
drawn into God’s creative work of ushering in the Kingdom
of God. This trend in theology is also growing in the emerging church
conversation. Speaking to life as well as theology, emerging churches
see God’s redeeming work already happening in this world,
but not yet fulfilled (and it won’t be until the Kingdom of
God fully comes). Rather than developing out own hopes and dreams,
our own missions, Christians follow the Divine vision (the missio
Dei--mission of God) for creation. In this way, God is calling the
faithful to become “co-creators” (not that we will be
God or nearly as righteous as God). As co-creators obedient to God’s
vision, we follow the way of Christ and God’s will reigns
in the world. This also means utilizing our God-given talents and
creativity (including the creative means and media that speak to
our culture). In this way, all of the faithful become leaders. Emerging
churches practice a more “open” leadership in which
everyone is encouraged to take responsibility for the mission of
the church. Rather than a top-down leadership structure, emerging
churches seek to empower all people to use their gifts in ministry.
The final practice that many emerging churches embody
is that of merging ancient and contemporary spiritualities. Emerging
churches are rediscovering many ancient spiritual practices, such
as the church calendar, labyrinth walking, lectio divina, and other
prayer forms. As they respond to the hyper-activity--the fast-pace,
constant activity, and super stimulation--that has come to define
our culture, they are finding many of these practices life-giving
in ways they never expected. Emerging churches are also rediscovering
the power of visual media (like art) to speak to people’s
spiritual lives. As they rediscover and renew these “ancient”
spiritualities, they simultaneously embrace and renew many forms
of our culture. Some of these forms are even merged in the use of
media, such in projection and on the internet. Although many of
these “ancient” spiritual practices might seem given
and even mundane to many Lutherans, they are foreign to much of
the church. Even such central components to Lutheran tradition as
liturgy and the Lord’s Supper are beginning to find their
way back into the center of many emerging churches.
In conclusion . . .
As you can see, emerging churches represent a complex
movement in the church today. Although there are some isolated emerging
churches that embrace a theology or practice that is foreign or
even contrary to Lutheran theology, there is much, much more that
emerging churches have to offer the Lutheran tradition. Their greatest
gifts include the invitation to conversation and their desire to
speak of God’s gracious love to the whole people throughout
God’s creation. Lutherans are challenged to engage in this
conversation and share our own gifts of theology and tradition so
that we together as the Body of Christ might more fully and faithfully
follow God’s vision for creation.
We invite you to explore the rest of this website,
to learn about what leaders in the emerging church and what Lutherans
are talking about today. Then please join us in the conversation
and in this community so that we might be blessed by the ways that
God has gifted you.
Works Cited . . .
Gibbs, Eddie and Ryan K. Bolger. Emerging
Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures.
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
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