Tag Archives: Emergent

Thoughts on the “emerging church” or “emergent movement” or “emergent conversation”

Still Submergent After All These Years

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Why We\'re Not Emergent - Book CoverWhy We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be is a recent book by Kevin Deyoung & Ted Kluck, published by Moody Publishers of Chicago. The authors explore and define the “Emergent” movement within Christianity, and call it to balance and biblical authority.

It is well written. I found it to be an engaging mix of serious theological thinking and discussions combined with humorous stories, experiences, reflections and personal musings. In fact, it’s like an “emergent conversation” without the typical “emergent” excesses.

To any younger (say in their 30′s or younger) Christian raised in the evangelical tradition and also in the predominant post-modern culture, who finds themselves drawn to the “emergent” church, it’s celebrities (Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and others), it’s theology (or lack thereof), and its values (social justice, mercy, justice, service), I highly recommend this book. You need to hear the call in this book to biblical balance and wrestle with where you will stand.

I am personally sympathetic to much of what the emergent church is saying, especially in terms of our “orthopraxy” (right living). We evangelicals have focused strongly on “Orthodoxy” (right beliefs), and in this mostly left-brain process we have almost ignored the call of Jesus to become disciples. We have also ignored the mostly right-brain realm of the Holy Spirit. Following Christ is not just about saying a prayer and being all set for heaven because you verbally assented to a certain set of propositions. It is also a call to sacrifice, service, community and a life transformed. It is about learning to live under the control of and within the power of the Holy Spirit. It is all about becoming more and more like Christ.

Ravi Zacharias has said that the toughest question he gets asked is:

“Why, if Christianity is true and claims to change lives, do we see so little evidence of that transformation in the lives of Christians?”

How do you defend against that? This is the existential indictment that the ‘emergents” are pointing their finger at. There is the lack of real difference in the lives of most of us Christians and our almost full-scale adoption of the culture around us. We don’t look that much different. Why should someone follow Christ if that is the case? We don’t even seem to care, or to even notice we have a problem. Our churches are full of lukewarmness and lack the powerful life changing work of the Spirit.

This is where the emergent church has got it right. Sadly, many of their spokespersons do not want to be nailed down on what they will base their alternatives on. Their truth seems to be very relative. The movement cannot last if this is the case. It will become a passing fad. Any true insights and indictments there may be in the emergent movement are doomed if they cannot rest it upon God’s Truth.

I think the book’s Epilogue is especially good: “Listening to all the churches of Revelation.” In it, the authors call the emergent church (and all believers) to assess where we are in light of what the Spirit had to say to the seven churches. The cultural, philosophical, social and spiritual parallels are amazing. I think they really nailed it in their assessment of where we are as the western church, at the beginning of the 21st century. It begs the personal question: Am I ready to confess my sins of lukewarmness, tolerance of sin, loss of my first love, numbness to the lost around me, and my focus on the material world? Am I ready to hear Jesus say, “But I have this against you?” Will I let Jesus come in and clean house – I mean really clean it?

Chapter Titles:

  • Intro: Still Submergent After All These Years (Kevin)
  • Intro: Maybe (Ted)
  • 1 – Journey: Are the Pilgrims Still Making Progress? (Kevin)
  • 2 – Rebel Without A Cause: What Is Worth Submitting to? (Ted)
  • 3 – Bible: Why I Love the Person and Propositions of Jesus (Kevin)
  • 4 – Thank You for Smoking: On Dialogue, Futurism and Hell (Ted)
  • 5 – Doctrine: The Drama is in the Dogma (Kevin)
  • 6 – A Funeral for a Friend: On Churches, Story, and Propositional Language (Ted)
  • 7 – Modernism: The Boogeyman Cometh (Kevin)
  • 8 – Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Dialouging for the Sake of Dialogue (Ted)
  • 9 – Jesus: Bringer of Peace, Bearer of Wrath (Kevin)
  • 10 – Real Topeka People: In Search of Community (Ted)
  • 11 – Why I Don’t Want a Cool Pastor (Ted)
  • Epilogue: Listening to All the Churches of Revelation (Kevin)

Scot McKnight on House Churches

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Scot McKnight - Professor at North Park University

Scot McKnight - Professor at North Park University

I’ve recently been diving into personal research about what the “Emerging Church” or the “Emergent Conversation” is all about. One of the resources I came across is a website called Emergent Village which appears to be a sort of clearing house for this movement in the US.

One of the resources they offer on the site are podcasts by a number of different speakers, writers and authors who are leading this movement or “conversation” as they like to call it. People like: Brian McLaren, Scot McKnight, Doug Pagitt, Diana Butler Bass, Tony Stone, and many more. You can also subscribe to the Emergent Village podcasts through iTunes.

I have found the communication by one of these leaders to be very good. His name is Scot McKnight, and he is a professor of Biblical & Theological Studies at North Park University here in the Chicago area. He has written a number of books, including one called Jesus Creed… which is also the name of his blog… which I highly recommend subscribing to.

One podcast that is outstanding is Scot speaking to a leadership group of Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta about “The Whole Gospel.” You really must listen to it.

Near the beginning of his talk, Scot highlights some amazing facts about “the church.” First, that there are 20 million Christians in the US who are currently not involved in any organized, institutional church. They are completely disconnected from it, and they meet in organic house-based churches. These organic churches are “growing like crazy” according to Scot, who was basing his facts upon research done and reported by George Barna. This growth is mostly by new believers being “added to the church.”

He also pointed out that a research group in Europe has been studying this same trend worldwide, and they estimate there are currently 125 millions Christians worldwide who do not go to a “local church.” They predict that in 2025, there will be 250 million Christian like this.

He notes that “This is the growing generation”… and that many of his college students graduate and then end up getting together informally with other believers informally on Friday night and weekends and they do not attend a local church. They feel that this is “good enough.” This pattern usually lasts up to 5 years.

My response is: what is the institutional, organized “church” have to say about this? Does this not reflect a growing sense of “irrelevancy” that many of the young are saying they experience toward “the church?” What is “the church” going to do about it? How will it respond?

I sincerely hope that we “moderns” who have grown up in the institutional and organized “church” can find the maturity and humility to look at ourselves, and change where we need to change in order to stay relevant to not only the younger generation of Christians, but more importantly to the “post-modern” culture around us.