Is the Emerging Church Receding?

A year or so ago, Trevin Wax suggested that the Emerging Church was in the early stages of decline, offering a number of reasons for this opinion.  I summarise:-

1. The Emerging Church does little evangelism.

It’s not the only segment of the Christian Church that fails in this regard.  But it has to be said: The Emerging Church isn’t making many converts.  It is reaching young, disillusions Christians, but not the unchurched.  And part of the problem is its lack of clarity about what the gospel actually is.  If Jesus no longer makes exclusive claims, and hell no longer exists, no wonder that evangelism is no longer a priority.

The Emerging Church in its own words 5

Chapter 6 of Gibbs’ and Bolger’s book, Emerging Church: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures, is entitled, ‘Welcoming the Stranger’.

The Emerging Church in its own words 4

Here’s an index to this series of posts.

Chapter 5 of Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Gibbs and Bolger) is entitled ‘Living as Community’.

Establishing Multiple Congregations

The authors of Mission-shaped church have some interesting practical thoughts on how churches can enhance the sense of identity within their different congregations by considering some of the following dynamices. The more these are in place, the stronger and healthier will be the sense that each congregation is a “church” in itself:

• Establish a planned and consistent divergence of worship style…
• Grow a dedicated and recognised leadership for each.
• Establish a particular mission focus for the differing congregations. This might be an age-related focus, or geographical responsibility, within a large parish, or by concern for a local social issue.
• Provide discrete pastoral care structures for each congregation, which are known by them.
• Deny and refuse all language that calls one of the congregations “the main congregation”.
• Create an overall team or group ministry in which each congregation has fair representation.

Mission-shaped church, p61

What Has God Done for the Church? – a Sermon

Text: Eph 3:1-13Paul has just been speaking, Eph 2, about the new society that God has established. It is an international and a multi-racial society. There is a place in God’s new society for people from every nation, tribe, language and culture under heaven. In the past, God’s work had been primarily focussed on the Jewish people. But now Jews and Gentiles are offered salvation on precisely the same terms, and with exactly the same benefits and blessings.

What is Foundationalism?

Emerging church people of a more philosophical bent often speak critically of ‘foundationalism’.

What is that?

Nancey Murphy explains:-

Foundationalism is a theory about knowledge.  More specifically, it is a theory about how claims to know can be justified.  When we seek to justify a belief, we do so by relating it to (basing it on, deriving it from) other beliefs.  If these other beliefs are called into question, then they, too, must be justified.  Foundationalists insist that this chain of justification myst stop somewhere; it must not be circular, nor must it constitute an infinite regress.  Thus, the regress must end in a ‘foundation’ of beliefs that cannot themselves be called into question.

Anglo-American Postmodernity, cited in Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures, 69.

The Emerging Church in its own words 3

Here’s an index to this series of posts.

Chapter 4 of Gibbs’ and Bolger’s Emerging Churches: creating Christian community in postmodern culture is entitled, ‘Transforming secular space’.  Here are some extracts.

The Emerging Church in its own words 2

Here’s an index to this series of posts.

Chapter 3 of Emerging Churches: creating Christian community in postmodern cultures, by Gibbs & Bolger, is entitled, ‘Identifying with Jesus’.

Here are some extracts.

The Emerging Church in its own words 1

Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Culture (SPCK) by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger is regarded by many as the most authoritative book presently available on the beliefs and practices of the emerging church.  It is based on interviews with 50 leaders in the US and the UK.

I thought that it would be interesting to provide some extracts from the book, in order let emerging church leaders, together with the two authors of the book, speak for themselves.

Here’s an index to this series of posts.

Here, then, are some extracts from chapter 2 - What is the emerging church?

How the Emerging Church Marginalises the Gospel

[Here's an index to this series of posts]

For emerging church people, Jesus’ message of kingdom tends to be all about what God is doing here and now.  It is about peace, justice, and compassion.  The gospel is an invitation to participate with God in this mission.

In praise of the Emerging Church

D.A. Carson’s Becoming conversant with the emerging church is already a bit dated, since things are moving rapidly in that area.  However, it remains a fair and thorough evaluation (unless you’re a big fan of emerging, in which case it’s obvious to you that Carson just doesn’t ‘get it’).

What should we do with heretics?

John Stott has some wise and measured words on this subject.  He is, of course, writing from within an Anglican context.  But I think that the principles he espouses are worth weighing in other parts of the church too.