The emerging church or emergent church is a diverse, controversial movement within Christianity that arose in the late 20th century as a reaction to the perceived influence of modernism in Western Christianity. Proponents of the emerging church embrace postmodernism and call the movement a "conversation" to emphasize its decentralized nature with contributions from people of a variety of beliefs. The emerging church seeks to deconstruct and reconstruct Christianity as its mainly Western members live in a postmodern culture.
Emerging Christians are predominantly found in North America, Western Europe, the South Pacific and Africa.
The emerging church is highly decentralized with little co-ordination. There is no mutually agreed upon ecclesiology about the role and nature of the church.
Some emergents attend local independent churches that specifically identify themselves as being emergent while others contribute to the conversation from within existing Christian denominations. Denominational affiliation ranges from the Anglican/Episcopal Church to the Southern Baptist Convention while many emerging churches are non-affiliated intentional communities or house churches. Emergents share a willingness to challenge traditional church structures and organizations like the house church movement while respecting the different expressions of traditional Christian denominations.
Values and Characteristics
Missional living
All believers are missionaries who are sent to be a blessing to the culture around them through a lifestyle that brings God's kingdom here on earth through verbal evangelism [citation needed], social activism and however God has gifted the individual.
Narrative theology
Narrative presentations of faith and the Bible are emphasized over propositional presentations such as systematic theology which are viewed as reductionism.
Generous Orthodoxy
An ecumenical understanding of doctrine which attempts to move beyond the conservative versus liberal impasse in Christianity while honoring the beliefs and traditions of premodern, modern and postmodern Christian denominations. This generosity also extends to dialogue with non-Christian religions and non-religious people for some like Brian McLaren but not others, like Mark Driscoll.
Christ-centered
A commitment to emulating Jesus' way of living, in particular his loving of God, neighbors and those normally considered enemies. An understanding of the gospel as one centered on Christ that is a message about the Kingdom of God and reconciliation between God, man and creation.
Biblical Interpretation
An openness to consider a plurality of interpretations as well as the impact of the reader's cultural context on the act of interpretation in contrast to the primacy of the author's intent and cultural context. The influence of postmodern thinkers such as Jacques Derrida and Stanley Fish can be seen in the emergent approach to interpreting Scripture.
Authenticity
Favouring the sharing of experiences and interactions that are personal and sincere such as testimonies over scripted interactions such as propositional, formulaic evangelistic tracts and teaching. Emergents are thus true to the social constructs of their local narratives rather than to any absolute, ahistorical, cross-cultural authority.
Conversation/Dialog
Creating a safe environment for those with different opinions to talk and listen with an attitude of grace when there are disagreements as opposed to the dogmatic proclamation found in historic Christianity.
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Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional
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Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
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Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives
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The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations
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Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications
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Recognized Emerging Pastors
Just a few of the thousands of Emerging Pastors
The emerging church movement is highly decentralized so in no one person acts as the spokesperson for the movement, however, the following people are often recognized as prominent leaders and important thinkers in the movemement:
- Rob Bell, Founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, located in Grandville, Michigan. He is featured in the series of spiritual short films called NOOMA. Bell is also the author of a recent book entitled Velvet Elvis - Repainting The Christian Faith.
- Spencer Burke, Former pastor, founder of The Ooze website, "dedicated to the emerging Church culture" and which has "developed a community that captures the ethos of the emerging church movement"
- Mark Driscoll, Lead pastor and founder of Mars Hill Church Seattle, a founder of the church planting network Acts 29, author
- Eddie Gibbs, Professor of church growth at the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of several books promoting the movement.
- Stanley Grenz, Now deceased, former professor of theology who co-authored the influential book, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context.
- Stanley Hauerwas, Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School. Named "America's Best Theologian" in 2001 by TIME magazine. Heavily influenced by postmodern philosophers, he has in turn had a profound effect on the Emerging Church movement.
- Tony Jones, National Coordinator of Emergent, an organized network of cooperating emerging ministries. He is a doctoral fellow and senior research fellow in practical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary whose books have been highly influential in the movement.
- Dan Kimball, Pastor of Vintage Faith Churchin Santa Cruz, CA and author of the book, The Emerging Church
- Kyle Lake, Now deceased, Pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.
- Brian McLaren, Founder of Cedar Ridge Community Church near Washington, D.C.. Prolific author and popular speaker who is considered a prominent leader in the movement.
- Erwin McManus, Founder and pastor of Mosaic in southern California and author of The Barbarian Way
- Donald Miller, author of Blue like jazz and Searching for God knows what; campus minister; member of Imago Dei, an emerging church Christian congregation in Portland.
- Doug Pagitt, Founding pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis
- Mark Pearson, Founder of Cityside in Auckland, New Zealand.
- Chris Seay, Founder of University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, and the founder and pastor at Ecclesia in Houston, Texas.
- Leonard Sweet, The E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University, and prolific author.
- Karen Ward, Founder and pastor of Church of the Apostles in Fremont, Washington.
- Andrew Jones, One of the first emerging church bloggers and director of the Boaz Project who is now based in Orkney Islands.
- Jordon Cooper, An early emerging church blogger and a founding member of Resonate, a Canadian expression of the emerging church conversation.
- Jonny Baker, A member of Grace in London and author of the influential book, Alternative Worship. Credits to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jason Reynolds is a father of two, husband of one, and works at Christ Fellowship in West Palm Beach, Florida heading up the their IT group. He was n...
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