What is the emerging / emergent church movement?

Question: "What is the emerging / emergent church movement?"

Answer: The emerging, or emergent, church movement takes its name from the idea that as culture changes, a new church should emerge in response. In this case, it is a response by various church leaders to the current era of post-modernism. Although post-modernism began in the 1950s, the church didn't really seek to conform to its tenets until the 1990s. Post-modernism can be thought of as a dissolution of "cold, hard fact" in favor of "warm, fuzzy subjectivity." The emerging / emergent church movement can be thought of the same way.

The emerging / emergent church movement falls into line with basic post-modernist thinking—it is about experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, spirituality over religion, images over words, outward over inward, feelings over truth. These are reactions to modernism and are thought to be necessary in order to actively engage contemporary culture. This movement is still fairly new, though, so there is not yet a standard method of "doing" church amongst the groups choosing to take a post-modern mindset. In fact, the emerging church rejects any standard methodology for doing anything. Therefore, there is a huge range of how far groups take a post-modernist approach to Christianity. Some groups go only a little way in order to impact their community for Christ, and remain biblically sound. Most groups, however, embrace post-modernist thinking, which, eventually, leads to a very liberal, loose translation of the Bible. This, in turn, lends to liberal doctrine and theology.

For example, because experience is valued more highly than reason, truth becomes relative. Relativity opens up all kinds of problems, as it destroys the standard that the Bible contains absolute truth, negating the belief that biblical truth can be absolute. If the Bible is not our source for absolute truth, and personal experience is allowed to define and interpret what truth actually is, a saving faith in Jesus Christ is rendered meaningless.

Another area where the emerging / emergent church movement has become anti-biblical is its focus on ecumenism. Unity among people coming from different religious and ethnic backgrounds, and diversity in the expression of corporate worship is a strong focus of the emergent church movement. Being ecumenical means that compromise is taking place, and this results in a watering down of Scripture in favor of not offending an apostate. This is in direct opposition to passages such as Revelation 2:14-17, Jesus' letter to the church of Pergamum, in which the Church is warned against tolerating those who teach false doctrine.

False doctrine seems to abound greatly within the emerging / emergent church movement, though, as stated previously, not within every group espousing emerging / emergent church beliefs. Because of this, care must be taken when deciding whether or not to become involved with an emergent church group. We all need to take heed of Matthew 7:15-20, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

While seeking new ways to witness to a changing culture is admirable, utilizing ways which compromise the Truth of the Gospel in any way is nothing more than promoting false doctrine and leading others away from Christ instead of to Him.

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a few of the biggest Emergent Church leaders:

Brian McLaren

Rob Bell

Doug Pagitt

Tony Jones

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Bullwhip Guy

"This video is a DEAD ON the mark parody of Rob Bell's Nooma video Entitled Bull Horn Guy."

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Are We Too Heavenly Minded?

"And let me tell you 'Kingdom of God' language is really big in the emerging church."—Doug Pagitt

So anyway, yesterday in GraceLife I spoke on 1 Peter 1:3-5, where Peter writes to saints in exile under the threat of persecution and encourages them with the hope of heaven.

Then last night I started reading Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change and in the opening chapter, he says this:

More and more of us are realizing something our best theologians have been saying for quite a while: Jesus' message is not actually about escaping this troubled world for heaven's blissful shores, as is popularly assumed, but instead is about God's will being done on this troubled earth as it is in heaven. So people interested in being a new kind of Christian will inevitably begin to care more and more about this world, and they'll want to better understand its most significant problems, and they'll want to find out how they can fit in with God's dreams actually coming true down here more often.

. . . and I was struck by the utter disconnect between what McLaren says and what the Bible teaches. I can easily think of a dozen key places in Scripture where we are told to set our affections on things above and look forward eagerly to heaven. And most if not all of those passages are set in contexts where saints are either being encouraged in the midst of trials or admonished against the sin of worldliness.

Worse yet, McLaren uses an ill-defined notion of "the Kingdom" as a jumping-off point to introduce a series of stylish, environmentally-sound, and politically-correct sociopolitical issues he thinks ought to consume Christians' thoughts more than the hope of heaven: environmentalism, poverty, the threat of global war, and "the failure of the world's religions, especially its two largest religions, to provide a framing story capable of healing or reducing the three previous crises."

I think Christianity already has a perfectly good "framing story," and it includes a number of truths McLaren dismisses out of hand, including the hope of heaven.

What do you think? Talk amongst yourselves.

I'll be back this evening.
"...because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel"—Colossians 1:5

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."—1 Peter 1:3-5