The Emerging Church

Dr. Eddie Gibbs on the Emergent church (for those of you looking for a three paragraph description [not definition])

He's pretty spot on with most of it. (seems to come from an "unbiased" but pro-emergent view)



They(Emergents) believe that the church – especially the Protestant and Evangelical streams – are the product of modernity, and our assumptions need to be re-examined now that we are in a post-Christendom, pluralistic and increasingly post-secular social context. These profound cultural shifts have increasingly marginalized the church. Consequently, the church can no longer operate on a come-to-us basis. It must become a truly missional church, recapturing the simplicity, mobility and engagement with culture that characterized the disciples of Jesus and the churches of the New Testament.

For Emerging Church leaders the church is not a noun but a verb; it is not a place but a people; it is not primarily a weekly gathering but a community of the faithful.
Salvation is not a visa for heaven stamped in your passport, but a life to be lived here a now that presents a radical challenge to the materialistic values of our culture. It is as much concerned with life before death as with life after death. On account of their emphasis on relationships, community and active participation, they are not interested in megachurches. They regard the bible as central to their faith, but not as God’s answer book to all and every question. Rather it is a book that inspires them in their journey of faith, linking their personal stories to God’s unfolding drama from Genesis to Revelation. Also they insist that spirituality, that is so significant within our culture, must bea holistic spirituality that embraces every area of life. They don’t buy into the separation of spheres – public from private – that prevailed within a modernistic, secular mindset. They find most in common with the early church that operated from the margins, owned no real-estate, and engaged the pluralistic world of their day with humility, grace and sacrifical service in the face of hostility and persecution as a counter-culture movement.

But they do not adopt an isolated, judgmental stand. Rather they believe that God’s
presence is evident in the wider culture, with which they seek to identify, in order to become “good news” to the tens of millions of younger people that have either walked away from the church, or never walked through its doors. In theological terminology this is a mission characterized by incarnation, which represents authentic identification and reconciliation with a view to transformation.

The Emergent Churches represent a ground level movement rather than top-down
leadership initiatives. It is present both within traditional denominations as well as new networks. It is both de-centered and interconnected, via websites, chatrooms and blogs.