Posted on 12/07/2004 5:12:03 AM PST by missyme
As we enter the 21st century, a vital new expression of Christianity is growing in the United States and worldwide. This movement even has a name. It is called "the Emergent Church."
This movement expresses what I call "progressive evangelicalism," because it emphasizes traditional evangelical beliefs - affirming the doctrines of the Apostle's Creed, a high view of Scripture and the importance of a personal transforming relationship with a resurrected Christ - yet rejects the structures and styles of institutionalized Christianity. The Emergent Church
The Emergent Church turns away from spending money on buildings. Instead, most congregations meet as "house churches" or gather in makeshift storefronts and warehouses.
Emergent churches espouse a decentralized grassroots form of Christianity that rejects the hierarchal systems of denominational churches. Each emergent congregation makes its own decisions by consensus.
Leadership is fluid, with all members sharing authority and participating in the mission of the church. Task forces are assembled to undertake such specific programs as feeding the homeless, establishing a partnership with a Third World church, developing an after-school tutoring program for disadvantaged children or organizing people in a poor neighborhood to solve pressing social problems.
The missionary programs of such congregations are committed to direct involvement with those they decide to serve. These churches want little to do with bureaucratic organizations with professional administrators. Members of these congregations want to be involved personally with those in need. They want to know the names and faces of the people they serve.
Emergent congregations must not be confused with those nondenominational mega-churches that seem to be popping up increasingly in communities across the nation. In fact, the two are markedly different.
Emergent churches often express a disdain for the "contemporary-worship music" heard in many mega-churches.
The worship in emergent churches often includes classical music, and such congregations often follow a more formal liturgical style that may even incorporate such ancient forms of praying as that of monastic orders.
The people who join emergent congregations are often folks who have tired of what goes on in churches that have "contemporary services."
A postmodern mindset
The Emergent Church is often somewhat indifferent to theological and social issues that seem urgent to mainstream evangelicalism. These church members tend to think that the crusade against homosexual marriage is a waste of time and energy, and they tend to reject the exclusivistic claims that many evangelicals make about salvation.
They are not about to damn the likes of Gandhi or the Dali Lama to hell simply because they have not embraced Christianity.
In many ways, these Christians express a postmodern mindset that may come across as being somewhat "new age."
They see care for the environment as a major Christian responsibility. They are attracted to Christian mysticism. They talk a great deal about "spiritual formation" and focus significant attention on the healing of illnesses through prayer.
This new expression of Christianity is growing faster than most sociologists could have predicted. It is thriving, in part, because so many people are fed up with the arguing and pettiness that they claim are all too evident in the rest of Christendom.
It remains to be seen whether the Emergent Church will fade away or become an ongoing expression of Christianity.
But there is no question that it is attracting many sophisticated Christians who contend that traditional mainline churches are devoid of vitality and mega-churches are irrelevantly narrow.
Right!
Merry Christmas......means,.....God Incarnate!
(Romans 10:17)
Do you ever have anything constructive to add to the conversation?
Idol makers are 'like' their idols?
(Romans 10:17)
Just what did this pablum mean?
Ekklesia - Local Visible Assembly bump.
Seattle?
I don't know why this would be considered new or different. People who study Christ don't just do it on Sundays, and church hierarchy does not help in that regard at all.
Although the UMC has been getting press for it's apparent leftward bent at the top, the hierarchal Church is not really where the people are. The real church starts when the service is over. The building and it's assets are only used as a place to meet and discuss what will never be discussed in the formality of the church.
At least that has been my experience.
Are mental assent and biblical belief the same in your mind?
If your belief doesn't inform your actions is it really belief?
People say they believe a lot of things. James says your belief is demonstrated by your works.
Do you think Jesus came to give us a life in the hereafter but just leaves us to wallow in our sin now?
- Kevin
emergent bump for later...
Seems that Seattle and Denver are a breeding ground for Liberal heathens...
They are not about to damn the likes of Gandhi or the Dali Lama to hell simply because they have not embraced Christianity.
________
I am a Baptist and strong in my Christian beliefs, but this is something that I have struggled with. Would be interested in discussion on this subject, but maybe I need to head over to the Religion board.
see post #31. would appreciate your opinion on this subject...
Viscerally, I understand the reluctance. But we balk because of our skewed values. We feel like, if someone is "good" and kind, nice to kids and puppies, and merely doesn't happen to agree with us on this one doctrinal point... well, that's not worth his going to Hell over.
Basically, that's because we haven't worked out the implications of the First Commandment. Jesus says that the crucial commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; loving our neighbor comes second.
Saying that someone should get a pass on shattering the first commandment because he seems decent about the second shows we haven't fully embraced just how "first" the first commandment is. It is like saying, "Look, this guy pays his taxes, mows his lawn, feeds his dog. Just because he sexually molested that little girl — that's nothing to send him to jail over!" Well, yes it is. That crime "trumps" all the other virtues.
Or, to put it another way: here's a man with a loathesome, fatal disease. He'll take vitamins, he'll eat his vegetables, he'll subject himself to acupuncture. The only thing he refuses to do is to take the one medicine that will cure his fatal disease. Is it "unfair" that he dies?
Hope that helps. Go to my Message Board, get more answers and discussions.
Dan
Biblical Christianity web site
Biblical Christianity message board
Biblical Christianity BLOG
This may be a response more suited to discussion on the religion board but here goes. If God did not find other religions acceptable, why does He keep putting souls into babies that will be born and raised to worship Buddha or Vishnu?
Thanks for the ping!
Interesting question. Ask it over at my Board. Joining's easy.
Dan
(c8
In foreign countries, congregations meet in home groups because of persecution by national authorities. If they build a building, it's often bombed or torched. They have no choice but to meet this way.
Good works are a fruit of salvation, not a condition necessary for it. Salvation is a free gift of God ("get out of jail free card"), given according to the pleasure of His good will.
The problem isn't where these groups meet; it's what they believe.
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