From D.A. Carson: At its heart “lies the conviction that changes in the culture signal that a new church is ‘emerging.’ Christian leaders must therefore adapt to this emerging church. Those who fail to do so are blind to the cultural accretions that hide the gospel behind forms of thought and modes of expression that no longer communicate with the new generation, the emerging generation.”
“We are convinced that open and generous dialogue – rather than chilling criticism and censorship – offers the greatest hope for the future of the church in the world.” (from Theopedia).
See attached file: A Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church by Driscoll
“It’s not just a matter of coming and sitting in a pew and enduring 50 or 70 or whatever minutes of observing something happen. But it’s saying, ‘I want to experience God. I’m interested in coming into an experience here.’” - McLaren
Worship is participatory and multisensory. People are encouraged to tangibly express their spirituality. Many are weaving together elements from different religious traditions, especially Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Some are discovering medieval mystical practices such as walking the labyrinth, but adding decidedly modern twists. - Lawton
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kmcc 02/02/2007 17:22a |
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“dissatisfied with…traditional patterns of setting up evangelical congregations” means they’re (appropriately) tired of losing at reaching the lost! |
These mainline churches are as dissatisfied with their bureaucratic structures and their denominational structures as these emerging evangelicals are with the traditional patterns of setting up evangelical congregations. So they’re — on both sides of this conversation, they’re reaching toward new kinds of structures. - DIANA BUTLER BASS (Religion Historian, Virginia Theological Seminary)
And it’s more than just worship styles. Some, but not all, in the emerging church movement are urging profound theological reassessments. They advocate wrestling with traditional understandings of the faith, rather than accepting pat answers. - LAWTON
It’s more important for us to feel like we’re representing a beautiful expression of our life with God than it is to be right about everything. - Pastor PAGITT
Emerging upholds faith seeking understanding, and trust preceding the apprehension or comprehension of gospel truths.
hus orthodoxy is no longer (mis)understood as the opposite of heresy but rather is understood as a term that signals a way of being in the world rather than a means of believing - Peter Rollins, author of How (Not) to Speak of God (Paraclete, 2006)
The emerging movement is a protest against much of evangelicalism as currently practiced…It would not be unfair to call it postmodern evangelicalism.
God didn’t reveal a systematic theology but a storied narrative, and no language is capable of capturing the Absolute Truth who alone is God. Frankly, the emerging movement loves ideas and theology. It just doesn’t have an airtight system or statement of faith. We believe the Great Tradition offers various ways for telling the truth about God’s redemption in Christ, but we don’t believe any one theology gets it absolutely right.
From a theological perspective, this fixation with propositions can easily lead to the attempt to use the finite tool of language on an absolute Presence that transcends and embraces all finite reality. Languages are culturally constructed symbol systems that enable humans to communicate by designating one finite reality in distinction from another. The truly infinite God of Christian faith is beyond all our linguistic grasping, as all the great theologians from Irenaeus to Calvin have insisted, and so the struggle to capture God in our finite propositional structures is nothing short of linguistic idolatry. - Le Ron Shults, formerly a professor of theology at Bethel Theological Seminary.
Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. This definition encompasses nine practices. Emerging churches (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, and (3) live highly communal lives. Because of these three activities, they (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities. - Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Baker Academic, 2005).
And…
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