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Emerging Church Introduction The Emerging Church is a label that has been used to refer to a particular subset of Christians who are redefining their faith in the wake of recent Postmodernist trends in the Church. During recent centuries, Western Christianity was influenced significantly by Modernism in the sense that it sought to take the individual narratives of the Bible and from them extract a set of underlying truths or meta-narratives. Using methods borrowed from scientific reductionism it was hoped that a grand truth and worldview would be attained. In practice, the modernist approach led to additional schism within the Church. The Postmodern church, in turn, encouraged followers to deconstruct each element of their faith experience, and reassemble the pieces in light of his or her own unique journey through this deconstruction process. One definition of the Emerging Church is that it is the collective term for the individuals who are emerging from this process of deconstruction and reconstruction of Christianity, or those who have joined groups being led by such individuals. Structure and Commonality While there is no single co-ordinated organization behind the emerging church globally, and no guarantee that the Emerging Church will mature into a coherent movement at all, the term is becoming increasingly common currency among both leaders of Emerging Church groups and Emerging Church thinkers. Many of these leaders and thinkers have written books, articles and/or blogs on the subject. So far, Emerging Church groups have typically contained some or all of the following elements: - Highly creative approaches to worship and spiritual reflection, as compared to many American churches in recent years. This can involve everything from the use of contemporary music and films through to liturgy or other more ancient customs. The goal in this area is generally to make the church more attractive to the unchurched.
- A minimalist and decentralised organisational structure.
- A flexible approach to theology whereby individual differences in belief and morality are accepted within reason.
- A holistic view of the role of the church in society. This can mean anything from greater emphasis on fellowship in the structure of the group to a higher degree of emphasis on social action, community building or Christian outreach.
- A desire to reanalyze the Bible against the context with the goal of revealing a multiplicity of valid perspectives rather than a single valid interpretation
- A continual re-examination of theology.
- A high value placed on creating communities built out of the creativity of those who are a part of each local body.
The Emerging Church movement is closely related to the House Church movement in that both of them are challenging traditional notions of how the Church should be organized. Not all House Churches are as influenced by Postmodern philosophy as the Emerging Church, but many Emerging Churches are also House Churches. Ecclesiology The emerging church views itself as existing to continue and extend the mission of Christ, but beyond this common point there does not appear to be a stance on what role the church as a body plays in that mission. The focus of the movement is more on the nature of the church than its role. External links Examples of Emerging Churches Emerging Church sites Miscellaneous News Bibliography Reaching a New Generation: Strategies for Tomorrow's Church. Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College, 1993. Innovations in Ministry: Models for the 21st Century. Nashville: Abingdon, 1996. Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Modernity: Polity, 2000. Clapp, Rodney. A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996. Crouch, Andy. "The Emergent Mystique." Christianity Today, November 2004, 36. Drane, John. The Mcdonaldization of the Church: Darton, Longman, & Todd, 2000. Erickson, Millard J. Postmodernizing the Faith: Evangelical Responses to the Challenge of Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999. Erickson, Millard J., Paul Kjoss Helseth, Justin Taylor, and J. Taylor. Reclaiming the Center: Evangelical Accommodation in Postmodern Times. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004. Grenz, Stanley J. A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996. Guder, Darrell L. Missional Church: A Visioning for the Sending of the Church. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998. Hauerwas, Stanley, and William H. Willimon. Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989. ________. Where Resident Aliens Live: Exercises for Christian Practice. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996. Hodges, Melvin L. The Indigenous Church: Gospel Publishing, 1996. Hohstadt, Thomas. Dying to Live: The 21st Century Church. Odessa: Damah Media, 1999. Hunsberger, George R., and Craig Van Gelder. The Church between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996. Jones, Andrew. "Emerging Church Definition 1.0." TallSkinnyKiwi.com: The Blog, February 2, 2004. ________. "Emerging Church Definition Additional." TallSkinnyKiwi.com The Blog, February 7, 2004. Kelley, Gerard. Retrofuture: Rediscovering Our Roots, Recharting Our Routes. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999. Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 2003. Kimball, Dan. Emerging Worship. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 2004. King, Ursula. Faith and Praxis in a Postmodern Age. London: Cassell, 1998. Kitchens, Jim. The Postmodern Parish: New Ministry for a New Era. Bethesda, MD Alban Institute, 2003., 2003. Kraft, Charles. Christianity in Culture: Orbis, 1979. Lyon, David. Jesus in Disneyland: Religion in Postmodern Times. Oxford: Polity Press, 2000. McLaren, Brian D. A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey. Jossey-Bass, 2001. ________. The Church on the Other Side. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. ________. More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism as Dance in the Postmodern Matrix. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. ________. The Story We Find Ourselves In: Further Adventures of a New Kind of Christian. Jossey-Bass, 2003. ________. A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN. Grand Rapids: Youth Specialties Book, 2004. ________. The Last Word and the Word after That : A Tale of Faith, Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity. Jossey-Bass, 2005. McManus, Erwin R. An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind. Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, 2001. Nash, Robert N., and Loren Mead. An 8-Track Church in a Cd World: The Modern Church in a Postmodern World. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 1997. Newbigin, Leslie. "Christ and the Cultures." Scottish Journal of Theology 31 (1978): 11-12. Niebuhr, H. Richard. Christ and Culture. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated, 1951. O'Brien, W.R. "The Mcdonaldization of the Church: Spirituality, Creativity, and the Future of the Church." Missiology 30 (2002): 239. Rabey, Steve. In Search of Authentic Faith. Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2001. Seay, Chris. "Is Pomo Nomo?" Christianity Today, February 20, 2003. Smith, Chuck Jr. The End of the World as We Know It: Clear Direction or Bold and Innovative Ministry in a Postmodern World, 2001. Smith, Huston. Beyond the Postmodern Mind. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1989. Sweet, Leonard I. Dying to Live. 1995., 1995. ________. Soultsunami: Sink or Swim in New Millenium Culture. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999. ________. Carpe Manana: Is Your Church Ready to Seize Tomorrow? Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001. Sweet, Leonard I., and Andy Crouch. The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives. El Cajon, CA: EmergentYS, 2003. Sweet, Leonard I., Brian D. McLaren, and Jerry Haselmayer. A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. Tomlinson, Dave. The Post-Evangelical. North American Edition ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. Veith, Gene Edward Jr. Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1994. Webber, Robert E. Ancient Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999. ________. The Younger Evangelicals. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House Company, 2002. ________. Ancient-Future Evangelism: Making Your Church a Faith-Forming Community. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003. Yaconelli, Mike. Stories of Emergence: Moving from Absolute to Authentic. El Cajon, CA: Emergent YS, 2003. Young, Ed, and Andy Stanley. 24 Best Practices: Discovering What Works in the 21st Century Church. Keller, TX: HeartSpring Media, 2000. Other Reads: A New Kind of Christian, Brian McLaren The Story We Find Ourselves In, Brian McLaren Alternative Worship, Jonny Baker, Doug Gay and Jenny Brown Beyond Foundationalism, Stan Grenz Blue like Jazz, Don Miller The Complex Christ: Signs of Emergence in the Urban Church, Kester Brewin Biblio Courtesy of theVoiz.com See also
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