What I like about emergent, I

In my prior post, "Tim Challies on Brian McLaren,"  Paul Martin of Examining Emergent noticed that I said there are things I like about emergent and asked me to name some, either here or as a comment on his blog.

I'm pretty busy today so don't have time to share a lot of thoughts, but here's a quck knee jerk answer to his question, and let me again preface these remarks by pointing to Ed Stetzer's three categories of emergents:

I believe that some are taking the same Gospel in the historic form of church but seeking to make it understandable to emerging culture (relevants); some are taking the same Gospel but questioning and reconstructing much of the form of church (reconstructionists); some are questioning and revising the Gospel and the church (revisionists).

I think there are some I would now see as revisionists who started out well - seeking to find creative ways to take the gospel to the emerging cultures of our world.  I am sure I will get flack for this but I actually loved Brian McLaren's book More Ready than You Realize, which tells the story of his interactions with a girl named Alice, who later came to Christ.  You can see a video of an interview with Brian and Alice here. The book was low on gospel content and high on relationship, so I kept that in mind as I read it, focusing on what it said about relating to non-believers.  It was very helpful in that regard, demonstrating the power of listening and friendship and treating people like human beings rather than projects. 

But my worry, which I expressed here, is that there are some in the emergent community who have given up on proclamation altogether.  I am all for relating better, but not at the expense of proclamation and a clear presentation of the biblical gospel, and that is where I think the revisionists go wrong.

Having said that, the things I hear coming out of the other types of emergent are often very helpful.  For instance, today I came across the following definition of a missional church from Friend of Missional, which I think is terrific.  I bring this up because the emergent church often defines itself as missional and wherein emergents are trying to conform to the following I think it is great.

Description a Missional Church

• A missional church is one where people are exploring and rediscovering what it means to be Jesus' sent people as their identity and vocation.
• A missional church will be made up of individuals willing and ready to be Christ’s people in their own situation and place.
• A missional church knows that they must be a cross-cultural missionary (contextual) people in their own community.
• A missional church will be engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world).
• A missional church will seek to plant all types of missional communities to expand the Kingdom of God.
• A missional church seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.
• A missional church will give integrity, morality, good character and conduct, compassion, love and a resurrection life filled with hope preeminence to give credence to their reasoned verbal witness.
• A missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.
• A missional church will see themselves as a community or family on a mission together. There are no "Lone Ranger" Christians in a missional church.
• A missional church will see themselves as representatives of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor his name.
• A missional church will be totally reliant on God in all it does.
• A missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.
• A missional church gathered will be for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, and to seek God’s presence and to be realigned with his God’s missionary purpose.
• A missional church is orthodox in its view of the Gospel and Scripture, but culturally relevant in its methods and practice so that it can engage the world view of the hearers.
• A missional church will feed deeply on the scriptures throughout the week so they are always ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why they’re living the way they are.
• A missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning to be disciples of Jesus. Growth in discipleship is an expectation.
• A missional church will help people discover and develop their spiritual gifts and will rely on gifted people for ministry instead of talented people.
• A missional church is a healing community where people carry each other’s burdens and help restore gently.

The emergent church is at its best in reminding us that we are to be missional, that the whole earth is a mission field, including the good 'ol USA, that the culture has changed and thus our approach needs to change.  And, in the above, the writer affirms the necessity of "an orthodox view of the Gospel and Scripture," a "reasoned verbal witness," and feeding deeply on the Scriptures.  Where emergent has gone bad is where some have rejected orthodoxy, have rejected a reasoned verbal witness and have taken a very low view of Scripture, because they see those things as a hindrance to being missional. 

As this writer points out, it is possible, and I would say necessary to be orthodox, and to be verbal, to be missional.  Without an orthodox gospel all of the rest of this stuff is meaningless, we might as well just join the peace corps.

But where this is present I think the emerget folks are doing us a great service and are to be commended.

Related Tags: Church, Faith, Religion, Christian, Christianity, Emerging church, Emergent church, evangelism

Comments

[Jeri]

Hi David, I enjoy reading your posts. I'm slowly trying to get up to speed on emergent/postmodern type things. So I don't know enough to say much, but the thought that does occur to me in reading your post is that a postmodern's use of words and phrases lik "orthodox" and "feeding on the Scriptures" may well have a different meaning to him than it would to, well, to an orthodox Christian! :)

I've been around groups before, wa-a-ay back in the 70's, who used the language of orthodox Christianity but were definitely not so themselves.

[cavman]

David, David, David.........
Be careful or you shall be taken to task by others. Emergent is a sub-set of Emerging Churches (yeah, this gets confusing). Emergent is the tag for a leadership group of revisionist pastors.
I agree with many of the concerns of the relevants. I have found the reconstructionist to be trendy. The revisionists (Emergents) outright dangerous (they are the ones messing w/theology).
Hope this helps keep you out of trouble by those to whom labels are important (isn't that modernistic though?).

[Paul Martin]

Hi David,
Thanks for responding to my query - sorry for my delay in getting back to you.
I guess as I read that list I wonder - is this "missional" or is it just "Biblical?" In other words, are these things distinctly "emergent" or are they just a restatement of Biblical principle. And if a restatement, why not package them in the wording and terminology of the Scripture to avoid any confusion?
I am wanting to find real, hard and fast benefits that emergent offers the church at large... benefits that are distinctly emergent?
Does that make sense?

[DLE]

When your non-EC churches start bawling about lost members and such, it's good to think that a few EC churches are asking why.

Problems within the EC? Yes, legion. But at least they're asking good questions that we stopped asking a long time ago.