Posted on 11/05/2010 7:10:28 AM PDT by wmfights
“What is the emerging/emergent church movement?”
Liberalism repackaged for the current generation of Evangelicals.
What is the emerging/emergent church movement?
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Richard Land...
What Glenn Beck did on his stage in DC..
Holding hands with the Islamics and other non-Christian Bible believers..
Whichever one God has planned to emerge.
Maybe I should call fire down on them?
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
What is the emerging/emergent church movement?
A good way to empty out a church. Look at the churches where the pews are full and the donations are strong. Chances are it will be a church that preaches traditional theology. Once churches start watering down the doctrine, people stop showing up and stop giving money.
Easy there, James.
The emerging, or emergent, church movement takes its name from the idea that as culture changes, a new church should emerge in response.
I wonder if someone was also thinking of the philosophical concept of emergence. To philosophical for their own good.
First off, this is not in defence of the Emergent church movement.
yes, Jesus is the same. However the church has always consisted of His believers. In that sense it evolves because culture evolves. An example is, the early church had to change it’s rules. (useing phone, run out of space)
Interesting that the word, Catholic, did not even appear in the article.
As much as the news stories like to downplay the growth in the Catholic Church — I believe it is growing. At least in my area.
Those who are less interested in this author's biases, and instead want to actually understand the thinking behind the emerging church movement, should probably start by reading Donald Miller and Rob Bell.
Forget the mechanics of an emerging church service for the moment, and let's look at the context in which they're operating, as opposed to the context of more traditional denominations.
Traditional denominations are very much rooted in the idea of "Christendom," that large swath of the world in which everybody was Christian and basically believed the same things.
Christendom lasted from about 300-1500 AD. The Reformation, and the wars that followed, split Christendom in two -- there were Protestants and Catholics, both groups claiming the mantle of Christendom, and each viewing the other as heretics or worse.
Nevertheless, if you look at what differentiates one traditional denomination from another, you'll note that it's basically a matter of refinement of some doctrine or other; or some difference in style or emphaisis; or some different theory of church organization. But all denominations are in basic agreement on the Creeds ... and all assume that most people within the culture basically agree on the Creeds as well.
Christendom began to crumble in earnest, in the aftermath of the World Wars. Most of Europe is post-Christian now, and America is headed that direction. Christianity no longer defines the culture here, as it once used to do. Cultural mores are generally defined elsewhere, now.... and promulgated by the entertainment media. Not everybody believes what the Creeds say, and many people are turned off by the church, or it's not relevant to their lives.
All that to say, the underlying assumptions of traditional denominations are no longer true. That doesn't make the traditional denominations non-viable, but it does put them out of step with the unchurched people they want to reach.
In reality, we live in a culture that is much closer to that of the Roman Empire, than that of Christendom.
And the emergent church movement sees today's Christians as being in much the same position as those in the early church. They realize that we, as Christians, cannot assume that the average guy on the street is a Christian, or that he knows anything about what Christianity really is, but he undoubtedly knows a lot of things about Christianity that aren't true.
We understand the vital importance of bringing that guy to Christ. Well ... how do we approach him? How do we teach him what Christianity is really all about?
Do we, by our behavior, demonstrate to him that Christianity is about nothing more than correcting some other denomination's false doctrine, as the author of this piece seems to believe? Or, perhaps traditional denominations somehow lost the point -- which is a big reason why we're now living in a post-Christian culture.
What if, rather than forcing our battles on the guy in the street, we instead meet him where he is? That brings us to the underlying idea of the Emergent Church movement, which might be summarized as follows:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40)
The Scriptures are wonderful, but what use are they to a guy who doesn't yet care about them? They're not going to bring that guy to Christ. He doesn't care about the Bible, or being a Christian at all; he's even less interested in untangling the finer points of Doctrine. And he's just going to run away from our theological squabbling.
To start with it is sufficient for him to know just one thing: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The emerging church movement no doubt has its doctrinal problems -- as do we all. But they realize something that the author does not: folks can wait to hear about "true doctrine." Right now, that guy on the street is like the Samaritan woman at the well: he just needs to know about Jesus.
What the author calls "watering down" says that he cares more about his own theological battles, than about reaching the guy who knows nothing at all about Jesus Christ.
Well, it's not like Catholics are Christian, you know .... /s
The author seems to be one of those guys who can't see the forest for the trees. I have no doubt that he's a devoted Christian, but I also have no doubt that he is so caught up in his own sense of rightness, that he has utterly missed the point of what the emerging church movement is all about.
See my post above....
**What the author calls “watering down” says that he cares more about his own theological battles, than about reaching the guy who knows nothing at all about Jesus Christ.**
And this is exactly what my pastor will NOT do. He gives it straight and narrow — right in your face — no watering down at all.
Here you are. I know the word Catholic is not EXPLICITY stated, but IMPLICITY. Rome is the one pushing eucmenism, right?
"The goal of the Church's ecumenical strategy is the unity of all Christian Churches through common communion with the Roman Catholic Church...the results will be that, little by little, as the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion are overcome, all Christians will be gathered, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, into the unity of the one and only Church, which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time." - Second Vatican Council "Decree on Ecumenism," no. 4.
**Here you are. I know the word Catholic is not EXPLICITY stated, but IMPLICITY. Rome is the one pushing eucmenism, right?**
You should hear the horror stories I have heard on this subject.
**Here you are. I know the word Catholic is not EXPLICITY stated, but IMPLICITY. Rome is the one pushing eucmenism, right?**
NO
I can only imagine..it is a disaster in the making, that’s for sure. Sorta’ like the Obama agenda. We see the train wreck that is about to happen, yet no one seems able to stop it..frightening.
The modern movement toward Christian unity, whose Protestant origins stem from the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference in 1910 and whose Catholic principles were formulated by the Second Vatican Council in 1964.
These principles are mainly three:
1. Christ established the Church on the Apostles and their episcopal successors, whose visible head and principle of unity became Peter and his successor the Bishop of Rome;
2. Since the first century there have been divisions in Christianity, but many persons now separated from visible unity with the successors of the Apostles under Peter are nevertheless Christians who possess more or less of the fullness of grace available in the Roman Catholic Church;
3. Catholics are to do everything possible to foster the ecumenical movement, which comprehends all "the initiatives and activities, planned and undertaken to promote Christian unity, according to the Church's various needs and as opportunities offer" (Decree on Ecumenism, I, 4).
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