GentileRevelations

I don’t confess to know everything about today’s church, but I have been asked to write on what I do know about the emerging church by a few guys. So I am going to write on the differences between the “emerging” church and the “emergent” church. Much confusion has been caused so much, so that the terms have been used interchangeably, which cannot be done when you know the differences.

So yea in this blog post I am going to explain the “emerging” church.

What is the emerging church?

The emerging church is an umbrella term used to describe churches being planted across the globe today but especially in the world centre of culture, America. There are four prominent streams of the emerging church which are The emerging evangelists, The house church evangelists, The emerging reformers and emergent liberals.

You may not have heard of some of these streams although you may have heard of some of the pastors who pastor these types of churches. For example a personal favorite of mine, Mark Driscoll, pastors a church called Mars Hill which is an emerging reformation church. You may also have heard of Rob Bell and Brain McLaren who are part of the emergent liberal stream, which usually goes under the term “emergent” church.

An example of a church closer to home that has the same style as an emerging evangelistic church is the church I belong to, Green Pastures. The church holds Scripture in high authority but is not afraid to use different modern methods of reaching out into the community.

Basically most emerging churches have the same beliefs that:

1)The world is changed: This is true as the world has changed drastically in the last 20 years in regards to advancements in science and technology. It has also seen the rise of the Internet which has changed how people communicate and conduct business. The world will continue to develop and the emerging church is making the point that the church needs to continue to advance. This means the church can stay relevant in a world where the church has been seen as ill-relevant.

2)Older methods don’t work- This is true, as gone are the days that everyone when to church out of duty. The church needs to attract new members using different methods that were used in the past. Again it goes back to the church being relevant to today’s culture, which is soo clearly is.

3)Church needs to assume a missionary pattern- Common church practice has usually been to place emphasis on sending missionaries to foreign countries but less emphasis on missionaries to the surrounding communities. This is good but the emerging church has looked at the model we see in Acts 1:8 and has been focusing on the surrounding communities THEN foreign countries.

Differences between an emerging church and a traditional (fundamental) church is the use of modern technology, modern buildings, use of media, different worship styles and use of art as well as many more differences.

So whats the problem? The emerging church has been criticized by many who see the emergent liberal stream of the emerging church as a pattern followed by all the other streams. This criticism is untrue and is not based on fact. I will go into the emergent liberal stream in my next blog.

David