The emerging church

Editor's note: Due to an editorial omission, the following article did not appear in the print issue of the newspaper. It appears below in full.

The emerging church
By Renee Williamson
Staff Writer

Oh, the emerging church. The Baptist Press reported that leaders in the denomination are touting the movement as a threat to the Gospel. Crosswalk.com quotes an interview with John MacArthur, a pastor and prominent author, saying that the emerging church is a form of paganism. However, proponents of the emerging church believe it is the hope of Christianity in a postmodern world.

So what is the emerging church? While too varied to be formally called a movement, it is a restructuring of the way the church exists and functions. A reaction to the mega churches and seeker-sensitive churches that have become the norm in the U.S., the emerging church goes against the traditional church structure, service format, and location.

Churches may be found in homes, cafes, community centers, and bars. “Bars?!” you say! Worship services range from the typical contemporary worship to the eclectic, using world rhythms and aspects of drum circles. Many services embrace elements from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, including meditation, which has caused many evangelical Christians to raise their eyebrows.

On top of the rebellion against evangelical church norms, many Christian leaders are concerned with the embracement of postmodernism seen in the emerging church. Instead of an emphasis on propositional truth, the emerging church focuses on community and the stories of those within the community. Emerging followers are dissatisfied with having propositional truth but no actions to back it up. The emerging church emphasizes right living instead of simply right thinking.

Some Christian leaders, such as Chuck Colson, are afraid that the shift in philosophy will bring complete relativism to the church, mainly in the realm of morality. However, some emerging leaders would argue that they themselves do pursue truth, but as a community and not as a dogma that singles out people of the community.

A mark of the soon-to-be-movement is its openness to all people. Emerging leaders will not give clear answers on their views about homosexuality. Many emerging church-goers lean to the left in their political standing. For the emerging church follower, the road to living like Jesus is something we all start on at different places.

I feel like the religious black sheep of Erskine College. I was raised Charismatic, which at Erskine is probably as bad as being Catholic. My faith and views are definitely not mainstream Christian thinking. Because of my background and dissatisfaction with my experience in traditional church settings, I am excited to see where the emerging church goes and what effect it will have on communities everywhere.

With the controversies, immorality, and hypocrisy that mark the modern American church for most people, especially the un-churched, the emerging church may very well be the hope for today’s world. Everyone should weigh beliefs against the truth of the Bible, but I think we need to be careful that the truth we are defending is really the truth of the Bible and not of our own denomination. I hope the emerging church helps to that end.