Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Emergent
The Emergent Church is becoming an increasingly prevalent institution among Christian circles today. Many of those involved in this movement have become severely embittered towards the Evangelical denominations of today. They view the church as dead and carelessly stagnant. Worst of al, they see the church as content in this state. The sad truth of the matter is that many Evangelical churches do in fact fit this mold. M.C. Wright is a pastor involved in the Emergent Church. He compares the current state of churches to the opium dens of the past. He says, "An opiate dulls the senses, induces a relaxed state, and is sedative in nature. In reality, you can walk into a vast number of churches today, scan the crowd, and pronounce a very similar definition! So many people who fill pew after pew and chair after chair has a numb, expressionless, passionless and purposeless gaze in their eyes. This is the gaze of religion. Pew." Think about it...is it not true that many times Christians can sit through entire services without even thinking about what is being said? The diagnosis of the Emergent church is frighteningly accurate; however, their prescription seems to miss the point altogether. M.C. Wright calls his readers to abandon "religion" as seen in the typical service of three hymns, three point sermons, and should or should not lists. His response is understandably anti-legalistic; however, I do not think the answer lies in abandoning the format of the service. The Emergent Church takes issue with the passionless complacency of the modern church, but changing the format of church does not cure the state of people's hearts. See, that is what really is "turning off" many about the Evangelical church today. The congregation is full of those whose hearts have lost the passion for their God. As believers we have a responsibility to address this problem. Perhaps the Emergent Church taken this to an extreme, but at least they are taking action. We cannot cease to pursue passion in our lives and in our churches.
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2 comments:
Pete,
You make some valuable observations and comments. There is a loss of passion, and vision (which we know leads to the people perishing). However, I would caution you against holding up this M.C. Wright as a spokesperson for the Emergent Church. While I'm sure you're not trying to use him as a straw man, it would be easy to think that what he has to say is all that leaders in the Emergent Church are saying/teaching.
In point of fact, just like there are as many opinions among so-called Evangelical leaders, there are different comments from a great many Emergent Leaders. While I don't agree with everything that comes out under the banner of 'Emergent', I do think that there other good (and orthodox) comments coming out of Emergent pastors and leaders. Check out Rob Bell, Dan Kimball or Tony Jones for starters.
There are many problems in our churches today. Serving as the youth pastor in a Main Line denominational church, I see too many congregations in that denomination that are rotting away, offering their "members" nothing but eternal hopelessness. Fortunately, the church I serve in preaches the gospel week in and week out. In our youth ministry, we are calling our students (and their families) to be like Jesus, to follow Him. Our congregation is not 'Emergent', but I like their bringing in an experiential component to worship and the Christian life.
While many churches are losing members, and have no clue about how to reach the unchurched, there are many Emergent-style congregations that are reaching people who will never set foot into either of our churches. I respect that, and more, I praise God for it. The point really is, what are the bibilical principles behind Emergent, and then prayerfully utilize those, not copy them by showing really weird slides, lighting a lot of candles, and having playdoh in the corner.
Let me know what you think.
God's peace! - David Feiser
I was certainly not trying to pin all Emergent leaders on the writings of M.C. Wright. I understand he is but one pastor in a large movement. I will admit, I am not extremely familiar with the emergent church, and I have not read much from Rob Bell or Dan Kimball. However, I have read Postmodern Youthministry by Tony Jones. This book raised many red flags in that Tony seems to give way to postmodernism a little too much. Scripture can never be compromised so that students will be comfortable or want to attend our ministry. As far as the experiential aspect of a minsitry goes, there is certainly room for this. However, it seems to me we need to be on alert to prevent our ministries from becoming overly mystic. Regardless of the Emergent or Evangelical church, the heart of the matter is a solid interpretation and preaching of the Word of God. If the Word is compromised to accomodate culture, our message is lost.
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