Christianity Magazine puts "The Emerging Church" under the magnifying glass

The UK based magazine... which has been on a long journey from Buzz to what it is today!... has a couple of articles (inc it's cover story) on "The Emerging Church" in it's April Issue - an interview with Brian McLaren and a piece by Scott McKnight...  the McLaren interview is disappointing as it focusses primarily on asking him to respond to others criticisms/views on him (including 2 questions on Abortion!?) rather than giving him space to talk about what is energising him right now... the final question (Do you think the church of the west is closer or further away from authentic Christianity compared to previous times over the past 2,000 years?) is interesting and on it's own would have made a far more interesting article! 
McKnight's article suffers from trying to say it all, to be Emerging Church 101, but  to be fair he does it well.  It's actually a condensed version of a lecture given at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.  McKnight takes the 9) signs from Gibbs and Bolger's "Emerging Churches" and distills them into 5...

1. Prophetic - challenging the status quo - calling the church to a more radical lifestyle of faith
2. Post-modern - he makes a distinction between ministering to post-moderns, ministering with post-moderns and being post-moderns to be honest I find this a bit unhelpful, I don't see the to as he puts it "seeing post-moderns as trapped in moral relativism and epistemological bankruptcy out of which they must be rescued" as being "emerging"... I'm not sure how one can minister with or be post-modern without questioning the precepts of modern christianity?
3. Praxis-orientated - McKnight does stress here that for emerging christians works are not the way to salvation but a direct (and necsessary) product of grace - what we are given we shall give, practising the "way of Jesus" as he (and Gibbs and Bolger) puts it. Are we truly reconciled with God if that reconciliation does not lead to lives of reconciliation!?
4. Post-evangelical - for McKnight this is a matter of inclusivity vs exclusivity both in terms of hermeneutics (the suspicion of systematic theology, of consensus, of static theology) and in terms of soteriology (with differing views!)
5. Political - left leaning, concerned with social justice, freedom etc.

This is a bit of a whistle stop tour and there is much that is left unsaid by McKnight and some which is said too simplistically (no criticism intended, it's only one article after all!).  On the whole it's a helpful introduction to some of the emerging scene, though it's a shame it is so heavily rooted in the US experience - of course McKnight is American but this is a British Magazine!  This is no more evident in the selected "KEY Influences within UK Emerging Church Circles" - McLaren, NT Wright, Steve Chalke, Rob Bell, Shane Claiborne and Erwin McManus - whilst I have the up most respect for these guys, I think it's fair to say that McLaren and Wright have been KEY influences, Claiborne a later but influential voice, the others whilst having important contributions to make are not what I would call KEY influences.  I would see names like Newbiggin, Nouwen, Bosch, Donovan, Tomlinson, Frost and Hirsch, Joseph Myers, Pete Rollins, Pete Ward and Jonny Baker etc. as be more notably influential "within UK Emerging Church circles".

Christianity Magazine

Technorati Tags: Christmas: Church: Emerging Church: Media

Comments

[Stacy Tebbutt]

Great article. Good information about the emerging church, but I agree on the American perspective. As a Canadian Christian, I find it amazing how the American church experience is a completely different animal from what is seen in Canada.
Not that it's bad at all, but it can be difficult to draw parallels in such an "apples and oranges" situation.
Thanks for sharing.

[Dan Wilt]

Things must simply be said, a few hundred times, before the truth bubbles to the surface and demands our attention.

Cheers to the saying of things, with at least some commitment to accuracy and statistics.

d.

[Connie]

The Emergent Manastic Movement is not of The Bible it is of man - what they:
think,
reflect,
share,
live.

Repent.

[Connie]

d,

The Truth has already bubbled to the surface - it is contained in The Word of God.
You would do well to turn your attention of His Demands to REPENT.

[One-Lamb]

‘Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures.'

How does Emergent define this 'way of Jesus'?

[Mark Berry]

Connie/One-Lamb, you are welcome but in future please do not post multiple comments and be honest enough not to comment under different names on the same post... both could be considered spamming.

[Verna27Macias]

Set your life time easier take the personal loans and all you need.