“Emergence Christianity” – Part 1 -An Introduction
I. Emergence Christianity, Emergent Church, Emerging Christians
It’s a movement, and/or a church and/or people within the church
1. Emergence Christianity – Historical – places changes in Christianity within a cycle of history. Phyllis Tickle Emergence Christianity (2012), The Great Emergence (2008), Diana Butler Bass “Fourth Great Awakening” Christianity Beyond Religion (2012). “A new tributary of Protestantism” (Phyllis Tickle)
2. Emergent or Emerging Church or Christianity or Christians are those associated, especially in this country and the United Kingdom, with Emergent Village. Emergent Village, the organization, is directed by Tony Jones at Princeton Theological Seminary. They are starting new churches
The emerging church, is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants can be described as Protestant, post-Protestant, Catholic, evangelical, post-evangelical, liberal, post-liberal, conservative, post-conservative, anabaptist, adventist, reformed, charismatic, neocharismatic, and post-charismatic.
Emerging churches can be found throughout the globe, predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa.
Mark Driscoll and Ed Stetzer note three categories within the movement: Relevants, Reconstructionists and Revisionists.
Relevants are theological conservatives who are interested in updating to current culture. They look to people like Dan Kimball, Donald Miller, Mark Driscoll, Scot McKnight
Reconstructionists are generally theologically evangelical, and speak of new forms of church that result in transformed lives. They look to Neil Cole and Australians Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch
Revisionists are theologically liberal, and openly question whether evangelical doctrine is appropriate for the postmodern world. They look to leaders such as Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt.
3. Emerging Christians – Introduce Emergence methods and proclivities into worship. The “hyphenateds” wan to retain their theology. Others will create their own liturgies and practices.
II. Religious changes in America
– Decline of mainline Protestantism – By 2010, the Barna Group, was estimating "that by the end of the next decade 40 percent of all church-attending Christians will be worshipping God outside the parameters of a traditional congregational context. Criticisms from Dan Kimball They Like Jesus But Not the Church– churches have a political agenda, judgmental and negative, dominated by males and oppress females, arrogantly claims all religions are wrong, take the Bible too literally
– Rise of the Un-Churched, the Non-Churched, and the De-Churched (“Nones”). Pew study 2012 – increase from just over 15% to just under 20% of US adults. 2/3 or 68% believe in God, 58% deep connection with nature and earth. 37% say they are “spiritual” but no religious. 21% say they pray each day. The un-churched are, neutral on the subject of Christianity. They neither remember having been exposed to Christianity and/or its teachings and stories, nor do they remember holding any animosity toward it. The non-churched are those Christians, usually urban, who claim the faith nominally—or even sometimes a bit more actively—but who are not connected in any way to Christian community. The de-churched are those whose numbers are sizable and perhaps even growing. They are those who, having once been Christian to some greater or lesser extent, have been so offended by the Christianity they have known as to eschew it completely
III. Characteristics
1. Identify with Jesus
– Worked with the marginalized (poor) in society
– Attracted others that were despised (harlots, tax collectors)
– Miracles- made the lame walk and opened the ears of the deaf
– Kingdom of God, new relationship between earth and God. Kingdom is both now and not yet here
– Making disciples
2. Non-denominational, Deinstitutionalized
-Not an institution but a fraternity (or sorority).
-Church as interpersonal community.
-Church as a fellowship of persons – a fellowship of people with God and with one another in Christ.
-Connects strongly with the mystical ‘body of Christ’ as a communion of the spiritual life of faith, hope and charity.
-Resonates with Aquinas’ notion of the Church as the principle of unity that dwells in Christ and in us, binding us together and in him.
– All the external means of grace, (sacraments, scripture, laws etc.) are secondary and subordinate; their role is simply to dispose people for an interior union with God effected by grace
3. Communal, People not places
-Merging ancient and contemporary spirituality
-Evangelism – peer-to-peer dialogue rather than dogmatic proclamation and proselytizing.[
-Varieties of music
-Takes traditions other churches- liturgy, prayer beads, icons, spiritual direction, the labyrinth, and lectio divina.
– A desire to re-analyse the Bible against the context into which it was written…
4. Organized by consensus
-Leading as a body (beyond control and the CEO model of leadership)
–Emergence Christian gatherings most surely are self-organizing and self-correcting. They move communally and organize by consensus. Authority within any Emergence grouping is granted by the group itself rather than by any extrinsic authority, and always on a commutable basis. Likewise, authority is determined and described by the group in accord with perceived needs, not in accord with any externally established or habituated ways of doing church.
–Use of the center set rather than a bounded set – a centered set is conditioned on a centered point. Membership is contingent on those who are moving toward that point. Elements moving toward a particular point are part of the set, but elements moving away from that point are not
5. Discernment
–Demanding of authenticity as a prerequisite to any engagement of any sort; and, almost as a logical extension of authenticity, even more demanding that there be absolute transparency in whoever or whatever is
–Missional – participating, with God, in the redemptive work of God in this world. Missional living leads to a focus on temporal and social issues, in contrast with a perceived evangelical overemphasis on salvation. Key is in the here and now
6. Lack of Ordained clergy
–It fears that academic theology, most of which still comes almost entirely out of the institutional church, will indoctrinate and thereby limit the seminarian as pastor; and second, it regards the proper clerical role as a much humbler thing than once it was.
7. Theology – Means to end
-to believe that theology as a conversation is something to be used as a means, not an end
-individual differences in belief and morality are accepted within reason.
– question systematic theology
-to opt always for grace over morality
-to be entirely persuaded that orthopraxy, or right action, trumps orthodoxy, or right belief
8. Integrate science within belief
– Physics, in particular, has become the poetry underlying much Emergence theology, whether it is named as such or not. The comprehension of the universe and of creation and life rests upon principles, facts, and applications that, for younger Emergences, give a grandeur to faith and an excitement to theological conversation
– Emergence penchant for paradox
9. Technology oriented
– Darkwoodbrew.org, 6pm Sunday – combination of coffee house streamed across the internet combined with parts of the program connected through Skype.
– Emerging-church groups use the Internet as a medium of decentralized communication. Church websites are used as announcement boards for community activity, and they are generally a hub for more participation based new technologies such as blogs, Facebook groups, Twitter accounts, etc. The use of the blog is an especially popular and appropriate means of communication within the Emerging church.
– Internet can be conceived as an entirely new mission field.
10. Creative approaches to worship – This can involve everything from the use of contemporary music and films through to liturgy or other more ancient customs.
11. Emphasis of Church’s place within society. This can mean anything from greater emphasis on fellowship in the structure of the group to a higher degree of emphasis on social action, community building or Christian outreach.
IV. Emergence Theory
When, in 1859, Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species and then later, in 1871, The Descent of Man, not all his contemporaries and peers were persuaded that his theories adequately explained all of what was happening. In particular, an early psychologist, G. H. Lewes, joined with many of his fellow scientists in holding that human consciousness was far too complex to be explained away so easily as Darwinian evolution might suggest. Over the years from 1874 through 1879, Lewes published a multivolume work, Problems of Life and Mind, in which he argued for what he labeled "qualitative novelty." By that term, he meant to name dramatic, unforeseeable changes that cannot be entirely described or defined quantitatively, changes the results of which Lewes called "emergents." Thus began the story of what we now know as Emergence Theory
Biology – Emergents—small saplings that grow up in the shadow of the mature forest canopy. In a sense, they may seem dwarfed, stunted, restrained by the shade of the mature trees, but in truth they are waiting. Whenever one of the mature trees dies, the emergents are there, ready to soar up and fill the gap and thrive in the light now available to them.
V. Group Influence
1. Fundamentalists – The Niagara Bible Conferences met from 1878 until 1895. Believers listed five
principles or theses of the faith that were nonnegotiable: the inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and, as a result, its absolute inerrancy as factual reportage; the historicity of the virgin birth; the doctrine of the crucifixion and death of Jesus as the atonement of sin; the physical and attestable reality of the bodily resurrection; and the historicity of the recorded miracles of Jesus
Today -"New Calvinism" is not a product of any standing branch of established Protestantism but composed of Christians and worshipers who are citizens of the Great Emergence. Most of them are fairly young to mid-career professionals and, consequently, share the sensibilities and predilections of Emergence living. It is confessional, seeing humility and candor and repentance as necessary parts of Christian growth and absolutely requisite for the forming of Christian community. The emphasis on family, on solidarity in marriage and the bearing and rearing of children, is enormous. So, too, and concomitantly, is the emphasis on Scripture teaching and formation within the home as well as within the gathered body.
It is push-back. It is the application of one integrated body of orthodox, latinized Christian teaching to Great Emergence circumstances. It is a resistance to Emergence Christianity in many ways, while at the same time sharing Emergence’s etiology and essence.
2. Pentecostals – Two origins -Charles Parham , 1906, Bethel Bible College, William Seymour, Azusa Street LA, 1906
Emphasizes dramatic encounter with God termed baptism with the Holy Spirit. In Christ we are all one body. Participatory worship – experiential. Assumes the direct contact of the believer with God an, Holy Spirit as instructor and counselor and commander as well as comforter
3. Progressive Christianity –Books Christianity and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century(1907) Walter Rauschenbusch, Establishment of the Catholic Worker in 1932, Iona in Scotland. Neomonastic influence with the Taize community in France
Practice in the community to alleviate social wrongs, bringing the Kingdom here and now. Call to Church to deal with present as Jesus would have.
4. Charismatics – Episcopal priest, Father Dennis Bennett 1960. Lutheran pastor, Harold Bredesen, who in 1962, came up with the idea of "charismatic" as a descriptor. Wanted to distinguish from Pentecostal and Episcopalian. Emphasized dramatic encounter with God and the evidence for having received this experience was speaking in other tongues. Other emphasis the gift of healing, the rebirth of baptism, the gift of discernment
5. Evangelicals –Began in the 17th century and became an organized movement with the emergence around 1730 of the Methodists in England and the Pietists among Lutherans in Germany and Scandinavia. The movement became even more significant in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries
Evangelicalism de-emphasizes ritual and emphasizes the piety of the individual, requiring him or her to meet certain active commitments, including the need for personal conversion, or being "born again"
· A high regard for biblical authority
· An emphasis on teachings that proclaim the saving death and resurrection of the Jesus Christ
· Actively expressing and sharing the gospel
6. Hyphenateds – Desire remain within their natal tradition while seeking to infuse it with Emergence sensibilities. allows inherited church congregations and fresh expressions church groups to interface with one another upon occasion with theological impunity and mutual spiritual benefit
VI. History
1. 1960’s-1980’s – First churches and publication
– John Wimber – Anaheim Vineyard Church
– Books – The Emerging Church, Part One –William J. Kalt and Ronald J. Wilkins
– Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail- Robert Webber
2. 1990’s to present
-Religious book trends – Phyllis Tickle hired as religion editor Publishers Weekly
-The Leadership Network and creation of Emergent churches. The Leadership Network was, and is, a highly respected national organization within North American evangelicalism. Its primary purpose, as its name suggests, is to serve the Christian tradition by dedicating itself to the development and continuing formation and education of evangelical leaders. As the larger church became increasingly concerned about the drain of young adults away from institutional Christianity, Leadership sought to exercise its mission by helping to address the problem
Doug Pagitt. The Leadership Network established what it called the Young Leaders Network, and in 1997 employed a Doug Pagitt to head it. Pagitt went to form Solomon’s Porch, a church in South Minneapolis in 2000. He is a graduate of Bethel University 1998 and Bethel Theological Seminary 1992
Solomon’s Porch rarely refers to itself as a church. It doesn’t hold "services" but "Sunday Gatherings," usually in the evening. And, its worship is anything but traditional. Participants sit on sofas arranged in a circle, facing one another. There is no pulpit. Pagitt, the pastor, sits on a stool in the center. Rather than giving lecture-type sermons, he leads discussions and welcomes any type of question. Pagitt took on traditional Christian preaching in his 2005 book Preaching Re-imagined: The Role of the Sermon in Communities of Faith. He coined the term "speaching," saying traditional sermons are a combination of preaching and giving a speech–a one-sided affair that sets up the pastor as an authority figure with more power and information than his listeners
Rob Bell
In the late 1990′s, Rob Bell was an assistant pastor at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Rob and his wife Kristen had an idea and a dream: the idea that church could be about desire, longing, and connection. Along with some friends, they decided to give it a shot. Calvary gave their blessing, and the first Mars Hill Gatherings in Grand Rapids, MI took place on February 7, 1999. He is the author of Love Wins, Velvet Elvis, and is a coauthor of Jesus Wants to Save Christians.
-Emergent Village – 2000. Defining the emergent church
Dan Kimball – Formed Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz CA, 2004. Emphasizes values of the early church and teachings of Jesus. Writer of They Like Jesus But Not the Church. Graduate of Multnomah Biblical Seminary and Western Seminary, receiving a doctorate in leadership from George Fox University
Brian McLaren – From 1978 to 1986, McLaren taught college English, and in 1982, he helped form Cedar Ridge Community Church, an innovative, nondenominational church in the Baltimore-Washington region (crcc.org). He left higher education in 1986 to serve as the church’s founding pastor and served in that capacity until 2006. During that time, Cedar Ridge earned a reputation as a leader among emerging missional congregations. A Generous Orthodoxy ( 2004), is a personal confession and has been called a "manifesto of the emerging church conversation. In A New Kind of Christianity (2010), Brian articulated ten questions that are central to the emergence of a postmodern, post-colonial Christian faith
-Period of controversy 2009-2011
Brian McLaren released a book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith. McLaren defines the proper use of scripture, question of Christian exclusivity in a multifaith universe. Most Christians look at their faith through a flawed Platonic, Greco-Roman lens instead of through a biblical, Jewish lens. “God’s unfolding drama is not a narrative shaped by the six lines in the Greco-Roman scheme of perfection, fall, condemnation, salvation, and heavenly perfection or eternal perdition.” It has a different story line entirely. It’s a story about the downside of ‘progress’—a story of human foolishness and God’s faithfulness, the human turn toward rebellion and God’s turn toward reconciliation, the human intention toward evil and God’s intention to overcome evil with good.”
Rob Bell in 2011 published Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. “Love Wins recognizes heaven and hell to be realities all around us. We see hell everyday through the atrocities of war, famine, human trafficking, broken relationships, and abuse. We also see heaven all around us through acts of love, kindness, and compassion. There is also the reality of heaven and hell in the future. Our ultimate future hope is a restored creation under Christ where God will dwell with us forever on a restored heaven and earth.” Also in the book, Bell questions whether hell exists as a place of eternal torment. He says God always gets what God wants, so he will eventually reconcile everyone to himself, even after death. Bell’s critics say that view ignores man’s free will, God’s wrath on sinners to vindicate the victims of sin.
Phyllis Tickle publishes Emergence Christianity in 2012, a history of the movement and organized a national conference on the subject in early January, 2013.