Bible Question:
Does anyone have an opinion on the so called, "Emergent Church?" I ask because I happen to attend a church that when I join was simply another church which happened to grow very fast, had a gifted teacher, etc... But nothing spectacular. Since then, over the past few years, the gifted teacher has become very well know, almost an icon in the so called "Emergent Church" movement, although he has never claimed that our church was an "Emergent Church." Needless to say (unfortunately) he has been attacked by several Pastors around the country. My stance among those I meet is that I am not responsible for defending my pastor or church against comments. I will talk and listen, but I am not ever going to get "defensive" and try to argue for a point. I will clarify and ask why they think what they think, but I won't get drawn into an argument. It has bothered me, however, to see that so far every critic I have read or heard has gone to the level of revering to my pastor as "Satan’s agent" or "a clear Heretic" etc... Not one critic I have read so far has refrained from using such vitriolic statements which I interpret as meaning they are so afraid that their critic isn't strong enough on content that they have to use stupid statements to try and reinforce their ideas. One pastor even stated that since my pastor's following was so large, he obviously was not of God and used the same argument to refute Rev. Billy Graham. I’d love to discuss this topic with some of you, since I have anonymity here, and I would like to know what gifted people like you all think. MJH |
Bible Answer: MJH - The term "emerging (or emergent) church" is oxymoronic. The only time in history that the church of Jesus Christ can be said to have emerged (in the sense of "to become manifest") was on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. Your question has drawn a number of responses, but the subject is really too complex to be given anything approaching exhaustive treatment here. ..... I've done a considerable amount of reading on this "Emergent Church Movement" over the week-end and am prepared to posit that in general the movement, which is a brand of post-modernism, has a low view of Scripture and is not biblical on soteriology and eschatology. In my research efforts I came across an excellent article on the movement by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. What follows are two links, the first to the article "What Should We Think of the Emerging Church?, Part 1, and the second link to Part 2 of the article. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050629/6355.htm -- and -- http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050630/6356.htm Anyone interested in learning more about this movement should read this article. --Hank |