Emergent Church?

[nwrozier]

I am curious, I am going to school to be a pastor and I very much want to reach those who have not been reached yet. Naturally I began to look into some of the newer, hipper movements in the church. This led me to the Emergent Church. I spoke to my Pastor about it, my youth pastor as well, I have even heard it spoken of by other pastors whom I really respect doctrinally. I kept hearing about this "movement", if you will, by young conservative pastors, so I felt good about the whole idea. Then I went out and bought some books on it and began to research it online and what did I find? A movement in the Church with strong Post-modern activities, such as contemplative prayer, based on questions and statements like "What is truth," or "There are no absolutes." With beliefs based on experience and subjectivity, not an objective study of scripture. This sounds a whole lot like the kind of questions that Paul might have confronted in Athens during his debates with philosophers while spreading the Gospel, not something that those who believe in the Gospel should be basing our faith and worship on.
What is the Emergent Church? If you lead a church or even attend a church that you feel falls into the true intended nature of the Emergent Church I would love to know what it looks like on the inside. Where do your beliefs line up? What kind of activities do you do for worship, prayer, sermons, etc.
If this Post-modern Church is the Emergent Church, I have to be honest and say that I don't want to partake of it, based on Ephesians 5:6-7, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them." I don't want to foster or feed these types of beliefs. One day I will have to give account of my congregation, and there won't be any explanation for those beliefs.
As for truth, what is it? It's Jesus, the Son of God. As he said in John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." I believe this as one of the foundations of my faith. Hopefully I am wrong about the Emergent Church. I would hate for something so large and popular to be so off base.
Trying to learn.

 

[Chad]

Welcome brother. I have an idea. Why not just be a Christian and follow the Word itself? No names, no denominations, and the only "movement" is the Holy Spirit? He is our guide, comforter, granter of Wisdom. He is our witness of Christ Jesus. He is our GOD who confirms and rebukes. You do not need any modern this or that, any movements or what have you. You simply need Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word.

 

[DanV]

Welcome brother. I have an idea. Why not just be a Christian and follow the Word itself? No names, no denominations, and the only "movement" is the Holy Spirit? He is our guide, comforter, granter of Wisdom. He is our witness of Christ Jesus. He is our GOD who confirms and rebukes. You do not need any modern this or that, any movements or what have you. You simply need Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word.

Yes, Amen, I agree Chad.

In my curiosity, I researched the Emergent Church and, briefly, this is what I found:

The emerging church or emergent church is a diverse, controversial movement within Christianity that arose in the late 20th century as a reaction to the perceived influence of modernism in Western Christianity.

Proponents of the emergent church embrace postmodernism and call the movement a "conversation" to emphasize its decentralized nature with contributions from people of a variety of beliefs.

The emerging church seeks to deconstruct and reconstruct Christianity as its mainly Western members live in a postmodern culture.

Warning! Warning! Warning!

God Bless,

Dan

 

[jiggyfly]

Welcome brother. I have an idea. Why not just be a Christian and follow the Word itself? No names, no denominations, and the only "movement" is the Holy Spirit? He is our guide, comforter, granter of Wisdom. He is our witness of Christ Jesus. He is our GOD who confirms and rebukes. You do not need any modern this or that, any movements or what have you. You simply need Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word.

Amen and amen a hundred times over brother Chad, well put. We need to get the right foundation (Christ) and then allow Him to do the building.

 

[SpiritLedEd]

The Emergent Church

Regarding the "Emergent Church", remember the words of Gamaliel speaking to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5 regarding the spread of the church: "Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting againstGod."(Acts 5:38-39) It may be that the Lord is preparing His bride.

SLE

 

[Coconut]

Welcome brother. I have an idea. Why not just be a Christian and follow the Word itself? No names, no denominations, and the only "movement" is the Holy Spirit? He is our guide, comforter, granter of Wisdom. He is our witness of Christ Jesus. He is our GOD who confirms and rebukes. You do not need any modern this or that, any movements or what have you. You simply need Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word.

That needs nothing added to it! Glory to God!

 

[soul_drummer]

yeah...pretty sure, along with EVERYBODY else^^, i totally agree with Chad^^.

i have, however, been looking into the Emerging Church a lot! one thing i've noticed, and wanted to point out based on something said here, is that the Emergent Church and the Emerging Church exist at two different "movements". Most people i've read about or talked to don't really like having the two confused as one...lol.

A lot of the things the EmergING Church does is awesome. nothing really new tho, basically trying to get back to the original way of walking with Christ, so it seems to me..lol. i think a lot of this has to do with realizing the problems withing the idea and popular definition of "church", and the need to do more. One problem i DO have with the Emerging Church is it's idea of a lot of things in the Bible being "relative". i think in their efforts to NOT sugar-coat the Christianity originally meant to be lived, they've done just that by trying to modernize it to the point where everything is relative.

But yeah...pretty much..Chad has it^^..LOLOL. i'm going to continue looking into this because i'm still not satisfied...lol. i plan on finding a church that follows that definition of Emerging and talking to some more people^^. i'll let ya know what i find^^
God Bless^^
Bryce