4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

Emerging church

Save 6:16 by listening

0:00 16:34

The emerging church, sometimes wrongly equated with the "emergent movement" or "emergent
conversation", is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st century. Emerging churches can be
found around the globe, predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and
Africa. Members come from a number of Christian traditions. Some attend local independent churches or
house churches[1][2][3] while others worship in traditional Christian denominations. The emerging church
favors the use of simple story and narrative. Members of the movement often place a high value on good
works or social activism, including missional living.[4] Proponents of the movement believe it transcends
labels such as "conservative" and "liberal"; it is sometimes called a "conversation" to emphasize its developing
and decentralized nature, its range of standpoints, and commitment to dialogue. Participants seek to live their
faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. Disillusionment with the organized and institutional
church has led participants to support the deconstruction of modern Christian worship and evangelism, and
the nature of modern Christian community.

Definitions and terminology

Participants in the movement may be Protestant, post-Protestant, Catholic, or evangelical[5] post-evangelical,
liberal Christian, post-liberal, conservative, and post-conservative, anabaptist, adventist,[6] reformed,
charismatic, neocharismatic, and post-charismatic. Proponents, however, believe the movement transcends
such "modernist" labels of "conservative" and "liberal," calling the movement a "conversation" to emphasize
its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints, and its commitment to dialogue.
Participants seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. What those involved in
the conversation mostly agree on is their disillusionment with the organized and institutional church and their
support for the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, modern evangelism, and the nature of modern
Christian community.[7]

Some have noted a difference between the terms emerging and Emergent. While emerging is a wider,
informal, church-based, global movement, Emergent refers to a specific, structured organization, the
Emergent Village, associated with Brian McLaren, and has also been called the "Emergent stream".[8]

Key themes of the emerging church are couched in the language of reform, Christian praxis-oriented lifestyles,
post-evangelical thought, and incorporation or acknowledgment of Christian political and postmodern
Christian elements.[9] Many of the movement's participants use terminology that originates from postmodern
literary theory, social network theory, narrative theology, and other related fields.

Stuart Murray states:[10][11]

Emerging churches are so disparate there are exceptions to any generalisations. Most are too new
and too fluid to clarify, let alone assess their significance. There is no consensus yet about what
language to use: 'new ways of being church'; 'emerging church'; 'fresh expressions of church'; 'future
church'; 'church next'; or 'the coming church'. The terminology used here contrasts 'inherited' and
'emerging' churches.

— Murray (2004), p. 73

Ian Mobsby observes:[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 1/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

The use of the phrase 'emerging church' appears to have been used by Larson & Osborne in 1970 in
the context of reframing the meaning 'church' in the latter part of the twentieth century.[13] This
book, contains a short vision of the 'emerging church' which has a profoundly contemporary feel in
the early twenty-first century ... Larson & Osborne note the following themes: Rediscovering
contextual and experimental mission in the western church. Forms of church that are not restrained
by institutional expectations. Open to change and God wanting to do a new thing. Use of the key
word ..."and". Whereas the heady polarities of our day seek to divide us into an either-or camp, the
mark of the emerging Church will be its emphasis on both-and. For generations we have divided
ourselves into camps: Protestants and Catholics, high church and low, clergy and laity, social activists
and personal piety, liberals and conservatives, sacred and secular, instructional and underground. It
will bring together the most helpful of the old and best of the new, blending the dynamic of a
personal Gospel with the compassion of social concern. It will find its ministry being expressed by a
whole people, wherein the distinction between clergy and laity will be that of function, not of status
or hierarchical division. In the emerging Church, due emphasis will be placed on both theological
rootage and contemporary experience, on celebration in worship and involvement in social concerns,
on faith and feeling, reason and prayer, conversion and continuity, the personal and the conceptual.

— Mobsby (2007), pp. 20–21

Similar labels
Although some emergent thinkers such as Brian McLaren and other Christian scholars such as D. A. Carson
use emerging and emergent as synonyms, a large number of participants in the emerging church movement
maintain a distinction between them. The term emergent church was coined in 1981 by Catholic political
theologian, Johann Baptist Metz for use in a different context.[14] Emergent is sometimes more closely
associated with Emergent Village. Those participants in the movement who assert this distinction believe
"emergents" and "emergent village" to be a part of the emerging church movement but prefer to use the term
emerging church to refer to the movement as a whole while using the term emergent in a more limited way,
referring to Brian McLaren and Emergent Village.

Many of those within the emerging church movement who do not closely identify with emergent village tend
to avoid that organization's interest in radical theological reformulation and focus more on new ways of
"doing church" and expressing their spirituality. Mark Driscoll and Scot McKnight have now voiced concerns
over Brian McLaren and the "emergent thread."[15] Other evangelical leaders such as Shane Claiborne have
also come to distance himself from the emerging church movement, its labels and the "emergent brand".[16]

Some observers consider the "emergent stream" to be one major part within the larger emerging church
movement. This may be attributed to the stronger voice of the 'emergent' stream found in the US which
contrasts the more subtle and diverse development of the movement in the UK, Australia and New Zealand
over a longer period of time. In the US, some Roman Catholics have also begun to describe themselves as
being part of the emergent conversation.[5] As a result of the above factors, the use of correct vocabulary to
describe a given participant in this movement can occasionally be awkward, confusing, or controversial. Key
voices in the movement have been identified with Emergent Village, thus the rise of the nomenclature
emergent to describe participants in the movement.

Marcus Borg defines the term "emerging paradigm" in his 2003 book The Heart of Christianity. He writes

The emerging paradigm has been visible for well over a hundred years. In the last twenty to thirty
years, it has become a major grassroots movement among both laity and clergy in "mainline" or "old
mainline" Protestant denominations.

Borg provides a compact summary of this "emerging paradigm" as:[17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 2/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

...a way of seeing the Bible (and the Christian tradition as a whole) as historical, metaphorical, and
sacramental, [and] a way of seeing the Christian life as relational and transformational.

History
Although the history is little known in the US, there was a strong current of emerging churches in the UK and
elsewhere that preceded the US Emergent organization. This began with Mike Riddell and Mark Pierson in
New Zealand from 1989, and with a number of practitioners in the UK including Jonny Baker, Ian Mobsby,
Kevin, Ana and Brian Draper, and Sue Wallace amongst others, from around 1992.[18] The influence of the
Nine O'Clock Service has is generally unacknowledged—perhaps owing to the abuse by its leader which led to
the group's demise—yet much that was practised there was influential on early proponents of alternative
worship.[19] The US organization emerged in the late 1990s.

What is common to the identity of many of these emerging church projects that began in Australia, New
Zealand and the United Kingdom, is that they developed with very little central planning on behalf of the
established denominations.[20] They occurred as the initiative of particular groups wanting to start new
contextual church experiments, and are therefore very 'bottom up'. Murray says that these churches began in
a spontaneous way, with informal relationships formed between otherwise independent groups[21] and that
many became churches as a development from their initial more modest beginnings.[22][23]

Values and characteristics

Trinitarian-based values
Gibbs and Bolger[24] interviewed a number of people involved in leading emerging churches and from this
research have identified some core values in the emerging church, including desires to imitate the life of
Jesus; transform secular society; emphasise communal living; welcome outsiders; be generous and creative;
and lead without control. Ian Mobsby suggests Trinitarian ecclesiology is the basis of these shared
international values.[25]

Mobsby also suggests that the emerging church is centred on a combination of models of church and of
contextual theology that draw on this Trinitarian base: the Mystical Communion and Sacramental models of
church,[26] and the Synthetic and Transcendent models of contextual theology.[27][28]

According to Mobsby, the emerging church has reacted to the missional needs of postmodern culture and re-
acquired a Trinitarian basis to its understanding of church as worship, mission and community. He argues
this movement is over and against some forms of conservative evangelicalism and other reformed
ecclesiologies since the enlightenment that have neglected the Trinity, which has caused problems with
certainty, judgementalism and fundamentalism and the increasing gap between the church and contemporary
culture.[29]

Post-Christendom mission and evangelism

According to Stuart Murray, Christendom is the creation and maintenance of a Christian nation by ensuring a
close relationship of power between the Christian church and its host culture.[30] Today, churches may still
attempt to use this power in mission and evangelism.[31] [31] The emerging church considers this to be
unhelpful. Murray summarizes Christendom values as: a commitment to hierarchy and the status quo; the
loss of lay involvement; institutional values rather than community focus; church at the centre of society
rather than the margins; the use of political power to bring in the Kingdom; religious compulsion; punitive
rather than restorative justice; marginalisation of women, the poor, and dissident movements; inattentiveness
to the criticisms of those outraged by the historic association of Christianity with patriarchy, warfare, injustice
and patronage; partiality for respectability and top-down mission; attractional evangelism; assuming the
Christian story is known; and a preoccupation with the rich and powerful.[31]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 3/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

The emerging church seeks a post-Christendom approach to being church and mission through: renouncing
imperialistic approaches to language and cultural imposition; making 'truth claims' with humility and respect;
overcoming the public/private dichotomy; moving church from the center to the margins; moving from a
place of privilege in society to one voice amongst many; a transition from control to witness, maintenance to
mission and institution to movement.

While some Evangelicals emphasize eternal salvation, many in the emerging church emphasize the here and
now.[32] In the face of criticism, some in the emerging church respond that it is important to attempt a "both
and" approach to redemptive and incarnational theologies. Some Evangelicals and Fundamentalists are
perceived as "overly redemptive" and therefore in danger of condemning people by communicating the gospel
in aggressive and angry ways.[33] A more loving and affirming approach is proposed in the context of post-
modernity where distrust may occur in response to power claims. It is suggested that this can form the basis of
a constructive engagement with 21st-century post-industrial western cultures. According to Ian Mobsby, the
suggestion that the emerging church is mainly focused on deconstruction and the rejection of current forms of
church should itself be rejected.[34]

Postmodern worldview and hermeneutics

The emerging church is a response to the perceived influence of modernism in Western Christianity. As some
sociologists commented on a cultural shift that they believed to correspond to postmodern ways of perceiving
reality in the late 20th century, some Christians began to advocate changes within the church in response.
These Christians saw the contemporary church as being culturally bound to modernism. They changed their
practices to relate to the new cultural situation. Emerging Christians began to challenge the modern church on
issues such as: institutional structures, systematic theology, propositional teaching methods, a perceived
preoccupation with buildings, an attractional understanding of mission, professional clergy, and a perceived
preoccupation with the political process and unhelpful jargon ("Christianese").[35]

As a result, some in the emerging church believe it is necessary to deconstruct modern Christian dogma. One
way this happens is by engaging in dialogue, rather than proclaiming a predigested message, believing that
this leads people to Jesus through the Holy Spirit on their own terms. Many in the movement embrace the
missiology that drives the movement in an effort to be like Christ and make disciples by being a good example.
The emerging church movement contains a great diversity in beliefs and practices, although some have
adopted a preoccupation with sacred rituals, good works, and political and social activism. Much of the
Emerging Church movement has also adopted the approach to evangelism which stressed peer-to-peer
dialogue rather than dogmatic proclamation and proselytizing.[36]

A plurality of Scriptural interpretations is acknowledged in the emerging church movement. Participants in

the movement exhibit a particular concern for the effect of the modern reader's cultural context on the act of
interpretation echoing the ideas of postmodern thinkers such as Jacques Derrida and Stanley Fish. Therefore
a narrative approach to Scripture, and history are emphasized in some emerging churches over exegetical and
dogmatic approaches (such as that found in systematic theology and systematic exegesis), which are often
viewed as reductionist. Others embrace a multiplicity of approaches.

Generous orthodoxy
Some emerging church leaders see interfaith dialogue a means to share their narratives as they learn from the
narratives of others.[37] Some Emerging Church Christians believe there are radically diverse perspectives
within Christianity that are valuable for humanity to progress toward truth and a better resulting relationship
with God, and that these different perspectives deserve Christian charity rather than condemnation.[38]

Centered set
The movement appropriates set theory as a means of understanding a basic change in the way the Christian
church thinks about itself as a group. Set theory is a concept in mathematics that allows an understanding of
what numbers belong to a group, or set. A bounded set would describe a group with clear "in" and "out"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 4/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

definitions of membership. The Christian church has largely organized itself as a bounded set, those who
share the same beliefs and values are in the set and those who disagree are outside.[39]

The centered set does not limit membership to pre-conceived boundaries. Instead, 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. As a centered-set Christian membership would be dependent on moving toward the central point of
Jesus. A Christian is then defined by their focus and movement toward Christ rather than a limited set of
shared beliefs and values.[39]

John Wimber utilized the centered-set understanding of membership in his Vineyard Churches. The centered
set theory of Christian churches came largely from missional anthropologist Paul Hiebert. The centered-set
understanding of membership allows for a clear vision of the focal point, the ability to move toward that point
without being tied down to smaller diversions, a sense of total egalitarianism with respect for differing
opinions, and an authority moved from individual members to the existing center.[40]

Authenticity and conversation

The movement favors the sharing of experiences via testimonies, prayer, group recitation, sharing meals and
other communal practices, which they believe are more personal and sincere than propositional presentations
of the Gospel. Teachers in the emerging church tend to view the Bible and its stories through a lens which they
believe finds significance and meaning for their community's social and personal stories rather than for the
purpose of finding cross-cultural, propositional absolutes regarding salvation and conduct.[41]

The emerging church claims they are creating a safe environment for those with opinions ordinarily rejected
within modern conservative evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Non-critical, interfaith dialog is preferred
over dogmatically-driven evangelism in the movement.[42] Story and narrative replaces the dogmatic:[43]

The relationship between words and images has changed in contemporary culture. In a post-
foundational world, it is the power of the image that takes us to the text. The bible is no longer a
principal source of morality, functioning as a rulebook. The gradualism of postmodernity has
transformed the text into a guide, a source of spirituality, in which the power of the story as a moral
reference point has superseded the didactic. Thus the meaning of the Good Samaritan is more
important than the Ten Commandments - even assuming that the latter could be remembered in any
detail by anyone. Into this milieu the image speaks with power.

— Percy (2002), p. 165

Those in the movement do not engage in aggressive apologetics or confrontational evangelism in the
traditional sense, preferring to encourage the freedom to discover truth through conversation and
relationships with the Christian community.[44]

Missional living
Participants in this movement assert that the incarnation of Christ informs their theology. They believe that as
God entered the world in human form, adherents enter (individually and communally) into the context
around them and aim to transform that culture through local involvement. This holistic involvement may take
many forms, including social activism, hospitality and acts of kindness. This beneficent involvement in culture
is part of what is called missional living.[45] Missional living leads to a focus on temporal and social issues, in
contrast with a perceived evangelical overemphasis on salvation.[32]

Drawing on research and models of contextual theology, Mobsby asserts that the emerging church is using
different models of contextual theology than conservative evangelicals, who tend to use a "translation" model
of contextual theology[46] (which has been criticized for being colonialist and condescending toward other

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 5/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

cultures); the emerging church tends to use a "synthetic" or "transcendent" model of contextual theology.[47]
The emerging church has charged many conservative evangelical churches with withdrawal from involvement
in contextual mission and seeking the contextualization of the gospel.[27]

Christian communities must learn to deal with the problems and possibilities posed by life in the
"outside" world. Of greater importance, any attempt on the part of the church to withdraw from the
world would be in effect a denial of its mission.

— Harvey (1999), p. 14[48]

Many emerging churches have put a strong emphasis on contextualization and, therefore, contextual theology.
Contextual theology has been defined as "A way of doing theology in which one takes into account: the spirit
and message of the gospel; the tradition of the Christian people; the culture in which one is theologising; and
social change in that culture."[49] Emerging churches, drawing on this synthetic (or transcendent) model of
contextual theology, seek to have a high view towards the Bible, the Christian people, culture, humanity and
justice. It is this "both ... and" approach that distinguishes contextual theology.[50][51]

Emerging communities participate in social action, community involvement, global justice and sacrificial
hospitality in an effort to know and share God's grace. At a conference entitled "The Emerging Church Forum"
in 2006, John Franke said: "The Church of Jesus Christ is not the goal of the Gospel, just the instrument of
the extension of God's mission", and: "The Church has been slow to recognize that missions isn't [sic] a
program the Church administers, it is the very core of the Church's reason for being."[52] This focus on
missional living and practicing radical hospitality has led many emerging churches to deepen what they are
doing by developing a rhythm of life, and a vision of missional loving engagement with the world.[53]

A mixture of emerging Churches, Fresh Expressions of Church and mission initiatives arising out of
the charismatic traditions, have begun describing themselves as new monastic communities. They
again draw on a combination of the Mystical Communion Model and Sacramental Models, with a
core concern to engage with the question of how we should live. The most successful of these have
experimented with a combination of churches centred on place and network, with intentional
communities, cafes and centres to practice hospitality. Many also have a rhythm, or rule of life to
express what it means to be Christian in a postmodern context.

— Mobsby (2009), pp. 30–31

Communitarian or egalitarian ecclesiology

Proponents of the movement communicate and interact through fluid and open networks because the
movement is decentralized with little institutional coordination. Because of the participation values named
earlier, being community through participation affects the governance of most emerging churches.
Participants avoid power relationships, attempting to gather in ways specific to their local context. In this way
some in the movement share with the house church movements a willingness to challenge traditional church
structures/organizations though they also respect the different expressions of traditional Christian
denominations.[54]

International research suggests that some emerging churches are utilizing a Trinitarian basis to being church
through what Avery Dulles calls 'The Mystical Communion Model of Church'.[55]

Not an institution but a sorority.

Church as interpersonal community.
Church as a sisterhood of individual congregations (unified bride of Christ), and as a fellowship of people
in family with God and with one another (brothers and sisters) 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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 6/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

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.[56]
Dulles sees the strength in this approach being acceptable to both Protestant and Catholic:[57]

In stressing the continual mercy of God and the continual need of the Church for repentance, the
model picks up Protestant theology ... [and] in Roman Catholicism ... when it speaks of the church as
both holy and sinful, as needing repentance and reform ...

— Dulles (1991), p. 46

The biblical notion of Koinonia, ... that God has fashioned for himself a people by freely
communicating his Spirit and his gifts ... this is congenial to most Protestants and Orthodox ... [and]
has an excellent foundation in the Catholic tradition.

— Dulles (1991), pp. 50–51

Creative and rediscovered spirituality

This can involve everything from expressive, neocharismatic style of worship and the use of contemporary
music and films to more ancient liturgical customs and eclectic expressions of spirituality, with the goal of
making the church gathering reflect the local community's tastes.

Emerging church practitioners are happy to take elements of worship from a wide variety of historic
traditions, including traditions of the Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and Celtic
Christianity. From these and other religious traditions emerging church groups take, adapt and blend various
historic church practices including liturgy, prayer beads, icons, spiritual direction, the labyrinth, and lectio
divina. The emerging church is also sometimes called the "Ancient-Future" church.[58]

One of the key social drives in Western post-industrialised countries, is the rise in new-"old" forms of
mysticism.[59][60] This rise in spirituality appears to be driven by the effects of consumerism, globalisation
and advances in information technology.[61] Therefore, the emerging church is operating in a new context of
postmodern spirituality, as a new form of mysticism. This capitalizes on the social shift in starting
assumptions from the situation that most are regarded as materialist/atheist (the modern position), to the fact
that many people now believe in and are searching for something more spiritual (postmodern view). This has
been characterised as a major shift from religion to spirituality.[62]

In the new world of 'spiritual tourism', the Emerging Church Movement is seeking to missionally assist people
to shift from being spiritual tourists to Christian pilgrims. Many are drawing on ancient Christian resources
recontextualised into the contemporary such as contemplation and contemplative forms of prayer, symbolic
multi-sensory worship, story telling and many others.[63] This again has required a change in focus as the
majority of unchurched and dechurched people are seeking 'something that works' rather than something that
is 'true'.[64]

Use of new technologies

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. Through blogs,
members converse about theology, philosophy, art, culture, politics, and social justice, both among their local
congregations and across the broader Emerging community. These blogs can be seen to embrace both sacred
and secular culture side-by-side as an excellent example of the church's focus on contextual theology.

Morality and justice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 7/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

Drawing on a more 'missional morality' that again turns to the synoptic gospels of Christ, many emerging-
church groups draw on an understanding of God seeking to restore all things back into restored relationship.
This emphasises God's graceful love approach to discipleship, in following Christ who identified with the
socially excluded and ill, in opposition to the Pharisees and Sadducees and their purity rules.[65]

Under this movement, traditional Christians' emphasis on either individual salvation, end-times theology or
the prosperity gospel have been challenged.[66][67] Many people in the movement express concern for what
they consider to be the practical manifestation of God's kingdom on earth, by which they mean social justice.
This concern manifests itself in a variety of ways depending on the local community and in ways they believe
transcend "modernist" labels of "conservative" and "liberal." This concern for justice is expressed in such
things as feeding the poor, visiting the sick and prisoners, stopping contemporary slavery, critiquing systemic
and coercive power structures with "postcolonial hermeneutics," and working for environmental causes.[68]

See also
Cafe church – Christian church model
Contemplative prayer – Christian mystical practices
Cultural appropriation – Inappropriate adoption of culture and cultural identity
Ecumenism – Cooperation between Christian denominations
Inculturation – Adaptation of Christianity to cultures
Missio dei – theological term, the 'mission of God'
Models of Contextual Theology – About the book by Stephen B. Bevans
Progressive Christianity – Postmodern theological approach

References

Sources
Bevans, Stephen B. (2002). Models of contextual theology. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. ISBN 978-
1-57075-438-8.
Dulles, Avery (1991). Models of the Church (Expanded ed.). Image Books. ISBN 978-0-385-13368-5.
Link to 1974 edition: Models of the church (https://archive.org/details/modelsofchurc00dull). Garden
City, New York: Image Books. 1978 – via Internet Archive.
Gibbs, Eddie; Bolger, Ryan K. (2006). Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern
Cultures. London: SPCK. ISBN 978-0-8010-2715-4.
Mobsby, Ian J. (2007). Emerging and fresh expressions of church: How are they authentically Church and
Anglican?. London: Moot Community Publishing. ISBN 978-0955980008.
Mobsby, Ian (2008). The Becoming of G-d: What the Trinitarian nature of God has to do with Church and a
deep spirituality for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: YTC Press UK Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4092-0078-9.
Murray, Stuart (2004). Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World (After
Christendom). Carlisle: Paternoster Press. ISBN 978-1-84227-261-9.
Taylor, Barry (2008). Entertainment Theology: Exploring Spirituality in a Digital Democracy. Grand Rapids,
US: Baker Academic; Baker Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8010-3237-0.

Citations
1. "ReligionLink.org : Emerging Church trend expands, diversifies" (https://web.archive.org/web/2009020610
3408/http://www.religionlink.org/tip_060410.php). religionlink.org. Archived from the original (http://www.reli
gionlink.org/tip_060410.php) on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
2. Kreider, Larry (2001). "1: There's a New Church Emerging!" (https://archive.org/details/housechurchnetwo
0000krei). House church networks: A church for a new generation. Ephrata, Pennsylvania, US: House to
House Publications. pp. 1–9. ISBN 978-1-886973-48-0.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 8/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

3. Pam Hogeweide (April 2005). "The 'emerging church' comes into view" (https://web.archive.org/web/2011
0718152123/http://www.cnnw.com/articles/articles04-05-3.html). Christian News Northwest. Archived from
the original (http://www.cnnw.com/articles/articles04-05-3.html) on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August
2011.
4. McLaren, Brian (2007). Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices (https://www.publishe
rsweekly.com/978-0-8499-0114-0). Nashville, US: Thomas Nelson. Dedication page. ISBN 978-0-8499-
0114-0.
5. Lillian Kwon (14 March 2009). "Catholics join Emerging Church conversation" (https://www.christiantoday.
com/article/catholics.join.emerging.church.conversation/22770.htm). Christian Today. Retrieved 27 August
2011.
6. "MB524: Christian Anthropology from the Margins: Johnny Ramirez-Johnson" (http://schedule.fuller.edu/cl
l/dl/ecds/fol/Archive/192/mb524_ramirez-johnson.html). Fuller Online. Fuller Theological Seminary. Spring
2019.
7. Carey, Jesse (12 October 2022), "The Emerging Church Explained" (https://www2.cbn.com/article/religion/
emerging-church-explained), CBN: The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc
8. Kowalski, David (28 September 2007). "Surrender is not an Option: An Evaluation of Emergent
Epistemology" (https://www.apologeticsindex.org/612-emergent-epistemology). Apologetics Index.
Retrieved 28 August 2011.
9. McKnight, S. (February 2007). "Five Streams of the Emerging Church." (http://www.christianitytoday.com/c
t/2007/february/11.35.html) Christianity Today. 51(2). Retrieved 11 July 2009.
10. Mobsby 2007, p. 20.
11. Murray 2004, p. 73.
12. Mobsby 2007, pp. 20–21.
13. B. Larson, R. Osbourne (1970). The Emerging Church. London: Word Books. pp. 9–11.
14. Johannes Baptist Metz (1981). The Emergent Church. New York: Crossroad.
15. McKnight, Scot (26 February 2010). "Review: Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christianity" (http://www.chri
stianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=86862). Christianity Today. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
16. Soong-Chan Rah; Jason Mach (May 2010). "Is the Emerging Church for Whites Only?" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20110805104840/http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj1005&articl
e=is-the-emerging-church-for-whites-only). Sojourners. With responses by Julie Clawson, Brian McLaren,
and Debbie Blue. Archived from the original (https://sojo.net/magazine/may-2010) on 5 August 2011.
Claiborne, Shane (13 April 2010). "The Emerging Church Brand: The Good, the Bad, and the Messy" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20111021064907/http://blog.sojo.net/2010/04/13/the-emerging-church-brand-the-
good-the-bad-and-the-messy/). God's politics: Sojourners magazine. — A blog by Jim Wallis and Friends.
Archived from the original (http://blog.sojo.net/2010/04/13/the-emerging-church-brand-the-good-the-bad-a
nd-the-messy/) on 21 October 2011.
Claiborne, Shane; Garrison, Becky (1 May 2010). "Further responses on diversity in the Emerging
Church" (https://sojo.net/magazine/may-2010/further-responses-diversity-emerging-church). Sojourners.

17. Borg, Marcus J. (2003). The Heart of Christianity. San Francisco: Harper. pp. 6, 13. ISBN 0-06-073068-4.
18. Collins, Steve (May 2002). "Small Fires: Alternative worship is not about youth" (http://ship-of-fools.com/fe
atures/columnists/small_fire/21.html). Ship of Fools. See article written by Steve Collins at:
http://www.alternativeworship.org/definitions_awec.html Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201001150
35450/http://www.alternativeworship.org/definitions_awec.html) 15 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
19. Jones, Tony (2009). The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier (1st ed.). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-470-45539-5.
20. Mobsby 2007, pp. 23–24.
21. Murray 2004, pp. 69–70.
22. Murray 2004, p. 74.
23. Mobsby 2007, p. 24.
24. Gibbs & Bolger 2006, pp. 44–45.
25. Mobsby 2008, pp. 65–82.
26. Mobsby 2007, pp. 54–60.
27. Mobsby 2007, pp. 28–29.
28. Mobsby 2008, pp. 98–101.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 9/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

29. Mobsby 2008, pp. 15–18, 32–35, 37–62.

30. Murray 2004, pp. 83–88.
31. Murray 2004, pp. 83–88, 200–202.
32. Kimball, Dan (2007). "The Emerging Church and Missional Theology" (https://archive.org/details/listeningt
obelie0000unse/page/102/mode/2up). In Robert Webber (ed.). Listening to the beliefs of emerging
churches: Five perspectives. With responses from: John Burke; Doug Pagitt; Karen M. Ward; Mark
Driscoll. Grand Rapids, Mich, US: Zondervan. pp. 81–105. ISBN 978-0-310-27135-2. p. 102:
"Approaching the afterlife with awe and wonder"
33. Theology (http://emergingchurch.info/reflection/ianmobsby/theology.htm)Emerging Church Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20061219195156/http://emergingchurch.info/reflection/ianmobsby/theology.htm)
19 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
34. Mobsby 2007.
35. Perry, Simon. "Emerging Worship" (http://www.simonperry.org.uk/#/emerging-worship/4537335309).
36. Perry, Simon (2003). What is So Holy About Scripture (http://www.simonperry.org.uk/#/publications/45498
31951). Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock.
37. Sudworth, Richard (2007). Distinctly Welcoming. Oxford: Scripture Union Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84427-
317-1.
38. Gibbs & Bolger 2006, p. 300.
39. Paul Hiebert (1994). Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues, Grand Rapids, MI US: Baker
Books
40. Phyllis Tickle (2008). The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why. Grand Rapids, MI,
US: Baker Books.
41. Frost, Michael (14 September 2007). "Michael Frost Wrap-Up at PGF 2007" (https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=_YaXbkD1sgs). YouTube. Retrieved 5 April 2008. "Founding Director of Centre for Evangelism &
Global Mission at Morling Theological College in Sydney, speaks to authenticity as bringing a 'living
among them' type of Christianity rather than cross-cultural absolutes regarding salvation and conduct"
Intriguing Michael Frost video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YaXbkD1sgs&eurl=http://missiodeisca
ndia.wordpress.com/category/emerging-church/)
42. Mobsby 2008, pp. 97–111.
43. M. Percy (2002). The Salt of the Earth: Religious resilience in a Secular Age. London: Continuum. p. 165.
44. Mobsby 2008, pp. 113–132.
45. Griffiths, Steve (30 January 2007). "An Incarnational Missiology for the Emerging Church" (http://www.ope
nsourcetheology.net/node/1116). Rev Dr. Steve Griffiths speaks about the Emerging Church and how they
view and approach missions. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
46. Bevans 2002, pp. 3–46.
47. Bevans 2002, pp. 81–96.
48. B. A. Harvey (1999). Another City. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International. p. 14.
49. Bevans 2002, p. 1.
50. Mobsby 2008, pp. 67–82.
51. Mobsby 2007, p. 28–32.
52. "Notes of John Franke at the Emerging Church Forum" (http://weblog.wyclif.net/index.php/2006/10/28/not
es-from-the-emerging-church-forum-john-franke/). 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
53. Mobsby 2008, pp. 30–31, 65–82.
54. and a significant number of emerging church proponents remain in denominationally identified
communities. There is also a significant presence within the movement that remains within traditional
denominational structures. (Missional) "Emergent Village: Values and Practices" (http://webarchive.loc.go
v/all/20080919075248/http://www.emergentvillage.org/about-information/values-and-practices). Archived
from the original (http://www.emergentvillage.org/about-information/values-and-practices) on 19
September 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2006.
55. Dulles 1991.
56. Mobsby 2007, pp. 54–55.
57. Dulles 1991, p. 46, 50–51.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 10/11
4/23/24, 11:07 PM Emerging church - Wikipedia

58. Webber, Robert (2007). "Appendix 2: What is the Ancient-Future Vision?" (https://archive.org/details/listeni
ngtobelie0000unse/page/212/mode/2up). In Robert Webber (ed.). Listening to the beliefs of emerging
churches: Five perspectives. Grand Rapids, Mich, US: Zondervan. pp. 213–215. ISBN 978-0-310-27135-
2.
59. E. Davis (2004). Techgnosis. London: Serpents Tail.
60. J. Caputo (2001). On Religion, London: Routledge.
61. Mobsby 2007, Chapters Two and Three.
62. Taylor 2008, pp. 14–15.
63. Mobsby 2008, pp. 83–96.
64. Taylor 2008, pp. 96–102.
65. Lum, Rebecca Rosen (6 May 2008). " 'Emerging church' seeks the justice Jesus sought" (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20080612041918/http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9495041). Contra Costa Times.
Archived from the original (http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9495041) on 12 June 2008. Retrieved
13 August 2023.
Kaufman, Napoleon (17 November 2006). "Transformation by removing the mask" (https://www.eastbayti
mes.com/2006/11/17/transformation-by-removing-the-mask/). East Bay Times.

66. "Brian McLaren in Africa" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071020171757/http://www.brianmclaren.net/archi

ves/imported/reflections-on-amahoroafrica-may.html). Archived from the original (http://www.brianmclaren.
net/archives/imported/reflections-on-amahoroafrica-may.html) on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 26 July
2023.
67. McLaren, Brian (2007). Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.
Thomas Nelson Publishers. ISBN 978-0849901836.
68. Brian McLaren (2007). "Church Emerging: Or, Why I Still Use the Word 'Postmodern', But with Mixed
Feelings". In Doug Pagitt; Tony Jones (eds.) An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (https://www.amazon.com/d
p/080106807X). Grand Rapids, Michigan, US: Baker Books. pp. 141ff. ISBN 0801071569

External links
Postmodernity and the Emerging Church Movement: Reading Room (http://www.tyndale.ca/seminary/mts
modular/reading-rooms/missional/postmodernity): Extensive online resources on the Emerging Church
Movement (Tyndale Seminary)
The Emerging Church, Part One (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week845/cover.html) 8 July
2005, PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. Retrieved 29 July 2005.
The Emerging Church, Part Two (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week846/cover.html) 15 July
2005, PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. Retrieved 29 July 2005.
What is the Emerging Church? (http://www.foolishsage.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/McKnight%20-
%20What%20is%20the%20Emerging%20Church.pdf) - 2006 guest lecture by Dr. Scot McKnight at
Westminster Theological Seminary
Five Streams of the Emerging Church (http://www.ctlibrary.com/40534) Archived (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20150923211649/http://www.ctlibrary.com/40534) 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine -
Christianity Today article by Scot McKnight
The Emergent Mystique (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/011/12.36.html) - Christianity Today
feature by Andy Crouch
What Should We Think of the Emerging Church? Part One (http://www.christianpost.com/article/2005062
9/6355.htm) - Christian Post column by Albert Mohler
What Should We Think of the Emerging Church? Part Two (http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050630/
6356.htm) - Christian Post column by Albert Mohler
An Interview with Tony Jones, National Coordinator of Emergent Village (http://www.precipicemagazine.co
m/tony-jones-interview1.html)
Emergent Village website (http://www.emergentvillage.com)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emerging_church&oldid=1212210760"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church 11/11