Emerging Church Defined

Gibbs and Bolger have written what is being hailed as the best book on the emerging church. The book set out to research and compile a kind of profile of what emerging churches look like and how they manifest in the cultures of which they are a part. Over a five year period Gibbs and Bolger visited and interviewed emerging churches and leaders in the United Kingdom and the United States and came away with a snapshot of this nascent movement that shows the emerging church as more than just a bunch of disgruntled postmoderns bent on rebelling against authority and affirming themselves. This book may be the best book on the emerging church if for no other reason than the thoughtful analysis based on extensive research as opposed to reaction to isolated instances or individuals.
Many of the books and articles I have encountered on the subject of the emerging church have been written either by those within the movement who are reluctant to define the movement and ipso facto turn the concept emerging church into an oxymoron or from critics who have taken issue with the movement because of perceived threats to the faith based on anecdotal evidence. In either case someone on the outside looking in is hard pressed to find a big picture understanding of the movement that enables a thoughtful engaging of the subject as opposed to a reactionary taking of sides. I suppose if one was able to spend a lot of time reading very widely on the subject of the emerging church it would be possible to discern much of what Gibbs and Bolger have discovered. But I suspect that few people have neither the time nor the inclination to wade through such a large volume of literature to accomplish that task. This makes Emerging Churches an invaluable resource for understanding what is happening in these churches.
Interestingly, like many of the books on the subject of emerging churches this one begins with an apologetic for the study of culture. I find this interesting because the apparent necessity of the apologetic belies the voiced commitment of the traditional church to the great commission found in Matthew 28. Of course some might argue and have argued that we could be committed to the great commission without the commitment to understand and enter into a cultural context and that to do so is actually to water down the gospel. But Emerging Churches makes a strong case from the evidence of effectiveness and from the scriptures themselves that believers must follow the example of Jesus who contextualized God the Father in our world. The primary doctrine then that drives the emerging church practice is the Incarnation.
In Chapter one of Emerging Churches in answer to the question “Why Must the Western Church Today Study Culture?” Gibbs and Bolger offer eleven reasons (pgs 16-23). (1) Because of the Incarnation. (2) Because Cultural Understanding Has Always Been Essential to Good Mission Practice. (3) Because Christendom and Modernity Are in Rapid Decline. (4) Because the West Is in the Midst of Huge Cultural Shifts. (5) Because the Church Is in Decline. (6) Because the Majority of Current Church Practices Are Cultural Accommodations to a Society that no longer exists. (7) Because the Primary Mode and Style of Communication in Western Culture Have Changed. (8) Because a New Culture Means That New Organizational Structures Are Required. (9) Because Boomers Are the Last Generation That Is Happy with Modern Churches. (10) Because of the Increasing Appeal of Spirituality Derived from Other Religions. (11) Because Many Christians No Longer Follow the Religion of Their Parents.
While these eleven reasons are elaborated on in the text the truth is that the statements alone are sufficiently self explanatory to elicit discussion and take seriously the question of why it is important to study culture.
In my own ministry context the unwillingness to accept the truth of reason number six (“Because the Majority of Current Church Practices Are Cultural Accommodations to a Society That No Longer Exists”) is perhaps the biggest obstacle to missional ministry. For example in a congregational meeting at which the church was considering the purchase of a new organ I remember one person stating with full assurance that “You cannot worship without an organ.” I could go on. The authors of Emerging Churches have done a great service by arguing that we need to place Jesus at the center of our life as churches and move out from there and into the world we have been sent to and showing examples of churches endeavoring to do so.
After the Culture discussion and a chapter on defining the term Emerging Church with this caveat “…we do well to follow Pete Rollin’s advice to hold loosely our reconstructions, for ‘whatever we put in the void of the divine darkness will end up as a grand conceptual idol if we do not view it with humility.’ Let us now look at what is built after the dismantling process is complete.”(pg. 46) The authors go on to discuss the results of their research into what it is that characterizes the emerging church.
The authors identify nine characteristics of emerging churches these are each discussed in successive chapters. The nine characteristics are (1) Identifying with Jesus. (2) Transforming Secular Space. (3) Living as Community. (4) Welcoming the Stranger. (5) Serving with Generosity. (6) Participating as Producers. (7) Creating as Created Beings (8) Leading as a Body. (9) Merging Ancient and Contemporary Spiritualities.
As I read through this book it struck me on several occasions that one of the most attractive aspects of the emerging church is the attempt to live as consistently as possible the way Jesus invites us to live as his body. These churches take very seriously the person of Jesus and from that flows everything else. In the churches of which I have been a part there seems to be little in the way of a coherent world view. Several years ago I taught a world view class in which we used James Sire’s Naming the Elephant. In Sire’s book he identifies seven basic questions that any worldview must answer (pg.20). The first questions is “What is the prime reality—the really real?” The answer to that first question is critical because from the answer to that question should flow the answer to the other six questions. For the final paper I asked the students, ranging in age from 35-70 years old, to answer the seven questions. Every one of the students answered each of the questions discretely. Not one of the students allowed the answer to the first question to inform the answer to any of the other questions. Perhaps I had not taught them this concept clearly enough but it was a telling exercise in that I saw for the first time the reason for the incoherence of the faith many people profess. In contrast to that is the picture of a group of people looking to not only speak coherently about their faith but to live it as well. Perhaps it is the fact that they are able to articulate a more coherent faith that enables them to live it more consistently.
If you want to get a glimpse of what the emerging church looks like, this is the book.

Gibbs, Eddie; Bolger, Ryan. (2005). Emerging Churches. Grand Rapids: Baker
Sire, James. (2004). Naming the Elephant. Downers Grove: InterVarstiy