What is the Emerging Church?
It seems few people are willing to say.
Those within "emerging churches" are hesitant to define themselves, because to do so seems to require contrasting their communities with other, older communities. They don't want to be defined by what they're not, because they formed their churches to be something, not to not be something.
Are emerging churches post-evangelical? Are they post-Protestant? Are they post-anything? No. They are evangelical and mainline and Catholic and protestant and charismatic and whatever adjective you want to add to this list. Emerging churches are just communities trying to practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. They are not simply "relevant" churches trying to attract young people. A deeper change has taken place than simply updating the music, preaching like a stand-up comedian, and adding candles and canvasses to the worship service. Emerging communities see their world and practice their faith differently.
Gibbs and Bolger offer these nine marks of an emerging community:
1) They identify with and focus on the life of Christ more than His death and resurrection.
2) They live in and transform what Modernist thought calls the secular realm.
3) They live highly communal lives.
4) They welcome in the stranger.
5) They serve generously.
6) They participate in the worship community as producers not consumers.
7) They create out of recognition that they are created beings.
8) They lead as a body. (There is no main leader.)
9) They take part in historic spiritual disciplines.
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